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Articles by Annie Iezzi
Queer Riis Beachgoers Celebrate Community as Demolition of Nearby Hospital Looms Original
As the summer season winds down across New York City, the mostly queer sunbathers at The People’s Beach in Queens’ Jacob Riis Park worry about the fate of their stretch of sand. “Will they close the beach down and drag us out, for our own protection?” asked Victoria Cruz, nicknamed the “Queen of Riis.” Since 1963 Cruz has been a regular at Bay 1, the beach directly in front of the long-abandoned Neponsit Hospital.
Demolition of Long-Abandoned Medical Center Could Leave Queer Beachgoers Exposed
By The Wave | on May 09, 2022 By Annie Iezzi and Katie Honan, THE CITY You've reached your free story limit. Please login or purchase a subscription to view this story.
Demolition of Long-Abandoned Medical Center Could Leave Queer Beachgoers Exposed
A city plan to demolish a long-abandoned hospital and nursing home in the Rockaways has drawn scrutiny from all sides — including those who want the building to stay up to protect a historic beach haven for New York’s queer community. The public hospitals agency announced last month that three crumbling buildings comprising the former Neponsit Adult Home on Beach 149th Street would be torn down at the end of the summer season.
Demolition of Long-Abandoned Medical Center Could Leave Queer Beachgoers Exposed
A city plan to demolish a long-abandoned hospital and nursing home in the Rockaways has drawn scrutiny from all sides — including those who want the building to stay up to protect a historic beach haven for New York’s queer community. The public hospitals agency announced last month that three crumbling buildings comprising the former Neponsit Adult Home on Beach 149th Street would be torn down at the end of the summer season.
A Fight for the New Rights of Delivery Workers: Los Deliveristas Unidos
News Annie Iezzi • January 31, 2022 Los Deliveristas Unidos hosts a coffee break to educate delivery workers about their new rights and how to report violations. Photo by Annie Iezzi The COVID-19 pandemic–and last weekend’s blizzard–have made ordering hot food at home an essential for many New Yorkers. Los Deliveristas Unidos, a grassroots coalition of immigrant food delivery workers, has organized to demand that their rights are considered essential, too.
Rae of Mars: Builder of Worlds
By Annie Iezzi Through a happy fluke at the Poetry Brothel, Honeysuckle met Rae: the genderfluid poet, performance artist and aerialist who is building worlds on and off stage. Rae has been performing for all of their life– they did theater religiously as a child, before realizing that gender normative plays could not feel like home for them.
RAD Reggae: Shine on with “Shine by Stick Figure”
By Annie Iezzi RAD SOAP CO. has teamed up with chart-topping reggae band Stick Figure to bring healing hemp soap to the masses–and to break the stigma of the unwashed music festival goer. Ten years ago, Sue Kerber founded RAD in her kitchen, far removed from any festival scene. Instead of searching for transcendence through music, she had been searching for something, anything, that would soothe her son’s eczema.
A World Premiere: Wasp Network Final Cut
A real-life drama to rival that of cinema, the story of the Cuban Five in Wasp Network captivated its audience at the New York Film Festival this fall. The film was shaped by Fernando Morais’ nonfiction account of the events, The Last Soldiers of the Cold War, and directed by Olivier Assayas.
Sustainability Takes Flight
sustainability Shutterstock Licensed Photo - By Jon Nightingale By Annie Iezzi As Climate Week soared to its close on Friday, September 27th, United Airlines and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sponsored the panel Sustainability Takes Flight to help “chart a course for greener aviation”.
Social Media, Art, and Theft
By Chelsea Young and Annie Iezzi The breakneck speed at which the definition of art is expanding is thrilling to artists, art appreciators, and academics alike. It’s even more attractive to one subset of art aficionados: art thieves. This prospect sounds terrifying , but in the age of Instagram and Pinterest, those who co-opt art are nearly impossible to distinguish from followers of pure intention.
Regeneration: Past the Point of Sustainability
By Annie Iezzi We live in an age of sustainable fashion, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable packaging and development, all of which comprise a larger sustainability movement that is especially popular among Gen Z and millennials. This movement, at large, is guided by the three “E’s”— environment, equity, and economics—with the environmental pillar serving as a rallying centerpiece.
NSFW Playdate: Millennials All Grown Up
By Annie Iezzi Somewhere in the Lower East Side, just off of an early-alphabet avenue, stood a suited man outside of a four-story townhouse. It was one of those townhouses that organizations can rent out for events, but there isn’t usually a bouncer outside asking for a password upon entry. Nevertheless: “I’m here for the event,” I began, unsure how to approach the bouncer— a dignified man. “What event?” he intoned, cordial and reserved, but with a feeling that he wanted me to get the answer right.
Wrapped Up in Harsley’s Entanglement
Art Alex Harsley's Entangments at the Sheen Center By Annie Iezzi I am mesmerized by a group of girls playing double-dutch jump rope, their twin lines blurring, a knee lifted with glee, other girls looking on with concentration. Below them, a totaled car sits draped over the curb; the backdrop of a police conversation and one bewildered onlooker. To their left, a man in a white suit saunters a few steps behind a boy who is too full of life to stand still for a photo.
Emily Robinson-The Mentor We All Needed in Eighth Grade
by Annie Iezzi As a young adult, freshly out of acne and everything else teen, few themes hit home harder than adolescent angst. Middle school drama, even a mean look from a tween, gives me the creepy crawlies and transports me back into ill-fitting Bermuda shorts and successions of bad side-bangs. These cringe-worthy moments are embodied in Bo Burnham‘s relatable and sincere dramedy, Eighth Grade.
An Aerial View: House of Yes Dirty Circus
By Annie Iezzi Brooklyn’s House of Yes is a queer venue whose modus operandi is not only to see and be seen, but to love and be loved. One glance at the club’s reception room conveys this attitude– two dazzling eyes hang from the venue’s ceiling, presiding over mirrored walls and fabulous, barely-there outfits of the partygoers, workers, and performers.
LGBThese Hands Don’t Haze- Queering the Greek Life Narrative
By Annie Iezzi *Some names are changed to protect the identity of those interviewed As Pride Month comes to a close, we’ve all been privy to the discussion of who’s fighting for justice in the LGBTQ community, who’s capitalizing, who’s excluding, and who’s thriving.
Hairrari: Where Barbershop Inclusivity is the Standard, Not a Luxury
By Annie Iezzi Last weekend, I had the privilege of sitting in one of Hairrari’s renowned barber chairs and chatting with Sara, my incredible barber, and Magda Ryczko, the founder of the Hairrari enterprise. Hairrari is an “all-inclusive barber shop” in every sense of the term. No conversation is taboo when a client is in the barber chair, and as the saying goes, receiving a haircut there really is a bit like a therapy session.
Hairarri: Where Barbershop Inclusivity is the Standard, Not a Luxury
By Annie Iezzi Last weekend, I had the privilege of sitting in one of Hairarri’s renowned barber chairs and chatting with Sara, my incredible barber, and Magda Ryczko, the founder of the Hairarri enterprise. Hairarri is an “all-inclusive barber shop” in every sense of the term. No conversation is taboo when a client is in the barber chair, and as the saying goes, receiving a haircut there really is a bit like a therapy session.
Legalize Cannabis in New York on Juneteenth - End Re-Enslavement
Cannabis Image courtesy of Leafly. By Annie Iezzi On June 19th, 2019, cannabis could, should and can be legalized for adult use in New York State by a vote in the State Senate. Inform your senators of your support for the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act! Tomorrow, Juneteenth, commemorates the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Texas and the official emancipation of slaves throughout the former Confederate States of America.
NY-Yay! 2019’s Hottest Pride Parties
By Annie Iezzi While the gay scene, especially in NYC, is often stereotyped as “in-the-know” about the hottest clubs, many of those who will be celebrating Pride this year probably wish they had a Stefan-esque guide to LGBTQ+ nightlife. This year, New York’s Pride Parade on June 30th doubles as the World Pride celebration, an honor that will flood the city with millions of visitors looking to celebrate all things LGBTQ+.
Making the Grass Greener
By Annie Iezzi Last Wednesday, May 29th, a special screening of Grass is Greener hosted by Minorities for Medical Marijuana (M4MM) at SoHo Playhouse continued the legacy of rewriting the building’s prohibition history.
First Hemp Seeds Make History in Space: A Honeysuckle Exclusive Inside the Space Tango Mission
By Jessica Bern, Zachary Cedarbaum, and Annie Iezzi Recently the Honeysuckle team had the stellar opportunity to speak with members of Space Tango, a microgravity research and manufacturing company which has pioneered the first-ever launch of hemp seeds into space.
No-Holds-Barred: The 2nd Annual Bowery Film Festival and the Female Gaze
By Annie Iezzi This weekend, the second annual Bowery Film Festival kicked off with its Female Gaze screening block, remaining true to its Bowery roots and foraging ahead into new territory – exactly what the festival’s namesake neighborhood is known for. The first screening block of the festival, on Friday April 12th, was housed in the historic firehouse of Engine Company 31 on Lafayette Street.
Radical Scene: The 2nd Annual Bowery Film Festival
This weekend, April 11th-14th, the Bowery Film Festival is returning to the Bowery in Southern Manhattan for it’s groundbreaking second year of displaying radical films. BFF’s flagship mission is to further the art of storytelling by promoting films and videos showcasing the work of writers, filmmakers, and artists who create in visual language.
Alex Harsley and the 4th Street Photo Gallery: Living Documents
By Annie Iezzi In the time that I was speaking with Alex Harsley, six passers-by on the street waved to him, sitting in his chair at the back of the 4th Street Photo Gallery. They were heartily rewarded with a luminous smile and a belly laugh; it seems that Harsley’s community is drawn as much to him as they are to his art, documentation, and the communal good housed at his gallery. 4th Street Photo Gallery began in 1973 as an avenue for Harsley and his compatriots in Minority Photographers Inc.
The Business of Cannabis: A Growing Industry
By Annie Iezzi Last weekend, Emmanuel Baptist Church, the largest African American parish in Brooklyn, teamed up with Women Grow to host “The Business of Cannabis” mini summit. The innovative, accessible event featured national, regional and local cannabis experts, including grassroots organizers, medical professionals, New York’s attorney general and its 8th District Congressman, who all spoke to and with attendees.
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