Category: Extracurricular Activities

  • The oldest Irish bar in the city

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    By Aileen Marshall Most New Yorkers have heard of, if not been to, McSorley’s, a downtown bar. Popular belief is that it’s the oldest bar in the city, it even has sawdust on the floor. Many historical figures have patronized it over the years. It’s also famous for being one of the last to allow…

  • Brooklyn Night Bazaar

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    By Jason Rothhauser For both the hip and hungry, Brooklyn has been host to a growing new trend over the past few years: the food festival. The idea is simple: take the fun and novelty of a music festival or a craft fair, mix it with the kind of gourmet delights that foodies hunt the…

  • Requiescat in Pace

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    By George Barany George Barany is a Rockefeller alum (1977). For more puzzles by Barany and Friends and for the solution to this month’s puzzle, visit http://tinyurl.com/gbpuzzle Get here this month’s puzzle !

  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

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    By Aileen Marshall We all know that the third Monday of January was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the holiday established to honor the civil rights activist. But do you know how it came to be an official federal holiday? This writer can remember a time when the holiday didn’t exist. Martin Luther King, Jr.,…

  • Culture Corner : music roundup

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    By Bernie Lang In the past couple of months, I’ve been to live concert performances in the major music genres of jazz, rock, and classical music. I found myself reflecting after each show on how these differing types of music are standing up within my own personal test of time. My brother graced me with…

  • It’s Christmas Time in the City

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    by Aileen Marshall Like the old song says, the “city sidewalks, busy sidewalks” are “dressed in holiday style.” Besides the hustle and bustle of this busy shopping season, New York has many time-honored holiday activities.  Here are just a few to help you feel that holiday cheer. The gigantic tree at Rockefeller Center is an impressive…

  • For Your Consideration — Ones to Watch Vol. 3 Edition

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    By Jim Keller With the fall film festivals behind us, we’re staring down the barrel of the Oscars’ gun and in a few short months, we’ll have our nominees. Still, it’s a long time until then on the campaign trail. So while the would-be contenders are out hustling and bustling, shaking the right hands and…

  • Looking War in the Eye

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    by May Dobosiewicz Quick—name how many wars are being fought in the world right now. At the time of writing, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program reported 32 ongoing armed conflicts. Is this fighting noble and just, or chaotic and deplorable? Are there good guys and bad guys? Unless we live in the midst of such fighting…

  • Life Back on a Roll

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    By Nicolas Renier I recently got myself an old and clunky film camera, but couldn’t completely get rid of the feeling that my frequent visits to Williamsburg had taken their toll, and my commitment to hipster culture had gone too far. There’s apparently not a strong rationale to keep shooting with film today, unless you…

  • Memorable Music at the Cloisters

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    By Susan Russo In Fort Tryon Park, overlooking the Hudson River in uptown Manhattan, through December 8th, an extraordinary sound installation is being presented at the Cloisters, a branch of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which houses rare and beautiful medieval treasures. Recorded by the Canadian-born artist Janet Cardiff, The Salisbury Cathedral Choir in…

  • De Gustibus: The Bird’s the Word

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    By Mark Rinaldi If you’ve never had occasion to enjoy the marvel that is Japanese yakitori, I’ll break it down for you: wooden sticks are stuck through bits of chicken, and then those bits are grilled over coals. Simple, right? Not so fast–there’s a bit more to authentic yakitori. The grilling medium absolutely must be…

  • Happy Halloween!

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    By Aileen Marshall Halloween is coming up at the end of this month on October 31st. It has become a very big holiday in this country, for children as well as adults, and it is growing in other countries. How did Halloween get started? The holiday we know today is actually a combination of a…