Blog 7

By doing my fieldwork I can give back to not only my subculture but more to the outsiders. Doing research on a religious group creates a lot of different opinions. I want to help outsiders understand why people worship who/what they do, particularly Christianity. Religion is such a touchy subject for the entire nation because of how many different types there are. I want to show people how they might all connect, the reasoning behind worship, and looking beyond what outsiders see. I hope that by giving opinions, stories, and examples of christian worship will not only give and understanding of Christianity but to stop judging of different people in general. When it comes to what I can give to the subculture; I want to give them a more open mind. I feel sometimes they are as well judgmental and I want to clear that up. I feel there is confusion on both sides of the line.

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Blog 6

Little, Michael “Bill Bright: A Slave for Christ.” CBN.com. 2009. 16 Feb. 2009. .
CBN gave a story as well as an interview of Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. The article was written by Michael Little and is titled “Bill Bright: A Slave for Christ.” Bill Bright was interviewed by Michael Little who is the CBN president.
Knowing why Campus Crusade for Christ was created will help me understand its purpose better. This particular website will give me a lot of background knowledge about where the program started, who created it, and what his intentions were. This website will help me in my fieldwork but helping me understand why some rituals are done in each meeting and what type of Christianity CRU is preaching and why. With a program like CRU being nationwide and so powerful, I am interested in the type of person Bill Bright is, and what made him pursue such a big goal. Reading the interview with Bill Bright helps me learn more about the people that have a big interest in CRU.

Hopkins, Michael. “The Antichristian Phenomenon.” last.fm. 2009. 16 Feb. 2009. .
The antichristian Phenomenon website last.fm has over 2,000 members discussing their opinions about Christianity and why they are against it. The website includes discussion boards, articles, a list of all the members, and different music supporting the members’ beliefs. The discussion boards have a variety of different topics.
While exploring this website I hope to connect to the people on the other side of the Christian wall. With such a variety of places to read people’s opinions on this website, I am sure I will find important statements and opinions. A lot of the discussion boards show a picture of a Christian or anti-Christian even or picture, letting all of the members comment on them. The articles are more of one person’s beliefs, and opinion why Christianity is not real or not worth their time.

Box 18

A focal point for my field site is the auditorium in Pruis Hall. The auditorium is a place where everyone gathers for worship, the preaching, and greeting everyone. I think this is the most important place CRU meets because it is where the majority of everything takes place. I think this is a very significant place for all of the members because this is where they meet so this is the place they feel welcome and ready to worship. This is where I will conduct my interviews because I think this is where the interviewees will feel the most comfortable answering my questions.

Somewhere I recently visited.

Only 15 min ago I traveled from my room on the fifth floor down the abandoned hall to the sounds of blow driers and alarm clocks. As I turn down the steps I began walking the 5 flights of steps that now seem so routine. The temperature soon changes as I walk out the door into the front lobby as I feel the wind rushing in as people open and close the outside doors. As I walk to the basement the sound of wet shoes squeaking across the tile floor becomes faint. I see people sitting at tables filling their stomachs with cereal, power bars, muffins, and coffee. I pull against the heavy, resisting, glass door and enter a completely different atmosphere. Instead of the small sounds I heard over the quietness of the hallway and lobby, my ears were now exploding with sounds. I enter Out of Bounds and see lines of people waiting to pay and others hurrying around to find breakfast in time before class. I hear freezer doors shutting, glass bottles hitting one another, and people chatting. I reach into the very cold cooler and grab a bottle of water. As I walk and search for something else the water begins to make my palm uncomfortably cold. I switch hands. I grab muffins and a Snapple Peach Tea. I head for the register. I wait in line continuing to rearrange my bottles so my hands stayed a decent temperature to stand. I reach the cashier and he says his routine, "4.97...the rest on your dinning?...Have a good day." I leave the chaos and loud noise entering back into the clam world or hungry students, scurrying off to class.

Blog

I think I definitely need more time to research my field site. CRU only meets once a week and there are around 300 people there and that is a lot of people in a short amount of time. I obviously don't plan to talk to each and everyone of them but I want enough people and time to get a good amount of feed back. I want to spend my time at the CRU meeting taking in the atmosphere and watching others reactions and taking notes on the type of sermon given. I am hoping to find several people I can interview. I hope the people i interview vary in interests, hobbies, weekend activities, and their beliefs. I think observing is what will take the longest, and I hope I have enough time since it only meets once a week. Interviewing is somethingI need to do on my own time. I also want to find people outside of crew, and how other CRU clubs are organized in other colleges.

As I sit alone on my peaceful, calming porch swing, I close my eyes. The sun illuminates the darkness of my mind. I see sand and water. This is where I long to be. This is my peaceful beach, my front porch swing.

Box 15 "Recalling a Sense of Place"

I spend an average of 6 months a year longing for my place of peace to be capable of a visit. The other 6 months, I spend in peace, awe, and wonder. The most vivid memory I get when I close my eyes is the warm air surrounding my body and the cool breeze blowing my hair into my face. I lean back onto the soft green cushion and prop my feet on the empty white rocking chair in front of me. I relax and take in every smell and every sound hoping to keep them safe for the next 6 months I will be away. I can smell fresh cut grass from the neighbors long day at work in their yard, the flowers my mother has planted only 6 feet ahead of me, the gas and smoke from the disruptive cars that pass by. Hearing nature, hearing animals play out their life is one of the most amazing sounds. I heard the claws of small, furry, brown and sometimes black squirrels scrambling up the large old tree that lives on the edge of the road. I wonder what they are saying as I hear the high pitched squealing coming from their such small bodies. As they run by, the neighbor's dogs begin to bark. The sounds from each dog are so different, creating a musical of sound. And then I am sent back to reality as a loud, rusty truck sends gas fumes into my nose, and the sound of spinning tires into my ears. I open my eyes and look around taking one last glance. I stand up and let my bare feet walk the 10 feet of cold cement leading to my front door. This is my last night, until spring returns, that I can sit on that comfortable, green, rocking chair.

Dogtown and the Z-boys

Dogtown and Z-Boys
“we live in the moment”
Started in a place that looked like California
Related it to being a rock star
Girls and guys both had long hair
Route 66
Dogtown was dirty, filthy, had to have eyes in the back of your head…”paradise”
Run down surfer resort
Surfers used to be looked at as drop outs, it wasn’t the thing to be doing back then
Jeff Ho was a big designer of surf boards
His surf boards reflected dog town- gang graffiti
Zephyr Surf Team created by Jeff Ho [from Venice]
Venice, California became an amusement park in the water and later became no man’s land
Zephyr Team did not let other surfers in on “their water” [old amusement park] they had to earn their way in
The kids on the zephyr surf team were mostly kids from a broken home. Jeff Ho was like a parent to them.
Soon skating became popular “sidewalk surfboards”
1963 skateboarding became a sport and teams began to form- crashed in 1965
Larry Birdleman made a lot of new moves on a surfboard kids wanted to copy on their skate boards [cut back, touching the wave]
California’s drought served as a revolution for skate boarders- using dried up pools
Spontaneous

Questions
1. I think this ethnographic study is more towards entertainment rather than a study.

2. The individuals interviewed in this documentary are the boys that were a part of the skate and surf teams in California. It was important to interview them because they had the best insider perspective compared to anyone else. They helped the viewers to understand not only the sports they were doing but why it happened and the kind of people that were involved with it.

3. The documentary made me believe that the people involved in surfing and skating were spontaneous kids from a rundown household looking for something better in life. They were crazy and their plan for their future relied on one word…”fun”

4. The organization is in chorological order and it helps to understand how one even evolved from another and how things end up where they did and where they are today.

5. I had the stereotype that the majority of skateboarders were kids that skated instead of doing homework, joined skate teams instead of colleges. I never thought they were “bad” kids, they just had a different outlook on life. I think that the movie somewhat agreed with my belief that skaters were spontaneous and did not plan out their future.

6. I think the writer/speakers are very credible because they are the ones that were a part of the whole skater/surf scene.

Blog Posting 4

As of now I have already been proven wrong on what I believe about my subculture. I am doing my fieldwork with CRU. I was under the assumption that there are more white Christians in America compared to other races, assuming whites would be the larger population at CRU. After doing some research I learned that blacks dominate the number of whites in Christianity 87 to 62 percent. Even though I was proven wrong about that I still have many other conclusions I have came to. I think that I will meet people on all different levels. I think there are people attending that only practice their religion at CRU meetings and party on the weekends. I also think there are people who practice their religion everyday being a lot more strict about their actions. By asking people their opinion, stereotype, and typical "look" of a person attending CRU I hope to get a common answer amongst everyone I ask. I think there is an over all stereotype linked with religion. The location and type of school Ball State is should have an effect on the people I meet at CRU. Ball State is located in a city area and is one of the larger schools in the nation with a population around 20,000.

Box 12

Some Privilege's I enjoy are:
1. Being a female- Men are suppose to respect me, and treat me better than another man [opening doors, being extra polite, pulling out chairs]
2. Born an American Citizen- the country is so much better here compared to a third world country. Even though our economy is so terrible right now, compared to other places we are stil so much better off.
3. Born in the north- Traveling south I know unfortunately there are still people who are very racist, more older people rather than people in my generation.
4. Being in college- I am lucky to be smart and have a supporting family that push me and have there for made me WANT to further my education.
5. Financial Aid- without financial aid, me and many other people would not have the opportunity to attend college and better our future.
6. Women's rights
7. 19 years old- having the write to vote and be considered an "adult" in our country
8. Enrolled in a public high school- taught me more than a private school ever would when it came to dealing with different races, ethnicities, styles, behaviors, and situations to prepare me for real world situations.

Some of the privileges I have will effect me in my field work. Being a female I will be treated with more respect than a male. I think that people might take me more seriously because it is maybe a stereotype but when a man is compared to a woman at the age of 19, the woman will be considered much more mature. I'm also glad that I am in the north, even though the majority of racism is gone, I will feel more comfortable. There are still people in the south who feel afraid to speak with someone of a different race. I think being in the north where people are more open and feeling equal to one another I can speak with all different races to get a better variety of opinions. A long time ago I would not even have the opportunity to do this project being a woman. I would be forced to stay home as a house wife and cook, clean, and take care of children; I would not be allowed an education. So I am thankful for the privilege to be in college, able to learn, and research other people.