Gentrification

"What Happens When Your Hood is the Last Stop on the White Flight Express" by Taigi Smith was a really thought provoking essay.  I’m currently in an anthropology class and we discussed topics like gentrification as well as class, race and other terms used in this reading, so I was relieved to have this for our in class essay.

The definition Smith used in her essay was filled with a lot more emotion. It was interesting to see the differences in what she used and what I used in my anthro class. The part about having “imaginary bleach” being poured on communities really got to me. It reminded me of a lot of videos and readings I saw in my other class.  And that term yuppies, I learned it my class a couple of days before I got this reading.

I thought it was really eye opening that she felt like she related more to her Hispanic neighbors rather than her black neighbors that she mentioned in the end of the essay. She says she was in the same class as the Latinos and she wasn’t with her black neighbors. It’s just crazy how much class has to do with our interactions and relationships with each other, even when we have the same race.

I also liked how she brought up the term womanism, and talked about how much gentrification has affected woman. I actually didn’t have anything about that in my other class, so it was interesting to see. Her struggle with finding the right type of feminism reminded me of Durraj’s writing about how she struggled with the same issue.  Its kind of interesting that woman of all race deal with this issue of what really is feminism to them. The fact that she went back to her gentrified neighborhood to see if she could actually buy a place there was my favorite part. There are so many issues with class and race today that we are afraid to talk about.  Some people are in denial that these types of issues still exist. It was sad how she compared her feelings about this change with how the drunk man reacted to seeing her.

What's Really Going on in Antigua

                When you think of Antigua, you think about beautiful clear blue skies, breathe taking ocean views, luxurious hotels; the ideal vacation spot. However, Antigua isn't as well off as we think it is. In the essay A Small Place, by Jamaica Kincaid, we are exposed to sad truth. To be honest, I didn't know much about Antigua before reading this. My sister had some kind of credit issue at Brooklyn College and thought she had to go abroad to Antigua over the summer for a class, and that's when I knew a place called Antigua existed. We didn't end up going to Antigua but I remember seeing the pictures of it online and thinking, "Oh my god, this place looks amazing! It's so beautiful, the perfect vacation spot."
               I love the way this essay was written. It makes you feel as if you are actually there, like a typical tourist, only with a grumpy tour guide along with you. I never read anything written like this before and I think it was perfect for what she was trying to say. The way it makes your way through Antigua and see what she chooses you to see and think what she wants you to think really helps us to understand the point she is trying to make.I would have never thought that there was so much corruption going on there, and how little the government actually cares about its citizens. It really shocked me that the Prime Minster had the airport named after him and not a library or a school. The essay makes you face how ignorant we can be when we overlook significant details that are around us.Like the driver and the mansions.
              You can really see how angry she is with what is going on from where she is from and how mad she is at the people who come to visit that are almost always completely oblivious to what is going on in front of their eyes.I don't really understand what she says towards the end though. When she talks about how we are ugly when we are tourists and then goes on to describe how our hypothetical days go on. I wish the excerpt we got was longer because I wanted to know where she was going with that. The part about how the water from our toilets are most likely in the beautiful clear ocean disturbed me a bit. It gave me a second thought about going there.