Activity #6

Jennifer Rios

Activity #6

In order to complete this activity I decided to walk around my neighborhood of Elmhurst, Queens in order to be able to analyze the area more efficiently. As a neighborhood that consists of a lot of working class people, I knew for a fact that I was going to find many day care centers and evening clinics around my area. According to Dolores Hayden, she believes that, “A ‘good neighborhood is usually defined in terms of conventional shopping, schools, and perhaps public transit, rather than additional services for the working parent, such as the day care or evening clinics” (145). Despite the fact that Hayden makes this classification of what a good neighborhood is, I not only found several day car centers and evening clinics in my neighborhood, but my neighborhood also contains a good amount of shopping areas, schools, and public transportation. Therefore, I was a bit confused as to classifying my own neighborhood into a good or a bad one.

My neighborhood also consists of many people that hold very strong traditional values, which is why I knew for a fact that I was going to find male and women spaces but I was not too sure about finding queer spaces. As I walked from Elmhurst Avenue to Northern Blvd, which consists of at least twenty blocks, I saw male spaces that consisted of barber shops and bars that consisted of entertainment for men by female dancers. Although I have never been inside any of these bars, I can tell that it is a male space because of all the men that constantly go in and out of the bar and who spend time with their other male friends outside the bar. As for females, I saw many hair salons, nail salons, and clothing stores that consisted of a lot of clothes for women.

As I had predicted, I did not find too many queer spaces. The only queer space that I did find were clothing stores for the younger generation of people, which consisted of clothes that could be considered unisex, since they are now being worn by young people who are either male or female, such as nike sneakers. One thing that I did noticed which caught my attention was that many of the hair salons for women had signs outside of the doors saying that the read “Unisex” but it was still pretty clear who the salon was made for when you walked into it. I do wish that my neighborhood consisted of queer spaces more, such as in Greenwich Village, since the gendered spaces seem to be very neutral. I believe that these areas are chosen for queer spaces because of the large presence of the LGBTQ population, which helps break the traditional barriers of gender.

After doing a search for “a gay map of new york”, I saw that there are many places one can go to if one is interested in going to areas that are gay-friendly, such as gay bars and gay friendly hotels. I had no idea that such a map existed and I believe that being able to find such a map so easily on the internet is a great way to start breaking down the barriers that come along with the titles of male and female. I believe that this map is a step closer to have much more queer spaces than those that exist now.

While walking around my neighborhood, I saw something that for some reason has been happening quite often around my neighborhood. I was walking down 90^th street heading towards Northern Boulevard when I saw a homeless man trying to stand behind a tree while he attempted to bathe himself. I have seen this same act on the platform of the 7 train, in parks while children watch in confusion, and in the public bathrooms of Elmhurst Hospital, since they are easy to access. Despite the awkwardness I feel when I see these kinds of private behaviors displayed in public places I cannot help but think that nothing I do can change this since it has been happening more then it should which makes me agree with the statement that, “You can’t change her environment but you can change her mood (145), which supports my belief that nothing can be done to change the fact that this occurs except to deal with it.