FORTY CENT TIP
Stories of New York City Immigrant Workers
“That’s the title of a very remarkable book, the work of sixty students from three different New York City public high schools — Queens International HS, Brooklyn International HS and Manhattan International HS. Through essays and photographs, Forty Cent Tip tells the tales of immigrant workers in New York City, from the Columbian woman who cleans the floors of a dentist’s office by night, dreaming of the day her daughter could become a dentist, to the asbestos worker from the Czech republic who worries that he is “breathing my own death.” It is the story of the dreams and the sorrows of the men and women who make this city great — an Afghani taxi driver, a Chinese manicurist, a laundromat worker from Indonesia, a hospital clerk from Cameroon, and a Bengladeshi street hawker, among others.
The book was the result of work the students undertook in their respective schools, with the coaching of their teachers. All three International High Schools teach students who are recent immigrants and English Language Learners, and many of the immigrant workers portrayed in the book are their own relatives and friends”.
by Leo Casey
