Professor Brooks's blog

Having problems downloading the reading for Monday?

Professor Brooks — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:36:31 +0000

Deborah tells me that Blackboard is having sporadic outages today. If you have problems downloading the reading for Monday, let me know; I'll e-mail it to you. I can't post it because it takes up too much space.

More on racial steering

Professor Brooks — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:43:49 +0000

In order to illuminate this issue, I found a few more recent articles from the NY Times that discuss how "racial steering" works and why it's not simply a realtor taking into account buyers' and renters' assumed preferences:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E2DF1131F932A35756C0A9639C8B63

More on Chinatown's development from Peter Kwong

Professor Brooks — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:09:19 +0000

Last year, Peter Kwong (the author of today's readings) answered reader questions in the New York Times online. I'm posting this link because it helps us understand how the processes he described have shifted since he published his book (1987). For example, he notes that competition from China has almost killed the garment industry in Chinatown. He also discusses the continued gentrification of the area and his belief that Chinatown will eventually cease to exist.

Photos of the prewar shtetl

Professor Brooks — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:41:07 +0000

I mentioned in class that I recently read a fascinating New York Times Magazine piece about the photographer Roman Vishniac, who made his name photographing prewar Jewish communities in Europe before the Nazis destroyed them. It turns out, however, that his photos were not really what they seemed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/magazine/04shtetl-t.html

Interesting online Brooklyn articles

Professor Brooks — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:06:51 +0000

I mentioned these links in class a few days ago. Some of them deal with aspects of gentrification in Brooklyn, while one is a discussion of the subway's importance to NYC's development. You might find them interesting and also relevant to our class project:

http://www.observer.com/2008/brooklyn-borough-2

http://www.observer.com/2008/brooklyn-borough-thinning-blue-line-brownst...

http://www.observer.com/2008/brooklyn-borough-16

Event of interest

Professor Brooks — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:46:21 +0000

The Asian American and Asian Research Institute at CUNY just sent me this e-mail about their upcoming Friday evening lecture:

Dear Friend,

You're cordially invited to a talk on, "American Chinatown: A People's History of Five Neighborhoods", by Bonnie Tsui, on Friday, March 19, 2010, from 6PM to 8PM, at 25 West 43rd Street, Room 1000, between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan.

Top Five Proposals

Professor Brooks — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:41:26 +0000

ALL THE PROPOSALS ARE NOW POSTED.

After a marathon reading session last night, I chose what I think are the five best proposals in the class. I am still waiting for all the authors to e-mail me with electronic copies, but here's the list of finalists:

Dan Carabas, Chinatown

Joseph Franco, Borough Park

Adam Hashemi, Lower East Side

Vivian Lo, Chinatown

Maria Kamenetskaya, Brighton Beach

More on the "New York Intellectuals"

Professor Brooks — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:32:47 +0000

For those who are interested, I'm posting a fairly recent (2008) blog entry from "Paper Cuts," the New York Times blog about books and writing. The entry is an exploration of "public intellectuals" in America and also discusses the group known as the "New York Intellectuals." Take a look if you have the time:

Map resource (kind of neat)

Professor Brooks — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:53:26 +0000

A new resource mentioned in this morning's New York Times allows you to look at a map of NYC from above with a satellite view. Of course, that's simply Google Earth, but there's a little bar in the interface that you can move to see the same view in 2006...and in 1924. It's kind of neat to be able to do what's essentially a Google Earth satellite view for 1924, and also very useful to historians. Here's the link:

http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/

Note to discussion leaders

Professor Brooks — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:59:51 +0000

Now that we're getting further along in the course, I'd like those of you who will be co-leading discussion with me to begin your class by talking a little bit about what you thought of the readings, including questions you had, issues you think they raised, etc. I don't want you to read from some sort of prepared text, although you can bring a few notes if you find them helpful.