Gentrification

A topic of conversation that continues to be brought up again and again is the idea of gentrification. Coming from a fairly sheltered existance in Minnesota, this idea had never came to my attention before. For those of you who don't know, it means to renovate and improve so that it conforms to middle-class tastes. This is not without its price. In areas such as New York City it means that richer people are pushing out and displacing people who are unable to compete financially. There is an underlying negativity with the word gentrification and I ask myself if I am a part of that process. A friend who grew up in NYC says that since I am going to be a teacher and that I contribute to the community's economy by purchasing from the local shopkeepers that my presence is not a part (or a less severe form) of gentrification. Some TfAers are comfortable with calling their neighborhoods their "hood." I don't know if I am ready to do that.

Worse yet, Katrina has devistated New Orleans. I hate to be cynical, but if this had happened to a rich community I think that the US government would have responded faster. The fact that Wendy Kopp responded to the concerns of TfA and Katrina before our president and his staff did disgusts me! Where is the government, both local and federal, for the citizens. They are safe, warm and dry. Looting is not the worse of it. The amount dead is what is most troubling. But out of this can come good. New Orleans is presented with the same situation as Chicago and London, and that is to start over.

thinking... peace.