Wobblies Organize Brooklyn Warehouses

Local

In 1903, when Japanese and Mexican immigrant workers wanted to unionize in California, the American Federation of Labor denied them a union charter, refusing to work with non-whites. The Industrial Workers of the World, on the other hand, embraced workers of all colors, as long as they were a little “red.” At less than $4 an hour, some Mexican workers in Brooklyn today earn little more than they would have in 1903—and these workers are again turning to the IWW.

The Battle of Starrett City

Local

The news came with a knock on the door just before 6 a.m. One of Max Abelson’s neighbors was out in the hall. Had he heard? It was all over the news. Starrett City was on the block.

A Bard from East New York: MartÃ?n Espada

Express

Called “the Pablo Neruda of North American authors” by Sandra Cisneros, Martín Espada has published eight books of poetry, including Imagine the Angels of Bread, winner of an American Book Award, and Alabanza: New and Selected Poems 1982-2002, which received the Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement.

Barbara Novak with Adrienne Baxter Bell and Phong Bui

Art

On the occasion of her new book, Voyages of The Self: Pairs, Parallels, and Patterns in American Art and Literature (part of the trilogy American Painting of the Nineteenth Century, Nature and Culture: Oxford University Press), Barbara Novak welcomes art historian Adrienne Baxter Bell and Brooklyn Rail Publisher Phong Bui to her home to talk about her life and work.

Lee Bontecou

ArtSeen

Lee Bontecou has long achieved what most artists aspire to: she has created a world that is entirely her own. Brilliantly dark with an inherent sense of foreboding, it opens itself to us without losing its unpredictability and hence, we stay on our toes.

Long Live the RNC?

The recent revelations that the NYPD had spied on everyone from grannies to indie rockers across the country prior to the RNC are surprising only because of the operation’s scope.

Mos Def and the New Old Magic

Music

Mos Def’s True Magic is anything but the throwaway recording it is often accused of being; it is in fact a very serious culmination of this hip-hop artist’s musical progression.

The Compassionate Camels: A Belly Dancer’s Debut

Dance

I had only been belly dancing for six months when my classmates goaded me to don a stage name and enter the wilds of public performance.