"How wild a history," I said to myself, "is written within that bosom!"
Back to the idea how history is written by people. Just like people can read and write the city, you can also read what people have written in the city. The way people look, walk, talk, etc all contribute to their story
still it seemed that, in my then peculiar mental state, Icould frequently read, even in that brief interval of a glance, the history of long years.
he is reading people in the city. Based on what little he can see, he makes observations of people's faces and comes to conclusions about who they are and what they do.
j:uts_;;Jte nourished nOt only a renewal of feminism but also an !(1_::!~~-~mgly ;id~~read male. realization that. yes. women had s~:a!l.s:Jh.lng to tel!' us about~ the city and the life we shared,_ an!!__th;>!_~J!;:d i~~hed ou~ own· lives as well as thein ... QLJI_?!Jislef.!ffi.&. to !11emUJinow~
Jacobs changed the way women were seen in many eyes in regards to dwelling in the city.
More Open Space for what? For muggings? For bleak vac-uums between buildings? Or for ordinary people to use and en-joy? But people do not use city open space just because it is there and because city planners or designers wish they would.
people don't use the space as it is meant to be used. they tend to make it their own place. parks are used for many different things.
Man acts as though he were the shaper and master of language, while in fact language remains the master of man.
i think that this is a really interesting relationship and point. words are our main source of communication and understanding but there aren't always words to describe everything especially when trying to express what it means to live and experience in a city
he relation of "building" to "dwelling" and the 1kind of "thinking" that results from attention to that relation.
the idea of writing the city vs reading the city. the word dwelling is really interesting in this case.
from the vexed sexuality her position implies, and from her struggle to escape the status of spectacle and become spectator.
spectacle vs spectator. In public, woman are constantly the spectacle of the male gaze based on how they look, walk, etc. It is hard for women to escape that gaze in order to become a spectator of the city and it is also hard to balance both in the city.
Traditionally, a woman walking the streets is a ‘street walker’ – ‘all body’ – part and symbol of the spectacle and decadence of urban culture. Women have historically been represented as an “interruption in the city, a symptom of disorder, and a problem”
this is, unfortunately, very true. interesting choice of words. in this misogynistic society, woman are typically objectified, especially in the street. Also interesting how the term "street walker" can be used to describe prostitutes.
People’s gender, class and racial background, and to what degree their bodies conform to conventions of desire, or movement and anatomy, for example, affect their ability to extricate themselves from the spectacle of the city enough to be its observer
this point is interesting. we haven't really thought about the characteristics people have that may play into how they see, feel, and write the city.
To walk is to lack a place. It is the indefinite process of being absent and in search of ~Th
relating back to "place" vs "space. continuously walking through the city (space) looking for place.
Its present invents itself, from hour to hour, in the act of throwing away its previous accomplishments and challenging the future.
New York is constantly evolving and moving forward
To experience in the.active sense re-quires that one venture forth into the unfamiliar and experi-ment with the elusive and the uncertain
One must leave their comfort zone in order to fully indulge in life's opportunities and experience new things.
Emotion tints all human experience, including the highflights of thought.
When you connect emotions to things, you diminish the true meaning of something
People tend to suppress that which they cannot express.
This quote is interesting and rings true in many situations. When people have trouble understanding or expressing something, they tend to avoid it or push it away instead of inquiring or trying harder. They'll turn their heads and pretend to not know rather then to not understand.
From the security and stability of place we are awareof the openness, freedom, and threat of space, and vice versa.
relates back to moving to and from New York to Los Angeles. Leaving security to reach freedom - which could work in both situations. The correlation between place and space is very interesting.
Place is security, space is freedom
when you know where you are and you are surrounded by familiar things, you tend to feel more secure. But when you are secluded you may feel more free. Goes back to the idea of never being able to be "lost" in the city.
But let the mishap of disorientation once occur, and the sense of anxiety and even ter-ror that accompanies it reveals to us how closely it is linked to our sense of balance and well-being.
people become very familiar and comfortable in their surroundings over time. with the rise of technology, it makes it almost impossible to get lost or feel lost because you can always find your way home or to a certain location. Why may one want to feel lost?
Nothing is experienced by itself, but always in relation to its surroundings, the sequen.ces of events leading up to it, the mem-ory. of past experiences
people connect memories and emotions to locations. surroundings can trigger or remind someone of the past.
Fall to your knees and thank New York for making you strong.
references the animinity of living in the city. the idea that "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and living in the city truly makes you stronger by pushing you down.
Complaining is the natural opera of New York.
everyone is constantly complaining about the city.
New York will briefly study my face and mutter “Who the fuck are you?"
the love he has for the city is unrequited and anonymous
croachments ag
define: "intrusion on a person's territory, rights, etc."
warn American youth against the arts of the seducer: Having watched the courses of those who seduce the young-their arts, their blandishments, their pretences;-ha
interesting idea how art is used in relation to seduction
Although the term confidence man does not appear in the advice manuals, it accurately identifies the villain of the piece. The seducer-whether rake or pimp, gambler or, thief-begins his as-sault on the innocent youth by winning his confidence through an offer of friendship and entertainment. In
the idea that confidence makes a person sinister when the confidence comes from being better then the poor young below them.
unprecedented numbers of young men were leaving their rural homes and families to seek work in the booming cities
left country to find jobs in city during industrialization
ew York was no mere city. It was instead an infinitely romantic notion, the mysteri-ous nexus of all love and money and power, the shining and perishable dream itself.
New York is constantly dramatized and romanticized by people from the country. It has a sense of mysteriousness and holds all these things that people soon learn are unattainable. To the narrator, nyc creates and destroys dreams.
ew York is just a city, albeit the city, a plausible place for people to live. B
how city people view New York - not as dramatized.
hat it is like to be young in New York, how six months can become eight years wit
in a busy city, time may blend together. life passes by fast.
ogrammed by all the movies I had ever seen and all the songs I had ever heard sung and all the stories I had ever read about New York, informed me that it would never be quite the same again. In
preconceived notions on New York were incorrect leading in dissapointment