American xenophobia and the roots of the housing crisis

Harris Fine Block, Broome and Orchard Streets, New York (1898 and 1901). Hornberger & Straub, architects. These facades are typical of many immigrant-built tenements of this period. Recently rehabilitated, they command high rents in an increasingly desirable neighborhood. Photograph by Sean Litchfield. BY ZACHARY J. VIOLETTELecturer, Parsons/The New School of Design As I was finishing the … More American xenophobia and the roots of the housing crisis

College is for the connections . . . and the architecture

BY CARLA YANNI After the recent college admissions scandal in the United States, many people were left scratching their heads. Who would pay half a million dollars just to secure a place for a child at the University of Southern California? Sure, USC comes in at a respectable 22nd place in one national ranking of … More College is for the connections . . . and the architecture

An Interview with Helene Uri, author of CLEARING OUT

INTRODUCTION BY TRANSLATOR BARBARA SJOHOLM As the translator of Clearing Out, I’m delighted to be able to introduce the Norwegian author Helene Uri and her marvelously written and moving novel to a North American audience. Clearing Out is a novel of losses (languages, histories, and parents), but also of discoveries and rediscoveries (heritage, memories, and … More An Interview with Helene Uri, author of CLEARING OUT

The Big Surreal

BY JOANNA FRUEH Surrealism is an art and literary movement in the early twentieth century. Its best-known work is a painting by Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, in which clocks look like they’re melting in a bleak and blank terrain. In Surrealist painting, distortions of everyday reality, in scale, shape, and space give surreal … More The Big Surreal

On Jeff VanderMeer and material monsters: Did we ever know anything about the world at all?

BY BENJAMIN J. ROBERTSONUniversity of Colorado Boulder In None of This is Normal: The Fiction of Jeff VanderMeer, I focus on the fantastic materialities VanderMeer creates in his major fiction: the Veniss milieu, in which a good portion of his early fiction takes place; the city of Ambergris, which takes shape in City of Saints … More On Jeff VanderMeer and material monsters: Did we ever know anything about the world at all?

“Wherever he is! Wherever he is!”: Jim Walsh on the world’s rediscovery of “The Gold Experience” and the funky powerhouse joy that is the New Power Generation

BY JIM WALSH The New Power Generation was on the second encore of its first-ever appearance at First Avenue on September 14, when lead singer MacKenzie and rapper Tony Mosley (a.k.a. Tony M) implored the crowd to pay respects to their fallen leader, Prince. As the crowd and band cheered at the night’s first mention … More “Wherever he is! Wherever he is!”: Jim Walsh on the world’s rediscovery of “The Gold Experience” and the funky powerhouse joy that is the New Power Generation