Author Archives: Daniel Golub

Posts by Daniel Golub

IDC 3001H

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Daniel Golub

The big assignments that I had to do for this class were tough, but all the more fun. I always like a good challenge and these assignments gave me just that. The personal immigration essay gave me a chance to finally explore and write about my family’s immigration and integration processes, which I did not know much about up to that point, save for their country of origin and year of migration. The statistical profile was a very long one that did not turn out to be as analytical as I had hoped it would, but it did teach me to be more careful in how I write and to always triple or even quadruple-check my work to check for errors and/or possible improvements to be made before submitting it. This assignment also taught me how to find and research data tables from all kinds of sources, including government sources and use Microsoft Excel and Powerpoint in order to add more content to my profile and analysis. The personal interview that I had conducted provided me with a surprisingly eloquent and detailed summary of the struggles of the immigration and integration processes. I also learned to lead my interviewee on more in order to get them to provide more insight on their statements and experiences. In addition, while careful diligence must be exercised when transcribing an interview, it is always alright to get rid of excessive pauses because one pause is always enough to express that the interviewee is thinking of a response.
I enjoyed this course, but I sincerely hoped that what I had learned from here can be applied to many other disciplines and real world experiences. That is the true mark of learning and understanding.

Student and Parent Migration Histories: Introduction

Posted on May 12, 2013 by Daniel Golub

This class was designed so that students and scholars could learn about the immigration and integration experiences of the numerous immigrant groups that live in New York City. This course comes to life through these personal histories, which relate theories and readings to our real-word individual immigration and integration experiences.

On this page, you can explore our personal tales of immigration and integration. You will be able to see all of the great, diverse backgrounds and immigration experiences that characterize the members of our class, in addition to the many commonalities that unite us all as immigrants or members of immigrant families. These stories discuss the reasons for why our families had migrated to the United States and the struggles that we and our families faced with  our journeys of integration into U.S. society, including finding jobs and careers, getting involved with civics and politics, and perhaps most importantly, learning a new language, i.e. English, in order to fit in with other people and the American culture.  Ultimately, the obstacles we faced in the beginning of our narratives have been overcome and turn to triumph as we, much like the immigrants who had come generations earlier, become the epitome of the true New Yorker lifestyle!

Learning English

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Daniel Golub

Eliza, a 48-year-old immigrant from Belarus, describes her difficult but rewarding procoess with learning English:

I can say for sure that the language, I mean, English, improved a lot since I came here. There is no doubt, especially when you interact with people. Most of the time, I speak Russian at home, but when it comes to work or communicating with people even outside the home, you speak and practice your language skills. Also, when you watching TV, or you’re reading…I don’t know. I only read English books, I don’t read that much Russian language. Especially when you practice, it helps you a lot to improve your language skills. […] I wanted and I needed to because without knowing English – everyone speaks English in this country, so it’s necessary for you to learn to be able to, as I mentioned before, to be able to communicate with people, to find your job, to do the other stuff.

American Life

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Daniel Golub

Eliza, a 48-year-old immigrant from Belarus, talks of her experiences adjusting to life in America:

Basically, it was… in the beginning, it was very hard and difficult process to get used to all the new surrounding in terms of cultures, customs, and without knowing of language, it was hard to land any job, and we went to…we started to study language to the extent that we can communicate freely to…go to different places, to communicate with people, and finally we went to college to some…to get some kind of degree and majors that we can utilize in this country.

Immigration

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Daniel Golub

Eliza, a 48-year-old immigrant from Belarus, has been in the United States for 23 years. Her immigration to this country was aided by a helpful nonprofit organization:

Actually some immigrate – some organization help us to – with immigration. It was Jewish organization, NYANA, which, upon arrival to this country – actually, we started with this organization, they gave us some input, how to…whatever, how to start our new beginning in new country, and this way, at least – okay, this way, we can rely on something to give us a hand.

 

Statistical Profile on Dominicans

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Daniel Golub

 

Dominicans 2

Dominicans

As seen in the first graph, based on information compiled in The Newest New Yorkers 2000, about 98 – 99% of all Dominican immigrants entered NYC through family-based visas and immediate relative preference visas while the remaining percentage of immigrants entered mostly through employment-based visas. As seen in the second graph, which depicts the means of entry for Dominican immigrants who obtained legal permanent status to NYC in 2011, 98 – 99% of the 46,109 Dominicans came to NYC on family-based and immediate relative preference visas. These results are comparable to the result depicted in the first graph, despite the fact that the sample size in the second graph is smaller than in the first graph. But bear in mind that the first graph considers all of these Dominican immigrants who came to NYC through the entire 1990s, whereas the second graph only depicts one year of this immigration (2011 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics). Nevertheless, the results are similar. Like in the first graph, the second graph shows that a majority of Dominican immigrant families come to NYC after at least one member of the family has gained permanent residency or citizenship. The New Economics of Migration Theory can explain this trend because it shows that migration is a family decision that is perpetuated by economic opportunities and lives of modern urban comforts in NYC.

 

Sources:

The Newest New Yorkers 2000. Rep. New York City Department of Planning, Oct. 2004. Web. 20 Mar. 2013. <http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/pdf/census/newest_new_yorkers_2000.pdf>.

“2011 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.” Dhs.gov. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2013. <http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2011/ois_yb_2011.pdf>.

Daniel Talks about His parents Struggling to Learn English.

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Daniel Golub

English Textbook

The Phenom

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Daniel Golub

Daniel at home, summer 2012

Hello! I’m Daniel Golub.  I’m passionate about hard rock and heavy metal – Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Motörhead, etc.  I’m called The Phenom because I’ve been a fan of WWE wrestler The Undertaker for years.  At times, I can be very quiet and mysterious, and at other times, I’m very loquacious and comic.  I’m very suspicious of just how well college can educate me, but I’m willing to put forth my best efforts to ensure that I become self-educated.

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