Our Reflection on the Project
| Since I started researching Corona, Queens all of my assumptions
dramatically changed. I viewed my neighborhood as a boring over populated area.
Now I see my neighborhood differently, almost as if for the first time. I had
many pleasant experiences while working on this project. There were some difficult
things to explore and investigate. Throughout the entire process the results were
amazing and interesting. The most pleasant experience while working on this project was that I got to see my neighborhood in a whole different light. Every time I would go out I would walk really fast and only look at the sidewalk and stoplights. I never really saw how special and unique my neighborhood is. When I started taking pictures and began seeing images which I thought were bad. For example the crowds of people and cars. I always hated traffic, but then I realized that we were all walking in a coherent manner. Unlike in walking in a different area my neighborhood wasn't cursing or fighting to get through. Everyone had a place to be, so instead of making a riot we all were civilized and walked patiently to our destinations. This surprised me a lot. I kept on observing my interpretation and it came out to be true. With so many different people all living a separate life everyone was respectful to the person next to them. Now when I have to go outside, I don't see it as a mission but as a wonderful journey. The most difficult part of the project was getting information from the past. I couldn't find any historical events that occurred in my neighborhood. The only information I got was from my uncle who use to live here before we moved. He told me that the area in which my house is located everything was just a vacant lot. Only a few houses were built and there were no stores. This surprised me because in my neighborhood every little bit of land is filled with buildings. To think that over the years a neighborhood can go through such changes in a few years is very interesting. He even said that my house was built differently and was renovated. I never would have imagined an over populated area once being full of vacant lots. The most exciting part of working on this project was being able to actually see my neighborhood for the first time since I've lived here. I never liked going outside and seeing the traffic and hearing loud noises, but after I completed the project my dislikes took a major change. I slowly began exploring new and old places around my neighborhood. First I went to the places where I had already been and began to see every little detail. After the first ten minutes I was surprised to see that the assumptions I had made were totally wrong. Everywhere I went became more and more interesting. Now I go to new and exciting places around my neighborhood and see that each place has a special significance. I enjoyed working on this project. I learned many new facts about my neighborhood that I never would have even imagined. My neighborhood had many important places that I always saw useless. Now thanks to this project I learned to see my neighborhood through a new light and with new eyes. I've changed my opinions and now they are positive instead of negative. Now I have pictures to treasure and to look back on, so in the next decade I can see if my neighborhood changed in any extraordinary ways. I really learned a lot from research what I thought I already knew from top to bottom, my neighborhood. -by Jennifer Jaquez |
While writing about my neighborhood I learned many things. I learned how much living here has effected my upraising. I also realized that even though we are all of different race and color we are all the same and we can all learn from each other. Not only have I learned about my neighborhood, but I also learned some very interesting things about the Bronx itself. Writing about my neighborhood has helped me realize that my neighborhood has had an effect on my upraising because living here has helped me to want to do better and to set high standards for myself. I also learned some very interesting things about the Bronx itself. I learned that once the Bronx was ruled by Kings and Queens and the very same castles still remain in Cloisters Park. These castles are now museums and open to the public. I also learned that Edgar Allen Poe’s cottage, which was built in 1812, still stands in the same location where it was originally built, and is also open to the public. Of all the things that I have learned about the Bronx, this one shocked me the most. Not too far from where my grandmother lives, just a couple of blocks away, there’s a church named "ST. Ann’s Church" where Gouverneur Morris, who wrote the final draft of our constitution, lies in a vault at the church. Founded by his son, the church was completed in 1841. Its vaults contain the remains of all the Morris family, including Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Ann Cary Randolph Morris, the wife of Gouverneur Morris and a direct descendant of Pocahontas. Ever since I was a little girl I always passed by the church and I would look in, but I would have never dreamed that the church holds so much history. I never knew that the Bronx holds so much history. I also learned that the Bronx has many mansions that are open to the public that have been here for many, many, many years. by Venessa Marrero |