Young @ Heart [Post #3]

The ethnography we watched yesterday and today, I thought, was absolutely amazing. I loved every bit of it. The people in it were amazing. The way they are so devoted to their music and songs and their "choir" group makes me a bit envious.

When they lost two of their members and kept going, just that act was phenomenal. I know a lot of people say, "go on without me" or "whatever happens, the show must go on" and all, but I'm not sure how many times others actually listen to that and continue on. This really showed how tight-knit their group was.

TCE Chapter 7: Ethnographic Detail and Cultural Focus [Post #2]

This chapter starts out asking yourself about which direction to take the ethnography questions after the person interviewed starts restating facts. Based on just the first paragraph, I think it should be really helpful. However, I also think that this chapter probably should have come in earlier since it talks about interviewing.

I liked the bulleted list and examples. It's clear and I noticed that one of the bullets: collect stories. I tried that earlier today but the person I asked didn't seemed to remember anything of significance. Maybe I'll try again...

As for the focus, I'm not yet sure on what the focus on my ethnography will be. We're probably supposed to have some idea but everything is still muddled and sketchy in my head right now.

FSTI Chapter 27 [Post #4]

Persuasion and argumentative papers. I remember last year in AP English, we had something like that going on. PK and I worked on a topic involving nudity in art, which we both agreed that the topic was very interesting and different. It was a lot of fun, learning what people thought.

This paper seems more formal and I guess we can't really choose any topic at our discretion (based on our domain). Still, it looks as though the two are similar in their format. Beginning with the background, then moving onto the thesis, argument, rebuttal, and finally, the conclusion.

(I thought we were doing a trend paper, though. Wait, what's the difference?)

FSTI Chapter 34 [Post #3]

I liked that there was this one part that said you shouldn't overwhelm your audience with an overload of information. I tend to do that--I want to get everything done into my paper and so I write with my eyes on my notes and string each piece of evidence to the next. I guess it isn't the best idea.

So, like PK, I have hit many dead ends and have finally decided upon the trend of children and teens affected by ADHD. Actually, now that I think about it, I might change to the trend adults because we just don't see that as often.

When I said I was looking forward to this earlier, I meant it as though we could pick some random topic that sounded interesting. Although ADHD is interesting, it's definitely not something I'd choose to research in my spare time. Now, I just want to rush this paper.

Which brings me to another dilemma: the ethnography. Did I mention I wasn't going to go to PK's workplace anymore? I'm not sure I can dig up a good enough report... and PK thought we should work together. I agreed and now we're stuck.

Edit: Of course I go and read the wrong chapter.

FSTI Chapter 33 [Post #2]

This chapter was relatively short and concise. It began with telling us that we should organize our notes. Before taking this class, I'd never really thought much about the organization of notes. Sure, I took notes and rewrote them so each piece of evidence fit with the other. But I never really went out of my way to cut out large pieces and actually sorting them out.

We spoke a bit in class about organizing notes. This, I liked. The suggestion of copying and pasting evidence onto word documents with the source right by it was a neat idea that I immediately took to. I'll be trying that for this research paper.

I remember back in 10th, my English teacher spent a lot of time talking about how we should write in quotes. We'd spend the period writing and I remember her overhead--the one with the quote cookie sandwich. I think I remembered it clearly--clearer than other lessons--because she brought in Oreo cookies. Me and my stomach. The point is that she taught us how to stuff quotes in our papers and that's how I've always written it.

Alright, so the chapter continues to talk about the thesis, "developing a design", and finally the outline. Of course, I should hope that the class knows how important the thesis is. I don't really think there's much to say about it other than that, yes, it is important and our paper centers around it.

I think the design development is the hardest. It's like trying to begin your personal narrative again, only with a different topic. Still, with the outline, it might be easier than the personal narrative this way. The research paper has loads of evidence and we have a support: the outline while the personal narrative has nothing but our fading memories.

FSTI Chapter 32 [Post #1]

Chapter 31 starts with a comparison between the techniques the authors would be discussing and learning how to write for the very first time. It's a rather neat comparison. I can't remember writing for the first time but when I sit and sift through my old writing work books, I muse on the differences in hand writing. I remember my mother, wanting me to be perfect, had decided that making me practice my hand writing every night would help. (Now that I remember it, it makes sense... since Chinese was a lot harder to perfect and she was used to that, I guess...)

The chapter later goes on to talk about how to skim a book or text. This is unusual because when I skim, I let my eyes run over the words waiting for a key word to jump out at me. But their method is very different. I think I might try it.

I giggled when I saw the right way and wrong way to take notes. I hadn't known there was a right and wrong way. The clear cut differences the text lays out definitely shows and helped me see how I've been doing in comparison to that. I guess I had been taking notes the wrong way.

I've always heard that paraphrasing was a good thing, but there's a wrong way for that too?

I might try the practices later or some other time.

Field Day! [Post #5]

Today's visit to the University of Minnesota TC Campus was exciting. Listening to Ms Shandy speak and rushing to take notes gave me a bit of insight on how college would be like. I thought, "Ah, I guess college classes are going to be like this" and rushed to finish my notes. She was an interesting speaker and I enjoyed the activities she had us do as well as her demonstration on how two people's interpretation of the same thing could be vastly different. I definitely liked the panel of students/instructors at the end. Hearing what students have done and what they have written definitely gave me a boost and got me eager to start.

PK and I discovered a pair of revolving doors. Guess what we did?

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this field day.

TCE + Ref [Post #4]

This chapter was extremely helpful. When faced with the prospect of an ethnography, I found myself at lost as where to start. This chapter focused on asking questions, when to ask those questions, what kind of questions, and how as well as there is the possibility that the culture you are studying has their own "secret language".

This is for my own reference, but if anyone finds this helpful, feel free to take a look at it or use it. There were too many of them to really remember them all.

Cultural categories: based on the supposition that knowledge is stored as a system of categories in the human brain

Folk terms: informant's language used when speaking about or with their microculture

>analytical terms: researcher's name for tacit terms used by people in microculture

>translation terms: words that members of a group may use when they talk about their group to outsiders

Descriptive questions: questions intended to elicit folk terms

How?

• Ask what they do and say, what things look like and what they are called.
• Put questions to context.
• Avoid asking "What is a...?".
• Don't ask why.

Types of descriptive questions:

1. Grand tour questions: most general; ie: "Could you take me on an imaginary tour of the office and point out everything I would see?"
2. Mini tour questions: questions that ask for more details concerning a folk term, etc; ie: "Could you describe how you...?"
3. Story questions: questions asking for actual events or places associated with microculture; ie: "When was the last time...?"
4. Native language questions: designed to check if certain words are actually folk terms; "Do you use '____' to describe this place to other people within your group?"

Field notes: written accounts of what transpired

TCE + Class [Post #2+3]

Chapter 3 of TCE was much longer than the previous chapters. There was a lot of good details and suggestions about finding a cultural informant and who that person should be as well as who it should not be. I thought the list of what makes a good informant was informative and also liked that the authors explained how many there should be.

Still, the consent form in the back of chapter 3 raised questions. Must we actually write out a form and have our cultural informant sign it?

Today's activities dealing with leads and sets was really helpful. Although I thought my leads were alright, after today, I realized that they could use a bit of work. The activity with designing the sets, however, were especially helpful. I never realized how important the set was and how detailed we had to try to make it! The whole idea of comparing it to building a set for the stage, for a play, gives a new perspective. It's not just an essay anymore. It's an art form.

FSTI [Post #1]

I understand that developing the characters is an important thing when writing but I never realized that a writer could show how a character is in as few as a sentence. Just the dialogue alone can tell the reader a lot about the character. For example, an American person might try to "recreate" a British accent by changing the spelling of certain words or using different words. "Wot is it?", maybe.

It's interesting and pretty awesome to know that you could create characters. I think that it would be amazing to bring to life fictional characters by just words because the writer is essentially giving their "children" traits of themselves. It's like the writer is the mother of the characters.

I was mildly confused on the emphasis in chapter 8 on light. I understand that light can reflect the mood of the scene or give the reader an image, but is it really that important? Still, I really liked the examples the two authors gave us to show what would be good and what would not be so good.

Chapter 9 was very illuminating. While I knew there were different ways to approach a personal narrative, I did not know how exactly to describe it or the most direct approach was. This text and the examples for each organization was very helpful. "Zooming in", "zooming out"... The examples, too, gave me a clearer idea of what the authors were trying to say.

FSTI [Post #3]

Skimming through the first three chapters of FSTI, I noticed that the topics were of things we discussed in class: observing, language, perception, and voice. Often, we don't really notice the little details in our lives and that is what the first chapter points out. I could understand to "need" to look at things carefully because just a few days ago, I had only just noticed that one of my friend's eyes was lighter than I had first thought! And we had known each other for...quite a while.

It points out that we can miss the tiniest details and when writing, that little detail is very important.

We've heard a lot about "showing" versus "telling" in writing and here it is again--in chapter two! However, I especially loved the clear cut examples this book shows us. From the first step of merely telling to the final, detailed sections of showing the audience. I took a look at the exercises in the back of chapter two and would like to try it out sometime.

I remember we briefly discuss voice in class and I do agree. Although I believe that essays should show some voice, some character, it should remain focused on the larger task.

The final chapter, "Facing the Blank Page", is the one that interests me the most. I...write a lot and I enjoy writing, and therefore I often find myself glaring at the blank Word document with its cursor laughing hysterically at me. My methods usually included to just get away from writing. I would stop, completely, and go and do something else. I would wait for something and come back and write anything. It didn't matter what I would try to write, be it the work-in-process or a new piece. Other times, I would turn out a bit of music--however, I usually find that very distracting since I tend to listen and sing along to the lyrics (or try to, at least).

I like the list of the habits of writing. It seems interesting and I have attempted once to make writing a habit (guess how that turned out). Maybe I'll try it again...

Ethnography [Post #2]

Ethnography. My first encounter with this word was actually on another blogging site. I happened across it, and curious, skim the contents. The whole project was done through online messaging, through the internet. Fascinating. It was actually on an online fanbase, a small community of fans who gathered to discuss their common interest.

As I watched my friends flutter frantically about due to their English ethnography project about a year later, I became interested. A study of a subculture was something I hadn't thought of before. Pretty soon, they managed to rope me into helping them with their project.

Now, I find myself nervously tapping my feet and excited to work on this project. The only problem was on what. I have absolutely no idea what subculture or group (or culture for that matter) I would study--oh joy, the stress.

Still, reading TCE made me realize certain things that I never actually gave much thought to. For example, when I read that some people said that "green" and "blue" were the same color (as an example for tacit culture), I realized that my parents do that. To them, the words for "green" and "blue" are the same.

Continuing on, TCE began explaining Microcultures, which, before this day, I have never thought of. (Google Chrome does not recognize the word "Microcultures", random thought there.) A culture within a culture--makes sense, yes? Most people don't think of that though. They don't think that say, a basketball team is a culture. I agree, but that might be because most people don't know what culture is exactly.

Which brings us back to the first chapter and the explanation of cultures.

The First Day [Post #1]

I was absent yesterday, so I've only just begun reading the very first assignment for this class and although I've only reached page two, I felt the need to write something.

In the introduction to FSTI, we're comparing the graceful and beautiful Korean pottery with the Japanese. I thought this was an interesting way to begin. As I continued on, I thought, yeah, this does make sense: the process, rather than the product, is the key. This may perhaps be because there are times when I would find myself searching up tutorials or a video of an artist to explain the process of a piece. I'm rather used to this, however I've never really noticed or compared it to the process of writing. Sure, I might have known somewhere buried in my mind that authors/writers/poets have a hard time writing too, that they spend countless hours sitting behind an empty screen with that accursed cursor mocking them. But that thought was never really compared to writing an essay for an English class.

(Random thought: I noticed that in Exploring the Subject, when the author(s) used the business executive example, they used the pronoun "she" rather than "he or she". What does that say? This would also be the place where I would insert an emoticon.)

It's interesting that they say to really look deep into the subject matter one is writing about. And yeah, it does make sense, because most students--and maybe some teachers--don't really dive into their subject matter. This is almost like they're picking apart the process and trying to show how to write--ugh, I forgot my train of thoughts. Maybe I'll come back to this.

I like how they compared writing to a stage performance with the process being the practicing of lines and such, and then the finished product being the final performance or act. It gives a new perspective on how and why you write. Or at least, for me.

I hate to say it but I think I really disagree with the assertion that poetry is not spontaneous because I completely agree with Wordsworth. To me, poetry is exactly that and it's not right if it's organized. That's what prose, or an original story is for. That is much more organized and formatted so that the reader has a much easier time enjoying the story rather than looking at how the words are organized.

Editing: That's what thesauruses are for. (Insert another emoticon here. Can I at least put a smiley?)

"The writing process is the beginning of movement from sight to insight." Why does that sound like there's going to be a revolution or something?

(I also would like to apologize for the over using the commas. I tend to vomit commas.)