assignment _2_Jonathan_Ramirez_Post2
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Monthly Archives: March 2014
My New York_Jonathan_Ramirez_Post_1
My New York!
I’ve lived in New York my entire life, its a place of which people travel to all around the world in pursuit of something great. In my eyes this city is full of life, opportunity and limitless potential. Yes there are several obstacles in New York City, however when people say that if you can make it here, you can truly make it anywhere, it is a statement of experience.
The entire city embraces a sense of culture and history that it does not deny, cultural diffusion and history are evident in the streets. Although at times people on the streets may seem rude and unconcerned with their surroundings, the nonstop mentality of the people and its city shows the amount of zeal and passion people have to succeed and move on to the next task or opportunity in their lives.
My view on New York may be somewhat bias due to the fact that I’ve lived here my entire life, however because I can relate to the other people that live here I can say that New York truly isn’t that bad of a place. I often hear of people that come to the Big Apple and end up thinking that my city is the most atrocious place imaginable, however to a certain extent I think those people have not yet grown to see the place that New York can make you. Strong willed, independent, and a person that can appreciate the different cultures and life around you, as long as you take out a little bit of your time to see the beauty around you.
New York is a place where the food, culture and architecture, exemplify the people that live in this city. In New York people will continue to surround themselves with the beauty that only comes from the people that thrive here.
“Negative Correlation”: Erie Canal, Immigration, Tenements_Blog #2
Moniruz Zaman
Arch 3522
As New York City was becoming a center piece for the world during the 1800’s, there were many innovations and changes that caused positive and negative effects within the city itself. When the Erie Canal was built, major advancements in trading and business took place. Exporting and importing of goods became much easier and more efficient. Transportation was also positively affected through the newly built canal. The building of the canal created more jobs for people, which caused more immigrants to arrive to New York City. As population of immigrants increased in New York City, there were things taking place that would bring much sorrow to many people. During the 19th century, more than 35 million people migrated from Europe to the US and many of them stayed in New York City. This was the greatest transfer of population in history. The high density of the immigrant population made a lot of jobs scarce. Immigrants and natives of New York City began competing for the same jobs. Immigrants were hated by many people for this reason and eventually a class system in New York City formed. High volume of the continuation of immigrants called out for a need, which was housing. Tenements were then introduced to accommodate large amounts of people in compact apartment. Tenement buildings were usually 4-5 stories high and the allies were dark and dirty. Each floor had about 3 apartments and each apartment had 3 rooms. Two of those rooms served as bedrooms for 15-20 people and the other served as a kitchen, dining room, and living room all in one. Water for cleaning things and bathing were taken from the street pump to the apartments.
Living conditions in the tenements were very harsh and many people died because of the diseases and bacteria that would spread among the poor immigrants. Yellow fever came into the city 5 times between 1795 and 1822 and these types of epidemics were mainly affecting the places where the Irish lived. Immigrants were more likely to die from diseases and infections because the officials of the city did not really bother with it. Many patients of hospitals were immigrants and in one hospital, more than 83% of all the patients were immigrants. During the year of 1857, more than 65% of deaths were of children, immigrant children. This was the real slum life, which was barely a lengthy life. There were many difficulties at that time for immigrants and they could not properly take it to the officials for many reasons. One main reason was their lack of speaking proper English.
“You are not You, You are a New Yorker”
My new York.
Moniruz Zaman
Arch 3522
New York City, for me, is a place where everyone is responsible for everything. Ranging from social issues, to even how the city looks is an automatic and subconscious concern for everyone living here. Any issue that rises at any time, you can find thousands of other people standing up for the same cause. There was a time where issues such as recycling, sustainability, homosexuality, etc. were not spoken about, but when a few people stood up for it, thousands joined the movement. Everyone in New York City is somehow interconnected and somehow has an impact on each other. Nobody is alone here. My idea of an interconnected New York City did not exist a few years ago, during high school, when I thought that New York City was just a place for opportunities for everyone. I figured that everyone should just stay within their own circle of friends and just get whatever they wanted to do over with. Have a few friends, get a degree, get a job, have a small family, and that is all a person needs to do in new York city. But in reality, everyone is responsible for each other. If one person robs, steals, murders, does a good deed, recycles, protests for good, vote for mayors, it affects every other New Yorker. If one person does not raise a child properly, then he is, statistically, assisting his child in becoming a criminal, which in fact affects everyone on the city. It was actually when my mind matured and went through epiphanies of sorts, when I began looking at everything throughout my day in a totally different perspective. When an elderly person comes into the train and I am sitting down, if I do not give up my seat, I am unintentionally representing every other young adult to be a greedy and ignorant. In New York City, nothing is about an individual anymore; everyone becomes part of a general group. So the next time you do something, remember that you are not representing yourself, but also New York City, your orientation, your ethnicity, your age group, and everything else in between.
