Celebrating Community
Jacqui Painter is a Red Hook native who is running for city council. She has advocated for people for many years, which makes her think she is the right candidate. Some of her goals include: “I will enact a budget and bring funding for food justice because I was on the ground and I know the issue,” “I will work […]
Erik Frankel is a fourth generation family business owner in Sunset Park. While he has spent much of his life in Sunset Park, Frankel has also spent 15 years living in Vietnam. Frankel does not have a political background but is frustrated with the direction Red Hook and Sunset Park have gone. He is unhappy about some of the big […]
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 […]
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 […]
Italy’s LGBT community is in turmoil because of a great controversy a would-be law is causing. The DDL Zan (DDL stands for decree) is a bill which would create new categories of crime based on sexual and gender discrimination, adding to the already existing hate crimes punished by the Italian state. Alessandro Zan, the signatory of the law and an […]
Siouxsie and the Banshees released their second record in 1979, after a quick rush to fame and acclaim (in England, anyway) with their first single and debut album the previous year. Join Hands didn’t do much to capitalize on earlier success. The album was tense, unhinged, unnerving, built from the unexpected inspiration of the first world war and informed by […]
Those who lived through the ’70s may recognize the title of this column as the signature line from the harrowing torture scene in the movie Marathon Man. Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) drills into Babe’s (Dustin Hoffman) teeth, without anesthetic, while asking, “Is it safe?” Beyond the sheer pain, what makes the scene that much more excruciating is that Babe […]
Review of Another Day’s Begun: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town in the 21st Century by Howard Sherman Review by Michael Quinn “What is trivial and what is significant about any one person’s making a breakfast, engaging in a domestic quarrel, in a ‘love scene,’ in dying?” asked Thornton Wilder, reflecting on the question at the heart of his play, Our Town. […]