Final Portfolio!

http://carolinehorne.weebly.com/

Last Blog of Writing 2

While I am writing this blog I have been thinking of the past semester and how much fun I have had. I have learned so much and will truly miss it. Back to this ethnography stuff though. Throughout this process of observing and interviewing the ninety nine I have come to the conclusion that at this Ninety Nine it does not matter that it is not run by a family because it truely feels like it is by how warm and welcoming the staff is. After observing I realized that the type of people that go there are the ones that enjoy the family atmosphere. Whether it is spending a birthday with a great friend or a loved one it really does make you have a great feeling of belonging. I am very glad I chose this topic because it really did open my eyes to the fact that a restaurant can be a chain restaurant but still have the exact same feel as a family run restaurant!

Blog Post 4/15/2011

Throughout reading the final bowling essay it really got me thinking about how I am going to put together an entire essay on my ethnography site. By using the different subtitles I thought it really spaced out the essay but in an easy to read fashion. I thought it was also interesting to see how adding more descriptions it truly does make the essay look better. I thought the first paragraph was really well written in the way that it gave the background information on the sport and how many people do it and what the reader should expect while reading it. I also thought that the very creative subtitles was a very good idea and that I need to think of ones that will make the reader want to sit down and read an essay that is 17 pages long.

Interview Process!

Throughout this reading the topic discussed is the interview process. One main thing that one should do while conducting an interview is asking open questions. Asking open questions is a good idea because many times it is so open ended so the person being interviewed can respond in many different ways.Some examples you could use while conducting an interview are saying things such as tell me more about the time when, Describe the first time you,and describe a typical day in your life. As well as asking good questions you should also be able to listen to what the people are saying. This will be very helpful while doing research on a specific topic!

Throughout this reading I have noticed how much detail truly goes into an ethnography project. By reading the in depth interviews I got a real feel for how the people were feeling about the interviewer asking questions. It was really interesting to learn about how long some of these women have been bowling in a league setting. For example, I found reading the interview with Patty the most interesting because she really has just done it for the fun of the game and not for the competitive nature. She also says that she has been doing it for 53 years but never at the same bowling alley due to the fact that many alleys have been shut down. This really got me thinking about my local bowling alleys, eventhough I have not been bowling in years I have always had a very fun time doing it. But if there ever came a point where bowling alleys were not in existance anymore I am not sure how I would feel about this happening. Because as the essay states a bowling alley is really a place for families to get together and enjoy the company of their own family and friends around the area.

Midterm Portfolio.

http://carolinehorne.weebly.com/index.html

Yay! It is finally done!

Bowling Stones

Throughout this essay called, " Lay of the Land" the reader learns a lot about this bowling alley the author  grew up going to. It is now years later and she is back observing the place she used to call home on Saturday nights. She learns a lot about the alley at this time,what types of food there is, the people in the bowling leagues, how much the individual rates cost and a lot of other things. I believe what I found most interesting was when the author talked about the individual people using t-shirt sayings and colors to indentify who the people were.I also found it interesting to learn how just from observing you truly do get a feel for someone's life.It is also nice to see that the people working there are genuinely nice and want to do whatever they can to help this girl with her project.I believe that this essay was a great help for me so that now I can started on my own.

The Bridgewater Childrens Center

Throughout the years I have always wanted to observe a preschool. Coming from a family where education is a big part of my life I have always wanted to see what happens that creates a spark in little kids to make them strive to learning more everyday. I am interested in the Bridgewater Childrens Center because it seems like a great place for both the students of the preschool and the students at Bridgewater State University wanting to teach that age group. I also know that it is part of Burnell Hall and that it is a full operating preschool.

     Other things I would like to know is how much the students in the Early Childhood Education get to interact with the kids. Also I would like to know the type of kids that go there. Are they faculty's kids or are they kids from the local towns? http://www.bridgew.edu/childrenscenter/

Start of Semester 2

My first blog post for semester 2 is the Iowa 80 blog post!

Iowa 80 Blog

The essay Iowa 80 talks about how a man that researches a truck stop. It is written in a way that lets the reader know and understand the stories of what truck drivers are going through between the pay they recieve. By observing and listening to what the truckers had to say the author gained a real respect for these people. Also it was a good example of an ethnographic situation and really helped me realize what I needed to do for our first project!