The Jets are 1-2. Their former coach Bill Parcells, who won two Super Bowls with the Giants, famously said, “You are what your record says you are.” Both things can be true at once.

Yes, the Jets have a losing record going into their Week 4 road matchup against the 2-1 Chicago Bears this Sunday. However, they have the elements of a team that is rising. After a 23-10 seasoning opening road win over the Tennessee Titans (0-3), the Jets relinquished a 10-point lead in Week 2 at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and lost to the Green Bay Packers (1-2) 20-17 in overtime. Last Sunday, they went toe-to-toe with the Lions (2-1) in Detroit, but ultimately took a 31-24 defeat.

Still, the signs are evident that the Jets possess the tools to build a strong foundation to become a playoff contender. It’s unlikely they’ll reach that level this season, but an eight- or nine-win campaign is achievable. Better in-game decisions by the coaching staff, led by second-year head coach Aaron Glenn, and more precise execution by the players in all three phases of the game — offense, defense and special teams — will increase their probability of winning close games.

“Right here, it’s this gap we have to close, and that’s from a coaching and players’ perspective,” said Glenn, using his fingers to illustrate a small separation after the Lions game. Glenn was the defensive coordinator for Detroit from 2021 to 2024 prior to being hired by the Jets in January 2025.

“These guys are going to fight, and it’s a belief system also,” Glenn added. “Our guys believe all the work that was put in in OTAs and training camp, man. We’re right here and our guys know it’s this gap right here that we got to close.”

With veteran Geno Smith having stabilized the quarterback position, throwing for 321 yards while connecting on 31 of 37 pass attempts against the Lions, the Jets finally have a signal caller who instills confidence that the offense can manufacture enough production and points to be consistently competitive. The defense currently is second in the league in yards allowed per game at 258.3. The Jets still have 14 games remaining in the regular season and a long and grueling path ahead. Nevertheless, there is plausible reason for optimism from their fans.

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Elected officials rallied at the Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx on Tuesday, Sept. 22, to call attention to the need for New York City to address the harmful conditions and overcrowding that Black and Brown youth in juvenile detention are facing.

“They think these kids are not human,” said Violetta King, 68. She is mother to Mary King, 46, and grandmother to a 15-year-old who is at Horizon.

Councilmember Althea Stevens, who chairs the youth committee and the Black steering committee, along with fellow electeds, completed a tour of Horizon Juvenile Center. They spoke with juveniles and staff at the center about complaints involving overcrowding, few sleeping spaces, lack of or limited access to education, programming, bathrooms and showers, being denied basic needs, and missing communication with their families.

The Legal Aid Society said that Horizon and Crossroads youth detention centers had approximately 374 young people with a certified capacity of 244. The coalition of electeds, parents and advocates called for the city to decarcerate the youth facilities and release at least 150 young people to their communities by December with access to services and legal support.

Among these complaints about housing conditions are more serious allegations of instances of violence. King alleged that Williams was beaten, didn’t receive medical attention, was left in solitary confinement and without schooling or access to a social worker following an incident with an officer. She made five separate complaints against the facility, which were returned “unfounded,” said King.

“The lawyer didn’t tell us about the court date. They came to my house; they removed my son from the house because they said he had a bench warrant because he failed to come to court,” said Laquasia Tatum, 36, a city worker whose son is currently at Horizon. “My son didn’t come from a troubled home at all. It’s simply his lawyer failing to reach out.”

Tatum alleged that while her son was held at Horizon, he was attacked and injured by other juveniles and staff.

“We cannot normalize these conditions that these young people are living in,” said Stevens.

Raise the Age falling short?

According to state statistics, Black and Hispanic youth made up 33% of 16- and 17-year-old youth statewide, but 72% of all arrests in that age group in 2018. After several years of advocacy, Raise the Age legislation was signed into law by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017. The law removed youth who have committed a crime from the adult criminal justice system, like Rikers Island, and placed them in age-appropriate youth detention centers.

It was seen as a meaningful step toward rehabilitation for nonviolent youths of color who have made mistakes. Horizon was also newly renovated at the time, having had both city and state money invested in its education and counseling programs.

However, in practice for less than a decade, the law seems to be falling short.

“When we were supporting Raise the Age, we had a different hope. We had a vision for rehabilitation that was going to take our kids and provide mental health support, provide them a path to a different future, but that’s not what we’re experiencing today,” said Councilmember Pierina Sanchez at the press conference.

“There’s a reason why we didn’t want them at Rikers Island. We didn’t want them to lose hope,” said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who joined the visit. “It’s also not lost on me that every one of those kids are Black and Brown. That’s it, not even one that fits another description. And I believe that if it looked a little different, we probably wouldn’t be having these conversations.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has been in favor of closing Rikers and decarceration, as well as shifting policing through the city’s lofty goals outlined in the Racial Equity Plan. The Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice recently announced this September a partnership with the Administration for Children’s Services and the Department of Probation aimed at reducing the number of young people in the city’s detention centers, investing in workforce development, less restrictive alternatives to incarceration, and reducing case delays. ACS added that it is currently renovating existing facilities, enhancing security measures, onboarding additional staff members, developing updated staff training, and increasing youth educational and employment opportunities.

“ACS is committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for youth and staff in our secure detention centers,” said an ACS spokesperson. “We were pleased that members of the City Council and the Public Advocate had the opportunity to see our secure detention facility, meet with staff and young people, and learn more about the ways in which we are working to improve conditions of care and reduce the number of young people in secure detention.”

While the electeds praised Mamdani for his stance on decarceration so far, many at the press conference vowed to hold him accountable if he doesn’t follow through. Stevens plans to hold a hearing through the youth committee in October to closely examine the current conditions of the city’s juvenile justice system.

“These are children,” said Stevens. “We have to take this as a failure. We failed them.”

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Last month, the Legal Aid Society, the country’s oldest public defense organization, found that the city paid out more than $53.5 million for NYPD misconduct claims in the first half of this year. The total payouts since 2018, when the city started disclosing the data, now approach $1 billion in taxpayer money.

Amanda Jack, the director of policy for the Legal Society’s Criminal Law Reform Unit, says investing in public services and resources will prevent these lawsuits and save taxpayer money later on. She specifically points to investing in behavioral healthcare and education, commending recent emphasis on the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program.

“It goes without saying at this point that we all know that the safest communities aren’t the most policed,” said Jack. “They’re the most well-resourced… There are countless investments that have been identified over and over. And then, the big promise that [Mayor Zohran Mamdani] made that we have yet to see come to fruition is to start to really build out a crisis response that doesn’t include the police.”

Since 2022, the city has paid out more than $100 million annually, with a staggering $206 million awarded in 2024. The lawsuits themselves are often undisclosed due to settlement agreements, but more sizable payouts potentially stem from use-of-force injuries or false imprisonment. This most recent analysis shows the city is again on pace for another nine-figure year of payouts.

The legislation disclosing how much the city paid to resolve NYPD misconduct cases passed in 2017 and was enacted the following year under former mayor Bill de Blasio, who long championed police transparency while serving as public advocate. Data now comes out twice a year, with Legal Aid Society analysis usually not far behind.

While these numbers likely carry over from incidents and allegations that occurred under past mayors like de Blasio and Eric Adams, Jack called on Mamdani to deliver on several campaign promises regarding police reform, including abolishing the Criminal Group Database, which almost exclusively surveils young Black and Brown men as alleged gang members, and the Strategic Response Group, a unit often named in misconduct suits regarding protests and other First Amendment activity. Legal Aid also pointed to continued “quality of life” enforcement against lower-level offenses under NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who was retained from the previous Adams administration.

Jack, however, also credited Mamdani for appointing Jennifer Jones Austin as chair of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates NYPD officer misconduct and recommends discipline to the police commissioner. Previously, the watchdog agency went without a permanent head for more than half a decade.

Divad Durant, a member of the police reform organization Justice Committee, called for pivoting away from criminalizing poor people and against upholding “broken windows policing,” a disproven policing strategy involving prevalent low-level enforcement. He believes these practices lead to unnecessary NYPD encounters that can mutate into a misconduct lawsuit.

“[The] Justice Committee has worked with families since the ’90s who have dealt with the issue of trying to hold police accountable because of police abuse and police harassment,” said Durant. “We need to see real discipline, and if we don’t, it fuels this cycle of impunity where New Yorkers pay the price, and we will continue to see those same numbers, if not higher, if there isn’t real discipline.”

He specifically mentions Lt. Jonathan Rivera, who remains in the NYPD despite Justice Committee efforts to remove him from the force after killing Washington Heights resident Allan Feliz in 2019. Mamdani himself called for the officer’s firing last year while serving as an assemblymember. Despite an internal NYPD ruling that Rivera, who was named in multiple lawsuits, violated NYPD rules with a fireable offense, Commissioner Jessica Tisch, whom Mamdani retained from the previous Adams administration, overrode any discipline against him.

This week, an independent monitor tasked with NYPD oversight after the landmark Floyd v. City of New York lawsuit — which found the department liable for racially profiling Black and Brown New Yorkers — found that stop-and-frisks remain more than a decade later. Samah Sisay, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the original case, expressed her disappointment in a statement over Legal Aid’s findings.

“Officers continue to racially profile individuals and engage in unconstitutional stop, question, and frisk, among many other constitutional violations,” said Sisay. “It is time for Mayor Mamdani to listen to the community members who elected him and ensure that NYPD officers and supervisors are disciplined and, if warranted, fired for engaging in racist and unconstitutional policing practices.”

The NYPD did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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The economic system of capitalism is manifestly premised on social order and hierarchy. Those who control the vast amount of riches seek to limit its distribution and dictate its fundamental utilization.  

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, posited: “The liberty of democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself.”

Federal legislators, compelled largely by college administrators and coaches, who represent the private power FDR noted, have moved to reverse the liberty of college athletes through the Protect College Sports Act (PCSA) — with an implicit emphasis on Black athletes. The federal bill stridently pushed by President Donald Trump was passed on Monday by a Senate vote of 77-22. It now moves for consideration to the House of Representatives, a 435-member body that is in recess until after next month’s midterm elections.

If passed by the House, which as of today is dubious, President Trump has guaranteed he will sign the bill and make it law. Among other guidelines, the PCSA will grant the NCAA a circumscribed antitrust exemption, defenses against student-athletes unionizing, restrict the amount of money student-athletes can receive from NIL (name, image and likeness) deals, and limit the number of times they can transfer to another school.

In reality, the Protect College Sports Act is a misnomer. It should be more aptly named the Protect The Power Of Coaches And Administrators Act. It is essentially designed to suppress the agency of college athletes, such as Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who reportedly makes roughly $6.5 million via NIL. It denies young stars the opportunity to maximize their earning potential, the ability to seek more favorable athletic and monetary circumstances through the NCAA’s transfer portal, and not be beholden to the coaches. Prior to the advent of NIL in July 2022 and unlimited transfers, coaches practically held athletes hostage by weaponizing playing time and threatening to revoke their year-to-year athletic scholarships.

The NCAA is in name only a nonprofit that regulates student athletics for over 1,100 colleges and universities. For the fiscal year 2024, the most recent period the AmNews was able to obtain data, the organization generated nearly $1.4 billion in revenue. Over a period of the past four decades, college athletes and their supporters fought exhaustive court battles to secure the right for student-athletes to benefit from this country’s capitalistic system by leveraging their ability and value to earn money. Now, that it is in danger of being retracted through government regulation.

The hypocrisy of it all was illuminated this past Tuesday at the White House when President Trump hosted a lunch attended by nearly 20 of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world — almost exclusively white men. Tech giants including Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, are at the forefront of the race to be the leaders of AI (artificial intelligence) development, which President Trump is endeavoring to rename super intelligence.  

A growing concern among many AI experts and the general United States population is that the technology, which has the increasing capability to be an existential threat to society, is lacking the necessary guardrails that would provide requisite security. But unlike the proposed federal bill to contain the capitalistic aspirations of college athletes, Trump said he subscribed to “tremendous self-regulation” for tech titans literally holding the future of the world at their fingertips.

What that means is esoteric, but it reaffirmed the inherent classism and racism of America’s economic machine.

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Football season has brought back revered traditions well known to HBCU students and alumni. It also marked the return of the P&G HBCYOU Tour, powered by HBCU GO, a sports media provider that not only showcases the athletic excellence at HBCU institutions but also highlights their rich history and cultural depth.

The HBCYOU tour included stops at Southern University, Texas Southern, Howard, Spelman, Morehouse, Hampton, Florida A&M and North Carolina A&T. The goal of the tour is the shared mission of P&G and HBCU GO to celebrate students and create memorable experiences. P&G generously shared its brands in the P&G House of Everyday Essentials.

“We have a booth that we took out to a certain amount of schools starting in the latter part of August. We had a DJ in there and merchandise,” said HBCU GO president and co-founder Curtis Symonds. “Then we had another phase where they were giving gift bags. The last phase of it was at some football games. … We got a good response on each campus that we went on with at least 2,000 to 3,000 kids coming by.”

Symonds is a graduate of Central State University, an HBCU in Ohio. Wanting to share not only HBCU sports but also the culture of these institutions, he kept promoting the concept, which in 2021 was acquired by Byron Allen of Allen Media Group.

“We created a show called ‘Crowned’ with P&G as the sponsors,” said Symonds. The original docuseries went behind the scenes of campus coronations. “People hadn’t seen what it takes to become a king and queen on an HBCU campus.”

Symonds noted that HBCU culture includes incredible halftime shows at football games. Some people just attend the tailgate festivities outside the stadiums, and HBCU GO wants to make people excited to go into the stadium, watch a game and see the amazing entertainment.

“In these five years I’ve worked hard on bringing the tailgate into the stadium,” Symonds said. “We’ve been able to start moving slowly some of that traffic into the stadiums. … Another thing, the games have gotten better and better over the years. That’s driving more people into the stadiums.

“Each university has a story,” he added. “We started with sports, but the overall premise of the network was about the history, the legacy, and the HBCU culture.”

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Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy will celebrate his 90th birthday with an all-star cast of special guests at Radio City Music Hall on Oct. 1. “Buddy’s Got the Blues: A 90th Birthday Concert Celebration,” hosted by Blackbird Presents, the company behind Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival, “will celebrate Buddy’s remarkable legacy through unforgettable performances, once-in-a-lifetime collaborations, and heartfelt tributes from artists whose music and careers were profoundly shaped by his influence,” according to Guy’s website.

Buddy Guy is a progenitor of Chicago blues alongside veterans like Muddy Waters. His electric sound would prove largely influential to a generation of rock and roll musicians including Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Guy has explored all avenues of the blues over his storied career, landing a hit record in 1991 with “Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues” and recently appearing in Ryan Coogler’s Academy Award-winning film, “Sinners,” in 2025.

Guy will be joined by a slew of friends and special guests, including fellow “Sinners” performer Eric Gales; fellow blues pioneer Bobby Rush, who is Guy’s senior by a couple of years at 92; contemporary masters like Jon Batiste, John Mayer, Gary Clarke Jr. and Isaiah Sharkey; and genre legends like Eric Clapton, Billy Gibbons, and Ivan Neville. Guy, “can’t wait to celebrate 90 years of living, loving, and playing the Blues with all my friends,” according to a press release on his website. “We’ll make it a night not just for me, but for the folks who taught us, the friends we’ve played with, and the ones coming up behind us.”

Tickets for the event are sold out but fans can still stream the monumental event at nugs.net. Stay up to date with all things Buddy Guy at buddyguy.com

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In Downtown Brooklyn, there’s a section of the Farragut Houses that sits on Navy Street, and across the street is a low brick building that used to be the site of the Navy Yard Boys & Girls Club at 240 Nassau Street.

For decades, the Navy Yard Boys & Girls Club was the safe space where children from the Farragut, Ingersoll and Whitman Houses went after school. Operated by the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club Foundation, it had enrichment programs for 6- to 18-year-olds. But the clubhouse was shut in June 2023 after the Foundation was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy because it had to pay for more than 140 child sexual-abuse claims. A former volunteer doctor was accused of abusing children beginning in the year 1948 and up until 1984. Lawsuits were filed against the Foundation under the New York State Child Victims Act. A bankruptcy court approved a $22 million settlement.

In November 2023, the Foundation sold the clubhouse to the real estate company, Alloy Development, for $15 million. Now, the former youth center is the central part of a proposed 1.4-million-square-foot redevelopment site that will feature 73- and 63-story buildings. Many neighbors have said this kind of project will only accelerate the erasure of Black people in Downtown Brooklyn.

Alloy’s project will cover 240 Nassau and the neighboring P.S. 287 site at 46 Navy Street, between Navy and Gold streets. The site is near the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

After neighbors protested the initial loss of the Navy Yard Clubhouse, Alloy donated $2 million to help restore interim after-school services and offered free space to six local groups who offer youth programs. According to information provided to the Amsterdam News, Alloy has spent more than three years engaging with local residents in more than 150 community meetings and events. The developer also works with a community liaison and a 17-member advisory group.

Alloy has also partnered with GFB Development, the company founded in 2024 by NBA veteran Taj Gibson and his friends Tameek Floyd and Malik Brown. Gibson grew up in Ingersoll Houses; Floyd and Brown attended P.S. 287 and belonged to the Navy Yard Clubhouse. Alloy said the partnership shows that longtime community members are helping shape the project.

Plans are for the new site to have 1,502 apartments in three buildings, including 302 permanently affordable units. A separate building would have 100 affordable apartments for seniors. The site will also have a new 120,000-square-foot K–8 school to replace P.S. 287 (students at P.S. 287 would attend P.S. 67 starting in the 2027 school year, until their new building is built –– the New York City Educational Construction Fund is the main public applicant). The project would also have a community center, cultural center, retail space, and open public space. The proposed cultural center could end up housing the Cultural Museum of African Art’s Eric Edwards collection.

The project is still going through the city’s land-use review process and has not yet received a final City Council vote.

But Eric Blackwell — an urban planner, former Fort Greene News publisher and longtime Brooklyn political strategist — has been one of many locals speaking out against the project. Blackwell thinks the project’s benefits don’t justify its size. “It was not necessary –– and actually harmful –– that they be even allowed to build a 73-story and a 63-story building right next to each other… [T]hey’re saying we’ve got to build 1,500 units to create 200 units of affordable housing.” City filings now say there would be 302 affordable units, but Blackwell is pointing out that some four out of five apartments would be market-rate.

Blackwell also questioned whether Alloy’s outreach means consent. He said a Farragut board member described “incredible opposition from the community against this project’s height, scope, and size,” and warned that the towers “would exacerbate every gentrifying principle that is affecting our community right now.”

Alloy rejects the idea that its meetings with community members were cosmetic. In a statement, it said, “240 Nassau was shaped by more than three years of community engagement, including over 150 meetings and feedback from more than 1,000 neighbors, NYCHA Tenant Associations, elected officials and local organizations. After decades of disinvestment in this area, the development team is seeking to rezone the site to maximize the amount of community benefit and housing in the project without any subsidy from the city.” The company says the advisory group it’s been working with will remain active during construction to aid quality-of-life concerns.

“We’ve been under attack,” Blackwell said, while pointing out that housing and economic exclusion in the broader Downtown Brooklyn–Fort Greene area has drastically changed the district’s demographics. Recent American Community Survey estimates show that about 16% of people in the Downtown Brooklyn–Fort Greene area are non-Hispanic Black, compared with about 49% who are white.

Alloy says its 240 Nassau project will reconnect the block, restore community uses, and create housing –– and all without city subsidies.

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When the original NBC television series, “A Different World,” first dropped in 1987, it was received mostly as an extension of “The Cosby Show” brand and a star vehicle for Lisa Bonet. Three years earlier, when “The Cosby Show” first aired, a proud and unapologetically Black upper middle class family captivated primetime American television audiences of all stripes. It was so iconic and wielded such high ratings and cultural resonance, that Bonet’s character Denise Huxtable, the second-oldest child of Clair and Cliff Huxtable, was given her own show. Set in a fictional, elite, historically Black college named Hillman, “A Different World” was born.

After the first season, Bonet, who portrayed an undergraduate at Hillman, got pregnant, and the respectability politics of the day nixed the possibility of Denise returning to the second season as a mother, unwed or otherwise. Bonet’s abrupt departure, and the naming of Debbie Allen as the chief creative of the series, proved profoundly consequential. Under Allen’s vision, the ensemble cast was reconfigured, current political issues deemed too radioactive for the socially conservative Bill Cosby were explored, and audiences soon realized that a “Cosby” spin-off that did not feature “Cosby” characters, nor was bound by the “Cosby” moral universe, actually meant for a much better show.

Although it only lasted six seasons, “A Different World” went on to have a successful syndicated run and gained loyal fans across multiple generations, especially among girls and women who related to the diverse range of strong, intelligent, and ambitious Black women. These women characters pursued conventional romantic relationships and marriage, but were not defined by them.

Audiences enthusiastically followed the love story between the hopelessly bougie Whitley Gilbert (Jasmine Guy) and the grounded and scholarly Dwayne Wayne (Kadeem Hardison), while the supporting cast created a durable universe of Black excellence. Beyond Guy and Hardison, “A Different World” was a launching pad for young Hollywood talent including Marisa Tomei, Jada Pinkett Smith, Halle Berry, and Tupac Shakur, as well as a comfortable sitcom home for veterans like Joe Morton, Diahann Carroll, Mary Alice, and Glynn Turman.

The Netflix reboot/sequel, “A Different World” is itself a bifurcated planet whose marketing plan seems to brazenly take advantage of the fandom from the original series, while furnishing us with a new Talented Tenth generation facing its own set of unique contemporary challenges. Perhaps even more so than the 1980s original, the 2026 Hillman leans unhesitantly into today’s headlines and ideological crosshairs by placing the college in the middle of a budget crisis triggered by federal cuts to higher education. While the Trump administration is not explicitly named, the call out is unmistakable as characters reference assaults on DEI, immigration, and Black life as we know it.

This next-generation “A Different World” remains true to the assignment of being a sitcom with Black college characters and a healthy dose of romantic comedy energy. At the center of the hijinks is Deborah (Maleah Joi Moon), the privileged, rabble-rousing, neurodivergent-coded daughter of, you guessed it, Whitley and Dwayne, and her ride-or-dies — the fiery Compton scholarship student Rashida Duvall (Alijah Kai) and the bible-thumping Hazel Henry (Kennedi Reece).

On the male side of the ledger is Deborah’s love interest, Shaquille Johnson (Cornell Young IV), a five-star football recruit who also happens to be the son of Ron Johnson (Darryl M. Bell) from the original series. His running buddies are Kojo Achebe (Chibuikem Uche), an effervescent and enterprising Nigerian-Ghanian Brit, and the mischievous Amir Rodale (Jordan Aaron Hall), who turns up on campus with a juvenile offender record, but without a housing assignment. Together, the six of them form a relationship pod that anchors most of the student-based action.

On hand for alumni business, parachute parenting, and the general imposition of coitus interruptus on Hillman’s coed population, are cast and characters from the original series. Whitley, Dwayne, Ron and Freddie (Cree Summer) are central characters, but Kim (Charnele Brown), Jaleesa (Dawnn Lewis), Colonel Taylor (Glynn Turman), Byron (Joe Morton), and Lena (a stiff Jada Pinkett Smith) also make prominent guest appearances. (Even Halle Berry’s Jaclyn makes a stealth uncredited cameo). Their likenesses may have changed, but their characters seem to have been kept cryogenically preserved.

The series rushes through the first episode and underbakes its characters, but it starts to pick up some more effective comic timing as it progresses to the later episodes. Although it has something urgent to say, its politics are didactic and reductionist at best, with endless scenes of earnest people making principled statements or quoting Black writers, with students and alumni nodding their heads in devout agreement. No one actually says “Power to the people,” “For the Culture,” or “Each one, teach one,” but I swear I could hear those declarations murmuring beneath the background music.

If not for the characters from the original series, “A Different World” would be considered a diet version of other recent series that have more effectively depicted the yearnings and dramatic turns of Black young adults, namely “Forever,” “All American,” “Bel-Air “ and even “Dear White People.”

But who cares, really? The procession of first-generation cast members and storylines are everything. Let me or any critic beware when speaking ill of this series, lest we summon the wrath of the “ADW” faithful to whom this series shamelessly panders. When original cast members dutifully show up, one by one, as if they were answering a Netflix subpoena, you can hear the hearts of over-40 “ADW” fans warming, and the pitter patter of their feet skipping blissfully down memory lane.

If nothing else, “A Different World” is a celebration of Black community and of our messy but urgent dependency on one another. It’s an enshrined space, made in our own image, where we are not only in the majority, but exert agency. And we’ll always be suckers for that kind of action.

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In NYC, side hustles have a long tradition.

New Yorkers are known to take the time to turn their specialized skills into income. A new national report on “America’s Side-Hustle Capitals” from the online rental marketplace Giggster found the New York–Newark–Jersey City metropolitan area placed fifth in side-hustle capitals.

Giggster looked at 30 major U.S. metro areas based on business density, earnings, pay rates, and purchasing power to create its Side-Hustle Capital Index.

Miami ranked first overall with the highest concentration of small, solo businesses. Southern cities took seven of the top 10 spots for business density. Yet New York City led in average business revenue, San Francisco had the highest overall pay, and Seattle topped as the best pay city relative to local living costs. Giggster found that there was no single metro area that led in every category of the side-hustle economy.

In the New York area, gig work can be a delivery job, home repair, event services, tutoring, pet care, freelance design, or even consulting. Pay can vary widely based on the work offered, the platform used to get gigs, the gig worker’s experience, and expenses.

Recent listings put dog-walking pay at $17 to $35 an hour and independent auto-appraisal work at $100 to $500 a day. One part-time outreach consulting job offered $30 to $35 an hour. Meanwhile, app-based restaurant and grocery delivery workers now earn a minimum pay of $22.13 an hour before tips, although the way compensable time is calculated differs by platform.

Families have had to look for additional income in the current economy, and platform-based gig work has become an essential financial safeguard. This past April, a report by Rachel Swaner from the Community Service Society of New York (CSS) found that 20% of New Yorkers relied on gig apps for financial support over the past 12 months. In a survey of 4,000 residents across New York state between September and October 2025, the report found that “gig work has become a mainstream economic survival strategy, from New York City (23 percent) to Erie County (20 percent). For half of gig workers (51 percent), platform work is their main source of income.”

CSS found that the racial divide is particularly evident: one in four Black residents, or 25%, used gig platforms to generate income, compared with 17% of white residents and 15% of Asian residents. That means Black New Yorkers have become the main workers in the gig labor market, most likely because steadier work is frequently unavailable.

CSS also found that nearly four in five gig workers said apps pushed them to work longer or at specific times through alerts, bonuses and other incentives. Seventy percent said the platform controlled when, where and how much they worked, and two-thirds worried that bad ratings from customers could be because of their race, gender or language.

Swaner noted that “gig workers show strong consensus on wanting government intervention. Over three-quarters (76 percent) said they would feel more secure if the government set rules about how apps treat workers. Of workers who rely on platforms as their main income source, 80 percent want government labor regulation of platforms. Even among gig workers doing platform work for additional income, 72 percent support such state action.”

New York’s fifth-place finish in the Giggster report shows that workers can make good money working gigs in the city, and our varied economy means there are many ways for people to earn income. Yet the people doing gig work — who are disproportionately Black New Yorkers — often face wild swings in income, close digital supervision, and limited worker protections. Gig workers need to be able to count on being able to get fair pay and good work conditions.

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New York Comic Con returns to the Javits Center Oct. 8-11. The event, which has united fans across comics, TV, art and beyond since 2006, will host panels, signings, and screenings featuring fan-favorite creatives, special guests, and tons of vendors. Here’s just a few highlights to keep an eye out for.

Rosario Dawson, known to fans for her portrayal of Ahsoka in the Star Wars universe and starring roles in cult classics like “Clerks 2” and “Kids,” will participate in autograph signings and photo ops on Thursday and Friday in the Autograph Hall. She will appear alongside fellow Star Wars universe alum Ahmed Best, who will participate in a panel by Lucasfilm Publishing and book signing on Friday, as well as Hayden Christensen and Ian McDiarmid, who portrayed Anakin Skywalker and the Emperor, respectively. Basketball superstar Shaq will also participate in a private signing to celebrate the release of a new comic, “Vengeance Unchained: The Legend of Black Caesar,” on Friday.

Actor, singer and writer Wayne Brady will return to host two panels, “Improv Nerdvana,” a comedy show on Friday, and “Young, Gifted, and Whack,” a panel which highlights Black creators, on Saturday. Last year’s discussion featured artists like Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and TV screenwriter Rodney Barnes. Actor Gabourey Sidibe will appear alongside co-stars Sarah Paulson and Billie Lourd for a discussion on “American Horror Story,” and queer stars from the diverse and currently running production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” will participate in panels on Friday.

Other standout panels include “The Black Comic Lords Live,” “Capes, Curls, and Culture: Black Women in Comics, Media, and Pop Culture,” and “Race, Gender, and the Comic Book Medium.”

Limited tickets remain. For more information and for a list of all the happenings taking place, visit newyorkcomiccon.com.

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