Crystal Field wants to renovate her theater, but progress is slow. Field, owner of the Theater for the New City, one of the oldest and best-known community theaters in New York, is trying to raise money to update the theater’s extremely outdated HVAC system. Currently, the largest performance hall, the Johnson Theater, is warmed only by a noisy garage heater.  Continue reading →

New York City is home to a number of parks, most notably Central Park in Manhattan. Other prominent parks such as Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Corona Park in Queens garner a significant amount of attention in the city. Even Zuccotti Park, though privately owned, has made quite a name for itself lately.

But what about the “forgotten” borough? Continue reading →

For many, perhaps most observers, #Occupy Wall Street is a secular political movement. But for many participants, the struggle is spiritual, not merely political. The following slideshow offers a glimpse into a side of the #OWS that has not gotten a lot of press. Fateh Singh of Occupy Yoga and independent yoga instructor and practitioner Margarita Manwelyan comment on the role of the sacred space, and the sacred, in Zuccotti Park.

Untitled from Ajai Raj on Vimeo.

On Saturday, November 12, 2011, student participants in the Jane Goodall Institute’s National Roots and Shoots program met at Battery Park City School in Manhattan for an annual regional summit.  The 80 participants, who hailed from all over the Northeast region of the United States, spent their lunch hour completing service projects as part of the “One Million Hours of Service” initiative.

In the slideshow below, Roots and Shoots Youth Leadership Fellow Adrienne Bermingham provides a background on the Roots and Shoots program as well as an overview of the various service projects completed at the summit.

With a smile on his face and a repertoire full of African melodies, Salieu Suso brings a little bit of culture to the dreariness of the daily commute, and stands out amongst the throng of Penn Station musicians.

Suso sings and plays the kora, a traditional African stringed instrument that is very popular in the Gambia, where he is from. The kora’s 21 strings are made from fishing line, and the instrument is similar to a harp. Suso comes from a long line of kora players, and began playing when he was 8 years old when his father began giving him lessons.

Continue reading →

Toys For Tots is preparing for the coming holiday season with a special charity. Having teamed up with eBay and actress Debra Messing, Toys For Tots has created a virtual toy store in Herald Square, Manhattan. Opened on November 11th, the store features a virtual display window with moving images and barcodes. Donators use the iPhone application made specifically for the charity, to scan a barcode and send a gift. A second location will also be opening in San Francisco, California. With 100 percent of the proceeds benefitting the charity, the purpose is to give under privileged children the chance to receive holiday gifts, as well. Debra Messing explains the process below.

This may be a bit of a departure from my previous hard-hitting multimedia exposés about the economy.

My final Broadcast assignment for the radio portion of the semester was to record an essay in the style of a This I Believe segment.

Relaunched in 2004 as a multifaceted non-profit project, the modern incarnation of This I Believe ran on NPR stations around the country until 2009.  It was originally modeled on a 1950s program hosted by iconic broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, which accumulated nearly 800 personal stories from a vast range of participants.

(Click here for a collection of essays broadcast during the 1950s)

Jackie Robinson’s 1952 This I Believe essay, entitled “Free Minds and Hearts at Work” allowed the baseball legend to open up about his fight against prejudice.

“I believe in the human race. I believe in the warm heart. I believe in man’s integrity.”

Along with famed contributors like Helen Keller and Harry Truman, “corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists, and secretaries” were also featured to glean insights about everyday life and what values people hold to be important, according to their website.

The This I Believe project has continued to collect recorded essays of people form all walks off life — tens of thousands by their estimates, all easily searchable.

I thought it would be a worthwhile venture to try and merge my broadcast This I Believe piece with the Soundslides presentation below.  Convergence, right!?  The personal essay I wrote concerns my belief that everybody has a very important, personal place.  I’ve significantly edited down the audio and combined it with ambient sounds of waves crashing from a cell phone video.  I then utilized a variety of personal pictures and had my mom send a few “vintage” photos.

Beyond this, I’m not going home for the upcoming holidays so the fun new tools we’re learning are saving me from having to buy/ship presents to people this year!  I totally have an extended “director’s cut” edition of this I’m making for my family…