Connect with us

New York

‘She Was Often the Only Bright Spot in My Otherwise Grim Days’

Published

on

‘She Was Often the Only Bright Spot in My Otherwise Grim Days’

Dear Diary:

I was near Central Park South for a doctor’s appointment, so I decided to stop at a food cart I used to frequent when I worked in the area.

The cart was owned by an Egyptian couple. The woman who worked there gave me a free banana and said “love you” without fail every day.

She didn’t know that I was going through a rough time, and that she was often the only bright spot in my otherwise grim days.

As I got in line on this occasion, I worried that she wouldn’t be there anymore and that if she was, she wouldn’t remember me. After all, it had been six years.

Advertisement

But there she was, at the rear of the cart. We made eye contact, and she kept looking back at me.

“Did I see you at Costco the other day?” she asked.

I smiled and shook my head.

She stepped in front of the cart. Her shirt said, “I love you.”

“No, no,” she said. “I remember you.”

Advertisement

She gave me a free bagel and told me proudly that her daughter was a big shot at Chase now. She told me to come back soon.

As I walked away, I began to tear up. I wished she knew what her kindness had meant to me all those years ago.

— Kelly Krause


Dear Diary:

I’ve taken the A to work for 20 years. And for 20 years, I’ve done puzzles on the train during the ride.

Advertisement

I didn’t think there could be any more firsts for me on my commute after so long until a recent morning.

As I sat there working on a Sudoku puzzle, a man stood over me telling me where to put the numbers.

At first, I was inclined to tell him he was out of line. Instead, I complimented him on his ability to read backward, and we did the Sudoku together until he got off the train.

— Sandra Feldman


Dear Diary:

Advertisement

I walked to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade at the end of a long week. I planned to go for a run after taking in the view for a few minutes.

Golden shadows danced tenderly against the red brick that flanks one side of the ramp down. Tree branches and falling leaves were momentarily etched by orange rays. The sky was pink and glorious.

Two young men set up their saxophone, electric guitar and small speaker. The music started so gently: “Misty.”

The saxophone carried the melody. I settled against the fence, my back to the skyline, and watched, an audience of one.

A man in a red flannel shirt slowed to a stop. His hair, brownish and thinning, shined in the setting sun. His face softened as the music played. He caught my eye with a quick smile and settled against the fence a few yards away.

Advertisement

We stood and listened together, taking in the dying leaves on the trees, the people of New York and the beautiful music.

When the song ended, he clapped first, and then I joined in. The musicians nodded. A prickling of tears in my eyes, which had begun at the start of the song, grew as I wondered what to do next.

The man approached the musicians. I turned away and started my jog. I thought about my endless nights alone in my room.

A few minutes later, I saw the man who had been listening to the music walking in my direction with a grinning woman at his side.

I caught his eye for a moment, and I think he recognized me before I looked away. My face, already warm from the run, sizzled more.

Advertisement

The sky was starting to darken. As I turned, I saw my shadow, indistinguishable from the pavement.

— Dylan Nadelman


Dear Diary:

What do I know about France?
What do I know about French bookstores in New York City?
Not much is the answer to both questions.
But I do know about sisters.
And I saw two sisters in the French bookstore.
It’s not like I asked them: “Are you sisters?”
I didn’t need to. I could tell by watching them amid a dispute.
When sisters have conflict, their reactions are unique.
Sister #1 said something I couldn’t hear.
Sister #2 replied: “In Malaysia, people don’t mention the tiger for fear it will draw him out.” I’m not sure if this was an allegory, but for a moment, the moment became sharp. Coincidentally, in a moment, after that moment, the sisters hugged each other with their eyes, while allowing each other red carpets of retreat.
I didn’t end up buying a French book.
Instead I considered sisters.
Before leaving in pursuit of ice cream.

— Danny Klecko

Advertisement

Dear Diary:

We were waiting to get into a comedy show in Brooklyn on a Thursday night. Members of the venue’s security staff were checking bags.

“No drinks,” they hollered. “No food. No cookies.”

Pieces of fruit were confiscated. Some people had their chocolate taken away.

After clearing security and heading for the entrance, we saw a box filled to the brim with delicious contraband: apples, bananas, oranges and, to top it all off, a large, vacuum-sealed package of cooked octopus.

Advertisement

— Betty Tsang

New York

Driver Who Killed Mother and Daughters Sentenced to 3 to 9 Years

Published

on

Driver Who Killed Mother and Daughters Sentenced to 3 to 9 Years

A driver who crashed into a woman and her two young daughters while they were crossing a street in Brooklyn in March, killing all three, was sentenced to as many as nine years in prison on Wednesday.

The driver, Miriam Yarimi, has admitted striking the woman, Natasha Saada, 34, and her daughters, Diana, 8, and Deborah, 5, after speeding through a red light. She had slammed into another vehicle on the border of the Gravesend and Midwood neighborhoods and careened into a crosswalk where the family was walking.

Ms. Yarimi, 33, accepted a judge’s offer last month to admit to three counts of second-degree manslaughter in Brooklyn Supreme Court in return for a lighter sentence. She was sentenced on Wednesday by the judge, Justice Danny Chun, to three to nine years behind bars.

The case against Ms. Yarimi, a wig maker with a robust social media presence, became a flashpoint among transportation activists. Ms. Yarimi, who drove a blue Audi A3 sedan with the license plate WIGM8KER, had a long history of driving infractions, according to New York City records, with more than $12,000 in traffic violation fines tied to her vehicle at the time of the crash.

The deaths of Ms. Saada and her daughters set off a wave of outrage in the city over unchecked reckless driving and prompted calls from transportation groups for lawmakers to pass penalties on so-called super speeders.

Advertisement

Ms. Yarimi “cared about only herself when she raced in the streets of Brooklyn and wiped away nearly an entire family,” Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said in a statement after the sentencing. “She should not have been driving a car that day.”

Mr. Gonzalez had recommended the maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

On Wednesday, Ms. Yarimi appeared inside the Brooklyn courtroom wearing a gray shirt and leggings, with her hands handcuffed behind her back. During the brief proceedings, she addressed the court, reading from a piece of paper.

“I’ll have to deal with this for the rest of my life and I think that’s a punishment in itself,” she said, her eyes full of tears. “I think about the victims every day. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about what I’ve done.”

On the afternoon of March 29, a Saturday, Ms. Yarimi was driving with a suspended license, according to prosecutors. Around 1 p.m., she turned onto Ocean Parkway, where surveillance video shows her using her cellphone and running a red light, before continuing north, they said.

Advertisement

At the intersection with Quentin Road, Ms. Saada was stepping into the crosswalk with her two daughters and 4-year-old son. Nearby, a Toyota Camry was waiting to turn onto the parkway.

Ms. Yarimi sped through a red light and into the intersection. She barreled into the back of the Toyota and then shot forward, plowing into the Saada family. Her car flipped over and came to a rest about 130 feet from the carnage.

Ms. Saada and her daughters were killed, while her son was taken to a hospital where he had a kidney removed and was treated for skull fractures and brain bleeding. The Toyota’s five passengers — an Uber driver, a mother and her three children — also suffered minor injuries.

Ms. Yarimi’s car had been traveling 68 miles per hour in a 25 m.p.h. zone and showed no sign that brakes had been applied, prosecutors said. Ms. Yarimi sustained minor injures from the crash and was later taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation.

The episode caused immediate fury, drawing reactions from Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams, who attended the Saadas’s funeral.

Advertisement

According to NYCServ, the city’s database for unpaid tickets, Ms. Yarimi’s Audi had $1,345 in unpaid fines at the time of the crash. On another website that tracks traffic violations using city data, the car received 107 parking and camera violations between June 2023 and the end of March 2025. Those violations, which included running red lights and speeding through school zones, amounted to more than $12,000 in fines.

In the months that followed, transportation safety groups and activists decried Ms. Yarimi’s traffic record and urged lawmakers in Albany to pass legislation to address the city’s chronic speeders.

Mr. Gonzalez on Wednesday said that Ms. Yarimi’s sentence showed “that reckless driving will be vigorously prosecuted.”

But outside the courthouse, the Saada family’s civil lawyer, Herschel Kulefsky, complained that the family had not been allowed to speak in court. “ They are quite disappointed, or outraged would probably be a better word,” he said, calling the sentence “the bare minimum.”

“I think this doesn’t send any message at all, other than a lenient message,” Mr. Kulefsky added.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

New York

Video: What Bodegas Mean for New York

Published

on

Video: What Bodegas Mean for New York

new video loaded: What Bodegas Mean for New York

Bodegas have been an essential part of New York City life for decades. Anna Kodé, a reporter at the New York Times, breaks down the history, challenges and triumphs of the bodega and the people who run them.

By Anna Kodé, Gabriel Blanco, Karen Hanley and Laura Salaberry

November 17, 2025

Continue Reading

New York

Video: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

Published

on

Video: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

new video loaded: Why Can’t We Fix Penn Station?

The biggest thing holding Penn Station back from a much-needed rehaul is what’s on top of it: Madison Square Garden.

By Patrick McGeehan, Edward Vega, Laura Salaberry and Melanie Bencosme

November 13, 2025

Continue Reading

Trending