These were only a smattering of the clothes donned by a roughly 40-person crowd—though it morphed in size over the course of the day—composed largely of teens in Tompkins Square Park on the afternoon of Saturday, Sept. 26. They were the hosts and attendees of climate activist group Extinction Rebellion (XR) Youth NYC’s “Guerilla Flea Market,” a community in which 23-year-olds are old and most members still attend high school, according to XR Youth U.S. Action Coordinator Alejandro Vasquez. While we didn’t cross paths during the event, he filled me in after the fact along with Lucia Harrison, another NYC-based activist and flea market organizer.

Clothes of similar styles to those sported by the XR Youth NYC members and guests hung coolly from the surrounding fence and lay on display across multi-colored fabric blankets. The young activists were dealing in goods from their own closets, catering to fellow XR Youth NYC members and to visitors of Tompkins Square Park who had heard of the event through word of mouth, according to 17-year-old Westchester native Harrison, who is a co-coordinator of XR Youth NYC’s “Fashion Task Force.”

Sharing the paved, performance-suited section of Tompkins Square was a punk rock band, with an equally easily-identifiable following of mohawk-wearing park-goers at their flank.

“It catches people’s attention,” explained 18-year-old Vasquez, adding, “especially when you have a bunch of young people and all in like, not weird clothing, but I feel like a lot of us are like, We’re different. We’re indie.”

XR Youth NYC came to Tompkins Square Park to cause a scene, albeit peacefully, according to Vasquez, after months of delay due to COVID-19. The park caters to a wide array of East Villagers—dog owners, basketball players, musicians, and more—allowing members of XR Youth NYC to simultaneously stand out (with their youth, their message, and their style) and fit in (like every other “individual” who frequents the down-to-earth East Village hang out). Now, the group is looking to attract new members through an “introduction call,” to be hosted over Zoom on Oct. 11, according to an XR Youth NYC Instagram post. Harrison said she viewed the flea market, one of the group’s latest organized events, as an outlet to engage and support the surrounding community.

“Just the idea of having the money go directly back into the community,” said Harrison, in a conversation over Zoom, “having it be like 60 percent has to be donated, was a way of giving back and doing something that would not only benefit the environment, in the fact that it’s all used clothing and it’s getting a new home rather than sitting somewhere or whatever, but also like physical money and food and supplies are going right back into communities that it can benefit directly.”

Now in her final year at Ardsley High School in Westchester County, New York, where she’s taking classes in-person two out of five days a week, with the rest taught online, Harrison first joined the fight for climate justice as an activist in the “Fridays for Future” movement, which was spurred by Greta Thunberg’s school strikes beginning in Aug. 2018, according to the FFF website. She joined XR Youth NYC in February and is determined to keep the group’s values alive beyond her dwindling time in high school.

“One of the main things about XRYNYC that makes it so special is the community and emphasis on regenerative culture, in ourselves and the communities we work to better, so no matter where I end up I will be keeping those values with me, and implementing them into my life,” she explained in an email.

Vasquez similarly got his start through “Fridays for Future.” Now, he’s held a variety of positions within the XR organization, from initially running an XR TikTok account, to serving as XR Youth NYC’s Action Coordinator, and ultimately assuming the duties of XR Youth U.S. Action Coordinator.

Shortly after the Tompkins Square Park event, Vasquez moved from Connecticut to Washington, D.C. to begin his first year at American University—where he’ll study Spanish cinema, German, and Arabic in his first semester—and to reinvigorate a previously defunct D.C.-based extension of XR Youth.

He says his passion for activism is an inextricable factor of his identity.

“Being a queer Latinx man in the U.S., I kinda had no choice,” Vasquez explained in an email when asked what sparked his interest in voicing his beliefs through activism. “It’s like that Angela Davis quote ‘I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.’”

Founded one year ago as an offshoot of XR Youth U.S., which had its origins in “Rebellion Week”—started in London in 2018—XR Youth NYC’s primary goal, according to Vasquez, is four-fold. He explained that those with power must “tell the truth” about the state of the global environment, must take decisive action (“our government and other governments need to stop greenhouse emissions by 2025”), must allow local citizens to steward their own communities, and must extend power to indigenous populations, “especially because of all the terrible things we’ve done.”

“We’ve tried to use non-violent direct action in a lot of different ways, because it’s causing disruption,” Vasquez explained. “I feel like disruption’s the thing we want to get rid of business as usual.” He believes that working in such a manner “not only builds community, but also builds organizers and builds people to actually realize that they can cause a big change.”

The “Fashion Task Force,” which Harrison oversees, first began in the wake of New York Fashion Week last February, when XR Youth NYC’s “guerilla fashion shows” outside of Spring Studios garnered coverage from Vogue.

The members of XR Youth NYC took a milder approach with their more recent event in Tompkins Square, choosing to sell and trade clothes, accessories, and knick knacks—though mostly clothes—and donate at least 60 percent of proceeds to local organizations.

Harrison put together a list of pre-approved donation recipients, including community fridges in the Lower East Side and beyond, “Mi Casa Resiste” (a Bushwick-based “anticapitalist collective” working to “fight the displacement & criminalization of low-income Black & Brown families,” according to the group’s Twitter page), and a COVID-19 relief fund for sex workers in New York, to name a few. She encouraged all 32 sellers to individually donate a portion of the money made from their personal sales.

In total, the group donated $1,500, according to an XR Youth NYC Instagram post.

Thick, colorful arrows drawn with sidewalk chalk urged curious thrifters to begin their procession through the market at a welcome booth of sorts: a white sheet spread over the ground boasting, among other necessities, a hand-drawn sign, a few bottles of hand sanitizer, and a sleeve or two of Oreos.

Among the wares for sale or trade:

A glossy moss-green tank dress.

A free pair of chalk-colored Reebok sneakers—the very same that I wear on a near-daily basis.

Plenty of striped tees and pre-loved jeans.

And much, much more.

Budding artists got a chance to share their work, too—some offered stacks of stickers with Keith Haring-style figures proclaiming “TRANS IS BEAUTIFUL” while others took to creating personalized works on the spot. Vasquez quickly reached for a pair of obviously well-worn, once-white sneakers to show over Zoom as an example. The right shoe now bears a “Sharpied” crescent moon above a cartoon figure proclaiming, “FUCK COPS,” while the left is designed with a sun drawing and a matching cartoon human chiming in, “PROTECT UR FRENZ.”

From a distance, seated on a nearby bench or basking on a picnic blanket in the park’s fenced-in grassy mound, the flea market probably looked to be no more than a homogeneous flurry of trendy teens, Harrison and Vasquez included.

A humble guise for a group that wants, quite literally, to change the world.

The post “Guerilla Flea Market” finds a home in Tompkins Square Park appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

The post A Warm Winter Day in Tompkins Square Park appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Hundreds gathered at Tompkins Square Park tonight for the Rally Against Hate, displaying signs that supported an end to racism, the ban on Muslim refugees, the proposed building of a border wall, and women’s reproductive rights. This was just the latest in a week fraught with protests and marches against the new Trump Administration’s executive actions.

The recent proliferation of protests and grassroots movements points to increased public discourse on politics and human rights. The Rally Against Hate was one example of an energized city eager to invoke change in Washington.

“This is a school night, and look how many people are here,” Sheryl Nelson, 41 of the West Village said, pointing to her 12-year-old son. “There have been protests in D.C. in the past about pro-choice, against nuclear war, what have you, and I feel like I’ve never seen so many people out protesting.. I think that elected officials will see that people are showing up and protesting and chanting, and hopefully that will inspire them to do the right thing,” Nelson said.

Sheryl Nelson, 41 of West Village joins Tompkins Square Park Rally Against Hate with her 12-year-old son: “This is a school night, and look how many people are here!”
Photo credit: Cassidy Morrison

Rather than dwelling on the fear that permeates throughout the country, protesters expressed their optimism that public demonstrations would inspire the public at large to get involved with a cause that they care about.

“I wish we didn’t have to do it this way, but the good side is that we have a lot of people active,” said Tamira Wyndham, 48 of the East Village. “My purpose here is to encourage people to do more than just attend protests, but also to get involved with an organization and work on specific things, whether they want to change a law or whatever they want to do.”

Wyndham stressed the need for protesters to go further than attending a demonstration.

“I think protests are really important, but I don’t think they’re enough by themselves,” Wyndham said. “A one-time protest is great, but it doesn’t do anything by itself. You have to keep the pressure. These are great, but there needs to be more.”

Amid loud chants of “Dump Trump”, protesters chatted excitedly with their neighbors. They complimented each other’s signs. They munched side by side on free vegan donuts being passed around.

“I think this woke something up in people, it got people off the couch and on the streets instead of complaining,” said Joy Lau, 32 of the East Village. “When I came here and saw that there are so many people actually protesting, putting in their time, standing in the cold, I see that we all need this support.”

Lau, among others, expressed the importance of carrying on widespread movements and protests like this one, in order to give people a new outlet for expressing themselves while remaining in solidarity with one another. This was not, in her view, sore losers commiserating but rather hopeful citizens showing strength.

“I don’t know if this is the new normal because it’s not normal at all,” Lau said.” I think it’s actually good that all of us came out in the first week. It’s like a frog being put in slowly boiling water. If this came out slowly, we might not notice it. We know that we have to take action. The feeling is that we have to do something right now.”

Lau’s urgency has been echoed across the country and will, in her view and in that of many, continue throughout the next four years as more people feel the need to let their voices be heard.

The post Protests are becoming the new normal appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

On the first day of spring New Yorkers flocked to parks to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather. But it wasn’t just city residents out in the sunshine. New York dogs were out in force in Tompkins Square Park Tuesday and their owners say the weather is cheering up their pups.

The post Spring in NYC: Dog days in Tompkins Square appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Nestled underneath a canopy of Washington Square Park’s barren tree branches, “Cornbread,” 49, peered out over the checkered chessboard in front of him, beaming a gap-toothed smile at passers-by, beckoning them to take their place in front of the pawns and rooks scattered about one of the park’s many chess tables.

“Take a seat! Take a seat!” Cornbread pleaded, shifting the plastic chess clock into position next to the board. “And while you’re at it, make a three dollar donation. A man’s gotta eat.”

Unlike most of Washington Square Park’s visitors, Cornbread is one of the city’s estimated 2,648 unsheltered homeless, a hardheaded group that prefers the freedom of a park bench to cramped, rule-laden shelters and missions.

“I’d rather sleep on the streets than stay in a shelter,” said Cornbread, who said his name came from “living on nothing but cornbread for the longest.” “I don’t want to deal with the shelters. If I have to be miserable, at least it’s self imposed.”

And with snow shovels collecting cobwebs and temperatures much warmer than average, the stubborn lot are given all the more reason to brave the elements, leading to less winter traffic at local shelters like the Bowery Mission.

“We still have a pretty steady flow of 130-140 men looking for shelter, and meals, but it’s definitely not as high as usual,” said Matt Krivich, director of operations and a nine-year veteran at the Bowery Mission.

“I’m guessing with five to six inches of snow and colder temperatures, we’d see a lot more people,” he said.

Instead of choosing the Bowery Mission, Cornbread treks out of the park during the evening, first to his “stash spot” where he keeps his collection of cold weather gear hidden from the desperate hands of his unsheltered comrades, then to his sleeping spot of choice, above a heating vent just outside of the United States’ Postal Office at Seventh Avenue and Houston Street.

“This isn’t a real winter,” Cornbread said. “We’re out in the sun right now. It feels like we’re out on a beach right now.”

Under the same sunny skies, Larry Reddick, 47, held up a cutout picture of “Shameless” star William H. Macy next to his face.

“Look at this guy, now look at me,” Reddick said, pulling off his winter cap to reveal his disheveled locks. “I could be his stunt double.”

Larry Reddick, 47, spends his nights on the steps of Judson Memorial Church, where he bundles up in stacks of cold weather gear donated to him over time. Photo by Eric Zerkel

Reddick hardly comes close to occupying a television screen; instead he spends his days and nights occupying Washington Square Park’s benches, playing the part of Adam, assigning names to the parks’ resident creatures. There’s “Choco,” a stout, Hershey-hued curmudgeon of a pigeon, and “Stinky,” the aptly named odorous squirrel. But his favorite is “Rosy,” one of the park’s two massive hawks that patrol the skies, snatching up the likes Stinky for an afternoon snack.

“There used to be five black squirrels in the park,” Reddick said, clutching his hand-me-down binoculars that dangled about his neck. “But thanks to Rosy, there’s only three.”

Like a homeless cartographer, Reddick is exacting in his surveyance of the park. So much so that he can point out each of the 109 “rat-holes” that cover the small stretch of park from Washington Square West to the park’s fountain-adorned core.

But it’s this sort of exacting nature that helps Reddick survive the winter.

“I’m not gonna freeze out here,” he said. “I didn’t come to New York from San Diego unprepared.”

Part of that preparedness is bag upon bag stuffed full of donated cold weather gear.

“I got snow pants, I got jackets, I got a mummy bag in here that’s good for 25 below,” Reddick said.

Reddick was quite adamant about sleeping outside, saying he preferred his spot at the top of the steps of Judson Memorial Church, but said it didn’t hurt that this winter was particularly warm.

“It has been a mild winter, but I’m not worried about sh**,” Reddick said. “Bring on the snow, I can’t wait.”

Unfortunately, not all of New York City’s homeless have the resources, or “spots,” of Reddick and Cornbread, nor do they share the same sentiments about the warm winter.

Larry Jackson, 56, speaks in muted tones, his hands too cracked and sore from the cold to shake hands. After losing his “dream job” as mortician in sunny Los Angeles, Jackson hitchhiked across the country, arriving in New York City on his last dollar and dying hope for work just eight months ago.

Larry Jackson, 56, spends his nights along the the East River and comes to Tompkins Square Park during the day to make and sells Cigarettes for 50 cents. Jackson has just one blanket and struggles to keep warm, even during one of the warmest New York City winters in history. Photo by Eric Zerkel

“When I came here it was nice and warm,” said Jackson. “Now, not so much.”

Unlike Reddick and Cornbread, Jackson is a newcomer to homelessness. He has just one blanket, and few friends among the vagrants of Tompkins Square Park.

He says he only opts for the Bowery Mission as a last resort, instead choosing his meager sleeping spot on a bench on the windy banks of the East River, where he says he “won’t be bothered” by those looking to take advantage of him.

“I just want a sleeping bag,” Jackson said. “God willing, if I can just get a sleeping bag, and a nice spot to squeeze into next to a building, I’d be good.”

While the warm winter continues to rage on, Cornbread, a 13-year veteran of the New York City streets, knows that those ill-equipped, like Jackson, face a grim future.

“This cold isn’t a joke,” Cornbread said. “I know two people who died out here. They were just sleeping out here, and they died.”

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