You are currently viewing the stories for February, 2013
Zone A
by Tom Diriwachter 02/27/2013Neighborhood: Staten Island
Hurricane Irene bared down on the East Coast, while my mother was in the Vent Unit of Staten Island University Hospital, on a respirator and recovering from her second abdominal surgery. Located in South Beach, designated Zone A, the hospital faced mandatory evacuation. A team of medical personnel, including her surgeon, the Director of the […]
Found in Transit
by Joelle Berger 02/09/2013Neighborhood: All Over, Grand Central Station, Union Square
A woman once offered me her seat on a rush hour 3 train. New Yorkers only donate seats to the elderly, the injured, and the pregnant, so it was obvious what she thought. “Not pregnant – just fat,” I told her, matter-of-factly, compelled to set precedent before this woman’s so-called generosity spawned an outbreak of […]
At Home on the Church Steps
by Mindy Lewis 02/08/2013Neighborhood: Upper West Side
On a blustery December evening on my way to a friend’s dinner party, I stopped in front of a jumbo cardboard box on the steps of the church around the corner. “Jim?” I called out. A moment later a hand emerged and gave a little wave, followed by a head with tousled, graying hair. “Hi,” […]
A Comparative Analysis of the Heroic Exploits of Antarctic Explorer Ernest Shackleton and Downtown Resident Brent Shearer During The Five-Night “Sandy” Blackout
by Brent Shearer 02/07/2013Neighborhood: Lower East Side, Tribeca
October 1915 – Shackleton’s ship the Endurance crushed by ice after drifting for nine months. October 28, 2012 – 7:30 pm: Shearer hikes two blocks from residence at 90 Hudson St., #6B, to Hudson River with stated goal of checking out storm surge and keeping feet dry. Forced to wade through three feet of water […]
Ellis Island
by Robert Viscusi 02/03/2013Neighborhood: Ellis Island
The following sonnets are excerpted from Robert Viscusi’s forthcoming book, Ellis Island, which will be published in March 2013 by Bordighera Press. Random arrangements of lines from the 624 sonnets that comprise this epic work can be discovered via the Random Sonnet Generator at ellisislandpoem.com. This is the first time these poems have appeared as written […]
From Ditmars Blvd. (the Last Stop)
by Abigail Frankfurt 02/03/2013Neighborhood: Astoria
N train I’ve given you all and now I’m nothing. N train, two dollars and twenty-five cents. N train; go fuck yourself with your Sunday Schedule. N train you are making me lose my mind. You will never be angelic N train, 40 minutes to Queensboro Plaza! N train you are full of excuses. We […]
Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood Reading Series Returns!!!
by Connor Gaudet 02/03/2013Neighborhood: Lower East Side, Manhattan, News
Thanks to the valiant efforts of Neighborhood contributor, Rob Williams, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood Reading Series is back in the Lower East Side! The monthly reading series will premiere this month at 7 PM, Thursday, February 21 at Dixon Place – 161 Chrystie St (between Rivington and Delancey), and be on the third Thursday of every […]
Non-Fiction Poetry
by Connor Gaudet 02/03/2013Neighborhood: All Over, Red Hook
Okay, I admit it. I once wrote and recorded a full-length country album. I know, I know – it was a foolish thing to do, but it got me thinking about the nature of non-fiction. The album was arranged as timeline – a chronology of mental and emotional events that took place over a period […]