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Jessi Rucker

By Jessi Rucker 8/27/12 11:14am

The Right to Bare

16 Photos

Go Topless Day

“Go Topless Day” in Bryant Park Brings Out Boobs—And Some Topless Ladies, Too [Slideshow NSFW]

If you squeezed your way through the mobs of photo-snapping onlookers in Bryant Park or Times Square yesterday, there was a chance you could have observed the New York rally for Go Topless Day, which was celebrated in forty cities worldwide. A dozen or so women took to Midtown to celebrate their legal right to let their lady bits stand (or, in some cases, droop) freely.

In 1992, New York State ruled that women have the right to be topless anywhere a man does, much to the surprise of many New Yorkers that The Observer talked to yesterday. Even some of those braving the sidewalk bare-boobed didn’t know they were free to do so until this weekend. Maxine Krasnow had tickets to see a Broadway show but after reading about Go Topless Day in the Metro newspaper she ditched her theater plans—and her shirt. She did admit to us she was “a little worried about people leering at first,” but we saw her leading the pack with a sign reading, “Free your breasts. It’s your right,” by the end of the afternoon.

Moira Johnston, who has received local fame as a topless advocate in the Union Square area the last three months, was the belle of the ball to photogs and male admirers when she arrived on 43rd Street. Ms. Johnston was unfazed, but when we took a break from the hoopla—and bare-boobdom—inside a Starbucks, she spoke freely. “This is not for attention because there’s a lot of other ways to get attention.” The 29-year-old exotic dancer told us, “There is a real negative side to it, too,” she said, referring to the nasty jabs she often hears. “I know what I’m doing isn’t accepted but I’m willing to sacrifice that for women’s rights.” Read More

By Jessi Rucker 8/23/12 3:22pm

The Actor Next Door

Saint Paul between Woodruff and Crooke

Make a Movie With Your Neighbors With the ‘On My Block’ Short Film Project

After first hearing about On My Block, a neighborhood filmmaking project that encourages New Yorkers to collaborate in writing, filming and editing a short film using only people and places on one city block, we were skeptical. We can hardly get our neighbors to hold a door open for us, much less spend weeks working together on an unpaid project.

Mary Crosse, who is director of On My Block Films and co-conceptualized the project with Ryan O’Hara Theisen, told The Observer about their hybrid of filmmaking and community service. “New York can be so anonymous. When you get to know your neighbors, it can change a lot. It could potentially reduce crime or get people involved in improvement projects,” she said.

The rules are fairly simple: make a short film by using locations, actors, directors and cameramen from the block where you live. Films will be uploaded to Vimeo and will receive votes through “likes.” The top 15 will be shown at a film festival where prizes will be awarded for Best Narrative, Best Documentary and Best in Show. Read More

By Jessi Rucker 8/17/12 5:29pm

Solidarity

14 Photos

Pussy Riot Protest

Photos From NYC’s Pussy Riot Protest March

“Let our sisters go! Let our sisters go!” about 25 protestors in support of Pussy Riot chanted as they walked east on 91st st. toward the Russian Consulate on the east side of Central Park this morning at 10 a.m.

The Observer was waiting on the otherwise peaceful Upper East Side block as approximately 25 people cloaked in colorful masks and capes marched to the front of the consulate after the announcement of a guilty verdict and 2-year prison sentence being dealt to the feminist rock band.  We witnessed the protestors’ songs and arrests at the consulate (six in total, a number confirmed by an NYPD spokesperson), their peaceful march down Madison Avenue and their closing rally in Times Square. See it all in the slideshow. Read More

By Jessi Rucker 8/17/12 8:09am

Solidarity

7 Photos

Johanna Fateman

Before Pussy Riot Verdict, Artists and Activists Show Support for the Incarcerated Russian Punk Band

Last night, on the eve of a verdict that will decide the fate of the incarcerated members of the Russian punk rock band Pussy Riot, an array of musicians, artists, activists and feminists amassed at the Ace Hotel to hear the words of the imprisoned Maria Alyekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnokova and Yekaterina Samutsevich. Letters from prison, lyrics to their songs and the women’s opening and closing statements from the trial were read aloud by a collaborative force made up of Riot Grrrls, a sexual limit pusher, a poet, an artist, a transgendered avant-garde cabaret singer and one Chloë Sevigny.

The members of the politically motivated group have been in a pre-trial detention center since March after a guerrilla performance inside the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in which they were only able to execute a 40 second rendition of their song “Our Lady, Chase Putin Out” before getting escorted out by security guards. The women could be facing a three-year prison sentence for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.” Pussy Riot adamantly denies any malice to Catholicism; they maintain they were only making an artistic political statement. Over the past month, support for Pussy Riot has poured in from the likes of Madonna, Paul McCartney and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Peaches has released a tribute song, all proceeds will go to the band’s legal fees.

Karen Finley, performance artist and one of the most animated readers of the night gave The Observer her stance on the trial: “There’s a history of the church being a place for prayer but also for speaking one’s mind. Yes, we’re using these larger-than-life statements, but that’s part of the art and the expression.” Read More

By Jessi Rucker 7/25/12 1:16pm

Mole People

Sleuthing around on what is expected to be the teal colored, T line in 2016.

Hush-Hush: Undercover and Underground at the Second Avenue Subway Site

The MTA didn’t want us there, in fact we didn’t even ask for their permission, but somehow we found ourselves 60 feet underground and choking on the dust left from a dynamite explosion that took place just minutes prior to our descent. Clad in water resistant boots, safety goggles and a bright green hardhat The Observer was ankle deep in mud at an undisclosed location somewhere along the sight of the 2nd Avenue subway construction.

After zipping down a painfully frightening metal cage of an elevator and awkwardly hoisting ourselves up a slippery ladder onto a pile of sludge we finally got a chance to catch our breath and get our bearings. The view was insane.  The cavernous walls were vast, and mounds of muddy hills sprawled like waves. First things first, “Can I take a picture?”

The 30-year veteran sandhog with a tangled wiry gray beard, who had volunteered to take us underground, encouraged us to do so. But one stipulation, “Just don’t put those up on your YouTube,” he said. Read More

By Jessi Rucker 7/19/12 2:29pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

6 Photos

Master Bedroom

Your Very Own White House! Rent President Obama’s College Apartment for $2,400/month

Ever dreamt of living the life of the most powerful man in the country but can only afford a railroad, two-bedroom share, third-floor walk-up? Look no further.  Your presidential suite awaits you.

What was once Barack Obama’s crash pad in his Columbia University days is back on the market for $2,400/ month. Not a bad deal for an Upper West Side two-bedroom but back in 1981 Obama and his roommate paid a monthly grand total of just $360. Oh, the days. Read More

By Jessi Rucker 6/24/12 1:00pm

NYC Pride 2012

Garvin and Boyce.

Martin Boyce and Danny Garvin, Stonewall Veterans, Remember the Riots

Every year, in the weeks leading up to Pride Week, Martin Boyce and Danny Garvin’s phones start ringing off the hook.

“Martin here. Yup, that was me at Stonewall, June 28, 1969.”

“Yes, this is the Danny who was at the riots.”

And on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Mr. Boyce, 64, and Mr. Garvin, 63, were bombarded by even more press than usual. “I was like a puppet on a string,” Mr. Boyce said. “Anytime somebody bumped into me on the street I’d go right into ‘So I was walking towards Stonewall with my friends Birdie and Tommy…’”.

While many of the rioters from that night fell victim to drugs or the AIDS crises in the ’80s, Mr. Boyce and Mr. Garvin are two of less than twenty confirmed survivors, calling themselves the Stonewall Veterans. They’ve been immortalized in David Carter’s Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, saluted in the PBS documentary Stonewall Uprising and have been invited as guest speakers to participate in discussions on the gay rights movement over the four decades since. And on days like today, when NYC Pride takes to the streets and the riots’ anniversary is marked by the Pride Parade, which noncoincidentally ends on Christopher street right next to Stonewall, their contributions to the gay rights movement is brought to the forefront once again. Read More

By Jessi Rucker 5/29/12 12:27pm

Odd Couples

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Colas Combat Crude Campaign Against Sugary Sodas

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been battling for brand supremacy for decades through advertisements, slogans and celebrity endorsements. The cola wars have brought us “The Choice of a New Generation,” “Can’t Beat The Real Thing” and the short-lived, inexplicably bleached Crystal Clear Pepsi with accompanying Van Halen soundtrack. And back in the ’90s, we even watched as two of our most iconic pop idols sold their names to each soda: Britney Spears to Pepsi and Christina Aguilera to Coke.

Now, Coke and Pepsi have done the previously unthinkable and banded together to fight a common enemy: the New York City health department. Read More