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The Yankees are playing like a team intent on ending a 15-year World Series drought.

When they hosted the Miami Marlins last night at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, their 10-2 record reflected a squad with a loaded lineup flexing its muscles. It was the best in Major League Baseball, two better in the loss column than the 10-4 Los Angeles Dodgers, which came into this season favored by sports gaming companies to win the World Series.

Right fielder Juan Soto and shortstop Anthony Volpe have powered the Yankees out of the gate. Before taking the field against the Marlins last night in the final game of a three-game set, Soto was pacing the team with 16 hits, 11 RBIs and an .456 OBP (on-base percentage). Volpe topped the Yanks in batting at .375 and OPS (on-base plus slugging) at 1.044.  

The Yankees still have 149 regular season games and five and half months of baseball in front of them. But the indicators thus far are they should be, barring serious injuries to core players, a contending force. Ace Gerrit Cole, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, is a vital piece. Cole has begun the season on the 60-day injured list due to nerve inflammation in his right elbow.

The right-hander is eligible to come off the IR on May 27 but more realistic projections have Cole returning in early June if that soon. On Sunday, Yankees manager Aaron Boone informed reporters that Cole would begin throwing this week as the next phase of his rehab. The 33 year old was 15-4 with 222 strikeouts and 2.63 ERA last season.

This season the Yankees have gone with the five-man rotation of Nestor Cortes, Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman, Clarke Schmidt, and Luis Gil. Rodon has been particularly good after a rough 2023 with the franchise, his first after being signed to a six-year, $162 million contract in December 2022. In three starts this season the lefty has allowed just three earned runs in 15.2 innings pitched for a 1.72 ERA.

On Tuesday, Rodon took a shutout into the seventh inning in the Yankees 3-2 victory over the Marlins. The Yankees 10 wins was tied for the most in 12 games to begin a season in franchise history. They were also 10-2 in 1922, 1949 and 2003. The Yankees will begin a six-game road trip tomorrow with three scheduled in Cleveland versus the Guardians and then in Toronto for three from Monday through Wednesday versus the Blue Jays.

As for the Mets, after opening 0-5, they were 4-7 prior to taking on the Atlanta Braves on the road last night. They close out a four-game series against the Braves this afternoon (12:20 p.m.) and will play the Kansas City Royals three games at Citi Field tomorrow through Sunday and the Pittsburgh Pirates in a three-game series in Queens Monday through Wednesday.

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* This article was originally published here

Beyoncé forewarned the world, “this ain’t a country album, it’s a Beyoncé album!” She has stopped the world, again, with her highly anticipated, “Cowboy Carter.” Her new project, released on Friday, March 29, helped Beyoncé become the first Black woman to achieve a number one album on the Billboard country chart. She has also hit number one in 10 countries so far including Australia, Ireland, and Scotland. 

Beyoncé’s resistance to only being pigeonholed as an R&B, hip-hop, or pop star is indicative of her new era. She blends genres while breaking barriers of how her music is “supposed to sound.” When accepting the Innovator Award at the iHeart Radio Awards on Monday, Apr. 1, Beyoncé said, “Being an innovator often means being criticized, which often will test your mental strength.” The superstar continued, “My hope is that we’re more open to the joy and liberation that comes from enjoying art with no preconceived notions.” She dedicated her award to innovators who devote their lives to creating shifts within art.

Pushing boundaries musically allows her to be liberated as well as honest through her creativity. For years, she has declined sit-down interviews and is very selective about which publications have access to her. Nearly 30 years into her career, the entertainer intentionally let her music speak loudly. In her opening track, “Ameriican Requiem,” Beyoncé revealed, “Used to say I spoke, ‘too country’ / and then the rejection came, said I wasn’t country enough.” This is interpreted as a response to the backlash against her after the Country Music Awards, despite her performance with The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) in 2016 bringing the show’s highest-rated 15 minutes in history.

One BeyHive member, the name given to super Beyoncé fans, recalls the rejection from that award show. Aynesa Moore, 25, also from the south, empathizes and understands Beyoncé referencing and living her country roots throughout her career.  “Beyoncé is synonymous with country,” said Moore. “Bey paying homage to so many country legends such as Dolly Parton, I think, proves this was not a random leap.”

Beyoncé didn’t randomly choose the name of her chart-topping album and it might not be solely based on her married name, either. The Carter Family, an extremely influential country music act, were considered the “First Family of Country Music. Their standout star Maybelle Carter learned her guitar skills from Lesley “Esley” Riddle, a Black musician. This example of African Americans roots in the genre is illustrated through “Cowboy Carter.”
Moore refers to the new release as, “a skillfully crafted work of art.” “It showcases her vocal ability and many of the amazing things she can do with her voice,” she added. A fan favorite is Beyoncé’s rendition of Dolly Parton’s, “Jolene.” Beyoncé added a more aggressive tone to her version which remained country inspired. Another distinct song is her duet with Miley Cyrus, “II Most Wanted.” Cyrus has also dabbled with various genres including hip-hop, pop, and country. 

Another major collaboration was Beyoncé’s “Blackbiird,” featuring lesser-known Black country artists Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts. These four ladies are now receiving global recognition that will likely boost their careers. “I love how Beyoncé used her influence, her talent, and her exposure to bring light to newer artists who are getting their footing in the industry,” said Moore. “A co-sign from a legend like Beyoncé is life changing.”

A legend like Paul McCartney endorsing the “Queen Bey” to cover “Blackbiird” was also exceptional and significant. McCartney originally wrote the song in 1968 after learning about Little Rock Nine and the Civil Rights Movement. “I am so happy with Beyoncé’s version of my song ‘Blackbird,’” said Paul McCartney on his official Instagram. “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.” The Beatles singer intended for the record to be from a Black girl’s perspective.

Beyoncé’s including “Blackbiird” and featuring another genre blending artists like Shaboozey displays how calculated she was with creating “Cowboy Carter.” “Mrs. Carter has done her homework; she loves and respects the genre,” said Moore. Beyoncé’s genre blending, history telling and celebration of newer artists all come together on “Cowboy Carter.” Beyoncé exhibits how liberated she is with doing whatever she wants to do musically.

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* This article was originally published here

NEW YORK — Above a bodega in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood, a mosque congregation hosts iftar, the traditional Islamic end of fast meal, for hundreds of hungry migrants every night during this holy month of Ramadan.

Up north in the Bronx, an imam has turned the two-story brick residence that houses his mosque into a makeshift overnight shelter for migrants, many of them men from his native Senegal.

Islamic institutions in the Big Apple are struggling to keep up with the needs of the city’s migrant population as an increasing number of asylum seekers come from Muslim-majority African countries. The challenge has become all the more pronounced during Ramadan, which began March 11 and ends April 9.

Many mosques have opened their doors to migrants during the daylight hours, becoming de facto day centers where new arrivals can find a quiet place to rest and recover, oftentimes following restless nights sleeping on the streets or in the subway.

Muslim leaders say they’ve stepped up their appeals for donations of money, food, clothing and other supplies in recent days.

“We’re doing what we can do, but we can’t do everything. That’s the bottom line,” said Moussa Sanogo, assistant imam at the Masjid Aqsa-Salam in Harlem, just north of Central Park. “These brothers, they don’t eat enough. They’re starving when they get here. Can you imagine? Starving. In America.”

Imam Omar Niass, who runs Jamhiyatu Ansaru-Deen, the mosque in the Bronx, said providing a place for newly arrived migrants to bed down is the least he can do, even if it has come at great personal expense.

His utility bills have long since outpaced his ability to pay. He estimates he’s behind about $7,000 on the home’s electricity service and another $11,000 on water service.

“In our culture, you can’t deny the people who come to the mosque,” he said on a recent Friday as more than 50 men arrived for afternoon prayers. “We keep receiving the people because they have nowhere to go. If they come, they stay. We do what we can to feed them, to help them.”

The latest migrant surge has seen more than 185,000 asylum seekers arrive in New York City since the spring of 2022, with Africans from majority Muslim nations such as Senegal, Guinea and Mauritania among the top nationalities represented in new cases in federal immigration courts in the state.

New York City’s estimated 275 mosques were among the first places to feel the impact of the African wave, as they’re often migrants’ first stop upon arriving in the city, said Assefash Makonnen of African Communities Together, a Harlem-based advocacy group supporting African immigrants.

But relying solely on the generosity of faith-based communities—many of which are already struggling to keep afloat—isn’t sustainable in the long run, she said.

Last summer, Democratic Mayor Eric Adams announced to much fanfare a program meant to provide funding, security and other support for up to 75 mosques, churches and synagogues that agreed to provide overnight shelter to migrants.

So far, though, just six houses of worship holding around 100 beds have been approved to provide additional space for the more than 64,000 migrants currently housed by the city in hotels and other shelters.

Bishop Matthew Heyd of the Episcopal Diocese of New York said the challenge for many faith-based institutions is that they’re located in older buildings that don’t meet current fire safety standards.

With more “commonsense” regulations, he said, houses of worship are prepared to provide 5,000 additional beds for migrants at a fraction of the cost the city is currently paying to shelter them in hotels across the five boroughs.

“We want to be part of the solution to this. We have been before, and can be now,” Heyd said, referring to a network of faith-based shelters that grew in response to the city’s homeless crisis in the 1980s.

Adams spokesperson Kayla Mamelak said the city, in response to the concerns, lowered the maximum number of beds permitted at faith-based shelters earlier this year from 19 to 15, meaning they wouldn’t be required to have sprinkler systems under city building codes.

“We are making changes where we can,” she said. “Obviously the health and safety of the people we are sheltering has to be the priority. You just can’t walk into a church and turn it into a shelter.”

In the Bronx, Niass said he hasn’t given the city program much thought. He also stressed he doesn’t collect rent from the migrants, in contrast to the illegal, dangerously overcrowded migrant boarding houses the city has shut down in recent weeks.

Still, the conditions at the mosque are less than ideal.

On a recent visit, men rested on the floor of a basement prayer room in between the day’s five prayer times. More lounged out in the backyard, where there was a microwave and hot water kettle set up for preparing basic meals, as well as a shed for storing luggage and a row of file cabinets for incoming mail. Near the driveway was a portable toilet covered in a blue tarp that did little to mask the odors that drew swarms of flies.

Malick Thiam, a Senegalese migrant who has been staying at Niass’s mosque for about a month, said he’s thankful for the hospitality but looks forward to finding a place of his own.

The 29-year-old, who arrived in the country in August, said he’s recently started work making late-night food deliveries. He said he typically returns to the mosque as others get up for early morning work shifts, allowing him to avoid conflicts as men jockey over sleeping spots.

“Sometimes they got fighting, sometimes they got many problems,” Thiam said, speaking in clear but at times broken English as he relaxed in the mosque’s backyard. “Living here is not easy. It is difficult. It is very, very difficult.”

Back in Harlem, Alphabacar Diallo is similarly thankful for the support Masjid Aqsa-Salam has provided, but is anxious to get on with his life. Like many others coming for iftar, the 39-year-old migrant from Guinea says he’s still waiting for work authorization some eight months after arriving in the country.

Until then, the mosque provides him a place to keep warm, fed and close to the faith that’s sustained him.

“Without the masjid,” he said in French through a translator, “I don’t know where I’d be.”

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* This article was originally published here