Family Story

My Uncle Steve is the oldest child on my dad's side of the family. I can't remember much from my younger years, but I know who and how he is now, and it amazes me to hear stories of when he was younger. My uncle Steve is a manic depressant schizophrenic. Ever since I can remember he's lived by himself but always had a case worker with him. His case worker is there to make sure he takes his medicine, gets his groceries, has good hygiene, etc. Uncle Steve has been in and out of Wabash Hospital more times that I can count. Although he is considered crazy now, my dad always tells me of when they were younger, and what Steve had accomplished. When my uncle was younger, he was a good student, very smart. He eventually went on with his schooling and became a pilot, this being his first major accomplishment. Secondly, my Uncle Steve was a certified EMT, working on an ambulance. His third major talent was that he could play the guitar and was a great singer. Last but not least, Uncle Steve was once married and had a son. Today my Uncle has a hard time remembering if he ate during the day, and can hardly communicate with anyone. He is known around the towns he's lived in by the crazy man that walks around and sings. It simply amazes me to look at Steve and see who he is today, and think about where he could be in life if schizophrenia had never stepped in to ruin his life. I love to hear about stories of Uncle Steve's past, and live on the stories of today. They are polar opposite when they come to types of stories, but either time, my Uncle Steve is one interesting man.

English # 10

Looking forward to my mini ethnography i'm not exactly sure the structure that i'm going to use, but i have ideas in mind. the best way that i can see my ethnography being written is by showing my readers what the definition of volunteering is. I also think it will be important to lead my readers through my experiences of volunteering, and how i came to the position i am in today. I will be sure to add my interviews in with each of my experiences. I think my mini ethnography will be split up in to sections, such as HOBY, CMFK, other volunteers, people against volunteering/or opposing views... etc. I think this is the best way for my ethnography to be written because it will make it flow and be put together correctly according to structure. If it isn't sectioned up, the piece will not make sense and will seem like it is just thrown together, nothing in the correct place.

Subculture glossary

HOBY - Hugh O'brian Youth Leadership
- HOBY is the organization I started most of my volunteer work with, it is one of my field sites.

CMFK- College Mentors For Kids
- CMFK is my current volunteer organization and it is also a field site.

Big Buddy
- Big buddies in CMFK are the college students that are volunteering their time to mentor elementary students

Little Buddy
- Little buddies in CMFK are the elementary students that come and are being mentored

Activity
- Each day there is an activity, its the hands on, or "lesson" for the day.

GM- General Manager
-General Managers are in charge of the "class" of each grade level.

Ambassadors-
- Ambassadors are first year members of HOBY. They have never experienced HOBY before. They are all Sophomore's in high school.

JuCo - Junior Counselor
-Junior Counselor's at HOBY are 2nd year members that come back to volunteer their time. JuCo's are the leaders of cheers for the ambassadors, and they are also directly involved with one specific group.

Special Assistant
- These are members of HOBY that have been there for 3 or more years, until they turn 21.

Facilitators
- Leaders of groups of ambassadors. Members of HOBY over 21 that can lead a group.

WLC- World Leadership Conference
- A Large HOBY, with ambassadors from each state, and all around the world.

American Tongues

1. Right off the bat, i can see that i agree with the way they do one thing. I like that they go many different places to look at the dialect of the people all over the United States. If i were to redo this today, i would revisit the places they went, but i would go to different places, for instances, they went to the farm in texas, so maybe i would go a business man instead. I would also try to get some new "insider terms".

2. I think that the flaws of the study are they only seemed to interview certain types of people. It seemed to me that they only interviewed the "farm boys" or the country folk of the different places. Only a few times were there professionals interviewed. While i think it is important for the "everyday" people to be interviewed, i also think it is important to have a variety of people in the study. This would show us the different people in the same area, along with different people in different areas. I think if i were to do this again i would make sure i got a well rounded amount of people from each area.

3. i think language is very important in the way we perceive others. This video shows us that people in different areas think highly of themselves and less of those who speak differently. We are all americans, just because our accent is different doesn't mean that we are bad people, or less educated, etc. The people in the video says that when we talk, our education is revealed, and our values, and our beliefs. Basically everything is revealed about us just by the way we talk. It is obvious that there are people that only look at the outside, and the way we speak to judge who we are as people.

Revisiting your stories

1. I specifically remember one instance that sticks out to me the most. I was at CMFK and I was there doing my volunteer work as i do every tuesday. My little buddy was asking me about college, he wanted to know where i lived. Granted, he's a first grader, but he really is clueless about college and the world. I then realized that when i was a first grader, i was probably the same way, and what i was doing was a great thing. In the scene i am an insider of my organization and i am a "big buddy" or a mentor. My relationship with this particular informant is that i am his mentor.

2. The meaning behind this particular instance is that my volunteer work here as a mentor, might mean that one day, this child will go to college. One day he will look back and remember that he visited a college campus in first grade, and that will help him understand what college is and how important it is in his future. My fixed position is influenced by the college that i chose to come to, and the volunteer organization i decided to be a part of. My informants fixed position is influenced by the place he lives (close to ball state) and the choices his parents made.

3. When my informant speaks, i hear confusion, excitement, and curiousness. He is very confused about some things when we learn about college, but he is always eager to learn new things. My little buddy is very loud when he speaks, and he is usually confident. Since he is a first grader, he isn't a great speaker, he has gaps when he talks, trying to piece together the sentences he makes.

English # 9

So far i think the hardest part of my research project is getting a variety of information. I can find multiple things to use for my ethnography, but a lot of it has the same view on my topic. The easiest part of this project has been deciding who to contact and deciding on my field sites. I knew who would give me the best and most interesting feedback, and also i knew that i would use HOBY and CMFK as my field sites because they are the most interesting (to me anyways!). If i could start over again i think i would make myself more motivated and have better time management from the beginning. I am caught up with myself now, but in the beginning i had very poor time management. keeping this blog has helped me keep track of my project because it helps me look at where i am, and what i need to do. also it helps me by making me think about different questions and angles of my project. I think the blog will help me in preparing my mini ethnography because it will be yet another thing that i can look back on and see my progress. also i can look at it and see what i've written and take bits and pieces of my blog to put into my ethnography. its a good way to document your progress and be able to go back and look over the research process.

Online Reading answers..

1. The readers of my mini ethnography will care about what i am writing about because it is an important issue, and there are many people who fall under the category of a volunteer. I think people will care about my writing on volunteering because it will connect with their life in some way shape or form. Almost everyone has either volunteered for something or been the one receiving volunteer help.

2. I think my readers will want to know about volunteering because people don't realize how easy it is, and how beneficial it is. They will need to know how to get involved and what types of activities they can do. Also readers need to understand that volunteers are not getting paid, but they still get intrinsic rewards from they work they contribute.

3. My readers will already know what a volunteer is, at least roughly. They will also know that there are many volunteers in this world. I want to help them understand that they can help in the smallest ways, and still be considered a volunteer.

4. I want my readers to learn about volunteering and learn how easy it is. I want them to realize that volunteering is fun, and it is a great way to give back, and make yourself feel great. Volunteering is easy and very beneficial in many ways.

5. I hope that when my readers get done reading my mini ethnography, they will want to help and volunteer also. I hope they will be persuaded very easily. If I can reach one person and persuade them into being a volunteer, or volunteering more of their time i will feel like i've reached my goal.

6. I think my readers will use my writing to show that there are many ways to volunteer, and that volunteer opportunities are all around the world. I also hope my readers will use my writing to show others that volunteering is fun and easy, and beneficial.

English # 8

The main theme I see in my research is that volunteers love what they do, and they always try to make the best of it. I think that this theme runs through my fieledsites very much. Everyone seems to enjoy what they do, and we always have fun at what we do. Although we are 8 weeks into this research, i am in the same position in my subculture that i was when we started. I was an insider 8 weeks ago, and I'm an insider today also. The only thing that has changed is the way i am looking at some things. I make sure to look at more than my volunteer side, but also all of the other sides of the subculture. Other than the way i look at my subculture, to find new things, i am in the same position that i was in the beginning.