Hi everyone! My name is Maria and I'm a sophomore at Haverford. I plan to major in Environmental Studies, maybe with minors in Cities and French?! I am looking forward to this class, specifically learning about cities, such as Rio, that I don't know much about. I am also interested in learning more about the social issues present in cities and exploring solutions to these problems.
To give more of a background on myself- I was born and raised in The Bronx, New York, and I moved to Northern New Jersey (only like 20 minutes from NYC) about 3 years ago. Something I love about New York is its diversity, specifically how so many ethnic groups have been able to settle in different parts of the city and transformed it into their own community. Being Dominican-American, I have seen this first hand with all the Dominican people, culture, and amazing food spots that exist in our own little bubble.
Something that worries me about NYC is the rampant social inequities that can be seen just by comparing more affluent areas (like Manhattan) and poorer areas (Outer boroughs- The Bronx, Brooklyn, etc.). Though this is a problem that most cities have, it is truly shocking to me how 2 completely different worlds in terms of socio-economic privilege can exist so close to each other.