The View from Brooklyn

Having gone to school in the Bronx and worked in Manhattan over the summers and semesters during my time there, I would say I am pretty familiar with New York City. However, the exciting part about moving back to New York and moving/working in Brooklyn is that, even though it is NYC, it is a completely new world to me. The neighborhoods, bars, cafes, parks, events, and, in actuality--the entire borough--are uncharted territory for me to explore. That being said, I have been spending a lot of time walking around, stumbling into new spots, and investigating online, which has me eager with excitement over all that Brooklyn has to offer. 

One of the great things I recently found is Brooklyn Brainery, a collection of accessible & community-driven classes on everything you could imagine including gardening, poetry-writing, soda-making, and hair-cutting. It harnesses the idea that everyone in the community has the ability to teach something they love to others who are eager to learn (and that you don't have to have a PhD to teach or pay $50K to be educated!)

I love the whole notion behind crowd-sourcing education in this way. It provides a great outlet for finding community over shared interest while celebrating skills and shared knowledge. I am definitely signing up for a few classes this fall (already on the wait-list for "Low-tech Screenprinting" :) and am excited to get involved, meet new people, and learn! Do you know of something like this in your city?