I’m honored by several things that have happened recently.

Brownstoner: Brooklyn Inside and Out

There’s a blog called Brownstoner.com that’s all about Brooklyn brownstones and the neighborhoods and the borough and its culture and real estate. It’s very active, very informative, and well-liked by many Brooklynites. So it was an honor for me when they linked to The Black Fives Blog last week. They saw what I wrote promoting the newly renovated Park Slope Armory. If you live in Brooklyn, or are interested in what’s going on there, definitely check them out.

New York Times

The New York Times also linked to my Park Slope Armory blog post, from this post in their City Room blog. This is obviously also a big honor.

Essay

A reminder that the Black Fives Essay Contest is underway, with $1,000 in cash prizes at stake, plus other opportunities. The deadline for essay submissions is July 31. Reaction so far has been enthusiastic, and I know that people are already busy putting together their writing plans.

Bounce Magazine

Seems like everyone over at Bounce Magazine liked the article I submitted, and they have it all planned out and ready to print for their issue hitting newsstands at the end of July. I can’t wait. If you want a copy — and especially if you want to stay up on playground basketball — then please subscribe now.

Carnegie Mellon University

It was a great honor and a pleasant surprise when … I was invited recently to join the Advisory Council for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon.

I graduated from C.M.U. with a degree in Civil Engineering.

You may not know this, but some of what I write about in The Black Fives Blog goes back directly to a guy named Andrew Carnegie, who in 1900 founded Carnegie Tech.

Tomorrow: More on Carnegie, and why.