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Veselka. It’s the Ukrainian restaurant on the corner of Ninth and Second Avenue – the one with sunflowers imprinted on the pavement leading up to its door and the unending line of people huddled under the glass window decals (which read, “OUR HEARTS BEAT FOR UKRAINE,” “VESELKA IS LOVE,” and “PEACE TODAY, PIEROGI TOMORROW”). Its […]
Features
A Prayer for Magdalena, and Our Block: This is not a journey to the Balkans. But Astoria is the next-best-thing.
We are playing “the Balkan game.” It’s 7 p.m. and Selo has Oliver Dragojević on, musical hero of the Balkans, while bottles of moonshine rakija clink as they pour. And yet, the restaurant Selo is quiet enough that our presence in Astoria, Queens, is, with a few stares, decidedly announced. My friend Šime Luznik, a […]
The Best to Worst Cat Cafés for College Students
As seen on TikTok, cat cafés are trending in NYC. But what are they, exactly? You would think that they would be cafés you could bring your cat to and have coffee with them, but I had to discover for myself that that’s not quite the way it works. Cat cafés can have a built-in […]
Lowbrow comedy deserves lowbrow camerawork
In Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David’s problems are often measured in piles of money, or manifested in ways that they can only manifest for the comically rich. But the motives and dilemmas behind these problems are by equal turns petty, banal, and relatable. When Larry checks out of his Manhattan hotel on an HBO-sponsored trip, […]
Following chess addicts home
At the Chess Forum store in Greenwich Village, manager Imad Khachan has squeezed twelve chess tables in a narrow annex that burrows into the block like a rogue finger. In this annex sits twenty-four chess players of all stages of life — from young adult to maybe-they’re-a-grandparent-but-maybe-they’re-not. Five of the players are women, which far […]
Washington Square Park-ers think these fashion trends need to go.
Wake up, New York City: it’s Fashion Week once again. Cue all the newest (and craziest) fall and winter trends as they take to the Manhattan runways. Fashion Week officially kicked off on Friday, and will conclude in New York on February 14, before rolling out in London, Milan and Paris throughout the month and […]
From Catwalk to Cause: The story of Julie Anderson’s “Feminine Collective”
This is the story of Julie Anderson, a supermodel and the creator of Feminine Collective, a place for women to share their stories as the antithesis of what mainstream media offers women today. The story delves deep into Julie’s childhood and career, and how she established Feminine Collective from her experience.
Virtual Youtubers (and their Fan Games) Are on the Rise
It started with a Reddit post on the sub-community for Hololive Production, the Japanese Virtual Youtuber agency. At the time, Larry Zhao was still a budding game developer, and was posting about what he thought might be the right fighting move set for his favorite VTuber, Hoshimachi Suisei, when he was contacted by another Reddit […]
Broken Promises: The Habitat of Humanity of Westchester Dispute Over Veteran Housing
In the heart of Yonkers, N.Y., Ivan Arroyo, a dedicated veteran, found himself entangled in a web of unfulfilled promises. The narrative of Arroyo, who since the 1980s had lived in public housing, unfolds as a poignant example of hope turned sour. Initially celebrated in the media as a triumphant step towards homeownership, his journey […]
Is the Answer to Loneliness in New York City Picking Up a Book?
On a cold Saturday in December, in a Meatpacking District loft, loneliness was a common topic of conversation among the young women who attended the meeting of the Village Fairy Book Club. They agreed that New York, despite being a city of 8.5 million people, is a notoriously lonely place. “It’s been so hit or […]