Posting 3

So far I have not done any research about my subculture [CRU] except where they meet and what time. I plan to attend my first meeting this coming Thursday night at 9pm at Pruis Hall. About 300 students meet there every week for worship. A friend I plan to go with attends the group regularly. I am going to interview her along with others I meet at CRU. I want to ask questions such as 1. what made you come and join CRU? 2. What makes you keep coming back? 3. What do you get out of these meetings? 4. How do you apply these club meetings to your life and personal relationships? 5. Do you ever feel stereotyped for being here? If so, like what? Those are some of the questions I plan to ask. I also plan to interview outsiders of different race, sex, and hobbies. I want to ask them their views on someone attending a bible study, why they don't go, their beliefs etc. I hope that I can get an overall common view about how a "believer" is looked upon. I expect to hear that individuals attending CRU or any bible study are usually "different" in a way that there sense of fun is different from most people because they enjoy sitting at home talking about the bible "all the time" and they don't enjoy shopping for high dollar clothes or partying. Some may be true in some situations and some may not. But I expect to hear a variety of different views hopefully all with a common similarity. I plan to do only a small amount of research on different types of religion and how different types of Christianity can all become "one" in a large setting. I think really all research is the same. The only difference in research is the purpose in which you are doing it. I think if you are doing for school, or hoping to learn it is academic. If you are looking into something for other reasons not intending to learn anything I suppose that would be "non-academic" but really in most cases any research will result in some sort of learning.

Box 8 "Questioning Your Fieldnotes"

When observing the objects laid out along the front board things did surprise and intrigue me. The two most intriguing objects at the front board for me were the journal and the book "A Bullshit night in Suck City" by Nick Flyn. The journal intrigued me so much because I absolutely love to write and love to be creative with my words. I used to spend a lot of my free time at night writing poetry and that is something I have let slip away from me in the past few years. Opening the journal I then saw there was a page of scribbled notes. I did not read the page but remember the first words being something along the lines of "I am addicted to her" and it sounded like a thought on how to start a poem. I was also surprised that this page was left in here because I am very protective over my writing and keep it to myself; very rarely did anyone ever read my poetry. The novel at the board somewhat surprised me because it was a funny title. It intrigued me because like writing, I love to read. I read the back of the book learning that it was about a boy in a homeless shelter receiving letters from his "stranger dad" and one day meeting him. The book sounded good and as I got to my seat i immediately looked on Ball States Library website to see if it was in their collection. Unfortunately It isn't.

Blog 2

I have decided to study the subculture of a nurse either in a hospital or at the health center. Both field sites have similar aspects but the differences they have can make a huge difference. In the hospital the nurses deal with long term patients and 24 hour emergencies. At a health center it is more of a come and go basis each day. I would prefer to do the hospital where there is more going on and a bigger environment. I have been to the ER but I have never been a patient at a hospital. In the ER I found that the nurses/doctors were very slow, grouchy, and were not very aware of your feelings; they simply wanted to get their job done. From talking to family members and friends, most people agree on the overall view of the ER. When speaking to patients some enjoy their experience and others have a terrible experience. When talking to nurses I expect to find that they have different feelings towards their patients. They may not like working with long term patients because they get attached, or are not very good at carrying a conversation with a stranger. I hope to learn how the nurses and doctors deal with angry, upset, or very sick patients.

Box 11 "Positioning Yourself"

I chose the subculture of a Health Center/Hospital because I hope to one day work in this area. Before I chose this path for my career choice I have always wondered what happens "behind the scenes" at a hospital that has so many things going on at once. I personally do not think that my gender, or race will effect my studies. My age might have a small effect on my studies because I am a young college student with plenty of question and not very much prior knowledge walking into a hospital. Walking into a hospital the majority of people have subjective positions. The stereotype of a the ER is that they are very slow, expensive, and grouchy. That all depends on the individuals experiences. Walking into the ER I do expect slow and terrible service because that is how I was treated my first and only time being taken to the ER. I have never been an actual patient in the hospital but I think asking a wide variety of patients about their experience will give me plenty of different responses. Some people really enjoy their time there, receiving great service from very friendly nurses. Others get the bad end of the deal and end of with complications, mix-ups, and very unfriendly nurses. Going into this field site I hope to get a wide variety of responses from patients, but a general feel from the nurse environment itself.

Box 2 "Making the Ordinary Extraordinary"

I wake up much earlier than my body wants, dragging my feet to prepare for a long day. I enter a room of a hundred tired faces. We all grab our metal, wood, or brass, and head into the blazing sun and heat, already quenched for thirst. For hours upon hours I march quickly across gravel, quickly turning my body in different directions, blowing fast air to make music, yet still trying to catch my breath. I take advantage of the short 30 seconds I get to walk back to where I began, until I do the marching routine again, until it is close to perfection. I head indoors and dress myself in hot, wool, one piece outfits with a large hat to make my head sweat. I head back out into the heat and enter the field. I march as fast and as straight as I can, blowing wind, and searching for my breath, all to get an applause at the sound of our music, and the shapes we created.

Posting 1

A specific paper I wrote in the past was about my major here at Ball State. It was a research paper and I had to not only do research but interview someone who works in my field, which is radiography. Typically when I write a paper I start with a basic layout of my paper. I find a topic sentence and decided which subtopics I will discuss in my body of the paper. Under each subtopic I write a few ideas to help write the paragraph later. For the conclusion I restate my topic sentence and also restate the important parts in my essay. I never listen to music when I write my papers because it distracts me. I like to sit in a very quiet room where I have a clear mind and can concentrate. I also like to write my paper early so I have plenty of time to edit and review my essay to make changes. I don't think I have ever waited until the last minute to write a paper because I like to get all my ideas down on paper and have time to think of ideas and find all of the different directions I can go with my paper. I enjoy writing and I enjoy learning new ways to write. Writing has taught me a lot about myself, others, and many things in this world that interest me.