Author: jay.c

Documentary Filmmaker, senior digital content producer and teacher with a passion for using storytelling to educate people on healthcare, culture, arts, education, equality, human rights and more.
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Semana Santa (Holy Week) Madrid, Spain

The entire country shuts down this week with processions Thursday and Friday before Easter.

Every neighborhood across the country participates. The pagentry is mesmerizing.

Visiting Americans are usually taken aback by the klan-like robes. The centuries-old tradition behind wearing these robes was for the wearers to be anonymous before God with the conical hood stream lining the soul to the heavens as an act of forgiveness for past sins.

My favorite thing about the holiday season are the torrijas, a special bread made only at Easter.

Think crusty cinnamon with a lemon custard filling. Heaven. We got ours from La Duquesita in Malasana.

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Day in the Life of a Black Transgender NYC Woman: A 17-Year Video Study

We meet Tiffany, with her then boyfriend, Nate, in the Marsha P. Norman Harlem shelter for queer children in Harlem in 2008. We follow up with her again in 2014 where she lives in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and again in 2024 at the entrance of a midtown subway in Manhattan.

There are 34 short segments in this series. It is an unvarnished look into one transgender woman’s life but the issues that plague our society; race, inequality, gender, mental health, poverty, sexuality, and so much more, ripple through every segment.

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LaToya Ruby Frazier: Secrets for Success in Art and Activism

This past summer I took my visiting nephews to the Museum of Modern Art, (MoMA), in New York City. Walking through a gallery, I noticed a crowd around a young dynamic woman talking about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. I have never been to a major museum where the artist, in this case, LaToya Ruby Frazier, was on hand to speak about her work. It was such a privilege. Within seconds of being in her compelling presence, I grabbed my phone and started recording. Her communication and storytelling skills mesmerize.

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Waymo Takes The Lead In the Robo Taxi Arms Race

On a recent trip to San Francisco my friend Tassos treated us to Waymo’s robotaxi. When I first saw the Jaguar SUV silently slither up and down the San Francisco hills, I thought , “No way will I get in one of those”. But when I saw more driver-less taxis throughout the day, and they weren’t bursting into flames and maiming people on sidewalks, I had another think. I had to try it.

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9/11 Personal Evacuation Kit

After the 9/11 attacks, we were given by our employer, Scudder Investments, now Deutsche Bank, a personal evacuation kit.

The months after the attack, many of us working in NYC office buildings thought another attack was imminent. I felt a bit safer with my personal evacuation kit. With my trusty kit under my arm, I would get out of a burning building unscathed.

Twenty three years later, I still keep my kit next to my desk at work. Fortunately, I have never needed it.

Yesterday I finally opened it.

Personal Evacuation Kit
Kit Ingredients

It’s funny what we think will keep us safe.

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Morning Meditation

Before I dashed to work one morning I was astonished at the beauty I almost missed, had I not slowed down and looked and listened to the awe of now.

Ancram, NY taken with iPhone with no retouching
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First-Generation NYC Students Develop Business Skills to Help Harlem Business Owners

In a time when anti-immigration rhetoric is scaling new heights in the US and the EU, there is a bright spot in the U.S. migration story. A New York City pilot program teaches first-generation high school students financial literacy and entrepreneurship. It is a win for all communities involved.

First-Generation Entrepreneurs Trailer
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