PUBLISHED WORK
The Toll Mass Incarceration Takes on Families
In the late 1980s, it was a weekly ritual for my four brothers and I. Something I relished more than playing hide-and-seek, and I loved that game. I sat on my grandmother’s sofa waiting for
The Legacy of the Pandemic
Few aspects of life are untouched by coronavirus and resulting global lockdowns. From an emerging “quarantine state of mind” to a new era of frugality to expanding how we vote, here’s what next. Part of
The Gig Economy
Nelson Gamio gets up at 6:30 a.m. each morning. After putting on his usual t-shirt and jeans, he sits in the chair and laces up his paint-splattered boots. He has just enough time to run
A Gentrified Mind? Ask the Nomad Junkie
A Punk Rock band was an amped backdrop to a riveting poetic monologue that ripped into the air and put gentrification in a 50-minute choke-hold. Gentrified Minds (the NY Horror, Volume 2) is a protest
Apps make sense of social media ‘noise’
Social media is the virtual playground where people create, share and communicate instantaneously, and evolving digital technologies are making sense of all the updates, tweets, check-ins, photos and video uploads, according to a Cornell NYC
If You Build It, Will They Come?
It's not uncommon for withering brown bananas to lay limp on the counter of my local bodega; or for the often-sticky floors to claim the soles of my shoes; or for the shelves to hold
RUINED: Congolese Diamonds in a Rough (a play review)
“The door never closes at Mama’s Place.” Despite the sirens of gunfire and bloodshed taking place in the rainforest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, patrons retreat to Mama’s Place, where they can escape
Put Children Above Politics, Urges Michelle Rhee ’92
Michelle Rhee '92 discusses American education in New York City Feb. 5. Self-defined "radical" education reformer Michelle Rhee '92 met rousing applause Feb. 5 at the Cornell Club in New York City. Rhee, whose talk
Cornell Tech designed ‘for next century’
With its innovative approach to sustainable design, the new Cornell NYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island will be more than another ivory tower, as its forward-leaning design has innovative building technologies. The Symposium on Resilient
An Honest Look at Bed-Stuy
One photographer allows his lens to enunciate the meaning of Bedford-Stuyvesant, where the rounded brown belly of a pregnant mother speaks of the future, Muslim women adorned in burkas speak about faith, and the Egyptian
Cornell Tech students show off their innovations
In its quest to foster a culture of innovation and to blend fundamental academic work and practical applied work with an eye on the future of business, technology and entrepreneurship, Cornell Tech hosted its second
Bed-Stuy’s Changing Fabric: More Color But Less Cover?
As watchmen of the community, Bed-Stuy natives are the best narrators of gentrification’s outcomes. Two of the first things they point to are the disappearance of familiar faces and a shift in the neighborhood’s cultural
Something Gained, Something Lost on Fulton Street
A Trinidadian man in the health food store tips his hat and says, “good night empress;” a Senegalese girl in the fabric store points me to a print she’s sure I’ll love; and further along
Demographic Shifts, Police Presence Increases
From my early days as a wide-eyed Bed-Stuy newbie, I recall the brigade of police officers that manned the street corners daily. Clad in blue, with their batons resting and guns holstered, they said, “We
Demographic Displacement: Fact or Fiction?
Plowing through an abundant amount of literature, I stumbled upon an interesting piece of scholarship that casted a different light on gentrification’s most notorious offspring: Displacement. As an influx of wealthier residents - and the
A Dirty Word?
While mulling over my vision for the future of this column, an associate of mine, who we’ll call "Jim," asked to tag along as my photographer. I immediately thought of all the powerful images he