Week 15 Posting...

Since the semester started, my writing is a lot better. I can actually understand what I am writing. As far as what need work still, I would have to say my organizational skills. When i am writing my papers, I start going off on things not even related to my topic. I also need to work on this because my papers will make a lot more since when i read them if I could organize them better. This class has helped a lot of my writing skills improve. If I could change something about the class, I may do more than one topic for a paper. Like in my paper, my topic can go with about three to four other topics. If I could write individual papers on them, I believe it would help me work to define my skills.

Week 14 Posting...

For my mini-ethnography, I would say that my favorite piece of data is interviews. I like doing interviews because I am able to sit with the person, and get their reactions when I ask them a question. I also like doing interviews because I get more information then if I was to look online for the same material. In an interview you can get more information than you need, but if want to give opinions in the paper interviews are a great source. People give their opinions all of the time in interviews and it makes my paper stronger because I have evidence of why people believe what they believe.

Week 13 Posting...

My most significant experience that I have had as a fieldworker is when I was in high school. I was researching for a movie that I was getting ready to shoot for my senior English class. I needed to find different place around my community to shoot this video, but could not find any really good spots. I found this one spot that was perfect. It was inside of an old grain factory. Since I was shooting a horror movie this location worked out very well. When I walked into the factory, I heard the old steel banging up against each other since pieces of it were hanging down. This gave the eerie effect I was going for. To find this building it took me around to weeks to find. I had only a month to shoot and edit this video for class, so I figured that the site was the most important thing. This is why I took so long to pick one.

Week 7 Posting...

I believe that through my research I can give back information on the sport to new riders that are just starting. I can help the new riders learn about the sport, and what to expect when they first start to ride. I was in the sport for about 4 years until i blew my knee out riding a contest. I have fallen out of the sub-culture and I am trying to get back in. I have a lot of friends that have helped me through my research, and i believe that this will help any rider or parents of riders that want to learn the sport.

Week 4 Posting...

I believe that if I went around the United States, my sub-culture would be the same as here in Muncie. People in the sport might conduct themselves differently, but as far as the community I believe would be about the same. There are not very rituals in this sub-culture. The only thing you will always hear if you see a group riding is he phrase, "Go big, or go home." Other than that there is not really a lot of daily rituals we go through.

Week 3 Posting...

So far in my research I have already interviewed two informants that are in my sub-culture. While interviewing them I found hat we were both distracted by what was going on around us instead of answering the question thoroughly. My site is a big steel warehouse that has a skate park built on the inside. If you yell inside the building you can hear your echo for about a minute because of the steel walls.I have tried to do some research, but have not had a lot of luck with the academic research. I have found interviews in my magazines that I am going to use.

week 12 posting...

What does rhetoric mean to me? I really do not know what rhetoric means, but when I think of it, I think of certain things in ones culture like clothing and materials to perform a sport or anything else. In my culture rhetoric could be the way we dress or the way we act while riding our bikes. Most of the time I see rhetoric used in a negative way, mainly through politics. They lie to persuade people to do something, or just to get their vote. I might use rhetoric in my mini-ethnography by showing how people use it in a negative way from they way we dress.

In Class 4/2/09...

The quote that describes my writing process is keep on, keeping on. This pertains to my writing process because I hate to write and if I keep on writing I might like it. I say this quote over and over in my head while writing, I also use it in my everyday life.If you tell yourself to keep on writing then you will keep on writing and not stop to play video games or any other distraction around you.

Week 11 posting...

My writing process has not changed that much since this class first started. I still need to work on not waiting till the last minute to write my papers. The research proposal and literature review has been the hardest paper for me because I have no clue on what I am doing in it. I am not sure if my writing process is affected by this paper because I do not understand what I am doing. The annotated bib paper was the easiest paper for me because I just went through my sources and wrote how it was going to relate to my paper. As far as why I write, I really do not know why I write because I do not write very well. In my career writing will not be an issue for me because all i have to o is sit at a computer all day and edit pieces of video together and the times of my cuts.

Week 10...

I plan on starting my ethnography with my position on my topic and how I am involved with it. Then, I am going to profile one of my good friends that has been riding on the team since it was formed. I have though about many different ways of taking my readers through my sub-culture. I believe that I am going to take them through my research, but break in-between and show an interview with a rider to keep the reader interested, instead of just reading what I did. In my conclusion I am thinking about telling my readers that if the have a dream to do something to go with it and put their entire heart and soul into it. I believe that this structure will work best for my ethnography because it will keep my reader interested in the sub-culture and not get bored with the paper.

Terms in my subculture...

1. Shred- to ride/skate very well.
2. Crash
3. Injury
4. Cased- bad crash
5. Tabletop- trick where the bike is horizontal to your body
6. bunny-hop- what makes all tricks possible
7. endo- shoving foot into front tire making back tire come off of the ground.
8. Poser- someone who acts like they are good when they can not do anything.
9. Rad- awesome
10. Stoked- excited
11. Go big or go home- slogan used by riders to challenge one another to do bigger tricks
12. Grind- trick that uses pieces of metal to slide across ledges and rails.

In-class 3/19/09...

1) I would maybe go outside more. The clips just went through the stereotypical accents that are around the United States. I would keep most of the accents that they used, but would find more people to talk so you can hear the difference between one side of a city to the other.

2) The southern area is really over-represented throughout the clips. People always tend to use them the mos because they think that it is funny to hear them talk. I would show the audience the difference between the different sides of a state and how different they talk.

3) Yes, people view us as we talk. If you are from Texas and go to New York, they are going to think that you are not a smart as them because you do not use complete words or phrases.

3/19 in-class book questions...

1) Where are you in the scene?
I am sitting in a chair at the skate park. The skate park is a 40,000 square foot warehouse. While sitting in the building you can hear everything because the walls are made out of steel. The building always has a cold draft running through it, thanks to the steel walls.

2) What is the relationship?
Very good friends with the owners ad everybody else at the skate park that is on the team. I used to be part of this sub-culture till I blew my knee out and cannot ride anymore.


3) What do you hear when your informant speaks?
The informant uses a lo of slang words such as, Dude, sweet, stoked, and right on. This is most of what you hear all the time from this sub-culture.

Week 9 posting....

In my research so far, I have learned that there are not a lot of search terms or articles on my mini ethnography. I have found most of my sources through interviews that I have done with local riders. If I could start over I might decide to change my topic, or choose a different subtopic with-in my topic. Keeping a blog has helped me keep track of my research that I have done, besides the times that I forget to write in my blog. The blog will help me with my ethnography by reminding me of my sources and giving me somewhere I can go to remember where I found my sources.

Research Question...

Why will readers care about this issue? Readers will care about my issue that i am bringing up because if they ride BMX or looking to start riding, then they will want know about the risk, and what to look out for while riding.

What will my readers want or need to know about this issue? Readers first off need to understand the sport if they have no idea of what it is. The risk that are involve, stereotypes that are associated with the sport, and what is going on in the sport today.

What do my readers already know about this issue? Some might know the risk that are at hand with this sport already. Readers also may know what the sport is, but never really paid attention to it. The reader also already knows some of the big names from the sport from hearing them on T.V.

What do I want my readers to learn about the issue? I would love for my readers to learn about the life that a BMX rider goes through every day. That when you ride it is what you do all day long. Riding is your life. I would also like my readers to see what risk and injuries can occur during the sport, so they can be prepared if they are going to try any of them.

If I am trying to persuade my readers of something, how easily will they be persuaded? My readers will be pretty hard to persuade. I will need a lot of sources and materials to prove to the reader that we are not the typical stereotype that society puts us in.

What will my reader use my writing for? My reader may use my writing for a school research paper they are doing for an English class. My readers may also use my writing for themselves, so they know what they are getting into before they start the sport. Parents also might look at my writings if their son or daughter is looking to start the sport.

Week 8 posting...

In my research I have found that most of the community is great full for the fact that Muncie has a place where the kids can go and do what they love, but the same time be off of the streets. Being eight weeks into my research, I feel more at home when I talk to the guys at the park, also I have learned to present myself better while talking to people around the community. When I first started researching, I really did not know what the sport was all about, even though I was doing it everyday of my life. I am thankful for people around the community, and in the BMX community for helping get better knowledge of the sport.

Week 6 posting...

Brymer, E., and L. G. Oades. "Extreme Sports: A Positive Transformation in Courage and Humility." Jan. 2009. Ebscohost. Bracken, Muncie. 17 Feb. 2009 .

This article tells about the unnecessary risk that riders take while they are riding. This article also talks about how we get a energy boost from performing these life threating stunts.

"Leave It Better: Ramping Up a BMX Landmark." July 2006. Academic Search Premier. Ebscohost. Bracken, Muncie. 17 Feb. 2009 .

This article talks about a skate park in North Carolina that was destroyed by kids because they did not appreciate it, but Dave Mirra, a legend in the bmx world bought it and fixed it up for kids around the city to ride instead of being on the streets.

Week 5 posting...

For me to be able to finish up my subculture, I believe that I need to spend more time at my field site, also I want to conduct more interviews with some local riders and people around the community. I also need to do a lot more research on the topic, because I know that there is a lot of stuff that I still have yet to learn on my subculture. As for questions for you, I am not really sure on what keywords to use while I am researching in the library. I already have some magazine articles that I can use, but I would like to find some from the libraries resources.

Box 15...

When i was growing up i used to ride my bike in this one spot every single day of the week. This spot was in my local town of Bunker Hill Indiana, and it was one of the five churches in my town of less than five hundred people. I remember that i could smell the old grain factory that was behind it. I always smelled of old corn and had a distinct musty smell to it. This mill is like fifty years old and looks like it is getting ready to fall to the ground at anytime. Everyday at six o'clock I always remember hearing the bells inside the church dinging, and they would ring every fifteen minutes after that, so i could always tell if i was late getting home for dinner or not. I could also hear and see all of the traffic that was driving by, most of the time they were honking at me to get out of the middle of the street, but you could also hear the traffic that was going around town and the emergency vehicles if they were leaving the station. In the spring and summer time you could hear the little league games going on at the ball field just down the street. During the school year you coul dhear the football game announcer becasue the town was only about two miles from my school, so you could hear just about everything that was going on there. When it was marching band season, you did not have to leave your house to hear the band play. I used to sit at the church while taking a break on my bike and just listen to the band play becasue I love music.

Week 2 Post...

For my subculture I am going to be discussing bmx riders. I am doing this because of how people look at them in society, and why they have a bad reputation with society. The field site that i am going to is Just Ride Skatepark here in Muncie. I am great friends with the owner and used to ride with him on a team before i blew my knee out. When i went to the skatepark, I can remember hearing the generator that is running electricty through out the building. If you yell in the building it echos because the building is a warehouse building. Sounds reflects off of everything becasue of the steel walls. Some of the things that I hope to learn is why society has this lookout on us, and how we can change the way people look at us.

Week 1: Worst writing experience ever...

With in my writing experience I have not had a lot of problems, but one paper gave me a hassle. When i was a senior in high school, i had to write a senior exiting paper and do a project over it. The paper was over how to shoot, edit, and be in a bmx video. I had the paper done with in two weeks of the assignment, but every time i went to revise it i always found something that was wrong with it, or something i did not like. I revised the paper at least fifty times before i thought it was perfect. I am what people like to call a perfectionist, so this paper had to be perfect to my standards before i could turn it in. Once I finished my paper I turned it in for my first revision from my teacher. I had a lot of corrections to make, but once i started to look at the marks she made on it i found that my first draft was better than my last.