It is with deep sadness and pain in our hearts that Movement for Justice in El Barrio mourns the passing of our beloved long-time member leader, Felicitas Magdaleno.
New York City
First Day Out (A Blue Sky Day Turns Grey)
Like a lot of New Yorkers, I’m missing the outside.
Sociology of Coronavirus by the Sea
It’s a sociologist’s brilliant, brutal dream to witness societal shifts of this magnitude; we see the good, the bad and the ugly, unfiltered.
Days of Beer and Daisies (Meltzer Remembers Nick Tosches)
Richard Meltzer’s comrade-in-words (and bars) Nick Tosches died last Sunday. What follows is a chapter from Meltzer’s novel, The Night (Alone), which is, per the author, “a spot-on take on my life with Nick in New York (1970-75).” Meltzer told your editor he tried to “‘fictionalize’ it as much as possible, so the Allman Brothers are called ‘British band Grudge.’” And he went on: “You could also throw in that Nick was THE ONLY BROTHER (AND TRUEST COLLEAGUE) I’VE EVER HAD.”
After Action Report & Alliance Memories
“Tom ate trouble for desert.” That was Sarah Martin—former head of the Grant Houses’ tenant association—lauding her late comrade Tom DeMott at his Memorial, which was held at St. Mary’s Church in Harlem on December 1rst.
On the Block II: Excerpt from Gilbert Sorrentino’s “Crystal Vision”
What follows is a swatch of Crystal Vision (1981)–a novel of almost pure dialogue by the late Gilbert Sorrentino.
Our Developer President: A Dialogue Between Samuel Stein and Rachel Weber on Real Estate, Cities, and Trumpery
There’s a certain kind of person who sees real estate everywhere they look — someone who walks around a city and thinks not just, “who lives here?” but “who owns this, who’d they buy it from, and where’d they get the money?” Some think this way because they’re in the property racket, or hope one day to be. Others with this mentality are just perpetually pissed off at the ways land and housing have been hyper-commoditized, turning cities into luxury products. We are definitely in the latter camp, and as such have quite a bit to obsess over these days. The following dialogue, between two urban planners and property scholars (one in New York City and one in Chicago), ruminates on the meaning of the Trump presidency and the relationship between property development and governance.
Women’s March in NYC
My friend was holding a coffee from Joe’s. It was noon. I said I wanted coffee from the $2 place. We were on Columbus and 86th Street, heading for the march.
The Red Impala
Nunez, Calderon, and Luis (that’s me), we found an old Chevy Impala, a real big one from the Fifties. It was in the sandbox in front of the kids’ playground next to the project in which we lived. Calderon is very smart. He got a job selling bets at OTB, and we really trusted his judgment. “Nunez, Luis,” he said, “the car has no plates on it. The radio and battery are gone. It is safe to assume that it is abandoned.”
Posts from el Barrio
Trump & Mi Gente
I’m still “Seeing Red” after reading all the Moronic comments on Trump….There are an incredible number of fucking Closet Nazis out there.
Arnold Weinstein: The Magical Use Of Language
Arnold and I were talking about the modern world. He thought a moment and then said, “History is a thing of the past.” The comedic surface of that remark, coupled with its profound undertones, was typical of his extraordinary mind.
Pimpology
True story # 1: It’s a late spring Thursday in New York City in the late ‘70s and I’m a kid in high school. For reason I can’t recall, the entire student body was dismissed at noon. A halfaday!
Free! What to do? What to do? My pal Joel has an idea. He opens his copy of the New York Post–yes, we read newspapers back then–to the movie section and points to a small ad. It’s the final day of Pam Grier film festival at the RKO Warner in Times Square. Yes, indeedy, five, count ‘em, five of her finest efforts–Coffy, Foxy Brown, Bucktown, Sheba Baby and Friday Foster–for the price of one three dollar ticket.