Melissa on the road: Cronicas Amexicanas

24/08/2012

Cronicas Amexicanas

It's time to be serious about this western call...

If I travel to Mexico, I figured out it might be a good idea to stop in the US before hand. To get an introduction, a taste of the Mexican community in New York City. I am going to Amexica after all...

Of course, some might say this travel should go through California and New Mexico but my time is limited and let's remember one fact: I still do not drive.

So a shorter flight to Amexica might involve a stopover in NYC before I head to MEX.

I want to explore Mexican New York!

According to the New York Times, "in the past two decades, the Mexican population in New York City has grown more than fivefold, with immigrants settling across the five boroughs". But the younger generation struggles to get work or education... Read here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/nyregion/mexicans-in-new-york-city-lag-in-education.html?pagewanted=all

In 2003, the Teachers College at Columbia University stated that "Mexicans (were) New York City's Fastest Growing Ethnic Group":

http://www.tc.edu/news.htm?articleID=4495

The growth is due to immigration and "most immigrants come from rural areas near Mexico City", the article added, underlining that "Mexican New Yorkers are mostly young and unskilled".

This research paper shows that more than 60 percent of all Mexican New Yorkers reside in Queens and Brooklyn, although there are significant populations in the Bronx and in Manhattan. Within Brooklyn, "the neighbourhoods of Sunset Park and Bushwick have major Mexican populations". In Queens, "Elmhurst, North Corona and Jackson Heights have the highest concentrations of Mexicans, and East Harlem hosts Manhattan's largest Mexican community".

From "Sunset Park", Faber and Faber, to Sunset Park, Brooklyn

I have been willing to go around Sunset Park for more than a year, since I had been reading one of my favourite American writer Paul Auster's latest novel named like the famous Brooklyn neighbourhood.