Despite its 2021 publication date, almost four months have passed since my Routledge Handbook of Street Culture was released. Thus now is probably as a good a time as any to reflect on the goals and process connected to this project.
In you want a definition, street culture refers to “the beliefs, dispositions, ideologies, informal rules, practices, styles, symbols, and values associated with, adopted by, and engaged in by individuals and organizations that spend a disproportionate amount of time on the streets of large urban centers” (Ross, 2018, p. 8). The scholarly use of the term street culture was popularized in 1999 through Elijah Anderson’s well known book Code of the Street, and was also adopted around that time in a number of popular magazines like Juxtapoz and Hypebeast. The term included elements of popular and urban culture ranging from graffiti, street art, street crime, music, fashion (like street wear), language, etc., etc.
Why a Handbook on Street Culture Now?
Over the past decade, a proliferation of handbooks have been commissioned and published by many of the major scholarly publishers. They vary in subject matter, quality, and price.
A handbook is supposed to be foundational. It synthesizes and circumscribes the extant knowledge in a particular field. It should have the most expert people writing the chapters, and each of these contributions should review and assess all information in that narrow chunk of the field that the writer is writing about. Rarely do handbooks include chapters that are predominately empirical pieces, which are the mainstay of scholarly journals.
Handbooks are primarily released in hardcover format, and while the audience for these books, is typically other experts and graduate students, these resources are usually purchased by libraries and sold at a higher price than most other academic books. Occasionally handbooks are published as paperbacks at a cheaper price. Increasingly they are released as e-books at an even lower cost. Also many of the publishers are making individual chapters available for purchase.
So why did I edit this handbook? In short, not only did the handbook grow out personal experiences, but street culture is a dominant cross-cutting theme in most of my scholarship, including the last handbook I did, the Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art.
I edited this book because I believed that I, with the assistance of carefully selected contributors, and the subjects that they wrote on, had something unique to say, that this subject matter was not easily accessible in the popular and scholarly literature, and that this information and perspectives should be shared with a wider audience and in this type of format.
What kinds of challenges did I experience organizing a handbook on Street Culture?
Some of the challenges of editing a handbook are inherent in doing an edited book, while others are specific to a handbook, and the last is with respect to the subject matter. One of the most important hurdles are identifying and working with experts who are willing to write the chapters, under strict deadlines.
It often takes a long time to identify appropriate authors, follow up with them, and then shape the content of their chapter. Scholars are usually very busy. Also important is having the right balance in terms of authors and approaches to the subject matter.
Wrapping up
I hope that the Routledge Handbook of Street Culture, is useful to people who are interested in the subject, and that it will inspire others to conduct additional scholarship in the field.
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot-2021-03-16-at-4.09.00-PM.jpg1087750Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2021-03-16 20:50:042023-02-13 19:30:27Contextualizing the publication of my ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF STREET CULTURE
Many restaurants and other dining establishments, some with the blessing of the municipality or county in which they are located, (e.g., including small grants and loans), have experimented by creating or expanding outdoor eating areas. In some cases all that was done was placing a few chairs and small tables on the narrow pedestrian sidewalks in front of or to the side of their establishments. Other restaurants have set up tables in back alleys and nearby parking lots, while some have pitched tents, assembled bubbles, or constructed makeshift structures, some resembling temporary shelters built out of plywood, corrugated plastic, and placed in spaces that were at one time used as street parking spaces.
These latter areas are often protected from vehicular traffic by orange cones, metal grates, or cement or plastic barriers typically used in road and highway construction. Some have encroached to spaces in front of neighboring retail businesses.
On the plus side, this means that the restaurant can stay in business, keep many of their workers employed, and the construction of these temporary structures has enabled a small army of local handymen to stay in business or supplement their income building, assembling, or erecting the structures. It has also led to a small boom in the industry that sells the necessary building materials or rents out items like canopies, grates, barriers, etc.
The kinds of materials, designs, and durability of these makeshift structures vary considerably. We can celebrate the ingenuity of the owners and the creativity imbued in these structures.
But we also need to keep in mind that this development in contemporary urban public space comes at a price, not only in terms of what it has cost the restaurant, but in externalities they have created. Let’s temporarily suspend the negative externalities that both cars and roads create for the taxpayer. But the usage of this space means that we have less parking available for cars and thus more competition for parking spaces and a loss of revenue for the municipality or county. All things being equal, the competition for parking spaces will put greater pressures on neighboring streets where there may be residences that may already feel the pinch of low availability of parking.
Meanwhile many of the restaurants, particularly those operating in the northern states, during the cold fall and winter months, have tried to enhance the comfort of their customers by using propane heaters. Besides the added expense, they are contributing to our carbon footprint, by eat up gas, and putting these fumes into the local atmosphere of our urban environments.
What is going to happen when COVID-19 no longer presents the same level of risk that it once did? Will the restaurants and the local government where they are located embrace the temporary structures as the way of the future? Or will the temporary structures come down? Will they be stored, ready to be reassembled if another pandemic occurs? Perhaps? If the eating establishment has space in their structure, or maybe despite the slim margins they make on food they buy and prepare, they can afford to keep it somewhere else (e.g., the owners’ residence or a storage facility). Will the materials be recycled, or are they simply going to haul off the wood, plastic and metal to the town dump after the fact?
In the end, has the experiment to erect these makeshift structures worth the price both the restaurants and the communities they serve worth it. They may have staved off a loss of tax revenue for the municipality, prevented the unemployment of their workers, and maybe have contributed to the street and urban culture of particular neighborhoods. On the other hand, I’m not sure that our municipal and county councils have thought this through, and made the cost benefit calculations that would be relevant with the erection of these structures.
Maybe many restaurants, with assistance of municipal and county governments, will keep the structures. This may eventually lead the way to less cars in our urban centers. Fewer cars on the streets, may mean an opportunity for more bikes, and alternative mobility solutions, and pedestrian traffic, like we have seen in recent years in a handful of larger cities like New York City and San Francisco.
Photo by Eden, Janine and Jim
Missing the Point
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/50432397263_b45cf01f97_o-scaled.jpg14462560Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2021-03-09 20:16:162021-06-08 15:41:58Gimme Shelter? Examining the temporary structures that restaurants have built for outdoor dining during COVID-19
There are numerous ways that criminal justice practitioners can demonstrate to others that what they have to say is credible.
I would argue that there are two principle mechanisms. One is mastery of content and the other is through effective communication. The first approach includes understanding the concepts in your domain or specialization, and refraining from commenting on things you know absolutely nothing about.
For example, a police officer attends the training academy where they learn the basics of their profession, which involves not only what policing is all about, but the relevant skills. If they graduate, they serve a period of time under probation, hopefully under the tutelage of a qualified field training officer. If they successfully pass this next step, then s/he is accepted on to the force. Over time, the officer gains experience in different situations, and through periodic personnel evaluations learns to do their job better.
The other equally important mechanism is effective communication. We require our criminal justice practitioners to not only talk (orally) with members of the public, superiors and subordinates in various contexts, but to produce written communications in the form of reports. These documents have important implications in both criminal and civil matters.
If, for instance, a correctional officer submits a report that is used as evidence in a legal proceeding (e.g., administrative hearing, trial, etc.) and the officer has failed to be specific, or the communication is confusing, riddled with spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, then it may mean that a victim or perpetrator does not get the proper consideration that they need for judicial intervention. For instance, the person’s period of incarceration may be unnecessarily extended (thus depriving them of their liberty), or a person who has done grievous harm to another, is either given a reduced sentence, or unnecessarily released from custody.
Thus, it’s important for criminal justice practitioners to not only master the content, but to be effective communicators. I’m not going to discuss whether criminal justice instructors do a good job teaching their students this, but here are some very simple tips on how to improve your writing, that many practitioners for one reason or another either ignore or avoid.
First, start by spell and grammar checking your writing. The communication platform you use may not allow you to do this in an efficient manner. Thus, you need to copy and paste what you write into a writing software package that allows you to do this first, and then transfer back into the field where you submit.
Second, read your answers out loud before submitting.
Third, give yourself enough time. Write a rough draft. Come back to it an hour, or day, or week later and edit.
Fourth, search out free writing resources on the web.
Fifth, read a book (or two) preferably with writing exercises. Do them.
Sixth, short of hiring a professional editor, have someone else read through your writing and have them give you feedback.
Seventh, take formal or additional instruction in writing. Many organizations offer free workshops to assist their employees communication skills. (Sometimes they are call writing labs).
These suggestions are not exhaustive. They don’t cover improving oral communication skills, but these ideas should assist those who need some help to improve their writing.
Photo
Albuquerque Police Department recruit officer phase one field training report writing
https://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen-Shot-2021-03-02-at-2.04.57-PM.png6811277Jeffrey Ian Rosshttps://jeffreyianross.com/wp-content/uploads/jeffrey-ian-ross-logo-04.pngJeffrey Ian Ross2021-03-02 19:28:092021-03-10 16:56:36Why writing well is important for Criminal Justice Practitioners
Contextualizing the publication of my ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF STREET CULTURE
/by Jeffrey Ian RossDespite its 2021 publication date, almost four months have passed since my Routledge Handbook of Street Culture was released. Thus now is probably as a good a time as any to reflect on the goals and process connected to this project.
What is Street Culture?
In you want a definition, street culture refers to “the beliefs, dispositions, ideologies, informal rules, practices, styles, symbols, and values associated with, adopted by, and engaged in by individuals and organizations that spend a disproportionate amount of time on the streets of large urban centers” (Ross, 2018, p. 8). The scholarly use of the term street culture was popularized in 1999 through Elijah Anderson’s well known book Code of the Street, and was also adopted around that time in a number of popular magazines like Juxtapoz and Hypebeast. The term included elements of popular and urban culture ranging from graffiti, street art, street crime, music, fashion (like street wear), language, etc., etc.
Why a Handbook on Street Culture Now?
Over the past decade, a proliferation of handbooks have been commissioned and published by many of the major scholarly publishers. They vary in subject matter, quality, and price.
A handbook is supposed to be foundational. It synthesizes and circumscribes the extant knowledge in a particular field. It should have the most expert people writing the chapters, and each of these contributions should review and assess all information in that narrow chunk of the field that the writer is writing about. Rarely do handbooks include chapters that are predominately empirical pieces, which are the mainstay of scholarly journals.
Handbooks are primarily released in hardcover format, and while the audience for these books, is typically other experts and graduate students, these resources are usually purchased by libraries and sold at a higher price than most other academic books. Occasionally handbooks are published as paperbacks at a cheaper price. Increasingly they are released as e-books at an even lower cost. Also many of the publishers are making individual chapters available for purchase.
So why did I edit this handbook? In short, not only did the handbook grow out personal experiences, but street culture is a dominant cross-cutting theme in most of my scholarship, including the last handbook I did, the Routledge Handbook of Graffiti and Street Art.
I edited this book because I believed that I, with the assistance of carefully selected contributors, and the subjects that they wrote on, had something unique to say, that this subject matter was not easily accessible in the popular and scholarly literature, and that this information and perspectives should be shared with a wider audience and in this type of format.
What kinds of challenges did I experience organizing a handbook on Street Culture?
Some of the challenges of editing a handbook are inherent in doing an edited book, while others are specific to a handbook, and the last is with respect to the subject matter. One of the most important hurdles are identifying and working with experts who are willing to write the chapters, under strict deadlines.
Edited books, especially handbooks are a lot of work, not just for editors like myself, but for the contributors too. From the creation of the original idea, to subject and author selection, to editing of chapters, to publication.
It often takes a long time to identify appropriate authors, follow up with them, and then shape the content of their chapter. Scholars are usually very busy. Also important is having the right balance in terms of authors and approaches to the subject matter.
Wrapping up
I hope that the Routledge Handbook of Street Culture, is useful to people who are interested in the subject, and that it will inspire others to conduct additional scholarship in the field.
Gimme Shelter? Examining the temporary structures that restaurants have built for outdoor dining during COVID-19
/by Jeffrey Ian RossCOVID-19 has had numerous effects at home and abroad.
Lives and institutions have been seriously disrupted.
Many people have been infected, and over a half million people in the United States alone have died.
Most public schools are closed, many businesses have shuttered, and lots of people and organizations have had to innovate.
One of those small areas where change has taken place has been in the restaurant industry.
Sure many of them have pivoted and switched to take out and curbside delivery. Some have done this successfully, while others not so well.
Many restaurants and other dining establishments, some with the blessing of the municipality or county in which they are located, (e.g., including small grants and loans), have experimented by creating or expanding outdoor eating areas. In some cases all that was done was placing a few chairs and small tables on the narrow pedestrian sidewalks in front of or to the side of their establishments. Other restaurants have set up tables in back alleys and nearby parking lots, while some have pitched tents, assembled bubbles, or constructed makeshift structures, some resembling temporary shelters built out of plywood, corrugated plastic, and placed in spaces that were at one time used as street parking spaces.
These latter areas are often protected from vehicular traffic by orange cones, metal grates, or cement or plastic barriers typically used in road and highway construction. Some have encroached to spaces in front of neighboring retail businesses.
On the plus side, this means that the restaurant can stay in business, keep many of their workers employed, and the construction of these temporary structures has enabled a small army of local handymen to stay in business or supplement their income building, assembling, or erecting the structures. It has also led to a small boom in the industry that sells the necessary building materials or rents out items like canopies, grates, barriers, etc.
The kinds of materials, designs, and durability of these makeshift structures vary considerably. We can celebrate the ingenuity of the owners and the creativity imbued in these structures.
But we also need to keep in mind that this development in contemporary urban public space comes at a price, not only in terms of what it has cost the restaurant, but in externalities they have created. Let’s temporarily suspend the negative externalities that both cars and roads create for the taxpayer. But the usage of this space means that we have less parking available for cars and thus more competition for parking spaces and a loss of revenue for the municipality or county. All things being equal, the competition for parking spaces will put greater pressures on neighboring streets where there may be residences that may already feel the pinch of low availability of parking.
Meanwhile many of the restaurants, particularly those operating in the northern states, during the cold fall and winter months, have tried to enhance the comfort of their customers by using propane heaters. Besides the added expense, they are contributing to our carbon footprint, by eat up gas, and putting these fumes into the local atmosphere of our urban environments.
What is going to happen when COVID-19 no longer presents the same level of risk that it once did? Will the restaurants and the local government where they are located embrace the temporary structures as the way of the future? Or will the temporary structures come down? Will they be stored, ready to be reassembled if another pandemic occurs? Perhaps? If the eating establishment has space in their structure, or maybe despite the slim margins they make on food they buy and prepare, they can afford to keep it somewhere else (e.g., the owners’ residence or a storage facility). Will the materials be recycled, or are they simply going to haul off the wood, plastic and metal to the town dump after the fact?
In the end, has the experiment to erect these makeshift structures worth the price both the restaurants and the communities they serve worth it. They may have staved off a loss of tax revenue for the municipality, prevented the unemployment of their workers, and maybe have contributed to the street and urban culture of particular neighborhoods. On the other hand, I’m not sure that our municipal and county councils have thought this through, and made the cost benefit calculations that would be relevant with the erection of these structures.
Maybe many restaurants, with assistance of municipal and county governments, will keep the structures. This may eventually lead the way to less cars in our urban centers. Fewer cars on the streets, may mean an opportunity for more bikes, and alternative mobility solutions, and pedestrian traffic, like we have seen in recent years in a handful of larger cities like New York City and San Francisco.
Photo by Eden, Janine and Jim
Missing the Point
Why writing well is important for Criminal Justice Practitioners
/by Jeffrey Ian RossThere are numerous ways that criminal justice practitioners can demonstrate to others that what they have to say is credible.
I would argue that there are two principle mechanisms. One is mastery of content and the other is through effective communication. The first approach includes understanding the concepts in your domain or specialization, and refraining from commenting on things you know absolutely nothing about.
For example, a police officer attends the training academy where they learn the basics of their profession, which involves not only what policing is all about, but the relevant skills. If they graduate, they serve a period of time under probation, hopefully under the tutelage of a qualified field training officer. If they successfully pass this next step, then s/he is accepted on to the force. Over time, the officer gains experience in different situations, and through periodic personnel evaluations learns to do their job better.
The other equally important mechanism is effective communication. We require our criminal justice practitioners to not only talk (orally) with members of the public, superiors and subordinates in various contexts, but to produce written communications in the form of reports. These documents have important implications in both criminal and civil matters.
If, for instance, a correctional officer submits a report that is used as evidence in a legal proceeding (e.g., administrative hearing, trial, etc.) and the officer has failed to be specific, or the communication is confusing, riddled with spelling, grammar and punctuation errors, then it may mean that a victim or perpetrator does not get the proper consideration that they need for judicial intervention. For instance, the person’s period of incarceration may be unnecessarily extended (thus depriving them of their liberty), or a person who has done grievous harm to another, is either given a reduced sentence, or unnecessarily released from custody.
Thus, it’s important for criminal justice practitioners to not only master the content, but to be effective communicators. I’m not going to discuss whether criminal justice instructors do a good job teaching their students this, but here are some very simple tips on how to improve your writing, that many practitioners for one reason or another either ignore or avoid.
First, start by spell and grammar checking your writing. The communication platform you use may not allow you to do this in an efficient manner. Thus, you need to copy and paste what you write into a writing software package that allows you to do this first, and then transfer back into the field where you submit.
Second, read your answers out loud before submitting.
Third, give yourself enough time. Write a rough draft. Come back to it an hour, or day, or week later and edit.
Fourth, search out free writing resources on the web.
Fifth, read a book (or two) preferably with writing exercises. Do them.
Sixth, short of hiring a professional editor, have someone else read through your writing and have them give you feedback.
Seventh, take formal or additional instruction in writing. Many organizations offer free workshops to assist their employees communication skills. (Sometimes they are call writing labs).
These suggestions are not exhaustive. They don’t cover improving oral communication skills, but these ideas should assist those who need some help to improve their writing.
Photo
Albuquerque Police Department recruit officer phase one field training report writing