Author Archives: a.moulier

Backgrounder: Throgs Neck

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Throgs Neck is on the southeastern end of the Bronx and connected to the north of the Throgs Neck bridge which connects the Bronx and Queens. The landscape is about 50 to 60 feet above water, aside from other boroughs Throgs Neck is unique for it’s place right on the river creating that beautiful view from the Manhattan skyline to the horizon on the west end. It is a residential area that occupies the middle class, living in houses and condominiums. The transportation in Throgs Neck includes the Bx5 bus to Pelham Bay Park,  Bx8 to 225th street station, Bx40/42 to Morris Heights, Q44 to Jamaica Queens or West Farms, Q50 to Flushing Queens or Co-op City or the BxM9 to Midtown. If driving there is connection to the Throgs Neck Bridge and the Whitestone Bridge both providing convenient access to the New York area.

The neighborhood has a notable diversity of residents, however unfortunately their commute happens to be the most difficult due to the neighborhood being on such a far end. A little less than half of the residents commute to work by taking public transportation, that is about more than 96% of all American neighborhoods. Being a middle class neighborhood the median household income is $65,856 that is more than the median income for New York as a whole. The working population in the Throgs Neck neighborhood has a 28.5% who are employed as executives and other professional occupations. There is a variety of ethnicities and cultures most being Puerto Rican, Dominican, Irish, Asian, and Italian, 23.8% of the residents were born in another country.

 

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ny/bronx/throgs-neck/#demographics

http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Throgs-Neck-Bronx-NY.html

2 Jobs at Sugar Factory, and a Lump in the Throat

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Does the writer give us more than Robert Shelton’s personal story?

The writer definitely gave us more than Robert Shelton’s personal story. The writer goes into telling the readers background about the factories, like which ones were gone and what they were replaced with. The article also gave me an insight on how important the factory was to not only Robert Shelton but also others who took great passion in working there just like him. While reading, I felt like I was reading a novel rather than an article. The writer incorporated the skills of writing a novel into his article, he gave the characters/sources emotion which made me, the reader, more understanding to not only Robert Shelton’s personal story but also the other workers who were affected by the replacements of the factories.

Describe the narrative of this profile, the arc of the story.

The narrative of this profile is Robert Shelton’s personal life because although the article goes into telling us more than his personal life the the story always comes back to him. Anything mentioned in the article made a relation back to Shelton.

What do you think of the lead?

I think the lead of the story definitely built that connection between the reader and the story, It made the article much more relatable.

Where is the nut graf?

What I believe to be the nut graf of the story is the paragraph that starts off as “By June 1999, when the International Longshoremen’s Association began what would become a 20-month strike…” on the bottom of page 3. The reader falls into realization of the serious damage done to the workers because of the closure of these factories which before ending the article reminds the reader of what the article is trying to point out.

What about the author’s point-of-view?

The authors point-of-view is that many people have suffered and their lives have changed because of the closure of these factories. The author shows sympathy in wanting to not only write this article, but also creating that connection between the readers and the people incorporated in the article.

 

Pelham Parkway

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The neighborhood I chose to focus on is Pelham Parkway, the center of the Bronx. Within Pelham Parkway are Waring Avenue, Dyre Avenue, White Plains Road, and Bronx Park East. Pelham Parkway actually connects two parks Bronx Park and Pelham Bay Park. I chose to focus on Pelham Parkway because I have recently moved into this area and I am interested to find out things I don’t yet know. It appears very interesting to me how I have only seen one school in the area and the neighborhood is surrounded by just houses and condos. Also what did stick out are the different ethnicities that surround this neighborhood and I embraced that. As I study the neighborhood I realize the I-95 highway separates Co-op city and Pelham parkway, however it is still walking distance. Co-op city also near Bay Plaza, is where a mall was recently constructed with stores you usually would have to travel long distance to get to.

There is a variety of local businesses that are within this neighborhood, there is a bakery on one block and a pizza shop on another. The small local business I chose is Sal and Dons bakery it is an Italian bakery shop; they have been around since the late 1950’s. Everything they make is literally made from scratch and that’s something most of their competitors lack. They have the most loyal customers that have been purchasing baked goods for years. They are a well-rounded business and I was surprised to find out that they only have one single location.

A conflict brought up in the neighborhood is of the change the neighborhood has done overtime and it causing residents to move to a different location. There has been an addition of shelters and retirement homes. Residents who have lived in the area for a longtime have packed their things up and left because they didn’t agree with the changes. It’s interesting that a neighborhood that is still a very good one has pushed some residents away.

 

Tourists in Queens

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Describe the reporting and interviewing techniques used by Kirk Semple in this story.

In this story Kirk Semple started off with some background information and goes into the topic of the story, that being that Queens is the number one travel destination in the United States. The headline alone before reading the story surprised me and drew me into really wanting to know what made Queens the place tourists did not want to leave. Semple made the reader believe and understand when he emphasized that Queens and not Miami or Manhattan etc., but Queens was the number one travel destination. Also the facts and quotes used in the story made the story so compelling, like the number increase of visitors and number of hotels built or in plan of construction. What really stood out to me were the quotes made by the visitors themselves. The quotes made the story relatable, the visitors explained the wants of something authentic, and being someone that travels myself I understand the want of something authentic from a different place rather than just visiting the famous sites. Finally ending the story with a quote that completely conflicts what the entire story was trying to explain and prove, leaving the reader in a awkward but questioning position, I thought that was very interesting.

E.B. White “Here is New York”

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1. What is your impression of the opening line of White’s book: “New York bestows gifts of loneliness and the gifts of privacy.” Do you agree or disagree with White? If so, why? If not, why not? How effective is the opening? What does it accomplish, if anything?

My first impression was that he was describing New York as a bitter sweet place, that living in New York can give you a gift you may like and a gift you may not like. I agree with White, being born and raised in New York I know you definitely get a sense of loneliness and I think people least expect it because New York is the city that never sleeps. However people here live on a constant schedule and it takes them to being in their own world that they forget about their surroundings. If privacy in New York is being compared to privacy in a small town I also agree on that, living in such a big city allows you to keep things private from a large number of people. There is a lot of people you walk by every single day without knowing a thing about them. I think the opening is very effective because he goes right into how he feels about New York, which ultimately makes it an attention grabber.

 

2. How and why does the writer use list in this book?

The writer uses a list grammatically incorrect by writing the word “and” rather then using commas, and I think it was obviously done purposely by the writer. The writer seems to mention something and lay out the list in a way dragging his idea and sarcastically making sure his point gets across to the reader.