After today's class, I thought of a really interesting approach we might be able to take for our project. Each neighborhood comes with certain stereotypes. Chinatown is known for it's noxious smell. Brighton Beach is known for the unfriendly attitude of its inhabitants. I think it would really interesting to comment on the different stereotypes of each area. Are the stereotypes true? Or, are they only there because outsiders associate the areas with certain ideas, people, geographies...?

Since the dangerous and thrilling aspects of Little Italy no longer present themselves to the public, people differentiate between inside Little Italy and outside Little Italy by the presence of “Italian” restaurants and the various decorations that surround them. In class I remember thinking that the Italian decorations were comparable to Christmas lights during the holiday season. When the leaves fall off the trees and the snow starts to fall, everyone is aware that the holidays are arriving. The Christmas lights don’t control when the holidays come.