Author: Salma Ali

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The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit

Salma Ali

Post 5 of 5

5/8/18

“The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit”

 

This book discusses the lives of immigrants who came from Cairo, Egypt. It is the story of Lucette Lagnado and her family, specifically her father and the experience from going from Cairo to Alexandria to Paris to the United States. She discusses Cairo in a way where it is a magical place that was very difficult to leave. She reminisces on her street and the great views from her house where she watches all the people on her block interact and the things they carried and walk by with. I loved reading about this because although I was born in the U.S., I visit Egypt every year and I know exactly how to relate to these treasuries of moments. It is amazing how you can never be bored when sitting in the balcony and just watching people go about their day. It is such a beautiful country and everything about it amazes me. Even better, I love to hear the stories my father has to say about his experiences during his childhood and the people he grew up around and the neighborhood itself.

I can imagine why it was so hard to leave a place like that to find a better source of income for yourself. Lucette Lagnado is a reporter at Wall Street Journal and she discusses how the war forced her family to leave and to lose their home and privileges. She discusses the struggles that they went through when they first arrived to the United States and how they poor for so long when they arrived and the amount of work her father had to do to build up for his family.

This story relates to the People of New York City because it discusses another ethnic group of people who had to leave their country for exile reasons and find a new home in New York and start over. I can relate to this in the fact that my father also left home and came to find work in a foreign country and built a life here from scratch. After all, the famous term for Egypt is “Om el Donia”, which means “Mother of the World”.

 

Question

If Leon can return to Cairo, would he do it immediately or would it take a lot for him to do so?

 

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Gay New York

Gay New York

Salma Ali

Post 4 of 5

George Chauncey writes a book about the compelling world of urban gay life before World War II. The gay world that blossomed before the war has been forgotten by historians, however this book restores this history through the opposition of the common myths of the movement. Chauncey calls them the myths of isolation, invisibility and internalization. The myth of isolation disputes the idea that gay men had to live solitary lives and hide themselves from creating a gay subculture. The myth of invisibility discusses that even if men were gay, they remained excluded and invisible. However, this was proven to be untrue because they were highly visible figures and boldly expressed their homosexuality with the way they dressed. The myth of internalization stated that gay men allowed the stereotypes to be said and allowed it to take over their lives rather than resist it, however homosexuals have resisted these ideas and rather celebrated their uniqueness from the norm. These men were very strong in the sense that they built their community to reject the ideas that society has placed upon them and instead counteracted them by preaching that they only differ from the norm in their preferences consisting of their love life, but are in fact still normal human beings.

Chauncey also discusses the gay enclaves that were formed and the neighborhoods in which consisted of gay subculture. Greenwich Village in the 1920s was known to be a popular gay enclave and was the first to really shape gay centers. Harlem was also a very exciting center for gay life in the early 1900s.

Chauncey elaborates more on the fact that lesbians and gays were forming individual enclaves and were separate in the social world, but got together during meetings and gatherings at speakeasies. They both developed enclaves around the same time and some of the drag balls were predominantly lesbian performers and attendees. He also discusses men who had long hair and dressed in feminine-like attire or even those who were interested in art, they were often looked at as unmanly and queer by outsiders and the name used to describe gay men was “artistic”.

Reading all this information about gay enclaves is a new perspective that we have not yet spoken of in class yet and it is definitely one that I had forgotten about when discussing People of New York City. It is incredible that disregarding culture and immigrants, these gay enclaves were also taking form and shape in the 1900s in New York City. In addition, these enclaves were formed even through the fear of hatred and crime that people would try to destroy it because of the sexuality choices of these human beings. Laws were not passed to accept homosexuals to get married and so being gay in that time period was extremely difficult in the lives of these men and women. It is extremely interesting to learn that enclaves not just of individual nationalities were being formed, but also of different sexualities where people stayed to feel welcome around people just like themselves. This also interests me to know the different nationalities of the gay men and women who lived in these enclaves and if they got along with one another because they shared similar ideas in their sexualities.

Question: Did the different nationalities within each gay enclave affect the relationship amongst the people living around each other?

 

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Undocumented Immigrants

Salma Ali

Post 3 of 5

(Un)documented Immigrant Media Makers and the Search for Connection Online

In this piece, Sarah Bishop discusses how undocumented immigrants have been able to share their story through the use of digital media in our technologically advanced generation. These immigrants speak about their experiences, hardships, and confront stigmas and stereotypes placed on undocumented folks. The risk of sharing out can come with threat of deportation if not for the individual speaking out, then possibly for their family members who are not protected by DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals, or by the DREAM act.

Bishop was able to interview a variety of different people from multiple different nationalities; all listed in her piece. It was very interesting to be able to see how although their stories varied in specific details, most of the hardships and fears were quite similar to each other disregarding their cultural background. One fear shared among them included their decision to share out their story and the fear of the aftermath of it. An example of this came from Ricardo, who Bishop explained is a student at Baruch. He shared out his story through his Youtube video titled Meet the Undocumented Immigrant who Works at a Trump Hotel. The video was a hit and has reached over 400,000 views. Although his mother is proud of him for speaking up, she was also slightly afraid of the effects of such popularity. Students like Ricardo have been able to share out through their connection to social media and the internet and for him specifically, his love for photography.

All these examples of undocumented immigrants are incredible to read and even more importantly to be heard. Social media has become such a powerful tool in today’s age because information can spread like wildfire, and sometimes when the news decides not to cover certain stories, those with voices will continue to spread and share what the news refuses to cover. It is important for this tool to be utilized for the greater good and for justice to those who suffered. I do understand the fear behind sharing your story and being exposed to deportation, but I applaud those who decided to take the risk to be able to share their firsthand experience, that only they can tell.

To tie back into the people of New York City, undocumented immigrants are not a foreign discussion for the city. There is such a diversity of people from a variety of countries who come with visas and eventually become undocumented. The stereotypes of these immigrants can cause people to not realize that some of these immigrants come to the U.S.A. early in their life and consider themselves American just as we do and we cannot tell them apart from regular citizens. Immigrants live through their fear of exposure and therefore try to assimillate and fit in with the “norm”, however some are finally standing up and identifying as their original nationality, as well as being American.

 

Questions:

  • What are some of the negative effects of sharing your story through the power of media?
  • Has sharing stories for undocumented immigrants become more difficult or easier since Trump has been elected?
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Underground Movements: Modern Culture on the New York City Subway

Underground Movements: Modern Culture on the New York City Subway

This book talked about how the subway has helped to shape New York City today. It was said that the subway would define New York City in a new way and indeed it has. Before the development of the subway, many newspaper companies were conflicted between it being a life-changer for citizens of NYC or if it would cause more harm and damage than good.

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