Make up post for 21 march 2018 missed class

3/21/2018

Hello 389--

Here are the directions for our missed class today. I don’t know how things went where you are at, but there has not been so much as a flake of snow here in Boston. But, anyway. I know this reaches you much later than I said: I have union bargaining tomorrow in Worcester, and I started to prep for that and it took over the day.

PLEASE NOTE: You have until Sunday at 5:00 to get all of this done. This means you have nearly four days to do this work. Presumably, you have your research notes done already or at least close to done, so you’ve got that in the bag.

The syllabus identified a listening assignment for today: “24 Hours at the Golden Apple” from This American Life. You can, as it indicates on the syllabus as well, listen to it here.
The syllabus indicates that research notes were due to day. Please email me those notes at your earliest convenience, thank you to those of you who’ve already sent them. Yes, I got them.
To make up for our in-class time, please post 250 words on our class blog, available herein response to this prompt: "Identify one or two pieces of research that you’ve found that is related to your site. Tell us a little bit about what you discovered. Tell us a little bit about what you discovered, and be sure to tell us what you think it contributes to your essay—what does knowing this information help you to understand about your culture/site? You don’t have to be absolutely sure, you just need to try."
Come to class with a copy of your draft of your third paper, "sources" on Monday.

My thinking is that if you take what we did on Monday and this exercise, you will have a start of a draft that you can work on and bring to class this coming Monday (because these are the two elements of the upcoming draft).

You do not need to respond to each other on the blog. You are certainly welcome to. If you know something that might be helpful to your classmates, certainly chime in.

Don’t blow this off. As I said in class on Monday, all of these things are a chance to help boost your grade. If you post to the blog, I’ll add one more “acceptable” to your count. It will mean one less revision to do or one less set of research notes.

I think this covers everything. See you all Monday.

21 Comments

Leah O'Bryan

3/22/2018 05:22:53 pm

The piece of research I found about my site was a lot of information on the main Non-governmental Organization (NGO) that I worked with while in Cambodia. Empowering Youth in Cambodia (EYC) is a NGO made up of 4 small schools scattered around the slum villages of Phnom Pen that teaches children of ages 5-14 English. The schools are named, Aziza, Impact, Lakeside and Youth School. The teachers are primarily graduates of EYC who have come back to give back to the community that helped them so much. In 2006, Drew McDowell founded EYC after he had visited a slum area of Cambodia. What he saw impacted him and he decided to start fundraising to help grow this project he started. After working to build up his NGO, McDowell has left his project to go back to the states with his Cambodian wife and children. Today, Delphine Vann, a Swiss Cambodian, who grew up in Cambodia has taken over, with hopes to see all the students thrive, even if living in poverty. This information is important for my entire ethnography because my writing revolves mainly around the school I taught in, Aziza, the first school created that is apart of EYC. Without this background information readers may be confused as to how EYC was started, and who started it in general. I think that knowing this information, knowing that a westerner had to come to this third world country to start a school for children says a lot about this country. For them, the Cambodians, to get help, a lot of people from different countries with the money and ability to do so have to do it for them. They need to start somewhere and these people, like McDowell came in and did just that. I can’t help but wonder if someone like McDowell didn’t come in to start these schools, where would these kids be? Not continuing their education, not going to college like so many EYC graduates have been able to today. We visited 3 NGO’s, and they all were started by those who came from the US, Europe or Australia, none from Cambodia. But today EYC is run by Cambodian’s, some graduated from EYC, which is nice to see it come full circle.

3/26/2018 05:02:46 am

I think that this specific research for your NGO is important. I wonder if some history of Cambodia is also important. Not too much because it could take over your paper, but some--just enough. I wonder if there are any connections with China historically that might be interesting for you--for instance how did come to be that there were so many girl babies available for adoption in China. Any relationship to why there are so many kids in Cambodia living in orhpanages? or does it just seem like that because that's where you were stationed? Just throwing out some ideas.

Shackeema Card

3/23/2018 10:48:41 am

So far I have created a few research questions (a total of 6), but I have way more interview question than research questions, so feel free to help out if you can. Three of the research questions that I have are:
1.Why are they called Baptist?
2. Who Founded Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Brockton MA?./ The history of it.
3.Where in the world has the most baptist churches?
To answer question #1 found on baptisthistory.org, Baptist did not get their names from John The Baptist which most people think. The first referents to the believer as Baptists was in England in 1644, although they preferred to be called "Brethren." They were called Baptists because of their strong belief and practice of Baptisms. They belies that baptism is for adults only for babies cannot really understand the true meaning. They also believe in full immersion. To answer #2, I found on the Mt. Moriah Baptist Church site that Mt. Moriah was birthed from Messiah Baptist church as a result to a larger space to accommodate the growing congregation. The former pastor and founder, Pastor Reverend Eugene L. Neville said that the Lord gave him the name of MT. Moriah for the church. The doors were opened on Sunday October 4 1981. The member ship has grown to over 300 families during these 33 years. The second and current pastor Pastor Reverend John Page was called in in June of 2013. Under his leadership the church continues to build on former pastor and founder's laid foundation. For question #3 found on Wikipedia, there are about 50 million self-professed Baptist in the United States. About 16 million Baptist belong to congregations affiliated w/ Southern Baptist Convention, the largest such confederation off Baptists. More than 40% of Baptist worldwide reside in the US. The largest denomination among African-American is the National Baptist invention wi/ 7.5 million members.
Knowing the information about the founder of Mt. Moriah and it's history will help my readers see how this church came to be. It gives just a little extra information that shows that this isn't random church, but a church that has structure and a good foundation. I've always wanted to know why Baptists were called Baptists, so I think that piece will be very interesting to add. It gives background knowledge on the culture and group of people that I am basing my site on. Lastly, I like the piece about where the most baptist churches are, because I feel like that information shows that there are many different places all around that I could of choosing, but I chose this one. It also gives a little insight on the demographics, which will be another question I answer as part of my research.

3/26/2018 05:06:02 am

Does Mount Moriah do full immersion? I feel like a lot of your historical stuff, which is very cool, could almost help you with a metaphor for your culture. I"m just thinking here, but there is something about how you make the choice to fully committ as an adult. That's very interesting. Also, I'm curious about the relationship between Baptist churches and the African-American community. It feels almost like a stereotype that I carry with me (me not you or anyone else) that a lot of Baptist churches are primarily African American. Is that the case? I mean, I know there are white Baptist churches, but I think of them as fundamentalist. Is there a reason so many African American's participate in the Baptist church. Given your particular interest in Af-Am history, this might be something to look in to.

Laine Drew link

3/24/2018 07:08:38 pm

The first bit of research that I found for my essay was a book on the Subway Therapy Project titled Signs of Hope: Messages From Subway Therapy. Subway Therapy started off with humble beginnings, as Matthew Chavez (creator of Subway Therapy and author of Signs of Hope) set up a small table on a New York subway platform and had people write and converse their stresses, joys, and over emotions. Despite the lack of communication that typically happens on the subway, Chavez felt and believed that people really just wanted to break out of the “commuter gaze” and to talk to one another, which lead to his ideas of Subway Therapy. Once the disasters of the 2016 election happened, however, Subway Therapy transformed from a small time both to thousands upon thousands of sticky notes on Subway stop walls around the country. These notes contained people's fears, anger, triumphs, and hopes, and they allowed for people to find solace and comfort in one another at an extremely difficult time. For my project, I want to focus on all of this, but mainly the breaking of the commuter gaze that Chavez talks about. I particularly want to connect this to an interview I conducted, but this still works for the people who don’t wanna talk. I often see people looking at eachother (or me) on the train, and I can’t help but to wonder what they are thinking about, or if they want to communicate but are too afraid to.

Two other bits of research that will be tied together as one has to do with racial segregation in cities. I will use the book Segregation: A Global History of Divided Cities by Carl Husemoller Nightingale to show the history of urban segregation by colonizing forces around the world. With this book, however, I will try to go more in depth with U.S cities, since my ethnography takes place within the U.S. I will then tie the history of global and national urban segregation to the history of urban segregation in Boston particularly. To do this, I will tie the info from Segregation to an article called “Racial Segregation and Transportation Justice in an Urban Community: The Case of the Boston T Riders Union” by Russ Lopez. This article gives a very good and in-depth description of the history of racial segregation in Boston, such as how specific races ended up being confined mostly to the neighborhoods they are in. All of this info is important because the T acts as a moving window that allows people to see racial segregation in the city of Boston, as different stops have higher or lower percentages of different races that one sees getting on the train.

3/26/2018 05:10:12 am

Wow. This is good stuff. I've heard about that Subway Therapy Project. I am totally in love with it. For the record: when I stare at people on the subway I try to figure out if I think they are nice or not. No lie. Sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised and sometimes I'm not--in either direction. The stuff about race and the T is super interesting to me. As a rider who got on the T at 5:54 this AM, I was the only white person on it--which is not always the case, but, in my neighborhood sometimes is. The redline starts and ends in communities with a diverse populations, but, in the middle, there is a stretch of white affluence and students. I'll be really interested in seeing how this all plays out in your work.

kiara moreira

3/24/2018 11:00:22 pm

The first piece of research that I decided to look take a look at was :What were some of the first flavors of smoothies ever made? While researching this I came across Healthy Smoothie Hq. It states that “Smoothies aren’t an American invention. They go back centuries to cultures around the world, and then to South America as a “fruit slush”. But it’s safe to say that the American smoothies, a pureed fruit drink, began in the early 1920’s when Julius Freed, another young man with a sensitive stomach, began looking for a way to enjoy fresh squeezed orange juice. His stomach couldn’t handle the acidity of fresh squeezed oranges, so he found a way and a few choice ingredients to make them less acidic and a little frothy”.
I learned that from this that smoothies have come along way. Also that the evolution of smoothies have changed and now there are many recipes that are simply made popular for people to follow. Smoothies contain a multitude of different ingredients and now help people with help benefits, which pulls into my second question. I believe this bit of information will contribute to my site because it will just provide a little background knowledge.

My second question involves: What are the health benefits from drinking smoothies?
Although this question may seem as simple, some of the the health benefits I have discovered from USAtoday are that :
Green smoothies are a good source of minerals and vitamins
Consuming green smoothies is a good way to get green vegetables into your diet.
"Vegetables are high in potassium, which can help lower blood pressure. “
Boutenko, a videographer and writer, says green smoothies have boosted his energy, aided his digestion and improved his muscle recovery after workouts.
This will contribute to my essay because not only will it show that green smoothies are good for you but it will make your diet much better. If some people may not like vegetables they can substitute fruits which is also great. Knowing this information will help me to understand that my site although it might be a small place in the center of town that it has a lot of value and the smoothie culture is becoming very well known.

3/26/2018 05:13:54 am

I'm thinking about two things. The role juice plays in other cultures. People in Cape Verde aren't drinking "smoothies" per say, but they are certainly drinking a lot of juice blends. What's the difference? And Why? And does it matter. Also, I don't think all smoothies are healthy. In fact, I know this. A lot of commercial smoothies have a ton of sugar and very little health benefits. So you might want to consider that. One last thing. So this juice place is in the Bridgewater town square. Businesses come and go in that square at a crazy pace. Why? What can you find out about businesses in Bridgewater? You'd think that a place within walking distance from campus would thrive,but is it? Places come and fold within a year. That place is pretty new, what was it before? I feel like this kind of information could be pretty vital to your essay--a sense of the shop in the town.

Ryan Morrison

3/25/2018 08:20:58 am

When we first started this project, one of the first things I did was do a little research relating my site, and the events that happen within it, like this dart tournament. I have been familiar with the game of darts, but I’ve come to understand how it differs with organized, competitive play. First of all, some of the rules change completely. Normally, the way I’ve played is noticabley easier than competitive play, as there are many failsafes, and penalties for missing or shooting in the wrong place mean virtually nothing. Here however, it can be do or die. It is crucial to be accurate. I think that understanding the game on a deeper level such as that is pivitol in something like interviewing. I couldn’t possibly keep up the pace of a conversation with a seriosu player if I don’t truly understand the game they play. Something else I’ve found that relates to my site is the general history of it. The banner is a very old building, so I was not suprised to learn about the sheer abundance of local history this place has hidden within it’s walls. Some amazing tidbits of history have happened here. For starters, Babe Ruth once sat in this bar drinking beer before traveling away for games. Calvin Coolidge once delivered a speech on the porch to a group of people before his presidency. Knowing stuff like this will be great for interviews, especially if I can talk to the owner, or even an employee; both of which could probably expand on the history aspect.

3/26/2018 05:17:14 am

I don't think that it's just great for interviews. I think that this will inform your essay--that the rules of competitive darts are different and more strict than the ones for just playing darts says something. The history of this particular bar feels interesting. I'm not sure how it might shape your final conclusions, but It's certainly interesting details. And it might speak to the culture. I wonder if you've thought about your earlier stuff about alcohol and its relationship to this site. Why are darts played in bars mostly? Is there some sort of connection? Just wondering. Right now, I think that the rules stuff is propably the most meaty stuff you've got going.

Andrew DiStefano

3/25/2018 09:36:49 am

One of the big aspects of my site that was important to me was learning more about its history. I wanted to find out why my town is important and what make The Green a historical place. Growing up in Taunton I have never really learned about the history that has taken place in the city. I know it is one of the oldest towns in the United States, being originated in 1639, but I did not know much else. I learned that Taunton is the third largest city by area in Massachusetts after Boston and Barnstable. This was interesting to me because growing up I was told it was the biggest but I guess those teachers were wrong. Another aspect of Taunton that surprised me was the Taunton was the host of a few battles and altercations throughout the King Phillip’s War and the American Revolution.
Some interesting facts that I have learned about my site The Green is that it was created in the 1740’s and was a gathering place for soldiers going off to war. This was the most interesting fact to me because it showed that The Green has always been a place for people to come together and through my project I am seeing that it is still true to this day. Originally 88 acres, The Green is now a fraction of the size but still holds gatherings like the lighting of the Green every Christmas and various fuctions and events throughout the year. The Green has always been a place for people to get together and celebrate the city or just somewhere to enjoy a nice day.

3/26/2018 05:20:38 am

My big concern for you Andrew remains if you will have enough to say about the green itself as a culture. The history is very interesting. I wonder what echoes of Revolutionary War/sending soldiers off you see in the green today. Certainly there are the war memorials, which make more sense now. Remember as well that this isn't just a puff piece about how great Taunton is. You need balance. We need to really understand the culture you are attributing to the green itself--which is not really the whole town of Taunton.

Meghan Lewis

3/25/2018 11:22:24 am

When researching piercings, I wanted to look at the general history of them and when the turn from taboo to stylish came into play. One source of research I used was from Marie Claire’s website. Marie Claire is a famous women’s fashion magazine, and in one of their post the website chronicles the different trends in piercings throughout time. The article explains how specific piercings are common to certain places. For example, lip and tongue piercings are common in African cultures. Piercings in ancient times served as a status symbol or for functional reasons—gold signified wealth, and some cultures believed piercings warded off demons or spirits. It was interesting that piercings became more common in the seventies and eighties with the rise of the punk scene. The piercings, such as a nostril or septum ring, acted as a form of rebellion against beauty standards at the time, however in doing that, they became a trend. I think it’s significant that piercings became popular due to the rebellious nature of the punk scene, and I think people outside of the body modification culture often stereotype people with piercings as a rebel or outside the norm. I also decided to look more at American culture and their views towards piercings. I found from the website statisticbrain.com, that in 2017 83% of Americans have their earlobes pierced, making that the most common, and of the pierced population 72% are women. The next two most common piercings for women are the naval, followed by the nose. These don’t surprise me since the research from Marie Claire suggests that female actresses and musicians set trends for belly button rings and nose rings. Overall this information helps me to understand my culture because it shows how body piercings have become popularized and how sites like my own have come to be more accepted and sought out. It shows that even though the body modification culture often prides itself on being unique and original, there are still trends and popular piercings that exist. However, it also sets apart the real pierce-ees from the trend followers, both of which I have seen when observing my site.

3/26/2018 05:25:21 am

I like how your research is speaking to what you are seeing at your site--this contradiction of sorts between the idea of getting pierced to be rebellious but then also it becomes sort of a fashion thing and so then it is mainstream. That movement back and forth is interesting. Piercings have to get more and more extreme to keep up with the rebel idea. Also interesting is the long history of piercing. How it has symobolized different things in different times in different places. That feels like something. Finally, you use the term "body modification culture" a lot. That's sort of interesting. I guess piercing does modify the body to some extent. Why that moniker? How did people start using it and why? Is piercing the only kind of body modification out there. Are tatoos included? What about more extreme kinds of modification? Curious about that and wonder if it might be relevant to your piece.

Jesse Mendes

3/25/2018 12:14:32 pm

For my research, I looked into the AMF Holiday Lanes website to see more information about the leagues that they have posted. Currently, there are seven leagues being advertised for this house (another term for bowling alley). Five of them are mixed leagues for adults, one is a mixed senior league, and one is a youth league. The leagues listed for all adults are for people of all experience levels, as evident from two leagues that offer gear discount deals with sign-up. Get Your Gear League 2018 is a mixed league that offers a choice of two high performance bowling balls from a list of 4 options simply for taking part in the league. Another league, Gr8er Times Bowling Club offers an increased weekly fee to get a DV8 Poly ball at the end of the season. These leagues are tailored for newer bowlers that do not own their own gear, and it gives them a chance to acquire bowling balls which often retail for over $100 dollars. The Gr8er Times league also offers a free shirt and pizza party at the end of the season, just like the youth league. This league seems like more the relaxed league for newer bowlers to try it out and see how they like it if they have so many incentives for joining. The difference in leagues offered by the bowling alley gives insight that the league I am observing is more competitive and serious than the other leagues offered. Every bowler owns their own ball already, and their scores reflect that of serious players.

3/26/2018 05:28:47 am

It's interesting to me that they are creating leagues meant to get people to become bowlers. That can speak to the state of the sport. Is this candlepin or regular bowling? It sounds like regular bowling. I also am interested in the use of the word house here. Houses are homes for families sometimes. That's sort of interesting. Or, like, House Stark. I bet there is something there. I wonder if you could locate statistics about the sport of bowling. Who is playing these days? When was the heyday? How is the sport viewed in popular culture and why? is there a Michael Jordan of bowling? Is there a bowling hall of fame? I think that kind of research could add something to your work.

Ethan Kay

3/25/2018 01:42:44 pm

With my site being mainly Hip-Hop influenced I decided to research the history of the Hip-Hop movement. The Hip-Hop movement began in the late 1970s in the Bronx, New York City with the original DJ, DJ Kool Herc. House parties and neighborhood block-parties were the main spots in which you could hear the breakbeats with MCs rhyming over it. Afrika Bambaataa of the Hip-Hop collection. Zulu Nation, outlined the four elements of hip-hop as being rapping (also known as MCing), DJing which is making music with record players, bboying which is breakdancing to the music being played, and graffiti art. In the 1980s bboying and graffiti became the dominant cultural movement in regards the Hip-Hop culture as a whole. In the 90s “gangsta rap” became very popular and gained commercial success leading into the globalization of Hip-Hop in the 2000s and beyond. This research is important to my site because all of the elements outlined are present at Self Made Designs. Graffiti is scattered about over the entire basement at my site whether being murals that cover an entire wall or artists’ tags (usually artists’ names or visuals they use as their brand). The elements of DJing and MCing is apparent with the production of music happening on average 6pm-12am every day. Events that are held at Self Made are geared towards either graffiti or music with local artists performing their craft which reminds me of the previous decades with their house parties and block parties instead they’re just doing it their own way. This research helped me understand how hip-hop now and its beginnings aren’t all that much different. The culture is still trying to start a movement with the hopes of building up the artists around them clout.

3/26/2018 05:30:34 am

This is actually the first thing I've seen from you about your site so it's hard to comment. This is interesting. This kind of history is usually important. Like with Leah's work on Cambodia, you want to be careful because history like this could overwhelm your essay. Have you thought about how this material connects with what you are seeing there? I think that's an important step.

Tamara Pires

3/25/2018 01:47:52 pm

While doing my research on the pride center was to look at the center first. What does the center do? Why is it a department on campus versus an organization? What are the Student workers responsibilities when it comes to the Pride center? What events do the put on that show their pride? Most of my answers were found on the pride center pages on involvement network and the intranet. I found out that the pride center is a BSU funded department within the division of Student Success and Diversity. This is different from a student run organization. I found a video that director Lee Forest of the Pride center posted on Youtube. They explained that anyone can come to the pride center regardless of sexual orientation. She talks about two student run clubs on campus aware and tag. I also found out that they do have weekly events on campus that are small and there are a few bigger ones that happen few times during the semester.
The second part of my research I wanted to know why its called the pride center. This was find of hard to find out at first than I found out that the actual tittle of the center is GLBTA Pride Center. “The mission of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Allies (GLBTA) Pride Center at Bridgewater State University is to support the success of GLBTA students and their peers, and to foster a campus climate of inclusion and equity.” I also wanted to find out when did they put the center on campus but I couldn’t really find an answer on that, based on the online research. But with a little investigation and reading between the lines I found out that in 2006, Lee became the founding director of the GLBTA Pride Center at BSU.

3/26/2018 05:33:53 am

So it sounds like you've got a good handle on the Pride Center at BSU in terms of history. But, just to be clear, most centers on campuses that support GLBTA students are called "Pride" centers. Further, historically, parades in support of GLBT folks are called "Gay Pride" parades. So "Pride" is not limited to BSU. THAT'S what you want to be thinking about in terms of your essay. There is a larger history here that is relevant to your work.

Tamara Pires

3/25/2018 01:49:48 pm

Make up post for 21 march 2018 missed class

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