Featured Stories
Arab Stigma Towards Mental Illness The Reality of Remittances for the Senegalese Community Tweeting a Revolution A Belly Dancer Unlike Others Immigrant-Owned Businesses Flourish in the City, Despite the Recession In the Staten Island Projects, an Informal Economy Brings Liberian Immigrants a Taste of Home With the Hope of Someday Bringing Democracy to Myanmar, Burmese Monks Enroll In ESL Classes Tea Shops Open Throughout Manhattan Food Trucks Thrive Amidst Possible Regulation
 

Arab Stigma Towards Mental Illness

Many Arabs in the Middle East are uninformed about the existence of mental illnesses and how to live with them. But one organization is trying to change that in New York City’s Arab Community. Jaslee Carayol reports from one such center in Brooklyn.

A French Class in Manhattan without Teachers and Textbooks

Five adults were tossing a multicolored kindergarten ball to each other as they conjugated the verb “to be” in French in strong American accents: “Je suis, tu es, il est, nous sommes, vous êtes, ils sont.” The exercise, part of a class in basic French, was held on a recent Monday night at Pearl Studios, [...]

The Reality of Remittances for the Senegalese Community

by Eleonore Hamelin With two ID pictures and his Senegalese passport Ibrahima Sall recently opened a bank account in Senegal from a desk in Harlem. The desk was setup by the financial branch of the Senegalese Post in Dakar at the Association of the Senegalese in America, a meeting space in New York for the [...]

Tweeting a Revolution

Inspired by Twitter conferences in Egypt, New York’s Egyptians held their first Twitter conference with a leading political activist from Egypt, Esraa Abdel Fattah, on November 9. By  Neha Tara Mehta Last Wednesday, Darin Sawan, a freshman at Queen’s College, took the subway to the non-profit Alwan For the Arts in Manhattan with an unusual [...]

A Belly Dancer Unlike Others

Belly-dancing is a sensual dance from the Middle-East involving hip-shaking and sensual belly movement. One New York performer is standing in the face of the long-held tradition that the dance is just for women… Eléonore Hamelin reports. Produced by Salim Essaid.

Immigrant-Owned Businesses Flourish in the City, Despite the Recession

If you go to eat at a small restaurant in New York City, chances are it will be run by an immigrant. Neha Tara Mehta reports on how immigrants are overcoming the odds to open new businesses in a recession. Produced by Jake Heller.

In the Staten Island Projects, an Informal Economy Brings Liberian Immigrants a Taste of Home

by Jake Heller Photo by Olivia Smith In the shade of a low-lying oak tree in the heart of Staten Island’s Park Hill projects, Bangura Kromah sat selling palm oil. Kromah is one of about 15 elder Liberian women who sell the greasy, deep-red cooking oil—as well as other traditional Liberian provisions—whenever the weather is nice; [...]

With the Hope of Someday Bringing Democracy to Myanmar, Burmese Monks Enroll In ESL Classes

Most Buddhist monks spend their day dedicated to prayer and meditation. For a group of monks in Brooklyn, learning English is also a way to help bring peace to their home country of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Linda Ong reports from an E.S.L. class in Brooklyn.   Burmese Monks go to E.S.L. Class By [...]

Tea Shops Open Throughout Manhattan

When many businesses are closing down due to the recession, the luxury high-end tea business is on the rise. Salim Essaid reports from one tea shop that opened on 97th Street and Broadway.

Food Trucks Thrive Amidst Possible Regulation

Lobster macaroni and cheese, eggplant schnitzel and goat curry may sound more like four star restaurant than curbside grub. But the landscape of New York City’s food trucks is quickly changing. Nathan Vickers and Jackie Kostek report. Clarification: Not all of The Milk Truck’s sandwiches cost $7.25. Keith Klein, owner of The Milk Truck, says [...]

A Family Restaurant Keeps it Simple with Loyal Customers

02 January 2012

By Jaslee Carayol When Renee’s Kitchenette & Grill in Woodside, Queens opened in 1992, it was the only Filipino restaurant on the stretch of Roosevelt Avenue known as “Little Manila.”  Today, there are five – soon to be six – other Filipino restaurants in the area.  Though no item on the menu exceeds $10, customers [...]

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Families Connect to Their Filipino Culture Through School

02 January 2012

By Jaslee Carayol Still in its inaugural year, the Filipino School of New York/New Jersey is a weekend program aimed at educating elementary school children in Filipino language, history and culture.  The curriculum fuses Tagalong vocabulary with Filipino history and varied activities to appeal to the young children.  And, many parents say, the youth program [...]

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NYC Marathon: One of Many or First and Last?

02 January 2012

By Jaslee Carayol For many, running a marathon can be an addictive experience. They finish one marathon and they dream of the next.  Though this was true for several of the newly crowned finishers of the 2011 New York City Marathon, that’s not so for Maggie Nguyen. Nguyen, who works with databases, said this was [...]

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A Community Church, in Need of Support

02 January 2012

By Jaslee Carayol Members of the Filipino community travel from their home neighborhoods to attend Mass at a special chapel in downtown Manhattan, the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz.  Dedicated to the first and only Filipino saint, the chapel is the official “Church of Filipinos” as designated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York.  [...]

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Commemorating the Filipino Victims of 9/11

02 January 2012

By Jaslee Carayol Two days before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, members of the Filipino American community gathered at the Asian American Writer’s Workshop in Chelsea and held an evening vigil to pay tribute to the 20 Filipino and Filipino Americans who died that day. “We show our endless support to the families [...]

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A Coptic Church with an All-English Service

16 December 2011

A Coptic church in Manhattan rents a Swedenborgian church every Saturday for a weekly service – done entirely in English. By Neha Tara Mehta It’s a Saturday morning but the hymns are Sunday’s. The Lord’s name is being invoked to the clap of cymbals and the rhythmic clanging of triangles. The music has its roots [...]

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Investing in Oneself, Through Pizza

14 December 2011

Mark Bello, who owns Pizza a Casa, and Jenny Philips, who helps run the shop. By Olivia Smith One by one, they eagerly bit into slices of premium pizza – topped with everything from bananas to bacon and eggs. But the mix of tourists and New Yorkers packed into Pizza a Casa in the lower [...]

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Teaching Dance Without Language

07 December 2011

By Elaisha Stokes Peniel Guerrier doesn’t speak much and when he does, it’s in Haitian Creole, a language his students don’t understand. But the barrier is not important for this respected dance teacher, who believes the art of movement should be taught with the body, and not the tongue. Every Friday at the Djoniba Dance [...]

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In Brooklyn, Gospel Raises the Spirits of Marathon Runners

01 December 2011

by Elaisha Stokes For years, the New York City Marathon was seen as something of a nuisance for Emmanuel Baptist Church in Brooklyn. Located on the corner of St James Place and Lafayette Avenue, at the nine mile mark of the marathon, the church suffered with noise from the runners on the streets and the [...]

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Beyond Riverdance: Irish Dancing in New York City

01 December 2011

When the Irish immigrated to America, they took their music with them. Traditional music sessions are a staple in Irish pubs across New York. Now the sessions are accompanied more and more by Irish dancing. Jake Heller reports. Produced by Ines Novacic.

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