Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

Earth Day 2009. New York City’s Grand Central station was the host location of this year’s Earth Day Festival. 108 participating organizations were present at the festival last week. Little stands crowded next to each other, with colorful and hands-on displays which offered tips and new ways on how to save energy, which household products one can use which will be safest for the environment, and some tables that were just for fun. There were a variety of creative green enterprises represented, which had for sale products manufactured from cardboard, sails, and even elephant dung. Many of these green projects are publicly- funded, and promoted innovative technologies like a hybrid bus, fueled by different types of energy; the expansion of bike lanes; and tax credits for solar panels on green rooftops. The event was free and open to all.

Re/Dress NYC Grand Opening Party
Boeurm Hill Brooklyn
February 4, 2009, 6pm-10pm

6:20 pm: I’ve returned to Re/Dress for the first time in almost a month and was greeted like a true friend of the shop. (I’ve covered the store for project in the past. Deb, the owner, knows me and says hi to me every time I’m here.) So far it looks like only a few people have streamed in. They’re as nice as all the other people I’ve encountered while I’ve been shopping and working (the latter more than the former) at the shop.

6:24 pm: I’ve already been offered champagne.

6:52 pm: Have decided to finally join the fold. It’s still in the “Ooh, pretty” part of this affair – that is, the shopping portion. I looked and skirts and found some things that were cool. My love of plaid was reaffirmed. The cookies are really good.

6:54 pm: Overhearing the conversations around. A designer I’ve heard of is supposedly in attendance. I’m on her mailing list in my civilian life. Her stuff is pretty cool. Perhaps she’s someone I can write about for a project. Having ideas is a good thing.

7:12 pm: So apparently Target has plus-size tights in bright colors. I learned this from a girl by the meat platter. She’s got some cool style. She was wearing a yellow cardigan and hot pink tights. You learn something new every day. (And there’s actually a Target down the way at the Atlantic Mall. Suddenly, I’m wondering if it’ll be open when this is over.)

7:43 pm: This place has gotten much more crowded since the beginning. I’ve met a few people that I’ve talked to. I flocked to these women with cameras. One works for a magazine for plus-sized women. I also chatted with a woman who runs “Goddess parties.” It’s a term I’ve heard before but I can’t exactly remember what they are. When I get home, I’ll have to look up both of those sites.

7:49 pm: Met the designer. She invited me to her store, which is right by school. Yes, I plan on e-mailing her.

8:05 pm: I got to use some of the information I gained from my previous project to pepper an interview. Also, there will be a floorshow in about twenty minutes. (All this and a floor show? Wait, what exactly is that call out line for the Rocky Horror Picture Show?) Also, I just heard someone utitlize the term “strum und drang” in everyday conversation. I find this cool, because I’m kind of a nerd.

8:24 pm: I stepped out for a minute for some air and then did another round of the store. Being here makes me wish I had disposable income again. I’m really into the vintage coats in the back of the store, the ones in bright colors with the fur collars. There’s one I give the eye to every time I’m here. It’s teal, a color I’m really a big fan of.

8:58 pm: We’re still waiting for the official floorshow. But so far, there’s someone I believe is a professional performer and some of the employees dancing to some techno music. The presumed performer is a dead ringer for one of the finalists on Australia’s Next Top Model. She’s wearing a red lame corset; it sort of matches her hair.

9:02 pm: And now, the floorshow.

9:09 pm: The first performer was a belly dancer. Her name was Myasia (though I’m not sure of the exact spelling), and she came all the way from D.C. It’s amazing how far the reach of this store has gone. It reminds me that I had previously talked to some who came from Portland. Which actually is way farther than D.C. I wonder if my cousin (who takes belly dance classes) has heard of her before.

9:12 pm: Borough President Markowitz has sent a representative with a proclamation for the store. Today has been declared Re/Dress NYC Day in Brooklyn. That’s a pretty cool honor. Now Deb just encouraged the women from the Borough President’s office to shop here now.

9:16 pm: Now we have a burlesque performance by the World Famous BOB. I am somewhat familiar with her name, thanks to my years of reading BUST Magazine. (Thank you, BUST Magazine.) Unfortunately, there have been some technical difficulties, music issues and the like, so the AusNTM doppelganger has taken to dancing and doing cartwheels for our amusement. Things should start up again momentarily.

9:23 pm: As we wait for things to get working again, the performers have been dancing to “Single Ladies” by Beyonce. That’s a songs I’ve probably been hearing too much of lately.

9:29 pm: I’m really getting involved now. My laptop might just save this party.

9:32 pm: But it unfortunately didn’t.

9:44 pm: It appears I have spoken too soon. Thanks to my trusty laptop, the music (whose low volume had been a problem before) can now be played at the proper volume.

9:45 pm: Maybe.

9:53 pm: The technology has brought the event back down to its chat session origins. But no one in attendance seems to mind, really. In other neither-here-nor-there news, I want that grey Gap dress that’s hanging on the front rack. It’s something I could wear to my internship – I’ve seen people there wearing dresses like that.

10:06 pm: Snoop Dogg is playing on the speakers (which seem be working okay – which now confounds me as to what happened before). The crowd has begun thinning out. I also wonder if it might be time for me to take my leave. And since the buying time, it will probably be empty-handed. Until next time, Re/Dress.

Postscript:
10:29 pm: I spoke too soon. By some strange serendipity, as I prepared to return to Manhattan, the show began again. Burlesque performers Della Dare, Dirty Martini, and (finally) the World Famous BOB (she’s a fuckin’ genius, according to the end of her song) strutted their stuff and bared nearly all to the delight of the remaining audience members. I also learned that there is a burlesque school, but that probably shouldn’t be surprising.

10:30 pm: Deb to audience: “This is my gift to you, and I love you”. A very fitting end to the evening.

The United Nations was eerily quiet on the night it rang in its 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the east-side New York City headquarters. In one of the massive conference rooms decked with furnishings reminiscent of the Nuclear 50s, almost all the seats were empty.

A Universal Declaration without much fanfare. Photo by H'Rina DeTroy

But, instead of long, perfunctory speeches about promoting human rights, a screening of ten short films marked the 60th year of the Declaration. Perhaps the United Nations have hit upon a way to voice its good intentions as an instrument of diplomacy and accountability in global relations by relying on film makers to do what an entity like the UN can’t do as well — show instead of tell.

"A Water Tale" takes a place where there isn't any. Film by Francesco Jodice. Photo by H'Rina DeTroy

Obama’s victory is an example of how newer technologies can engage and fuel change. Here are a few ways to experience the UN Declaration with sound and visuals.

Afropop Worldwide collaborated with Amnesty International and others to present an hour-long online radio feature dedicated to the 60th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, featuring Femi Kuti of Nigeria and other World music artists.

“Read” the Declaration via Youtube, backed by a simple beat and melody:

Here is a radio piece I did about detention centers. They are jail-like places were people are put when they come to the US and announce that they want to apply for asylum. One can also end up there if you are an undocumented immigrant, or a green card holder who has been convicted of a crime. They are essentially deportation centers, and in many of those detention centers the detainees are treated worse than inmates in jails are. A total of 68 people have died in detention since 2004.

One such case is that of HIV-positive 23-year-old Victor Arellano, who died last year when he was held in detention and was denied proper medical treatment.

Hiu Lui Ng is another person that died in detention, earlier this year. He complained about backpain for months but didn’t get to see a doctor until his spine had fractured and he couldn’t walk anymore. He died of cancer at the age of 34.

Listen to the piece to find out more about detention centers. You can also go to the Detention Watch Network website or watch the movie The Visitor. It’s a great movie, I really recommend it.

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…fun with final cut…

Half a block from where I live, a huge gaping chasm sits quiet and dormant, its future uncertain, its status clouded by controversy.

It’s the railyard at the center of the proposed Atlantic Yards development, where Forest City Ratner plans to erect a stadium for the NBA’s Nets alongside a mini-city of high-rise towers. The project would add thousands of apartments and condos, along with office and retail space, to an already severely congested area of Brooklyn. As of now the plan still stands, but two weeks ago construction abruptly stopped.

Initially, Forest City Ratner told the Daily News that pending litigation had forced them to stop work. Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, a grassroots organization opposed to the project, disputed that claim. DDDB spokesman Daniel Goldstein alleged that financial problems must have played a role in the work stoppage, since the area under construction would not be affected by either of two unresolved lawsuits filed by DDDB.

Freddy's Bar at 6th Avenue and Dean Street, a popular gathering place for opponents of Atlantic Yards, on December 15, 2008.

One of the suits challenges the usage of eminent domain to evict residents, such as Goldstein and his wife, Shabnam Merchant, who live in the project’s footprint. The other seeks to overturn the state’s determination that parts of the surrounding neighborhood were “blighted,” one of the factors that set the stage for the project’s huge scope.

News reports in the last week, including this article in the Observer, have confirmed that financial difficulties may force the developer to postpone or even abandon the project regardless of the outcome of the lawsuits. Today the Daily News reported that architect Frank Gehry has laid off nearly every employee he had working on his designs for Atlantic Yards.

Earlier this week I interviewed Daniel Goldstein. Here’s what he had to say about the possibility of the project falling through:

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It’s amazing how small the world has become since the onset of the Internet, and especially Facebook. At any given time I have friends living or visiting in tens of different countries around the world, on every continent. If there’s an earthquake in Indonesia, I can immediately check if my friend in Jakarta has updated her Facebook status saying that she is okay. Or if there’s a huge snowstorm going on in Australia, I can check my Aussie friends’ statuses to see if they are making snow angels. And sometimes I like to take a little imaginary around-the-world trip just by looking at my friends’ Facebook statuses:

-Amy should have been leaving for Egypt today!

-Laurie is two hours away from vacation and a nice 18 hour drive to FL!

-Amit is getting ready to party in Beirut!

-Ange is packing for Strasbourg .

-Amanda will be going away for the weekend… Going to Hangzhou!

-Henna is home in Finland!

–Gemi is 宅居在家

-Katja is stoked about jetting of to London in only three days time, weehay!!

-Tepa is doing some AWESOME diving in Solomon Islands! And yeah.. LOVIN it! =)

-Laura is “Finland Finland here I come” sooooon…….

-Kathryn is waiting for a phone call from sunny Perth…

-Zara and 10 days to Cuba!

-Ed is wondering why he’s come to Madurai.

-Ross is enjoying Sweden.

-George: Last Weekend in Paris !!

-Jordan is ready to go to Florida for the weekend.

-Mark is enjoying a Bintang in Luanbajo, Flores.

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So where does your status take you?

EIES, the Electronic Information and Education Service, is a radio broadcasting service for the blind in northern New Jersey. It uses 150 volunteers to read newspapers, magazines and books over a special frequency out of Seton Hall University in South Orange. Listeners as far as 25 miles away get a special radio in exchange for a small donation. They can get the news all day long in their kitchens, living rooms or bedrooms.

EIES has been doing this for 34 years and not much about the process has changed.

Volunteers read for two hours at a time, which adds up to 112 hours of broadcasting a week. They don’t read from computer screens and they don’t even skip over the weekly sales circulars. They read the paper in its entirety. So in an age where newspapers are dying, EIES has been called by some volunteers, “the last bastion” for newspapers.

A lot of the volunteer readers are older and may not be comfortable with computer screens.  But that’s not the only reason EIES sticks with the paper. The newspaper layout makes it easier to read the news in some sort of order, starting with the front page and the day’s headlines. And they read it word for word. So in an age when technology has taken over, EIES looks to the past.

The EIES studio, which is in an old building down the street from Seton Hall, is a kind of tribute to the newspaper. There are stacks of them on the floor. There’s rustling and page turning and a sense that newspapers will be around, at least at EIES, for decades to come.

I have had enough of hate crimes. They make me so sad and mad, and must be the stupidest thing ever invented. Aren’t there enough people dying in accidents and of illnesses already? Do you really need to add more bodies to the pile just because you want to vent your anger?? Next time you are mad, how about harming yourself rather than others?

I have been thinking about hate crimes a lot ever since I heard about the case of the Ecuadorian man, Jose Sucuzhanay, who died in the hospital last Friday. He had been hit in the head with a beer bottle five days earlier and beaten with an aluminium baseball bat nearby Bushwick in Brooklyn.

It’s not clear whether the motive of the guys who attacked him was hatred towards Latinos, or towards gays, or both. Apparently they at least thought that Sucuzhanay was gay, when they saw him walking arm in arm with another man on the street. In reality that man was his brother and  Sucuzhanay was a married father of two. The brothers were on their way home from church and had stopped at a bar for some drinks. What a horrible ending for their day. I makes me want to cry, but I guess I should be a hardcore reporter who is immune to emotions.

The most recent consensus seems to be that race was indeed the more important reason for this hate crime. FBI statistics show a 40 percent increase in hate crimes against Latinos during 2003-2007, and this is already the second Latino man killed in a month’s time. The other one was Marcelo Lucero, beaten and stabbed to death in Long Island by seven teenagers, who considered it their “hobby” to mug people. This time they were looking for a “Mexican” when they found Lucero, another Ecuadorian immigrant.

Obviously Latinos are not the only victims of hate crimes, although they accounted for 60 percent of those attacked in 2007. Victims come in all colors, all do the attackers. The attackers in Sucuzhanay’s case are said to be black (although they are still at large) and in Lucero’s case they were white.

As I said earlier, hate crimes drive me mad. I understand that a multicultural society is not everyone’s cup of tea, but why don’t these people then move somewhere where they don’t have to face people of other cultures or races?? Believe it or not, there are still PLENTY of homogeneous towns on this planet where you can choose to be surrounded by only “your” people if you so wish. Do these people in Long Island or Brooklyn or wherever really think that they can get rid of EVERYONE that they don’t like in their communities?? I don’t think so.

There are always going to be people in your community that you are not going to like, or who you don’t want to get to know. That’s fine. You are not expected to like everybody anyway. But why don’t you just ignore the people you don’t like and pretend that they are not even there rather than kill them? By committing a hate crime you are ruining many people’s lives, including your own. Do you really hate these people SO much that you would rather sit in jail for the rest of your life than let them live their lives? THAT is the stupidest thing I have ever heard.