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                                              SHORT ESSAY # 4

  This is beautiful artwork from Sunset Park, Brooklyn NY. In this work there are two latino people, a man and a woman. The Puerto Rican man is holding a barrel drum playing music with a panama hat on and a white button down. The woman is wearing an ethnic Puerto Rican dress with a wrap on her head, in this artwork it looks like the woman is dancing, enjoying the music the man is playing. There are a few other things in this photo, Garrison fort buchanan is painted overlooking the ocean. Garrison fort buchanan is located in San Juan, built in 1923. This fort had a big role in many different wars including WWII and Korean war. This army installation is still active to this day and the only one in Puerto Rico. In the top right of this art there is a yellow object, this is called “sol taino'' and is a representation of the sun which is worshipped by taino people. Above the man playing the drum there is a coqui painted. The coqui is large in puerto rico, being the largest frog species to puerto rico. This frog only sings in Puerto Rico, making a distinct croaking sound. The coqui is also known for having toes and not webbed feet. There are many legends behind the coqui which give this frog the national symbol of Puerto Rico. 

       This piece of artwork is important to this latino community of sunset park. Every time this artwork is passed it is a reminder of Puerto Rico and all the wonderful things that come along with it. When looking at this artwork you feel a sense of happiness and peace. For outsiders passing this artwork, they are shown the most important things to Puerto Ricans.

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SHORT ESSAY #3 

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Short essay #2

“Trickery, Fraud and deception” is a sad but eye opening podcast. NYC recovered from the crash in 2008 but black neighborhoods did not and still are struggling. Residents in black neighborhoods invested everything they have into owning their homes. Living in these gentrifying neighborhoods is making people poor. They live in a valuable home but the cost of everything around them is rising, bills rising, ect. Rich buyers are coming in offering little to nothing for the only investment these people have. 

“One Block” project explains this old bed-stuy neighborhood as homes not houses. They explain the traditions and love that was sent around. They state that neighbors “leaned on each other”.  Until investors saw an opportunity to jump in and buy these cheap houses. Many lives on that block have changed, with prices rising and homes turning back into houses. 

“City reservoir” explains a different way to view the city and how it is built up. As we know, building and growing of the city will always continue, that will not stop. It doesn't need to be stopped but it should be well thought about when doing this. Building has been based around making money and tourism but there is so much more to it than that. 

INTERVIEW WITH DANNY MORANE

My name is Danny Morane. I moved from  Puerto Rico to Sunset Park, Brooklyn when I was 8 years old with my family of 5. We  lived in a 2 bedroom apartment paying about 300 dollars. I still live in this apartment after my family moved out. 

After struggling to make money, I made enough to buy a building  in the up and coming  Park Slope, about 40 years ago for very cheap. I have 3 apartments there and own a tire shop and bodega on the bottom floor.

I have seen gentrification take place with my own eyes. 40 years ago I rented out the studio apartment there for 200 dollars, someone now pays me 1,500 to live in that box. 

Next to the building I own they just finished building a 7 story apartment building, the owners building this offered me triple the amount of what my building is worth to buy. I asked what there plans were if i sold, they said knock it down and start over. This buyers wanted to knock down my business and building that I spent years working for and expanding… it meant nothing to them. I told them no and still get offers almost daily. 

I have watched building be sold and knocked down, people leave because they could not afford to even do their laundry. Its sad, very  sad. I plan to hold on to my building for as long as possible and pass it down to my children.

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Short essay #1

Legitimacy, ownership and perspective are key concepts in both of the following readings, “Who imagined community” and Galeano’s writings. Throughout the two readings those previous three terms are wrapped into each reading in many different ways. 

Legitimacy, “conformity to the law or to rules”. In Galeano’s writing I believe legitimacy was lost, the lust for gold and silver overpowered any legitimacy that the Conquistadors had. Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes destroyed cities and took lives due to his lust for ownership of these elements. Chatterjee speaks up about nationalism taking place in Bengal. Bengal was being modernized following Europeans, the people had to trust this process. Women were gaining more rights, being able to attend school. Awareness of the poor treatment women recieved, Europeans did not agree with this. Legitimacy widened during this time, things that were not allowed before were allowed now. 

Ownership, “the act, state, or right of possessing something”. Galeano states “In the Middle Ages a small bag of pepper was worth more than a man’s life, but gold and silver were the keys used by the Renaissance to open the doors of paradise in heaven”. Owning a bag of pepper was worth more than a life.This time was all about ownership, ownership is what got you places. Ownership gives you freedom.  These people believed it would even get you into heaven in after life. These conquistadors were willing to lose everything including their life just to own these goods. Chatterjee speaks about almost being owned by the higher ups in Bengal, as a single person you did not have many rights. The government spoke about what was right and that must be followed. 

Perspective, “particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view”. The explorers in Lust for gold, lust for silver had one perspective on the world and that was to get the riches and nothing else mattered. They did not care about the lives taken or the people hurt. I would say they had a selfish perspective on life. We can state that this perspective on their lust resulted in capitalism in the future. In Chatterjee's text the traditional Bengalis only had a perspective of traditionalism, they were unaware of modernism. This unawareness caused concern and confusion. The Europeans did their best when they could when nationalizing Bengal and giving these natives a different perspective on life. The Bengalis traditional perspective on life caused problems when nationalism was taking place.