This article appeared on 12 November on the New York City News Service (in English) and in the The Miami Herald (in Spanish).

The FBI investigated American chess champion Bobby Fischer in the 1960s after the Cold War icon created a controversy at a tournament in Cuba, where he famously played against Fidel Castro, according to newly disclosed documents.

The FBI dossier, obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, shows the bureau’s Mexico City office began probing the one-time chess prodigy after a tumultuous headline-grabbing trip to Havana.

Download the FBI file here. (12 pages, PDF)

This article appeared in the 4 September issue of am New York.

No one really uses the word “love” when they describe their feelings toward Great Kills, Staten Island. In fact, most residents speak with a blend of reservation and cautious optimism that it’s almost disarming at first. It’s not a dangerous place or a ghost town, but then again, it’s no Shangri-La, they say. It’s middle-class, medium sized, centrally located and even-keeled, through and through. What you see is what you get in Great Kills and the people that live here like it just fine.

The corner of Nelson Ave. and Amboy Rd. in Great Kills. (Phil S. Kropoth / amNewYork)

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This article appeared in the 21 August issue of The Bay Ridge Courier.

Labor Day weekend has always been John Q. Public’s long-awaited respite from a grinding year of work.

It is but a few days where every job-related concern can be postponed, where all the cares of that first Monday in September melt away. It’s an extended weekend so cherished, so savored, the government demands we relax. It’s hooky as federal mandate.

So how do you plan to spend your pittance of guaranteed vacation time? Well, Cha Cha’s of Coney Island may have the answer.

The Second Annual Rockabilly and Burlesque Festival is a four-day celebration of Brooklyn subculture as only Coney Island can present.

John “Cha Cha” Ciarcia poses with the winners of last year’s Coney Island Pin-Up Girl contest.

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This article appeared in the 21 August issue of The Bay Ridge Courier.

About a month ago, two-year-old Sadie Page of Clinton Hill was diagnosed with leukemia.

Since then, an overwhelming outpouring of support from her neighborhood has shown just how the absolute worst of circumstances can bring out the very best in a community.

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This article appeared in the 1 August issue of The Williamsburg Courier.

We’ve all seen the tee shirts that plead “Punk’s not dead” as if to convince a skeptical passerby or defend the genre’s honor.

Well, the point is moot and that tee shirt’s ugly anyway. Punk is not only alive; it’s loud, it’s fun and it’s keeping Brooklyn up way past it’s bedtime.

The First Annual Punk and Metal Extravaganza will descend on Cha Cha’s in Coney Island on August 2 and, considering the enthusiasm of the bands involved, you would do well to be there.

Lisa Brown, the promoter for the Punk and Metal Extravaganza at Cha Cha’s, and Mongrel Bitch perform at Lucky 13 Saloon.

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This article appeared in the 24 July issue of The Canarsie Digest.

How does sautéed tilapia with a side of grilled zucchini served on a bed of fresh Bibb lettuce and arugula sound? Imagine then that it was all grown organically and purchased locally right here in New York. Sounds tasty, right? So tasty, you wouldn’t even know the secret ingredient is fish poop.

Aquaponics is a fast growing field of sustainable, organic farming where the entire entrée is fed nutrient-rich fish waste in a closed hydration system. To put it in terms New Yorkers can understand, it’s like a highfalutin dirty water frank, and it may be coming to a restaurant or farmers’ market near you.

Martin Schreibman grows basil, lettuce and echinacea with a fish-fueled, closed hydration system at his Brooklyn College lab.

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Watch the video…

Click on the video below to see a 60-second crash course in aquaponics at Cabbage Hill Farm.

This article appeared in the 24 July issue of The Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier .

A bloodthirsty crocodile emerged from the beach in Coney Island, drawing a large crowd to the shore’s famous boardwalk. But it didn’t come alone. From the sandy scene also sprang a dinosaur, a race car and Jesus Christ.

The motley spectacle could only mean the annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest and Unity Day Celebration and this year’s event is just around the corner.

A lizard emerges from the sand at last year’s Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest.

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This article appeared in the 24 July issue of The Canarsie Digest.

You wouldn’t think anything was wrong with little Jewel Sulker when you first meet her, but her mother and a state senator have been desperately scrambling to save her life.

“Her doctors never saw a case like this,” said Senator John Sampson, who was approached by the girl’s mother, Dianne Brown, for help. “Any adult would have given up on life by now. Today I am asking for the medical community and the public to get involved and give this girl a better life,” he said.

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Senator John Sampson and Dianne Brown plead for the medical community to help Brown’s 10-year-old daughter, Jewel Sulker.

This article appeared in the 17 July issue of am New York.

For better and for worse, Howard Beach, Queens, has long been a neighborhood on the periphery and an area defined by sharp contrasts. It’s where tradition is confronted by modernism, and old and new stand side by side on the borough’s border with Brooklyn.

Houses lining Hawtree Basin in Howard Beach keep their boats parked out back. (Katya Pronin / amNewYork)

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This article appeared in the 17 July issue of The Canarsie Digest.

Simon Belsky says he gets no respect. And he may just have a $200 ticket and the pictures to prove it.

Though he sports an uncanny resemblance to late comedian Rodney Dangerfield (with the voice and shtick to boot), Belsky isn’t laughing about the summons he received over a year and a half ago, which he has been fighting ever since.

Sheepshead Bay resident Simon Belsky shows where he got the $115 ticket on Ave. U. “Even my dog can’t find the hydrant they’re looking for!” he said. (Steve Solomonson)

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