Judgmental Map of New York

Source

This one will surely upset and offend some people. It will make others laugh.


This latest Judgmental Map of New York by RBD Enterprises features only The Parts [of NY] That Matter.



That right there is sure to set some people off.


The glaring omissions of most of The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens and Staten Island are the first offenses and the inclusion of part of New Jersey are the first offenses.

A New Yorker Not From New York

Abigail Ekue Photography

"I’ve learned I don’t care for people who say they’re from New York when they’re not. If you’ve lived here 13 years -- or even just eight years -- you can call yourself a New Yorker, but you can’t say you’re from New York."

That statement by David Blend in his post, "What I Learned Living in NYC for 13 Years" received an audible, "yes!" response from me.


I'm sensitive about some things. That is one of them. People who live here are New Yorkers. There's a reason we specify "Native New Yorker" and "New Yorker". Being from New York means something, considering our numbers are shrinking. I am from New York. I even have my own lawn! (well not really, but you get the idea)



What else did I agree with David on?


There really are a lot of Jews in New York. Including Black Jews. I wonder if he's visited or spent time in the Orthodox and/or Hasidic communities in Brooklyn. I've had immediate next door neighbors erect sukkahs (Crown Heights, I miss you!). I drove through Williamsburg on the night of Purim this past March -- a whole 'nother world.

South Bronx Culture Trail

 

 

This week it was announced that Casita Maria Center for Art & Education, City Lore and Dancing in the Streets were partnering to create the South Bronx Culture Trail. According to the Associated Press, they are currently in the process of identifying culturally significant sites which will be designated with physical markers. 

I "got my start" in the South Bronx (940 Grand Concourse!) and then came back during junior high and high school. It will be great to learn more about the living history I may have been oblivious to as a kid and to be able to share it with Native Creative Concierge clients. I have a family visiting next month that requested a stop at Yankee Stadium. I'll include surrounding areas during their private excursion. One of the landmarks that will be highlighted on the South Bronx Culture Trail will be 1520 Sedgwick Ave where DJ Kool Herc created hip hop in the early 70's.

WWE Wrestlemania 30 Press Conference in New York City

WWE Wrestlemania 30 Press Conference at the Hard Rock Cafe in
New York City

On April 1, in the heart of New York City's Times Square, the WWE held their WrestleMania 30 press conference at the Hard Rock Cafe. The event was hosted by Michael Cole and featured Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon, COO Paul "Triple H" Levesque, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista and the host of Wrestlemania 30, "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan.

WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan will host WrestleMania 30
in New Orleans, LA on April 6. 

WrestleMania 30 will take place on Sunday, April 6 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, LA. 

Bare Men Preview (VIDEO)

Work continues on my male nude series, Bare Men. The book layout is at 90%. The images that will be featured in the solo exhibition are selected for the most part. But what was going to be the preview exhibit for my series has been cancelled. The images that were selected for the juried exhibition were pulled from the exhibit. The reason I was given was that the other artists did not want to share screens with me because my work would have to be seen along with theirs and they didn't want any of their guests to be offended. 

The Power of I Am

When I began corresponding with a new friend in São Paulo he said he was single. Wanting firsthand knowledge of the namorar-social scene there, I shared Dating in Brazil Vs USA: Paquerar & Namorar and he agreed with some of what was said about how relationships are "conducted" Brazil.


A few emails later he told me about his girlfriend. So I was curious -- does he consider himself single because he's not legally married? I know there are people who consider themselves single even if they're dating someone. Dating is the process of getting to know someone until you decide if you want something more "serious" or "committed" or to take things to the "next level". You can date more than one person. By law, in the US, it's illegal to be married to more than one person. But here the majority of people don't consider themselves "single" if they're dating only one person.

There's So Much More To New York Than That

Native Creative Concierge client snapping photos at Fort Washington
during our half day excursion
(Source) 

A friend recently shared a commercial by an Israeli company in which he appears. Two things jumped out at me when I watched the ad - the role he was cast in and the product the commercial was for.

Guys & Dolls and Native Creative Concierge

On Saturday, February 22, 2014, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation will host its 14th Annual Guys & Dolls Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction. To date, Guys & Dolls has raised close to two million dollars in funding to cure cystic fibrosis and virtually every approved drug for cystic fibrosis was made possible because of support from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.


Guys & Dolls hosts a gala each year with 700 attendees who come together for food, entertainment and charitable giving in the name of cystic fibrosis research.

Bowery Mission Continues Its Mission in New York

The Bowery Mission,  NY (Source)

I remember last spring a pair of visitors from Germany wanted to see homeless people huddled over a fire burning in a garbage can to keep warm. After my eyes widened and I laughed, I let them know that image of New York they were fed isn't the reality anymore.


And while there's no more skid row here in NY, The Bowery Mission, on the Bowery which was New York's skid row, still provides services to the homeless and people in need. This week, I worked with a client whose interest was in criminal law and social services provided to New Yorkers. I took her to The Bowery Mission as part of her immersion.

Batista To Work On The Road To Wrestlemania

(source)

I'm all for the rivalry brewing between Alberto Del Rio and Batista. Last week on WWE Monday Night Raw when Batista finally had enough and let Del Rio know, "dude, I didn't come here for you, I came for the title, but if you keep getting in my face I'll handle that too," I thought, Hmm, this will be interesting.

Looks like the WWE is going to make Batista work.

Ask Abbie: Married Man Wants To Be Someone's Little Maid

Seeking A Submissive Role Asks:

I need advice on why I always have these thoughts that run through my mind. I am a married white male in my mid forties that has a normal life but I always have thoughts about being dressed up in lingerie and playing a submissive role to a woman or a couple. I always have thoughts about being someone's little maid and doing everything for them. Why is it that I always think about this stuff?

Wrestlemania XXX: Roman Reigns Vs. The Undertaker

People have crowned Roman Reigns the heir apparent of the WWE. Hold on, now. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Do we enjoy seeing his spear? Yeah buddy. Does the Superman punch wow a bit more than Jon Jones? It's arguable, but that pretty face of Reigns is not ready to be the face of the WWE.


That being said, he could certainly give us a great match at Wrestlemania XXX against the Undertaker. Or is it a match against the streak? At this point they're one and the same. And out of everyone in the locker room, who is active, Reigns would be a great opponent. And let's face it, we all know that will be the real main event of Wrestlemania XXX.

Whose yard is it really -- Undertaker's or Reigns?

The Positive of Mercury Retrograde

 

Old photo from my trip to GA. Photo taken by my bro, "Kid"

Merely writing this blog post is indicative of Mercury Retrograde. Lately my work and creative energies have been focused on photography and exercise and fitness -- areas of my life that I've gone back to recently.


Revise, Rewrite, Rework, Relearn, Rekindle...



Bare Men is a major focus point right now. The project has taken on new life. I'll even be able to preview images this spring in an exhibit -- I've found a home for my nude men.

Super Bowl XLVIII Week in NYC

January 27 to February 2 will be affectionately known as Super Bowl Week in New York City. Well, affectionately known to me but to others it'll be known as a traffic-jam, clogged-sidewalk causing nightmare. Either way, it will be a high-energy time in NYC no matter how cold the temperatures may be.


I'll be working with the NY/NJ Super Bowl XLVIII Host Committee at various tourist welcome sites and along Super Bowl Boulevard perimeter. This gig is right up my alley. Need directions? Need help purchasing a metrocard? Need help hailing a taxi? Need help getting to your terminal to catch your flight? Need to know where to go to avoid all the Super Bowl Madness? Need to make sense of the madness that will be Penn Station, Times Square, Grand Central, or the PATH trains (the game will be played in New Jersey)? It's just a small part of what I do as {The} Native Creative Concierge and it's what I'll be doing during Super Bowl with for the Host Committee.

Rising Waters 2.0 Exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York

UPDATE: The Rising Waters 2.0 exhibit has been extended until March 31, 2014!

"Chinatown Eternal Dusk", November 2, 2012

I received the news on Wednesday night. One of the photos that I took during the days following Hurricane Sandy will be included in the special presentation, Rising Waters 2.0. at the Museum of the City of New York. I did my best to contain my excitement that night but believe me, I sent texts with lots of exclamation points and took one of my "leaps of glee" when I got home.



Once the winds died down, I ventured out to Prospect Park, Park Slope, SoHo, LES, Chinatown, Tribeca and the Financial District to see how those neighborhoods were faring without power after Hurricane Sandy. Images from my time in SoHo ended up on seriouseats and ArtINFO and were requested by ABC's The Chew.

What Naked Yoga Did For Me

Guest Post by Mukunda

Naked yoga probably sounds weird and crazy to many but if you take the time to understand it (and maybe even try it!) I bet you will see how it has the ability to be very beneficial. It was (and is) to me. The first time I tried it I had only done yoga on one or two occasions because I had to for high school gym class. Being naked in front of total strangers was not something I would ever consider doing. But when I found out naked yoga existed I thought this might just be that outside-the-box remedy I was looking for to help me overcome all the insecurities I felt about my body.



As a boy growing up playing many different sports I always felt like I was too small and too weak which sent me down a self destructive path full of drug use, depression and suppression of the negative feelings I had about myself and my physical appearance. It wasn't until I discovered naked yoga that I felt comfortable enough to embrace my body and feel good about the way I looked.

Life Among The Barbarians

Guest Post by Cole Riley

When Abby invited me to do a guest blog on her blog, Random Musings, I leaped at the opportunity. The timing was perfect. This week, my novel, Little White Lies, was published by Zane’s imprint at Simon & Schuster, Strebor Books. It is causing quite a stir. It has already been chosen as the main selection by the Black Expressions Book Club for December.

As my friend Zane says, “Little White Lies is an amazing novel about how making one bad mistake can change your entire life. It gives new meaning to "being in the wrong place at the wrong time.” However, in this terrible age of Trayvon Martin and the stop-and-frisk epidemic, I believe its themes are deeper than that. It’s about an all-out war against young black males and their neutralization by the greater society. As a journalist and former long-time reporter with The New York Daily News, I witnessed how the plagues of educational, economic, and legal freedoms are denied them.

Baby's First Look

This morning, half way between awake and sleep I was having one of my visions. I differentiate those from lucid dreams because I'm clearly conscious and thinking. Anyway, in this vision I was changing my baby's diapers. She had both hands in her mouth, cooing away, relishing the feeling of the cool baby wipe over her booty and baby coochie. Just chilling.


When I put her legs down, she looked at me. She stopped moving her saliva-covered hands and looked at me. I looked back down at her.

4th Annual Mac Off Presented By The Claque

Competitors at the 4th Annual Mac Off presented by the claque

On Sunday, November 17, the claque presented its 4th annual Mac Off, a macaroni and cheese competition. Chefs (amateur, professional and passionate) presented their macaroni and cheese creations at Littlefield in Gowanus, Brooklyn. 

Attendees at The Mac Off tasted each entry (some more than once) and cast their ballots for the best mac-n-cheese dish. No cheese was off limits. And as it turned out, many of the add-ins that were once groundbreaking (bacon) were the more "usual" variations. The mac-n-cheese evolution is upon us.

Bacon Mac & Cheese (homemade bacon, Gruyere, mustard seed, caramelized onion)

Make Destination Bar Your Destination

Destination Bar, East Village, NYC (photo source)

It's an East Village bar that hasn't been overrun by the gentrifiers or the Bridge and Tunnel crew. That right there scored it tons of points.

More points for the signature drinks at less than the $15 to $22 cocktail-standard that plagues New York at the moment. 

Want cocktails for $5? Head to Destination Bar during their happy hour (corner of Avenue A and 13th). All drinks are half off. That was a major reason I decided to have my birthday happy hour there this year.