Wfuv's Cityscape

Winter is here, for the next three long months. We’re all familiar with the phrase the winter blues, but how do you get through the dark, cold months without getting the doldrums? On this week’s Cityscape, we’re looking at ways to avoid letting the winter get the best of you. We’ll be talking with a clinical psychiatrist about ways to beat “cabin fever,” as well as simply searching out fun things to do to get your mind off the cold.

Food pantries and soup kitchens provide a lifeline to countless individuals and families in need of assistance. They often get a ton of volunteers around the holidays, but food pantries and soup kitchens need help all year long.  As part of WFUV’s Strike a Chord Campaign, this episode of Cityscape takes a look at the demand for emergency food assistance in New York City, and the efforts of food pantries and soup kitchens to meet that demand. 

The big city is full of bright lights, but since daylight saving ends this weekend, it’s time to turn back the clocks and extend darkness a little longer. With that in mind, we're focusing on clocks and darkness on this week's Cityscape. We'll pay a visit to a good old-fashioned clock repair shop in Manhattan. We’re also talking about how the invention of artificial lighting influenced the work of writers and artists in early New York City, and attending a dance party in the dark in Brooklyn.

Think back to your childhood. What were your dreams? How did you see your life playing out before the realities of adulthood set in? How many of those dreams came true?  On this week's Cityscape, we’re talking about childhood dreams relived and realized.

While not as glorified in popular media and guide books as Manhattan or Brooklyn, Queens contributes a whole lot to what makes New York City, New York City. It's home to the city's two airports, the city's only working farm, and a whole lot more. In this encore edition of Cityscape, we're exploring what's touted as the most ethnically diverse county in the United States.

Between 250 and 300-thousand men and women from New York City served in the U.S. armed forces during the Vietnam War. 1,741 of them lost their lives. Their names are displayed at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Plaza in lower Manhattan. On this week’s Cityscape, we’re looking at Vietnam from a New York City point of view.

Does the clack clack sound of typewriter keys make you nostalgic? How about the crackle of vinyl spinning on a record player? You may consider typewriters and record players relics of the past, but there are plenty of people keeping them alive and well. In this episode of Cityscape we talk with people using machines from decades past.

At any time of year in New York City, the smell of warm pretzels wafts through the streets. Most hot dog vendors sell them from their carts. But many New Yorkers say they don’t taste as good as they smell, so chefs have been introducing new twists to the salted bread. On this week’s Cityscape, we’re digging our teeth into the pretzel.

You mostly hear New Yorkers complaining about pigeons, but there are many people whose love for the birds runs deep. Even former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson called pigeons his first love, having grown up surrounded by them in his Brooklyn neighborhood. Today, Tyson races pigeons. His passion for the sport even spawned a reality show on Animal Planet called Taking on Tyson. But as you’ll hear on this edition of Cityscape, pigeons have a polarizing influence on New Yorkers. They either love 'em or hate 'em… Some interesting pigeon facts: • Although pigeons are considered by many to be dirty and disease-ridden, there’s little evidence linking pigeons directly to infections in humans. The New York City Department of Health states only contact in high exposure with pigeon droppings can pose a small health risk. • Despite common perception, there is no law that prohibits pigeon feeding everywhere in New York City. That said, the Parks Department posts notices in many areas prohibiting feeding. So it’s OK to fee

A mental illness is a medical condition that causes mild to severe disturbances in thinking, perception and behavior.  Recovery is possible. But there are many misconceptions about mental illness, which can lead to a variety of problems, like troubling finding work or housing.  As part of WFUV’s Strike a Chord campaign, this week’s Cityscape is focusing its attention on mental illness and efforts to combat the stereotypes. 

Walking around the streets of New York City, its usually hard not to peer into the windows of the apartments and brownstones you pass and comparing the space to your own. Connie Rosenblum was the author of the "Habitats" column published in the Real Estate section of the New York Times. She used real estate as the gateway to telling the stories of New York City residents, of all boroughs and backgrounds. She's put together expanded versions of a selection of the "Habitats" column in a book called Habitats: Private Lives in the Big City. This week on Cityscape we hear some of those stories.

Mental illness is a topic a lot of us are reluctant to talk about. That’s due in large part to the many misconceptions about mental illness, which can lead to a wide variety of problems, from discrimination at work to difficulty finding housing. Coming up in June, WFUV's Strike a Chord campaign will turn its attention to helping to combat the stigma of mental illness. We're getting a jump start on that campaign on this week's Cityscape as we sit down with actress Glenn Close and members of her family who are living with mental illness. Close co-founded an organization called Bring Change 2 Mind, which works to address misconceptions about mental illness.

Her story reads like a Hollywood film: A woman who seems healthy is quarantined on a remote island off New York City because it’s feared she’s spreading a deadly disease. Mary Mallon – better known as Typhoid Mary -- spent much of her life quarantined on North Brother Island.  So close, but yet so far away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan.  She was the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever. Author Mary Beth Keane penned a novel based on Mary Mallon's life. It's called "Fever," and we're talking with her on this week's Cityscape.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. A day to celebrate moms and all they do. But not any one relationship between a mother and child is the same. On this week's Cityscape, we’re exploring the role of mothers in our lives and in society. Our guests include the founder of the Museum of Motherhood in Manhattan.

New York City is a great big playground for kids. Take a journey through the five boroughs and you’ll find plenty of kid-friendly activities, from museums to outdoor fairs. On this week's Cityscape, we'll explore many of the cool things kids can see and do in New York City. We'll also talk with the author of a new book that helps young learners gain a better understanding of the Big Apple’s rich history.

In the musical Annie, the lead character meets and comforts a stray dog named Sandy. Every dog that’s played Sandy since Annie’s world premiere in 1976 has been a rescue. On this week's Cityscape, we'll meet the man who found and trained that original Sandy, and has since turned countless other shelter animals into Broadway and Hollywood stars. William Berloni writes about rescuing animals and turning them into stars in his book Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars.

As the song goes, if you can make it here, you’ll make it anywhere.  A lot people come to New York City to follow their dreams, but the road to fulfillment can sometimes be a bumpy one. On this week's Cityscape we're looking into the challenges people sometimes face as they try to make it in New York City, including artists and new immigrants.

On this edition of Cityscape, we're exploring some traditional Easter themes with inspiration from rabbits and dyed eggs. We'll get advice from the International House Rabbit Society on how to best take care of a rabbit, and we'll also talk with the owners of Long Island City-based Manic Panic, an internationally renowed hair dye and cosmetics company known for their funky hair dye colors. And we'll check in with a moving company that fits the theme only in name. The moving company "Rabbit Movers" has a staff comprised entirely of artists.

How does one go from rubbing elbows with likes of Bette Davis and Elizabeth Taylor to finding themselves in the midst of the Attica Prison riot in 1971?  Our guest on this edition of Cityscape is David Rothenberg.  Rothenberg is the founder of the Fortune Society, an organization that helps ex-convicts get their lives back on track. He launched the Fortune Society in 1967, but before that he was a press agent for some of the most successful Broadway productions of the 20th century, including Richard Burton’s Hamlet and Hair. So what lured him away from the bright lights of Broadway to a life of helping people leaving the dark world of prison?  Rothenberg joins us to talk about his new book Fortune in My Eyes:  A Memoir of Broadway Glamour, Social Justice and Political Passion.

Superstorm Sandy showed us all how easy it is to lose everything in an instant. Hundreds of people were left homeless from the storm -- highlighting the need for more emergency housing in times of crisis. As part of WFUV's Strike a Chord campaign, on this edition of Cityscape we're highlighting non-profit organizations in the tri-state area that assist people with housing needs in various situations, not just catastrophes like Sandy. We'll talk with a Long Island organization that helps young mothers with nowhere to go, a group that helps heart patients and their families with housing needs, and an organization that provides housing assistance to struggling musicians.