The City That Finally Slept

Every fall, over 26,000 undergraduate students migrate to New York City from all across the globe.  These students excelled in their prior ventures all to attend New York University and reap  the opportunities that come from living in New York.  But Covid hit New York harder than any other U.S. city, so why did students decide to find a new home in a ghost town?

“I always tell my friends that I am blessed, we are blessed to be here right now,” said Juan Diego Becerra, 18, of Irvine, Cal.  “It’s New York. It’s the capital of the world.  Even though there’s not as much to do as there was before, I know that there’s so many things still to do, so many people to meet.  I love New York, right now, as it is.”

Becerra was unsure if he was going to be able to study in New York this semester.  All the travel restrictions inhibited many NYU students from returning to campus. 

“At the time, I was living in Colombia, and so many of the airports were closed,” said Becerra.  But after much effort to leave Colombia, Becerra is now in New York, and has been since August.

“It was totally worth it for me to come to the city,” said Becerra.  “I met friends, got a chance to hang out with new people, and even go to in-person classes for a bit.  Also, the rooftops!”

Becerra has not lost faith in New York. 

“New York is going to recover, but it’s going to take time,” said Becerra.  “People have left, so that means not many people are spending money, hurting the economy.  I think recovery will take a while, at least one year, but it will definitely recover.”

Riley Griem, 18, came to New York starstruck, having grown up in a small town, Exoder, New Hampshire.  

“After Covid, I didn’t expect to come here at all, so I am actually really thankful we got to come to campus,” said Griem.  “But obviously everything is still shut down.”

Transition…

“Seeing New York like this, it’s never going to happen again, where it’s so dead at night,” said Griem.  But she finds wonder in the quiet of the city.  “You can go to Times Square and there’s no one there.  It is kind of eerie, but it is also beautiful because you can take in the city for what it is.”

Griem’s love for the city has lasted since her childhood dreams to one day live in New York.  And now that she’s here, she is not taking any opportunity for granted.

“To describe pre-Covid New York in three words, I would say lively, diverse, and full of opportunities,” said Griem. “New York during Covid is barren, but still opportunistic and still beautiful.”

“Either way, even with the shutdowns, the opportunities are still there, and I know that hopefully soon everything will clear up,” said Griem. “Just being here in general, going down to the Promenade and looking at Manhattan and just thinking ‘I live here,’ like that’s insane.  It’s a hub for literally everything.  Just because things are online doesn’t mean everything is gone.”

Students coming from far away may still find beauty in the new, quiet New York, but what about native New Yorkers?

Matias Fernandez Sasso, 18, of Manhattan has spent his whole life in “The City That Never Sleeps.”  But the transition from the New York he has known to one striken by the coronavirus was difficult for him to adjust to.

“I had alway thought that going to college in New York would be the same as living here,” said Sasso.  But the New York of today is very different to that of Sasso’s childhood.

“One of New York’s selling points is that everything is open late, always, said Sasso.  “While things are opening up again, it is still pretty bad.”

However, he sees some advantages to the new calm.  

“It’s actually kind of nice to see the city empty,” said Sasso.  “You can go to Times Square and it’s not packed.  You can explore all the touristy areas and they’re empty.  It’s a huge change.”

While New York may be contradicting the notion that it is “The City That Never Sleeps,” one motto reigns true: the people still “heart New York.”

Conservative Conversation on Biden Victory

On October 24, Hector Vasquez, 29, of Bushwick, cast his vote for Donald Trump.  Two weeks later, CNN announced former Vice President Joe Biden as the projected victor.  

“As a conservative, I was hoping Donald Trump would win, not in a landslide, because we have been polarized in this country, but at least in a more definitive way,” said Vasquez.  

While the current count recognizes Biden as the president-elect, suspicions of voter interference and fraud are further delaying an accurate answer.

“I know that I received ballots for people that didn’t even live in my apartment,” said Vasquez, who voted in-person in fear of this very situation.  “There have been so many questions after the last election regarding interference from foreign countries, and now we have another problem with potential fraudulent ballots.” 

Georgia will now be recounting votes by hand to dispute fraudulent behavior in Biden’s 14,000 vote lead.  Trump is calling for Wisconsin to recount, hoping to win those 10 electoral votes.  Philadelphia is now facing unfounded accusations of voter fraud.

“If Trump takes this to court and it proves fraud, there will only be more riots and more concerns over the next four years,” said Vasquez.  “There will continue to be distrust in our government system after allowing this to happen.”

While it is unsure what the results of a recount might be, there is another solution amidst all this chaos: a concession from Trump.

“If Trump concedes we might be able to move on, but then this begs to differ, can we trust our government to hold a fair election,” said Vasquez.  “This is the basis of our democracy, we vote for someone every four years and if someone can cheat it really makes it seem like our vote doesn’t matter.”

With the past two presidential elections rife with accusations of voter fraud and foreign interference, the accuracy of the American electoral system is being questioned.  Is there any way to ensure a fair election?

Here, Vasquez proposed that the U.S. adopts a voting system similar to that of Australia.

“They have mandatory voter identification,” said Vasquez.  “Easy. If we need an ID for a flight, an ID to buy alcohol, we should need an ID to vote.”

“I think anyone over the age of 18 should automatically be forced to register to vote, and if they opt out, they have to pay a penalty, just as they do in Australia,” said Vasquez.

Who is a Trump Supporter?

Hector Vasquez, 29, of Brooklyn, does not fit the stereotypical image of a Trump voter.  

As a Latino who grew up in the Brownville projects, Vasquez is no stranger to discrimination and hardship.  His childhood saw murders and gang violence, characteristics that Trump attributes to Latinos.  But, now, Vasquez is a successful brand strategist and on Oct. 24, New York’s first day of early voting, he cast his ballot for the Trump, Pence ticket. 

For the very first time, New Yorkers have the opportunity to vote early in a general election.  Hector Vasquez, 29, joined the ranks of 1.1 million early voters, on the first day of early voting.

“The pandemic is not really something that scares me,” said Vasquez. “I mean I take social distancing seriously.  I wear a mask. I stay six feet apart, but I felt that, to make sure that my vote was more secure, I would rather vote in-person rather than send it via post.”

At the Kings County polling station on Gates Avenue, Vasquez waited three hours before casting his ballot for Trump. 

Vasquez did not have much to say on  his reasons for voting for Trump, only that he is distrustful of the former Vice President Joe Biden.  In his opinion, he chose the lesser of two evils.

“At the end of the day, I feel like the country has been polarized, probably for the past 12 years, in two very  different directions,” said Vasquez. “I am hoping we can get back to a place where we can accept whatever the results are.”

These feelings are not shared by the majority.  Across the country, businesses are preparing for unrest.  New York businesses have started boarding up as early as Oct. 31.  Everywhere from the St. Regis Hotel to the Delancey Street Burger King have secured their windows with plywood.  

“The American people will speak,” said Vasquez. “Whoever wins, I think that should be the end of it. No more excuses of any intrusion in the elections, because at the end of it, the American people vote and we are the ones who make these decisions.”

Broken Backs- The Strain of Leading the BLM Movement

MINNESOTA- The police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, have spurred protests globally and left Minnesotan teens of color stressed out and struggling. But the support from their community has renewed their hope for change.

“The exhaustion comes from when everyone wants to now understand and puts the effort on the people of color, the minorities to answer the questions when they aren’t ever black and white answers,” said Naeem Williams, 20, of Hugo, Minn.. 

Williams was no stranger to the constant questioning from non-POC. As a black, gay man in a white suburb at a predominantly white high school, Williams found himself answering the difficult questions.

“Absolutely, I was put in the position of being a spokesperson for minorities when I was in school,” said Williams.

But this summer, Williams was not alone in his fight for justice.

He described sitting among masses of protestors in front of Minnesota’s capitol building in St. Paul. 

“Even in this pool of people you do not know, you see people that you do know,” he said. 

“It’s the feeling that you’re not alone and you were never alone, no matter who is out there protesting, what matters is that people are out there and people are making their voices heard.” 

But some teens are not hopeful.

“You can’t stop racism, it’s going to happen forever,” said Anjali Gutterud, 19, of Stillwater, Minn.

Gutterud also faced discrimination at her school. As an adopted, biracial girl with white parents, she often found herself straddling the lines between being white or black. 

“I’m fighting for black lives matter, but I’m just not black enough because [I’m] too black for the white community, too white for the black community,” said Gutterud. 

This lack of community did not stop Gutterud from protesting for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Instead, Gutterud draws her motivation from outside forces,

“[I march] to show my younger nieces how to stand up, in the right way, for what they believe in,” she said. “Also, being a music teacher, I want my students to see the right way of being progressive. Most of my motivation is external but it does make me feel better knowing I’m not just sitting around watching the world burn.” 

Meyri Ibrahim, 18, of Eagan, Minn. was at the protest on the I-35W bridge when truck driver, Bogdan Vechirko, ran his semi through the swarms of people. 

“It was so scary,” Ibrahim said. “Before the semi truck came, it was a peaceful protest. We walked on 35W and sat there as speakers spoke. Jacob Frey, Mayor of Minneapolis was about to come speak, and, all of a sudden, people are screaming and running. I didn’t realize what was happening…I fell as people were running but got up and moved to the median.”

No one was injured during the incident and this scare did not weaken Ibrahim’s resilience. She is hopeful that things will get better.

“Being at George Floyd’s memorial brought me hope…it was a sign that so many people in my community cared about lives like mine,” said Ibrahim. “I never want to lose hope that things can get better. So many people have used this summer as a way to grow and reflect on how they have experienced privilege…It’s sad that the death of another Black man is what it took, but I think people are really willing to listen.”