Opera, Art, and Corrupt Politicians

Yesterday was a fun packed day- It all started with the Hacia Afuera Arts Festival in Harlem, a local art festival dedicated to raising awareness about immigration and other social justice issues in East Harlem.  While extremely cool sounding in concept, the festival was unorganized and confusing at best leading one festival attendee (i.e. Raul Paz Pastrana) to comment “This stuff wouldn’t even make for a good senior high school art exhibition.”  To Raul’s credit, it was difficult to determine whether some exhibits were actual exhibits -or if it was simply recycling pick up day in Harlem.  The festival did have a few cool displays (see pic below), but they were primarily viewed by hipsters from Yorkville instead of neighborhood residents themselves who the festival was intended for.  (To the neighborhood’s credit- the Baptists had a street festival a block away with a much better sound system and free italian ice.)

To the festivals credit, one musical performance from – Los Chamanes, a Chilean Nueva Cancion/Latin folk band (complete with charango) was outstanding, and really brought the festival to life with original songs, politically conscious lyrics, and Latin American folk instruments.

And who did we brush elbows with at their performance- why none other than Harlem’s favorite ethically challenged Congressman Charlie Rangel – who was not acknowledged by festival organizers or attendees but rather sadly lurked around the festival grounds in a $1000 suit (read: How to identify a politician in Harlem) with an animate Puerto Rican sidekick who screamed “Rangel Si” into a bullhorn beside his head.

After some decent (but not blogworthy) Puerto Rican food, we then headed out of the barrio to Lincoln Center where we watched Puccini’s “Tosca” on a big screen outside of the Metropolitan Opera House before stopping by academic team friend Dylan Payne’s flat and calling it a night.  All in a day’s work in the city that never sleeps.

East Harlem

For those of you who don’t know I am going to be working at DREAM Charter School in East Harlem starting this Monday. Yesterday Raul and I walked the neighborhood to get a better feel for this amazing part of the city and those who live there.  East Harlem also known as Spanish Harlem stretches from 96th St. to 125th St. North to South and from Pleasant Ave. to 5th Street East to West.

East Harlem suffers from high rates of poverty, drug abuse, asthma, diabetes, and school drop out levels.  The neighborhood has the highest geographic concentration of public housing in the United States, and more than 25% of its residents live in the monolithic government buildings that replaced tenement housing in the 1940’s.  Despite these ailments, East Harlem is a vibrant, thriving community full of families from all walks of life.

The neighborhood was originally inhabited by Irish and German settlers up until the 1880’s when Italian immigrants began to take over the neighborhood.  Xenophobic immigration laws passed in the 1920’s limited Italian immigration to the United States, and Puerto Ricans (made US citizens in 1917) flooded into parts of the neighborhood previously inhabited by the Italians.  Currently, new waves of Mexican immigrants are crowding out the city’s Puerto Rican residents, and the entire neighborhood is in danger of gentrification from Manhattan residents interested in the neighborhoods close proximity to the Upper East side and lower rents.

Some amazing places of note along our tour include El Museo del Barrio an absolutely rad museum featuring local artists and Latino/a culture, El Paso Taqueria, an authentic Mexican restaurant where we had fabulous Cemitas, or Oaxacan tortas with carnitas, avocado, Oaxacan cheese, and chipotle peppers (YUM!), La Marqueta, a Puerto Rican marketplace under the metro tracks, and many beautiful community gardens and murals.  (See above photo for one such mural.)

We had a wonderful day in East Harlem, and are planning on going back this weekend for local non-profit Art for Change‘s Hacia Afuera outdoor arts festival and to check out the waterfront that looks upon our beautiful home sweet home, Astoria.

New York Pizza

Though we haven’t been in the city long we already have a favorite pizza place. Rizzo’s Pizza at 30-13 Steinway called to us like a beacon in the night.  As newcomers, we were treated like kings – in fact Rizzo’s offered up so much free pizza and garlic bread that by the time our food arrived we were already full!  That being said we had plenty of Mafiosa pizza (Sausage, black olives, roasted peppers, and capers) for the following couple of days.  We were also treated to homeade cannoli on the house following our meal.  It is possible that Rizzo’s has us confused with members of the Sicilian mafia!  I can think of no other reason for such royal treatment!  Earlier this week we took our good friends the Michienzi Rendons to our hidden pizza gem- and same thing!  (Only this time they through in a free italian ice for Marcos the youngest member of the Rendon clan.)  We made the mistake of leaving after paying the bill.  Our waitress followed us outside of the restaurant saying, “Oh no, you guys left before I could make you some cannoli.  Can you wait just one second so I can make you some cannoli to go?”  Despite New York’s famous reputation as a city full of brilliant but unfriendly cut throat loners- we have yet to see that side of the city (at least here in Astoria.)  We tip our hat to Rizzo’s and all of the other fine New York eateries that may have confused us as members of the mob. Keep the cannolis coming!