Urban Journalism Workshop
High school reporters cover local stories for NYU Journalism Institute’s summer program.
Thrift-buying but at higher costs
By Isabella Hong Two young adults stood by a rack of button-up shirts at Thrift NYC on East 14th Street, sorting through their finds. One was holding three shirts in their hand. But, at $20 each, Andrew Bochnovich, 27, said he might only walk out with one. “If they were, like, $15, I’d feel a […]
Table talk on peace, Palestine, Israel
By Mia Baghout From a distance, an onlooker watched the man approach and study the poster board-sized sign. “I’m Palestinian. Ask me anything,” it read. What the man said in response, said Liliana, was this: Get up. I want to sit in your chairs, change places with you. Liliana and Romeo – who, fearing for […]
Immigrant raids: ‘People don’t want to risk it’
By Denise Velazquez The man and woman were scribbling down orders and handing Mexican take-out to customers at their food truck. When she heard this reporter say “immigration,” her demeanor changed. Her smile disappeared. She scanned her surroundings. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. Across New York City, it’s not uncommon for […]
Loving and reading books, as literacy declines
By Marvely Gonzalez Sitting on a bench in Washington Square Park, with his partner beside him, Thomas Hummel was reading “The Communist Manifesto.”. That book by Frederick Engles, Hummel said, gives the reader “a world of knowledge beyond your immediate experience.” It lets Hummel, who works in IT at the Queens Public Library. “ learn […]
Blacks own a fraction of beauty supply stores
By Keva Ellie From behind the counter, a smiling Bashir Amadou waved goodbye to one customer while conversing with three customers at Sahel Beauty Supply, the hair extension, wig and cosmetics shop he owns and has run for 23 years in Brooklyn. His customers feel like family, he said. Mainly, they are Black people, patrons […]
Nostalgia (and sales) at a stationery store
By Ocean Hiller Luke Georgiades’ handwriting is messy, the equivalent of a 5-year-old’s scribbles, he said. But the woman he met the previous night loves letters and journaling. So, drawn to the cat-themed logo of stationery store Niconeco Zakkaya’s, he stepped inside to write her a message on a postcard—his scrawl aside. “There’s nothing like […]
Honing neurodivergent learners’ tech skills
By Leane Kwon Computers hum. Students click through animations. Roars of excitement burst out as someone’s code project finally works. This isn’t your typical coding class. It’s a classroom built for 10- to 24-year-olds diagnosed with learning disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, executive function disorder and sensory challenges. Those dozen or so neurodiverse learners […]
New York’s iconic, disappearing yellow cabs
By Giana Nevarez Tevere It used to be that, on a busy day, yellow taxi driver Kazi Asaduzzaman would pick up around 30 passengers. But that Tuesday in July, half that number got into his back seat. “Because of Uber and Lyft, there is no more business for us taxi drivers,” said Asaduzzaman, 64, who’s […]
Free female products reduce ‘period poverty’
By Ashanty Rosario In New York City, the demand for menstrual products in shelters, schools, and street outreach vans keep rising but the supply doesn’t keep up. With about 350,000 individuals – a third of them being women and girls – unhoused and inflation pushing basic goods out of reach, advocates for these women urge […]
Frenzy over fuzzy, furry key chain
By Chanelle Liu Inside the compartments of the computer monitor-sized organizer were clothing customized to fit fluffy, hand-sized, keychain versions of Labubu dolls, which also come in larger sizes. To the right of that sidewalk display, three rows of boxes of Labubus were stacked. Some were opened, so customers could see which color they desired. […]
For the love of chess and, sometimes, money
By Sarah Levine The younger man bounded down the four steps to the basement of a Tenth Street brownstone, punching a secret password into the keypad. Its green checkmark flashed. The older man opened the door and waved him inside. Four hundred dollars was that Tuesday night’s prize at the Marshall Masters Chess Club. Somewhere […]
Mixing old and new at a Portuguese bakery
By Sienna de Silva Businessmen in navy suits slowed their brisk pace, craning their necks and looking over their shoulders as they passed the hole in the brick wall on Saint Johns Place where bakery workers take customers’ orders and pass them sweet treats. Like those businessmen glancing backwards to read the menu placard screwed […]
How selfies reshape the concert experience
By Caitlyn Williams Concert-goers Lara Afolayanka and Ashley Simplice steadied their cellphone, positioning the camera lens to capture the Barclays Center display screen as it shifted from a WNBA player advertising an upcoming game to a banner touting that evening’s Tyler the Creator’s sold out Chromakopia tour’s stop in Brooklyn. “I definitely went on Pinterest […]
From Ecuador to the US, selling her wares
By Jasmyn Centeno Mercedes Masaquiza places her handmade, crocheted keychains, beaded bracelets, and blouses across the fold-up table she placed on a spot at the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park. She sits down, then, on second thought, she gets up to adjust the hats on the rack and re-position her palm-sized crocheted flowers in […]
Election 2024: The youth vote
By Lia Wong-Ferreira As she pushed a shopping cart down the frozen food aisle at Trader Joe’s, Sofia Khan felt her phone, in her back pocket, vibrating with an Apple News alert. President Biden had just dropped out of the race for the White House. “I thought it was a joke,” said Khan, 21, shaking […]
A sanctury for vendors
By Tiara Edwards Inside a sanctuary hidden by arched brick-walls is a 168 year old church-yard filled with a maze of vending tables with vendors conversing with customers. Each vending table with similar products, displayed jewelry, books, clothing, and antiques located on Avenue A and 1st Ave. “I got gold!”. A man with a baseball […]
Bridging music industry’s gender gap
By Michelle Yang Amina Walker has sung for as long as she can remember: at home, in the car, in her bedroom, on city streets. But when she’s on stage, she gets butterflies in her stomach. And when it’s her turn at the mic during Sound Thinking’s weekly jam sessions, she puts herself out there, […]
Paragraph by paragraph, a writer’s room
By Sri Sowmya Tanguturi When she started crafting her first book, “Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Helen Simonson utilized Paragraph Workspace for Writers, a spot on Fourteenth Street reserved for writers. Among that workspace’s various offerings was a flexible schedule. “I had assumed that I would go to the office on a nine-to-five schedule,” she said. “But […]
Pickleball, pickleball and more pickleball
By Christian Sourbrine On a recent Saturday afternoon, more than five dozen people lined up at Riverside Park in Morningside Heights,waiting for their chance to square off in a game of pickleball. As the players, who ranged in age from 14 through their mid-70s, waited for up to 30 minutes for an open court, they […]
Braiding hair, for cash and culture
By Kelsi Bowen A woman with brown micro-locs sat in the second of eight chairs stretching from the door to the back wall of Latifa Natural Hair Salon. The woman wore a multi-colored orange, yellow, red, blue and green silk chiffon maxi dress she had made in Senegal, where she was born. Oval-shaped, faux gold […]
Melting pot in a barbershop
By Asma Aouissi Meant as a gag when it was created in the 1940s, the barber shop sign aimed to attract a melting pot of customers. It announced: “We speak: Italian · Russian · Farsi · Spanish · French · Polish · Uzbek · Greek · Moroccan · Portuguese · Romanian · Bengali · And […]
Learning English to make an American life
By Sophia Lian At the U-shaped table, six adult students looked intently at their classwork with their pencils in their hands, ready to learn a life-changing skill. Those students come to that Lower East Side location from Sudan, Guinea, and Haiti. And they do so for one reason: to study a new language. “If you […]
Fighting to save historic Merchant’s House
By Grace Andino Twelve years into their fight to protect the Merchant’s House Museum, those who staff the facility on East Fourth Street said they still are hoping planned construction of a hotel next door will not proceed. They argue that the construction will threaten the museum’s structural integrity, possibly causing the place to crumble […]
A safe space for students with autism
By Haaniyah Faisal Fostering a safe space for autistic students. Helping patients find their voice. Encouraging them to accept and be confident in their autistic identity. These are some of the responsibilities of Yvetta Ma, an intern for the NYU Langone Health Hospital Center passionate about providing a space for autistic teen girls to feel […]
Learning and healing from cancer
By Isabella Cabral His sister died of breast cancer, his stepdad of aggressive prostate cancer. And, now, as Dion Summers sat, nervous and uncomfortable, tissue paper of an oncologist’s exam table crinkling underneath him, he heard what he didn’t want to hear. “Oh, this needs attention,” said a nurse, looking at a scan of his […]