Jamiah Head (Hialeah)

 

Hialeah Reflection

       First, Hello to whomever comes across this blog. As someone who was born and raised in Miami, I know a lot about this place......or so I thought. After these amazing projects, I learned so much about Hialeah. The past, The present, The future, and the progression overtime. It was a pleasure to see how all the challenging work done by these students paid off. And, how my hard work paid off with the video I had the pleasure of creating with my group.

 

             Group one's main goal was to talk about Hialeah's past. They were able to explain things well, even though there is limited information on Hialeah's past. They were able to work very well with what they could find.  One thing I had no idea about was the Hialeah Park Racetrack. It was established in 1979 but in 2001, it discontinued its racing events following a change in state law that denied it exclusive racing dates, thereby disadvantaging it in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Racecourse. I would have never known there was a Racetrack in that area if it was not for these presentations.  Also, there was a women's club founded in Hialeah in 1922. I got happy about this since I tend to hyper fixate on anything related to Women in the 1920s because of the women's suffrage movement and how inspiring those women were.  Something I really liked about this presentation was that the way they set everything up and customized it really felt like we were going back in time with them to learn.  

 

      Compared to the rest of us, Group Two was unique. They did not discuss the past, present, or future. Rather, they talked on Hialeah's general development. They discussed the advancements in the real estate market, infrastructural upgrades, resource availability, and unemployment statistics. Their conversations covered topics such as consumer purchasing trends and company growth trends, emphasizing how these elements were influencing the city's economic environment. They also explored the effects of Cuban migration on the neighborhood, looking at how the newcomers were enhancing Hialeah's cultural and economic life. They looked at the beneficial contributions made by Cuban immigrants, like their business endeavors and the enhancement of regional culture. However, they did not hold back when talking about the problems these immigrants experienced, including social integration, job obstacles, and language barriers. Group Two examined how well community groups and educational initiatives work in the area to support recent immigrants. They discussed legislative proposals and neighborhood projects aimed at facilitating immigrants' adjustment and guaranteeing their ability to actively engage in and contribute to the growth of the city. Group Two's conversations demonstrated their dedication to comprehending and promoting the city's overall growth, in contrast to the rest of us who were more focused on time certain periods. They provided a thorough depiction of Hialeah as a vibrant, changing neighborhood where each development and each obstacle was part of a larger story of advancement. I really enjoyed listening to them and i liked seeing what each of them worked on.  

       Group three is my group. We discussed present day Hialeah and Luckily for us, Finding the information was not the challenging part of this project because there is plenty of information about what Hialeah is like today online. Also, the fact that we live in Miami currently also made it easier for us. Hialeah is no more than a 15–30-minute drive away from us so many of us in the group got to experience present day Hialeah many times.  I recently discovered a festival called Calle 8. Many of my Coworkers at my job are Cuban and they know about this festival, so I was able to get some information about the festival from them and I was glad because the Calle 8 was a particularly important topic in my section of the project.  Like I said earlier, getting information on present day Hialeah was not the hard part. My group decided that it would be a cool idea to do a video with voiceovers instead of a regular slide show.  The hard part was doing the voice overs, which is the part that I thought would be the easiest. I am not a Spanish speaker, so it was hard for me to pronounce Spanish words without messing up which caused me to start over at least 50 times.  I got frustrated with myself because girl, it should not be that hard.  I am still not happy with the results to this day because I feel like my voiceover sounded very rehearsed (it was) but when other students in my group also mentioned they had struggles with their voiceovers, I felt better, and we were all able to laugh about it eventually.   

        Group 4 focused on the future of Hialeah. When listening to their presentation, I thought to myself that I should watch the news channel more because many of these things I have not heard about. They went into detail about the expected population in the future and the future projects and renovations. I am beyond excited about the American Dream Mall. This will be one of the biggest malls in Florida. The fact that it will have a water park is extremely exciting. Due to covid, plans on it got pushed back but fortunately, it is still in the works!  The transportation in the future of Hialeah also looks promising. The “Hia-Line” is a transformative park that will include many activities and transform the now neglected area into something special.  

      To end this blog, I just want to say that the insights and perspectives shared by all were truly enlightening. I have learned so much from everyone. Hialeah is such a vibrant a place and the Cuban culture makes it even better. So much of the history in Miami happened in Hialeah. And in the future, it is just going to get even bigger and better. I cannot go back to that past or travel to the future, but I do know that I wish I were there to experience many things from the past and I am super excited to see Hialeah in the future.