For my NY Dreams Project, I’ll be interviewing SJ, a Post-Bac Pre-Med student at CCNY who is originally from India. I think she falls into the category of still trying to make it in New York. I want to know about the differences between her life in India as opposed to NY, and more importantly about the experiences she’s had on her journey toward making it in New York.

For my neighborhood paper, I am focusing on the evolution of East Harlem, primarily on how the Hispanic population has become a major facet of this community.  However, my story pitch is about a Haitian immigrant just across the water in Queens.  Christina Bien-Aime is a 20 year old student at the CCNY Spitzer School of Architecture.  She is currently living with an aunt so that she may gain a quality education and fulfill her dream of becoming an architect, all while the rest of her family back in Haiti.  It’s a really inspiring and heart-wrenching story and is, I think, a paradigm of the “NY Dream” in the city’s immigrant youth today.

For my story, I will profile Minhaj Khaled, a first-generation American who grew up in Jamaica, Queens. Both of his parents are from Bangladesh. He is legally blind so for him, something that is 20 ft away appears to be 400 ft away. In spite of this handicap, he maintains an enormous enthusiasm for life, never complains, and is one of those people that you want to be around. I want to find out about his upbringing and how the values and culture of his parents in combination with those of his surroundings affected who he is today.

For my story I will speak with my father, who was born and raised in America but offers a different kind of immigrant story, one that we haven’t talked about as much but seems just as interesting to me. My dad was born and raised in Philadelphia and I think that it would be interesting to hear about his short but transformative journey to New York City. I wonder why he and his sister chose to leave their hometown and move here. I wonder how hard it was to make the adjustment and whether he felt like an outsider the way many actual immigrants do (from another country, not state).

For my Making It in NY story, I am going to interview my great aunt, Felicitas Bobrow. She was a biochemist who came to America in the 1970s. First settling in Hawaii and then California, she earned a living as a researcher. For five years, she worked in the biochemistry department at Rutgers University. During her time in RU, she was offered a research position at Columbia University. This was the beginning of her New York life. 

My aunt’s life in New York starts at Woodside, Queens. After receiving the position at Columbia, an apartment at Woodside became her new home. It was also in Columbia where she met her husband, Elias Bobrow. Elias was medical student at Columbia when he met Felicitas. After their marriage, they moved together to a new apartment in Midtown Manhattan near Central Park. The Park plays a large role in her life because she spends most of her days there. She walks and does T’ai Chi almost everyday. 

My plan is to follow a typical day in her life, from her apartment to a walk in the Park. I plan to also take her to Columbia University to get a sense of what her life felt like thirty years ago. 

I think it would be very interesting to get the perspective of New York City’s street food vendors. These people have become such an iconic part of New York City’s street life. An interesting point of street food in NYC is how it changes and evolves with the city. The classic idea of street food is hot dogs and pretzels and peanuts. However with the sudden immigration of Middle Easterners, a lot more Halal vendors have began to appear throughout the city with some gaining worldwide recognition like The Halal Guys or “Gyro and Chicken”. Now there are a lot more yuppie/”hipster” food vendors beginning to pepper the city as it once again changes forms. I feel like this meets our Past/Present/Future theme very well alongside making it in NYC because this is a person’s job and livelihood. To get into details, the past will focus on becoming a street vendor; what it takes financially, legally, and emotionally. The present will go over the day to day operations from opening to closing. Finally, the future will cover any future ambitions that the vendor has; whether, it is opening up their own place or keep selling on the street.

For the public facing project, I would like to interview two of my friends from high school. They are both in the drama department, a sophomore and a junior. I plan to ask them about what their dreams are and the steps they can take to achieve them. I’d also like to ask them how they think being in New York will affect their ability to reach for the proverbial stars.

My story pitch would be to interview my friend Brian Kissoon. He is a first generation immigrant from Trinidad. He came to America during his teenage years, when he was mature enough to understand the difficulties. He had attended City College to study computer science for a short while. Now he works in Times Square; he daily takes the 6 train to commute from West Bronx. In this story, I want to explore how Brian preserved his trinidadian culture through cooking, how he has assimilated into New York culture, how the neighborhood may have affected his journey, and whether he feels himself successful or happy. This story represents the past, because if Brian feels happy or satisfied with his current situation, the story has happened and resulted in a happy ending. Alternatively, it could also represent the present if Brian still aspires to something higher, indicating that the journey continues. 

As I’m sure many of you know by now (I think it’s all I talk about sometimes), I play soccer. Because of this I’ve gotten the chance to be coached by some very interesting people. I’ve had the good fortune of being coached by a couple of people who weren’t born in New York. I’d love to know the story of my current coach, Paul Elliot Allen. He was a former professional soccer player, as well as a member of his countries (Trinidad and Tobago) National team. I’d love to hear as to why he came to New York, and how it was that he settles here out of all places. I think this will be a great chance for that!

My idea for this project is to focus on the recent transformation of the Lower East Side. In the past few decades, this neighborhood has gone from a diverse, low income, immigrant and sometimes dangerous neighborhood to a hip, gentrified, safe, family-oriented one. The Lower East Side is full of stories of this transformation and I think that they would be interesting to look at. The neighborhood used to be a stop on the road to “making it”, and it is now the goal for many people, the mark of having “made it”.

One of the key changes that has led to the new Lower East Side is the gentrification and the moving out of small businesses and moving in of big ones. That is why I will primarily tell this story from the perspective of my boss John Casey, who has had his Rubber Stamp Shop on the LES for over 2 decades now. He has seen the neighborhood change and can be a great source. 

His shop is one of the few old LES spots left, one of the few original businesses. An Irish Immigrant and now the owner of a successful small business, John has definitely made it. His friends who stop by the store all of the time can also be my guides to the transformation of the LES.

I will record John and my interview as well as take videos and pictures of him and the neighborhood. I will locate certain spots that have transformed and maybe go through the history of businesses on a particular block to express that change.

I want to interview one of my best friends (who is originally from Hong Kong). He went to high school in Brooklyn while his parents were in Hong Kong. He lived in the basement of his uncle’s house while working very hard to achieve his goals. One of his accomplished goals was getting accepted into an Ivy League school. I am certain that he still faces emotional and academic challenges as a student living away from his family. His long-term goal is to unite with his family in HK and work there as an urban planner. It’s disappointing that filming this great story is almost impossible. However, interviewing him by phone or video chat is still possible. 

I have a few ideas in mind for what I’d like to do for my public-facing project. The first is to interview the parents of one of my friends, who came to America from El Salvador. The second, which I can probably tie in with the first, is to interview the parents of my other friend, who are originally from Ecuador. I’d like to compare and contrast the different journeys, and possibly gain insight from other people in their generation who immigrated from South America. My third idea is to interview my mother on her personal experiences coming to New York from the Philippines and then interview my friend on his experience coming from the Philippines. With this third idea, I’d also be comparing two related journeys but this time contrasting the two based on their generation differences (i.e. my mother coming here in the 80s when she was in her 20s vs. my friend coming here in the early 2000s when he was a kid). Whichever idea turns out to offer the most detail is what I will use.

I plan on interviewing my best friend on what her ambitions are for the future and how she plans on making an impression on the world.  I’d also ask her what her definition of “making it” is and whether it has to do more with success or happiness (because I don’t think the two necessarily have to coexist).

I also want to interview my Italian professor.  I think he would be a perfect example for both the past and present.  When he was younger he used to be an artist and painted abstract images. I would ask him how that time in his life went, what his dreams were, why he stopped painting, and if he thinks his career now as a professor fulfills his dreams.

My project idea is centered around the idea of creating happiness in New York since I believe that making it in New York, or anywhere for that matter, depends on how happy you are, not on fame or fortune. For my project, I want to interview two people on opposite ends of the wealth spectrum, but who are both happy with what they’ve created for themselves. I think it would be interesting to understand how two people who are so opposite can both be so happy with their lives.

I want to do a stop motion video in a day of the life of an immigrant. I will get interview my subject and ask them what a typical day in their life is. Then I will attempt to recreate how that person makes it through a day in New York in my stop motion. I will need a good digital camera though.

I plan to either interview my mother’s aunt or uncle. They both have lived in Chinatown for the last twenty years. The problem is they do not speak english so recording the interview so everyone would understand will be hard. I may also interview my father as a back up option.

For our public facing project, I will interview a 67 year old woman who was born in Puerto Rico and came to the United States when she was 19 years old. I will ask about her expectations prior to coming to the States and what she would have defined as success (past). Then I will ask which steps she took after arriving in the States in order to reach success, and I will conclude by asking her if the hopes and dreams she had before her arrival were realized. 

My idea falls under the “future” category.  Originally I thought this would be the weakest category, but I think I’ve potentially got a good amount of material – I’m planning to tell the story of a freshman friend of mine at Stony Brook University.  You would never be able to tell by looking at him, or even by casually knowing him, but he writes complex and impressive rap lyrics and is attempting to create a mixtape to get his voice heard.  At the same time, he’s majoring in engineering and studying electronics.  It really is an impressive story (especially because he’s been doubted his whole life) and it’s still in progress, and I thought I would write a short article, interview him Rolling-Stone-magazine-style, and put up audio of some of his music that I’ve actually had a part in producing and finally provide an image of the house he’s lived in his whole life until recently.

My idea for the SOMINY project is to interview three people: A student at CCNY, with plans to “make it” in New York, one of my friends who is in the process of “making it” in New York, and perhaps a professor, or really any person who believes they’ve “made it” in New York. Ideally, I would prefer those who choose to be interviewed to be originally from a state other than New York, or from outside the country.

I would focus on what their definition of “making it” is, and also, if that person is not from New York, whether each person feels like a New Yorker, or like a person from somewhere else. While each state, country province, etc. may be very different from others, I still think there are many similarities between all of them. Therefore, I want to know what each person considers to be the defining aspect of their place of origin, or New York, that makes them affiliate more with whichever they choose. 

Whether I use audio/video will be dependent on what each person interviewed is comfortable with. 

For my one of my stories, I want to interview a Yemeni deli worker by the name of Malik. He works at a deli on 152nd Street and is amusing, engaging, and energetic. I figure he would  be a good candidate for a story seeing as I am familiar with him, and I think he would enjoy telling his immigration story. I also want to see if he feels that America has fulfilled his expectations and whether or not he feels as if he has “made it”.

For my other story I want to interview a student named Richard who is in my Chemistry lab and workshop. He has what seems to be an Australian accent, although I could be wrong. I figure that it would be interesting to find out how he ended up in New York, because I don’t see a lot of Australians here. Also, he looks to be of Asian descent, so there may be yet another layer to his story. I know he is a Physics major, and I want to learn about his ambitions and his definition of success as well how he feels about his progress on “making it” in New York. 

My idea for a story to include in our final project is to interview my paternal grandparents and ask them questions about how they “made it” in Maspeth, Queens, in the 1950s and 1960s. I’ll ask them to retell their story. They’ll talk about how they found an apartment, the difficulties of marrying outside their ethnicities, raising two boys in a diverse neighborhood, finding work, battling prejudice, and finally achieving happiness. Although my grandparents are rapidly approaching their 90s, they are still quick and clever. They only recently (perhaps the past 5 years) moved out of the city to The Poconos in Pennsylvania. A majority of their lives were spent in New York City and they haven’t forgotten a thing. 

My idea is to interview a co-workers of mine, a Pakistani immigrant and CCNY senior who came to the US around the age of 8. She is studying biomedical engineering, which at first glance seems like a stereotypical path for a child of Asian immigrants, but she is interested in the field for very un-stereotypical reasons. Her aspirations for her career in biomedical engineering go beyond economic security. She embodies an interesting blend of Pakistani and American culture, and I would like to find out why she rejects some Pakistani and American traditions and embraces others.

I would also like to focus on why her parents chose to relocate the family to the US (her father left a very high-paying job in the Middle East to come here) and how they feel about the decision in retrospect.

I would like to use photographs combined with audio clips from the interview to tell her story.

I have two pitches in mind–I may do both, or I may just choose whichever comes out best.

My first idea is to interview a classmate of mine, a daughter of a Trinidadian immigrant. She is in her senior year at CCNY and she is trying to figure out what she will do next…and the options that she is considering are varied and interesting. I want to talk to her about how she feels she fits into New York–especially since she loves East Asian culture and frequents Asian neighborhoods like Flushing. This would be a story mostly about the future of  making it in New York–though it may also have some elements of the present.

My second idea is to interview my Chinese professor, who is herself an immigrant (from China). Her story of immigration is interesting–for example, on the way to the United States she lived for a while in the Netherlands. I would like to interview her about what brought her to New York, and how she feels she is “making it” here, specifically in terms of her career. Would she have been better off staying in Beijing? This would be a story about making it in the present.

I also had the idea of interpreting “making it” in a literal sense–like, for example, making it to class/work on time in the subway! My first interviewee, the senior at CCNY, has collected a number of interesting subway stories. Maybe those could be examples of “making it” in NYC? Or is this interpretation of “making it” too literal, making the story stray too far from the others in terms of topic and theme?

I could use photography, video, or audio in my interviews. Probably audio would be the most interesting–particularly to capture my Chinese professor’s accent.

I appreciate all your feedback!