Notes on red liberty
The cover art of New Narratives on the Peopling of America
Everyone is from this earth, everyone is Indigenous, everyone is illegal. ...
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New York’s Existential Crisis over Migration
How can the process that created the city also be responsible for destroying it?
More than anywhere else, in New York, the migrant crisis—essentially a migration governance crisis—is an existential one: it interrogates not only the capacity of the city to welcome newcomers but also the city’s broader prospects. ...
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It’s Not a Migrant Crisis—It’s a Political Crisis
The creation of a global category of the unfree
Amidst acknowledging the immediate suffering of migrants and asylum seekers, this critique challenges the narrative surrounding the so-called "migrant crisis." It argues that diverting attention from systemic issues perpetuates dehumanization and supports policies hindering migrants' rights. Emphasizing the need for equitable immigration policies, it advocates for building diverse, inclusive societies....
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Testing the Waters in Gotham
A look at how residents throughout the city’s history have chosen what to drink
The three forms of water distribution form a fluid archive of community formation, civic pride, and the many different possible ways New Yorkers can choose the water they drink....
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The Little Prince Haunts New York
Following Antoine de Saint-Exupéry from the Ritz to the East River
When I moved to New York, I set out to discover how my new adopted home had influenced that sense of tristesse in The Little Prince, which Saint-Exupéry wrote during his 1941–1943 stay in the city....
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The Elevator Paradox at The New School for Social Research
What goes up doesn’t always come down
The elevators at The New School’s 6 East 16th Street building, hide a perplexing paradox. Known for delays and unpredictable patterns, these lifts challenge the student....
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An Experimental Music Community Grows in Brooklyn
International Anthem Recording Company is changing the face of free jazz
A key example of the experimental spirit in the artistic community that International Anthem is documenting is the work of Alabaster DePlume, an English saxophonist, poet, composer, and activist. Last year, in producing the album GOLD, DePlume assembled a group of musicians to record in sessions that were both safe ...
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How Mary Mattingly’s Floating Barge Tackled Food Deserts in New York City
What foraging can teach Americans about solving national food insecurity
Mattingly’s Swale came before the foraging boom, but it suggests that foraging may hold a permanent place in New York. Foraging is not just another fashionable affectation, but a path to addressing the deep-rooted issues embedded in our current food systems. Swale represents how our understanding of food access is ...
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Where Is New York?
Like so many newcomers, I was looking for my city. Then I reached for E. B. White’s 1948 classic, Here Is New York
Naman Vakharia ponders on his personal yet collective experience of moving to the dirty, dreamy, and historical city: New York....
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In Search of a Room of My Own
In New York City’s cutthroat housing market, a student finds refuge in an all-women building
As more and more women enter higher education, however, the need for female-friendly spaces shows that places like Webster are more relevant than ever....
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Good Jewish Boys Gone Bad
Did the sexual monstrosity of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein have cultural roots?
Harvey Weinstein—like Jeffrey Epstein—was the product not of a liberated sexuality gone haywire but of a liberated sexuality that passed them by when it mattered most. ...
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Reimagining Nature—The High Line Experiment
How plant design preserved the High Line for a city craving natural space
Meandering around the gardens, it is easy to imagine the trees, shrubs, and ferns just sprouting between the rusty tracks. In reality, it takes a lot of effort from the gardening team, working behind the scenes, to maintain the pastoral ambience. ...
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