When theaters went dark in March, film festivals quickly adapted by curating content online, but let’s face it, summer has come and you’re not about to watch a movie on your laptop, with a desk fan blasting torrents of sweat off your face. Luckily the organizers of the city’s great seasonal film festivals– including Tribeca Films, Rooftop Films, and the Greenpoint Film Festival– have risen to the occasion with pop-up drive-in movie theaters. More →
Sabrina Chap had been avoiding protests in the city due to health concerns when she had a vision, mid-shower, of New Yorkers dancing simultaneously in their apartments to the music of Nina Simone. To the musician, it seemed like a workable alternative to traditional in-the-streets protest.
When New York City set its historic curfew on June 1, she saw an opportunity. “I felt that they were trying to intimidate us inside and quell our voices,” Chap said, “and I was like, well, fuck that, let’s just turn up the volume in our homes.” So Chap created @audioprotest. More →
After more than three months of lockdown, anxious New Yorkers are craving some self-care. With the city having entered phase 3 of its reopening on July 6, they can now go to the spa… but are they climbing back onto the massage table? And what sort of safety precautions are in place?
“We’ve had an influx of people taking their appointments this week,” says Jack Sherman, the manager of Cynergy Spa. “It’s really positive for us.” More →
Ngoc Dinh was still considering her options for the fall academic semester when Immigration and Customs Enforcement left her with no choice.
A July 6 announcement from ICE’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) states that students on F-1 and M-1 visas will not be allowed to remain in the U.S. if their schools go completely online. This would affect both students who remained in the U.S. to complete their spring 2020 semester online, and those who came back to their country in mid-March. If schools decide to go with a hybrid or in-person model, students who want to stay must take at least one in-person course to keep their student records with SEVP active. More →
“The East Village has become unsafe,” tweeted @kernie_sanders in a message to Mayor Bill de Blasio in late June. “I have never seen such desperation.”
Already estimated at over 1,000 prior to Covid-19, the homeless population in the East Village and Lower East Side has only grown since the pandemic began. The Department of Homeless Services and the Coalition for the Homeless haven’t yet calculated a number, but hope to generate more data in the coming months. In the meantime, East Village residents have noticed an uptick in the number of unsheltered individuals. More →
“They are like vultures in there. They treat people inhumanely. They need to close this indefinitely, lock it down,” said a woman pointing to Brooklyn’s housing court, clearly traumatized by past experiences. She was one of many protesters who arrived at Livingston Street at 9am on Tuesday with a clear message: “Cancel rent.” More →
As New York City continues to progressively reopen and attempts to salvage the second half of summer, its public housing residents face looming evictions and rent crises. The statewide moratorium on evictions, which began to lift on June 20, was recently extended, but only for certain individuals, and back rent will still be due when the moratorium ends on August 20. More →
New York today added Kansas, Oklahoma, and Delaware to what is now a list of 19 states where Covid-19 is spreading rapidly. Travelers from the states, where there has been a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 or an average rate of infection of at least 10 percent over a rolling seven-day period, will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon arriving in New York. Failure to observe the quarantine order could result in a $2,000 fine. But it’s not clear how the order will be enforced or whether it will be effective in curbing the spread of the virus. More →
This year’s Fourth of July celebrations brought more fireworks, picnics and Black Lives Matter protests to the city’s streets. As demonstrations against police brutality sweep the country and the coronavirus continues to claim thousands of Black and Brown lives, many people refused to take part in acts of patriotism and celebrate the United States this year. More →
Seven years ago, Leah Dixon co-founded a charming dive bar named Beverly’s on the Lower East Side. Featuring a flashy, pink neon sign and artwork on full display, the artist-run bar was the ideal place for people to crowd together and feed off of each other’s positive energy. But once Covid-19 forced Beverly’s to shut down completely, the once lively bar struggled to get back on its feet. More →