I have heard many people around me saying that you should go walk the Brooklyn Bridge at least once and I never have a chance to fulfill it. Through this opportunity, I called my friend up to accompany me to walk the Bridge for the first time. Based on the information from the history of the United States, the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883 and considered as an engineering marvel for that time. It remains as one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. During mid-1800s, the ferries connected Manhattan and Brooklyn. Ferries was a major convenience transportation for us, the people of that day were used to oars and sails to ride boats. These faster, more reliable ferries helped Brooklyn grow until the bridge was build. When…
On a humid summer day in Chicago, my family and I decided to take a long journey to visit my distant family/friend in the Upper East Side of Chicago. Although, the car ride seemed peaceful and smooth, little did I know this was a journey to the most horrific town I’ve ever seen.…
I broke my arm today while getting on the freight train. Thank God I still have an arm unlike some of the other I have meet who have lost an arm or leg and some even know someone who has lost their life ( Riding the Rails). I have done this a couple of time now and I shouldn't have been so anxiety about it but I was. I hide under the track outside the yard like I normally do, waiting for the train to reach momentum so I could get on. I forgot to check for the bull guards who are hired to keep hoboes from jumping on freight. I guess I got too comfy with my environment( Riding the rails). Right when I was getting on the trains, I heard the bull guards yelling and chasing after me. It threw me off my balance and I nearly fell off the train. I…
In 1752 I was a seventeen year old destitute living in Scotland, Ireland. I had no real skill-trade or education, but with high ambitions to learn and become a collective dependant I would earn a stable lively-hood in one of the New World colonies. I suffered losses of loved who fell sick and died with only a few remaining that were as impoverished as myself. I feared there would be no prospect of a better life in Scotland and contracted myself as an indentured servant for passage to the New World colonies. Along with many others I boarded a New World merchant ship that specialized in the trade of textiles and clothing. In exchange for travel, food, and decent health, I was sold for profit to proprietors in the New World. The voyage to New…
As a child I have always wanted to help other people.When I was 8 my parents decided to separate. At the time, my mother decided to move my sister and I away from Chicago. My mother packed our luggage and decided to move us to Detroit. That wasnt the only time we moved, we moved four times while I was growing up, all over the country and even to another continent. Eventually we had to leave our mom in Nigeria and my sister and I went to Detroit. When we got to Detroit my aunt didn't hesitate to make us feel comfortable. It was just something about it,I still didn't feel right. I called my mother one day crying to her and explaining how we didn't like being there. After talking to her, I felt that it was time to go back to Chicago. I called my dad, (knowing I haven’t spoke/seen him for many years) and explained to him the situation on how we felt uncomfortable in Detroit.…
It all started when we left from the hotel around five o’clock, hoping to get to the CN Tower on time. We were on vacation in Toronto in mid July, we had just arrived here a day ago from Niagara Falls. When we left we would have never imagined that this would be one of the longest walks some of us have taken. Pleasantly, we left for the CN Tower, which we thought couldn’t be a great amount of distance from our hotel. We were wrong!…
In 2008, I moved to an apartment in Rockaway Park located in Far Rockaway. I’ll admit, the neighborhood was far from attractive when I first arrived. The rumor mills stirred up a storm suggesting that Far Rockaway was well… “Rough around the edges” for a lack of a better term. Working on Riker’s Island, most of our patients who reside in Queens often came from Far Rockaway, thereby confirming the rumors that the town was riddled with crime, infested with drugs and plagued with anything one might consider rebellious or unscrupulous were true. And on my first day, I got lost and winded up surrounded by… you guessed it, The Projects. That was enough to dither anyone from any potential Real Estate or, in my case, rental agreement – regardless how appealing the offer could be. So why did I agree to move there in spite of the distasteful first impression? Before I can answer that, allow me to dive into the demographic details and…
I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t like to sit in traffic; I’m the kind of guy that could sit in the cockpit of a plane and go high speed where falling isn’t an option because once you fall you can’t get up. As I a child all of could think of was being successful because growing up living in east Harlem you saw the people that weren’t going anywhere in life and you see where that got them in life. Growing up I have saw people not finish school and people who were in school for a very long time to get one degree. Many people in my family have either not graduated or still in college my aunt for example took her about six years to finish a two year degree because she constantly messed up and stop going to school and when back and procrastinated…
Let me start off with my mother's journey to America. It was 1985 when her parents decided it was time for a fresh start. It was very difficult to come to America legally, so they made their journey by traveling to other countries. They left Cuba and traveled to Spain where my grandfather found a job as a farmer. They lived in Spain for almost 2 years before they gathered enough resources to travel to Mexico. The journey from Mexico to the USA was very easy for them because they had a family member who knew their way around. They struggled for many years in America but soon became legal citizens. My mother later on went to college and completed her bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Miami. My grandparents purchased the…
"I don't know what to do. I have a husband and my family here, but the Nazis are taking power. I don't know if I can stay here any longer. I have heard about good things happening in America, so maybe I will go there," I explained to my family before I decided to leave my home country of Austria.…
It was one evening when i was walking down the street and i saw a homeless man. He was asking for money for the past few days. I walked on the opposite side of the street that he was on because i didn't have any money to give to him and i had a feeling that he was going to do something to me. I saw him look at me and he started to come my way. I heard him yell “Hey kid wait” so i panicked and i started running as fast as i could and i ran till i couldn't see or hear him I also took some turns so he wouldn't follow me home. The next day i was coming from my friends house and i passed by the same place so i check if he was still there but i didn't see him so i relaxed and started walking but soon i crashed into someone i looked up to say sorry…
I always keep this poem and picture in my wallet. I take it everywhere with me because it means quite a lot to me in two very different ways. One of those ways is because it holds sentimental value. When I was younger I learned to read very late in life and I was always so embarrassed of that. My father knew that I was struggling and bought me the book, Where the Sidewalk Ends. It is a book full of poems and little pictures written by Shel Silverstein. I remember opening the book to ta random page, and it was the page with this poem. I then remember my dad asking me to read it to him. I was so uncomfortable, even thought I was just going to be reading to my dad. He gave me some words of encouragement, and even thought I was not able to read…
From 2 miles away I heard an echo " kid one hour to showtime better start getting ready," Ray, my trainer, tells me to take my clothes off for the weigh in. My legs feel extremely tired like I just ran 40 miles in the NYC Marathon. I start taking slow steps, but i feel paralyze. What is wrong with me? I abstain from sex, so is not my girlfriend, I ran five miles a day, four days out of the week, so my legs are not over trained, or even worst under trained, and I even had my raw eggs in the morning before breakfast. Maybe I'm just not ready for this…
Two days, six hours, eleven minutes, and twenty-two….twenty-three seconds. Charlie keeps track of how long she’s been in San Francisco, California since the moment her feet touched the ground. At first, she only conversed with people when asking for directions, but today was different. It was her third day in San Francisco, and she was ready to try and make friends. It was easy enough to start a conversation, she got compliments as she walked down the road about her styles, tattoos, piercings, and more. Instead of just lowering her head and rushing off, she was going to smile and say thank you before she attempted to speak with…
I was born and raised in Jammu and Kashmir where strife between religious communities, terrorism, and lack of clean water and healthcare were part of the norm. I lived in a world where many people, like my grandparents, had to endure suffering because there weren't any available doctors or hospitals. The closest medical center, which so happened to be located quite a distance away, lacked doctors and medical staff, and as a result forced patients to amble in the hallways. In fact, almost all of these patients were transferred to another hospital because of the lack of resources to treat them.…