Reading response.

· How does Cole’s argument in “It’s Not Regular” relate to Malchik’s argument in “March?” How do they think about public space, social capital, and community? How does Cole’s argument relate to readings from previous weeks?

In march the author describes social capital as how complete strangers act with one another in a particular society. Because we all share public spaces social capital is what makes us a community regardless of the fact that not everyone knows each other. More than describing the how people get by and ahead it measures engagement within communities. In his speech Cole describes the things that happen in his “community” as “not regular”. The public spaces that people share in his community are taken by organized crime. Cole mentions while walking he feels as if he was in solitary confinement. The place in which he lives lacks freedom, equity and unity. This place cant be call a community because it lacks social capital. It lacks the connection between individuals that form a community. Last week we read about an event called midnight run, in Cole’s society utilizing and interacting with one each other in public spaces seems almost impossible due to the lack of social capital. (166)