Good morning. It's Friday. I'm filling in for James Barron. Today, we'll look at a SoHo slime emporium. We will also learn a bit about the path of Robert Menendez, the New Jersey senator indicted on corruption charges. |
 | | Sara Schiller, left, and Karen Robinovitz.Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times |
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It can be hard to jot down notes in your notebook when your hands are stuffed into massive vats of slime — blue slime, hot pink slime, slime that makes crunchy noises when you knead it, slime that smells like "sugar cereal" — but for Sara Schiller and Karen Robinovitz, that is kind of the point. |
They opened Sloomoo Institute in 2019 in New York to allow visitors to embrace a sense of play as they sank into the sensory stimulation of squishing and squeezing slime, letting its gooey goodness ooze between their fingers. The women hope that even as children play, they (and their adults) will begin to discover the benefits of hands-on creativity and sensory engagement that forces people to set aside their gadgets. |
"People come in, and in the beginning they take lots of photos, but somewhere along the way they stick their phones in their back pockets because of course, they're both hands in," Robinovitz said. |
The "Institute" is in the heart of SoHo: a 12,000-square-foot Instagram-bait play space and adjacent gift shop, which took a child-and-tween DIY trend from 2017 of mixing ingredients, including borax and Elmer's glue, and made it a business. Since reopening after a pandemic shutdown, the institute expanded to Chicago and Atlanta in 2022. Later this year, a location is slated to open in Houston. They say that Denver will get a slime institute next year. |
 | | Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times |
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At Sloomoo, visitors can smoosh in their hands a wide variety of gooey slime of different textures, colors and viscosity. They also can make their own slime, sling slime across a room and go into booths to hear slime being squashed. The institute includes video installations, play spaces, the tubs of slime and information about how slime seeped into popular culture. (For example: "In 1968 Silly Putty went to the moon on Apollo 8" and "January 2018, Google reported that slime was the #1 trend on YouTube in 2017.") |
The experience comes at quite a cost. In New York, general admission tickets are $48, and a ticket for the "enhanced experience" of going under a slime waterfall will set you back $78. |
Jerome LaMaar, a fashion and costume designer and stylist, met Robinovitz through the Bronx Museum, where LaMaar is a trustee. She tried to persuade him to give slime a shot. "I said, 'I don't do slime; slime is for children.'" |
But when he realized the visual appeal of the stuff — for his bespoke slime, he used white slime, translucent slime and glitter, which he called "very chic" — he gave it a chance. Then he began to realize other benefits: When his hands were kept busy with the slime, his mind focused. "I keep my slime around when I have to think through concepts and creative ideas," he said, "I think this is something most adults should have around, to help them stay sharp during long Zoom marathons." |
LaMaar also introduced his niece, Journey, to Sloomoo. "What I like about it is it feels floofy and fluffy and icy and squishy," said Journey, just after finishing her second-grade homework earlier this week on her 7th birthday. |
Robinovitz, who previously was an owner of a digital influencer talent agency, and Schiller, once an entrepreneur in the art and hospitality industries, also like how slime feels, which is where the idea for this business started. |
Each of the women was dealing with grief in their personal lives and found solace and a reclamation of uncomplicated fun in playing with slime. "We realized that we needed to bring this to the world and to spread the joy," Schiller said. |
Prepare for a flood watch and heavy rain through the evening, with temps remaining in the low 60s. |
In effect until tomorrow (Sukkot). |
 | | Amir Hamja/The New York Times |
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- What we're watching: Louisa Chafee, the director of New York City's Independent Budget Office, will discuss the importance of budget oversight and other topics such as spending on migrants, education and culture on "The New York Times Close Up with Sam Roberts." [CUNY TV].
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The story behind the Menendez story |
 | | Dave Sanders for The New York Times |
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Last week, Robert Menendez, the senior senator from New Jersey and the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was charged, along with his wife and three businessmen, in a bribery scheme. The federal indictment set off a slew of news coverage from my colleagues, who reported on the government's case against the senator and his wife, Nadine Menendez; their connection to a halal meat businessman with ties to Egyptian military leaders; and the cash, Mercedes-Benz and gold bullion discovered by federal agents at the Menendez home. |
At the center of the story, of course, is Mr. Menendez, and earlier this week, my next-desk-over colleague Nicholas Fandos gave readers a wide-lens glimpse of the embattled senator, who on Wednesday pleaded not guilty. |
- Mr. Menendez cut his political teeth in Union City, N.J., the home base of politicians including mayors William V. Musto and Robert C. Botti, both of whom were convicted in the 1980s of charges connected to abusing the power of elected office. Mr. Menendez testified against Mr. Musto, his mentor.
- For nearly two decades, Mr. Menendez has been under the watch of prosecutors who have been suspicious of his relationships and deal-making. "He accepted rides on private planes, luxurious vacations, and other perks from wealthy friends while freely using his office to advance their interests, earning a stern rebuke by the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee in 2018," my colleague reported.
- Mr. Menendez's parents left Cuba in the early 1950s and worked (his mother was a seamstress and his father a carpenter) in Union City. As their son was building a political foundation, the Latino population in the Northeast was developing into a base for the Democratic Party.
- Mr. Menendez's children now have power bases of their own: Alicia Menendez, his daughter, has a weekend show on MSNBC, and Robert Menendez Jr. was elected to the House of Representatives in 2022.
- In 2015, Mr. Menendez was charged with federal bribery — the first time in decades for a sitting senator — after investigators claimed he had used his influence to help a friend's business interests in exchange for luxury travel on private planes, vacations in island villas and $700,000 in political donations. A trial resulted in a hung jury.Months after the trial ended, he began dating Nadine Arslanian, who would become his wife. She has also pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges.
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I was on my way to meet a friend for dinner in Carroll Gardens on a hot summer night when I approached a man who was practicing his golf swing on the sidewalk. |
"Fore!" I said, giving him a heads-up that I would be walking by. |
He lowered his club to let me pass. |
"I hope you make par on this one," I said. |
"I play this course a lot," he replied. "I might even birdie." |
Glad we could get together here. Amelia Nierenberg will be in on Monday. |
| Bernard Mokam and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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