“The Place Where We Dwell: Reading And Writing About New York City”      

By Juanita But, Article Contributed By Craig McGuire

In this textbook designed for use in introductory composition courses, the editors (City U. of New York) have collected examples of writings (including poems, fictions, and nonfiction essays) about life in New York City from such figures as John Steinbeck, Ralph Ellison, E.B. White, Junot Diaz, Emma Lazarus, June Jordan, Andrew Carnegie, Jacob Riis, Jonathon Kozol, Colin Powell, Walt Whitman, Herman Melville, Ezra Pound, Langston Hughes, Pedro Pietri, and Jack Kerouac. The 60 selections are grouped in thematic sections focused the experience of life in New York, the immigrant experience, violence and social tensions, education, current issues (graffiti and the bid to host the Olympics), and literature. Each selection is followed by discussion questions and student writing exercises.

While developing this compendium, the editors contacted author Craig McGuire and requested permission to include an article he produced that previously ran in the Gotham Gazette: “From Subways to Streets: Graffiti in NYC.”

From Subways to Streets: Graffiti in NYC

By Craig McGuire

Members of the Glendale Civilian Observation Patrol were so disgusted by the graffiti “tags” that blanketed thousands of locations in their neighborhood in Northwest Queens that they set up surveillance cameras in several trouble spots in the 104th police precinct. In one spot alone, the group taped more than 50 people, 25 of whom were arrested and made to wear bright T-shirts announcing that they are graffiti offenders while cleaning up the marred site… (Click Here to Read More)