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Group members: Katherine, Javier, Eric, Jane
Main Question: How do Manhattan’s Harlem and Brooklyn’s Borough Park represent the essence of New York City in terms of culture and history?Our group chose two neighborhoods we felt strongly represented the essence of New York City for their rich culture and ethnic ties.
We will try to understand each neighborhood from many different angles, and “transport” the class to Harlem and Borough Park, even though we’re stuck at home. We’ll include a lot of visual elements such as video, art, music, and photography, as well as historical context in the written word.Medium: Website, featuring different forms of media like photos, videos, and written word.
Breakdown and Next Steps:
Javier & Jane:
Focus on the past and present culture of Borough Park
The historical context of the Orthodox Jewish community, demographics, religion, etc.
The culture of Borough park in terms of food/cooking, art, architecture, music.
Videos and photos of the area (found online and taken by us), like a mini virtual tour to fully immerse ourselves and the class.
Katherine & Eric:
Focus on the past and present culture of Harlem
The historical context of Harlem (Harlem Renaissance), demographics, religion, etc.
The culture of Harlem in terms of food (soul food), art, architecture, jazz, iconic buildings (Apollo Theater)
Videos and photos of the area (found online and taken by us), like a mini virtual tour to fully immerse ourselves and the class.
Together:
How does all the information we discovered show how these neighborhoods truly represent New York City?Jane, Javier, Katherine, Eric – o.k., sounds like a team.
Proposal – there is not one yet.
Your proposal is too ambitious: You want to cover history & the present day. You want to show the richness of two neighborhoods, covering them from “many different angles” & presenting their special ”art, architecture, music”… On top of it, you want to convince us that these two very different – quite unique in their history and demographic profile – neighborhoods represent New York. You want to do it all in two weeks, and – of course – to do it well. Really?!!
As it promises too much, it’s an invitation to disaster of risky juxtapositions, without regard to the historical context. Of necessity, whatever comparison you’d present would have to be based on vague generalizations. And you’d compare/contrast Harlem Renaissance – a complicated cultural movement firmly embedded in the realities of the 1930s – with what? Was there an Orthodox community in Borough Park in the 1930s? Did it also experience an amazing cultural turmoil at that time? Or you want to compare Harlem then with Borough Park now? Or you want to contrast the centrifugal & changing character of Harlem of the last couple of decades with the tendency towards self-segregation characteristic of the Orthodox community?
O.K. so, #1: Relax.
This is NOT a research project. You don’t have to conduct research to the “past and present of…”
You may start with “Impressionistic portrait of…”#2. Think what’s the most attractive for you in this fantasy proposal. What prompted you in this direction? I mean what is it that you‘d like to show us, to let us “taste” together with you. And what is it that you realistically can do that indeed might allow us special appreciation of some aspects – one or two specific things – of these contrasting neighborhoods.
#3. Think what access you have (and not have) – e. g. to a specific synagogue or church, or to any special resources etc. How could you combine your individual special gifts/ knowledge to build an interesting collective product.
Group members: Katherine, Javier, Eric, Jane
Main Question: How is Harlem’s soul food a connector between New Yorkers?
Our group chose Harlem because of its favorable location for Eric and Katherine, Jane’s ability to cook, and Javier’s love of jazz music, which is strongly embedded in the culture of Harlem. Using these elements, we will create a film that tells the story of how this neighborhood’s soul food has impacted each of us as four different New Yorkers, using jazz music from Javier and photography of Harlem from Katherine as a device to tell the story.
Medium: Film
Breakdown and Next Steps:
Javier: Will create a storyline answering the main question, Will provide the jazz music to go along with the film
Jane: Will cook soul food (southern fried chicken and two sides), that will serve as a connector between all four of us New Yorkers
Katherine: Will take photos and video footage in and around Harlem
Eric: Will edit our videos, photos, and music into a cohesive film (about 3 or 4 minutes)
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