You’ll really need that water filter now. — Photo by Jeremy Sapienza

It’s boom time for the natural gas industry in the Northeast and recent drilling proposals in the Catskill Mountains could pose a serious threat to our top-rated drinking water supply — that’s the entire city, not just Bushwick.

Rising natural gas prices have put deep, hard-to-get-to gas reserves in the Appalachian Basin back on the drilling radar and energy companies are targeting the Marcellus Shale, a large, underground rock formation full of untapped gas deposits which extends from the Catskills to West Virginia.

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The newly renovated interior of La Tortillería Mexicana Los Hermanos still offers a view of the aromatic warehouse floor. — Photo by Diego Cupolo

It’s back! The celebrated taco shack in La Tortillería Mexicana Los Hermanos has been upgraded from an unusual snack stop in a garage to what seems to be a long-term establishment.

Los Hermanos set aside a corner of their one-story warehouse on Starr Street to create a small restaurant with the same big taste of their popular food stand. Customers can now enjoy their filled-to-the-brim tacos on sleek wood tables while observing the action on the tortillería floor through glass walls.

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It was an Altima — photo by Diego Cupolo

Just around the corner from Factory Fresh sits a lone Nissan Altima, or at least what’s left of it. Its freshly exposed components glow under bright orange street lights as art enthusiasts digest the collection of street art on a wall nearby.

Located on Vandervoort Place between Thames Street and Flushing Avenue, it is obvious this Nissan fell into the hands of professionals — the car’s been stripped more thoroughly and than any chop job I’ve ever seen before. The thieves got away with the front doors, five wheels (including the spare), the battery, hood, trunk, front doors, gas cap and all of the seats.

The only indication of how they did it: broken glass on the passenger side.

Cleverly placed mirrors at Factory Fresh’s “A Maze” exhibit — Photo by Diego Cupolo
– see more photos from this event>>

Out in the country side, Autumn and corn mazes are synonymous. But here in Bushwick, the harvest season produces vibrant art mazes — it’s only natural.

Last Friday, Factory Fresh art gallery on Flushing Avenue held an opening reception for “A Maze,” a unique exhibit that features Celso, Infinity, Stikman, LA II and Cbeauty. The miniature labyrinth was built from wood boards and then covered with the artists’ signature styles and symbols to create multilayered collages.

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The water test strip begins reacting. — photo by Diego Cupolo

My tap water has never been pristine, but lately it’s been making my morning showers smell like a public swimming pool in the summertime. It doesn’t end in the tub, my kitchen sink also reeks like a rainbow of contaminants when I wash the dishes.

After mulling over the possible health effects of my tainted tap water I made a trip to The Home Depot on DeKalb and Nostrand to pick up a water testing kit. For only $10, I bought a Pro-Lab Water Quality kit that analyzed pH levels, alkalinity, chlorine, total hardness, iron, copper, nitrates and nitrites — but not lead, which is a separate test that involves sending a water sample to a lab and dishing out $30 for the results.

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“meKaniKdolls” — photo by Diego Cupolo

For me, Sunday’s BETA Spaces art festival began in the staircase of an old warehouse on Melrose Street.

At first, all I could hear was the high-pitched squeal of a rusty bicycle wheel and sporadic, synthesized bass beats. Curiosity was sparked and I continued up the stairs until I was bombarded with more complex images than my mind could comprehend — a blue wig, electrical wires, yellow fairy wings, hundreds of knobs, a projector from the Chicago Department of Education aimed at my face and hot pink and black stripped leggings coming out of a giant diaper that was tied to the ceiling.

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Tombstones in The Evergreens Cemetery with the Manhattan skyline in the background — photo by Diego Cupolo

The Evergreens Cemetery is more than a final resting place — within its 225-acres of smooth hills and sprawling meadows visitors will find scenic views of Manhattan, towering trees, rare migrating birds and colorful stories from New York City’s past.

Established in 1849, the non-sectarian cemetery covers Bushwick’s southeast corner and continues into Queens. The Evergreens is home to more than half a million graves and there aren’t many people that know more about the land’s rich history than Danny Daddario, a cemetery employee who regularly gives walking tours through the burial ground.

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Eating under the watch of la Virgen. — photo by Diego Cupolo

The best taco I’ve ever had in my life came out of a small, dirty shack on wheels in Los Angeles — it left my mouth burning with unimaginable pleasure as I tried to figure out how four people could fit in that tiny food stand from heaven.

Here in New York, the land of pizza, finding a decent taco can seem as challenging as tracking down an edible slice in Arkansas. Luckily, one of the first places I visited in my neighborhood was Tacos El Poblano, an inexpensive bar and restaurant on Broadway. It was there that my frustratingly long taco search came to an end as I bit into tortilla euphoria before a retro mural of Maria de Guadalupe.

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The longest and most expensive presidential race in American history should come to an end tonight — depending on the performance of those pesky voting machines — and what better way to watch the future unfold than to drown it in alcohol among friends at a fine local bar?

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Movers deliver dumbbell racks to “Fit City,” a new gym on Broadway and Locust which is currently under construction –- photo by Diego Cupolo

For people living near Myrtle and Broadway, the personal fitness options are rather limited. While there are plenty of boxing and self-defense clubs, the only choices for regular gyms are Richie’s on Stanwix Street, a fairly unsanitary experience, and farther afield, the other Richie’s and the ladies-only Lucille Roberts, both by Myrtle-Wyckoff.

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