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It was a gloomy Friday in April and, for the first time, I entered the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. I was dressed in typical journalist fashion, wearing black trousers, a modest top and brown blazer — a contrast to the traditional garments worn in this tight-knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. I was there to meet […]
The Word
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 […]
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 […]
NYU Steinhardt debuts first opera on Iris Cantor stage
NYU Steinhardt’s vocal performance program premieres its first opera in the new Iris Cantor Theatre with Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” “It’s a great Christmas show that is different from shows like ‘The Nutcracker,’ but it is still very festive. I believe it will rejuvenate people’s joy for the holiday season,” states […]
A Lifelong Fight: Navy Veteran Alex Miller’s Journey through War, Homelessness, and Trauma
Alex Miller recognizes that he has beat the odds. “Statistics aren’t on any of our sides,” said the 37-year-old U.S. Navy veteran turned New York writer. “Most Black people sink to the bottom. I don’t know how many actually make it out.” For most of his life, Miller fought to escape the destructive effects of […]
Is a landmark truly a landmark in NYC?
The Empire State Building. Grand Central Terminal. The Chrysler Building. These may come to mind when thinking about New York City’s landmarks. But there are nearly 38,000 others across the city — the highest number of city landmarks in the United States. What is a landmark in NYC? In New York City, the Landmarks Preservation […]
Around the Boroughs in 26.2 Miles: On the holiness of Marathon Sunday in New York.
First came the runners, and then, the conch. Baby pink, its belly was glued to the mouth of a man procuring the seashell’s dull “wooooo.” Already, people smashed sticks against cowbells. A little girl wore a purple bow in her ponytail and waved silver pom-poms over the barricade. At 9:51 a.m., the leaders of the […]
Nonprofit celebrates Italian American culture all year long, not just on Columbus Day
A fanfare, a way to take pride in something, a communal gathering — the annual Columbus Day Parade means many things to many people. Tens of thousands of people from 100 groups participated in the event, which is in its 79th year, as a million more looked on from the sidelines, once again establishing itself as the […]
The Hidden Hunger of Transgender Men
On a hazy morning in April, Daniel-José Cyan, a 26-year-old from the Bronx, opens his deserted fridge to find a single piece of moldy mozzarella cheese. He holds it up to the light and knowing he had to eat something, against his better judgment, takes a bite. “Even looking in the fridge can cause me […]