I started off liking the idea of the Broken Windows theory. It made perfect context in regards to my downstairs neighbors, boys who are now moving out in favor of Manhattan or Park Slope because they think Flatbush is grimy. They have always complained about their dump of an apartment, and thus always abused it. With […]
This is a couple of hours late for the extra credit, but I got really engaged with it so I figured I’d share anyway. Link to the original: Earrings One of these earrings comes from a pair that my great-grandmother owned, the only jewelry she ever had. The second earring was made to match the first, […]
A friend of mine once made a joke that might too accurately sum up how I view life. He said, “Waffles are top priority. School is second.” He went on to change it slightly to say, “Okay, waffles aren’t top. Sleep is top. Then friends, then food in general, then waffles, and then somewhere at […]
I suspect there are some things we just accept to be true, never question, never think about, that we’ve maintained since childhood. Here is a horrible set of assumptions: if a non-white woman is pushing a white baby in a stroller, she is hired help; if a white woman is pushing a non-white baby in a […]
I had gone looking for a field of some sort. As we walked down Broadway, that seemed less and less likely. Feeling pressured by the ticking time, already 5 minutes late, it seemed impossible we would find the right place. Broadway is a busy commercial area. Surely there isn’t space for a graveyard. I pictured […]
What seemed like a long time ago, I took a quiz put on by Harvard that tests if you associate African Americans with violence. It showed you weapons, and ordinary objects, as well as White and Black individuals. Your results were based on your reaction time sorting the two categories to either side. I was […]
I’m very lucky to belong to a social group that talks about privilege– a lot. Coming into these conversations for the first time, as outsiders tend to occasionally, isn’t a comfortable process. It is painful to realize that so much of what you thought was your own hard work, what you thought you accomplished yourself, […]
Ethnography begs the begs the question, can we ever approach objectivity? And if not, are subjective observations still of worth? Even something as simple as what the ethnographer pays attention to– even ignoring their preconceived ideas about the things they see– completely changes the tone and content of a report. But does it change the […]
