Green Community

In urban there is a likely chance that there will be very few trees and grasses let alone gardens. A garden would not blend in a industrial urban city, hence there is a few place that has gardens or a park that has a lot of trees and grasses. Parks were really not an option in an urban city, but with the help of civilians living in urban cities parks and gardens became a possibility. Many people join together to turn the urban city in a city that had green spaces full of trees and a variety of plants.

            Many gardens and green space is created from spots that was not wanted and claimed by the government. New York City is one of largest in urban community that is having urban communities going for green efforts in North American (Gmelch 244). It has been in New York’s history showing that there are a great number of lands that has been dedicated in having greenery being planted in the deserted land. There is one artist named Liz Christie that gathered some friends together to claim a small land of to make a garden (Gmelch 246). She have brought up a garden movement and got New York City to donate their land and allow it to become gardens.

            There are people who are older that got themselves involved in the community especially when it comes to garden. They believe it’s a good thing to teach a younger generation what kind of plants are out there and grab the attention of people that comes to the garden with knowledge of some plants you would not normally see. An Afro-Caribbean man taught Sokolovsky how to deal with a plant that got him itchy. He followed the indirect instruction given by the gardener and it caught the author’s attention.

            I think its great that there is a lot of gardens and plants out there to help educate people and we do need it in an urban society. Urban cities like New York City is a place that requires some green spaces or it will all be buildings and houses. Its good for us in many ways like it brings more oxygen to the air and its good to have some green around the city to make it look prettier. 

Vigil views of Gangs and how they come to be

Gangs have been a change in the environment; everyone that sees or passes them usually fears them.  They don’t get the point that setting is a big problem to how gangs form. The neighborhood you grew up and the money parents’ make is important to adolescence because they can determine if the child join a gang or not. Usually African American and Mexican are the people that get labeled as people that are likely to join a gang. Where you are brought up, how poor you are becomes a huge factor to gang activities.

             In society gangs are like a nightmare, normally no one would like to come close to a gang member. Everyone in society fears gangs and they maintain this tough and scary look so their gangs will gain some short of notability. Gangs are originally young men who could not find jobs or dropped out of school. Vigil mentioned,

Merton’s “strain theory” which focused on the mismatch between the status goals established by the dominant society and the inadequate means available for low-income people to reach those goals (Gmelch 233)

This showed that the in normal or the dominant society, the people with low-income is not noticed because there is a small chance that they will reach a goal. This is something that leans towards the gang initiation. Everyone wants to feel as if they are part of something. If the dominant can accept them, groups like Mexican and African American look into gangs.

            When one joins a gang, they give all their loyalty to the gang as if they are family. One need to determine their loyalty and how they are able to handle being in a gang. A case that Vigil mention is how a 14 year old boy join a gang called Varrio Nuevo Estrada and one time one gang member comes up to him and asked where he is from and what gang. The 14 year old raised his head and said the VNE showing his loyalty to the gang and not afraid to mention the name (Gmelch 236). There are cases gangs will test their members loyalty and how they will react to certain situation.

            I think a lot of people have a point of view of gangs, I know I do like they are scary and that there is nothing good that comes out of gangs. I learned that gangs are just people that did not fit into the dominant society. I think its bad that at the end it comes down to joining a gang but I understand that everyone want to find a group they belong. 

How the drug dealing begins

Puerto Ricans never really wanted to drug deal but it’s something that they eventually feel like they belong. People seem to them as a bad influence that doesn’t belong to society and people such as ourselves live in and will see them as danger. Philippe Bourgois met some of the drug dealers in El Barrio and found that the drug dealers that others see them as a threat have actually worked in an office but due to the unsatisfaction of their superior that’s why they choose to drug deal. Drug dealers like many of us have tried to find any work as possible but it ended badly hence that led them to drug deal in the streets.

            Puerto Ricans have been labeled as an ethnicity that would sell drugs and alcohol, anything that they can earn extra cash. They would be portrayed as your normal drug dealers and they are looked as a danger in urban society. One thing that normal people miss is that these drug dealers was once like any other people that tried to find a job and worked in an office. They came out in an early age to find jobs and they prefer to make the money instead of going to school and getting an education. Bourgois met up with a fellow drug dealer name Primo and how he had a difficult time at work. Primo told Bourgois, his boss was talking to people she would say, “He’s illiterate” (Gmelch 207). Primo actually felt insulted but when he was drug dealing he did not feel as if he was out of place since he knew that the owner’s education is limited.          -

            The life of the Nuyorican is different to how their parents that immigrated here was even though they were in poverty they had a meal every night. Primo’s mom told Bourgois a story to how she lived in Puerto Rico and how there was always food on the table. She knew very well that the newer generations have no respect to the traditions that their parents follow. The Nuyoricans were looked down on by others Hispanic groups like the Mexicans. The Mexicans referred to drug dealers like Primo as “Brute”   (Gmelch 211). The Mexicans wasn’t aware of the life that the Nuyoricans was living and the consequences that they were going through by working in an office environment.

            I highly disagree that the nuyoricans should ever turn to drug dealing when there is a problem that shows up. There is always an alternative; I also think that people in society should not judge so quickly of a race when no one is certain of their past and history. Everyone puts labels in society and Puerto Ricans and blacks are labeled to be drug dealers and violent in society. I think it’s not fair to anyone’s cases and that there is more to a person than what the eyes see.

Urban ethnography and the myths of the poor

Poverty like the works of Lewis has shown that in urban society there are such things and it’s shocking if there aren’t any.  How the people in the poverty culture cope with their problem is not how Lewis proposes. He believed that the poor people having the behavior as savages because they are out to survive. Instead the people in poverty are planning this all out according to what they want. People from middle and rich class sees the poor as uneducated but truthfully they are not are pretty bright.

            There are many people that seek jobs and attempt to have a better life, drug dealers don’t want to always live their lives selling drugs. When they attempt to look for jobs they tend to fail, since they are going for an office job that is high in requirements. Somehow they will end up in selling drugs again, it’s like they plan this and know the expectation offices have and that they don’t meet that requirements. There are other jobs that’s, “high risk, high-turnover, low-paying, dead-end segment of the labor market” (Goode 188) . Judith Goode shows that the people in the poverty have a way of thinking and there is more than the eye sees.

            Women in poverty are explained a lot throughout the essay. Goode wrote how the women are the center of the household. The women’s part in the home is more important than the role of the guy. Goode explain that there is an important for the role of the male in the relationship and when both parents are absent the child is in the care of the father’s relative. Goode wrote, “First, Fathers often retain a presence in the life of their children. In addition, a mother may rely on her own male relatives to help raise her children” (Goode 190). Goode is saying that if the father of the child is not present in the child’s life, the father’s family will help out so the mother is never left alone to take care of the child.

            I think that there is a lot of way how poverty lives in urban society. In Lewis he explains how the people in poverty live their life isolating themselves from other people and do what he has as a way to survive. While in the Goode’s essay she makes a good point that how people that live in the slums chooses this life for reasons unknown but they know how to retain their lifestyles. I believe that both author is correct, there is a possibility that the people in the streets are trying to keep them alive. They could be out there being mentally unstable and self-absorbed to keep themselves safe. There are also people in poverty that are really smart, that they can retain getting to where they are.

Culture of Poverty

Poverty is a part in urban society; it’s normal to see the poverty in all different parts of a city.  There are people that could not find jobs or are underpay which can causes poverty to exist. They can have the slightest education background but all they need to know is how to survive in the streets. There are conditions where the poor can live in a run down apartment and can support themselves with the little pay they have. Sometimes poverty can lead to gangs, robbery, and even worse murder. Poverty can be mistaken in the norm society; they are usually mistaken to not fit into society even though they’re helpless.

            There are many people that live in urban city without a home and a job, in a society with high expectation. In Oscar Lewis work Culture of poverty he explains how poverty is characterized as, evil, mean, violent, sordid, and criminal. There is a chance that poverty is being thought as negative as Lewis says because of how people in poverty portray themselves. Sometimes being in poverty make them desperate to get money even if it means used drastic methods.

            Oscar Lewis taken his research of the culture of poverty all the way to San Juan and Mexico City. He has taken in consideration that people there don’t be distinguish people based on racial background. In Lewis’s work Culture of poverty he write that people with a culture of poverty are provincial and locally oriented and have little sense of history (Lewis 180). All they have to worry about is themselves and what they need to know in order to survive.

            I think that people in the culture of poverty has been looked as the short of people that just lives in slums and exclude the idea of how they got there. It’s not always easy in a urban society. I think they are free to believe and think how they want and not worry so much about the how the government is going bad due to lack of jobs. They don’t have to worry a lot of problems which middle class and rich class have to worry about.

Public transportations is the way to be

Train is a big part to urban society, a lot of people take the train as a part of transportation to get anywhere in the city. When taking public transportation it becomes a habit to continuously take it everyday. In Derek Perdue’s essay In motion he explained how public transportation like the bus and the subway is a major part in a city called Sao Paolo. Public transportation is a form of necessity in a urban society no matter where it is, it’s a useful way to get around the city.

            In Perdue’s essay he did a research of the city Sao Paolo and he met this young man that goes to work in public transportation. The young man is called Robson; he explained how he came from a family that has a well amount of knowledge about subways and buses. In Robson’s view, he believes that the bus is better than the train. Robson said, “ I like being high; I enjoy the view of traffic” (Gmelch 162). Even after moving Robson continue to take the bus and the subways for his convenience. It gets Robson and his family a better understanding to where they are living.

            In Perdue’s essay we also meet Edilaine, she was a dark skinned women that looked really different from the rest of the people in the city. Conducao was a word that Perdue used repeatedly and it has the meaning of conduct. It means, “a form of transportation and movement from one place to another” (Gmelch 164). In Edilaine’s opinion it was anything but conducao, she believed it was a luxury to take the subway all over the city. She thought it was nice to go to places such as Paulista Avenue and see all the people in suits get onboard.

            I believe that it’s nice that there is a subway line and bus route that can take people around the city. As a person that takes public transportation around the city I understand that its different. I enjoy the time in the subway lines like Edilaine did and I saw a lot of things like stores and shops passing by each stops. I think one can know the city much better when they take public transportation and I know that people take the time to know the city better in a subway than a car.