I can't make my mind up about this article. On the one hand I think Mirabal talks about the Latina/os who are being displaced from their neighborhood but then she says very little about the culture in the neighborhood that is being transformed. She mentions the destruction of the mural (which is a travesty) but she doesn't say anything about any improvements that came along. Were their more jobs? Did all of the construction mean that Latina/os were given jobs Did any Latina/osbenefit economically? She cites the example of the family with twelve members living in a three bedroom house that is split up but I took it to mean that they were living that way out of necessity not by choice. "Gentrification" is a pretty pejorative term, especially the way Mirabal uses it. I feel like there's more to the story that were not getting. That said, I think she does a great job detailing the benefits and shortcomings of oral histories.
O'Keefe:
While I want to give the mayor credit for showing initiative and cutting through the bureaucracy, it seems to me you have to have some community "buy in" for such a project. Especially if its tax-payer dollars...
Carson:
Carson deserves a lot of credit for "thinking outside the box." Television though, I think is a two edged sword. Yes its more interactive but its also means that the viewer has been conditioned to have a short attention span. Also, given the preponderance of "reality television" these days, the viewer now expects some kind of shock value as well... I'm not entirely sold on his idea of Plan B but he's right we do need a Plan B...
At the risk of sounding like a cranky old man, how much of the decreased attendance at museums has to do with the decline in our education system. Also, I think the changing dynamic in the American family has to be considered. Today, both parents work, usually more than forty hours a week and often times on weekends. Is it that we're too busy as a society to go to museums?
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