You are currently viewing the stories for November, 2002
Bjork Brawl
by Thomas Beller 11/15/2002Neighborhood: Chelsea
A glass came flying through the air and smashed against the wall behind me. It appeared to be aimed at the DJ, a guy with a thin black mustache and scraggly black hair down to his shoulders, who was standing next to me at the end of the bar. The guy who threw it was […]
Composer’s Haven
by Charles Waters 11/15/2002Neighborhood: Midtown
My first job in Midtown Manhattan was as a clerical assistant in a large law firm on Fifth Avenue. It’s the building of the beast with the illuminated neon red 666 emblazoned across the top of the structure. It wasn’t glamorous work, but I made the best of my surroundings by exploring the neighborhood during […]
The Jumper
by Manny Howard 11/15/2002Neighborhood: Manhattan
Illustrations by Elisha Cooper I recently spent an afternoon watching a guy entertaining three of New York’s finest on the eastern parapet of the Brooklyn Bridge. He was wearing what looked like a green track suit. “Jumper!” the call went up in the office. The view here is extraordinary: the Brooklyn Bridge, the World Trade […]
58 Inches of ambiance
by Heather Beyer 11/14/2002Neighborhood: Manhattan
I choose what I’m wearing carefully on Tuesdays. I like to show a little midriff, some shoulder. In a bar, before I play, I look around and notice other people’s midriffs and shoulders. I look at the curve of bodies bending across tables and feel my own. I want to laugh the throaty laugh of […]
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 […]
600 Schools
by Stan Banos 11/14/2002Neighborhood: East Harlem
The average Special Education teacher’s career lasts a grand total of approximately two years. It’s the one fact I remember on the road to my Master’s Degree. Actually, remember two. I also remember that teaching in the inner city is the second most stressful job in these United States, next to being an inner city […]
Pick-up of a Dancer
by Jill Emerson 11/11/2002Neighborhood: Manhattan
“Excuse me, are you from Denmark?” What a line. Yeah, I decide, he looks a little slick, but he’s safe enough. “From Iowa! But what are you doing in the city?” He knows he is charming. He is fortyish, but has smooth brown skin, a Latin accent, and white linen shoes. White linen shoes in […]
Schvitzing
by Vanessa Melter-Ahern 11/11/2002Neighborhood: East Village
illustrations: Steve Brodner; Since 1892 New Yorkers have been flocking to The Tenth Street Bath on 10th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A to shvitz, to sweat out the gunk that clogs the pores and clouds the spirit. In the city, we have a fine selection of toxins to choose from: subway juice (that […]
Sad Song Scenarios Part One
by Jeff Johnson and Hunter Kennedy 11/08/2002Neighborhood: Uncategorized
There are some songs that if heard in the right situation might push you to the brink of something horrid. Some of these situations are real, some are fiction. D.C. Berman: “Rain” by Blind Melon, through the ceiling of a Married Student Housing apartment while you’re bidding for ’70s cereal boxes on eBay against a […]
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, […]
The Doormen Watching Over Me
by Meredith Boylan 11/07/2002Neighborhood: Tudor City
Most of the time, I find that living in a doorman building is like having all the perks of living with my parents, but without any of the frustration. The doormen in my building are wonderful — in the morning, the daytime doorman tells me that I look nice and then orders me to have […]
Snapshots
by Joshua M. Bernstein 11/04/2002Neighborhood: Across the River, Brooklyn
Angela and I stopped to investigate the South Williamsburg street. We lived in Queens (not together, mind you – the sexual need between this former cheerleader and me had long since expired) and were exploring a new locale. Neighborhood pride and a grass-isn’t-greener mentality often create a chasm between boroughs, but we’d scoured most of […]