Pop-Up Chop Shop

From the Italian barbershop with chrome-and-leather chairs and a spinning tri-color outside to the black barbershop where locals come to socialize, gossip, or debate, every community in Brooklyn has its hair cutters. In this tradition, Hair Force One, a Bed-Stuy-based queer haircutting collective, seeks to carve out a space for a community connected by gender identity. The group hosts periodic pop-up events called “Phresh Cutz,” where it offers its take on the barbershop — a place where gender-identity is traditionally shaped through the cutting or styling of hair.

Messiah Rhodes is a New York City-based filmmaker. His documentaries have been screened at film festivals across the country and featured online in outlets including the New York Daily News, the Village Voice, Current TV, and the Huffington Post.

Also in this issue

Brooklyn Dream

Inside the block-by-block fight for immigration reform. By Maggie Astor

Graves’ End

What happens when the biggest Jewish cemetery in Brooklyn runs out of room? By Amanda Cormier, with photos by Yoon Kim