Cultural Artifact

The artifact I am choosing for my culture is The Contributer newspaper because it is obviously the biggest part of the Contributor and the tool to help bring the homeless out of their current situation into a better, more secure and profitable life. I am interested to see how this newspaper, these few, simple pages of paper can make such a large difference in someone's life by giving them the opportunity to better their life financially and also give them a more respectable standing in society. 

I have noticed that people tend to relate much more to the homeless when they see them working hard to sell the paper than they do when they see them holding up a sign that says "homeless." It is amazing how by merely changing what they are holding in their hands, they go from pitied and ignored, to respected and helped. I think this newspaper symbolizes the change the Contributer has had on the life of the homeless, and represents a symbol of opportunity and hope for those who have been hopeless for so long. 

Symposium Reflection: Maya Angelou

"A rainbow in the clouds." This phrased, used to start out Maya Angelou's speech, was a reoccuring theme used throughout, that stuck my head and replayed itself for days after the event. I loved the uplifiting image this idea provoked, and thought it was the perfect description for a wonderful lady like Mrs. Angelou. I really enjoyed listening to her speak and all the wisdom and advice she gave to her audience. Some of my favorite points were her comments about values and the importance of courage as a means to achieve all other values. The importance she placed on "courage" as a value revealed the role it has played in her life as a necessary quality to enable her to persevere and achieve despite everything she has been through starting with being raped at the young age of seven. Despite this, and other personal tragedies in her life, Mrs. Angelous has overcome and persevered with courage as her constant companion. I loved hearing her share personal stories, including many tales that ultimately led to poems. I also enjoyed hearing her read and recite poetry; some she read from books while others she recited from memory, which is such a treat a world filled with computers, phones and technology that often quench our need and desire for memorizing literary language. I was amazed by her depth of knowledge laced with an effortless humor, and a willingness to poke fun at herself and others. Overall, it was an incredible, once in a lifetime experience I will never forget.

For the week of September 12-16: Study very informally and very briefly a culture immediate to you. Use whatever means you want to gather and record information. This culture might be your family, dorm floor, cohort, etc. Or it might be the same culture that you used to practice taking field notes. On your blog, write a micro-ethnographic account about your chosen culture. Focus carefully on one small part that seems important. Some parts/categories you might consider are things like dress, unique language, habits, etc.

The culture I studied was my group of friends and their style of dress. I observed my friends at various instances throughout the week and noticed a distict change in their outfits depending on their moods and environment. I realized how often people change their outward appearance depending on where they are and what type of image they want to portray. Not only did I notice this amongst my group of friends, but I also noticed that I do this myself.

For instance, my girlfriend Jenny, who normally quite trendy, but still fairly classic in her style, ranged from instances of wearing running shorts and her dad's oversized shirt for an early-morning breakfast, to wearing a lacy patterned short dress and heels for her birthday dinner. While eating an early morning breakfast or hanging out in the student-life center brought out a more casual, college-student look, going out for dinner brought out a completely different look that was a more alternative, trendy, look paired with funky jewelry and dark makeup. If I had met her in the first outfit, judging on looks alone, I would have thought she had a totally different personality than if I had met her in the second outfit. However, interestingly enough, her changes in style had nothing to do with her actual personality. She remained consistently true to her personality despite drastic shifts in appearance.

Another case would be my friend Parker. While Parker is normally decked out in anything preppy, ranging from polo shirts, to khaki's, to visors and croakies, he can alternately be found wearing Wrangler jeans, a plaid shirt and cowboy boots depending on where he is and what he is doing. While in his every day life he chooses the preppy look, for performances, shows or business meeting that require him to slip into his "songwriter/artist personality", he must immediately shift gears to a more rustic, country look. While he is still the same guy, situations can completely change his outward appearance. A third look is his completely casual look which he adorns only when excercising, sleeping, or hanging out at his house. For example, while hanging out at his house and having dinner, he was dressed in khaki shorts and a blue polo; a standard outfit for his everyday life. However, when he had a band rehearsal on Wednesday night, he dressed in the "artist" outfit, complete with Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots.

I've also noticed that I am similar to both Parker in Jenny in that different circumstances can cause me to dress like totally different people. I think my outfits can also depend on what type of mood I am in. For example, after staying up late and waking up early to study for an exam, I decided to wear running shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt to school instead of my usual attire (which is generally more business casual). On Thursday I dressed in business casual attire for classes and work and then actually brought a change of clothes for a music business event that night, knowing the event called for a completely different look. the second look was a flowery dress and sweater that was more fun and fancy than the inital look.

Overall, it was interesting to observe the differences in dress among friends depending on various situations. It led me to wonder, do they wear these outfits because of the differing expectations of society, or to express various personalities inside of them? I would be interested to follow this up with additional investigations and interviews.

Field Notes

• For week of September 7-9 (online) or for September 14 (9 am & 11 am sections): Post up a picture of your practice field notes, and on your blog, write up a response to each of the three questions on page 106: 
• What surprised me? I initially thought it would be better to go to a more populated area where there were a lot of people to observe, but after sitting down and starting to write, I discovered that recording what I saw was much harder than I thought it was going to be. There was so much to observe and record that it was hard to keep up with it all, so I realized it is probably better to have a smaller subject to observe.
• What intrigued me? I was intrigued by the various conversations that were going on. By nature, I am very curious and always love to watch and learn from other people, so this was the perfect opportunity to fully embrace that. 
• What disturbed me? I wasn't particularly disturbed by anything! The only thing I was disturbed by was how creepy I was starting to feel after eavesdropping for so long!

Literary Discourse Project

For my literary discourse project I would love to do something to incorporate the homeless population in Nashville. Having a mom who started a non-profit for homeless youth in California has inspired me to reach out to the homeless in Nashville, and not only find out what their needs are and how they can be helped most beneficially, but also find out their life stories; who they are and where they come from. I have already initiated relationships with many of the Contributer sellers and would love to find a way to further my research into this area through the project.

Subcultures

To what subcultures do you belong?

I belong to a couple of different subcultures including "college students", "musicians/performers", "young women", "Christians," "family member," "friend,", "girlfriend," and "member of society working for the greater good of mankind."

What subcultures fascinate you?

I find a lot of subcutlures to be quite fascinating. It is intersting to take time to analyze different subcultures and the study the similarites and/or differences in the way people act, look, talk, and think. I am very interested in the "young women" subculture as I think women and girl's are extremely complex and I would love to learn more about how and why we do what we do, and how we gain a sense of community by identifying with this subculture.