A year after the tragic Triangle shirtwaist factory fire in 1911, sculptor Evelyn Beatrice Longman created a memorial, commissioned by the City of New York, to the seven female victims whose remains could not be identified. The city installed the sculpture with little public attention in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn. This memorial [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Be a Mindful Activist'
Honoring Triangle’s Victims in the Streets
March 24th, 2011 · 4 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
New York Recalls the Triangle Factory Fire
March 10th, 2011 · 8 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
“Rose Mehl – 15 years old.” The words jump out from the flip side of a business card on which they are imprinted. Rose was a Jewish girl who lived on East 7th Street in New York, and she had a job as a factory worker. Her name and age are printed on the back [...]
Wal-Mart Will Not Build at Battlefield
January 26th, 2011 · 4 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Beyond Gotham
Preservationists today hailed the decision by Wal-Mart to drop its plans to build a supercenter within the original boundaries of the Wilderness Battlefield in Virginia. In an unexpected move early Wednesday in Virginia’s Orange Circuit Court, Wal-Mart revealed it was abandoning its proposal to construct a store on the property. The retailer said it was [...]
Order Unheeded at Underground RR Home
December 13th, 2010 · 6 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
One hundred and fifty years ago, escaping slaves found a safe shelter at the home of Quaker abolitionists who lived at 339 West 29th St. in New York City. The family risked their lives in harboring the slaves. During the Draft Riots that erupted in the city in 1863, the family came under attack for [...]
Tags: architecture·historic preservation·landmarks·manhattan·new york·women
Meditation: An Egret and the Gulf Oil Spill
June 9th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Beyond Gotham
To whom does the Earth belong? If you have any doubt about it, spend time at a wildlife refuge. Even 15 minutes, let alone a couple of hours, at the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey tell the answer: The Earth belongs to all creatures, not just man. Hundreds of sandpipers gather [...]
The Wilderness: An “Endangered Place”
May 21st, 2010 · No Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Beyond Gotham
The land on which thousands died in the cause to end slavery and keep the United States together cannot speak for itself. For generations, people have walked the land of the Wilderness Battlefield, remembering on this hallowed ground the harsh and brutal battle the Union and Confederacy fought in May, 1864. Now, a new generation [...]
New York Places of Women Trailblazers
March 22nd, 2010 · 1 Comment · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
Traveling in a horse-drawn buggy in the 1880s, Alice Austen carried cameras, a tripod, huge glass plates to record images, and other camera equipment with her so that she could photograph scenes on Staten Island. Sometimes the equipment weighed as much as 50 pounds. During the following decade, Austen ventured farther into New York City [...]
Tags: architecture·Brooklyn·manhattan·new york·staten island·women
Talking: Architecture and Spirituality
February 17th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Beyond Gotham
To Sara Sweeney, bricks, concrete, and glass are expressions of our soul. Each building, in the architect’s view, is a statement of us, our relationship to each other, and our connection, or disconnection, with the Earth. A registered architect, Sweeney has had a 19-year career reflecting her passion and commitment to sustainable design, green building [...]
Tags: architecture·green energy·international·spiritual places
Wilderness Wal-Mart: A Day in Court
February 5th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Beyond Gotham
The Battle of the Wilderness, one of the crucial turning points on the Union’s path to victory in the Civil War, encompassed three days of horrendous combat in May, 1864. Those fighting to keep part of the original battlefield safe from a Wal-Mart and big-box retail development hope their own campaign will live to see [...]
Walking With the Haitian People
January 15th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Beyond Gotham
The images are almost beyond belief, the damage and the suffering beyond comprehension. An earthquake gauged at 7.0, the first rumble striking Tuesday evening and lasting at least 35 seconds, destroyed an entire swath of Haiti, particularly much of its capital and largest city – Port-au-Prince. The scenes have been horrific. Bodies are lying strewn [...]
Tags: architecture·cities·international
The Terrazzo Map: En Route to Recovery?
December 7th, 2009 · 12 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
Call it the perfect work of art for the era of pony cars, muscle cars, family vacations on the road, and gas at about 30 cents a gallon. In the 1964 World’s Fair, when the Tent of Tomorrow opened at the New York State Pavilion, its floor became an instant, and fascinating, hit. It was [...]
Taking In the Subway’s Old Powerhouse
August 10th, 2009 · 4 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
It was on the perimeter of a legendary slum that back then fit its name, Hell’s Kitchen. Yet it was conceived and designed by men in suits who believed that fine, grand civic buildings served to reflect the great accomplishments and ambitious aims of a city crossing a threshold. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) [...]
Tags: architecture·cities·historic preservation·manhattan·midtown·new york·terra cotta
Mindful Walker: A Chat With New Colonist
June 19th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
We met through Twitter and had our first real conversation for a podcast. What a world! Eric Miller is passionate about creating great and healthy cities and other communities, and so am I. He is the editor/publisher of The New Colonist, a site where he and Richard Risemberg chronicle the return of many from life [...]
Tags: architecture·cities·Coney Island·historic preservation·Pittsburgh·smart growth·suburbs
Whose Dreams Will Revive Coney Island?
February 27th, 2009 · 47 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Explore New York
Say the words “Coney Island” to New Yorkers, especially of a certain age, and you may well get a dreamy kind of pause and a vivid memory: feeling the sensation of a drop on the Cyclone roller coaster, seeing the steel top on the gigantic Parachute Jump from the distance, riding the fast Steeplechase horses, [...]
Lists: Ten Actions for Sustainable Cities
February 20th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Be a Mindful Activist, Beyond Gotham
Gas prices are at an average of $1.96 per gallon, far below the $4-plus they hit last year. The price of oil amid a global recession that has sharply curtailed demand declines to $35 per barrel on Feb. 20. People are fearful as many lose jobs and others go through foreclosures. In such an environment, [...]
