When I step out of the Shaw-Howard U Metro Station in Washington, D.C., I come across a cafe called Uprising Muffin. At first, I chose to ignore the cafe embedded inside a tall glass building. I wanted to understand the culture of Shaw that I felt was being overrun due to gentrification. I believed it […]
Historical
The Preface, The Idea
In the preface of his City of Rhetoric, David Fleming outlines the course he will take in his book regarding the relationship between public discourse and built environments in the United States. I have noticed that Fleming structures his argument three parts. The first part of his argument in the preface is the rejection of […]
The Complexities of Urban Transformation
1. Exhibit Freeman, Lance. There Goes the Hood : Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up. Temple University Press, 2011. ebrary, http://site.ebrary.com/lib/alltitles/docDetail.action?docID=10392350. In Lance Freeman’s book titled There Goes the Hood : Views of Gentrification from the Ground Up, the central argument is that there is no one view of gentrification any more valid than another. […]
The Fundamentals
David Fleming, in the afterword of his book titled The City of Rhetoric, argues that if we wish to see any advancement in American society, we must no longer neglect the important relationship between a given space and socioeconomic trends. This chapter is unique in the sense that he begins by providing historical and […]
Patriotism in Shaw
According to this website, this mural not only has general American history embedded into it, but family history as well. The mural is painted in front of a store called “Good Ole Reliable Liquors,” and it’s owner, Mike Toor, supports troops because he has family in service. To him, this piece means so much more […]
Getting Stepped On, Getting Stomped Out
This mural is located near Shaw’s Howard Theatre, and the image above was obtained from this website. Of course, with most street art, it’s difficult to understand what context it holds. But here’s my interpretation: The imagery is intense. A pig in a suit being stomped out by a disembodied foot in front of […]