My maternal grandfather completed public high school in Williamsburg. He worked as a clerk for the Metropolitan Transit Authority until his retirement. He did not go to college. My maternal grandmother also grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and attended Brooklyn College. At the time it was free; however she recounts that use of the student union building was $50 a year. Her family did not have much money but her father was generous enough to give her the money. Although it took her eight years to finish undergrad (she was married at 18 and subsequently had two daughters), she ended up obtaining two master’s degrees from Brooklyn College, first in education then in school administration. She initially worked as a teacher in the Jackie Robinson middle school in Crown Heights, where she lived at the time. This school was plagued with violence and drug usage even among such young students. It was an extremely difficult work environment but she managed to persist. In 1977 my grandmother moved with her family (which included her husband, my aunt, my mom and my paternal great-grandparents) from Crown Heights to Sheepshead Bay. She had been mugged multiple times in their old neighborhood and no longer felt safe there. They lived off Nostrand Avenue both in Crown Heights and Sheepshead Bay, so they essentially moved directly south of their old neighborhood. After the move my grandmother worked in various schools in the vicinity of Flushing and Whitestone in Queens. She later became principal of the school in Whitestone. I know she had a positive impact as a teacher because her students themselves said so. My mom recalls receiving an influx of letters from my grandmother’s students saying how much they appreciate her as a teacher. Recently I was at my grandmother’s apartment in Brighton Beach and I noticed a book called the Brooklyn Cookbook on her bookshelf. I looked inside and realized that the book was a gift from a former student; there was a letter thanking her for being the best 9th grade teacher. Similarly, my grandfather was known as a very kind man at the MTA. His coworkers threw a large retirement party for him and they pooled together funds to give him a nice retirement gift. According to my mom, I greatly enjoyed the desserts at this party although I was a very small child.
My mom attended Baruch College for free as a Dean’s Scholar. She obtained a degree in business administration in 1990. However, when I was in grade school she went back to school and obtained a master’s in early education. My grandparents helped pay for this because they didn’t have to pay for undergrad. She has now been teaching nursery for 8 years. Unlike my mom’s side, my dad is not a born-and-bred Brooklynite. He was born in Detroit and lived in several other cities, including LA and Pittsburgh. My dad lived in Israel for a few years before beginning undergrad. He completed undergrad at Touro College. He went on to obtain a master’s in psychology from Brooklyn College and a doctorate of psychology from Yeshiva University. He was from a poor background and had to take out loans to pay for college. He is now a psychologist in a public school for developmentally disabled people between the ages of 7 and 21 in Long Island.
I was born in Methodist hospital in Park Slope. My family lived in a small apartment on Ocean Avenue near the Kings Highway station. We moved to a house in Marine Park 4 months before the birth of my younger sister in 2000. I grew up with a strong work ethic and I was taught to prioritize education above all. Sometimes this caused resentment; I went to Jewish school which had a more rigorous schedule than the local public schools. At the time, my neighborhood was largely Irish and Italian Catholic, with some Asian presence as well. Very few kids attended private school, and if they did they went to Good Shepherd, the local Catholic school. I would feel frustrated at being pent up inside, forced to do my homework to the sounds of other kids playing in the street. College was never a question; it was simply assumed that I would go. I am very intellectually oriented so I did not mind that I had no choice about whether to go to college. Once I got accepted to Macaulay Brooklyn, my decision was a no-brainer. Although I potentially would have liked to go away, only SUNY schools like Binghamton would have been financially viable. I love my hometown as there is always something to do and felt I would easily get bored in small college towns. Staying home with free tuition was the most practical, albeit less glamorous, option. I am happy with this choice; seeing so many of my peers struggle to pay off student loans solidified my conviction that I made the right choice for college. I have renounced religion since completing high school. I had my doubts for a long time and being out of Jewish private school gave me the freedom to renounce keeping Sabbath and kashruth. Despite my newly found secularism, I still strongly identify with the Jewish community. Even though I do not keep the Sabbath, I am nearly always present at Friday night meals. I actively participate in holiday rituals and traditions, just without the extra obligations.
Jews have often been at a complicated intersection of privilege and oppression. My family was privileged to have come to New York at the right time for immigration and before the Holocaust ravaged Eastern Europe’s Jewish community. On the other hand, they faced oppression as there were often signs barring Jews from hotels, restaurants and other establishments. My grandmother was denied a job at a Catholic school solely on the basis of her Jewishness. However, they were also the beneficiaries of a tight-knit community in Williamsburg. As a 4th generation Brooklynite, I am privileged to not have to worry about deportation or citizenship issues. I can easily apply for jobs and other government services without concern about whether I am eligible. I feel secure here and don’t have to worry about escaping war or persecution. I am white and blue-eyed which means that I am rarely denied opportunities or seen as a threat because of my phenotype. Because we are established in America, we have higher social mobility. Each subsequent generation of my family has enjoyed a slight increase in class status. My grandparents grew up poor; my mom grew up just slightly middle class, while my family is solidly upper middle class. I am grateful that I never had to worry about putting food on the table. When my mom went back to work to begin her career as a teacher, we were able to afford extra luxuries such as vacations. When I was 13, our family summer vacation was to LA instead of a local destination like Philadelphia. Even though we used credit card promotions and other deals to lessen expenditures, being able to go on a plane trip was a huge deal. I had never been on a plane before. Citizenship also factors into this as people who are undocumented cannot freely travel to other places. Later in life, I went on many trips with just friends that I was able to take with use of my accrued personal savings. My ability to amass these savings was partly due to my ability to obtain jobs through community connections. My background has greatly shaped who I am and contributed to many formative experiences in my life.
