Month: February 2017

Commonplace 5: 3 Parts on Schedule

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Commonplace Assignment 5

Part 1:

We  often walk around without giving the things around us much thought. Furthermore, when we do this, we can live free lives without giving things much thought. On the other hand, not thinking about what is happening in our lives and just randomly doing things can have dangerous consequences. Similarly, when things are done out of the blue, it can shock and appal people to the point where they think semi-malicious thoughts of you if you act rashly all the time.  . . . in opposition, there is a need to be thinking impulsively at times. If one cannot make a quick decision, it can be detrimental in situations that call for impulsive thinking.  . . . As a result, there needs to be a fine mix of impulsive thinking and strategic thinking in our lives. By doing so, walking around oblivious to our surroundings can mean either good or bad things will happen to us. To finish thinking about thoughts is generally a good idea though.  . . . As this essay will detail, the different types of thinking we do as humans can often be a link to our personalities. Although many scholars of psychology may disagree or have different opinions, many have addressed  the  idea  that  we all can make a difference. These ideas have rarely been discussed in context of human thinking in the modern world.

Part 2:

The website explains AU as a nationally ranked school with a boatload to offer. It first tells a story of different highlighted moments and proud AU moments in the slideshow you first see. The target audience therefore is anyone who is looking to attend the university. Authors could be students, faculty, staff, or anyone that has a genuine voice and lots to offer at the university. The various topics discussed to rope in the target audience are facts about who has an internship, who is in grad school or working, undergraduate statistics, and anything that would make a person excited to come here for AU’s nobility. They were placed based on what is wanted to be seen., both on a conscious and unconscious level.  To tell a person that AU is a fantastic school in a fantastic area is where the focus lies, and thus, the website accomplishes this.

Part 3:

Why is this sentence not a comma splice? And mark the subjects and verbs:

“The sun came up a baleful smear in the sky, not quite shapeless, in fact able to assume the appearance of a device immediately recognizable yet unnameable, so widely familiar that the inability to name it passed from simple frustration to a felt dread, whose intricacy deepened almost moment to moment . . . its name a word of power, not to be spoken aloud, not even to be remembered in silence.”

Italisized = Subjects

Bold = Verbs

The first part of the sentence is not a comma splice because it is a run on sentence. The sentence makes little sense as a run on, and thus, is not a comma splice. The purpose of creating a dramatic effect is there, but the sentence has little to no conjunctions to link the ideas together, and thus, makes it sound like a run on.

 

Digital Archives Written Notes

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Notes on Edgewood Terrace

 

It is a very urban neighborhood. It is in NE DC, and the houses that surround it are very urban.

 

The people here are predominantly African American. When I went, it was very warm out, so there were children playing football on the lawn of the apartments

There are public playgrounds close to here, and things seem, to be quiet around here.

 

Thinking back in time, I could understand why this was called Little Beirut. There is a sign that even says here that if drugs are sold here, the vehicle is subject to search and seizure

A metro bus runs right through here. Many of the people that live here [probably rely on the public metro buses.

Rap music from the kids was loud and pronounced. The apartments are on a hill

Everyone seems close knitted. I heard a kid say, “What chu doin in Edgewood?” to someone (not me) Everyone knows each other, and are close

It smells like an average area here. The wind is blowing, and things do not have a certain smell or taste to them.

The bench I sat on to take these notes has the handlebars to prevent homeless sleeping here

The metro ride went outside to Rhode Island Ave. Going outside for the metro was pretty cool.

Things had graffiti on the walls on the metro ride. It looked like your typical urban neighborhood.

You definitely feel like an outsider if you don’t live there. If you bought drugs there, you were welcome and known, but a stranger is definitely weeded out. I felt like that.

As a result,  my mental defenses went up. I was thinking, I am here to just take pictures and video, and get the hell out. I didn’t need or want to talk to anyone.

5. Digital Archives: Historical/Exterior/Text

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This last picture I took was when I was waiting for the Metro to go back to Tenleytown. I noticed a lot of people running, and I was wondering where they were running. As it turns out, there is a running path that cuts right alongside the apartments. I thought that it was very interesting how it was isolated from the apartments. While it does make sense as to why being that to have a public running path through housing is very irritating for the residents, I thought it was done for the safety of the runners as well. The Edgewood Apartments in my opinion were a very close knitted group that everyone knew each other, and were quick to notice outsiders. This final picture I took showed me more information to know about my site, and how it is and how it could have been 27 years ago.

Annotated Bibliographies 1 and 2

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“Our Communities.” CPDC, Edgewater Terrace Apartments, www.cpdc.org/communities/edgewood-terrace-the-vantage-and-the-parke/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2017.

In the website for the Edgewood Terrace Apartments, it is discussed how the apartments are an exquisite area of living in the District of Columbia due to its location and affordability. Composed of 292 apartments, it is a place with lots surrounding it physically and culturally in addition to multiple things to see and do. The rent is explained, and the surrounding environments explicate furthermore what the living situation is like at the Edgewood Terrace Apartments. The webpage gives a description of the several small townhouses that surround the apartments giving the apartments a unique edge in how they are integrated to the community in a further depth analysis. A suite option is also available, meaning that several people can live in one apartment, which also brings life to these apartments and the community it has in itself and the surrounding communities as well.  

I think this source will be especially helpful in finding out what the apartments are like. It can give me a current perspective as to what the apartments are like now. Currently, the Edgewood Terrace Apartments were the first wired affordable housing community and the first Neighborhood Network Center in the U.S. These statistics give pride to the community, and also show how they have changed from what they used to be to what they are now. The website delves into some past statistics on the housing, and these statistics reflect on the times of S Street Rising and that specific story of Little Beirut. Based on the recent visit I took to the apartments, I could see some similarity between the old and new Edgewood Terrace Apartments. This proved progress for the area, which is important.

“Lebanon – The Siege of Beirut.” Lebanon – The Siege of Beirut, www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-8077.html. Accessed 19 Feb. 2017.

The exploration of the facts behind the Siege of Beirut as explained by this article portrays much violence that plagued Lebanon, Syria, and even Israel in the 1980’s. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians perished in this siege and the Lebanese War. Violence became the everyday thing, so much that Beirut was threatened to becoming a “second Stalingrad.”  Stalingrad, Russia was essentially destroyed during Operation Barbarossa by the Fascist Nazi Reich. The city that was once prospering and filled with joy and laughter was reduced to rubble and ridiculed with gunfire and explosions. The scene this article describes puts into perspective why Beirut was so violent, and that it was not the area to be in during that time.

This site indirectly explains the allusion that Castaneda makes in his book. He explains that the drug war and turfs between gangs got so violent in this area that it was infamously known as “Little Beirut.” Gunfire was as common to hear as cars honking or birds singing. Appropriately, the Edgewood Terrace Apartments was nicknamed this. This source can help me in understanding the conflict that Castaneda was explaining as a result. In knowing information about the allusion that he makes, it can be understood why these apartments were so infamous in the drug problem.

 

 

 

Commonplace 4: “Till I Collapse

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*The actual song starts at 0:37

“Cuz sometimes you just feel tired. You feel weak. And when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up. But you gotta search through you. You gotta find that inner strength, and just pull that shit outta you. And get that motivation to not give up, to not keep quitting, no matter how bad you wanna fall flat on your face and collapse.”

Source: “Till I Collapse”

Artist: Eminem

Album: The Eminem Show

Category: Commonplace

This is one of my favorite songs of all time. I am a huge Eminem fan, so it has been one of my favorite songs for as long as I can remember. It has lifted me up when my spirits were down, and has lifted me up when I need an extra push. I think structurally, its colloquial style because it is rapping is what makes it pop out so much to me. It is just raw emotion to quit complaining, find your extra strength, and keep going. It is saying that life is just going to knock you down so that you’re tired, but you just gotta pull that “shit” the “shit” being the extra strength, and just keep fighting. The sentences are also very choppy, as if Eminem is tired himself saying these words. However, he is finding his extra strength, and he is pulling it out of him to make this rap. It will take everything he has, but it will get done. I think this verse before the song actually starts is the best part of the whole song, and I feel most people will agree with me if they like Eminem.

 

RA 2: Architectural Exclusion: The “Need” for It

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Architectural Exclusion: The “Need” for It

Society has a major issue that plagues integration and excludes several people. The issue of architectural exclusion as outlined by Sarah Schindler  is an issue that plagues many cities across the U.S. One of the ways Schindler discusses this is the fact that some areas of cities are not accessible by public transportation. Schindler argues that  people of multiple social and economic background utilize public transportation, but the good majority of  them are of a lower socioeconomic class and/or people of color. As a result,  these people “have a hard time reaching areas that are undeserved by color” (Schindler 1961). Therefore, these people cannot reach these often wealthy areas and are excluded as a result.

The issue that I saw with this and Schindler mentions later in the text is how the job market is affected by the lack of public transportation in wealthy areas of cities. Schindler explains that the exclusion of transit stops constitutes exclusion of workers that would take minimum wage jobs in the suburbs, and “cannot physically access those jobs.”  This matters because excluding people from these areas is obviously unethical, subliminally racist due to the targeted population for exclusion, and actually worsens the situation of exclusion. Letting these people work in suburban, wealthy areas will create jobs, and with jobs can reduce crime, and help put a dent in the poverty that plagues the “ghettos” the excluded people are forced into. In short, society should embrace the affected people to alleviate issues and help put an end to why people feel the need to architecturally exclude people in the first place.

Reference

Schindler, Sarah. “Architectural Exclusion: Discrimination and Segregation Through Physical Design of the Built Environment.” The Yale Law Journal, pp. 1934–2024.

RA 1: Fleming: The Persistence of Space through Time

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Fleming: The Persistence of Space through Time

In City of Rhetoric, David Fleming argues that space in which humans live is a timeless value that has extreme relevance to modern society. Space is a persistent force that is important because it has given barriers and unifying forces that allow for society to be separated or unified. As a result, the central claim that a connection between space, embodiment, and citizenship exists through rhetoric/discourse is formed. For example, Fleming argues this case for many cities that different sections of a respective city may be known for its racial dominance, or its type of populace that lives in that respective space. Fleming argues that we make “discriminations among them” (Fleming 32),  the them being various places in cities across the U.S. Therefore, much of the space that he discusses has to do with a racial standpoint.

As a Community Based Research Scholar at AU, I have studied many cases of gentrification, especially in Washington DC. When speaking of race and discourse in communities, it is almost impossible to not discuss gentrification. As a result, it is mentioned when Fleming talks about “capitalization of economic transformation of our time” (Fleming 33). This sentence is talking about the discourse between communities. “Latte towns” (Fleming 32) such as Boulder and even Washington DC take over the once urban, poor areas of the city to revitalize them. Consequently, with progress comes discourse between old and new community. The transformation from a poor, urban environment to an electrifying, practically utopian place through urbanization and gentrification is what is giving Fleming’s central claim credibility.

In a broader sense, this matters because “people want to inhabit communities in which they can flourish” (Fleming 34). Through rhetoric, Fleming is convincing his audience that people want the best for either themselves or their community.  Primarily, this is done through the space they inhabit, which is why living situations and embodiment of living space is so important. Tying it back, gentrification does this, whether it is fair or not. The only thing that stays immutable through it all though is time. As Fleming’s central claim argues Space changes, and there is a definite connection between space, community and embodiment through rhetoric and discourse.

Works Cited

Fleming, David. City of Rhetoric. SUNY Press. 2009.

Commonplace 3: Eagles

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Commonplace Assignment 3

“Once an eagle, always an eagle.”

Source: Boy Scouts of America, American University

Category: Commonplace

This quote is especially meaningful to me. I am an Eagle Scout, and when I made the rank of Eagle Scout, I received many gifts and congratulations. However, when I committed to American, my mom gave me one gift that she withheld from me. It is a plaque that says that quote. She told me that now it has two meanings to me, and forever will do so so long as I fly high like an eagle. Thus, this quote is very important to me. Not only do I cherish this quote for its significance in my life, but also because of its raw power. It is a simple sentence with three words on each side of the comma. It’s simple structure gives it power as if to say, “this is how it is, as you are an eagle now and forever.” It is almost like I am a member of an elite kingdom that this is their only motto and has been for the past millennium. Thus, this quote for its raw emotion through its sentence structure and its meaning to me, will always be a quote to remember. This is why I keep the plaque right next to me on my desk in my room, so that I can look at it and remember that my goal is to fly high.