In Ruben Castaneda‘s S Street Rising, Shaw is described as “a vibrant cultural center” (50). I wanted to explore what Castaneda meant by this, so I set out into Washington to research the area myself. He was right. It is a cultural center and it is quite vibrant. But I feel there’s more to […]
WRTGs17
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, but You Can See it on the Wall
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 […]
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 […]
Design and a Post-Gender Society
Suzanne Tick, in her “His & Hers: Designing for a Post-Gender Society,” the central argument is that modern-day designers must use their craft to promote acceptance and change in society. Before stating her claim, Tick refers to the breakdown of traditional concepts of femininity and masculinity defining societal norms. The path her article follows […]
Annotated Bibliography 5&6- The (non)Violent Takeover of Shaw
Background Frank, Stephanie Barbara. “If We Own the Story, We Own the Place”: Cultural Heritage, Historic Preservation, and Gentrification on U Street. University of Maryland, College Park, 2005. ProQuest, http://search.proquest.com/docview/304996415/abstract/1CE187B707EA4A1EPQ/1. Stephanie Barbara Frank, in her publication titled, “If We Own the Story, We Own the Place,” suggests that people must take different approaches to gain […]
Annotated Bibliography 3&4- Residents of Shaw
Exhibit Englert, Carlos M., and Morgan A. Eddy. “Underpinning and Shoring of Historic Howard Theatre in Washington, DC.” Academia.edu, www.academia.edu/23411452/Underpinning_and_Shoring_of_Historic_Howard_Theatre_in_Washington_DC. Accessed 26 Mar. 2017. In “Underpinning and Shoring of Historic Howard Theatre in Washington, DC,” Englert and Eddy suggest that the restoration of the Howard Theatre was an intense process that inevitably brought to light […]
All the Good Men in Jail
“If a person goes to a country and finds their newspapers filled with nothing but good news, there are good men in jail.” –Daniel P. Moynihan, U.S. Senator The quote above has been pulled from the top of a display in Washington’s famous Newseum. The Newseum undertakes the mission of relaying how important information, and […]
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 Price of Democracy is 99 Cents
A vigorous press empowers the people. Support the work. Subscribe for 99¢.https://t.co/wFwD3VpuHx — WaPo Subscriptions (@subscribetowapo) March 2, 2017 The tweet above appears on my Twitter feed quite often because I do follow to the Washington Post, among many other news organizations. I find their methods to get more subscriptions quite interesting. Maybe I only […]
The Barriers
This picture illustrates a very real problem in Shaw. On one hand, Shaw seems to be improving. It seems to be developing, and along with the new developments, Shaw seems to be a place where there is newfound opportunity. That’s at least what most developers and newer residents would like us to think. But, like […]