This morning around 9 AM when I was walking to the train station I passed by Lt. Joseph Petrosino Park and I noticed something unusual. Along the side of the park I saw a large quantity of soil dug up from the ground and when I looked up I saw six small trees leaning against the fence, ready to be planted. I also noticed that people who passed by the park on their way to the train station did not stop and take a look at what was happening.
I found this interesting yet unusual because I have lived in Bensonhurst for 21 years and I never saw trees being planted at the park or maybe because I never took the time to notice. I found this interesting because it means that there is someone or some people who actually do care about the park. I personally believed that people did not care because no actions were taken against the people who vandalized the park facilities or dumped illegal garbage there. After seeing new trees are being planted it made me feel happy because it meant someone probably requested a tree planting, but I also wondered whether others cared to know that new trees had been planted.
Photo taken by Sandy.
Over the last two years and even up to today, there have been incidents of illegal garbage dumping at the Lt. Petrosino Park in Bensonhurst. The garbage is not the ordinary soda bottles, paper, tissue kind of litter as seen on the streets and parks. The kinds of garbage that someone or some people throw out is in large black garbage bags that are sitting by the entrance of the park. The massive amount of garbage consists of household waste, building rubbish, other types of debris and bulk items – sofas, mattresses and microwaves.
Nearby residents realize that someone threw out the garbage during the late hours of night because when they go to work the next day they see the pile of garbage that was not there the previous day. Volunteers/workers at the park are only there two times a week to tidy up the park by picking up trash from the ground. Salvatore, who volunteers to clean at city parks said, “I don’t know who threw it there. It is not part of my job to clean that. The Sanitation Department should do it.†The pile of garbage by the park entrance is not picked up weekly, so sometimes after a couple of weeks the garbage accumulates into a small hill.
Over the past week there have been many news stories on the Virginia Tech. shooting. This has affected many people–the victims, their families, friends, staff and students on that campus and other campuses. I read on-line that Korean students and their families are afraid of backlashing on campuses or other places where Koreans live or work.
I personally feel that not only Koreans are being looked at in a different way, but the Asian communities in general are also being looked at as if we were all part of the shooting. Asians share similar features, which makes many non-Asians think that we are all the same. On Thursday, the cover page of AM New York, a free daily newspaper sponsored by ads, had a picture of the Virginia Tech. shooter. My sister was taking the train to school and this non-Asian man stood in front of my sister while holding the AM New York paper and pointing at Cho Seung-Hui and then pointing at my sister and said, “You and him are the same.” My sister ignored him and he got off the train at the next stop.
On Friday, my mother witnessed two non-English speaking Asian boys in my neighborhood around 14-15 years old who were being targeted with small rocks and water balloons by three non-Asian teenagers around the same age. Just when my mother walked past the three teenagers started throwing water balloons at my mother and yelling out names and one of the phrases that one boy shouted was, “Kill all Asians!” My mother yelled back at them saying they were crazy, but they still targeted her. Luckily, a man who was non-Asian drove by, saw and yelled at the three boys saying he would call the cops and that scared them off. My mother and the two other boys were okay and this was not reported to the police because no one was hurt.
The shooter of Virginia Tech. is an Asian person, but this does not mean all Asians are the same. The shooter could’ve been anyone no matter what their ethnic background is.
Have you ever noticed sneakers hanging from high above on telephone wires? When I was a child, I always walked pass them and I always wondered why people hang their fine pair of sneakers on the wires. Sometimes I also wondered whether those sneakers ever fell down because the shoelaces become worn out from the seasonal changes throughout the years. Hopefully no one was injured due to fallen sneakers from above.
According to the NY Times article, “Shoes-on-wires are a tradition as old as the notion of hanging utility lines on poles. No one knows who did it first or why.†I also heard that where sneakers are hung on wires it symbolizes that drug dealing occurs there, but there has been no fact to prove if this was true or not. Check out the NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/15/nyregion/15ink.html?ex=1171947600&en=c1e9d6135c2bbfb1&ei=5070 **
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Photos taken by Sandy
On Saturday, March 17th the Brooklyn Philharmonic featured Music Off the Shelves at the New Utrecht Public Library in Bensonhurst. This free 1-hour concert is to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and is open to the public.
In the basement of New Utrecht Library, folding chairs, a piano and two music stands were set up. There were 25 people who came to this free event and listened with enjoyment to the four musicians. The musicians are David Wechsler on flute, Diane Bruce on violin, Lanny Paykin on the cello, and Peter Basquin on the piano. Some of the pieces they played are: Beethoven’s Op. 105, No. 5 “Irish Air,†Beethoven’s Op. 105, No. 4 “The Last Rose,†Cowell’s “The Voice of Lir,†and Farewell to Culcullain (“Londonderry Airâ€).
Photo by Sandy
For more information or listings of events presented by Brooklyn Philharmonic: http://www.brooklynphilharmonic.org/special_performance.php
For the past two decades Bensonhurst has been a community populated with many Asians, especially the Chinese. The Lunar New Year celebration goes on for 15 consecutive days and to end this celebration a festival was held at New Utrecht High School in Bensonhurst on March 4th. Senator Martin Golden, the senator for District 22 in the New York State, along with many sponsors and volunteers made this annual event celebration possible for the 6th time.
The New Utrecht High School’s auditorium was packed with many attendees from the neighborhood, who sat through the 3-hour event filled with many cultural performances. Some pictures I captured while attending this event.
Banner
Dragon Dance
Fan Dance
Red Ribbon Dance
According to the Lunar calendar this year will be year 4705, the year of the pig. This year’s Chinese New Year begins this Sunday, February 18th, 2007. The celebration of the new year continues for fifteen consecutive days, which means the celebration will end on the next full moon. Chinese New Year celebrated in the motherland, China is much more traditional than it is in New York City. Even though there is a difference, the celebrations in New York City are just as ravishing as the ones in China.
There will be many events taking place in Chinatown starting this weekend to welcome the Lunar New Year. For more information please check out: Explore Chinatown’s homepage.
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