Brooklyn Made Open Mic and Readings with Jeffrey I. Richman and Jive Poetic

Saturday, September 28th
1-2 PM Talk with Dr. Herbert Roseman and Jeffrey I. Rickman
2-3 PM Reading and Open Mic with Jive Poetic
BROOKLYN MADE at City Point | 445 Albee Square West

1-2 PM
A Tzvi Grows in Brooklyn
Dr. Herbert Roseman

Growing up in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, Dr. Roseman's memoir recounts his experiences with family, teachers, friends, and his beloved Brooklyn Dodgers. Like Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Dr. Roseman’s story vividly captures the essence of growing up in mid-twentieth-century Brooklyn. However, his narrative gives a nostalgic and lighthearted glimpse into Brooklyn during the simpler days of the 1940s and 1950s.  

BUILDING THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE 1869-1883
Jeffery I. Richman

Recipient of the 2021 Book Award from The Victorian Society New York.

The captivating story of how a bridge of unprecedented size and technology was built during an age of remarkable innovation.
This book invites the reader to step back in time to discover why this iconic bridge―proclaimed the ‘eighth wonder of the world' soon after its completion and a National Historic Landmark since 1964―continues to hold such a special place in the hearts of so many.
Spanning the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge connected for the first time the then independent cities of Brooklyn and New York. This awe-inspiring structure was not only a modern engineering feat of extraordinary imagination, fortitude, and skill, it also was a towering beacon of human triumph.

2-3 PM
Skip Tracer
Jive Poetic

An innovative memoir―composed of poems, prose, and photographs―that engages with the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, cultural identity, music, and masculinity, by a poetry legend.

Blending poetry and prose, music, and genealogy, Jive Poetic’s Skip Tracer is a memoir structured as a “hybrid sound system” (complete with “records,” “tracks,” “decks,” and “channels”), expertly curated to convey the complexity of Blackness in the Americas. In this ancestral and cultural excavation, Jive conducts archival and oral-history research into his family’s connections to Jamaica, Panama, Brazil, and Cuba to explore the impact of culture, environment, and family on first- and second-generation Black Americans in the United States. He also traces the profound influence that hip-hop, soul, R&B, reggae, and other popular musical genres have had on him―all the while performing a dynamic re-creation of his legendary onstage persona on the page. A raw and affecting indictment of police violence and racism in the United States, Skip Tracer is also a searingly honest exploration of personal identity, power, and privilege―all expressed in the unmistakable language, rhythm, and style that characterizes Jive’s live performances.