You are currently browsing the stories about the Harlem neighborhood
Ghetto Superstar Maurice Ashley (He Plays Chess)
by Robin McDowell 01/30/2004Neighborhood: Harlem
Eliot Majors, age 9, slides his queen diagonally across the chessboard, then inexplicably halts one square short. Check. Several watching youngsters groan. “Nooo!” cries one, clutching his chest, and falls to the ground in dramatic disbelief. Maurice Ashley, age 34, removes his dark sun glasses and his leather jacket. “You sure you want to do [...]
On the Anniversary of Not Seeing Her Again
by Alex Jablonski 01/30/2004Neighborhood: Harlem
Manhattan is the capitol of the unexpected encounter. There are no dogs barking to warn you of the unexpected, no dust being kicked up on a long curving dirt road as a stranger approaches. So it was that I found myself standing in Nussbaum & Wu, wishing that her presence had kicked up a little [...]
Do Black Children Scare You?
by Michelle J. Lee 01/30/2004Neighborhood: Harlem
I sit in a tree with pen and paper in hand, planning to writing a letter. The branches under me are smooth and rough in patches, warped like an elephant’s trunk. The shade of the tree, the cool breeze and warm sun make me feel good, and calm, and in control. An elderly man stands [...]
Grant’s Tomb
by David Michaelis 01/30/2004Neighborhood: Harlem
The garden in Riverside Park is fragrant and full of kids playing, but only several hundred yards away Grant’s Tomb maintains its atmosphere of austerity and stillness. The sign on the plaza outside the Tomb, under the sycamores, reads NO ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES. And immediately one thinks of whiskey and of the General in his Union-blue [...]
The Red Light
by Keilla P. 08/06/2003Neighborhood: Harlem
One March afternoon, I was at my neighbor’s house on the balcony. I was excited because it was a nice sunny day, and there were a lot of people outside having fun and listening to music. At the time my neighbor and I were listening to Elvis Crespo, Suavemente, eating nice juicy mangos. She was [...]
Taking Orders (Next)
by Shavel M. 08/06/2003Neighborhood: Harlem
I can remember one Saturday evening, a nice and beautiful day in April. It was about 70 degrees and everyone was happy, showing smiling faces and enjoying the weather. I was at work on 125th Street between 7th & 8th Avenues at McDonalds and it was busy as usual. Then a maniac came inside the [...]
Violins at School
by Thomas Beller 11/14/2002Neighborhood: Harlem
Roberta Guaspar Tsavaras purchased fifty violins in 1978, while married to a naval officer stationed in Greece. She assembled her collection piecemeal, from stores in Athens and neighboring towns. “The idea was that I would teach violin at schools and when he was transferred to a new base, I would take the violins, show up [...]
Riceman
by Peter F. Eder 11/08/2002Neighborhood: Harlem
When you walked through the door that first time in September, you became a Riceman …always a Riceman … never a boy, kid, lad, young guy … just a Riceman. Founded in 1938, and in 1940 relocated to a six story red brick building on the corner of what was Lenox Avenue and 124th Street, [...]
Inside the Tenenbaum House
by Adam Baer 10/09/2002Neighborhood: Harlem
Just east of Amsterdam Avenue, in a section of Harlem called Hamilton Heights, a newly poignant obsession of mine was given life. I had spent my week with the DVD of Wes Anderson’s third movie, The Royal Tenenbaums. I sang along with the quirky soundtrack songs (Nico, The Clash, Paul Simon); listened to the director’s [...]
Code Blue: A Police Officer Unwinds
by Denise Campbell 07/11/2002Neighborhood: Harlem
Most evenings will find Michael Johnson, a New York City Police Officer, sitting at home alone in front of his TV with a bottle of Hennessy near by. Hennessy is top shelf he says. It doesn’t leave you with a hangover. Michael doesn’t drink every night to get drunk, according to Michael. He doesn’t even [...]
Pick a Pepper
by Don Weinreich 01/20/2002Neighborhood: Harlem
Over the Internet came the call for help: my expatriate Upper West Side sister, living now for twenty years in a European capital, was soon to cook a Mexican meal. All the ingredients were to be had in the vast marketplaces of Amsterdam, all except the peppers. Not being one to leave a sister in [...]
Harlem Slapshot
by Carolyn Murnick 01/19/2002Neighborhood: Harlem
1. Lasker Rink: Central Park at 108th St. “I can shoot better than you,” this six-year-old boy is taunting as we’re slapping pucks against the boards. He’s referring to the wrist shot technique I’m trying to demonstrate which apparently he finds unimpressive, and I have to admit I don’t blame him, though the sting of [...]
