Our visit to the Grand Concourse was another example of how much history exists around us while we don’t even realize it. The Grand Concourse itself was a beautiful area to visit and was honestly unlike any part of New York I’d been to prior. Sam Goodman’s stories only served to make the area even more beautiful and intriguing. My favorite part of the trip (aside from sitting by the fountain in the awesome hotel) was when Sam explained the difference between wealth and prosperity. I agreed with his two definitions and liked the idea of the people who formerly lived in those apartments being prosperous as opposed to wealthy. I like the idea of prosperity as opposed to wealth because I think that the prosperous are more likely to appreciate what they have because they had to work for it. That is what I aspire to be some day. Not wealthy, but prosperous. 

While the difference between wealth and prosperity was my favorite part of the trip, what I took away most from the trip came at the close of the trip when Sam discussed how the government of NY used incentives to move around different groups of people. I understand that there were some good motives for their actions, but it seemed like there wasn’t much regard to the quality of life of those who would be negatively affected. His closing statements brought up the question of whether the government of NY was purposely trying to keep the Bronx poor. So far, I’m not sure of the answer, nor what good doing so could do, but if it is true, it makes me wonder if we couldn’t find better alternatives.