Billy Grahams Greater New York Crusade Part I

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)

Subway trains so crowded you could hardly stand in it

These are still some photographs I post of the aftermathes of the 116th Street Festival in Spanish Harlem this Saterday. The Bronx bound number 6 trains were so crowded that people could hardly stand in it. By that time it was raining heavily outside, but the party went on inside. Inside the trains... :-) Music, dances and loud singing have been companions for the commuters.

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 11:49 PM | Comments (1)

Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City Part II

Christian Lehner from FM4 radio (Austrian Broadcast) just posted an article about the Puerto Rican Day Parade yesterday on his website. His story "Upper East Side vs. Spanish Harlem" is about the collective self-deception of a multicultural city as New York is. His article is unfortunately only available in German. By the way: He used some photos I shot at the parade and at the 116th Street Festival for this article.
I also found a very interesting article called "Why I no Longer Go to the Puerto Rican Day Parade" written by Robert Colón on the website of the NY Latino Journal. An article about the diversity of this parade and the historical relationship between Puerto Rico and the US.

More of my photos of this Sundays parade can be found here and photographs of this Saterdays festival in Spanish Harlem can be found here.

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 08:11 PM | Comments (6)

Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City Part I

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 11:55 PM | Comments (4)

Puerto Rican Festival in Spanish Harlem

I went to the 116th Street Festival in El Barrio (Spanish Harlem) today. A huge Puerto Rican festival just a day before the Puerto Rican Day Parade. It is one of the hugest Hispanic events in New York City. Thousands and thousands of people attended.
It's been a really crazy and interesting afternoon. There was Live Music, Dance Perfromances, Latin Food, Cocktails and of course all those interesting people on the streets. Some really good Latin Hip Hop over at the stand of AirWear NYC as well, some spontaneous dancing and break dancing on the street.

I started off by just walking around, looking at the people, nearly all of them have worn Puerto Rican shirts, flags, caps or necklaces. If you like tattoos this was the place to go as well. Men as well as women showed off nearly every part of their body if tattooed. Puerto Rican maps, letterings, dragons, flags, hearts, weapons and names could be seen. Some very interesting constelations of tatoos. Love tattooed one one hand, hate on the other for example. At the beginning I didn't feel that comfortable about taking pictures of all these young people. It's my prejudices again... Young people, a scowling view, tattoos, muscles, and groups of people. After walking around for a while I thought "What the hell..." and started to ask people if I can take their photograph. (As a note beside: Since this questions is often asked, I don't always ask for permission to take a picture. It depends on the situation.) And how else could it be, all of them have been happy to pose for me, most of them have been really interested in what I was doing, where I come from and how I enjoy the festival. No gang affection, no offends, just very nice people!
I started to get more and more comfortable, loving the fact that I meet so many interesting people with different backgrounds having one thing in common - enjoying the day, hanging out with friends, winding up girls or boys in a very direct but respectful way. So it's been a good place as well for boys showing off their hard masculin muscles and girls showing off their feminine bodies. Interesting to see how different these things are in New York compared to Austria. Everything is much more direct.
Check out nuyorica.com for upcoming Latino events in town.

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 11:20 PM | Comments (8)

Sunday on the beach and at a parade

I desperatly wanted to got to the beach today. It really got hot and humid in New York over the last couple of days. So I just put my stuff together and went to the N train to get to Coney Island. What a joy to have all subways in the city air conditioned!

Before going to Coney Island I stopped by the "Salute to Israel Parade" on 5th Avenue. The sun was burning down on everyboy, I walked around a bit and took a couple of photographs before jumping on the train again.

Arriving on Coney Island was interesting as well. The crowds of people already started when coming out of the subway. I walked around the beach front for a while, stumbled through the amusement park of Coney Island watching people and entertainers trying to get visitors into "Freak" shows. Before I left I passed by a Puerto Rican band which played in front of the beach. Nice Latin music, good vibrations, people dancing on the boardwalk and Puerto Rican flags everywhere. Well, the Puerto Rican Day Parade is coming closer and closer. If you are in New York check it out next Sunday between 44th and 86th street on 5th Avenue.

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 11:54 PM | Comments (4)

Dance Africa 2005 in Brooklyn

After my Memorial Day experience yesterday I went to the Brooklyn Academy of Music to see Victor, my host. He works at BAM and invited me to come over to see the closing ceremony of Dance Africa, America’s longest-running annual festival of dance, music, film, art, and culture from Africa and the African Diaspora.

I was really amazed when I arrived there. The whole place in front of the BAM and the streets around it have been closed for this purpose. A huge mass of people have been waiting to see the actors, the dancers and musicians of Dance Africa on the closed off place doing there performences on the street. On the surrounding streets was one huge street fair with food and clothes.
The light was wonderfull, enforcing all those rich colors of the African dresses. You could feel the good and peaceful spirits in the air, all sorts of people hanging out together, enjoying the rythms, the dances, food and drinks and the sun of course. A very nice and relaxed multicultural festival in the middle of Brooklyn! A huge contrast to my earlier Memorial Day experience.

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 07:48 PM | Comments (8)

Memorial Day Service in Co-Op City

I started my day off by calling my girlfriend to wish her a happy birthday! We've been talking for a while and finally used our webcam for the first time. These services suck! Calling using Skype works pretty well. As soon as you want to use another service like Yahoo Mesenger to use a webcam as well everything gets a mess. But still funny to see the other one on a small window on your screen even if it's most of the time like a tableau.

I attended the Memorial Day Service in Co-Op's City veterans memorial park later. Memorial Day is a patriotic holiday in the United States. A day to honor and remember Americans who gave their lives while serving the U.S. in a war.
Kind of strange for me to see how people celebrate the fallen soldiers, to hear different kinds of hymns and battle songs, to hear speeches where people talk about their heros, about the brave men and women who serve their country. Speeches where they talk about freedom and democracy, where they state that freedom is not free...
Rather strange and way too much patriotism in my European eyes. But as far as things are not only black and white, as always there is another side as well.

I met Mrs. Carmen Raquel Natal at the Memorial service, an elderly woman living in Co-Op City. She was visibly touched by the ceremony. I started to talk to her and she told me that her grandson who can be seen on the photo standing together with his father and herself is in Iraq at the moment. Efraim Luis Natal is 23 years old. He has been in Iraq for one and a half years already, intermitted by one vacation at home. He got a two months old daughter he didn't yet see because she was born while he was away.
I guess it's hard to form an opinion about something like these patriotic acts as long as there are people like Mrs. Natal who have a beloved one in a war or who lost a family member there. Who knows how I'd act if I came into such a situation myself.

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 11:51 PM | Comments (2)

20th Annual AIDS Walk New York Part 1

About 45.000 people have been walking a 10 kilometer (6.2 miles) course in New Yorks Central Park today to raise funds for different Aids Service Organizations. The weather was not that good, the spirits and the mood certainly was!
The picture above shows participants of this years 20th Annual Aids Walk in New York City after finishing the course.
I will post more informations and photos of todays event in a couple of days. Have to pick my girlfriend up from JFK Airport now. She comes to visit me for a week! :-)

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 09:05 PM | Comments (3)

Mayday rally and march on Union Square

I originaly wanted to attend the Mayday Festival in Tomkins Square Park on the Eastside. When I got out of the train on Union Square I saw a whole bunch of people with transparents standing around waiting for the Mayday marchers to come.

Speakers included labor leaders, community organizers, immigrant workers, international solidarity activists, youth, veterans and military resisters.

After speeches ended heated discussions started with a small group of counter-demonstrators who called themselfes the "Protest Warriors". They want to "fight the left, doing it right" as stated on their website.

More photos and text in the extended entry.

Continue reading "Mayday rally and march on Union Square"

Posted by Martin Fuchs at 11:46 PM | Comments (3)