KWT Perspective: A Place To Build Roots

This week’s KWT Perspective comes from neighbor Shumin Ma, who’s beginning to see that not only does her neighborhood embrace her family–her neighborhood is becoming an extension of that family. Shumin was generous enough to share this post, which originally ran on her blog Le Petit Mason, with our community.

I realized I have become a regular in the Kensington neighborhood of Brooklyn when the local Kabir bakery recognized me after I ordered a regular milk tea and realized I forgot to bring my wallet, they said no problem to pay the next time.  I realized my son has become a regular in this neighborhood every weekday morning when he shouts out “Good Morning, Kim!” to the PS 230 crossing guard at McDonald Avenue and Church Avenue.

This corner of Church and McDonald Avenue in the heart of Kensington is a true crossroad of different cultures “containing Ukrainian, South Asian of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Chinese, Orthodox Jewish, Hasidic, Irish, Polish, Italian, Albanian, Russian, Latino, Mexican, Australian and Caribbean communities.” Back in the early 1980s my in-laws family settled down in this neighborhood from Hong Kong and China because housing was affordable, immigrants could buy a house after a few years of working hard and saving their money. The neighborhood at that time attracted a variety of working-class immigrants.

Today the neighborhood attracts a new type of home-buyers. Many of the families who are priced out of Park Slope and Windsor Terrace have moved in. The recent New York Times article cited: “Kensington is the last affordable neighborhood before you get to Windsor Terrace and Park Slope if you’re trying to move closer to the city.” It is close to Prospect Park, with community gardens, elementary schools,  local playgrounds, accessible by F/G subway and bus lines B35, B67, B69, B103, with commercial streets of Church and McDonald Ave dividing the residential blocks – here you get the quiet feel of living in the suburb with the convenience of living in a city.

In moving to Kensington my children are discovering their paternal grandparents’ roots of how the family first settled here. This September 2014 school year Mason will attend preK in PS 230, the same school that his father attended in the 1980s. This is the neighborhood my husband grew up in and this is also the neighborhood my children will grow up in.  A lot has changed in Kensington in the last 30 years and a lot still will change in the next three decades – but despite all the uncertainty Kensington is a place for my family to discover our old roots and a place to plant new ones.

Shumin Ma was born in a village in China, grew up in NYC’s Chinatown and the East Village, and lived in Paris in her 20s. She is currently raising her two children Mason and Laetitia in Kensington, Brooklyn where her husband grew up. They are raising their children to learn French as a third language. Inspired by her children, Shumin created Le Ballon Rouge — a French language center with preschool, playgroups, family events. Check out her classes at Lark, follow her on Facebook, or contact her directly via LBRfrench@gmail.com.

If you’d like to share your KWT Perspective, including entries from your blog or your response to today’s topic, don’t hesitate to contact editor@kensingtonbk.com. KWT Perspective posts are meant to reflect the opinions of individuals in our community, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Kensington BK. We hope this series will facilitate conversation between neighbors, but as per our general policy, no personal attacks or abusive, inflammatory, or profane comments will be permitted.