{ "article": { "title" : "The Legacy of Elizabeth Street Garden & the Fight for Green Spaces", "author" : "Yassa Almokhamad-Sarkisian", "category" : "essays", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/elizabeth-st-garden", "date" : "2024-11-01 12:08:00 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/elizabeth-1.jpg", "excerpt" : "If you have lived in or visited New York, and have experienced the Elizabeth Street Garden, you know that you have been truly blessed. Folks like Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have submitted letters to the City of New York advocating to protect this landmark. Nestled between Prince and Spring Streets, it is more than just a patch of green space; it’s a cherished sanctuary that has woven itself into the heart of New York City’s Nolita neighborhood. For many, it serves as a core memory—an oasis of tranquility amidst the bustling streets, frequented by locals and travelers alike. As I write this, Elizabeth Street Garden is at risk. At the heart of the legal dispute, is a potential development project for affordable housing. The problem is that there are other much more viable options. In fact, many members of the NYC community- far and wide- have been fighting to save this space. But within the last few weeks, it seems like the development project that will take the garden away from us has been greenlit. The truth is that we are still hopeful.", "content" : "If you have lived in or visited New York, and have experienced the Elizabeth Street Garden, you know that you have been truly blessed. Folks like Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have submitted letters to the City of New York advocating to protect this landmark. Nestled between Prince and Spring Streets, it is more than just a patch of green space; it’s a cherished sanctuary that has woven itself into the heart of New York City’s Nolita neighborhood. For many, it serves as a core memory—an oasis of tranquility amidst the bustling streets, frequented by locals and travelers alike. As I write this, Elizabeth Street Garden is at risk. At the heart of the legal dispute, is a potential development project for affordable housing. The problem is that there are other much more viable options. In fact, many members of the NYC community- far and wide- have been fighting to save this space. But within the last few weeks, it seems like the development project that will take the garden away from us has been greenlit. The truth is that we are still hopeful.Once a derelict lot left vacant after the demolition of P.S. 21 in the 1970s, the garden’s transformation began in 1991 when Allan Reiver took the initiative to breathe life back into the forgotten area. As the owner of the neighboring Elizabeth Street Gallery, Reiver saw potential in the barren land. Leasing it on a month-to-month basis, he meticulously cleaned it up, and filled it with sculptures and architectural artifacts from his extensive collection. Today, the garden is a fairytale-like safe haven with an eclectic mix of plants and sculptures, creating a tranquil retreat for all who visit. In September of 2022, Patti Smith famously played a free concert to raise awareness about the garden, drawing over 600 attendees who came together to celebrate its importance.The garden has become a sanctuary for many in a city that lacks green spaces, which is undeniably valuable for everyone’s mental health. It has hosted countless stories of connection and joy: couples have proposed and gotten married among its flowers, while families have raised their children within its tranquil embrace. Renee Green, the garden’s Chair, often recounts how it has become a vital meeting point for seniors in the community. This is crucial in a city like New York which doesn’t have many natural third spaces, and isn’t necessarily always accessible for some folks. Elizabeth Street Garden has created a place where folks get to know their neighbors and a culture where that extends outside of the garden. When asked to share some stories or experiences from visitors that illustrate the impact of the garden on the community, Rieves mentioned there are many elderly who come to the garden on a daily basis. He tells a story of an elderly Chinese woman who speaks little English, who has formed a unique bond with the space. She helps weave vines through the gates and along sculptures. It is people like her that exemplify the importance of this garden.The garden is maintained by devoted volunteers and the nonprofit Elizabeth Street Garden Inc. (ESG), and it has become a vital communal space. Since 2013, ESG has worked diligently to keep the garden open year-round, hosting community events that nurture both body and soul. In a city where green space is a precious commodity, they invite people to partake in yoga sessions, eco-gardening workshops, and cultural collaborations with organizations like MoMA and the Lower East Side Ecology Center. The garden has also served as an outdoor classroom for local elementary school students, where they learned about sustainable practices during the pandemic. Through ongoing workshops with local public schools, children are not only given the opportunity to connect with nature but also to get their hands in the dirt and contribute to a shared space. They learn about planting and sustainable stewardship, while also expressing their creativity through poetry and garden design. An example of environmental stewardship and sustainability, the garden teaches visitors about the significance of community- led green spaces in urban environments—not merely as pockets of nature amidst concrete but as vital havens for mental health. Knowing there are spaces for communities to gather, interculturally and intergenerationally while building neighboring relationships, is essential in the West with big cities like New York. We have been stripped of our community and the interconnected support in places we call home. The garden fills a void many New Yorkers seek.Elizabeth Street Garden is a vibrant community space and artistic haven. It blends nature with architectural elements and sculptures, which are recognized both locally and globally. Its preservation underscores the importance of prioritizing public green spaces in urban development. It is also free to the public, which embodies the community spirit and the nurturing power of nature. Spaces like these help us all foster connections and create cherished memories. Ultimately, the garden’s magic can be described in a quote by Joseph Reiver, the garden’s director who reflects on his experience: “I’ve learned a lot about how to shape a place while accepting how it grows organically, balancing vision with the need to listen to the garden.”Get Involved! Go to elizabethstreetgarden.com/volunteer to find out how to support this rare and historical “third space” in New York city." } , "relatedposts": [ { "title" : "Black Liberation Views on Palestine", "author" : "EIP Editors", "category" : "essays", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/black-liberation-on-palestine", "date" : "2025-10-17 09:01:00 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/mandela-keffiyeh.jpg", "excerpt" : "", "content" : "In understanding global politics, it is important to look at Black liberation struggles as one important source of moral perspective. So, when looking at Palestine, we look to Black leaders to see how they perceived the Palestinian struggle in relation to theirs, from the 1960’s to today.Why must we understand where the injustice lies? Because, as Desmond Tutu famously said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”{% for person in site.data.quotes-black-liberation-palestine %}{{ person.name }}{% for quote in person.quotes %}“{{ quote.text }}”{% if quote.source %}— {{ quote.source }}{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% endfor %}" } , { "title" : "First Anniversary Celebration of EIP", "author" : "EIP Editors", "category" : "events", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/1st-anniversary-of-eip", "date" : "2025-10-14 18:01:00 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/WSA_EIP_Launch_Cover.jpg", "excerpt" : "Celebrating One Year of Independent Publishing", "content" : "Celebrating One Year of Independent PublishingJoin Everything is Political on November 21st for the launch of our End-of-Year Special Edition Magazine.This members-only evening will feature a benefit dinner, cocktails, and live performances in celebration of a year of independent media, critical voices, and collective resistance.The EventNovember 21, 2025, 7-11pmLower Manhattan, New YorkLaunching our End-of-Year Special Edition MagazineSpecial appearances and performancesFood & Drink includedTickets are extremely limited, reserve yours now!Become an annual print member: get x back issues of EIP, receive the End-of-Year Special Edition Magazine, and come to the Anniversary Celebration.$470Already a member? Sign in to get your special offer. Buy Ticket $150 Just $50 ! and get the End-of-Year Special Edition Magazine Buy ticket $150 and get the End-of-Year Special Edition Magazine " } , { "title" : "Miu Miu Transforms the Apron From Trad Wife to Boss Lady: The sexiest thing in Paris was a work garment", "author" : "Khaoula Ghanem", "category" : "", "url" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/readings/miu-miu-transforms-the-apron-from-trad-wife-to-boss-lady", "date" : "2025-10-14 13:05:00 -0400", "img" : "https://everythingispolitical.com/uploads/Cover_EIP_MiuMiu_Apron.jpg", "excerpt" : "Miuccia Prada has a habit of taking the least “fashion” thing in the room and making it the argument. For Spring 2026 at Miu Miu, the argument is the apron; staged not as a coy retro flourish but as a total system. The show’s mise-en-scène read like a canteen or factory floor with melamine-like tables, rationalist severity, a whiff of cleaning fluid. In other words, a runway designed to force a conversation about labor before any sparkle could distract us.", "content" : "Miuccia Prada has a habit of taking the least “fashion” thing in the room and making it the argument. For Spring 2026 at Miu Miu, the argument is the apron; staged not as a coy retro flourish but as a total system. The show’s mise-en-scène read like a canteen or factory floor with melamine-like tables, rationalist severity, a whiff of cleaning fluid. In other words, a runway designed to force a conversation about labor before any sparkle could distract us.From the opening look—German actress Sandra Hüller in a utilitarian deep-blue apron layered over a barn jacket and neat blue shirting—the thesis was loud: the “cover” becomes the thing itself. As silhouettes marched on, aprons multiplied and mutated—industrial drill cotton with front pockets, raw canvas, taffeta and cloqué silk, lace-edged versions that flirted with lingerie, even black leather and crystal-studded incarnations that reframed function as ornament. What the apron traditionally shields (clothes, bodies, “the good dress”) was inverted; the protection became the prized surface. Prada herself spelled it out: “The apron is my favorite piece of clothing… it symbolizes women, from factories through to serving to the home.”Miu Miu Spring 2026 Ready-to-Wear. SuppliedThis inversion matters historically. The apron’s earliest fashion-adjacent life was industrial. It served as a barrier against grease, heat, stain. It was a token of paid and unpaid care. Miu Miu tapped that lineage directly (canvas, work belts, D-ring hardware), then sliced it against domestic codes (florals, ruffles, crochet), and finally pushed into nightlife with bejeweled and leather bibs. The garment’s migration across materials made its social migrations visible. It is a kitchen apron, yes, but also one for labs, hospitals, and factories; the set and styling insisted on that plurality.What makes the apron such a loaded emblem is not just what it covers, but what it reveals about who has always been working. Before industrialization formalized labor into factory shifts and wages, women were already performing invisible labour, the kind that doesn’t exist on payrolls but sits at the foundation of every functioning society. They were cooking, cleaning, raising children, nursing the ill. These tasks were foundational to every economy and yet absent from every ledger. Even when women entered the industrial workforce, from textile plants to wartime assembly lines, their domestic responsibilities did not disappear, they doubled. In that context, the apron here is a quiet manifesto for the strength that goes unrecorded, unthanked, and yet keeps civilization running.The algorithmic rise of the “tradwife,” the influencer economy that packages domesticity as soft power, is the contemporary cultural shadow here. Miu Miu’s apron refuses that rehearsal. In fact, it’s intentionally awkward—oversized, undone, worn over bikinis or with sturdy shoes—so the viewer can’t flatten it into Pinterest-ready nostalgia. Critics noted the collection as a reclamation, a rebuttal to the flattening forces of the feed: the apron as a uniform for endurance rather than submission. The show notes framed it simply as “a consideration of the work of women,” a reminder that the invisible economies of effort—paid, unpaid, emotional—still structure daily life.If that sounds unusually explicit for a luxury runway, consider the designer. Prada trained as a mime at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, earned a PhD in political science, joined the Italian Communist Party, and was active in the women’s rights movement in 1970s Milan. Those facts are not trivia; they are the grammar of her clothes. Decades of “ugly chic” were, essentially, a slow campaign against easy consumption and default beauty. In 2026, the apron becomes the newest dialect. An emblem drawn from leftist feminist history, recoded into a product that still has to sell. That tension—belief versus business—is the Miuccia paradox, and it’s precisely why these aprons read as statements, not trends.The runway narrative traced a journey from function to fetish. Early looks were squarely utilitarian—thick cottons, pocketed bibs—before migrating toward fragility and sparkle. Lace aprons laid transparently over swimmers; crystal-studded aprons slipped across cocktail territory; leather apron-dresses stiffened posture into armor. The sequencing proposed the same silhouette can encode labor, intimacy, and spectacle depending on fabrication. If most brands smuggle “workwear” in as set dressing, Miu Miu forced it onto the body as the central garment and an unmissable reminder that the feminine is often asked to be both shield and display at once.It’s instructive to read this collection against the house’s last mega-viral object: the micro-mini of Spring 2022, a pleated, raw-hem wafer that colonized timelines and magazine covers. That skirt’s thesis was exposure—hip bones and hemlines as post-lockdown spectacle, Y2K nostalgia framed as liberation-lite. The apron, ironically, covers. Where the micro-mini trafficked in the optics of freedom (and the speed of virality), the apron asks about the conditions that make freedom possible: who launders, who cooks, who cares? To move from “look at me” to “who is working here?” is a pivot from optics to ethics, without abandoning desire. (The aprons are, after all, deeply covetable.) In a platform economy that still rewards the shortest hemline with the biggest click-through, this is a sophisticated counter-program.Yet the designer is not romanticizing toil. There’s wit in the ruffles and perversity in the crystals; neither negate labor, they metabolize it. The most striking image is the apron treated as couture-adjacent. Traditionally, an apron protects the precious thing beneath; here, the apron is the precious thing. You could call that hypocrisy—luxurizing the uniform of workers. Or, strategy, insisting that the symbols of care and effort deserve visibility and investment.Of course, none of this exists in a vacuum. The “tradwife” script thrives because it is aesthetically legible and commercially scalable. It packages gender ideology as moodboard. Miu Miu counters with garments whose legibility flickers. The collection’s best looks ask viewers to reconcile tenderness with toughness, convenience with care, which is exactly the mental choreography demanded of women in every context from office to home to online.If you wanted a season-defining “It” item, you’ll still find it. The apron is poised to proliferate across fast-fashion and luxury alike. But the deeper success is structural: Miu Miu re-centered labor as an aesthetic category. That’s rarer than a viral skirt. It’s a reminder that clothes don’t merely decorate life, they describe and negotiate it. In making the apron the subject rather than the prop, Prada turned a garment of service into a platform for agency. It’s precisely the kind of cultural recursion you’d expect from a designer shaped by feminist politics, who never stopped treating fashion as an instrument of thought as much as style.The last image to hold onto is deceptively simple: a woman in an apron, neither fetishized nor infantilized, striding, hands free. Not a costume for nostalgia, not a meme for the feed, but a working uniform reframed, respected, and suddenly, undeniably beautiful. That is Miu Miu’s provocation for Spring 2026: the work behind the work, made visible at last." } ] }