I just have to say, WOW Maryam! Awesome poem! Not only did it reflect Orsi’s commentary, but it also reflected Piri’s feelings and their response to one another’s experience (Along with your own response as well).
It was pretty intriguing to explore two different aspects on immigration life in the U.S, particularly New York City. The concept of a neighborhood has definitely changed over the years. As Greg and William mentioned, such a close-knit community is hard to find nowadays. People have less time to interact with their neighbors and become close with them as a result of working one or two jobs. However, during Piri’s time everyone on one block acted like one, having each others backs at all times. Of course they had poverty issues that we don’t have to deal as much with today but nonetheless a community was a community. For instance when Miss Washington stood up for Piri it represented a member of his community standing up for another member. We rarely see this happening today.
Towards the beginning of the class, Dr.Vellon asked us why did people reminisce about their lives as new immigrants when it was filled with poverty and horrible conditions. While doing the readings I got a sense of why these people appreciated their situation even though it wasn’t so ideal. For instance, Piri saw his father working hard day and night as a child and he grew an appreciation towards the diligence that his father showed. Additionally, he made close friends in his Puerto Rican neighborhood that acted like a pack of brothers. For Piri this was what his life was based on, his friends and family. When people look back they realize the beautiful relationships they made during those hard times with people that were going through the same thing. Today we live in a modern world where we barely know what our neighbor looks like.
As many people have already mentioned, the changing phases of New York City is inevitable. As we saw in our walking tour, there were a variety of cultures being introduced of that neighborhood. Along with the dominant Puerto Rican community, we also saw some Mexican pride in a few blocks. Immigrants are constantly coming to New York City for the hope of a better standard of living. Time can only tell what our current neighborhoods will look like in a matter of a few decades, years, or even months as this immigrant trend keeps continuing.
