Method Climbing is a unique space in Newark. You wouldn’t believe it but the basement of Walker House hosts a 12,000 square-foot rock climbing facility and gym. The space is a draw for rock climbing and bouldering enthusiasts, as well as many people who are interested but not experienced in the sport. On top of that, they operate a full-service café seven days a week.

Rich Song, one of the partners in the business, comes onto the podcast to discuss how the gym came about, opportunities and challenges that have faced them along the way, and what he hopes the space will be.

We are turning the tables this time! Tehsuan Glover, a local journalist and sartorial savant, recorded this conversation with our host, Manny Antunes, in May 2022. While there are some dated references, the conversation remains fresh and topical. We covered nearly everything under the sun: Manny’s journey through his careers; Newark elections; rap and hip & hop; the artistic process; cocktails; our ambitions.

Note: We recorded during a thunderstorm. We apologize for the shock!

Guest:

Tehsuan Glover—Tehsuan is the publisher and editor-in-chief of The Newark Times, a locally-based and sourced publication that covers the news and events of Newark. He is also an excellent dresser.

Background & Articles:

The Newark Times: here

Robert Caro’s LBJ Series: here

Manny’s Newarker Piece about the 2022 Election: here

Manny’s Newarker Piece about the Equalization Tables: here

On April 18, Mayor Ras Baraka gave the annual State of the City at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the ninth of his tenure as chief executive of the city. The event began with a poem reading, the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner and Lift Every Voice and Sing, and the performance of a spoke word piece. Past Nivea Nieves led the invocation.

The speech lasted about an hour and hit six major topic areas, each punctuated with video testimonials from Newark residents and city officials and partners. Those six topic areas could be categorized as: public safety; education; amenities/quality of life; housing/economic equity; employment/economic development; and pandemic/health/arts. While lighter on new initiatives and policies than in the past, the State of the City covered many of the existing programs and focuses of the administration while expounding the plans to grow such programs. The mayor ended with the repeated phrases of “Newark and Proud of It'“ and “Hold the Line.”

Mark Bonamo joins the podcast this episode—our first in almost a year—to talk through the speech, the questions it raised, the swirling rumors about a potential run by the mayor for Governor of New Jersey, and the overall state of the city.

Mark Bonamo—Mark is the Editor-in-Chief of TAPInto Newark and a Newark resident. He has long reported on local news and politics in Newark. For many years, TAPInto Newark has been recognized as the state’s best local news website by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Background & Articles:

• TAPInto Piece on the State of the City: here

• Facebook Live Feed of the Speech: here

• NJ.com Piece on the “Sister Cities” Issue: here

• TAPInto Piece on Absenteeism in Newark Public Schools: here

• TAPInto Piece on Trades High School Scandal: here

Quote:

“It finally hit me some dozen or so years later. I had come to Santa Fe to interview a painter and was sitting in a local pizza parlor, drinking beer and eating pizza and watching a miraculously beautiful sunset. Everything was soaked in brilliant red—my hand, the plate, the table, the world—as if some special kind of fruit juice had splashed down on everything. In the midst of this overwhelming sunset, the image of Hatsumi flashed into my mind, and in that moment I understood what that tremor of the heart had been. It was a king of childhood longing that had always remained—and would forever remain—unfulfilled.” Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

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In 1999, the Newark Alliance was founded to lead efforts around the ongoing economic revitalization of Newark, with the goal of “transform[ing Newark] into a better and safer place to work, live, learn, play, and do business.” Part of this vision includes turning Newark into a true “regional city” through efforts in four broad strategic areas. The Alliance is supported by several, major private sector institutions including Audible, Mars Wrigley, RWJBarnabas, Prudential, and PSEG, as well as several public sector institutions like NJIT, Rutgers, NJPAC, University Hospital, and the MCJ Amelior Foundations. The Alliance leads many marquee programs, including the Newark Anchor Collaborative, Hire Newark, Live Local, and Career Works.

Evan Weiss became the President and CEO of the Newark Alliance in December 2021. He previously was the Senior Advisor for Finance and Major Projects to Governor Phil Murphy, where he led the state’s fiscal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and was the point person for key initiatives in Newark, Trenton, and Atlantic City. Evan joins the podcast to discuss his vision for the Alliance and what his plans for the organization are.

Guest:

Evan Weiss—Evan is the President and CEO of the Newark Alliance, assuming the role in December 2021. He was Senior Advisor for Finance for Major Projects to Governor Murphy. Before that, he was Director at the Pennsylvania Economy League and HJA Strategies. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago.

Background & Articles:

Website for the Newark Alliance: here

News about the Greenway: here

The Newark Gift Card: here

Quote:

“It was clear now why Yahweh had not struck down the tower, had not punished men for wishing to reach beyond the bounds set for them: for the longest journey would merely return them to the place whence they’d come.”—Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang

Newark’s municipal elections are in full swing. Walking around the city, you will see political advertisements promoting the different candidates running for office. . According to the city clerk’s office, there are 25 candidates running for 10 offices, including mayor, councilperson at large, and councilperson for the respective wards across the city. You may see debates on local television, read profiles in newspapers, engage with campaign volunteers on the street, or even attend events with the candidates. Here, on the podcast, we are striving to do our part in highlighting the importance of this election with interviews of candidates who have accepted our invitation to come on. Today, we have Councilwoman LaMonica McIver on to talk about her bid for re-election, her campaign for office, and her platform. Councilwoman McIver represents the Central Ward—which encompasses areas traditionally considered downtown, the area around University Hospital, much of Springfield Avenue, and most of Lower Broadway.

Guest:

LaMonica McIver—Councilwoman McIver currently represents the Central Ward (which happens to be my district) on the Newark City Council, a seat she has held since 2018, when she was first elected to the position. She grew up in the Central Ward and is a graduate of Central High School, Bloomfield College, and Seton Hall University. Before holding elected office, she worked in Newark Public Schools, serving as a clerk, a system analyst, and eventually as a Human Resources Regional Partners. She founded Newark GALS, Inc. in 2021, a nonprofit that provides enrichment camps for young women in Newark. Councilwoman McIver is also running on the Team Baraka ticket, which includes candidates endorsed by Mayor Baraka.

Background & Articles:

McIver’s Candidate Website: here

Newark Election Registration: here

Over a century ago, walking down the streets of Newark, constant reminders of Newark’s preeminent brewing and beermaking industry would have scattered the landscape. Massive factories like Ballantine’s and Kruger’s would have churned out hundreds of barrels of lager and ale each day. Ornate mansions built by the owners and executives of these brands dotted neighborhoods. That is to say nothing about the hundreds of bars, taverns, and taprooms throughout the different ethnic communities throughout the city. While many have ascribed Newark’s success with brewing to the water flowing from the Appalachian Highlands to the city, the story is really a demographic one. Newark was host to English, Scots-Irish, German, Polish, and Irish (Catholic) immigrants, all with proven beer cultures that they brought from the Old World. It was this great demand for beer along with the requisite know-how that launched the city into the pantheon of great American beer cities. Nevertheless, a combination of Prohibition, deindustrialization, and a mass exodus of many of these same immigrant groups all but hollowed out Newark’s brewing industry. The only remnant of that industry, for decades, was the Anheuser-Busch plant that straddles the Newark-Elizabeth border. Steve Hughes, co-owner and operator of Newark Local Beer, is looking to turn this narrative around. Launched in 2021, Newark Local Beer sits at the base of Walker House on Broad Street and offers over ten different beers on site. Steve came onto the podcast to discuss his vision, why he is brewing in Newark, and what the brewery has in store for the city.

Guest:

Steve Hughes—Steve and his wife, Miller, are the owners of Newark Local Beer. He was born and raised in Hanover, New Hampshire. Miller grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. The couple now reside in Montclair, New Jersey with their two children.

Background & Articles:

Newark Local Beer website: here

NJ.com Article about the brewery: here

North Jersey Media Group’s 9 Fun Things to Do in North Jersey: here

Montclair Brewery: here

Four City Brewing Company: here

Departed Soles Brewing Company: here

Ghost Hawk Brewing Company: here

Alementary Brewing Company: here

Hackensack Brewing Company: here

Jack’s Abby: here

Exhibit A Brewing: here

Trace Brewing (in Bloomfield): here

Brief History of the Beer Revival: here

Quote:

“Beer is never a settled matter, and beer styles never live forever. As craft brewing has revived interest in taste and variety, we’re seeing preferences diverge from country to country. . . . Belgians are making hoppy beers, and Americans are making Belgian ales. The French are making cask ale, and the British are discovering craft lager. These trends get fed back into the cultural mill, shifting and mutating until they’ve created something yet again different and new. We can’t know how beer will taste in fifty years except to say this: It won't taste like it does now.”—The Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth

2022 is an election year in Newark. Candidates for mayor and council have declared their intention to run, and votes will be cast on May 10. Newark has off-off cycle elections, in that our elections occur off-cycle from both the New Jersey and U.S. Presidential elections and the federally-recognized election day in November.

Mark Bonamo has joined the podcast to discuss the lay of the election landscape and what to expect from this cycle.

Pod & Market will invite all candidates for city-wide office onto the podcast for a short interview segment to provide the residents of Newark (and those interested) with information about these candidates. (The host of the podcast is actively supporting one of the candidates for the East Ward seat and will therefore be looking for guest hosts to conduct those interviews.)

Note: This conversation was recorded a few days before the window for submitting candidate petitions closed. Much of what was discussed in the episode remains relevant and on-point. If you would like to keep up with the election, please check out local news outlets like TAPInto Newark for up-to-date information.

Guest:

Mark Bonamo—Mark is the Editor-in-Chief of TAPInto Newark and a Newark resident. He has long reported on local news and politics in Newark. For the last three years, TAPInto Newark has been recognized as the state’s best local news website by the Society of Professional Journalists.

Background & Articles:

Register to Vote: here

TAPInto Newark: here

Newark City Clerk’s Google Drive: here

U.S. Census Page for Newark: here

Sharpe James Threatens Suit for Certification Denial: here

Wikipedia on 2014 Newark Mayor Election: here

Justice Department’s Announcement of Charges Against Joseph McCallum: here

Amador Announces Stepping Down from Council: here

Quote:

“Democracy in an era of enormously complex global constellations and powers requires a people who are educated, thoughtful, and democratic in sensibility. This means a people modestly knowing about these constellations and powers; a people with capacities of discernment and judgment in relation to what it reads, watches, or hears about a range of developments in its world; and a people oriented toward common concerns and governing itself.”—Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s Stealth Revolution by Wendy Brown

“Harlem. 2005. Let’s say that you are a sixty-nine-year-old Jamaican man called Stanford, or Stan for short, who once faked your own death.” Thus begins These Ghosts Are Family, the debut novel of Maisy Card. Published in 2020, These Ghosts Are Family is the intergenerational story of the Paisley Family, one that harbors many secrets, including the faked death of Abel Paisely, which starts the book, and how the family grapples with history, trauma, slavery, White guilt, abandonment, poverty, and the Jamaican diaspora, among many other issues. Mia Alvar of the New York Times Book Review described the book as “a rich, ambitious debut novel, [where the] the ghosts bracingly remind [the reader] that no family history is comprehensive, that some riddles of ancestry and heritage persist beyond this lifetime.” Hannah Giorgis of the Atlantic wrote that the novel “moves across time and space as it deftly weaves the families’ paths . . . a tale of the most monstrous acts: intimate betrayals with unthinkable consequences.” Bookpage, in my favorite single line of any review of this book, said “There is magic in these pages.”

Maisy joins to podcast to discuss releasing her debut novel, the inspirations for her book, the themes present in her book, and her future plans as a writer.

Guest:

Maisy Card—Maisy is an author, librarian, and Newark resident. She was born in Portmore, Jamaica and was raised in Queens. She is also a graduate of Wesleyan University and of Brooklyn College’s MFA in Fiction program. Aside from being an adjunct in writing at Columbia, she was also a librarian at Newark Public Library and is a librarian with Donald Payne Tech. 

Background & Articles:

Maisy Card’s author page: here

These Ghosts Are Family Book Page: here

Bookmarks Collection of Reviews of the Book: here

Quote:

“Underneath the eloquence, the glamour, the scholarly associations, however stirring or seductive, the heat of such language is languishing, or perhaps not beating at all–if the bird is already dead.” Toni Morrison, Lecture for the Nobel Prize in Literature [source: The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations]

If you find yourself walking down Halsey Street lately, you may have noticed that several of the previously empty storefronts are now filled with interesting concepts and brand new retail experiences. Most (if not all) of these new experiences are being spearheaded by Newarkers: from Boss Blend to Halsey Co. to 19B to Brown Mill. As COVID restrictions have begun to subside and people begin to feel safe hanging out in groups, the bustle usually associated with Halsey Street is slowly returning, due in no small part to these startups. One of these new retail spots is part of Brick City Varsity, a Newark-obsessed brand offering immersive pop-up shopping experiences and photography. The pop-up is the brainchild of Larry Lyons and offers cintage clothing (and, on some special nights, karaoke in the back). Larry comes on the podcast this week to discuss his business, his identity, and other musings about life, art, and the world at large.

Guest:

Larry Lyons—Larry is the principal and founder of Brick City Varsity. He has lectured and taught courses in 20th Century American literature, sociology, and composition at Rutgers and Princeton Universities. He is also an independent consultant, who provides marketing, communications strategy, and creative services for clients in the fields of education, public relations, nonprofits, and the arts. He is also an activist, centering on antiviolence, queer safe space, and black maternal health.

Background & Articles:

Larry Lyons’ Profile on Queer Newark: here

Brick City Varsity website: here

Revolution ‘67 page: here

Being Again by Eddie Glaude: here

Murder of Sakia Gunn article: here

Murder of Rashawn Brazell article: here

Newark Pride site: here

POSE TV Show: here

Quote: “We go out to be gay. We crave this when once again growing bored with the straight world. I will announce to [my date]: I want to be gay this weekend. This carries an ineffable but precise connotation along the lines of white girl wasted. It means we don’t want to, for example, attend a recital of minimalist composition. That’s something we might otherwise do. But when we decide to be gay, we want to dance to ‘Startships’ by Nicki Minaj, and go downhill from there.” Gay Bar, by Jeremy Atherton Lin

Being the host of a podcast in Newark means constantly keeping your ear to the ground to see who else is part of or joining the conversation. It is always interesting to see what other podcasts are sharing the Newark story to a broader audience. Which is why it’s so exciting to have Roger C. Tucker III come onto the podcast to discuss his own journey and his show. Roger is the host of “What’s Newark Got to do With It?,” a biweekly podcast that features interviews with artists, historians, authors, curators, and other cultural though leaders through the city. The conversations on the show delve into the cultural impact and lifelong influences the city has, and continues to have, on their lives and careers. Each episode is truly a deep dive into the history of Newark.

Guest:

Roger C. Tucker III—Roger is the host and producer of the “What’s Newark Got to Do With It?” podcast. He was also the CEO of Tucker Hilliard Marketing Communications and the Founder/Director of Tucker Contemporary Art, as well as an academically trained artist with art featured in museums and galleries across the metro area. He has a BFA from Cooper Union, an MS from the Pratt Institute, and an Art Business Professional Certificate from New York University. He has also served on the board of Cooper Union and the Education Advisory Committee of Montclair Art Museum and is the Board President of Glassroots.

Background & Articles:

What’s Newark Got to Do With It? Website: here

Tucker Contemporary Art Website: here

Newark Arts High Website: here

Wikipedia Page on Anthony Imperiale: here

Article on Whitney Mural: here

Quote:

“And we’ll pretend the people cannot see you. That is, the citizens. And that you are free of your own history. And I am free of my history. We’ll pretend that we are both anonymous beauties smashing along through the city’s entrails.” LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), Dutchman