Shaun Ross, 26, from The Bronx is a Black model who has albinism and is the first such professional model and has been in Vogue and GQ.
Recently he posted an image with other models with unique, physical features like vitiligo which went viral.
His intentions? A message of self love according to the Daily Mail in the UK who reported on the story.
Read the full story over at The Daily Mail.
Last week, a factually incorrect and misleading op-ed piece was posted in CityLimits titled “Revitalization, Not Gentrification, is What’s Coming to Mott Haven” where the author states that there is a campaign of fear mongering and misinformation when it comes to the topic of gentrification of the area.
The only campaign of misinformation or fear mongering was that piece written with no factual data or information so I wrote my own op-ed response to it.
Gentrifiers and those in support of it will justify it and try to rebrand it by any means, including calling it “self-gentrification” but it’s simply lipstick on a pig.
The original article: “Revitalization, Not Gentrification, is What’s Coming to Mott Haven”
Our reply: “Residents, Not Investors, Revitalized Mott Haven. Displacement, Not Progress, is What They Fear”
Thanks to CityLimits for allowing us to address the gross misinformation stated in the original op-ed.
Do let us know what you think.
Here’s a wonderful historical account of two old theaters, both on Southern Boulevard, The Boulevard and The Spooner by Ephemeral New York.
The Bronx was once filled with theaters and movie houses of which we still see the remnants today.
The Spooner Theater on Southern Boulevard / Image ©Ephemeral New York
The Bronx is the Land of Faded Old Movie Houses
By Ephemeral New York
New York City has many grand old theaters and movie houses. These hearty survivors have been typically rebranded as a drugstore, Starbucks, or some other store that has none of that show biz grandeur or charm.
Image ©Ephemeral New York
But it seems like the Bronx has more than its share of old theaters than other boroughs. Two recycled movie houses are on Southern Boulevard, a busy shopping stretch in the South Bronx.
Behold the Spooner Theatre, above and at right, which opened in 1910. Seating 1800, the Spooner would soon be purchased by Loews and renamed the Loews Spooner Theatre, according to Cinematic Treasures.
Cecil Spooner (below) was an actress and director who built the theater so her stock company could have a place to perform.
Spooner and her players give “performances twice a day to audiences which fill the house,” wrote the New York Times in 1913.
Interestingly, later that year Spooner was arrested for staging what was called a “vice” play—a dramatization of a novel called “The House of Bondage.”
The audience rose in protest when the cops came in. (The novel was about the then-hot topic of white slavery.)
At some point the Loews Spooner got a marquee . . . and then became a furniture store, per this photo below from Cinema Treasures.
Today the theater is weathered but still holding up. It’s occupied by a couple of cell phone stores, a Burger King, and a Children’s Place.
Not far from the majestic Spooner is the shell of the Boulevard Theatre, which opened in 1913, reports Cinematic Treasures. This Beaux-Arts beauty started out as a vaudeville house seating 2,200 people.
Image ©Ephemeral New York
“When [the Boulevard] is finished this block . . . will be an amusement and business center second to none in the Bronx,” wrote the New York Times.
It soon opened as the Loews Boulevard and featured “‘small time’ vaudeville and moving pictures,” according to another Times article.
Like the Spooner, the Boulevard has since been repurposed into a shopping strip with a cell phone store and gym. Its Beaux-Arts touches are still faring well after more than a century fronting a busy Bronx street.
Thanks to Ephemeral New York for allowing us to syndicate this wonderful piece of Bronx history. Please make sure to follow their website for other historical accounts and look into the past of not just The Bronx but New York as well.
We know that the Dark Knight that is known as Batman was born in The Bronx but did you know Black Panther’s villian, Erik Killmonger was also born in our borough?
An article over at Vulture that talks about how “…an untested young comics writer revolutionized Black Panther”, goes into detail about how the villain came to be.
The author of the article writes:
They had considerable editorial freedom due to the fact that no one was really reading the series at the time. The two men quickly became close. “We worked side by side — I mean, literally,” McGregor recalls. “Rich actually found me a place to live in the Bronx so that we could be close by each other. So I literally would go to Rich’s apartment after work from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., and we’d sit and I would do Panther poses for him, or we would discuss design.”
It was in that Bronx apartment that Killmonger was born. McGregor wanted to situate the Jungle Action stories in Wakanda, which T’Challa had recently departed to go on American adventures. That meant an all-black cast — something never before seen in mainstream comics. And an all-black cast meant another rarity: a black bad guy. “I did not want any more white people stumbling into Wakanda to go steal the vibranium. I mean, how many times can you do that?” McGregor says. “So my first thought when looking at it was, Well, he’s been away from Wakanda and is coming back, and what makes sense?Politically, things could be happening. I started working on the idea of a revolution within Wakanda because he’s been away for so long.
No sooner had they’d created Killmonger than they decided to make him a central figure on the cover of their first chapter in Jungle Action No. 6. McGregor lauds Marvel for allowing him to present such a richly fleshed-out black cast, but recalls pushback on the covers front. “We had him on the first cover, and then I was told that he could not appear on the covers,” he says. “I’m not sure they were that comfortable with having a black villain of that strength and ferocity that Killmonger had, going against the Panther.”
But whatever editorial tentativeness there may have been, it didn’t show in the pages of “Panther’s Rage,” which presented a tale about black Africans unlike any other that comics had seen. Indeed, it was a storyunlike any before seen in that medium.
Read the full story over at Vulture!
1,843 Bronx residents, the most in all 62 New York State counties, were diagnosed with the flu last week in one of the largest flu outbreaks the country has seen in recent years.
Since October, 6,742 Bronxites (second only to Queens with 7,410 cases however, rate of incidence by population is higher in The Bronx) have been diagnosed with the flu in total and that number is expected to rise as the flu season continues.
It should, however, come to no surprise that more Bronx residents are coming down with the flu considering that our borough has the worst health statistics and outcomes in New York State.
With the highest rates of HIV in the state, we have more individuals with compromised immune systems.
We also have some of the highest rates of diabetes in the nation which is a deadly disease that also weakens the immune system.
According to the Center for Disease Control, people with asthma, heart disease, and are obese are also susceptible to the flu and sadly our borough suffers from some of the highest rates of these medical conditions in the state.
These are just a few of the medical factors behind why it’s possible we are suffering with such high flu rates in The Bronx and we’re not even touching open the poor economic status of many Bronx residents which plays a critical role in health outcomes.
So what can you do?
The CDC posted the following tips:
1. Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor prescribes them.
2. Take every day preventative actions to help prevent the spread of germs.
3. If you have not gotten a flu vaccine yet this season, get vaccinated now – it’s not too late!
So during this flu season, please take care of yourselves and wash your hands frequently, try not to hug and kiss or shake hands as greetings as much as possible.
People will be grateful and not offended because you’re trying to keep them safe.
Yeah, we said it. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is a fool of he thinks the South Bronx community is just going to sit back and allow a new jail to be built in the area continuing the tradition of the South Bronx being a dumping ground for every unwanted facility.
Caught by surprise, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr, Congressman José E Serrano, Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr and borough residents all stated dismay at the city administration’s lack of transparency or decency to even speak with local elected officials about this move.
The site in question is currently an NYPD tow pound where once stood the old Lincoln Hospital and is surrounded by residential town homes.
The South Bronx continues to be dumping ground for waste transfer sites, medical waste, and not to mention the unwanted FreshDirect warehouse bringing thousands of truck trips through our streets.
Must we continue to be railroaded and not consulted on what the future of OUR neighborhood should look like?
Welcome2TheBronx acknowledges that criminal justice reform must happen and we agree with the need to shut Rikers Island, that is not the debate here.
The question is whether the mayor can just make such a decison without consulting the community stakeholders or elected officials as if it were a done deal.
Congressman Serrano, in a press release issued the following statement:
“Criminal justice reform is badly needed in New York and nationally- and I will always support efforts to ensure our justice system is fairer and more equitable. As part of that, I strongly support the effort to close Rikers’, but that process cannot take place at the expense of community input and participation in the siting of such a facility. Far too often, the South Bronx is used to deal with negative problems that other areas of New York City do not want to deal with. Waste transfer stations, sewage treatment plants, industrial/commercial facilities that generate increased truck traffic- all seem to be located in the South Bronx disproportionately when compared to the rest of the City. Once again it appears the South Bronx has been selected to bear an unnecessary burden on behalf of the City.
“What is most troubling about this announcement is the City’s decision making process itself in selecting the sites. First and foremost, there has been no input to date from the local communities or consideration of their needs. In the Bronx and elsewhere, the City simply selected a site and made an announcement. The ‘process’ should have started with a site search, open to public feedback. The site selected in the Bronx is one that the community has sought for years to develop- with little engagement or support from the City. Repeatedly, community members were told that the NYPD needed it as a tow lot. Suddenly, without warning or notice, the City plans to develop it into a jail. Even more troubling and concerning, Mother Hale Academy – a public school sits just two short blocks away from where the City plans to build the jail.
“It is important to note that the South Bronx is already home to a city jail- the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center in Hunts Point. The South Bronx is already doing its fair share of housing the City’s prison population, and it is unclear whether this fact was taken into account in the planning process to date. It is also important to note that twelve years ago, the City attempted to build a jail at Oak Point in the South Bronx. Those plans were eventually abandoned in the face of universal opposition from local residents, community groups, and elected officials.
“This ‘process’ already seems to be fundamentally flawed. There should be equity and fairness in the jail placement process- and that means looking throughout our borough- not just in the South Bronx; taking into consideration the number of jails already in an area; and at the very least, taking into consideration a community’s needs and concerns in an inclusive manner. I urge the City to reconsider its decision and reopen this process in the Bronx and elsewhere if need be.”
Councilman Rafael Salamanca Jr, who’s District nearby and is now the chair of the City Council’s Land Use Committee issued a statement ad well stating the following:
“There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s time to shut down Rikers Island, and for me, it’s not only due to the critical state of the facilities there, but also because of the deep stigma that surrounds Rikers that resonates with many.
‘But as we address the important issue on how to it shut down, we also need to use the opportunity to address another stigma – one that resonates in lower-income communities, mostly of color, who for far too long have taken on more than their fair share of the types of facilities more affluent neighborhoods have refused to accept.
‘The South Bronx is a perfect example of a community that has historically taken on more than its fair share. Not only do we have a growing juvenile detention center in the middle of one of our busiest commercial hubs, but we also have the Vernon C. Bain Center, a relic from the crack epidemic of the 1980’s and 1990’s.
‘While the Vernon C. Bain Center, or ‘The Boat’, was supposed to be temporary, it has instead been anchored on the waterfront of Hunts Point for more than twenty-five years. And in that time, it has only added to a stigma that I believe surrounds the South Bronx. For residents, it’s a symbol of embarrassment. For outsiders, it symbolizes that the South Bronx is dangerous, disparate and not worthy of investment. I can’t stand for that.
‘While I understand that four of the five boroughs are finally being asked to take on their fair share, I think that the Bronx has to be given particular attention due to the historical, emotional and psychological encumbrances before us. That attention, to me, includes a real conversation about not only shutting down Rikers, but also on shuttering ‘The Boat’ once and for all.
‘As we move forward, I hope the fact that the South Bronx has been historically disenfranchised is taken into real consideration. As we work to build a more just New York, I for one will not let that fact be forgotten.”
The Mott Haven Herald reports:
“South Bronx Unite, a grass roots coalition that has opposed major industrial developments such as the new FreshDirect facility on the Port Morris waterfront, says it will organize residents to fight the jail plan.
“We’re totally against the jail being put on that site,” said South Bronx Unite spokesman Mychal Johnson, adding that, while other boroughs have received robust job creation initiatives, “we’re still the site of jails, waste transfer stations, and industrial facilities.”
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr’s statement was similar in sentiment:
“I was surprised to learn that the administration has already selected a site for a new jail in The Bronx. I hope that, going forward, this lack of outreach is not a harbinger of the amount of community input the people of my borough will have in this process. I expect that the administration will present my office with a detailed outline of their plans for a new jail, and I will examine those plans carefully as the process moves forward.
“Criminal justice reform, and the need for a fairer court system, is a defining issue of our time. I was proud to work to end ‘stop and frisk’ and to ‘raise the age’ of criminal liability, and that work informs my office’s current efforts to end cash bail and reform parole. Our jail system is a human rights violation, and efforts to limit the unconstitutional levels of our jail population are certainly welcome.
“However, any new site for a jail in this borough must be thoroughly vetted, and the people of The Bronx must have a meaningful say in the selection of any future site, be it the one that has been proposed in Mott Haven or other appropriate sites that could host a new jail. Presenting the selection of this site as a fait accompliundermines the entire process, and has the potential to derail necessary criminal justice reform,”
Council woman Diana Ayala who represents the district replacing the term-limited former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito issued a statement which was quite contrary to the sentiments of the community and other elected officials.
In her statement she said she’d work to make sure it would be “a robust community engagement process on the ground to make sure the neighborhoods I represent and residents throughout the Bronx have an opportunity to provide input into this important proposal.”
Clearly this has been anything but that.
A recent article by journalist Terena Bell makes a compelling case that holding trials in Spanish in The Bronx and elsewhere not only will speed up trials but also save the State of New York over $4 million dollars a year on contracted interpreters alone.
According to Bell’s article in Quartz, millions more are spent on staff translators as well staff which manages these translators.
But this isn’t just about saving money but also a social justice issue and the constitutional right to a speedy trial as stipulated in the 6th amendment.
Right now, that is not the case when defendants do not speak English because there is a jury shortage in The Bronx that further pushes these cases back.
There are also issues where translators aren’t always accurate but according to Jodi Morales, an attorney with The Bronx Defenders interviewed by Bell, this is something that is rare.
But when errors do happen, a jury has to go by what the interpreter said as per instructions by the judge. It doesn’t matter if the jury understands the language and knows that what was said was different than what the interpreter said, they have to dismiss all of that in their heads and go by an incorrect interpretation.
Bell goes on and writes:
“If a sense of justice isn’t enough to persuade the courts that trials in Spanish are a good idea, maybe money will be. This fiscal year, New York State Unified Court System plans to spend $4,031,755 on contract interpreters. Millions more will go toward salaries and benefits for 300+ employed interpreters and additional staff in the courts’ Office of Language Access, which manages interpreting. Then there’s the expense of overly-lengthy trials: Court reporter overtime, defendants left in holding at $325 a day, and other ancillary costs budgeted up to $7.5 million this year. At a certain point, Spanish-language trials aren’t a question of social justice. They’re a matter of cold, hard cash.
Money aside, Morales says, “It’s just so interesting that the system doesn’t reflect the community at this stage…We have to make our justice system more accessible to the people who keep finding themselves engulfed by it.”
Read the entire article over at Quartz, it’s a great read on how we can take yet another step towards criminal justice reform.
The Bronx is beautiful and we love looking at old pictures of our borough as much as you do and thanks to the New York Public Library we can do just that.
With the NYPL Digital Collections, I tend to get lost for hours at a time while researching images for stories both current events and historical ones.
All the images are from the Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1887 – 1964.
But you know what’s better? Your old photographs so if you have any you’d like to share, feel free to drop us a not over at info@welcome2thebronx.com and provide a brief caption!
A pilot program in The Bronx was announced yesterday, that if successful, will end up benefiting millions of New Yorkers who are renters.
Making on-time rental payments, something you’d think would help your credit, doesn’t since it isn’t reported to the major credit reporting agencies.
Residents of 40 buildings operated by Banana-Kelly in the South Bronx will now be able to opt into this pilot program that will report your payments thus helping you establish and build credit.
“A lot of people are credit worthy,” New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said in an interview with PIX11 News. “Their biggest expense is either the mortgage, or the rent payment, but the rent payment accounts for nothing.”
The way the program works is very simple.
“Our tenants are able to sign on to the RentTrack program and they are the ones that report to the three credit agencies,” Hope Burgess, chief financial officer of Banana Kelly, said.
She said it’s both shameful and amazing that this opportunity hasn’t existed before.
These are the types of stories that shows just how awesome The Bronx and its people are.
NY1 reports this evening about a young 5 year old girl named Stella who gets on the Longwood Avenue station on the 6 train everyday with her dad.
He told NY1 how Stella always waves hello at the conductors as they pull the trains into the station and oftentimes would wave back.
Well today the train came into the station at a slower speed than normal and when it reached Stella, the window opened and the train operator gave stella a special gift: A box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day.
The parents tried to find out who the train operator was and NY1 was able to track the man down who also turns out to be a Bronxite.
47 year old John Moreno of Pelham Bay did it as a way of saying thank you to Stella for always saying hi and seeing him.
“To the average New Yorker, we’re invisible — but not to Stella!” he was quoted as saying to the station.
For me, this is rather personal story since my dad worked for the MTA for 33 1/2 years, most of which as a train operator himself.
It’s so beautiful to see these kinds of stories being highlighted so make sure you spread this one around because we need something to smile about more than ever.
A 9 story building is being planned by Foxy Development on Arthur Avenue and E 179th Street in the Tremont section of The Bronx.
The building, once complete, will have 177 units spread across 122,000 square feet.
Senior housing is severely needed in The Bronx as our population continues to age.
We firmly believe that all developments being constructed should have such units set aside for our seniors.
According to the article in the Real Deal, the developer hopes to break ground by the end of the year, however, we know these things rarely start on time so we’ll keep you posted on future developments.
The title of this post and the original article leads one to believe that there wasn’t a vibrant literary community here in The Bronx.
But that’s not the case.
Our borough has a long history in all forms of the arts including a literary one so there’s no building but rather a continuation of an existing and rich literary and cultural legacy.
Jennifer Baker at ElectricLit writes about five people and organizations that are supporting readers and writers alike.
From Charlie Vázquez, Deputy Director of the Bronx Council on the Arts to Ron Kavanaugh, Founder/Executive Director of the Literary Freedom Project, the article provides an insight into the realm of the literary arts in The Bronx.
When asked what’s the first thing that comes to mind about The Bronx, Vázquez says:
“How rich our culture is! The Bronx is the birthplace of hip-hop as well as home to many arts and culture institutions such as our Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos Community College, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, BronxArtSpace, the Andrew Freedman Home, Bronx Music Heritage Center, Poe Park Visitor Center (adjacent to the legendary writer’s final residence), BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), and Pregones Theater — are just a few. The Bronx’s creative legacy has been informed and deepened by the diverse groups of immigrants who’ve settled here as well as through the efforts of cultural leaders serving some of the nation’s poorest districts. The Bronx is a people-of-color/immigrant-majority county.“
And indeed it’s that diversity that makes the people of the Bronx our greatest resource.
Make sure you read the full interviews at ElectricLit.
Since 2009, Welcome2TheBronx has been a popular online platform dedicated to highlighting the vibrant culture, history, and ongoing developments within New York City’s northernmost borough. Founded by life-long resident and community advocate Ed García Conde, the site features local news, personal stories, and in-depth coverage of issues such as gentrification, community empowerment, art, and real estate. Through its engaging content and active social media presence, Welcome2TheBronx has become a trusted resource for residents and visitors alike, shining a spotlight on the unique identity and rich heritage of the Bronx.
More from W2TBX
Contact Us
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv