Across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, a 37-year-old painter crouches over a black-and-white portrait of an elderly woman concealing her face with her gnarled hands. As tourists from across the world bustle on the street below him, the Armenian-born artist works in complete silence. Equipped with a laptop, a gray couch for two, and a station full of paint pots, he … [Read more...] about Portrait of a Painter
Top Stories
From Turkish Immigrant to Immigration Specialist
By Bryan Altman The shirt on his back, the complementary blanket that his arriving airline had provided and a Turkish law degree were all that John Cahit Akbulut carried with him into his studio apartment on 85th Street in New York City. It was 1981 when Akbulut and his wife Susan had just concluded the trying journey from Turkey to the United States, but were preparing to … [Read more...] about From Turkish Immigrant to Immigration Specialist
Immigrants Downgraded in Their Occupations
by Sabirah Abdus-Sabur With a distinct Scottish accent and a quick smile, Roxanne Aston has a humorous personality. “You can call me Roxy,” she says with a laugh. Aston’s dark brown eyes occasionally divert, often mentioning what she observes of other people in the café while in the course of telling her own story. On a recent Saturday morning, Aston is wearing a beige … [Read more...] about Immigrants Downgraded in Their Occupations
Long-Time Undocumented Immigrants Hope for New Reform
Stephanie Ortigoza In 2011, more than 40.4 million immigrants were living in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center’s Hispanic Trend Project. Undocumented immigrants constitute about 11.1 million with 63 percent living in the United States for 10 years or longer, according to American Progress. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed the bill that … [Read more...] about Long-Time Undocumented Immigrants Hope for New Reform
On Upper East Side, A New Generation of Tailors Moves In
“All of our tailor friends have either died, their leases expired, or they moved. Most died,” said Nurten Onay, 63, pressing her hands against her Singer sewing machine. A Turkish calendar hangs above her tabletop, this month’s photograph of a mosque in Istanbul. Nurten’s husband, Habito, sat next to her, quietly unfolding a pair of blue jeans. The counter space in the … [Read more...] about On Upper East Side, A New Generation of Tailors Moves In