You are currently viewing the stories for April, 2012

A Longer Walk

by 04/20/2012
Neighborhood: All Over, Upper West Side

For twenty-one years I walked the same beat on Manhattan’s Upper West Side – from my apt on West 86th Street to my office on West 64th. I have lived in the same apartment for thirty-two years and have worked in the same office for twenty-one. I am a person who likes security and whose […]

The Wild Turkeys Of Staten Island University Hospital

by 04/17/2012
Neighborhood: Staten Island

Wild turkeys roam the grounds of Staten Island University Hospital. When my mother was hospitalized in April 2011 with a respiratory infection, I had the opportunity to observe them in detail. Turkeys stand around a lot, sort of like escaped mental patients who suddenly find themselves free, but then what. One day, they might be […]

As Elevators Shrink

by 04/16/2012
Neighborhood: Flushing, Pomonok

When had the elevator gotten so small? When I was ten and living on the top floor of a building in the New York City Housing Project called Pomonok — a word the Algonquin Indians used for Long Island — I dreamed of stabling my horse in that elevator. The fantasy of actually having my […]

In The Living Room Of The Beggar

by 04/13/2012
Neighborhood: Brighton Beach

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 […]

I Would Have Wasted Those Thirty Dollars

by 04/06/2012
Neighborhood: Bedford-Stuyvesant

There is a siren screaming past outside my apartment but it has nothing to do with me. My roommate is in his room and I wonder what he is doing. I want him to come out so I can ask him what he is doing. But if he did come out I wouldn’t be able […]

Any Kid In The City

by 04/06/2012
Neighborhood: Flushing

The students enter the building through a side door, where they promptly submit backpacks and any other personal items to the NYPD safety agent who greets them at the steps. There’s a male agent for the boys, a female for the girls. Everyone is scanned for weapons, cell phones and drugs upon entering the building. […]

From Howard Beach To An Ashram; A Mafia Journey

by 04/06/2012
Neighborhood: 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 […]