You are currently viewing the stories for November, 2001
The Utter Arbitrariness of Cordons
by H. Fenby 11/29/2001Neighborhood: Tribeca
On September 11th, I stood at Washington and North Moore for six or seven hours, near a triage center, waiting for all the lined-up ambulances and fire engines to be given the all-clear to go in. We waited for the injured to come for care and comfort. All the ripped-open bandages, makeshift guerneys, stacks of […]
Breathing in the Dead
by Peggy Gormley 11/27/2001Neighborhood: Brooklyn, Williamsburg
On Friday September 28th, just after the sun had gone down, the remaining glow of the day was fighting the oncoming storm clouds moving in from the southwest over Jersey. The day had been gloomy and the light had been pearly gray throughout the afternoon. The air was cool and summer was clearly over. Coming […]
“The Burning Wall” at Film Forum, Through December 3rd
by Thomas Beller 11/26/2001Neighborhood: Manhattan
“The Burning Wall” is playing at Film Forum This documentary film is worth seeing on the grounds that: a) It’s an intense, enthralling movie and I think you’ll enjoy it. b) The story of a state becoming obsessed with the enemy within has some resonance in our current political climate. c) The film maker is […]
Back Then
by Gretchen Griffin 11/24/2001Neighborhood: World Trade Center
Some South Jersey friends and I have a Christmas evening tradition of ditching our families and meeting for drinks in a dive near Atlantic City. There was a time when most of us lived in New York, but we’ve since scattered, some further afield and others, like my friend Paul, back to NJ. This year […]
Diana and Maddy
by Zachary Levin 11/24/2001Neighborhood: On the Waterfront
I often walk down the asphalt path that runs the length of Manhattan, on the shore of the Hudson River, hoping to see Diana. When I was with her things were not so pleasant. She smelled awful, and she sapped my energy, working me all night long and half the day. For the fourteen weeks […]
Defacing Britney
by Will Becton and Stephen Hoban 11/21/2001Neighborhood: All Over, Multiple
Williamsburg residents Will Becton and Stephen Hoban spent much of November, 2001, riding the New York City subway system, recording the many ways in which other New Yorkers have chosen to deface the Britney Spears posters that for nearly a month were ubiquitous on subway platforms. In their first five outings, Stephen and Will collected […]
Scaffolding
by Said Shirazi 11/21/2001Neighborhood: Greenwich Village
Lately when I go for a walk I make a vow not to walk under any scaffolding, in protest of there being so much of it these days. Two minutes later I realize I’m walking under scaffolding. One day I stopped and looked at the scaffolding around the NYU tower at East 8th Street and […]
Forever Everyday: A Diamond Dealer’s Diary, Parts 4 and 5
by peter nolan smith 11/17/2001Neighborhood: Midtown
Part V. After I made a sandwich at my desk, Richie Boy grabbed a slice of salami. Our sharing more than food throughout our twenty-year friendship didn’t deter my protests against his poaching. “I see you have no shame in being a schnorrer!” “Only cause I learn from the best.” Richie Boy popped the peppery […]
Even Love’s a Possibility
by Ted Straif 11/16/2001Neighborhood: SoHo
First dates are about inventing a new language, minute by minute. Smoking is the first level of communication. The realm of intergender semaphore is entirely bottlenecked through nicotine. If there’s no smoking then the glances, brushed hair, knuckle touching can reach comedy. Push the date even further and meet in a restaraunt in Nolita, the […]
A Brief History of Tragedy
by Victoria Reggio 11/16/2001Neighborhood: All Over, Multiple
I was in Sister Mary Evangelista’s fourth grade class when Mother John entered the room during our math lesson. We stood and were about to greet her with our usual, “Good morning, Mother,” when with her Irish brogue, she abruptly instructed us to sit down. She whispered in our teacher’s ear. Sister Mary Evangelista’s eyes […]
Sign Language
by Seth Harkness 11/16/2001Neighborhood: Clinton
Paul Williams considers it is a blessing that he was once a squeegee man. Not because he enjoyed the work — he didn’t — but because it was only through being a squeegee man that he became a cardboard man, and on that he has built a life. Ten years ago, Paul was that familiar, […]
The Island of Dog Years
by Kirsty McDonald 11/16/2001Neighborhood: All Over, Letter From Abroad
Brisbane. I was back. I had enjoyed three eventful years in downtown Manhattan before deciding to spend the last months of 2001 on hiatus with my parents in Brisbane, Australia. Since moving to New York in 1998, I’d joked with friends at home that it was the Island of Dog Years — every four weeks […]