Street Hassle

Music by Lou Reed, images from a number of Warhol’s films. Ellen Willis writes in 1979, a year after “Street Hassle” was released: Though Lou Reed rejected optimism, he was enough of his time to crave transcendence. And finally — as “Rock...

Do the Right Thing round-up

One of our students snapped this photo in class today while Cyrus was lecturing on Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. With our building not fully converted to cooling yet, it certainly felt like the hottest day of the year. And that’s the double truth, Ruth....

Saved by Angels?

We’re closing in on the end of our Writing New York semester with some texts that explore utopian and dystopian elements of New York City at the end of the 20th century and start of the 21st. When we first taught this course in 2003, most students hadn’t...