New York: A Complex City

Everyone's New York experience has its differences and similarities. In “Growing up Unrented on the Lower East Side” by Edmund Berrigan and “Here is New York” by E.B White two stories that tell the audiences each of the author's encounters and what they observe living in New York. In White’s journal, he talks about New York as a whole and what it’s like to live in New York. On the other hand, Berrigan speaks about what his childhood was like living in New York. White and Berrigan both lived in New York their entire life. There are many similarities shown in these journals, both authors grew among some very famous people and they both felt the solitude New York offers. However, E.B White didn't feel satisfied with the kind of life he was living in New York while Edmund Berrigan seemed to take life in New York for what it is without complaints.

New York City is the largest city in the United States. New York City has five boroughs: Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island. New York City is located at the meeting point of the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean. Due to the shortage of land, New York City is one of the most densely populated cities in the United States. Climate in New York City is highly affected by the Atlantic Ocean. Winters are cold. Although Spring is usually mild, thunderstorms are very common. Summers are hot and the humidity is high in the months of July and August. While Autumn is mostly comfortable, the weather can change without notice.

New York City’s old slum neighbourhood, the Five Points, was notoriously known for its vice and crimes. The first organized crime group in New York City was the Forty Thieves which was led by Edward Coleman, started in 1825, in the back of a grocery store. The Dead Rabbits were an Irish gang in the Five Points area, and are most known for the riot they caused in 1857. The Eastman Gang were a Jewish group in the Five Points area, which began in the late nineteenth century, and were the rival of the Five Points Gang. The Five Points Gang was another group, started by Paul Kelly and included future famous mobsters. In Five Points, where most of New York City’s crime started, it also started some of history’s most notorious gangs, and mobsters.

New York is a megacity located in the United States of America. It has a population of 19.37 million people and an area of 789 km² (Allianz.com top 20 megacities). It is a multi-cultural society. The life expectancy of people in New York is around 80 years (worldlifeexpectancy.com). It has a population density of 27, 000 people per square mile (NYC Planning). This city is well known for some of its tourist attractions such as The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building and Central Park. The cities key industries include health care, manufacturing and retail trade (Investopedia). With a city like this, New York requires a lot of infrastructure.

Gentrification is a major reason for the increase in rent prices throughout New York City. Harlem rent prices have gone up over the past years because of new condominiums and businesses that are being built in neighborhoods. The displacement of residents leads to an increase of people becoming homeless in the city. According to the author, Ivan Pereira, “Harlem saw a 9.4 % average rent price increase during that same period from $2,191 last year to $ 2,397 in January” (Pereira 1). The change causes longtime residents to move out because of a variety of factors including unaffordability, pressure from property owners, diminishing or lack of stores that cater to them and many more. The more condominiums and business’s being built makes living

At 11.26pm a girl with sleek straight hair walked along the middle of a deserted street, the sharp heels of her shoes making a muted click every time they hit the damp cobblestone road beneath them. As she walked her hair swayed only slightly, as if not even the most powerful of winds could cause it to be anything less than beautiful. The girl took beauty very seriously, her outfit was always creaseless, her nails were always without chips and her shoes were always polished to the point of immaculateness. But it was her hair that was the most beautiful thing about her; it was long and as black as the night sky way above her, and shone as if it too had stars though out it. Never was a single hair out of place; never was her hair anything less

The book is set in New York City and focuses specifically on immigrant women and their families as they adapt to both cultural and social changes that influence their daily lives. The methodology of research used was ethnography and the observation of families in their natural state to better understand the idea of the birth weight paradox amongst the immigrant population.

Living in America is a fantasy for a lot of people, but living in New York City is something even better, and more magical than any fantasy.

While I was chatting with my friend, he sent me a short story he got from “Humans of New York”. The story ended abruptly – it was a cliffhanger. I kept asking if there was any continuation to the story, but there was none. I felt disappointed because I wanted to know what happened next. “Humans of New York” is a collection of narratives, and I think the main reason why it is such a popular site is the power of narrative.

While considering spending a holiday or a weekend with the family in a beautiful city, New York City should be at the top of the list. A considerable number of people get puzzled by the tall buildings, well structured highways and the well light streets when they visit for the same time. When planning a tour to New York City, one might wonder how a human being could have possibly built such tall buildings. The virtue that New York City is one of the largest cities in the world makes a person think that it is a paradise. In most cases, it is highly likely that a person who has never been to New York City could easily get lost due to the size of the city. The expansiveness of the city has generated economic gains.

Donald Trump speaks among a crowd of hundreds: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” This is how a portion of American citizens perceive immigrants, and as the 2016 Presidential election gets closer the word “immigration” gets treated more delicately as if it were a new phenomenon. However, immigration is no new or delicate subject for New York City. In fact, residents (like in Queens) find it odd if a New Yorker isn’t of hybrid generation (Eichenbaum, Tour). The history of New York City has been painted by the millions and millions of immigrants that have touched its land. It’s a cycle: one group of immigrants come, stay, and leave while another new group of immigrants settle down. This continuous sequence is what makes New York City such an innovative city when it comes to immigrants.

We live in a world controlled by an invisible yet very present force that shapes the way we live our daily lives. With industry as its host and technology as the blood being pumped into its heart, it is a force powerful enough to bend politics to fit its needs. Capitalism; a method of industry where production and distribution are privately or corporately owned, its operation grows through profits, exploitation of labor, and extinguishing competition. During the Industrial Revolution technology was on the global stage. Factories and machines are built in existing cities producing and distributing mass goods on a global scale. Over time this fast production of goods would replace the old agricultural economy to a modern urban economy. Today the revolution is praised for creating a global trade market while surging us into a world of technology.

New York City is made up of five boroughs, which include the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Within these boroughs, there are high and low-income neighborhoods that contain either high or low status organizational structures or facilities. Each division has their own characteristics and top attractions, such as the Empire State building, Central Park, or Times Square. As New York City may be known for great food and fun attractions, New York faces infrastructure problems within each borough. New York City’s infrastructure funding is limited in lower income neighborhoods, where money needed to upkeep the city goes toward prime tourist’s areas or residents living in high status neighborhoods, such as The Upper East Side of Manhattan, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and Lenox Hill, Manhattan. Moreover, abandoned buildings, poor sewage conditions, and rocky roads and streets are examples of low-income area infrastructure problems that may hinder neighborhood growth both structurally and economically. Harlem, East Brooklyn, and South Bronx are low-income parts of New York that lack new and refined facilities, roads, plumbing, and fundamental structures, which contribute to high crime and arrests.

Every time I hear this song it makes me long to leave all of my responsibilities and head off to the city of dreams. A trip to New York has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. I have always wanted to visit the place of tall buildings, history, and where culture is intertwined with its people. I have wanted to live the fast pace life of a New Yorker, where I could stand outside and see, smell, and taste all of the experiences that this city has to offer. I have been building and building this ideal image in my mind for so long. If I ever get to New York, will I be disappointed by the city that never sleeps? The city that is a part of almost every movie I watch. Can New York live up to the expectations I have

As someone walks over the grates in the sidewalk, they can feel the wind rush up from the subway cars flying through the tunnels. While they continue walking down the street and looking at all the different people that they pass, they can smell the hotdogs being cooked in the food truck. In the distance, they hear a siren weaving through the congested narrow streets of this busy city. New York City is a one of a kind type of place. It is the only place in the world where so many different cultures and backgrounds are all in one place. Along with the multitudes of different types of people and cultures, New York City truly is the city that never sleeps. The city that never sleeps, New York City, is full sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feels.