1) The Revolution Café is a hip spot to go to in two of the most hip districts in the Bay area. The one in San Francisco sits on one of the main streets of the Mission District attracting all interested in listening to free music and relaxing for drinks. The one in West Oakland offers the same as it attracts an eclectic group of young adults who just want to hang out and meet other cool people, including the occasional roaming crackhead or alcoholic. People might assume that a hip place would attract the same type of hip person, but as one who has experienced the conflicting dynamics of the groups who occupy these spaces I feel it would make an interesting scripted space. 
Oakland Location
2) Both the Mission District of San Francisco and West Oakland are landscapes of the Bay area up until recent which inhabited for the most part underprivileged and low income minorities. Recently, however these areas have been undergoing gendrification because of the growing amount of middle and upper class young adults moving to the area because its seen as a, “hip” place. Both the Mission District of San Francisco and West Oakland contain several spots attracting people with coffee and free music. They are many different perspectives about this space and I can only speak of a few based off of my experiences from this past Memorial Day weekend. There is the perspective of flanuer who passes through spaces, such as the Revolution café, just to say that they payed a visit. There are the people who try extremely hard to be cool and overcompensate with outdated lingo. Then there are the groups who feel they are being invaded by the previously mentioned. These people can’t go a few sentences without bringing up some racial, social, or environmental issue. Naturally these people tend to clash with the, “invaders,” because a lot of the activist believe that these people are unauthentic. While the, “invaders,” walk around interacting with the space in which they feel makes them seem more hip of a person the activist who are mostly minority from what I’ve observed often talk behind their back poking fun at their demeanor. The funny thing about the whole situation is that most of these activist who despise the middle and upper class invasion aren’t even from the Bay area, but somehow feel they have more credibility simply because they come from an ethnic background even if they too grew up middle or upper class. Then there’s the perspective of the cities inhabitants who have been living there before gendrification took place who from what I observed don’t even care or notice it as a problem. This space, specifically the Revolution Café in either Oakland or San Francisco would be an interesting place to ensue on scripted space. There’s also a lot of roaming crackheads and alcoholics.
3) A) Because Revolution Café often host musical artist it would be interesting if a scripted character went up to a perform a song that spoke out against gendrification. None but one other “onlookers,” would be aware of the performance. Even the café worker who introduced the band wouldn’t be aware of the performance. It would start with the performer strumming the guitar fueling the audience with anticipation for about a minute. Then he/she would begin singing a song that begins, “You guys…we are being gendrified.” It’s also important to note that this performer would be Caucasian seeing as how Caucasians are according to the activist the reason why gendrification is taking place. There would be another person in the audience who would start singing along. This person would be a minority who inclusion would hopefully confuse the unsuspecting observers prompting one of them to speak out about the issue by either proving its worth or highlighting its stupidity.
B) Another narrative that would occur within this scripted space would probably take place between a crackhead and an alcoholic. Basing it off of my experiences from this weekend it would be begin with the alcoholic talking to the people enjoying the ambiance of the café. The people would laugh at the alcoholic senseless banter, just as my friends and I did this weekend, then the alcoholic would come up and tell him that we weren’t laughing with him but rather at him. Suddenly the performance would lose all hilarity as the crackhead tries to convince the alcoholic to leave the people alone. Just as my experience last Saturday in Oakland, the crackead would slowly begin letting out stories of childhood and growing up with the alcoholic. The transformation from innocence to addict would be a difficult yet informative narrative to consume.
C) One last narrative that might occur in the Revolution café would be an argument between an activist and one of the, “invaders.” To my knowledge the activist only talks about the, “invader,” behind their back but in this instance the activist comes out and publicly proclaims how they feel about the, “invader,” for all to hear. I’m interested to hear if any of the other activist would join in or if any of the, “invaders,” would understand what’s going on, because too my knowledge the claims made by the activist is usually only spoken amongst themselves to claim authenticity of cool over the, “invaders.” If no one speaks out then it is proven that the entire argument lacks passion and is therefore senseless if people do speak out then the opposite is proven.
Oakland Location2) Both the Mission District of San Francisco and West Oakland are landscapes of the Bay area up until recent which inhabited for the most part underprivileged and low income minorities. Recently, however these areas have been undergoing gendrification because of the growing amount of middle and upper class young adults moving to the area because its seen as a, “hip” place. Both the Mission District of San Francisco and West Oakland contain several spots attracting people with coffee and free music. They are many different perspectives about this space and I can only speak of a few based off of my experiences from this past Memorial Day weekend. There is the perspective of flanuer who passes through spaces, such as the Revolution café, just to say that they payed a visit. There are the people who try extremely hard to be cool and overcompensate with outdated lingo. Then there are the groups who feel they are being invaded by the previously mentioned. These people can’t go a few sentences without bringing up some racial, social, or environmental issue. Naturally these people tend to clash with the, “invaders,” because a lot of the activist believe that these people are unauthentic. While the, “invaders,” walk around interacting with the space in which they feel makes them seem more hip of a person the activist who are mostly minority from what I’ve observed often talk behind their back poking fun at their demeanor. The funny thing about the whole situation is that most of these activist who despise the middle and upper class invasion aren’t even from the Bay area, but somehow feel they have more credibility simply because they come from an ethnic background even if they too grew up middle or upper class. Then there’s the perspective of the cities inhabitants who have been living there before gendrification took place who from what I observed don’t even care or notice it as a problem. This space, specifically the Revolution Café in either Oakland or San Francisco would be an interesting place to ensue on scripted space. There’s also a lot of roaming crackheads and alcoholics.
3) A) Because Revolution Café often host musical artist it would be interesting if a scripted character went up to a perform a song that spoke out against gendrification. None but one other “onlookers,” would be aware of the performance. Even the café worker who introduced the band wouldn’t be aware of the performance. It would start with the performer strumming the guitar fueling the audience with anticipation for about a minute. Then he/she would begin singing a song that begins, “You guys…we are being gendrified.” It’s also important to note that this performer would be Caucasian seeing as how Caucasians are according to the activist the reason why gendrification is taking place. There would be another person in the audience who would start singing along. This person would be a minority who inclusion would hopefully confuse the unsuspecting observers prompting one of them to speak out about the issue by either proving its worth or highlighting its stupidity.
B) Another narrative that would occur within this scripted space would probably take place between a crackhead and an alcoholic. Basing it off of my experiences from this weekend it would be begin with the alcoholic talking to the people enjoying the ambiance of the café. The people would laugh at the alcoholic senseless banter, just as my friends and I did this weekend, then the alcoholic would come up and tell him that we weren’t laughing with him but rather at him. Suddenly the performance would lose all hilarity as the crackhead tries to convince the alcoholic to leave the people alone. Just as my experience last Saturday in Oakland, the crackead would slowly begin letting out stories of childhood and growing up with the alcoholic. The transformation from innocence to addict would be a difficult yet informative narrative to consume.
C) One last narrative that might occur in the Revolution café would be an argument between an activist and one of the, “invaders.” To my knowledge the activist only talks about the, “invader,” behind their back but in this instance the activist comes out and publicly proclaims how they feel about the, “invader,” for all to hear. I’m interested to hear if any of the other activist would join in or if any of the, “invaders,” would understand what’s going on, because too my knowledge the claims made by the activist is usually only spoken amongst themselves to claim authenticity of cool over the, “invaders.” If no one speaks out then it is proven that the entire argument lacks passion and is therefore senseless if people do speak out then the opposite is proven.
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