My first discourse community that I am a part of is my neighborhood, Sunset Park. Sunset park is made up of many Hispanics including me. When I go to buy groceries and or anything from a store in the area, I would say that more than 50% of the time I speak in Spanish. The part of sunset park that I am from, most speak Spanish as their first language. The people here are very respectful and are willing to help you out if you have a problem, or have a question.

However one issue that my DC faces is gentrification. Within the last couple of years, I’ve seen gentrification with my own eyes. Many new buildings in the area, many new people, etc. Industry city is a big part to blame for this, it brings a lot of different people to the area who would’ve never came if it wasn’t for industry city. It also led to rent increasing in the area. However Industry city also brings many jobs to the people, I personally know some who are employed full time. I’m kind of the middle when it comes to Industry City, but I think I am slightly more for it than not. In Sunset Park, new apartments buildings and condos make the price rise for rent and housing which have a negative affect on people who have already been here for a while.

Another issue not as big is the delivery bikes/electric bikes in my neighborhood. Nowadays with all these food delivery apps, there are many delivery workers on bikes and e-bikes who deliver the food throughout the city. When I’m crossing the street here, I really have to look both ways because some of these drivers don’t stop at a red light, some only slow down but keep going. I understand that these delivery guys need to make their living, they want to try to deliver the food as fast as possible to the customer but the risk they take crossing the red light sometimes is a dangerous one. I’ve had close encounters with some in the past.

Another discourse community that I am a part of is my college, City Tech. This is my first semester here and it’s been good so far. I think that every student’s goal here is to graduate and find a job. I would say that the only requirement to be here is to be accepted by City Tech. So far every encounter I’ve had has been fine, there has been respect.

One issue that we face (all college students), are finals. In this short period of time, many are stressed out, nervous, lack of sleep, etc. Lots of hours spent studying to pass the exams in order to pass the class sometimes. Some students may get anxiety around this time that builds up leading up to the day of the exam. Some might have to skip out on going out because they have to study.

Another issue that many face is having to work while in enrolled. I can’t say that I know what this must be like, but I can imagine that they get very little free time. I assume that they probably don’t sleep much and that they are probably more stressed that those who don’t work while in college. Props to them.