WEEK 15

I think that one of the things that I have really improved on in the last fifteen weeks would be not being as wordy as I was when I was coming into the course. I still have work to do in this area, but I feel that it has really progressed. However, I still seem to have trouble with the beginning of papers. I continues to be a problem for me to start papers out and how to organize all of the things that I want to go into the final draft. i feel that there is too much information from all of the sources to easily pull together what is needed, and what is not necessary for the paper. When I write papers, I tend to make them very lengthy, and include information in them that is not crucial to the point that I am trying to make.

I feel that one of the things that would help for the class to run more successfully next semester would be to assign less reading assignments. I hate saying it, but most of the students don't really read them completely, and then the majority of the class period the next day is spent in group discussions but no one has really read the assignment. I do not think that any of the assignments need reworked. I felt as though they were all explained well. I do feel like it would have helped my grade if we did have a conference for every paper. For the papers that we did have conferences for, I felt that I had a better written final draft than the others because I felt that it was better explained to me.

WEEK 4

As of now, I can not really make any general conclusions about my subculture. i do feel as though the subculture that I have been observing is specific to the community that the subculture is apart of. I do not feel as though it would be the same entirely if it was in a different community. This is because if the All-Girl Ball State cheerleaders were not apart of the Ball State, then they would not be the same group of cheerleaders. You can't be the Ball State Cheerleaders without being a part of the university.

Also, where Ball State University is located in the United States may have an impact on what I observe. This is because in the north part of the United States, cheerleading is less intense than it is in southern states such as Alabama, Georgia, and Kentucky.

WEEK 2

The culture that I have picked is the All-Girl Ball State Cheerleaders. The possible fieldsites for the subculture are the places where cheerleaders or typically found; practices, games, competitions, and other various events. 

The sensory details that I remember after visiting one of the fieldsites were some that I knew that I would find, partly because I am an active member of this subculture. At practice, there was was chatting amongst the girls before the coach arrived to start practice. The cheerleaders seemed to be working really hard and were getting a lot done. 

Because I am a member of this subculture, there is not that much that I can really learn from observing. However, I may notice things that I have not noticed previously that may be new knowledge to me. The things that I hope to discover because I am already an insider are more things that I will likely find when doing my research. I hope to learn more about the injuries that may be a result because of cheerleading and also I would like to learn a little bit of the history behind cheerleading.

WEEK 10 - Posting 10

The structure that I plan and using for my mini-ethnography is that I am going to incorporate the things that I have observed while conducting my research, with the sources that I have gathered from the internet, interviews, books, and journals. I feel that if i do this, it will be much simpler for the audience to connect what the Ball State Cheerleaders are doing. This is because if I incorporate the sources that I have found, then some of the terms that use to describe what the cheerleaders are doing won't sound so foreign.

I plan to being my mini-ethnography with describing how to become a Ball State Cheerleader in the first place. This is because since it is the start of my paper, I think that it would be appropriate to begin with the start of the season for the team. I may also talk about my placement with the subculture and how I personally became a member of the team. I may also include why I chose to choose this particular subculture. I really want the readers to be informed that cheerleading is a sport and deserves to be treated like one. 

Like I stated in the last paragraph, I think that this structure will help me to organize what I am trying to say and assist me in building up to my main goal, which is to educate the audience on what the Ball State cheerleaders are all about and the fact that cheerleading is sport.

WEEK 14 - Posting 14

My favorite piece of data for this project has definitely been some of the sources that I have found on the internet. Because I am already a cheerleader, the observations that I made did not take me by surprise, just for the fact of that I already knew what I was going to be expecting. But with some of the internet sources, I seemed to find a lot of things that I did not know about cheerleading previously to research. 

One of the things that stuck out to me that I learned was how the sport of cheerleading began. I found this particular thing highly interesting because I was surprised to learn that men, instead of women, were actually the first ones to start what is now known as cheerleading. Women did over-populate the cheerleading population until men were forced to fight in World War I, and the tradition of women being the dominate sex in cheerleading has continued ever since. 

Another thing that I found interesting that I did not know before researching this subculture was that the majority of people actually do think that cheerleading should be classified as a sport. A poll taken at about.com, proves that a large portion of the voters, surprisingly more than half, felt as though cheerleading does not get the recognition that it deserves.

After cheering for ten years, it amazes me that there are still things that I do not know about the sport, and am still learning. The internet and my other sources during this research has really broadened my knowledge as far as cheerleading concerns.

Week 13 - Posting 13

One of the observations that I made about the All-Girl Ball State cheerleaders was at one of the girl's basketball games. The cheerleaders had to arrive at the game approximately an hour before game time and they met in the southeast corner of Worthern Arena. All of the enthusiastic cheerleaders sat on the cold, wooden basketball court, dressed in white uniforms with red and black stripes along the bottom of the skirt and the neck line of their shell tops, patiently stretching before warming up their skills for the upcoming game. When the coach arrived, all of the Ball State cheerleaders, all with their hair pulled back in pony tails tied with matching red bows, got up and went straight to their stunt groups. Each individual stunt group put up all of the various stunts that were needed to be practiced before the start of the game. When they were all finished warming up with the partner stunts, all of the 27 cheerleaders got together and began to warm up the large pyramids that were going to be preformed during the different time outs of the basketball game. The first few attempts at most of the pyramids fell, and the girls were forced to put the pyramid up again. After all of the stunts and pyramids were successfully put up, the talented cheerleaders all went to various spaces on the hard, gym floor, and warmed up the gymnastics that they needed to do during the game. Backhand springs, back tucks, standing backhand spring tucks, round off tucks, and round off backhand spring tucks were the most popular gymnastics tricks that this group of cheerleaders chose to warm up. 

After everything was warmed up, all of the cheerleaders headed straight to the  locker room that they shared with the Code Red dance team, located at the other end of the arena. In the locker room, I was not surprised at all at what I found. There were girls everywhere fighting to get towards the mirror to get their finishing touches before finally heading out for game time. Red lipstick was being passed around from girl to girl as hair spray fumes filled the crowded locker room. Girls everywhere were gossiping about the weekend and about how stressed out they were with classes and homework. As time went on, girls began to leave the locker room and head out into the arena to cheer on the Ball State Cardinals. 

The band was playing music as the girls jumped up and down yelling cheers to get the crowd into the spirit of the game! At tip off, the cheerleaders began to do what they were there for. They began cheering for their team in hopes for a win. All different kinds of chants were yelled form the girls.

At the end of the game, the Ball State cheerleaders ran out in the middle of the court for the final time of the night to lead the crowd in the fight song. 

4-14-09

MY LIFE:
My life seems to take unpredictable turns

MY SUBCULTURE:
Cheerleaders always smile and are enthusiastic.

Week 12-Posting 12

My understanding of the word "rhetoric" is using language in a way to persuade. I feel as though rhetoric can be used to describe our appearance, the way that we dress, the thing that we say and how we say them, and also the way that we act. These things all describe it because certain things can be appealing and used to persuade people like the way that we look. In society, I hear the word rhetoric when people that are in power such as they president are being described. It could be used in both a negative and a positive way depending on the way that the word and what context is being used. I do think that there might be a rhetoric that is associated with my subculture. I think that the way that the cheerleaders act their appearance could be a good rhetoric to persuade the audience that cheerleading is indeed a sport.I might use this by explaining that the way that cheerleaders act the way that they do because they work really hard and they dress in the way that they do because their attire makes it easier for them to perform the moves that are necessary for their sport. 

Good writing is one of those things that cannot come without a lot of hard work and practice.

Without practicing and spending time on a writing piece, it is very unlikely that you will end up with a good final product. Writing takes time, patience and practice and you must be willing to put all these things into writing to be good at it.

Week 11 - Posting 11

Looking back on my posting that I made in week 1, I have noticed that there are few changes that I have made with my writing process. In that posting, I wrote how on that paper, I procrastinated a great deal and found myself putting in information that was unnecessary to the final product. However, after being enrolled in this course, I feel as though I am spending more time on my writing and not cramming to do the papers the night before they are due, even in the case that it is merely a rough draft. I have also learned to cut out unneeded material. This course has also taught me to be less wordy and go straight to the point and elaborating on only what is essential. Previously, I would add words and phrases into my writing without realizing, which made my writing very wordy and unnecessarily long.

The only assignment that has seemed to give me any trouble thus far has been the annotated bibliography. The annotations themselves did not seem to cause me with any difficulty, but finding enough sources proved to be fairly difficult. With all of the sources that are available on the internet, it was hard to find sites that were creditable enough to use. Most of the sites that I found had to do with specific college cheerleading teams and that would not provide me with any use. There are also not very many books available that supply me with information that would be useful for my fieldworking.

The first writing assignment that we were given I found very easy to write. I easily was able to make my point clear. I also thought that the assignment was very simple because I am a member of the subculture that I am researching. I felt that this made the writing process a lot easier because I was able to give more information that other people would not know if they were not involved in that subculture.

One of the main reasons that I write is to express myself that way that I feel is not possible with speaking. It is also easier to get thoughts down on paper. I personally do not keep any kind of diary or journal to channel my thoughts in, but I know many people who do this and they feel that it really helps them to get their thought together. In my life personally, writing plays the biggest part for me in the school setting. Writing notes and papers is a very big part of college. Without acquiring good writing skills, college would be very difficult to get through. 

Being an elementary education major, writing is going to be a very big part of my career when I am older. I will need to use writing to create lesson plans, and to help teach my students. In my family life, writing will be necessary in helping my children with homework. Writing will even play very minor roles in my life with things such as grocery lists and event invitations. Writing will always play a very large role in my life no matter where I end up going in life. No matter where the road takes me, writing is something that is nearly impossible to get away from.

On my dad's side of the family, one of my aunts always seems to cause family drama. Her name is Jane. At every holiday get-together, she always makes a scene and says that she is not going to come because no one wants her there. This causes my dad to always have to leave the family gathering and pick her up at the other side of town and literally almost have to drag her into the car. When she gets there, she constantly talks about her ex-husband that divorced her 13 years ago and complains about how poorly he treated her and how he was such a bad person. To top that little part off, she still lives in the house that they bought together when they got married.

I remember this one time when I was in elementary school, my parents were not home and I had a few girlfriends over to spend the night. Aunt Jane called and asked to talk to my mom and after I told her that she wasn't home, she started talking to me, knowing that I had company, and she would not stop. This phone conversation, that was completely one-sided because I could not seem to get a word in, lasted for a complete half hour. After the half hour mark, I couldn't take it anymore and said, "I'm sorry Aunt Jane but I have to go," and I hung up before she could say anything. I know it was rude but I couldn't listen to another word about how terrible her life is and memories about her and my 'ex-uncle.' However, after she realized that I was no longer on the line, she called back and told me that her phone must have disconnected her.

Aunt Jane always seems to cause some kind of uproar with our family and is the butt of the family jokes. We don't do this to be mean to her and she knows that we are just joking when we are making fun of her because deep down, she knows that she overreacts and dwells on everything.

In Class Blog: Tuesday, March 24th, 2009 (Glossary of Words)

Glossary of Words for my subculture

- Bring it on: a large pyramid involving the whole team with two liberties in the back at an extension level that are hitched on to two groups in the front. The flyers in the front on attached to a middle group that stands in an elevator and their legs are shaped in the form of an upside down L.

- Liberty: a stunt requiring 4 people, 3 on bottom and one on top, that holds the top girl on one foot and the top girl places the side of her foot to the side of her knee to form the shape of a triangle

Documentray American Tongues

1.I would not that much different than the interviewer did with the research. However, I would ask a varying about of people what they thought about the way that the talked.
2. The flaws with the studies are that the majority of the people that were interviewed were underclass. I feel that the middle and upperclass were under-represented and the underclass what over represented. I would make the study more appealing to the audience by adding more variation.
3. I think that it is very important on how we percieve people. When we talk, it reveals where we come from and the style in which they live.

Week 9 - Posting 9

The hardest thing about my research thus far is gathering enough information that can be useful to my project. There is not a large selection of books and internet sites that would fit into my research. A lot of the information that I am finding has to do with specific university's cheerleading squads. This would not fit well in my research because I am focusing on Ball State's all-girl cheerleading program. The easiest part of my research has been conducting the interviews and interpreting what is going on at the events. If I could start this research over again, I would have spent more time on finding books. I feel that books allow you to have more information than internet sites. The information found in books is also much more creditable. Keeping a blog has helped me to document my progression in my mini-ethnography. It also helps to keep everything organized. I think that keeping a blog will help me to pull everything together when I have completed my fieldworking.

In Class Blog: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

My reader will care about this subculture because they will want to know the truth about cheerleading. They will want to know what goes on with the Ball State cheerleaders and will be curious as to why I am trying to persuade the audience that they are a real sport.

My readers would want to know all of the details that are involved in this subculture. this is because details are very important to being able to understand what is going on in the subculture. for instance, they would wnat to know things as what a standing tuck is in my subculture and how a liberty is performed. They would also want to know how a practice is organized.

They want to know about this subculture because they want to have a better understanding on what cheerleading really is. They want to be informed on what the Ball State cheerleaders do at any given game, and they want to know other things that fall across those lines.

I want them to learn all the specifics about cheerleading as a sport and not as a club. I also want them to learn about what the Ball State Cheerleaders do when they are at practice. This will prove to the audience that cheerleading is much more than a "club" and it requires as much hard work as football or basketball would require.

I am trying to persuade my readers that cheerleading is a sport. However, I do not think that they will be easily persuaded because the media feeds to the general public that cheerleading is not a real sport. This may cause them to form a bias about the sport and it is usually hard to change someone's mind when they already have their mind made up.

They will use it to know how cheerleading really is as a sport.

WEEK 8

The main theme that I see that is present in my research is that I am emphasizing the intensity of Ball State cheerleading. Most of my research consists of sources that cover the physical fitness that is needed for cheerleading and the recommended nutrition that you should have to remain healthy while being a part of a cheerleading squad. The other main theme that I see in my research is that I am really trying to get the point across that cheerleading really is a sport. After visiting my fieldsite, I see that this theme is strongly stringed through it. 

Eight weeks into this project, I am just as strongly a member in this subculture as I was at the beginning considering that I am a member of the cheerleading squad. However, I do feel that I notice things and see things more clearly since I was paying attention to things that I would otherwise not notice if I was not to be doing this project. The thing that has changed the most is that I have gotten to know what some of the cheerleaders thoughts on are how the program is ran and how they feel about the 'sport' in general. I feel that I now have a better grasp on what the Ball State University cheerleading program is about now that I am more deeply informed about the program.

WEEK 7

After conducting my fieldwork, I feel as though I can offer a lot to this subculture. The main thing that I feel that I can do for the All-girl Cheerleading Squad at Ball State is that I would like people to know about all the hard-work and commitment that the team members give. I feel as though this will really help them get the recognition that they have so rightfully earned and to no longer be rejected by the word, "sport." Something that the cheerleaders at Ball State can give back to the community is hope that the BSU Cardinals can give a game and provide the right amount of enthusiasm and entertainment that is needed to keep the fans and players of the basketball team and the football team. My contribution, as being a member of the team, is to provide these teams and fans with all of the above. Without cheerleaders, the sporting events tend to lack school spirit. This is no way could ever help a team towards a win and having a peppy group of girls in front of a crowd really helps with the atmosphere.

SURVEY!

http://FreeOnlineSurveys.com/rendersurvey.asp?sid=pix71ypxvg97aq3550097

Taking another look at my subculture.

My first impression on my subculture was very different from what I expected it to be. Because I am an insider to my subculture, I got my first taste of it when the cheerleading season first began. My initial thought of my subculture was that it was going to be a lot easier than the team that I was on in high school, which is correct, but I thought that it was also going to be very demanding and difficult. While there are difficult and demanding aspects to Ball State Cheerleading, it is not nearly what  I expected. Because before I came to Ball State, my high school team and all-star team focused on competitions rather than games, which is obviously going to require the team to be more advanced and to have skills perfected and mastered. At Ball State, the focus is on games because that is what cheerleaders original purpose was meant to be. At first, this made me downgrade the team that I was a new member of, but I quickly learned that just because the BSU team does not have the skills that I am accustomed to, that does not make them work any less hard. It is just a different focus.

I feel as though I really belong in this new space. I originally felt intimidated by the older members of the group, which caused me to hold back on some of my skills. However, as time went on, I began to feel more and more like an insider. I realized that new people and environments take time to get used to.

I know that I am an insider of this group just as much as any other member to the squad. This is because I did the same try-out as everyone else and had to preform the same skills. However, I do not have as much as a say in things and know less about the subculture than the older girls that have been members of the team for a longer amount of time. This can cause me to be somewhat of an outsider because my knowledge of the subculture is not as extensive. 

WEEK 6 Posting

Cheerleading Injuries. The World of Sports Science. 18 Feb. 2009 

http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Ce-Do/Cheerleading-Injuries.html

In this article, it discusses the risks that cheerleading can put on one's body. It explains that while cheerleading may not have the highest level of injuries to other sports, but when a cheerleader is injured, the damage is usually severe. Due to the trend of cheerleading being all year round, there are no breaks for a participant's body parts to recover. Also, in many elementary schools and high schools, there are not adequate training facilities available for the cheerleaders to train on during their short pre-season. The most common areas of the body that are injured on a cheerleading include the wrists, ankles, feet, knees, and back. These injuries can be caused because the cheerleader is still at too young of an age to develop the endurance, strength, and flexibility that is needed for this sport. Injuries may also occur for the impact that gymnastics has on the body. Another reason injury occurs so often if from falling from a pyramid or partner stunt of having a poor dismount from the air.

I can use this article in many different ways for my mini-ethnography. It can be best used to prove the point that cheerleading requires practice and that a participate needs to be following a number of different rules and precautions in order to be safe. This article will also be useful in the sense that it will make people realize that cheerleaders must use the proper techniques and not attempt a skill that has not yet been perfected without a qualified spotter who can assist them. 

Nutrition for Cheerleading, Part 2. 5 Nov. 2005. HyperStrike. 18 Feb. 2009

http://www.hyperstrike.com/Nutrition-For-Cheerleading-Part-2-Article-41.aspx

In this source, it talks about the importance of nutrition and diet that cheerleaders, much like any other athlete needs to have. It provides the viewers with and "in-season training diet," what a pre-competition meal should consist of, the diet that a cheerleader should have during a competition or at a game, and also a recovery meal plan. For the in-training diet, the article states that it is important to have plenty of protein and good fats. The protein is essential for muscle repair and also an energy source. For the pre-competition diet, it is important for the cheerleader to consume food that will help maintain focus and endurance. It is also important that the cheerleader does not eat foods that could potentially make him or her sick during the competition and wear their meal on their uniform. In order to do this, the source claims thats it is best to eat low-glycemic foods which helps sustain blood-sugar levels, keep protein and fat intake to a minimum because they slow down digestion, the avoidance of bulky foods, and gas-forming food such as cabbage and dry beans. During a competition, it is important to stay hydrated, and glycogen depletion. The recovery meal is best to be consumed as a liquid. This is because it enables recovery to occur more quickly. It also allows you to eat for a variety of whole-foods between. Returning to the training diet is recommended after competitions. The article also discusses the negative effects that alcohol has on the performance of a cheerleader.

I will be able to use this source to inform the readers about what kind of diet if ideal for cheerleaders. It will allow people to be aware of the strenuous diet that cheerleaders need to endure in able to keep their bodies healthy. 

BOX 18

As I walked into Worthern Arena for a Ball State All-Girl Cheerleading practice, all the girls were scattered around conversing on the east side of the large arena. It was 6:55 p.m. and all of the cheerleaders were stretching before their coach, Rhea, arrived at 7 p.m. to begin practice. The second that Rhea walked into the gym, all of the cheerleading got up and began running laps before going to the free throw line to preform standing tucks. Many of the girls had their tucks without a spot, but a few required someone to stand there and lend a hand for them in order to make a solid landing. After all the standing tucks were thrown and the girls were winded, it was time to do running tumbling across the basketball floor. Most of the cheerleading did multiple back handsprings, 8 being at the most, before stopping.

After the Ball State cheerleaders were done practicing their tumbling, it was time for them to go over the material that they were going to preform for the crowd during the next girl's basketball game. The things that they practiced mostly involved drilling their pyramids and partner stunts. During this part of the practice, I could sense that a lot of the cheerleaders were growing frustrated. This was because some of the partner stunts that Rhea was asking them to throw were dangerous to throw on the wooden basketball floor without a mat. A few times, a whole stunt group fell to the ground. However, the flyer was always on top of all the other group members, so at least the flyer's bases were doing their job in the sense that they were keeping the flyer from hitting the ground.

At the end of practice, all of the cheerleaders gathered in a group where Rhea told them announcements about the upcoming game and other things that needed to be addressed. 

After observing this practice, I realized that since I am a part of the team, things that I see and notice may differ from other people. I did not find that the practice was very productive. I noticed that there were a lot of times when the cheerleaders stood around and conversed. However, I know that there was also a lot of hard went into the practice. Being that the season is almost over, I have to consider that the practices are much less demanding and there is not a lot more for the cheerleaders to do since there are only two basketball games left in this season. Overall, preforming fieldwork on this practice made me realize things about the Ball State Cheerleaders that i had not before realized when I just participated in the practice.

WEEK 5 - Posting 5

Since I am already at my fieldsite quite frequently, I have been able to gather quite a bit of information on cheerleading. However, I am having trouble finding outside information on the subculture because it seems as though whenever I use a search engine, I can't seem to find the right keyword to use leaving me to find useless information for my assignment. 

Because I am an insider of this subculture, I do not feel as though i need to spend more time at it than I currently do presently. However, in the time that I do spend there, I plan to interview the coach of the All-girl squad and a few members of the team to get their personal thoughts. I feel that I am working at a good pace for this project and am getting a lot of useful information that I can use, but there is a lot that is left to do. I feel that I need to research the physical aspect of cheerleading; meaning, what kind of physical shape do the girls need to be in and the kind of diet that is recommended for them to have. Researching on the internet has been rather difficult thus far in my research and I am worried that I will not be able to find useful information with efficiency in the library or from other resources.

In class writing - Feb 10

As I walk into my Grandma and Grandpa Feichter's house on Christmas Eve, the instant smell of ham, cookies, and other delicious food fills the air and engulfs my attention. We are instantly greeted with open arms by my Grandma Caroline who smothers us with hugs and kisses exclaiming about how much my brothers and I have grown up so much since the last time we saw her, even though it had usually been only a week or two since our last visit. 

Looking to the right, the huge Christmas tree that my grandparents decorated together in different colors or brown and gold ornaments looks as though it is glittering and magical with the stand of twinkle light that is carefully placed all throughout the tree. In the family room, my aunts, two cousins, and their spouses and children are talking and quickly get up to greet us upon our arrival.

There is always so much tasty food set up in the dining room and the smell instantly draws me to look at the food spread. 

Week 1 - Posting 1

One paper that I had written was a research paper that I did my junior year in high school. I was taking an English Literature class, so that paper topic had to be something that had to be linked to England or British. Being a very big Spice Girls fan when I was a child, and to be completely honest, still am, I decided to write my paper on this amazing girl band. At first the paper was really hard to get started because I was not accustomed to writing research papers, and the Spice girls proved to be a hard subject to find a book on with information about their history on when they were big and about their break-up. However, I pulled through and did really well on the paper. 

During the writing process of the paper on the Spice Girls, I found myself procrastinating a great deal with the different steps and found myself cramming to have certain parts of the paper done by the deadlines. At first, everything that I did was really unorganized and really hard to follow. Needless to say, it took my awhile to get everything together. When I was writing the paper, I had to be in my bedroom at home, with no interruptions. I could not seem to concentrate when music or the TV was on. I had a lot of difficulty with the concept of the research paper because I did not know what belonged where and what information was relevant to include.

The difference between editing and revising is very simple. I feel that editing needs to be done by someone else so that they can find mistakes that you may have missed. This is because the writer of a paper may just skim over it and read what they thought they had put but it really did not make any sense. Revising is done by the writer themselves. I believe that revising is when you look at your paper and decide that something does not belong or belongs somewhere else. I also think that revising can be done after a paper has been edited by another person.

Box 15

One place that always makes me think of sensory details is my Grandma and Grandpa Feichter's house at Christmas time. Although I go there many times throughout the year, every time I walk into the house, I always look to my left half-heartedly expecting to see her big Christmas tree that she so delicately decorates in shades of brown and gold with presents surrounding the room. Something that always comes to my mind when I go there at Christmas time is a memory so little, but it has never escaped me. That memory is of my Uncle John, who divorced my Aunt Jane close to a year after the memory. It was of him riding on this new horse that my grandparents had purchased for my cousin, JT. Uncle John was riding on it like he was in a rodeo and I thought that it was the funniest thing every.

Another thing that I am reminded of when I go to my grandparents house at Christmas time is this punch that never fails to be present every year. My grandma makes it was Green Sorbet and then pours Sprite on top of it. It is always a big hit with my family and she constantly has to keep on re-filling the punch bowl. 

As I am thinking about this memory, I can hear Nat King Cole and Frank Santra playing softly in the background and the smell of ham cooking in the kitchen. My whole, yet very small family, is usually gathered in the living room the whole night playing game such as Racko and Bingo and trying to win prizes off of the prize table that every brings a small gift or two for. My little brother, Griffin, is always the caller for Bingo and every one always gets a kick out of it because he gets really into announcing where we can mark our numerous cards next.

By the time the night is over, everyone is always stuffed from eating all the food that grandma had prepared for the holiday party and everyone is usually found laying around watching the Christmas story before my immediate family heads off to midnight mass at our church and when all my little cousins go home and await Santa to come and bring them presents that night.

Box 12 - Privileges

I am very fortunate to be blessed with many privileges. Some of them are as follows:

- because i was born into a upper middle-classes family, I am blessed to be able to be apart of a family who can afford luxuries that aren't necessarily necessary for life, such as an extra car, and a nice house.

- because I am the only girl in my family besides my mom, I get spoiled by my parents and grandparents because I am the only girl

- I am privileged to be Catholic

- Went to private school for all life until college, including attending a college prep school for high school enabling me to be more prepared for college

- being able to attend college

- freedom by living in America

- privileged for being able to make the Ball State Cheerleading team

One of the things that will really help with my research is actaully being apart of the Ball State University All-girl Cheerleading squad. This is because that since I am an insider of this group, I will be able to gather more information about this subculture because I will be able to attend all of the functions. However, since I am an insider of this group, I may form a bias over it and see things that others may not see as if they were just observing.

Week 3 - Posting 3

Thus far for my paper, i have no yet interviewed or met with any informants. However, I have discussed possible informants with a member of the subculture that I am doing my fieldwork. Some of the potential questions that I plan on asking are:

- What is the best part about being involved in Delta Zeta?

- Do you have any regrets?

- Can you explain any of the rituals?

- Can you explain more about the Greek life?

- What is rush like? What is to be expected when someone is going into rush?

- What are some of the things that you can tell me about chapter?

- What are the academic requirements?

I feel that these questions are important for my research because they are all important things for people to know when thinking about going Greek or if they just want to be more informed about sorority life. 

When I attend my cultural site, I plan on taking notes on things that are going on around me. However, I am not yet certain of what the President of Delta Zeta will allow me to attend. I do plan and visiting my cultural site in the next week or two though. 

Research Plan - Class 1/27

The subculture that I am planning on doing is sororities. For my research, I will be interviewing the president of the Delta Zeta Chapter at Ball State and a few of the other members to get an inside view on sororities. I may also find myself interviewing a few of the members of the Chi Omega chapter. I am planning on conducting around five or six interviews with the various different people. 

I am still needing to contact the president of the "DZ's" to find an appropriate time to conduct the interview. After I converse with the person in authority, they will let me know what events for the sorority I am allowed to be present at. This is because some of the events that go on may only be allowed to happen within the sorority. I am planning on going to the library in the next week or two to gather some text-based research to begin my research on looking into the sororities. 

QUESTIONS:

i. People should be interested in this subculture because they may be interested in joining a sorority herself. In a males perspective, they may want to know what goes on in sororities. Another reason someone may want to know about his is so they can put rumors or biases that they have about the culture and see what really goes on.

ii. why do you feel your subculture is important?

iii. What do you want outsiders to know about the subculture?

Class: Jan 20

Subculture: Catholic

- data sources

- internet

- interviews with people of authority in the church

ex: priest, deacons, brothers, sisters, bishops, pope, cardinals, etc.

- the Bible

- Religious brochures

Things that I may see when I conduct my research about my subculture are likely to include things that are found within the Catholic Church. These things may include a cross, pews for the parishioners to sit in, a baptismal font, and the Hymn books that contain the prayers that are sung throughout the Mass. Like the church i attend back home in Fort Wayne, the church that I may attend to carry out my research for this paper may be decorated with beautiful artwork portraying pictures of religious events and people like the stations of the cross and the Virgin Mary. Some other things that I may find when I am doing my research will be the Vestments that the priests and deacons wear during the Mass and what each color represents for the liturgical year. 

When searching on the internet for things that are connected to that Roman Catholic faith, i may find things that i disagree with that may be sufficient to add to my research. This is because being Catholic myself, I have come to notice that people seem to like to form their own opinions pertaining to this certain religion. Some of these may be that Catholics tend to be alcoholics and another may be that Catholics are more "snobby" and "stuck up" than people of other religions. I think that these could be additions to my paper because it shows that just like other religions, there is always going to be someone that disagrees with it.

While preforming my research on Roman Catholics, I am confident that I will not have any tribulations with finding good concrete information to provide a great deal of knowledge to an outsider who is uninformed about this remarkable faith.

Pg. 15 Box 2

Everyone one has something that they preform everyday without thinking twice about. There are certain ways that people preform these activities that may seem completely foreign to someone in another culture. One of the activities that i preform everyday that may seem unusual to someone from another culture is the way that i blow dry hair. First, i apply hair products to only the roots of my hair and then i begin drying it the heat setting on high. My bangs are blow dried first so that they will lay the way that i want them too. Then i blow dry the left side of my hair using a round hair brush and then move on the the right side. After that, i flip my hair upside and point the blow drier towards the bottom layer of my hair. Something that may seem weird to an outsider about this process would be the feeling of astonishment for a tool that can electronically dry hair with heat instead of allowing it to dry naturally with just the air. In countries that are not as technically advanced as the United States. They may find it strange that there is technology that can be used for such a simple activity and they may find it unnecessary that there needs to be a tool to do it when the air can accomplish the same thing on its own.