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The Clerk, the Librarian, the Hobbit and the Cop
by Christine Nieland 01/08/2012Neighborhood: Zuccotti Park
“This,” I realized, “I’ve got to see." In and out of grass-roots politics my entire adult life, I’ve marched, demonstrated, phone-banked, written letters and e-mails, signed petitions, sold buttons, attended meetings, gone on the radio, made documentaries, and helped with organizational duties. Early this October, I had joined in one Occupy demonstration in Washington [...]
Bearded Strangers Unite!
by Rob Williams 01/08/2012Neighborhood: All Over
I was sitting on a bench on the Lower East Side, waiting for an appointment with my barber, when a homeless lady came shuffling by, dressed in black rags. These were particularly witchy rags, it seemed to me, like she’d bought them at a store as part of a Halloween costume. Like in addition to [...]
Talking Back: My First Encounter with the Human Microphone
by Jean Garnett 12/31/2011Neighborhood: Financial District, Uncategorized
I first visited Occupy Wall Street on a chilly evening in the middle of October. A few hundred people were gathered near the eastern steps of Zuccotti Park for the nightly meeting of the General Assembly. On the steps a young man was shrieking inaudibly. A few yards away, a jackhammer was being applied to [...]
The Lucky One
by Emily Azur 08/16/2010Neighborhood: Lower Manhattan, Manhattan
I celebrated my 60th birthday and my 25-year job anniversary the same year my employer accepted billions of TARP money. And then, on a bright July morning, I was laid off. I could pretend that it was because business was changing, as the notice letter said, or that there was a need to make more [...]
A Fan’s Statistics
by JB McGeever 03/15/2008Neighborhood: Jamaica, Queens
Two times per year the New York State English Regents Exam visits the high schools of our fair city, four comprehensive essays over a period of two days, and this January’s results are in. In my building, preparation for the exam begins in the ninth grade and continues right until the students enter class to [...]
Brookti & Me: 3 Years On
by Betsy Berne 02/10/2008Neighborhood: Tribeca
[For earlier Brookti & Me, check here and here . --eds.] ** I’ve been reading a lot recently about our new “post-racial” world, where we have “transcended race,” where a black man is running for president and white people are actually voting for him. I’m wondering, if we have transcended race so successfully, why are [...]
I Am Not a Crook!
by Joseph Scalia 02/10/2008Neighborhood: Brooklyn
It was Richard M. Nixon who said it best when he uttered those immortal words: “I am not a crook!” For the record, he also said, “I have never been a quitter,” just before he resigned the presidency back in 1973. So go figure. I have always thought of crooks as cartoon burglars wearing Lone [...]
Nature, or: Having Dinner with Four Men on a Saturday in February
by Kate Hall aka mistress x 06/01/2006Neighborhood: West Village
They are like a set of bees fighting over a flower. The waitress waits as long as she can before taking our orders because she knows there is an order to everything, that I was the sort of homecoming queen who slept with half the football team before a Saturday night game. Used as I [...]
Memoirs of the Kerry Administration
by Thomas Beller 11/04/2004Neighborhood: Uncategorized
A friend of mine had a screaming fight with his father a couple of weeks before the election. The subject of the fight was politics. The father supported Bush. The son supported Kerry. The fight was heated, and eventually the son slammed down the receiver. He hung up on his father. Days passed. The phone [...]
The G.O.P Comes to Town. Town says…
by Thomas Beller 09/16/2004Neighborhood: Manhattan
A protestor on 7th Avenue holds a black "W" death pig. This pro-Bush demonstrator standing on the corner of 33rd and 7th Avenue shouted, "You traitors don’t love your country." Wave after wave of protestors shouted him down; he withdrew after an hour. A group of 20 or so Republicans stood behind a police barricade [...]
A Day with the Delegates from Texas
by Debbie Nathan 09/10/2004Neighborhood: Midtown
I’m a long time Texan currently living in New York City, and I recently spent some time in the company of the Lone Star delegation, when they came to New York for the Republican National Convention. Most were esconced at the New York Hilton on 53rd and Sixth Avenue—“Avvnoo of the Amuricas,” as the delegates [...]
Going to Washington D.C.
by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh 04/21/2003Neighborhood: Midtown
Day 24. Widespread looting in Baghdad. I had been gearing up for three weeks for the antiwar demonstration in D.C., but as it approached I became uncomfortably aware of several things. First of all, none of my friends were going, in fact, most had not even heard about the demonstration. Secondly, I did not like [...]
