Behavioral Sink
In the reading “O Rotten Gotham” it talks about behavioral sink and how New York had been thrown into state of behavioral sink. It was interesting how this author took the behavior of rats and compared it to humans. After reading what he wrote it sort of reminded me of the lifestyles that some New Yorkers live with in the projects. While reading this story it made me think about my parents and what they have said about living in New York and in the projects. Here are some opinions about behavioral sink and taken from two people that have lived in the projects in New York
When talking with Alberto Velez, he said that there was a lot of over crowding in the projects because too dense of a population. There were also too
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Just the fact that people are living in subsidized housing causes some sort of anxiety and stress because these type of housing projects tend to be racially and socially segregated, for example the majority of tenants in New York City housing are minorities and very poor. There are many opportunities for criminal type behavior against the tenants in these projects which tend to be high rise and sometimes not very well secured. So there is the element of constant fear in even just getting to the apartment or walking in the apartment complex. There also is a breakdown in civilized behavior when tenants or outside elements come into the projects and vandalized the projects which lead to not caring about the condition of the buildings and grounds. That leads lack of socialization with the people who live there and their lack of caring for one another and their property. Unless the tenants can get out the situation, and more to better housing, it is likely that the sad human condition will only continue to get …show more content…
They both say that because so many people are put into this poor housing that they almost lose the will to better their lives. They give up and just accept their way of life, or they feel they have no where else to turn but criminal activity. I think that is what this story was about with the rats. They didn’t have any other way or rather they didn’t know any other way to live. So they either gave up or turned on each other.
I grew up in the suburbs of Cincinnati and every time my family would go to New York to visit family it was amazing to me to see where and how they were living. For example I had an uncle living in the projects in Queens, when we walked into the building it smelled of urine and filth. When we went into the elevator someone had urinated on the floor, my uncle’s reaction as if that was a normal everyday thing that people did in his building. When I suggested we take the stairs he looked at me like I was crazy. He only lived on the fourth floor, why not take the stairs, but apparently in the projects you don’t take the stairs because your odds of being mugged or robbed are increased. I couldn’t imagine living like that, but for most people in New York that is their lifestyle and what they are used to. That is what living in the projects is
In order to recreate the world of new immigrants coming to America Proulx didn’t use traditional narrative style but instead tried to use fragmentation style by not giving full complete stories which didn’t link to one another except of the accordion which was passed from family to family. By the traveling of the accordion we can see what went on in different houses (families) since he was part of them for a moment. We have a feeling of violence in each story; in almost every story the ending finishes in a violent way; when Felix gets killed by a Japanese bomb, broken necks, car accidents and heart attacks. What those examples shows is that usually in poor environments the violence is more present then in rich and high educated neighborhoods.
How were young women of all classes dressing to be modern in the nightclubs and dance halls of the 1920s and 1930s? Focusing on the middle-classes, yet considering women of both the upper and working classes, discuss what were the influences in their fashion choices.
If one looks deeper into each side, they can see that these stereotypes are not always true. One big stereotype people have about “the hills” and “the flats” is that the “flats” are more prone to violence than the “hills” because of the exposure to a more difficult lifestyle. However, there are numerous counts of violence and hate that has not been accounted for or heard of in a multitude of neighborhoods. According to FBI.gov, there are 365 violent offenses per 100,000 persons in the United States. In addition, these violent crimes have an impact on those who have seen or experienced it. This number includes robberies, domestic violence, and assault and gang activities. According to a scholarly journal published by Sciencedirect, around thirty
Slums usually develop in the worst types of terrain, and lead to flooding, landslides, and fires that destroy thousands of people’s homes. Yet population growth and the amounts of waste created by urban civilizations are also pushed on the hidden faces and locations of those on the outskirts of the cities. “If natural hazards are magnified by urban poverty, new and entirely artificial hazards are created by poverty’s interactions with toxic industries, anarchic traffic, and collapsing infrastructures” (Davis 128). People who live in slums usually are given the rest of the world’s waste to live near, which could be detrimental to their health if that waste consists of toxic or deadly materials. Mike Davis notes that “the world usually pays attention to such fatal admixtures of poverty and toxic industry only when they explode with mass casualties” (Davis 130). He also goes on to conclude that this century’s surplus humanity can only survive as long as the slum remains a franchised solution to the overflow of materials and waste created by the industrial society (Davis 201). The living conditions of the urban poor and those in poverty stricken slums receive the hazardous consequences directly from the growth of
My grandmother once told me that Englewood was desolate and bleak at 20 years ago when she first came to Chicago. But now with develop gentrification, majestic and high buildings are everywhere comparing to the before dilapidated cottage as well as the building under construction. Not long ago, I visited the Englewood community with an intense curiosity about how it looks like. Finally, I found that it is more brilliant than I expected before as the bygone impression in my brain. As my grandmother said, everywhere is flourishing because of the remarkable and positive impact of gentrification. Local residents also gladly share with me about how the superb gentrification change the little things of daily life and how happy they are. I really enjoy the process they merrily share me something about joy, and hopefully, they could always
“A third of new apartments were subsidized public housing”, the city’s plans for urban renewal were at the cost of Paris’s historic buildings and community life. As Charles Rearick writes in his novel Paris Dreams, Paris Memories, “urban planners looked at shabby areas and saw only poverty, wretched housing, public health dangers, criminality, and wasted space” In urban planners minds they saw the creation of these apartments as progress made, providing a “better quality of life” (Rearick 112). However, to the people whose homes were destroyed and social lives ended were forced to reassess their place in Paris. As urban planners started destroying these neighborhoods and building up modern apartments, the process of alienation began. Richard Cobb uses the neighborhood, Marais as an example. Following the displacement of its original occupants to the suburbs, the diversity in the neighborhood and workforce ended, he dramatically says it’s when the neighborhood signed its “death warrant” (Cobb 221). Even though Cobb may be dramatic the results are correct, immigrants and their presence of culture and influence in Paris vanish once they are swept outside the city. The further they are pushed out of their homes, jobs, and schools the more they begin to feel
In conclusion, through the decades fashion has epitomized the lifestyle associated with the time eras. Considering the factors stated in this essay, it is undeniably correct to say that, fashion does say a thousand words about a lifestyle using exposure, social influence and economic status.
Eviction causes a vicious cycle of homeless and poverty. Eviction promotes homelessness by tarnishing individual’s ability to obtain adequate housing, and worsens poverty and exclusion by trapping individuals and families in a vicious circle of difficult circumstances. The primary cause of eviction is financial; people from lower socioeconomic situations are facing the worst affordability crisis in several generations .There is also a tertiary affect on a person’s health when exposed to prolonged homelessness from eviction. Eviction and homelessness is extremely diverse, effecting men, women, families, children minorities and the mentally ill. This issue is difficult for economically secure people, or people from a different socioeconomically
Fashion is a form people use as a way for self expression. For me, fashion dictates how a person sense of style is; some may be bold and loud or simple and calm in which it also gives others an outlook on how their character may be. Although fashion is a way to express ones’ sense of style it does not tells us who the person is personally. Fashion in the society of the 1900s has changed female gender roles then and now by the way their roles changed during the time.
This segregation, caused by the racist attitudes prevalent in the Edgewater homeless community, is a direct reflection of societal attitudes in the United States. Because racism has survived to some degree to this day, homeless whites in Edgewater cling to the notion of “white supremacy,” despite their socioeconomic status (Bourgois and Schonberg, 30). In Edgewater, homeless whites look down upon African-Americans with disdain, claiming “blacks” to be thieves and liars who can’t be trusted (Bourgois and Schonberg, 31). When African-Americans began moving into the Edgewater community during the second year of Bourgois and Schonberg’s research, racial tensions increased drastically. Initially, several white men gave up dry sleeping spots purely to increase the physical distance between the two races; however, many ultimately moved to an entirely new location, Dockside, despite it being a downgrade from Edgewater (Bourgois and Schonberg, 36). Without taking into account the economic environment of the Edgewater community, one may view actions such as giving up warmth and dryness just to get away from a group of people may seem severe. However, when examined from the perspective of the homeless inhabitants of Edgewater, it becomes apparent that in such close quarters, resources of coveted substances such as heroin are strained and racial tensions are heightened to impossible
Childhood obesity is a serious medical problem that affects children. Obesity is a medical term, commonly defined as being extremely overweight, which is only half the case. (www.wikipedia.com) Many parent’s ask if their child is obese, or at risk of becoming overweight, and they ask what to do about it. MD, Dennis Clements tells parents: “Obesity is a family event, not an individual event”.
Origins of superstition are deeply rooted in history and have a variety of reasons for the appearance, such as psychological, religious and economic aspects. Despite the fact that superstitions had different origins, according to Smith (2008), their function was to express the ideological associations of people and to indicate fears and anxieties of society at that time. To begin with, the psychological foundation of superstitions is the most deep-seated. It refers to the lack of knowledge and the impossibility to explain occurring events because of this. As Lindeman and Aarino (2007) argue, this fact can be compared with an understanding of the world by a child. As authors said, this understanding is explained by developmental psychologists by a notion of a core knowledge, which means process of cognitive learning about physical, psychological and biological entities and processes without any explanation, help or instructions. For instance, Lindeman and Aarino (ibid) recognize that animated subjects, such as ...
I liked this book because it shows a part of society which is usually kept hidden. Many people think schizophrenia is just a form retardation, but this book gives you a small amount of understanding for people with this disorder.
Some of the causes of why people are homeless, are because of individual factors such as drug and alcohol abuse, lack of accomplishments, lack of social support, debts, poor physical and mental health, relationship mishaps, and getting involved in crime at a young age. Other reasons that may stem from homelessness are family backgrounds, including family mishaps, disputes, physical abuse in childhood, having parents with substance abuse, and previous experience of family homelessness. Some of the basic causes of homelessness are unemployment, poverty, a lack of cost-effective housing, housing policies, the structure and administration of housing profit, and wider policy developments, such as the closure of long-story psychiatric hospitals. “Advocates of affordable housing say that the employed homeless are proof of the widening gap between wages and rents — which rose in the city even during the latest recession — and, given the shortage of subsidized housing, of just how difficult it is to escape the shelter system, even for people with jobs.” (Navarro) Reasons given by...
For centuries people have been fascinated by these superstitions. Superstitions have bewitched, bemused and befuddled the minds of millions, billions of innocent people. Because believing superstitions is simply showing ignorance and fear of the unknown. This is why so many people have fallen into the traps and beliefs that are superstitions, taboos. These superstitions have been deeply influential in history. You look back in history and you’ll find them 600, 700 back in time.