Celebrating Community
Samantha VanAlstyne, 25, can now list “published author” on her resume as she continues to juggle life and college during an ongoing pandemic. Earlier this year, she self-published “Hi, I’m Sam,” which details her journey with cerebral palsy and learning self-acceptance. “The whole thing started as a conversation with my niece who’s seven,” said VanAlstyne, further explaining that she is […]
I wrote an article on E. Rossi & Company in Little Italy, NYC for the Red Hook Star Revue a while ago. Sometime later, I received an email from someone who’d read the article and felt strongly enough to write to me about it. That person, Janice Aubrey, told me that when her mother visited NYC, she used to go […]
BloomAgainBklyn – a community-based, non-profit organization that repurposes unsold and once-used flowers into new arrangements – has been operating non-stop throughout the pandemic. Volunteers have upcycled fresh flowers destined for the solid waste stream, made them into new arrangements, and delivered them to frontline workers and vulnerable populations. “Some of the nursing homes that we deliver to weekly or twice-weekly […]
As the Red Hook Star-Revue reported last month, French company Grain de Sail’s modern cargo sailboat finally docked in the Brooklyn Bridge Park marina in mid-May. The sailboat and its four crew members left Saint-Malo, France, on April 16 to embark on a three-month-long Transatlantic voyage that would make stops in New York and the Dominican Republic. The vessel is […]
A bald eagle in the (now former) UPS gravel pit next to Valentino Pier. The eagle looked a little rough around the edges. Hope it is ok. Though you might appreciate the sighting photos. If it turns out they are helpful to you, I can send the high res versions.
One can debate the justice, or the lack thereof, of the rapid fade of Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, based upon allegations that, 20 years ago, he engaged in acts which, if proven, would constitute the crime of “forcible touching,” a Class-A misdemeanor, which would carry a penalty of up to a year in prison, if the statute of limitations hadn’t […]
H.H. German, founder of Sigma Comics, whose family emigrated from the Dominican Republic, has said that comic books were not only key to helping him learn English, but also inspired him to overcome bullying in his tough Northern Bronx (Pelham Bay) neighborhood in the 80s. H.H. German’s Here Comes CALICO is a series that introduces “CALICO,” NYC’s newest anti-hero, who […]
Don’t be surprised to see a sailboat docked near the Brooklyn Bridge this May while NYC Ferries travel in either direction. What makes French company Grain de Sail’s 50-ton, modern cargo sailboat special is that it is powered by the wind – marking the emergence of a green logistics chain that relies on renewable resources instead of fossil fuels. The […]
In 1965 I graduated from St. Augustine High School, on Park Place in the Slope, an all-boys slaughter mill run by the Catholic Diocese. There were only 157 “Lancers” in my class and a few years later, the school closed down. We called ourselves Lancers because the school emblem was a knight with a huge lance. I always imagined it […]
When genre-bending musician Lil Nas X debuted his single Montero (Call Me by Your Name) in March 2021, no one could have predicted its accompanying video, nor the outrage that would quickly follow. When the music video debuted, the reaction was reminiscent of early 2000’s pop culture shock –– Janet Jackson’s nipple gate at the 2004 Super Bowl, or more […]