Alex Munoz, Studying the Geography of our Unhoused Neighbors

Our Town Reno reporters, Richard Bednarski and Gracie Gordon sat down with Muñoz in a podcast studio to learn more about what exactly spatial geography is and what he hopes to learn from his master’s thesis research. This Question & Answer interview sheds light on how he chose to study in Reno and became part of the community.

Richard Bednarski: What were some of the biggest surprises you had when you first came to Reno?

Alex Muñoz: I think it's interesting to see the bigger picture in the U.S., because the differences are that it doesn't look like Europe but the U.S. are kind of the same. We are these like and I quote like, Western culture, but it's everything, it's very different. One of the first things I noticed, and this is a stupid cliche, but everything has a bigger. For example, I think like before coming here, I only saw in the streets [of his hometown], one pickup truck in my whole life. And there are around 15, on my street [in Reno]. And you know, this makes sense here because it's near to rural areas. Everything is bigger here. Everything is greater. I didn't know. I grew up with the American culture, every cinema you go, every movie theater, you go in Barcelona, like it is probably then more than 70% of the offer is American. So I kind of have this preconceived idea of what living in the U.S. is, or even like what being American means. And I think it's cool to see how this happens in not, and a lot of that is also in Reno, certainly.

Alex is a founding member of Laundry to the People.

Richard Bednarski: So how did you land on Reno and the University of Nevada?

Alex Muñoz: So with my advisor in Barcelona, I shared these interests for human and oral geography with him. And he put me in contact with my advisor here, Dr. Casey Lynch. And I started reading what he was doing. I got really, really interested. He said that he could offer me a position as an assistant here and the possibility of doing my masters. And I was in LA at that time So I flew to Reno, I met with him and that was it.

Richard Bednarski: You are studying human and urban geography. What are some of the goals for your research?

Alex Muñoz: What I am particularly interested in, is to see how social relationships happen spatially in the urban setting. For example, like going back to Reno and what my research can be in Reno, I'm really interested in inequality and how it's reproduced spatially in the city. So I want to focus my thesis on working on the homelessness issue here in Reno, actually talking about that geographical topic I would observe in the city and see how this inequality happens inside the, city fabric.

“[Reno] is changing rapidly. And I saw that being here and everyone I talked to, they are being here for 10, 20, 30 years. They described the city today, nothing to do with the city that they knew when they moved here initially. And you know, all these relations with the tech industry and how it's shifting socially and economically the city. It's very, very interesting. I said to my advisor, why should I move to Reno? They just have to send me the second season of The City Podcast with Anjeanette Damon. And I will be completely hooked and say, okay, you know what, I'm going to that city, I'm going to live in that city.”

Gracie Gordon: So could you briefly explain what critical urban geography is and like what practicality it may have?

Alex Muñoz: Urban geography is a sub-discipline that studies cities and urban processes. This is really broad. Like you can have thousands of research topics relating to the area or I feel like you can be interested in transportation in planning and economic and human flows that happen in the city. As I said, my interest in how inequality is reproduced and using the spatial formulas as a topic. For me, critical geography, I see it as our perspective, acknowledging how we relate to our environment and the sociopolitical structures that kind of organize these environments. And this means that the social scientist, our work is not like it can not be objective. That's what you have to acknowledge. I think when you think of being a critical geographer and as a geographer, this means like understanding myself as a subject that is observing the environment and challenging the kind of absolute ideas that can be produced and trying to find alternative views and ways of observing these special relations.

With this example, I think I would like to look at the political map. There's like some absolute knowledge that, you know, this is a country, this is a border, this is another country. And this is how things are. And things are stable and they can not be moved. But if you zoom in to the border, you're going to see that that's not really what happens like borders are kind of like hybrid spaces and there's modeling, there's cultural contact, there's personal contact. I think of the border with Spain and France in the Pyrenees [mountains]. If you're thinking of the political map, you're okay from this side to this side, your Spanish or Catalan from this side to the other, you're French. 

But if you actually visit the Pyrenees and this border, it's awesome. The people living on one side of the border have more, have more in common to the people on the other side of the border than they have with me. And we share the same passport, the same ID, the same like nationality or whatever, but they are more in common between them. And if you look, as I say, as they are the absolute, like idea of the map, you're not going to see these relations and you have to look at these alternative beers to observe how these, um, relationships happen and why and how. And I think that's interesting,

A Downtown ambassador telling the group Reno Soup for the Soul they can’t serve food near a bar on 4th Street.

Richard Bednarski: Can you elaborate what you want to get out of your master's thesis in regards to the homeless and the houseless community here in Reno?

Alex Muñoz: The thesis is still nearly in an early stage, but my idea is to build the thesis observing secure encampments. I want to do it through the case of the new Governor’s Bowl shelter, which is a projected secure camp kind of design. And so I'm really interested in how is this camp organized and how they reproduce these dualities between caring and banishing that happens in homelessness policy? Where you want to help people and you get resources for them at the same time, the activities that the homeless people reproduce in the city sometimes are banned and restricted in our laws. So there's this contrast between services and caring for them at the same time, you have to punish them for not having a house, which is crazy.

For me, it's easier to think that I can go to the bathroom. I have a bathroom in my office. I have a bathroom in my house, but if I live in the streets and I don't have a job, my only bathroom is, you know, the public place. I want to observe this duality. And my focus is especially on how the people that opt to move there, or the people that opt not to move there, experience that and observe this difference and try to help to see how we can do that policy and that kind of service is more attractive or more useful for them.

Gracie Gordon: What do you think the community is doing well to address homelessness in Reno?

Alex Muñoz: I would say that I'm amazed by the kind and amount of self organizing groups that take action. Like I'm shocked. Like one connects to one, this one connects to another, and I don't know how many, like little groups there are that self-organized, self-owned and are really constant. And there are a lot of rules in this community and I don't know if that's something that has to do with the country or with the city, but I am just amazed. People that get food, people that get clothing, people that get services and, you know, use their own time to do that. I really want to think that this is like a thing that only happens here and I'm amazed about that.

Advocate Michael Carson does a Facebook Live during a recent sweep.

Gracie Gordon: How did you get involved with helping out our homeless neighbor?

Alex Muñoz: I think it has a lot to do with the fact that my roommate is Blaize Abuntori. I think that marked my relationship to this and how to take action. And I always explain the same story, how the Reno Burrito Project, you know, shocked my life. The first weekend that I was in my own house, it was like a Saturday and there were a lot of people bringing him food and water, like huge amounts of food and like huge packaging though for water. And I was like, okay, I don't know what's happening. Something weird is happening in my house. And at some point that day Blaize came into my room and he was really apologetic. And I think that says a lot about Blaize. He said ‘this is happening because we have this project called the Reno Burrito Project where we meet here. You know, people bring food for making burritos. And then tomorrow, we're going to hand them out. I'm really sorry. You know, that this is happening here’.

Gracie Gordon: And did it just spark your interest immediately?

Alex Muñoz: I was already interested, I live near downtown, I already see what's happening in the city. So that kind of like got me thinking that, you know, that there's a way of taking action. And a few months later I was talking to Blaize about the thing that people in Tent City actually have to throw away, like their clothes. Because they don't have any way of washing them. And I've never thought of that. And we were talking about underwear and how they're in desperate need of getting underwear and moving underwear between like the different organizations to bring underwear to the tent city. I use a clean pair every day. So if I was living in the street, I would need a new one. Then he told me that he knew Ilya and Rosie, and that they were starting this,   Laundry to the People project. So I got on board as soon as I could.

“I felt very terrible he was apologizing to me for something that was happening in my house, that was amazing. I was like, what kind of person do you think I am that you shouldn't be apologizing for?”

Richard Bednarski: Is there anything in the community that you've noticed that, and it could be city, it could be community members, that isn't working to help alleviate the struggles that the houseless community have to deal with?

Alex Muñoz: With homelessness is that it has so many edges and different problems, that it is really difficult to find an answer that unifies all the problems and helps solve them. I think that housing affordability is one of the biggest issues and we kind of focus on what we see, which is like when people are like living … on the corner of your street, but maybe we should try to focus on what happens before and like help people to maintain their own houses or to actually help people find affordable housing. And this is the hardest part. I don't see myself with the kind of authority to say this is not working. For example, through meeting Grant Denton and the River Stewards, I saw a different approach. Like not only saying, okay, this is going to work and let's apply, but, let's meet the people that  we're gonna give the services to and that way we can see what their needs are and how we can help them.

I'm not sure if that approach is being used outside of this example. I don't know if the houseless people actually have a voice in the important meetings or have a voice on the policies that act upon them.

Richard Bednarski: Can you tell us about a moment or an interaction you had with a homeless person and explain how it went? 

Alex Muñoz": I have had a few with the Laundry to the People and the few times that I've been out with the Reno Burrito Project. Also kind of like starting a conversation and talking to people like, and I think that's part of what makes these projects interesting is that they're not only providing some material thing, but also, conversation and understanding that goes both ways.

I'm not talking about any paternalistic way, you know, I'm such a good person. You know, I talked with the houseless people. That's not what I'm saying. It's by their action and if I want to help him provide the service, I need to know the people. I remember one time that I was with The Reno Burrito Project and as soon as I talk, everyone knows that I'm not from here because of my accent. So they asked me, Oh, ‘where are you from’? I said, Oh, I'm from Barcelona and that person was a veteran. So we were talking about, you know, he's been touring through Europe and these and that, and the conversation kind of like when different set different directions. Then he said that he had a job and he was going to move to a motel with his brother. 

That conversation was great to have. We were talking about how you can change your life and how this little thing that happened can, you know, help you move on and change. We were talking about things like food in Spain and things in Spain and things in Catalonia. I had a great time. I could see his happiness for going to the motel and kind of like feeling that he was restarting again.

“So regarding the houseless crisis, the message I would like to voice is, take action, it's way easier than it seems like. I know I'm lucky that I just had the Reno Burrito Project that entered my life and showed me that it's kind of easy to do these things. I've just been here a few months and you know, I'm already involved with the Laundry to the People and it's easy to do in Reno. It's the easiest thing to do if you have some experience, some knowledge that you think that can be helpful, just go for it. And if not, just get interested in what people are doing, call them and everyone here is happy to collaborate.”

Q and A with Alex Munoz for Our Town Reno by Gracie Gordon and Richard Bednarski