Transportation
transportation noun DEFINITION: 1. conveyance of somebody or something: the act or business of carrying somebody or something from one place to another, usually in a vehicle 2. means of traveling: a means of traveling or of carrying somebody or something from one place to another 3. U.S. fare or charge: the fare paid or charge [...]
Tough Cookie: For Mother’s Day
In this video post, May Wong Lee, a lifelong Chinatown resident, pays tribute to her mother– her love of different foods and travel, her ability to stand up for her children, and her strong sense of ethical responsibility.
How Damaris Reyes Became an Organizer
Damaris Reyes is Executive Director of GOLES (Good Old Lower East Side), a housing and preservation group that has worked in Loisada since 1977. In this video post, Damaris talks about two experiences that influenced her decision to become a community organizer.
Community Announcements
For the latest about meeting or program event dates, times, and agendas, please contact the sponsoring organization or community board directly. Celebrating Word No Tobacco Day with Korean Community Services The Korean Community Services along with the American Cancer Society, Asian Americans for Equality, the Child Center of New York, Chinese American Planning Council, Korean [...]
Featured Profile: CAAAV
CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities was formed in 1986 (formerly known as the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence) as a response to an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes both in New York City and around the country (which included violence by police officers against Asians). They have two offices – one in Manhattan’s Chinatown (which houses the [...]
Courier-ing in LES/Chinatown: (1)
Bike messengers (couriers): throughout all parts of the city, I see them snaking through on their bikes in gridlock traffic. Their job is demanding, stressful (there is a given allotted time between deliveries, and if those time constraints are not met, that means no commission), and very often unappreciated. Yet the combination of their adept [...]
Where is Chinatown? Narrative Remappings
Join us as our Open City project hosts an event at Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) on Saturday May 7 as part of the New Museum’s Festival of Ideas for the New CIty ! Please contact us in advance if you or someone you know is interested in being interviewed (limited space). Please come [...]
The local M9 bus stop & Eddie Boros (1934-2007)
What sorts of places are bus stops? In-between spaces, neither here nor there…. Yet, bus stops are where our neighbors become neighborly; the friendly become our friends—even the shirtless quirky visionaries four decades older than us, ones we could not imagine befriending in any other context. Yes, especially them. In this video post, Thomas Yu talks about growing up in Loisada in the 1980s and getting to know Eddie Boros at their local M9 bus stop, on 6th Street and Avenue B.
Growing up in Chinatown’s sweatshops
In this video post, Thomas Yu and May Wong Lee talk about the garment factories in which their parents worked. Thomas grew up in Loisada public housing, left the neighborhood to study international diplomacy, and eventually came back to work for Asian Americans for Equality. May Wong Lee also grew up in the neighborhood, attended [...]
Brooklyn Community Board 7 meeting
Update on Rezoning Land Use/Landmarks Committee Follow up to previous discussion on potential 8th Avenue rezoning and one other zoning matter. 1) Continued discussion with community members and shareholders about the potential for rezoning 8th Avenue 2) Presentation by Department of City Planning on potential for commercial zoning on 4th Avenue north of 25th Street [...]
Past Scars/Terrain/Memory/Duration
[ Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire ] Memory: a selective rattle-bin container. Shadows rather than reflections. Occurring in the background; everyone focuses on the stationary foreground. Echoes contend, constantly contracting to mediate, fill up that medium of space. Spaces-in-between: shadows as they take place of. * As mentioned in an earlier post, March 25th, 2011 commemorated [...]
Lamb Happenings: Food Tour in Flushing
I. When the Muslim Lamb Chop arrived, I was really glad to know Caroline Chan. The lamb was baby-butt tender while the fat on the edges were perfectly crisp. And when the heavy coat of cumin seed, grounded red chilies, and sesame seeds (black and white) hit my tongue, it was a bondage session of [...]
About Open City
Open City: Blogging Urban Change is an interdisciplinary neighborhood blog and community project coordinated by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. Five commissioned writers, called Organizing Fellows, are working with community organizations and neighborhood folks in Manhattan’s Chinatown/Lower East Side (LES), Flushing, Queens, and Sunset Park, Brooklyn to collect oral histories and interviews, offer commentary about gentrification, neighborhood change, and produce new creative work around these themes. Read more.
Featured Profile
CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities was formed in 1986 (formerly known as the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence) as a response to an increase in anti-Asian hate crimes both in New York City and around the country (which included violence by police officers against Asians).
They have two offices – one in Manhattan’s Chinatown (which houses the Chinatown Tenants Union, and the new Asian Youth in Action organizing project) and the Youth Leadership Project office in the Bronx – and have members from all over the city. Over the years, CAAAV’s main campaigns have focused on community-based organizing work rooted in Asian immigrant and refugee communities. Although their advocacy and organizing work is focused mainly in Manhattan’s Chinatown and the northwest Bronx, CAAAV’s work also touches upon larger issues (such as affordable housing, war, and immigration) shaping communities all over the world: “Our work is primarily centered around issues facing New Yorkers, but always with a global analysis.”
CAAAV’s mission is to organize and build the power of working-class Asian immigrants, refugees, and youth to change concrete conditions and participate in a broader social justice movement. In the past, CAAAV’s work included organizing South Asian taxi drivers, Korean women workers, and Filipina domestic workers. Several of these organizing projects have gone on to become their own organizations, such as the New York Taxi Workers Alliance and Domestic Workers United. CAAAV’s current work focus on three different program areas: Read more.
See all Featured Profiles.