A Punk Rock band was an amped backdrop to a riveting poetic monologue that ripped into the air and put gentrification in a 50-minute choke-hold. Gentrified Minds (the NY Horror, Volume 2) is a protestContinue reading
It's not uncommon for withering brown bananas to lay limp on the counter of my local bodega; or for the often-sticky floors to claim the soles of my shoes; or for the shelves to holdContinue reading
One photographer allows his lens to enunciate the meaning of Bedford-Stuyvesant, where the rounded brown belly of a pregnant mother speaks of the future, Muslim women adorned in burkas speak about faith, and the EgyptianContinue reading
As watchmen of the community, Bed-Stuy natives are the best narrators of gentrification’s outcomes. Two of the first things they point to are the disappearance of familiar faces and a shift in the neighborhood’s culturalContinue reading
A Trinidadian man in the health food store tips his hat and says, “good night empress;” a Senegalese girl in the fabric store points me to a print she’s sure I’ll love; and further alongContinue reading
From my early days as a wide-eyed Bed-Stuy newbie, I recall the brigade of police officers that manned the street corners daily. Clad in blue, with their batons resting and guns holstered, they said, “WeContinue reading
Plowing through an abundant amount of literature, I stumbled upon an interesting piece of scholarship that casted a different light on gentrification’s most notorious offspring: Displacement. As an influx of wealthier residents - and theContinue reading
While mulling over my vision for the future of this column, an associate of mine, who we’ll call "Jim," asked to tag along as my photographer. I immediately thought of all the powerful images heContinue reading
