Week 8.

The main theme that I've been supporting is gay rights. I'm not completely sure if this is the route I want to take my project though. In interviews, I ask questions pertaining to gay rights which makes me wonder if I'm asking the right questions even! I still haven't thought of one question that I want to further explore, I've just been experiencing.
I don't think a whole lot has changed in the past eight weeks. I feel like I still have about the same idea about G.L.B.T./Spectrum. I think this is because I've just been exploring them as a whole, not narrowing my search down to one specific question. Once I do that, my project will change and hopefully I'll feel more confident about the route I'm taking.

Box 19.

-I was sick and absent from class today so I chose a friend and conducted this interview. The artifact we chose is their belt.

Observational Notes: The belt itself is black seat belt material. The belt buckle is a silver, chunky, square with the independent symbol in the middle of it. The symbol is outlined in black. I have a feeling that he bought this belt at the mall for no specific reason other than the fact that he just liked it.

Personal Notes: It reminds me of a t-shirt that my boyfriend has. The t-shirt is navy blue with the independent symbol on it. I assume that the belt is from a store like Hot Topic. The black seat belt material also reminds me of a purse that my sister has and that I've always wanted. It has to be decently inexpensive because the look of it is almost juvenile.

Interview: He says the belt is important because it holds his pants up and because it's always able to be adjusted if, for example, he ate too much in one sitting. He says the only cultural background behind it would be that he bought it at PacSun and he knows a lot of people shop there, including his friends.

Theorize: The artifact reflects his personality. He is a skateboarder and a little more "punk" than most of the people I know. The independent symbol on his belt buckle reflects that a little. To relate the belt buckle to history or culture, I guess I could research how the independent symbol came to be.

Write: When I first saw the belt, I liked it! I thought it was interesting and reflected his personality because I know that he skateboards. That could be a stereotype but I found it useful. The belt's black seat belt material is cool because since people started creating things out of that material, I've wanted something made out of seat belt. That seat belt material reminded me of a purse that my sister has, it's pink with white polka dots and I think it's so cute. The belt buckle actually reminds me of a shirt that my boyfriend has because the t-shirt and belt buckle have the same independent symbol on them.
The informant makes it obvious that his belt isn't too precious to him because when asked why the belt was important to him, the biggest response that he gave was because it held his pants up. I think the cultural background that he gave of the belt is almost not even worth recording. I could be wrong but when I think of cultural backgrounds, I don't consider PacSun to be one.
The informant does really like the belt though. That's obvious because I've seen him wear it on multiple occasions. I think it's cool that something I normally wouldn't look much into turns out to be a little more important to someone than I would consider.

Exchange: I thought it was surprising that Beth didn't think that my belt was expensive. I guess the look of it could give that impression but it was a lot of money for somebody like me and it was from Pac Sun. Pac Sun is not an inexpensive place. Beth probably should have asked me when I bought the belt because I think that's important. I bought the belt in 8th grade so it's pretty old by now.

Reflect: I'm not really sure what my strengths are coming from this assignment. I think I could have asked a lot more questions that would have helped in the long run. I assumed that the belt was relatively inexpensive and that may have swayed my views.

Week 7.

I really don't have a specific plan to finish my mini-ethnography. I also don't know if there's a SPECIFIC topic that I need information on. I definitely need to spend more time in my community through interviews, observations, and participation. It's hard to say how I'll finish this project because I really feel like I could use more time with the group. Once I spend more time in their meetings and conduct a couple more interviews, I'll have a better idea how I want to finish this mini-ethnography.

Version 2

The G.L.B.T./Spectrum meeting room is on the third floor of the Student Center. My route to the classroom is up the steps to the third floor, turn right, pass bathrooms and a water fountain on my right and the classroom is at the end of the hall on the left. The classroom has chairs lining three of the four walls leaving a considerably open space in the middle. The chairs are a mix of beige with cushion or gray aluminum. There is a long office type desk sitting horizontally with four of the nicer chairs set up behind it at the front of the room. There is a chalk board and video screen on the wall behind them. The white tile floor clashes with the white cement wall. The room isn’t what I expected at all, but it gets the job done!

Version 1

The G.L.B.T./Spectrum meeting room is on the third floor of the Student Center. If you take my route to the classroom, you will walk up the steps to the third floor, turn right, pass bathrooms and a water fountain on your right and the classroom is at the end of the hall on the left. The classroom has chairs lining three of the four walls leaving a large, open space in the middle. The chairs are a mix of beige with cushion or gray aluminum. At the front of the room, there is a long office type desk sitting horizontally with four chairs set up behind it. There is a chalk board and video screen on the wall behind them. The white tile floor clashes with the white cement wall. The room isn’t what I expected at all, but it gets the job done!

Box 18.

The comment box is passed around the room during each Thursday night meeting. The group talks about the comment box as if it's pretty big deal which is surprising because I've usually noticed that comment boxes are casual and taken lightly. The chair members of G.L.B.T./Spectrum explain what they would like to see in the box before it is passed around. They ask for event ideas, things that should be talked about in the meetings, theme ideas, emotions, etc. You are given a scrap piece of paper and you write your idea as you wait for the pink construction paper box to reach you. I don't write anything down and pass it to the next person.

Box 16.

I walk into the the classroom style meeting area about ten minutes before the meeting is set to begin. I expected to be in the company of only a few people but was very surprised to see a decently full room. The white walls, fluorescent lighting and cold, tile floor weren't especially comforting to me. The gray aluminum and beige cushioned chairs lined three of the four walls, the line of chairs underneath the windows were almost full. At the front of the classroom, there is a long desk with four chairs set up behind it facing the lines of chairs. The classroom is a little chilly and I'm glad I brought a jacket. A projector is ready and the screen behind it is halfway pulled down, I can tell there is going to be some type of presentation.
Groups start to form and chat amongst themselves. I hear giggling and am nosey and curious to know what they're laughing about. A surprise: the treasurer came up and introduced herself to me. I shook her hand and began to think that the President told her who I was and why I was there. Finally, the President announces that the meeting is soon to start and everybody takes a seat. I sit close to the door and was asked to close it when they began.
I notice that there a lot of different types of people in the room. Black, Hispanic, Caucasian, boys and girls, and some more flamboyant than others in their choice of clothing. The chairs of the group introduce themselves to everybody and the President takes any announcements. Four people in the room of maybe twenty-five have announcements. As the meeting goes on, I start to wonder if anybody wonders why I'm taking so many notes. I'm also worried about who thinks I'm gay and not gay. Is that wrong? Am I a bad person for being worried about something like that? I get over it and regain focus.
As the meeting goes on, most of the group offers suggestions and talks about their different events going on. I am surprised at how passionate everyone is and am all of a sudden assured that they are going to do great things.

Week 6.

The general conclusions that I would have about G.L.B.T. from what I've seen already is that they all are willing to work hard to reach a common goal, like any other group. For example, they already have a week of events set up for a couple months from now. They are all very friendly with each other and newcomers. Their group is decently large in number. Also, their meetings are ran in a professional manner seeing as they take announcements first, then handle any orders of business before they start their activities. If I were to study G.L.B.T. at another campus, I think I would get a slightly different idea because Ball State is known to have a larger gay community than most universities. Therefore, we have more people with the same goals and feelings that can work together to create better programs. I think I would witness any other G.L.B.T. chapter working hard and being friendly though. Maybe I'm biased because I attend Ball State, but I think our G.L.B.T. group is very professional and has the ability to make their case an important one.

Box 12.

My age, gender and religion will have a direct impact on my study. I feel very privileged in all three aspects personally being young, female and Catholic. I think they will affect my research because young people tend to have more open minds when dealing with homosexuality. Next, as a woman, I will be more compassionate towards my subjects and do my best to understand them. Finally, my religion, Catholicism, is pretty accepting of homosexuality. Although the Bible has a passage to say that being gay is wrong, some religions are more accepting than others and I feel like mine is one of those.
My nationality/race is caucasian which is absolutely a privilege; living in America. I have complete freedom in this country which is such a blessing. I don't think that this will impact my research because I don't think race or nationality really plays a role in homosexuality or how one feels about it. My economic status also benefits me personally. I was born into a higher middle-class family and have never had to worry about money which is a gift in this world. I also don't feel like that will affect my study because wealth doesn't play much of a role in sexual preference. At least, it doesn't in my eyes.
The privileges that I've grown up with have occasionally stood in the way of things that I could know! I grew up in a small, very caucasian, farming town. Therefore, I didn't experience interaction with other races and didn't ever see the true results of poverty. Homosexuality was not popular in my town either. Although I feel like I missed out on some aspects that could help out in the future, I think I grew up with the right ideas to finish my project successfully.

Week 5.

The sources that I have gathered for my project are notes from the first meeting I attended, an interview with the President and Parliamentarian of G.L.B.T., two books, and one journal article. I am yet to read the books and article but have a feeling that they will be very helpful! I have found information in my sources that connect to what I'm observing especially though the interviews and notes from the meeting; those are straight from the source. I am still looking for more history about homosexuality and more views of different kinds of people. I will be able to find those through interviews mainly.

Box 9.

The short story, Mama Day, left me nothing but confused and almost angry. The language made me very frustrated because I'm so used to reading proper English. I didn't know anything about the event involving Hilton Head before reading this story and that made me confused. I'm not sure I completely understand. The most annoying part of the reading, to me, was when the narrator used "18 & 23" because I had absolutely no idea what it meant. Finally, the second time around, I realized that 18 & 23 was simply the year, 1823.
At the beginning of the story, I assumed I was reading about a less fortunate group of people considering the language was so unclear. That's more of a stereotype but it's also something that I probably won't get my head around. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn reminded me of Mama Day in the sense of the language that was used with phrases like "yes suh."
I found myself more entertained when the writer was talking about, and almost making fun of, the researcher. The writer talked about his fieldworking and his gray machine, which I'm still confused on what the machine might be, and how he annoyed people with it. The narrator interested me most because she was able to talk about every other character and especially the researcher.
The most interesting part of the setting was when the narrator described the dark haired little boys and girls. I imagined them and where they are from and it made the reading just a little more fun for me.

Box 8.

I have never been involved with any group like G.L.B.T. so there’s not a whole lot to compare my first impressions of the meeting to. I had ideas of what I thought the meeting and the people might be like, but that’s all they are: ideas. I figured that since the meetings are confidential everybody would be calm and quiet, waiting patiently to begin. I also assumed that they would be very welcoming and friendly. I wish I would have looked into something like this back home so that I would have another group to compare Ball State’s G.L.B.T. to.
What surprised me? I arrived about ten minutes before the meeting began and the members were very funny! Almost everybody was standing up, walking around to talk to their friends, being loud and laughing. As I said before, I expected a sense of professionalism because I thought that confidential meetings were different than any regular meeting. Also, during the meeting, they had fun topics such as “Serenity Knows,” a celebrity gossip chat. I was surprised at how laid back and fun the meetings seemed to be.
What intrigued me? Every member displayed their own personality. It was intriguing to me because everybody seemed so comfortable. Some people were loud and extreme, some members were talking to people all over the room, and some people were quiet and sitting down. I liked that aspect very much!
What disturbed me? I felt a bit out of place at the meeting. I only know a few people in the group and they knew why I was there, but I couldn’t help but feel a little uncomfortable. Although the President made a helpful statement at the start of the meeting, “Just because you’re here, doesn’t mean you’re queer!,” I still felt like people might think that I was gay. Although everybody was very friendly, I still felt just a little like I didn’t belong.

Week 4.

An academic source is a quality of work which seeks to clarify, explain, and extend concepts belonging to the topic and discipline. Academic sources include authoritative, formal, learned, etc. Instructors probably prefer academic sources because they are known to be credible. Non-academic sources can be found in popular magazines such as Newsweek. Non-academic sources are also found in movies and television. Non-academic sources are things like the Bible, book reviews, and articles used in class.