The 7 Train
Also known as the “International Express,” the #7 Flushing Local train takes a journey through the flavorfully diverse borough of Queens. This subway line got its nickname by serving a span of culturally rich interconnected neighborhoods. From Pakistan, to Ireland, to Ecuador, to China, immigrants from all across the globe can be seen getting on and off at various stops along the 7 line. I think the 7 line would be a great opportunity for us as a class to explore various ethnic niches that we possibly would not have ventured out to on our own. I really liked the neighborhood assignment we did in pairs and I think that if we did a project that followed several neighborhoods throughout the 7 line, we’d be able to come up with a website that touches upon a lot of the different people that inhabit New York City.
First stop in Queens is in Long Island City- currently one of the most rapidly gentrifying areas in all of New York. Years ago, Long Island City’s cheap rent made it a popular home for immigrants of predominantly Dominican, Columbian, and Puerto Rican backgrounds; nowadays, LIC has a good amount of recently developed hotels, French cafes with overpriced coffee, and hipsters hopping form boutique to boutique. Going further towards the last stop in Flushing, you end up arriving in a predominantly Asian community. Along the ride from Long Island City to Flushing, it’s very possible to hear a minimum of 5 different languages, see an interracial couple holding hands, or catch a Hispanic person eating a traditionally Chinese dish.
I think if we did the 7 line for our group project, the workload would be easily dividable. Each couple of students would be assigned a specific stop along the route. There could be several aspects that every group should address in their part of the project such as history of the group in terms of why they came to America, the job industries they tend to dominate, and maybe something about the history of the neighborhood. There’s also a decent amount of information on Queens being the most diverse county in America, so we’d have a solid foundation to work off of.
In addition to being educationally enriching, focusing on the 7 line would most definitely be enriching for our taste receptors. With about 47% of the population being born outside the United States, Queens has a huge number of excellent restaurants and the 7 train has been called “a passport to eating all the way around the world.”
