Anthony Picciano wrote a new post on the site Tony's Thoughts 7 hours, 47 minutes ago
Happy Easter from Amsterdam!
Dear Commons Community, Elaine and I will be attending Easter mass this morning at the Church of Our Lady (Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk) followed by brunch. Happy Easter to all! Tony
Anthony Picciano wrote a new post on the site Tony's Thoughts 19 hours, 42 minutes ago
Our Lord in the Attic (Ons' Lieve Heer op Solder)
Church of Our Lord in the Attic Dear Commons Community, Elaine and I visited Our Lord in the Attic (Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder), a […]
Kiara/Kayden Cruz (xe/xem) wrote a new post on the site Selected Directors: New Latin American Cinema 1 day, 12 hours ago
Journal #9 – Kayden CruzI missed the ninth session of class, and as a result, I did not know we were studying a new director,Patricio Guzmán and his works. Upon […]
Anthony Picciano wrote a new post on the site Tony's Thoughts 1 day, 18 hours ago
Spent the day in Utrecht
Dear Commons Community, Elaine and I spent the day in Utrecht which is an historic, cultural, religious and education hub of the […]
Kali McLennan (She/Her) wrote a new post on the site Visualizations by Kali 1 day, 20 hours ago
Project 2: A Walk Through Time and Space
Background We all know that we should be getting more steps in our daily lives. Guidance from the medical field suggests that people aim for […]
Maryam Ilyas wrote a new post on the site Salsa Exploration 2 days, 14 hours ago
Salsa's Geography and Famous Venues🎶 From Havana to Harlem: The Global Groove of Salsa Salsa is more than just a dance, it is a cultural movement. It is a sound that tells stories, a rhythm rooted in resilience, and a beat that has traveled the world. But where did it begin? And how did it go from the streets of Cuba to dance floors across the globe? Let us take a journey through salsa’s vibrant geography, legendary venues, and explosive rise to international fame. Origins: Salsa’s Cuban & Puerto Rican Roots Long before the word “salsa” became synonymous with Latin dance nights, the ingredients of this musical style were simmering in the eastern regions of Cuba. In the early 1900s, Cuban son, a fusion of Spanish guitar melodies and African drum patterns, merged with the rich polyrhythms of Afro-Cuban rumba. The result? A foundational rhythm that would set the stage for salsa. But salsa did not stay in Cuba. Across the Caribbean Sea, Puerto Rico added its own signature elements, particularly through genres like bomba and plena, which infused salsa with bold, syncopated rhythms and a distinct flavor of resistance and celebration. Together, these two islands created the musical DNA of salsa. If salsa were a dish, Cuba brought the base, and Puerto Rico added the spice. 🗽 New York City: Where Salsa Found Its Name Fast-forward to the mid-20th century: Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants arrive in New York City, bringing their music, culture, and community with them. What happened next was nothing short of a sonic revolution. In neighborhoods like the South Bronx, Spanish Harlem, and the Lower East Side, salsa evolved in the cultural cauldron of NYC. Influenced by American jazz, funk, and soul, musicians began fusing Latin rhythms with big-band energy and improvisation. What had been traditional became electric. Here, salsa was not just played — it was lived. It echoed in tenement buildings, burst from street corners, and blared from radios during block parties. And while the term “salsa”, meaning “sauce”, may have been coined more as a catchy marketing label than a precise genre name, it captured the spirit perfectly: spicy, mixed, and impossible to ignore. 🎤 Legendary Venues: The Stages That Shaped a Sound No story of salsa is complete without the iconic spaces that amplified its sound. Chief among them? The Palladium Ballroom. Located on Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, the Palladium was the epicenter of Latin music in the 1950s. Known as the “Home of the Mambo,” it hosted legends like Machito, Tito Puente, and Celia Cruz, who transformed the dance floor into a live, pulsing canvas of rhythm and movement. But it did not stop there. From Carnegie Hall, where salsa hit the world stage, to the open-air parks of Spanish Harlem where communities gathered to dance under the stars, the venues were as much a part of the story as the music itself. 🌍 Salsa Goes Global: The Rhythm That Traveled As immigrants carried their culture around the world, salsa traveled too. It spread to Los Angeles, Miami, the San Francisco Bay Area, and took root in cities across Latin America. In Colombia, salsa became faster, flashier, and even sported its own championship festivals. In Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, it fused with local music to create unique subgenres. And thanks to globalization, salsa now thrives everywhere from Mexico City to Tokyo, Paris to Sydney. Everywhere it goes, salsa adapts, reflecting local culture while preserving its Afro-Caribbean roots. That is the beauty of it: salsa is not static. It is alive. 🕺 Final Beat: Salsa as Global Identity So, what is salsa really? It is more than a genre. It is a musical passport, born in Cuba, flavored by Puerto Rico, raised in New York City, and now danced around the world. It is a living, breathing example of how migration, creativity, and rhythm can collide to create something timeless. So next time you hear the congas start, remember that you are not just listening to a song, you are hearing the heartbeat of history. Have you danced salsa or seen it performed live? What city has the best salsa scene today? Let us k […] “Salsa’s Geography and Famous Venues”
Anthony Picciano wrote a new post on the site Tony's Thoughts 2 days, 15 hours ago
Zaanse Schans – Preserved Dutch Village and Windmills
Dear Commons Community, Yesterday Elaine and I visited the scenic Dutch village of Zaanse Schans near Zaandik, Netherlands, best known […]
Mara Lazda (she/her/hers) wrote a new post on the site Gender and Transformation in Central-Eastern Europe and Eurasia Workshop 2 days, 17 hours ago
Anosova on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in UkraineFriday April 25, 2025 2pm to 3pm In-person and on Zoom Dr. Iuliia Anosova Human Rights Centre, Ghent University (In)visible crime: Exploring the changing landscape of policy and justice approaches to conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine Since the escalation of the Russian war against Ukraine in 2022 the issue of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) gained much more attention compared to initial stages of the war in 2014. The most notable changes include a more active public discourse on CRSV, multiple civil society initiatives, as well as the adoption of an array of laws and policies on CRSV incorporating the cutting edge international standards and introducing gender-sensitive and victim-oriented approaches into Ukrainian criminal justice system. With all this visibility, in practice CRSV remains hugely underreported and with quite a low prosecution level (as of July 2024 in 304 CRSV cases only 5 perpetrators were convicted, mostly in absentia).The paper is aimed at the exploration, through the gender perspective, of the changing approaches to regulation and prosecution of CRSV crimes in Ukraine. It will rely on the analysis of the domestic laws and policies regulating the issue, as well as interviews with judges, prosecutors and civil society experts working in the field. As a result, it will be shown how the approaches to CRSV evolve under the conditions of the ongoing war, as well as how public (in)visibility of this crime affects gender equality in Ukraine. Register for Zoom Here Or join us in person at the CUNY Graduate Center 365 5th Ave, New York, NY 10016 5th floor, Room 5208 Workshop format: We ask that participants read the paper in advance. Please email mara.lazda[at]bcc.cuny.edu for the paper. At the workshop, Dr. Anosova will give a brief presentation, after which participants are invited to ask questions […] “Anosova on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine”
Danne Woo (he/him/his) wrote a new post on the site Queens College Design 2 days, 21 hours ago
Design 370 Special Topics, Fall 2025
Introduction to Lettering & Calligraphy Course Name: DESN 370-VT: Special Topics in Design – Lettering & CalligraphyClass Number: 5 […]
Rosa Barba talks about the versatility of film and its aptness for contemplating the modern world. Em Rooney considers our place as biological, sentient beings inhabiting industrial environments.
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