Lifestyle & Culture
Tattooing Minors May be Easy, but It’s Illegal
Rebecca Shin walked into a West Village tattoo and piercing parlor and asked to get a piercing. After telling them her age—she was 16 at the time—a worker proceeded to pierce her navel. No one the St. Mark’s Place shop—whose name Shin said she doesn’t remember—asked for her parents’ consent. In New York State, that’s […]
Handed-down Art Brings Henna Designer Earnings and Cultural Pride
The thick paste cascades down skin, leaving a trail. As hours go by, the drying paste turns to a granulated, printed design. That design is known as henna, an art form and body ornament that got its start in the Middle East and North Africa. When Ditiksha Nanavaty was a little girl, her mother […]
Wiccans Defend their Modern Version of Ancient Religious Traditions
On a small patch of grass in Tompkins Square Park, 17 members of the New York City Wiccan Family Temple walked around a red altar, burning incense and chanting. “Circle ‘round the fire to raise a cone of power, to bring what we desire. So mote it be,” they repeated, clapping at the end of […]
LGBTQ Youth: YES Center Encourages Us to Be Ourselves
When Kevin Crespo was growing up in Brooklyn, he got the impression from neighborhood kids and his relatives that boys were expected to be macho. Crespo said he had a hard time meeting that expectation. “I feel like they [think] less of me. Like, I have to prove myself [in] some way, shape or form ” […]
“Dress-up Jesus” Magnets Stir Conversation and Controversy
Robert Hain has made blasphemy his business. When Hain created his first Jesus dress-up doll in the early 1990s, they were made of paper and paired with a slew of paper outfits: A football uniform, bunny slippers, ultra-short denim cutoffs, bellbottom pants. In 2004, Hain turned the paper dolls into purple, fuschia, devil-red and other […]
Chess Camp Aims to Groom Kings and Queens of the Game
Summer signals many things: hot weather, long days, summer vacation, no school and, for some kids, chess lessons. “Having something that he thinks is interesting and that he works hard at develops a sense of reward,” Susan Murray, a New York University professor, said recently at the end of her 6-year-old son’s first day at […]
Despite Glitches and Critics, Citi Bikers Take to the Road
Since Citi Bike rolled out in late May, its campaign to get people pedaling around the city has been criticized for its bike rental prices, its broken bike locks, its consumption of sidewalk and street space and so forth. Despite those complaints, the program also has its fans. “Anything to make getting around the city […]
For Thrifty Shoppers, Resale Stores are a Steal
When Lars Bregonje, 23, heads into a thrift store, he trusts that he’ll luck up on a good find. “If there was something nice you saw three years ago at a retail store that they don’t sell any more, you might stumble upon it at a thrift shop,” said Bregonje, while flipping through a rack […]
When the Heat is On, New Yorkers Try to Keep Cool
The heat wave that hit New York City for six consecutive days in July was brutal. Temperatures topped out at 97 degrees on July 18 and high humidity made it feel much hotter. Despite not being a record-breaking scorcher, New Yorkers still looked for ways to cool off. They opened up fire hydrants–exactly 900 of […]
Love of Africa Reflected in Designers’ Wares
Through the eyes of Ghanian-born and -reared fashion designer Kwabena Ofosu Ware, plain T-shirts and polo shirts look better when embroidered with symbols of West Africa. That belief, personal taste and ancestral pride, he said, are what underlay Quabs Couture, his year-old business. “I started by making the clothing for myself, and then every time […]
“I Felt Trapped In My Old Body”
Born a girl, Jacinto Peter Medina is in the process of becoming a man. This is part of his story, as told to Kiara Ventura, a Spectrum staff writer. I hate the cliché, “feeling trapped in this body.” But that is how I felt as a girl who was supposed to be a boy. I […]
Ancient Jewish Rite-of-Passage Gets Overhaul
A rabbi and bar mitzvah candidate read the Torah. Clerics and scholars at two major Jewish institutions are testing a project aimed at reshaping the bar mitzvah so that is marks more of a beginning than an ending of personal interest in and study of Judaism. Being a graduation “is not what a bar mitzvah […]
Organization Fixes Bikes, Grooms Youth Workers
With loose chains, pedals, bike frames and other tools of her trade hanging above her head, Natalie Feliciano, 21, was fixing a flat tire. “You don’t see a lot of female mechanics,” said Feliciano, who, at 16, started out as an intern at the East Village branch of Recycle-A-Bicycle and stayed put. Her bosses are […]
Washington Square Fountain Doubles As Popular Wading Pool
If you’re walking into Washington Square Park on a hot day, chances are you’ll notice people cooling down in the fountain that is the centerpiece of that 9.75-acre public space. So, is it a scenic fountain, a pool for splashing around or a little bit of both? The Washington Square fountain has the distinction of being […]
After 500 Years, Martial Art Created By Slaves Still Survives
Returning to capoeira, the martial art she practiced as a teen-ager, was Marie Dasilveira’s way of getting closer to Brazil, which is her home country and the place where capoeira was born. Her search was strategic, said Dasilveira, 26, who signed up earlier this year for classes at Capoeira Brasil in Manhattan’s West […]
Restoration Aims to Benefit Historic Church, Community
Parts of Grace Church, which was built of marble in 1808, were crumbling even before the Rev. Donald Waring was hired in 2004 as pastor of the East Village congregation. “The organ,” he said, “had given up the ghost.” That instrument was no longer making the pretty music that had helped make Grace Church a […]
Group Trains LGBTQ Youth To Advocate for Themselves
The stereo was pumping: “You show the lights that stop me … You shine it when I’m alone and so I tell myself that I’ll be strong …” And the youth of FIERCE—with their mohawks, body-piercings, skinny jeans and assorted other signatures of personal style—were dancing to the beat. They sang along with to Ellie […]