The Front Porch

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The American Front Porch: Women’s Liminal Space The story about the American Front Porch is a story that gives an excellent example of what spatial location represents. When I think about spatial location I tend to think about space in relation to the room I’m in or space in relation to the way a room is set up and how it makes me feel. The American Front Porch has changed my view on space. It has made me realize that there is more to space than how it makes me feel but that there is a culture associated with spaces. They way one may feel about a space is influenced by the culture that one has learned about over time. There are many aspects of space. Maps, Nations and regions, spatial segregation, space in cities, public places, work space, houses and rooms, invisible space, and cyber space. All these things represent a certain type of space and can be interpreted differently depending on the culture an individual is from. Even the space between people and interactions can be perceived as appropriate or not. The American Front Porch in my opinion doesn’t have the same representation that it used to in the 1800 and 1900’s. It has lost it sense of culture. To some extent some areas in the US may still use the porch for social gatherings but the use of the porch does not compare to when it was used by people the from the past three generations. Instead a porch or more common word today, deck, is thought to be private and usually in the back of the house. It was space on the front porch that mostly gave women the power to do what they wanted. It was an excuse to have a conversation with a neighbor and not have to invite them into their house. In the story Easter talks about how sitting on the front porch with her grandmother was thought of as an occasion. This occasion meant families could spend time together after
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