The blasts of a tuba, the cracks of a snare drum and the booms of a bass drum urged voters to the polls in Downtown Brooklyn this Tuesday afternoon on the last day of a fraught election season. More →
On a chilly, quiet Tuesday afternoon in Williamsburg, with the temperature just below 55 degrees, a handful of people stood outside buildings, guiding voters to polling stations. More →
Since it opened in 2017, Lockwood Paper has stocked political-themed cards and trinkets alongside the usual greeting, Get Well Soon, and holiday cards. Walk into the Astoria stationery shop today and you might find a scented candle that claims to smell like “Is it over yet?”—a reference both to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increasingly high-stress political battleground in the U.S. There are items bearing an image of Kamala Harris with the phrase “Stay Nasty,” and “2020” stickers printed with a cartoon-style rendering of a dumpster fire—a best-selling graphic across products ranging from birthday cards to tea towels. More →
I planned to spend election night in Connecticut with my parents, but work and Cuomo’s cautioning against traveling to neighboring states with spiking COVID rates have conspired to keep me here in the city. More →
Stores around Manhattan are boarding up their windows in preparation for Election Day unrest. Plywood panels can be seen all around the East Village, Soho, and Midtown as business owners show unease about the potential aftermath of the election. More →
As people across the country brace for what could be an agonizing night of slow election returns followed by post-election pandemonium, churches are stepping in to offer moments of quiet prayer.
It’s perhaps not even worth mentioning that this year’s election is different from any that have come before. Not only are we living under a president who refuses to say that he will peacefully concede should he lose, we are also facing unprecedented logistical challenges. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, states are seeing historically high levels of mail-in ballots, which take longer to count than in-person ballots. There’s a good chance we won’t even have election results by election night. All this to say, there’s a lot of uncertainty at an already stressful time. Responding to the anxieties of their communities, churches are offering their constituents a safe haven. More →
Just one day before Halloween, there’s a bit of a frenzy inside the Halloween Adventure Shop on 4th Avenue. Customers walk in carrying sopping wet umbrellas, and they leave behind their slippery footprints. Inside, they shuffle around the store, some selecting the final touches to their costumes, others still looking for inspiration as they browse the wall of wigs. More →
As the problems of America incited protests across America, the streets of New York City became well worn by those demanding more for their country. Shouts and chants weren’t the only sounds comprising the din of the city’s demonstrations. There was a marching band, jazz trio, vocalist, string orchestra, and tap dancer heard within these movements, and they are a movement unto themselves—they are The Blacksmiths. More →
It takes about 30 seconds to walk through the shoe-box-sized space that houses Honeymoon Antiques on 6th Street, but owner David Brockman, 60, has managed to fit hundreds of clothing items onto the racks. At each step, you can feel the chiffon, lace, and silk brush against your arms. And when you speak to David, the inside of the store sways from feeling cramped to cozy. More →
For the past year, Nora Quinlan, 23, has been stuck working for a center-right political talk show. She wanted to do something she believed in, but she was a TV news producer at a company she “hated.” More →