Somewhere on the subway ride to Coney Island yesterday, there was a part of the voyage where we had an Orthodox Jew sitting across from us, two Chinese women next to her, a Russian man reading a Russian novel in Russian across from him, a Latina behind him, and a few African Americans at the other end of the train. In fact. there were no other people who were, by strict definition, "white."
Compared to life in Bowling Green, this is a world away. Most of my students think that they are down with diversity because they have one black family in their hometown. It really highlights just how insular life in the midwest can be. Reality is diverse. Reality involves people sort of like you, people a little bit like you, and people nothing like you at all.
It's one of the coolest things about New York so far.
1 comment:
I loved the non-whiteness of public transit in NYC. It reminded me of Toronto where at any one time, you're likely to hear at least 3 non English languages spoken.
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