I think the overall response to my question as to whether or not gentrification could exist at the individual level is interesting. On one hand, we talked about it perhaps not being important to label, as ‘consciously or unconsciously’ someone is gentrifying. On the other, we built on previous questions raised by Lucia and others and featured in professor Greene’s work- that of vicarious citizenship.

Funnily enough, neither train of thought was quite what I was expecting when it came to responses to this question. In my mind, I was thinking about the possibility of a ‘gentrification tipping point’ whereby it becomes clear that a neighborhood is now gentrifying. In Silicon Valley it was more clear when this was taking place – wine, cheese, and all – than perhaps the beginning stages of a neighborhood undergoing change.

That said, it is interesting to consider how vicarious citizenship or the assumption of resistance identities can produce varying levels of visibility. When I consider my ’17 friends who moved to the city and are most definitely gentrifying, I think about how they’re living very differently to some of the people we see in Boyle Heights, or on the street corner of Boystown. Less visibility has stemmed from them being able to go to work, come home, and live their lives in a combination of ‘elsewheres’. They’re not opening art galleries or supporting avocado latte cafes, and they “take up space” in a much less spatial way.

I think, therefore, even though my question has been answered, it has also been made more complex – what does it mean when different groups of individuals have differing abilities to engage in urban change without protest. Sure, some will be both endowed by resource and visual, like our artists, and others will have no backing but still be seen as problematic. How do these dynamics intersect with the very real , statistical question of concentration – residential or institutional – and how can these combine to create a singular understanding of the degree to which an environment has been affected by change.

I was initially struck by what One lays out when discussing sexy communities because – on a surface level – it seems to fit Bowdoin so well. He talks of a “spirit of the night” that would infiltrate spaces, and that even though sex may not outright be taking place, it’s a community driven (in part) by sex and sexuality. I thought this sounded familiar, even putting to one side some of the more exotic things one may encounter while e-hosting a college house party. The mere fact that, over the years in one form or another, there have been a number of different student group campaigns designed to push back against certain stereotypes/expectations shows that there is an underlying understanding there that I think can be illuminated by what sees in sexy communities.

I think part of the reason why there was initially such struggle in our discussion in class to see Bowdoin this way was because of the way in which I asked the question. When Justin pointed out that most of what happens on the Bowdoin campus isn’t sex or sex-related, it made me realize that I was thinking of a certain, narrow conception of Bowdoin – that of the Thursday, Friday, and weekend night. It was because I was so easily ready to segment the different aspects that the Bowdoin experience constitutes, that I was conflating the community as a whole with one of its pastimes.

Nobody looks back at their time at Bowdoin and thinks about all the sex that they had… at least primarily. Yet, at certain times while they are here, it is all that is on the mind. So, in reforming my question, I feel that I am answering it. Justin initially took issue with seeing the campus as a sexy space, and Hannah pointed out on weekends that it is. Thea raised the point that it is not just about sex, but about sexual energy, aka feeling good, and professor Greene asked what if it isn’t necessarily producing community, but driving divisions between one already existent.

In short – its complicated. And no Bowdoin experience is the same for two. However, I think the various comments brought up echo the basic sentiment that we all know to be true – if one is looking for sexy community on Bowdoin’s campus, they can find it if they look for it.