Immokalee is a land where agriculture is and has always been extremely important. In Immokalee, the Seminole tribe is represented as one of the main communities. When the government decided to drain the everglades, this greatly affected the Seminoles by destroying their means of transportation. Immokalee had an abundance of farm work and most families that lived there had farms right outside their homes. People mostly ate what they farmed but did not shy away from exporting and importing. Immokalee is clearly a symbol of the “old” American Dream. This is mainly seen because they farmed within their own lands and viewed education not as highly as learning the ropes of the fields.
Fort Meade is my hometown and not many people know where Fort Meade is located on the map. I find Immokalee extremely similar to Fort Meade. In my hometown there are a lot of cattle ranches, orange groves, and farms; and we use these different sources to support our families and export to other towns. Fort Meade is very small and people go to my town to start off their new lives and begin a family. In ten years, I see Immokalee and Fort Meade both growing and becoming more populated and popular. I think they will both continue to prosper and flourish into bigger societies.
I would definitely agree that Immokalee is part of the old American Dream but I also think that it is changing with the casinos. Also I grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico and Miami, Florida which are very populated places. I believe that in this small town it is very difficult to predict the future but as with any place one thing is for certain the population will keep on growing. I will someday love to live at least a year in a small town like Immokalee or Fort Meade just to see how it is. All I know is the busy life, work, school, activities one has in the city and the big one traffic. I would love to live in this small town and learn how to farm, rise animals, and much more.
ReplyDeleteTo start off I would have to say that I did not know were Fort Meade is but know I do. (thanks goggle map). Looking at the road it look like a small town with farms our it. Me being born in San Juan and then move to Miami two big cities I will agree with you that Immokalee is the Old America Dream but not for long. With the casino expansion and the University it won’t be long for them to change to the New American dream which focus on education.
ReplyDeleteI believe that some cities are destined to be known as those "small town" cities that are bases on agriculture. Those are the towns that have the most history and seem to prosper fine on their own. Where i'm from there is a town called Plant City, and I know that is is nothing like Imokalee but is it's own sense they both are small towns that are growing, but no so much changing their roots. I personally would be disappointed to see Imokalee transform into a "New American Dream" town. They have so much history there and I think so far they have done a spectacular job at preserving that history.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it crazy how much swamp they drained! I mean, a whole civilization and ecosystem had to adapt and change every bit of their usual life style. I agree too that I don't want to see Immokalee change into a big city, because when that happens, future generations forget where their roots are. It would be nice to see that community continue to flourish based on its agriculture, but in one of the videos they mentioned that growing and shipping crops is becoming more expensive. So we'll just have to wait and see what happens. (I couldn't find Fort Meade either lol)
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