Month: <span>February 2011</span>

By Ivana Kottasová Joyce Reid had come to court to see whether it was still possible to salvage her dream. Eleven years ago, with money she borrowed from her mother, she had purchased a four-story brownstone in Bedford-Stuyuvesant. Reid, who works as a school administrator, found tenants, and settled into the life of a homeowner...

There are ghosts in Midwood and to understand the neighborhood it is essential to know them. You can hear their names still spoken in reverent tones, as if the men they referred to were still alive. Or, you can find their faces in picture frames on fireplaces, in modest Orthodox homes off of Ocean Parkway. In the beginning I only knew of their names. But I wanted to know more.

By Louis Imbert and Melanie Brisbon As the “Day of Departure” was unfolding in Egypt, Egyptian residents from the streets of Bay Ridge were riveted by the news. egypt from Melanie Brisbon on Vimeo.

By Muhammad Bilal Lakhani It is 1 p.m. and the Friday prayers have ended. The Imam had called for people from all walks of life to join a protest against Hosni Mubarak in Times Square. Egyptians are now gathering in small groups outside the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge. “There is a feeling of revolution...

By Jeremy B. White An hour before Thursday’s City Council hearing on the impact of Walmart’s potential move to Brooklyn, the store’s opponents were ready. By noon, a raucous crowd already stretched from the doors of the Emigrant Bank Building to the corner of Elk Street, their enthusiasm unaffected by the frigid weather. Walmart’s plans...

By Abigail Ronck Five men are smoking tobacco through hookahs at a Bay Ridge café Friday morning, completely uninterested in Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Cairo streets. The footage, say these Egyptian immigrants, is entirely a misrepresentation. The network, they believe, vilifies Hosni Mubarak and falsely claims that two million protesters are gathered in Tahrir...

By Lillian Rizzo and Saskia de Rothschild In the back room of a dark Chinese Internet Café in Sunset Park, Omar Abouelnas and two of his friends watch handheld footage captured by their friends from Cairo. “I wish I was there right now, I want to go back,” says Mostafa Amin. Amin, who is 18,...

By Muhammad Bilal Lakhani On the eve of the “Day of Departure,” Egyptians are furious as they gather inside a mosque for evening prayers. They want their president, who has been in power for over 30 years, to leave. The imam urges his congregants to join the protests against the Hosni Mubarak and prays for...

Today, the staff of the Ink is across the borough chronicling the reactions of Brooklyn's Egyptians to the events unfolding in Cairo.

By Idil Abshir Cortelyou Road feels so self-contained that at times it resembles a small town. Like a residential Russian doll, Cortelyou Road has become a neighborhood within the broader neighborhood of Flatbush. A seven-block stretch from Coney Island Avenue to East 17th Street, Cortelyou Road is home to over 85 businesses. On weekends the...