ASYNCHRONOUS ASSIGNMENT (Deadline: 3/29 before the class)
Instructions:
1. Read the essay “The Obelisk of Loisaida” by Marcos Gonsalez.
2. In the comment section down below answer ONE of the following prompts (2o0-words minimum).
OPTION ONE
Why Marcos Gonsalez starts his essay on Loisaida (the Lower East Side) by referring to the Luxor Obelisk? What does the obelisk represent in the essay?
OPTION TWO
Gonsalez writes:
“Loisaida’s storytellers, dreamers, philosophers of brick and mortar taught me to imagine the past. To imagine the past, not as something to feel justified in transcending, nor to fit some narrative of progress that makes those in power feel good about how far we’ve come. Rather, they taught me how past times and neighborhoods made certain kinds of care and community possible, certain ways of thinking and storytelling manifest.”
How does Miguel Piñero’s work allow Gonsalez to imagine and understand different time periods in Loisaida?
OPTION THREE
Gonsalez says: “Like Loisaida’s poets and artists of the 1970s and 1980s, it similarly became for me the site of an erotic awakening, and of artistic possibility.”
How does Gonsalez present the connections between sexuality and artistic expression in Loisaida?
First Option
The essay is a personal and cultural reflection on the author’s experiences growing up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, also known as Loisaida, and how his community was impacted by gentrification and displacement. In the beginning of his essay, author Marcos Gonsalez, refers to the Luxor Obelisk, a monumental Egyptian obelisk that now stands in the center of the Place de la Concorde in Paris. He uses this reference to contrast the historical power associated with the Luxor Obelisk with the struggles and marginalization experienced by his community in Loisaida.
The obelisk represents endurance, resiliance, and cultural heritage in the essay. Gonsalez uses the image of an obelisk as a metaphor for the cultural heritage and resilience of his community. Despite the challenges of poverty, displacement, and gentrification, the people of Loisaida continue to represent their identity and cultural pride. The obelisk is also a symbol of endurance and survival, representing the ability of the community to get through the forces of change and remain rooted in their history and traditions.
Overall, the obelisk serves as a powerful symbol of cultural heritage and resilience in the face of adversity,showing the importance of community, history, and tradition in shaping our understanding of place and identity.
Option One
Marcos Gonzalez start his essay by explaining the history of the Luxor Obelisk because it is a symbol he uses to illustrate the image of the Lower East Side being a relic of a bygone era from the 1970s to the present. He writes about passing by an old, dilapidated building and imagines the potential former residents of that old building. The author emphasizes how the Loisaida of the 1970s isn’t like the Loisaida of the mid 2010s, such as when he taught a poem that that singing praise to the Loisada of the time it was written, and how one of the students in his class said that the Loisada described in the poem wasn’t the Loisada that he experienced. It is much like how the people looking at the Luxor Obelisk have little to no reference for the significance of the artifact in question outside of what an art museum pamphlet says about it.
Option #1
I thought Marcos Gonzales’s essay “The Obelisk of Loisaida” was an interesting personal essay because he talked about his own experiences in the Lower East Side in reference to the gentrification that he had seen within the neighborhood. I think Gonzales starts the essay by referring to the Luxor Obelisk as a symbol to further explain how in the Lower East Side, those dilapidated buildings/tenements do not mean anything to the predominately white upper-class residents living there. This connects to the obelisk because of the writing on it, the French who took it were unaware of what it meant and of its historical and geographical importance. Gonzales is trying to explain how most of the people residing in the Lower East Side are unaware of its historical background and how those dilapidated buildings were once rich in culture and history. The obelisk in the essay represents how tradition and history can still be kept through certain buildings in the Lower East Side even through the displacement and gentrification it has gone through. Gonzales is essentially using the story of the Luxor Obelisks for an analogy with the gentrification of Loisaida.
Marcos Gonsalez started the essay on Loisaida by referring to the Luxor Obelisk because the essay is a personal story of the author in which he describes the gentrification that is caused because of the community and the way people treat the neighborhood. The author uses the Luxor Obelisk to describe this issue of gentrification. This piece was originally from Egypt and it was taken from its home and brought to Paris. People from Paris don’t know a thing about the piece and what meaning it actually has to the people from its home. This piece also expresses the marginalization that his community goes through in contrast to the piece. The obelisk overall represents the cultural heritage in the Loisaida. Not only things like gentrification and marginalization are expressed. But he uses the obelisk to express the resilience of his people and his culture. Over all, the obelisk is a representation of pride and resilience in a community. Not only that but it also expresses the problem in communities now, especially the colonization of the piece.
Option #1
Marco Gonsalez begins his essay “The Obelisk of Loisaida” with a reflection of his personal experiences living in the lower east side. He talks about the gentrification that has impacted his community and the displacement of the people that used to live there. The lower east side or Loisaida that he grew up with is vastly different to what it is now. He refers to the Luxor Obelisk, which were two columns of stone that mirrored one another that stood tall during ancient Egypt, which were taken from their rightful place of origin to be displayed at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. Gonsalez then goes on to describe how the hieroglyphics on the column did not mean anything to the people in France but told a story and held information about its origins and the people that made them. Gonzalez uses it as a way to mirror how he saw the older buildings in the neighborhood and how those buildings had stories of the people that used to live in them, the culture and language that would be shared by those that inhabited them. He illustrates how these columns and buildings are a symbol of the culture that was once there and that though the people that live in them and around them have changed they always store a piece of cultural history within them.
Option 2:
Miguel Pineros’ work allows Gonsalez to imagine and understand different time periods because that time period is not something a lot of people can’t remember. The poem provides a different lens and perspective which is referenced by the poem, specifically the line where it says, “I wanna be near the stabbing, shooting, gambling, fighting, and unnatural dying.” Loisaida wasn’t the same place that’s known now, there were unpleasant things going on but it was home because a community was still present. A community that is mostly Puerto Rican and not hipsters or art galleries. In Pineros’ words, “represent a time that the current landscape of the Lower East Side actively conceals.” Loisaida has become very gentrified and not the same neighborhood that people knew back then. It was a rough neighborhood but it was home to many and a symbol of community, togetherness, and hope. Now it just represents a symbol for exclusivity and gentrification. Gonsalez even remembers the time he spent in Loisaida and it was a different time then even from Pineros or from the modern era.
Option 3:
In my interpretation, Marcos Gonsalez presents the connection between art and sexuality in Loisaida as art used as a medium to explore or express sexuality and themes related to it. He mentions Martin Wong’s paintings and how he “painted homoerotic scenes of the Black and Brown men he encountered in Loisaida” and how his “work ties together brick, queer erotics, tenement living, city disinvestment, exploitative landlord arson to cash in on insurance money, and the Black, Brown and Asian lives of Loisaida.” Martin Wong’s art told the stories of queer people of color, who were often Puerto Ricans, and offered commentary on the social, political, and economic issues in Loisaida. Miguel Piñero’s art was similar in that it offered similar commentary and content, but in the form of poetry. Piñero mentions in his poem ‘A Lower East Side Poem,’ “I wanna be near the stabbing shooting/ gambling fighting & unnatural dying/ & new birth crying.” Piñero is talking about his love for and connection to Loisaida, but also giving a commentary on the harsh conditions in the neighborhood. I believe that when he makes reference to “unnatural dying” he is talking about it both as a result of the stabbing and shooting, and the AIDS epidemic ripping through the queer community and causing many deaths, especially in Loisaida. Gonsalez’s choice to speak about these two specific artists, Martin Wong and Miguel Piñero, is important to note because they are both queer men (who were also in a relationship!) who expressed sexuality in the context of Loisaida through art. Both of their works offer an artistic view into Loisaida through the lens of queerness and more specifically working class, Puerto Rican, Black and Brown queerness.
Option 1:
Macros Gonsalez is using the Luxor Obelisk as a way to represent what Loisaida is going through. As we can see, the Luxor Obelisk was basically a symbol for the Egyptians since it stood there for thousands of years, just like Loisaida was seen as the neighborhood for Puerto Ricans and Dominicans for the longest time. That was proved based on all the poems that poets like Bimbo Rivas wrote when talking about Loisaida. However, for the Luxor Obelisk, someone out of the Egyptian community, the French Napoleon decided that he could take whatever he wanted, and he ended up taking the Luxor Obelisk away for its homeland. In a way, Napoleon represents the real estate agents of Loisaida where up until recently, this once Latino dominant community, is slowly becoming another white-filled neighborhood, where pretty much only rich people are able to live there now even though for many decades it was a poor community. Now only, a few old Puerto Ricans and Dominicans remain but once they pass away or they no longer can afford to pay, there will no longer be any Latinos left and no trace of Loisaida will really be left. Afterall, what made Loisaida so special was the fact that the community was of Latinos in a city where the majority of communities are for the white and rich. But now that community only exists through paintings and poems.
Option 1
Marcos Gonsalez essay The Obelisk of Loisada is a reflection on the neighborhood he considers home Loisaida in the Lower East Side, and the gentrification and changes that have overtaken it in recent years. The Luxor Obelisk is an Egyptian monument that is now at the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The obelisk is a symbol of strength and resilience, but it is now in foreign territory, completely overlooked and under-appreciated by the people it now belongs to. I believe that in a sense Gonzalez is comparing the symbol of the Obelisk to his neighborhood and the many memories, people, and experiences that he associates with it. Now being adopted by a new demographic, even if they can’t relate to the experiences, the trials and tribulations that its original inhabitants identified with.
Option Two: Gonsalez mentions this phrase where he is reflecting upon his experience and time in Loisaida and what it has taught him of the “past.” he mentions that reminiscing and remembering the past is not to remind ourselves to keep traditions, language, or culture but it is to remember that today’s present is a result of what came before it. The concept of storytelling, creating a caring community, and respect for one another is a part of a community that derived from the people that resided within it. Miguel Pinero’s work allows Gonsalez to imagine and understand different time periods in Loisaida as we can see the difference in culture and reality of life between then and now. Gonsalez mentions, “I don’t wanna be buried in Puerto Rico… take my ashes and scatter them throughout the Lower East Side.” This shows the reality of life that existed and exists today. As a student says that his work of Gonsalez is “outdated” but to Gonsalez it was all he knew at the time. Gonsalez mentions that Pinero traces a love for the “wayward bodies living and running through its blocks” furthering that todays existence is rooted by yesterdays past and the life that was once embedded in it. Loisaidas ability to tell stories despite what it shows currently is the showcase of a strong voice of culture of what came before, wn exact depiction of what Pineros work shows.
OPTION TWO
Miguel Pinero works allow Gonsalez to imagine and understand different time period in Loisaida because his work illustrate the history of how things use to be in compare to how time has change. Miguel works show how different back in the days things use to be. Gonsalez mention that every time he pass by the tenement he try to imagine who use to live there and how much other fought to make it their home. He mention that looking at it now is very different because so much has change just as discrimination to the latinx community even the increase of AIDS that has kill many latinx. Nobody ever imagine over the year how much the community would have change. Thus, history keep changing we must agree it would keep writing but we must never forget where we come from and I think that’s how Gonsalez feel in the present as he pass through the tenement.
OPTION ONE:
Marcos Gonsalez started with Loisaida because he refers to it as the lower east side neighborhood of Manhattan. Finding a place in the world for him always allows him to observe the environment he has put himself in. Obelisk is important to the neighborhood because it is a symbol of the communities battling gentrification and displacement. New York could be a very diverse community but there are people who like to claim territory and shame other cultures. According to the essay, housing has become very expensive for Puerto Ricans and Dominicans to pay, so many of them have had to leave. This gave opportunities for rich people to move in and take over. Despite there being a few people who still live there, once they leave it won’t be at an affordable price for other people from the lower classes to purchase them. The community has changed a lot, and the goal is to not forget the culture. The importance of preserving cultural heritage can affect social and economic challenges. The Puerto Rican community has faced a lot of challenges throughout the year and the importance of culture is something that should be held onto and not look like history.
After reading the essay “The Obelisk of Loisaida” by Marcos Gonsalez, it was very interesting to see how he compares where he grew up, the Lower East Side, to the Luxor Obelisk, a large Egyptian obelisk that oversees the entire Paris’ Place de la Concorde. Specifically, he makes sure to compare his community’s sufferings and discrimination in the Lower East Side with the power connected to the Luxor Obelisk. This, in my opinion, is crucial because it enables us, the readers, to properly comprehend how many people living in low-income neighborhoods nevertheless manage to thrive and preserve their identities in the face of adversity.
As a person who grew up in Upper Manhattan, I have personally witnessed the dreadful and brutal effects of poverty, bigotry, and discrimination. The Luxor Obelisk is a symbol of hope, prosperity and survival and I can also compare it to my neighborhood. We always find a way to overcome adversity and prosper, no matter how much is thrown our way. It may not happen overnight, and there may be times when things worsen before they improve, but we always survive.
Miguel Piñero’s work allows Gonzalez to imagine and understand different time periods in Loisaida because you are able to learn what Loisaida looked like in the 1970s and the 1980s to what it looks like now. In Miguel Piñero’s poem he mentions the violence that there was during his time. But now Gonzalez is writing about how Loisaida looks totally different. It is getting gentrified with businesses and buildings that are a real estate and corporate interest. Many Puerto Ricans has left those buildings and are no longer there. New people come in and take out what the culture of Loisaida was and change it up and want to make something new out of it. Gonzalez mentions, “… many of them couldn’t imagine the neighbourhood in the way Piñero describes it. They know it as hipsters and art galleries, apartments they cannot afford.” Loisaida has changed. It is no longer what it used to be. The younger generations see it completely different. But the older generation still see it as “The continued struggle of the Puerto Rican people to make homes for ourselves. The continued struggle of the poor, and the migrants, and the people of colour, and the queers, to exist in cities across the United States, and elsewhere.” Loisaida was home for many Puerto Ricans.
OPTION ONE
Marcos Gonsalez starts his essay on Loisaida by referring to the Luxor Obelisk as a way to introduce readers to the issue of Loisaida and how it’s historical significance has been lost to those who now live around it. A simile to create a sense of personal emotions towards the subject. To the new residences of the Lower East Side, the abandoned tenement is just a run down building, just like the Luxor Obelisk to the Parisians. On the other side, the abandoned tenement is an important symbol to those who live in Loisaida, just like the Luxor Obelisk is to the Egyptians. The abandoned building is so much more than what it presents, as Gonsalez states, it’s a testimony of the fight against rapid gentrification in Loisaida. He begins relating this building to various authors of works about Loisaida during its height in the 1970s and 1980s.
He recites a poem by Miguel Piñero, a poem dedicated to his love of Loisaida. Though filled with flaws, he wouldn’t rather be laid to rest anywhere else. Piñero’s partner, Martin Wong, captured the outcasts that made up the one of a kind community. Students who resided in the future Loisaida, long after Piñero had passed away, felt alienated from the once multi-flawed side of Manhattan. Gentrification had taken over. Just like the moving of the Luxor Obelisk to Paris to be viewed as simply another art piece. Art pieces that conveyed how beautifully flawed Loisaida was had become simply art pieces. No longer representing Loisaida. They had lost all their meaning when the gentrification had been completed.
OPTION ONE
In the essay, “The Obelisk of Loisaida,” Marcos Gonsalez begins by discussing the Luxor Obelisk, a monumental ancient Egyptian artifact that now stands in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Gonsalez uses this as a metaphor for the cultural displacement experienced by the residents of Loisaida, the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Luxor Obelisk was originally located in Luxor, Egypt, and was one of a pair that marked the entrance to the Luxor Temple. During the 19th century, it was transported to Paris and erected in the Place de la Concorde, where it became a symbol of French colonialism and cultural domination. Gonsalez draws a parallel between the Luxor Obelisk and the experience of the residents of Loisaida, many of whom are immigrants or descendants of immigrants who has been displaced from their homelands and have had to navigate a new cultural landscape in New York. Like the Obelisk, they have been uprooted and transplanted into a foreign environment, where they struggle to maintain their cultural identity and resist assimilation. Overall, the obelisk serves as a powerful metaphor for the cultural displacement and dislocation experienced by the residents of Loisaida, highlighting the complex interplay between history, identity, and place.
Option Two:
Miguel Pinero’s work allows Gonsalez to imagine and understand different time periods in Loisaida through the eloquent imagery he incorporates into his writing. I think this is especially important in giving the appropriate acknowledgment of the physical environment and its intricate details. Such as music playing in the background or distant loud accents heard through the streets. I really liked the way Miguel Pinero framed his motive for writing on these now historic atmospheres especially when he states “To imagine the past.. to fit some narrative of progress that makes those in power feel good about how far we’ve come.” I think this quote emphasizes just how much value Pinero places on these times, not as a fleeting life lesson but as a cultural essence that follows us throughout history. The art he captures and transmits to the public is vital for future generations as it serves as inspiration, which proves just how important an artist’s approach to displaying their art is to the art itself. The message they share shows pride rather than the fortunate thinking that a time like this is finally over. In these ways, Miguel Pinero encourages upcoming artists such as Marcos Gonsalez to truly appreciate what was and how precious the struggles were.
Option 1
The “OBELISK OF LOISAIDA ” is a personal essay written by Gonzalez to describe his experience living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan also known as “Loisiada” to some. He describes some of the struggles of living here while also describing the effects of gentrification and how it begins to change the community. He begins by explaining what the Luxor Obelisks is and how it made its way to Paris. He states that the Luxor Obelisk stood for many years in Ancient Egypt and when Napoleon laid eyes on it he insisted on having it. It is believed that he was “gifted ” by the ruler of the Ottoman Empire in exchange for a faulty mechanical clock. I personally feel like Gonzalez mentions the Obelisk as a representation of how the people who migrate from Puerto Rico and who now live in the Lower East Side kind of feel about gentrification. For example, the Luxor Obelisk was very significant in Ancient Egypt and had stood there for many years, it even has hieroglyphics engraved on it that not to mention means nothing to the French public. In comparison to this, the Lower east side is sort of a safe haven for the many Puerto Ricans who come from Puerto Rico, they have created they’re community that has been around for years. Gentrifying the community is like bringing the Obelisk to Paris; the significance starts to fade away. The Lower East Side is used to the delis, the hispanic food places, the buildings, etc and with gentrification taking that away makes it less home for them. It makes a less welcoming community for them. Overall, I feel like moving something from where it was can significantly change it. Like the Luxor Obelisk which was significant for the Egyptians is not significant to the French people, the buildings and other places that are being taken down to make space for gentrification may matter to the people who aren’t apart of the community but is something significant for the people apart of the community.
Option 1
The opening of Marco Gonsalez’s essay “The Obelisk of Loisaida” is a reflection on his own experiences as a lower east side resident. He discusses how gentrification has affected his neighborhood and led to the eviction of residents who were once there. He grew up in Loisaida or the lower east side, which is very different from what it is today. He uses the term, Luxor Obelisk, a pair of stone columns that stood tall in ancient Egypt and were mirror images of one another. These columns were removed from their correct location and placed at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France. Then Gonsalez goes on to explain why the hieroglyphics on the column told a tale and contained information about its beginnings and the individuals who made them even though they had no meaning to the French population. Gonzalez used it as a method to reflect how he perceived the neighborhood’s older structures, which he regarded as having stories about the people who once resided there as well as the common culture and language. In spite of the fact that the people who live in and around them have changed, he shows how these structures and columns are a representation of the culture that formerly existed there. They always contain a bit of cultural history.
Option 1
Gonsalez is using the Luxor Obelisk as a way that represents traditional, history, culture, and the Lower East Side before gentrification. It was a symbol for the Egyptians and it’s a side by side comparison of what Louisaida is going through. Loisaida was a neighborhood for a strong puerto rican and dominican community. Both communities battling gentrification. When a group of people settle down somewhere for many years it becomes their home. Their culture, music, food, dress, and traditions grow and evolve there. They create a community for themselves and are attached to everything that comes with it. When people change the physical aspects of an area, it takes away memories and homes of these traditions. He’s talking about the way the Lower East side used to be before this gentrification. As hard as these communities try to preserve their surroundings, wealthier people have the resources to go against this and tear it down anyway. Sometimes standing up for themselves still isn’t enough.