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.