Color Walking by Phia Bennin and Brendan McMullan is an intriguing article that explains the experiment and adventure the two individuals took that allowed them to view the world and its natural beauty. This walk was a way for Bennin and McMullan to explore the little things that usually goes ignored and let the things that catch their eyes lead them into an adventure of a lifetime. William Burroughs used color walks as a way to bring back memories and reminisce on memories that wouldn’t be brought up on a daily basis. Burroughs stated “Notice how the colors begin to stand out more sharply of their own accord. I was walking on yellow when I saw a yellow amphibious jeep near the corner of 94th Street and Central Park West. It was called the Thing. This reminded me of the Thing I knew in Mexico” explaining the exercise and how it is effective on not only the awareness of colors but also the effects of taking the time to focus on the little things that usually go unnoticed. Bennin and McMullan deciding to give it a try, started their own color walk in experimentation of Burroughs research. The two said “At the end of the afternoon, the colors hung in our brains and eyes. We walked away seeing a world brimming over with colors…” on their experience of the color walk. The article then goes on to discuss how to properly prepare yourself for your own color walk with steps and hints to reach the full experience of a color walk. To receive the full experience, one should dedicate uninterrupted time (away from cell phones, social media, and other things we tend to get so easily distracted by) to just open their minds and focus primarily on eye-popping objects. In Bennin and McMullan’s color walk, they started with blues and followed a blue scarf until they came across another eye-popping bleu object, chipping nails. Nearly getting on a train following the blue nails, they were luckily distracted by basketball courts and watched the sport until a purple shirt continued their journey. From the purple shirt, a pair of purple leopard pants gained the attention of the experimentalists thus leading them to a pink and purple shirt. The recent changing of color to color made the experience an adventure of a lifetime and made better acquaintances of those random strangers. The color walk brought more awareness and attention to the author’s surroundings and left them with a world full of color. After the color walk, the authors also began to see more noticeable colors stand out, whether it be a shirt, nails, or a roof on a brick building. From the article, an audience could tell Brennin and McMullan had immediately became more aware of the world around them and was more appreciative of the littler things in this busy world. From the author’s experiences, they definitely recommend taking a color walk and following these steps: Give yourself an hour of uninterrupted time, no commutes, no errands, just eye time; Pick a color, or let a color pick you–follow the one that makes your heart go thump-thump; and If you get lost, pick another color. If you get really lost, you’re on the right track.

Gender Roles and Fashion

In this article author Suzanne Tick goes in depth on how gender roles in America are changing and how fashion plays a huge role in this change. Tick starts the article discussing the concerning issue of equality among genders regardless of sex and choice of sex. She mentions how society is predominately a male run society until recent times of common feminism on the up rise. Starting with the viral speech by Emma Watson on the ‘He for She’ movement. Among the topic of feminism, Tick also mentions same sex marriage and how that is a positive movement as well. Tick stated “In the workplace, the barriers and hierarchies have started to come down as women have become more prominent. With Mother Nature becoming more important, sustainability started coming into play, and an emphasis on windows, daylight, and views has accompanied that” on the topic of the new wave and movement of America and countries around the world.

Identities and Change

Fashion is a big part of our everyday lives and keeps the world moving with new innovative and trendy designs. Recently, according to the article by Suzanne Tick, Alexander Wang came up with a new design that is not only appealing to women, but to men also. Tick identifies this as a feministic movement as gender roles are changing a lot these days, and it becomes harder to identify distinction between the two. Among this new women’s jacket also comes a line of a new make-up collection for men. This is very intriguing to the author, as usually only woman wear make-up until recently. The biggest issue of this recent gender swap, bathrooms. Tick stated her opinion of this situation in her article as: “Of course, bathrooms are only part of the puzzle in addressing gender inclusivity in the office, but they are spaces that are sensitive to such personal issues. In a recent case, an employee underwent gender-reassignment surgery during the summer break. On the employee’s return, both male and female coworkers went to human resources and said, “We don’t want this person in our bathroom. How can designers help address a situation like that—especially in a work culture where everyone is expected to collaborate closely?” Tick’s biggest concern with this issue is how we are going to solve it with a “gender-neutral design.” Her other concern is accommodating everyone and every gender to respectfully reach and tend to each of their needs.

Conclusion

Tick made valid arguments and provided greater evidence to support her beliefs and questions that arouse the new America. With constant change in sex roles, belief on gay marriage, and an uprising feminist movement Tick as well as millions of other Americans have the right to question how we are going to accommodate all the individuals of this subject matter. Tick described this as a “human phenomenon, and we need to design for the accumulation of different human beings who are out there by being respectful to individual needs, and creating environments in which people can have their own individuality

Basis

In this article, author Emily Balezon discusses the topic of transgenders and public bathrooms and then proceeds to explain how bathrooms are almost safe havens for some individuals. She starts the article by explaining the common differences in public bathrooms such as, the obvious male and female bathroom signs, then proceeds to explain how certain discomfort comes if the wrong gender were to walk through the opposites door. Balezon also began to address the problems with women’s restrooms and how inconvenient it is not having accommodating features like the males (urinals or something in like comparison).

Civil Issues Arouse

Balezon identified a student from Illinois, who is a transgender, was denied to change in the female’s locker room due to ‘privacy concerns’. As she got into depth upon the topic of the civil issue, due to the fact the student legally changed her sex to female, many others had comments on the situation and why she was denied the rights to change in the female locker room. Balezon proceeded to explain and argue how bathrooms were meant to ‘accommodate’ its users but isn’t with sexual tension regarding transgenders.

Accommodation

The first thing author Emily Balezon did was define accommodation, for its definition can often be misconstrued. Emily stated ‘‘Accommodate’’ comes from the Latin for ‘‘to make fitting.’’ It means to adapt, to bring into agreement or harmony, to furnish with something desired or needed, to favor or oblige. It can be a word of welcome and hospitality coming from a concierge or maître d’. But it can also have a compulsory aspect — it’s a word that involves moving over to make room for other people, whether you want to or not.” She began to explain in depth how this has been an issue for over a decade and provided history to prove sex orientated bathrooms have been dated all the way back to the Victorian Age.

A Woman’s Safe Haven and the View on Transgenders in the Bathrooms

The last thing the author mentioned in the article was women’s views on bathroom stalls and the time it takes for women to use the bathroom. The biggest complaint of author Emily Balezon was the waiting time for the bathroom at public places by women. Emily as well as many other women are “disturbed by what they see as an incursion by male anatomy.” “That’s their explanation for the ‘‘No Men in Women’s Bathrooms’’ T-shirts in Houston, and the resistance to letting transgender students into the locker room. It’s poignant: Transgender women say they are women, but some other women can only see them as men, and so they don’t want to make room.” The author wants a change on views of transgenders, but can’t help change the views of others. This article she wrote helps raise awareness to the gender bias of people and especially transgenders. Balezon just wants equality for everyone and for those transgenders, who already feel out of place, to fit in with their peers to make life a more enjoyable experience.