A Colorful Blur: An Interview and Conversation with Larry Lyons

If you find yourself walking down Halsey Street lately, you may have noticed that several of the previously empty storefronts are now filled with interesting concepts and brand new retail experiences. Most (if not all) of these new experiences are being spearheaded by Newarkers: from Boss Blend to Halsey Co. to 19B to Brown Mill. As COVID restrictions have begun to subside and people begin to feel safe hanging out in groups, the bustle usually associated with Halsey Street is slowly returning, due in no small part to these startups. One of these new retail spots is part of Brick City Varsity, a Newark-obsessed brand offering immersive pop-up shopping experiences and photography. The pop-up is the brainchild of Larry Lyons and offers cintage clothing (and, on some special nights, karaoke in the back). Larry comes on the podcast this week to discuss his business, his identity, and other musings about life, art, and the world at large.

Guest:

Larry Lyons—Larry is the principal and founder of Brick City Varsity. He has lectured and taught courses in 20th Century American literature, sociology, and composition at Rutgers and Princeton Universities. He is also an independent consultant, who provides marketing, communications strategy, and creative services for clients in the fields of education, public relations, nonprofits, and the arts. He is also an activist, centering on antiviolence, queer safe space, and black maternal health.

Background & Articles:

• Larry Lyons’ Profile on Queer Newark: here

• Brick City Varsity website: here

• Revolution ‘67 page: here

• Being Again by Eddie Glaude: here

• Murder of Sakia Gunn article: here

• Murder of Rashawn Brazell article: here

• Newark Pride site: here

• POSE TV Show: here

Quote: “We go out to be gay. We crave this when once again growing bored with the straight world. I will announce to [my date]: I want to be gay this weekend. This carries an ineffable but precise connotation along the lines of white girl wasted. It means we don’t want to, for example, attend a recital of minimalist composition. That’s something we might otherwise do. But when we decide to be gay, we want to dance to ‘Startships’ by Nicki Minaj, and go downhill from there.” Gay Bar, by Jeremy Atherton Lin

Right On That Brink: An Interview and Conversation with Alex Hodgkinson at ODR

This is a very special episode. After more than a year of recording remotely, we had the opportunity to record onsite and in-person. And what a place to launch our first in-person recording in such a long time. ODR Studios sits in the heart of the Ironbound and is a gorgeous place. It is a curated 4,500 square foot industrial loft about a five minute walk from Penn Station that offers a wide array of studio services for filming, photography, and audio production. It also has a 5,000 square foot workshop below the studio space. ODR has been the setting for music videos, documentaries, fashion shorts, and a whole host of other productions. Alex Hodgkinson is the founder of ODR Studios and joins the podcast to talk about what he loves about the space, how he manages it, and his story.

Guest:

Alex Hodgkinson—Alex is the founder of ODR Studios. He has also played rugby professionally for the Sacramento Express. He is a graduate of Syracuse University.

Background & Articles:

• ODR Studios Webpage: here

• Kulture Klub Article on Alex: here

• Dua Lipa/Mark Ronson Music Video filmed on site: here

• So Far Sounds Webpage: here

• “Framing Britney Spears” Documentary: here

Quote:

“Toward the end of his life, Roth would walk (very slowly) from his Upper West Side apartment to the Museum of Natural History and back, stopping on almost every bench along the way—including the bench on the museum grounds near a pink pillar listing American winners of the Nobel Prize. ‘It’s actually quite ugly, isn’t it?’ a friend observed one day. ‘Yes.',’ Roth replied, ‘and it’s getting uglier by the year.’ ‘Why did they put it there anyway?’ Roth laughed: ‘To aggravate me.’“ Blake Bailey, Philip Roth: A Biography

First Fridays: An Interview and Conversation with Zay Little

In 2017, Newark First Fridays launched as an inclusive community event to showcase emerging artists, makers, artisan food vendors, musicians, and street performers. The event was meant to address the death of open air markets in the city’s downtown while also attempting to connect disparate shows and events in the area. On the first Friday of each month, the program would host a downtown artwalk, as well as dozens of artisanal food and crafts vendors, augmented by street performances and workshops, specially highlighting local businesses, galleries, and creative spaces who would open their doors during these evenings. Over the last five years, Newark First Fridays has grown to include photo launch parties, wine tastings, a monthly comedy show, and countless after-parties. Several guests of the podcast have been featured as a part of Newark First Fridays, whether it was Gabe Ribeiro or Samantha Katehis selling their products at vendor booths in Military Park or Marcy DePina DJing a party during one of the Fridays or John Ward hosting a wine tasting. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, Newark First Fridays continued online with cocktail class livestreams, Zoom interviews, and other virtual events. In time for its 5th year, Newark First Fridays will come back for a mix of virtual, in-person, and hybrid events later this spring.

Guest:

Isaiah “Zay” Little—Zay is the creative director and founder of GalleryRetail and Newark First Fridays. He is a creative entrepreneur, technologist, urbanist, and public servant who brings his passion for design and for community-building into all this projects.

Background & Articles:

• Official Website: here

• Newark First Fridays Monthly Installation at Halsey Co. Eventbrite: here

• Gallery Retail website: here

• Zay’s Twitter: here

Quote: “Because I could not stop for Death/He kindly stopped for me/The Carriage held but just Ourselves/And Immortality.” Emily Dickinson, Because I Could Not Stop For Death (479)

Pivotable: An Interview and Conversation with Marcy DePina

Marcy is a force in the Newark community. Aside from leading several major nonprofits in the city, she is also a noted content producer, best exemplified by her weekly show FORSA!. FORSA! explores the music of African and the Diaspora and “raises the frequency of our world through the arts and provides a platform for voices and conversations that promote cultural awareness and understanding.” The show has been a mainstay in the music community and operates as a forum for discussing important issues in Newark and the broader world through the lens of music.

Marcy came on to discuss her own story, how she came to make her show, and what it and her story mean to her.

Guest:

Marcy DePina—Marcy is the founder of FORSA! Media Group LLC, executive director for Newark Riverfront Revival, and president of the Board of Newark Arts. She also produces podcasts for iHeartRadio, is an expert in public relations, marketing, and social media, and actively involved in several community based nonprofits including the Newark Chess Club. She was featured in PSEG’s “100 People of Newark” for her work in the arts and environmental justice sector. She is originally from New Bedford, MA and has been a resident of Newark for the last 25 years where she lives with her son.

Background & Articles:

• FORSA! Episodes: here

• FORSA Media Group Website: here

• Newark Museum of Art: here

• PSEG 100 People Page: here

• Newark Arts: here

• Contrapoints: here

Quote: “TO A CRITIC: My dear critic, Some pages ago, upon saying that I was fifty years old, I added: ‘You’ll already have noticed that my style is no longer so nimble as in its first days.’ You may find this incomprehensible, given my present state; but I would call your attention to the subtlety of my remark. I do not mean that I am older now than when I began the book. Death does not age one. What I do mean is that at every stage of the narration of my life, I experience the corresponding sensations. So help me God, I have to explain everything!” Machado de Assis, Memorias posthumas de Braz Cubas (trans. Flora Thomson-DeVeaux)

Fighting Against Environmental Racism: The Ironbound Community Corporation and the Biochar Facility

Aries Clean Technologies has proposed the construction of the Newark Biochar Production Facility near an existing site on Doremus Avenue in the Ironbound Section of Newark. If it becomes operational, it will be able to process up to 430 wet tons of domestic wastewater treated biosolids a day from New Jersey and New York. The resulting product will be sold as a concrete thickener to construction companies.

The announcement has ignited a fierce backlash from members of the Ironbound and Newark community, including several nonprofits in the city. In response to the push back, city leadership has held virtual meetings to discuss the issue, and the city planning board adjourned its meeting in February where Aries was scheduled to present its proposal for approval.

At the center of this resistance is the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC). The ICC, aside from providing direct services to residents of the East Ward, has had a rich history in environmental activism and social justice work. Among the many accomplishments of the organization are the cleaning up of the Passaic River, the creation of Riverfront Park, and the continued resistance of pollution and environmental degradation in Newark. Maria Lopez-Nunez and Christian Rodriguez are deeply enmeshed in this fight and came onto the podcast to share their thoughts on why this proposal should not be allowed, how they have organized around this issue, and their hopes for a just and equitable Newark.

Guests:

Maria Lopez-Nunez—Maria is a Bushwick native and Deputy Director of Advocacy and Organizing at the Ironbound Community Corporation, where she fights the bad and builds the new while challenging the current political system, holding power brokers and polluters accountable while fighting for environmental, housing, immigrant, and racial justice. She has organized and helped the passage of historic and landmark city and state legislation, including the Right to Counsel, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, and the Environmental Justice Cumulative Impacts Bill. She was also featured in the documentary, The Sacrifice Zone and is a member of Right to City, Grassroots Global Justice, JUST Transition, Down Bottom Farms, and a whole host of other community-centered nonprofits.

Christian Rodriguez—Christian is a Newark native, raised in the Ironbound, and a Community Organizer with the Ironbound Community Corporation, where they advocate for the right to breathe clean air, have access to clean water, to healthy food, safer housing, as well as advocating to stop racism and capitalism under the White supremacist system. They are also a youth organizer/mentor, working with young adults throughout the neighborhood, and an Urban Farmer at Down Bottom Farms, where they teach the community how to to appreciate the land and soil for healthy agriculture.

Background & Articles:

• Ironbound Community Corporation Main Site: here

• Aries Clean Technologies Main Site: here

• TAPinto Article on Proposed Site (February 4, 2021): here

• City Zoom Meeting on Proposed Site (March 4, 2021): here

• “Stop The Sludge” (ICC): here

• The Sacrifice Zone (Documentary): here

• Women’s Herstory Month Virtual Celebration: here

Quote: “Cities are an immense laboratory of trial and error, failure and success, in city building and city design. This is the laboratory in which city planning should have been learning and forming and testing its theories. Instead the practitioners and teachers of this discipline (if such it can be called) have ignored the study of success and failure in real life, have been incurious about the reasons for unexpected success, and are guided instead by principles derived from the behavior and appearance of towns, suburbs, tuberculosis sanatoria, fairs, and imaginary dream cities—from anything but cities themselves.” Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

My Podcast with Manny: An Interview and Conversation with Manny Antunes (by donmexlar)

This episode, we turn the tables around. As part of our season finale, my friend, donmexlar, thought it would be fun to ask me some questions about the podcast and Newark. At first, I was hesitant, as, despite my best efforts, I am always trying to push the focus of the show off me and onto the subject at hand. I warmed up to the idea though, as it would give me a chance to reflect on the show after two years of hosting and producing it. This is a bit free flowing as episodes go, so please excuse the slightly different format. You are in store for a really interesting conversation.

donmexlar—donmexlar is as mysterious as he is insightful. Many listeners will have no idea who he is, but he has been a loyal listener to the podcast and a contributor in ways that many of you have not seen.

Background & Articles:

• My Dinner with Andre: here

• Aaron Burr & Newark: here

Quote: “In the days following Jane’s death, Karl got a call from Franklin Ford, dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Dean Ford offered Harvard’s full support without reservation. Half a century later, Karl woudl recount the story to me at our first official interview, grinning over the plateful of chicken liver he’d just ordered: ‘He didn’t even ask me if I did it.“—Becky Cooper, We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and A Half Century of Silence

Perfecting the Aesthetic: An Interview and Conversation with Kreshnik Berisha And Sihana

At the corner of Prospect and Ferry Streets, a restaurant had a quiet opening. The usual fanfare around grand openings had to wait. The Ironbound was in the grips of a pandemic that brought the usually bustling thoroughfare to a mute standstill. Nevertheless, Sihana set its tables and opened its doors to the community, presenting a fresh new take on a space to eat, hang out, and absorb art.

Kreshnik Berisha, one of the founders and owners of Sihana, joins the pod to discuss the unique mission of Sihana and what it is like to open a space during what may be the most challenging epoch in this city’s history—at least in the last 50 years.

Guest:

Kreshnik Berisha—Kreshnik is an owner and founder of Sihana. Originally from Albania, he grew up in New Jersey and has spent time in other cities like Boston/Cambridge. He is currently a Newark resident.

Background & Articles:

• Sihana’s Facebook Page: here

• Review of Sihana in the Newarker: here

Quote: “To tell the truth, this was one of the few cases in which she had not told him just what she was thinking. Usually, she let him know whatever thoughts happened to come to her, and indeed he never took it amiss if she let slip a word that might pain him, because when all was said and done that was the price one paid for sincerity.” Broken April, Ismail Kadare