Marion Bernstein

As we prepare to return to classrooms this fall, NYU Tandon's NYC Media Lab, in partnership with Verizon, delivers on our joint commitment to empower educators and engage students by releasing brand-new immersive learning resources on Verizon Innovative Learning HQ—the free education portal that makes innovative learning tools available to all.

In partnership with Verizon Innovative Learning & New York University, we worked with Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, MI to bring an axolotl to life via AR, which enabled us to educate over 2,000 aquatic enthusiasts on its habitat, unique adaptations—and most importantly—conservation actions users can take to help global and local amphibians survive and thrive.

In an effort to expand Verizon Innovative Learning HQ’s library of curricular applications, the newly launched $1M Museum Initiative aims to connect educators nationwide with museums, science centers, zoos, aquariums, and cultural institutions who are able to showcase innovative edtech approaches that weave together physical and digital experiences.

Federated Seafood’s Captain Sam Shragge says, “I like the adventure. I like the thrill; everything from the morning before to the off-season.” He adds, “I’m a very small part of the food network, but if more people care about where their food comes from, we’ll be able to solve a lot of the world’s problems. I get satisfaction knowing people are eating high-quality, local fish.” Further reflecting on his personal motivation, Captain Shragge concludes, “At the end of the day I often think to myself, ‘That was wild.’ And I’ve never once thought it wasn’t worth it.”

High demand for seafood and advances in technology have led to unsustainable fishing practices—like purse seining and longlining—that continue to deplete fish populations around the world. Purse seine fishing utilizes a large net to herd fish together and envelop them by pulling the net’s drawstring. Longlining is an unsustainable fishing practice in which a 62-mile line with thousands of baited hooks is dragged behind a boat.

After a string of impersonal, unfulfilling jobs, and losing his mother to breast cancer in 2017, Sam was craving community. In December 2018, he joined his mother’s family on the Oregon coast, bought a major fixer upper, and invested in a boat. Sam caught scores of salmon, smoked them, and gave the fillets away to friends and family. Soon enough, the demand greatly exceeded the supply, and Sam knew he was working with something special. He upgraded to the F/V Cordelia—the ultimate day boat for fishing the Pacific Northwest—and officially launched Federated Seafood Co.

In 1989, my mother moved three kids, two cats, two birds, one dog, and her newly-minted husband from a somewhat normal suburban life in northern New Jersey to a deteriorating 22-room Victorian mansion in southern Delaware. Locally famous for its age and size, the Harrington townies affectionately knew it as "The Fleming Mansion."

Better known as the Bloody Mary, this iconic brunch cocktail can be traced back to the upscale St. Regis Hotel’s King Cole Bar, where in 1934, French bartender Fernand Petiot delivered on Serge Obolensky’s request for his famous vodka-tomato cocktail, only this time adding salt, pepper, lemon and Worcestershire. At the time, “Bloody Mary” was deemed too vulgar a name for the St. Regis’ upper crust clientele, and thus, the maritime moniker remained. King Cole Bar still pours the simple vodka- and tomato-based highball, now accented by a smoky kick of cayenne pepper.

Mix one part Luxardo maraschino liqueur with one part ephemera and you’ve got Behind The Wood, New York’s newest craft cocktail pop-up bar operating on Friday and Saturday nights inside Venturo Osteria & Wine Bar in Sunnyside, Queens. Aiming to fill Sunnyside’s glaring void of late night cocktail haunts, BTW co-founders Mashia Baldwin and Scott Scaffidi officially opened the pop-up on July 24, and thankfully, the two veteran bartenders have big plans to stay open through December, changing up their seasonally themed craft cocktail menu every two months.

Spring’s fluctuating temps and intermittent rains can easily put you back indoors with cold- and flu-like symptoms. The solution? Eat and drink to your health. “You can’t control what goes on outside, but you can help regulate what’s going on inside,” says nutrition expert and certified health coach Arielle Haspel. “Eating a variety of phytonutrient-dense fruits and vegetables can do wonders for digestion and immunity.”

This family-run corner store has been catering to both amateur and professional artists since the 1980s. In addition to its expansive supply of acrylics, pencils and palettes, KC offers high quality custom picture framing with a full range of styles. Don’t miss its “Made in Brooklyn” line that utilizes American hardwood stain finished with a UV waterborne lacquer. It even offers delivery and installation service for art, mirrors and frames.

When it comes to pairing fish with red wine, Hahn Estate chef Dyon Foster tells us: “You should always consider acid first, and not in the Timothy Leary or Hunter S. Thompson sense, but more in the lemon juice, tomato sauce, capers and vinegar sense, as I would only condone use of the latter whilst working with knives or open flames.” A lively tomato-caper sauce goes great with the bright, mildly acidic cherry-driven flavors of a California Pinot Noir.

A derivative of the 18th century Blue Stocking Society—an English collective established to promote literature written for women, by women—this volunteer-powered bookstore, activist center and fair trade cafe stays true to its eponym housing over 6,000 titles on feminism, sexuality, anarchism, social justice and queer and gender studies. There’s even a case devoted to alternative menstrual products, affectionately labeled “BSTOX.”

This cramped, subterranean transit nave wasn’t always the catacomb of controlled chaos New Yorkers love to hate. Inspired by the Roman Baths of Caracalla and shaped from the same stone as the Colosseum, the original 1910 Penn was regarded as one of the most noble buildings in Manhattan. Sadly, the grand facade was destroyed in 1963, and in 1969, the city erected the fluorescent-lit battleship gray concourse you tolerate today.