The Brooklyn History Project

The Brooklyn History Project

The Brooklyn that we live in is changing before our eyes. Streets we walk fill with new people, stores we go to change ownership or disappear, buildings rise in vacant lots and neighbors move away. These trends are part of an urban cycle that has repeated itself many times since this borough was first built, and they have great effects on the people who live here. The work of both artists and historians is to witness the world around them and draw meaning from it. In this course, we will use the methods of both historians and artists to ask: What can the changes in our borough tell us about ourselves and the world we live in now? What can they tell us about our future? Understanding the changes and where we live within them gives us a choice: do we want to impact them or not?

The Brooklyn History Project will engage us in examining these changes, understanding their effects, and documenting the parts of Brooklyn that matter to us. We will be asking what makes up “Our Brooklyn,” and how others perceive where we live. This project will bring us out into Brooklyn and into contact with many people who are actively involved in preserving or changing the character of Brooklyn. Through photography, research, the act of writing and the interview process, we will build our understanding and knowledge of the place that Brooklyn was and the place that it is becoming.

"My Brooklyn" Paper

Guidelines:

By now you should have all read and become familiar with the Colson Whitehead essay, “The Colossus of New York.” In his essay, Whitehead contends that everyone has a different definition of what New York is to them. He explains that every experience that one has in New York is just another brick used to construct their own definition of New York. In order to build on our understanding of Brooklyn, we think it important to clarify in writing what Brooklyn is to each of us. In order to do this you will all write your first large writing assignment entitled “My Brooklyn.” Below you will find guidelines to follow while writing your essay.

See full assignment sheet for details:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgj6z8rr_1fq5x5cgf&hl=en

Sample Paper:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgj6z8rr_3347w88dq&hl=en

Assignment Rubric:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgj6z8rr_2gj22kdc7&hl=en

Seminar Prep Paper - Gentrification

Does Gentrification harm or help neighborhoods?

Assignment Sheet:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgj6z8rr_79vkwtg7q&hl=en

This sheet will serve as a guide for you when you are writing your paper. Please read it carefully. Your paper should focus on our essential question, “does gentrification harm or help neighborhoods?” You should use your knowledge of gentrification in Park Slope and the articles we have read about gentrification as the basis of your answer. HINT: you should refer to the worksheets and annotations that you completed for each article.

Neighborhood Walk Assignment

So far in our preparation for writing our neighborhood reflections we have studied some history of our neighborhoods as well as examined our neighborhoods today. Using what you have learned about your neighborhood’s history and the information you gained on your neighborhood walk you will write a paper that attempts to reflect on the observations you made.

Your paper should cover the following:

· Your first impressions
· Trends/changes that you noticed in your neighborhood
· Descriptive character (things that normally go down in your neighborhood)
- Languages
- Foods
- Culture
- Sounds
- Smells
- Hangout spots
- Buildings
- Stores
· Things you never noticed before
· Questions for further research

Assignment Sheet:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgj6z8rr_5hf3gh7f8&hl=en
Assignment Rubric:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgj6z8rr_649z2jcgn&hl=en

Greater Good Seminar Prep Paper

What is the greater good and what should be sacrificed in its name?

Seminar Prep Assignment Sheet:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=dgj6z8rr_8dv2zhvch&hl=en

This sheet will serve as a guide for you when you are writing your paper. Please read it carefully. Your paper should focus on our essential question, “what is really the greater good and what should be sacrificed in that name?” You should use the Atlantic Yards as a case study. In other words, do you think the Atlantic Yards Project is in the interests of the “greater good of Brooklyn?” If so, what should be sacrificed in its name? While your paper must highlight the Atlantic Yards Project you may also refer to other examples from our study of the essential question. You must submit a completed seminar prep chart with your paper. This chart will help you to look back through all the sources that we have studied so far.


The following is a list of websites that have information in support of the Atlantic Yards Project. We realize that we have presented a one sided view of the project. This is due to the sources that we have access to. You must include information from at least one of these websites. It may be in the form of you refuting an argument in favor of the project, or you may feel that the project is for the greater good of Brooklyn. In this case you may wish to include information from more than one of these websites.

Pro Atlantic Yards:

Atlantic Yards Project home page http://www.atlanticyards.com/

Empire State Development Corporation http://www.empire.state.ny.us/AtlanticYards/

Acorn supports Atlantic Yards http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=1953

BUILD web site https://mail.nycboe.net/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.buildbrooklyn.org/index.php?sect_id=ay%26page_id=post