Essay:
Review: Brent Staples' essay "Black Men and Public Space".
Explore the ways you and individuals around you "alter public space." Include specific examples from your life. You may wish to describe a situation in which your intentions were misunderstood or when someone made false assumptions about you. Another option is to discuss times when you've had to change your behavior to accommodate someone else's needs or expectations.
Freewrite about the way errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation can alter the "public space" between writer and reader in an essay.