Whispers of Politics in Staten Island

It’s Saturday night in Staten Island and the full moon’s reflection playfully shines off New York Bay to light the unassuming Cargo Café. If you listen closely, just past the wind-battered white exterior of the bar, you can hear the voices of who will decide the fate of the Republican Party in New York City.

“If there is one thing people do at this bar, it’s talk,” said 33-year-old bartender Jason Jetson.

The one topic of conversation that can get the usually tight-lipped Staten Islanders talking is the upcoming congressional race between Democrat Michael McMahon and Republican Robert A. Straniere.

After 15 years of Republican leadership, New York’s’ 13th Congressional District - the only district in the city represented by a Republican – may be moving the Big Apple towards an entirely Democratic congressional delegation.

That would be accomplished by electing McMahon to succeed Vito Fosella Jr. (R) in the wake of his recent a drunk driving/adultery scandal.

“They are both good guys, but I’m voting for Straniere,” said Bob Carrol, 57, a lawyer living across the street from Cargo.

Carrol, who stopped in for a drink, cited Straniere’s 25 years of experience in the New York State Assembly as a reason to vote for him.

He was also concerned with the possibility of a Democrat being elected: “I don’t want a congress that is strictly Democratic, we need balance.” He wasn’t concerned about local issues, but wants a representative who was a Republican because of, what he calls, “a proactive stance towards national defense.”

Outside Cargo having a cigarette, was Mike Oates, 48, a freelance photographer and a self-proclaimed Staten Island institution – he says his family has been there for generations.

Oates, for the first time in the 30 years he’s been eligible to vote, is finally casting his first vote for McMahon, whom he says “is down to earth” and “doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet.”

McMahon, the only Democratic City Council member representing Staten Island, was the favorite at Cargo.

“Mike McMahon lives and breathes Staten Island. He has a real grasp on things – knows his district,” said Oates.

Although the people of Staten Island might disagree on who to vote for on November 4th, Oates summed up the consensus: “Staten Island is unique; people want to vote for someone that does good for the island.”

Beams of Hope

On the eve of the seventh anniversary of the September 11th attacks, two four ton steel beams to be used in construction of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum have returned home to New York.

The two beams have been to 25 cities in 25 states to raise money for the memorial foundation, and gave Americans a chance to pay their respects to the victims of 9/11 by writing their names on the beams.

“These beams should be for all Americans…This wasn’t just an attack on New York, it was [an attack] on America,” said Naidie Bompane, who works as a paralegal in lower Manhattan.

Bompane was working three blocks away from the World Trade Center during the attacks: “I couldn’t go back to work for three weeks.”

When she walked by the beams on her way to work this morning, she had to stop. “I wanted to cry,” she said.

The beams, located at the north end of Battery Park, had been attracting attention since Wednesday night when they arrived, according to security guard Felipe Pia.

Pia was in charge of watching the beams since midnight. He said people started coming out immediately, taking pictures and staring at them in awe.

He said he felt privileged just to be guarding the beams.

Camille Grey, an employee at the Aon Corporation, was teary-eyed while looking at the beams.

Grey lost 176 of her co-workers on September. 11th when the second plane hit the south tower. Grey, who had the day off work that day, was at the beams because she “had to be there” for her co-workers.

She didn’t think the beams were enough of a tribute to the victims, and wanted to see the towers rebuilt for them. She was upset about the time it was taking to build the Freedom Tower, which even Mayor Michael Bloomberg told The Wall Street Journal today is “frustratingly slow.”

Mayor Bloomberg used his speech at the beams this morning as a platform for his four-part plan to get the Freedom Tower and 9/11 memorial and museum construction back on track.

The beams will be available for signing until 7 p.m. tonight and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. tomorrow. They will also be outside Giants Stadium from 2:00 p.m. to the end of the first quarter of the New York Jets opening home game on September 14th.

Max City

I've been reading comics since second grade with the Reign of the Supermen arc in Superman comics. Around the same time I start reading, I began creating my own comics. My brother, Steve, and I created a whole universe of characters that lived in a fictional city called Max City (named after our dog).

We spent over a decade constructing this universe: we had our own crossovers between books, created 100s of characters, and, basically, created our own mythology.

Below I have posted the final comic I ever worked on in our universe. It features all our best characters. Two of Steve's characters, Super-Steve and Hicks appear, as well as my creations: Lightning Man, Xerex, Green Knight, and a group of villians I called "the Alumonti."

It's all fairly ridiculous but I recently joined a comic book group at NYU and we will be working on our own comic for the semester, so I thought I would revisit it. Enjoy!

Heavy Cloud Hangs Over Fashion Week

(My first story for NYU was on Fashion Week and I wrote a few different versions of it before I turned it in. This version I did not turn in, but I think it is still a fun read.)

“Love your body, love your curves!”

This chant was probably something most people did not expect to hear when going to Fashion Week in New York’s Bryant Park on Sunday afternoon.

Outside the heavily guarded white tents, that contained some of the skinniest models on earth, a voice of discontent was rising.

Tiffany Bank, and her peers in Ms. NYC Plus, were protesting the fashion industry’s use of women’s bodies that are unrealistic for the majority of women.

Bank, with her pink “Curves on the Catwalk” t-shirt said, “We are trained models. We can walk the catwalk just like they can.”

The members of Ms. NYC Plus had applied to be models at the event, but were denied, even though most had experience modeling for designers such as Lane Bryant. They felt the fashion industry as a whole was not being fair to plus-size models and wanted to see plus-size designers, like Monif C., at the event.

“The industry’s idea of what plus-size is is warped. A size 8 is not a plus-size,” said Bank.

Bank, who is from Brooklyn, was documenting the protest by handheld video for “The Tyra Banks Show.” She will be filming an episode of the show on Wednesday (airdate TBD) in which she will show the audience Fashion Week from her perspective.

The members of Ms. NYC Plus were ecstatic about the positive feedback they were getting from the crowd and felt “very blessed” to be there.

One fashion week attendee from Washington, D.C. said he was impressed by the diversity of the models inside the event, but when asked if there were any plus-sized models, he said, “No. Come on, this is fashion.”

Fashion Week, which started in 1943, has been held in Bryant Park for the past 14 years.

The women of Ms. NYC Plus are holding an event called “The Art of Curves: The Movement” on September 19^th at Studio 450 located at 450 W.31^st.

The Mercedes Benz Fashion Week will continue in Bryant Park until Friday.