From The Peopling of New York City
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Marlen Herrera-Rojas...
Reaction Paper
Marlen Herrera Due: March 17, 2008 MHC 351 Reaction Paper The walk around the Bronx was great. It was nice to be outside and really see the South Bronx. It was better than reading about the Bronx in Edith Gonzalez’s book. Sometimes when I read Gonzalez’s book The Bronx, I get really confused because I am not familiar with the Bronx. It can also get frustrating to constantly look at a map if one really wants to understand the Bronx’s history. During the walk it was a little difficult to listen to the speaker and pay attention to everything that was around me. If I had been more a familiar to the neighborhood, I probably would have paid more attention to the speaker. There were some very interesting things that the speaker said that weren’t in any book we were required to read. He said that the buildings near the Yankees stadium were hotels. Who would have thought that those really ugly buildings were hotels for rich and famous baseball players? That was just mind blowing. The speaker spoke about the architecture of many of the buildings in the South Bronx. It was hard to imagine that those building have a lot of architectural history to them. Many buildings were inspired by very high European architecture. I was surprised when the speaker said that many people around the South Bronx have never been to Yankees stadium. I am not sure if this is because there are many poor people in the South Bronx who can’t afford to go or because of people’s lack of interest in baseball. In the South Bronx I noticed a number of Viveros, which is Spanish for places that sell live poultry. I wondered why there are so many in one location. That’s a question I should have asked. I was glad that the speaker bought in pictures to see the differences of how the South Bronx looked before as I saw how the South Bronx looks now. I tried positioning my body in such a way so I could really see the difference between the old South Bronx and the way it looks now. With all this fascinating history that the Bronx seems to have, it’s hard to believe what has happened to it. As I walked around, I noticed how many buildings needed to be renovated. I wouldn’t say modernize because then the history of the south Bronx will be lost. When I first visited the South Bronx with my class in late January or early February, I thought it was really boring. Now that I have seen it again with history added on to it as I walked, the South Bronx got more interesting. It seems like the South Bronx’s history and future is a lot more interesting than its present
