Week 12 response

I plan on using paragraph structure. Basic writing principals having different ideas per paragraph will format it. I will even put basic questions that I use for interviewing into paragraph from because I think it is strong reading it in a sequence like that. I have been using this style ever sense I began writing papers. It is the first and most widely used style in my own opinion. I wasn’t a fan of the research proposal style at all so I am going to be very basic with what I am doing because I think it communicates information very well. I think this is the best for what I want to do because people are so used to it because it is so highly used that there wont be any confusion when people try to read and interpret my paper. I think I will always use this style even after college is over because I am so used to it and I am comfortable using it. Even if I have to write very few papers after college my style will be of paragraph form.

Questions about final paper

How do I organize my paper?
How does the thesis fit in?
How many pictures can I have?
Where does the bulk of the information for this paper come from?

Week 11 response

The hardest thing has honestly been finding enough time to do research on my subculture. With having the rest of my classes and architecture, time has been really limited but I have found time. It was also very frustrating not really knowing what the subculture actually did but attending the meetings anyways. The easiest thing is interacting with the people inside my subculture. They are very relaxed and understanding of everything I have to say. If I could start over, I would go to more of the movie nights the group offered Tuesday nights just to see the practical problems they propose to people on campus. The movies were shown to provoke thought among people in general. The movies were open to everybody on campus. It has showed my progression as a researcher and helped me developed good tips and ideas about how to get what I want from this program. My final paper will show my experience as a researcher and also be able to show the knowledge I have acquired..

Box 30

I found two articles in E-archives and Exhibits. The article in E-archives gives general information about the architecture program hear at ball state. It goes into depth about the many possible majors and minors through architecture. The other article in exhibits is about the celebration of African American history in Muncie. These two articles can help my research by giving me more information about my major and possible minors and how it could relate to African American history hear. There could be an intersection between the history of African American history and the prestige of Ball States architecture program.

Week 10 Reflection

The reason why people don't know the words in my club is because they are outsiders. They don't spend anytime with any of the people within the club to know what anything mean.

Week 10

NOMAS

Conference

Bread

Pot

Studio

Box 25

NOMAS- National Organizationo of Minority Architecture Students

Conference- Organized field trips to major cities around the Midwest

Bread- Money

Pot- The amount of money the group has to work with

Studio- The space where all work for architecture is done

Week 9 Response

The main thing I can provide to my community is knowledge. I can guarantee that most college students do not think of women or minorities in the field of architecture. By observing this club I could spread hope to minorities and women throughout the college campus about this major. Maybe some people who thought about pursing this major but were turned away because they believed they didn’t meet the criteria of an architecture student. So my contribution would be the spread of knowledge about this club and how it relates to the major of architecture. It would open up the communities eyes for those who didn’t even pay attention to stuff of this nature. It would help out the class in seeing where I am coming from as a young African American student trying to make it in this major called architecture. I think this process is helping me further my education because it is making me do lots of research about a specific topic. This will help me in the work force because if I don’t know about a specific topic I will have to research it as much as possible. Architects often have to research sites and climates and conditions to verify whether or not they will be able to build what they want to on any given site. The same type of research done in school can help get me ready for that.

Week 8 Response

There are two main themes that I see throughout my research; they are sense of place and community. Generally everybody feels at home within this club and is comfortable. Sense everybody in this club is an arch. Major they are use to this building and this particular atrium that where the meetings are held, which also give them reassurances about the club and their different comfort levels. The other main theme is community. Everybody is always involved and talking during all of the meetings I have been too. Nobody ever gets put on the spot or feels left out in any of the meetings so everybody gets to voice their ideas about what should go on throughout the club. When I asked some of the members in the club what runs through them at the meeting area, they said"comfortable." I think everyone who has class in that building tends to build a sense of home there because of the grueling hours spent working. My place in the culture is observer/member. They try and involve me in this club because they want me to think about joining them next year so they keep me up to date with activities on campus and such. Overall nothin has really changed.

Version 2

The most important thing in my mind about diagramming something relevant to my site is where the site is located. I diagrammed all possible routes from my building to the architecture building.

version 1

Description of Diagram

When thinking about what to make my diagram about I made one important decision about what I would be diagramming. The most important thing in my mind about diagramming something relevant to the site I am doing is where the site is at. I diagramed all possible routes from my building to the architecture building, to help show how to get to my site.

Box 18

One focal point in my setting would have to be the atrium itself. The exact area where my group meets is on the second floor in the atrium. The atrium helps give a space scale and I think the atrium gives are meeting place character. The atrium imposes a sense of unity between everyone in the space because of the imposing space, everyone has to gather together so it isnt as imposing. This helps unite the group and also gives people within the space a different perspective. Because I am an architecture student scale and space are big factors in how we develop spaces, so it is one of the first things I notice about a new area that I visit. I could quickly identify the atrium as the focal point of the setting I am studying.

Week 7 Response

I have decided to include interviewing in my research. I can get better and more detailed information about everybody within the club. This will also aid me in getting more diverse information about everybody in the group including, women and the many minorities within the club. I do need more research for this specific topic because as of right now I dont have any information that has to do with interviewing or insider views. I do need to spend more time with my community just to make sure I can get enough interviewing in. I plan on spending my extra time with my community interviewing and more observing just to get a little bit more information and insight about my group. I plan on interviewing some people within the group to get their views and opinions, and that is how I plan on finishing up this assignment.

Box 16

My group meets every Wednesday at 6-630, and also Tuesday nights for movie nights. The entire campus is invited to movie nights and they are shown to produce thought. The movie is shown on the second floor in the architecture building in the only lecture hall. The movies can last from anywhere from an hour to an two hours. The inside of the lecture hall is warm, by the colors of brown and orange but because of the air, the room feels very chilly.
We meet in the atrium of the second floor every week. The atrium is made up of Grey stone which is the hallway as well as the ground. There are cement pillars holding up the next story and they are a pasty white color. The railings holding up the lights are wood which give the hallway a warm feeling like a lodge in the winter. The atrium is open with no ceiling and extends about 20 feet past the hallway. There are several round tables spread out through the atrium that each have four chairs around them. The tables and chairs are white. There are three free standing trees spread out throughout the atrium to give it a more natural look. There is also a wall towards the end of the hallway and in between that wall and the next rooms wall are vending machines. These vending machines include an aqafina machine as well as a typical candy machine. The aqafina machine is a sky blue color and the candy machine is a brownish Grey color.
Typically the hallway and atrium are very quite when the club has meetings. Every so often you can hear a quite whisper or echo of a close by student walking through the halls.
I have noticed the vertical lines in the architecture building because of the open space from the atrium. The architecture building is built with many lines and points that can stand out if an individual would just sit and pay attention.

Week 6 Response

There are several general conclusions I can make right now. One major one is how close nit everyone is. It seems that this group has been together for a long time but in actuality, they have not. This group rather reminds me of the way my friends and I act when we are together. I think if I went to another campus it would be the same because being minorities in communities you typically feel more comfortable with people similar to you. I think in general when there is a club or something and they have spent time together that there will be bonds..

Box 12

Being an only child

Being an only child is one of those privileges I had no control over. With being an only child there are many positive aspects that help me with my research effectively. One way is expectation. When you grow up as an only child, no one else takes the blame for something that happens besides me. With that my parents expected more of me to do the right thing and not get introuble. This overallaps with school work, sense I am an only child my parents only look at my grades, so I am expected to bring home good grades. Finally I feel as though being an only child, you learn more about the things around you quicker becuase it's just you, and no sibling to experience stuff before you. These traits can help me to be an effective field worker becuase with expectation, I will strive to take the best possible notes I can as well as write the best possible papers I can. The overlapp with school is obvious, so that will make the drive even more relevant. And lastly being able to understand things is a key tool which will help me analyze the group I am studying to better understand them.

19

Being young in todays world is a good thing in my eyes. When you are young you are experienced to a lot of different things which all together shape your life. For this project being young helps me in my cause because as I research I may be able to find many things out about my group becuase of my age. Sense I am 19 they will treat and act as though I am an adult. With this there wont be any censorship or anything of whats going on in and around the group. It also helps out becuase sense I am considering joining the group next semester, they will try and recruit me becuase of my age, becuase most of the members are grad. students so they need younger memeber to join. As a researcher I feel as though with all these factors I will get the best possible information available.

Week 5 Response

I have gathered many different types of sources for this project. I have sources that directly relate to my topic like the official website of the organization nationally, to sources that discuss women’s roles in architecture and related fields, to sources of information trying to “call” more minorities to pursue jobs in the field of architecture. I think many types of sources can give very diverse information that will lead me to making good papers. I haven’t found information that I can connect to what I am observing, and that is the current information I am looking for. Some of my information from sources I have found could probably be used to make theories about why the club I am researching are so limited as far as members go. I would also like to find sources that provide information about plans for getting children of all back rounds involved with this profession. This could possible lead to an overall increase of architects in the country.

Box 9

I thought many things before I began reading this text. I thought this text was going to be about some young girl down south. I thought the geography would be flatt becuase it was out in the country. I thought the group would be very close and non-accepting to outsiders. I also thought all of the families and their beliefs wouldn't be opended minded about anything.
I read a very similar book to this excerpt. The book was called The Cool World. In that book there was a character who went by Mama, and she was kind of like the older more respected person in the book.
With my previous writing and reading experiences I can quickly identify what type of reading this is which clears up and confusing assumptions I could get while reading it. I would describe this style as real.
Some of the slang was hard to understand at first becuase it wouldn't sound like an acutal sentence. I solved this probelm by rereading the sentence over and over again.
On page 124 I got confused becuase in the middle of the page the words were so blatent none of it really made any sense to me until I read it several times over. Basic information that helped me out for the story was relationships and names of the people within the story. Mama Day interested me the most becuase when I get older I want to be respected like she was.

Week 4 question

I only have a couple academic sources. One of them is bracken. Bracken is the largest library on campus therefore it has the biggest source of information on campus in one area. It contains books, movies, CD’s, cassettes, and even rent able laptops. Students can also go to the library to print out, as well as copying papers, and handouts. I have only been to bracken a handful of times and most of those times were because I was required by a professor. Teachers probably only want academic sources because they are for sure credible. On the internet there are countless amounts of information available but there is such information that isn't credible, and could possible just be personal opinion. You could use non-academic sources in specific papers like opinion papers, or personal narrative papers. I consider wikipedia.org a non academic source because my past teachers didn't except information from that site so it is non-academic. Other information that I don’t believe is academic, is certain newspaper articles and personal ads of that nature because they could have been published by crazy people.

Relative Link

http://www.stopmikelupica.com

Response to fieldworking notes

Overall I had a good first session taking notes with my chosen club. I found their meeting to be very structured. At the beginning of the session the president handed out a sheet that outlined the entire meeting. The outline was very detailed and even highlighted each point that needed to be expressed urgently to the group. One of theses points was chapter fees which are due next Thursday.
The environment of the session gave me a feeling of warmth and friendliness. It was a small group of people who met but they seemed very close, almost as like a small family. The meeting was not serious, and rather laid back. Most often there would be an interruption from a member who made a joke and the rest of the group would start laughing. I noticed that there are other types of people there besides African Americans like, Arabs. The majority of the people in this club were graduate students, a couple sophomores, and me the lone freshman. There were more males in the group than females.

Week 3 question

I have picked to do my research in the architecture building. The name of the group/club I am going to be doing my research about is called NOMAS. It stands for National Organization of Minority Architecture Students. I chose this group because as a student I feel as though I need to join a club or something to get a full college experience. This club meets the goals of being with other minorities while staying within my major. I think this club could provide me with future networking possibilities for my major as well as a better acknowledgement of being a minority architecture student. If I were to ask a random person on the street about my site, they probably wouldn’t have any idea of what club I was talking about. Honestly I am quite sure that many people within in the architecture building itself, especially the first and second year students have never heard of NOMAS before. The people of this subculture include most of the African American students involved in the college of architecture and planning, as well other ethnicities such as Arab, and Indian.

Research Possibilites

search terms: architecture clubs
minority clubs
student organizations

places: Bracken Library
Architecture Library
Student Affairs Building

Questions about Group

When did they form?

Who is the founder?

What exactly is done?

Who is in charge?

Where does funding come from?

How often do they meet?

Are there any large scale projects?

Are they recognized by campus as an organization?

Is this organization in any other campuses in the U.S.

What category will this topic further my information in?

Personality test

I agree and disagree with the results of the test I took. On one side of the ball I totally agree with the last two fields I was placed in which were feeling and judgmental. However I do not agree with the fact that the test said I am Extroverted. I'd like to think that I use my imagination quite a bit and many other characteristics of being introverted.

Personality test

I agree and disagree with the results of the test I took. On one side of the ball I totally agree with the last two fields I was placed in which were feeling and judgmental. However I do not agree with the fact that the test said I am Extroverted. I'd like to think that I use my imagination quite a bit and many other characteristics of being introverted.

Box 11

During my field study, I know some factors that might affect my view of things: my class schedule, my age, and where I am from. Being younger and from the city, people might automatically make assumptions about me and and what they think I know about Native Americans. People might think that I am to young to know about world knowledge like this or that that being from the city that might view is skewed by city ideas. My schedule also plays a role in my study because of my major I have to devote many hours of the day in studio which could deny me sufficient time to do my field work. There are several factors that also affect why I chose this subculture. One being that I had a glimpse of this culture in high school curriculum which sparked my interests. The other would be what I learned about their history as thought provoking. I like to think about the big picture and doing a field study on this group will help me to see it easier. I like to think of myself as very objective but I do from time to time add some of my own biases into my thoughts before even knowing what things are about. I think a challenge for me would be to get all the facts before I make a general opinion.

Box 2

Cutting my spikes is a very simple but tedious task. I start off by spraying oil into my clippers. I than have to brush any existing spikes out of the clippers to prevent the clippers from getting jammed. I thank began cutting my spikes in a mirror. It's pretty easy to cut my spikes in the front which consists of the top and sides of my head. It gets tricky when cutting the back of my head because I have to use mirrors to see the back of my head. A lot of times when I think I am done I have to change rooms and mirrors to get a different look at my head. This helps to make sure I don't miss anything because spikes start to look the same after you look at them for a long enough time. Cutting my spikes is easy but it can take some time to do.

Week 2 question

I am considering several factors in trying to decide what I want to observe as far as cultures this semester. One of the factors is personal interest. I feel that if i don’t connect to the group that I am studying than I wont be as interested in them. If I am not interested in a group the work that I submit wont be good and there for wont meet the purpose of the class. Another factor I have to keep in mind is how the group can effect me. If I chose a group that had nothing to do with any of my values that I would think that research such a group would be pointless. I want my groups to be able to help me later on in my career. My last factor that would have to be an excitement factor. I think that I would do better in a more active class like fencing or karate opposed to a class that sits around and talks like debate or something.
I think all factors are of equal importance to me and what I am trying to accomplish as a person. They both can play huge factors in my future expectations and goals. As of right now I don’t have any specifics that I want to learn but that may or not change through the next couple of weeks. I honestly hope however that I can gain some positive knowledge and or feedback from this class that can and will help me an adult.

Possible Subculture Groups

Native American Student Association

5th floor woody/shales resident

College Mentors for Kids

Fencing Club

Community Service Club

Actions for Subcultures

Landscape Architecture Student:
Rituals~ Lots of sleep, early riser, complain
Behaviors~ Draw, Construct, experiment with color, notes, supplies
Insider Phrases~ Section Cut, Plan View, Diagram, 2 pt perspective

Athlete:
Rituals~ Hydrate, Sleep, Eat healthy
Behaviors~ Stretch, Lift, Run,
Insider Phrases~ Sprinter, Defensive Back, Long Jumper

Teenager:
Rituals~ Sleep, Study, work,
Behaviors~ Go to College, Drive,
Insider Phrases~ Independence, Social Identity, Experiences

Son:
Rituals~ Watch sports, chores,
Behaviors~ Cooking, Cleaning,
Insider Phrases~ Helpfulness, Spoiled, Responsibility Landscape Architecture Student

Only Child:
Rituals~ Shopping, lots of money,
Behaviors~ Spoiled, Stuck up, lonely
Insider Phrases~ Bad, opinionated,

Landscape Architecture:
Landscape architecture is an art of seeing and applying ideas for human use in outdoor spaces. Landscape architects act as stewards of nature. They have to help maintain the land while helping to advance human needs. Landscape architects have to know about many different aspects of nature from how certain plants help to absorb water during flooding to what types of wood are best used for building. Landscape Architects deal with paying and non-paying clients in their profession. Paying clients are people who want work done. Non-paying clients are nature, users of spaces created and future generations. They spend many hours of the day sketching, thinking of ideas, and creating colorful and beautiful spaces.

My Cultures/Subcultures

Cultures:
African American
Ball State Student
Ohioan
Picese

Subcultures:
Landscape Architecture Student
Only child
Son
Athlete
Freshman Mentor
Sports Athletic Leadership Board
Teenager