Author Archives: Admin
Arts-based Activism at Loisaida Aims to Stop “Harmful” Changes to the Lower East Side
By Lisseth Aguilar Spectrum staff Walking down a stretch of Third Avenue on the Lower East Side, the street scenes transform from those of people wining-and-dining at outdoor cafes to community gardens smack in the middle of blocks of sometimes rundown apartment buildings and homeless people camped out on the sidewalk. Persons with less money […]
Rhythm and Rhyme at Nuyorican Poets Cafe
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdDFmFe-7dI[/youtube] Video by Melissa Denizard
Playing Balling, Building Life Skills at West 4th Street Court
By Amoz Lewi Spectrum Staff [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2me5MtW9a8[/youtube] By Amoz Lewi Spectrum staff For B-ballers like Jayquan Booker and Angelo LaRoche—regulars on the fenced-in basketball court at the corner of West 4th Street and 6th Avenue, a spot famous to many New Yorkers who love community basketball—their sport isn’t just about scoring points. Basketball “is one of […]
“Girls Justice” Conferees Consider What’s Behind Juvenile Female Crime
By Vanessa Osei Spectrum staff [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB60be_o13Q[/youtube] Michelle Diaz had been “used and manipulated by an older man” when she was in seventh grade. The abuse was hard for her to handle, mentally and emotionally. Her response to the abuse was to run away, to stay out late at night and to disobey the rules her […]
“The Door” Opens to Low-income Teen Workers
By Mohammed Diallo Spectrum staff Marcus Bruno, 17, is part of a household of four that struggles financially. “You know my family isn’t in the best position right now and I want to start helping out … and I have a younger sibling in my family that I can take care of,” Bruno said. That’s […]
Getting Physical: a Vinyl Records Resurrection
By Avery Kim Spectrum staff [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVuFnqJi1d4[/youtube]By the time he got a job selling vinyl at A1 Records in lower Manhattan, Josh Burns had spent 20 years hanging out at that East Village music hotspot, with its vinyl album-covered walls. He knows A1’s longtime regulars and the new, young collectors who “oftentimes are not really sure […]
A Guy in Gal’s Clothes “Shatters the Glass Floor”
By Hezekiah Ortiz Spectrum staff [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nasamYmHy3A[/youtube]That recent summer afternoon, Nick Fazzino, 21, was decked out in leopard print loafers, toting a Louis Vuitton pocketbook and, on his left hand, sporting a Tiffany ring shaped like a unicorn. His nails were glossy with a French-manicure. His face was done up in Chanel Foundation No. 40. If […]
Comfort Food: “God’s Love” Gives Meals to Thousands of Sick People
By Jisu Choi Spectrum staff God’s Love We Deliver, a non-profit organization that cooks and delivers meals to the sick, started in 1985, when Ganga Stone brought food to an AIDS patient. That one act of kindness turned into many more just like it. Volunteer Chuck Piekarski‘s last name means “baker” in Polish. He’s been […]
Jewelry that Connects Cultures
By Alexis Davis Spectrum staff When Alzerina Gomes was 20 years old and scrubbing toilets in a French flat, her employer—a woman who, at the time, was a Swarovski crystal creative director—asked her a question. “Do you model?” said Gomes, 44, founder of Alzerina jewelry, sitting in her Upper East Side apartment and remembering what […]
A Year After Deadly 2nd Avenue Explosion, Merchants Still Feel Effects
By Alexa-Jada Nelson Spectrum staff Business co-owner Suzanne Levinson considers herself lucky. While several businesses were forced to shut down after a deadly gas explosion on the Lower East Side a year ago, Levinson and her business partner, Omer Shorshi, managed to relocate Pommes Frites to MacDougal Street in one of the busiest parts of […]
Dog Pee Kills Trees (Really)
By Karoline Xiong Spectrum staff So, you think dog urine is top-grade tree fertilizer? Huh? Think again. Dog pee’s a killer. Dog urine taints soil and, thereby, the stuff that grows from the soil in a couple a ways, said Sam Bishop, 37, education director and arborist for Trees New York. “It’s either nitrates in […]
Natural Hair Care Product Industry Grows as Itty-bitty Afros, Locs, Et Cetera Gain Popularity
By Dieynaba Dieng Spectrum staff [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jn7oM9zylI[/youtube] Additional Camera: Avery Kim By the time Tracy Brown walked into Miss Jessie’s salon in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood five years ago, she’d had enough of her dry, damaged, chemically over-processed black woman’s hair. So, she did “the big chop.” “I couldn’t take it anymore,” said Brown, whose currently […]
Ginger, Black Sesame and Other Asian Accents at Chinatown Ice Cream Factory
By Azure Gao Spectrum staff Tourist Chrissy Carroll, 51, strayed from her Weight Watchers routine—she’s dropped 35 pounds—after seeing a stranger savor some lychee-flavored frozen goodness from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. “I’m breaking my diet for this, but it’s completely worth it. I’m totally loving it. It’s so creamy,” Carroll said of the pistachio-flavored cold […]
Courses Give High Schoolers a NYU Preview
By Somaya Bracy Spectrum staff Minutes before her last creative writing class, Leelu Ravi, 15, was sipping coffee and raving about what she’d learned during a whirlwind week of instruction at New York University. “You learn a lot,” said Ravi, of suburban Westchester County, north of New York City. “I now feel more ready for […]
Showing Foster Kids and Justice-Involved Youth Their Possibilities
By Bri’a Smalls Spectrum staff The main lesson that Niquana Clark learned during her years as a client of a Chelsea-based organization serving, among others, youth who’ve been in foster care and those who’ve been incarcerated, is that she didn’t have to keep her private story a secret. “Up until I came into the Possibility […]
How One Church Draws Younger Parishioners
By Sophia Segarra Spectrum staff By several measures, Hillsong church is atypical. There’s a band—playing Christian music infused with country, rock and other genres—instead of hymnals and a robed choir. Ripped up jeans, Converse, and crop tops are permitted here. Instead of a pulpit, there’s a stage lit in multi-colored beams. “I feel like other […]
Fall ’16 Freshman Class Sets Diversity Record
By Melissa Denizard Spectrum staff As he applied last year to New York University, 18-year-old Justin Hernandez doubted he’d get enough money to pay for that $75,000-a-year education. “‘Screw it. I probably won’t get any financial aid, but I’ll try,’” said Hernandez, a Latino whose mother is a cafeteria worker and whose father is a […]
Local Bakery Keeps Sicilian Legacy Alive
By Anaya White Spectrum staff Whatever you do, said Robert Zerilli, 54, cautioning this reporter, don’t casually refer to the establishment his great-uncle opened in1894 as just another bakery. “It’s pa-STEECH-a-ri-a … pa-STEECH … like ‘teach,’ ” Zerilli said, as he explained how Veniero Pasticceria got its start and how it tries to stay authentically […]
Ever-rising Rents Drive Longtime, Lower-income Residents from Lower Manhattan
By Justin Chae Spectrum staff [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fBp7ptCKNM[/youtube] Additional footage and camera: Avery Kim More than 6,000 Chinese and Chinese American residents left historic Chinatown between 1990 and 2010—many of them because rents have risen faster than their salaries. In the neighboring Lower East Side, rising rents have caused similar changes. “The Latino population has gone down […]
Proposals to Further Restrict Hookah Use Angers Hookah Bar Owner
By Kaanita Iyer Spectrum Staff Two years after New York City officials cited13 hookah bars, including seven in the East Village, for selling hookah illegally laced with tobacco, two city council members have proposed further restricting what hookah bars can sell and to whom they may sell it. The legislation would increase from 18 to […]