Author Archives: Daniella Jakubowitz

Elsi Herrara’s Interview as told by Daniella Jakubowitz

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Elsi Herrera came to America from Ecuador at the age of 17. Growing up, she had no intention of moving to America, but once she met her husband he brought her with him. As soon as she got her citizenship and a job she sent back money to her family. A few siblings eventually joined her in America. Elsi loved America the second she stepped foot on the land. She says she knows she is living the American Dream and that she owes all of her happiness to America and the opportunities that she has had here.

Growing up:

My childhood was very good growing up in Calsetta. All my schooling was done in Ecuador; there is good schooling there. Then I came to this country and worked right away, it wasn’t hard for me. When I was younger I never thought about coming to this country it was never part of my mind, I was going to be a secretary in Ecuador and live there forever that was the plan until I met my husband he put in my mind the idea to come to America. My husband came when he was 18 now he’s 67, I’m 44. We met in Ecuador then he brought me to America.

Family:

I am very family-oriented; I was brought up that way. I like doing family things and I am very close with my family. We are 8 siblings; four boys and four girls, I’m the youngest. I was the first of my family to go to America. My children were all born here they don’t like Ecuador they say “mommy its too hot.” I always told my children the story of how I liked to go to the tree take an orange, my grandmother had all different fruits and I liked to go to the tree and eat the fruits straight from the tree. My mother came after me, my father passed away a long time ago. Even though I’m the one that brought everyone here to America and came here first, my siblings are still my role models and I look up to them. My kids speak Spanish and English, I spoke everything in Spanish while they were growing up. My grandkids come to me and ask for milk and I’d tell them to say it in Spanish so they would say milk and I would say “leche” which is milk in Spanish and then they would say grandma “leche.” My favorite day of the week is Sunday because that is when my whole family is in my house.

Neighborhood:

I love my neighborhood, it’s very quiet and very safe very nice to live there. It is pretty diverse. Honestly, I’m not a very friendly person, I’m nice with people I just like keeping to my family. My dream is to go on more vacations: id want to go to Ecuador, I went to Haiti, Puerto Rico, Miami, Hawaii, for vacation—love all the hot places, I love to go early in the morning to the beach.

Why She Decided to Come:

I came to this country at 17. I came because I was very poor in my country, I met my husband in my country and he used to live here; then he went to my country, met me and then brought me to America. I told my mother that if I come to America I will work and make money and I can help the family and it will be better. I was the first of my family to come to America and then they followed after. When I got my American citizenship I brought money back for my whole family and sent for my family.

Transition:

The transition was not a problem for me. The hardest challenge? In the beginning I missed my family before my mother came it was very hard for me to not be with her and then I tried to work hard so that I can do what I wanted to do, to bring all my family here and I did it. The culture was very different, so that was hard for me. Our schools, in Ecuador, taught us to be more polite and say good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight to people, in America they don’t do that so much. The parents don’t teach their kids that so much. My children do say these things because I taught them to since that’s how I was brought up in Ecuador – very important to teach them I think. What was hard was not understanding the prices when I went to the supermarket. To tell you the truth I learned English with my children and from watching television. My grandchildren call me grandma, I speak Spanish to them and they understand everything I say but they only speak English. My husband helped me through it all, transition and through everything.”

Change:

I would change the people running for president, that’s the only thing I would like to change about America.

Jobs:

My husband worked in the hospital in America for 20 years. I used to work in jewelry in Manhattan for 18 years then my husband bought a small beauty salon and then we moved to another one and now I’m here. I own this salon, only me and my husband. I love working here. I like this job specifically because everyone wants to do their hair and nails so I started this salon to help them do that, I used to do it every week so then my husband and I started the salon for others. My husband taught me how to drive- he told me I had to learn.”

Connection to Ecuador:

Oh the earthquake? My family in Ecuador was okay but very close to my old town. Everyone got out okay. Everyone is okay. I have four siblings in America and four in Ecuador. When mom was alive I went back every year to visit. She was very old so I went to take her to the city and left her there for the winter and then in the beginning of spring I would go to bring her back to America by myself. My favorite things about Ecuador are the food, my family, and being happy with them. I’m very sad when anything bad happens in Ecuador because I know all the places where these things happen. They have very poor people living there and it is very sad and very hard for me to hear. I already sent water and things to send to Ecuador to help. I sent it last Sunday to help them out by myself. I did it because they are really in pieces and need all the help they can get.

Culture:

I’m catholic, very catholic. I miss the food most in Ecuador it’s very different than the food here. Food from my country is very good, like rice and meat. I make the dishes at my house, Ecuadorian style. My children love my cooking, they love Ecuadorian style food.

Thoughts and Feelings about America:

When I put my feet in this country for the first time I loved this country. I love everything about it, everything everything a lot of everything. It’s the American dream, you can do whatever you want in this country. I was very happy bringing my children up in America they were all born here and everything was happy. I thank Gd that I came to this country because America has given me the opportunity to have everything that I have. People here are very nice they like to help you. I love American people because if you don’t understand something they try to explain it to you or if your lost they explain how to get to different places and give instructions to help you. There is a lot of opportunity in this country that we don’t have in Ecuador. Everything that happened in America is happiness for me, I love this country and I thank this country for everything I have. I can’t even imagine how different my life would be if I didn’t come to America and stayed in Ecuador I can’t even imagine.

 

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The Neighborhood’s Abuela

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“Abuela!” shouted the middle-aged white man from across the street. No, that is not his grandmother he is calling out to, but rather 61-year-old Fiona Sanchez who is known as everyone’s abuela in this part of town. She stands on the corner of Kings Highway, in Brooklyn, everyday from 8 until 4, selling her magnificent flowers. Her flower stand is the brightest and liveliest one in the whole neighborhood. Her neon green apron, that she wears everyday, reads Fiona’s Flowers but the locals call the stand, Abuela’s shop. There is an ever present chair next to the shop, but Fiona can never be found sitting in it. She is always hustling and bustling about, talking with customers about their personal lives or teaching about the flowers. Every Friday she gives out a free flower to those that pass by, from the flower of the month collection.

When I first walked over to introduce myself Mrs. Sanchez was in the middle of multiple tasks, teaching someone about the details of one flower while wrapping flowers for another couple who kept smiling at each other. She introduced herself as Fiona Sanchez. She said, “Darling, you can call me Fiona or you can call me Abuela but please please don’t call me Mrs. Sanchez, that is my mother-in-law.”

Mrs. Sanchez has a small frame, standing at 4’ 10”, but her heart is enormous. Each flower Fiona sells comes with a card explaining where the flower is from and a few other facts about it. It also comes with a label that reads, “a flower a day keeps the doctor away.” She wraps each flower with a gentle touch and gives over the bouquet with such tender care. “Every person is different and has their own background and story. The same can be said about each flower,” said Fiona. “I know my flowers, the secret is knowing my customers,” she added in a whisper that only I could hear. “Abuela treats both the flowers and the customers like family,” said Mark, a regular, “she matches the flower to the person.”

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Fiona had fallen in love with flowers back when she lived in a small town in Ecuador where wild flowers were abundant. She took out multiple books from her local library to learn about the many different species of plants. When Mrs. Sanchez came to America at the age of 23 she decided that, “this country is the land of opportunity, I will do what I always wanted to do, I will open this shop, sell my flowers, and teach about the uniqueness of each one.”

Twice a week her husband Marcos comes to help with her with her shop. Mrs. Sanchez has twin daughters who are both married and live in the neighborhood, as well as five beautiful grandchildren. The back of her shop is plastered with pictures of her family members and her customers. Its warm, welcoming, and full of life. “Flowers are a sign of life,” Fiona can often be heard saying, “a sign of springtime and of renewal. Every time I plant a flower and watch it grow, I feel like I’m a part of something bigger than myself. Spreading that feeling with others is what really keeps me going. I love what I do because it’s who I am.”

 

 

 

The Beauty of Black and White

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photo for seminar 2016

This photograph is called the “Eiffel tower 100th Anniversary,” by Elliott Erwitt. The beauty of this picture is in it’s contrasts; the black and the white, the background and forefront, and the simplicity as well as the complexity. The photographer of this piece said that, “…the special thing about photography is what you see, not what you conjure up. That’s quite foreign to photography in my view.” The images of the silhouettes, use light in a way that makes the subject darker, yet at the same time seems to be the main focus of the picture. The movements of more obvious things, like the man jumping, and the less obvious things, like the umbrella of the couple flying backwards, create a more realistic and almost tangible sense of what is happening in the photograph. One can practically feel what it is like to be there at that moment.

Keeping the Hope Alive

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John F. Kennedy once said that, “Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.” Every immigrant has a story, a background, a family, something they are hoping for, something they are yearning for, and something they have come to find. Most of the make-up of American society is that of immigrants. Whether that be first generation immigrants, second generation immigrants, or those that came on the Mayflower before 1776. We can all trace back to the country in which we originated, a country other than the United States.

There is a question as to whether an immigrant is described as American at their core or as the place from which they came. For Jews, this question is whether one describes themselves and identifies as an American Jew or as a Jewish American. At a quick glance the two may look similar, however once the contrast between the two is pointed out it makes a world of a difference. A Jewish American is a Jew who came to America and decided that at his root he wanted to be American. Therefore, the word “Jewish” is describing the word “American.” This person’s essence is that he is American. An American Jew, is someone that came to America with their strong set of traditions and values and knew that regardless of where they are, they are first and foremost Jewish and then they are American. The word “American” is describing who they are at their core, and that is Jewish. There are other Jews coming from different countries that find a balance of the two. They adopt some American things along the way and find a way to connect the two to create a delicately intertwined relationship between them.

My parents were born in America. My grandparents and great-grandparents however, were born in Europe in countries such as Hungary, Poland, and Germany. This makes me a Jew of European descent. My great-grandparents were living in Europe before and during the time of the Holocaust, around the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. They had businesses and a way of living that was ripped away from them all because they were Jewish. Before the Holocaust my great- grandfather learned and wrote Hebrew books while my great-grandmother ran the textile company. They lived a normal life in Poland and were comfortable; there was no way to predict what was yet to come. When the Holocaust began, their homes and their families were torn apart before their eyes. They came to America with a story; a history of a past that must not be forgotten.  The hardships and terrible atrocities that they went through in the Holocaust. A life in a country that was stripped away from them out of pure hatred. They lost everything, except the three things that they made sure to hold onto: hope, family, and tradition. They stayed strong and kept those things with them even when all felt lost. My great-grandparents kept their heads up, for what they hoped to be a promising future.  They picked themselves up from the literal ashes and moved towards what they hoped would be a better tomorrow.

My grandmother was born in a displaced person camp (DP camp) in Germany after World War Two. This was a place created for former inmates of the German Nazi concentration camps, who had no where else to go and nowhere to call home, because everything was destroyed. My great-grandparents then picked up and immigrated to America. They moved to Texas for a while and then made their way to New York.

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One story that really stands out to me and that I believe ties the history of my family and the horrific things they faced in Europe with the present day American Jew, is something that occurred with my great-uncle. He had been in the Holocaust and had been through many life or death moments that he was forced to make split second decisions to save his life. He had numbers branded into his arm and his head shaven all at the age of fourteen. Many years later he was in Florida with his wife on a nice summer day, walking on the boardwalk. Another American Jewish couple walked by and they began to talk. During their conversation they noticed that both my great-uncle and this man had numbers on their arm from the Holocaust. They looked at their forearms and saw that they were just a few numbers apart. This means that they were a few people behind each other on the line in the concentration camp towards their death. Miraculously, they both survived and here they were in sunny Florida with their spouses discussing the weather and their plans for the day.

The stories of all the atrocities that my family went through before they came to America has had a very strong impact on who I am today as a person. Firstly, I do not take anything for granted and I try to appreciate all that I have in my life. I understand that life here was not received on a silver platter, but rather there were so many things that my family went through before we got to this point. In addition, the Jewish traditions and values have an even deeper meaning behind them for me, and in keeping them I feel myself having a very special connection and relationship with my family on a different level. Two of the most important values in Judaism are family and respect. Many of the traditions and customs in Judaism are centered around these values. The tradition of keeping the Sabbath contains a huge family factor, where every Friday night and Saturday there are family meals and gatherings to pray. Prayer is another big aspect of Judaism. The strength and bravery it took my great- grandparents to keep these traditions and values in the Holocaust, gives me a deeper understanding and appreciation for them now.

I also try to have an optimistic outlook on life and I try to not let things get me down for too long. My great-grandparents went through things that no one should ever have to experience in their lifetime. They did not like speaking of the horrible things that they went through. However, they did enjoy speaking of their past before and after the Holocaust. They focused on the positive stories about their happy memories instead of focusing on the suffering and pain of the past. This has taught me to always look for the silver lining and although sometimes it might seem hard, it is definitely worth it to try because tomorrow is always a new day.

Most Jews whom immigrated to American around the early 1940’s were fleeing persecution. Some felt they wanted to start completely anew and left their traditions in the background for some time. While others thought the only thing they had left to hold on to were their values and traditions. These family members of mine, would always have those numbers on their arms and those burning memories, that they would constantly try to forget, but they would try to focus on the good and the positive things in their life. Their stories continue on, the faith continues on, the family continues on, and most importantly the hope continues on.

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The Question was asked

The silence permeated the air

Hanging above our heads

The words reverberating in the inside of my head

Again and again

Why did I ask?

 

The silence was followed by a faraway look in their eyes

A look of hopelessness

Of despair

Of the memories

The memories that were trying to be forgotten

Why did I ask?

 

Suddenly tears followed

All because of my curiosity

The need I felt to know more

To know the stories of what happened

The personal stories, in addition to the general ones I had been hearing for years

Why did I ask?

 

It was an innocent question

I didn’t mean to make their conscience go back to that time

I didn’t mean to make them bring the atrocities to the forefront of their minds

I should’ve been content with what I did know

I should’ve told myself it was enough

Why did I ask?

 

A few weeks later they sat me down

They gave me a brief overview of what it was all like

They kept getting choked up

I did whatever I could to not cry myself

It was nearly impossible

Why did I ask?

 

My grandparents came to me the next day and thanked me

They still did not want to go into detail of the horrible memories

But they seemed relieved

They had always wanted to pass down the stories so people would never forget

But they never knew exactly how to do it, they were happy they finally did

And I realized that’s why I asked.

Native American Petroglyph

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This artifact is a piece of stone with a depiction of what seems to be mountain goats on it. It is a gray, medium sized stone. The goats are etched into the stone, possibly by another stone. There are two big goats on top, followed by six smaller goats beneath them. This artifact is known as a petroglyph. A petroglyph is an image created by removing a part of a rock’s surface to create rock art. It is a type of engraving on rock or stone. This petroglyph was said to have been made somewhere between 600 and 1300 A.D. This style of art is very common in the area in which it was found. Over 100,000 rock elements were found in a relatively small area in California, in the Inyo County. The artist was most like describing a goat hunting ritual. This was one way in which Native Americans expressed and documented all that they did, even the more mundane things like hunting.

This artifact tells its audience that although very limited, the Native Americans did have some way in which they expressed and recorded that which was going on around them. Hunting was a fundamental part of their life to give them the sustainability they needed to live. We learn from this that art was a main part of the culture. This was the way they expressed themselves and told about their day to day life. This was one rock found that could have been part of a whole collection of rocks which may have made up an entire story. Their culture included art, and this piece of art portrays a key activity that they took part in. Their art form shows the way they would use different tools and materials they had around them in nature to create their piece of work.

This piece broadens the narrative of American history, by showing that the Native Americans had a whole life before the Europeans came. They had their own pieces of artwork and made them based on what they were doing. The goats were one of their sources of food. It further proves to the audience that they were people, just living their lives like us.