A Sunday in the Park
17:15 Share

I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and you're listening to the Sunday Story from Up First. You know that morning city park smell? It's like the smell of dewy earth and fresh-cut grass and evaporating beer from the night before. I love that smell. Earlier this year, NPR's immigration reporter Jasmine Garst and producer Xavier Lopez spent a day in one of their favorite places in the world, a park in Queens, New York.

It's called Flushing Meadows Park. It's my park. It's a couple of blocks away from where I grew up in Queens. I also live in Queens. Queens has been called the most diverse urban place on the planet. Almost half of its population is made up of immigrants from over 120 countries. And Flushing Meadows Park is a microcosm of immigrant life. This is a place where immigrants from all over the world

Come to get some fresh air and to relax and to really just have fun, you know? It's also, for Xavier and Jasmine, kind of like their backyard, where they can go anytime they need to recharge and remember what really matters, to be in community.

For me, that place is actually a house. Two doors down from my house. It's the home of my dear friend and neighbor, Miss Venetta.

I've lived in my neighborhood for 15 years now. All my kids were born here. And we have gotten to know our neighbors very well between birthday parties and christenings and, you know, helping each other when we get stuck in the snow and just keeping an eye on each other's kids and dogs. Yeah, that's Teddy who's always in the window of my other next door neighbor. Yeah.

And Miss Venetta, she's like the heartbeat of this neighborhood for me.

Her place is surrounded by this nice little porch. And inside, it's always kind of dimly lit. She got some outlets she got to work on. But it's a second home for my kids if they want to show her something or just...

Just say, hey, they'll run down the pavement between our front door and hers. If they lose a tooth, she'll have some money for them. Inside her place, the news is always on, and she's always got a snack in the kitchen. Maybe some pumpkin seeds for Annalise or some toast for Gabrielle or hot dogs for Reggie.

And if I ever need somebody, and boy, have I needed somebody at times, she's been there. Her home has been our safe space. And it's because of that, it's so hard to imagine living anywhere else. But I do plan on starting a fresh chapter soon.

We're planning on moving in the new year. But wherever I go, I know I don't ever want to be too far from Miss Venetta. So we can stop by and visit. On today's episode of The Sunday Story, in the spirit of places that feel like home, we're going to play you a part of an episode that originally ran on NPR's Code Switch podcast. It's a portrait of a community.

a small slice of everyday life for the people who call Queens home. And while you listen, maybe go take a walk to one of your places and stay until the end because I have a little request for you as we go into the new year. An invitation to send in a sort of audio postcard from a place that you call your own. All that after the break.

This message comes from Capital One. Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com slash bank for details. Capital One N.A. Member FDIC.

This message comes from NPR sponsor, the Capital One Venture X Card. Earn unlimited 2X miles on everything you buy. Plus, get access to a $300 annual credit for bookings through Capital One Travel. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. Details at CapitalOne.com.

This message comes from Schwab. At Schwab, how you invest is your choice, not theirs. That's why when it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices. You can invest and trade on your own. Plus, get advice and more comprehensive wealth solutions to help meet your unique needs. With award-winning service, low costs, and transparent advice, you can manage your wealth your way at Schwab. Visit Schwab.com to learn more.

Okay, so first of all, Queens has the best food in all of New York. And this park is excellent in terms of food. I'd say better than any park in New York. Yeah, I think that's probably an accurate assessment. I feel like that's just Queens generally. There's just like a lot of great food here. And I feel like partially it's because there's like a lot of immigrants here. Like nearly half of the people in Queens are immigrants from more than 120 countries.

And you can see some of that represented here at the park. I see a lot of Latinos and Asian folks who make the park their community and people of all ages. Older folks that come here to feed the animals and the young people that come here to just like hang out. They're throughout the park having barbecues with families or picnics with their friends.

And also, there's a huge Ecuadorian community here, and it's growing. Yeah, there's like a lot of Ecuadorian immigrants here, like me. You know, I came here back in 2002. And back then, there was already a small Ecuadorian population here. But in the last couple of years, New York has seen one of the biggest Ecuadorian populations in the U.S. And it's mostly here in Queens. ♪

Right now, we're at the Ecuadorian Festival. This is a festival that happens every year or so in August around Ecuadorian Independence Day. And there's two guys selling ice cream here. They're cousins. Luis is short. He's very handsome. He has a baby face, dimples, and some stubble. He's young, but I noticed there's some grays in there too.

Luis's cousin is tall. He wears glasses and his hair is spiked in a way that makes you feel like he's taller, too. Luis is shy, but his cousin is such a hype man. And they have this dynamic. Think Richie and Carmi in The Bear Vibes, but it's about selling helados at the Ecuadorian festival. Exactly. Cousin. Primo. Cousin.

And his primo keeps pushing Luis to talk to us while pointing an helado at him the entire time. He told me...

So Primo says, you should do it, man. Do the interview. Don't be so shy. And Luis starts telling us his story. About how the situation in Ecuador, it's gotten pretty violent. Yeah, I mean, cartel violence has driven a lot of the recent immigration out of Ecuador. And it's impacted almost every Ecuadorian I've met here in New York. My family included.

So Luis told us he did what so many people do in order to come to the U.S. He hired a coyote, which is sort of like a guide that brings you up through Central America and Mexico to the U.S. border. And he paid this guy about $20,000. Which is not an uncommon fee to get you all the way from South America to the U.S.

Coming to the U.S. is expensive, he says. But he got here. He crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and turned himself in, said he needed asylum. He comes to New York. He has this $20,000 debt to the coyote who brought him here.

So many migrants find themselves in that situation, owing a lot of money, basically to a cartel. And those are not people you want to owe money to. And keep this in mind. When migrants like Luis arrive, they don't have permission to work here legally. So Luis, he gets a job in construction, but he also decides to do street vending gigs. The clock is ticking. Every penny and every second counts.

But he says there's this one additional hurdle.

He's really shy. So he starts reading this book. Atomic Habits by James Clear, a motivational speaker from Ohio. Build better habits, eat healthier, and take more risks. Be more open, be more of a businessman. Grow as a person, challenge yourself. It's very Americana meets Ecuadoriana. So...

When he heard about this Ecuadorian festival happening at the park today, he thought, be a businessman, challenge yourself, go sell some ice cream. Still, he says, when he got here, he kind of froze up. Like, you've got to stand here amidst hundreds of people, really loud music blaring, other vendors yelling over you.

And then he thought about his aunt. When he was a kid back in Ecuador, Luis used to sell flowers on the street with her. Roses, yellow roses, tulips, all kinds of tulips.

And she would tell him, listen, you can't afford to be shy. So he says he repeated this mantra. I gotta keep going. I gotta fight. I gotta go back home for my dad one day. I gotta keep going. And he took a deep breath and he yelled it. Ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream, ice cream.

All of this ice cream talk is making me hungry. You wanna go get some food? Let's go sit down and eat something. Mmm. Oh, it's really good. You like it? Yeah. It's so nice out today. I'm just, I'm really glad we got to do this today. Yeah.

It's kind of the perfect day to do this. I'm really glad we got out here. I'm just so glad that we get to spend a day at the park. And I really, like, so I'm an immigration reporter. And I work a lot between, I spend time at the U.S.-Mexico border, and then I come back to New York. And this last trip to the U.S.-Mexico border was really hard. Is it okay if I talk about something kind of heavy? Yeah.

I met a mom who I just crossed and she had a toddler. They were actually from Ecuador and he was passed out. They had been walking all night and he was passed out and something had stung him in the eye and he just looked like someone had beaten the shit out of him. And, you know, it's just, she was like, please help me.

And I flagged down, eventually a border patrol car came by and I flagged it down and I was like, "Hey, there's a minor. I think he's probably like five years old. He's passed out." And the guy just drove off. And eventually, like an hour later, they came back. But we were trying to get this kid to stay awake. This kid looked like Rocky or something. It was bad.

In the next couple of days, I couldn't cry. I was like, why the fuck can't I cry? Then I got back to New York. And I get back to Queens. I take a day off. I grab a coffee from those little carts. I'm like, I'm going to go to the park with a coffee. This person, the coffee stand person says, do you want cream or sugar? And I just started sobbing.

And I realized a couple of things. I realized what an important space a park is for me, like a safe space. And I also realized like that mom and that kid, I don't know, like I'll never, I don't know where they are. I don't know. They were heading to the Carolinas, I think, but you never know. And one day they will get to have a picnic in a park like this one.

You know? Like, they will have a life. I just met them on the worst day of their life. And they will get to be somewhere like this. It just really made me think about, I don't want my reporting to just be the worst day of immigrants' lives. I also want it to be a normal day or a beautiful day. I'm sorry, did I ruin our day at the park? No, no.

I didn't mean to ruin our day at the park. That's why I wanted to do this so bad. And to hang out with you. Yeah, you're cool, Jasmine. Do you want to walk a little more? Yeah, let's go. Come on. So listeners, it's me again. Remember that walk I told you to take? Where did you go? This is our last episode of the year. And we wanted to step into the new year with a question for you all.

What's a special place in your life? One that you visit weekly or even daily when you feel depleted, it, it fills you up. It can be anywhere, your community center, your gym, a weekly singing class. Um,

even be a very special aisle at your local grocery store. What is that place in your community that lifts you up? If you have a place like this, we want to know about it. You can send a two to three minute voice memo to us at upfirstsunday at npr.org. You can even include some sounds from that space. Remember, this is radio, so we love to hear good sounds. Tell

Tell us your name and where you're speaking to us from. And we might share it in an episode this coming year. Thank you for spending your Sundays with us. Till next year, I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is a Sunday Story.

This episode of The Sunday Story was produced by Justine Yan. Gilly Moon mastered the episode. The Code Switch episode was produced by Xavier Lopez, Jasmine Garst, Margaret Serino, and Christina Carla. It was edited by Courtney Stein and Leah Dinella. It was mastered by James Willits. ♪

The Sunday Story team includes Andrew Mambo, Jenny Schmidt, and Liana Simstrom. Irene Noguchi is our executive producer. Up First is back tomorrow with all the news you need to start your week. Until then, have a great rest of your weekend. Happy New Year!

This message comes from Energia, where everyone can invest directly in solar energy projects across the world's most profitable renewable markets. Since inception, Energia has helped investors realize a 12% return while earning steady monthly dividends.

It's a smart, impactful way to diversify outside the stock market with real assets. Learn more at Energia.com slash NPR. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All investments carry risk, including the potential loss of principal.

This message comes from NPR sponsor, Sotva, maker of quality, handcrafted mattresses. Founder and CEO, Ron Rutzen, shares one of their core values. At Sotva, we believe sleep does unlock a superpower. When you wake up and you're totally refreshed, you go after things more.

And it all starts with being on the right mattress. And that's what Safa has been inspired by from the day that we started. To learn more, go to s-a-a-t-v-a dot com slash NPR. This message comes from GiveWell. GiveWell provides rigorous, transparent research about the best giving opportunities so that donors can make informed decisions about high-impact giving.

To learn more, go to givewell.org and pick podcast and enter NPR at checkout.