An Afternoon with Karen Raffensperger

Karen Raffensperger is a producer for the Evening News with Katie Couric. She enjoys her job, but admits that recently it has become harder to deliver the news to Americans each night. With a recession, two wars, and an increasingly uncertain relationship with North Korea and Iran, the producers at CBS in recent weeks have aired short stories at the end of the nightly news segments in order to lighten the mood. Karen recently pitched a story idea about an artist who leaves his paintings on the street with notes saying “everything is going to be alright,” in an effort to cheer people up, and promote his artwork.

One of Bataclan's paintings, accompanied with a cheerful message (taken from Lorraine DiSabato via flickr.com)

On Tuesday April 6, I joined Karen and a camera crew as they filmed the artist, Bren Bataclan, as he dropped his paintings around Wall Street. The paintings, which can be seen at www.bataclan.com, depict little colorful creatures with funny faces and smiles. Karen said that Bren picked Wall Street as the location for the story. In a struggling economy, Wall Street seems like a fitting location to drop off lighthearted paintings. After Bren dropped off his paintings, we would keep the camera focused on their location. Karen would keep track of how much time passed before each painting was picked up. A young man from Jersey City picked up the first painting after 6 minutes. Bren admitted that watching people pass by his art was very frustrating. The whole crew was relieved after the painting was picked up. We then rushed across the street to interview the man who picked up the painting. Michelle Miller, the correspondent, asked the man several questions. He said he collects similar forms of art, and that he thought the note was a great idea. Bren would then jump in the scene and would talk with the artist for a few minutes.

In a Changing Manhattan, the Lower East Side Struggles to Preserve its Identity

As buildings shoot up in the Lower East Side, so does the cost of living (taken from Joel Raskin via flickr.com)

BY JUSTIN DAVIDSON:

Julio Huertas migrated to Manhattan’s Lower East Side more than 50 years ago.  He shuffled his family around the neighborhood before deciding that he wanted to move his wife and three children into a better apartment. Huertas applied for several housing co-ops, but realized that his application kept getting lost.

“The reason [the landlords] couldn’t find it was because they were turning it away because I was Puerto Rican,” says Huertas.

Realizing that he was being discriminated against, Huertas and others were involved in a class action lawsuit which they won. The retired community activist and New York City Housing Authority employee has lived in the same co-op on Grand Street since. It was all that he could afford, and a good place to raise his family, despite being in a rough part of town.  In recent years, however, gentrification has swept through, washing away the grit which once defined this man’s neighborhood.