Suzi Siegel - Tiny New York

Suzi Siegel, who is little, grew up in a little apartment in the Bronx with very little distance between her window and the elevated Number 5 subway line.

While other little girls played with their three-story Barbie town-houses, she could amuse herself with a miniscule dust ball for hours on end. At the end of a long day investigating the tiny flotsam and jetsam of her household, Siegel would be carried to her bed. There, she forced herself to stay awake until she methodically recounted every word in her vocabulary.

Thus, she is uniquely qualified to write a book full of words about the tiny people, places, and things of New York City that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Her other credentials, which matter very little, are as follows: She has worked as a crime reporter in Detroit and an assistant to Sean Diddy Combs. She earned her masters degree from Harvard and has been to Djibouti. Her first concert was Ozzy Osbourne. Also, she once made out with Matt Dillon.

To my tinies, Rebecca and David Siegel,
my little sister and brother, whose birth earned me the title big for the first and only time in my life.

To my mom, Linda Navarro,
who always let me know that even if my feet couldnt touch the ground, I still belonged at the table.

And to the Chicken Hawk,
who relentlessly pursued Foghorn Leghorn, despite being told it was a fruitless exercise.

U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT

UPPER MANHATTAN AND WEST BRONX

10 SQUARE MILES

Congressman Adriano Espaillat is not only the first Dominican-American to serve in the House, he is also the first formerly undocumented immigrant. His journey from Washington Heights to Washington D.C. has been about taking on the entrenched political machine, and his tiny district is .2 percent the area of the countrys largest one. So its no surprise to anyone his priority is fighting for the little guy.

The 13th is one of the largest districts in terms of the population but, geographically, its one of the smallest. Its very compact. Some members drive for hours and hours through their districts. I have no troubles walking mine on a good day.

Theres no shortage of opinions about whether its easier to represent sent a small district or a big one. Theres a district in Alaska thats a half a million square miles. Mine is ten. I think mines easier. Although the compactness also brings challengesovercrowding, gridlock, traffic. If more people use the same subway station every day, its like your brake pads. Youre gonna have to change them every once in a while.

Its a very diverse district of spunk. You have an iconic place like Harlem, which is the capital of the African diaspora. Then you have East HarlemEl Barriowhich is the cradle of Latinos with a Puerto Rican presence and history there.

Then you have Washington Heights and Inwood, which has its own personality. It has its own pulse, its own attitude. It wakes up one day very happy, the next day very grouchy. Its surrounded by beautiful parks, and its the highest point in Manhattan.

And then you have the northwest Bronx, which is also a special placeAlbanians in Norwood, Vietnamese on University Avenue. You also have West Africans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Mexicans. And some enclaves of Irish and Jewish neighborhoods are still there. Thats the districtvery exciting and very diverse.

I have gone up against the establishment many times in my career. Politics are a full contact sport. I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I got a little spunk: I like challenges, and I dont take no for an answer.

I think anybody whos migrated here had it hard. People like my grandparents, who came in the fifties before the bodegas sold platanos. I always think about how it must have been for them to come here. It takes a kind of innovativeness to be successful when the deck is stacked against you.

Washington D.C. right now is a roller-coaster ride. But Im built for the scenario because I fight. I like to challenge, push, throw an elbow if I have to.

I dont understand the anti-immigrant sentiment either, because the only real Americans are the Native Americans. You know what we did to them, right? People dont know about Juan Rodriguez. He was from Santo Domingo and came here aboard a Dutch ship in 1613. He married a Native American and traded with the Native Americans. He was here before the Pilgrims. Thats why we have a portion of Broadway called Juan Rodriguez Way. In the rest of America, we have the names Colorado, Arizona, Los Angeles, San Antonio, La Florida. They didnt come from the sky. They came from somewhere.

I will consider my career successful if some of the communities that I represent now stay here. If you stay, youre deeply rooted and have ownership. Inwood used to be all Irish. Also the Greeks, the Cubans, and the Jews were here, and they built their dreams, made money, did better, and left.

It would be nice for the next generation to identify with this neighborhood. If my grandkids come back in the future and say, You know what? Lets go to the neighborhood where Grandpa was. Lets go have a good mofongo, a good mang with queso frito.

If they come back and say, This is where it all began, this is the mother ship, then I think Ive done my job.

ETHNIC GROUP

NEW YORK CITY

7,018 TOTAL POPULATION (U.S. CENSUS ESTIMATE)

Artist Gabriel Levicky is a member of one of New York Citys smallest ethnic groups, Slovaks, which make up less than 0.1 percent of the citys population, but that doesnt mean he doesnt have a big story to tell.

I was born in Humenn in eastern Slovakia. Its where the movie The Shop on Main Street was set. It won an Oscar in 1965. Its about the Aryanization of Jewish property by Slovaks, meaning the forced transfer of Jewish businesses into Aryan hands. Its still one of the best films about the Holocaust.

My parents were survivors. My mother was in Auschwitz-Birke-nau, my father in Sachsenhausen, so they met after the war. They instantly fell in love, so to speak. What their concept of love was after this experience is very tricky to say. They never talked about the Holocaust experience.