Author Archive for:

Unsafe At Home: Domestic Violence Amid Covid-19

Zhandarka Kurti

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One of the dark consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown that has not received the attention it deserves is the rise in domestic violence cases with uneven trends at the local, state and national ...

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Warding off Loneliness at Walmart: the Misadventures of a Former Urbanite

Zhandarka Kurti

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Since my move to Tennessee besides acclimating to my new job, my life has revolved around ordering items on Amazon Prime, swiping left on Tinder and driving to the local Walmart Supercenter. Tennessee ranks eighth in ...

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Growing old in “post-recession” America

Zhandarka Kurti

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Like so many other children of aging parents, I will at some point assume the responsibility of looking after my mom. Her Social Security benefits are insufficient for her to live on and she relies on ...

Loss Prevention

Zhandarka Kurti

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Grey and cloudy days like today make the Bronx look uglier. The streets are strewn with garbage, the sidewalks smeared with dog shit, and some old lady is likely to poke you with her umbrella. Nonetheless ...

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Purging with Marie Kondo: The Lack of Joy in Middle-Class American Households

Zhandarka Kurti

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I am captivated by America’s fascination with Marie Kondo. Named Time’s most influential person, Kondo is a 34-year old Japanese millennial (or xennial is it?) and professional home organizer whose books have sold millions of copies. Over ...

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Escaping into Music and Fashion Part II: Alexander McQueen

Zhandarka Kurti

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From High School Drop Out to World-Renowned Fashionista As a closeted goth (which wasn’t exactly cool in Bronx public schools in the late 90s) who scribbled dark and depressing poetry on the margins of her notebooks, ...

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Escaping into music and fashion: Whitney Houston and Alexander McQueen

Zhandarka Kurti

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Part I Like most Americans I am obsessed with celebrities. I am often that annoying person holding up the line at the local Rite Aid with her one item (usually Twix caramel chocolate bar), thumbing idly ...

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Unnamed Harlem resident finds old letter

Zhandarka Kurti

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In the dusty book shelves of an unnamed Harlem resident’s basement we uncovered this letter written in 1912 from the man later known as Ho Chi Minh to his father back home. Dearest father, I wanted ...

#NYCStripperStrike: Race, Class and Women’s Work

Zhandarka Kurti

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“Honey, I guess you can sum up this business in one sentence,” stripper Bobbie Bruce told reporter Jack Griffin at Minsky’s Rialto Theater, a hub of early-1950s Chicago burlesque. “You grab as much sex as the ...

Viva Mexico! Dispatches from the World Cup

Zhandarka Kurti

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Little Italy in the Bronx is slowly waking up from the previous night’s revelry. A man wearing a “Kiss me, I’m Italian” t-shirt sets up his makeshift sidewalk kitchen, soon to be selling zeppoles, sausage, and ...