You should have your "raw" field notes from your first field site visit, and now it is time to take the next step and convert those raw field notes into revised narrative form. Using your initial observations and comments/reactions as a basis to expand and embellish in terms of vividness, scenic description, character development, details, and complexity, write a narrative of 300-800 words.
Directions:
*Convert your raw field notes into a narrative of between 300-800 words.
*Write in present tense--as if the event is happening right now as you are writing it and your audience is reading it.
*This is a first revision, so I am not overly strict about punctuation and grammar unless it impedes reader comprehension.
*Have a title for the revised version--be creative
Sample heading for Revised Field Notes:
Marco McDougal
ENC 1101-0M04
TR--9:00am-10:15am
Revised Field Notes Assignment
March 18, 2013
7:00P.M., Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Room 206, UCF Student Union
Young Democrats/Republicans
Organizing Meeting for April Debate
They Started Throwing Shoes:
Notes on a Joint Meeting of Young Democrats and Republicans
This is where you actually begin writing your revised notes. Be sure to
use proper formatting as referenced above. Be sure to generate logical
paragraph breaks in your narrative and complete a spell check before
loading your narrative to the blog.
Don't think of this as something you will be sending to The New Yorker. What I want to see is a solidly written narrative (story telling) version of your raw field notes. So long as the sentences are complete, comprehensible, and represent an earnest attempt to recreate accurately your impressions, then you are in the ball park. Sloppy, hasty, and partially complete work will result in commensurate grade compensation for this blog posting.
This blog posting is due before the close of Thursday, March 28th (which means before 11:59pm).
If you have any questions about this assignment, please send me an email.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEvery woman loves her kitchen, but to have “kitchen hair” is a disgrace! And who doesn’t love spaghetti, but having “spaghetti ends” is a disaster! So is the colorful world of beauty. They are the women and men that devote talent, time and knowledge to make us look our best for a culture that grades us on our appearance. They are Cosmetologists. The one thing they share in common is that they are artists. Their medium of choice is not paint and canvas, however, it is the human body.
ReplyDeleteMy essay takes us to the Paul Mitchell School of Oviedo. Once vacant, today, the school buzzes with students dashing here and there as clients enter with high expectations; Paul Mitchell is one of the greatest names in the business. The students are the beautiful people, with exotic colored hair, makeup and “dos”, dressed in black and white. Despite the amount of people present, it is immaculate and has an industrial feel, black chairs, stainless steel work areas, and long mirrors. The smell of hair products and singed hair permeate the air. A chorus of blow dryers hum and hands move quickly as students manipulate the hair to straight perfection or gentle waves.
To my surprise, students are taught three very basic cuts. Once the student masters the cut, they are taught detailing. That is what sets each individual artist apart from one another as they are free to create and make the cut “their own”. The success of an individual rests greatly on their skill as an artists. One such successful person is my daughter, Andrea, one of the Learning Leaders for the Paul Mitchell School. She has been a stylist for over ten years.
Me: What made you become a Cosmetologist?
Andrea: I became a stylist because I love art! Anything involving creativity in all forms interests me.
Me: What are your favorite things about being a Cosmetologist?
Andrea: The thing I love most about being a stylist is that it is an art form, which I love, but you get to help people and the pay is good. I consider myself a problem solver. When someone comes in with a challenge I want to be the one with a solution. As an educator, it amazes me to see the personal growth as well as the technical development that people are able to achieve in a mere 1200 hour program.
Me: What is some of the terminology stylists use?
Andrea: There are tons of really cool ways to share experiences with fellow stylists without embarrassing our guests or making a scene about something that is about to happen. If someone is doing hair without a license, we call it “Kitchen hair”. When a stylists colors hair but the roots come out too light, it’s called “hot root”. If a stylists over processes, the result is “spaghetti ends”, the ends of the hair become brittle and break off.
I think my personal favorite though, is the know-it-all client. They are the ones that know a little about hair and come in trying to show ownership in the salon. For that type of person, we all switch to technical jargon and begin using tone terms like “rb”, which is red-brown, etc. and light to dark levels 1-10 with 1 being darkest, etc. This always confuses the guest so she doesn’t know what the hell we’re talking about! Naturally, we all laugh at our own little language!
Me: How do you keep in touch with other professionals?
Andrea: Social networking is where we create profiles: behindthechair.com, Facebook, Twitter, modelmayhem.com, Pintrest, and Instagram. It’s also a way to keep an electronic portfolio. We also have the big hair show, Premiere, which travels to Orlando, New York, and even Japan. It's a place to showcase new techniques and new products. I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the biggest names in the industry!
The beauty industry is a subculture made up of many from many different cultures. They speak the same language, keep in touch through social media as well as the workplace and work together for a similar goal. They work for the same success we all do, but as they say in the business, “Cosmetologists do it with style”.
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteWhen did you do this field observation? Where did it occur? Could you update your posting to include the requisite heading so this information is clear up front?
UPDATE: Saturday, March 9, 2013, Paul Mitchell School, Oviedo Mall, Oviedo Florida
ReplyDeleteAmber Alcock
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
TR—6:00pm-8:45pm
March 27, 2013
12:40pm, Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Room 3-106, Hagerty High School- 6th period
The Husky Pup Preschool
Regular Preschool day
A day at The Husky Pup Preschool
The Husky Pup Preschool is one big room with the kitchen and the bathroom in the back. Next to the kitchen there is a door to the playground. The far opposite of the kitchen is a door to the early childhood classroom where the teachers things are and where we prepare for the lessons. The preschool is set up into different sections like math, science, story, construction, computer, art, and circle. We have the preschool set up in a way that all the quiet groups are together like math, and story, and all the loud groups are together like art and science. When you first walk through the doors there are all the children’s cubbies for they can put their backpacks up and their blankets. By the art section there is sinks for it is easy access after they paint and in the center of the preschool room is the lunch tables. This room is not very big it is about two regular size classrooms, but it works out perfect for the amount of kids there.
I arrive to this class at around 12:40pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, but the kids are only here from Tuesday-Thursday so we have Friday for out planning day. As am walking in the kids are just getting up from their daily nap. Once the late bell rings for sixth period all the teachers begin helping the children put back on their shoes, fold their blankets, and put up their cots. What I have noticed about this time is that it takes along time to get the kids ready and to the carpet. I believe that it takes so long even though there are 36 teachers and only 20 kids is because many teachers just stand around and watch or they start to set up their lessons. As the cots are being put away one of the little boys starts to cry, which I found out that he was upset because he wanted to put away his cot.
Once everything is cleaned up and all the kids are on their spots at the circle, the group that is in charge of circle that week begins to go through the calendar which includes today’s date and day, what tomorrow and yesterday was, the season, and what the weather is like outside. This took about five minutes even though there is about fifteen minutes set aside for circle. Since there was extra time they are having the kids practice their songs/dances for their graduation in May. When they teach them dances to songs, first the teachers will show them what to do a couple of times as they follow along. Then they will turn on the music and some teachers will do the dance with them for they can learn it or if they forget a part they are able to look up at the teacher to remember it.
After circle is complete the kids will go to their first group of the day. There is about five kids per group and all kids are color coded into four colors (red, yellow, blue, and green). There are signs for each color group. When a teacher holds up the sign for one of the colors, all the kids with that color, lines up behind the sign and they get brought to their group. At the first group, one of the little girls gets mad and says, “I don’t want him here!” She was referring to one of the little boys that sat next to her. When she would not stop wining one of the teachers took her to Mrs. Burrell (Our teacher) to calm her down.
One of the lessons that I observed was very cute. It is Easter week so all the lessons are based off of Easter. I am in the math group and in this group the teachers are having the kids count out robin eggs based on the number that is on the basket. It really looks like the children are having fun with it. A couple of the kids keep saying, “Can I go again.” That just shows that they are enjoying it.
This is what I have observed the first day of my field notes.
Imani Fambro
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
Tuesday 11:20-12:45
Revised Field Notes Assignment
March 26, 2013
12:50 A.M., Thursday, March 21, 2013
Dance Room, Bldg. 9, Hagerty High
Unleashed Dance Team- Small Varsity
Across the Floor Practice
Leaps, Chaine, Pirouettes, Oh my:
Notes on the Unleashed Dance Team Across the Floor
The room is not a typical classroom setting. The floors are light wood with springs underneath to help the dancers when jumping or leaping. Two walls are covered up by mirrors which start from the floor and extend up about six and a half to seven feet. There is marker on the mirrors with names and numbers. One wall, brick wall, has an unstable ballet bar with loose screws and shelves of trophies above stretching from the left of the wall to the right. The ceilings are extremely tall, but this is throughout the building not just in the dance room. The only sunlight available is from a small window above the mirror on the left side of the room. Like a classroom though, there is a white board in the front of the room with things for dance classes listed and a few things with people’s names on them.
Warm up. Music is playing and the girls stretch all together, some ignore the leader and go at their own pace. Once finished with the warm up the coach, Ms. Diane Hasenbank tells the girls what to do across the floor and they line up in three lines and do as told. The dancers are focused in what they are doing but also having small side conversations with others. Three people would go at a time and then the next three would count out an eight count and start. When doing pirouettes the girls did three plus, some falling out, some landing, and others just had to stop themselves. The girls that turned and landed nicely with no wobbling were so graceful. They all made it look so easy but I know it has taken years of practice to look so good.
The girls transition to the corner of the room where they make two lines and leap across to the opposite corner. The regular leaps were easy for everyone to get their legs straight in the air. But when Ms. Hasenbank said to do back and switch leaps not everyone was so graceful. It was interesting to see who struggled and who seemed to get everything. Height did not seem to make a difference, which really surprised me.
I noticed how fit these girls were. People never think about how much muscle and energy it takes to dance. When turning, dancers use their core muscles to stay strong, arms use muscles to stay up and in place, and legs must hold strong and not wobble. When leaping they have to pick up their body weight and go against gravity while also doing some type of movement with their legs. Dancing is not easy and when a dancer makes something look easy, they must be brilliant.
Bryan Bajamunde
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
Monday 6:00pm-8:45pm
3/28/13
8:15am Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Shine Rehab Inc.
On Friday I went over to my Uncle and Aunt’s health clinic called Shine Rehab around 8:15am. Both my Aunt and Uncle were Registered Physical Therapists (RPT). They welcomed me since I haven’t visited them for a while. At 8:24am I got settled in the clinic and began my observation. The first thing I checked was there clinic hours; they open every Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5:00pm. So the clinic wasn’t opened for business but I noticed that my uncle and aunt come in early for work and I asked them why they do. They told me that they need to get things in order and make sure that everything is according to schedule. I continued my observation at 8:30 and I went on to observe their Physical Therapist Assistant who was already at her desk doing work. She allowed me to observe her for a bit on what she does as a PTA. As she continued on with her work I noticed that she began opening a calendar with a lot of writing and numbers on it and to me it seemed like a schedule. As soon as she opened up to a page she immediately picked up the phone and began calling. I was wondering who she was going to called and seconds later I found out the reason why she was calling. The PTA was calling a patient to confirm that the patient will be coming in at 9:00, they continued talking and later the conversation was over. After she hung up I asked her a few questions regarding about her job as a PTA. She said that being a PTA is not bad and that often times she is busy and since the community around the clinic is mostly senior citizens, the clinic may be a busy throughout the week, she told me a few things she does as she works. As I saw before she makes calls making sure the patients are aware of the next appointment, she also records the patient’s visits adding information to the computer. On other days she would also have to fill out paper work and file for new patients that walk in. The patient that the PTA called up for an appointment at 9:00 showed up around 9:04 and it was a senior citizen and a few minutes later the PTA directs the patient into one of the rooms and asks the patient a few questions before the PT comes in for the therapy session. At 9:16 the PT and it was my aunt, she comes in and begins the therapy and I observed them and I watched how my aunt was treating the patient giving the right and proper treatment such has deep massages and exercise, as that went on they were talking about the recent appointments they’ve had and how it’s been since the last therapy session. The therapy session took about an hour and ended at 10:25. After the therapy session I decided to a look around the clinic and found myself in the PT office where my uncle was and I observed him also, he was also adding information about his patients just like the PTA and that was pretty much all he was doing. Then later on his patient walks in at 10:45 along with a few others that also had appointments. I didn’t want to observe because it was going to be the same therapy session as the one my aunt was recently doing to her patient. It took hours for all patients to be dealt with and I observed one of them as it happened. By 11:54 everyone was finished and it was lunch time, so they took me out to lunch along with my cousins. Around 1:07pm we came back from lunch and my aunt had one more patient coming in at 1:30 before we close up the clinic. At 1:38 her patient comes in and my aunt told me that this patient’s condition was different from the other and this patient was really that old, probably in her late 40’s I would say. So I waited in one of the rooms until my aunt and her patient walked in, as the therapy session began it started off with a deep massage for about 25 minutes and then my aunt took her patient to the exercise room to have the patient do some routines and stretching. At 2:10 my aunt was finished with her patient and told me that she had no more appointments for today.
Amanda Crawford
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
TR – 6:00pm – 8:45pm
March 28, 2013
8:00am, Friday, March 22nd, 2013
Lake Mary, Florida
Chase Card Companies
Costumer Relationship Team Unit
A Day at the Costumer Relationship Team Unit/Collections Team
The Customer Relationship Team or, Collections Unit as most would call. It is a medium sized team compared to most that you would see in the Chase Card Companies building. This team of one hundred and thirty deals is set inconspicuously in the back corner of a large unibodied room. When you first walk in, you don’t exactly notice this team because of how far in the back it is pushed but when you get there you’ll never forget them. Now, to even get into the building, you must swipe your ID card at the front doors, then again at a second set of doors, then even again with the security guard that verifies exactly who you are in a database that he holds at his front desk. I went through this process at exactly 8:00am and thought to myself, why exactly would you need this much security.
When I finally arrived at the scene, I was greeted with an eerily simultaneous look from each of the employees. Then again concurrently, they all smiled in greeting then placed their headsets on their head, adjusted their microphones and begin to take calls. It was 8:30 at this time, so I assumed this was the time that they began work. It was odd to me that they could seem to do this all in an autonomic way. It was as if they had gotten so used to their jobs that it was just like breathing for them. These entry level employees are all lead in groups of eighteen by one manager. That manager and all of the groups to form the whole are lead by a unit lead. The unit lead spends most of the day in meetings discussing strategies that will make the job of the specialist/employees less complicated. Which causes the question of, why the lead can’t just talk to the specialist about this to get their direct views, to rise?
Andre Grace
ReplyDeleteEnc 1101
Wednesday 7:10-7:45
Revised Field Notes Assignment
March 27, 2013
9:23 A.M., Saturday Morning March 16, 2013
Bethel SDA Church
2809 Forest City Terrace Orlando, Fl 32810
On Saturday morning I went as I always do to my church. I am usually on the rostrum and very actively apart of the service being the Head Elder but I scheduled off this Sabbath to observe and be able to take my field study notes. It was very interesting for me to observe and not be basically running the program.
We normally leave for church either at 9am or 9:45 is depending on whether or not
I am teaching the Sabbath School class which I do very often. This Sabbath I was not teaching so but we still left at 9am. After the normal morning of getting my teenage kids, which by the way is a story in and of itself . Up and out the house we left on time on our way to church. My notes began as we pulled into the church parking lot.
I am always running late and have speed into church as soon as I park and usually don’t have time to observe a whole lot. However this assignment changed that. The first thing I noticed is that all the shrubbery on the property are cut perfectly. The grass is a deep green and I can still see the lawnmower trail as if the grass was just cut. There is a giant white oak tree in the middle of the parking lot that looks to be as ancient as the Bible. The giant branches hang over a good portion of the parking lot like giant eagles wings covering its baby chicks. There are a bunch of cars parked purposely under the shade of those giant branches of the tree. I can understand why the sun is beaming over the entire parking lot and by the end of church your car will be a big easy bake oven with wheels. Most of the cars are parked on the beautiful, well manicured lawn except for the assigned handicapped parked close to the church on the narrow strip of pavement. The church is not the typical big, tall steepled church it looks like a a little baby blue house that was renovated to make a little larger. There is a big cross on the front of it that really is the only thing that identifies it as a church. There is a smaller house on the property and a little shed next to it. There is Sabbath School classes going on in there every Sabbath morning for the kids. I can see a young teen girl dressed in black walking in right now. As we pull up people recognizing us are waving at us a saying “Happy Sabbath Elder Grace”. We wave back and say the same. We pull into my assigned parking space close to the church and I get out and put my suit jacket on. As I do I notice the beautiful, blue sky everything even nature seems so peaceful. The entrance to the church is on the side and we walk in together.
As soon as we open the door and come in there is a woman greeter that shakes our hands and hands us some papers that are a program for the service. She says to us “Happy Sabbath Elder and Sister Grace” and gives us both hugs. This is definitely the greeting everyone uses. I look to the right and see chairs and benches arranged neatly and about 40 people sitting down. There is a piano on the front left side of the church and a wooden podium in the middle with chairs behind it. It looks like a church on the inside. As we go to take our seat there is a young man in his 30’s with a small book in his hand speaking to everyone. He is teaching the Sabbath School class. He is very energetic and everyone seems to be engaged in his conversation. Most of the people seem to have the same little book in their hands and are following along with him attentively. A well dressed, distinguished man raises his hand and after being acknowledged by the teacher he makes a comment. “God tells us things for a reason He told us to keep His day Holy why is it that we want to do things our way instead of the way He told us too?” After his comment a lot of hands shoot up in the air. While this dialogue is going on I look back and see a small bench with a board full of keys and buttons and a young boy working on it. It is a sound board that controls the microphones, two big standing speakers where all the sound comes out and other electronics. I look up and see right above our head a small camera that looks like a big moving eye. There is another one across the room and one in the back of the church. These are video cameras that stream the service live over the internet. I can’t help but think this is a lot of technology for this little church house. The teacher sits down and everyone says Amen.
ReplyDeleteNow a woman comes up to a small wooden podium upfront from her seat in the middle right side of the church. She thanks the teacher and introduces another woman who comes forward says to everyone “Happy Sabbath” and begins to sing. The music is somewhat loud at first but then the young kid working the board turns it to a reasonable volume. As she sings I hears some people behind me saying “Amen” during different parts of the song. It seems that many people really related to the song. When she was finished everyone in unison said “Amen”. The woman singer returned to her seat as the first woman comes back up and says “Goodbye from Sabbath School hope you enjoyed it”. Everyone again in unison says “Amen”.
It seems as though the whole congregation is of one mind and know exactly when and what to say together. They even stand and sit together when asked. While all of this is going on people are still coming in and as they do everyone tends to look back to see who is coming in. This is definitely a distraction but as a small house church I guess it is unavoidable.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is dressed up in suits or nice dresses even the kids. Most wearing dark colored clothing. I look around and see a lot of smiles on the faces of the people. There are A few sad looks. There are not a lot of little kids but I notice a little well dressed boy sitting next to his mom. I also notice a teenage girl sitting in the back with her head down texting on her phone.. I try not to look to hard at her as she knows if this was a regular day and I was working I would give her the sign to turn it off, but I am off duty today. There is a lot of islanders here you can here the Caribbean ascent from a lot of the speakers. There is little diversity here as almost all the people are black but there is one white lady who seems to feel very comfortable. Most of the people seem to be older also.
As the pastor and elders come in we are told to stand and everyone stands as they walk up to the rostrum then we all finish singing the song and sit together. During the sermon you hear a random “Amen” or “Praise God”. At different times of the service and sermon they tend to get louder and more frequent especially during the music. The sermon is about the atmosphere in our homes and it seems as though a lot of people have serious looks on their faces really contemplating what he is saying. At the end of his sermon and while the pianist plays soft music a girl is crying. I notice a few more crying. Many seemed really touched by the message. Each of the elders up front spoke at different points of the service. I notice one woman elder. There is a short well dressed man directing the congregation in songs the whole service while the pianist plays along every song as if she wrote them. One of the elders seems to be the coordinator of the whole service I know because normally that is me. He says some closing remarks asks us to stand for prayer and dismisses us all. We all file out row by row and as we exit people seem to have a sudden burst of energy. Everyone so happy talking and hugging each other as we all make our ways to our cars and leave eventually. Everyone seems to be so happy. What a beautiful, happy, loving community and its mine…..
Chet Rosenfeld
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
M—6:00pm-8:45pm
Revised Field Notes Assignment
March 28, 2013
1:45pm, Thursday, March 21, 2013
Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor
& Reed, P.A.
Banking Law Conference
Do They Make It Up As They Go Along?
I arrive at Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A. (Lowndes) twenty minutes before I am supposed to. I am wearing a well-tailored pair of pants, a slim-fit shirt and coordinating tie. I look good, but more importantly, I feel good. As I am walking in, I am immediately aware that every car in the parking lot is German. My Scion looks out of place. I open the door and immediately notice the receptionist. We lock eyes. She is a dime. She asks me to sit down. I sit and watch her for a while. I am trying not to stare. I look around and notice the clock on the wall has stopped working. Focus Chet – you are here to learn and observe, not get a date. Every man that walks in this office flirts with the receptionist, but she is looking at me. I start to fantasize; I play several scenarios in my head. This game is short-lived because I am being called to the conference. They are ready to start.
I walk into the room and can immediately differentiate who is a banker and who is an attorney. The bankers look sloppy. The attorneys are classy. Their suits look expensive. Several attorneys walk into the room. They are chattering about things that I don’t understand. They all seem extremely rushed and preoccupied. I feel the tension in the room. No one is smiling. No one seems happy. Words like habeas corpus, deposition, interrogatories, due process are being thrown around like commonplace.
This is my first time in the office. I am looking forward to learning more about the legal world. Every aspect of our life is influenced and regulated by some form of law. Every career has a legal aspect. Attorneys are the keepers of the law. They stand to uphold it. I am not naïve; I know that there are loopholes and shady characters out there trying to make money. But today is not about money. It is about the sharing of knowledge. Today I am hoping to take-away something new that I can bring back to my job. Today I feel like I am part of the discussion. The attorneys don’t know my day to day job and although I am bound by the laws, I don’t understand every aspect.
We start off talking about suspicious activity reports and discovery. It is against the law to disclose to anyone if a suspicious activity report has been filed, yet attorneys are trying their best to circumvent that law. They are trying to discover the work-product. I learn ways I can protect my organization. Sitting here makes me feel smarter. Finally, I am beginning to understand the life my informant lives and loves. I never thought about being an attorney, too much school, but I can see why she likes it. I can’t wait to dig deeper into this world.
Lashay Waiters
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
TR – 6:00pm – 8:45pm
March 28, 2013
10:00pm, Monday, March 25th, 2013
Orlando, Florida
Smokin Aces Ent Meeting
Irregular Meeting
I arrived at the apartment where the company Smokin Aces is having their meeting , when I was first informed of where the meeting will be taking place I could already tell that this wasn’t going to be an regular business meeting. I showed up early to see if the workers would be on time and how they would greet each other. The apartment was squeaky clean and I as I walked in saw a big round table I assumed that is where they will be sitting. I chose to sit in the corner so I wouldn’t be in the way, around 9:50 the promoters starting walking into the apartment everyone were in either sweats or gym shorts and a t-shirt. When they saw each other they embraced each other they would give each other hugs and say “How are you doing sis/bro?”, it kind of took me back I didn’t expect it to be like this, I expected them to at most give handshakes. It got even weirder the first 30 minutes of the meeting was spent telling jokes and laughing at things that happen at their last event. As time went on the meeting became more serious but thee meeting constantly had jokes throughout. The workers unbelievably comfortable with each other and from what I seen they consider each other family I came into the meeting thinking they were all games and no play, but seeing how the workers dressed, and how laid back the meeting was made me say to myself “Smokin Aces Ent is said to be the best promotional company in Orlando but their meetings aren’t anywhere near serious as I would expect maybe that’s why they’re considered the best because they don’t put pressure on one another.”
Tierney Seman
ReplyDeleteENC1101
Monday 6:00-8:45
3/28/13
7:00pm Monday 3/18/13
Theta Sigma Theta(Alias) Fraternity House
“Wait. You’re a GDI?!” It’s hard to decide whether or not you’re insulted or complimented when someone refers to you as a name you’re not sure the definition of. So I asked “I’ve never heard that before, what does it mean.” Turns out, I would have been offended if it hadn’t been said in a playful manner. GDI is an abbreviation for “god damn independent”, a derogatory term used by students involved in greek life so describe any non-greek students. We’ve all seen those movies or shows that attempt to depict college life – crazy parties, pretty girls, and ofcourse, ridiculously crowded and dirty fraternity houses who house some of the “douchiest” boys on campus. However, as I walk into the front doors of Theta Sigma Theta’s house, I’m pleasantly surprised. There’s no trash piling up in the corner, there are no stripper poles mounted from the ceilings, there are no bars tucked in every room. Their walls are freshly painted, with their founders paragraphed written in clean cursive underneath the 8 framed headshots of their founding fathers. Nice leather couches linger in their main room, all facing a big screen television that is currently playing a basketball game. A few brothers hang around the main room playing on the foosball table while the others fill the couches. I continue past the main room into the chapter’s conference room. It’s a smaller room with a long wooden table, surrounded by large leather rolling chairs. The far wall is a book shelf, containing everything from textbooks to a new member’s education manual. This is the room where brother’s can come to study, but it’s main purpose is to hold meetings. The conference room is where the multiple councils within the chapter hold their weekly meetings- the executive board, the disciplinary board and the recruitment board all assemble here. I was lucky enough to be welcomed to sit in on an executive board meeting. I informed the brother’s that I more than understood if I had to leave the room at any point, in case they were discussing a topic that was private. Having had family members involved in the greek community, I understood the sense of secrecy that lingered among the house. The second all of the council was seated, they immediately started discussing this weeks agenda. I received a copy of the agenda and was automatically surprised- among the scheduled events, there was not a scheduled kegger, no where on the list sat an event at a bar, I could not find a brotherhood event at hooters, but what I did find took me by surprise. Partial Proceeds at a local restaurant to benefit leukemia and lymphoma society was scheduled for Monday, campaigning for upcoming student government elections took up Wednesday and Thursday, an event to support knight-ton was scheduled for the weekend. I quickly realized that the stigma surrounding the greek community was not true.
Cody Brissette
ReplyDeleteENC 1101
TR – 1:00pm – 2:30pm
Revised Field Notes Assignment
April 12, 2013
4:00P.M., Thursday, April 4, 2013
Assets Protection Office, Target
Are you the Target?
It is a Thursday afternoon as I walk up to a Target store with excitement in my eyes. As I make my way inside I notice all the bright red colors and people walking around going in multiple different directions. I then make my way down to the office where my community resides. As I enter the Security office known as Assets Protection I notice the atmosphere completely changed from where I just was. The color went from bright red to a very dull gray and there was only one person inside this area. While giving my greetings to the Security manager known as the Executive Team Leader – Assets Protection Nicole Jenkins she walks me over to the main area of the office and asks me to sit in a bright red chair. As I take my seat I watch Nicole work. She sits in her chair the only one with arm rests and begins watching the dual screen monitors from the dell computer. On the computer are tiny screen images that display multiple cameras that are placed throughout the store.
As Nicole is watching the cameras she starts to focus very hard, then jumps back in her seat as she grabs a black walkie talkie and ask for “hard lines four”. Shortly after her response someone goes over the walkie stating “go for hard lines four”. Nicole then tells the person over the walkie that they need to make their way to electronics for a person who is pulling a piece of merchandise off of a locking peg hook. While sitting in my office chair I can see everything this person is doing without him ever suspecting that I even know. While the person who answered to the phrase “hard lines four” gets closer to the person I notice Nicole telling him to “PMR” the subject. When the person stealing looks up he witnesses a man in a dark navy blue security uniform, walking right at him. Right before the security person can reach the boy stealing the boy throws the merchandise on a shelf as he makes his way towards the exit of the store. After the incident stops Nicole starts to celebrate and explains to me that a productive merchandise recovery has just occurred.
After Nicole has a short celebration the man who went by hard lines four walks in. He tells me hello and states to me that his name is Kevin the Target Protection Specialist that is working today. As I sit in my seat I begin to realize that I am sweating and start to wonder if it was from the excitement of the person trying to steal or if the office is kept hot for interrogation reasons. I then notice a metal bench sitting in the corner of the office with a pair of handcuffs hanging from them. The hand cuffs appear to not be used very often but still make me uncomfortable not knowing what has happened in that area. My eyes then start to drift over to a small portion of the wall where I can see multiple scratches and scuff marks. This must be the area where people tend to struggle. As I keep looking around I smell a faint smell in the air noticing that paint has been recently applied to the office, possibly to cover more scuff marks from people resisting arrest. After seeing all the excitement I decided it was time to leave. I said my goodbyes as I walked out with a different view of people shopping.