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PART 1: Read chapter 7 “The Making of Global City Regions: Mumbai: the Mega-City of a Poor Country” by Sujate Patel, The Blackwell City Reader ! PART 2: READ City of Quartz by Mike Davis, Chapter 1, pp. 62-88 HERE IS AN OVERVIEW TO WHAT MY PROFESSOR WROTE: “Sunshine or Noir?”, the last part of Chapter 1, has the following sub-sections: “The Communards”, “The Mercenaries”, “Epilogue: Gramsci vs. Bladerunner”. What do these subtitles by Davis mean? What are the key themes in each of these subsections of Chapter 1? Then, after reviewing all of the subsections and key themes in this chapter, which ones might be classified as sunshine, which as noir, and which as both? Different cities can be analyzed using the same subsections Davis discusses in Chapter 1 for Los Angeles. For example, who would be the communards and mercenaries in New York and Chicago? In these cities, what would be the new ideology of the boosters in the late 20th century (Gramsci’s analysis) and the dystopian future (the 1982 Ridley Scott film). Also, who would be the debunkers, exiles, sorcerers, noirs, and intellectuals in our city? How does the description by Davis of Los Angeles in Chapter 1 compare and contrast to the earlier descriptions you read of 19th century Manchester and Chicago, as well as Mumbai? All of these cities have layers that must be excavated, as Davis does for Los Angeles, in order to understand not only their past history, but their present and possible future. By asking and answering the above questions, you engage in critical thinking about the assigned readings that have, thus far, been discussed by me and read by you. Finally, when you read City of Quartz, pay attention to the revealing black and white photographs that are scattered throughout the book. How do they highlight the text of each chapter and/or the subsections? I mentioned critical thinking in my earlier Blackboard discussions, as well as in the Syllabus and the passage I posted about a sociological analysis of current events by C. Wright Mills. Critical thinking does not only apply to comparing and contrasting each assigned chapter and its subsections in City of Quartz with the other assigned chapters in The Blackwell City Reader, but also includes making connections between current events articles, popular songs, films, and the assigned readings. For example, as you are aware, there have been massive forest fires in California, Oregon, and Washington. Some of that smoke has drifted across the United States and reached New York City. Since it’s at an altitude of 45,000 feet, this does not present a health hazard for breathing. However, it does create a haze in the sky over the city. The New York Times had a headline on the first page in its Sept. 11th issue (our city’s pre-pandemic day of disaster). It read, “Disastrous Wave of Climate Events Slams California. Scientists Fear Fires Are Just a Start.” The first paragraph of one of the frontpage stories was the following: “Multiple mega fires burning more than three million acres. Millions of residents smothered in toxic air. Rolling blackouts and triple-digit heatwaves. Climate change, in the words of one scientist, is smacking California in the face.” These fires in California were 26 times more than the same time last year. Also, there are now 150 million dead trees in that state. After reading a current events article such as this, how do you think Mike Davis or some of the intellectuals and writers he mentions in Chapter 1, might discuss these fires? A number of popular songs have been written about cities and urban life. How do you think these songs would relate to Chapter 1 in City of Quartz, “Sunshine or Noir?” The same question, of course, can be asked of the many films whose main subject is L.A. and the state of California. An east coast version of songs, films, and Broadway musicals would be those written about New York City. The above analysis weaves back and forth between the “Sunshine or Noir?” chapter and current events, popular songs and films. The use of cultural products to engage in critical thinking about the assigned readings such as Chapter 1 in City of Quartz, will be further discussed when I post supplementary material for that chapter. The goal of a liberal arts education is not simply to memorize “facts” for exams or answer multiple choice and identification questions. It is to engage with the material and use your sociological imagination. For C. Wright Mills, that meant connecting personal troubles to social issues that are defined by institutions and structures. These help to shape our lives and our thoughts. The people caught in these forest fires, for example, suffer personal troubles but these are connected to larger social issues such as climate change, forest policies, regulations or lack of by the state and federal governments, and poor maintenance of power lines such as those of PG&E. answer the question listed in part two and answer the questions listed below 1) what did you learn from the readings that week? and 2) what was your reaction to those readings? 250 WORDS