Paloma

Name: Paloma Garcia Simon
Home Country: Mexico
Age: 22

Paloma from evelina omilanowski on Vimeo.

The New New Americans: Pawel

Pawel Dlugosz
Home Country: Poland
Age: 24


Pawel- Final Draft from evelina omilanowski on Vimeo.

The New, New Americans: When Ben met Wen

Benjamin Smit
Age: 24
Home Country: Belgium

Wen Ruan
 Home Country: China
Age: 25


Untitled from evelina omilanowski on Vimeo.

Little Poland

"Next stop, Greenpoint Avenue", the subway intercom says. The train stops and a handful of people get out. At first, the G train Brooklyn station looks like any other other station; eerily lit and eternally unkempt. But as I near the Greenpoint and Manhattan Avenue exit, I see a rare subway ad written entirely in Polish. It's the first of many signs that I have officially entered "Little Poland". If the subway ad didn't make it obvious enough, there is no doubt where I am when I walk out of the station. Immediately in front of it stands a magazine bodega. The polish language magazine section is overwhelmingly bigger than its neighboring English language section. A short line of customers shuffle up to the bodega window, most of them speaking with a heavy Eastern European accent. The bodega owner politely engages with them, his own Spanish accent audible.

Such scenarios are common nowadays throughout Greenpoint Avenue. The neighborhood is torn between meeting the needs of its ever changing population. What once was a more homogeneously Polish business area is now becoming more and more diversified. Asian themed restaurants have sprung up on nearly every other street corner. Spanish workers own and run Polish themed grocery stores. Corporate America has weaseled its way in. The bright red and yellow arches of McDonald's dominate the intersection of Greenpoint and Metropolitan. Starbucks inhabits an old movie theater just a few short steps away from a newly opened Dunkin Donuts.

The sign reads in Spanish: We speak Spanish; The other sign read in Polish: We Speak Polish

McDonald's on the corner of Metropolitan and Greenpoint Avenue

A good number of family owned and operated Polish meat deli's, bakeries, grocery stores and restaurants still stand though. Their numbers are most heavily concentrated within a 7 or 8 block stretch of Greenpoint Ave. There's a certain amount of sadness in their existence. On the one hand, they are a beacon of comfort and familiarity to the community. Many living in Greenpoint are direct immigrants or first generation relatives of Polish immigrants. As a first generation descendant of Polish immigrants myself, I make the 45 minute trek to the neighborhood from time to time for the sense of comfort it brings in the form of Polish sausage (kielbasa) and potato filled dumplings (pierogie).

On the other hand, the neighborhood's semi-homogeneous existence contradicts the very foundations of diversity this country stands on. Back when the first Polish immigrants settled in Greenpoint at the turn of the 20th century, they clustered together as a means of holding onto their homeland and heritage. Nowadays, with the advent of the internet and instant communication, the 4,000 mile distance between Poland and New York doesn't seem so big anymore. 

 

A translated menu from a Polish restaurant on Greenpoint Ave.

A familiar figure of the Polish community: the female senior citizen dressed in a traditional patterned shawl around her head.

The sign reads: Books for everyone

An aisle of fruit juices in a Polish grocery store.

St Anthony of Padua Church located on Greenpoint Avenue

A Spanish run Polish grocery store.

 

A polish book store window display, highlighting one of Poland's most famous figures the Late Pope John Paul II

 

Greenpoint is located off the Greenpoint and Nassau Avenue stations on the G line in Brooklyn

Battery Park

 Battery Park's function has changed over the years. Starting in 1623 it served as a landing ground and defense wall for new Dutch settlers. For the next 200 years as the U.S. expanded and changed, the park continued to serve as an artillery defense wall. By 1855 it had become the Nation's first immigrant receiving ground, accepting nearly 8.5 million new immigrants before Ellis Island was ever even built. Now, the 25 acre park serves as a neighborhood center, providing a welcomed oasis to thousands of residents, tourists and workers in the crowded streets of the Financial District.

The park's waterfront views, flower gardens and green lawns are a major draw for tourists in the sweltering summer months but on a cold Tuesday in February, the atmosphere is a bit different. The sun is beginning to set in the Lower Manhattan sky. The temperature is cool and crisp, requiring a scarf and gloves. There's a welcomed hush in the air, a break from the usual city noise. The park's trees stand naked in the glowing sun. Small pockets of people walk by, mostly small groups of three or four, cameras in hand. The occasional mob of 15 or 20 tourists plows through the winding walkways, little snippets of conversations can be heard in their respective languages.


The long striped rows of benches that line the park sit unused, icicles growing beneath them. Small defiant patches of snow litter the park, clinging to the cold, bare soil. Seagulls float above the park, suspended in the air, diving at any sign of a handout of food from a generous park visitor. The Hudson River glitters in the sunset. Couples walk up and down the dock, holding hands and occasionally stopping to photograph one another against the gorgeous backdrop. A large group of Italian tourists cram together to take a photo together on a nearby bench. A giant crowded ferry docks, returning from a visit to the nearby Liberty Island. The American flag flies on the ship's stern, flapping patriotically in the wind with the Statue of Liberty standing solemnly in the background.

Battery Park is located on the tip of lower Manhattan, in the Financial District near the N,R and 4, 5 subway stops.

Mission Statement

Greetings and thank you for being here. This is a blog that aims to merge photography and journalism, my two greatest passions. Inspired by magazine style editorials and interviews, with this blog I aim to create my own shorter versions of these. As the blog title suggests, I aim to zoom in on a small window into the everyday person’s life. In an ever globalizing world, the topic of travel and merging of cultures is something I find myself infinitely curious about. Where is this person right now? Where are they from? How did they get here? Why are they here? Where are they going? What are their passions and their fears? These are the kinds of questions I intend on answering and in the process, learning more about the people around me. So come along! And we can learn together!

Oh and on a side note,  although I’ll mostly be focusing on people, I’d like to include the occasional physical location as a form of travel writing.