From The Peopling of New York City

How I Became a New Yorker by Joseph Mossad

New York is a place filled with people of many different backgrounds, with people emigrating here from all different continents around the world. My parents immigrated to America with different dreams and plans. My father is from Egypt, and he came here in 1981 without his family in search of a better life financially as well as seeking religious freedom from the religious persecution of Christians in Egypt. My mother is from England, and she immigrated to America in 1981 as well after living in Germany for a few years. Her plans were to come to America simply for exploration, and she planned to return to England to her family after a few years. However, my parents met in Manhattan, New York City, and they ended up getting married in January of 1989. My brother was born in November of 1989, and I was later born in Methodist hospital in Brooklyn in August 1991. After living in Midwood, Brooklyn for a few years, we moved to Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn in November of 1995. We have been living there ever since, and I’ve been nothing but a proud New Yorker all my life.