When I left the Bronx, just before Christmas, it was with a sense of foreboding. A magnificent grassroots movement had managed to keep the eviction wolf from the door in New York for almost two years, but the housing courts were due to re-open on 15th January. Nobody quite knew what to expect, but it… Continue reading “Choose people and housing over crackdowns”
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Moving on
Hello, if you follow this blog, I’m very grateful. For several reasons, including that I’m no longer in the Bronx, I’ve launched a new blog, “The View from K92”. Here’s the link. It would be great to see you there.
Goodbye Boogie Down
The final word here (for now at least) should go to the place I’ve called home for the last six months. Where else could strut its stuff to a nickname like ‘The Boogie Down”? As I realised very early on, the Bronx is many things, with a diversity running from deep urban poverty, to a… Continue reading Goodbye Boogie Down
That’s America to Me
I’m leaving this country as I found it: in a mess! I thought my being here for six months would be enough to change the course of catastrophe capitalism, but sadly not. As I depart, the omicron panic is cranking up and casting a long shadow. But without minimising the immediate impact of COVID, I… Continue reading That’s America to Me
CASA: “Si se puede!”
As I get ready to leave, Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA) are making sure my visit ends as it started. I joined them for a protest against rent rises the day after I landed. Six months later, last Thursday I joined their protest outside Bronx housing court as they reminded people who need it… Continue reading CASA: “Si se puede!”
Hillside Homes
One of my last posts from here is about another remarkable place in the Bronx. Hillside Homes was the first public housing built through the New Deal and more evidence of what government for the people, not private developers, can do, especially in an emergency. (Any similarity with today’s situation is purely non-coincidental.) Hillside Homes… Continue reading Hillside Homes
Positively Public
There’s a very interesting and important debate currently going on within the NYC Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) about the future of the city’s public housing. What follows is a longer-than-usual post that’s partly intended as a fraternal contribution to that discussion, from an interested outsider, but based on very similar experiences in the UK.… Continue reading Positively Public
Mississippi Goddam
As I posted on 1st September, a woman’s right to choose isn’t something I feel very qualified to comment on. But it’s a subject that should concern us all, particularly in the context of what’s happening in the US right now. Yesterday, I had the very unsettling experience of listening to the Supreme Court hear… Continue reading Mississippi Goddam
Strange Fruit
One of the best things I’ve done since I’ve been here is persuade the splendid People’s Forum to screen the film Strange Fruit, followed by a Q and A with the director, Joel Katz. I’ve been a huge admirer of the film since I first saw it when it was released in 2002. I’ve organised… Continue reading Strange Fruit
Pain Management
In some ways, this is the most important and difficult subject I’ve written about since I got here. Unfortunately, it’s also the one I feel least qualified for. Even during a global pandemic, America’s epidemic of opioid addiction remains one of the country’s gravest, most intractable problems. In terms of deaths, it’s on a scale… Continue reading Pain Management
Bronx Tales 