Final Portfolio Link

http://mitchelsylvester.weebly.com/

Final Week of Class!

As we wrap up our semester for my writing 102 class I am finishing up my ethnography project. It has been really interesting to see it all come together and learn how to make it flow as an entire paper. I am really hoping to get it all done by the weekend. This week we looked over final websites. Mine is the same basic principle as the first half of the semesters website, I just added new pages for the new information I did this half of the semester. I am really excited to finish up school and relax. This week has been pretty stressful and I'm glad its done with. Hopefully I didn't forget to do anything. 

            Planet Fitness was a really interesting site and I'm glad I chose it. It really has some fascinating people that go in there and it is a very low-stressed relaxed environment. This is to me the conclusion I came up with. That Planet Fitness is the place to go if you want to workout but not worry about how much exercising you're actually doing. You just go there for whatever reason you want and don't have to worry about the other people around you because most of them are there for the same reason.

Final Ethnography Project

This week we were discussing our final step to our ethnography project.  We read our professors final draft back when she did this very project. It helped me to see what I should include in mine and how to shape it to fit the goal of the entire assignment. I am excited to see how it turns out and to take on with me the ways to research something and write a first hand experience from it.

Interview readings from class this week.

The readings this week got me to thinking about the interview portion of our project. I'm actually going to have to make myself visible to the people at Planet Fitness and ask them questions. The readings really helped show me what questions I should ask and even different types of questions. I never thought of asking questions as being open or closed. I always just thought of them as well questions in general and just talking. Not only do we have to ask questions but also actively participate in the conversation and listen! This is something I struggle with because I have a really short attention span, so bringing this to my attention will help try to focus more because its important that I do. Paul Russ' project really showed a good example of how to hold a good interview and is what I want my interviews to be like. On a side note I was also interested on how people are surviving with AIDS which is what Paul wrote about.  And as for the last reading by Jennette Edwards was really interesting to read and how to get a history of someone orally. I am looking  forward to starting the interview portion of my project.

Bowling interview

this week we had to read our professors paper on her interviewing people at her site when she did this project when she was younger. I found it very interesting the way it was written because it was so informal and yet not at the same time. You felt like you were there with all the description in it. It was informal on the count that it was referring to everyone by first name and had her own thoughts. Yet, I couldn't help but think it formal because of how well written it was and descriptive. With that said I am looking forward to doing my interviews at my observation site and getting to know the background to planet fitness much like my professor got to know of the bowling alley.

This week we also did class presentations and mine didn't go so well most likely because instead of working on it in class I was trying to upload this video onto youtube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54zpqtLtyc its pretty cool but didn't help my grade at all.

18 March 2011 Group Presentation

For our group, named the Gamecocks,
Jimmy is in charge of quotes and paraphrasing.
Josh is responsible for dealing with plagiarism.
Nick is doing different types of sources and where to find them.
And i am in charge of incorporating sources into the paper.
After getting all the separate things together we will make a slide show of them and present our separate topics.

my portfolio link.

http://mitchelsylvester.weebly.com/

15 Minute Observation

For this blog I had to observe a place that wasn't my site so I can practice taking notes. So I chose to observe my work for 15 minutes during my break. The first 5 minutes every worker was pretty sad looking because my manager was still their telling them to do meaningless things just to keep them busy. But finally she left and everyones mood seemed to turn from angry and sad to happy and relieved. Everyone clearly does not like the manager. For the rest of my break I observed all the employees laughing with each other as well as the customers going through line. The mood completely changed just because one person left.  My work becomes a completely different place when the managers leave. As far as the background to the store and the background its located in Taunton and is the original store of the Trucchis chain. I mostly observed the two employees outside who were on carriage detail. They goofed off a lot but still did their job and helped people with their groceries and brought the carriages back into the store. Then some lady came out yelling at her children because they were running around in the parking lot and I myself couldn't help but laugh. Working in a grocery store you see parents and children all the time and this was no different. Her parenting skills weren't the best I've seen. Children tend not to respond well to you swearing at them. After watching the parking lot for a while I came inside to go clock back in and go to work.  I wrote all of my notes in my phone so they thought I was texting and told me to put my phone away.

Looking at what I noticed during this fifteen minute interval was really interesting. I never usually pay attention to what goes on at my work because I'm usually just keeping the time in my head until I can leave. But by doing this it really helped me see what I should be looking for during this project. Not only the scenery but the people's interactions as well. I am looking forward to see what goes on at my actual observation site and this helped me.

Slide, Roll, Slam!

One of this weeks readings was a paper written by my professor back when she did the very same project im doing now. She went into great detail of what the bowling alley looked like and really gave me a sense that I was there. Going into this much detail really helped me to know what she was talking about. This really will help me to prepare for what I should look for when I observe my location.

     The bowling alley she described in this paper is very similar to the one in the city I live in.  Its kind of run down and none of the seats match, but the lanes are smooth shiny and are the only thing your eyes are drawn to. This was a good paper and served its purpose.

My Ethnography Site

For my site i chose to do the local planet fitness gym in my home town.  I already know some people that go there and the layout. There is a lot of cardio machines there and I'm sure the people that are on them spy on the other gym members. It will be interesting to see what people do while they are running. I also know that just because the slogan for planet fitness is the judgement free zone, its anything but that. People will always judge others by the way they look and theres no better place then at a gym to do that.

  There are some things I will be excited to learn about while observing this place. Are there regulars who attend?  Is the gym just like an adult version of high school as far as cliques and outcasts? Is everyone there already in shape? I am genuinely intrigued to find out about who goes to this gym and how much working out actually goes on.

Friday Night at Iowa 80

This reading tells about all that goes on at a rest stop in iowa and is an example of what we'll be doing this semester. I enjoyed reading about all that went on and what Rick observed at this rest stop.  This was one of the biggest rest stops I have ever heard of. It has a game room, restaurant and movie theater. This reading got me thinking of what I should do my ethnographic study on. I'm thinking of doing it on the planet fitness in my city back home. Not only will it be interesting to see what goes on there but maybe it will get me to stop being so lazy and actually go to the gym.