June 8: Camp Brooklyn

I'm a city boy at heart. The idea of the Great Outdoors — a place where the nearest supermarket is miles away and cellphone roaming charges stack up in the hundreds of dollars — frankly holds very little appeal to me.

But the idea of camping in one of the city's most beautiful parks, one designed by urban greenspace geniuses Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux and in walking distance of dozens of coffee shops and restaurants... that's a different story.

All day today until midnight, the city Parks Department will hold a lottery to determine what lucky 30 families will get to experience just this kind of urban wildlife adventure in Fort Greene Park on June 17. 

To enter, click here. Good luck, everyone.

Here are your 5 Things for today:

1. In case you missed it: community members joined Councilwoman Letitia James, D-Brooklyn, to celebrate the with its owners, the Joseph family.

 2.  and hear her debut novel Ten Thousand Saints, which tells the story of New York’s Lower East Side in the late 1980s, at

3. As part of the ¡Sí Cuba! Festival, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba performs La Magia de la Danza at BAM . 

4. Later today, look out for our story about Brooklyn Tech students honored by the city Department of Environmental Protection for their artwork. 

5. Correction: Alternate side parking rules are suspended for Shavuot.