On Friday November 27, the running track at Betty T. Ferguson Recreation Complex in Miami Gardens was lined with tents and tables. Representatives for 32 black-owned small businesses had laid out their products — jewelry, art, food — for shoppers to peruse. It was Black Friday, the busiest shopping day…

On Wednesday December 2, Nina “Dotti” Fuentes’s luxury loft on the outskirts of Wynwood, Miami’s thriving art district, is bustling. Her hair has been styled in flowy waves. Her white silk skirt suit has been pressed. Her make-up sits flawlessly on her her smiling face. Her stylist douses her hair…

In February, then-14-year-old Deyab-Houssein Wardani, a Muslim-American of Lebanese and Moroccan descent, walked into his ninth-grade French class at Cypress Bay High wearing a hoodie. In what was apparently a poor attempt at humor, teacher Maria Valdes called the student a “raghead Taliban.” Over the next few days, she would…

Last month, two young women on motorcycles were traveling north on the I-95 express lanes in North Miami. Suddenly, a car in the regular lanes — or “free lanes” — darted through the plastic poles and struck Cynthia Fleischmann and Catherine Perez.  The young women were rushed to the hospital…

Animal rights activists are gearing up for their latest call to arms: a protest outside the home of Matthew Block. Block is the founder of South Florida-based Worldwide Primates, a company that imports and sells monkeys across the world for scientific research experiments. Activists claim that the company tortures animals. …

This year, Black Lives Matter protests have broken out at college campuses across the country. Typically, they call for an increase in black professors and black student retention rates. Seemingly in response, this past weekend, a crop of “White Student Union” pages were created on Facebook for at least 30…

For ten months, the Mosaic Group — a marketing agency based in Boca Raton — has been conducting research and focus groups for the City of Fort Lauderdale, which is trying to market Flagler Village together with two neighborhoods that border it: Progresso and Sistrunk. But at the November 3…

Holding eye contact is nerve-racking these days. Texting and social media shield most people from it. Many argue that these technological advancements have only made humans lonelier. But one woman thinks she has a solution for South Florida’s longing for more meaningful relationships: “eye-gazing.” It’s a social experiment of sorts…

Since 1990, the All Saints Catholic Mission has been serving food to those who might not be able to afford a meal. But zoning ordinances passed last year by the City of Oakland Park would force the parish to shut down its food sharing operation. Father Bob Caudhill, who leads…

A fleet of the finest and fastest boats descended upon Fort Lauderdale this weekend for the 56th annual boat show. Boat aficionados from all over the world tussled their way through heavy traffic to see this year’s lineup. Then, slipping their shoes on and off, they paraded through the docks,…

Jeremy Shaw’s favorite pastime is reading. The 26-year-old Florida State grad prefers revolutionary authors who write about black history and civil rights, like James Baldwin and Stokely Carmichael. But he frequently had to wait days to order their books online. Barnes & Noble didn’t carry many of their titles. He…

Last night’s Fort Lauderdale city commission meeting wasn’t as monotonous as usual. The three hour-long gathering was punctuated by six presentations by members of Food Not Bombs, who spoke in rhyme and costume to protest the city’s homeless hate laws. The activists gather every Friday at Stranahan Park to share…

Preston Cohen has always struggled in school. The 15-year-old’s speech impediment and learning disability made him require more time from teachers than the Broward Public School system could provide. “At the public school, he was overlooked and pushed to the side,” says his mother, Robyn Cohen. “He would cry every…

At 9 p.m. on a Wednesday, the streets of Palm Beach are empty. Palm fronds rustle in the howling wind. The semicircle moon sifts through the clouds. A black cat crosses the sidewalk. “Water is an engine for ghost activity,” Damian Edwards, a guide for the company Ghosts of Palm…

Since 2010, Jillian Pim has been laying out spreads of vegan dishes weekly at a pavilion in Stranahan Park in downtown Fort Lauderdale, sharing food with others who might not be able to afford a healthy meal. Pim is part of Food Not Bombs, a grassroots group that believes society…

Rebecca Wald’s father had to perform circumcisions during his medical training. It was awful. Her husband, also a physician, wasn’t a fan of the procedure either. He understood the medical complications. So, when the Wald’s son was born in 2005, the family decided not to circumcise the newborn. But they…

Jeffrey Clifton used to sit on the bench on the corner of Federal Highway and Southeast Second Street. It’s unclear how long he rested there—some locals estimate more than a decade, but others in their 20s claim they can’t remember a time when the elderly homeless man with piercing blue…

The blinds are drawn in Murphy’s Miami Beach bedroom as the 33-year-old pulls a white, silicone, four-inch conical contraption from his nightstand. Called a TLC Tugger, it was designed to stretch skin gradually, as earlobes are stretched for gauges. Except Murphy isn’t stretching his earlobes. His project is much more…