www.reporternewspapers.net/2013/03/21/shoplifting-at-lenox-lifts-crime-numbers/

“Theft from Lenox was one of Buckhead’s biggest crimes in 2012”. The Atlanta Police Department works closely with Simon Mall to keep the upscale Lenox customers safe. With a mall containing millions of people coming through a year, it’s only expected for there to be some shoplifting. However, this is one of the top crimes in Buckhead. This is mainly caused by those who don’t live in Buckhead and can’t afford the clothes that are high priced in the store. The police say these crimes are mostly committed by juvenile who come to Lenox via MARTA and take rides back to their homes. Police also characterize these juvenile as children that are below average performers in school, not involved in after school activities and have idle time to get into trouble. Trends of shoplifting are decreasing since new police measurements and security have been put into place but the long term visual won’t be able to be shown for a short time.

http://www.simon.com/mall/lenox-square/about

I looked through some images of how Lenox Mall used to look. Apparently, it wasn’t an enclosed mall. This goes to prove how many changes Lenox Mall has gone through to get to the high scale status it is. I found an archive of a picture from inside Lenox Mall from the eighties and things didn’t look as they do now. This pictures didn’t show all the extravagant stores Lenox has to offer, it showed wide open spaces like an outlet mall. They opened their doors just before 1960, targeting to tend their businesses to rich, wealthy, white homeowners near Buckhead. Suburban communities soon started shopping in this area as the Mall drew more people. Its renovations has added to its tourist attractiveness. Even from the people who own the mall, Simon Property Group, you can tell they cater to the upscale customers who have more money than most people.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lenox-square-atlanta-2

Yelp is a review service website designed to show customer reviews on places. As I surfed the web I found some reviews on Lenox’s inside environment. There are many mixed emotions about Lenox Mall. On one hand it is an upscale Mall that provides attributes to Buckhead making it display the wealth that describes the people who live around it. However, some people don’t like the crowdedness of Lenox and believe it’s too congested for their taste. Some eve prefer Phipps Plaza to Lenox Mall. No matter where you go in this area of Buckhead it’s very rich, classy, and upscale. Designed for the rich, wealthy, and mostly white homeowners who live in North Atlanta, Buckhead, and classy high rises throughout the city. People describe Lenox as a good mall to “people watch”. This is defined as entertaining yourself by watching the actions of those around you in a mall. Lenox is very crowded and gets more congested as time passes on. Moderately priced stores have led people earning less than the wealthy shoppers to flock to this high end fabulous mall bringing in diverse crowds, changing the nature and environment of Lenox. This being a website where people have observed Lenox from the inside and written their opinions on the internet, I thought I’d be a good website to analyze Lenox’s interior environment along with observations I’ve made by myself.

In this class, we write in a less formal style than previous classes I’ve been in. We are told to incorporate pictures and different multimedia to connect our writing with the topic asked to write about. In our reading summaries, I try to analyze each paragraph and go into depth about what they are talking about. When talking about the built environment I go into how the built environment affects people that live around the area. I talk about how the people in control have power over the masses by shaping their environment. Now that I have a rubric for the reading summaries through our grades I can improve my writing for the better and really analyze any blog or piece of writing. I do need to improve on using my sources correctly. Some of my strengths are using images to connect to my writing. I should expand on the captions I put for them and insert them into my paragraphs instead of at the end. It will be easier to connect. This class is teaching me a lot about how to incorporate writing structure into our digital world. Many of these skills I will be able to use at a professional job and beyond, making my resume look really good. In the future I’m going to attempt to do some of the extra activities offered to us. The extra readings and practice will help me in the rest of my assignments throughout the semester.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/making-bathrooms-more-accommodating.html?_r=0

This article sums up the transgender struggle and how they struggle to fit in common places, even a public bathroom. It brings up lots of safety concerns from people who are against it and many refuting arguments from supporters of this sensitive movement. In locker rooms and bathrooms where people are most vulnerable because their bodies are exposed to strangers and mainly people they aren’t that close with or comfortable letting view their body are one of the most conflicted places for transgender people. In an Illinois high school, a boy who was undergoing hormone treatment to become a girl and had already changed identities legally to a women was barred from changing in the girl locker room for fear of privacy for the other girls. The transgender girl was asked to change in a separate room. The Department of Education got involved and said that she should be able to change in the same area as the other girls however, if the school wanted to put up some kind of curtain for privacy then they would have to allow the other girls that option too. At the end of last year, Houston rejected a broad equal rights ordinance, which should be scary for a lot of us. This ordinance would protect against discrimination based on age, race, sexual orientation, or gender identity in the workplace, housing and public spaces. This reminds me of what African Americans fought for during segregation periods and post-Civil Rights Act times. These people only want to be treated like everyone else and not feel outcasted. The people not in support of this ordinance showed TV commercials of a boy trying to hurt a girl going into the girl bathroom, playing on parents and students fears of integrating bathrooms.

Once again, regarding the issue of a certain group of people being turned away in our country’s history we need to accommodate. Mara Keisling says “It implies a two-way street”. We nor the transgender community can do all the work, it has to be an equal effort as with any other relationship in which two people cohabitate and exist. Back in the nineteenth century separate bathrooms were created for women to relax because they were seen as the weaker gender who needed breaks and extra accommodations because they were prone to falling out. In the forties, white women refused to use the same bathrooms as black co-workers for fear of contracting syphilis from the black men. This is a more radical display of what’s going on now. People back in those times had a different thought process about who went where just like we do today. People are always going to think certain things are normal, until they change. What I’m saying is, we could think something is right, right now but at the end of the day people are still not being treated fairly but it doesn’t bother us because it’s not us who is being treated unequally. Just like in times of slavery, how many people in the south thought it was just a way of life when now we know that it was the most terrible time in our country’s history. It is the same thing today, we think separating bathrooms is good for all mankind because it’s been that way for so long but there are people being mistreated and discriminated against just to go to the bathroom, and we may think it’s okay now, but later on down the line it won’t be and things will have to change.

http://www.metropolismag.com/March-2015/His-or-Hers-Designing-for-a-Post-Gender-Society/

This article talks about the shift happening in our culture regarding identity and a gender neutral workplace. Since seventies women have become more visible in the workplace. First as secretaries, and now moving up the ranks to CEO’s and more important roles in a company. However, in the technology industry men still dominate in which eighty five percent of men work for tech companies. In recent years, identity has become hazy and people are no longer only defining themselves as women or men, some people describe themselves as both or neither, society’s acceptance of this change has been gradual but now many people are pushing for the same change in the places where they work. The He for She movement along with many others are pushing towards gender equality especially since most work places are still male dominant in more ways than one. With women taking up more spaces in the places where they work, the work place is starting to evolve. The influence of hospitality is made with soft textures, carpet in offices, windows to bring in light, and more sustainable and energy efficient designs. Major fashion names in the industry are pushing towards gender equality as well. Alexander Wang, a primary women’s high fashion designer, made high end fashion coats for women with a tailored military look for that hint of masculinity in it. This displays that the women aren’t just good for sitting at home and taking care of the children, cooking and cleaning anymore. We as women can have a prominent role in any industry, even the military.

There is quite a stir of confusion with gender roles, in which many students and many people of the world are flat out refusing to be put into one certain category. On college applications students are opting out of choosing a gender and standing up to a dimorphic system of gender roles.  People today want to be who they want to be, even if no one has ever been that before.

The focus is shifting to one segment of the entire puzzle, bathrooms. Bathrooms are traditionally for women or men especially in the public sector. However, someone undergoing a sex change that might now be the opposite gender, but is technically two genders might not fit as well in either of the bathrooms. Big companies like Google have started to embrace this change and want everyone to feel equal and have a place to fit in, so they have started on the transition to gender neutral bathrooms in which anyone of any sex or even a transgender person may enter. Making everyone feel welcomed seems to be the focus in this day and age and especially in our generation.

The author mentions the American Disabilities Act as a contrast to what should be implemented in today’s society regarding gender roles. This act helped people with disabilities at the very least, many still can’t find accessible bathrooms even though this law was passed over a decade ago. With gender equality, we have to find a way to meet individual needs without leaving people out or forcing them to compromise who they are.

The Peachtree Center is tourist attraction. It is connected to many hotels and is a way for guest of the city to be able to sample a bit of the culture we have here in Atlanta. Many popular restaurants are located in the Peachtree Center, many hidden behind each twist and turn. There are plenty of gift shop kiosk and an information booth. There is even a two story CVS pharmacy connected to the Peachtree Center. There are various flags from numerous different countries hanging up inside and out of the mall. The mall goes out to Peachtree Street, one of busiest streets in the downtown area. There weren’t many people in the Peachtree Center Mall and aren’t usually when I stop by, however if there is a conference or a big event in the city that many people from out of town will come for, the mall might be more busier than usual. Many things are very expensive just because people don’t know where to go to pay less or it may not be convenient. However, Peachtree from my view tries to incorporate most of all diverse backgrounds inside and out by representing the flags of so many countries. It makes those visitors from that country feel welcomed. That is the southern hospitality way.