Picture of Samantha Woodruff

Samantha Woodruff

Bio: Samantha Woodruff is a graduate from Washington State University with a Bachelors in English and Technical Writing. An avid reader since childhood, she has always had a strong connection with storytelling and writing. Her interests include art, cooking, video games, and movies. Samantha is excited to join the NYC Tastemakers team and have a chance to share her work with a wider audience through this internship.
Business and Finance

How Increased Demand for AI Affects the Smart Appliance Industry

At the end of last year, Micron Technology announced that it would be focusing all sales of RAM (Random Access Memory) hardware on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) sector. This has led to a dramatic increase in RAM prices as consumer-available supplies begin to disappear. What does this mean for the ...

Read More
Books

Books with Adult Content Shouldn’t Have Cute Cartoon Covers

Regardless of the saying, many people judge books by their covers. And why shouldn’t we? A picture is worth a thousand words, right? The design of a book cover can tell readers a lot about what’s inside. Between a book cover with a title in bold font and an image ...

Read More
Politics

Changes to USPS Postmark Rules will Affect Mail-in Voting and Taxes

The United States Postal Service (USPS) has recently updated its postmark rules. As of December 2025, instead of mail being postmarked the day it was sent, the postmark will reflect when that piece of mail was processed by an “automated USPS sorting machine,” which means that some mail could be ...

Read More
Food

NYC Celebrates National Bagel Day

Most food historians agree that bagels originated in Poland, created by Jewish communities. The circular shape was said to “symbolize continuity and good fortune, making a popular gift for new mothers”. It didn’t take long for these baked goods to become household staples. In the late 1800s, Jewish immigrants ...

Read More
Sports

NCAA Basketball Rigging Scandal Related to Sports Gambling

Federal indictments against over 20 people for rigging basketball games in the US, as well as “professional contests in the Chinese Basketball Association,” were announced today. Charges included “bribery in sporting contests” and “conspiracy to commit wire fraud”. These files allege that an estimated 29 college basketball games during the ...

Read More
Politics

ICE Agents Exposed for Lacking Basic Training

The AI (artificial intelligence) tool ICE has been using to assess applications has made a deadly mistake. The original purpose of this AI tool was to identify any applicants who already received “law enforcement officer training” so they could skip the in-person training. These applications were automatically fast-tracked to the ...

Read More
Movies

Why Viewers Keep Coming Back to Apocalyptic Movies

I’d wager a guess that most people don’t look upon the idea of the end of the world very fondly. Yet, a popular genre of film focuses on just that, humanity’s destruction. We see this type of narrative played out again and again on the big screen. Why? Most apocalyptic ...

Read More
Sports

FIFA Fans Cancel Tickets Ahead of 2026 World Cup

What began as discontent over ticket prices and potential visa issues has turned into a full-force boycott of this year’s FIFA World Cup. Approximately 16,000 people have cancelled their tickets already, and that number is continuing to grow. The 2026 FIFA World Cup is being hosted by the United States, ...

Read More
Latest News

A Look at the First Two Weeks with Mayor Mamdani

Winning with over 565,000 votes, Mamdani took the New York mayoral election by storm with his ambitious plans and focus on making NYC affordable for all. It has been just two weeks since Zohran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor. What has he been able to accomplish in that time? ...

Read More
Science and Technology

Plastic Waste Fuses with Rocks to Create Technofossils

There are multiple types of these plastic-rock hybrids. Plastistones are formed when plastic melts and bonds with existing rocks. Plastistone is used as an “umbrella term” for these plastic and rock mixtures. Other categories of plastistones include plastiglomerates, which are rocks made from sedimentary particles and other debris held together ...

Read More
Food

Should the US Adopt France’s “Supermarket Law” for Food Waste?

Next month will mark 10 years since France enacted “Loi Garot”, a law to regulate food waste from supermarkets. As of 2016, 18% of the food produced in France went to waste, approximately 10 million tonnes. Originally pioneered by councilman Arash Derambarsh, this law proposed that supermarkets larger than 400 ...

Read More
Politics

Trump Cracks Down on Altering National Park Passes

What do you think of when you hear the words “national parks”? Is it the gorgeous landscapes of the Grand Canyon, the rocky coastlines in Acadia, or one of the many majestic creatures that call national parks home? It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the passes used to enter ...

Read More

Hey! Are you enjoying NYCTastemakers? Make sure to join our mailing list for NYCTM and never miss the chance to read all of our articles!