Showing posts with label Sorcha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sorcha. Show all posts
Monday, April 23, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Disturbed and Disappointed: Universities react to NYPD surveillance of Islamic student groups
When
a twenty-two-year-old history major at Columbia University first read about the
NYPDs surveillance program of Muslim communities, he felt uncomfortable. This senior, who asked to remain anonymous,
grew up in London with a Muslim father.
Last week the Associated press revealed that the NYPD had been spying on
Muslim student groups at Columbia University since 2006.
“I understand that it's is designed
with the intent of protecting America" the history student said, "but when does it become too intrusive? When does it encroach on people's rights?
 |
| Columbia University Campus in Harlem (collegeonline,com) |
The
program involves members of the police force tracking activity on Muslim
websites and forums as well as undercover cops visiting Muslim neighborhoods and community groups.
In
an online statement released February 21, the Columbia Muslim Students Association
expressed its disappointment with the NYPD.
“The
Columbia Muslim Students Association is deeply saddened and disappointed by the
news of the NYPD’s surveillance and monitoring of Muslim college students” the
statement said. “We are disturbed by the
fact that Muslim students are targeted and profiled based on their ethnic
backgrounds and religious beliefs alone, without any evidence or suspicion of
wrongdoing. We are concerned that news
reports about NYPD’s presence on our campus have a chilling effect on the
intellectual freedom necessary for a vibrant academic community.”
University
president Lee Bollinger showed his support for the CMSA in an email sent to the
students, faculty and administration of Columbia on February 24th. The letter was also published on the schools
website.
“Such
an intrusion into the normal, daily activities of our students raises deeply
troubling questions that should concern us all” the letter read.
According
to Bollinger, there is nothing to suggest that the surveillance at Columbia
went beyond the monitoring of websites.
He states that the University had no prior knowledge of this
surveillance until the story appeared in the media.
“While
we appreciate the daunting responsibility of keeping New York safe, law
enforcement officials should not be conducting such surveillance of a
particular group of students or citizens without any cause to suspect criminal
conduct" the letter said.
NYU
was also amongst the list of colleges monitored by the NYPD. Student groups in the University have been
quick to denounce the surveillance. Last week the
University held a roundtable and a teach-in to discuss the recent revelations and students gathered at the Kimmel Center to protest.
 |
| NYU students protest NYPD surveillance of Muslim Student Groups (pavementpieces.com) |
“This
is wrong, this is unconstitutional,” said Sundus Arain, a sophomore at NYU’s
College for Arts and Science, in an interview for the NYU newspaper.
John
Sexton, the university president, wrote a letter to NYPD commissioner Ray
Kelly, raising his concerns surrounding the surveillance of NYU students.
“We
find this troublesome and problematic” Sexton wrote. “Our commitment to the free and peaceful
exchange of ideas at the heart of our effectiveness as institutions of research
and teaching and learning… Parents and students now wonder whether continued
participation in the University’s Islamic community of worship is a risk.”
Mayor
Michael Bloomberg has stood by the NYPDs surveillance program.
“I’m
very proud of my defense of freedom,” Bloomberg said, responding
to criticism.
“No
one objects to making to keeping New York safe,” the Columbia history student
said. “But Bloomberg has to understand
that this defense of freedom is stripping thousands of Muslims their freedom. If people are worried about
how their words might be interpreted, then how can they practice freedom of
speech?"
Monday, March 5, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
The Bronx Zoo: Endangered Species and Dora The Explorer
Once inside,
visitors are surrounded by both the wild and the corporate. Coca-Cola trucks are plotted throughout the
grounds next to tribal sculptures and polar bears pens. And there’s more to do
than just see the animals. The Total Experience ticket grants you access to Dora and Diego’s 4D adventure and the Bug
Carousel. The Zoo Store sells t-shirts,
pencils, mugs and magnets amongst an enormity of merchandise.
Despite
its somewhat corporate feel, the zoo is actually part of the Wildlife
Conservation Society and home to the organization’s headquarters.
According to its website, the WCS
mission is to “save wildlife and wild places across the globe.”
Since its foundation in 1895, the WCS has
been worked to protect many species including the gorillas in Congo, tigers in
India and wolves in the Yellowstone Rockies.
The zoo is one of five
New York City parks that are part of the Wildlife Conservation Society. The others four are New York Aquarium,
Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo and Prospect Zoo.
Admission prices
mirror the zoos double image as a moneymaking amusement park and a conservation
society. General admission is $16 for adults and $12 for kids. Rides and attractions cost up to $5
extra. Wednesdays, however, are donation
day.
Unlike other destinations around the
city, there is no pressure applied to the visitors about their donation price.
“Would
you like to make a donation?” is all the woman asks at the ticket booth.
The
zoo is home to approximately 4,000 animals in including, lions, tigers, grizzly
bears, monkeys and a herd of bison.
The
bison tell a special story of the Bronx Zoo, as the species were part of the
WCS first success stories. In 1907 they
brought fifteen Bronx Zoo bison to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Preserve in
Oklahoma to try and restore the herds to the Western Plains.
“Ugly
Buffalo” a young girl shouts as she stands by the cage.
The zoo is part of
Bronx community district 6. It is one of
three major landmarks in the area with Fordham University and New York
Botanical gardens located close by.
Fordham originally owned the land that is now the zoo and the botanical
gardens but sold it for $1000 to the city of New York on the condition that it
would be used as a zoo and gardens.
In 2,000 the
population of district 6 was around 75,000 with almost two thirds of these on
income support. The area is made of 61%
Hispanic and 26 African American.
This dynamic is well reflected
in the staff at the zoo. The two women
in the admissions booth, the man handing out park maps and the man at the cash
register at the store are Hispanic.
The 5 New York City Parks attract 4 million visitors each year
and, according to the WCS, “help the city to educate millions of schoolchildren I conservation
issues.”
Of the thousands of visitors at the zoo on Wednesday, February 22nd, the majority are children, excited and curios, but still with some lessons to learn about the animal kingdom.
“Look daddy!” one girl
shouts, pointing to a baboon leaning over a pile of rocks. “The mommy baboon is sitting on her eggs!”
Thursday, February 16, 2012
How The Other Half
Live: On the (Williamsburg) Edge
 |
| The Edge (wikipedia.org) |
A young man and his dog were standing in the elevator in the
Williamsburg Edge luxury condominiums when the elevator stopped on the second
floor and a group of two girls and three guys stepped in the elevator. The man’s dog grew excited when members of
the group kneeled down to pet it, and urinated in the middle of the elevator.
“Well that sucks,” the man said, and the group laughed.
The elevator reached the lobby level and the man wished the
group a pleasant evening, before leaving the elevator with the middle still on
the floor.
“Shouldn’t somebody clean that up?” one of the group said. He
walked to the lobby, informed the doorman that a dog had urinated in the
elevator and the doorman assured that he would call somebody would be along to
clean it up.
The Williamsburg Edge, which was opened in May 2010, has 120
luxury apartment units and approximately 350 affordable housing units,
according to website brooklyn11211.com.
Since its opening, 90% of the luxury condominiums have been sold. The remaining units cost between $515,000 for
a studio and $2,495,000 for a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom. A studio in the affordable housing scheme
costs $886 a month and the renter must have an annual income of between $37,000
and $43,000.
The luxury and affordable housing are located alongside one
other. The apartments on one side of the
luxury condo building face the apartments on one side of the affordable
housing. Both residents have a view of how the other half lives.
Those
living in affordable housing use a separate entrance and do not have access to
the Williamsburg’s most lucrative attraction; its amenities.
 |
| (williamsburgedge.com) |
The amenities are split between two
towers. In the smaller tower, there is a
lounge, a gym, a WII fit room and a virtual golf room. The virtual golf room is equipped with two
sets of golf clubs. To play, you stand at the tee, swing and hit the ball into
the screen and the camera races down the fairway relative to the power and
accuracy of your swing.
“Last time I was down here there was
a guy dressed in professional golf gear,” said John, the only one in the group
who owns an apartment at The Edge.
The doorman pointed them in the
direction of the second towers amenities building. It has a bigger gym, a poolroom, a screening
room, a basketball court, a swimming pool with a view of the Manhattan skyline,
a sauna and even naked pictures of Barbie and Ken in the men and women’s
changing rooms respectively.
 |
| (greenpointstar.com) |
On their way to find the second
tower, they unknowingly walked in the entrance to the affordable housing. There is no doorman, no water features on the
wall, just corridors lined with apartment doors.
A man entered behind them and they
asked if he knew how to get to the gym.
“The gym?” he said, and kept on
walking.
Friday, February 10, 2012
New York City: Named & Numbered
It is a cold Thursday evening and 20-year-old Eugene Lang
student Patrick Nicholas is waiting for his takeout to arrive. It has been almost thirty minutes since he
ordered from the deli around the corner from his Stuyvesant Town apartment, and
his food has not yet arrived.
“I
bet he got lost,” Patrick says, “Nobody knows how to find there way around this
place.”
Stuyvesant Town sits on eighty acres of land and stretches
from 14th street to 20th street and First Avenue to the
Avenue C. Peter Cooper Village, Stuy
Town’s sister development, is located just above it. The two communities are home to over 11,000
apartments and an estimated 25,000 occupants.
Stuy Town’s lay out does not follow the grid system of the rest of
Manhattan, instead, its 35 buildings are scattered throughout the land.
“It’s
just kind of lots of the same buildings in a giant park” Patrick says.
Patrick’s roommate calls the deliveryman, who is lost, and
goes outside to meet him.
Deliverymen aren’t the only ones getting lost in Stuy
Town. When Patrick has friends coming to
the apartment he has to walk out of the community and meet them at the entrance
on 20th street.
“Its very overwhelming” he says, “especially when you leave
the of city, which is so ordered, it can be very disorientating.”
Stuyvesant Park is one of the many areas in New York City
named after a famous historical figure.
Peter Stuyvesant was the last Dutch director-general to rule New
Amsterdam (later named New York) from 1647 until the English took control in
1664.
 |
| Commissioners' Plan of 1811 (thecuriousg.com) |
The Museum of New York City’s current exhibition, The
Greatest Grid, The Master Plan of Manhattan1811 – 2011 celebrates the mapping
of Manhattan and its numbered, grid system.
The 1811 plan established a grid from the southern tip of the island to
155th street with 12 avenues running from east to west.
The exhibition includes a short film by Neil Goldberg
entitled “12x15”, which shows a number of New Yorkers saying two numbers; the
cross street of where they live. According
to Patrick’s address (450 East 20th St.) his numbers would be 20th
and 1st, despite the fact that his apartment sits about 500 meters
away from 20th street, tucked inside the community.
There are, of course, other residents in Manhattan whose
addresses would not fit the description of Goldberg’s film. Eve Houston, a 20-year-old NYU student lives on
Bond and Bowery and although, unlike Patrick, she lives in a grid, the lack of
numbers in her address leads her to similar problems as Patrick.
“There’s a restaurant a few blocks away on 2nd
street and 1st ave and they have their delivery zone on their
website,” she says. “Bond and Bowery is
four blocks inside their zone but every time I call to order they tell me that
they don’t deliver that far.”
According to the Greatest Grid exhibition, Bowery was one of
three roads existing before the cities 1811 plan to grid Manhattan, along with
Broadway and Bloomingdale.
“Everybody knows where Bowery is,” Eve says, “But no one has
a clue where Bond is because it only runs for two blocks.”
Many believe that the city’s structure is crucial for it’s
functioning. According to the
exhibition, when the plan was established in 1811, the population was 100,00. A recent article in The Business Journal
marked the current population of New York City in excess of 19 million.
The Greatest Grid exhibition calls the 1811 plan “the first
great civic enterprise and a vision of brazen ambition,” the exhibition states.
“
Dan Zolot, a twenty-one year old aspiring radio host has lived in New York City for three years. His currently lives in a studio apartment on 5th street and 3rd avenue; a numbered cross street within the 1811 grid.
“The city wouldn’t work without the grid,” he says. “There’d be too many people trying to get too
many places and it would just be a mess.”
Dan has lived in three different apartments since moving to
New York. He lived in the New School
dorm in his freshman year on 15th and 2nd before getting
an apartment on 14th and 1st. Each apartment has been on
numbered cross streets within the grid.
“The numbers make everything so much easier” he says. “I get so confused on the Westside because
you think you’re walking down a street then all of a sudden you’re walking down
an avenue and you didn’t even turn.”
Not only is the grid system “a metropolis of fluid chaos,”
it’s also a desirable aspect of city life to some people.
“I
mean Stuy Town is nice” Dan says, “But if I’m going to live in New York, I’m
gonna live in New York, not Stuy Town.”
The
Greatest Grid exhibition runs in The Museum of the City of New York until April
15 2012.
Friday, February 3, 2012
New York Evening Post
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=638
(1st July 1809)
 |
| Evening Post, March 16th 1801 (columbia.edu) |
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Bond Street's Bloody History
 |
| Harvey Burdell (murdersbygaslight.blogspot.com) |
This week marks the 155th anniversary of the murder of dentist Harvey Burdell who was found deadfile in a pool of his own blood with fifteen stab wounds on the second floor of 31 Bond Street on January 31st 1857.
Emma Cunningham, a widow in her late
thirties was charged with the murder.
She had met Burdell in 1854 and they had been romantically involved for
a number of years. Burdell owned 31 Bond
Street and Cunningham moved into a room with her five daughters and ran a
boarding house on behalf of Burdell.
Burdell’s office was on the second
floor, which was splattered with blood when he was found. Of the fifteen stab wounds, two were in his
heart and three had punctured his lungs.
The trial generated huge interested
across Manhattan. Historical website
Historybox.com labeled it “the most celebrated crime of the nineteenth century”
while Murder By Gaslight, a blog dedicated to chronicling nineteenth century
murders claims that 8,000 people attended Burdell’s funeral.
After Burdell was found dead,
Cunningham produced a marriage certificate claiming that she and Burdell were
married. As a result, she stood to
inherit part of his $80,000 estate, generating suspicion as she this inheritance
was an obvious motive. She was
ultimately found not guilty.
Murder By Gaslight also states that Cunningham claimed she
was pregnant with Burdell’s baby, which, if true, would increase the percentage
of his estate that she would inherit.
She was, as it turned out, not pregnant, despite her insistence. A doctor named Dr. Uhl agreed to give her a
baby around the time she was expected to give birth. When this time came,
however, Dr. Uhl went to the attorney and confessed the conspiracy.
Cunningham was later charged with fraud and her marriage
claim was deemed invalid. She left for California before returning to New York many
yeas later under the name Emma Williams where she died a poor woman. She was buried in Green Wood Cemetery in
Brooklyn only a few hundred yards from Harvey Burdell.
Knowledge of the story amongst locals varies. Jennifer Shaw, a bartender at IL buco
restaurant at number 47 said she had heard the tale before.
“A guy told me that when he was here drinking one night”
Shaw said. “I didn’t believe him but
then I googled it when I got home and there was all this information. Websites,
even books written about the murder.”
Given the rest of the streets
history, it is difficult to imagine this barbaric tale happening here. Since
its construction in 1805 it has been considered a fashionable area. Considerably wider than most of the
surrounding streets it is attractive to manufacturers because of the generous
amount of sunlight that shines down on the cobblestone street.
The location is inviting for residents as well. Spanning two
blocks between Broadway and Bowery and sitting two blocks above Houston, Bond
Street has an abundance of shops, restaurants and New York nightlife at its
fingertips but traffic and noise levels remain remarkably tame.
 |
| 40 Bond Street (worldarchitecturenews.com) |
The architecture is a mixture of old and new with 1830s row houses sitting opposite elaborate modern apartment buildings. The most elaborate of these is 40 Bond Street, an apartment complex with a sprawling gate of curling, intertwining lines made of aluminum and large turquoise window panels facing the street. Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & DeMeron in partnership with Ian Schrager. The building has 27 apartments and five townhouses. Residents enjoy many amenities including access to David Barton Gym, pet walking services, a concierge service and spa services. The current market value ranges from $2million to $14million.
 |
| 24 Bond Street (ny.curbed.com) |
Another eye-catching building is 24
Bond Street for its “golden dancers” sculpture designed by Bruce Williams. The sculpture, which (according to
ny.curbed.com) were erected in 1998, and consists of a string of naked bodies
painted in gold climbing up the front of the building. In 2010 the sculptures were accused of
violating the Landmarks Preservation Commission ruled, as they were not in
keeping with the historic nature of the zone.
The Commission changed its ruling however and allowed the structures to
remain in place.
These delicate golden dancers and
cobble stone streets evoke no sense of bloody murder. Instead, Bond Street is a quiet block amidst
hurried city life.
“I thought this was a quiet little lazy street,” said Eve Hewson, a twenty-year-old NYU student. “The most exciting thing that’s happened since I moved in in two years ago was when Will Smith bought an apartment at number 25 while he filmed Men in Black.”
Monday, January 30, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Harrison Golden
Harrison Golden
Throughout his childhood Harrison Golden often made trips with
his parents from his home in Monroe, upstate New York to his grandparents’
house in The Bronx. When it came time to
choose a college, Harrison, now 20, decided to move to New York City, a decision that
was very much influenced by what he had seen on his trips to the Bronx.
“Moving to New York City offered some of the
potential I saw growing up,” he says. “There was this idea that you could
pretend to be anything or anyone because there are so many people and no one
knows who you are.”
A culture and media major in his sophomore year, Harrison has worked hard to learn the ropes of the media
industry. He recently began his second
consecutive semester on the New School Free Press and has also worked at local
community radio station, WTBQ.
“I pressed buttons and played music,” he says
“sometimes I would go on air.”
Working at the radio station allowed Harrison to
combine his interest in media with his love of music. An avid music fan, his taste is more eclectic than most.
“I might start the day listening to classical and end
it listening to hip hop or metal.”
He tried his hand at the clarinet in fourth grade,
but quit after two years of lessons, which sometimes resulted in him sitting in
the corner, crying after being reprimanded by his teacher for failing to play
his songs effectively. Evidently
recovered from the emotional trauma, Harrison laughs as he recounts these
episodes.
“I probably should have paid more attention,” he
says.
Keen to continue his career in media, he hopes to
intern next semester at a TV network.
“I’ve seen the media world from three other angles, you
know, Internet, radio, newspaper” he says. “I’d like to see how I could
contribute to TV.”
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