Where Am I?
You are currently browsing stories tagged with The Politics of…
In The Living Room Of The Beggar
by Glora Manuilova 04/13/2012Neighborhood: Brighton Beach, Featured
He sat sprawled on the furthest side of the Q train, nose plumped with alcohol and ears flushed a chili-pepper red -- laughing so hard his breath left two giant spheres of fog on the window. The rest of us were bunched on the other side, in an attempt to escape the stench of human [...]
From Howard Beach To An Ashram; A Mafia Journey
by eugene baron 04/06/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Howard's Beach
All names in this story have been changed. It is not every day that one visits an Ashram for yoga and encounters a “retired” Mafia soldier, adrift there because of illness and poverty. From my end, I envisioned a documentary film covering his faded world; however, for his own security - though the events occurred [...]
Bento Box Bingo
by Ben Yagoda 02/26/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Lower East Side
Many things are curated in this day and age. Google will happily refer you to “a curated book,” “curated digital apps,” “a curated list of televised soccer games,” a “meticulously curated” fixed-gear bicycle boutique in Paris, and “a curated set of grooming products.” A curated door, such as can be found at 27 Ludlow Street [...]
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 [...]
Looking For Lady Gaga
by Josh Gilbert 01/04/2012Neighborhood: Featured, Midtown
A Barney's window display of Lady Gaga's work has legendary multi-media performance artist Colette's notorious creations written all over it. Colette, whose seminal performance art and multi-media installations originated out of New York City's vibrant art scene in the 1970's has traveled to museums and galleries all over the world; including the Guggenheim; MOMA; and [...]
Gratuity
by Robin Kilmer 12/30/2011Neighborhood: West Village
Everyone thinks the French are so cute. But I’m a waitress, so I know better. I deal with plenty of tourists. I don’t mind them while they’re at the restaurant and I do my best to decipher their accents and answer their questions—though I do draw a blank when they ask me where all the [...]
Lies My Canvasser Told Me
by Mac Barrett 05/01/2011Neighborhood: Herald Square, Uncategorized
I support a poor kid whose name I don’t know in a country I don’t remember the name of, somewhere in South America, I think. This happened because I was stopped on the street on my way to meet a friend for dinner at a nice restaurant, singled out from the after-work stream of people [...]
69 Years After
by Debbie Nathan 03/24/2011Neighborhood: Featured, Greenwich Village, Lower East Side, Uncategorized
In the spring of 1980 I was a cocky new teacher of English as a Second language, fresh from education grad school, with innovative pedagogy that I couldn’t wait to try out on students. My first job in New York was a gem: "Vocational ESL." It was funded by the feds and I'd gone to [...]
Public School Bus(t)
by Molly Oswaks 03/13/2011Neighborhood: Nolita
In the packed playground of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral School, the Friday night social chatter maintains a steady, low-level buzz, as cliquish tribes of girls and boys smoke cigarettes and drink red wine and imported beer from small, plastic cups. One girl wears a floppy, knit cap which, embroidered with a dizzying display of silver [...]
Tupperware with a Twist
by Dorothy Spears 04/28/2003Neighborhood: West Village
All those who believe Tupperware parties have gone the way of Suzy Homemaker may have cause to break out the crinoline. As a party at PROUN space studio has recently demonstrated, Tupperware is alive and glib in the West Village. No longer the exclusive domain of Valium-popping post-WWII housewives, this particular Tupperware party, given by [...]
The Ayatollah of Nueva York
by Debbie Nathan 04/14/2003Neighborhood: Brooklyn, Flatbush
It was late 1979 — high point of the Iranian revolution — and the Immigration and Naturalization Service had just announced its nationwide dragnet. I was teaching ESL at Brooklyn College and had just confiscated the vocabulary test of one of the eighteen Iranian Jews in my beginners class. Cheating had increased since the INS [...]
Take Your Pick: A Rally or a Movie Today?
by Vivian Barsanti 03/03/2003Neighborhood: Midtown
On Saturday, February 15th, I woke up at my usual time, and as I pattered around the apartment, I glanced out of my window to check the weather. It was bleak, only twenty-five degrees, with blistering winds, and on 47th Street there were at least twenty police vehicles lining the sidewalks. I started to pick [...]
