Help with the horses at GALLOP NYC

As the summer doldrums of un(der)employment run into fall, there’s only so much more you can take of casting letters into the job-market black hole while plugging away at the future Oscar-winning screenplay. Time to shake things up. Brooklyn’s full of volunteer gigs perfect for turning your routine on its under-used head, and for giving back to the borough a little bit too. Here are a few ideas that’ll beef up the resume (and get you out of the house) while you’re waiting for that big break.

DUMBO Arts Festival, 718-488-8588
For three days this month, the DUMBO Arts Festival will attract hundreds of cutting-edge international artists from the visual, performance, music, literary and digital fields. Volunteers are needed during the week prior to the fest (Sept. 17 to 23) and during the fest itself (Sept. 24 to 26)). Jobs include setting up installations, guiding attendees and assisting in live performances. Sign up and get a foot backstage to one of the largest art events this side of the East River.

826NYC, 718-499-9884
Hidden in a “secret” room behind the Park Slope Superhero Supply Store lies the headquarters of 826NYC. Founded by writer Dave Eggers (of McSweeney’s fame), 826NYC is dedicated to helping children and teens improve their writing through one-on-one attention and tutoring in after-school programs and workshops. Use your writing skills to help students with assignments, teach English language skills and even staff the superhero storefront. Apply here.

Fixers’ Collective, 718-243-1572
The Fixers’ Collective (which we’re big fans of) is a group of folks in Gowanus who fix anything from bikes to old clocks. They always need help working on dropped-off items, so if you’re particularly handy (or want to learn), then stop by and see how you can help. Get your hands dirty, meet new people, and help keep more stuff out of the trash!

GALLOP NYC, 646-413-0469
If you love animals and working with people, considering Brooklyn- and Queens-based GALLOP (Giving Alternative Learners UpLifting Opportunities). They are a non-profit dedicated to helping adults with developmental disabilities build confidence through horseback riding. Volunteers receive training in leading horses and working with people to create a fun therapeutic riding environment.

RightRides, 718-522-0822
Sure, you gave up your wheels when you moved to Brooklyn, but don’t let yourself get rusty on the road. With RightRides, you can help prevent harassment and sexual assault, and get back behind the wheel, by giving free, safe, late-night transport home for women, LGBTQ and “nonconforming” individuals. RightRides always needs drivers and navigators who know local neighborhoods. They provide the car and gas, you provide a valid driver’s license.

BRIC Arts Media, 718-855-7882
BRIC, a Brooklyn-based arts and media coalition, is the driving force behind the summer’s awesome concerts in Prospect Park. But they also produce other performing art, gallery shows and community television year-round. No matter what your artistic predilection, BRIC has tons of chances to rub elbows with Brooklyn artists while exposing the public to great work.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 718-623-7260
The BBG needs lots of help maintaining its 52 acres and numerous gardens, so why not get outside, get sunburnt and meet some people? Lead informational workshops. Teach children about plants and gardening. You can even put in some elbow grease by keeping plants trimmed and watered, paths clear and the grounds beautiful for visitors.

Prospect Park Zoo, 718-399-7339 Ext. 325
For something a little livelier than plants, consider becoming a docent at the Prospect Park Zoo. They offer an extensive training program that will prepare you to lead tours and man info stations. Being a docent means a long-term commitment, but you’ll be trained in conservation and biology and become well acquainted with other animal-lovers.

Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC), 718-486-7489
BARC is Brooklyn’s home-grown animal shelter with a menagerie of adorable dogs and cats, all mostly strays found in the borough. Volunteers are needed to socialize and care for the animals, especially walking (and cleaning up after!) dogs. The downside? You might wind up adopting dozens of irresistible fur-balls.

Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI), 718-522-0193
The BGI is an ambitious project to create a 14-mile bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly path running along the waterfront from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. Four miles have already been opened, but there’s more to be done. Volunteers are needed for administrative duties, technical planning and just keeping the existing trail clean and well-maintained.

Brooklyn Children’s Museum, 718-735-4400
Remember how awesome children’s museums were when you were a kid? Why not help out with the oldest one in the country? The BCM is home to 30,000 artifacts and tons of cool exhibits. Fun role-playing, interactive exhibits and guided tours expose children to science, nature and history. You can help by greeting visitors, manning phones and running membership drives.

These ideas are only a springboard to get you giving back to Brooklyn and rounding-out your under-utilized self. Websites like Catchafire and CitizenSchool connect people with specialized training to the needs of non-profits and locals. Resources such as the Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service, the NYC government and New York Cares also offer centralized lists of long-term and one-off chances to volunteer, including tutoring children and even assisting emergency services.

And finally, local religious organizations constantly run events to help those in need (and need volunteers from any faith). Who knows? You might find a new life passion… or at least some fodder for your screenplay.

Here’s what’s forbidden under the new law, the CARD Act. It’s important that you know this so that you can spot potential violations by your card issuer (such violations have already been recorded by the Consumer Federation of America):

Your credit card company cannot:
-Increase your interest rate on an existing balance, or within the first year an account is open.
-Charge you a fee for inactivity.
-Charge you a fee for making transactions that exceed your credit limit or overdraw your bank account. Instead, your purchase will simply be denied (unless you “opt in” to overdraft “protection”—aka fees. This makes overdraft protection the exception, where it had been the rule).
-Maximize your interest charges by using “two-cycle” billing (imposing interest charges on balances in a past billing cycle or bundling payments).
-Charge you a late fee without warning.
-Raise your interest rates or other fees without first giving you 45 days’ notice and the option instead to cancel the card.
-Charge you annual fees that exceed 25 percent of your credit limit (excluding penalty fees).
-Allow a minor to open an account without a co-signer or proof of means.
-For a given late fee, charge you more than $25 or the amount of your minimum payment due. The one exception allows for higher penalties if the cardholder has multiple late payments within the past six months.

Now, the loopholes—or, what to look out for:
Professional cards
These are part corporate card, part consumer card and fully exempt from the new law. Companies have sent out an unprecedented number of these cards since the law passed.
Rebate cards
These are also exempt from the new regulation.
Annual fees
Even though annual fees can’t total more than 25 percent of your credit limit, 25 percent can be a lot. And many companies are making sure to get as close as possible to that 25 percent, even if their previous annual fees were low. (The 25 percent cap on annual fees does not apply to penalty fees, such as late payment fees, or to “processing” fees, which are charged upon initiating the account.)
Balance-transfer fees and minimum finance charges
These apply when you transfer your credit-card balance to get a lower interest rate; and to balances that remain on the card month-to-month (respectively).
Unfair calendar-driven late fees
That nearly criminal late fee if the due date of your payment falls a holiday or weekend, when the bank doesn’t process payments.

For more detail, and some history behind the legislation, see the suggestions here, here and here. Happy (but responsible) spending!

Read more from Eliza on her blog, The BK Recessionist.

The free lectures are all from 2 to 3 p.m. And to add to the back-to-school vibe (in a good way), Eagle Street is teaming up with Word bookstore this Sunday for the launch of their farm lending library.

Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, 44 Eagle St. between Franklin and West Sts., Greenpoint

Photo via Yelp

Fall is art-house movie season, the time of year when theaters full of corduroy jackets and subtitles make you truly feel like you’re living in Woody Allen’s New York. What better time of year then to check out the small, quirky, friendly Brooklyn Heights Cinema—a place with exponentially more tolerable crowds than the nearest megaplex, and now, with a great deal for Brokelyn readers.

The theater is reaching out to blog readers across the borough for support through tough financial times, so all you have to do is mention that you saw this post on Brokelyn and you can get any ticket, at any time of day for $6.50 (a savings of almost $4). The theater books lots of French films but also supports American indies. Currently screening is the 2009 Luke Wilson film Middle Men, along with The Sicilian Girl and Winter’s Bone. Plus, the snackbar has tea, real butter for the popcorn and egg creams. We think Woody Allen would approve.

Brooklyn Heights Cinema, 70 Henry St. at Orange St., Brooklyn Heights

Acapulco, 1116 Manhattan Ave. at Clay St., Greenpoint
$5.50: Nachos with Cheese (beans, salsa, Jalapeño peppers) come tangy and leave you happy. There’s a load of Jalapeño peppers, tomatoes and cilantro. If I lived closer, this would be my go-to spot.

Maya Taqueria, 637 Vanderbilt Ave. between Prospect Pl. and St. Marks Pl., Prospect Heights
$6.75: Super Nachos (meat, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, “the works”) have a ton of amazing toppings and a salsa bar for the side. They really pile on the toppings, so grab a napkin.

5 Burro Cafe, 127 Columbia St. between Kane and Irving Sts., Red Hook
$8: Nachos (beans, sour cream, guacamole and Jalapeño peppers) come on homemade chips made on-site. Cheese is everywhere and they’re not stingy with the guacamole. Don’t miss their backyard, too.

Veracruz, 195 Bedford Ave. between N. 6th and N. 7th Sts., Williamsburg
$6.50: Plain Nachos (beans, guacamole, crema, Jalapeño peppers) come in the pizza/delicate/Texan style that took some time for us to appreciate. But now we do—each chip gets equal distribution of toppings to show off the great collective flavor.

Taqueria De Los Muertos, 663 Washington Ave. at St. Marks Pl., Prospect Heights
$5.50: Super Nachos (Pico De Gallo, beans, guacamole, sour cream) come right in the aluminum case you like. Dangerous to get them delivered, but worth it at the restaurant.

For when the craving strikes and you’re not so close to home, try some worthwhile $8-and-under nachos at these places outside of Brooklyn: Tacos Mexico and Guacamole (Queens); Piano’s and Tortilla Flats (Manhattan).

Lee Frank is Managing Editor of Nachos NY. Join Lee and the site’s other NYC nacho experts for the first ever Salsa Slam, Sept. 12 at the Bell House.

Photo from mcbrooklyn

With bed bug rumors creeping all over the place lately, it’s nice to see some of Brooklyn’s infested doing their honest part to stave off the spread. Mcbrooklyn checks in with the Bed Bug Registry today and lists the 228 Brooklyn residential addresses on record as being infested. That’s 228 good citizens who’ve willingly notified the registry of bedbugs in their abodes (or 228 bedbug infestees who’ve been ratted-out—we’re not sure). But in any case, people are talking and that’s only for the best. Because, hopefully, others will report their unwanted visitors, everyone will be well on their way to de-bugged and in the meantime, we’ll all know exactly where to give that extra wide berth on the way to the subway. Here’s the full list of addresses. And if you’ve got bed bugs, please—report them here.

via mcbrooklyn

The Pioneers of Seduction, Aug. 31 at Bruar Falls

Not the most hopping week ever for cheap music in the BK atmosphere, but there’s still plenty to keep your attention. Definitely head out to tonight’s open jam session (Aug. 30) at the Slope’s Puppets Jazz Club. We hear it’s facing some hard times and could use the support. What else? Go ahead and wake up beautiful with the Pioneers of Seduction, or get into some do-it-yourself, home-studio-sound head sway with Family Lumber.

Monday, Aug. 30
Open Jam Session hosted by John McNeil/Mike Fahie: Puppets Jazz Club, 481 Fifth Ave. at 11th St., free (but that’s up to you), 9 p.m.

Tuesday, Aug. 31
The Pioneers of Seduction: Bruar Falls 245 Grand St. between Driggs and Roebling, free, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 1
Beat Radio, Family Lumber: The Woods, 48 S. 4^th St., free, 8 p.m.

Dan Peck Trio, Talibam!, Ryan Sawyer (Stars Like Fleas), C. Spencer Yeh, Nate Wooley: Zebulon, 258 Wythe Ave. between N. 3rd and Metropolitan, free, 9 p.m.

We heard mom's been hitting the parenting blogs... hard.

There’s no prize to win here or any free drinks to be drunk—only a cute way to spend a few minutes of your time. The Prospect Park Zoo just announced the birth of two baby baboons (actually born in late July) who are in need of some proper names. The two boys, known for now as Baby Baboon 1 and… wait for it… Baby Baboon 2, are the first Hamadryas baboons born at the zoo in six years. Since the two moms, Kaia and Rebecca, might not be up on this year’s hottest names (Aiden & Jayden, but we say Bedford & Stuyvesant), the zoo’s turning to all of us.

From now until Sept. 21, you can submit your baby-name suggestions at the zoo’s website. The zoo’s staff will choose names from the entries on Sept. 24. If you just want to visit the little fuzzballs, they’re on view daily between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m at the Prospect Park Zoo, 450 Flatbush Ave.