Past Articles by Margot Adler
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Discovering A Family Member's Lost Time In Amsterdam When Margot Adler learned that a cousin had hidden from the Nazis in Amsterdam, she was stunned. Adler started digging around and discovered that like Anne Frank, 25,000 Dutch Jews hid, and two-thirds of them survived. Her cousin was one of them. |
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Discovering A Family Member's Lost Time In Amsterdam When Margot Adler learned that a cousin had hidden from the Nazis in Amsterdam, she was stunned. Adler started digging around and discovered that like Anne Frank, 25,000 Dutch Jews hid, and two-thirds of them survived. Her cousin was one of them. |
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Court Case Winds Down In New York's Stop-And-Frisk Challenge Closing arguments in the lawsuit challenging New York City's stop-and-frisk policy begin Monday in federal court. The plaintiffs in the class action trial claim police officers were pressured to stop, question and frisk hundreds of thousands of people each year — even establishing quotas. |
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Times Square's Naked Cowboy Wrangles Some Co-Workers Donning a cowboy hat, a guitar and little else, the Naked Cowboy has made a name for himself among New York tourists. But there's plenty of free spirit (and cash) to spread around: Fellow naked cowboys and cowgirls pay for a chance to make a buck under his brand. |
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New York: A Concrete Jungle And 'City Of Trees,' Too People generally don't associate trees with New York City, and if they do, they tend to think only of Central and Prospect parks. But the city is filled with old, beloved trees, some dating back more than 200 years, many of them located in the unsung outer boroughs. |
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You Can't Put A Headline On William Klein 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. |
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At 'Stop-And-Frisk' Trial, Cops Describe Quota-Driven NYPD Police officers testifying at a federal trial challenging New York City's policy say they were ordered to increase their number of arrests, summons and 250s — the code for stop, question and frisk. The city says these were simply performance goals. |
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NYC Mayor's Campaign Against Teen Pregnancy Widely Criticized New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg is mired in another health controversy; this time it's a campaign against teen pregnancy. It has provoked negative reactions from every quarter — the right, the left, mayoral candidates and even health advocates. |
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Once On Death Row, He Now Fights To Defeat The Death Penalty Kirk Bloodsworth was the first person in the U.S. to be exonerated by DNA evidence after receiving the death sentence. Convicted in Maryland, Bloodsworth is now one of the strongest advocates of abolishing the death penalty in the state. |
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NYC Labor Chorus Tries To Hit Right Note, Attract New Voices The New York City Labor Chorus has been singing the tune of unions and workers for more than 20 years. Now, with numbers of union membership decreasing, can the group carry a tune and message that will draw a new generation of singers? |
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Federal Aid For Religious Institutions In Murky Waters After Sandy Houses of worship are still trying to recover from the damage done by the superstorm last fall. The government has encouraged them to apply for aid, but it's not clear whether they'll qualify. For some, even disaster relief would break down the boundary between "church and state." |
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In Lower Manhattan, Sandy Still Keeping Businesses Dark Almost three months after Superstorm Sandy, parts of lower Manhattan are limping along to recovery. More than 20 large buildings are without power, and many businesses remain closed and boarded up. Even businesses that are open are struggling without the old foot traffic. |
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In Lower Manhattan, Sandy Still Keeping Businesses Dark Almost three months after Superstorm Sandy, parts of lower Manhattan are limping along to recovery. More than 20 large buildings are without power, and many businesses remain closed and boarded up. Even businesses that are open are struggling without the old foot traffic. |
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U.N. Agency Watches Out For Domestic Workers The International Labor Organization, the U.N. agency that deals with labor issues, has released a report on the growing number of domestic workers around the globe, and their lack of legal and worker protections. There are almost 53 million domestic workers and 83 percent are women. They have often been ignored by policy makers. |
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U.N. Agency Watches Out For Domestic Workers The International Labor Organization, the U.N. agency that deals with labor issues, has released a report on the growing number of domestic workers around the globe, and their lack of legal and worker protections. There are almost 53 million domestic workers and 83 percent are women. They have often been ignored by policy makers. |
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Pulling Together, Newtown Celebrates Holiday 'As Best We Can' Shopkeepers say Saturday was the first day people resumed Christmas shopping in Newtown, Conn., since the school shootings. Some locals say the community feels closer since the tragedy, and the post office is being inundated with thousands of holiday greetings, gifts and messages of support from around the world. |
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Free Toy Shop Brings Cheer To Sandy's Displaced Families Many Staten Island residents are still not back in their homes since Sandy washed ashore. Local volunteers have opened a toy store where FEMA-registered families with children can pick up donated toys, holiday decorations and stocking stuffers. Thus far, the shop has given away more than 2,000 toys. |
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Letters From 'Peanuts' Creator Reveal Bittersweet Romance On Friday, Sotheby's is putting up for auction 44 letters and 35 drawings Charles Schulz gave to a young woman he was courting. Schulz, 48, wrote Tracey Claudius, 25, poignant, funny, even innocent notes in pictures and words, often using Charlie Brown to stand in for himself. |
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Post-Sandy, Newly Unemployed Struggle To Stay Afloat While the storm did not influence the nation's jobless figures as much as expected, there are still thousands of people who are unemployed in Sandy's wake. Many businesses on the East Coast are still making repairs or have closed entirely, leaving many families in limbo. |
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Post-Sandy, Newly Unemployed Struggle To Stay Afloat While the storm did not influence the nation's jobless figures as much as expected, there are still thousands of people who are unemployed in Sandy's wake. Many businesses on the East Coast are still making repairs or have closed entirely, leaving many families in limbo. |
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Mystery On Fifth Avenue: A Constant Line Outside Abercrombie & Fitch For years, shoppers in Manhattan's Fifth Avenue have lined up in front the store everyday before it opens. The question is why. |
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Mystery On Fifth Avenue: A Constant Line Outside Abercrombie & Fitch For years, shoppers in Manhattan's Fifth Avenue have lined up in front the store everyday before it opens. The question is why. |
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Far From Mexico, Students Try Saving Aztec Language The descendant of the ancient Aztec language is one of many endangered indigenous languages. Although there may still be a million speakers of Nahuatl, it is not being transmitted to a new generation. But there is an attempt to revive Nahuatl in New York City, and students eager to connect to their heritage are taking classes. |
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N.Y. Fast-Food Workers Strike For Better Wages Fast-food workers staged protests Thursday at restaurants in New York. The workers said their low wages need to be raised. But with the economy still slow, restaurant managers are determined to hold down labor costs so they can offer dollar foods. |
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N.Y. Fast-Food Workers Strike For Better Wages Fast-food workers staged protests Thursday at restaurants in New York. The workers said their low wages need to be raised. But with the economy still slow, restaurant managers are determined to hold down labor costs so they can offer dollar foods. |
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Thousands Of Trees Gone, Ripped Out By Sandy Nearly 10,000 trees in New York City — many healthy and hefty — were lost to the winds of Superstorm Sandy. Natural scenery aside, they affect the environmental quality of the city. |
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Thousands Of Trees Gone, Ripped Out By Sandy Nearly 10,000 trees in New York City — many healthy and hefty — were lost to the winds of Superstorm Sandy. Natural scenery aside, they affect the environmental quality of the city. |
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In Sandy's Wake, New Yorkers Don't Sweat Small Stuff NPR's Margot Adler travels around Manhattan and learns that residents are adjusting, even though parts of the burough remain dark and transportation is limited two days after the storm. |
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Loud Debate Rages Over N.Y. Library's Quiet Stacks A renovation plan for the New York Public Library building on Manhattan's 42nd Street is being hotly contested. The plan calls for demolishing seven floors of stacks and moving many of the books to New Jersey. Supporters say the plan will salvage a strapped library system; critics say it will imperil the work of researchers. |
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Monet's Green Thumb: How Art Grew From A Garden Claude Monet is famous for his impressionist paintings, but a new exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden looks at the horticultural skill that informed his art. One horticulturalist says, "Monet would never have been the painter he became if he wasn't the gardener he was." |
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These Apps Are Going To The Birds, And People Who Watch Them Technology is finally catching up to the ancient pastime of bird watching. Cell phones are already helping bird watchers get the word out on rare sightings and, soon, watchers will also have apps that forecast bird migration and identify birds by their songs. |
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'Scream' Still Echoes After More Than A Century The Scream, by Edvard Munch, is one of the most recognized and reproduced works of art ever created. Experts say the image seems to crystallize viewers' fears and anxieties, transcending language to express something primal. |
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To Some Hindus, Modern Yoga Has Lost Its Way Millions of Americans practice some form of yoga. But some Hindus say yoga in the U.S. has strayed too far from its spiritual roots. One Hindu group has even launched a "Take Back Yoga" campaign. |
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Occupy Groups Reimagine The Bank Groups within the Occupy Wall Street movement are trying to overhaul the banking system - and they even dream of a new kind of bank. One activist sees "a bank that would be democratic, that would be owned by its employees and by its customers." |
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Alternative Banking Groups Aid Occupy Movement Occupy Wall Street contains many working groups but two defy stereotypes. The members of the Alternative Banking Group and the Occupy Bank Group tend to be older and most are current and former employees in the financial industry. One group is trying to overhaul the banking system; the other is trying to create a new kind of bank. |
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Wanted: Digital Bloodhounds For The Hotel Industry These days, hotels aren't just looking to hire bellhops, concierges and housekeepers. What the industry really needs are "knowledge workers" who understand how to use social media and new technologies to track - and attract - potential guests and boost revenue. |
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Crowds Join Slain Youth's Parents In 'Hoodie March' A rally was held in New York City's Union Square Wednesday night in memory of Trayvon Martin, who was shot dead by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford, Fla., last month. The man has not been charged in Martin's death. |
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Occupy May Seem To Be Receding, But Look Closer If you ask strangers on the street about the Occupy movement, they might say, "It's over." Yet, Occupiers say they are preparing the ground and that, come spring, numbers and visibility will increase. |
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Tourism Boom Pays Off For N.Y. Hotel Union A new contract for the city's hotel workers includes higher wages, health care benefits and pensions. And at a time when labor negotiations often involve drawn out and sometimes bitter fights, the contract was agreed upon early. |
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American Capitalism, A Song And Dance Story An experimental musical attempts to get at the tension between creation and violence: the love and ambivalence of Americans toward constant expansionism and growth. There's the atom bomb, mystic gods and more. |
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Knicks Star Jeremy Lin Captures Big Apple's Heart The point guard was an unknown bench warmer for the New York Knicks until a few weeks ago. But after a series of breakout performances, the Taiwanese-American Harvard graduate is the toast of the town. |
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Warm Winter Leads To Early Blooms In Northeast New Yorkers are seeing blooms in late winter, but what it says about climate change is up in the air. |
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Muslim Men Rescue Bagel Shop And Keep It Kosher Coney Island Bialys and Bagels, a historic bagel shop in New York City, was almost toast when two Pakistani men rescued it. Zafaryab Ali and Peerzada Shah, both Muslim, say they plan to keep the shop kosher. "Kosher and halal is very, very close, like brother and sister, maybe twins," Ali says. |
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'Intergalactic Nemesis': From Radio To Page To Stage   Three actors, one foley artist, one keyboardist and 1,200 graphic novel images share the stage in the performance of this live-action, science-fiction graphic novel. The Intergalactic Nemesis started as a radio play, morphed into a graphic novel and is now a live performance that combines all of the above. |
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With So Many Voices, Will Occupy Still Be Heard? In just a few months, the movement started a national conversation about inequality. With the end of many encampments, the movement is entering a new phase. Some say this dynamism will ensure success. Others think the movement will fail without political partners and compromise. |
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New York Hasidic Women Want Separate EMT Unit To keep their closely guarded modesty intact, some Hasidic women in New York City are pushing to start an all-female unit of an Orthodox Jewish ambulance service to help deliver babies in emergencies. But the idea isn't getting a warm welcome from Hasidic men. |
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Reconstituting The Constitution: How To Rewrite It? That's the question scholar Christopher Phillips is asking in theoretical discussions at schools and cafes across the country. You can add your own amendment to the discussion. |
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Liz Taylor's Jewel-Dripping Collection On The Block After a world tour, Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry, clothing and memorabilia is on view in New York City. After 10 days on display, some 2,000 objects from the film star's life will be up for auction, both at Christie's and online. |
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Thousands Participate In Occupy Wall Street Protests Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets across the country Thursday to mark two months since the Occupy Wall Street movement began. There were mostly peaceful demonstrations in Las Vegas, Washington, D.C. and Portland. There were arrests in Los Angeles and New York, where protesters tried to shut down Wall Street. |
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'Art Of The Arab Lands' Displays A Global Heritage After eight years of renovations, the Islamic galleries at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art have finally reopened. Its 15 rooms consist of some 1,200 objects that cover everything from architecture and interior design to images of living things - which Islam discourages - and calligraphy. |
