I grew up in the South Bronx. I walked its abandoned streets. I played in its burned out building... more I grew up in the South Bronx. I walked its abandoned streets. I played in its burned out buildings. I threw rocks in its rubble-strewn lots. I saw the tecatos, or heroin users, always hurried, selling stolen televisions and radios. I also saw them dozing on the ground in a heroin nod, or in pura tranquilidad. I felt the winter elements inside apartments that landlords refused to heat; I shivered in showers where hot water refused to come out. I felt a sprinkle of roaches when I opened kitchen cabinets. I met lines of mouse droppings in front of the kitchen trash. I saw crack use explode. I saw young men and women succumb to its wrath. Drug dealers sold their brands in red, blue, yellow, or green-topped vials. Drug-dependent women walked around, stood around, offering their services to White, Black, and Latino Johns. The violence. I saw young men get shot. I saw crack users beaten. I saw innocents triplelocked their doors and install iron bars on windows. We all feared for our lives. Then, it stopped. The murders, the robberies, the thefts, the drug dealing, the sex work, the arsons––the fear––seemed to go away. The street mazes of haunted, abandoned buildings disappeared too. Now, new buildings emerged and businesses thrived. Who brought about this dramatic transformation? That is what I, along with others, did not see. In her book, South Bronx Battles, Carolyn McLaughlin wonderfully answers that question. For over 50 years, she worked in the South Bronx as a social worker, community activist, and director of a nonprofit organization. As an idealist, she arrived to the area in the late 1960s, when it started to crumble or fall apart. And she remained throughout the tough decades, when the South Bronx seemed like a lost cause. Through city reports and life history interviews of long-time residents, politicians, community activists, service providers, along with her own experiences, McLaughlin tells a story of a determined community spirit, one that helped rebuild the now real estate desirable South Bronx. McLaughlin starts with a brief history that contextualizes the South Bronx. The Bronx began as farmland and during the 1800s real estate developers hailed it as a paradise for residents living in congested New York City. Soon developers built beautiful Art Deco buildings and public parks, making the Bronx a symbol of upward mobility. But after World War II, white residents moved to the suburbs, especially after Puerto Rican and Black migrants arrived. The manufacturing sector also declined, which hit Bronx
The expansion of affluence and the financialization of real estate have marked socio-spatial urba... more The expansion of affluence and the financialization of real estate have marked socio-spatial urban inequality in the 21st century. These developments have contributed to the spread of gentrification and rise of supergentrification, or the further upscaling of already gentrified areas by affluent in-movers. This paper analyzes U.S. Census and American Community Survey data on Brooklyn, New York City’s largest borough, using a novel theory-driven quantitative model to uncover emerging forms of socio-economic spatial change that expand our understanding of gentrification, supergentrification, and the impact of growing affluence on cities and neighborhoods.
Studies of classical gentrification typically focus on the embourgeoisement of neighborhoods and ... more Studies of classical gentrification typically focus on the embourgeoisement of neighborhoods and displacement of marginalized people. Recently, a new form of gentrificationsuper-gentrificationhas emerged with the expansion of global finance capital, according to urban geographer Loretta Lees. Super-gentrification entails the further upscaling of already gentrified neighborhoods with the in-migration of upper-income residents and displacement of middle class residents, many of whom were among the initial gentrifiers. Despite the attention policy makers, urban planners, and the media are paying to the "middle class squeeze," few quantitative studies of super-gentrification exist. Using data from the United States Decennial Census, American Community Survey, public residential sales transaction records, and real estate listings, this article sheds light on the landscape of super-gentrification and how to identify it with a quantitative analysis of changes in income, demographics, and housing affordability in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York since 1970.
I was born into Péter’s theatre, onstage while still in the womb, performing as I learned to use ... more I was born into Péter’s theatre, onstage while still in the womb, performing as I learned to use a potty. Over time, I became Péter’s witness, confidante, interlocutor, and, on occasion, inspiration. My insights into Péter’s life and art are inflected by an intimacy few children have with their parents, by the idealization of the recently deceased, and by the very ethos of his performativity, which actively blurred the distinctions between art and everyday life. Our closeness has challenged me to find an Archimedean point from which to comprehend what Péter Halász—my father, seminal figure in the Hungarian avantgarde, award-winning actor and director, agent provocateur in downtown New York theatre—created with his life and art.
In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strat... more In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strategies to critique gender politics in mainstream cinema and everyday life. By focusing on 1960s youth culture, Godard examines the role leftist politics and late capitalist culture play in gender identities and sexual desire. Adding to Laura Mulvey’s concept of the erotic male gaze, this analysis reveals an alternative gaze on gender—a critical gaze—produced by Godard’s aesthetic strategies. These strategies include replacing shot-counter shot editing with a journalistic quasi-interrogation interview and a using Deleuzian repetition of differential scenes and characters in lieu of narrative continuity. As a result, Godard subverts the conventional objectification of women as passive screen icons and forces the audience out of an innocent voyeurism into an uncomfortable complicity with the film, actors, and filmmaker. In doing so, Godard invites the viewer to arrive at their own understand...
Faculty resistance to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is an issue that has been recognized by... more Faculty resistance to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is an issue that has been recognized by WAC program directors and practitioners for decades, yet it remains unresolved. Perhaps the problem is not resistance per se, but how we interpret and react to it. Faculty resistance is typically viewed as an impediment to the pedagogical change WAC programs hope to achieve. Moreover, the label of "resistance" is often used without further examination of the underlying causes. Based on research and experience as doctoral Writing Fellows in the Borough of Manhattan Community College WAC Program, we argue that so-called resistances are often justified concerns in regard to implementing WAC under given institutional, disciplinary, departmental, and personal constraints. We also suggest that if we listen and respond to these concerns, they become means to facilitate faculty engagement with WAC. By working through their concerns and adapting WAC to their context, faculty can take o...
The editors extend sincere thanks to the following individuals who completed manuscript reviews w... more The editors extend sincere thanks to the following individuals who completed manuscript reviews within the period of January 2011-July 2012. We apologize for any omissions.
Productive labor has served as a measure of right action for centuries. Not surprisingly, many so... more Productive labor has served as a measure of right action for centuries. Not surprisingly, many societies have made productivity a social imperative, systematically enforcing the work ethic through culture and social institutions. The work ethic continues to dominate public policy and cultural beliefs concerning social welfare and citizenship, despite the role such ideology plays in perpetuating inequality. Recognizing the moral and ethical contradictions of productivity as a social imperative, various marginal groups have questioned the dominant work ethic. This article marshals historical and ethnographic data to shed light on the work ethic, its enforcement, inherent contradictions, and the resistance foisted by one marginal social type, modern bohemians. By electing to minimize paid work time, bohemians resist the economic, cultural, existential, and political imperatives to prioritize performing productive labor. Moreover, their work ethic challenges the way activity and time ar...
In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strat... more In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strategies to critique gender politics in mainstream cinema and everyday life. By focusing on 1960s youth culture, Godard examines the role leftist politics and late capitalist culture play in gender identities and sexual desire. Adding to Laura Mulvey's concept of the erotic male gaze, this analysis reveals an alternative gaze on gender-a critical gaze-produced by Godard's aesthetic strategies. These strategies include replacing shot-counter shot editing with a journalistic quasi-interrogation interview and a using Deleuzian repetition of differential scenes and characters in lieu of narrative continuity. As a result, Godard subverts the conventional objectification of women as passive screen icons and forces the audience out of an innocent voyeurism into an uncomfortable complicity with the film, actors, and filmmaker. In doing so, Godard invites the viewer to arrive at their own understanding of gender politics.
I grew up in the South Bronx. I walked its abandoned streets. I played in its burned out building... more I grew up in the South Bronx. I walked its abandoned streets. I played in its burned out buildings. I threw rocks in its rubble-strewn lots. I saw the tecatos, or heroin users, always hurried, selling stolen televisions and radios. I also saw them dozing on the ground in a heroin nod, or in pura tranquilidad. I felt the winter elements inside apartments that landlords refused to heat; I shivered in showers where hot water refused to come out. I felt a sprinkle of roaches when I opened kitchen cabinets. I met lines of mouse droppings in front of the kitchen trash. I saw crack use explode. I saw young men and women succumb to its wrath. Drug dealers sold their brands in red, blue, yellow, or green-topped vials. Drug-dependent women walked around, stood around, offering their services to White, Black, and Latino Johns. The violence. I saw young men get shot. I saw crack users beaten. I saw innocents triplelocked their doors and install iron bars on windows. We all feared for our lives. Then, it stopped. The murders, the robberies, the thefts, the drug dealing, the sex work, the arsons––the fear––seemed to go away. The street mazes of haunted, abandoned buildings disappeared too. Now, new buildings emerged and businesses thrived. Who brought about this dramatic transformation? That is what I, along with others, did not see. In her book, South Bronx Battles, Carolyn McLaughlin wonderfully answers that question. For over 50 years, she worked in the South Bronx as a social worker, community activist, and director of a nonprofit organization. As an idealist, she arrived to the area in the late 1960s, when it started to crumble or fall apart. And she remained throughout the tough decades, when the South Bronx seemed like a lost cause. Through city reports and life history interviews of long-time residents, politicians, community activists, service providers, along with her own experiences, McLaughlin tells a story of a determined community spirit, one that helped rebuild the now real estate desirable South Bronx. McLaughlin starts with a brief history that contextualizes the South Bronx. The Bronx began as farmland and during the 1800s real estate developers hailed it as a paradise for residents living in congested New York City. Soon developers built beautiful Art Deco buildings and public parks, making the Bronx a symbol of upward mobility. But after World War II, white residents moved to the suburbs, especially after Puerto Rican and Black migrants arrived. The manufacturing sector also declined, which hit Bronx
The expansion of affluence and the financialization of real estate have marked socio-spatial urba... more The expansion of affluence and the financialization of real estate have marked socio-spatial urban inequality in the 21st century. These developments have contributed to the spread of gentrification and rise of supergentrification, or the further upscaling of already gentrified areas by affluent in-movers. This paper analyzes U.S. Census and American Community Survey data on Brooklyn, New York City’s largest borough, using a novel theory-driven quantitative model to uncover emerging forms of socio-economic spatial change that expand our understanding of gentrification, supergentrification, and the impact of growing affluence on cities and neighborhoods.
Studies of classical gentrification typically focus on the embourgeoisement of neighborhoods and ... more Studies of classical gentrification typically focus on the embourgeoisement of neighborhoods and displacement of marginalized people. Recently, a new form of gentrificationsuper-gentrificationhas emerged with the expansion of global finance capital, according to urban geographer Loretta Lees. Super-gentrification entails the further upscaling of already gentrified neighborhoods with the in-migration of upper-income residents and displacement of middle class residents, many of whom were among the initial gentrifiers. Despite the attention policy makers, urban planners, and the media are paying to the "middle class squeeze," few quantitative studies of super-gentrification exist. Using data from the United States Decennial Census, American Community Survey, public residential sales transaction records, and real estate listings, this article sheds light on the landscape of super-gentrification and how to identify it with a quantitative analysis of changes in income, demographics, and housing affordability in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York since 1970.
I was born into Péter’s theatre, onstage while still in the womb, performing as I learned to use ... more I was born into Péter’s theatre, onstage while still in the womb, performing as I learned to use a potty. Over time, I became Péter’s witness, confidante, interlocutor, and, on occasion, inspiration. My insights into Péter’s life and art are inflected by an intimacy few children have with their parents, by the idealization of the recently deceased, and by the very ethos of his performativity, which actively blurred the distinctions between art and everyday life. Our closeness has challenged me to find an Archimedean point from which to comprehend what Péter Halász—my father, seminal figure in the Hungarian avantgarde, award-winning actor and director, agent provocateur in downtown New York theatre—created with his life and art.
In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strat... more In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strategies to critique gender politics in mainstream cinema and everyday life. By focusing on 1960s youth culture, Godard examines the role leftist politics and late capitalist culture play in gender identities and sexual desire. Adding to Laura Mulvey’s concept of the erotic male gaze, this analysis reveals an alternative gaze on gender—a critical gaze—produced by Godard’s aesthetic strategies. These strategies include replacing shot-counter shot editing with a journalistic quasi-interrogation interview and a using Deleuzian repetition of differential scenes and characters in lieu of narrative continuity. As a result, Godard subverts the conventional objectification of women as passive screen icons and forces the audience out of an innocent voyeurism into an uncomfortable complicity with the film, actors, and filmmaker. In doing so, Godard invites the viewer to arrive at their own understand...
Faculty resistance to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is an issue that has been recognized by... more Faculty resistance to Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is an issue that has been recognized by WAC program directors and practitioners for decades, yet it remains unresolved. Perhaps the problem is not resistance per se, but how we interpret and react to it. Faculty resistance is typically viewed as an impediment to the pedagogical change WAC programs hope to achieve. Moreover, the label of "resistance" is often used without further examination of the underlying causes. Based on research and experience as doctoral Writing Fellows in the Borough of Manhattan Community College WAC Program, we argue that so-called resistances are often justified concerns in regard to implementing WAC under given institutional, disciplinary, departmental, and personal constraints. We also suggest that if we listen and respond to these concerns, they become means to facilitate faculty engagement with WAC. By working through their concerns and adapting WAC to their context, faculty can take o...
The editors extend sincere thanks to the following individuals who completed manuscript reviews w... more The editors extend sincere thanks to the following individuals who completed manuscript reviews within the period of January 2011-July 2012. We apologize for any omissions.
Productive labor has served as a measure of right action for centuries. Not surprisingly, many so... more Productive labor has served as a measure of right action for centuries. Not surprisingly, many societies have made productivity a social imperative, systematically enforcing the work ethic through culture and social institutions. The work ethic continues to dominate public policy and cultural beliefs concerning social welfare and citizenship, despite the role such ideology plays in perpetuating inequality. Recognizing the moral and ethical contradictions of productivity as a social imperative, various marginal groups have questioned the dominant work ethic. This article marshals historical and ethnographic data to shed light on the work ethic, its enforcement, inherent contradictions, and the resistance foisted by one marginal social type, modern bohemians. By electing to minimize paid work time, bohemians resist the economic, cultural, existential, and political imperatives to prioritize performing productive labor. Moreover, their work ethic challenges the way activity and time ar...
In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strat... more In Masculin-Feminin (1966), avant-garde filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard uses innovative aesthetic strategies to critique gender politics in mainstream cinema and everyday life. By focusing on 1960s youth culture, Godard examines the role leftist politics and late capitalist culture play in gender identities and sexual desire. Adding to Laura Mulvey's concept of the erotic male gaze, this analysis reveals an alternative gaze on gender-a critical gaze-produced by Godard's aesthetic strategies. These strategies include replacing shot-counter shot editing with a journalistic quasi-interrogation interview and a using Deleuzian repetition of differential scenes and characters in lieu of narrative continuity. As a result, Godard subverts the conventional objectification of women as passive screen icons and forces the audience out of an innocent voyeurism into an uncomfortable complicity with the film, actors, and filmmaker. In doing so, Godard invites the viewer to arrive at their own understanding of gender politics.
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