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February 23, 2007

OBE - McPherson and Mistry

Coffman Union makes sense as a place to test both Wirth’s and Jacobs’ hypotheses because it is a space which functions both as a hub for interactions and transactions at the University and also exists as a place for people to do solitary acts (such as homework) in a very public environment. In our essay we first analyzed Wirth’s hypothesis of categorization. We then discussed Jacobs’ “urban ballet” as it relates to a student union setting.
Wirth states in his essay “Urbanism as a Way of Life” that where there are numerous people, those people are often divided into categories and the individuality of the people disappears. A place that this is effectively displayed is in the Coffman Union on the University of Minnesota campus. Being the union, many people of all different types; be it cultural, racial, or age differences, just to name a few; gather. And also being one of the most populated buildings on campus, it is easy to see people as groups more so than as individuals.
We started on a Friday afternoon on the second floor where most of the student organizations are located. We felt that student organizations are the root of people splitting into smaller categorical groups, and thus we might find more interaction. These consisted of racial, cultural and GLBT offices; so naturally, people who would fit into these categories are often found around in the area. The common area on the floor is located in a centralized place, not being particular to any one kind of people. This seating area consists of chairs and couches, and is, in general, a very socially welcoming place. The seating is divided into two groups instead of one large space. We noticed that the people there were there for many different reasons (more reasons that on the main floor), being to study, socialize, sleep, or to simply sit. We also noticed, to that end, that the socializing people took up one seating group while the other people, who were more quiet and self contained, were in the other group. This seemed like a natural way for people to split up, since people who want to study want a quiet atmosphere so they naturally broke apart from the conversing atmosphere. Furthermore, the socializing people were of one ethnic race and were very homogenous in general, while the self contained people were very heterogeneous, but that seemed irrelevant because these people weren’t interacting and the chances that they would all be from one ethnic background were slim.
Also, observing people who were walking around all seemed to be directed towards a purpose, unlike the main floor where some people were walking slowly, or were waiting. People who were walking with two or more people were usually from the same ethnic background. Along the sides of the floor were the offices of the student organizations. Most of these offices were populated by people of one category, depending on what the organization was. We felt that this showed that people were drawn to groups that pertain to them and make them feel as if they are a part of a smaller group and are able to identify with a certain group of people instead of just being a student at a large university.
We then went to the main floor to observe how the people there interacted with each other, or if they interacted at all. We found the latter to be true. There were very little people socializing and more people were studying. The physical environment was three distinct seating areas divided by walking paths. This made it difficult for intimate interaction. Even though it is one of the largest open spaces in the building, it was not comparatively loud. Everyone was self contained to some extent. We also found that the population was heterogeneous. This disagrees with Wirth’s statement that a large group of people lose individuality and are categorized. The only category we were able to identify was ‘student’, which was everyone.
Unlike the main floor, the second floor agrees with Wirth in that the rooms are divided for purpose of creating student organizations, and thus people lose their individuality.
One thing that people on both floors had common was the very strong use of media, be it laptops, mp3 players, or cell phones. These were all used in both private shared circumstances. Private use was more prevalent on the main floor while there was an equal mix of private and shared on the second floor.
Wirth’s hypothesis is very much exhibited on the second floor where people identify others as being a part of a group rather than as an individual. Although this statement doesn’t apply to all environments, it is very much prevalent.

Jane Jacobs’ romantic look at city life in her book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, takes issue with the city planners of the mid 20th century. She saw the planners as not taking advantage of what already works about the great cities of the United States. Jacobs work shed new light on staples of city life and inverted their value systems. Jacobs saw the densely populated urban streets as the best avenue to safety. The clear delineation of public and private space in a street setting makes it friendly to self-surveillance and also gives a clear impression of when a person is not wanted. The self-policing of a neighborhood is further assisted by another pastime Jacobs felt that the city planners of her day were not accounting for, people watching. On page 117 (in the City Reader) Jacobs says that “the sight of people attracts still other people”. Jacobs says that the architectural designers seek quiet and isolation. In our research we tested what forms of self-policing, people watching and other forms of “urban ballet” took place at Coffman Union at the University of Minnesota.
Jacobs’ philosophy demands a clear demarcation between public and private spaces. Coffman would be considered a pseudo-public place because it is open to the public but its clear role as the student union for the University of Minnesota marks it from a space that is fully open to the public. This aside, the way that interactions between students and other users of the area play out makes it appropriate for Jacobian analysis. A private security force (alongside a nearby police station) has been seen escorting vagrants out of the building on occasion.
In our research we wanted to explore how people-watching fit into other activities that students were involved as well as how different locations within Coffman elicited different types of social interactions. We felt that the more secluded areas of Coffman may be home to more developed and personal interactions where a sense of self-policing and comfort may take precedence over a more typically urban protection of property and categorizing of people. In contrast we believed that the first floor main entrance of Coffman would be ripe with traditional people watching built upon “non-interactions” between strangers and a scene more akin to a train-station than to an interactive student union.
Our first location was the central seating area of the second floor. The second floor of Coffman is home to all of the Student Activities Organizations. These organizations include the Black, African, Asian, Indian and Pakistani Student Unions and the Gay Straight Student Committee and numerous others. These groups offer a more homogeneous meeting and organizing spaces for minority groups (used in the most inclusive sense of the word, not strictly racially) who exist at the University of Minnesota within a predominately white setting. We hypothesized that students who use the areas outside of these offices to congregate may exhibit some of the same in-group homogeneity.
On Friday afternoon half of the seating area was home to a group of Asian students that fluctuated between eight and thirteen people. This group was visibly close with each and spoke intimately about topics and had history together that they called upon in their conversation. The group was composed at first equally of females and males (four and four) and the group was joined by tables and laps filled with laptops, Sprites, textbooks and food packages. The latecomers were all females and they focused their conversation off of one chair of an already present female towards the floor and off to the side of the central conversation. All students were undergraduate aged and dressed in winter appropriate student attire including sweatpants, jeans, hoodies and jackets. One of the males of the group was looking at a Maxim style, barely soft-core porn website which another one of the males discovered when he looked over his shoulder. When the men started talking about this, the most vocal female asked “are you checking out chicks?” loud enough for people beyond their vicinity to hear. Their group enjoyed a hearty laugh and the more isolated people-watchers in the adjoining section grinned. The vicarious enjoyment of a group of a people interacting in a personal manner seems to be sought after by the solitary students who study on the second floor. When the group of Asian students began playing rap music loudly off of one of their laptops no other students complained nor did they seem perturbed. Given all the opportunities at the University for traditional, quiet, study environments students studying at Coffman seem to seek out the “ballet” qualities of the environment. The students were also involved in low-level plagiarism, encouraging a fellow student to “just talk like me, and make it 4 pages double spaced, not longer.”
The students on the other side of the seating area shared more in common with the solitary students on the 1st floor. On the 1st floor hushed conversations on cell phones or text messaging, solitary and more consistent studying and less area per person were observable similarities between the solitary second floor studiers and differentiated both groups from the more socially interactive group of Asian students mentioned earlier. The students who were studying alone were a much larger group (forty plus students) downstairs and much more heterogeneous. The students generally were wearing or sitting on their jackets and were often minimizing their space by keeping their backpacks between their legs and all their papers directly in front of them. The large number of people and people watching eyes does accommodate entering into certain more personal activities that could be more hazardous in the more secluded second floor, namely, sleeping. The constant influx of people and watching eyes guarantees that a would-be criminal would be easily discovered were he/she to harass or steal from a sleeping person. Both women and men were among the sleeping students (3 out of the 40 were legitimately sprawled out in full-on sleep mode).
These two settings exemplify different types of safety that are established by different types of congregations. The social group on the second floor creates a social safety in friendship, numbers and segregation from a larger setting, such as the more open and busy 1st floor. Their property is also guarded and easily walked away from due to the trust established between them. They are also comfortable playing music through speakers and talking about plagiarism and sexuality because they have created a zone of personal space. The students in the more public zones create a safety with their community without speaking it or establishing it. The number of students constantly present in these areas protects the typical concerns of a student including general quiet, protection of private property while sleeping, and an ability to people watch while doing homework.

Abha Mistry (Wirth)
Sean McPherson (Jacobs)

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Posted by Abha at 03:17 PM | | Add a Comment (1)

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o.b.e. 3: the use of skyways=exclusion?

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on my lunch break, I traverse the Skyway of Downtown Minneapolis and spend my precious 60 minutes in search of something to make my relatively dull workday a bit more enjoyable. While usually that ‘something’ is three chicken tacos from Chipotle, today (Friday, February 23rd) I spent my break in search of something different. In the confines of the Skyway it is often difficult to forget that a sidewalk still exists down below, and the differences between the two were exactly what I set out to observe. Jane Jacobs argues that the action on sidewalks creates interaction, and certainly the significant levels of action occurring in the skyway each weekday can create the same ‘sidewalk ballet’ that she describes in her work that helps maintain safety and create togetherness. However, Engels would argue that though the Skyway is a ‘public’ place, its elevation from the sidewalk and proximity to the wealth and prosperity of the Downtown corporate center resemble the efforts of the wealthy in Manchester to bypass the poverty that exists within their city.
Walking both the Skyway and the sidewalk between the intersections of 2nd Avenue & 6th Street and Nicolett Mall & 9th Street, I hoped to notice differences between the types of people that used either the Skyway or the sidewalk down below, the types of security measures or policing efforts used and the amount of interaction noticed between passersby. The Skyway scene between 1100am and 200pm is a bit of a spectacle for anyone who has never encountered thousands of starving business executives on the prowl for something to eat. The majority of people within the Skyway are found in some sort of business formal attire, which generally equates to a suit or a shirt & tie for men and either skirts or dress pants with heels for women. It is rare during this time of day to see anyone in any sort of attire less ‘dressy’ than this unless it is ‘Casual Friday’ or you are roaming the Skyway section very near to Target on 9th Street & Nicolett Mall. There is also little diversity among race, as most of the people passing by are white. The pace of the Skyway is hurried at its slowest and frantic at its worst, depending on that particular section’s proximity to a popular restaurant or a bank, but most people seem to be on a mission with a plan that involves walking very quickly . A great number of people I observed were either walking alone and talking on a cell phone or walking with one other person involved in a conversation. It is rare to see large groups of people walking, and if there happens to be one it is clear that their slower pace is an obstacle for others attempting to get to wherever they are going in such a hurry. Aside from those pairs of people walking and talking, interaction is really quite minimal and this utilitarian style is highly visible in the restaurant service within the Skyway. Most of the restaurant options located in the Skyway are chains that offer food to go, but the service there takes ‘fast-food’ to an entirely different level. The goal of these restaurants is to get a customer in quickly, served quickly and out even faster. The longest I have ever waited for a meal on my lunch break was 3.5 minutes. This leaves little time to interact with the person waiting on you or anyone else, for that matter, and this is very representative of the entire Skyway experience. The fast pace of the Skyway greatly contrasts what I found on the sidewalk between the same areas.
While there were many people dressed similarly walking down 6th Street, the nearer I got to Nicolett Mall the fewer ‘business formal attire’ I noticed. More people were found in casual dress of either sweatshirts/pants, heavy winter coats and jeans. The sidewalks are desolate in comparison to the hustle and bustle of the Skyway, but the atmosphere is also starkly different. The pace of motion is closer to meandering than to walking, aside from the occasional pedestrian running to catch a bus. While traffic is heavy, density on the sidewalk is not. *In warmer months, restaurants that offer outdoor seating attract many more people out of the Skyway and onto the sidewalk, so the emptiness is not year-round.* Though there are fewer people, the sidewalk population is more racially diverse and has a much higher percentage of African Americans than the Skyway. People linger at bus stops and engage in conversations with multiple people while waiting or sitting, which was more interaction than I witnessed in the Skyway. The most striking difference between the people on the sidewalk and those in the Skyway were the few people on the sidewalk who seemed to have nowhere else to go except the sidewalk and the man sitting on the sidewalk with a cardboard sign asking for food or money. While I cannot say with certainty whether the people I saw were homeless or severely impoverished, the fact that they were present on the sidewalk but not in the Skyway drew some interesting conclusions. The other difference that I noted was in security and policing. My observation of the sidewalk failed to find any police officers on foot patrol and only noted squad cars passing en route to another (presumably) distant location. In the Skyway, however, security guards are visible on a regular basis despite the continual visual absence of any loitering or ‘suspicious activity’ during my lunch break. While Jane Jacobs may argue that the activity within the Skyway creates ‘eyes on the street’ and a sort of self-policing, the presence of security guards leads me to believe that the perceived level of safety within these corporate hang-outs is a result of exclusion and removal of the people I found on the sidewalk. Though both the sidewalk and the Skyway are public property and public spaces, the people who use each are not the same, even though the only difference between the spaces is elevation. Engels would argue that the Skyways in Downtown Minneapolis are similar to the efforts used by the wealthy entrepreneurs in Manchester to bypass the poverty and misfortune that they do not desire to be part of or to witness. Although the Skyways are often portrayed as an additional layer of profitability and activity for the Downtown area, the difficulty of accessibility to the entire public and the reliance upon security guards to create a specific kind of atmosphere supports Engels’ ideas of the bypass of poverty by the wealthy and fails to support Jacobs’ ideas about the ‘sidewalk ballet.’

Posted by Amber Melaney at 03:29 PM | | Add a Comment (4)

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I concur wholeheartedly. Those suits are just toobusy for dancing. They gotta get to the next big meeting, or maybe just the bathroom, who knows. My bank has a branch in a building on Nicollet and while there was construction I sometimes took a skyway down to the other side of the street, stopping in Neiman Marcus to grab some free candy from the perfume section(last summer). Anyway, people either ignore you or look at you oddly if you don't look professional. Like you said, skyways much closer to the Manchester model of things than the Greenwich(sp.? It is cold in Minnesota, but the skyways have come to mean more than just an escape from the weather, in my opinion.

Posted by: Tavia | February 26, 2007 08:48 PM

valerie helped me to identify some things i could have done differently or expanded on in this ethnographic exercise to make it a bit juicier. i guess i may have addressed some issues of capital interest and utilitarian relationships that resonated a little more closely with the capitalist ideas of marx and the secondary relationships discussed by wirth. just to address the fact that they may have also had a place in my observations of the sidewalk/skyway 'ballet' would have been beneficial. it would have also been more helpful to have some direct quotes from jacobs and engels as opposed to paraphrasing. although the ideas i was trying to convey still came across, quotations can always be helpful in really pinning down where i was looking to with my inferences for validation or negation.

Posted by: amber | February 28, 2007 08:38 AM

You did a great job! Engels would be rolling his eyes if he could see the skyway map in Mpls. Especially since they do not accommodate your average tax paying citizen (I think most open at 10am and close at 8pm)but rather to ease mobility for the white collar crowd.

Posted by: Anonymous | March 2, 2007 04:13 PM

Yeah...you'd think I have this blog thing down by now. That last comment was posted by Val.

Posted by: Valerie | March 2, 2007 04:14 PM

February 25, 2007

OBE # 4 Rich and Richer

Frederich Engel’s observations of the sharply separated quarters that the working class resides in versus that of the upper class intrigued me and prompted me to search out an analogous area here in Minnesota. Marx would also come into play later in my adventure but I wont get ahead of myself. My hypothesis was that even a “rich” area of a town could be considered working class by comparing it to an area comprising of “true” capitalists. I wanted to see class seperation taken to a different level.
I was at first first going to head out to Lake Calhoun and compare that with the neighboring poor regions or something of that nature, but that seemed too easy. Why not go for the gold on this one? I decided to trek back to my hometown of Eden Prairie, Minnesota where the median household income is over $80,000. My decision to do my venturing here came because I wanted to prove (to myself) that an area simply known as “rich” can, in fact, have to deal with the same strict separation of classes, like Manchester.
To those unfamiliar with Eden Prairie, it is ranked as one of the top 10 places to live; not in Minnesota, but in the US. That alone would leave one to think that there is no way that a class separation could be so prevalent here, right? Wrong.
A quick overview of EP: It is a city with just one high school, lots of SUVs and typical suburban layout. Yet, these are products of the working class as I was about to find out. There is another area of Eden Prairie that brings capitalism to life and that is where I made my journey. The name of this place? Simply, Bear Path.
Just who makes up Bear Path? True Capitalists. These homes are reserved for people making money by using people. CEOs, venture capitalists and owners of large businesses. There are the occasionally lawyers and doctors but only those truly rich and on top of their respective food chains reside here.
Bear Path was designed (by Jack Nicklaus) around a golf course but an outsider would never know that. Why? 15-foot high bush fences followed by metal gates. It took me a good ten minutes and quite a few scrapes before I finally scaled the fences. And you would have to climb over the fence to see the area since this is a gated community with a guard on duty 24/7. I tried to just walk in on foot first but he stopped me right away and asked me for residential ID. The guard wore a uniform with a bear logo as a badge and a similar looking patch on his shoulder, which I found quite comical.
As soon as I got in I realized just how exotic this oasis really was. The homes were like castles here. I saw one for sale at the price tag of $1,250,000 and it wasn’t even the most awe-inspiring. The whole neighborhood was created surrounding the golf course/lake and is actually build in the shape of a bear’s head. The place looked immaculate; like I was walking inside a postcard. There was no trash to be found on the streets or any excess snow built up along the sidewalks although much snow had fallen.
I was walking down the street on Bear Path Trail and when I saw my first inhabitant. It was a man that appeared to be in his 40s checking his mail. He wore a well tailored black suit with a red tie and he looked terribly busy and a bit anxious. I nodded in his direction and he asked me if I was looking for someone or needed any help. I said I was just taking a tour. He then proceeded to tell me that this wasn’t a library and I couldn’t browse. Before he could threaten me with security or any other actions I left on my own accord.
I went back to my neighborhood, which happens to be less than a quarter mile from Bear Path and one of the neighborhoods that surround the gated community. It is an average suburbanites dream. There are no fences to speak of here. People are free to come and go as they please without hassle. Why? People of this working class share the same income, same homes and same basic goods. The fear of unwanted people is minimized because of the homogeneity of the working class that dwells throughout the non-Bear Path Eden Prairie.The people here were more vivid and alive too. The children played outside and moms watched wearily. They smiled as I walked by and waved and I waved back. The homes here are comprised of teachers, small business owners, engineers and a few mid level managers. They are modest in size with most houses being made of stucco and brick or just stucco (a great contrast to the concrete marvels of Bear Path). These people that inhabit the street I know as Boyd Avenue are the new Proletariat. As Marx points out, these are the classes that are being relocated to the working class. The factory worker is no longer the face of the workingman. The white color worker is becoming the new faceless slug that tries to scrape by. Even though people might consider where I live rich, in reality, my family is nothing more than working class drones that grind out every day so that the capitalists get richer while we just coast.

To conclude, my adventure proved my hypothesis about Engels and Marx right. There really are only two classes and those two classes exist in completley different worlds even when the physical distance is quite small between the two classes.

Dorian

Posted by Dorian Stanasel at 04:12 AM | | Add a Comment (6)

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really good study---very interesting. it is so true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. it is actually a bit sad...

Posted by: Kate Cichy | February 25, 2007 12:40 PM

really good study---very interesting. it is so true that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. it is actually a bit sad...

Posted by: Kate Cichy | February 25, 2007 12:41 PM

To freshen up my study I would have to make a few changes. When I spoke to Tim he gave me a few really good tips. I would need to put myself in Engel's shoes more to really understand what he experianced in city life. My study lacked the direct connection between Engel's theory and mine but I believe that if I analyzed what Engel's experianced I could make a much better comparison between the two classes. Another helpful tip was that I should try comparing my findings to other "rich and richer" areas and see if the division is quite as prevelant.

Dorian

Posted by: dorian stanasel | February 27, 2007 04:32 PM

I found your article about Bearpath to be incredibly inaccurate and extremely divisive.

Before you scaled the castle walls the residents of Bearpath didn't stand a chance. Of course, your hypothesis is going to proved correctly about Engels and Marx because Marx believed the following:

1. "Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes." Marx wanted the government to own all property. In other words, he would seize all real estate. You may want to rethink this one because your Eden Prairie home outside the castle walls would be seized immediately by the government.

2. The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: Formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat." I'm not so sure we should let an entire social class commandeer complete power. I believe the majority of the residents of Eden Prairie would agree with me on this one. If Karl Marx had his way the government would have broken many of my wild bourgeoisie parties I had in honor of my non Bearpath proletarian friends. What a pity! You proletarians are the best at making margaritas. Marx's assumption that the more power the government holds the more power the masses would have is false. You cannot simultaneously give more power to the masses and to the government.

3."A heavy progressive or graduated income tax." Yes, this means you proletarians, too. You would lose your property and most of the income you need to pay for your Boyd Street home. Cool, huh?

4. "Abolition of all rights of inheritance." You wouldn't stand a chance of inheriting your parents home or any of the fruits of their labor Dorian. You ready to reread the Communist Manifesto?

5. "Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels." How lovely of you Karl. This is a favorite of communists. Get those pesky emigrants and rebels!

6. This is my favorite! No wonder you didn't like the guy in the red tie. He probably had a family and treated them like his property.

Marx beleived in the "Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists." Marx believed that the family unit was exploitative, with capitalists treating their wives and children as property and bequeathing their accumulated assets to their children. His solution was that children should be raised by the state, marriage and inheritance should be eliminated, and non-commital sex should be the only form of relationship.

During the time I lived in Bearpath I can say I never met one resident that was according to you "fearful of unwanted people". By the way I lived in a Bearpath townhouse and not a castle in Bearpath. The value of that home is very similiar to a lot of homes in Eden Prairie. Your assertion that there are "two classes and these classes exist in completely different worlds" made me laugh. Thanks. Do I really need to address this one?

You said the residents of Bearpath "make money by using people". I confess I'm guily of this Marxist crime. I have hired people and used them to work on my behalf. It never dawned on me that I should have not done this. It was egregious of me to pay high salaries, health insurance, match 401K contributions and help my employees make better lives for themselves. Crapola you got me. I'm very sorry.

MGM

Posted by: Mike Meshbesher | January 26, 2008 08:01 PM

I found your article about Bearpath to be incredibly inaccurate and extremely divisive.

Before you scaled the castle walls the residents of Bearpath didn't stand a chance. Of course, your hypothesis is going to proved correctly about Engels and Marx because Marx believed the following:

1. "Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes." Marx wanted the government to own all property. In other words, he would seize all real estate. You may want to rethink this one because your Eden Prairie home outside the castle walls would be seized immediately by the government.

2. The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: Formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat." I'm not so sure we should let an entire social class commandeer complete power. I believe the majority of the residents of Eden Prairie would agree with me on this one. If Karl Marx had his way the government would have broken many of my wild bourgeoisie parties I had in honor of my non Bearpath proletarian friends. What a pity! You proletarians are the best at making margaritas. Marx's assumption that the more power the government holds the more power the masses would have is false. You cannot simultaneously give more power to the masses and to the government.

3."A heavy progressive or graduated income tax." Yes, this means you proletarians, too. You would lose your property and most of the income you need to pay for your Boyd Street home. Cool, huh?

4. "Abolition of all rights of inheritance." You wouldn't stand a chance of inheriting your parents home or any of the fruits of their labor Dorian. You ready to reread the Communist Manifesto?

5. "Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels." How lovely of you Karl. This is a favorite of communists. Get those pesky emigrants and rebels!

6. This is my favorite! No wonder you didn't like the guy in the red tie. He probably had a family and treated them like his property.

Marx beleived in the "Abolition of the family! Even the most radical flare up at this infamous proposal of the Communists." Marx believed that the family unit was exploitative, with capitalists treating their wives and children as property and bequeathing their accumulated assets to their children. His solution was that children should be raised by the state, marriage and inheritance should be eliminated, and non-commital sex should be the only form of relationship.

During the time I lived in Bearpath I can say I never met one resident that was according to you "fearful of unwanted people". By the way I lived in a Bearpath townhouse and not a castle in Bearpath. The value of that home is very similiar to a lot of homes in Eden Prairie. Your assertion that there are "two classes and these classes exist in completely different worlds" made me laugh. Thanks. Do I really need to address this one?

You said the residents of Bearpath "make money by using people". I confess I'm guily of this Marxist crime. I have hired people and used them to work on my behalf. It never dawned on me that I should have not done this. It was egregious of me to pay high salaries, health insurance, match 401K contributions and help my employees make better lives for themselves. Crapola you got me. I'm very sorry.

MGM

Posted by: Mike Meshbesher | January 26, 2008 08:02 PM

As a 30 year old man reared in the neighboring town of Bloomington. In my short life, I can tell you that the breaking down of socio & economical classes can be had with hard work, passion and education combined with random luck. At 28, I was a self made millionaire and at age 30 a 2X millionaire. I did not grow up in a wealthy family, in fact, my father had 2 jobs and my mom was a home-maker. Through my state school education I learned the value of Midwestern work ethic. I combined my work ethic with my passion for solving deep retail problems. This led to my career working with the world's top retailers at a leading enterprise software provider. The result--several dozen happy clients, transformed business models, increased shareholder wealth, and a happily rewarded young man. I now have the wherewithal to live in the infamous "Bear Path" if I so choose. I think the people who don't live in Bear Path are the ones who create the mystique and aura around its mystery (including you and me).

The bottom line: It's BS to lump people into socio & economic categories. Although my story in not the norm, it can be achieved by all in this great country.

Posted by: C Tollefson | February 23, 2008 03:50 PM

Jane Jacobs tested to the MAX! - by Eric Tissot

Jane Jacobs wrote extensively about the characteristics and use of sidewalks and how they affect the perceived quality of the surrounding area. To test some of Ms. Jacobs’ hypothesis, I chose an area near where I live which is used quite often: the Stone Arch Bridge, the park and apartments on the east side of the bridge, and the attractions surrounding the west side. I was lucky enough to observe this area before the snowfall so that use of the area was much heavier. Some of my observations agree with Ms. Jacobs, while some do not.

To start off, a description of the area is needed. The Stone Arch Bridge spans the Mississippi and is a historical railroad bridge that is magnificent in structure. It offers a beautiful view of St. Anthony Falls and connects the many attractions on one side (such as the Mill City Museum, the Metrodome, and the Guthrie) to the nearly exclusively residential area on the other side. On the residential side there is a public park which is also used frequently.

Overall the bridge is very beautiful and attracts people for that reason, which has various ramifications. This is consistent with Jacob’s theory that “If a cities streets [and sidewalks] look interesting, the city looks interesting”. Since the bridge is beautiful, people go to see it and walk it, which in turn attracts more people who now feel safe because of the number of strangers and watchful eyes around, which then attracts people watchers and loiterers, etc. This brings up another of Jacob’s thoughts that states that eyes must be on a sidewalk on a nearly constant basis to provide the illusion of safety. This is definitely evident on both sides of the bridge. On one side, a public park exists which (during the day) has people in it nearly constantly which provide eyes on that side to “police” and keep peace. On the other side, the Mill City Museum sits which has visitors daily that keep that side of the bridge occupied nearly constantly.

I chose the bridge because I noticed a single quality that in particular conflicts with Jacobs’ theories: there are (obviously) no stores, bars, restaurants, or other attractions other than the Mississippi along the bridge, yet during the day there seems to be a nearly constant flow of traffic (as long as weather permits). Granted, there are attractions near both ends of the bridge and maybe according to Jacobs different rules may apply to bridges, but overall people along the bridge seem happy to watch each other and “police” themselves without the need for constant watch from store owners. This proves that stores, bars, and restaurants are not completely necessary, as other factors like a beautiful view can attract enough people to make a walkway feel safe.

The park on the east end of the bridge requires consideration in regards to Jacobs as well. Near the park there is a huge apartment complex and the area can be considered residential. Just as in the residential parks Jacobs tells of, most of the users of the park are people from the nearby apartments who want their area to be safe. However, the bridge brings by a nearly constant flow of strangers, making the park clearly marked as public. Some of the strangers use the park while most do not. As I looked closer at this park, it began to appear almost as a “policing point” at one side of the bridge. The Stone Arch Apartment residents use the park the most due to proximity, and as they are proponents of a safe area to live in they are more likely to speak out when injustice is present in the area.

Overall, Jane Jacobs provided a nice hypothesis about public sidewalks, and many of her points were evident in the area I studied. Only the assertion that stores, bars, and restaurants are necessary for a safe sidewalk seemed to be questionable due to the nature of the bridge and the lack of any such attractions along it.
-Eric Tissot

Posted by Eric Tissot at 02:53 PM | | Add a Comment (2)

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I would argue, and perhaps Jane would agree, that because the bridge isn't a lingering place, it doesn't need shops to be frequented. It's also very open and easily seen by people on the nearby bridges and in posh river front condos, so perhaps that gives more of an air of safety. It could be contrasted to a covered pedestrian bridge like the Washington Ave Bridge, where at night they have gaurds circulating because of the potential hidden dangers that lights alone can not illuminate to neighborhood eyes.Plus, the U surrounds the bridge so there are not as many residential bridge watchers.
Your blog really made me think. To the max.

Posted by: Tavia | February 26, 2007 08:57 PM

Summarily, Ashley Day said the following about my entry:

My theory was clear, the location was interesting, and description was thorough.

Other fun options to furthur test Jacobs include observing the bridge at night and maybe considering the effect of the homeless population on the use of sidewalks. Maybe I could take the theory to another twin cities neighborhood which does not have a historical site, park, or river near it in order to perform further tests.

Wirth or Engels would have also been fun to possibly include in the fieldwork.

Posted by: Eric Tissot | February 28, 2007 07:49 PM

OBE 3-The grocers of Franklin Avenue

The documentation of the rise of bohemian culture in New York’s lower east side in the 1890’s by Christine Stansell describes the fascination of bourgeois youth in exploring and moving into lower-class neighborhoods of differing ethnicity. The effects of this culture upon the class and racial dynamics of American cities have been diverse and elaborate. Despite the mark bohemian culture has left upon Minneapolis neighborhoods such as Seward, the racial segregation that DuBois spoke of occurring over one hundred years ago can still be found today, albeit in the subtler forms of class division. To test this concept of racial segregation along class lines, I went to the two primary grocery stores on Franklin avenue, Seward Community Co-Op, and Aldi foods in the Phillips neighborhood. In comparing and contrasting these stores, I will attempt to demonstrate how despite the progressive ideology and embracing of multiculturalism that the Seward Co-Op strives for, the prices of their goods force most non-white non-bourgeois local residents to frequent other stores, one being Aldi, thereby maintaining the segregation along racial lines that DuBois describes.

I went to Seward Community Co-Op around 2:15 on Saturday the 24th to begin my observations. While walking in I noticed the mural painted on the wall of the building that depicts a panorama of differing landscapes that meld into each other, an attempt to promote the environmentally-friendly ideology of the co-op. I also noticed a higher than average number of bike racks lining the front of the store, another indicator of their support of eco-friendly transit. Upon entering the store I immediately smell the produce that occupies the first section of the store. As I walk throughout the store, the smells shift from place to place, but the whole store has a somewhat refreshing smell regardless of where you are. The store is fairly clean, not regarding the dirt and water tracked in from the falling snow outside, and everything seems to be well organized and in its place. The décor is fairly modern and slightly upscale, but not to the point of upsetting anyone’s green sensibilities. As I looked through the aisles, most of the products were above average in price, but that is likely due to the smaller manufacturers and the higher costs of local and organic foods. The store also had a salad bar, in-store baked goods, and hot and cold meals that were prepared in store as well. Approaching the registers, I notice they are fairly modern, with flat-panel screens that are aimed outward for both employee and customer to see. In terms of noticeable security I notice what appear to be two cameras, one near the exit, one above the customer service counter, although I wasn’t sure if they were cameras, nevertheless, a potential hint of panoptic influence. At the end of the counters there are also some shelves with various local newspapers and other left-leaning pamphlets and literature. I also notice a drop off site for recyclables. I go to sit in the small café area near the front, which has the same level of décor as the rest of the store, as well as full-length windows to look onto the street as well as allowing passerbys to look in as well, recalling Jane Jacobs’ concept of eyes on the street. The wall opposite the exit in the café area has a bulletin board with postings for various anti-war groups/protests, housing, local theatre and music, and other progressively minded bulletins.

Turning to the racial makeup of the staff, I notice that the majority of employees are white, except for two Somali women. The clientele follows suit, but not as drastically as that of the employees. In terms of age, the staff was predominately in their twenties and thirties, but the average customer seemed to be over thirty and many over fifty. Although somewhat difficult to determine given the type of customer a co-op attracts, the clothing of customers was fairly modest, but certainly not cheap clothing for the most part. As for the employees, all wore a green apron, but many wore it underneath their street clothes, allowing for a more casual atmosphere. The interaction between customers and employees was generally friendly, but in a mostly polite manner. The level of eye contact was moderate, employees were generally looking at the goods scanned or the screen, while customers looked at their goods and for their card or money. Every customer was asked if they were a member, the most noticeable routine phrase heard, and most conversations between customer and employee did not stray from the transaction at hand. I also noticed that the non-white customers always went to the female cashiers, however there were two females and one male, so that might have had something to do with it. The cashiers did talk to each other during downtimes, but their conversations seemed to focus on job-related topics. I stayed until 2:45 before heading over to Aldi.

I arrived at Aldi at about 2:50. Looking at the front of the store, there are no markings of individuality like at Seward Co-Op, just the corporate logo and a sign warning customers that if they take the carts out of the parking lot, the wheels will lock up, implying that Aldi assumes that patrons of their stores are more likely to want to steal their carts. In addition to this warning, the store locks up the carts, only to be released by inserting a quarter into the small coin slot on the cart, which will be returned once the cart is brought back. The number of bike racks is also significantly less, numbering about one-quarter of the racks at Seward Co-Op. Walking into the store, the differences are immediately clear to whom this store is catering. The space of the store consists of mostly bare walls, except for the signs on the walls or hanging from the ceiling that each have a different way of saying how much one saves by shopping here. There are no distinct smells of food like one could smell at the Co-Op, most likely because everything is pre-packaged. The variety of foods was also very limited, with the majority of products being Aldi-owned brands, causing the prices to very low, with most goods being below five dollars and hardly anything above ten. The presentation of goods also differed from the Co-Op in the sense that most of the products were on palettes and in the boxes that they most likely were shipped, with the perforated portions of the boxes removed. These palettes of goods were organized to create aisles, less shelving was used for presenting products. The height of the goods on the palettes was also lower, possibly in an attempt to make shoplifting more difficult because of greater visibility. Two of the walls contained the refrigerated or frozen goods. There were also two sets of large swinging doors, most likely used to wheel the palettes out onto the floor. As I was in the store I would hear an occasional loud buzzing/ringing, most likely coming from the back, which was initially jarring, but I got used to after the third or fourth time. In terms of cleanliness, the store is comparable to Seward Co-Op, but is not as well organized. There are products that are out of place, a package here and there that has been ripped open, and empty shelves that house random goods.

The racial demographic of the store was almost a complete reversal of Seward Co-Op, with the majority of customers being Somali, Black, or Hispanic. The average age was also lower, as well as there being more children and families present. Just like at the co-op, it is difficult to determine the class of customers solely by clothes, but the average quality of clothing did not exceed the customers of the co-op. The racial make up of the customers paralleled that of the employees as well, with all of the employees being black or Hispanic. The uniformity of the employees was a little more noticeable compared to the co-op, with all employees wearing blue aldi sweatshirts and jeans, still somewhat casual, but less room for individuality in terms of dress. As I approached the registers I noticed that the technology was noticeably older, and the display faced away from the customer. There were also no baggers present, while the co-op had two baggers for three registers. The security measures taken were also more overt, as evidenced with the presence of a security guard near the registers. There was also a two-way mirror at the wall to the right of the registers, exercising their own lower-tech brand of panopticism. Past the registers was a long gray counter where many customers finished sorting out their goods in bags before leaving. This counter was the only space past the registers available for the customers, there were no chairs, and at the far end were two torn up phonebooks and a pay phone. This lack of a space to sit and linger encouraged the customer to avoid loitering, which made my observation more difficult to do without becoming conspicuous. In terms of local newspapers or any other literature, the only reading provided were mainstream magazines on a small rack, nothing free to take, nor any bulletin board for postings of local groups or ads. Despite the environment being less conducive to conversation between customers for any extended period of time, the interaction between employees and customers was the same as at the co-op, mostly concerned with the transaction, but generally friendly and polite. The cashiers all sat with their backs to each other, which seemed to limit their ability to talk to each other, but they were also busier than the cashiers at the co-op, so that could have factored into why they did not interact to the same degree. My time spent in aldi was unfortunately half of what I spent at the co-op, partially due to the fact that there were no single drinks I could buy to feel less conspicuous, but also because of the surroundings that were not as conducive to observation.

In looking at both of these stores, it’s obvious which has been shaped by bohemian culture and which by corporate interests. Despite the promotion of a greater variety of foods from various cultures and supporting local farmers and suppliers, as well as creating an environment more open to interaction and involvement in the local community, the costs of this more inclusive method of business bring along with it a higher price tag, hence excluding many of the people who would benefit most from a more progressive ideology. As a result, many non-white customers are forced to go to stores that sell foods at much lower prices, which are generally supplied by corporate chain stores that strip away many of the luxuries a co-op provides to keep prices down. This racial division along predominately class lines shows that despite the higher number of bourgeois "bohemian" white residents in a Minneapolis neighborhood such as Seward, the amount of interaction they have in their day to day lives can still be limited by factors as simple as food. This paradoxical dynamic demonstrates how the bohemian model described by Stansell is problematized by the persistence of racial segregation that DuBois elucidated. While there are other spaces in the Seward and Phillips neighborhoods where than can be greater intermingling of class and race, these are spaces that are primarily for entertainment, not places one needs to frequent such as a grocery store.

Obviously this study is limited by leaving the two largest grocery stores in the area out of the equation, that being Rainbow and Cub Foods, as well as the much smaller markets that populate the surrounding area, such as United Noodle, and other specialty markets. Despite using two somewhat dramatic examples, comparing these two stores that are within about five blocks of each other makes the matter quite obvious how even within two adjoining neighborhoods there can be a great degree of racial and class division regardless of the politics of the residents.

Justin

Posted by Justin S. at 07:23 PM | | Add a Comment (3)

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I really enjoyed your analysis on the seward area. I live in seward myself and often have thought about the segregation that really does go on in such a "progressive" neighborhood. People in seward really pride themselves on many things like the co-op and the eco-friendly, liberal atmosphere, but in reality there are strict divisions that seperate us culturally from our immigrant or non-white, community members. In my particular area alone, I have noticed a definite cut-off point in the housing where the gardens stop, the politically aware lawn signs cease and the run down liquor stores and bars begin to be more frequent. once again, I'm glad you pointed this divison out. It's too bad, but it's all over the city.

Posted by: Corrie Halladay | February 26, 2007 09:14 PM

In going over the report with Bethanie, we seemed to come to some similar conclusions as to how we could have engaged with Stansell's essay a little more. As to how this pertained to my piece, I needed to foreground how I was going to actually argue against Stansell rather than just look for traces of the bohemian culture in present day seward. Not only did I need to me a little more explict in my polemical intent, I could have looked at her essay in greater detail to support the argument, especially the portion about the tenderloin would have made a strong supporting point. In addition, while DuBois did mention the segregation of the black community in Philadelphia, his focus was primarily on interactions between various races within the city as well as the difficulty in finding steady employment, an argument that wasn't all that applicable to my study. I guess I threw him in there to add some theoretical weight to my racial division along class lines concept, but I didn't really use him to a great extent, so I could probably have cut that. The issue of what foods were offered at each location could have been elaborated upon and possibly connected to Marx in terms of the cultural imperialism that he accused the bourgeoisie of. The study could've been more inclusive in terms of stores observed, but I acknowledged that point. Maybe to balance out my criticism of the residents of the seward neighborhood and the surrounding area, I could take my mentioning of spaces where attempts at bohemian life are alive and well, as the reports by Bethanie and Corrie demonstrated, and expand it to give a more balanced look at the successes and failures of bohemian culture in Minneapolis. Basically, what my report lacked was a clearer thesis, appropriate use of theorists, and breadth of bohemian spaces and grocers.

Posted by: Justin | February 27, 2007 06:54 PM

I think you're being too hard on yourself! you're analysis was very thorough and interesting... I think my study was a bit too observational and not enough theory was applied. Maybe it's a really good idea to pick apart our findings and figure out what the real meat is... i dunno. anyway, good job!

Posted by: Corrie Halladay | February 28, 2007 02:32 PM

MGM - OBE #1

The Market’s Surroundings
The Midtown Global Market (MGM), in the renovated Sears building, is located between Chicago Avenue and Lake Street. Various businesses surround the building such as Hamdi, Foot Locker, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Guns and Ammo, Sunny’s Liquor and Food, the US Bank, Robert’s Shoes, Chicago-Lake Liquors, Family Dollar, and a cell phone store. The MGM is aesthetically different from most of the surrounding businesses. It is a brand new space with 24 hour security. The massive building towers over the neighborhood of Phillips and Powderhorn. At night the neon green “midtown” sign next to an American flag on top of the building, can be seen from great distances.
Above the market there are apartments, condos, and lofts at high prices. The apartments range from $650 to $1075, and the condos and lofts are priced around $200,000. There is a diverse range of people who rent from Midtown Exchange, including families, students, and working people.
Within the building, there is also a DMV, another US Bank, Allina Healthcare, and a rather large security desk that monitors the building throughout the day and night.
I work six days a week at one of the businesses in MGM; I decided I would take notes while I sat at the register.

The Market Place
Entering the Global Market is comparable to entering the food court of a mall. The difference is that all of the businesses are fairly small and locally owned. Also, the market is heavily decorated with bright painted walls, murals that emphasize community and diversity, and currently, Valentine’s Day decorations hangings from the ceiling. One column that supports the building has the word “welcome” painted in at least fifteen different languages. The slogan on the kiosk is “Many Tastes. One Place. Delivered”. The floors are cement, and the ceiling is industrially raw (one can see the pipes and such). In the center, there is a stage for performers and tables that are mostly unoccupied on the weekdays.

Saturday February 24, 2007
There is a snowstorm today and it’s around 4pm. There are two folk singers from Duluth on the stage. They are talking about how beautiful the weather is. Business owners wander around the market place due to the lack of customers. “I usually take in at least $500 on Saturdays, not to brag,” one owner remarks. “I haven’t made a single sale today.” The seldom people who do walk by usually carry paper coffee cups and smoothies, browsing at the variety of tables full of colorful accessories. One middle-class couple buys incense from me while I am taking notes about them. Another man who is older, white, and balding, tells me about the safety issues in the neighborhood. “If I were a woman, I wouldn’t ever walk here at night.” The folk music seems to attract Minnesotans who don’t dance.

The Vendors and Products
Most vendors sell products that represent a distinct culture or subculture. Holy Land, for instance, sells many imported products. Other vendors supply consumers with products from all over the world (India, Mexico, and West Africa). Not only do people consume the products available, but also the wide range of music and dance: Salsa, Jazz, Folk, etc. A Marxian perspective is centered on capitalism. The bourgeoisie consume exotic products that are produced far from home, in order to fulfill the constant need for the expansion of the means of production. The MGM is a marketplace that profits from these cultural commodities, and in some ways, the vendors become commodities as well. It is a building full of exotic “artifacts” that some people feel the need to own, perhaps to build on their cultural capital. “Self-styled sophisticates fanned out across the poor neighborhoods to soak up “experience” construed as familiarity with plebian life” (Stansell, p. 16). The bourgeoisie “contribute” to the survival of marginalized culture by consuming it. A trip to the MGM is perhaps seen as a way to gain access to the global experience; the act of buying products from distant places also reinforces the division of class and culture.

Chrissi

Posted by Christina Barber at 08:11 PM | | Add a Comment (1)

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I realized that what I was needed to say first was that the MGM is a complex space to study. Various theorists would view the market with different focuses and perspectives.

Wirth talks about how urbanism is based off of three factors: population size, density, and heterogeneity. He defines this as urbanism, independent from capitalism. The midtown market would never exist in a rural place, but it is highly connected to capitalism.

Marx would look at how the global market reflects the capitalist drive. There are many ways in which the MGM demonstrates capitalist exploitation. Today I found out that one of the workers near by my stand makes only five dollars an hour; she works 10 hours each day. Another man complained about the high prices in a low-income neighborhood. Yet, the global market gives owners an opportunity to sell handmade or imported items that reflect diverse communities. Small businesses within the global market are run down by corporations such as Target or Rainbow foods. There is fierce competition. On the other hand, the global market seems to attract wealthy customers, condo and loft owners, etc. The same people who wait at the transit station outside the market are not the people I usually see inside buying products. While the buyers are usually middle class, the workers are mostly working class.

Stansell also hits directly on the point of the bourgeois and the bohemians supporting one another. Without wealthy customers, how can small businesses continue to live on? Many immigrants own stores in the market, as well as African Americans. It is a chance for marginalized people to be able to compete within the capitalist system. The white liberals or Bourgeois bohemians (or whomever) demand global products and environmentally friendly handmade goods, so the vendors will possibly continue to be in business. This of course will change the neighborhood detrimentally. The Chicago-Lake area is becoming steadily gentrified, and this will only add to the change.

Posted by: chrissi | February 28, 2007 09:22 PM

Eyes on the Aisles OBE# 3

Every day I make a short trek to a corner near my house and wait around for a bus that will bring me, with one transfer, to a very close proximity of my classes or work. What better a place to observe the “urban personality”(Wirth) than on a bus? What’s more urban than Mass Transit? With the theory of “urban personality” being caused by close, yet superficial interactions, Wirth’s description of the city as a “mosaic” with “abrupt” differentiations between "social worlds" and Jacob’s idea that visibility is a key tool in crime prevention in mind I got on the bus, notebook in tow.
I ended up focusing much more on Jacobs than I originally intended, as I thought more about the role of bus drivers and how similar they are to the shopkeepers in Jacob's writings, and how they help to facilitate a sense of community on the bus and keep their eyes on the aisles (and the road) and the bus stops.
The busses that I normally take include the 2, 4 and 16. I only took the 4 while taking notes, but some of my data is drawn from memory of past excursions.
Anyone who’s been on the 16 during rush hour knows that yes indeed, density does create “face to face”(Wirth,99) interactions that are “impersonal, superficial, transitory and segmental.”(Wirth ,99) However, the common phrases that pass among bus riders, like "Excuse me," "Thank you," "How are you today?"or "Have a nice day," are used by a variety of riders with distinct and more importantly, different personality types. I don't get the impression that people change their personalities to fit in on the bus, or that they must have several different other ways of interacting with people. Most of the people I encounter on the bus come off as genuine and diverse. There are certainly conventional norms and bus etiquette, as there is etiquette in any area where pepole co-exist but, the conformity to the protocol does not create a new conformed personality. Not everyone conforms, and those who do, express the etiquette in different ways. For instance, when I ride the 4 on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the bus driver is very friendly. She has a few regular customers(including myself) who she greets knowingly and who greet her back. One woman sits down and talks to her for the duration of her bus ride, about everything from the weather to the back surgery she needs to get. There are a few other regular riders who greet the driver in a friendly manner, but some who see her every morning and just sort of pass by or ignore her. Some people say things like "May I sit here?" or "Can you move your stuff?", while others simply start heading to plant their butts as you scramble to save your groceries. Even the intonation in someone's voice when they say something like "Excuse me" can add variety to their meaning and the expressions of bus etiquette. Perhaps the socio-economic status of bus riders pays a part in their diversity and variety of personalities but, even that doesn't seem as though it would hold true. People ride the bus for many different reasons. They do it mostly to get around within the city. So if there was such a thing as an "urban personality," I would think it would be displayed on the bus. However, I didn't see it. If I were doing a real study, for the city of Minneapolis I would have to take a few different busses and the lightrail as well.
Wirth's point about the city being a mosaic with abrupt lines seems a bit more plausible to me, after riding the bus. I really observed the layout as I returned from the printmaking studio Saturday evening. There's a very abrupt line between the Downtown Zone (helped out by the Mighty Misssippi) and the commercial area on the NE side of the Hennepin Ave bridge. Going farther North, the amount of trees and type of buildings is a sure indicator that the turn from East Hennepin onto 8th street brings you into a residential zone. However, the "abruptness" is much more marked in closer proximity to the city. I suspect that in the city zoning is a bigger deal. Maybe that's why the further out you go, towards the suburbs the less abrupt and more marbled the mosaic becomes. For example, Johnson street, NE is peppered with businesses among residences.
While I was riding, I also thought about Jacobs. I first considered why the bus has its inside lights on at night. In any other vehicle such a move is illegal, I think because it distracts the driver. Sure, it helps me read, but what if the bus' inside lights only turned on at stops like in a car, when people get on or off. Wouldn't that work? Or would it make it less safe because the passengers would be less visible, to the driver, the outside world and each other? What about lights in bus shelters? Is it the same concept? I think it is. I also believe that's why bus shelters are made of plexi glass and usually aren't enclosed. The few shelters I've been in that are enclosed always smell like urine. Not that public urination is a major crime, but I think the theory is that where there's minor crime, there's potential for major crime. I also see fewer of the busses that have ads over their windows at night. I wonder if that is intentional or if I just don't ride at night enough or on the right route. I think that Jacobs would argue that it's safer for everyone when everyone can see what's going on.
I've seen many times examples of the shared interest that people have when they get on a bus. They all want to get where they're going on time. I've seen people come together and start talking who were previously unengaged when a bicyclist or car gets in the way of the bus and slows them down. Some people make comments and empathize with the busdriver. On a slightly different note, I was on the bus going home a few weeks ago when we had a driver who had obvioulsy just started and I overheard about five people get spontaneously upset, saying "Oh, come on," etc... and they had a sense of agreement with each other. I've also seen people either help the bus driver kick some one off, or help the person pay their fare, out of empathy, or to keep things moving. In a way, that is unique to the bus atmosphere. When I rode on Saturday, I heard a few people empathize with the driver about his struggles through the fresh slushy muck.
Like my Tuesday and Thursday morning driver, a lot of the drivers have regulars and a routine of interaction. They are the trusted sources of knowledge for new riders and the protectors of the passengers .Of course if something too out of hand happens they call the police, like the shop keepers in Jacobs, but they're the first line of defense. Some of the best drivers know all of the bus intersections along their routes and will honk at other drivers if a passenger needs to transfer. Conversation with the drivers spark conversations among riders. The questions for drivers about routes and such come from people at the stops as well as on the bus and the drivers pay attention to that. I've even heard bus drivers reprimand people for smoking at bus stops or littering. Certainly, they are "public characters' as are some of the regular bus riders. I think that Jacobs' theories about the sidewalk can carry over in many ways onto the bus. The bus is a great place to examine aspects of urban life.

Posted by Tav at 08:25 PM | | Add a Comment (4)

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i think that your bus observation is really accurate and telling of the interesting ways that the 'sidewalk ballet' Jacobs discusses can carry over into other realms of urban life. although ive never taken the 4 bus, i can relate your account to similar experiences on other routes and i think you bring up some really great points about differences in interactions and mannerisms of the passengers.

Posted by: amber | February 26, 2007 09:27 AM

Sorry this is late. I forgot about it entirely.
I think maybe that I should have a tete a tete with Erica because one of the things Abha suggested to me was to compare inner city busses with the fancier park and ride busses and that's a big part of what Erica did.
I was told I should edit the portion about how my bus ride made the "mosaic" more apparent because it didn't seem to fit with the rest of my arguements. I agree, but I still think that a bus ride is a unique way of observing such phenenomena, since my "location" was moving, a the route is pre-determined.
I would definitely see how the lightrail compares if I were to expand upon this topic. In my very limited experience on the light rail, people seemed to talk less to one another and the driver was not at all like a shopkeeper, instead policing was done by actual transit police who just check tickets so, it's very different.
Abha suggested that Engel's theory about density would be a great one to explore, especially since people are obviously much less comfortable on the bus when it's super full.It usually doesn't cause complete chaos, though. Maybe it's because the density on a bus is more ephemeral. It would be interesting to observe with that in mind.

Posted by: Tavia | March 1, 2007 11:43 AM

Tav of the typos. I mean phenomena. Raelly.

Posted by: Tavia | March 1, 2007 11:44 AM

I just wanted to say that I found your analysis of the
city bus system to be an interesting read, and a good
contrast to what I observed on my excursion. I think
that your observations provide a good example of how
the atmosphere on the bus, namely the 16, can differ day
to day and at different points of the day. I think
you brought up some very good points that I failed
to mention, such as how having the lights on inside
the bus at all times works to provide a sense of
security for the driver and the passengers.

Posted by: Erica | March 3, 2007 07:42 PM

OBE #3 Pharmacies are Wirth it for city health

The health of a city relies somewhat heavily on the public’s access to health insurance and the promotion and exposure to public health. This is why I thought it would be interesting to analyze Wirth’s idea of secondary interactions in two different pharmacies. I was interested in the interactions between both the pharmacists and the patient (customer), especially regarding those patients lacking health insurance and the interactions between patient and patient. The first pharmacy I went into was inside Hennepin County Medical Center (701 Park Ave) in Minneapolis--the hospital pharmacy. The pharmacy opened promptly at 9am and I entered at about a couple minutes after. The first thing I noticed was the excessive use of signage posted everywhere. Mostly hand crafted, they read out: “Please wait here till cashier calls you,” “no cell phone use”, and “use only one line on Saturday/Sunday.” There was one neon sign that scrolled through the hours of the pharmacy. The room, attached to the rest of the hospital, was fairly large with 6 aid-windows. Only one was available for use. I assumed this was because it was 9am on a Sunday morning. The lighting was dull, but sufficient. The waiting area where I took position was covered with magazines and debris lie under several of the chairs. There were six people in the pharmacy when I got there; two were getting ready to leave, one was sleeping, and the remaining three were waiting for the pharmacists to call their names.

There appeared to be two different pharmacists and one, Tom, was more helpful than I could even fathom a pharmacist to be. I was there for about an hour and a half and I (conspicuously) tried to listen as best as I could to the conversation that took place between the pharmacists and the patient (is that bad? :S). Of course some conversation was skewed because the privacy windows indeed provided some muffling, but overall I felt I was able to guess the general tone of conversation. My favorite conversation was between Tom and a man who didn’t have insurance. He came in almost hostile—apparently the doctor he had just visited threatened to call security on him because he was requesting that he have a certain medication and he felt like the doctor was saying no. Anyway, it turned out that the doctor had indeed prescribed the drugs that this man wanted but for some reason or another there had been a misunderstanding about it. The pharmacist of course was the one who had to figure this out. Later the man (patient) apologized profusely for the trouble that he had caused, but the most amazing thing was that the pharmacists just showed such sincere concern that he (the patient) have what he thought he needed. I’m not entirely sure how the situation turned out the way it did, being that he didn’t have insurance, but he walked away (after about five minutes of waiting) very relaxed and gleeful that he had his medications. There was also another situation where a woman came in without prescription drug health insurance and the pharmacist patiently explained that Medicare paid for her doctor’s visits but that prescription drugs were not included. Not only did he explain the situation to her but gave her a specific name of a woman (Mary I think) who she could call to inquire about an ‘upgrade’ on health insurance so as to have prescriptions covered by her insurance. There was a line at this point in my visit and I thought it was very great of the man to be persistent--so that the woman (patient) would be fully supported. Many of the other patients new Tom by name and I think about 1 in 3 were lacking of health insurance…no one however, was refused their medications.

It was interesting that the patients all came in pairs (except two people) and as one went to the window to obtain their medications the other waited in the waiting area (where I was at) patiently. All of the patients though got a long really well. I’m not exaggerating when I say that everyone that came in interacted through speech with someone else. Some asked specific questions, others just general conversation.

As I was walking to the next pharmacy, I could not help but make conversation with the several people I passed. I got lost on the way but was steered in the correct direction by a passerby—I didn’t say anything—clearly he could sense my confusion. I walked to the Walgreens on Nicollet Mall to be greeted to the fact that they are closed on Sundays. I ended up at the Walgreens by my house on Chicago and 43rd street. The store is huge. There are a lot of bright lights and a stale odor fills the entire place. The pharmacy is fairly large but it is hidden amongst the rest of the store, which carries consumer products ranging from nail polish to cereal. The customers seem to be more interested in the ‘super market’ part of the store and as I made my way to the pharmacy area I realized that people were still communicating with one another about where items were and how this product “affected me well.”

I sat in a chair near the large window and waited. (One large window compared to 6 little ones). I stayed there the same amount of time—1.5 hours. In this time, about the same amount of people came in as HCMC, however their length of stay was much longer. Those that came in without health insurance were put into another line and their “issues” seemed more like catastrophes. The pharmacists seemed tired and it was through the communication of the customers/patients themselves that I felt somewhat at ease being there.

As I spent these three hours of observation I realized that I had a lot to say to Wirth about cities. He seems to characterize city dwellers as competitive and uncaring. I saw quite the opposite today however. Of course the pharmacist at the big corporation seemed a little bit like that, but how awful to use one person to generalize an entire city, or corporation for that matter, (although I fear prior interactions led me to believe that to be true of most corporations). Anyway, the fact that Wirth associates city interactions as secondary rather than primary contacts in the sense of kinship may be true. But the fact that the interactions and relationships are sincere is something I don’t think Wirth would agree with. The fact that people took time to interact with one another…help one another…notice that I needed help and act on it…show a lot of selfless interaction. Wirth states, “Typically our physical contacts are close but our social contacts are distant” (100). I felt (feel) that there is a large social community within the city and where there is distance among social interactions there lies also, quite a lot of communion in others. The pharmacists at HCMC knowing the patients names for example—even those without insurance! :)

I thought it would be interesting to take a non-corporate pharmacy and compare it to a large corporation because I agreed with Wirth’s statement that “the advantage that the corporation has over the individual entrepreneur and the partnership in the urban-industrial world derives not only from the possibility it affords of centralizing the resources of thousands of individuals or from the legal privilege of limited liability and perpetual succession, but from the fact that the corporation has no soul” (100). Although I do believe this is true I realized while I was carrying out the ethnograph that it was hard for me to come to this conclusion with this one experiment solely. The fact that I had a bad feeling about one pharmacist that worked in a corporation could correlate to the fact that corporations are “insensitive, soulless” but I can’t conclude that. The reason I feel like I can make more conclusive decisions/thoughts about the city dweller is because I interacted with 50-75 times more people (citizens). Just thought I wanted to clarify that!

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Posted by Kait at 09:02 PM | | Add a Comment (2)

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I love your title! It's punny!
That's great news about the pharmacist at HCMC!
Umm, this might not be what you want to hear, but the pharmacist at my local Walgreens'(either the one on Central or the one on Silver Lake Rd.) tend to be not the most caring or cheerful either. A few are more so, but they always seem really tense in my experience. I bet they don't get paid very well and don't have much job satisfaction 'cause they're probably less able to help the uninsured since they work for Walgreens.

Posted by: Tavia | February 25, 2007 10:45 PM

Kate helped me come up with a couple of great ideas! First it would be helpful if I defined what secondary interactions are: "the contacts of the city may indeed be face to face, but they are nevertheless impersonal, superficial, transitory, and segmental" (99). Later he indirectly adds to the definition by implying that secondary bonds help create "the weakening of bonds of kinship, and the declining social significance of the family, the disappearance of the neighborhood, and the undermining of the traditional basis of social solidarity" (103).

Kate helped me realize that the geographical location may have had a great deal of influence on my results. The Midwest, especially the "Minnesota Nice" mentality contrasts the east coast mentality significantly. It would be really interesting to go to the different regions of the US to see how the cities really differ in this aspect of perceived and stereotyped personalities.

Another thing that I neglected to do was give a better description of the people who attended the pharmacies. Before I did my ethnographic excursion I hypothesized that HCMC would gear towards a higher class of citizens because they were non-corporate. Interestingly enough this was completely opposite. Both pharmacies helped a diversity of classes and races however, at HCMC, the primary attendee was an African American, 45-60 year old male who seemed to be of working class. A lot of the customers lacked health insurance. This was contrasted to the Walgreens experience where the customer base was not as concrete. Both white and black citizens attended, mostly middle aged, but both men and women. The majority of the customers seemed to be middle class.

Lastly Kate and I talked about how it would be interesting to do this same experiment in a more dominant class neighborhood and compare that with a pharmacy in a predominantly working class neighborhood and see what kinds of differences might occur.

-kaitlin

Posted by: Anonymous | March 1, 2007 12:45 AM

OBE 3 Ethnographic Study


Imagine walking into a spectacular space filled with the sounds of a live mariachi band, beautiful people in designer dresses and suites. Everyone’s hair is perfect; their skin is flawless. I must say, it was a bit intimidating. This is a brief look at the setting in which I conducted my ethnographic study. I wanted to see if the heterogeneity of groups in a city was as profound and noticeable as Wirth described in his piece “Urbanism As a Way of Life.” Also, I wanted to take a look at what he described as an ‘urban personality.’
The event in which I studied this idea of heterogeneity and urban personalities was at a benefit for the San Miguel Middle School in Minneapolis, MN. This is a school for underprivileged students of Hispanic descent and was founded by Brother Larry Schatz in the year 2000. The reason I was at this event was because I was a volunteer with some of the girls in my house. It was very fun, we got to wear fun cocktail dresses and mingle with some interesting people. The event was held at Allina Commons in the Midtown Exchange building located in Uptown Minneapolis. The theme for this party was Salsa, they chose this theme to incorporate the ethnic background of the students. The ceilings in this building were very high, which made the place seem even larger than it was. The tables had flower centerpieces and candy on them. There was fabulous food served which included chips and salsa, guacamole, brie cheese and shrimp. For dessert there were chocolate covered strawberries. For another way to raise money there was a silent auction. The auction included things as extravagant as a seven day cruise, and things as minimal as tee-shirts from the school. The guests were greeted with a live mariachi band. The members of the band were in traditional Mexican attire: black pants with metal details along the sides of their pants, white shirts, black jackets (with the same metal detailing as the pants), and bright scarves used as ties. After the guests dropped their coats off at the coat check, they were free to mingle amongst themselves, get a drink, grab some food, and even get a few drinks in their system! The guests had about two hours to mingle and such, and then there were salsa dancing lessons in the ballroom. Following the lessons was an exhibition of some professional salsa dancers. To end the night there was salsa themed dance with a live band! So as you can imagine it was a very extravagant and fun evening.
The women and men at this party were all very good looking, well put together people. The women had on beautiful dresses, the men wore very nice suits. All of the people there were between the ages of about twenty-six thru mid to late fifties. So there was a lot of heterogeneity pertaining to age groups. There was also a lot of racial heterogeneity within the people that attended the party. I felt like there were more similarities between all of these people than differences. For example you could tell they were all from upper-middle class lifestyles and backgrounds. Another reason they were all there was because they wanted to support the San Miguel Middle School. I did notice a bit of the urban personality which Wirth describes as, “more socially tolerant…at the same time, more impersonal and seemingly less friendly.” I noticed this more with the women than I did with the men. My job was to pick up empty plates and glasses on all of tables throughout the night. The women would just give me very rude looks, a few of the men did as well, but it was predominately women who did. This to me seemed like a bit of the urban personality.
If I were to do this study again, maybe I would just sit back and observe, rather then immerse myself into what I am studying. Even though I was not fully immersed in their culture, it may have skewed my views or opinions about the people who were in attendance at the party.
For the most part I agree with Wirth on both of the topics: heterogeneity and urban-personalities. But, although there were some differences between the people of this group, it seemed as if they had more in common than not. As for the urban personality, I think the way some of the people treated me confirms this aspect of city life. Either way there are exceptions to both of these topics.

Kate Cichy

Posted by Kate C at 09:10 PM | | Add a Comment (4)

Comments

Kaitlin and I found a few things i could enhance about my ethnographic study. So, here it goes. I think the people were more socially tolerant because they could be around a lot of different races, without being awkward about it....this points to the theory of urban personality. Also, Kaitlin pointed out that not all of these people are necessarily for the city, they are most likely from the suburbs and just came into the city for this event. SO, that changes things, because they would not necessarily be considered 'urban' people. Also, there would like to explain that there was a lot of physical differences between the people (race, age and sex) but they all seemed to be in the upper-middle class. So, this shows that there is not as much difference in groups as Wirth would like to believe. Once again, it is difficult to base this opinion off of one study, so more observations would be good.

Posted by: Kate Cichy | February 27, 2007 05:13 PM

sweet! good work kate! :)

Posted by: Anonymous | March 1, 2007 12:52 AM

oh that was kaitlin by the way!

Posted by: Anonymous | March 1, 2007 12:53 AM

....yayyy

grazie mis amores!!

Posted by: Kay.Leigh....Cichy | April 25, 2008 05:18 AM

OBE1 Ethno-cursion

Friedrich Engels, in “The Great Towns,” writes that cities are divided in such a way that you may live your entire life without being exposed to the lower-class’ domain. He states that if a person is simply moving through the main roads of a city, and does not wander from their course, that they will only see the polished subconscious design the city planners intend them to. Engel’s example of an extravagantly lit and decorated collection of shops lining the main road of a city, used to mask the poverty beyond, struck me as very interesting. I decided to see if evidence of this subconscious desire to display only the best a city has to offer to passersby was cohesive with city life today.
Sunday February 25th, around 3:00pm I decided to take a stroll after the recent snow storm had finally subsided. I decided to focus my observation of city segregation on a main strip of road running through north St.Paul. I chose Snelling Ave. because it is a very highly trafficked road that many highways intersect with. I parked my car and began to walk south down Snelling, just past the State Fair grounds. The speed limit quickly drops from hasty highway speeds to more lackadaisical city rates, so I became very aware that I was now in “the city.” Immediately I was bombarded with advertisements. There are dozens of snow-spattered billboards, bus stops, and shop signs that are flagrantly designed to procure my attention. It was difficult to determine the upkeep of the storefronts when everything had been dusted with a cleansing coat of fresh snow, but the shops seemed nice. They were the kinds of shops I would expect to see exiting off the highway into any highly populated city: multi-ethnic restaurants, bookstores, fast food places, banks, chain restaurants, Wal-Mart, dry cleaners, etc.
This area of the city seemed like a nice place to be. There was no evidence that others thought the same as I, as the sidewalks were barren. This was, however, most likely due to the huge flux in snow that was burdened upon us despite the fallacious promises of that deceptive groundhog. I could see people inside of the shops occasionally, though they were few and far between. There were a few people eating in restaurants, and a few people brushing off their cars, but it seemed most decided not to brave the elements.
I decided to contrast this tidily kept lining of storefronts to the residential areas that lay behind on either side. I decided to head east first. The remainder of the block was comprised of the rear ends of stores and parking lots. It was cosmetically much less glamorous than the view from Snelling Ave. As soon as the shops ended, the homes began. These were the types of homes I had grown used to seeing in St.Paul. Small, disheveled front lawns, dilapidated front porches, cracked cement stairs, and fragmented fences. These were clearly the lowest end houses available in this area of St.Paul, and they were tucked right behind the rows of stores. In the distance I even saw a couple squad cars pulling up to a residence, lights flashing. I stopped then, deciding not to venture too much further, knowing the few blocks of evidence I gathered would suffice.
In reflection, it is very clear that Engel’s idea of subconsciously segregated cities applies to this strip of Snelling Ave. The quality contrast between the storefronts and the “slummish” residential area was remarkable. By dressing up a popular road, it created the illusion that what lies beyond must all be at least on par with quality. This would make a passerby believe that they are safe and are in a decent part of town. This is not unlike Engel’s example of the storefronts physically cutting off the impoverished areas from the roads that the bourgeoisie would commute along.
In these respects, Engel’s theory of a class segregated city exists even in the relatively small domain of a busy street and the respective residential areas.

Tim Turi