Indo-Carribeans Worship the Goddess Kali

At the Rajkumari Center for Indo-Caribbean Arts and Culture in Richmond Hill, Indo-Caribbean traditions from Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname are taught, preserved and passed on through sacred ritual and social interaction.

Every Sunday the Indo-Carribean community (originally from the Madrasi region of India) gathers at the Shri Maha Kali Devi Mandir temple on the border of Queens and Brooklyn for hours of healings and song devoted to the Hindu Mother Goddess Kali.

Click on the photo below to launch the audio slideshow.

This audio slideshow and accompanying story about folk arts in Queens is published on Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism's website, City of Change.

From Central Asia To A New Homeland

From her seventeenth floor apartment in LeFrak City, Gulchekhra Alimova runs Vatan Asia, a grassroots immigrant association that helps the growing number of Central Asian immigrants assimilate into American life.

Since she established the non-profit organization in 2003, it has grown to approximately 25 active members and over 100 volunteers. Alimova has become the inadvertent go-to person for Central Asian immigrant needs.

Alimova said Vatan Asia, which translates to "Homeland Asia" in Uzbek, has a network of about 5,000 in New York and 9,000 across the U.S. Alimova said she will now seek city grants or government sponsorship for her association.

This story was published in the Queens Tribune.

Corona: a neighborhood transformed

by Channtal Fleischfresser and Laura Isensee

Click on the photo to listen to Corona residents talk about the changes in their neighborhood over the last 30 years.