Feature Writing

As many of us are well aware, Donald Trump who is formerly known for being a businessman extraordinaire decided to dip his hand into politics. So much so, he has gotten enough support from Americans and Republicans alike to seal the Republican nomination and come November, the only two names that matter will be Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton.

However, for Mr. Trump to have gotten this far, he has had to have made many enemies along the way. During many of Mr. Trumps campaign rally’s, he has made it known that illegal immigrants do not have a place in the United States. So much so, he has taken many shots at the Latino community, Mexicans in particular. Trump has stated, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re sending people that have lots of problems… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
Trump has also proclaimed that he will build a “Giant Wall” across the Mexican-U.S. border to ensure that these “Dirty Mexicans” have no chance of entering the country. He’s gone one step further to say “Mexico’s going to pay for the wall.” This may all sound crazy, but Trump has gained more and more support as the election process has gone by.

For this assignment, I chose to follow a woman who is of Mexican descent. She has lived in the United States since the age of twelve and to this day, she has yet to become a full American citizen. This woman is a warrior. She has managed to raise four kids on her own, while at the same time working a variety of different jobs. America is known as the land of opportunity, now who has the right to deny anyone this especially her.

For Elle Agular, life can be difficult, crazy and sometimes maddening, but America has given her everything she has ever wanted. Though she doesn’t have everything she’s ever dreamed of, she can solemnly say that the opportunities she has been given along with the opportunities her children have been given has made this journey (in America) worthwhile.

Agular is a forty-year-old woman who currently resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She came to America at the age of twelve when her mother died in Puebla, Mexico. Agular said, “The hardest thing for me to do was grow up without a mother, which made learning a new language a lot easier”. Learning a new language at the age of twelve definitely set her back a bit; however, as Agular stated, nothing would. She was able to make the most of her mother’s death by taking this newfound opportunity and seizing it

She has met many challenges along the way. She pointed out that she could not pass high school chemistry. She also pointed out that she could not afford to go to college. Lastly, she pointed out that at one point she was a single mother of four without a job. Ellie stated, “Life was hard, but I will never give up. I live this life for me and my kids and that is it. I will do everything I have to in order to put food on the table and give my children the chance at a better life, because if we were in Mexico that would not be the case at all.” Agular admits that life was certainly hard at times, but being that she was in America, a land full of opportunity, she knew that things could only get better, and for her they certainly did.

Now, Agular is currently a babysitter in the Park Slope area and describes it as “making a decent living”. She has three kids that all go to college along with a two-year-old baby girl who is eager to take on the world. As crazy as it sounds, Agular is still not an American citizen. She has been in the process of getting her citizenship, however, if Trump takes office, all the progress she has made toward that. may come to an end very quickly.

Agular resents Trump just as much as many other Mexicans, Latinos and other ethnicities. According to the Washington Post, if the election were held today, he would only receive votes from an estimated 19% of the Latino community. He has an astounding unfavorable rating of 77% and close to 73% of Latinos believe Trump is racist. Now many Trump supporters will try and find a way to combat those numbers, but clearly, the proof is in the pudding.

Agular’s friends Joaquina Terrones, 32 and Kiara Hernandez, 35 share many of the same analogies. These ladies want their children to grow up in a country with equal opportunity. Each have had their fair share of struggles, but they all say the same thing, they came to America to have a better life for themselves and their children.

One man can take everything these ladies and the rest of the Latino community have worked hard for. Agular believes that not only do we need help from the Latinos and Mexicans, but the rest of the United States. If no such support is given, many of the nightmarish ideals Trump has discussed can potentially become a reality. For many women like Elle Agular, she just like the many women out there hope that Trump will never take a seat in the oval office.

As the evening began, residents gathered outside the Holiday Inn in Maspeth, Queens.

Many of them arrived with posters, megaphones, whistles, and even drums as they walked towards the building. The crowd ranged from young to older residents and even families.

They soon began to circle the front of the hotel with their signs. Their chants echoed “no homeless shelter” to the tune of their instruments.

This had been the scene outside the hotel for the past six weeks.

In August, city officials announced a proposal to convert the hotel into a homeless shelter for families with an opening date set for October 1. The plan was immediately met with opposition from residents who sought to prevent the conversion primarily due to safety concerns.

Since then, residents held demonstrations in front of the hotel every evening at 6:30 p.m. as well as a march and a public hearing. However Harshad Patel, owner of the Holiday Inn, announced the plan was canceled and he would not be going through with the plan on September 8, according to the New York Post.

Despite this, residents have continued protesting.

“I think the whole thing was for him to make us stop,” said Helen McGrath, owner of Hairitage Salon and resident of the neighborhood. She explained that after Patel’s announcement, he never communicated with protesters again and left them feeling uncertain about his statement. Although some residents believed they had succeeded in their efforts, McGrath believes it was actually a strategy aimed to bring an end to the protests.

McGrath, who has resided in the neighborhood for 30 years, has been actively involved in community efforts opposing the shelter since its announcement through her hair salon.

Currently, she sells white t-shirts with the inscription “No Illegal Homeless Shelter In Maspeth” at her business. The shirts cost $4.50 and she sells them for $10 and donates the remaining half to the effort. McGrath has also been issuing a special card with her signatures among her customers which contributes the entire cost of a haircut to the collection. The funds all go towards a fundraiser held by the community to hire a lawyer to file a lawsuit against the proposal. According to McGrath, they have raised about $40,000 and need to reach $100,000.

This would be the second lawsuit against the proposed shelter. In September, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley announced to residents she had a filed a lawsuit at a Community Board 5 hearing.

However, McGrath has expressed her doubts about its success since the lawsuit is based on the lack of kitchens in the rooms.

“We stand a better lawsuit. This place, it’s illegal to have residents there. It’s a commercial zone. It shouldn’t be for children or for adults,” said McGrath. This issue has been shared by protestors who argue the area is a commercial zone with no beneficial amenities for the homeless.

Protesters have also shown doubt towards their officials and have openly criticized them throughout this issue due to lack of their communication and appearances at demonstrations to support them.

“I think the people want to trust their elected officials and they want to rely on them but they they’re not willing to go into this with blind faith anymore,” said Michael Papa, a resident who has been active throughout the protests.

Papa was among residents who first heard about the proposal in August at a meeting at Martin Luther High School. At the conclusion of the meeting, he led the first rally at the hotel and was arrested.

Since then, Papa has attended the protests stating he has only missed one. He has played a prominent role as a speaker at demonstrations and participating by putting up signs, stages, and working with other organizers toward the same goal.

“My main concerns are quality of life issues, safety issues, and the biggest thing for me is really just the way the politicians and these nonprofits are earning money off the backs of hardworking taxpayers while helping no one, especially the homeless,” said Papa.

Papa’s sentiments resonate those of residents who believe the proposed shelter is the owners means of earning money through the city’s homeless problem rather than finding a permanent and inexpensive solution.

Despite expressing their concerns, protesters have felt characterized as being against the homeless by the media. Papa said he experienced this after being interviewed and reading the story with many of statements missing.

“They’re villainizing us and we’re not villains,” said Papa. “We’re good people, we’re families.”

McGrath shared similar sentiments stating, “We are not against the homeless. I don’t think the homeless should live in a warehouse, in a hotel like that.”

Although the shelter’s opening is uncertain, residents still have plans to protest at Patel’s other hotels and Gracie Mansion where Mayor de Blasio resides, according to a community meeting on Thursday. The efforts to gather lawyer funds will also continue.

“We need to go from door to door and this is my next step,” said McGrath. “I think I’m going to go with two or three more people together so we try to get every homeowner and every business owner.”

Spoon University at Baruch: A Food Site That Caters to College Students

By: Nicole Caropolo

College students are known for having terrible diets. Raman and $1 pizza make up every meal. This leads to over half of the college student population lacking the nutrition that their body needs. A 2014 study from the “Journal of Nutrition and Education” found that 59% of surveyed students struggled with being “food insecure,” which refers to malnutrition due to the expensive prices of healthy food. Thanks to a new club that is beginning at Baruch College called Spoon University, you will no longer have to suffer through microwavable noodles and doughy, undercooked pizza.

Spoon University is a site made by college students and for college students. It revolves around all aspects of food, from the best local restaurants to recipes that you can make in your dorm. They also have articles on a variety of important, relevant topics related to food that prove how influential the food you eat can be.

Spoon University currently has over 150 chapters across U.S. college campuses, as well as over 50 more in production.

Baruch College’s branch for Spoon University was started by Hannah Sarraf, a Baruch College sophomore. After receiving 300 signatures on a petition, the branch was approved. It is still in progress, but will be launched during the current fall semester.

The site intrigued Sarraf because she’s always been a “foodie.”

“I’ve always been interested in it,” Sarraf said about food. “Cooking in the kitchen, wanting to know more about what I eat.”

Katherine Recinos, Baruch College senior, is an avid reader of Spoon as well as a close friend of Sarraf’s, and she is confident Sarraf’s leadership skills.

“Hannah will be a great head of the Spoon at Baruch branch because she’s very passionate about the topic,” Recinos said. “I’m so impressed already by the initiative she has taken to get it off the ground.”

A major topic often covered in Spoon articles is health. This isn’t referring to just reducing the amount of cookies you eat in one sitting. This refers to healthy food trends that have blown up throughout the teenage and young adult demographics. These trends not to be confused with fad diets that are meant to be instantaneous, which The Wheat Foods Council has been vocal about avoiding.

Food trends that have taken over the current generation include things like protein smoothies, kale, and organic ingredients. Google searches over the past couple years have shown that people are often searching for healthy foods, with words trending like avocado oil and turmeric. Spoon embraces these growing trends with stories like “4 Smoothies to Get You in Shape for Summer” and “5 Ways to Make Kale Not Suck.”

Sarraf believes that regardless of time and money, you should always have your health in mind.

“The section of Spoon that is based around health can and should appeal to college students because we need to make good decisions about what we’re putting into our bodies,” Sarraf said. “We need to eat more intelligently. We’re college students so we’re low on money and buy groceries on a budget. Spoon appeals to that.”

Spoon’s recipes give students the chance to stay fit from the comfort of their own kitchen. The overwhelming amount of these recipes on the site prove that you can include healthy food and drinks into your diet without having to sit down at a restaurant for every meal and order something with unpronounceable ingredients.

Food can be influential in unexpected ways. Spoon University covers a wide variety of important, relevant topics such as eating disorders and what to eat based on your religion.

Eating disorders are relevant to not only college students, but to all ages. Spoon acknowledges the real issues that surround the sensitive topic of disorders through profiles of people that deal with them, as well as informational articles about the truth behind eating disorders. They have articles including “Why I Consider My Eating Disability a Disorder” and “10 Misconceptions About Eating Disorders.”

Melanie Cordova, Baruch College senior, is excited to see content on serious topics like eating disorders that many students may be worried to speak out about.

“It’s great to have coverage on that to show people that they aren’t alone and there’s other alternatives to help during their times of despair,” Cordova said. “A big platform should use their power to spread awareness of those things and also help their audience, and inform them on trends that they can benefit from.”

Eating habits based off of religion are another part of many college students’ daily lives, especially in diversified colleges like Baruch. Eating kosher, specific table manners, eating certain foods for holidays, these are all things that college kids may be dealing with based off of their religion. It’s not always easy either, as we can tell by Spoon articles like “5 of the Weirdest Jewish Food Traditions, as Told by a Jew” and “What Americans Don’t Know About Real Indian Food.”

Spoon covering issues such as health, eating disorders and religious foods proves that food is more than just something to fill your stomach so you don’t get sick or tired. It plays a pivotal role in our daily lives that many may take for granted, and we need to be aware of the issues and obstacles that may come along with it.

The intriguing part about having a Spoon branch that caters to Baruch is that it will show content unique to our area and our students, like the best restaurants near Madison Square Park and what to eat from the school café.

Spoon at Baruch is currently searching for photographers, writers, videographers, and marketers to contribute. The application deadline is October 3rd, and students can apply at http://spoonuniversity.com/apply.

 

 

The people of Maspeth are joining together to save their community against potential homeless shelter.

MASPETH, Queens-In a normally quiet and calm middle class neighborhood, the people of Maspeth have been red in the face for over a month in a fight against a city plan converting the Holiday Inn Express at 59-40 55^th Road into a homeless shelter.

Maspeth is known to be a good place to raise a family. There are several beautiful parks, schools ranging from elementary to high school, and low crime rate.

“Twenty-three years ago, I was looking for a house in an affordable neighborhood with good schools where I could raise my three children,” says Rose Celentano. “Maspeth was that neighborhood.”

Celentano and other residents now fear their “family-orientated community” will be affected if the Holiday Inn is turned into a homeless shelter.

Maspeth residents pride themselves in their beautiful neighborhood. Unlike many nearby neighborhoods, Maspeth does not have alternate side parking, meaning, residents must clean up after themselves. When one walks down the streets of Maspeth, front yards are clean tailored and the sound of children’s laughter echoes for blocks. One always feels safe. With new plans to convert a nearby hotel into a homeless shelter, residents fear the aspects they love about their community will fade away fast.

What these residents want people to know, though, is that they’re not against the homeless- they are against the location of this particular shelter. The Holiday Inn is located in “Industrial Maspeth,” meaning it is in an isolated part of town. There is no public transportation, nowhere close one can find a job, and there aren’t even kitchens inside these hotel rooms. In other words, it isn’t an ideal place to house the homeless.

Maryann Lattanzio has called Maspeth her home for nearly 30 years. She has been involved in this fight to preserve Maspeth, as she sees it, from day one.

Lattanzio often wears a white T-shirt with bold black letters spelling out “NO HOMELESS SHELTER” across it while she runs errands. She attended the community board meetings and has stood outside of P.S. 229 handing out flyers urging residents to speak out against the shelter. Lattanzio has joined arm in arm with her passionate neighbors who have been protesting outside the Holiday Inn on 55^th Road for the past month. Barricades enclose them but their voices echoes for blocks.

Maspeth residents have done their research, and can list off the changes homeless shelters have brought into other neighborhoods. There are two hotels that have been converted into shelters nearby in Elmhurst: the Metro Motel and the Pan American. The local streets have become littered with needles and drug baggies.

The biggest concern with the Holiday Inn’s proposed conversion are the location and the fact that those living in the hotel will have to be out from 7 am to 7 pm.

“The Holiday Inn is supposed to be for adults only,” Lattanzio says “They are not allowed in the hotel during the day- that means they are sleeping on our park benches- like Maurice Park, only a block away. There is a high amount of mentally ill people who tend to self-medicate with drugs. In the Pam Am homeless shelter, I was told that there are dirty needles on the floor. Do we want our parks where our children play infected with dirty needles? This is not fair to the children and families in our neighborhood.”

Lattanzio, along with many Maspeth residents, fear the Holiday Inn shelter will impact their neighborhood the way the two shelters impacted Elmhurst. They also believe that converting hotels into homeless shelters is not a solution.

“DeBlasio is not giving the homeless any opportunity to get out of their situation by placing them in Industrial Maspeth,” says resident Joe Gudonis.

Gudonis goes on to say that this housing situation is just a “Band-Aid,” covering up a more serious problem: affordable housing. Placing homeless people in hotel rooms is a short term solution to decrease the number of those living on the streets. Lattanzio believes something more needs to be done.

“The Holiday Inn is not a good option because these people need homes, not hotel rooms. There are no kitchens to cook in and it is the law that homeless shelters must have kitchens. I feel sorry for the homeless people and a hotel is not fair for them. They need low cost housing- Section 8. There are so many Section 8 housing units that are empty. I was told the city would be paying $2,000 per room- you can get an apartment in Maspeth for $1,300 per month- that is a saving of $700. We have no objections to a homeless family in an apartment in Maspeth. Put families in homes- not hotels”

According to PIX 11, there has been recent talk that the owner of the Holiday Inn, Harshad Patel, has called off his plans to convert his hotel into a shelter. Lattanzio believes residents are responsible for this.

“The owner of the hotel agreed to back out because of our protest,” Lattanzio says, “The people of Maspeth have fought hard to save their community- but the fight is not over yet.”

Discussion: Your first drafts, common issues/mistakes, suggestions.

• Lack of a clear newsy angle
  • How do you know if something is news?
    • Timeliness
    • Proximity
    • Conflict
    • Novelty
    • Prominence
    • Impact/consequence
    • Human interest
• Lack of clear nut graphs
  • A nut graph puts the story in context and tells readers why the story matters
    • It tells readers why they should care about the story
    • It provides a transition from the lede and explains the lede and its connection to the rest of the story
    • It often tells readers why the story is timely
    • It contains the story’s angle
• Make sure you orient the reader with who/what/when/where/why. Don’t assume they’re all New Yorkers and know what you’re talking about when you refer to a neighborhood or the acronym of a city department or agency (spell out Metropolitan Transportation Authority on first reference, for example)
• more than/less than/fewer than vs. under/over
• Past tense vs. present tense: “says” vs. “said”
• United States as a noun, U.S. as an adjective
• Opinionated writing: “unfortunately…” “the best hope for progress on this issue…” Let your sources express these kinds of thoughts. It’s your job to present the facts.
• Attribution of facts and statistics
  •  “Kindred was found to be submitting Medicare claims for hospice care for beneficiaries who were ineligible for hospice services, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.”
  • “The unlicensed casino was found at 10 p.m. Sept. 11 behind a mirrored entrance at 5801 N. Lincoln Avenue, police said.”
  • “Michigan’s estimated median household income was $51,084 in 2015, up 2.4 percent from 2014 and, factoring inflation, the state’s biggest increase since 1999, according to U.S. Census data released yesterday.
• Mechanics of quotes:
  • “It will ruin this community,” he said.
  • “It will ruin this community!” he said.
  • “Won’t it ruin this community?” he said.
• How to use quotes effectively
  • Use full direct quotes, not fragments
  • Use quotes that are colorful, funny, poignant, impactful, and emotional, or that articulate the main arguments and opinions at play in your story. Don’t waste a quote on relaying facts and figures – you can paraphrase those yourself.
  • Write into and out of your quotes by actively setting them up and segueing out of them
  • Sometimes you can include the attribution in the middle of the quote.
  • More tips on using quotes effectively here
  • Show, don’t tell: “They’re only in it for greed,” he said with visible frustration. “They’re only in it for greed,” he said, pounding the table with his fist.

Assignment:

Your next story will be an 800- to 1000-word profile of an individual whose work or life is relevant to the election in some way. You can choose to go about this in a number of different ways. You might decide to focus on someone who is campaigning directly for one of the candidates (maybe a parent who has daughters and wants them to witness the election of the first female president, maybe the Trump supporter who built a 12-foot sign in his yard) or on someone whose race, religion, job, or immigration status makes the results of the election feel extra consequential for them personally (a Muslim woman who fears wearing her hijab on the subway, perhaps, because she has experienced harassment that she thinks has gotten worse because of Trump’s rhetoric; an NYC resident who has family members overseas who are refugees; a homeless veteran). You could profile someone who serves as a poll worker every election, or an activist or organizer working on one of the many hot-button issues that surround this campaign season (minimum wage, the wall on the border with Mexico, Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood funding).

Pitches will be due on Wednesday, September 28.

This deadline is two days later than currently listed on the syllabus for a couple of reasons: I’m combining the profile story and your spot election coverage into one story, and I want you to have a little more time to work on your pitches because I want stronger, more fully-formed pitches this time. Now that you’ve all gone through the pitching, reporting, and writing process for your first story, hopefully you fully realize now the importance of starting off with a good, workable idea.

For the purposes of this story, that means I want your pitches to contain the name of the person you want to profile, not just a description of the type of person you want to profile. This will require you to do a little bit of pre-reporting so that you can confirm you have access to this person and tell me a little bit about them, why they’re worthy of being profiled, and how the story will relate to the election.

Discussion: Bias in election coverage. What does objectivity look like in election coverage? What is false equivalence? How have different media organizations been covering the candidates so far? How have they adjusted to account for the unprecedented nature of Trump’s candidacy? Huffington Post has an editor’s note that runs at the bottom of every article about him, CNN called him out for lying in achyron at the bottom of the screen. Even the New York Times is culpable for failing to fact-check and immediately address some of his claims.

Readings for next class: Profiles written by journalism students

http://www.startribune.com/he-knows-when-to-hold-em-and-cashes-in/12986707/

http://cubreporters.org/gilde

“Open the doors to all, let the children of the rich and the poor take their seats together and know of no distinction save that of industry, good conduct, and intellect.” These were the words proclaimed by Townsend Harris, founder of the Free Academy (now CCNY), on March 15, 1847. Fast forward over 165 years later though, and unfortunately it would appear that this wish has largely been unattained by our top city colleges. And that an enrollment of our city’s poorest students at our public colleges, instead, has been at a continual decline over the last decade, which is a statistic that pertains to at most, our city’s Black and Latino students.

But what is it that is causing this growing rejection for the majority of our public high school students in this city? Well factors such as raised admission standards, a decrease in public funding, and higher tuition costs are just some factors that cast maturation to this ethic disparity issue. And while Black and Latino students reflect about 70 percent of the student body of public high schools, it is a disappointment for us to witness a disproportionate amount of those non-white students that actually end up making it to the top city colleges, such as Baruch College.

In fact, while Black and Latinos reflect over fifty percent of the people in our city, a little bit less than 27 percent of such students (taken from the 2015 Baruch Fact Sheet) are actually admitted to Baruch College; which should then be seen as a significant decrease of the past greater than a third percentage of Black and Latinos that composed the student body of Baruch in just 2001.

But why isn’t anything being done in order to reverse this decline of diversity at our top colleges? Well to Dr. Arthur Lewin, a member of the Advisory Board of the Black Male Initiative at Baruch College, a part of this issue is that most of the organizations or groups that are set out to promote the underrepresented student bodies at our public colleges, really only promote the “public relations” of our city’s colleges, rather than actually improving the success or experiences of the students that they are supposed to reflect, according to Lewin.

So while organizations such as the Black Male Initiative do increase the chances of success after college for a greater number of Black and Latinos that make use of this program when compared to the students who do not; “because the school is not really serious about the Black Male initiative, nor is CUNY,” according to Lewin, which means that hardly enough is being done to progress the students who represent over half of our city’s ethnic groups. “It’s like putting on a windbreaker or sweater and going out to a blizzard, it’s almost next to nothing,” says Lewin, when asked if he feels if organizations such as BMI are doing enough to support underrepresented students.

And this is bad, because creating more diverse city colleges in reality “benefits the majority of the people in New York City, because they are Black and Latino but they are being excluded from the City University” expresses Lewin.

[Make suggestions to reduce this issue]

 

[LOOK FOR \ PUT OUT STUDENT INTERVIEWS LATER] [EDIT] [DRAFT IS NOT COMPLETE]

Yesenia Barrios

JRN 3060

Professor Johnson

September 19, 2016

 

“You decided to marry him and made the mistake to get pregnant. Now, it is your issue to make sure he stays with you because I will not help you.” Those were the words Antonieta Morales, 49, heard from her mother as she decided to tell her that her husband was constantly abusing her physically and mentally. It all started in Mexico City, where she lived with her family. She was nineteen years old when a charming man, dressed in his military uniform showed great interest in her.

“He was very romantic. He would show up at my job with flowers and always made sure that I was okay.” Antonieta said.

It was until she turned twenty that he told her they were going to go on a trip, and she never came back home.

“It was very romantic at first, he was always very attentive and although he did not tell me that he wanted us to live together, I liked the idea of creating a home with him.”

But the sweet and romantic moments became less frequent, and the red flags were in Antonieta’s face that she could no longer find any more excuses for him and his hurtful behavior.

Antonieta had her first child with her husband a year after she first moved in with him and it was at this point that he expected her to only be a housewife and a mother. He had a list of expectations from her. If she did not meet these expectations, he would start to verbally attack her by making her feel guilty, bringing her self-esteem down and degrading her in many forms. Many times, Antonieta tried to defend herself but Mario would physically start abusing her.

 

“He was constantly cheating on me, and he would do it in my face too. At some point, a woman came to our house while my children were there and she asked for him. She started telling him to leave us behind and go live with her.”

 

I was soon expecting her to tell me that he declined this woman’s offer and gave his wife the place she deserved. That was not the answer I got. Mario stood there as this woman humiliated his wife and let his children witness it all.

 

You would ask yourself “why did she not just walk away if this was a broken marriage that was tearing her and her children apart?” Psychologytoday.com explains that a victim of domestic violence finds it very difficult to walk away for various emotional and situational reasons. For Antonieta this proved to be right. Mario would show remorse and ask her to forgive him. She kept holding on to that little bit of hope, hope that some day he would change. She knew that he was once a loving man and she always thought that if she was just patient enough, he would go back to that man she fell in love with. The economic dependence, lack of support from her family and her children made her feel that she had no other option but to stay.

 

In many cases, culture is a pivotal factor for staying in an abusive relationship. Mexico is a very patriarchal society and many women agree that men are superior to women and that the female is meant to serve her husband. Antonieta is very familiar to this way of thinking because her own mother showed no compassion towards her suffering.

“The only advice she gave me was to stay and try to please him because it was now too late to walk away, because I had children with him and he was the only one who could financially support us.”

 

Domestic violence is an issue all around the world. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 out of 3 women are victims of domestic violence in the United States, and every nine seconds a woman is assaulted or physically beaten by her significant other. More than fifty percent of domestic violence victims do not take any action against the situation, and many end in tragedies.

 

The laws regarding domestic violence vary from state to state in the United States. However, in 1944, congress passes the Violence Against Women Act which states that domestic violence is a crime that can be punished by federal laws. Through this act, all citizens are protected against domestic violence but, each state handles every case differently.

 

For Antonieta, a new life in the United States is what helped her get away from her abusive husband.

Swale looks more like your typical vegetable garden than anything else, with a kind of controlled chaos. Circular beds nearly overflowing with vegetation are dotted around the entrance, some with vines that snake up trellises and others with blankets of clover and larger leafy bushes. The smaller beds give way to larger expanses of green towards the back with gravel paths meandering in between and a set of picnic tables in the center. It could be a cozy, charming garden anywhere in the country. It’s only the gentle sway of the tide moving out and the briny smell of the air that gives it away. Because Swale is on a barge in the middle of the East River.
The people behind Swale call it a floating food forest, and the title is an accurate one. All of the plants aboard Swale are either edible or medicinal in nature.
A food forest is essentially an eventually self-sustaining garden, where all of the plants work together to thrive and all are edible. This is the beauty of this concept, one that Swale is currently trying to prove the validity of in urban spaces, food forests can provide a great deal of food for a community with relatively little effort. They are in a way a more sustainable community garden that is open to all.
Visitors can come and pick the vegetables and herbs being grown on the barge for free.
Swale is proof of concept in two ways, one this it is possible to have a food forest in New York City, and two that we can do so in new and different ways. The barge is hopefully a temporary home for the food forest as the people behind it petition the city to give them public park space to create a permanent home. They envision this home being a food forest based community garden.

“We will build a great wall along the southern border…On day one, we will begin working on intangible, physical, tall, power, beautiful southern border wall…We will use the best technology, including above and below ground sensors that’s the tunnels. Remember that, above and below.” Donald J. Trump, the republican nominee for the presidency of the United States, said at speech he gave in August in Phoenix, Arizona, where he laid out his immigration plan for the U.S. emphasizing every adjective that describes his prized wall, as if fortifying it with his own breath. Trump supporters attending the speech, fill the auditorium with their chant, “BUILD THAT WALL! BUILD THAT WALL!” while excitedly waving their “Make America Great Again” posters in celebration.

Miles away, in New York, there is a young girl, Yesenia Barrios, 20, a Journalism student at Baruch College. Barrios walks with her head high and higher hopes. She walks into school with a different mindset than Trump presented himself in his speech in Arizona. She doesn’t dream of removing 11.2 million people from the U.S.

According to the PEW Research center,  in 2012, there were 950,000 undocumented youth, people brought to the U.S. between the ages of 15-30. Barrios is represented in that statistic.

Barrios recalls her story rather vividly. So vividly, one can almost experience her memory by the way she sighs and the way the eyes well up with tears to the brink of running down her cheek.

Her father had gotten a head start and arrived to the U.S two years before the rest of the Barrios family. In 2004, Barrios, her two sisters, and her mother followed. Her family split up in different way to gain access to the U.S. Her youngest sister, Ximena, who was a 2 year-old at the time, was boarded onto a plane, assuming the identity of a 2 year-old American citizen. Barrios’ mother as well as her sister crossed through the desert. She was passed off as Maria, her Mexican-American counterpart, who shared similar physical traits and age, enough to fool anyone who looked at her passport.

To be considered for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) one must have entered the country before June 2012 and must have been between the ages of 15 and 30. If the individual can meet the DACA’s requirements, as stated by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)  they are granted deferred action for two years, which means that they are granted the ability to remain in the country without the fear of being deported. In some states such as New York if a DACA recipient, or as they are more commonly known as, DREAMer, can prove financial need, the DREAMer is also granted a temporary working permit valid for two years. However, the program does not provide the recipient with any lawful status or guarantee of citizenship.

Still, Barrios like many other DREAMers, is grateful to be in the U.S, despite the anti-immigration sentiment that has only been fueled by Trump’s negative remarks not only towards undocumented Mexican immigrants but towards undocumented immigrants from all over the world.

“When I entered High school, that’s when I understood that this whole undocumented thing was going to be hard…Being undocumented is hard here. It’s going to be more challenging for us to get an education here. But that kind of pushes you to do better… I’m lucky to be here. In this country, I’ve learned that I have to be very grateful for everything that I have, to this country. DACA is a great opportunity!”

Our current political climate has brought forth some interesting characters, among them Trump who promises to expedite the deportation 11.2 million undocumented immigrants and promises he will double down, triple down on border security.

In his speech in Arizona, Trump stated that he and his administration “will immediately terminate President Obama’s two illegal executive amnesties in which he defied federal law and the Constitution to give amnesty to approximately five million illegal immigrants, five million.” DACA being one of those “illegal” executive amnesties. This has students like Yesenia and her friend, Jazmin Gil, 21, a student at Lehman College, feeling frustrated because the idea of someone like Trump as president could mean that they could lose the only concrete hope that has allowed them to stay in the country they have known as their home for the majority of their life.

Gil and Barrios, however, are not in fear as one would think. Instead they are filled with anger. Surprisingly, not towards Trump himself but towards his many supporters that praise his stricter immigration policies and his say-like-it-is attitude. “He’s targeting everyone. I feel like people should have stood up to him and not let it continue, but people kept voting for him and now he’s up there right now. I’m not mad at him. I am just mad at the American people.” says Gil.

Many undocumented students such as Gil, arrived to the U.S. at such an early age that their first meaningful memory took place within the U.S., for others, such as Barrios, who left Mexico with her mother and two sisters when she was 11 years of age, her native country has become such a distant memory that she can no longer picture herself going back. This is her home now.

Their biggest concern, is not Trump’s threats of deporting all undocumented immigrants without exceptions, but the uncertainty that will come if Trump is elected. Also stating in his Arizona speech that he would deport approximately 2 million illegal immigrants with a criminal record as well as saying that he would propose a reform that “involves new screening tests for all applicants that include, and this is so important, especially if you get the right people. And we will get the right people. An ideological certification to make sure that those we are admitting to our country share our values and love our people.” Questions have arised like, what kind of crimes have these 2 million criminals committed?It could be as simple as jaywalking. Another question is how would Trump decide what exactly constitutes American values and what exactly is love for America?

“I have a scholarship. I don’t know what’s going to happen after the elections if he gets elected. I didn’t think [Trump] wasn’t going to get this far, so who knows how much further he’s going to go. This is it…the American people might choose him. We might get sent back to Mexico.” Barrios said. A more wary Gil said, “Just in general, I mean, any president that might come into [office], even Hillary, she can take it away, you know? Any new person that’s up there can take away DACA.”

Gil, who was here since was two years old, encourages her piers to vote against Trump. A “privilege” she says she doesn’t have and people take for granted. Which is true. According to The PEW Research Center stated that out of the 25.1 million registered Hispanic voter, 18.3 million did not vote. “I feel really frustrated that we can’t vote at all…and those people that can vote don’t vote. You can vote! Your voice is being heard, why don’t you do it? We can’t do anything, we just sit and watch…I wish I could vote, it would be amazing but I can’t” She said with a hit of defeat in her voice.

Gil and Barrios, encourage their fellow DREAMers to be proud of who they are and their heritage and not to “let people like Trump, [biased] people get you down! There is always another way, there’s always an option. You just have to keep going…You can and you will, I mean, we’re in the U.S.!”

Many undocumented immigrants like the Barrios family, left their country together and divided at the same time, knew of the potential dangers that awaited all of them: kidnappings, rape, robbery, and even death and, still, they risked everything to be reunited once again, within the confines of the Land of the Free, The Land of Opportunity, where they would be safe, where if there is a will, there is a way, where hard work is the key to success, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, a country that promised them a better future, maybe not easier, but in their eyes better, for sure.

 

 

It is five in the afternoon, in the corner of Vesey and Church Street. Majority of the people pacing on the street are trying to catch the New Jersey Path trains or the Subway to go home, after a long day of work. After 8pm, in that same corner, it is lifeless. It has been like that since September 11, but just recently, the new World Trade Center Hub operated by Westfield Properties opened and last year Brookfield Place opened as well. They have major brand stores like Cole Hann, Apple, Forever 21, Gucci and etc, are operated inside the Hub and brookfield.

Businesses are booming again in that section Lower Manhattan after 15 years. According to Market Watch, Westfield properties expect the World Trade Center mall to be the most productive shopping center in its portfolio and generate up to one billion in annual sales. It expects almost 100 million customer visits a year to the mall, taking its total customer visits each year to half a billion, a 25% increase.

However, as the neighborhood is growing, a lot of small businesses in the area that have been there before or after September 11th for years are worried of the rise rents or losing consumers.

Soon Interviews with small business owners, more statistics.