New York City is dubbed the “city that never sleeps,” operating twenty-four hours with no breaks. But Coney Island, wide awake in the summer as an iconic tourist destination, sleeps during winter, until the scorching heat returns. 

To most New Yorkers Coney Island is the beach, the Cyclone and Luna Park. It is constantly labeled as a summer attraction. Summer crowds jump around from the boardwalk to the rides to local dining options. All day, the MTA’s Stillwell Avenue station brings waves of visitors, who follow the same routine as those who arrived earlier. It is the season where businesses, both corporate and local, are able to thrive off the large crowds. 

But after the summer, foot traffic diminishes to a trickle of local residents taking the subway to work. The long lines are reduced to three to five people. Business operating hours, which once stretched from noon to midnight or beyond, now end by 10pm. Local businesses, without a brand name to carry them through the off season, close early or shut down entirely. Surf Avenue at night becomes a deserted, quiet space.

Two related development plans are in the works that might swell Coney Island’s resident population and maybe draw visitors to Coney Island in the cooler months.

On December 11th, a one billion dollar reconstruction for the Coney Island boardwalk was approved, according to Grace Tang, program director at the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, who spoke at a Community Board 13 meeting. The plan includes renovating the boardwalk using existing materials, replacing broken wood panels and unleveled concrete floors.

“Once design kicks off, we’ll reach out and work with the Community Board 13, New York City Housing Authority, the alliance of Coney Island, the Aquarium, and many others,” Tang said. Aside from offering new housing space, the ground floor of these new buildings also includes space for businesses to build new restaurants. As of now, there is an Asian cuisine restaurant being built in the space, adding more restaurants in the area.

The boardwalk renovation is part of the “Coney Island West” plan, first announced by NYC Mayor Eric Adams in 2024 that also includes 1,500 units of new housing and an upgrade to the sports center. Mayor Adams said, “We are delivering mixed-income affordable housing, investing $42 million to renovate Abe Stark Sports Center, and making significant improvements across streets, sewers, and the public realm. Coney Island’s best days still lie ahead, and today, we are starting the next chapter of its bright future.” 

The plan intends to encourage local business and address many issues that were caused by Hurricane Sandy, as the storm’s impact on the area is still present to this day. But the Coney Island West plan also stirs fear of gentrification.

Rosalina Khanis, a longtime native of Coney Island, said, “When I was little there were a lot of mom-and-pop shops and overall family-run businesses where everyone knew each other, and now it feels more commercialized, where it’s for business rather than being a community.” Khanis added, “Gentrification, on one point, is ok to bring in more younger people, but on the negative side, the sense of community really goes down.” 

Some businesses, though would be welcome. The current Coney Island area lacks 24-hour delis. Delis on Surf Avenue close down for the night by 11pm. As of now, there is only one deli open for twenty-four hours. The deli is located next to the Coney Island-Stillwell Av, and a worker, Jaheem, who preferred to not give out their last name, said, “People come to us because we are the only deli open all day and all night. MTA workers getting off work come here instead of McDonald’s. We’re the better option.”

   Ruby’s, a popular family-owned restaurant, may also benefit. A former worker, Brandon Zayas, commented, “Rudy’s will only benefit from any change happening to Coney; the place has been in business for decades and is considered a local landmark.” Ruby’s is currently closed for the winter season.

One development plan was recently defeated: the plan to introduce a casino. The selling point for the community was that a casino would boost the area’s economy by attracting year-round foot traffic. The casino proposal encountered pushback from Brooklyn’s borough president, Coney Island’s community board members, and City Council members. Talks regarding the proposal have lingered in the air since 2022, but finally, in 2025, the casino idea was shut down. Dubbed as a victory for the community.

New York has the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the world outside Puerto Rico, but Puerto Rican Studies across City University of New York  has consistently been defunded and understaffed, and often a target for political attack. Puerto Rican and Latin Studies (PRLS)  at Brooklyn College has too few tenured lines meet the minimum requirements for a CUNY department at CUNY: only two tenured faculty remain, several courses run only every two or three years, and the department’s operating budget is less than half what it was in the early 1990s, adjusted for inflation.  

Today, according to CUNY, Brooklyn College is nearly 24 percent Latino, but Puerto Rican students say they cannot find enough courses on the history, diaspora and identity of Puerto Ricans on campus.  

This is not a new situation. In 2022, student Maria Hernandez told Brooklyn College Vanguard “there are barely any classes about our history anymore. Maybe one or two a semester, how is that enough for a Latino campus?”  

At that time, the Vanguard reported that PRLS lacked a viable majority of tenured faculty, despite two new faculty being hired. Students expressed fear that it would be merged with another department as had occurred in previous rounds of cutbacks at CUNY in the 1980s and 1990s. Dr.Virginia Sanchez Korrl, a historian who helped shape the field, warned that eliminating tenure lines in ethnic studies amounts to “disciplinary death.” 

When the Puerto Rican Studies Department, the forerunner of PRLS,  was founded in the early 1970s, fewer than 1% of the students at Brooklyn College were Puerto Rican. Despite having thousands of Latino students today, the department has less funding and fewer resources than some directors of the department had several decades previously.  

By 2007 the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, CENTRO, at Hunter College reported  that Puerto Rican Studies programs at CUNY were consistently “diminished… primarily for budgetary reasons” whenever those programs were placed under the purview of other ethnic studies departments. 

Students say these pressures continue today and are part of a larger pattern of reducing humanities classes. During the COVID-era budget cuts, CUNY eliminated over 3,000 adjunct class sections, disproportionately affecting humanities programs.  

“This is about what stories get told, and which ones get erased,” said Dr. Yarimar Bonilla, director of CENTRO, during a 2023 public panel on austerity and Puerto Rican cultural institutions. “Ethnic studies programs are structurally underfunded because they challenge the status quo. That is not accidental.” 

Bonilla has also warned that austerity measures typically accompany periods of political mobilization for marginalized people. 

“In times of crisis, policing, colonialism, Palestine, there is always pressure to shrink the spaces where critical conversations happen.” 

In 2024, CUNY received a $5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue and expand the Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative (BRESI), allowing Brooklyn College, among other schools, to offer new courses, support academic research, and offer internships. But experts say BRESI cannot reverse decades of erosion. 

“This is patchwork,” an ethnic studies researcher said during a public BRESI briefing in 2022. “Useful, but not a substitute for rebuilding what decades of cuts eroded.” 

Some PRLS students have noted a relationship between CUNY’s funding priorities and the wider national atmosphere on Palestine activism. After pro-Palestine demonstrations on campuses nationwide, administrators faced pressure from donors, elected officials, and the media to more rigorously scrutinize curriculum and activism taking place in ethnic studies environments. Some students argue that austerity leaves PRLS especially vulnerable to these pressures. 

Some PRLS students say the climate at CUNY has shifted further in the past year, shaped by national backlash to pro-Palestine demonstrations and new campus disciplinary practices. Students at multiple CUNY campuses reported receiving misconduct charges related to protest actions, including charges for “failures to comply,” “disruptive conduct,” and “unauthorized demonstration.” Brooklyn College’s Undergraduate Student Government and administration did not respond to repeated requests for  comment.   

Puerto Rican Alliance’s (PRA) president Angelina Rivera neologized the political climate surrounding ethnic studies as “the broader political environment exacerbated by campus protests,” referencing the campus conduct charges against students across CUNY related to the protests from the previous spring. She told the audience at the Encuentro event that “Our biggest issue as a club now is repression from the administration, especially against political activism,” in reference to the focus on PRLS and solidarity organizing.  

 “Even now, there are a lot of students facing conduct charges we’re still worrying about,” Rivera added. 

While PRLS fights for stability, other departments are growing. Jewish Studies programs across CUNY have received millions in philanthropic donations, including a $3 million donation to CUNY Queens College’s Jewish Studies program in 2023.  

Meanwhile, STEM programs receive more consistent investment: CUNY received $18 million in National Science Foundation STEM grants in 2023-2024. Brooklyn College’s new science facilities were funded through state capital allocations exceeding $100 million over the past decade.  

“STEM expansion is funded as the future,” Bonilla noted in the 2022 panel. “But communities also need the tools to understand power, race, and history. When those programs shrink, students lose more than classes, they lose the language to understand their world.” 

A new affordable housing project is set to be built in Bath Beach, with the remodeling of the New Utrecht Library and the adjacent parking lot, to create new apartments that will be part of a new city program called “Living Libraries.” 

Living libraries are a city initiative that is part of the “City for Yes for Families” led by the city government, as well as the Economic Development Corporation, the Brooklyn Public Library, and Housing Preservation and Development. The program involves remodeling existing libraries and adding affordable housing. 

Over the last few years, the Bath Beach/Bensonhurst area has seen many changes, including business openings and closings, and project delays. Still, one of the major topics under discussion is adding housing to the area.

In 2023, the area received notice of a new homeless shelter under construction, and the community’s reaction was adverse. Both Councilmember Susan Zhuang and Assemblymember William Colton, along with many residents, protested for over 100 days straight to hope that the shelter wouldn’t be built. 

The reasoning is that the homeless system is flawed, and businesses and schools surround the location at 2501 86th St. The current fight is ongoing as the neighborhood approaches the demolition date of the building that will become a homeless shelter. 

In late September, Mayor Adams announced the redevelopment of the New Utrecht library as part of the “Living Libraries program.” Its goal is to develop more affordable housing. His administration, earlier this year, announced that it “created, preserved, or planned approximately 426,800 homes for New Yorkers. This will include the 69-year-old library and the parking lot next to it. 

“Earlier this year, I told New Yorkers that we would make our city the best place to raise a family; projects like New Utrecht and how we get it done. This ambitious project will deliver affordable housing, high-quality services, and a state-of-the-art library, all in one location,” said Mayor Adams.  

The current stage of the process is the community engagement section, which seeks to understand the community’s views, including those of the public and government officials who represent it.

“At this very early stage in the process, my priority is to determine how our residents feel about the project,” said District 47 Assemblymember William Colton. “For this reason, I am reaching out in a variety of ways to those who live and work in the area, to determine what questions and issues they may have about what is being proposed, and any concerns that they may feel need to be addressed. My intention, once I clarify this, is to advocate strenuously on behalf of my constituents, to make sure that their needs are taken into account.” 

As of now, Community Board 11 hasn’t taken a stance on the project. They are waiting for residents to contact them. 

The library project isn’t new in New York; in 2017, the Fifth Ave Committee announced plans for an affordable housing project at the Sunset Park Library in Sunset Park. The project includes a renovated library and 50 units around it, which were reopened in November 2023. 

At the time, people were mixed on the project, as it could lead to gentrification or displacement from the community. Another issue is that some residents aren’t able to access that housing due to costs and background checks. 

“Yeah, it’s affordable for some people, and that’s great, but the reality is that a lot of people in Sunset don’t have the paperwork necessary to even apply for this type of housing. Not to mention the process is long and tedious,” said Antonio Meza, who has been a resident in Sunset Park for 15 years. “Overall, I’m more for more affordable housing, but the process to obtain it needs to be improved.”

As of now, there is no set date for the construction or demolition of the New Utrecht Library, but the questionnaire regarding people’s reactions to the NYC Housing Preservation and Development deadline is scheduled for December 19. 

The NYU Production Lab felt warm and busy on Saturday evening, November 22, as people walked through the International Student Arts Incubator Showcase. Bright screens, drawings, music, and short performances filled the room, each shaped by the students’ own backgrounds and personal journeys. Many of the artists spoke openly about their experiences studying far from home, adding a quiet layer of meaning beneath the creative work they shared. 

According to NYU’s Creative Career Hub, the incubator helps students practice their craft, create portfolios, and understand what steps artists need to take after graduation. But the heart of the program was obvious when students performed and explained how their projects grew out of their own experiences.

Gabriela Pinasco, student from Ecuador showed the first part of a documentary she filmed in the Amazon rainforest. She has worked with Indigenous communities before, and she wanted to show how environmental damage is affecting their lives. She explained that Ecuador does not have a large documentary industry, so studying in New York taught her how filmmaking, producing, and festival distribution actually work. “Learning the process is important,” she said. “It will help me share these stories with more people.” Her full film will be around forty minutes long.

Nearby, artist Odalia Zubarev from Toronto presented her first personal art project Selvedge, a series of stitched portraits combining alcohol marker drawings with sashiko thread. Sashiko, a traditional Japanese mending technique, is used symbolically in the work to explore themes of identity, resilience, and emotional repair.

Odalia moved to New York about seven months ago for a one-year MBA program at NYU’s Stern School of Business. Even though business is her main field, she explained that she has always cared about making art. “It started as a hobby,” she said, “but it’s something I want to keep doing.” She hopes to stay in the U.S. through temporary employment authorization after graduation and said that life as an international student can feel lonely, especially without close family support. Still, finishing this project gave her confidence and reminded her why she wants to build a future in New York.

On the other side of the room, a music student from East Asia talked about his goal of bringing the popular music of his home country to a wider world audience. He studies composition and songwriting, and he believes New York is the best place to grow creatively. The student, who asked not to be named, explained being an international student makes him work harder because his time in the U.S. is limited. “You feel pressure, but it helps you focus,” he said. “You don’t want to waste the chance.”

A theatre student from China, who also asked not to be named, shared a written piece based on a character he first created while studying abroad in London. The story explores identity and masculinity, and how people sometimes feel the need to perform roles that don’t fully match who they are. He said creating art while far from home feels emotional, but it also gives him a sense of purpose.

Although their backgrounds and media were different: film, illustration, music, and theatre; the four students shared similar feelings about the showcase. Many said the incubator gave them a safe place to experiment, learn, and meet people who understand what it is like to study in a new country. They also spoke about working under pressure, missing home, and trying to make the most of their time in New York.

By the end of the night, the room felt calmer. The showcase proved how meaningful it is when students from around the world are given space to tell their stories through art.

November is Puerto Rican Heritage Month, and New York has long recognized Puerto Rico’s cultural, political, and historical ties with the city. So when Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani traveled to Puerto Rico earlier this month and announced, “You cannot tell the story of New York City without telling the story of Puerto Rico,” Puerto Ricans did listen. His remarks circulated widely online at a time when the diaspora was already immersed in celebrating, commemorating, and reflecting on Puerto Rican history. 

Although Mamdani’s visit occurred during a season filled with historical anniversaries –the 1511 Taíno rebellion, the 1868 Grito de Lares, and the attack on the US House of Representatives led by Lolita Lebrón – that was not why he traveled to the island. He was there for the annual SOMOS conference, where New York politicians meet with Puerto Rican officials, community groups, and advocacy organizations. Still, the timing shaped how his comments were interpreted, especially by Puerto Ricans wary of symbolic gestures that do not lead to lasting political support. 

John W. Acevedo, a 27-year-old filmmaker from Ponce who moved to New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Mamdani’s message felt familiar but carried weight coming from a mayor-elect. Acevedo, who responded in Spanish, said that the island’s culture had historically been suppressed through anti-nationalist laws, such as the former criminalization of the Puerto Rican flag, creating what he described as “fear of repercussions.” “As a Puerto Rican, it feels like people hear us,” Acevedo said. “It’s nice to hear a mayor wants to help my main culture.” 

Still, Acevedo does not believe that anyone who has not lived on the island can fully understand the depth of its struggles. He pointed to experiences in Ponce, where residents lived without reliable electricity for years after Hurricane María and where federal relief arrived slowly or in limited amounts. “The hardship we’ve been through… those are struggles that I feel you would only truly understand when you live in it,” he said.  

Living in New York reshaped Acevedo’s view of Puerto Rico’s political status. He explained that while he once believed statehood was necessary for the island’s survival, he now fears it would erase the cultural identity that defines Puerto Rican life. “If we become a state, we will lose what made us truly Boricuas,” he said. “Our culture, our voices, our lifestyle would all be gone or down to minimal.”

For at least one Puerto Rican who grew up in New York, Mamdani’s trip resonated differently. Marisol Rivera, 22, a second-generation Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, said that hearing a mayor-elect openly acknowledge the island’s importance “validated and showed face,” especially during a month when cultural pride is foregrounded. Rivera said she hoped this year’s statements would lead to more consistent political support rather than holiday messaging that fades. “We’ve learned to wait and see what happens after the cameras leave,” she said.  

Rivera also questioned how much mainland politicians can realistically do for Puerto Rico. “They praise Puerto Rico in statements, but they do not send resources,” she said, adding that many visit during SOMOS but rarely return once the conference ends. She and Acevedo both noted that while New York City officials can fund programs for the diaspora and raise awareness about Puerto Rican issues. It is important to note: they cannot control federal disaster aid, economic policy, or the island’s political status, all of which fall under congressional and presidential authority.  

Rivera said her parents taught her about historical cycles of displacement, beginning with the economic restructuring of Operation Bootstrap, and the role Puerto Ricans in New York played in movements like the Young Lords. The Young Lords were a radical Puerto Rican organization founded in the late 1960s that fought for community control, anti-poverty programs, and self-determination in New York and Chicago. Riviera said those lessons shaped her expectations: “Just because we weren’t born on the island doesn’t mean we don’t feel what happens there.” 

Both Rivera and Acevedo were clear that meaningful change for the island will always depend on federal action, not municipal leaders. Yet, both expressed hopes for how New York City’s mayor could support Puerto Ricans living in the city. Acevedo said the priority should be “more respect for the community,” including attention to housing issues affecting Puerto Ricans displaced by economic crises. Riversa said she wants elected officials to “show up when it matters,” not only during holidays or photo opportunities. 

What Mamdani’s visit ultimately means, they argued, will depend on whether his statements evolve into consistent engagement. As Rivera put it: “If you believe in this, it’s not just in November.”

The long-awaited reopening of the Gerritsen Beach Public Library has been pushed back to Dec. 11 due to construction delays, nearly a month after its previously scheduled Nov. 12 return. The branch has been closed since July 15, 2024 for an extensive capital project aimed at modernizing aging infrastructure across the Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) system. 

The BPL website was updated last week with the new date, attributing the delay to the final stages of construction, stating, “it’s taking a little longer than expected to put the finishing touches on the renovated branch.”

The closure is part of a wider, system-level rebuilding effort managed in collaboration with the city’s Department of Design and Construction (DDC). With a city and state capital budget, BPL has $240 million to spend for reconstruction on a third of its libraries. The renovations can take much longer than necessary because of their costs and management, as stated by the NYC Comptroller Brad Lander. According to DDC estimates, the project could take up to three years to complete, though the Gerritsen Beach location had expected to reopen ahead of schedule. 

To fill the gap left by the closure, BPL has relied on Bookmobile visits and events taking place online or at other libraries to maintain a presence in the neighborhood.

Marisa Kuras, the library’s assistant branch manager, spoke about the project at a Community Board 15 meeting on Oct. 28th, offering insight to the maintenance and to discuss the reopening day plan. 

“Gerritsen Beach Library closed for a necessary repair for the roof, the facade, and our community rooms,” said Kuras. “And for the last sixteen months our staff have been performing outreach in the community. But our patrons always let us know how much they miss their library and how excited they were for when we reopen.”

Despite the frustrations surrounding the extended timeline, BPL officials say it will be worth the wait. In a Nov. 15 update posted online, the library said it was “thrilled to welcome patrons back to a renovated branch featuring a new roof, ceilings, lighting, furniture, plus a dedicated children’s area and a brand-new teen space.”

If the Dec. 11 date sticks, the reopening will restore a long-missed community center that has served Gerritsen Beach for nearly a century. 

This year’s mayoral race saw the highest turnout of voters in New York City since 1969. Three-quarters of NYC’s youth, people under 30, who voted chose Mamdani, according to a voter poll conducted by The Associated Press on November 5, 2025. In April 2025, some young women in New York City mobilized and, brought together by 24-year-old Cait Camelia and 28-year-old Kaif Kabir, started the unofficial campaign, ‘Hot Girls for Zohran,’ after having the idea to create a fun kind of campaign t-shirt. ‘Hot Girls for Zohran’ is inspired by a 2020 trend, #HotGirlsforBernie, which started during Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign.

The group is primarily Gen Z, but has gone viral and spread to other age groups. Actress Emily Ratajkowski joined the campaign, and even former New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio was seen wearing a ‘Hot Girls for Zohran’ t-shirt on November 4 when he showed up to vote. The group inspired groups formed by Republican podcaster Emily Austin, ‘Hot Girls for Cuomo’, and ‘Cool Girls for Capitalism’, formed by Danielle Goldman. 

Calling themselves ‘hot girls,’ Camelia’s goal was to empower women and bring them together in a way that would convince more of the city to vote for Mamdani. On November 4, he was announced as NYC’s next mayor. 

“Together, we have illustrated the power of leading with a politics grounded in hope, compassion, and humility – rather than a politics of fear, shame, and superiority,” Camelia said in a speech she gave at a watch party on election night, “This campaign was built on community, conversations, and something that politics has lacked for far too long: joy.”

The group’s mission brought people together from many different parts of the city through parties, t-shirt giveaways, comedy shows, and canvassing, in which they would walk the city and knock on doors to tell them why they should vote for Mamdani. 

For actress, model, and influencer Abril Rios, the group was more than just a way to spread politics. “I think in the past years, especially after the pandemic, a lot of us in Gen Z have felt very disconnected from one another,” Rios said. Rios has a following of over 200,000 on instagram and yet it only serves to make her feel lonely. 

“It’s almost even more isolating cuz you see this like huge number on a screen, but it’s not necessarily reality. For a long time, I grappled with that as an influencer, and I really craved a community,” she said. “When I moved back to the States after being in Europe and got involved with ‘Hot Girls for Zohran’, and I was so amazed by his ability to make campaigning fun. There’s all these little ways that he brought people together to make it not feel like a job.” 

‘Hot Girls for Zohran’ certainly built a community not just with their over 18,000 followers but with the thousands of people who actually came together to campaign for Mamdani. It didn’t just stop at women, and New York City’s queer community as well as men joined in. The group helped change how young people approach politics and got them more involved than in recent years. Even Mamdani himself appeared in social media videos for the group’s Instagram. 

Not only did the campaign help with making politics more fun and accessible but it helped humanize Mamdani for the younger generation. Mamdani’s win is just the beginning for the group and after his win, they plan to keep their work going.

“We have many more doors to knock, many more minds to change, and many more strides to make. In the words of Mohammed El Kurd, I do not want us to compare our past to our present. I want us to invent a new future. Together,” Camelia said.

Where New York City public schools are lagging on providing a proper arts curriculum, one organization in Queens helps fill the gap that students are missing throughout the day. 

Art House Astoria Conservatory for Art and Music is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 by Executive Director Micah Burgess and his wife, Jane Burgess, the Director of Marketing. The organization provides a range of programming, including theater, fine arts, and music lessons. The mission of Art House Astoria emphasizes inclusion for all within the arts, and makes this possible through hosting classes at its own facility and partnering with other Queens schools. 

“Our goal is to provide affordable arts education for the community. We believe that arts education should be accessible for anyone, regardless of income, ability, or age,” said Burgess.“We’re not a great substitute for having a full-time music teacher, art teacher, theater teacher. We’re doing the absolute best we can with budgets that PTAs can afford or with grant money that comes in. It’s very limited,” said Burgess. “I don’t want to downplay what we’re doing because I think it’s really important, but I think the best thing for the kids would be if they had a full-time faculty.”

While  New York City bleeds arts and entertainment, many public schools are failing to meet  All NYC Public Schools are expected to meet the required number of hours/units of arts for each student, which differs by grade as well. Students in grades four to six are required to have 10 percent of their weekly time, about 93 hours throughout the school year, allocated for the arts, where students in grades seven to eight should complete 110 hours of arts instruction through two of four different media  (visual art, dance, music, or theater). 

Many schools provide at least one form of arts education, but each school’s curriculum varies based on how many certified teachers they have.  “From 2020-2023, public schools lost 425 full-time certified arts teachers, and only 31% of eighth-grade students meet state requirements for arts education,” according to an article by the BK Reader. 

In April of this year, the City Council’s Committee on Education and Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations held a hearing to discuss these inequities in arts education at public schools. Brooklyn Councilmember Rita Joseph opened the hearing, sharing her sentiments towards arts education. 

“Arts education is a key component of a well-rounded education that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills,” said Joseph. “For students from historically marginalized communities, exposure to arts education provides an essential avenue for self-instruction, cultural affirmation, and access to potential career pathways in creative industries.”

While it can’t substitute for what schools fail to provide, Art House Astoria has a mission rooted in arts for all and finds a way for students to participate regardless of financial or physical restraints. The organization operates as a tuition-based program, but it does provide financial assistance for its students based on income, recognizing the federal poverty line. In 2023, the Queens poverty rate was 13.7 percent compared to the citywide 18.2 percent, according to data from the NYU Furman Center. 

“Somebody could be making a lot more over the federal poverty line and still need assistance here, because the cost of living is so much higher,” Burgess said. “So people can fill out the application, like I said, family size, and then we just apply that formula as long as we have funding available, then they’ll get whatever is sort of recommended.”

When it comes to students with special needs or disabilities, Art House Astoria doesn’t see a need for separation, but rather integration. All students participate in the same classes with accommodations as needed. This topic rings home for Burgess, as his son has special needs and is still able to participate in the programming offered. 

“He’s not taking the special needs theater class. He’s taking [the] theater class,” Burgess said. “Does he wander off sometimes and do his own thing? Yes, but we want to make sure that kids, him, and kids like him are accommodated in our programs in a way that they feel included.” 

Administrative Coordinator Brooke Vahos echoed the same message. “It’s so important that everybody has the opportunity to make art, right?” said Vahos. “It should be, like, just something that we’re all able to do and empowered to do. I think that’s important that it’s part of our mission, because we make it a welcoming space for kids, and we kind of, like, redefine, I think, in a lot of ways, what our programming can be and who can participate in that, if that makes sense.” 

Art House Astoria aims to create spaces geared towards every type of person and student. “Having it integrated, I think, is a testament to how normal it is,” Vahos said. “That these people are amongst us, are us, like, are in our families, are in our schools. It’s spectacular, and it’s a hard thing to do, which is to navigate this world with a disability or to have a child that’s navigating this world with a disability, but they have the same, like, hopes and dreams and hobbies as all of us.” 

Though public schools have a long way to go in providing well-rounded arts education for students, Art House Astoria offers a space for students’ self-expression and creativity. 

“We want to make sure that anyone who comes in here feels like it’s a safe space,” said Burgess. “We want those kids who don’t feel like they have a place in their school or whatever community that they live in most of the time, if they feel like they’re sort of at odds with that, and they feel like sort of the odd duck, we want them to know that this is a place that they can come and feel comfortable.” 

In 1967, Brooklyn College’s student body was 91.6% white, 4.2% Black, and only 0.8% Puerto Rican. Eight years later, after protests and sit-ins demanding representation, students helped establish the Puerto Rican Studies Department, one of the first in New York City. That legacy was celebrated this week at Encuentro: The Possible Dream, Legacies of Protest, an intergenerational event held at the Student Center that united scholars, alumni, and activists to honor more than 50 years of struggle, scholarship, and solidarity.

Hosted by the Puerto Rican and Latinx Studies (PRLS) Department, Encuentro brought together past and present members of the Puerto Rican Alliance (PRA), faculty, and community organizations to honor a movement that transformed the college’s identity. Today, 22.4% of Brooklyn College’s student body identifies as Hispanic/Latinx, according to Data USA.

Dr. Ruth Delgado Sánchez, one of the founding members of the Puerto Rican Alliance, recalled how early organizing began in the late 1960s, when students from across the city, Hunter, Queens, and Hofstra, traveled to Brooklyn College to unite.

 “Back then, we didn’t even have Spanish in school,” Delgado Sanchez said. “We had to build everything ourselves.”

Those efforts led to the establishment of the Puerto Rican Studies Department in 1974, a landmark victory that gave Puerto Rican and Latinx students a space to learn about their history, politics, and identity. Delgado Sánchez described those early alliances as both political and cultural, with students collaborating closely with Black student groups during the civil-rights era. “We were learning about ourselves for the first time,” she said. “And that gave us power.”

Keynote speaker Dr. Johanna Fernández, a historian at Baruch College and author of The Young Lords: A Radical History, drew direct connections between that student movement and broader anti-imperialist struggles across Latin America.

“Puerto Rico was not simply poor, it was a colony,” Fernández said, explaining how U.S intervention in Latin America, from Guatemala to the Dominican Republic, displaced millions and shaped modern migration. 

She urged students to see their activism as part of a longer revolutionary tradition:

“The Young Lords gave their generation the language and analysis to make sense of the trauma their parents experienced,” she said. “Their vision remains urgently relevant today, liberation will not be handed down from above, but built from below, through solidarity.” 

Fernández also reflected on how she first learned about the Young Lords while researching her book The Young Lords: A Radical History. The revelation came unexpectedly. 

“I was flabbergasted that I had never heard of them, even though my father almost died at the hospital they occupied,” she said, referring to the 1970 takeover of Lincoln Hospital  in the Bronx. “That’s when I realized history had been erased.” 

Following the keynote, a panel moderated by Professor Jasmine Mitchell showcased voices from across PRA’s history: Joe Alvarez Azario (Class of ’76), Vanessa (Class of 2006), Lex (PRA president 2021–2024), and Angelina (current president). Together, they traced the evolution of student activism from the 1970s to today.

Azario described arriving on campus in 1969 when Latino students were “so few you could count them on one hand.”

“A brother tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘You want to know more about yourself?’ That’s how I found PRA,” he said. “It became my sanctuary.”

He recalled joining classmates in occupying administrative offices to defend the new Puerto Rican Studies program. “There was no fear,” he said. “We were fighting for self-determination.”

Vanessa, who led PRA in the late 1990s, described a thriving organization that balanced culture and activism.

“We were loud, but we were organized,” she said. “We built coalitions with the Black Student Union, the Dominican Student Association, the Haitian Student Union, everyone. Our presence alone was powerful.”

Lex, who served as president after the pandemic, spoke about a renewed wave of political pressure on student organizers.

“Before the megaphone even turned on, police were already grabbing students,” Lex said, describing protests in solidarity with Palestine. “Even when we were scared, we kept showing up.”

Current president Angelina noted that today’s challenge is institutional rather than cultural.

“Our issue isn’t that we can’t celebrate who we are, it’s repression,” she said. “Sometimes it feels like the school wishes we didn’t care about other oppressed people. But this is our college too, and we’re not backing down.”

During the discussion, one audience member proposed naming a campus building after student activists and former PRLS faculty, arguing that “if we don’t make these things visible, the administration will erase them.”

The PRLS awarded its Good Trouble Award, which honors individuals who embody the department’s spirit of resistance, to Dr. Johanna Fernández for her scholarship and activism. PRLS also named Miguel Figueroa, a PRA member and student leader, as the student recipient.

“We need to show solidarity with one another and learn from our movement elders,” Figueroa said. “Spaces like these, spaces people spent time in prison for, can’t disappear. This is our inheritance.”

Faculty described this year’s Encuentrot as an intergenerational passing of the torch, linking the department’s founders with its newest advocates. The celebration closed with a dance party featuring bachata, merengue, and salsa.

In comic media, queer gender identity has always been a topic of controversy. The Comics Code Authority (CCA), a code created by the Comics Magazine Association of America, was strictly voluntary and allowed comic publishers to regulate the content being produced by their companies. However, most mainstream companies including Marvel Comics and DC Comics adhered to the code and its strict criteria. From its adoption in 1954 to 1989, when comic creators began finding ways around the code, the CCA’s criteria included the censorship of LGBTQ themes in comic books. It wouldn’t be until 2011 that the code was completely abandoned.

Even with the abandonment of the code and queer themes becoming more normalized in modern comic book media, there is still a lack of acceptance. Transgender characters, especially if comic fans feel their identity strays from the source material, are facing the brunt of the disapproval.

Elliot Page is an actor known for films like Juno, Hard Candy, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and most recently, the Netflix television series The Umbrella Academy. Page, who came out as transgender in 2020, had been portraying strictly straight female characters for the entirety of his career up until The Umbrella Academy reached its third season. The show follows a group of seven superpowered siblings raised by billionaire Reginald Hargreeves and prepared to save the world from the day they’re born under mysterious circumstances in 1989 as they work to solve the mystery of his death in 2019.

In the second episode of the season, Viktor Hargreeves, formerly known as Vanya, came out as transgender to his brothers in a brief moment that is never brought up again. Despite the show not having a large focus on Viktor’s gender identity, some fans struggled to accept the decision to have the character transition midway through the series when they were so used to Vanya, a character who did not have her own transition in the comics. 

“It sort of tracks my own transition,” Page said at a panel showcasing his work in X-Men: Days of Future Past during New York Comic Con (NYCC)  2025. “The fact that Steve Blackman was so open to making that a part of Viktor’s story, I was just really grateful for the whole thing.” 

The character’s transition was not Page’s idea for the series moving forward. He would have continued to portray Vanya Hargreeves, but Blackman, as creator and showrunner, made the decision entirely to incorporate Page’s own life despite some fans’ accusations that he was pushing his transition onto the character. However, for Page, having a character he can now relate to makes his journey as an actor that much better for him.

“Being more comfortable in yourself makes these sorts of projects more enjoyable just waking up every day and going to work,” Page said.

Voice actor JP Karliak is another victim of criticism for his work in the comic media industry. Since the release of X-Men ‘97, created by Beau DeMayo in 2024, Karliak has taken over the mantle as X-Men character Morph from the character’s previous voice actor, Ron Rubin. His debut as the character also came with a change in Morph’s gender identity. Previously identifying as male in the original 1990s series, the character now identifies as nonbinary. 

The change was even less welcome than Viktor Hargreeves with fans of the original series outraged and even posting videos discussing Marvel’s “stupid decision” and describing it as “nonbinary Morph propaganda”. One content creator, Vara Dark describes the new series, X-Men ‘97 as a “social justice nightmare”.

“DeMayo specifically changed the pronouns for Morph to they/them in his presentation and expressed that Morph is taking on a new persona for their changing look and of course this is ridiculous for so many reasons,” Dark said. “This is a legitimate change that is going to infuriate so many people.”

Criticisms aside, Karliak, who was also present at NYCC at the Unknown Comics table for the series’ voice actors, showed no worry about how people would take his portrayal of the character. 

“I’m a believer that all press is good press and you know, these people that are screaming about Morph’s gender identity are not really X-men fans because if they were, they would understand that X-men has always been about uplifting the underrepresented and oppressed and has been a metaphor for so many civil rights movements,” he said. 

Karliak is the founder of Queer Vox, an organization that provides opportunities, training, and support for LGBTQ voice actors. For him, the controversy and politics only give him and LGBTQ voices a larger platform.

Both Karliak and Page don’t let controversy stop them from their work. If anything, they use it to grow stronger as actors. 

 “If anything, I feel like knowing the negativity that’s coming at Morph is a reminder that there is so much negativity that is coming at individual people in this world and in anything my performance of Morph is for them,” Karliak said. “It’s for the people who are receiving this negativity and hatred and are feeling like outcasts in their town or in their family and just being a positive source of light for those people. That’s really what drives me.”

With the new mayoral election approaching, candidates have been open about their stance on several issues facing the city, including affordability, public safety, and even what their possible relationship with President Trump could look like. Yet, one issue that doesn’t surface as often is what the next mayor will do for the arts and cultural institutions in the city. 

In January of this year, during his State of the City Address, Mayor Eric Adams announced that he would introduce five new members to the city-funded Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) program. He followed through on his statements by the end of September in adding the new members, an action that hasn’t been done since 1978, which was the last time five members were added at once. 

“Our cultural institutions bring families together [and] empower our economy. To strengthen our culture sector even further, this year, we will designate five more organizations as cultural institution groups to ensure they get the support they need to thrive,” said Adams. 

As members, the organizations will be better supported by the city, including receiving nearly $3 million annually, and will no longer pay rent in their spaces, according to a press release from the Mayor’s Office. Mayor Adams also showed his support for the city’s arts and culture scene by allotting $254 million for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), which will be put towards 1,000 cultural nonprofit organizations in the city. 

During his time as Governor, Andrew Cuomo introduced art initiatives that would benefit the artists of New York. In 2020, he announced the artistic redesign of LaGuardia Airport, which included a partnership with the New York Public Art Fund to bring in large art installations. The project was a part of LaGuardia’s $8 billion Terminal B construction, and provided installations to “four of the world’s leading artists”. 

In 2021, Cuomo announced that $105 million in grants would be put towards critical arts and cultural funding through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). There would also be new programming that would help revitalize the arts and culture scene in New York State after the hits from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We must build New York back better than it was before, and part of that process will be strengthening and reinvigorating our state’s creative economy,” Governor Cuomo said in a press release on the ny.gov website. “These grants will pay dividends through the economic activity generated by our creative ecosystem, which will continue to flourish and inspire us as we work together to make New York stronger than ever.”

Though there aren’t any new updates on what Cuomo will do for NYC’s arts as mayor, several figures in the art world donated to his campaign. 

Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa has not been shy about his support for the arts, as he made his stance clear in a questionnaire from the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable. Sliwa would see the arts as a fundamental part of a child’s development and education, and cites the arts as “an amazing galvanizing force for children in the educational setting because it allows expression in an open format with no parameters.” 

When asked if he were elected, would he require that public schools implement and follow the city and state arts and learning mandates, he stated he would. According to NYCAIER, 69% of middle school students did not meet the NYSED Arts Learning Requirements in the 2024-2025 school year. Sliwa stated that he would create targeted support and monitoring of schools failing to meet the requirements, and provide financial assistance to the art curriculum. 

“It is unjust to rob students of the arts — a vital part of a well-rounded education that nurtures creativity, confidence, and emotional expression,” said Sliwa. “We must do better to create an environment where every student has the opportunity to explore their artistic passions and flourish.” 

Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani has the closest connection to the arts, as his mother, Mira Nair, is a filmmaker, and his wife, Rama Duwaji, is an artist and illustrator as well. In February, Mamdani was featured in a panel discussion with other mayoral candidates surrounding arts and culture, hosted by BRIC and NY4CA, and the Culture and Arts Policy Institute. 

Along with his connection to the arts through blood, his background as an immigrant from Uganda informs his stance on the representation of people of color in the art sector. He shares his perspective on art as more than a business, but rather an act of storytelling, and that artists of all backgrounds should have an equal opportunity to share their stories. 

“What I’m committed to doing as the mayor is to understanding art beyond simply tourism, beyond the fiscal impacts, because so much of the beauty and the value of art is found in neighborhoods far from Museum Mile,” Mamdani said, “and what we need is an administration that looks at those community-based organizations that are providing art to their neighbors as being equally valuable as the same ones that we visit on Sundays.”

Mamdani cites his affordable housing plan as a way of helping artists in New York City, through relieving the burden of housing, so that they can focus on their art.

“I think art, in many ways, at its core, is an act of dreaming, and you cannot afford to dream if you cannot afford your rent, if you cannot afford your child care, your groceries, your Metro card,” Mamdani said. “And when we think about how do we make this a city where artists could not just survive but thrive and prosper, it is one where we have to ensure that artists can actually afford where they live.” 

As New York City’s mayoral election nears, leaders of Brooklyn College’s Puerto Rican Alliance (PRA) see local elections as more relevant to their concerns than national U.S. elections.  

 “I didn’t vote in the last presidential election because I couldn’t support a candidate who funded genocide,” said PRA vice president Miguel Figueroa, who is majoring in Puerto Rican and Latin Studies. Figueroa, a Chilean, rejects national politics not out of laziness, but because of his understanding of its limitations. “PRA doesn’t endorse politicians because we don’t think colonial electoralism will free Puerto Rico or Palestine,” he said. “But in local elections, things like rent freezes, better housing, or free buses can change daily life for working-class communities.” 

 Figueroa connects the club and the neighborhood. “Puerto Ricans are being priced out of the city,” he said. “Voting is part of the solution, but organizing and showing up for our people, that’s what actually changes things.” 

 Inside PRA’s office, which is lined with posters reading “Abolish Colonialism” and “Free Palestine,” students debate how political systems shape their lives. Nationally, Hispanic voters are trending rightward, but Puerto Ricans are less likely than other Latinos to vote at all.  

 Puerto Ricans who live on the island are disenfranchised: Puerto Rico is a U.S territory, and Puerto Ricans cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections. They lack electoral votes and have no representation in Congress. Many Puerto Ricans living in the diaspora reject voting in US elections as a form of identity politics.  

 Angelina Venetian, 21, a classics and linguistics double major and PRA president, noted the tension between engaging with and questioning local politics: “When it comes to housing and affordability, local politics affect the Puerto Rican community a lot,” she said. “We’re not the most economically wealthy group in New York, and gentrification keeps pushing people out.” 

Venetian said her identity affects her political skepticism: “It’s like, am I gonna choose this imperialist or that imperialist?” 

 However, she continues to cast votes: “I mean, I’ve voted in every election so far,” Venetian said. “It’s one small thing I can do, but I know it’s not our biggest form of political power.” 

 Both Figueroa and Venetian noted that Puerto Rican voters are not a politically monolithic group.  “A lot of people assume we’re all progressive,” Venetian said. “But many Puerto Ricans are conservative, especially older generations. Some supported Trump because they thought he’d help the economy; it’s more common than people think.” 

In the 2024 United States presidential election, Hispanic turnout increased to 58%, a five percent rise over 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. About 9% of the total US Hispanic population is Puerto Rican. They have a lower turnout in local elections than Latinos identified as Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, and Colombians do. According to Pew, this was also true during the 2021 New York City mayoral election, with only 25% of registered Puerto Rican voters casting ballots. However, overall turnout was also at a record low of 21%.  

 While turnout in elections may lag, activism on campus is intense, and PRA has a long history. Puerto Rican and Black students founded PRA  in 1968 and protested for equal representation and resources at Brooklyn College. The PRA sought a Department of Puerto Rican Studies, representation for students in academic governance, and accountability from faculty. Along with the Young Lords and the Black Panther Party campus groups, the PRA sought to create cultural and political space. Its mission still focuses on education, organizing, and engagement.   

PRA’s next event, its annual Encuentro, will be “Legacies of Protest,” continuing the theme of activism and identity. The group is collaborating with the Department of Puerto Rican and Latinx Studies and will welcome historian Johanna Fernández, author of The Young Lords: A Radical History, as a co-host. 

The new “Shifting Seasons” exhibit at the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL) explores themes of transformation and reflection in a time of constant change. Curated by 

Alex Z., the founder and creative director of the Brooklyn Art Cave (BAC), the exhibition opened on Oct. 17 and showcases a diverse group of artists and media. 

“Curating ‘Shifting Seasons’ was both a creative and emotional process. The concept came from reflecting on change — how artists, spaces, and communities evolve, just like the seasons,” said Z. 

Founded in 1972, JCAL is a multidisciplinary arts center in the heart of southeastern Queens. It offers programming and events focused on visual arts, performing arts, and arts education. The organization serves as a space of community and celebrates the borough’s diversity. 

“JCAL’s mission as an organization is really centered around its role as a pivotal creative and cultural anchor in Queens,” said Njari Anderson, Visual Arts Programming Associate at JCAL. 

JCAL aims to be an accessible institution. Along with a rotation of exhibitions and performances at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center (JPAC), JCAL’s secondary location, JCAL also offers several dance and visual art classes, including a program called CASA/SU-CASA, which brings JCAL’s resources to schools and senior centers in Queens, including Zumba workshops and acting classes.

“This diversity in our programming wasn’t accidental: we wear our pride in Queen’s diversity on our sleeves,” said Anderson. “When we consider programming, we have to think from the perspectives of the incredibly diverse community we serve. This diversity isn’t only reflected culturally, it’s also reflected across age groups and various states of able-bodiedness, and our acknowledgement of that allows us to intrinsically operate from a place where accessibility is not an afterthought; it is the core of what we do and how we program.”

“Shifting Seasons,” as an exhibition, promotes reflection in both the artist involved and the community viewing it. The exhibit is a collaboration between JCAL and BAC. 

“It bridges two creative communities — Brooklyn and Queens — and highlights the importance of collaboration, continuity, and cultural exchange,” Z. said. Shifting Seasons feels like both a celebration of what we’ve built and a preview of what’s next.”

Above all, the exhibition showcases the artistry and community present in both BAC and JCAL. Z was able to find artists from the show through open calls, personal recommendations, and even sought out artists who previously collaborated with BAC and JCAL. The inspiration for the project came as BAC is going through its own time of change, with its current location in Bedford-Stuyvesant closing. 

The show featured artists from several different backgrounds, like Elainne Diaz from the Dominican Republic, who uses clay to explore “organic forms inspired by nature and womanhood.” Her piece, “Alma Sconce,” is a ceramic flower with a ball of light directly in the center. It heavily resembles a clam with a pearl inside, creating a comparison between different forms of nature, but showcasing that there is a light that resides at the center of it all. Another work of hers, “Protector of Light,” also exemplifies this idea, as a dark glass flower that can double as a lamp, with the purpose of holding a showcasing the light despite the dark exterior. 

“ ‘Shifting Seasons’ to me symbolizes the continual cycle of change, renewal, and growth. Just like nature, we experience phases of stillness and bloom, endings and beginnings. My work reflects this rhythm of transformation, illustrating how, like flowers and plants, we too adapt, shed, and evolve into new forms of being,” said Diaz. 

Christopher M. Liatsis, a Brooklyn-based painter and illustrator, also pulled from nature as a source of inspiration. “Flower of Time” employs a combination of pink, purple, and orange to create a valley of trees that look like they’re floating in the air. The piece is an almost intergalactic perspective of nature that could be slipping away, forcing us to reconsider what is important and worth holding onto. 

“Shifting Seasons feels like a meditation on transition and awareness—the delicate balance between what we hold onto and what we must release,” said Liatsis. “My work speaks to that through contrasts in color, texture, and light, reflecting both the turbulence and beauty of change. Each piece captures a moment between stillness and motion, much like how the natural world transforms without losing its essence.” 

Along with all the pieces on display, the gallery featured a literal reflective wall, with a sign stating, “Take a breath. What are you ready to release? Release it onto the reflection.” The wall allowed visitors to write down emotions, habits, and situations they were ready to release themselves from. The display makes the exhibit all the more introspective, prompting viewers to interact with the change in the artwork presented, while creating change in themselves. 

“The layout was designed to guide visitors through two distinct yet connected experiences: Transformation, filled with bold color and expressive movement, and Reflection, a serene space that invites calm and contemplation,” said Z. 

“Shifting Seasons” is informative, interactive, and inspirational. It allows for a deep reflection of what transformation looks like through the eyes of others, while exploring how change can look within ourselves. The exhibition also showcases JCAL’s ability to bring artistry to a community bursting with creativity without limits or restrictions. 

“We are here and we listen, but most importantly, we are here for you,” said Anderson. “We’re constantly working towards being a better organization, a better team, a better community, cultural, and creative anchor, and that’s because everyone here has an immense belief in what we do and the impact and importance it is in being Queens’s creative hub.” 

Gerritsen Beach community members filled the Knights of Columbus backyard for the organization’s annual Oktoberfest, celebrating tradition and charity with food, music, and plenty of local spirit on Oct. 18.  

Originally a 19th century Bavarian wedding celebration, Oktoberfest has evolved into a global festival of German culture and beer. Some of the kids dressed in costumes, emulating traditional German clothing. Older members helped contribute to the event through food, connecting it to the holiday’s roots. 

“We’ve got quite a few German members that like to cook the spaetzle for the occasion,” said Knights of Columbus Council 5989 President Jim Breslin. “Other members were on the grill making burgers, and bratwurst, and hotdogs, and we had a few German beers.”

For $5 at the door, attendees were entered into a raffle for a prize while enjoying live music from local DJ Mike Combat. The event, once held in the fields across from the Knights’ clubhouse, has found a new home in the organization’s recently renovated backyard.  

“The Parks Department didn’t really like the field thing anymore so we decided to take it on and bring it back to our place,” said Breslin. “Since the recent renovation of the backyard, it’s become quite a success.”

As with most of the Knights’ events, Oktoberfest had a charitable purpose. The organization, known for its steady support of neighborhood causes, regularly raises funds that go back into the community. Recently, the Knights donated trophies for the Dan 5K Fun Run/Walk For Cancer in honor of former member Dan Foster, and continue to sponsor other local initiatives throughout the year. 

“Charity, Unity, Fraternity, Patriotism,” explains Breslin. “It’s the four words that mean a lot to the people of this little community of the Knights of Columbus.”

This year, Oktoberfest will help fund the Knights’ Christmas festivities. They host an annual party, which is open to all kids in the neighborhood regardless of whether their parents are affiliated with the Knights. 

“Most of the proceeds for this are going to go to Christmas for the kids,” said Cathy Hynes, a Ladies Auxiliary member of the Knights of Columbus, who ran the 50/50 raffle. “We buy all the kids in the community gifts.”

For many, the event is as much about community as it is about celebration. People come from all over Brooklyn to participate in the Gerritsen Beach Oktoberfest because of the good company. 

“I like the camaraderie here,” said Margaret Sullivan, who traveled from Windsor Terrace to attend. “Everybody gets together, and everyone’s always so friendly and outgoing. Even though I’m an outsider, everyone’s always so welcoming to me.”

Lasting all afternoon into the evening, the festival remains a cherished event in the community, uniting people for both a good time and a charitable cause. 

“It’s more tradition than anything, you’ve got a beautiful time of year where the colors are changing, and just to get people out and hanging out with each other,” said Breslin. “I believe it’s just autumn itself.”

Salsa played throughout Books Are Magic, a downtown Brooklyn bookstore, as readers gathered for Puerto Rican author Jaquira Díaz to discuss her new novel, This Is the Only Kingdom. 

The event, moderated by writers Lupita Aquino and Angie Cruz, marked a homecoming of sorts for Díaz, whose work often explores belonging, migration, and the blurred lines between the island and its diaspora. 

Before the talk, Díaz reflected on what it meant to lose her first language after moving from Puerto Rico to Miami as a child. “I felt like I was forcibly removed,” she said. “The things that were important to me were taken away,  most importantly, language.” At first she wrote in Spanish, she said, “ and then I had to come to the U.S. and learn a whole other language and write in English. It felt like I was translating myself, my memories, my culture.” 

On stage, Díaz compared her novel’s structure to an old-school salsa album, where each chapter carries its own rhythm and story. “Those albums told stories and were really political and anti-colonial,” she said. One chapter was inspired by Ismael Rivera’s “Las Caras Lindas,” which celebrates Black Puerto Rican beauty. Another draws from Héctor Lavoe’s  “Juanito Alemania,” a song about an outlaw she reimagined to explore moral duality. Díaz also spoke about the influence of “El Gran Barón,” calling it a groundbreaking queer salsa song that inspired themes of acceptance and chosen family. Omar Alfanno wrote the song, which Willie Colón performed. 

During the audience Q&A, a reader asked about the striking cover featuring a hawk. Díaz explained that a guarahau is a red-tailed hawk and serves as a symbol throughout the book. “In the story, it’s kind of a harbinger, a messenger. When I was a girl in El Castillo, guarahaus were always in the sky,” she said. “They’d swoop down and grab chicks and fly away. They were majestic and beautiful, but also dangerous.” Díaz said she worked closely with designer Greg Kulik to get the cover right. 

Díaz’s work frequently returns to questions of language and identity. “Even if you don’t speak Spanish and you only speak English, there’s still a strong connection to Puerto Rico,” she said. “Spanish is a colonial language as much as English is.” No matter which language people use,  “we’re still Puerto Rican. We still have a connection, not just to the culture but also to the land.” 

She also spoke about a new sense of optimism among Puerto Rican youth, particularly around independence and decolonization. “College students are thinking about Puerto Rico as potentially having a different future,” Díaz said. “During Hurricane Maria, we didn’t have help from the U.S. government, we just had each other. There’s an optimism and a resilience.” 

This Is the Only Kingdom arrives six years after Díaz’s award-winning memoir Ordinary Girls, which earned her a Whiting Award, the Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, and a Lambda Literary Award nomination. Her essays and fiction have appeared in The Guardian, The Atlantic, and The Best American Essays. 

While Díaz has not yet published a book in Spanish, she often speaks about the role of language, translation, and cultural memory in her writing, bridging the gap between island and diaspora voices. 

After the talk, Díaz signed copies for attendees who thanked her for giving voice to shared experiences. For Díaz, whose work moves between English and Spanish worlds, the evening reflected what her fiction captures best: the resilience and rhythm of a people still writing themselves home.