Chapter 5- Jacob Riis Park

There are many people that love to go to a beach especially when it’s warm and sunny. There is one beach that is located in Rockaway, Queens; it’s hard to really find a place in New York City to really see a beach in place. The beach has a lot of things to do, the beaches are well known in the Jacob Riis Park. There are more things that going to the beach, Jacob Riis offers a variety of things to do.

            There are three bays in Jacob Riis even though its one beach unfortunately there is a big difference between the bays. In Bay 1 there is a lot of trash that is filled in the back of the beach. It is filled with hundred of people when the weather is nice. The people that goes to the beach is usually locals and there are a lot of young people. This bay is a little different because there are no clothing needed to be at this bay (Low, Taplin, and Scheld p.111). There is also Bay 5&6 where which are quieter and people would like to bring their beach chairs and chill. The crowd in Bay 5 and 6 are mixed between white, black, Hispanic, and more (Low, Taplin, and Scheld p. 112) At Bay 14 there are more people that are going there, but there are a great amount of trash since there are no trash bag distributed (Low, Taplin, and Scheld p.116).

            There are so much more things such as a wood park where the kids will have a good time. There is a sandbox that is there so the kids can play in Rockaway. There is also a mall where people can go and shop if they don’t want to go to the Beach. There is also the wonderful boardwalk where everyone wants to go to take a walk and visit the Clock that has been a landmark in Jacob Riis Park.

            I think Jacob Riis is a great place to be and to go to. I think it’s a great place to either to go to the beach and relax or see the nudists. I mean I will go but if I have kids I can bring them to Wood Park and then the mall to get some shopping. There are a lot of things that we can do. I think it will be nice to go there knowing it will never be dull.

Chapter 4- Ellis Island Bridge Proposal

Ellis Island is known to have the biggest landmark and symbol of New York City, the statue of Liberty. Ellis Island is known for where the immigrants go to when they first arrive into New York City, theres usually a ferry that connects to Ellis Island and New York City as well as New Jersey.  The people that wanted to get information about the parks that is close to Ellis Island, Battery Park which connects with the city. There is also Liberty State Park which connects New Jersey to Ellis Island. Everyone that wants to go to Ellis Island have to go in Ferry but its inconvenient so the people wanted to have a bridge built that connects Ellis Island to the two city.
In the research REAP meaning rapid ethnographic assessment procedures was performed on both parks to see how the people reacted on connecting to Ellis Island. Reap gives us a better picture to what the park is about, first is the physical setting and int Battery Park, it covers 23 acres of land and is linked with Castle Clinton and close to Eisenhower Mall. There is a line to buy tickets for the ferry in the enclose structure and other stores like a gift shop (Low, Taplin, and Scheld p.74). In the social setting where there are a lot of people from wall street workers to New Jersey and New York residents going to Battery park. The authors try to find a group of people that they think is fit as well as able to help them better understand what goes on around the park.With the help of individual interviews, the authors found out how the people felt about the alternative ways to get to Ellis Island.
The ethnographers also did the same in Liberty State Park, its a different kind of crowd but the REAP system will never change and it can bring us a better understanding of the place. Liberty State Park occupies 1,122 acres of land, with a history of the railroad being built there but eventually became abandoned (Low,Taplin, and Scheld p.82). Like Battery Park, Liberty State Park also have a ferry docking area where everyone from Jersey City can take the ferry to Ellis Island. Unlike how the Battery Park is occupied with working people from Wall St., Liberty State have families and organized groups that go there for picnics and other activities. The ethnographer gathered a group constituency that was close to the group findings in Battery Park and gotten information about the park from vendors. There was different values between two park, one had interviewers thought about the change while Liberty State had individuals that are okay the connections.
I think that both park have a great representation of whats close to Ellis Island, there are many alternative routes to Ellis Island which becomes really convenient for the people. I have to agree with how people think in Battery Park, yes there are many workers but its somewhere I would go to probably because its closer. I think that if I am to go to Liberty State Park, my whole family will have to come with me, I think it will be a quiet place to relax and gather your thoughts. Since I grew up in New York City the noises and craziness is not a bad thing for me.

Chapter 3- Prospect Park

There are many parks in New York City, one that is located in the heart of Brooklyn is Prospect Park where there is always entertainment and filled with so many people from different culture and ethnicity. As chapter 1 says there are many cultural groups that brings some short of diversity where the park divides and have certain group at a certain part in the park. A great park is when there is many different culture that can come together and bring so many different culture for the guests entertainment.

One thing that captured my attention was the way that Africans play music in the park for the guests as some short of entertainment for the guests. He does not play for his own cultural group but for others as well so that brings culture into the park. But according to Low there are days that Africans and Rustafians don't play and those day are where, " the drum beats audible today are often associated to the with such practices" (Low Taplin, and Scheld p.56). Many people like to see the drummers perform, people that are usually there to run or even minding their ow business will stop and see the performance. This allows people from different cultural background to learn and experience something new from another culture. 

There is a problem when it comes to Prospect Park, that is since the park is in bad shape its hard to maintain a cultural diversity. There is a difference in class and ethnicity when it comes to Prospect Park, in the chapter about Prospect Park Low and the other authors wrote, "some users feel that these differences have resulted in hostility, differential maintenance and other ramification of racism" (Low,Taplin, and Scheld p. 60). There is a division between the park and there is a side where all the hispanics like to have a picnic but you will only see hispanics you will not see other ethnicity that is close to them. People like that when its only a specific kind of ethnicity and class is in one side and the rest in the other side.

I think it's unjust that there is such a separation between a park that is a symbol of culture diversity, its meant for everyone to go there, and be able to associate with other ethnicity. The idea of the park is not to scope out your own kind and go where they are, it sounds like a peaceful park where everyone can come and relax, even with the damages and worn down places. If I could I would not mind visiting the park and see what the parks got to offer.

Chapter 2-The history behind it

Parks have been a significant part in the urban society, it have New York City more tourist that wants to come everytime to see our famous Central Park. There are many parks besides the well known Central Park in the Tri-State area. There is Prospect Park that is located in Brooklyn that has attracted the locals and when the park was new it has attracted a lot more people besides the locals. There are many ladscapes that has attracted people to visit their states besides New York City, such as a park in Boston called "Franklin Park and Arnold Arboretum" (Low p.23). There are many known parks such as Delaware Park located in Buffalo, NY that is a great piece of history that can say a lot about a place.
One great things that people see when they go to the parks are the greens, the trees that is all over the park, it gives locals such as myself a feeling that we can connect with nature. along side the trees and plants are architecture that accomodate the park and give the park an artsy look to it. The cemeteries in Mount Auburn in Cambridge Massachusetts has a "picturesque effect" (Low 20). This have given a new look to cemeteries especially since cemeteries are known to look scary. With such attraction to parks and other landscapes in urban society, it need to be repaired and remodeled so the people that go there will love what they see. 
There are municipal parks that shows a lot about a nation and become a tourists site as well as a landmark for the people. There is a lot of history and culture that can go into the municipal parks and it becomes a symbolic representation of the nation (Low 31). Over the years the once great landmark such as Riis Park or Prospect Park have been wrecked and no one cares to help with the repairs. It leaves the landmark that everyone loved into a neglected place that people go once in a while. 
I believe that the parks and landmarks is a great way to symbolize our nation and represent the beauty that the nation has to offer. Unfortunately with the bad conditions that the park and landmark contain it becomes a place that no one really wants to go there unless they are locals. If i was a tourists in New York City and had to choose if I would want to go to Central Park or Prospect Park my choice will be Central Park. With the right funds and the people the come together in fixing up parks and beaches, there will be more people from different ethnic background that will love to go to all the places.

Transaction to the 21st century

There are many people that is moving from rural to urban, that leaves only a little amount of people that is involved in agriculture, many people choose
to move out to the urban areas. The shift of the people from farming and raising animal to now working in mass production have been a big change for civilizations over the years. There are many people that move out the the urban cities to sought out other jobs, but with the requirement of high educations it's not easy to find a job. It's a big change for the from one area to the next, a lot of people may say that where your coming from tell a lot about who you are. The sizes of a community is a big relavence to how we see it to be.
One thing that people such as Michael seen, " most people identify a place as rural or urban for historical and biographical reason" (Gmelch 416). A lot
of people see way a community is just by the way they see what around the area. If there are farmlands they will have it labeled rural even if there is not farmland but just acres of land, it can still be labeled rural. We are changing with the time, we will not go back to the past but go forward and follow what society is providing with. Agriculture is demolished and there are only people that controls what goes on in the field. Many people go into big industries and work from there.
I think it's good that people are trying to modernized their status and stop living in the past. It's true that even today we will still need people to work in the crops but not a lot of people is needed like the old days to work in the field. In the 21 st century all we really need to do is follow what society has lay out for us. Many people are working for business industries instead of picking out corn because that's what's needed right now in society. This is cause a lot of people to move from rural areas to urban areas. No matter who it is they should experience joining the modern time and do what majority of the people are doing, it's not going to be easy to get used to but it's something that a lot of norms need to go through.

The truth behind remittance

Coming to either America or another country, every emigrant has the same purpose and that's to earn money to send it back home to their love ones.With the convenience of using Western Union and other sources to send their hard earned money back to their home country. Places such as Nuer is in need of the money that is being sent back from their natives that emigrated to the urban cities, to help with repairs and have more resources. people from their native countries would travel a long journey where they can pick up this remittance. There are also people that does not take things so lightly like the refugees, with the limited resources, they don't see what the natives need to take any of it. It's not easy to always get the remittance from western union, natives and refugees go through a lot of hardship before they can get the remittance, and they are usually in need of the money.
Many Natives that live install villages have to go through a lot in order to go to Addis where they can pick up their remittance, many travel by foot just to get there. Many has moved near Addis to get money which will be enough to get them on their feet, some to escape from the killing and hurting of their family (Gmelch p.398). Sudanese would go over many hardship to get to ethiopia, with the resources being limited its hard to make it to the capital city. There are refugees that take up anything they can find, they go to a camp and live there. It's a place where sudans are allowed and be safe from the natives. The advantage of the natives and the sudans that live in the camp is that, natives get the remittance of 50-100 US dollars while the refugees from the camp get a onetime payment (Gmelch p.399). The Sudans are not recieving the money they deserve, if it's one time service, then if Sudans are in need of the money for food or other resource they will not get it right away.
With the amount of remittance that are sent to Africa, there is an increase of gas used to send the money back and forth. There are many people that move to the United States or the United Nations cause they are put to war if they continue to stay in the camp. They eventually moved from the camp in Ethiopia to the camp of Kenya. The Sudan people would pay a lot of money in order to get their eldest living son to get into the camp of Kenya, they would sell all of their resources to earn enough to get their child up there (Gmelch p. 400). Originally the people that travel to Ethiopia was seen a chance to gain money, but then the feud between the Sudans and the natives became violent at a point the Sudanese became scared.
I think it's ridiculous how the people have to travel so far to get the remittance for their family, when they get the money it's not enough to cover the necessities like food. The Sudans are trapped within the camp, if they try to leave the camp there might be a chance they get killed. I don't agree how there is a number of Western Union in Ethiopia but none in Nuer, when the Sudanese go to the place they are treated like they are terrorist.

Vincente's journey from Ecuador to New York

Everyone that leaves their native country and move to a new place such as America it's hard to go to another places knowing that many loved ones are still in there. It's never leaving all your family to pursue a career in America thinking it will give you an opportunity to earn a better living for yourself and your family back in your native country. There are going to be times when one have to make a difficult decision to either move to a new place to pursue a career or stay in their homeland. In this article we have Vincente Quitasacas where he has to go to America to get work in order to support his family.
When Vincente went to America he did not expect that finding a job in the USA would not be easy he thought that there will be jobs offer everywhere, unfortunately it was harder for him to be accepted to society let alone find a job. The acceptance of Ecuadorians in the United States was limited cause there are many Ecuadorians that came to America illegally, so having a exact numbers of Ecuadorians is impossible (Gmelch p. 380). Vincente had family in United States and they gave him many different reasons why they moved to America. One big reason was because there is no job opportunity in Cuenca and they have no way of making a living (Gmelch p. 381). With the money they earn in America they can send money home to their family and love ones, with the money that is being sent home many things such as remodeling of the house is taking place.Vincente has a story where he left Ecuador in order to earn a living in America. Vincente comes off as a shy person and when he moved to the New York City, he bbecame a person that had friends and happy. He explains how Ecuador was not a place to find a job, if your poor and have no experexperience is no jobs for you. Those who actually have potential and educated, they are offered the best jobs there is in Ecuador. Vincente said he had help from a friend to get a job in America, with the help of his friend Bolivar (Gmelch p. 384) Vincente was able to pay off the money he borrowed from his friend in two and a half year.
One things thatnwas hard on Vincente was how he was so far from home, he couldn't leave with the hours he work and when something happening at home all he could do is call and get an update of what's going on at home. There are people that Vincente missed, one was his girlfriend, she was graduating from high school and going to a University soon, he thought that people will forget about thekir love ones when they are absent long enough (Gmelch p. 387). It's tough to be so far away from your loved ones, with the busy schedule that Vincente have he did not have time to keep in touch with his girlfriend. People changes when they move to a new place at a point that where they come from starts to fade and it's not the first priority in your life.
I think that everyone can change when they move to a new place because it' s a different environment where you need to adjust and adapt to. I know that a lot of people will never take away the values from where they come from but sometimes a different place can change all that where new values are incorporated. Vincente had a story where he did come to America with a mission, he strive and struggled to earn money in order to send it home but sometimes sending money doesn't solve anything. Family and friends always want to know what's going on in your life and see you as much s possible.