The Subway Connection

To be honest, I wanted my college experience to be somewhere distant away from my parents, where I could come home once in a while, but at the same time I could live independently. But I found out that soon wouldn’t be possible, as for my parents could not even afford college tuition, in general. But it’s very fortunate that the only choice I had, turned out to be probably the best choice I’ve made. Enrolling in Macaulay Honors College was based wholly on the full-tuition scholarship that I would receive, and the fact that I would not have to pay extra for a dormitory. But the benefits I received were tremendous. The tuition scholarship was definitely a requirement for me, but the MacBook Laptop, the Opportunities Funds, the New York setting, and the supportive professors were really all bonuses that I was grateful to have. Though I’m still a commuter all the way from Long Island to Brooklyn everyday, I’m very thankful with everything that was given to me.

Starting freshman year in high school, I started to be very interested in biology, mostly because my teacher was able to put facts and details into perspective for me. Instead of just learning the basics, she also discussed the ethics and research that was done. And for me that really built a strong foundation for science. In senior year of high school, my chemistry teacher was extremely passionate about her subject, and she not only pushed us to her standards, she would also give us life lessons along the way, and that really solidified my interest in the sciences. Though I am a biology major as of right now, I would not be surprised if I were to switch to a chemistry major last on.

In addition to my biology major, I am on the pre-med track, and I’m aspiring to be an anesthesiologist, mostly because I am truly interested in helping people see their loved ones being cured, and also because I want my future life, and the future life of my parents to be more relaxed. It’s very difficult to live a life where money is constantly a problem, and even though money shouldn’t be a determining factor, this materialistic possession changes our decisions and constrains our life. I’m very lucky that Macaulay Honors College became the best decision, even though it was the only decision because of financial issues, but choices aren’t always as successful. And I would want my loved ones not to be put into these problems in the future.

From when I was born to when I was ten years old, I lived in Sunnyside, Queens and then my parents saved up enough money to move to New Hyde Park, Long Island. Because my parents are not as familiar with Brooklyn as they were with Queens, I was always told that Brooklyn is a dangerous place, and so in my mind, I was never given an opportunity to see Brooklyn in a different light. Before entering Brooklyn College, I had an understanding in my mind that Brooklyn was mostly inhabited by African Americans, and Asians (predominately Chinese) would live on or around 8^th Avenue, because that was how my family portrayed it. But entering Brooklyn College, I see that there is so much cultural diversity. Everyday commuting to school, I see people of Asian descent, Jewish descent, Russian descent, etc. and it definitely changes what Brooklyn means to me, and because I’m still very new to this borough, I hope to be less ignorant through this Seminar class. I would love to learn about how the different parts of Brooklyn interact with each other, and how one ethnic community diffuses into the next.

My parents were immigrants themselves, from Hong Kong, since they were twenty years old. They’ve lived in New York for the past thirty years and it seems like they understand American tradition as well as keeping their own, especially my dad who worked in Manhattan. For me, it’s really comforting to be able to go to Flushing with my parents on the weekend where they can speak Cantonese to complete strangers and have them actually understand you. It’s comforting also to know that the Chinese food is not just Americanized take out, but it’s something that my mom would have had when she was younger, but at the same time, it’s great to be able to go to K-Town in the city and have a taste of Korean culture, as well as going to Little Italy for a walk through the Italian culture. I think that’s what shapes my life. For example, it’s great that every year, my parents would watch the ball drop and celebrate with the countdown for the January 1^st New Year, but at the same time, they give out red envelops and wear new pajamas on Lunar New Year. It’s a very unique mix. Also, when a family member gets married, the bride wears the American white dress, as well as the red silk dress of the Chinese culture. It’s good to see that even though we’ve moved thousands of miles away, we’re still able to keep our culture, as well as incorporate our new culture.

The diversity of Macaulay Honors College, not just Brooklyn College, could be seen as a benefit for me also. I would not be successful at a school that was predominately a certain type of race. And so, even though ethnic patterns weren’t exactly my determining factor, it was rewarding to be apart of something so unique. And I wish that my parents could be immersed in the culture of Brooklyn as I was, so that they could understand how Brooklyn really is.

I am Adrian Savage: student of Macaulay Honors College, Brooklyn; contender for a CUNY BA in a double major of English and Criminal Psychology; and future prosecuting attorney. I chose to enroll with Macaulay due in large part to the opportunities I knew it would afford. To live in New York City, to have access to internships and study abroad, to be able to participate in something as grand as an Honors college, were all things I didn’t want to pass up.  For this class in particular, I am excited to become better acquainted with the city I only met a few months ago.

For the most part, I have no working knowledge of Brooklyn’s immigration history.  Five months ago I still lived in my small hometown in northern Utah, and was therefore underexposed to New York City ethnic movements. As a new transplant, I have also been, up to this point, unaffected (directly) by those movements.  But I do feel the effects now, as I walk down the street and become witness to America’s true melting pot of culture, race, religion, and every other category that’s big enough to be ‘melted.’

My own social background can be traced to exactly the middle. I am an average girl, Caucasian, from the average middle-class family, from your typical small-ish town. Since moving here, I think I can honestly say that all of this middleness has had little to no affect on the life I’m living now. Nor on my family, since they remain in Utah.  Many students my age come from exactly the same background, yet I am one of the few who moved out of state for college.  I don’t know why this is, but as my social background is no different from many others, I can’t see how it would have influenced my decision to apply to Macaulay.  However, my current social status is a different question altogether: I am a poor college student, fixating anxiously on the stress of student loans. The affect this has on me? I am unusually tight-fisted for a person who lives in the greatest city in the world.

In the end though, I don’t think my social status hasn’t mattered thus far in the life I lead.  I’ve met with no one who would look condescendingly on how I operate. No discrimination has occurred, and as far as I know, neither has the opposite. Blanket acceptance is all I’ve experienced.  New York City (and its people) understand.

As for the question of whether or not the challenges/promises of NYC have influenced the work I hope to do, I’d have to say no. I came to NYC with the future of my work already in mind, and thus far New York City has done nothing to change my dreams. Certainly New York City holds more opportunity for me to complete that work, but it has held no sway in determining what that work will be.

Because I am a non-native (to NYC), immigration and other NYC cultural experiences have not had an affect on myself or my family’s traditions, values, beliefs, etc.  That’s not to say that immigration in general had no affect, only that immigration as relates to New York City has had no affect. For the purpose of sharing, I will tell you that my family came from Sweden, Scotland, Wales, and the other various European countries. They arrived in America before Ellis Island opened as an immigration processing port and after the transcontinental railroad.  They landed in the USA somewhere unknown to me (one branch of the family briefly settled in St. Louis), then took the train out west. I have no idea if they came in through New York City, and my father is hazy on the subject too, so this is something I am in the process of discovering.

I have many favorite places in NYC.  One of them is the 24 hour luncheonette, “Donuts and Diner on 7^th”, in Brooklyn.  Four years ago, my family took a vacation around Christmas time here to Brooklyn, and twice a day, every day, of that trip, my father and I walked to that diner for hot chocolate, a box of donuts, and whatever else tickled our fancy (the fries come fresh with every order, and have the most satisfying, greasiest, crunch).  It will forever be a special place to me, and whenever I happen to be in the neighborhood, I always stop for a donut.  And now my father will be visiting come April, so you can bet that we’ll be back.

As requested, here are 2 pictures: the Donut shop, and a picture of myself (when I was in Africa a couple years ago).

My name is Jessina Wong.  I enrolled in the CUNY Honors College because of the many benefits listed on its website, such as a full-tuition merit scholarship, and because I knew I would definitely meet many other talented students who share my work ethic.  While I want to follow the pre-med track, I also want to graduate with a degree in physics.  I am not sure if I will follow through with this, however, because I have almost no experience in either field.  I hope to be able to look back at the Macaulay Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York class and say that it helped me understand the lives of the people who live in this city with me.  I am interested in the different cultures of people from around the world.

I was born, raised, and still live in Queens.  While I know that my parents have driven through Brooklyn before, I know almost nothing about it.  I rarely left my neighborhood until I went to high school in Manhattan.  That is probably when I started to travel to Brooklyn.  Sometimes I would have to go to my friends’ houses to work on projects.  I always took the train because my parents would not want to drive and, of course, I do not have a car.  The one thing that still bothers me is how there is no direct line from Queens to Brooklyn, save the G line.  As useful as some people may find the G train, I have never had to go to any place in

Brooklyn that could be easily accessible via the G.  In fact, it would be more of a hassle to take the G than to make a detour through Manhattan.  Instead of spending money on extending the 7 line, it would be more useful for the MTA to make more lines connecting Queens and Brooklyn.  As it is, it takes me and hour and thirty minutes to get to Brooklyn College, which means I spend about three hours commuting each day.  That is a huge waste of time when I cannot find a seat to do homework on the train.

The reason I have always lived in Queens is that it was considered the best place to be when my parents immigrated to America.  Of course, the best place to be in general has always been Manhattan, but it has always been the priciest.  Queens was the next best thing.  My dad did have a lot of family in Brooklyn, though, so he would visit a lot.  He told me that many families started off living in Brooklyn but planned to move to Queens because they thought it was safer.  He thinks that most people probably thought Queens was safer out of prejudice.  When my dad and his family moved to my neighborhood, it was predominately Jewish with the occasional Hispanics.

I love the diversity of the people of New York.  While I can still remember growing up when the neighborhood was still predominately White, I have noticed a lot of other people move in.  The best thing about living where I do is the variety of food.  There’s a pizzeria on the corner of my block.  Next to it, I can grab some Chinese food.  If I walk a little further, Masala is there with some Indian food.  If I’m not in the mood for something big, I like knowing that there’s a 7-Eleven right around the corner if I just want a snack.  Without so many different cultures immigrating to my community, I would probably have a hard time trying new things since I don’t leave my community very often.

I am not religious, nor do I dance, but those are the next two things that interest me the most when I meet people of different cultures.  Every year in high school, I would watch my peers perform in our Culture Fest.  During the last two years, I decided to join them in the Martial Arts Fan Dance.  It was the best decisions I have ever made in high school.  I learned a lot of new things by visiting the other groups in my free time.  In the Macaulay Seminar 2: The Peopling of New York class, I hope to learn more about the different cultures of people from around the world.

The Influences of a First-Generation

In high school, the future seemed so hazy to me. While the future still appears unclear, I am certain of my academic pursuits. Currently, I am working towards a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and French. I enrolled in Macaulay Honors College because it was my smartest financial option and because I believed that the resources of Macaulay Honors would assist me in becoming more educated and prepared to overcome any later obstacles. At Macaulay, I hope to build invaluable connections with people who might become employers, mentors, and lifelong friends. As for a career, I am currently undecided. However, I am exploring my options in art museums/galleries, specifically curatorial work, and teaching. I aim for a creative and intellectually rewarding career, with a decent salary of course.

As a New Yorker, I am constantly exposed to countless cultures. I live in Queens, but I have been going to school in Brooklyn since the sixth grade. From my observations at school, I noticed that Brooklyn is very culturally diverse. A large portion of Brooklyn consists of immigrants from countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, and the West Indies. Many of my friends and several of my relatives were immigrants who now reside in Brooklyn. However, besides these general observations, I do not have much knowledge of Brooklyn’s immigrant experience.

My family’s immigrant background has deeply influenced my life. I am a first-generation American. My older relatives immigrated to America to escape from the turmoil of the Vietnam War. My parents saw the Vietnamese government tear up their lives. To find a better life, they abandoned everything and risked their lives, taking refuge in numerous countries. They were not yet twenty-three. When they reached America, they worked, studied, and lived in multiple states until they finally settled down in New York. My parents rose from their bleak circumstances as refugees and became successful in this unfamiliar land. They said to me, “If we could accomplish this much, you, a young adult born in America and fluent in English and American customs, should be able to accomplish even more. You were born in a world of privileges and resources.” My parents’ expectation has greatly shaped my personality and determination in life. I grew up as a hard-worker, in school, volunteering, extracurricular activities, and internships.

My social background influences how I live, but in a small way. My parents settled in Springfield Gardens, Queens because they found a house next door to their workplace and the neighborhood was decent. Ethnicity, race, and religion were not factors in choosing the community in which my parents would raise me. My status in the middle class, however, largely impacted my college decisions. And with my family’s income, we are able to occasionally visit cultural institutions and often travel within the country. Education also played a huge role in who I am. I grew up going to top schools in New York City because my parents want the best fundamentals for me. Everything I learned, in a general sense, influenced my political, religious, and social views. The decisions I make are based on the education I received. But overall, my parents’ method of parenting, the environment I am live in, and the people I meet are the overriding factors of the life I lead in New York City.

There were multiple factors in my decision to enroll in Macaulay Honors College. The main factor, as I mentioned earlier, was financial. My parents do not believe in “prestigious” universities. They went to state schools for free and now have good salaries. To them, you can generally receive a good education anywhere. My parents did not want to incur debt from a high tuition, especially because I have two younger siblings who will eventually go to college. Therefore, any school that is free is good to them. And the closer the school is to home, the better. My interests and lifestyle were also factors in my decision to apply/enroll in Macaulay.

I do not have much knowledge of New York’s immigration patterns. However, I have not noticed a significant influence on my family’s beliefs in accordance to immigration patterns in New York City. Ever since my parents started a family in Springfield Gardens, they/we have not moved. New groups of people are replacing the old inhabitants in my neighborhood. But my family has felt no impact except for losing friends and gaining friends of different cultures. Immigration patterns have also had little effect on my family’s political decisions. But my parents’ own immigration has affected our lives. Being young immigrants in America, my parents lost many of their Vietnamese traditions and religious customs. Our traditions and customs are have become increasingly American. We are slowly loosing our roots.

New York City is a special city. People generally view the city as a symbol of success. My parents are no different. My parents came to New York to work hard to provide my siblings and me the best opportunities. They hope we achieve great success, success that they could not achieve as immigrants with limited English. Living in New York City sparked my interests in art, fashion, cultural institutions, and the media. Exploring the city’s resources has heavily influenced my decision to major in art history and possibly pursue a career in museum/art gallery work or in editorial work. New York City is the hub of art and writing.

I have many favorite places in New York City. One of my favorite places is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I visit this museum every couple of months to get lost in the artworks. I especially love the period rooms, the European sculpture galleries, and the nineteenth and twentieth century European paintings galleries. I absolutely love the range of artworks here and I especially like going to the museum late at night, when few people are around. The picture below is from one of the period rooms.

I am a proud member of both the Macaulay Honors College of The City University of New York and the BA/MD program. This is my freshmen year and my major is Biology with a minor in Health and Nutrition. There are several factors that attracted me to both of these great programs. The BA/MD program guarantees placement to the SUNY Downstate Medical School to all of its graduates that meet certain academic requirements. The Macaulay Honors College program offers an enriched liberal arts program that brings emphasis on the arts and cultures of our great city.  During my first Macaulay Honors College seminar, we visited an art gallery, an opera at the Lincoln Center, and two Off-Broadway productions.

My interest in the Macaulay Honors College program is based on my desire to learn more about the liberal arts. At the open house presentation, one of the speakers described the program that is being offered and all of its activities, and I immediately became interested and decided to apply. After just one semester, I can truly say that I am very pleased to have made these decisions and be a part of both of these exciting and wonderful programs.

My passion and goal is to become a cardiologist. I remember, as far back as I can, that my parents together along with my grandparents always put an emphasis on the need to attain a college education and excel in studies. They all told me that learning hard while young will help me when I am older. I believe that this concept is not unique to just the immigrants from the former Soviet Union. It is a characteristic of most immigrants that arrive in the United States to encourage their children to pursue a higher education and take advantage of the vast number of opportunities offered in our great country. I think that all parents and grandparents wish their children to excel in their education and attain the goals that may have eluded them at one time. My parents both work as computer programmers. They were able to obtain a higher level of education in the United States because of the many opportunities it has to offer to anyone regardless of their social and cultural status. If my family members would have stayed in the former Soviet Union, they would have been continuously exposed to anti-Semitism. This fact alone would have prevented my parents from being able to pursue a college education, and being able to find any type of career opportunity.

Both of my parents are immigrants from the former Soviet Union. My mother and father came to the United States when both of them were teenagers in the mid-nineteen seventies. Under the Communist regime of the Soviet Union, both of their families experienced government sponsored anti-Semitism that ultimately forced them to leave the country where they were born, had large extended families and were established members of the society. Upon arrival in the United States, each of them, along with his/her parents, experienced the difficulties of adjusting to a new country, culture, language, and customs. My Dad’s family lived in a cheap hotel in Midtown before finding a permanent apartment in Jamaica, Queens. They had no relatives or close friends that could help them to understand the new environment. My father’s family totally relied on the help and guidance of people who worked in the philanthropic agencies sponsored by Jewish organizations that assisted Soviet Jewry at that time. My mom’s family experienced the same culture shock and difficulties seen by my father’s family. The only advantage my mother’s family had was a human connection. My grandfather’s cousin allowed them to live in his apartment until they would be able to make their own living arrangements. As former citizens of a communist regime, my parents were brought up as non-observant Jews. They had very little knowledge about their own religion and culture. It became very important to them to start learning their culture and to observe some of the traditions. It was very important for my parents to enroll me into Bar-Mitzvah classes and participate in this important rite of passage for Jewish males. My father could not hope to have this ceremony held when he was thirteen and the celebration of my Bar Mitzvah helped him to fulfill his need to pass on the tradition that I hope to carry on.

The area of Union Square holds a special place in the hearts of both of my parents and their families. This is the place where the offices of the philanthropic agencies were located that they visited frequently upon their arrival in New York. Sometimes our family visits this area to catch a movie at one of its several movie theaters and have a meal at one of its many restaurants. My parents always reminisce about how this area changed since they came to New York. They remember the park as being unkempt and some of the buildings around the vast square a bit neglected, but they still loved it and looked forward to every visit in Manhattan. My parents remember how they simply strolled through its busy streets full of skyscrapers and different people soaking up the atmosphere of the greatest city in the world.

Most of my exposure to other cultures has been though a prism of living in a very ethically and culturally diversified city that is New York. I always enjoy learning new facts about different cultures and customs.  I know that this class will help me gain even a deeper knowledge by virtue of having an instructor-led structured approach that I am looking forward in playing an active role of student who is ready to learn.

I live in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. It is a culturally diverse and colorful community that includes a great variety of ethnic groups. I truly enjoy my neighborhood and appreciate all that it offers. I can walk down a single avenue and visit   restaurants that offer cuisine from places like Turkey and Central Asia, East European and Greek, Thai and Chinese, and many more. I can visit several shops that offer a great variety of foods brought in from around the world and sample delicacies from far-away places. I can take a leisurely stroll down Emmons Avenue and encounter people dressed in different clothing that represent their culture. One thing in common that all of the residents have here, regardless if they are recent immigrants or have settled in this country, is their desire to live in a better place, a more tolerant community, a free society and that can only be found in our country.

My first year in college has been an interesting experience, from the freedom we have as students to the greater buildup of responsibilities. I’m currently on the pre – med track so I’m taking courses that are suggested for the MCAT. As of now I plan on double majoring in biology and international relations. I have always wanted to help others in the future, which is why I plan to major in biology. For international relations, I’ve become interested in foreign affairs after taking a comparative politics class in high school. It showed me how different yet similar different countries are. I want to be someone, who can understand the culture of multiple countries and be able to cooperate with them in order to better all our countries.

I’m now in CUNY Honors because it was the best choice to make in this economy. I would get a free education with benefits on the side so what’s not to like? This seminar topic is actually the one I have the most interest in. I hope to gain an understanding of people from different backgrounds and understand why people from different cultures are the way they are now. This topic is closely related to my interest in international relations since demographics play a huge role in both. No matter what country it is, as time goes on people will come and go and demographics will alter. I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the topics I’m interested in, and broaden my knowledge through college. I’ve worked as a counselor for children in the past but for the future I plan on getting jobs more closely related with my field of study.

As someone who lives in Brooklyn, I feel like there will always be neighborhoods that have more of a certain race then another. There are some neighborhoods that have a balanced mix of ethnic groups but few. These neighborhoods with dominant races show how more and more immigrants are migrating to Brooklyn. Even though I’m only eighteen, I have seen the changes that have been mad apparent in my neighborhood. Thirteen years ago my neighborhood Bay Ridge was mostly white, now a lot of Arabs and Asians have moved into my neighborhood. In the past I would say I was the only Asian family on my block and all the other families were White. Now I can say that about half my block is White and the other half is of mixed races.

The incredible amount of immigrants that come to New York City has broadened my understanding of different types of people. Even just by attending school I can see how more and more families have immigrated to New York and how certain neighborhoods play a role in the types of people you meet in a school. Starting from Elementary School, there were really few Asians because my neighborhood was mostly White. However when I left my own neighborhood, and went to Christa McAuliffe for Middle School I encountered a huge increase of Asians. Christa McAuliffe is in Fort Hamilton and is predominately Asian due to its proximity to 8^th Avenue, which is practically the Chinatown of Brooklyn. Then when I entered Brooklyn Technical High School, the amount of diversity I encountered was off the charts. I met people from just about everywhere. There was also a huge increase in Black people because Brooklyn Tech is in the middle of Fulton which is a predominately Black neighborhood. When the amount of people in your school is still small, people don’t really see the diversity because in Elementary School and Middle School, the diversity was still really scarce. When I entered a High School, with more than five thousand people I got to see how diverse our city was. These people were coming from all over the city to create the diversity in my High School. Now at Brooklyn College the diversity is incredible with more than 16,000 people. You can meet people who have come from just about anywhere. I really love the diversity in my High School and here at Brooklyn because I feel like it’s given me a better understanding of other cultures. Through friends from different areas, I learn things about other countries without even having to open a textbook. They share their culture with me and I feel like it’ll help me in the future especially with being more accepting towards other cultures and what they believe in.

To be honest I feel like social background will always matter in life. Even though it may not matter as much in New York City compared to other places, it still matters. Race had never really been an issue for me until I applied to college. I was scared to mark off the Asian box because many colleges have a limit for how many of each ethnic group they’ll accept. Many people I knew when applying to college choose to mark off the minority boxes. They were part of that minority in technical terms but they never considered themselves part of that ethnic group until it was beneficial for them in college. I was scared that being Asian would affect whether or not I got into my desired school especially since the Asian pool is so competitive. For now I could say my race hasn’t greatly affected me but I’ll never know for the future. Since my family isn’t wealthy, I would say it affected my decision to go to Macaulay. I didn’t want to burden my parents with loans, which is why I chose a school where they wouldn’t have to worry about anything instead of a private school.

The promises that come along with New York City haven’t really affected my parents but it has given me hope for a better future. I strive to do better because I know my efforts will eventually pay off. I feel like New York City’s immigration pattern has probably constrained our movements more. It’s not necessarily a bad thing but it’s a lot more competitive in the industry today with the influx of people. My dad is fluent in English and keeps up with politics. I would say as an immigrant himself, he’ll always vote for the candidate who speaks for the lower class more because he wants to see immigrants get better employment, instead of the typical minimum wage jobs we see these days. Because my dad is more Americanized I would say my family isn’t as culturally oriented as other Chinese families. We still celebrate the regular big Chinese holidays but we aren’t as superstitious as other families regarding bad and good omens. I feel like New York City has hyped up the Chinese culture. During Chinese New Year there are parades in predominately Chinese areas. I went to 8^th avenue with my friends and it was interesting to see so many non – Asians celebrating too.  I felt happy watching others celebrate with us too. In New York City there aren’t any places important to us because of our culture. Rather places like the Bronx Zoo and Museum of Natural History are important to us because of the memories we’ve built there throughout the years. My family and I have gone there together every year since I was a child. They’re places that have built the strong bonds within our family.

The first picture is a picture of me when I was in Six Flags with my friends. The second is a picture of my favorite exhibit in the Natural History Museum.