Category: Uncategorized

After taking my first international trip in December 2016, I was fascinated with the differences in cultures from surrounding nations. One is on the brink of bankruptcy according to some economists and the other is notorious for allowing corrupt millionaires to hide their American dollars behind the walls of a rich nation’s creative laws. As an American citizen traveling from one country to the next via rental car, I found out just how easy it was for an individual to make their mark in one country and another soon after as boarder crossing is very lax between the two nations. From an immigrant perspective, the ability to travel is an easy one but if this were America, we’d be hearing loud and proud individuals making their voices heard.

As of right now I’m interested in reporting on the Afghan community within New York. More specifically I hope to learn and write about how the expectations they had of America compare to the reality they’ve been faced with. This topic interests me largely because of my experience in Greece with refugees from Afghanistan, Syria, and Somalia. Throughout the month that I was working with these families, what stuck with me the most were the conversations I had with two young girls from Afghanistan, Dina and Delara. Very mature for their age, these girls would opt out of the roughhousing most children their age came to the ‘kids room’ for. Instead, they asked nearly everyday to sit with me and talk over tea. While we were talking it became very obvious that Dina and Delara are amidst challenges in their life most could not fathom. Their families were forced to leave their home when it became a war zone, and they are now living in a refugee camp based in Athens, with little to nothing. They constantly told me about how they hated their home and never enjoyed growing up in Afghanistan. They went further to describe just how hard life is in the refugee camp, they hate living in Greece as well. It was after they told me this that Dina told me she “just loves America.” Dina’s eyes lit up when she spoke of America and all that it has to offer. I listened to these girls speak of America, a place they have never been, as if the streets are paved with gold. I became curious as to how their expectations would match up to a life in America. I plan to get the perspective of Afghan immigrants living in NYC concerning their life now vs the one they imagined when first deciding to leave their country. I understand that Flushing, Queens is often referred to as “Little Afghanistan” due to its high Afghan population. This should be a great location for me to conduct interviews and meet people dealing with the trials of immigration.

The country I want to focus on is Indonesia. Located in Southeast Asia, it is the biggest producer of palm oil. This mass production has lead to deforestation. This habitat loss is detrimental to endangered species such as orangutans and tigers. Although palm oil is detrimental to the environment, approximately 50% of products found in our supermarkets contain palm oil. I’d like to explore the cultural aspects of why this production is still on the rise.

As I’ve mentioned in class, I would like to spend the semester reporting on anti-government protests in Poland and the shrinking Polish community in Greenpoint.

The first idea, the anti-government protests, came to me when I was reading one of the Polish political magazines available in the United States. One of the articles spoke about protests that a duo of Polish college students was organizing. The protests were to take place in several big cities across the country and they were fully organized through Facebook. Surprisingly, the organizers refused to take funding from the biggest pro-democratic committee in the country, commonly known by its Polish initials–KOD. Several printers proposed to print protest signs for free. Now that the protest took place, it might be a good idea to try to reach out to the organizers via Facebook and interview them about the protests, why they organized them, how they think they proceeded and what they intend to do in the future. Since this article is likely to take some time, it will likely not be the first assignment I hand in.

In the meantime, I would like to interview a Polish business owner to see how they are dealing with the gentrification of northwestern Brooklyn and the shrinking Polish community in Greenpoint. In particular, I would like to interview the owner of a Polish bookstore. How has the business changed since the bookstore opened? How many Polish businesses in the area were closed? Has the bookstore been dealing with a lot of hardships to keep it afloat? Was it able to attract new audiences?

This semester I like to cover the Latino community, but my focus will be towards the Mexican immigrants. I think there are a lot to write when in comes to Mexico itself or the immigrants who live in New York. Of course, there is the famous wall president Donald Trump promised to build and they are still debating who will pay for it. I like to know what would it do to both countries if that happens. I like to know what are the reactions from the people who are there in Mexico and compare with those who live in NYC. I know a couple of people who live there so that would be a good sources to go to. In terms of potential stories, one angle would to write about the economy and how would it affect for both countries.

For this semester, I’d like to focus on the Russian community in Sheepshead Bay and Brighton Beach. Previous to the election, I spoke with a Russian woman who said that although she is an immigrant, she was voting for Trump because his policies are “good for Russia.” I’m curious if other Russian immigrants feel the same way. There are clearly many stories to be told about the United States’ current relationship and potential future relationship with Russia, specifically Vladimir Putin. In addition, with so much going on with Russia’s military and the effects of Putin’s reign on Russian citizens, this should be a timely and easy topic to cover. I also have several connections within the Russian community here in New York, so I can access an abundance of sources.

For this class, I think that I’d like to do my work on Bangladesh, specifically the corruption that is associated with the country’s government. My best-friend is Bengali and he tells me stories of how corrupt the government is, based on his own personal experiences when he was growing up. Rifat emigrated to the US in 2005 along with his family, but spent most of his adolescent life in Dhaka, the largest city and capital of Bangladesh. Along with Rifat and his family members (who speak primarily Bengali with very limited English) I’d like to speak with Bengali families in NYC who lived in and out of capital as well as individuals who are from Bengali families but were born after their families emigrated. I think it would be interesting to find out what all these people think of Bangladesh’s government and the current state of affairs in the country. Rifat also mentioned to me that the only reason his family moved to the US was because they won a lottery allowing them to move during a time when travel to the US wasn’t allowed, so I’m also interested in the stories of just how and why Bangladesh families came to the US. The NY Times Ethnicity by Region Map looks to be a good resource, because it shows that there is a rise in the number of Bengali families in Jackson Heights and Woodside and a very rapid growth of these families in Flushing, Fresh Meadows, Sunset Park, and Bensonhurst. I think these neighborhoods would be good places to go meet and speak directly to Bengali families.