New York City

Manhattan’s Chinatown Struggles for Survival

Beth Kaiserman

Despite the seemingly endless array of purse, jewelry and clothing salesmen in Manhattan’s Chinatown, longtime businesses are struggling to make it with increasing rents and lack of loyal clientele. With other Chinatowns in Brooklyn and Queens, Chinatown’s survival in Manhattan is in question. Many Fouzhon immigrants are living in places like Sunset Park and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn and Jackson Heights and Flushing in Queens, where they can have a taste of home and pay a lot less rent. 

At the United Nations, Unfair Work Practices for Interns

Stephanie Stark

Interns, required to have at least a Bachelor’s degree and preferably a Master’s, are expected to work at least 40 hours a week for two to six months. All legal, travel and housing necessities are to be paid by the interns. If they want to be based out of the United States, it will be in New York City, the most expensive city in the U.S. and top 10 most expensive in the world. Medical insurance, which is required, must also be paid by the interns themselves. 

Invasion of the Italian Futurists

Sandra Bertrand

Judging by their 1909 manifesto, the Italian Futurists were a violent lot.  They called for nothing less than the destruction of museums, libraries and feminism.  They intended to “glorify war, the only hygiene of the world,” and to “sing to the love of danger.”  If their manifestos fell a little flat, their creative endeavors were all-encompassing, reconstructing painting, sculpture, architecture, fashion and even performance to such an extent that we would never look at the world in quite the same way again.

Manhattan’s Lower East Side: Land of Delicious Diversity

Beth Kaiserman

When touring guests around New York City, one usually hopes to spend ample time outside the hectic hoopla of Times Square, Midtown and Union Square. Food people know that the best stuff lies in the outskirts, and though it can still be difficult getting get people “all the way” to Brooklyn, most tourists will at least take a trip to the Lower East Side, just across the bridge from Brooklyn but still in Manhattan’s borders.

How New York City Embraced the Chocolate Revolution

Angelo Franco

In more recent times, however, chocolate buyers have been inundated with new terms and compound words printed on the labels of this much sought-after sweet.   Artisan, single origin, blend, percentage, fair trade, are a few relatively new designations given to chocolate bars found everywhere from supermarket chains to small gourmet shops.  One of the newest of these nomenclatures is bean-to-bar.

Top Literary Cities in the U.S.

Gabriella Tutino

What determines a city as ‘literary?’ It’s not enough to have a large library, unique bookstores, or be the birthplace of a famous writer. Nor is it enough to be one of the top literate cities in the United States  Most literary cities have a strong writing program at one of their numerous colleges and universities, as well as bookstores and institutions hosting event after event. If anything, a literary city is a blend of the historical, cultural, and modern parts of literature, encouraging and inspiring future generations to appreciate and take part in the literary world.

Wherefore Art Thou, Bohemia?

John McGovern

If living the bohemian lifestyle is about creating, than it would be reductive to dismiss the crusty guy selling newspaper clip art outside of Prospect Park on principle. Dismiss him for making crappy art, sure. True, Hemingway and Baldwin probably benefited from the community of artists that they interacted with, but Emily Dickinson never left her room. Where you are might not hurt, but it might not help much either. What you do matters more. 

Celebrating Women in Design at MoMA

Sandra Bertrand

“Designing Modern Women 1890-1990,” The Museum of Modern Art’s current exhibit from their third floor design department, begs the question of what came first—the chicken or the egg.  Is modern woman an independent spirit, totally responsible for her own evolution?  Or is she a willing, sometimes unwitting product of the collective consciousness?  Defining not only who she is but what drives her is a question that has inspired and intrigued designers the world over, and MOMA has gathered some of the most talented interpreters over the last century who took on the challenge.  

Strength in Independence: The Strokes and The National

Sandra Canosa

A dozen years later, the roles aren’t exactly reversed, but the tunes have changed. In the spring of 2013, both bands released new and much-anticipated albums – the Strokes’ fifth, Comedown Machine, and the National’s sixth, Trouble Will Find Me. In terms of sheer numbers alone, the National outsold their former clubmates nearly 2-to-1 in their first week. Trouble Will Find Me popped up on Best of the Year lists from Pitchfork, Stereogum, and Rolling Stone and is nominated for a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. 

Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the New New York

Sandra Canosa

Once a sea of working factories, then a deserted and crime-ridden no-man’s land, Williamsburg at the turn of the 21st century became a budding haven for New York City’s proverbial struggling-artist types for its cheap rents and quick access to the creative haven of lower Manhattan. A rapid decade and change of gentrification, though, has turned the neighborhood into a coveted – and expensive – place to live, as well as a checkbox on any New York tourist’s bucket list.

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