Emily Anne Epstein

If you weren’t able to stop by the Left Forum at Pace University last weekend, you may have thought you missed out on my photographs.  Well you didn’t!  The event was extremely successful, breaking last year’s record of 3,000 attendees.  Noam Chomsky was the closing speaker and the theme for 2010 was “The Center Cannot Hold: Rekindling the Radical Imagination.”
My essay was titled “Socialist Still Life”

Located in the premier area of downtown, the Bauen has everything a hotel could need- a bustling cafe, ornate rooms and a dramatic history.  What makes the Bauen special is that it’s not just a hotel- it’s a cooperative. After Argentina’s financial crisis in 2001, the owners left town, leaving the workers unemployed and the hotel vacant.  In March of 2003, the former employees took action and reclaimed the business for themselves.   They made repairs and beds and before long, the doors were open.  Since then, battles in court have rocked the Bauen, but it remains one of the flagships of recuperated business.  Despite international coverage, guests are not always aware that they are staying in a hotel that exists due to an exciting economic and social reform.   I chose to focus on the experience of the unknowing guest- photographing objects, rooms and lightly touching upon the invisible laborers, in order to show the subtleties of this remarkable place.

View my slideshow on Metro

Via the AP:

Hundreds of New Yorkers have been riding the city’s subway trains in their underwear.

They stripped down to their undies on Sunday for the ninth annual No Pants Subway Ride.

The idea is to act like nothing unusual is going on.

Participants met up at six locations throughout the city. They formed groups and dispersed to subway stations to catch trains. Once inside the subway cars, they began calmly removing their pants and folding them up.

Most people read magazines or chatted with their companions like any other straphanger.

The event started in 2002 with just seven people. It has spread to other cities.

The stunt is organized by Improv Everywhere, a group that says its mission is to cause “scenes of chaos and joy in public places.”

Improv Everywhere