Monthly Archives: March 2016

Mid-term Reflection

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This class is very different from any other English class I’ve ever taken because there is very little instruction and help for each assignment. This gives me an opportunity to be more creative in my assignments as there is less guidelines to follow. When I am writing, I feel as if I have a larger audience because I am posting my final product online as a blog post, which has the potential to reach a larger audience compared to handing in a hard copy of an essay to my professors. This has led me to broaden my horizons to relate to a larger, more diverse audience, instead of just a room of my classmates and professor.

As a writer, I believe I have a very strong vocabulary. Often while writing, I will get off task and not be completely focused on answering the prompt throughout my piece, adding in unnecessary sentences that I could do without. I have been quite behind with this class because of my busy schedule and coming down with mononucleosis, but I plan to complete the extra credit quizzes soon to earn extra points to my grade. I definitely have the potential to put out better quality work in this class. I plan to manage my time more efficiently in order to do that.

In my future work, I plan to have more diverse work, such as using different types of media and types of writing in order to not just used all standard essay format like I am writing in right now. I think implementing everything stated above will bring in higher quality work from me that I can be proud of.

Annotated Bibliography 6

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In this journal, Paul Trudeau states that historic preservation has been used as an important tool to preserve urban neighborhoods, and has the potential to be successful in Atlanta as well. Atlanta’s CBD became mostly black after the whites fled to the suburbs in response to the highway construction and commercial expansion following WWII. Wealthy white males used their influence to modify federal programs to promote private investment, which in turn created a barrier between the two communities. Atlanta wanted to expand and did so without thinking of the “slums”, by demolishing them for the good of the commercial activities. Historical designation is proven to impact property values, taxes, rental rates, the well-being of residents, and development in low income areas.

This article goes into the most detailed examples of barriers used in the city of Atlanta to segregate the two communities. This article can be used to back up previous annotated bibliography evidence. This source is reliable, although it gives a fairly one sided argument.

 

 

Trudeau, Paul J. “Friend Or Foe: The Viability Of Local Designation In The Peoplestown Neighborhood, Atlanta, Georgia.” University of Georgia (1998): n. pag. Web. 1 March 2016.

 

https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/trudeau_paul_j_200508_mhp.pdf

Annotated Bibliography 5

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In this piece of writing, Holliman began research to answer why Atlanta contained so much poverty. Holliman discovered that opposing postwar renewal programs only benefited the politically powerful or wealthy and ignored antipoverty projects, which led to failing of federal programs and more private development in the city. This led to an increase of private spaces and decrease of public space and a larger and more apparent upper class whites and lower class disadvantage who are mostly African American.

This journal helps readers understand why there are more private development in the city and how that has affected both the upper and lower class people of Atlanta. This gives us more of a why all of the segregation in Atlanta came to be and is a good addition to all of the examples of segregation in the city. This was written and published by a student at the University of Georgia with direction of Paul S. Sutter, a history professor at the University of Colorado, so it is safe to call this source reputable. This piece also gives solutions to fix the problems stated and gives different viewpoints which are useful.

 

 

Holliman, Irene V. “From ‘Crackertown’ to the ‘ATL’: Race, Urban Renewal, and the Re-making of Downtown Atlanta, 1945-2000.” University of Georgia (2010). n. pag. Web. 1 March 2016.

 

https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/holliman_irene_v_201005_phd.pdf

Annotated Bibliography 4

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Sherman, a student at University of Pennsylvania, used a mapping software called ArcMap to examine special relations of highway tracts and their relation to separation of whites and non-whites. The results found that in southern states had more white people near the highways, while northern states had fewer white people. This can be explained by the southern and northern opposition during the Civil War.

For example, the construction of Interstate 74 created a clear racial boundary through Peoria, Illinois, which created neighborhood decay and high crime. The data from Illinois could easily be compared to Georgia’s interstate highway system and how it created different boundaries in Atlanta. This journal gives a more detailed explanation on how the construction of highways can lead to segregation in cities, intentional or not. This journal was written by an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, so it may not be perfect, although it is published to the public and backed my multiple professors, so it is safe to assume the journal is accurate. This source adds to the multiple examples collected from other sources of the ways that architecture has the ability to create segregation.

 

 

Sherman, Bradford P. “Racial Bias and Interstate Highway Planning: A Mixed Methods Approach.” College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal (2014): n. pag. Web. 1 March 2016.

 

http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1208&context=curej

 

Reading Summary 4: “Making Bathrooms More ‘Accommodating'”

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In Bazelon’s article, “Making Bathrooms More ‘Accommodating’”, states that as transgender people are becoming more common, their decision on which bathroom to use has not gotten any simpler. Because of the long history of separate bathroom facilities, it has proven difficult to change society’s way of thinking in their design.

Transgender people and their supporters are rallying for the redesign of male and female bathrooms. This movement, however has created a large opposition. It has been proven difficult to people to begin to truly view transgender women as women and men as men. In Houston, a campaign has been going on called the “bathroom ordinance”, which strongly opposes the mixing of gender bathrooms and locker rooms. Some oppose the change because they view the female bathroom as a “relaxing ‘all-female enclave’” and do not want to give that up to share with men.

Although many people do not agree with this movement, places such as public schools have met the needs of their transgender students by allowing them to select the gender they most identify with and allow them to participate in all school activities as their chosen gender.

In the debate about bathrooms, many have used the word “accommodate”, which has been taken as a derogatory term to some because it points out that these people are different or not normal. Others take the word to mean that society is beginning to change and starting to meet the needs of the country’s transgender people.  Resources are available to transgenders to help them show others that they are indeed in the right restroom, by using tactics such as showing off certain features on their bodies.

Bazelon states that any kind of accommodation is a positive move forward for transgender people and even the discussion of “accommodation” is healthy. Slowly changes are being made in the right direction for transgenders, and all they can do right now is prove that they belong where they believe that they do.

 

Bazelon, Emily. “Making Bathrooms More ‘Accommodating’.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Nov. 2015. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.

Reading Summary 3: “His and Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society”

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In Tick’s article “His & Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society”, she states that we are living in a “gender revolution” and that the once thought to be traditional man and female roles are slowly changing. This is because of changes in technology, science, sexual politics, and the media. The role of women in society is starting to increase in the traditionally male positions. Transgender people are becoming more and more common and some people are refusing to choose a certain gender. Although things are changing, society is still primarily male. Males still hold a majority of high office jobs and jobs in technology.

Tick states that gender roles have become increasingly muddled. Males and females do not look like the traditional boy or girl you would expect. People are also refusing to identify themselves as a male or female. This change in thinking has led things in society to change. For example, now certain companies have started to adopt “gender-neutral bathrooms” which allow people to not have to choose a gender while using the restroom. Changing gender roles have altered the thinking of many, and while the majority of the population welcomes this change and are ready to accommodate it, some are still getting used to the idea.

Tick has travelled throughout the country in order to spread the word about today’s changing gender roles. The world has never seen anything quite like this, and Tick wants to ensure that we, as a society, work to build environments that welcome these changes, not stifle them.

 

Tick, Suzanne. “His & Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society.” Metropolis Magazine. N.p., Mar. 2015. Web. 1 March. 2016.