brewstabrewsta#6

on page 145..Hayden writes that "a "good" neighborhood is usually defined in terms of conventional shopping, schools, and perhaps public transit, rather than additional social services for the working parent, such as day care and evening clinics.."well after taking a closer look at my neighborhood .. ive noticed that we have all of the above.. on the main street.of flatlands you can find just about anything ranging from medical to law services .. meat markets to korean shops.. junior high schools to yashivas.. what ever you think of ..we practically have it.. so when looking for resources that are there for working parents that can be viewed as one that"would support,rather than restrict, the activities of employed women and their families."(p.16).. as i search for evidence of this i passed countless daycares (some of these workers would also pick up small children from school)....a few dance schools and karete schools... and on top of that there are jewish centers and a padegete program that allow swimming lessons and other recreational activities for young children.. not only that there are a lot of after school study programs that not only help kids with there homeworks.. but invest in them enough to take them on weekend trips..(and i know this because a friend of mine works for one of them)..
2.as for the males spaces in my neighborhood.. when first looking at this question it was a little tricky to answer... because the first thing that came to mind was.. "there are none".. i with the exceptions of babershops and parks (which still are used by women).. there really is no specific space just for men.. and i believe thats because men dont need it... instead they tend to gather by crowded side walks (the way people would in the in the plaza video)..in hopes of having coincidental run-ins with friends or just so they can watch girls go by.. so with that being said .. if the streets can be labeled as a gendered area.. i would say thats it would be one for men..on the other hand there seems to be more places that cater to women ..in my neighborhood.. there are more than five hair salons and just as many nail salons.. on weekends all of them seem to be crowded with women.. who are trying to prepare for the work week ahead.. to an extent the same goes for the laundrymats that even though there is a substanial amount of men now doing their own clothes there are still more women in these areas than men..in addition to that theres the georgetown mall.. which is like a mini outlet filled with restuarnts, clothing stores, movie rentals and a walgreens.. however with all of the variety of stores in george town.. this is definetly a gendered space geared towards ladies.. just because the only areas besides the ihop, and walgreens. everything else is geared towards women.. i mean not only is there a strawberries but theres a rainbows.. in additon theres not only a dressbarn but theres a lane briant.. and then shoe stores similar to that ..the only thing that seperates these spaces as one gender or the other is the population really or as for george town mall the targeted customers.. meaning that even though barber shops these days are unisexed.. i would still perfer going to my hair salon.. just because there are more women there.. becasuse when entering a baber shop theres a strong sense of feeling like you dont belong..even if the people are extremly friendly.. i would still feel out of place being surrounded by men.. (image on the left: shows female geared areas; women are usually inside image on the Right: shows a baber shop and a sneaker store.. often times men choose the option of haning outside rather than inside of these stores )..
3. rarely do i see any gays or lesbians in my neighborhood.. ocassionly i would spot one on the bus.. but rarely do we have them living here much less haning out here.. since this is more of a residential area..and being that theres hardly anywhere else for other genders to go..it makes sense to me that there wouldnt be any queer spots in canarsie..in order to hang out and socialize its normal for me to leave canarsie and head to the city.. which leaves me to believe that gays would have a better chance of finding there own space there too.. and after doing some research i have found that .. places like the chelsae, west village, 8th ave and w.46th .. even though these locations are sparadic.. and seem a bit like you have to be one to know where to go.. it seems as if they pick these locations becasue for one they know that they would be socially accepted by heterogenous in that area since people there tend to be a bit more friendly.. or liberal persay and two because i think it has more of a trendy vibe like those.. that is more fun and upbeat..
4. after typing in "gay map of new york city" a number of links for funmaps and gay and lesbians bars popped up and according to nighttours.com.. theres an outstanding amount of gay bars that popped up..but a few lesbian ones.. plus saunas and of course places to shop
5. as for my neighborhood the only private thig that ive seen people (usually young people) do is make out or smoke blunts (assumably) in school parks or seaview park.. and i assume that the only reason why they are forced to do it in such a place is because they simply have nowhere else to go..