TAXI TROUBLE

On Sunday, Jan. 13, a taxi driver from Brooklyn picked up a passenger at West 48th Street, who requested to be taken to East 77th Street. Upon arrival, the passenger paid and then proceeded to punch the driver in the nose, causing lacerations and bruising. The unknown perp, described as a black male wearing a white baseball cap and a yellow jacket, then ran off in an unknown direction. The victim was taken to the hospital and released. Police are still on the lookout for the perp.

CROCODILE-SKIN WALLET SNAPPED UP AT GYM
A 26-year-old woman who lives at East 61st Street was at a gym on Lexington Avenue. She left her wallet on a bench, and went to brush her hair. When she returned, the $180 crocodile-skin wallet was gone, as well as her debit card, social security card and several credit cards. No arrests have been made, and the victim canceled her credit cards before they could be used.

ASSAULT AT PIZZERIA
On a recent Wednesday night, a 49-year-old woman from Brooklyn was eating pizza at a pizzeria on First Avenue. A highly intoxicated man became unruly and punched her without provocation with a closed fist, then ran away. The victim suffered a small cut on her nose. A description of the perp is not available at this time, and no arrests have yet been made.

CREDIT CARD THIEVES GO ON SHOPPING SPREE
A 31-year-old woman, a resident of East 84th Street, was eating inside a bakery on Third Avenue on Jan. 9, and left her purse on the floor. Unbeknownst to her, someone removed credit cards from her purse. The thief made more than $1,600 worth of purchases at a trendy clothing store, then spent $50 at a convenience store. The perp has not been caught yet, and so far the money and credit cards have not been recovered. The woman has since cancelled her credit cards.

MOVIE THEATER NABBING
At a movie theater on East 86th Street, a 27-year-old woman, who lives on West End Ave., left her seat to go to the bathroom. When she returned, her purse was gone. Shortly thereafter, $117 was charged on her credit card. The woman’s passport was also in the bag. None of the stolen items—a $570 designer bag, a $500 smart phone, a $400 wallet, as well as cash and identification—has been recovered. The case is still open.

Occasionally The Protagonist briefly profiles the work and life of a local artist; this is one of those times. 

Brooklynite Keara Driscoll waitresses by day and writes poetry…well, whenever she has a spare moment to jot down her thoughts on the scrap of paper she keeps in her pocket.

Driscoll has been writing poetry in some form or another since the second grade. “I think I believed all poems had to be about dogwood trees, or ferns, or deer loping into the woods,” she said, of her “juvenilia.”

Now the 26-year-old has an MFA in poetry, anthologized work and invitations to read at popular reading series throughout the city. Driscoll remains humble, however, about her art. She’ll accept invitations to read, but seems wary about promoting her own work too much.

Perhaps counterintuitively, for Driscoll being busy is crucial to the act of making poetry.

“It makes the periods I save for poetry more productive,” she explains.  ”I know I have only a couple of hours between work and class, a half hour to read during a lunch break, etc. Some days I skip buying lunch and sit in the park and write until I have to go back to work.”

Driscoll says her current lifestyle, dedicated to waitressing and applying to teaching jobs, makes for “the best way to keep a flexible schedule that allows time to write, and provides enough money to live in an expensive city with profound ties to poetry.”

She adds: “It’s also enabled more encounters with whole butchered pigs than a girl could want, and if that’s not poetry I have no idea what is.”

Maybe fittingly, dismembered animal parts often find their way into Driscoll’s work.

Even for the most seasoned poet, writing doesn’t always come easy. All the time in the world can’t make eloquent beauty suddenly manifest on the page.

Of her process, Driscoll says: “Most days, I stare at my notebook for a while, write that email I’ve been putting off, clean the shelves in my fridge, make my bed, organize my desk, text all of my friends and THEN finally write, often starting with the phrase, ‘I have absolutely nothing to say.’”

“It doesn’t matter,” she explains. “I’m doing it.”

***

Ghazal that Confuses Humans with Animals

by Keara Driscoll

Should a harmful force be present a snake could, theoretically, swallow itself

up to the head.

Imagine! You, your own donut, packed safely in your throat, with only skull exposed.

Of course, there is no next step. Close your eyes. Sheath those gooey jewels.

Above all, tell no one about the ecstasy of tonguing your own tail.

Whoever first inserted foot into mouth was briefly on point.

Though s/he failed to recognize that guilt doesn’t stop at the ankle.

More often, it resides in your nose. You’ll have to swab with tree-sized Q-tips.

Know also: the results of your throat culture reveal traces of Whoever The Hell’s progeny

at the top of your tulip.

Culture implores you, don’t swallow your offspring. You are no shark, no serpent.

You are fat-happy heifer, ready to be cleaved for your calves. Low pleasantly

as they collapse in pasture.

Oh, Ahi! Progenitor of greed. We’ve been listening to your swelled midsection—

don’t force our fingers around your windpipe.

Don’t make us cut you open to take the ocean back.

Last Friday, a lone gunman, identified as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot and killed his mother in her home, took her legally purchased firearms and proceeded to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he had once been a student. Lanza forced his way into the school and shot and killed six adults who worked at the school and 20 children, all ages 6 and 7, before committing suicide on the scene.
Later that day, Congressman Jerry Nadler issued a statement condemning the attacks and asserting that such unthinkable violence merits swift action on gun control laws.

“I am absolutely horrified by news of the cold-blooded shooting of dozens of children in Newtown. Yet another unstable person has gotten access to firearms and committed an unspeakable crime against innocent children,” Nadler said in the statement. “We cannot simply accept this as a routine product of modern American life. If now is not the time to have a serious discussion about gun control and the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our society, I don’t know when is. How many more Columbines and Newtowns must we live through? I am challenging President Obama, the Congress and the American public to act on our outrage and, finally, do something about this.”
Fellow New York Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who represents the Upper East Side and parts of Queens and Brooklyn, echoed Nadler’s call for action.

“Our first thoughts must be with the families of those killed and injured today. But we can no longer allow tragedies—like Columbine, and Virginia Tech, and Tucson, and Aurora, and Newtown—to occur over and over without finally taking meaningful action to prevent them from happening again,” Maloney said in a statement. “Together as Americans, we must engage each other in a civil discourse about ways to deter would-be mass killers who are currently able to legally purchase guns and ammunition more easily than they could register an automobile.”

Mayor Bloomberg also spoke forcefully in support of stricter gun control laws, and on Monday announced the release of a series of videos produced by the Mayor’s Alliance Against Illegal Guns. The 34 videos (the same number of Americans who die every day due to guns), which can be viewed on DemandAPlan.org, all feature stories from people around the country who have been personally affected by gun violence.

“Gun violence is a national epidemic—and a national tragedy—that demands more than words. We are the only industrialized country that has this problem,” Bloomberg said at a press conference at City Hall. “That’s why we need immediate national action, from the president and from Congress. It should be at the top of their agenda because what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School was, sadly, no aberration.”

The Protagonist interviewed several New Yorkers this week with the goal of better understanding the incredibly complex psychology behind the act of subway reading.

Anticipating primarily tales of the embarrassment surrounding reading something too “trashy” or juvenile, or, alternatively, something too pretentious, and how all this is impacted by the omnipresence of e-readers, or even how hard it is to focus on one’s book at all with all these coursing thoughts, I stumbled across a different, more prevalent phenomenon altogether.

While New Yorkers are overwhelmingly most embarrassed to be caught reading the “dorky” stuff, the fact is this: subway reading has gotten too damn sexual.

If it’s not the subway-reading-pickup-game — with book as mere conduit for something much more improper — it’s secret or not-so-secret pornographic reading, a whole universe of secret sex codes, presumptions about others’ sex lives and so on.

Kambri Crews, an author herself, who publicly reads whatever she wants (including Harry Potter) reserves judgment of what others read…for the most part.

“I always notice what others are reading but usually don’t think much of it,” says Crews. “Unless it’s some young kid with fake glasses reading Anna Karenina or something lofty and I think, ‘Yeah, right. Whatever,’ and sprain my eye muscles from rolling them so hard.”

Does anyone show an interest in what she’s reading? “Only men who are looking for action ever comment on what I’m reading,” says Crews.

According to comedian and prolific subway-reader Dan Nainan, “The thought of having to sit on the subway with nothing to do is unacceptable.”

Nainan doesn’t care what people think of his literary choices. “A friend of mine, Steve Chandler, wrote a fantastic book called 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself,” Nainan explains. “One of his tips asks, why should what someone else thinks affect how I feel?”

But then the plot thickens. “I will say that reading Fifty Shades of Grey on the subway has been quite interesting,” says Nainan. “Would you believe that I’ve had a few women start conversations with me about that book? One of these conversations even led to a date.”

Nainan offers an observation: “I see many women reading this book, all of them are reading it on e-readers – I think they are too embarrassed to actually read the physical book itself…some of them glance around furtively to make sure that nobody is seeing them read the book.”

“If a man were looking at pornography on the subway, or anywhere else in public, he would be excoriated,” he says. “Apparently, it’s okay for women to read pornography on the other hand.”

Another subway reader, Emily Glickman, echoes Nainan: “Recently I saw a woman openly reading Fifty Shades of Grey, the physical book, and thought that was a little off.”

Brooklynite Shelley Chapman, who says: “Electronics nowadays emit levels of radiation that can bother [her] after a while,” to explain her support of physical books, is not afraid to advertise her presumptions about others based on what they read.

“If I noticed someone reading a book titled My Baby Daddy Part 3, I’d wonder how in the heck they even managed to read Part 1 and 2,” says Chapman.

“Admittedly, there are a few books depending on the cover illustrations that I won’t as readily read on the train,” she says. “Such as my books on Tantra.”

With all the judgment, it’s no wonder some readers are a little self-conscious. Dustin Nelson remembers reading Nicholson Baker’s House of Holes on the train and feeling “a little weird about [it.]”

“I thought someone was going to see one of the chapter titles sitting next to me, since the chapter titles there are pretty dirty,” Nelson explains. “Maybe they’d think I was coming onto them with my book.”

Hunt Ethridge, on the other hand, isn’t afraid to confess his literary interests aren’t exactly pure: “I subscribe to the Erotica Center on my Kindle and on slow, cold days, I may read something spicy on my way home. That’s when it’s the best!” Others agree they use e-readers if they plan to read something a little personal, like a self-help book.

Hashim Locario, a dating coach and author, has even more aggressive intentions. Locario wrote a book for men called How to Have Sex with 2 Women a Day.

“When I first got the hard copies of the book printed I would read it on the train so people could see what I was reading,” says Locario. “Women would give me strange looks and men would always ask me where I got the book.”

“I actually sold a couple on the train that way,” he says.

Locario adds: “I actually used to pick up girls by approaching them and asking them about what they were reading.”

In fairness, some New Yorkers interviewed also had far more innocent intentions when they sparked up a conversation about books, or approached subway reading in general.

Christina DiRusso says she “love[s] giving out recommendations and always asks for ideas back.”

Bob Madison and his husband often read aloud to each other on the subway.

“This can sometimes raise eyebrows when it’s something like Tik-Tok of Oz,” he explains. “Just a couple of weeks ago we were reading Fer-der-lance, the first Nero Wolfe mystery on the train, and found a bit that was so smartly written and so funny that we were howling all the way to Chambers Street.”

Madison adds: “Then my husband was reading The Gods of Mars, an old adventure novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and he read a particularly over-the-top bit to me that I’m sure must’ve raised the eyebrows of anyone listening.”

While using books to pick up dates is far from a new phenomenon, The Protagonist is left wondering if the ubiquity of e-readers puts a damper on the process, or facilitates it further. One thing is for sure, e-readers make it more difficult to form an assumption based on what’s being read, though as some point out — at the very least they do make a statement about someone’s disposable income level.

Whatever the motive, it’s safe to say, when people idly read on the subway, they usually aren’t just idly reading. And the people casually not looking? Well, you know.

By David Gibbons

Photo Courtesy of UCHS

Uncommon is one organization that would probably be happy, someday soon, to convert its name to a misnomer.

Uncommon Charter High School, which opened in 2009 and will graduate its first senior class next June, is located in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in a new building where students and staff go about their daily business with an air of discipline and purpose in a distinctly collegiate atmosphere. It is part of the Uncommon charter management organization that runs 32 schools in New York City, Newark, Boston and upstate New York and has the clearly stated mission of preparing low-income students for successful college careers.

Uncommon runs two other secondary schools and plans to open another in Brooklyn within three years. It’s a long road and a slow, steady journey that, at UCHS, has commenced in earnest.

The UCHS student body is about 66 percent black and 34 percent Hispanic; its current enrollment is 246, with a staff of 33 teachers. The school is fed by three middle schools in the Uncommon orb.

Like all charter schools, UCHS must continually justify its existence by maintaining good report cards. Its Class of 2013 tied the white student national average on the SAT critical reading test and beat it by seven and 30 points, respectively, on math and writing. It also well outperformed all city and six of eight state averages on the Regents.

UCHS requires a strong commitment from families and operates under very traditional rules. There are uniforms and a tight dress code; there is an after-school study center and Saturday morning test prep classes. The school day runs from 7:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

“Students know they’re here to learn, that every minute matters,” says UCHS Principal Maya Roth Bisignano. “The structure and the rules are in place so they can do what they need to do and we can all work together toward that goal of academic achievement and success in college.”

For Roth Bisignano, it all starts with a staff of great teachers who are each other’s best coaches: “We have a strong emphasis on the craft of teaching, on observation and feedback. It’s all viewed through the lens of a coaching model, and it’s not just a few times a year but every single week. Our teachers are really excited about it because they can see themselves grow.” Every year before school opens, they gather for three weeks of professional development.

Another key to UCHS’s success is a plethora of college-oriented routines and practices, including two-week internships and group visits to upstate schools for juniors. Teachers offer college-style office hours and implement college-style lesson plans, lecture formats and seminars. “It’s all based on data gleaned from our North Star Academy and feedback from its alumni,” says Roth Bisignano. “We know this is what our students need to be successful in college.”

“We talk about this all the time,” says the principal, “and in fact it’s one of our mottos at Uncommon: Student achievement and transforming lives requires constant attention to hundreds of different elements—not one magical 100 percent solution, but rather one hundred individual 1 percent solutions. This is seen each and every day at UCHS from our incredible staff, our hard-working students and our partnerships with our families.”

Asked what most stands out about UCHS, Marie Jadotte, mother of senior Nicollette and freshman Daniella, says, “It’s how the teachers are there for their students. It really is like family.”

The cleanup begins at the South Street Seaport. Photo by Aaron Adler.

Want to help out with the hurricane relief effort but not sure how? Below are links to volunteer opportunities around the city as well as places accepting donations of blankets, batteries and nonperishable items. You can also consider donating money or blood at redcrossblood.org.

• List of blood drives in NYC
• JCorps Volunteering Lower Manhattan
• Help Stuyvesant Cove Park rebuild this weekend 
• Donate or volunteer at a NYC soup kitchen 
• Places to help out in Brooklyn

Harlem:

• Residence 47 St Nicholas Avenue, #4D between 112 and 113 (volunteering & donation)
• 938 St Nicholas Avenue, #25 corner of 157th and St Nicholas Avenue (volunteering & donation)

Downtown/Lower East Side:

• Community Access (donate & contact online for information)
• Lower East Side Recovers (check website for information)
• CAAAV 46 Hester Street, Frnt A 212-473-6485 (drop-off for food, water, batteries, clothing)
• The Bowery Mission 45-51 Avenue D, 212-777-3424  (drop-off for food, water, batteries, clothing)

Upper East Side:

• Rockaway Relief 85th & 2nd Ave at Molly Pitcher’s bar (accepting a variety of donations)

Upper West Side:

• Brandeis High School on West 84th Street (overnight volunteers)
• BJ Synagoguge 88th Street Sanctuary at 257 West 88th Street, Thursday from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m (donations of bottled water, non-perishable kosher food, toiletries, batteries, radios and blankets)
• BJ Office at 2109 Broadway, Thursday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. or Friday from 9 a.m. to noon (donations of bottled water, non-perishable kosher food, toiletries, batteries, radios and blankets)

—Compiled by Alissa Fleck

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

Sammy Kassem is a hero in an unlikely place. The Bay Ridge street vendor is also the Vendy Awards’ first honoree of 2012.  According to a statement by the Urban Justice Center, a “non-profit organization that provides legal representation and advocacy to various marginalized groups of New Yorkers,” Kassem is being honored for “his perseverance and commitment to street vendors’ rights” in the face of opposition from anti-vendor businesses in his Bay Ridge community.

The “Most Heroic Vendor” award, of which Kassem is this year’s recipient, is regularly awarded to vendors who contribute to the City’s well-being, whether it’s by “spotting fires,” “spotting car bombers” or standing up for vendors’ rights. These vendors are often the eyes and ears of the streets.

In Kassem’s case, the 21-year-old Halal food vendor is being praised for standing up to those businesses which have tried everything to “push him out,” according to the statement. These businesses partook in some regular, old-fashioned bullying, including nailing park benches to his regular vending spot. In the face of their aggressive actions, Kassem has consistently asserted he has as much of a right to make a living there, rather than back down.

“Up against circumstances that would break most people, Sammy has triumphed,” said Sean Basinski, Director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center.

According to the Center’s release: “vendors make hundreds of small contributions each day that often go unrecognized.” The project aims to change that fact, one heroic vendor at a time.

A number of vendors receiving awards, including Kassem, will be presented on September 15 at Governor’s Island in the Vendy Awards Ceremony.

—Alissa Fleck

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

The end of the summer’s nearly upon us New Yorkers, and you don’t want to be caught at home on the couch, or futon, or…seat cushion on the floor. Don’t forget the City’s beaches close after Labor Day, so you might just want to take this time off from the rat race to relax and soak up a little Labor Day weekend sunshine. If you’re looking for a little more action though, check out a couple of these exciting Labor Day festivities going down around New York City:

-Labor Day 5k and 10k On Roosevelt Island

If you want to get moving this Labor Day, in a different kind of race, NYCRUNS will be hosting a 5k and 10k race on Roosevelt Island, complete with post-race breakfast. The action begins Monday morning at 10 a.m, and pre-registration is available on the NYCRUNS website.

-Unicycle Festival on Governor’s Island

Yes, you heard that right. Unicyclists will unite this Labor Day weekend on Governor’s Island to show of their wheel(s). All sorts of spectacles guaranteed to transpire. Helmets are strongly encouraged.

-Electric Zoo Festival

The Electric Zoo music festival is happening all Labor Day weekend in Randall’s Island Park. Featured acts include David Guetta, Benny Benassi, Skrillex, Knife Party, the Bloody Beetroots and tons more. Electric Zoo is an all-ages electronica festival, guaranteed to get you dancing so hard you’ll need Monday just to recuperate.

-Wasabassco Burlesque

On Friday, The Bell House in Brooklyn is celebrating Labor Day with “Take This Job & Shove It,” which includes “work-related burlesque and go-go.” Admission is $12, but the show is free if you dress all in white. There will be pickleback drink specials and burgers on the grill. We’re thinking this sounds too good to pass up!

-Improv Show Ft. 30 Rock Comedians 

Scott Adsit and John Lutz, of 30 Rock fame, are going to combine their improv chops for the first time ever this coming Labor Day. It’s going down at the Upright Citizens Brigade  comedy club in Chelsea. Head over to the UCB to get your laugh on before/after checking out…

-Food & Drink Specials All Around Town 

NY Mag has provided an extensive list of food and drink specials around the City, including everything from Oyster eating competitions to deep fried Oreos. They’re even making it easy and giving you a map, in case you’re stumbling around in a food coma come Labor Day weekend.  Check it out here.

Summer’s wrapping up, so don’t miss this exciting action! Let’s face it, New Yorkers, we could all use it.

—Compiled by Alissa Fleck

Photo Courtesy of Wiki Commons

New shelters are opening across the City, as a record number of homeless New Yorkers  hits the streets. According to the New York Times, the 43,731 homeless people currently in shelters is an 18% jump from last year. The City has already had to open five shelters in the Bronx, and two in Manhattan and Brooklyn each, to accommodate the rising population.

Gothamist reports this rise in homelessness directly coincides with the City cutting Advantage, a program which helps subsidize apartments for formerly homeless people who maintain employment for two years. A weak economy and rising housing costs are also to blame, according to Patrick Markee, a senior policy analyst with the Coalition for the Homeless, reports the Times. 

Seth Diamond, the commissioner of homeless services, told the Times the program was very effective, and its abrupt end has made things difficult. Illegal hotels in the City are now being transformed into shelters, while some still retain long-term residents alongside the formerly homeless tenants.

The Times also reported neighbors frequently only receive a few weeks notice of homeless shelters cropping up in their areas. Emergency procedure allows for these shelters to be instituted by the City, without the City consulting Community Boards (though they must be notified in advance). Homeless shelters are required by New York law, though there are often limits on how long a person can stay.

“The current shelter census is the highest ever, officials said; the number does not represent the total homeless population in the city, because some people avoid the shelter system,” reported the Times. There are currently 228 homeless shelters in the City.

—Alissa Fleck

Brooklyn State Supreme Courthouse. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

by Adel Manoukian

Levi Aron, the man who confessed to kidnapping, killing, and dismembering 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky last year pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree murder and kidnapping charges. Aron will serve 25 years on the murder charge and 15 more years for kidnapping when he is officially sentenced on the 29th of August, according to the NY Post.

The diagnosed schizophrenic wanted to avoid a lengthy trial so he admitted to the crime Thursday afternoon in a ceremonial courtroom at the State Supreme Courthouse in Brooklyn. The judge asked him a series of questions pertaining to the violent crime.

The 36-year-old Brooklyn orthodox man said that he kidnapped Kletzky off the street on July 11 of last year as the boy was coming home from a religious summer day camp. Then Aron drove to a relative’s wedding upstate, leaving the boy in the car. Before his death, Kletzky was held in Aron’s Kensington apartment attic for a night. The next day, Aron fed the boy a sandwich, gave him muscle relaxants and pain killers, and then smothered him with a towel. Police later found some of the boy’s parts in Aron’s freezer and in a dumpster in Sunset Park, about two miles from Aron’s apartment.

State Assemblyman Dov Hikind told reporters he expects Aron to get a life imprisonment sentence on the the 29th, according to Gothamist reports.

The victim’s parents did not attend the hearing. Initially, deals after Aron’s arrest were not made and no plea bargain was set to be issued but they soon were at the request of Kletzky’s parents who could not endure the gruesome details of the lengthy trial.