Category Age of Arrival

Yoana

“You wake up in the morning, and you feel no rush to do anything. You sit down, have a cigarette with your coffee and enjoy the sound of birds. Eat a small breakfast and then take your time getting ready…. Continue Reading →

Juana

As we sit in the professor lounge at the NYU School of Dentistry, I think back at everything Juana had to do to get here. She was able to come to a new country with no money, learn the language,… Continue Reading →

Eve

Eve (left) is the youngest of five children born to a farmer and a fisherman who lived in a village in Hainan, one of China’s 34 provinces. Her family of 7 lived in extreme poverty for all of her childhood… Continue Reading →

Gerald

This past semester, in an attempt to narrow down my future career options, I volunteered at a hospital, expecting an experience that would be clinical, in more than one definition of the word. To my surprise, the medical professionals I… Continue Reading →

Rosa

The vast array of resources and stimuli that are present in New York City result in the experience found here by an immigrant is varied down to the individual. The perfect example of this is Rosa, who, despite going through… Continue Reading →

Julia

Hundreds of millions of people immigrate to the United States with the dream of one thing: religious freedom. Religious freedom is one of the foundations of the American Constitution and is an attractive policy for many oppressed groups of people… Continue Reading →

Daveen

The Life of An American People of New York City May 18, 2018 Final Draft   BYLINE: Gazi Ohi   LENGTH: 1555 A Street in Bayridge Many a time, much of the immigrant story consists of newly bred, fresh-off-the-boat types… Continue Reading →

Begum

Turning sixteen-years-old means sweet sixteen parties or the excitement of learning how to drive for the first time. It represents a milestone in life and provides a sense of newly found maturity for many. But for Begum, sixteen was the… Continue Reading →

Mark

It is a bright Monday morning and Mark stands in front of his large 3-story home in the Bronx. He pulls at a cigarette, a habit he picked up to “deal with the stresses of America.” He waves hello to… Continue Reading →

Abdul

The most life-changing moment of Abdul’s life was the day he got accepted for the Pakistan Presidential Scholarship to study in the United States. Abdul had grown up in a remote village in the mountains of Northern Pakistan where “there… Continue Reading →

Daniela

“Go back to your country.” “This is America. Speak English.” These are the words millions of immigrants are slandered by from white nationalists and the alt-right. While anti-immigrant rhetoric has existed long before Donald Trump rose to the presidency, it… Continue Reading →

Gloria

Gloria Fava will often be found in her garden, her happy place. Her small backyard in Dutchess County, New York, is cramped with every kind of plant imaginable; an impressive feat considering how many deer roam her lawn. Her neatly… Continue Reading →

Zinat

It was 7 AM in the early morning, an hour before Zinat Sultana had to drive to work. She put on a professional blouse and a pair of business pants. “I never wear salwar kameez to school like I used… Continue Reading →

Jean

Jean stared nostalgically at the window for a couple of minutes before mustering up the answer “I guess.. New York.. I guess it can be summed up as the land of opportunity and freedom but it is so much more… Continue Reading →

Mariel

Mariel from Ilo-Ilo, Philippines Abigail Calumpit MHC Seminar 150: People of New York City “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to New York! In roughly twenty minutes, we will begin our descent to John F. Kennedy International Airport. The local time is… Continue Reading →

Sid

Sid From Cinder Blocks to Picket Fences: The Immigrant Journey of a Rural Paperboy Abigail Calumpit MHC Seminar 150: People of New York City At the break of dawn, a little boy woke up and cautiously tiptoed through a sea… Continue Reading →

Shanti

On a Friday afternoon, a woman lounges around her house in South Ozone Park while watching soap operas on daytime TV. Her name is Shanti and she is mother of two kids. She immigrated here from the country of Trinidad… Continue Reading →

Attiya

Attiya was 16 years old when she boarded the plane to America. It was a ten hour flight followed by another three hour drive from the airport until she reached where she would be staying in Philadelphia. Although she was… Continue Reading →

Ashley

Ashley* is a strong woman with a soft-spoken voice. She is moral and independent, and she pauses before she responds to you so as to choose her words carefully. Upon interviewing Ashley, it became increasingly apparent that it is her… Continue Reading →

Ida

Ida is not my oma, but she might as well be.  Her granddaughter Danielle and I have been best friends for around six years, and consequently, I’ve become another grandchild myself.  From sleepovers at Oma’s house followed by delicious homecooked… Continue Reading →

Eddie

Eddie expresses disbelief at how much I’ve grown, reminiscing with me about the Christmas cards showing my sister and me smiling side by side that he’s received from my mother since I was just a baby.  They’ve made him feel… Continue Reading →

Ariana

Often times, people tend to move and settle together with a group of people that share their cultural and/or religious values. As a result of this behavior, boundaries are formed by these ethnically and religiously different groups, creating an invisible… Continue Reading →

Jemima

The sun is beginning to peak through the clouds, but the moon is still visible as my mom waits on the Lefferts station platform for the Manhattan bound A train. The wind blows, and she adjusts her gloves and scarf… Continue Reading →

Sid

Sid From Cinder Blocks to Picket Fences: The Immigrant Journey of a Rural Paperboy Abigail Calumpit MHC Seminar 150: People of New York City At the break of dawn, a little boy woke up and cautiously tiptoed through a sea… Continue Reading →

Shamsun

Early on a Thursday morning, Shamsun wakes up in her Brooklyn apartment. She has a busy day ahead of her, starting with getting her younger daughter ready for school. Her other daughter is already awake and studying for her period… Continue Reading →

Jennifer

It is 9 p.m. and Jennifer is just now returning home in Valley Stream, Long Island. Valley Stream is a quiet residential neighborhood. There are many 1-4 family housing units and the neighborhood appears family oriented. Schools and parks within… Continue Reading →

Hsinlan

Hsinlan sits at a table in the quiet main lobby of Oyster Bay High School on a Sunday afternoon. The first-floor main entrance, previously bustling with the activity of parents conversing and children running around, is calm now that the… Continue Reading →

Gleb

Gleb is an immigrant few would think of as an immigrant at first glance. For one, he is caucasian, blending in with the typical Anglo-Saxon American most people imagine Americans being. For another, he immigrated as a child, not an… Continue Reading →

Manuela

Manuela blends into her college campus; a normal student leading me to a popular coffee shop in the area. She began to tell me her story as she comfortably situated herself with her hot chocolate. She was born in Envigado,… Continue Reading →

Eunjoo

On an uptown six train sits a fair-skinned girl with a bob cut. She’s tightly packed between a man in a suit and a grumpy-looking woman with a death-grip on her purse. Coffee stains make patterns on the subway floor,… Continue Reading →

Daniela

Hugging her two boys on the back of a bus laid Daniela, as she stared out the window and digested her last few moments in her home country of Kosovo. In Kosovo she would leave not only the frightening memories… Continue Reading →

Mariel

Mariel from Ilo-Ilo, Philippines Abigail Calumpit MHC Seminar 150: People of New York City “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to New York! In roughly twenty minutes, we will begin our descent to John F. Kennedy International Airport. The local time is… Continue Reading →

Rebecca

    As the cars honk and the ambulances screech, Rebecca crawls out of bed and gets herself ready for the day. She remembers when she first arrived in America, she loved all the noise that came from the city…. Continue Reading →

Ferdous

The first thing Ferdous notices as she walks out of the Church Avenue subway station at 8 PM is the reddish hue of the sky as the sun begins to set. More people are mingling on the streets, and she… Continue Reading →

Hayet

Hayet put her hand to her face and thought, struggling to put how she felt about New York into words. After a few moments, she said, “It’s a dream.” She nodded and repeated her assertion. For her, this new land,… Continue Reading →

Lev

It’s a quiet afternoon in the Macaulay Honors lounge of the Hunter College library. Students are gathered in groups studying for exams or conversing in the minimalist white and blue room. Down the hall, Lev, the director of Macaulay Honors… Continue Reading →

Rose

Rajwinder is currently 44 years old, but she was only about 24 when she decided to move from Punjab to New York City. Punjab is a state in Northern India, and, much like the rest of India, it boasts a… Continue Reading →

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