Death of a Blogger — Robert Guskind, R.I.P. - The Brooklyn Paper

I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Guskind at last year's Brooklyn Blogfest at the Brooklyn Lyceum and was a regular reader of his blog, GowanusLounge...

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After days of speculation inside and outside the blogosphere, much-liked journalist Robert Guskind died on Wednesday, several blogs reported today.

The death of the creative mind behind the Gowanus Lounge blog, whose behavior had been increasingly erratic over the past few months as he has lost several jobs, separated from his wife amid an extra-marital affair, and waged angry crusades against supposed enemies, was first reported by his friend and fellow blogger, Miss Heather, who runs a popular Greenpoint-based Web site.

She reported in a video that he was found dead in his apartment. Another blog, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn, confirmed the death with the city medical examiner.

Guskind’s Gowanus Lounge site had been down for days, and his obsessively regular Twitter blasts also stopped coming on Monday, said friends who expressed their concern to The Brooklyn Paper.

The NYPD offered no reports of a suicide near Guskind’s home, which, after separating from his wife, was in the Prospect Heights portion of the 77th Precinct.

In his prime, Guskind’s blog focussed a keen eye on city development projects with an objectivity and a level of reporting rare in the blog world. But last year, amid his personal turmoil, angry, unreported rants became more frequent.

Then, last month, the formerly jovial journo lost a regular job as a blogger for Curbed, a real-estate Web site. Fellow writers who met with Guskind at that time described him to The Brooklyn Paper as “a broken man.”

Check back at BrooklynPaper.com later for updates on this breaking story.

Photo: Flatbush Gardener Flickr page...

Brooklyn's Bloggers Show Real Faces by Erin O'Neill - NY Daily News

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When Petra Symister moved from Chelsea to Bedford-Stuyvesant she lost her sense of community - but blogging cured her loneliness.

"I feel more connected to this neighborhood by blogging than I did in nine years living in Chelsea," she said.

Symister created the Bed-Stuy Blog 14 months ago, joining a Brooklyn-based network of citizen and professional writers, photographers and videographers who leave the comfort of their computer desks to meet in person every year at the Brooklyn Blogfest.

Last week, the Brooklyn Lyceum hosted the third annual event, which was started by Louise ("Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn") Crawford in 2006 to put virtual names to actual faces.

"We were calling each other by our blog names," said Crawford, whose blog is four years old. "We're not that sort of cyber-weird. People come out from behind their computers and meet up."

This year's blogfest attracted hundreds of people who blog, want to blog or find blogging interesting. The event also featured guest speakers from online and print media, as well as video montages and a "Shout-Out" where bloggers new to the scene could announce their names - and URLs.

Start connecting with the bloggers of Brooklyn here:

- The Gowanus Lounge (www.gowanuslounge.com): Started by Robert Guskind in April 2006, the Gowanus Lounge covers real estate, development and other news across the borough with original reporting, multimedia packages and links. "I started a blog on a whim," said Guskind. "Now, this is what I do for a living."

- Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.typepad.com): Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn knows Park Slope particularly well. "My blog is for people who are addicted to where they live," Crawford said.

- Bed-Stuy Blog (www.bedstuyblog.com): Symister started the Bed-Stuy Blog to let people know what was going on in her neighborhood. What started out as a place for events listings grew into a blog about the neighborhood.

- Brownstoner (www.brownstoner.com): Brownstoner tackles Brooklyn real estate from the art of the backyard garden to navigating home sales. The blog, started in October 2004 by Jonathan Butler, includes daily features, original reporting and links.

- Atlantic Yards Report (atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com):Norman Oder's blog chronicles every detail of the Atlantic Yards project, analyzing the media coverage, city involvement and developer Bruce Ratner.

- Bed-Stuy Banana (bedstuybanana.blogspot.com): With camera in hand, Sharon Kwik photographs her slice of Brooklyn. Since 2007, she has chronicled everything from children's Halloween costumes to curbside memorials.

- Kinetic Carnival (kineticcarnival.blogspot.com): Bloggers Omar Robau and Ben Nadler focus on Coney Island past, present and future in words, videos and photos.

- Pardon Me for Asking (pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com): This is the sometimes personal, sometimes political, Carroll Gardens-centric blog of Katia Kelly. "It's nice to know a single voice out there can matter," said Kelly.

- Creative Times (creativetimes.blogspot.com): Eleanor Traubman blogs for women, artists and Brooklyn residents looking for a place to connect with one another. "Blogging is a great vehicle to build community relationships," said Traubman.

- Flatbush Gardener (flatbushgardener.blogspot.com): Chris Kreussling serves as gardener, photographer and writer for this blog that focuses on all things growing and green in Flatbush.

The 3rd Annual Brooklyn Blogfest - May 8th, 2008 at The Brooklyn Lyceum

On Thursday May 8^th I attended two events which I thoroughly enjoyed, the 1^st was an ACORN event at the UFT headquarters (52 Broadway)...the enthusiasm level was high with many high schools students in attendance. I went with my friend Sam and met up with some others friends I know from CPAC, Michelle, the inimitable Ms Green and William McDonald (present Chair of CPAC).

It was a well attended event and many local NYC politicians were there, I got a chance to listen to speeches by the likes of Speaker of the NY Assembly Sheldon Silver, the NY Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith and many other less well known pols.

Afterward, I walked over to the R train at Church Street and Rector for a quick ride to Union Street where I was looking forward to attending the 3^rd Annual Brooklyn Blogfest.

I had read about the previous two blogfests online and had made up my mind that I wasn't going to miss this years. I wanted to see what it was all about firsthand this year.

The Blogfest was held at The Brooklyn Lyceum 227 Fourth Avenue at President Street, right across the street from the subway station. It's a beautiful old bathhouse from a bygone era of NYC's history renovated into a club. It was hosted by Louise Crawford of Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

I got to see and hear the people behind a few of my favorite blogs: Miss Heather from New York Shitty, Bob Guskind from Curbed and The Gowanus Lounge and Xris the Flatbush Gardener...There were over 150 bloggers there, I was one of the few out-of-towners (being from Queens) who attended.

There was an excellent video shown by The Brooklyn Optimist (a.k.a. Morgan Pehme) and Merlion Entertainment which presented the World Premiere of a Tribute to some of Brooklyn's best photobloggers at the 2008 Brooklyn Blogfest. Featured (video below), among others, are photographers Adrian Kinloch (Brit in Brooklyn), Hugh Crawford (No Words Pix from Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn), Kevin Walsh (Forgotten-NY) and Heather Letzkus (New York Shitty).

Angela Freeburg from wnbc-tv blog was conducting interviews with various attendees...

I got to speak to Lara Wechsler, a lovely young street photographer about the NYC public school system while smoking a few cigarettes outside...

The team from Brooklyn Community Access-Tv was on hand to show a short video segment on the work they are doing to highlight Brooklyn blogs...

Another interesting person I met was Gersh Kuntzman the Editor of The Brooklyn Paper of the old media...he gave a compelling presentation contrasting old media vs new media, I wish it could've lasted longer...

I learned some new things, heard from a diverse groups of bloggers and had a fun time, even though I don't drink. There was an ample amount of beer provided by outside.in and beautiful looking vegan cupcakes from Red Mango Bakery.

Brian Lehrer had a rep there to talk to people and present a short video on his behalf. I often watch Brian on Wednesday nights on wnyc-tv after watching one of my nightly regulars, Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez...

I got a chance to speak with Max Sklar of Sticky Map... Stickymap is an interactive map that allows users to annotate map content on web sites and blogs...He was trying to encourage the bloggers to share their neighborhoods on a universal map...

For a list of other participants click here...

One of the few other out-of-towners (Non-Brooklynites) I was please to meet was Cathryn (Manhattan) from the Washington Square Park blog and her partner Mitchell. She & I have been emailing each other recently about our problems with the Parks Dept at Washington Square Park and the Ridgewood Reservoir.

Photos courtesy of The Flatbush Gardener flickr set..