Ethnography Reflection

 
    
     In wasn't hard to figure out what I wanted to show through my blog post. Since our topic was relationships, it was fairly easy to relate. Every time I watch a movie or hear a great song, its more than likely one of the main themes will be associated with love. But how songs and movies portray love is very different from the reality of things some times. Not every relationship is gonna go through a terrible tradegy and fall more madly in love because of it.

Most of the work I had for the project was the set up of scenes and then me just commenting on my research or sharing my thoughts on the topic.

     Revising was not so much changing my work, but adding and subtracting things. Like editing the video consisted of many scenes being cut and then adding others where needed.

     Working in the group with Farrah and Kelsey was very productive. We each had our own ideas and what we wanted our overall project to look like. How we organized the project helped give everyone an equal part and I don't think anyone felt like someone did more than the other. We worked well together.

Reflection: Location

This week, I chose to reflect on a "Writing into the Day" we did on location about two weeks ago. 

I really enjoyed the quote, "Location is a collage of geography, memory, and sentiment, welded together and burnished by art and ideology".

It talks about how culture is inversely directed to location.

I relate because I have a lot of experience moving around when I was younger which also made the cultures around me change as well. I am who I am because all of the experiences and memories I had/created in each place. With the holidays coming up, all I've been thinking about is being home. And then I thought where is my "home"? When people ask me where I'm from, I always answer New Jersey…That is where I was born and raised, but I've lived in North Carolina for almost three years now…so should here be considered my home?

Mini Biblography

For a photo I've taken, the citation will look like this:

     Kids Skateboarding in Courtyard, UNCC, 30 Oct. 2012. Personal Photograph by Stefanie Testa


An interview with fellow students will be cited like this:

     Doe, John. Personal Interview. 1 Nov. 2012


Sound recordings are cited using the artist's name and title of the piece.
Since we plan on recording multiple people, we can condense the recorded material and give it a collaborative title.

     People of the Courtyard. "Relationship sounds". 15 Nov 2012
   

Group Project

For the first part of this group project, our group met in the library to discuss our topic further. We narrowed it done to compare the relationships between people on and off campus.

These photos are from the U-Walk apartments and the courtyard shared between Sanford and Moore.

Today was a bad day to observe the courtyard. It must have been far too cold for the usual skateboards. Everyone was just passing through to get to warmth. In the U-Walk, however, we observed a couple holding hands, and Farrah's roommates cuddled on the couch. There was also some people playing volleyball and guy sitting on the porch listening to music.

Interviews are to come.

Mapping

For this mapping assignment, I chose to observe the activities that go on in the Sandford/Moore Courtyard. I live in Holshouser, but I am a regular visitor of the courtyard and during the times I have been there, I have witnessed many things. Those things include people just passing through, others skateboarding, some just sitting waiting for others or a ride, and many people smoke hookah at night. I'd say its a very interesting place. It's kinda of the center where most of  us freshman's socialize.

Even on not-so-nice days, you can always find someone out here.

Lyrics

I was not in class on Wednesday so I don't have much inspiration to reflect on something. Instead, I think I will analyze.

I need to listen to music when I am studying/doing homework. It is a necessity. Sometimes, I admit, I can caught up in what I'm listening to and have to sing along.

I have two different playlist. One for my happy moods, and another for those depressing rainy days.

But okay, this is the literacy part…I keep reading tweets how "when you are a happy, you enjoy the music, but when you're sad, you listen to the lyrics".  I agree.

The music on my happy playlist are all upbeat, fast songs with catchy, yet, vacant choruses. They make you feel good, but the song it self doesn't have any lyrical value. And that is why I love depressing songs…These "depressing" songs, at least the ones I listen to, have depth and meaning. They tell a story and give me something to relate to. So, whenever I'm feeling lonely or sad, I listen to that playlist, not to make me more "depressed", but because I know someone has been there, done that, and maybe I'm not so alone in how I'm feeling.

Does anyone relate?

Here's my playlist, just in case you were wondering :)

Midterm Reflection

     
   

   For our writing groups' "mission", we met at the Atkins Library at 10 am on Tuesday Morning.
The process began by finding a mentor text to use for the project, something that might help us in our literacy narratives. Other groups told us they searched in magazines and short stories, so our group decided on a different route: Newspapers.

    Next, each of us looked through many of the available papers and Kristen found an article about a Bicycling Culture that we thought we could use and relate to our narratives and the culture we use in our own papers.

   But, first we had to photo copy the said article….which was difficult because we didn't know how to work the machine. Eventually someone helped us and we got it to work though…Luckily.

   Our next step was to read and analyze the article. We each took the time to read it individually and write down our thoughts. "Writing besides the text" wasn't has hard as we thought. I think we all had a lot to comment on from the piece and how it related to our own writing. See we always view culture as a place, where a person is from, but this article proved culture is more about what you do.