April 6, 2022
In Orange County, New York sits 258 acres of ruin: the once Greycourt Prison, the once Camp Laguardia. Greycourt Prison, built in 1918 by the City of New York, was for women only. The farm colony 90 minutes north of New York City served to provide “physical, mental and moral Read more…
February 9, 2019
🔔 Every Time A Bell Rings… A New York City angel gets stalked by me. Did you happen to notice I never stalked the angels in the 5th borough? This is partly because, by design, Manhattan doesn’t have any of my favorite kind of angel… the grieving angel. In fact, Read more…
November 6, 2017
My birthday keeps on keeping on. A gift trial of the all-vegan Petit Vour means even more creams and salves in my medicine cabinet. Driving this stretch of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway from South Slope, Brooklyn to Long Island City, Queens, I get distracted by the gorgeous outer borough of Read more…
August 10, 2017
Like many neighborhoods along the L-train, Ridgewood, Queens, which sits next to Brooklyn’s Bushwick and East Williamsburg, is pretty hipster-invaded. There’s nothing that a natural born weirdo dislikes more than someone who is simply in a weirdo costume. Eh. If you still have your appetite, you can check out the Read more…
September 11, 2016
September 11, 2001 seems like much more than 15 years ago to me, though, since then, I have had a disquieting dread pushed down deep somewhere. It’s a suspension of reason and logic that, 15 years later, still has no place to go in my brain. But sadly, more of Read more…
March 9, 2016
Will walk for vegan food: On a beautiful afternoon, I strolled from Brooklyn to Manhattan to check out Nix, a new casual restaurant from Michelin-starred chef John Fraser. The attention to detail–from the space to the water to the service to the, of course, the menu–was impeccable. First, from my walk over Read more…
February 8, 2016
What a wonderful discovery that Spot Dessert Bar has an all-vegan dessert option. And it’s Monkey Bread! This dreamy option is well-worth facing the awkward state of St. Marks Place, right across from where Mondo Kim’s used to be, right next to where Coney Island High used to be. ::sigh:: Read more…
December 29, 2015
Every now and again, walking through her streets, I remember that this city is the best one in the country… that the books and movies and art and culture and subculture that praise her are for good reason. And I am grateful to have known her so long, though we’ve grown Read more…
September 23, 2015
Match #5 of the V.V. Burger Showdown: The Blossom battle turns out to be a lesson on how not to do a veggie burger. Blossom On Carmine vs. Blossom du Jour Despite the proclamations from HappyCow, PeTA, and VegNews, I often say that New York City is not so vegan-friendly. Does New York City have Read more…
With the start of the school year, I am in Brooklyn everyday again. Urban machinery and subterranean air have united me with 8 million more parts. I remember why I love her. And I remember why I hate her. She’s like me–impractical and strained while magnificent in her own norms. She has Read more…
July 24, 2015
Dear New York City, I know I’d sooner drive hundreds of miles to a remote vegan option over state lines than hit your streets sometimes. The unfortunate truth is: you’re not who you used to be to me: escape, inspiration, excitement. Now, you are diluted, castrated even. I resent you Read more…
November 11, 2014
I trust Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Not just because she’s got punk cred I can relate to–like pen pal-ing with MRR (which, I’m shocked to learn, is still in publication and has a Twitter), “salad days” of all-ages punk shows, zine culture and the general coolness associated with the proximity to Read more…
July 6, 2014
Home very briefly, it was time already to head back into these United States… by way of Chicago. But first, a scenic overlook in which we gaze upon the isle of Manhattan, New York City’s shining man-child and it’s pleasingly sharp rectangular Central Park. We’d arrive in Chicago hungry, ready Read more…
June 22, 2014
There is nothing that says summer more loudly, perhaps brashly, than Coney Island in Brooklyn. And on the first day of Summer, the day of the annual Mermaid Parade, a merfriend and I took the streets to join the masses of scantily-clad seamen and women, including New York City mayor and Read more…
April 6, 2014
Sometimes–in the world of restaurants–a lone “vegan option” beats an “all-vegan” menu. But would this be true of bakeries too? On a bright Saturday afternoon, a friend and I accumulated research on this query, visiting 6 omnivorous bakeries in the isle of Manhattan in the name of deliciousness and gluttony. Read more…
January 7, 2012
I first noticed Dun-Well‘s doughnuts popping up at Bone Shakers in my neighborhood in Brooklyn quite some time ago. Since the dapper vegan doughnut duo have raised their fundraising goal on Indiegogo & opened their very own space on Montrose avenue in East Williamsburg. It took me several weeks to check the place Read more…
August 27, 2011
Hunkered down within the Hurricane Irene pandemonium, the exuberance of local weatherpeople becomes kind of numbing. I am just going to talk about peanut butter for a little bit because Irene catch phrases are starting to bother me. With a jar of Peanut Butter & Co.‘s White Chocolate Wonderful purchased as Read more…
July 20, 2011
Toe-in the East River R.D.U.M.B.O., Brooklyn. (Really Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) Haze Suspension Rockin’ robin Sunset Stumps Goodnight, Sunshine
July 15, 2011
I don’t find myself above 14th street on the east side very often. Besides the senior I visit, there is no reason to be. I also dislike the 4/5/6 train. I dislike the screech of it entering stations; I dislike its path… how it’s always at an arctic temperature of Read more…
July 8, 2011
Remember, faithful reader, my obsession with Khao Tom Mad, the local dessert I lived off of for two months in Thailand? Save for Sookk on Manhattan’s West Side, I have basked in memories of the street delicacy since then. Surface perusal of Asian bakeries in and about New York’s Chinatown were Read more…
July 7, 2011
From the archives of 1997: Check out the price (and service charge) of the ticket. And my hair growing in from when I shaved it off When the Bouncing Souls announced they’d be playing discography shows in New York, I was a bit giddy. The years surrounding The Good, the Read more…
May 5, 2011
Pine Box Rock Shop, a vegan-owned and operated bar in Brooklyn, hosted a special Cinco de Mayo feast, courtesy of Yummy Eats [a pop-up restaurant] and Verily Baked Goods [an impressive baker that does both omni and vegan treats]. Here was the impressive pre-fixe: Having the choice of two appetizers, Read more…
January 27, 2011
My buddy and I woke up to the chime of my phone. 10 minutes before I received the NYC Alert text, The Electrician delivered the sweet, sweet news of the snow day. I texted the other 5th grade teachers and went back to bed, lulled by the exclamations of the Read more…
September 6, 2010
As the Industrial Revolution took hold of the nation, the average American in the late 1800s worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in order to make a basic living. Children were also working, as they provided cheap labor to employers and laws against child labor were not strongly enforced. Read more…
August 11, 2010
Cobble Hill, Brooklyn’s renowned Alma Restaurant earned a recommendation in the prestigious Michelin Guide in 2009. Why a tire company sets the standard for exceptional dining has always perplexed me but why Alma received a coveted mention does not. The view, service and cocktails would stun any hungry patron, yes. Read more…
