http://theuptowner.org News & Features in Harlem, Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights, & Inwood Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:47:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_2809" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Sidi Ibrahima smiles up from his 125th Street stand. (Photo by Sonal Shah)"][/caption] Harlem’s 125th Street is a bazaar of cottage industry products: incense and earrings, knit hats and demo CDs. But the goods on one table near Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard are more colorful than the ... http://theuptowner.org/2010/01/11/sex-and-sidi-an-urban-lit-author-in-harlem/ [caption id="attachment_2708" align="aligncenter" width="251" caption="Imam Shamsi Ali on a workday, clean shaven and wearing a suit. (Photo by Hani Yousuf)"][/caption] Imam Shamsi Ali sits with his group of three students in the main prayer hall of the mosque at 96th Street and Third Avenue, officially the Islamic Cultural Center of New ... http://theuptowner.org/2010/01/05/unconventional-imam-leads-harlem-mosque/ The small room at the back of the Harlem Center for Education looks like a typical high school classroom. The backbenchers giggle, the instructor frowns and asks, "Are you over there text messaging?" When she mentions next week's test, a collective groan arises. But the students here are all unemployed adults ... http://theuptowner.org/2010/01/05/ged-ing-ahead-students-struggle-with-testing-system/ Once a month, Harlem atheists, along with a smattering of outerborough residents, gather at the Adam Clayton Powell State Building on 125th Street to discuss the ubiquitous role of religion in American society. While there’s a revolving door of participants, one constant is the meeting’s diversity: blacks, whites, Muslims, Christians, ... http://theuptowner.org/2010/01/04/without-god-without-leader-harlem-atheists-have-faith-in-future/ “What do people who commit crimes look like in a moment of desperation? Or craziness? Or drug addiction? And what do they look like when they start to change?“ asks Diana Ortiz. As job developer at Exodus Transitional Community in Harlem, her mission has been helping ex-cons find the work essential ... http://theuptowner.org/2009/12/30/helping-ex-cons-start-over/ [caption id="attachment_2490" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="One of the two buildings that still sit under the Metro North rail tracks, taking up three blocks instead of five as they used to in the 1930s. (Photo by Cecile Dehesdin)"][/caption] On a regular weekday, the stretch of Park Avenue between 111th and 116th Streets in ... http://theuptowner.org/2009/12/29/la-marqueta-tries-new-recipe-for-success-once-again/ [caption id="attachment_2607" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Palacio Edelberto, a Cuban immigrant, collects cans for several hours a day. (Photo by Ashley Foxx) "][/caption] Palacio Edelberto barrels down a residential block along 123rd Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenues, but stops his shopping cart, overflowing with cans, bottles, bags, smaller push carts and ... http://theuptowner.org/2009/12/22/getting-by-one-can-at-a-time-2/ [caption id="attachment_2447" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Harlem United CEO Patrick McGovern and Program Coordinator Jennifer Rodriguez (Photo by: Sam Petulla)"][/caption] Mary sits calmly. Her jeans are clean and well-made, her hands compact — never fidgeting — and she’s telling anecdotes about all the men she’s dated. She has lots of advice ... http://theuptowner.org/2009/12/16/harlem-hivaids-organizations-change-approach-to-fighting-hiv/ HANUKKAH IN HARLEM [caption id="attachment_2634" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="A menorah, a traditional Hanukkah candelabra, at the Old Broadway Synagogue. (Photo by Joshua Tapper)"][/caption] By Joshua Tapper In recent years, Harlem hasn’t been a magnet for Jewish New Yorkers. In addition to a Chabad chapter and an itinerant minyan group, Harlem has just one traditional ... http://theuptowner.org/2009/12/15/have-a-multiculti-holiday-three-festivals-uptown/ Interactive graphic by Lisa Waananen and Sarah Butrymowicz Ask Ruben Lopez about his neighborhood’s crime rate in recent years and he answers with confidence. "It went down," he says, standing behind the counter of his hardware store on Broadway, marking a lock with a piece of masking tape. He explains ... http://theuptowner.org/2009/12/15/uptowners-witness-crime-rates-falling/