American Studies 334
Urban America
Roger Williams University
GHH 108
M, Th  3:30 - 4:50
Spring, 2011
Michael R. H. Swanson, Ph. D
Office: GHH 215
Hours: T, Th 9:00-10:30
M, W 1:00-2:00
Phone:   (401) 254-3230
E-mail:  mswanson@rwu.edu
Index
For Monday, February 14.
Happy Valentine's Day
Rosees are Red, Violets are blue ...
Besides being Valentines Day, Monday is "Founders Day" and I'll be giving a command performance in the Mary Teft White Center about the founding of Roger Williams.  I'm not sure why me--I really never met him, no matter if I look old enough to have done so.    You're more than welcome to join us at 4:00 p.m.  Or not...for once I'm not taking attendance.

What I do want to do in bleu of class for the day is hold short (20 minutes, give or take) meeting with each city group, to explain what I'm hoping will happen, and to outline some of the various possibilities.  I expect no two presentations to be alike:  their content will be shaped by your individual bumps of curiosity.   Here are the times I will be available next week:
Monday:

Tuesday:

Wednesday:


There should be plenty of slots to accommodate all the groups.  The most efficient procedure would be for each group leader to collect available times from his/her people, check those against this list and then e-mail me with the time you wish.  First come, first served, so if you have alternate availabilities it would be helpful to know what they are.
For Thursday, February 17
I'd like to take some time to havegroups present informal summaries of their preliminary ideas to each other. These will be based on our conversations.  I'll ask the group leaders to chat informally about what kinds of things they make be thinking of investigating.  The rest of the class period will be spend working working with Jacobs on Diversity.  So be ready to be flexible.
Jacobs, Chapter 7, The Generators of Diversity.  187-196

We celebrate diversity today.  Roger Williams University strives to increase diversity on the faculty and in the student body.  This was hardly standard thinking when Jacobs wrote this book in 1961.  What Jacobs is most interested in is diversity in the physical fabric of the city, and how this leads to a variety of different cultural diversities–diversity of class and diversity of race among them.  If the structures are uniform and inflexible how can those that inhabit them be otherwise.

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"The Flats" in Cleveland, Ohio.  prowl around a bit.  There is a very similar area in Providence, though not as far along in development.  See if you can find it on Google Maps.  Can you find a similar area in your city?  Start hunting for one.