Journal Entry

By Kate Deming

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

We hustled up the subway stairs holding a tightened grip on our signs filled with opinions and feelings.

City Hall was standing there before us and we heard chanting and movement. We got in the crowd as each vendor spoke. Each vendor, protester, activist, daughter, son, mother,  said very similar phrases but each one had a meaning, a meaning that couldn’t be repeated. The rain fell, and fell but we didn’t stop fighting for a cause that we all believe will someday be fixed, for good.  70 different cultures were on that street with me, we sang and shouted until the rain fell harder 0n our feet. The vendors handed each and every one a poncho, that covered our head to our knees as we listened and heard much more.  

Sean went up and told his speech, he told the story of many, the struggle of many, the permits, we all need them, but why can’t we have them? They say they will take over the city, they say they will take others out of the race, they say they have to pay more for that little square they cook in. But why? We don’t know, what all we know is that we need to fight for what is right, for human rights, we need to make things right, in the right way.

We see them in a blob, of signs held up tall, I see hot dogs, and cups, and cardboard and that if I turn in another direction I can still see them, there, chanting. The megaphone is in my ear, as the others shake their tickets they had gotten over the years. I want to stand and observe, but I want to protest, but I want write a news article about this rainy protest day.

We hustled down the subway stairs holding a tightened grip on our signs filled with opinions and feelings.

Editorial

by Dennis

On Tuesday seven kids in my class took the subway to City Hall to go to a street vendor parade to protest in support of the rights of food vendors.

There were hundreds of people everywhere. So many noises and people protesting for the rights of street vendors. A city council member spoke along with the head of the Urban Justice Center.

So many street vendors and people concerned with the cause were there expressing their feelings about the current situation. It was nice to know that so many people cared.

I learned that street vendors are valued as part of our city. I sometimes buy a hot dog, pretzels or ice cream so I always liked food vendors. I just did not know that so many other people do. Plus food cart food is much less expensive than food from a restaurant.

At the parade there were people from all different cultures uniting for a common goal. That sort of thing you only get to see once in your life.

Without our support many food vendors would not be able to make a living or feed their families.

A report from Violet

On Tuesday, I protested with some other kids in our grade. We first gathered right outside LREI. Then we walked in partnerships to the subway. We got into the subway station where everything smelled like old roasted chicken. As soon as we could get the subway pass we struck like lightning through the station. Once we got off the train we scattered into the streets. We walked for a while then we saw a big clump of colorful signs on the corner. We immediately realized this was the protest we were looking for. The protest that we were going to make a change in.

We walked up to the protest and stood in the very front. We were proud at that moment. A lady came up and made a speech. There were tv cameras all around us. A lot of people made speeches and then we started chanting. There were many different variations of chants.

One was,

What do we want? Permits! When do we want them? Now!”

but in Spanish. We chanted for a while and then the teachers said “We have to go.” Almost every kid said “Already?” After the protest, we got the BEST soft pretzels. The kids who couldn’t eat it because of Passover got shish kebabs.

 Myles reports

When I was at the street vendor parade I noticed that there was a lot of cheering and chanting. I also noticed people from the Urban Justice Center making speeches.  “We have waited along time for them to lift the cap, but they are not doing it,” said Sean Basinski, a lawyer for the street vendors. I learned that being a food vendor is really hard.

On Tuesday, I went to a protest with sixteen other kids from my grade. We protested that the city council give out more vending permits to vendors. I saw a lot of street vendors. A lot of the people from the Urban Justice Center were there to help. Some street vendors spoke and some members of the Urban Justice Center talked. Also, Finn talked too. We said a lot of chants. One of them went like this, VENDOR POWER, VENDOR POWER. A city council member came because he wants to give out more permits too. I really enjoyed it.

Grace reports

On Tuesday April 26, 2016 some people from the Fourth Grade went to a Street Vendor parade. I saw big signs and some were 3D! It was very cool. There were people speaking through megaphones and two people from the Fourth Grade got to speak!

Some people spoke about how the food vendors have kids and that food vending is what they do for a living.

They also told stories about getting arrested and not getting to do things other people can do. People were very passionate about this. There was chanting that I couldn’t understand. There were government officials there who were speaking too. I was surprised that the Food Vendors had their kids there and had very passionate signs. I learned that this is a very serious matter for both kids and elders.

Interview with an Immigrant

by Ren

On Tuesday, April 19, 2016 Megan Brothers, a South African Immigrant, came to Deborah and Jacob’s fourth grade class for an interview about her Immigration.

Megan is from South Johannesburg, a city in South Africa. She moved to New York City in 1998. She moved because she is an architect and a lot of buildings are in New York City. She now works at Brookfield, a company in Battery Park City, in New York City.

Megan said,

I was very surprised when I discovered that you walked most of the time in New York City.

She says that in South Africa everyone drove, even if their destination was a block away.

She says that in Africa there was a war in Sudan that affected her because the warriors and victims were coming toward her home city. In Africa there’s a lot of crime so Megan had to put fences and walls around her house. “My house looked like the house from New Jersey,” said Megan.

In Africa there’s a lot of animals and a few of them are lions, cheetahs, elephants, buffaloes and hippos. She remembers going to Africa and watching her children pet cheetahs. Her children are called Ren and Graydon.

In Africa there are special foods. Some of them are biltong, dried sausage, nick nacks and clementines. She brought those to Deborah and Jacob’s class and some of them said, “These are amazing!”

“I definitely learned a lot from Megan’s visit. I learned about animals, African culture and African food. Thanks Megan!” said Alfredo, a student from Deborah and Jacob’s fourth grade class.

Megan Moved!

By Shoshi Fine

Megan Brothers, an immigrant from Johannesburg, South Africa went to a fourth grade classroom to talk about her immigration experience on Tuesday, April nineteenth 2016. She came to New York when she was 24 (that was 18 years before 2016) because her husband is an architect, and he got a job offer in NYC.

Megan loves New York, but she still misses South Africa. “South Africa will always be my home, but I love New York.” One of the things she misses about South Africa is the animals there. Her favorite animal is the giraffe. Her favorite thing to do in South Africa is getting together with her family at her sister’s beach house. Another thing that she misses in South Africa is her family. All of her family lived there and she had to leave them all when she emigrated. They don’t get to see each other that often because it’s so far away. She visits once every one or two years. The flight takes 16 hours! Can you imagine living so far away from your family?

The most shocking thing to Megan about New York City is that she can walk everywhere! In South Africa she would drive everywhere. It was very different for her to walk to a restaurant, or to someone else’s house. “The first thing I remember seeing in New York was when I was given a very thorough interview when I first got here.” She said that she was very nervous and scared when it happened. Her favorite place in New York City is Battery Park. Megan spoke English, Afrikaans, and Zulu in South Africa, although the main language spoken was English. Lucky for Megan, she didn’t have to learn another language when she came to New York.

Once, when Megan went on a safari she encountered a scary elephant in a Jeep. Megan grew up with a lot of pets. She had rabbits, hamsters, dogs, cats, mice, and a couple others. There were lots of crimes in South Africa, so a lot of people built walls up around their houses to prevent other people from breaking in.

My favorite thing about moving to New York is being an immigrant. New York is very welcoming to new immigrants.

Megan brought in a South African snack for the fourth graders. She brought in biltong (dried meat), Guava juice (fruit juice), and noche (clementines).

One of the fourth graders said

OMG this is so good! Do they sell this in New York?

An African Adventure With
Megan Brothers

By Madiba

On Tuesday, April 19, a immigrant named Megan Brothers, Ren’s mom, came and visited Deborah and Jacob’s fourth grade at LREI. She lived in South Africa and she came to talk to the fourth grade about it. She came to NY when she was 24, 18 years ago. She met Ren’s dad in high school and then they both started to study architecture at the University of Cape Town. Megan came to the US because her husband got a job in the NYC.

It took 16 hours to get here including getting a refill of gas half the way from Johannesburg. In South Africa there were a lot of animals including the big five, lions, elephants, cheetahs and buffalo. The giraffe was her favorite animal and the hippo was one of the scariest animals. Once she had a scary encounter with an elephant on a jeep in a safari. In South Africa they have 11 different languages, Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga,Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. The house she lived in in South Africa was just like houses in New Jersey.

The big difference between South Africa and NYC is that in South Africa many houses have big walls around them because there is a lot of poverty and crime in South Africa. Nelson Mandela, whose nickname was Madiba, which was also the name of his clan, was the beloved leader of South Africa. Megan loves New York City because New York City is very welcoming to immigrants. Her favorite place in NYC is Battery Park. Her favorite food from South Africa is biltong or dried meat and she also loves guava juice.

Megan said,

“South Africa will always be my home but I love New York City.”

Adventures of an Immigrant

By Tess

José Picayo immigrated from Cuba to America in 1966. José was six years old when he immigrated to America. He moved because his dad did not like what was happening in Cuba. Jose and his family took a plane to get to America from Cuba.

When José and his family came to America they first went to Miami for a week because José’s grandfather lived there and was sponsoring José and his family because they did not have visas. After José lived in Miami for a week he went to Queens. José stayed in Queens for 9 months. Then José and his family stayed in Puerto Rico for a few years. Jose and his family moved back to New York and have been in New York since 1981.

After José lived in America for some time he made a trip back to Cuba. Jose’s most recent trip to Cuba was in the summer of 2015. Back in Cuba José took a lot of pictures (José is a photographer.) A photo he took was of a girl he knew from Cuba smoking. Another picture was of an alley in Cuba. He also reunited with some people he knew when he did live in Cuba when he was little. José brought his children as well to show them his history.

José Picayo emigrated half a century ago from Cuba. He still remembers details of living in Cuba then coming to America. José is a professional photographer and has used his trips back to Cuba to take pictures of the culture and people he remembered.

Picayos Around The World

By: Violet Zimmerman Wexler

Ever moved six times? Well, José Picayo has. In 1966, when José was six, he moved from his hometown, Reparto Arturo Mañanas, Cuba. He moved because his dad did not agree with the change in government but his mom did. His parents finally agreed on moving. They took an airplane to get to America. Then, they stayed with his Grandpa in Miami for a week. José later recalls,

The first thing I remember seeing was an ad for Strawberry Quik. It was so confusing to me.

After a week in Miami, his family moved to Queens, New York City. The Picayos once again took on another place. After nine months, the Picayos decided they had had enough of Queens. The Picayos just felt Queens wasn’t for them. So, they moved again. This time the Picayos made a bolder choice. They traveled to Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, more than just moving was happening. José had found a new interest in photography when he became ten. José was inspired to take mugshots by the Augustus Sherman would take (during 1905-1920) of immigrants when they got to Ellis Island. José and his family stayed in Puerto Rico for nine years before moving again.

José moved to Ohio this time. He went through High School and two years of college at Kent State. Then he went back to New York City but, this time he didn’t go to Queens. He went to Manhattan where he started a career in photography. He also went to Parsons School of Design. José has lived there since 1981 and still is there.

José visited Cuba 28 years after he left and took photos there. “It was strange and emotional to go back.” He says, “You just sit down and talk and nothing else matters.” José has found a new home and is happy to be in New York City.

José Picayo Went Back in Time?

By Grace MacGillivray

On Wednesday 13, 2016, the Fourth Grade interviewed José Picayo. He emigrated from Cuba to New York City in 1966. He had quite a journey, he went from Cuba to Miami to Queens to Puerto Rico to Ohio to New York City.

José left Cuba when he was Six in 1966. He left Cuba because his dad did not agree with the new government. Of course, José had no choice because he was six. They left one night on the last flight. When José got to Puerto Rico he took English classes because he didn’t speak English. Now he speaks perfect English but he can still speak Spanish.

José’s dad died in 1996. His dad worked as a cigar maker. So did José’s Grandmother.

He visited Cuba 30 years later, where he found that nothing had changed. When José went to visit Cuba, he walked through the gates of the town he grew up in, Reparto Arturo Mananas, and his best friend ran towards him crying.

José now lives in New York City. He has three children, two live at home and one doesn’t. He works in a studio as a photographer. Our class visited him in his studio and he photographed each one of us in “mugshots” that he made into a collage which he donated to be sold in the LREI auction.

The Past Creates The Future

By Ella

Who is José Picayo? José Picayo is a famous photographer who also happens to be an immigrant. He is was born in Cuba in 1959. When the government changed in 1966 he moved with his family to Miami, Florida. His mother wanted to leave but his father didn’t. “Nothing really affected my family,” José said. He loved the calmness of Cuba and talking to people all day. One day José was getting out of school when all of a sudden people started congratulating him. He asked them, why are you congratulating me? They told him that he was leaving that night. He and his family got home and packed, then they hopped on the airplane and left for Miami. “Miami was an adventure,” José said. It was very different for them. They stayed there for a week and then moved to Queens for a month. After Queens they moved to Puerto Rico for nine years. José and his family felt at home in Puerto Rico, they felt at home because they spoke the same language and that made it very easy for them. Later on they moved to Ohio for six years.

José Picayo’s first trip back to Cuba was twenty eight years after he left. He photographed his neighborhood, Reparto Arturo Mañanas, and the people who lived there. When José’s family left they lost their rights. José’s mother got hers back and now has an apartment there, sadly the father died in 1996, so she lives by herself.

It has been fifty eight years since the government changed. José and his family visit Cuba every once and awhile. If José had a choice he said he would stay there in Cuba, but he can’t change the past.

Now José’s job is taking photographs of adults and kids. He has been doing this for a long time. He started photography when he was ten. Later on it became something he did for a living. He has been doing it ever since that first picture.