This blog is maintained by the 10th grade African History class at the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn, NY. The views expressed here reflect the opinions of individual posters and not necessarily those of the Berkeley Carroll School or the course instructor.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of the single story | Video on TED.com
Watch this talk by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (about 18 minutes long) and comment on the following question:
If you were going to write the single story of Brooklyn, what might it include? What might it exclude?
23 comments:
Anonymous
said...
My single Story of Brooklyn would include the history and cultural background of its nature. I would talked about all of its surrounding stereotypes and misdemeanors. I would also express the reality of what Brooklyn and its inhabits are about, and there similarities and differences. -Shaun
If I were to write a single story of Brooklyn I would include many stereotypes such as it having big buildings, being very big like Manhattan and the stereotype that everyone has a Brooklyn accent. It might also include one perspective on the history of Brooklyn and things that Brooklyn has done wrong. But it would exclude the different points of view of different people living under different conditions and in different parts of Brooklyn. -Maddy
If I was going to write the single story of Brooklyn, I would first include the history. The history has built and shaped what Brooklyn is today, including stereotypes, which not all are necessarily true. I would also include what the people are like, their similarities, but also how they're different and have their own story. -Emma
Some good comments so far. But what is Adiche really getting at? What does she mean by the single story? What are the specific stereotypes that people associate with Brooklyn, like Maddy's that everyone has a broad accent?
Before I came to be Berkeley Carroll I don't think I had ever been to Brooklyn. When I thought about Manhattan it would always be this glamorous place in my mind because people called it "the city". This sounds wrong to me now because I have more of an open mind than I did back then considering I now go to school in Brooklyn. For example, movies and the way people spoke about Brooklyn made me think of it as a scary place with people who were affiliated with gangs. I didn't know for example,about Park Slope, a calm neighborhood where people are friendly and mostly live in nice brown stone houses or nice apartments. Unfortunately, that was the single story I had about Brooklyn.However, if I were to write the story now I would focus more on the positive aspects of Brooklyn. I might include the fact that the Brooklyn Bridge is beautiful and it's history and how it takes people back and forth from the city to your home. It might exclude how some people view their homes just because everyone lives in different ways and there is no one correct living condition.- Nicole
If I were going to write the single story of Brooklyn, it would be a story of left leaning liberals carefully parenting their children, sourcing the best organic food and the most politically correct entertainment. However, this would be a story of a very small part of Brooklyn known as Park Slope and would eradicate the multiple other stories that are a integral part of Park Slope, much less Brooklyn. - Myles
Chimamanda Adiche said "A single story shows a people as one thing, only as one thing over and over and that is what they become." If I had to write a single story about Brooklyn it would consist of the upper class white progressives who live in park slope who are scared to take their children anywhere else in Brooklyn. It would include Hasidic Jews in Borough Park who are overly rigid and don't let their children have a childhood. It would include Bed-Stuy as being one of the most dangerous neighborhood in Brooklyn only populated by black and latinos.It would also include that the most dangerous neighborhoods in Brooklyn are black and hispanic neighborhoods. However like Adiche said about stereotypes "The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete." The single story would exclude the many multiracial families living in Park slope as well as the many Park Slope parents who take their children to the Bed-Stuy Farm for produce. It would exclude the many Hasidic Jews in Borough Park who are very accepting of none Jews as well as the many sports programs and activities designed for Hasidic children. The single story would also exclude a lot of the crime in many of the upperclass and safe neighborhoods, such as Park Slope. It wold also exclude the after-school programs that are set up in neighborhoods like East New York, Bed-Stuy and Brownsville to encourage kids to stay off the street and help their community in a positive way.
Adiche said that one is "impressionable and vulnerable in face of a story". A single story often births generalizations and negatives on a topic to someone who is naive in their knowledge about it. This is why if i were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would try to make it as "complete" as possible. The single-story would be written from the perspectives of different people, from different neighborhoods, and of different ages and genders. This is the only way to get past the plague of a single story. I would not necessarily exclude anything from my story because I would want to educate my reader as fully as possible and would include all truths. However, I would also try to make it clear that there is always going to be a next story, and a story prior to my own. This way one wont make generalizations like Adiche's student did in regard to all Nigerian men being abusers. This video reminded me of one summer at camp where I stated on the first day that I was from Brooklyn and a suburban boy from the mid-west called out, "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HELD GUN-POINT BY GANGSTERS? ARE YOU SAFE THERE?!" I laughed at this in the moment at the fact that If he had known that I really lived in Park Slope, a place vastly populated by kids, he never would have said that. However, he had seen a single dramatic and exaggerated TV show, and that was the only story in his mind regarding Brooklyn so that's what he thought of. This is the same with any place. All in all, I would try to make the reader see the positives and negatives of Brooklyn, the different neighborhoods populated by different religions and different people. This is the best way I can think of to defy the incompleteness of a single story. -Lena
Adiche said that one is "impressionable and vulnerable in face of a story". A single story often births generalizations and negatives on a topic to someone who is naive in their knowledge about it. This is why if i were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would try to make it as "complete" as possible. The single-story would be written from the perspectives of different people, from different neighborhoods, and of different ages and genders. This is the only way to get past the plague of a single story. I would not necessarily exclude anything from my story because I would want to educate my reader as fully as possible and would include all truths. However, I would also try to make it clear that there is always going to be a next story, and a story prior to my own. This way one wont make generalizations like Adiche's student did in regard to all Nigerian men being abusers. This video reminded me of one summer at camp where I stated on the first day that I was from Brooklyn and a suburban boy from the mid-west called out, "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HELD GUN-POINT BY GANGSTERS? ARE YOU SAFE THERE?!" I laughed at this in the moment at the fact that If he had known that I really lived in Park Slope, a place vastly populated by kids, he never would have said that. However, he had seen a single dramatic and exaggerated TV show, and that was the only story in his mind regarding Brooklyn so that's what he thought of. This is the same with any place. All in all, I would try to make the reader see the positives and negatives of Brooklyn, the different neighborhoods populated by different religions and different people. This is the best way I can think of to defy the incompleteness of a single story. -Lena
Adiche said that one is "impressionable and vulnerable in face of a story". A single story often births generalizations and negatives on a topic to someone who is naive in their knowledge about it. This is why if i were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would try to make it as "complete" as possible. The single-story would be written from the perspectives of different people, from different neighborhoods, and of different ages and genders. This is the only way to get past the plague of a single story. I would not necessarily exclude anything from my story because I would want to educate my reader as fully as possible and would include all truths. However, I would also try to make it clear that there is always going to be a next story, and a story prior to my own. This way one wont make generalizations like Adiche's student did in regard to all Nigerian men being abusers. This video reminded me of one summer at camp where I stated on the first day that I was from Brooklyn and a suburban boy from the mid-west called out, "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HELD GUN-POINT BY GANGSTERS? ARE YOU SAFE THERE?!" I laughed at this in the moment at the fact that If he had known that I really lived in Park Slope, a place vastly populated by kids, he never would have said that. However, he had seen a single dramatic and exaggerated TV show, and that was the only story in his mind regarding Brooklyn so that's what he thought of. This is the same with any place. All in all, I would try to make the reader see the positives and negatives of Brooklyn, the different neighborhoods populated by different religions and different people. This is the best way I can think of to defy the incompleteness of a single story. -Lena
If I was writing a single story about Brooklyn, I would try to express the fact that, like Africa and Mexico, not everyone is the same. There are so many different parts of Brooklyn and so many different kinds of people that live here. When I meet people from outside of the city, they always ask me if I have ever been mugged or seen anyone be shot. They expect, like Maddy said, that everyone has a Brooklyn accent. Although stereotypes do stem from truth, and usually can be applied to some people, it is unfair to generalize based on them. -Olivia
Anonymous said... If I was to write a single story of Brooklyn,it would be a really long story. Not only would it be a long story, but I wouldn't know where to begin. There is so much you can say about Brooklyn. Yes, there are many stereotypes about Brooklyn,such as what other people stated about gangs, bad neighborhoods, and crime,but there is so much more to Brooklyn than the negativity that is commonly talked about. As Adichie said, "Stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize.Stories can break the dignity of people but can also repair that broken dignity". Instead of discussing the negativity, I would talk about all of the cultures, religion, and ethnicity that one can experience in Brooklyn. If you were to ask a person from each neighborhood of Brooklyn, you would get totally different stories from each person. As Adichie stated in the video,"There is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise."From we see that from those different stories, those stories are what make Brooklyn come together as a whole. -DeAndra
If I were to write a single story about Brooklyn, I would write about Berkeley Carroll. This is because coming from Manhattan, I haven't scene much of Brooklyn. In fact, Park Slope is really the only part of Brooklyn I've ever been to. It's funny for me hearing kinds at school going to "the city", and talking about "how far away my house is". It doesn't seem to far away to me, since it's only about 30 minutes away by train. But people get stuck in their ways, and I'm not to surprised that they exotify Manhattan.
I don't know too much about the neighborhoods outside of Parkslope but I agree with Izzy that some neighborhoods are generalized as little "villages" for people of specific ethnicities, religion, and class. As for Parkslope, my single story would include moms wearing clogs ushering children to and from 321, to soccer games at the parade fields, home to their brown stone houses or apartments. I would include the Food Co-op as one of the most highly regarded places along with Starbucks.
Most of my friends live in Manhattan. It seems that whenever it is late and I am about to go back to my house, someone always says "Do you want to just stay over? Going into Brooklyn at 10 o'clock just seems kind of sketchy." When people who dont usually spend time in Brooklyn think of Brooklyn, they often think of the part of Brooklyn that is described in Jay-Z songs. The only part of brooklyn people are shown is the "Hard Knock" streets version of Brooklyn. There are actually many sides of Brooklyn, however. While these things do exist, this is not all Brooklyn is. While some parts of brooklyn are like this, Brooklyn is also filled with small businesses and great restaurants and artsy people. --Briyana
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn, it would include my unknowledgable perception of Brooklyn before I had been exposed to going to school here. The only times I had really gone to Brooklyn were for lunch or dinner with my family. Because I live in Manhattan, Brooklyn used to feel like another country to me, just because I always envisioned the two boroughs as two completely different worlds, but now it doesn't seem so far away. Where the stereotypical Manhattan residents are materialistic and fast, people in Brooklyn are much more relaxed and down-to-earth. Entering the subway at Union Square is chaos, while exiting at 7th Avenue and Lincoln Place is relatively silent. When I look around, there are barely any cabs, no screaming and honking of cars and time seems to slow down. Living in Manhattan and going to Brooklyn for school makes me appreciate the contrasting dynamics of my two worlds.
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn, I would definitely show how and write about how white men and women refuse to allow their children to go outside of their bubble. This is greatly present in many cases. Many children are sheltered from the world and from new experiences. Also I would compare the lives of many people in Brooklyn, from different neighborhoods, backgrounds, ethnic groups. I really do not like how each neighborhood is closed off and has a specific race that should/does live there. When people assume that one specific race lives in each neighborhood makes me feel terrible because I feel like the word diversity does not exist. My story would have interviews of those who are stereotyped against and show how they really feel about stereotypes. I could also show how when kids are young how they are not exposed. As I child personally, I thought the whole world was park slope and that nothing was bad, everyone was nice to each other and also that adults were nice to children. I grew and realized how unrealistic that really was, also I realized how much bad is present in all cases. Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said it best "I loved those American and British books I read, they stirred up my imagination, they opened up new worlds for me. Bu the unintended consequence was that I did not know people like me could exist in literature. -Richie
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn I would be sure to include a lot. Like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says, having a single story of one place is dangerous because it is only one point of view and one way to look at something and the people who live at that place. There is so much to Brooklyn. I would include all the different ethnic groups who live here and all of Brooklyn's diversity. There is economic, cultural, and religious diversity. I wouldn't exclude anything. To leave out anything would be wrong if this would be the single story. --Tristan
(continuation of Tristan comment) People have many stereotypes about Brooklyn. Not everybody has "the Brooklyn accent". A lot of people also think it's dangerous. Every place has a little danger but Brooklyn isn't more dangerous than any other place. I also go on the subway almost every week and I am fine. I would try to fix these stereotypes. Many tv shows and movies portray Brooklyn as one thing and I would show it is so much more.
If I were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would write about the buildings and the stores. I would write about their difference in terms of glass and stone and door frames. Buildings change depending on location. The famous terraced houses in Brooklyn (brownstones) and the fact that the most beautiful buildings can be found in the most stereotypically unsavory neighborhoods. The stores in Brooklyn are so unique and flavorful. The variety of stores range from kitschy trinket shops to dusty bodegas. The stores represent the identity of the people who own the store and who buy items from the store without labeling people. Buildings and stores are the faceless reminders of a culture and spirit to which Brooklyn is home. They remind us of history and the constant change around us. The watermarks in a loft in Red Hook could show years of nature's power. The juxtaposition of a grand church with intricate stained glass and a sturdy chain-link fence with weeds growing wherever they please: this is the most quiet and honest evidence of who and what Brooklyn is. That being said, I would exclude people. I would leave out the people that own the buildings and live and work in these places. Including people would stick a face on stories that are so much more than just faces. People associate neighborhoods with people and they associate buildings and stores with people because of demographics and constant reminders of the difference between one neighborhood and the other. Attaching human faces would ruin the perspective of something that is otherwise anonymous. - Kennedy
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn I would have to include a lot of details about the wide variety of people. I think what makes Brooklyn unique is that there are many different races, religions, ideals, and different traditions and cultures. Some times these differences can be good and some times they can be negative. These differences are good because we as people have the chance to teach others our way of living and learn from others and be more aware of what people from other races and religions do on a daily basis. But the negative part is that "bad" stereotypes are made due to people's differences. I would include everything and not try to sugar coat the problems going on in our society today. -Chris
If I were to write a single story about Brooklyn it would probably include descriptions of the vast amount space and diversity it has. I live in Brooklyn but I also have a house in Manhattan, so I get the best of both worlds. In my opinion they're similar, Brooklyn is just bigger. My single story would also include the stereotypes of Brooklyn such as the gangs, the poverty, the crime, the drugs, and all the other things Brooklyn is notorious for. These stereotypes make it seem as if all of Brooklyn isn't safe when in reality it is only certain areas. Brooklyn isn't known for the nice areas it possesses or the nice people in those areas as much it is for the bad.
If I were to make a single story of Brooklyn, I would include the history, but also explain the difference of it from Manhattan, and how living in "the city" doesn't always necessarily mean the bustling streets of Manhattan. I remember when I went to summer camp, I told people I was from Brooklyn and they said things like "Dude, do you hear like gunshots outside your window every night?" I think that people have stereotypes of Brooklyn that it is run by gangs, when in reality it's nothing like that at all. Brooklyn is a very diverse place, and it's hard to really capture it's diversity in a short amount of time. So people want to only talk about the bad things. In the single story, I think it is extremely important to include the truth and your feelings as an insider of the community. It is also important to talk about the good things, not just the bad.
23 comments:
My single Story of Brooklyn would include the history and cultural background of its nature. I would talked about all of its surrounding stereotypes and misdemeanors. I would also express the reality of what Brooklyn and its inhabits are about, and there similarities and differences.
-Shaun
If I were to write a single story of Brooklyn I would include many stereotypes such as it having big buildings, being very big like Manhattan and the stereotype that everyone has a Brooklyn accent. It might also include one perspective on the history of Brooklyn and things that Brooklyn has done wrong. But it would exclude the different points of view of different people living under different conditions and in different parts of Brooklyn.
-Maddy
If I was going to write the single story of Brooklyn, I would first include the history. The history has built and shaped what Brooklyn is today, including stereotypes, which not all are necessarily true. I would also include what the people are like, their similarities, but also how they're different and have their own story.
-Emma
Some good comments so far. But what is Adiche really getting at? What does she mean by the single story? What are the specific stereotypes that people associate with Brooklyn, like Maddy's that everyone has a broad accent?
Before I came to be Berkeley Carroll I don't think I had ever been to Brooklyn. When I thought about Manhattan it would always be this glamorous place in my mind because people called it "the city". This sounds wrong to me now because I have more of an open mind than I did back then considering I now go to school in Brooklyn. For example, movies and the way people spoke about Brooklyn made me think of it as a scary place with people who were affiliated with gangs. I didn't know for example,about Park Slope, a calm neighborhood where people are friendly and mostly live in nice brown stone houses or nice apartments. Unfortunately, that was the single story I had about Brooklyn.However, if I were to write the story now I would focus more on the positive aspects of Brooklyn. I might include the fact that the Brooklyn Bridge is beautiful and it's history and how it takes people back and forth from the city to your home. It might exclude how some people view their homes just because everyone lives in different ways and there is no one correct living condition.- Nicole
If I were going to write the single story of Brooklyn, it would be a story of left leaning liberals carefully parenting their children, sourcing the best organic food and the most politically correct entertainment. However, this would be a story of a very small part of Brooklyn known as Park Slope and would eradicate the multiple other stories that are a integral part of Park Slope, much less Brooklyn.
- Myles
Chimamanda Adiche said "A single story shows a people as one thing, only as one thing over and over and that is what they become." If I had to write a single story about Brooklyn it would consist of the upper class white progressives who live in park slope who are scared to take their children anywhere else in Brooklyn. It would include Hasidic Jews in Borough Park who are overly rigid and don't let their children have a childhood. It would include Bed-Stuy as being one of the most dangerous neighborhood in Brooklyn only populated by black and latinos.It would also include that the most dangerous neighborhoods in Brooklyn are black and hispanic neighborhoods. However like Adiche said about stereotypes "The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete." The single story would exclude the many multiracial families living in Park slope as well as the many Park Slope parents who take their children to the Bed-Stuy Farm for produce. It would exclude the many Hasidic Jews in Borough Park who are very accepting of none Jews as well as the many sports programs and activities designed for Hasidic children. The single story would also exclude a lot of the crime in many of the upperclass and safe neighborhoods, such as Park Slope. It wold also exclude the after-school programs that are set up in neighborhoods like East New York, Bed-Stuy and Brownsville to encourage kids to stay off the street and help their community in a positive way.
-Izzy
Adiche said that one is "impressionable and vulnerable in face of a story". A single story often births generalizations and negatives on a topic to someone who is naive in their knowledge about it. This is why if i were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would try to make it as "complete" as possible. The single-story would be written from the perspectives of different people, from different neighborhoods, and of different ages and genders. This is the only way to get past the plague of a single story. I would not necessarily exclude anything from my story because I would want to educate my reader as fully as possible and would include all truths. However, I would also try to make it clear that there is always going to be a next story, and a story prior to my own. This way one wont make generalizations like Adiche's student did in regard to all Nigerian men being abusers.
This video reminded me of one summer at camp where I stated on the first day that I was from Brooklyn and a suburban boy from the mid-west called out, "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HELD GUN-POINT BY GANGSTERS? ARE YOU SAFE THERE?!" I laughed at this in the moment at the fact that If he had known that I really lived in Park Slope, a place vastly populated by kids, he never would have said that. However, he had seen a single dramatic and exaggerated TV show, and that was the only story in his mind regarding Brooklyn so that's what he thought of. This is the same with any place.
All in all, I would try to make the reader see the positives and negatives of Brooklyn, the different neighborhoods populated by different religions and different people. This is the best way I can think of to defy the incompleteness of a single story.
-Lena
Adiche said that one is "impressionable and vulnerable in face of a story". A single story often births generalizations and negatives on a topic to someone who is naive in their knowledge about it. This is why if i were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would try to make it as "complete" as possible. The single-story would be written from the perspectives of different people, from different neighborhoods, and of different ages and genders. This is the only way to get past the plague of a single story. I would not necessarily exclude anything from my story because I would want to educate my reader as fully as possible and would include all truths. However, I would also try to make it clear that there is always going to be a next story, and a story prior to my own. This way one wont make generalizations like Adiche's student did in regard to all Nigerian men being abusers.
This video reminded me of one summer at camp where I stated on the first day that I was from Brooklyn and a suburban boy from the mid-west called out, "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HELD GUN-POINT BY GANGSTERS? ARE YOU SAFE THERE?!" I laughed at this in the moment at the fact that If he had known that I really lived in Park Slope, a place vastly populated by kids, he never would have said that. However, he had seen a single dramatic and exaggerated TV show, and that was the only story in his mind regarding Brooklyn so that's what he thought of. This is the same with any place.
All in all, I would try to make the reader see the positives and negatives of Brooklyn, the different neighborhoods populated by different religions and different people. This is the best way I can think of to defy the incompleteness of a single story.
-Lena
Adiche said that one is "impressionable and vulnerable in face of a story". A single story often births generalizations and negatives on a topic to someone who is naive in their knowledge about it. This is why if i were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would try to make it as "complete" as possible. The single-story would be written from the perspectives of different people, from different neighborhoods, and of different ages and genders. This is the only way to get past the plague of a single story. I would not necessarily exclude anything from my story because I would want to educate my reader as fully as possible and would include all truths. However, I would also try to make it clear that there is always going to be a next story, and a story prior to my own. This way one wont make generalizations like Adiche's student did in regard to all Nigerian men being abusers.
This video reminded me of one summer at camp where I stated on the first day that I was from Brooklyn and a suburban boy from the mid-west called out, "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN HELD GUN-POINT BY GANGSTERS? ARE YOU SAFE THERE?!" I laughed at this in the moment at the fact that If he had known that I really lived in Park Slope, a place vastly populated by kids, he never would have said that. However, he had seen a single dramatic and exaggerated TV show, and that was the only story in his mind regarding Brooklyn so that's what he thought of. This is the same with any place.
All in all, I would try to make the reader see the positives and negatives of Brooklyn, the different neighborhoods populated by different religions and different people. This is the best way I can think of to defy the incompleteness of a single story.
-Lena
If I was writing a single story about Brooklyn, I would try to express the fact that, like Africa and Mexico, not everyone is the same. There are so many different parts of Brooklyn and so many different kinds of people that live here. When I meet people from outside of the city, they always ask me if I have ever been mugged or seen anyone be shot. They expect, like Maddy said, that everyone has a Brooklyn accent. Although stereotypes do stem from truth, and usually can be applied to some people, it is unfair to generalize based on them.
-Olivia
Anonymous said...
If I was to write a single story of Brooklyn,it would be a really long story. Not only would it be a long story, but I wouldn't know where to begin. There is so much you can say about Brooklyn.
Yes, there are many stereotypes about Brooklyn,such as what other people stated about gangs, bad neighborhoods, and crime,but there is so much more to Brooklyn than the negativity that is commonly talked about. As Adichie said, "Stories can also be used to empower, and to humanize.Stories can break the dignity of people but can also repair that broken dignity". Instead of discussing the negativity, I would talk about all of the cultures, religion, and ethnicity that one can experience in Brooklyn.
If you were to ask a person from each neighborhood of Brooklyn, you would get totally different stories from each person. As Adichie stated in the video,"There is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise."From we see that from those different stories, those stories are what make Brooklyn come together as a whole.
-DeAndra
If I were to write a single story about Brooklyn, I would write about Berkeley Carroll. This is because coming from Manhattan, I haven't scene much of Brooklyn. In fact, Park Slope is really the only part of Brooklyn I've ever been to. It's funny for me hearing kinds at school going to "the city", and talking about "how far away my house is". It doesn't seem to far away to me, since it's only about 30 minutes away by train. But people get stuck in their ways, and I'm not to surprised that they exotify Manhattan.
~Ben
I don't know too much about the neighborhoods outside of Parkslope but I agree with Izzy that some neighborhoods are generalized as little "villages" for people of specific ethnicities, religion, and class. As for Parkslope, my single story would include moms wearing clogs ushering children to and from 321, to soccer games at the parade fields, home to their brown stone houses or apartments. I would include the Food Co-op as one of the most highly regarded places along with Starbucks.
-sabrina
Most of my friends live in Manhattan. It seems that whenever it is late and I am about to go back to my house, someone always says "Do you want to just stay over? Going into Brooklyn at 10 o'clock just seems kind of sketchy." When people who dont usually spend time in Brooklyn think of Brooklyn, they often think of the part of Brooklyn that is described in Jay-Z songs. The only part of brooklyn people are shown is the "Hard Knock" streets version of Brooklyn. There are actually many sides of Brooklyn, however. While these things do exist, this is not all Brooklyn is. While some parts of brooklyn are like this, Brooklyn is also filled with small businesses and great restaurants and artsy people.
--Briyana
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn, it would include my unknowledgable perception of Brooklyn before I had been exposed to going to school here. The only times I had really gone to Brooklyn were for lunch or dinner with my family. Because I live in Manhattan, Brooklyn used to feel like another country to me, just because I always envisioned the two boroughs as two completely different worlds, but now it doesn't seem so far away. Where the stereotypical Manhattan residents are materialistic and fast, people in Brooklyn are much more relaxed and down-to-earth. Entering the subway at Union Square is chaos, while exiting at 7th Avenue and Lincoln Place is relatively silent. When I look around, there are barely any cabs, no screaming and honking of cars and time seems to slow down. Living in Manhattan and going to Brooklyn for school makes me appreciate the contrasting dynamics of my two worlds.
-Gretchen
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn, I would definitely show how and write about how white men and women refuse to allow their children to go outside of their bubble. This is greatly present in many cases. Many children are sheltered from the world and from new experiences. Also I would compare the lives of many people in Brooklyn, from different neighborhoods, backgrounds, ethnic groups. I really do not like how each neighborhood is closed off and has a specific race that should/does live there. When people assume that one specific race lives in each neighborhood makes me feel terrible because I feel like the word diversity does not exist. My story would have interviews of those who are stereotyped against and show how they really feel about stereotypes. I could also show how when kids are young how they are not exposed. As I child personally, I thought the whole world was park slope and that nothing was bad, everyone was nice to each other and also that adults were nice to children. I grew and realized how unrealistic that really was, also I realized how much bad is present in all cases. Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said it best "I loved those American and British books I read, they stirred up my imagination, they opened up new worlds for me. Bu the unintended consequence was that I did not know people like me could exist in literature.
-Richie
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn I would be sure to include a lot. Like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says, having a single story of one place is dangerous because it is only one point of view and one way to look at something and the people who live at that place. There is so much to Brooklyn. I would include all the different ethnic groups who live here and all of Brooklyn's diversity. There is economic, cultural, and religious diversity. I wouldn't exclude anything. To leave out anything would be wrong if this would be the single story. --Tristan
(continuation of Tristan comment) People have many stereotypes about Brooklyn. Not everybody has "the Brooklyn accent". A lot of people also think it's dangerous. Every place has a little danger but Brooklyn isn't more dangerous than any other place. I also go on the subway almost every week and I am fine. I would try to fix these stereotypes. Many tv shows and movies portray Brooklyn as one thing and I would show it is so much more.
If I were to write a single story about Brooklyn I would write about the buildings and the stores. I would write about their difference in terms of glass and stone and door frames. Buildings change depending on location. The famous terraced houses in Brooklyn (brownstones) and the fact that the most beautiful buildings can be found in the most stereotypically unsavory neighborhoods.
The stores in Brooklyn are so unique and flavorful. The variety of stores range from kitschy trinket shops to dusty bodegas. The stores represent the identity of the people who own the store and who buy items from the store without labeling people. Buildings and stores are the faceless reminders of a culture and spirit to which Brooklyn is home. They remind us of history and the constant change around us. The watermarks in a loft in Red Hook could show years of nature's power. The juxtaposition of a grand church with intricate stained glass and a sturdy chain-link fence with weeds growing wherever they please: this is the most quiet and honest evidence of who and what Brooklyn is.
That being said, I would exclude people. I would leave out the people that own the buildings and live and work in these places. Including people would stick a face on stories that are so much more than just faces. People associate neighborhoods with people and they associate buildings and stores with people because of demographics and constant reminders of the difference between one neighborhood and the other. Attaching human faces would ruin the perspective of something that is otherwise anonymous.
- Kennedy
If I were to write the single story of Brooklyn I would have to include a lot of details about the wide variety of people. I think what makes Brooklyn unique is that there are many different races, religions, ideals, and different traditions and cultures. Some times these differences can be good and some times they can be negative. These differences are good because we as people have the chance to teach others our way of living and learn from others and be more aware of what people from other races and religions do on a daily basis. But the negative part is that "bad" stereotypes are made due to people's differences. I would include everything and not try to sugar coat the problems going on in our society today.
-Chris
If I were to write a single story about Brooklyn it would probably include descriptions of the vast amount space and diversity it has. I live in Brooklyn but I also have a house in Manhattan, so I get the best of both worlds. In my opinion they're similar, Brooklyn is just bigger. My single story would also include the stereotypes of Brooklyn such as the gangs, the poverty, the crime, the drugs, and all the other things Brooklyn is notorious for. These stereotypes make it seem as if all of Brooklyn isn't safe when in reality it is only certain areas. Brooklyn isn't known for the nice areas it possesses or the nice people in those areas as much it is for the bad.
-Eugene
If I were to make a single story of Brooklyn, I would include the history, but also explain the difference of it from Manhattan, and how living in "the city" doesn't always necessarily mean the bustling streets of Manhattan. I remember when I went to summer camp, I told people I was from Brooklyn and they said things like "Dude, do you hear like gunshots outside your window every night?" I think that people have stereotypes of Brooklyn that it is run by gangs, when in reality it's nothing like that at all. Brooklyn is a very diverse place, and it's hard to really capture it's diversity in a short amount of time. So people want to only talk about the bad things. In the single story, I think it is extremely important to include the truth and your feelings as an insider of the community. It is also important to talk about the good things, not just the bad.
-Will
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