My trip to Portland showed me just how divided the city is due to socioeconomic factors. The class-based segregation in the city became apparent to me during the first two and a half hours of my day at the Holy Donut on Exchange Street. During the entire time in which I was observing people in the donut shop, nearly every person I saw appeared to be middle-class or upper-class based on their clothing and topics of conversation. Similarly, almost everyone I saw in the Old Port area was either a tourist or a person who was middle-class or higher. This was definitely not the case as soon as I crossed into Bayside, where a large number of people appeared to be homeless or very poor.
It was very clear from my conversations with Portland residents as I was collecting mental maps that the city is separated along socioeconomic lines. The first woman I asked for a mental map (she did not end up making a map for me) was, until recently, homeless. When I explained to her that one of the reasons we were collecting mental maps was to make the city better, she voiced her concerns that we would only pay attention to what the “yuppies” had to say. Three homeless people I tried to interview in Monument Square did not want to speak with me, which I presume was at least in part because they were skeptical of my intentions as someone from a different socioeconomic group. Of the four people who ended up giving me mental maps, three spent a large amount of time discussing the problems of poverty and homelessness in the city.
Needless to say, the issue of class must be addressed when considering making any improvements to the city. Although I had initially proposed implementing a public Wi-Fi network in Portland, I now realize that in order for a system like that to benefit as many people as possible, there needs to be increased access to technology for people from all backgrounds. Internet access at the Portland Free Library is a great first step toward providing everyone with access to technology, but more needs to be done. At the moment, there appear to be almost no ways for people in Bayside to access the Internet without using their own devices and private networks. Perhaps the city could provide desktop computers and Wi-Fi routers to various organizations for low-income or homeless individuals, such as the Preble Street center or the Salvation Army Adult Rehab Center. This is not to say that Portland would not benefit from a public Wi-Fi network, but rather that providing Internet access to all people, regardless of socioeconomic status, should take priority.
Café Ethnography Field Notes (Holy Donut – 10/13/14):
- 10:46: I just came into the shop. The line is very long.
- 10:46: There are lots of people here. Based on clothing, most seem to be middle-class.
- 10:48: No women are alone here. All women are with friends or other people. There was one man alone sitting at a table.
- 10:50: Two young women ahead of me in line took one of the only tables. They seemed excited to find a table because of how busy it was.
- 10:51: Employees behind the counter are talking about how busy today is.
- 10:53: I’m sitting on the sofa facing the entire shop. There is no Wi-Fi here.
- 10:57: Two couples, one with baby, are sitting at table next to me.
- 11:06: The girls who were in front of me in line are talking about how busy it is today.
- 11:08: Girls are talking about shopping and L.L. Bean.
- 11:09: Couples at the table next to me are talking about good local restaurants.
- 11:09: Now one woman at the table with the baby is talking about how hard it is to find non-domestic wines here.
- 11:10: Lots of people are walking on Exchange Street. There isn’t a lot of traffic on Exchange Street, but a few cars have passed by on Fore Street.
- 11:11: A woman just walked in with a fancy camera. She and her friend might be tourists.
- 11:13: The people at the tables on the right side of the shop seem to leave pretty quickly. The same people have been sitting on the left side for almost half an hour.
- 11:16: A group of four older (look like they’re in their 50s) women and two older men just sat down. They bought A LOT of donuts (it looks like there are two boxes).
- 11:17: A woman just left the shop with a donut on a paper plate.
- 11:19: A family with two boys in their teens to early twenties just sat down on the right side of the shop. They’re the first young men who have stayed instead of getting donuts to go.
- 11:19: A man in a dress shirt and tie just walked in. Maybe he’s on his lunch break.
- 11:20: The sun is shifting such that I am now sitting in the sunlight.
- 11:21: Table of older people started talking to the younger couples at table next to me. The couple with a baby is visiting the other couple, who moved here from Rhode Island six months ago. Holy Donuts is a place that they frequent.
- 11:22: The family that took two individual tables on the right-hand side of the shop has moved the two tables together to make a bigger table.
- 11:23: Two nice people just sat next to me on the couch. They might come here often, since when the woman asked the man if he wanted coffee, he said, “You know what I like.” The woman has a slight Southern accent.
- 11:26: The man commented on how they use potatoes in the donuts. They probably don’t frequent this place.
- 11:28: Table of older people know people sitting next to me. They’re getting dinner tonight at 6:30.
- 11:29: The older table is leaving and headed to Duck Fat for lunch. The people next to me aren’t joining them. When the man asked where the restaurant was, one of the women said, “You’re in America now, so you can Google it. This young man next to you (referring to me) can help you!”
- 11:30: As the older people were leaving, one of the women at the table next to me said, “Enjoy your visit!” Some or all of them are probably visiting.
- 11:34: The line got busy again. The family on the right side of the shop has left and a new one has taken their table.
- 11:36: “Billie Jean” just started playing. It’s the first time I’ve noticed the music in the donut shop.
- 11:37: The young couples (here for almost an hour now) are talking about good places to shop. They might go pumpkin picking later today.
- 11:39: Young couples are leaving.
- 11:40: The line was short, but just got very long again because eight people (three groups of two) just walked in.
- 11:41: “Billie Jean” just finished playing. There is still music playing, but I don’t recognize the song. I wonder if there was music beforehand that I didn’t notice.
- 11:43: A woman who was sitting by the window on the right side of the shop is leaving with a young girl (her daughter, I assume). I haven’t seen any young children with only men. All young children have been with at least one woman.
- 11:45: One of the men who has been working the counter for a few minutes was not there when I came into the shop an hour ago.
- 11:46: A man just walked in wearing a Bowdoin Preorentation 2010 T-shirt. He’s with a woman about his age.
- 11:47: I just saw a car drive down Exchange Street for the first time since I got here. I’m facing away from the window, so it’s possible there have been others that I did not see.
- 11:49: The man and woman who sat next to me are leaving. The man said to me, “Y’all have a nice day, now!” I didn’t notice at first, but he had a vaguely Southern accent as well.
- 11:49: At the table closest to the counter on the left side of the shop, four young men (twenties or thirties) are talking about some website that is just like Facebook.
- 11:51: The “Bowdoin Preorientation guy” and women with him left without sitting down. It looks like they only got coffee.
- 11:51: Three men just walked in together. One has a camera without a strap or bag. Maybe they have a car nearby. It wouldn’t make sense to carry a camera around all day without a bag.
- 11:52: A young man sitting at the table in front of me (where the younger couples were sitting) is playing games on his iPad.
- 11:55: There have been very few people of color here. I’ve seen two Hispanic people, three black people, and one Asian woman. Everyone else I’ve seen here appears to have been white.
- 11:55: An older couple wearing backpacks just walked in. There have been several people with backpacks (many holding shopping bags) and several people with cameras. I’m guessing those people are tourists.
- 11:56: I noticed the woman who gave me my donuts over an hour ago looking at me. I wonder if it’s strange for people to stay here for a long period of time since this is not a typical café setting.
- 11:58: For the first time since I got here, there is no line. It probably gets less busy here during lunchtime.
- 11:59: The only other people sitting in the shop are a man sitting at a table in front of me (the one on the iPad) and two people sitting by the opposite window. Three older people are standing and talking in the center of the shop.
- 12:00: Two Asian people walked into the shop and immediately left.
- 12:05: Lots of people just walked in. An employee just started wiping the tables.
- 12:06: A group of four people just left. One made a joke about how they could hang out here and listen to the music and eat great donuts.
- 12:07: There are cars on Exchange Street. One that was parked in front of the donut shop just left.
- 12:07: An employee just told a customer that all donuts here except the apple donut (which I bought) are made with potato. He said something about there already being too much starch in that one.
- 12:11: The shop is nearly empty. Only two customers are at the counter. The man with the iPad and two people sitting by the other window are the only customers here besides myself.
- 12:12: A new man is working at the counter with the other man. I don’t see the woman who served me at the counter; I think she’s in the back.
- 12:13: An Asian girl just left. There still have been very few non-white people here.
- 12:14: The first male employee at the counter remarked that he got here at 10 and it was a “madhouse.”
- 12:15: The man who I noticed behind the counter three minutes ago is now sitting at a table on the left side of the shop with a laptop.
- 12:16: There aren’t nearly as many people walking by on the street as there were an hour ago.
- 12:20: I bought a bottle of water from the woman who sold me the donuts earlier. I told her I was doing work for a class, which was why I had been here for so long. She told me she didn’t mind.
- 12:22: Now that it is much less busy here, the first man from the counter is taking lunch orders (I heard him mention hot dogs and hamburgers) from his coworkers.
- 12:23: An entire group of tourists with a tour guide just walked in. So much for a break for these workers!
- 12:25: These tourists are wearing nametags that say, “Tour guest.”
- 12:25: The tourists are all older people. Only one is not white.
- 12:28: Every order I’ve heard has been an even dollar amount (my donuts were $6 and my bottle of water was $2). I think they set their prices such that all items with tax are even dollar amounts.
- 12:32: The first male employee just told someone the shop was out of something for the day. I didn’t catch what had run out.
- 12:33: The second male employee (the one who took out the laptop for a little while) just propped the door open with a doorstop.
- 12:34: A middle-aged woman at the table next to me is talking about the TV show “Shark Tank” with a teenage girl. They’re here with two other middle-aged women. They haven’t been to Holy Donuts before.
- 12:36: These women all have a Southern accent. They’re amazed by the “Maine potatoes” that are used in the donuts here.
- 12:37: One of the women is talking about places like the Dollar Store and Target with the teenager. Their conversation has something to do with Columbus Day.
- 12:42: The line is starting to get long again.
- 12:44: There are people sitting at all tables on the left side of the shop. One woman (an Asian woman) is here by herself.
- 12:46: One of the women at the table next to me commented on how much she looks like “mom.” These women might all be sisters.
- 12:47: After using an iPhone to take a picture of herself, one of the women at the table next to me jokingly said, “We’re all selling out!”
- 12:48: The woman at the table next to me is talking about Girl Scout cookies and how she doesn’t like working the cash register. I just noticed that she is wearing pink Sperry’s. Sperry’s have a reputation for being a Maine thing or, at the very least, a Bowdoin thing. Maybe one or more of these women are from Maine.
- 12:52: Three women, one from Nova Scotia just sat next to me and two from Yarmouth. The woman from Nova Scotia – sitting on the couch next to me – told me that it is Thanksgiving Day there. She was afraid she and her friends were intruding on “my space,” but I told her she was more than welcome to sit next to me.
- 12:55: The woman from Nova Scotia asked me if I’ve ever been. I told her I hadn’t, but that I went to Montreal and Quebec a week before school started.
- 12:56: The music playing right now is from a Spotify playlist. An ad just played and now “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones (one of my favorite songs!) is playing.
- 12:58: The women next to me are barely talking to one another. Most of their meal so far has been in silence.
- 1:00: There are more people coming into the shop alone now than there were earlier. I don’t know why this is.
- 1:03: Almost no one has come in here wearing nice business clothes. Most businesspeople probably don’t come to Holy Donuts for their lunch break.
- 1:04: The first man from the counter just congratulated two female customers on their upcoming wedding.
- 1:05: I just heard an order that cost $1.75. That’s the first time I’ve noticed an order that didn’t cost an even number of dollars (although $0.25-cent increments are also convenient for customers).
- 1:06: When a woman said she’d come back later for a particular type of donut, the man at the counter said they might be out later.
- 1:07: I just noticed that the sign on the door says Holy Donuts is open until they sell out of donuts.
- 1:11: There are 12 women here (all but one on the left side) and only two males other than myself.
- 1:12: The women next to me have been gossiping for the past ten minutes or so. They are much more talkative now.
- 1:14: Almost all the customers coming in here now are women. There have only been two men in the last several minutes.
- 1:15: The Asian woman sitting here by herself is writing something on a notepad. She’s been here for over half an hour.
- 1:16: A man in a suit and tie just walked by the shop. He’s the second person who looks like a businessman that I’ve seen today (the first one was the man in the dress shirt and tie who came into the shop earlier.
- 1:19: A lot of younger people are walking by now.
- 1:19: The women next to me are talking about how young people spend all of their time on their phones now.
- 1:21: A group of three teenagers with bags from some shop just left.
- 1:22: I’m leaving now.
Mental Maps:
Gender: Male
Age: 70
Residence: Falmouth (7 years)
Improvements for Portland:
• The city needs to be more food truck friendly.
Notes:
• Bob put many restaurants on his map (he started labeling them with the letter “R”).
• Bob is retired.
• Portland is “packed,” but young people do not have as many things to do in the city as older people do.
• The city is great for biking. Because there is so little traffic, bike paths aren’t really needed.
Gender: Male
Age: 51
Residence: Portland (23 years)
Improvements for Portland:
• There needs to be more available business capital in the form of grants or loans.
Notes:
• Doug majored in sociology in college.
• Doug’s favorite area in the city (shaded on the map) is the “least likely to be gentrified.”
• The area labeled as “usually avoid” has lots of tourists and “rambunctious” people.
• Consent Decree – 20 years ago, it was decided that people with mental illnesses couldn’t be held against their will. Because of this, there are lots of “rambunctious” people on the streets.
Gender: Female
Age: 50
Residence: Portland (2 years)
Improvements for Portland:
• There is an excessive amount of panhandling or begging, which looks bad to tourists. Laws would help.
Notes:
• Lisa is an artist who primarily sells on Commercial Street and at a weekly farmers’ market in Deering Oaks Park.
• Tourism is important for Lisa’s business.
Age: 68
Residence: Portland (8 of the past 10 years)
Improvements for Portland:
• Taking care of the homeless is important.
• There needs to be more regulation for art vendors because some people don’t sell their own art and some people who don’t live in Portland come to the city just to sell their art. This makes competition much more difficult. Maybe art vendors would have to be Portland residents – this wouldn’t be done with the intention of excluding people; it’s simply very difficult to make a living as an artist in the city.
• People need to be educated about drug problems and domestic abuse, both of which are issues relevant to Portland.
• There should be more mental health agencies and institutions.
Notes:
• The subject is a photographer.
• The subject loves nature and thinks preserving nature in Portland is important.
• The subject lived in Thailand for 2 of the past 10 years.
• The subject is dyslexic.
• The subject said she “loves Portland.” She wishes there were more regulation for artists because there need to be rules for everything to be fair.
I agree that creating equal opportunities for every single citizen is extremely important. I think often times people do not think about this; I have talked about creating a public wifi network in Portland, but have never thought that some people would have no means of accessing this network. I really liked the idea of providing desktop computers for public use in libraries or organizations that focus on helping homeless people.
It was really nice to see that a lot of people are concerned with the issue of homelessness, and providing equal opportunities for citizens. This is something that I will definitely consider for my recommendations.
I agree with Kote’s comment. I have also suggested public wifi in Portland without thinking of who would actually be able to access it. I like the idea of free public use computers around Portland. I know there is a public library at Monument Square which likely has public computers although I am not sure how accessible it is to people of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
Many of my mental maps were taken from people around Munjoy Hill and Old Port, and I noticed a different tone in their recommendations from yours. Only one person talked about the unequal wealth distribution in Portland. Most of the recommendations that I received were about free wifi and public transportation, which could reflect the lack of awareness of many residents.
My initial hesitant with free public wifi was that it assumes everyone in Portland has the same access to the web, which is a false statement. I am glad you tried to get some maps from someone who would not have the same access to the internet as anybody with a smart phone.
I thought you did a very precise job with your ethnography. The details you give paint such a clear picture of the type of atmosphere you were in. One thing to account for is the tourist attraction from Holy Donuts. The higher class of people that pass by seem to have a very negative image of the people in poverty. It seemed that they treated as a problem to get rid of than by finding solutions to help the individuals. The mental map from Lisa only looks at the business of Portland. This may be due to her time at Portland. She came to Portland 2 years ago when the startup scene started rising, and is interesting to note her thoughts on the “beggars”. It seems the public sector does a poor job integrating the private sector and the amount of poverty to create solutions. The markets seem to be unbalanced, for example I never thought about the competition of art in Portland. There are individual artists and larger firms pulling in art from many different artists. How many type of these firms exist and where do they pull their art from?
I really appreciate your work and ideas on free public WiFi in Portland! At first I thought that it could potentially be the most widely felt improvement for the city as a whole – I mean most people do have phones and computers that could connect to the free Wifi. That being said, your post makes me think about the fact that the people that need the WiFi the most likely do not have access to portable electronic devices. I think it would be really cool to have more public computers like the computers at the library on top of free public WiFi so that more people could access the Internet.
I think that your ideas about a more nuanced approach to public internet access was great. It seems like this is a workable approach to the problem of access for people who would not otherwise have access. It is one thing to allow people to get off their 4g network on their iphone while walking downtown. It is quite another to allow people without access to computers to apply for jobs online.
I was interested to hear about your one residents ideas about the problem of mental illness in the city. It seems like he had the opposite perspective of the people at Preble Street. Yet, he proposed something pretty similar. They both believe in getting roofs over peoples’ heads. The only difference is your man wants to force them to live somewhere. I wonder if they would completely disagree with eachother.
I like the detail at which you associated with the drawers of your mental maps. It was clear that they had opinions about Portland, and although their opinions varied widely, it was clear that they recognized the room for improvement with their city. However, what struck me was the extent that you connected with the members of your cafe. You took a very social approach to the ethnography, while I took a more “fly-on-the-wall” approach unless specifically prompted. There is something to be said for taking an active ethnography. You gain an appreciation for the people you are observing. You become a part of their experience, and thus you become a participant of your own ethnography.