Eric was 12 years old when his older brother, Paul, went into work at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Paul didn't make it out. And things at home turned ugly.

Unlike most tweens, James Black thrives on long stretches of concentration and problem-solving. Watch a video of the Bed-Stuy 12-year-old who is fast becoming the best young chess player in the country.

A lot of people travel for work. But for Bronx resident Lucia Martinez, that means flying back and forth to Mexico every single week. Her mission: To shuttle gifts between Mexican immigrants in New York to their family back home. "Some people come over to New York without having any family here," says twenty-one-year-old Martinez. "So these packages help them feel less lonely."

Playwright Ed Schmidt takes the low-maintenance of the one-man show to the highest level. He cuts out all middlemen and performs his plays himself right out of his own living room.

If you want a dose of Main Street U.S.A. right here in New York City, look no further than Roosevelt Island. What you'll find on this 40-block-long strip of land in the East River is a journalist named Dick Lutz and a team of volunteers who put out a free local newspaper and make it their mission to deliver it to every door on the island.

A couple of years ago, John Parker decided to build an incubator in his home to start making tempeh from scratch. Since then, it has turned into a vocation. Meet this fermentation fanatic in Bushwick, Brooklyn, as he creates his latest batch of soybean cakes.

Mike Monroe dreams of being a professional wrestler. For now, the 28-year-old is living in a shelter for homeless veterans in Long Island City, Queens.

Last-minute holiday shoppers, let the story of Judee Rosenbaum in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, inspire you to change your ways. Each January, she begins collecting a year's worth of finds for family and friends, precisely chosen items that she trusts the recipient will love. "I collect everywhere I go," says Rosenbaum. 

Artist Jason Polan wants to draw every person in New York—literally every person in New York—so he started a project to document his efforts. To see Polan in action, we invited him to WNYC to sketch behind-the-scenes. 

For nearly 20 years, Claudia has enjoyed a celebrated career performing with the pop band The Magnetic Fields. These days, she has taken on a wildly ambitious side project: single motherhood.

When Natsuko Garcia moved to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, she realized that the dozens of Japanese families that had recently settled there could really use a children's library. So she decided to build one—in her living room.

When you think of Flatbush, Brooklyn, you might not necessarily think of greenery, flowers and groomed tree pits. But a group of ladies on E. 25th Street between Clarendon Road and Avenue D think otherwise.

Meet Detective Ahmed Nasser, a Yemeni immigrant who has tried to make post-9/11 life easier for Muslim New Yorkers.

These days, if you're down around the site of the planned Islamic cultural center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, you might find a few protesters. But mostly you'll find a New York neighborhood going about its usual business.

It isn't the average walking tour that asks you to observe silence for 90 minutes straight. Or pick up trash in a small park. Or listen to the rattle and hum of air conditioners while walking down entire city blocks with your eyes closed.

Tucked inside a warehouse on the far west side sits a building inside a building.  It's a private sanctuary for one of the city's artists. 

This fall, it will be razed.

Move over, Beyoncé: Thirteen-year-old Yazmean Lee of Jamaica, Queens, is getting ready to be the biggest leading lady in Hollywood.

Two friends--one an immigrant from Bangladesh, the other a Queens native--find common ground in their love of pretty ladies and a good 5K run. Meet Kanu and Tom of Jackson Heights.

She sports blue clothes and an equally blue 'do, and when she sings the blues she channels the mood of the crowd. Meet Ms. Blu of Chelsea.

Above the shrieks of dancing teenagers and the rumble of passing buses, Manuel Vega played the piano at Fordham Plaza in the Bronx. He's not a concert pianist. He's just a regular guy who happened to see a piano on the sidewalk.