After Joe Salvo’s talk, I had begun to really see how my neighborhood has faced such drastic demographic changes. I hadn’t realized that even when I lived in Brooklyn, the population vastly changed before my eyes. For example, in the late 90s, Bensonhurst was mostly considered an Italian and Jewish neighborhood, but by the time I moved to Staten Island, Asians, as well as Russians heavily populated it. What I found interesting from the talk was how the younger population tries to move away from racially stereotypically areas and tries to form their own niche elsewhere. For example, younger Asian Americans strive to move away from Chinatown, where there is a vast majority of older Asians.

What I also found interesting about Salvo’s talk was that the “melting pot” continues to flourish even today. It is also notable that even throughout New York City as a whole, the five boroughs each experience their own melting pot and have different nationalities moving in and out. He also makes note of the other cities that are similarly culturally diverse, yet not as diverse as NYC.

Questions that arose: Why do people move in and out of certain boroughs in NYC?