Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Field Notes III
By the end of the week, please post your final set of fieldnotes here to our course blog as a comment. Make sure and include the same kind of information as in previous fieldnotes. In this final set of notes, though, sketch out any tentative conclusions you are making about your research thus far. What strikes you as significant? Why?
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4/29 2:07pm
ReplyDeleteToday I have decided to sit in the area of Stella’s that is the couchey area. I also walked in the back/side door today. Stella’s is very busy today. At the register, there was a decent line that had formed. I ordered an Italian soda, which is very refreshing on a day like today. This back room is even more homey then the side room. There are artworks of all differenting kinds—painting on canvas of landscapes, more abstract pieces, and even a quilt tapestry. Also, I discovered my new favorite part of Stellas. In this back room there are floor to ceiling bookshelves that contain books of all different topics—fiction, literature, history, etc. These books are all very inexpensive. I picked up a few different books and they were priced $3 or $1. These books are also really interesting looking. They are available for purchase by paying for them up at the main coffee cash register. I think this is really cool, maybe because I like reading so much and buying books from used book stores. One of the books I picked up is inscribed with the words, “I’m in a bubble hoping someone will shake it so the fake snow will cover me noiselessly. With love from Jen + Will.” I think this specifically illustrates just how much character this place actually has. Also, in this same room, there are couches and a coffee table full of games. I am looking forward to coming here in the future and playing games. It can be a really inviting space.
Since the weather is so nice, many people are sitting outside today so it’s a lot less busy indoors as it has been the last few days. Sitting next to me are a man and woman who sound as though she is being interviewed for a job. He continually asks her if she is familiar with different business used programs. In front of me are a male and female both quietly working at the same table together. Also, there is a man sitting on the couches reading, eating a salad that he brought from home, and doing work on his computer. Also, a DU student has also just sat down at the couches.
Though my field work and interviews, I have been able to see that many people come to Stella's for the atmosphere which is described as homey and nostalgic. The customers are also are concerned with helping support a local business as opposed to a large company. My sources look at marketing techniques of some independent coffee shops and juxtaposes them with larger corporations. Also, one of my sources is an ethnographic study looking at why some people choose to "camp out" at coffee shops. These sources will greatly help to enhance my paper in order to look at and try to understand why people prefer to do some activities in coffee shops as opposed to other public spaces.
I did my last observation between 4 and 5 on Monday May 2 at Civic Center Station.
ReplyDeleteHere are the highlights of an interesting interview I did:
Why do you take the bus?
To save money and time and wear on my car. It also lets me pay less on my gas bill
Describe what you do here
I go straight in, walk over and go to the back of the line. I almost never do anything. I have no service so I can’t make phone calls or send texts. I may play solitaire.
Why do you think most people come here, what purpose does this place hold for the community?
The station is right next to 16th street so it’s next to the free mall ride. I think people come here for the same reasons as me. They are probably concerned with gas prices and want to avoid driving and putting miles on the car, especially on the bus I’m riding because they all have access to a car.
It does feel like there is a community. It doesn’t feel like its one rolling party, but you see the same people. They often sit together and chat. A few people (like 8 people out of 40 or 50) have in depth discussions. I ride the bus with people I work with, so we will chat most of the way home.
Any memories, anecdotes, particulars?
One times they announced a change from gate 8 to gate 9. Having lived in Europe, the line usually dissolves. But the first person in line picked up his bag and led the line over to gate 9 and everyone followed in line and created a new line in same order we were originally in. We weren’t told to do this.
When asked how he learned to use the station, he said he asked which line he should be in the first time he came, but now he knows that the p line always lines up on the left side of the gate and h people line up on the right. He said, “I’m almost sure it’s not an official bus station thing. Everybody who rides the bus every day is used to lining up in the same place. The line always turns the same direction too.”
The most significant thing I have noticed is the process by which people are socialized to use the station. There are rules for where to stand, where to look, what to do while waiting, etc. No one ever explicitly states these rules to new people; the new people simply learn what to do by watching the behavior of others.
For my third observation I went in on Sunday May 1st from 11 AM to 1PM.
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot busier today that it was on the weekdays when I previously observed. When I arrived, there were already people filling the seats by the front that I had sat in before. There were 7 people in the store when I arrived. All female, 3 40+, 4 20-40s. Throughout my observation 15 people came into the store. A mother and father ~20-40s with their 8-10 year old daughter. Two sisters 20-40s. A grandmother and her granddaughter. A mother with her newborn. Two women came in individually, one 20-40s, one 40+. Two women came in together, 20-40s and two ~16 year olds came in together.
Because it was more crowded this time around, there was a lot more ambient noise in the shop, a lot more of people talking and laughing, I was rarely noticed to be taking notes, most people absorbed with their purchases, deciding which color and pattern and yarn they wished to purchase. There was a nice sense of community in the store, those who came in were greeted like old friends, whether they were in fact, or had never been there before. These complete strangers would offer each other advice on coloring, yarn choice, gauge issues, and when someone came in with a seemingly hopelessly tangled skein of yarn, one of the ladies sat down with her and untangled it for a good 45 minutes, accepting no reward but a thanks.
When interviewed, people seemed to share my thoughts about the feeling of community. Again, most people interviewed had only been knitting a short while, but many said that they would attend a knitting group, and the older and/or more experienced members would take them under their wing and help them with any issues they had relating to their knitting. One woman put it nicely when she said "Knitters bond over our common love of fiber arts. We stick together to nurture that love, and we knit together to spread that love to those who surround us."
Common threads do seem to be senses of community with the strangers in the store, as well as the growing number of younger fiber artists. Looking into a way to possibly weave those two threads together, may not end up being able to.
On Thursday, April 28th, I attended the Friends of Chamber Music Series concert of the Escher Quartet in Gates Hall at the Newman Center. I began making observations in the Joy Burns Plaza at 7:05 PM (the concert began at 7:30 PM) and quickly realized a difference between this one and my previous observations. Because the concert was sold out and the seats were general admission, almost everyone who arrived picked up their tickets from the will call table (set up separately--didn’t use usual ticket box office) immediately and moved into the auditorium to get seats. At any one time, there were about twenty people in the lobby, but the specific persons that made up this number shifted constantly as a continuous flow of people arrived and made their way into the hall. Unlike previous concerts in which people lingered in the lobby, making small talk, before the show began, there was minimal social interaction that occurred among this audience before the show.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, two women sat down at the same table I was taking observations at, and asked me jokingly, “Can we help you with your homework?” I, of course, leapt at this opportunity and asked if they would mind answering a few questions for me. It seemed that they both slightly regretted their friendliness, and responded to my questions concisely, particularly after the friends that they were waiting for arrived and went into the auditorium without them, claiming they would save them two seats.
At intermission, this audience acted much the same way that the “Alarm Will Sound” audience did, with the exception that multiple members of this audience I caught looking at me with questioning and confused expressions. Awkward eye contact was made a number of times. One woman even sat down next to me and asked, “Working on homework?” I summarized the research that I was doing, but did not ask her for an interview, due to the time constraints of intermissions. I suspect I may have attracted more attention this time because I was younger than the majority of the people there (barely any were under 40 years old) and I was dressed too casually for the event, not to mention that I was sitting by myself and writing furiously as opposed to standing and talking with others.
I wanted to get another interview from this audience, so I stopped a group of four adults (two couples) on their way out after the performance ended. The most notable thing about this particular interview process was their reluctance to talk with me one on one. They insisted that they be interviewed as a group, even though one of them spoke much more than the rest. Unlike the first two women I talked to before the show, this group, I felt like, relaxed into the discussion and became more willing to share as the interview went on.
I actually collected one more set of field notes, at a concert on Sunday. They are summarized in my second blog post, in addition to my tentative conclusions on this research.
On Sunday, May 1st, I attended the Young Voices of Colorado “Turn the World Around” concert at Gates Hall in the Newman Center. I began making observations when I arrived at 3:30 PM (concert began at 4 PM). Compared to the three other performances I attended, the audience behavior in the lobby during this one had a dramatically different vibe to it. Most obviously, I had to settle down on the balcony level of the lobby, because there were literally no seats available on the ground level and the crowd was so dense I needed a better vantage point to make observations about their behavior. A half hour before curtain, there were at least 150 people crammed in the lobby and the age range was massive (a few months to 85 years old), with the majority being parents in their late 30s.
ReplyDeleteA station had been set up on the ground level selling small flower bouquets for audience members to buy, so at least one person out of every group held a bouquet. Most people tended to be clumped in groups of four to eight, with the adults conversing and children playing with each other. The doors were open to the hall, but most did not seem to be moving to their seats, perhaps because the show had reserved seating, or, in retrospect, this audience was previously familiar with the long length of YVC concerts and knew they should not sit down earlier than necessary. As it was, beginning at 3:52, people started shifting towards the auditorium. Three minutes later, when I started to make my way to my seat, there were only about 20 people left in lobby.
The concert had no intermission, so I continued my observations after the hour and fifty minute long performance. It took me ten minutes alone just to get back to the lobby through the masses of families trying to meet up with their children. When I repositioned myself on the balcony level of the lobby, I watched hundreds of people giving flowers, taking photos, and greeting friends and family.
I observed a few passersby who were clearly not involved with this concert and were at the Newman Center for other reasons look distressed at the sight of this crowd and, if they did not avoid the Joy Burns Plaza entirely, they tried to awkwardly squeeze through the large clumped groups of audience members (some containing as many as fifteen people). For similar reasons, I did not attempt to interview anyone from this audience. Everyone in attendance seemed so immersed in the concert from a social standpoint, I did not feel that I could intrude upon their interactions. Even if I had, I suspect holding the attention of an individual or group to answer my questions would be difficult.
Looking back on my four sets of field notes, I have noticed that, though the existence of the Joy Burns Plaza in this performance venue seems strictly functional initially(containing bathrooms, a concession stand, the ticket box office, and tables and chairs for waiting), it is, in fact a location for primarily used for social interaction. This space helps propagate the desire that our culture has to attend musical performances with others (friends, spouses, boyfriends/girlfriends). Because watching the actual performance itself is so anti-social (sitting silently in the dark, listening to music), I will explore how communal areas, like Joy Burns, help cement this cultural tendency to the extent that it is almost considered traditional. Also, I will discuss ways in which the lobby space can enhance the musical experience for the audience member by ensuring their comfort and giving them the opportunity to often meet with the performers or share their opinions of the music with others.
4/30/11 11:50-1:00
ReplyDeleteThis was my first time at the SAME that I hadn't been greeted by Brad. I'm not sure where he was. I also brought a friend with me this time to see how she reacted to the cafe. Her reactions were very similar to mine the first time I ate there. Today I had the BBQ chicken pizza that was suggested to me last time, brocoli soup, and a green salad with apples and bleu cheese. We sat outside again and just like last time, a man asked us if we would like to sit and eat with him. I didn't document our conversation as an official interview, but like the last man I interviewed, he had comes to the SAME to get away from the many hardships in his life and to save a little money. During our lunch, one many pulls up to the sidewalk in a Vespa-like vehicle. It was the most bizarre looking motor vehicle with leopard print coverings and gloves attached to the handles. The man getting off of it was no less interestingly dressed. This confirmed my observation of the variety of people the SAME attracts. After I had finished, I went back for seconds of the BBQ chicken pizza. The woman from Thursday was right! It is delicious!
I've noticed that today is not as nice out as it was on Thursday. I wonder if this has an effect on the amount of patrons here? There do not seem to be as many. One of the girls sitting outside I recognize from my first visit here. I also noticed on the outside a WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) Restaurant Award sticker. This is impressive to me that the SAME offers not only organic ingredients but humanely raised items as well. I also observed a man dressed in a business suit getting ice tea right after a homeless man. The fact that two people with such contrasting backgrounds are doing the same thing comfortably in the same place makes one realize that humans are all related and truly form a community in the SAME because it is a place that is completely money and status blind.
As we finished our time there, my friend said she wanted to come back more often and bring more of our friends. She really enjoyed getting to meet a person who eats there frequently and watching the dynamic between different patrons of the restaurant. I recorded two more signs on the walls, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams," and "We get to make a living, we give to make a life." These words reflect the mission of the SAME and you can see it through the actions of volunteers, the owners, and the loyal patrons. The continual return of similar faces shows me that people are dedicated to this PWYW restaurant's success.
I performed my final observation on Monday, 5/2, directly after conducting a couple of interviews. The most striking thing to me was how accurately the interviews correlated to the activity in the lounge. People in the interviews discussed that the lounge was a homey place and that people used it primarily to study in a social environment and this particular Monday night was a perfect example of this. When I arrived in the lounge there were 4 people all spread throughout the lounge doing homework quietly. Then another individual came out into the lounge and started a discussion about a small political movement on campus, which parallels another continuity throughout the interviews. During this observation, I saw 10 different individuals and all of the behavior exhibited by these individuals paralleled patterns discussed in my interviews.
ReplyDeleteI preformed my final observation, via email, on May 4, 2011. I spoke with the Secretary and Treasurer of the Columbine Memorial Foundation. She provided me with a TON of information, including:
ReplyDelete"While I think that Rohrbaugh text (from the dad) is eyebrow raising, it's exactly what we asked from them - a remembrance in their own words"
"Our thank you cards say 'the memorial is a place to honor and reflect those that were touched by this tragedy'. That says it all. "
"The parents were very clear that there be no mention of [Harris and Klebold] in the memorial."
"I find that those families that had a more solid spiritual base are those families that have healed, accepted and moved on more quickly."
She touches upon two major things:
-religious controversy
-controversy over inclusion of Harris and Klebold
I found these to be common themes throughout my interviews. I never thought of the Memorial as controversial, so this was very eye-opening. I had been to the memorial several times before this project and had never noticed the ""eyebrow raising" text by the Rohrbough family.