Local
Seaside Stories
IV. Bensonhurst Boys
As the sun starts to heat up the streets of Bensonhurst, men share in a collective nostalgia fortified by the afternoons they spend together. On nearly every block, old-school traditions remain strong as cliques of familiar neighbors enjoy arguments over cups of espresso, compete with quiet intensity at the chess tables, or play hoops and handball until twilight. No matter the pastime, nearly every male in Bensonhurst has an unmistakable swagger that could have only been passed down from grandfather to grandson.









RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement
By Osman Can YerebakanSEPT 2019 | ArtSeen
The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement, a 75-artist exhibition about the history, state, and future of migration thrives through its intricate groupings of artists, juxtaposed to integrate mediums, genres, undertones, and geographies, reasserting the capability of thematic group shows to narrate the evolving yet repetitious fate of human experience.

Guestbook: Ghost Stories
By Megan N. LibertyJUNE 2019 | Art Books
These stories fall into the category of more traditional ghost stories, where a poltergeist haunts a place it once livedor diedin. But what rings most true and fits within the context of Shaptons larger work (Important Artifacts particularly) are the ghosts not of people but of things.

Edwidge Danticat’s Everything Inside: Stories
By Yvonne C. GarrettSEPT 2019 | Books
Danticats writing is language stripped bare which lets her stories and characters breathe. There is a rising intensity in these stories from the first sentence of the first page that draws the reader in and demands we pay attention.

Ivelisse Rodriguez’s Love War Stories
By Yvonne C. GarrettOCT 2018 | Books
The women in Ivelisse Rodriguez’s debut collection differ in age, opportunity, and background but all share one commonality: they want to believe in love. But in a culture where they are taught that to be in love, to be desired by a man, is paramount and that little else matters, it is difficult for any woman to survive. Rodriguez’s women (and one boy) are complex, well-wrought, but cannot teach us anything except perhaps how to believe in or to survive love. These nine stories present a complex, multifaceted, and somewhat connected narrative of Puerto Rican life.