Why we're here and why we refused to leave!
click on an Outsider to know more...

About Us

David

Jessica

José

Deena

Sasha

Tara

Lindsey

Connie

About us

Why The Five Outsiders?
The economy, frustration & lack of creativity...

It was time to do something different! After Wall Street happened and the economy crashed, most of us felt it. In the past year, all of us (and yes, we are all friends) got laid off, fired, or were finding ourselves at crossroads. It was one pity party after another. After months of bitching to one another, the question became, how can we utilize our time and hidden talents. As New Yorkers, don't we all have them? I mean nobody moves here to search for that wrap around porch to sip on lemonade all day.
 
It wasn't long before we all realized we have 2 things in common. We continue to be passionate about New York City and refuse to leave but none of us are striving any longer to be superstars, hipsters or the next big thing. Then the question became, how can we be resourceful on finding ways to keep our sanity while still having fun? So through our own experiences, interviews & everything in between, our goal with this blog is to reach out to New Yorkers who STILL want to fit in without 'fitting in'.

José Rolón - Editor In Chief
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David -The Love Doctor

Love...that's the reason I moved to NYC and the only reason I would have. Two years prior I lived in a commune in Australia's north rainforests.  Prior to that I lived in a treehouse in India. So you see, I would never have thought of coming to live here alone.
 
Having said that, my momentary lover faded as they do, but my mistress, Miss NYC, stayed true.  I've come to know who I am, living the last twenty years of my life with her. I have come to understand that family is not all born of one roof. And here I have family.  If NYC were a woman, her name would be Juliet, and mine, Homeo.
 
 "And death would be a pleasure in her arms."


My Thing: Chillaxin' in the City with David -Ask and U Shall Receive...

Jessica - The Vocalist

My first visit to NYC, I’d come with friends from the jazz club where I worked in Seattle. Our main interest?  Live music, specifically the Branford Marsalis Quartet at the Village Vanguard, our staff fave.  As an aspiring jazz vocalist, I was in hot pursuit of more learning and a legit BFA.  All the cool cats were saying, "New York is where it's at."  I wasn’t sure, not of NY’s cred for awesome jazz schools, but of my ability to hang with the city itself.  As I spent my days exploring Manhattan and riding the subway to Brooklyn, I just kept thinking, "If he's doing it and she's doing it, then why the heck am I not doing it?"  Six months later I was crossing the U.S. in a 10 ft. yellow Penske truck with no place to live, but with a secured seat in the New School Jazz Program. 
 
Eight years later, with thousands of dollars due in student loans and no gig at the Village Vanguard, I'm still here...and loving it.  I still enjoy exploring this ever-changing city!  The train still fascinates me, with its cars filled with so many colorful characters for most of whom English is a second language.  I have an especially soft spot for the homeless Puerto Rican guy who can sell enough $1 Rubik’s cubes (as if it were '81) on the A line to score himself two street dogs and a Snapple. As they say, "only in New York."  Yeah, maybe the dreams I once had are now a little “sepia-fied” (close enough for jazz) and put away in storage (NYC apartments are really small!), but I continue on this journey, like many New Yorkers with a BFA, as a self-employed adventurer and a part-time table waiter. 

My Thing: "Jessica's Street Performers" - I'm envious by the courage of Street Performers

José - The Showboat & Editor In Chief

Picture it: Amherst, MA - school was done, most friends had graduated and I had all but finished a crazy relationship. 2 weeks later, I found myself on Peter Pan getting off at Port Authority without knowing a single soul. At 23, I was gonna act, dance and lip sync my way to the top! Ricky Martin had nothing on me back then. I was ready for a sweet apartment for $400/month with a classy doorman! A month later - a $600/month leaky room in Washington Heights with a crackhead twitching on my stoop - IT WAS A STEAL!

10 years later, I don’t just love this city - I am IN LOVE with her. Whatever you’re in the mood for whether its a greasy burger at 3am or a $40 prix fixe Egyptian brunch, I am spoiled! A turn on is knowing that when I walk around any corner in this city, it won’t be the same one tomorrow. My partner and I can spend a whole weekend exploring the neighborhoods. From the newly constructed West Side Highway to Hell’s Kitchen, Chinatown to Harlem - I can’t get enough! My relationship to my friends, family and partner only makes this city taste that much sweeter...


My Thing: Interviews and "Random New Yorkers" - What can I say - I want to get to know you a bit better.

Deena - Guest Outsider

Birth has brought me to NY.  It wasn't really a choice for me, and I’m so glad it wasn't. I was born in Flushing, Queens, grew up on upper-class Long Island in middle-class Mineola, where I lived with my nuclear family until hubby and I got married in 2005, when we moved to NYC.  We've been living in and loving Astoria, Queens ever since.  I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth by any means (thank goodness!), but I was born with a Metrocard in my back pocket.  That Metrocard could take me anywhere my little creative and adventurous heart desired.   And in my other pocket, the comfort of family, which has always been open-minded, supportive and accepting, allowing me the freedom to continue to find my own way, which is right into the arms of where I already am...home! You know those sweepstakes on TV where if you send an index card with your name, age, address, and phone number, you can enter to win a luxurious round trip for you and a friend to NYC?  How lucky am I to already live here!   The energy, the culture, and creativity have kept me here.

Sasha - The Pet Lova

Not sure where I was born, but my dad, José, says I was rescued from a junkyard in Brooklyn.  I barely remember it, but I was only 4-6 weeks old when I was brought into Bide-a-Wee, a rescue on 38th Street.  Dad said the day he adopted me, I was feeling weak, but that I dragged my little body slowly up to the crate, looked up, and gave him a big kiss.  He brought me home to Chelsea on 20th Street, where we lived for six years.  Had tons of fun and lots of love (Eric, Stephen, the Elmo crew).  FYI - they have a great dog park on 23rd that I used to go to - well before those smaller dogs started getting all crazy on me.  Love you guys, but some of you guys got that Napoleon complex. 

Seven years later, Dad and I now live in Tribeca with my other Dad, Tim, who is awesome (between you and me, he takes me on much cooler walks on the weekends).  I also have two younger sisters,  Nala and Kathy Griffin, two orange tabbies that were also adopted from Bide-a-Wee.  They drive me crazy at night, but we still play tons and take naps together.  I started to get bored with The Five Outsiders having their weekly meetings (still working through my abandonment issues).  At first, they were hesitant on including me, but when I explained to them that they had nobody representing us city dogs and cats, they had no choice but to make me a honorary member!  

My thing: Who's in the Dog House with Sasha? I’m gonna find the coolest dogs and cats around town and bring you the interview they deserve.

Tara - The Indie Buff

I grew up on Staten Island, which, I know, technically doesn’t make me a true Outsider.  Although if you think about it, being from Staten Island is about as outside as you can get and still be from New York.  Like many kids growing up on that tiny rock, I had big plans, plans that didn’t include getting hitched and staying on Staten Island.  My school had a picturesque view of the Manhattan skyline and as I sat in math class I’d stare out the window and say to myself, “Someday, I’m going to live there.” My goal was to live in a loft in SoHo and be an artist.  

    In the meantime, I had to settle for day trips into the city.  I was (and still am) very fortunate to have a cool older brother who made it his mission to teach me about music, art and film.  On my 12th birthday, he took me to see Hairspray (the original, not the cotton-candy musical that came out a few years back.)  While my friends’ older siblings were taking them to the mall, my brother was taking me into the city to see Reservoir Dogs.  As a result, I’ve developed a life-long love for independent movies, the more out there, the better!

     The dream of living in Manhattan did come true by way of a tiny dorm room at NYU, but by the time I graduated, SoHo was no longer the center of the art world and Manhattan rent was a little out of my reach.  I eventually settled in Brooklyn, but one thing hasn’t changed.  I still adore my beautiful city.  Sure, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to live someplace else, someplace quieter, less crowded.  But the minute I step off that jam-packed subway and onto the city sidewalk, I know I’m home.

My Thing: Tara's Indie Pick Flicks

Lindsey - Guest Outsider

Hi!  My name is Lindsey, but everyone calls me Lins...unless they are angry with me, and then they call me Lindsey!   I moved here 15 years ago thinking I would only stay for two years, but I fell in love with the fire escapes, and well, here I am, still loving this city!!  I decided to move to NYC because it was really the only place I could study the Meisner Technique, an acting technique that I was committed to.  So I packed my bags, jumped on a plane and landed in Brooklyn Heights, where a friend of a friend kindly put me up on his sofa.  I managed to find a place to live quite quickly and moved into a 5,600 sq ft loft I shared with five guys in Red Hook, where I found a kitten on the street and named him Redhook.  I went to school in the evening and worked in a coffee shop during the day. No time to be lonely, and anyway, I had Redhook!!  I survived my first winter in NYC with no heat and a silly excuse for a winter coat, and if you can survive that, you can survive ANYTHING! 
 
I fell in love with this city when I was 18 years old, when I first came here on a vacation, and my love affair remains as strong. Actually it is stronger now that I can navigate my way around the streets like a Ninja and have formed relationships with people I wouldn't trade for gold. I cannot imagine living anywhere else. The energy here is invigorating, and the urban landscape is the perfect setting for my story. I ride the hustle when I need to and have managed to find the retreats hidden in sacred places. To me this is home. Yes, NYC can be in your face, aggressive and polluted, but diversity is the key to my existence, and a day here is never dull. NYC is colorful to me, it is alive, and there is a place for everyone here if they want it. It's a great place to leave... and an even better place to come home to.  Viva NYC!!!!!!!!!!

My Thing: Through Lindsey's Eyes - My passion for capturing New Yorkers goes deep...

Connie - The Outsider's Outsider (editor)

Being a native New Yorker, I am the Five Outsiders' outsider.  Born in the 'Heights in Upper Manhattan, moved to southern California at the age of 4.   Then my family moved back to NY when I was 9, so it wasn't in the cards for me to grow up to be a Valley Girl.

Though it was childhood circumstances that brought me here, it is adult choice which keeps me here.     I  love my city very much, and will defend it to the end, just like a family member.   I get angry at it sometimes (damn potholes!), but what keeps me here is its terrific energy and the ability for one to never be bored, its variety, the diversity of its people, its culture,  the opportunities it offers, and the personal challenge in figuring out how to take advantage of those opportunities.  I'm always up for a challenge!

I'm currently in an exciting juncture in my life,  having re-entered my former profession of hairstyling and started my own business of doing haircuts at women's homes.  I'm loving doing my craft and getting to know new and interesting people.


I am honored to be part of fiveoutsiders.com, and look forward to reading what the outsiders have to say.