Hi everyone! I’m Liudi Yang. I can be described as a little old-schooled. My priorities right now are being good to my family and doing well in school. This might have come from how I was raised. Being raised in China gave me a different perspective on how to live. I lived in Tianjin from when I was two to when I immigrated here when I was seven. My grandparents watched over me all those years back in China because my parents were here in the US. My parents struggled like most immigrants when they came here, so that opened my eyes to how important education and being a good person is. My mother is the source of a lot of inspiration; she’s an amazing wife to my father and a wonderful mother to my little sister, Lucy, and me. Being so close to my cultural origins, I speak fluent Chinese, eat (real) Chinese food almost everyday of the year

I currently reside at the Towers at CCNY. Having such a sheltered childhood, living on my own has been both liberating and scary. It’s difficult balancing my social life and my education so that’s I’m still working on. These few months of college have been sources of growth for me. I am definitely more independent now.

During my free time, I enjoy playing volleyball (even though my recent injury in the tendon in my shoulder is going to prevent me from playing for a while). I also play both the piano and guitar. I am also a professional singer (in the shower). An interesting hobby I have is stamp collecting. I used to get made fun of for collecting stamps but I think they’re so fascinating. My favorite is an imperforate Washington three-cent stamp from 1851, which I have in my possession. I am absolutely obsessed with all medical dramas such as Grey’s Anatomy, House, Off the Map, Combat Hospital, and Emily Owens M.D.(with several of them having been canceled…sadness). I think I’m a pretty eclectic individual with interests across the board and I hope to better get to know all my classmates as the semester progresses.

IMMIGRATION VIDEO

BLOG POSTS

Reflections on the Tenement Museum: Connections Between the Levine Family and Mine

The drastic change in the lives of late 1800s and early 1900s immigrants in America was painted clearly for me after hearing the stories of the Levine and Rogarshevsky families. For the Levine family, it seems that the outcome was worth the hardships seeing the more recent pictures of the three daughters with their smiling faces. They gave up more comfortable living in their native country to pursue the “streets paved with gold.” However, even with their sufferings and the disillusionment, the prize was in the long run.

Hearing the Levine’s story reminded me of my parents’ immigration story. Before coming to the US, my mother student taught English at the university she graduated from. My father made a lofty sum of money working as a tour guide for Japanese tourists. They gave up very comfortable living so (my future sister and) I could grow up in the United States. After coming here, my parents both worked in restaurants, making only around five dollars an hour. I remember not seeing my father very much except for when he drove me to school in the mornings because he would get out of work at ten every night. This is why I see the Levine’s family story in my own family’s experiences. I can see the reasons for the sacrifices of my parents now and it makes me appreciate them so much more. Even though the sufferings immigrants go through now are nothing compared to the ones back then, the integration into the American society can still be seen as a tremendous struggle.

Another thing I really enjoyed about the tour was how the people who worked at the museum were able to piece together the lives of the immigrants with whatever they could get their hands on.  It is amazing how the front of the tenement building we were in was created from just a single photograph in which the building couldn’t even be seen clearly.  They created family stories from a combination of the census information, photographs, and other archival information, which were compiled over many years of hard work. It would be amazing to see the reactions of the original families, knowing how much effort was put into learning more about them and their experience. The museum helps people, who would have otherwise been forgotten easily, live on without their recognition in wonderfully preserved illustrations of their lives.

REVIEW

Joseph Berger in his novel, The World in a City, aims to give the readers a multifaceted view of New York City through the voices of the city-dwellers, focusing mainly on interviews, but also including his own experiences and insight. He states the purpose in the preface, telling the readers, “I’ll take you to some of…the city’s most beguiling neighborhoods, and chat with some of their most emblematic and charming inhabitants” (Berger x).

Joseph Berger is a long time journalist who has worked for two publishing newspapers: New York Times and Newsday. Focusing on culture of the city, education, and religion in most of his articles, Berger shows those influences in this novel. The World in a City is his most recent of three published novels. The first explored high performing schools in the US and the second followed the life of his own family as refugees, who came to the US after the holocaust.

With a lightweight focus, Berger did not want to overwhelm his readers with a ton of statistics, but rather let the stories show the changes in numbers.  His novel gives a fresh approach to a city novel because each chapter focuses on a new neighborhood and a new topic. Some will be about actual shifts in the cultures of that area, and some will focus on a special characteristic of the neighborhood, such as the number of fur coats seen in Brighton Beach in chapter 6. Moreover, he wants to show the readers what he talks about by encouraging them to visit the areas with a list of “where to go” and “where to eat” at the end of each chapter.

Berger sees NYC as a constantly shifting city, fueled by immigration. This immigration flow is important not only in bringing in diverse people, but changing the way New Yorkers see themselves and others. Because of the fast speed at which New York City is changing, Berger wants to capture the current moment to show the people it will soon fade away and enter another phase of change. With scatterings of Berger’s own experiences growing up amongst the interviews, the readers can’t help but think that this was also a road to self-discovery, to bring back forgotten memory.

Even though the bulk of the text is the interviews, Berger never lets himself be forgotten and asserts his role as author when he brings up personal encounters and childhood memories. The style and word choice are both very reader-friendly. Commonly known words are used and syntax is simple, so people can enjoy the essence of the book. As mentioned, Berger’s novel is very lightweight but it does not mean that the information presented is any less reliable. He consults various museums and organizations in addition to the interviews and includes many census and statistical references. To lessen the bias in each chapter, Berger always focuses on two sides of the argument. If one old inhabitant disapproves of the recent influx of immigrants, he will present a different side, an old inhabitant accepting the change and embracing it. He also loves to personalize each chapter by steering away from readers’ expectations. As someone who grew up in Flushing, I expected him to focus on the influx of Asian immigrants and how it has shaped the area. Surprisingly, he decided to focus on the Afghan population and the shift in culture that causes them to question their family’s tradition.  This novel would be great for someone who wants to learn about NYC but has never visited the area, but it would also provide New Yorkers with a fresh look at the home they thought they recognized. I, for one, did not even realize there was a large Afghan population in my hometown.

Berger shines the spotlight mainly on the interviewees but his positive view of immigration is still prevalent based on how he chose to incorporate the interviews. He attempts to show how immigration is the key to the mesmerizing diversity of cultures seen in New York City. Berger and his parents were immigrants from Russia, which is a possible reason for why he presents immigration in such a positive light.

This trip of discovery was spurred by Berger’s background in journalism. It’s a collection of all the bits and pieces he has picked up from his encounters with city dwellers and their habitats. Berger ends his journey with the realization that the world can be seen not only in New York, but also in the entire country. Like streams converging to form a large river, immigrants are the sources of the mighty river, one that is ever-changing.

GREENWICH NEIGHBORHOOD VIDEO