Out of the three articles, I thought that Suketu Mehta’s article was the most intriguing. I enjoyed that he spoke about one building instead of discussing a whole neighborhood because I think a description of a neighborhood would be hard to capture in an article. Calloway Château is an apartment building in Corona, Queens that has its own diverse and tight knitted community. He describes it as “the most diverse building in New York City” and I have to agree that that statement is close to the truth. The passages in his article that touched me involved how the residents of the building interacted. People of different nationalities–such as Uzbeks, Afghans, Indians, Koreans, Puerto Ricans, African-Americans, and Guyanese–often gift each other foods of their culture and offer medical remedies. The flow of food represents a mingling and the acknowledgement of the cultures present in the building. The paragraph that states that “the building also takes care of its sick” is also representative of the community because it shows that the residents overlook race, culture, and nationality and instead focuses on the health of the community because they care. They’re always eager to help and I think that helps strengthen the meaning and connection of the community. Another aspect that made Mehta’s article effective was his mentioning of the tensions in the community as well. Instead of presenting the building as a utopia, he states that there are fights and disagreements and that there are a few residents who do not experience the same connection with other people in the building. By including its flaws, it portrays Calloway Château as a believable melting pot.
Joseph Berger’s article was similar to Mehta’s article and was also enlightening. He talked about a neighborhood called Ditmas Park. Although he also discussed how close and diverse the community was, the examples he provided felt more like relationships between two different people or families that got along instead of the whole neighborhood. However, I did like the friendships and the multicultural vibe that he described was occurring in Ditmas Park.
Regarding Ellick’s article, “In Queens: A Melting Pot, and a Closed Book,” I understood how Ellick could’ve felt like an outsider but I’m not quite sure if I am convinced that he did his best to experience the neighborhood. After reading the other articles, the bonding of the communities seemed to occur through similar interests. His hobbies of photography, jogging, and biking may not have been the key activities to connect him to the community. I believe that reaching out to a resident who has lived in Jackson Heights for years would’ve aided his journey of immersing in the culture and neighborhood.
