Blog Post 3

Q:What research have you started thus far for this project? In other words, have you already interviewed possible informants? If so, describe that interaction and what transpired. If you have not held any interviews, what questions will you ask when you do and why do you feel those questions are important? Have you already visited your cultural site? If so, describe some of your observations and what questions those observations might have raised. If you have not been to your cultural site, when do you intend on doing so and what new questions or expectations might you have after some of our in-class discussions and exercises? Have you attempted some basic "academic" research (i.e. Internet, books, periodicals, etc.)? And lastly, do you consider there to be a difference between "academic" and non-academic" research? List some examples.

A:I have mostly thus far reflected on myself as an insider on the meaning of a tattoo.

i feel important questions are:

1. How were you first introduced to tattooing? What sparked there interest and how they became an insider to this culture

2. Do your tattoos have meaning? it is important to me that my informant  tells me why they decided to get a tattoo rebellion? religious? remembrance? 

3. What do you feel are stereotypes that outsiders give people with tattoos? i want to know what other people inside and outside of the community feel towards people with tattoos

I intend on visiting many tattoo parlors and at the end of my collection of data i will document the act of getting a tattoo by re-visiting the tattoo parlor where i got my first tattoo and document the act of getting a tattoo. soon in the mean-time i am going to gather information from student around campus that have tattoos. I have done a little internet research when writing this rough draft. I believe academic research is more book, internet, newspaper etc. however non-academic research is getting out into the community, asking questions, and analyzing yourself and others.

Blog Post 2

So, remind the class what culture/subculture you have picked, then describe your possible fieldsite(s). If you’ve already been there, what sensory details can you remember? If you have not been there, what do you expect to find? In addition, discuss what you hope to learn about your particular culture/subculture by visiting a specific fieldsite(s). If you are already an insider, what new things do you hope to discover? If you are an outsider, are you looking to learn something specific about your chosen culture/subculture, or are you open to learn whatever you can?

For my subculture I am going to submerge myself into the art of tattooing. My main fieldsite would be a tattoo parlor but also I will be talking to a lot of students on campus. In a good tattoo parlor it is very clean, normally the walls are displayed with tattoos, artist work, piercings, and portfolios of the artist work. The noise of the tiny needles hitting human flesh is intimidating at first but is something you come accustomed to. As I sat in that chair not knowing what to expect from those needles dripping with black ink you remind yourself why you are doing this in the first place.  I will be entering the tattoo world  I hope to find the history and secret meanings and reasonings behind those who have been inked. At the end of my journey I will step into the chair again and remember what I am  there for.

In-Class

My subculture would be located in a tattoo parlor. I have a tattoo so knowing the expierience will help with my subjective position. Data that might influence how I see tattooing would be understanding why people get tattoos? Do people have meanings behing their tattoos?

In-Class

Source of data:
-Interviews with artist
-Books on new and old tattooing technology
Methods
-Interviews would be best with artist, people getting tattoos, people who approve, disapprove, the meaning of the tattoo(s)
Behaviors, patterns, rituals, rules
Behaviors
-keeping the place clean
Paterns
-doing similar looking tattoos (i.e. coexist)
Rituals
-the art of tattooing how to do it
Rules
-Store rules/ regulations keeping it sanitary/ Rules with-in the store between artists.

In-Class

Subcultures I belong to
-Smoker
-many behaviors of smokers is smoking in groups.
-rituals smoking every 1-2 hours/ chain smoking
-smoke in the smoking area.

As a smoker on Ball State campus you get to know a lot of people in the smoking community because you are confined to very few areas. Most smokers will smoke in groups of people. At the smoking area by my dorm we refer to our group of "smoker friends" as The DOSA which stands for Designated Outdoor Smoking Area. Most of the time we are on a simmilar schedual when it comes to smoking so you always have someone to smoke with. Since Ball State has a smoking ban we are confined to the locations they give us to smoke.
-Redhead
-behaviors include an attitude, saucy, loud
-we do call eachother gingers inside jokes
-we are located everywhere
-Art Student
-Does art
-Art and Journalism building
-go to class every mon wed fri
-rituals: long nights in the studio with friends all night stydying for art history

Blog post: 1

Question: Write about a paper (any paper) you have written in the past. What was your process when writing the paper? (Did you have music playing in the background, did you write the paper the night before, did you outline or just start writing, etc.) What “type” of paper was it? (Creative piece, research paper, lab report, book report, etc.?) What do you feel is the difference between editing and revising?

Response: When I write papers most often I will put on my favourite homework music (Billy Joel). It is upbeat but relaxing and really helps to motivate me. Music really helps me to get inspired, there is nothing inspiring to me if I am sitting in a silent room.I am an awful procrastinator therefore, most of my papers are written at last minute unless I am really passionate about my topic. My best paper though, was expanding on a shorter essay in my ENG103 class about "America, Right or Wrong". The subject I chose was the controversial topic of gay marriage, since this is an important subject to me I spent a lot of time on it rather than procrastinating. When preparing for the paper I knew it would be an argumentative essay and was given guidelines such as using factual, emotional, and moral reasons to back up my argument. Each of these reasons were backed up by many sources and personal opinion. The paper, I feel, was good representation of how I feel about the topic and will hopefully cause anyone that reads it to think more about the topic. I feel the the difference between editing and revising is that revising is a longer process and involves a lot of re-writing as where editing is making small little changes through out the paper.