a kinda thesis proposal

Leaving your own histories behind for the sake of opportunity - those of both yourself and the generations  to come - is a common justification for the immigrant communities which add to the increasingly diverse set of America’s cultural genes. All that you see, that you hear, that you smell - all that you ever knew is wiped clear. What once occupied your immediate senses now hangs on the ever-thinning thread of memory. In its place lies the constantly changing landscape of New York City. There exists a mutual exchange of exoticism. The world is foreign and so are you. Regardless of how you feel on the outside, this land’s looming presence is a force to be reckoned with. But maybe you have loved ones waiting to pick you up and show you the ways.

Years have gone by. This once novel part of the world has been bent by your will to fit your customs. You’ve found friends. You’ve found family. You’ve found those who’ve clung onto those same threads as strongly and desperately as you have. You’ve taken them collectively and sewn together something beautiful. 37th Street & Roosevelt Avenue have evolved into hybrids of immigrant bricks carefully placed on American foundations. The food carts smell of grease mixed with the once-fresh sugar cane. Every other brownstone is a sari & garment storefront. The nightclubs play bachata till the early hours of the morning. The work of a few but ever-increasing number helped thread a novel urban fabric.

Being of a minority culture is dangerous, and not just for the obvious reasons. At any instant, all that you’ve worked for - all these threads you have painstakingly pieced together to craft the image of what once was - could be lost. With each successive generation and each newly-enacted development tax abatement, the traditions of your own histories will slowly fade at the hands of the inevitable Western influence. This world is out to get you, to homogenize you. It is therefore the obligation of us to endure. To serve as a place of refuge for others like you. To design a Mecca for those of us who are lost children of a faraway homeland. All so we can visit, interact, and learn not only the nostalgic words, the sounds, and the smells but to also feel identified.