Margot Adler

Times Square's Naked Cowboy Wrangles Some Co-Workers

Margot Adler — Sat, 04 May 2013 20:52:00 +0000

In the bustle and craziness of New York's Times Square on a busy afternoon or night, you will see scores of costumed figures: Batman, Elmo, the Statue of Liberty.

But for more than a dozen years, arguably the most original of these is the Naked Cowboy. His fame has now spawned a franchise, with eight different cowboys and cowgirls.

Almost anytime you go to Times Square, you will see the original Naked Cowboy in a white cowboy hat, white boots and white underwear briefs, with the words "Naked Cowboy" written across his butt.

New York: A Concrete Jungle And 'City Of Trees,' Too

Margot Adler — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:13:00 +0000

You expect to find great trees in city parks and botanical gardens. But you might not expect to find ancient or unusual trees in the inner city or smack dab in the middle of a highway.

Benjamin Swett has a love of trees so deep that he's written pamphlets about them, created photo exhibits and now has a new book, New York City of Trees.

You Can't Put A Headline On William Klein

Margot Adler — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:45:00 +0000

Try to put him in a box and he'll find his way out. Still working at nearly 85 years old, William Klein has gone rogue in at least four different fields: abstract painting, photography, filmmaking and commercial copy writing.

Klein now lives in Paris but I caught up with him in New York City — the place where he was born, but no longer has much affinity for. He's just here to promote a new book, William Klein ABC.

When I ask him what he thinks about the city, he says:

"One thing that annoys me is the talk. I went into Starbucks, and I wanted tea — and there was a cookie.

At 'Stop-And-Frisk' Trial, Cops Describe Quota-Driven NYPD

Margot Adler — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:00:00 +0000

Police officers testifying at a federal trial challenging New York City's stop-and-frisk policy say they were ordered to increase their number of arrests, summons and 250s — the code for stop, question and frisk.

Some 5 million street stops of mostly black and Latino men have taken place in the city in the last decade.

The city contends that the policy has helped make New York safer, leading to record-low crime rates, and that stop-and-frisks take place in areas where crime is often minority on minority.

Once On Death Row, He Now Fights To Defeat The Death Penalty

Margot Adler — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 23:35:00 +0000

Maryland is about to become the 18th state to abolish the death penalty.

A bill has passed the state Senate and is expected to pass the House of Delegates easily with the governor's ardent support. The strongest advocate to end the death penalty in Maryland is Kirk Bloodsworth, who was convicted of murder in that state in 1985 and was the first person in the U.S. to be sentenced to death row then exonerated by DNA evidence.

When you meet Bloodsworth, he comes across as the kind of guy you might want to go for a beer with.