Book Response: Gang Leader for a Day

Gang Leader for a Day

    So, of all the readings we've done in class, this is by far the most interesting. Gang Leader for a Day is written by a young Sudhir Venkatesh in the early 90's as he discovers and follows a gang leader in urban Chicago and learns about the different lifestyles there. The book is a New York Times best seller and is written in much of the same style as what's found in 'Freakanomics'.

    The book follows Sudhir as he befriends J.T. a gang leader of the Black Kings and follows J.T. as he shows him a filtered view of gang life in Chicago. Sudhir becomes enthralled with the culture, spending the next six years with the black kings, taking time to learn not only of J.T. but the workers, the squatters, the residents, the cops, and Ms. Bailey.

Gangster for a Day: Chapter Response

Chapter Responses

Chapter 1:

      Chapter one basically sets the ground work for the rest of the book. It really does a good job of providing insight into Sudhirs personality, how ignorant he is of gang culture, and how dangerous the study might be. It also gives us a glimpse of J.T. and does a good job of making the reader curious and engaging them into the book.

Chapter 2:

      Chapter two basically introduces the setting which is central to the rest of the book. It begins by establishing J.T.s relationship with Sudhir and the weird dynamic between the two. This is very important because it is often a brought up through the book. It also introduces Robert Taylor, it's back story, and Sudhirs impression of it. The whole entire rest of the book revolves around these two things, so this is a good establishment for the rest of the book.

Chapter 3:

    Chapter 3 serves to give us more insight on J.T. I find J.T. to be the most interesting character, besides maybe T-Bone or Officer Reggie, in the book. So i really liked this chapter.

Chapter 4:

      This chapter, while being the namesake of the book, is very uneventful. Basically, Sudhir tells J.T. he doesn't see why his job is difficult and J.T. makes him a "Gang Leader for a Day". Unfortunately, this means that Sudhirs input matters for about two trivial things and then the rest of the day he just followed J.T. around like an obedient puppy. This chapter bored me, I think it's silly that this is what he names the whole book after.

Chapter 5:

   Chapter 5 is all about Ms. Bailey, the queen of Robert Taylor. Ms. Bailey is a really interesting, hard to figure out character. This chapter is weird to me, because Sudhir portrays her as 'not so bad' for most of it, then at the very end writes that she is power hungry and bad. Through the rest of the book, he also continues to portray her as bad, even though he learned ALOT from her.

Chapter 6:

     This chapter is about Sudhirs attempts to expand his research to the common folk. He begins the chapter by studying "hustlers". Various men and women who have a particular skill set which they solicit to the others in the community. He then tells his findings to J.T. and Ms. Bailey and gets them in trouble, which he attempts to make up for with things like a writing club. This chapter was interesting because it helped you see the everyday happenings in Robert Taylor. 

Chapter 7:

    Chapter 7 seven is an interesting chapter which starts strong with a shoot out at Robert Taylor which hits Price in the leg. Sudhir actually helps out by dragging Price inside and loaning the gang his car. Later, he hangs out with cops! This chapter makes me hate Chicago cops. I hope they all go to prison.

Chapter 8:

     Chapter Eight finished the book on a solemn note. Robert Taylor is being torn down and many people are being forced out of their homes and have no choice but to change and move on. Ms. Bailey and J.T. are cut from their prime. They both struggle to adapt and ultimately fail to regain their old life. T-Bone dies...which sucks, why did T-Bone have to die?! Sudhir moves on to bigger and better things in the world of academia. It's a good, albiet sad ending.

Ethnography Idea

    For my Ethnography, I would like to study the Bonfire culture at A&M. I use to hang out with some bonfire kids when I was a sophomore and so I  know a little about them. They're called "Student Bonfire" and they re-emerged a few years after campus bonfire fell. They inherited all the old traditions and symbols from people who were the bonfire leaders during the year it fell. The people who actively participate in student bonfire make most of their friends there, have scheduled dinner schedules, and usually do alot of other things with each other ( sports, going to the bars, etc. ). From what I could tell, it's not so much as an activity, but a culture. I still keep in contact with my friends, and I know I could join them as a guest on my ethnography.

http://www.studentbonfire.com/

Ethnography reaction

     Ok, so I may have a biased reaction / viewpoint, as reading Wikipedia is boring and frustrating.... but here it goes. I think it's cool that there's a science out there that studies how people perceive the world. It's very thought provoking. I mean, when someone is interesting or does interesting things, you can't help but wonder if their world view is different from your own. This is an oversimplification though, Ethnographies seem more focused towards groups or cultures of people. They're designed to learn how THAT specific culture effects a small group of individuals within that culture. I like Ethnographies because they create serious empathy toward other cultures of groups. It really mediates a higher understanding.

     On an other note, "Coming of Age in Samoa" by Margaret Mead. This is cool because by studying a group of young Samoa girls Margaret not only see's how culture affects the process of growing up for girls in Samoa, but also see's more clearly how American culture effects girls in America. She concludes that American girls struggle with several contradicting messages and that in Samoa, girls have one clear role model and because of this adolescence isn't as difficult for them as it is in the states. Afterwards alot of controversy ensued ( naturally ).
     In my opinion "Coming of Age in Samoa" is cool book and makes alot of sense. I'm a little disappointed in all the controversy mostly because, to me, it seems steeped from ideological differences and not genuine scientific query. And the results show!

Book 2: Emotional Design Chapter 1

     I just read the first chapter of Emotional Design by Donald Norman, which describes how the human mind works. In it Mr. Norman describes how the emotional state we're in effects how we interact with objects and solve problems. He describes how when in a good mood someone is more likely to look at the picture as a whole but when you're in a bad mood, you focus and look at details before the whole. He also goes into detail about the brain and describes the three levels of thought. There's Reflective, Visceral, and Behavioral and they behave independently but every thought and action you take is affected by all three.
     I think the points Mr. Norman makes complement the points he makes in "Design of Everyday Things". The chapter we read focused more on the brain and the human thought process than the writing in his other book but I can see how the chapters line up. For example, he talks about memory in Everyday Things and certain ways our brain organizes memories. One of the methods is our brain creates relationships, and in Emotional Design he talks about how across the world there are similarities in peoples vernacular. He says 'ssss' noise in a word is typically used of 'harsher' words and that we subconsciously associate it as harsh because it's like the hiss of a snake. He also mentions in Design how sometimes people will get things wrong then they get frustrated, and they try again but harder. This example is also used in Emotional Design when he describes a Fire Exit at a movie theater. In Everyday Things, Mr. Norman would describe how the door is poorly designed  and how it could be designed so people can use it, and also how the design effects the user. In Emotional he talks more about the state a person is in when using the door and it restricts them from opening their mind solving their problem.