The end of the year usually inspires reflection on the year that’s ending and a look forward to the one that’s approaching. Maybe it’s getting older, but it seems like time moves more quickly now (I’m beginning to hear myself lamenting its rapid passage just like my mother did. I, however, prefer to think that I’m packing in 1000% more into my life, and this makes the days, weeks and months zip by in a blur)....

Walking south from the Staples store on Broadway, I looked west down Vesey Street and saw the World Trade Center as if for the first time. With its solid-looking base tapering into a 400’ antenna, it looks as if it’s reaching to the sky. I stopped and stared for a few minutes before taking out my camera. I’ve taken other photos of the World Trade Center before from near the...

If you know New York City, you know it’s got energy and excitement all its own but with the first Super Bowl in 42 years just four days away, the buzz is even more palpable.  Broadway between 34th and 47th Streets has been transformed into a pedestrian-only thoroughfare, called Super Bowl Boulevard, where football fans who have registered, can join in the revelry which started on Wednesday. Even though I...

Last weekend, I took the 5-minute ferry ride from Manhattan to Governors Island for Fête Paradiso. It was my first time visiting the island and I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t know much about it. Governors Island is located about a half mile from the southern end or Lower Manhattan. The island is 172 acres, a mile long, and a quarter of a mile wide. New York’s Native Americans...

The Labor Day weekend means one thing to New York’s West Indian American community: the West Indian American Carnival! Now in its 46th year, the Carnival bills itself as the greatest carnival in North America. It is perhaps New York’s largest cultural festival. The celebration of carnival began in the 1920s as a private event among the West Indian communities in Harlem. It became an official event in 1947, when...

I’m fascinated by churches, especially their design. Sometimes they’re simple, almost stark, other times elaborate. If I have my camera and can stop, I’ll take photos or I’ll get my camera and return later. Whatever their design, however, churches inspire reverence. As I waited at the Rockville Center station for the train to Long Island a few years ago, I saw this church in the distance. I couldn’t believe how...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in New York. Here are a few scenes from Bryant Park. I’ve always loved Bryant Park – it’s small and intimate, and very accessible especially for people who work in midtown. People stop by during lunchtime, sit at the tables and read or take advantage of their free wifi. In the summer, there are movies. In winter, ice skating. Last Saturday, as I...