Democracy is not a spectator sport. If the election and elevation of you-know-who to the Oval Office teaches us anything, it is that elections matter. You are either at the table or on the menu. Apathy is not an option. It never was, especially not now. If the horrific events at Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend are any indication, the American Experiment is in serious jeopardy. With that said, The Barack Obama Democratic Club, Word Up Community Book Shop and the Uptown Collective have teamed up to bring you the Summer Meet & Greet Series. Our goal is to create a space where the community gets to engage with candidates for citywide office in a candid and absolutely necessary conversation. The schedule is as follows: August 23 – Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, August 29 – NYC Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, August 30 – Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and September 9 NYC Public Advocate Letitia James. All of the sessions will be held at Word Up Books (2113 Amsterdam Ave @ 165th). The events are free but space is extremely limited so RSVP is a must. Please go to our site for more info. Angela Helm of The Root penned a must-read piece with accompanying video on the Whole Foods Effect. Does Whole Foods coming Uptown mean the nail in the coffin of Black Harlem? The Uptown Tweet of the Week goes to Dyckman Basketball for the video of the game winning shot everybody was talking about this week. D’Angelo Russell of the Brooklyn Nets hit a three pointer to win a tight playoff game. Sarina Trangle of am New York introduced us Kevin Klepper who is the man behind the sidewalk libraries that you may have seen around the hood. The good folks at Woke Foods are on a mission to bring nutritious, wholesome food to the people. Show them some Uptown Love and donate what you can to their Indiegogo campaign. Our #InstagramUptown featured another simply astounding picture by @jordanmatter. The picture showed a man hovering in the air right in front of Buunni Coffee. I had the pleasure of meeting Jordan Matter this week in the Heights. I believe that he may have been on his way to Buunni Coffee. You should probably follow suit. Keep checking us out at www.uptowncollective.com. Led Black Editor-in-Chief The Uptown Collective The UC’s mission is to become “the” definitive, transformative and community-based force impacting the arts, culture, business and New York City’s overall perception of Upper Manhattan. Its objective is to reset, reboot and positively redefine Uptown’s artistic, political, cultural and business spheres via the online space as well the collective’s initiatives and functions.
August 7 – August 12
