Ellen Freudenheim

I'd never heard of Samuel I. Schwartz before this morning's coffee and The New York Times.

But, Samuel I. Schwartz, I'm blowing a kiss your way.

Schwartz, a former traffic commissioner under New York City Mayor Koch, has weighed in for a green, practical alternative...

The sun has barely set on the final day of the 42nd annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, when a special after-party gears up, horns blaring, in the historic Treme section of town.

Jazz trumpeter, vocalist and bandleader Kermit Ruffins, a fixture on the New Orleans jazz...

What's important and topical on Martin Luther King Day 2012?

Education.

Education was the theme of the jam-packed, sold-out, sixth annual MLK Day celebration at the Brooklyn Museum on January 15th, 2012, In MLK's Footsteps: Education as a Civil Right, moderated by WNYC's Peabody Award-winning radio...

Is there anyone in New York who doesn't now know what 99% versus 1% means?

Two short months ago, 1% was more likely to be associated with skim milk than political protest.

These four words, WE ARE THE 99% -- a great populist tag line -- have defined an...

On Independence Day weekend, here's an open letter to the femmes of France about gender relations and sexual harassment in the French workplace, in light of the ongoing DSK saga playing out in New York:

It's been quite the season for public spectacle, thanks to the penile peccadilloes of powerful politicos. In fact, it's beginning to feel like there's an epidemic of politician's sex scandals.

This past week the public's been treated, if that's the word, to a series of often hilarious...

Democracy in action is a beautiful thing to see.

For the past few weeks, a colorful, makeshift camp erected by young Spanish protestors demanding government and banking reform have transformed Madrid's Puerta del Sol plaza into the symbol of a new wave of European populist activism.

As the summer...

This past week played like a cautionary tale in reputation management. It could be titled The Powerbroker and the Celebrity.

And the moral of the story is that when something threatens a public persona's reputation, there are just a few ways to go: the High Road,...

Twenty-five years ago, Brooklyn had an image problem. Print, radio and TV media coverage tapped a steady drumbeat of robbery and street crime, gunfights and homicides in Brooklyn. If there was headline news about Brooklyn, it screamed organized crime or deadly drug deals.

Of course, that wasn't all that...