THE IOWA 80 TUCK STOP

My knowledge and understanding of ethnographic studies is ever increasing. Just recently I stumbled across an ethnography that detailed the intricate workings of a truck stop known as the Iowa 80. The author not only presented valuable content in his essay, he also organized it in a way that kept the study in motion. It was a real pager turner I can say that much. Seriously though, the thing that I will take most from this ethnography is its lay out. I usually struggle with getting started and I want a blue print for how things will need to be set up. This essay is a good mark to shoot for. The interviews are spread throughout the essay at specific and relevant points. When someone that was interviewed said something that pertained to a particular topic in the essay the author would fit in a credible quote or paraphrase from somebody. I’m totally going to use that technique in my Ethnography.

THIS IS A NEW BLOG

So the last time I went to the Living Room I made myself talk to people. It was cool. The lady was all like, “Hi, what can I do for you?’” And I was like, “Well, I’m doing a research project about the culture of this place and I would like to ask you some questions.” And she was like, “Sure not a problem. Let’s go over and sit down on this couch.” We talked. I asked her about the service she does for the Living Room. Apparently she is a volunteer. “Why do you volunteer?” I asked. She said that she enjoys the music, the great people, and the fact that this establishment brings so many cool things together. I noticed she had no shoes. I asked her if there was a rule requiring shoes to be worn. She said no such rule existed. The Living Room has nine years of experience bringing live local and national acts to its stage, she told me.

Good Interview / Bad Interview

Bad Interview



Better Interview



The first video is the example of a not so good interview. The scene takes place on the Late Show with David Letterman and his guest for the night is Joaquin Pheonix. The two never discuss anything important and the conversation never picks up. It seems like David Letterman is mainly laughing at his guest, and Joaquin returns this treatment by making Letterman look bad. The interviewee is uncomfortable and uncooperative. The interviewer doesn’t care to get any valuable dialogue from Joaquin. Letterman is simply looking for anything with a comedic tone that will produce in a laugh or chuckle from his audience. Joaquin doesn’t want to be laughed at, so maybe he shouldn’t have agreed to do a comedy show.

The second video is an interview of Bob Dylan. It’s not a great or profound interview, but the guy asking the questions is calm and keeps asking questions. It’s fascinating to see how the interviewer needs to approach Dylan differently because Dylan is such a different kind of guy. The whole time that the interviewer is jotting down or recording what Bob says and does, Bob is turning the tables on the interviewer and he draws a picture of the guy conducting the interview. But the guy keeps the interview going and when Bob questions him the man simply say, “well, I’m fascinated, and I want to know more.” It seems more genuine.

It's Called a Floor Plan

Check it out! The Living Room has ample seating. They have a chill area. There is a stage and a place to get consessions!

Response to some of the Lost in the Field of Vision essay

“Lost in the Field of Vision: Witnessing September 11” chronicles the rhetoric associated with the day of the most profound mass murder and largest terrorist attack ever committed on United States soil. The author, Diana Taylor, takes the reader through a personal account of what that day meant to her, explaing her personal feelings about what happened.

I feel I have to agree with her when she asks if entertainment has rendered the live just one more reiteration. We are entertained by progressively more graphic and gruesome TV series and movies, all delivered to us through our screens and monitors. She brings to light how we are vera very television-focused society. When the September 11^th broadcasts were coming through Diana Taylor’s television she didn’t really get its significance at first.

She continues by expressing her inability to make sense of what she was witnessing on the TV. It all seemed like a plotline or a Hollywood scenario she’d already seen. I especially like the line “This looked like one of those surgical strikes that the U.S. military claims to have perfected. Our aviation technology and terror tactics turned against us.” It draws attention to the notion of how everything is so controlled, so orchestrated, like a surgery. Everything is given to us at face value. We see what we are meant to see. Terrorists methodically deal out tragedies to convey their terror message, and the news media specifically accounts exactly which parts the terror we’re supposed to be informed of. It is all out of the control of the individual. The media machine was chuggin along ohh yaaa what a nice piece of influence

No Snapshots in the Attic:

The granddaughter of the Cherokee woman had a restricted understanding of story of her family. The family had little money and time to spend on preserving keepsakes from the past. The author’s mother discarded an old photo of her father toward the beginning of the essay saying that it would only gather dust. I think the author was giving a real example of her family’s attitude toward family history. She explained her Grandmother’s background and traditions and it further emphasized their particular brand of family stories. It was an oral tradition that recorded their particular ancestry. They spoke to each other and interacted they way Cherokee tribe members would have done passing information along to the next generation. The grandmother’s death records were bare, because she had no documentation; her manner was not to have anything written down. That’s how it seems she left. It kind of gave her writer granddaughter a hard time, but well, I guess she could have learned a lesson from it all. She should listen to people and retain what was said when it was said. Idk…

Ethno Graphy

Its called an ethnography and it has something to do with descriptions, fieldwork, and human and stuff. It means I'll be hanging out at The Living Room in downtown Muncie. Mainly, I'm into music and live performances, so I thought it seemed natural that I would find aplace offering that sort of thing here in the hustling bustling town Muncie. I guess the sub-culture at The Living Roome

would be people that like to listen to tunes, socialize, and pretend to be cool. Hell, some of them might actually be cool. I'll find out after spying on and interacting with them. Ok.