Changing+Communities


 * Group Name: Changing Communities, Changing Foods **


 * Adult Leader/s: Ali R and Elizabeth**


 * Student Members: Tenzing Sherpa (10th grade), Surav Gupta (11th grade), Tatyana Hincapie (12th grade), Marissa Sosa (7th grade), Claudia Maletti (7th grade), Nija Daniels (7th grade), Justin (7th grade, Tenzin Tseten (7th grade), Edwin Heras (12th grade), Adrian Hermanus (9th grade), Joel Morales (9th gr), Damian Mendoza (9th grade), Melissa Demirjian (9th grade).**


 * Goals and Objectives: To learn about Gentrification and the vastly changing neighborhoods and foods in New York City**


 * Activities: Walking tours of the following areas: Long Island City, Jackson Heights, Lower East Side, and Spanish Harlem. We will be trying foods from different neighborhoods.**

MONDAY: Walking tour in Long Island City with Judith Sloan, Author of Crossing the BLVD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Boulevard Prior to leaving the School, Judith Sloan came to speak with us about the different cultures of Queens and how neighborhoods have changed drastically. We left school and took the 7 train to Court Square in LIC. On the train we read the New York Times article, "City to Decide Fate of Mecca for Graffiti Artist" by Sarah Maslin and Charles Bagleyhttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/09/nyregion/city-council-to-decide-fate-of-mecca-for-graffiti-artists.html?_r=0. The article discussed how the building that houses the Graffiti center, 5PTZhttp://5ptz.com/ was sold to a building developer, will be demolished and a large condominium building will be constructed. 5PTZ is very cool and it is very sad that they will be knocking the building down. Where will the artists go? How might this change the neighborhood? What will happen to the businesses who depend on the building for storage space? We walked around the neighborhood and compared the old buildings in LIC to the new buildings in LIC. The change is very visible. Judith told us that in 10-15 years, the neighborhood would be completely changed and would look like Manhattan with very tall glass buildings that all look very similar.
 * Photos/Pics/Blogs:**



 At 5-points I saw a famous rapper, well known as the Notorious B.I.G. looking over his hometown, Brooklyn. I also noticed that 5-points allows people to express their artistic minds by all the art.

In my opinion, I believe that it is unjust for 5-points to be demolished, and have condos built in its place. 5-points is really a place for artists to express how they feel within their inner self. The people in charge of the demolishing of 5 points are really destroying what artists have.



Each of the 5 pointz drawings each had a special meaning to them, and all of them were highly detailed in both color and the drawing itself. My favorite part of the trip was the whole graffiti building, it really expressed the amounts of passion and love people had for art, and expressing themselves. The fact that this site will soon be bulldozed, is a sad, shameful action, for tourists who visit here will not see proof of creative we can be.



Today, I saw "5 points" in court square. It was really inspiring. the graffiti artists' expressed themselves in their art. It should not be demolished because the building is where the artists express their ideas so you would be destroying their ideas.



Today in my rensizzle group I went to 5 pointz. I saw this picture of a girl with pink hair. It looked really good. I love all of the art work on 5 pointz. Tearing down 5 pointz,building a condo is bad for the city because everyone’s art work and effort will be torn down.



 Today i saw graffiti in Long island city. also how it was made by people back then. i think it was wrong to take destroy the building because they are taking down good art work that was put and it took hard work and it would seem wrong to take it down.



 Even though this is my third time going to five pointz i feel that 5 pointz should not be demolished because a lot of people look at five pointz while on the 7 train 5pointz really adds more creativity and is a good spot for artists to express themselves.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> What I saw today at the field trip was a lot of graffiti on a yellow building called 5 pointz.I was amazed about the art on the walls so i took a lot of pictures of them.My thoughts about the graffiti are amazing because to me, the art they made was very creative.It is good to have them on the walls because people enjoy looking at them and a lot of them take pictures.



It was interesting going to 5pointz. A lot of the graffiti is kind of ugly, but some of it is actually pretty interesting. The art pieces say a lot about the artist. Judith Sloan wrote the book Crossing the Boulevard. She knows a lot about queens and knows her way around the neighborhood. She helped us understand the gentrification of neighborhoods a lot. We also read an article that speaks of the owner of 5 pointz and how he is selling the building to built condominiums, which is sad. There are enough buildings in the neighborhood.



A women on the wall: her skin was wight and gray. She was wearing a scarf or something to cover her face I don't know what its called. The scarf (or something) was the sky, it was sky blue with clouds on it. Around the women there were rainbow dots. She was facing the Bronx because the artist who panted her lived in the bronx. It was brilliant, eye catching. I feel like its good and bad for the city because it give good living space It takes a big part of the city, the Art and memories that were made there.



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #222222; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">What I saw today was a huge variety of drawings and paintings. Tons of different nice work stands out and makes the place look super colorful. But, I don't like the fact that this building is soon to be gone forever. Lots of time and effort put into this outstanding artwork, and it's all going to waste. What made my day right after visiting 5ptz, was the diner right next to it. I had ordered a Sandwich, with a side of Cheese fries.



<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">My opinion on 5 points being demolished is neutral. I think that it is good for the city because new people will start moving in and start using the building so it will probably be making greater profit than it is now or was before. But at the same time, it is bad because some artists are loosing the studios they work in, people that used to work in the building are loosing there jobs. And an old historic building with great art is being tore down and it is being replaced with a way to common tower glass building that can be seen all over New York City.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Today (Monday), we saw and talked the five points building that is being tore down and all the graffiti on and around it. We took pictures of cool graffiti and after we ate at a diner. And talked about the extreme diversity in NYC, specifically Jackson Heights.

<span style="background-color: #0000ff; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Tuesday: <span style="background-color: #0000ff; color: #00ff00; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Walking Tour with Jeff around Jackson Heights exploring different Cuisines in the Community

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//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Nepali: //



//<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Ecuadorian: //

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__<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 130%;">Reviews: __

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">5 Stars <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">It was very cool. We got to roll the dough, put the ground beef in the dough, and we got to eat it. It tasted fabulous.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">5 stars <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> One of the reasons I enjoyed Little Tibet, is that their nice, but simple decorations that gave you the feeling that you are really in Tibet. The momos were very delicious, and it was surprising how easy it looks to make them, but how hard it really was (tried, and failed).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">What we did yesterday is we went to different kinds of restaurants that has lots of different cultural foods. First, we went to this restaurant where we were making the dough flat,then we made it in a shape of a taco.Then,we went to the TD bank halial cart where we tried the chicken and rice. Also,we went to Hanoi Bhums Nepalese,and some of the foods were spicy.Then, we went to Tulcingo Pancteria where we tried the chilaqueiles,coke test,horchata and Jamaican drink. Finally,we went to Louis Pizza and we ate this pizza that has the green things on top that I never tried before.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Little Tibet momos' were the best since they let us make our momos' and lets us eat them.they also told us how to make it .they made it really nice inside with the seats and the lamps above us looked cool.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 1.5;">i like little tibet because it was cool how they showed us how to make momos. Also i really liked the momos and the really HOT sauce. The lady also told us you can make the momos with vegetables

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">I think that the combo plate from the Halal cart was really good, the meats tasted very fresh and the rice was nice it wasn't hard or anything it was just right. The ONLY thing I did not like was the onions. I recommend buying this meal at your local Halal cart.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">5 stars

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">I really enjoyed this halal food because it was delicious and I received my food fast. The owner, was very kind and even gave my group free samples of food that allowed is to want more, therefore going to his cart more.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">In little Tibet, I like the fact that we got to learn how to make them and it took time, but in the end it was really worth it. I like how easy it was to make them too!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">5 stars

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">I like the rice and the chicken. I didn't taste the lamb but it was still so good. The chicken was soft and taste full. The rice was the best I have ever eaten. I have never tasted that kind of goodness from a cart.

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