Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket is Jewish and has explicitly said that the Baudelaires are also Jewish. Klaus’ thirteenth birthday, therefore, marks his passage into manhood – or should have, if someone had bothered to throw him a bar mitzvah. Try not to think about the fact that his parents were probably in the middle of planning a legendary one. Unfortunately he’s orphaned and in jail with his sisters during this crucially symbolic birthday, and will have no more legal guardians for the duration of the series. From here on in, the Baudelaires are self-reliant. In this essay I will discuss
Gentrification creates a stifling homogeneity in urban areas that makes it less suited for the everyday lives of the lower class and more suited towards the leisure and tourism of those with expendable income.
An old, decrepit laundromat gets replaced by an upscale bakery? And people are mad? It’s not that the poor hate organic vegan cupcakes, it’s that most of us don’t have a way to do laundry in our own home.
Run-down corner stores replaced by hand-made designer clothing boutiques? We don’t hate your eco-fabric shawl, but I can’t eat that for dinner after work like I could have a can of beans I grabbed from that corner store when I don’t have time to take the bus to the real grocery store after work.
What gentrification brings in and of itself is not typically bad, it’s that gentrification brings institutions of leisure and pleasure and makes it so that the poor have to go farther out of their way for basic necessities. It turns low-income living spaces into local tourist attractions. It can even create food deserts by putting restaurants, grocery stores, etc. in that the majority of the lower class cannot afford.
Imagine if someone totally renovated your house and turned it into a mini theme park – they took away your sleeping space, where you prepare food, where you clean yourself and get ready for your day, and replaced it with things that will please people who are visiting, who have their own homes they can go back to, who are here not for their entire life but just as a distraction from their otherwise mundane existence. It’s not that you hate theme parks, it’s not like you’ve never been to a theme park and vow to never visit one again. It’s just that you need to live! To survive! And the leisure of those who have more than you should not invalidate your existence.
I am glad this has made the rounds. Some people feel a dense misunderstanding or misinterpretation concerning gentrification, and I think it helps to hear a description/explanation of what gentrification is from those who are both affected by it and educated by the culture from which it hails. I and many others enjoy some of the delights of gentrification while simultaneously having their livelihoods threatened by it.
This is a good post and I also think it’s important to say: let’s put the blame squarely where it belongs, on corporations that do real estate development, and not on artists who move to the ghetto because they’re poor.
Capitalism is very reliant on “let’s you and him fight” dynamics to take the attention off the people really doing the damage.
only like 2 irl people I know have my tumblr url and that’s wild. imagine if like. you had a whole secret identity where part time you were popular and you had an entirely different life and no one you knew irl knew about it
