The Rachel Aviv story in the New Yorker (behind the paywall) about homeless New York City gay and transgender young people is… hard to describe! Calling it "brutal" would seem too much like enjoying the misfortunes of others as a reader. It's a very thoughtful piece, and not exploitative, which seems like a difficult trick.
Neighbors in Chelsea are up in arms against a building that will serve homeless people—but they're just against large shelters, you see, because they think those are bad for people. They're not technically against the 12-story services and shelter tenant that wants to move into a building at 127 W. 25th Street. Except that they totally are.
The building, actually, will consolidate several services of the Bowery Residents' Committee, and, like other large non-profits in New York, had to consider more than a hundred locations before it found a good fit and a willing landlord.
And, as she will always do where nonprofits are involved, useless and [...]
"All over the country, in the last few years, police have moved in on the tent cities of the homeless, one by one, from Seattle to Wooster, Sacramento to Providence, in raids that often leave the former occupants without even their minimal possessions. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, last summer, a charity outreach worker explained the forcible dispersion of a local tent city by saying, 'The city will not tolerate a tent city. That’s been made very clear to us. The camps have to be out of sight.'" —"Homelessness is not a side issue unconnected to plutocracy and greed." Although don't remind Jersey gov Chris Christie about his plans [...]
"You’d meet, say, a cook at a Times Square restaurant standing on the shower line behind the Port Authority bus terminal. He’d emerge combed and shaven in his white uniform and rush uptown to work. You’d bump into a Cooper Union-trained fine artist at the Goodwill Back to Work center in the Bronx. You’d hear from decorated war heroes who could back up their stories with news clippings and medals. You’d bunk down with day traders from out of town who carried two expensive smart phones and an internet tablet, monitoring the market for their way back in. You’d joke around with friendly Africans and Chinese who were just [...]
Anthony Ciccone (not to be confused with the, uh… (*puts one finger aside nose*) other one) is the tabloid tale of the weekend, being 1. Madonna's other brother (not the gay one who sold her out with that trashy memoir) and 2. homeless.
Anyway, it all sounds better in German: "Madonnas großer Bruder bettelt auf der Straße"! Or Italian: "Madonna lascia il fratello Anthony a vivere per strada"! Even French: "Le frère aîné de Madonna vit dans la rue." Oooh, la rue. But the original story is actually pretty great, with this headline: "Traverse City becomes magnet for the homeless: Madonna’s brother [...]
