Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Girls... Confused Yet?
They are the bringers of life. They are our lovers and our friends. They have the power to easily make any man tremble in fear. They are; to this very day, the MOST CONFUSING creature known to man. They are our mothers; they are our sisters, our grandmothers, our cousins, and our aunts. They are all of these things, but most importantly, they are women.
Any age group of women was more than worthy for me to write this essay on, but in the end I chose to observe and write about the groups of women/girls that you would find in high school and college. I chose to observe these two groups because I wanted to figure out how girls in college are both similar and different from girls that are in high school. There was that reason, and also because these are the groups that I encounter most, and for me they are the most confusing.
To write my essay, I risked my very own life time and time again. I spent a whole week each with the high school, and the college girls; observing them in their natural habitats.
I wanted to start off slowly, so I first ventured into the heart of the high school girl’s community. Looking over my shoulder every second afraid of a sudden, malicious attack; I carefully walked around the sardine-packed like hallways. I noticed that the specimens mostly walked around in packs. Everywhere I looked I was surrounded. Laughing and giggling so loudly, I was amazed that anyone within ten feet of them wasn’t deaf. I dared to get within earshot of what some groups were saying, each pack’s conversations consisted of either who looked the best, what guy each thought was cute, what each were going to do this weekend, and/or what they wanted to do that day after school.
Next I made my way into their cafeteria. Here, I found large amounts of girls sitting together in what seemed their own “clicks”. I found here, all of the girl stereotypes that I could ever imagine. I saw the gothic, the nerdy, the sporty, the preppy, and the glamorous. It seemed as if each had their own section of the café of which they owned. If another from a different click attempted to integrate with other groups, only a very few number of times were they successful.
I left the high school younglings behind, gathered up all of my courage, and found myself up against the deadlier of the two colonies. The college girls.
My observations for this group consisted of me going to numerous places where they were most commonly known to gather around the campus. Some of these places I conducted my studies from were, an interesting place called the Dinning Commons; where they conduct their eating. Another of my locations was called The Woodward Center. Apparently this is where females go to tone their bodies. The final observation site was a place called The Ely Center. Here I learned they either go to study at a library, or relax in this lounge-type area. I did this a number of times during the course of the week I was with them.
Just like their high school counter-parts, the college girls seemed to still have their own clicks, and walked around in packs. Only here the packs of girls were smaller, and less common. More and more girls in college were able to walk around by themselves, and be more independent. As I viewed this group while they ate the stereotypes were all still there. But unlike in high school, the groups were all integrated within one another. They seemed to welcome each other to sit with them, and happily all ate together.
After nearly escaping with my life from the college girls, I was able to gather up all of the information from all of my observations from both my high school escapade, and my college journey and came up with only one conclusion…
I STILL know nothing about women!
My Observation Proposal
What I am observing are girls both in high school and in college. I am observing them because I want to figure out how girls in college are both similar and different from girls that are in high school. I plan on observing my subjects through the next two weeks, one age group of girls for each week.
I will observe girls in college for the first week. Then, I will be observing girls that are in high school the second week. During the first week of observations I will be going to numerous places around my campus. For a few of them I plan on going at least twice. Some of these places I plan on going to are the Dinning Common, the Wilson Café, and the Ely Center. For the second week, I have already received permission from my old guidance counselor so I can go to my old high school, walk around the halls, and sit at the lunches to do my observations.
There are not a lot of major things that can go wrong for me and my observations, that is, unless girls decide to fall off the face of the Earth for two weeks. And if this happens then I would be shit out of luck. Something like if I wasn’t feeling very well for a day or two would give me less time to observe, but even then I still would have the rest of the week to observe at my disposal. Another thing that could slow down my observations would be, and this will most likely happen; if I get lazy and don’t feel like doing my observing for the day. I know that I won’t have any troubles observing the high school girls, because for that week I have permission to be there every day that week. But if any thing does go wrong, I will still have plenty of days to make up for it.
Monday, March 24, 2008
words
- Main Entry:
- 1word
- Pronunciation:
- \ˈwərd\
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German wort word, Latin verbum, Greek eirein to say, speak, Hittite weriya- to call, name
- Date:
- before 12th century
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Thursday night madness
| This thursday night all hell was breaking loose in Courtney. I arrived at the dorm around 11 O'clock and everything was going crazy. I was visiting my friend on the fourth floor when I noticed someone tackle someone else to the ground. I thought it was a fight but when I arrived closer I realized that it was two girls wrestling. I assumed it was all in good fun and I watched for a little while. Me and my friend then ventured down the hallway a few more rooms and entered one that looked promising. When we entered there was a recreational game of pong going on so we decided that it was time to excercise our shooting arms. After beating everyone in the room atleast once, we decided that we would leave them to thier fun and we left. The further down the hall we went the wilder it became. At one point I actually saw someone run full speed into a wall and almost knock themself out. Thursdays nights are usually fun, but this one stood out more than any other. |
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Observation of the Soul Food Dinner
English
Professor Meek
03/04/08
Observation of the Soul Food Dinner
For my observation I had trouble trying to decide what I was going to observe, and who I was going to observe. I finally decided that I was going to go to the soul food dinner in Scanlon hall. This was an event set up by the student support services office. I thought that this would be a real good event to go to because there would be a lot of people there that I could take notes on. Now that I knew what I was going to observe everything seemed to fit in to place.
When I first walked into the door I saw everyone was sitting down in their seats waiting for the food to be ready. The atmosphere was real light and friendly. I was really surprised to see how many people actually showed up for the soul food dinner. After I went over to the table where I had to pay 5 dollars to get in and be served food I myself looked for a seat. There were more than fifteen big round tables set up in the place that it was being held at. At every table there was a center piece of flowers.
The people in the room ranged from freshman to upper classmen to teachers, and other types of educators. I became I part of the environment of people in the event. Instead of me just sitting back and observing I became an active participant in this social group of people. I knew a lot of the people who were there already so it seemed only right for me to become part of the social climate that was going on. The soul food dinner seemed like a family reunion of sorts. Everyone was there to support each other, and to show that they cared.
There was no animosity towards anyone. When I did see someone that I didn’t know they were friendly and made sure that they introduced themselves to me.
I did notice small clicks though were certain people would hang out together. I noticed all the people who were doing poetry readings sat together. I also noticed all of the people who were receiving scholarships where sitting in close vicinity of each other. This could have been because that is how it was supposed to be set up, or maybe that is just how the students wanted to sit with. Another thing that I noticed was how most people sat on the right side of the room. The left side was the only place where seats were empty.
When it was time for the poetry readers to come forward they decided who would go by gender. The two guy poets went first. Then the two girl poets went after them. For the guys there was a one white poet and one black poet, and it was the same way for the woman. The white person went first for each gender. When it came to the announcing of who would be getting the scholarships all of the people who won where dressed up in what seemed to be there best outfits. All of the winners of the scholarships seemed to understand how big of a deal it was to be one of the people who got one of the scholarships.
The soul food dinner was a great thing to observe because of the great diversity of people there. No one person was a like but everyone was being friendly and encouraging their fellow classmates. Meeting new people was easy because of how friendly everyone was. Learning how people can come together was a great thing to witness and be a part of.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
ESSAY TWO
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Wet and Wild
From the early hours or the morning until the late hours of the night, there is one place that makes me feel at home. This one place that no matter the time of day or the time of the year, everyone is welcome. Congamond Lake is that sanctuary of complete freedom and peace. The light sounds of fishing boats and fish jumping out of the water is the sign that the time has come. This is the time to get out of bed and prepare for a fiesta of fun on the lake. The sights of waking up to see the sunrise hitting the lake makes any person wish they were there. The water is glass, so smooth that it looks like you could walk across it. The sun reflects off the water to make the lake look like pool of inviting tropical sea. As I walk out of the lake house the sand slide between my toes and the warmth gives me a sense of relief. A relief that comes from knowing that nothing can go wrong today, nothing can bother me.
The suns heat makes my skin tingle and as I walk over to the docks. The fuzzy carpets on the deck feel like a mini golf green. My feet mold footprints into the dew covered rugs. As I sit at the end of the dock I can see fish swimming everywhere through the crystal clear water that makes me thirsty thinking about it. I dangle my legs over the end as if I have no power to move them. As my feet dangle I let my toes move towards the water inch by inch until finally I am in and it feels amazing. As I sit on the dock I watch a bald eagle sore high above. This magnificent bird of prey is the head honcho of wildlife around these parts. As it fly’s it searches for an unfortunate victim below. At last it see’s the meal it hungers for, and it begins to descend. As it gets lower the power from its wings makes the water ripple and the fish knows its time is up. The eagle’s monster talons slice through the water to spike the unlucky trout in its side. Victorious the eagle was on his search for food, and victorious on showing the lake he was still king.
The sun was starting to warm up the air now, intensifying the need to get out on the water. As I begin to take the cover off of the boat I feel the shiny metal buttons giving a warm sensation to my fingertips. With the cover off I put the key in the ignition and give it a turn. The roar of the engine is certain to wake the family of otters the lives in the nearby cove. I slide of the ropes holding my boat in place and begin backwards into the serene lake. I coast slowly so not to disturb the lakes glassy appearance. The tall Pine trees that surround the lake look like guards. These guardians reflect off of the smooth surface and it makes the lake seem unbelievably peaceful. As my boat cruises along minnows begin to jump all around it. The appearance of rain hitting the water is what these little critters create as they fly around hopelessly from an inevitable doom that lurks beneath them. These minnows are jumping because a school of bass is nearing and there is no way to out run them. As the bass grow nearer the jumping of the minnows becomes desperate. Then in a flash, a huge large-mouth leaps out of the water and engulfs a mouth full of minnows as it flails like it’s trying to fly its tail. As it crashed back into the water it made a gigantic splash and disappeared to lurk another day.
The day begins to age and the sun beats down harder than ever. I can feel the sun sizzling my skin. The lake begins to get crowded and the sounds of engines screaming up and down the lake are everywhere. The water is no longer smooth and glassy. The wake from all the boats has turned the lake into a large wave pool that makes all the boats rock back and forth. The people on the lake all seem to be having an amazing time. People on tubes skip along the surface of the water fear and adrenaline showing in their faces. As a tuber launched off a crest of a wave I watched as he flew weightlessly through the air. When he landed his face smashed against the hard tube and whipped his head backwards. I watched as his eyes rolled back into his head as he was forced from the tube violently. I moved forward down the lake at approached the sandbar.
The sandbar was full of enthusiastic young kids learning to swim. The looks of joy on the parent’s faces as their young tots took their first strokes were priceless. The water at the sandbar was so clear you could see the shells and the brown gold sand on the bottom. Parked all around the sandbar were party barges. These monstrosities had around 15 people on each of them. The boats were full of middle aged people who were drinking some beers and blaring country music. The mood on the lake today was just like every other day. The eagles said it best when they said “I got that peaceful easy feeling”. Lunch time was near so I throttle up and began to head over towards the lake’s pizza shop.
The light breeze carried the smell of melted cheese and pepperoni half way across the lake. My mouth began to water thinking of the melted mozzarella and fluffy brown pizza crust that was about to enter it. As I headed to the main docks for the pizza shop I witnessed many people heading onto their boats with lots of brews. Beer was a very common thing on this lake. Part of the lakes tradition is to give all the empties cans to the lions club. The lions club makes thousands of dollars every summer. After the pizza was devoured, I packed up my stuff and headed back out into the paradise.
I coasted under the tunnel to the last pond on the lake where I would make residence. This last pond, north pond, was the party spot of all the lakes. The low police visits and the high amount of young females that attend this spot make it a pristine area for coagulation. The people on this pond were mostly early twenties and thirties. The party boats lined the lake like a parade was going on. This array of speedboats, drunken men, and beautiful women makes for one awesome show. The people on the lake seemed to feed off each other’s stupidity. Two speedboats began to circle a pontoon and made waves that smashed over the side railings. The pontoon driver became furious and in his rage threw a full perfectly good can of brew at the speedboat. The speedboats window smashed and the brawl was on. One man leapt from his boat onto the pontoon and swung at the driver. The driver was on step ahead on him and threw him over his shoulder and right off the boat. He then drove away laughing. In this epic battle of wits one man’s windshield was broken, as well as his pride. The night is the relaxing time on this marvelous place.
As the sun fades over the tall pines the stars come out to shine brighter than ever. As I lie on the back of my boat and stare at the sky I listen to the animals all around me. I can hear the wolves in the deep woods howling to the moon. This noise could send chills through the most thick skinned of people. The sound of loons keeps me intensely listening. Only on the most silent nights can you be blessed with the sounds of these elusive birds. The water is completely still and for a moment every worry you have in life disappears. Alone in complete solitude, nothing but you and nature at its finest is what every night is like. The cool air carries across the lake and brushes with face with a gentle caress. The occasional fishing boat with move by silently like a slippery snake. The stars shine brightly and reflect off the water to make it seem like you’re surrounded by space. Crickets off shore chirp like a symphony of well orchestrated musicians. The day ends as it began, silent and peaceful. It is circle of paradise that cannot be compared with much else in the word. This is a place of peaceful tranquility as well as great excitement. It is one in a million and I found it.