One of the readings for this week discusses markets and its impacts on society. Particularly, it points out gender roles and how women have come to be associated with merchants, a position that used to be stereotypically of men. Relating the other reading that discussed the food crisis for the lower class during WWI, the question of how women affect the market scene arises. Sure, one can simply state that riots and boycotts of lower class women have disrupted the food economy of the lower class during WWI and that women have become merchants because of their financial circumstances. But surely there is a much deeper, complex assertion for the presence of women as both consumers and sellers at markets. Women are also the prominent ones who cook the food that they buy, so ultimately it is women who have significant influence on the financial flow in the markets. How does that reflect on the female merchants and how marketplaces are run (e.g. items that are sold, displays and advertisements, etc.)?

Also, “food deserts” is tied as much to the economy as it is to the environment. How can NYC treat this serious condition through markets? Would it be possible to subsidize and encourage the buddings of farmers’ markets throughout the city so that people will have more access to and buy more from local markets? How would major corporations that deal with food distributions and selling respond?

While it was not a completely fresh idea, it was interesting to read a suggestion to have a pattern book for the organizing of markets, similar to how architects and designers have pattern books. Fusing the idea of pattern books and markets as artistic venue, how can live performances become incorporated into the “market pattern book” so that they benefit the performers, the merchants, the administrators, and the consumers?