“My first tattoo is a full-on Sailor Jerry situation on my hip - it's a swallow with big spread wings. When I got it I was 20 on St. Mark's Place in New York; I just walked in in a frenzy. It's still there 17 years later and it's not a terrible thing to look at.” YearsFirstsLooksStillsBigsSituationNew YorkTerribleMarkWingsSpreadHipsTattooTerrible ThingsSailorJerryFrenzy Author:Maria Dahvana Headley
“Gershwin's melodic gift was phenomenal. His songs contain the essence of New York in the 1920s and have deservedly become classics of their kind, part of the 20th-century folk-song tradition in the sense that they are popular music which has been spread by oral tradition (for many must have sung a Gershwin song without having any idea who wrote it).” KindHas BeensIdeasSongCenturyNew YorkTraditionEssenceFolksSpread20th CenturyPhenomenalPopular MusicGershwinFolk SongsOral Tradition Author:George Gershwin
“Drug warriors' staunch opposition to needle exchanges to prevent the spread of HIV in addicts delayed the programs' widespread introduction in most states for years. A federal ban on funding for these programs wasn't lifted until 2009. Contrast this with what happened in the U.K. At the peak of the AIDS epidemic in the mid-1990s, the HIV infection rate in IV drug users in the U.K. was about 1%. In New York City, the American epicenter, that figure was 50%. The British had introduced widespread needle exchange in 1986. That country had no heterosexual AIDS epidemic.” YearsCountryStatesCitiesHappenedFiguresNew YorkDrugProgramRateSpreadBritishAidsWarriorOppositionNew York CityContrastUsersAddictIntroductionFundingHivNeedlesBansEpidemicsWar On DrugsInfectionDelayedAids Epidemic Author:Maia Szalavitz