Final Paper

Mothers and Nannies: A relationship of Convenience or Necessity

 

            Since the 1960s, women’s’ role in the workplace has been expanding. Whereas women were once consigned to occupations as secretaries and teachers, jobs that would often leave time to arrive home in conjunction with their children, women are currently a vital and successful aspect of today’s’ work force. According to a 2008 study by the US Department of Labor, women comprise 46% of the US labor force. Of the record 68 million women employed in the United States in 2008, 75% of these women worked on a full time basis.  In a dramatic shift from the last century, women now account for 51% of all workers in the highest-paying management, professional, and other related professions. Of the Fortune 50 companies listed in 2008, one was headed by a female CEO. Of the Fortune 500 companies listed in 2008, there are 15 female CEOs, and 26 female CEOs are listed for the Fortune 1000.  One may imagine, with all these women in the workforce, what has happened to the traditional family structure. No longer is the typical mother pictured standing at her stove, children ready at the table, awaiting the arrival of her husband after a long days’ work. For a working mother, the struggle to find the balance between a successful career and an involved parent can be difficult. With child care centers under funded, over capacity, and quality control difficult, many choose to put their child in the hands of a surrogate parent or caregiver- the Nanny.

            Nannies have been present in upper middle class and upper class society for hundreds of years, While women were not in the work place, it was common for upper class women to higher a surrogate care giver to look after the care and well being of their child. Yet it was not until the early 1980s when the divide between stay at home mothers with nannies, working mothers with nannies, and stay at home mothers that care for the children without help became overly publicized. The 2007 film, The Nanny Diaries, based on a book by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus depicts the relationship between an Ivy League college graduate who is employed as nanny by Mrs. X, a Manhattan socialite. Annie, played by Scarlotte Johannsen, comes to be known by her occupation by both Mrs. X and her young charge, Grayer. To Mrs. X, Annie is nothing more than Nanny, though her responsibilities go far beyond the care and well being of young Grayer. Annie is everything that is not what the multicultural representation of Nanny has come to be. Annie is from Manhattan and comes from a rather affluent family, having attended a distinguished girls’ school and being the product of a teacher at Collegiate and lawyer. Annie epitomizes the height of what affluent families want in their nanny: Caucasian, bi- or tri-lingual, well educated, and an American born citizen or of Western European descent.

            While Scarlotte Johansens’ character is one example of a caregiver, the majority of professional caregivers in the United States are representative of multiculturalism.  In an article by Patricia Greenfield, of the Psychology Department at UCLA, the theme of “What happens when parents and nannies come form different cultures” is explored.  Greenfield argues that in a multicultural society where many children have working parents, large numbers of children have caregivers from more than one culture.  Greenfield investigates the culturally based difference in care giving beliefs and practices between nannies and the parents that employ them. She hypothesizes that US born employers and Latina immigrant have to negotiate and resolve conflicting socialization and strategies and developmental goals. This is relatable, as many working mothers who employ nannies will set their ideas in accordance with how they think their child should be raised, but then count on the nanny to implement the strategy. This often leads to a clash of social norms. 

Paper 4: Rough Draft

Coming of Age in Mississippi: Transforming Prejudice
While many historians and academic scholars refer to the period in American history detailed in Anne Moody’s memoir Coming of Age in Mississippi as the Civil Rights Movement, those who actively participated wished it to be known as the Southern Freedom Movement. After nearly two hundred years of slavery in the United States, the abolishment of slavery in the South did not change the face of racial justice overnight. Anne Moody, born Essie May Moody in 1940, grew up in one of the counties hardest hit by racial segregation. Throughout the 19 years detailed in her memoir, Moody’s’ personal experience mirror the cause and values of the Southern Freedom Movement. Through her desire to support her family, Moody is placed in positions of sub-servience to whites. It is not until Moody enters college that she is able to face the prejudices of her past defined by skin color. A recurring theme in Moody’s memoir is prejudice defined by skin color and the absurdity of racial distinctions. Anne Moody uses her experiences and interactions with those who she serves to build sympathy for the belief in racial equality. Moody uses tone to illustrate the differences in the hierarchical structure and to define her role under those that she serves. By introducing the reader to varying situations in which she serves a Caucasian superior, Moody crafts a culture of empathy and moral superiority. By illustrating her strong work ethic and commitment to supporting her family, Moody rises above the racial oppression of the early 20th century Mississippi.
From an early age, Moody recognizes a difference between races as defined by skin color. The readers are first introduced to a Caucasian employer when Moody describes her mothers’ early employer. Moody describes Mrs. Cook favorably, as even though she only paid her $4 week, she allowed her to bring the leftover dinner home to the children. (Moody, pg. 9) This would be a theme throughout the memoir; Moody often measured the perks of positions not in accordance with the money gained, but in the benefits given by employers. Sometimes it would be scraps of food, instructional teaching, or rent at a low-rate. This can be likened to the philosophy of giving disadvantaged people who demonstrate work ethic a hand up, as opposed to a hand out. This ideal is present at the end novel when Moody is distributing clothing. While the residents are more than excited to receive a handout of clothing that they desperately need, they are not willing to take part in the voter registration drive. They are willing to receive the hand out because it is being distributed by one of their own, yet are not willing to step outside their realm of comfort to seek justice. The distinction between races is clearly set by the moods and attitudes of the African American population. They consider themselves as a different culture and therefore wish to remain as their own isolationist unit, helping one another as opposed to seeking outside charity.
As Anne Moody continues her education and progresses to college and her work with Dr. King and the NAACP, she encounters the reoccurring them of disunity among blacks in the face of white oppression. While Moody is committed to securing rights for Africa n Americans and is supportive of the movements’ leaders, she quickly recognizes the differences between what the leaders of the movement believe should happen and what the citizenry is willing to do. While the youth involved in the movement are committed, they are unable to mobilize the general African American population because they fear loosing their jobs and the security they have built amongst the Caucasian population. Moody recognizes the disparities amongst the citizens and the leaders of the Southern Freedom Movement. Fundamentally, the leaders of the movement and the citizenry they are trying to reach are different. While the color of their skin may be the same, their backgrounds differ. Their commitment to education and belief in equality sets them apart from the African American citizens that have only known a life of sharecropping and domestic work. For many, the necessity to provide for ones’ family is considered a greater priority than securing the right to vote. At the end of Chapter 24, Moody concludes, “We had ‘dreamers’ instead of leaders leading us”. (Moody, pg) Moody determines this while listening to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream Speech”. After attending the March on Washington, Moody became more concerned about the progress and goals of the movement. Moody felt that though the color of their skin was the same, the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement were out of touch with the base. This was evident in the leaders goal of securing voting rights for rural African Americans as opposed to poverty relief.
The overarching theme that ties together Moodys’ memoir is the destructive power of prejudice, whether tied to a theme of subservience to an employer or prejudice in an educational setting. The power of prejudice, while inherent in the culture of the South, is a destructive force in Moodys’ life that materializes in the memoir. Present in the memoir is not only the prejudice of whites against blacks, but also the cultural prejudice of lighter skinned blacks towards those with darker skin. This prejudice is not only present in the greater community context, but in Moody’s family. Moody is the product of a dark skinned mother and dark skinned father, but the family becomes blended when Moody’s mother takes up with a lighter skinned man. Moody and her mother are shunned by the light skinned man’s family because of their skin-color gradation. Lighter-skinned blacks are able to carve rout higher social statuses for themselves, despite not having any different legal rights. Skin color is a dividing factor in the African American community, and one that harms the Civil Rights Movement. In some instances it was difficult to create a sense of community because some African Americans identified their race as black, but were able to blend into white culture because of the shade of their skin. This affirms the absurdity of racial distinctions, as they are socially constructed. Anne Moody herself falls prey to this social construction of prejudice, as she fears blending with the light skinned black girls in the college setting. Moody views herself as a lesser human, despite her knowledge, work ethic and educational background. The discontinuity of the civil rights movement as affected by skin color ties to the inclusiveness of the movement. The movement was not inclusive of the African American community as a whole; instead it rallied those that were in a position to support Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders. In many cases, this limited support to well-educated, light skinned African Americans.
The most constant and evanescent theme in Moody’s memoir is that of prejudice. Whether it is prejudice due to the color of skin, quality of education, or material pocession; Moody spent her young life fighting against the forces of prejudice. While the prejudice of skin color and gradation are inherent in the African American community, Moody also faces the prejudices of the division between those with money and the people who are poorer than her. Anne experiences these prejudices through lack of food and material pocessions, as well as through her interactions with those who employ her. In one situation, Anne is enlisted to work as a tutor for the son of her employer and his classmates. The group becomes quite close, one of the few interactions Anne has where racial lines are blurred. Yet her employer becomes recognizant of the relationship developing between Anne and the students, and curtails the tutoring. Yet though Anne is placed in many situations of prejudices, she is observed as having learned from the situations and growing as a person. It is this personal growth that transcends the prejudice and inspires Anne to go beyond what she knows and deems familiar. Anne grows and matures alongside the Civil Rights movement, the experiences she gains from joining the movement shower her that the same qualities that make a Caucasian person successful can also make an African American person successful, just in different realms. As a young child, Anne discovered that there were no real differences between black and white children, which is the same argument made by Civil Rights leaders. The belief in inherent equality stays with Anne through high school, where she advocates for equal schools for black students, recognizing that the color of skin should not require her to settle for anything less than complete equality.
While Anne Moody devoted much of her college and post-graduate career to fighting for racial justice, the last words of Coming of Age in Mississippi echo her frustrations that stem from the inherent prejudice in Southern culture and the ineptitude of the social leaders at connecting to the citizenry the preached about representing. In stating “I WONDER. I really WONDER”, Moody is questioning her life and her commitment to the Civil Rights Movement. Did the work Moody take part in make a difference in the lives of the people that she had risen above? In a way, by rising above her impoverished, uneducated past, Moody had isolated herself from a racial divide.

Rough Draft of Paper 3- Gosh I think the blogosphere is out to get me!

Cultural Context of Liberalism of the 1930s

When Herbert Hoover took the Oath of Office as the 31^st President of the United States, hew was unaware of the economic tribulations and the repercussions of his response that would come to define his presidency an in turn, his legacy. The culture of the 1930s and the mood that defined the nation was captured in a popular media of the time, that of photography and paintings. While the 1930s was captured as the decade that defined the application of liberalism in America, the two presidents of the decade had drastically different beliefs for the application of liberalism. While Franklin Delano Roosevelt believed in improving the economy through the creation of government programs, Herbert Hoover believed in the sanctity of individual liberty. President Hoover defined individual liberty as protected by the United States Constitution, and believed that government intervention was a detriment to individual liberty. While the sentiments of Herbert Hoover and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were captured through their written word and in transcripts of their speeches, the spirit of the American identity was captured in photographs and pictures. The effects of the New Deal produced particular images of American history and joined them to the idea of the government working behalf of everyday people. The pictures exhibited are representative of the effects of the laissez-faire interpretation of liberty as introduced by Herbert Hoover.

Author and historical critic Walter Sussman believed that the 1930s were the decade of participation and belonging, despite the economic turmoil. While the stressors of the economy affected individuals, the programs that resulted from the New Deal gave individuals an identity.  Yet Herbert Hoover differed in his belief of the implementation of New Deal programs. Hoover believed that the implementation of government funded programs infringed upon the liberty of the individual man because citizens were forced to take part in programs that were dictated by the government. While Franklin D. Roosevelt believed it was the responsibility of the government to provide for the well being of the citizenry, Hoover believed that freedom would not be constrained. While Roosevelt poured funds into programs that provide jobs to those that were not previously employed or skilled laborers, Hoover believed that the government should reserve the right for intervention to programs that provided national security. The New Deal was considered a government intervention into the lives of private citizens, on which Herbert Hoover stated “ The Spirit of liberalism is to create free men; it is not the regimentation of men.” (Hoover, Part. 1) The government intervention on behalf of private citizens did not just extend to the white man, instead it announced that it would provide benefit to both women and the African American men, This was exhibited by the New Deal through the payment of women and African Americans at the same rate of men. However, as Hoover stated “it is through taking vast sums of the people’s money and then manipulating it’s spending to build up personal power”. White men were therefore paying taxes to support programs that benefited the minority much more than themselves. Photos of workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps, hired through the WPA (Works Progress Administration) illustrated the duties of nearly 3 million young men. These were men that were not previously employed; yet through New Deal programs became eligible for federal-state unemployment benefits, ect.  While jobs were being offered at a rate not supported by the economic conditions and demand of the unregulated market, Warren Sussman asserts that while poverty was being combated, Herbert Hoover underestimated the national poverty average. This was due to the fact that Herbert Hoover did not count those that lived on farms as being in poverty.  Hoover believed that the spirit of the famer, that of self-made fulfillment and contribution to the economy, was the essence of personal liberty and a sense of the liberalist government.

            While the programs established by Franklin D. Roosevelt were government supported and economically inefficient due to the manipulation of the job market, Herbert Hoover believed in the ideas of volunteerism. As opposed to pouring government funds into programs that would encroach upon the liberty of the citizenry, he encouraged citizens and private enterprises to make contributions that would benefit the less fortunate and harder hit.  Hoover calls for liberalism in terms of an American plan that contrasts with that of the New Deal. Hoover believes that the extension of the 19^th century sense of freedom of the individual requires not extending “the mastery of government over the daily life of a people”. (Hoover, pg.2) Hoover sees America as a classless country, and therefore invokes the images of minorities as an equally optimistic culture.

            Seymour Fogel, an artist who made significant contributions to the realm of 20^th century art, created works that were representative of unprecedented social and cultural change. Fogel produced works of social realist art that echoed the sentiments and effects of the New Deal.  From 1934 to 1941 Fogel was awarded several mural commissions through the Fine Arts project of the WPA and the Treasury Department. Fogel’s murals were executed on the Treasury Building in Washington D.C., with several other works hanging at the Corcoran Gallery.  Fogel’s work “Security of the Family” is representative of a family engaged in urban industrial society. The painting depicts a family tied to the common sense of economic labor that Hoover believed all Americans should be engaged in. In Hoover’s address “This Challenge to Liberty” on October 30, 1936 he states that economic labor will lay ground for the first social American objective, which should be the “protection of the health, the assurance of the education and the training of every child in our land.” (Hoover, part IV) Hoover then goes on to advocate fro the freedom and virtue of a county where children are afforded the best of every opportunity, as “freedom can march only upon the feet of educated, healthy and happy children”. (Hoover, part IV) In the Fogel Painting ‘Security of the Family” the notion of health, well educated children is presented by the girl practicing mathematical equations at the chalkboard”. The depiction of a young female, practicing mathmatics is representative of the equality that was attempted during the 1930s. Hoover believed that any child could grow up to be President, and this idea of equality for all was represented through the exchange of gender stereotypes in Fogel’s work.  The painting has an idealized nature, representing what the programs of the New Deal could have given to the people if implemented properly, and with a shared understanding of the purpose of the program.

            The people represented in Fogel’s paintings are very important to the overall mood and sentiment created by the effects of the New Deal programs. The people depicted in both “Security of the Family” and ‘Industrial Life” do not have very exact features. For example the faces have shapes but the features are not chiseled. This relates to Hoover’s belief that too much government involvement in the lives of private citizens will lead to a loss in identity. This can also mean that the government has the ability to shape the citizenry into what it desires. In “Security of the Family” gender roles are reversed, where a man is holding the baby and the women is reading the newspaper. This is a contrast to the actual division of gender roles in New Deal programs as prescribed by Hoover and Roosevelt, where gender appropriate roles were assigned to women and men based on gender stereotypes. This could be due to strains of economic depression reinforcing the containment of feminism that had developed following the success of the women’s’ suffrage movement.

            Through his construct of the American idea of “liberalism”, Herbert Hoover believed that in order to address the real problems of society, the government must address the root cause of the problems as opposed to just throwing money into undeveloped solutions. Hoover believed that the  “American system” was one in which the government could not intervene in the lives of the people without becoming the ‘master of people’s souls and thoughts”. (Hoover, part II) Hoover differs from Roosevelt in that he was not the eternal optimist nor did he think all problems of society could be fixed by government intervention. Hoover believed that overarching government would destroy the identities of the citizenry, as exhibited by the depictions of faceless people in the paintings of Seymour Fogel. Fogel’s abstract paintings, representative of the 1930s citizenry, were representative of the gender constructs of the period that were defined by New Deal policies. 

Rough Draft of Paper 3

Rough Draft (aka Really Rough Draft)

Ashley L. Olt

AMST 72W

9 February 2009

Assimilation through Material Culture: The transformation of Immigrant Society

 

            The industrial cities of the late 19^th century were meccas for expanding immigrant populations. With the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year, domestic clashes arose between the native-born white American and the immigrant. Immigrants, who had arrived in the United States under the impression that the streets would be paved with gold, were no longer welcomed into the job market.  Anti-immigration policies and the lack of jobs for native-born Americans created a dominant culture that editorialized immigrant communities as an inferior culture. Yet there were some immigrants, determined to fulfill the dreams that had sustained them on their arduous journeys to America that succeeded in their quest for the American dream.  Those immigrants that managed to subvert the popular ideas and stereotypes of the dominant anti-immigrant culture did so through entrepreneurship and the acquisition of material goods.

            The nature of immigrant culture, that of which revolves around the importance of family and upholding the ideals of the “Old World” from which the immigrants came, made it difficult for many to break into the traditional capitalistic market economy of the United States. Immigrants were prevented from entering the traditional capitalist society because of the barriers of entry to the marketplace. The barriers of entry included the explicit costs of business and name recognition, as well as the less explicit costs of the inherent bias of the market in favor of the Caucasian native-born American male. The ease of entry into the marketplace was a deterring factor for immigrants who came from backgrounds in the Old World that could have translated into opportunities in the New World. In the case of Eastern European immigrants of Jewish ancestry like those portrayed in Anzia Yezierka’s novel “Bread Givers”, the traditional role of the male head of household was a stigma to success in the New World. While men were the dominant bread winners in the society of native-born Americans, the role was reversed in some immigrant households. Women, in addition to their traditional household and child-rearing responsibilities, were expected to bring in an income to support their family.  The role of immigrant women in the marketplace gave them purchasing power that was not as prevalent in the societies of white native-born Americans.  For the majority of white native-born American women, the money that entered the household was not extended to them as a matter of a shared partnership. Therefore, the sight of women in the marketplace was an attack on the traditional gender roles of the white native-born culture.

            Anzia Yezierska’s immigrant novel, “Bread Givers” portrays a Jewish immigrant family residing in a heavily Eastern European immigrant neighborhood of New York City. The Smolinsky family, headed only in title by Reb Smolinsky, personifies the characteristics of entrepreneurship and the quest for material wealth that became the equalizer between Immigrant and native-born society. Yezierska’s novel opens with the portrayal of the starving Smolinsky family, anchored by a religious father figure, his frustrated wife, and four daughters. In the mind of Reba Smolensk, his duty was to study the holy messages within the Torah while his wife and daughters went out to haggle for an income in the marketplace.   In comparison the typical native-born American family structure would have featured the father figure in the workplace while the mother and daughters tended to the domestic needs of the family.   The youngest of the Smolinsky daughters, Sara, is observant of the actions of her sisters in terms of their efforts to escape their impoverished situation. Yet Sara differs from her three sisters; Bessie, Mashah, and Fania in that she devises a strategy of entrepreneurship and self-betterment to elevate herself to an improved social status.

             Sara Smolinsky takes it upon herself to strive towards self-betterment by means of entrepreneurship and education. Reb Smolinsky also looks at entrepreneurship as a means of self-betterment, however he goes about it in a manner that cold be considered the “get rich quick scheme “ that tends to back fire in a normal marketplace. As a young girl, Sara is given 25 cents by a charitable neighbor. Determined to show her older sisters her aptitude with entrepreneurship, Sara purchases 25 herring at 25 cents a piece. She then goes to the marketplace and sells each herring at two cents a piece, turning a twenty-five cent profit. When she returns home, Reb Smolinsky insists that she turn the profit over to him. Ever the obliging daughter, Sara endures years of Reb’s totalitarian dominance. It is not until Reb ventures into the realm of entrepreneurship that Sara finds the strength to confront the cultural dominance and bias of her father. Reb Smolinsky, in an attempt to secure financial stability for his family, purchases a grocery store at a less than market value price. Yet Reb does not inspect the store or require certification of the goods within, and comes out of the transaction at a severe monetary loss. For Sara, whose ideas are steeped in the value of the rewards of hard work, this is the beginning of the separation of her independence and her obligation to her family.

Sara Smolinsky, repelled by her father's ineptitude at adapting to American culture, took it upon herself to discover the process of assimilation. While her sisters had been married off in the traditional sense, with the hopes that they were gaining wealth, Sara looks to education as her entryway into the dominant culture.  Many immigrants arrived in the United States with little to no know knowledge of language and customs, and were not able to attend school due to the necessity of factory life. Education was the vital transition factor for Sara Smolinsky in that she was able to expand upon her primitive education and adapt to that of what is expected in the United States. Yet Sara's struggle within the educational system is representative of the clash against dominant culture faced by many immigrants. Sara is looked down upon by her schoolmates, as her background is clearly evident from her accent and her manner of dress. The material belongings that Sara accumulates become every bit as important as the education she gains. Material worth, sometimes achieved through entrepreneurship or earned through education is an outward symbol of the rejection of immigrant culture and the acceptance of American culture. Material culture was spread through the immigrant culture by means of radio, advertisements, and the cinema. In the case of the Smolinsky family, the beautiful Mashah is perceived as vain because she spends her meager earnings on efforts to beautify herself.  Yet through the course of the novel the reader discovers that Mashah's efforts are not as much about vanity as they are self betterment and self-control.

            While Sara Smolinsky's quest for education could be interpreted as a quest for assimilation attained by education, her thirst for knowledge can also be seen as an internal desire to capture the same desire her father holds for his holy books. While Sara is motivated by the rewards of self betterment, including the upgrade of apartments and clothes, she is more motivated by her teenage desire to become a teacher sot that all eyes will be on her the way they were on her father when he would preach inside the home. Sara devotes the same time and energy to obtaining a teaching degree as her father did to the study of his Holy Books. While Sara does in fact achieve her goal of attaining a teaching certificate, she does not allow her desire to achieve knowledge detract from the new found freedom and acceptance she has come to enjoy. As a college graduate and new teacher in the New York Public Schools system, Sara comes to exemplify the modern women. Yet the classification of Sara as modern women is not one limited to that of classifying a "modern immigrant women". Sara has removed herself from the immigrant culture enough so that she can be reclassified by the dominant cultural hierarchy.

            Like Sara Smolinsky, other women of the late 19^th century found themselves trapped in financial and domestic situations that left them as secondary citizens. These women, often classified as urban middle-classes found themselves a new outlet of self-betterment, that of cosmetics. According to author Kathy Peiss, women linked cosmetic use to an "emergent notion of their own modernity, which included wage-work, athleticism, leisure, freer sexual expressiveness, and greater individual consumption". (Peiss, 372) While the market for cosmetics continued to echo the class system, cosmetics were a shared achievement and digression from traditional female roles. Cosmetics encouraged women, like Sara, who had often sacrificed much of themselves for the betterment of their families, to "Not be ashamed of their desire for beauty". Like Sara Smolinsky's quest for enlightenment for education, other women sought their quest for enlightenment and self-betterment through the use of cosmetics.

Cosmetics were not just marketed towards the upwardly mobile middle class white women. The branding and price variety of cosmetics marketed made it possible for immigrants and minorities to have access to cosmetics, albeit at a different quality. This proffered the belief that all women could be brought to an even level through their consumption of a common good unrelated to their household.

The Material Culture of Inauguration Travel

Ashley L. Olt
22 January 2009
AMST72W

Material Culture: Transportation

In Inaugurations of years past, one would have assumed visitors were coming to witness the President Elect of the United States take the Oath of Office, perhaps view the parade, and dance the night a way at an Inaugural ball. With the celebrity status that has accompanied President Obama, visitors are no longer flocking to the District just to witness a constitutional obligation. The inauguration of the 44th President of the United States was a tourism spectacle, a destination vacation of sorts. While the majority of visitors utilized the Metro or walked, transportation as a sign of status has become an ironic divider at an Inauguration meant to bring people together. Though President Obama was touted as the “common man” his iconic and near pop celebrity has endeared him to both the poor and mega wealthy alike. The methods of transportation offered, and the stark contrast in cost is symbolic of the divide amongst the Obama voter base. While some visitors packed into metrorail cars like cattle, others rode to the events in style. Towncars and limousines were de rigueur for the more privileged Inauguration guests, while some opted for the convenience and expense of taxi cabs, with the remainder of visitors packing into the metro or walking miles on foot.

Blog 1

Ashley L. Olt

January 20, 2009

AMST 72W

Effect of Media on Transportation Images

 

            As one approaches within a ten-block perimeter of a Metrorail station, the lines of people waiting for entrance curve around the block. People push, teenagers shove, and students from various student groups shout and yell as they attempt to decipher the metro rail system.  With maps passed out to the millions of people who descended on the city, the system seems to be relatively self-explanatory. The orange and blue lines carry the majority of passengers from surrounding areas with the majority of passengers passing through major outlets like Metro Center. While riders were encouraged to walk at least two to three miles before considering utilizing the Metrorail system, many were discouraged by the crowds along the National Mall, and turned to the Metrorail system.

            For DC residents who utilize the Metrorail system on a daily basis, following the election of the 44^th President, Barack Obama, they were bombarded with in station announcements decreeing the special Inauguration weekend hours of service. For some, this became quite tiresome and obnoxious, as many DC residents are familiar with the workings of the Metrorail system. The Metrorail website *www.metroopensdoors.com” or www.mwata.com has been reworked. Gone is the old format with small scrolling alerts, replaced by large alerts organized by line. At 12:02 pm on Inauguration Day, in the midst of he ceremony the crowds had already begun to swarm outside the downtown Metrorail stations- with the escalators being turned off and the traffic directed in one direction. While the majority of Metrorail users were familiar with the direction of their travel, many had troubles deciphering the maps and matching the station names with the corresponding colored line. From mere observation by sight, unimpaired by the sounds and peripheral vision- the aerial view from the escalator above showed a sea of red and blue hats, jackets emblazoned with Obama buttons and logos, flags waving in the air, it seemed as if it was a sea of paraphernalia versus a sea of people.

            Following the election, signage and advertisements began to appear in Metrorail stations. The image of then President-Elect Obama began to appear in Metrorail train stations, and one noticed a switch in advertisements. The advertisements for the typical inside metro advertising like Pepsi-Co, popular restaurants and visitors sites all changed their advertising to reflect a patriotic them or to reflect the logo of the 44^th Presidential Inauguration.  Again, for the residents of Washington DC and the surrounding area the presence of the advertising was redundant, as many were aware of the impending inauguration. For those that visited the city over Inaugural weekend, the advertisements would have been lacking in focus and successful readership because the large amounts of people crowded inside the stations would have made it very difficult for visitors to observe the advertisements.

            Perhaps one of the most interesting and innovative aspects of the far-reaching Metrorail efforts was the pre-sale of commemorative edition Inauguration fare cards. While regular paper fare cards with the image of President Obama appeared two weeks after his election, the reloadable Metrorail Smarttrip cards were also sold with an image of the President. The commemorative Smarttrip cards were for sale through the Metrorail (WMATA) website and at 21 CVS stores located in the District, Beltsville, MD, Arlington, VA, and Alexandria. The selling of smarttrips at CVS stores fell in line with the President’s goal to make this inauguration the most accessible in history.   The presale of Smarttrip cards also aided in relieving some congestion at crowded stations. Those that lived far from a Metrorail station or were planning on visiting the district for the weekend were able to order the Smarttrip card over the Internet and have it mailed to their house. My grandmother, a resident of Lake Forest, IL (a suburb of Chicago) came to DC for Inauguration weekend. Being familiar with the Metrorail system and paper farecards, she decided to order a commemorative edition smart trip. It arrived at her house within a week, and was pre-loaded with 10.00.

            The other aspect of the intersection of media and transportation was the displays on the private charter buses and decoration of the pedicels that offered their services to Inauguration visitors. Many charter buses were decorated with bunting, Obama posters, signage from the campaign and the DNC Convention. Even the GWU float could be considered a form of transportation, as they utilized the old Colonial Express spirit shuttle and converted into a model of a train car similar to that of what would have carried Abraham Lincoln.