Category: Portraits & interviews

From Kensington to Chittagong: A young activist on the rise

Written by Eliza Relman     Shahana Hanif was cheering on a phuchhka eating contest at a South Asian festival in Jackson Heights the day Bangladeshi-born Imam Alauddin Akonjee and Thara Miah were executed leaving their mosque across the borough in Ozone Park.    A week later, Hanif stepped onto a makeshift stage at Avenue C Plaza in Kensington, Brooklyn to address a crowd of neighbors, public officials, mosque members, and rabbis from the neighboring Orthodox Jewish community. The large, somber,...

Children of Immigrants: Angela Dumlao — “Everything I love is in New York City”

Written by Aneta Molenda Stories of immigration often leave out an important piece of the changing American landscape: the steadily growing number of second generation immigrants. There are more than 20 million adults who are US-born children of immigrants. There are another 16 million under the age of 18. Their stories are particularly important in a place like New York City, often hailed as a mecca of diversity where cultures collide, collaborate, and create. It is estimated that one out...

Home Away From Home: Stop and smell the Coxinha

Written by Emily Barnard Each installment of the series “Home Away from Home” will feature a young woman immigrant and the place in New York City that reminds her most of her home country, providing comfort and easing the stresses of starting life in a new country. Steps from the 36 Avenue N-Train station in Astoria, Queens, there is a Brazilian market that Santos (São Paulo state) native Nara Roberta calls her home away from home. Rio Market sells the...

Home Away from Home: Borsch is good for the soul

Written by Emily Barnard Each installment of the new series “Home Away from Home” will feature a young woman immigrant and the place in New York City that reminds her most of her home country, providing comfort and easing the stresses of starting life in a new country. Five years ago, Anna emigrated from St. Petersburg, Russia, to the US looking for a new start and new opportunities. She spent several years in Los Angeles, but in 2015, when she began to...