week 15 posting

I would have to say that working on this project has been the one of the hardest english assignments that i have ever been apart of.  I think that if I had chosen a different topic I could have had an easier time.  But with my strong opinions on the Christian religion and the origins of it, it has become extremely difficult to separate my biases and accurately represent this culture to its full potential.  Looking back I wish I would have chosen a culture that I was an insider in, something like golf....I have been a part of that culture for almost my whole life and there are very different aspects to it then one would think.  I would have to say that I have improved slightly on separating my opinions from the material and putting it into my paper.  It started off terrible and is now....slightly less terrible.  If i had to make a suggestions on how this could have been put together a bit better I would suggest have deadlines for the students as to when they will have there interviews and obersvations done..... GIve them a time where they have to have a few of them done so they could stay on track

Week 14 Posting

I think that the single most best piece of information that I have come across and will be incorporating in my final project is the book The God of Nowhere and Nothing  by Nels Ferre.  This book gives insight to different kinds of religious outlooks.  He also shares how him and his family all attended that same church growing up and yet they all have different outlooks on Christianity and Religion.  They would attend the exact same sermons and get completely different messages out of them.  But up until I had read this book I thought I was simply athiest and believed in nothingness, which really didnt sum it up to its fullest extent.  It gives incite to ways of Theism(Most similar to Christianity) Deism, Pantheism, Atheism, and other outlooks on the subject.  I found that pantheism is more of what I believe.  I think that people simply dont take enough time to sit down and really think about what they believe and why they believe in it so much.  There are sooo many others ways to live that are out there and it is just naive to think that they have choosen the right one out of millions of different religions.  Most people dont even make themselves aware of the other teachings, because it goes directly against what they do believe in.  We need to fill ourselves with information and then make the best decision according to ourselves, no what others show us.  To question their faith in Jesus is just too scary to imagine.   

Week 12 Posting

My understanding of the word rhetoric comes mostly from what I had learned during my English 103 class with Professor Todd McKinney.  Rhetoric is made up of logos, ethos, and pathos and deals with different ways to persuade and appeal to your reader.  The logos part of rhetoric is based on the logic and reason part of your argument.  It gives the reader the chance to take note at your resources you use as well as how you came up with your point.  The ethos component of rhetoric is the credibility and appeal that the speaker gives off.  It is the best representation of the author, what makes you different from others and how it is shown throughout your paper.  And pathos is simply the emotion driven component of your paper.  How you draw in your readers, like a personal experience.  So is it the things we say, how we act, and what we wear?  Yes, rhetoric can be all of those things.  The most common place that i have heard the word has been in an English class, and is used frequently, or at least rhetoric themes.  I will most defnitely corrolate the art of rhetoric into my project.  This is something that is relevant to my topic, it has great emotional strengths....not some much with the logic and credibility.......but yeah, pathos are there

Week 10 Posting

Shaping my mini-ethnography is still in the air as of now, I have a GENERAL idea of how to present all my findings but is far from concrete.  I know that I want to inform the readers that I am not a raging atheist who just has simply denounced God to his entirety, but has once been a Christian believer and is somewhat active in the subculture.  I will start off with some of my fondest childhood memories about spending the weekends with my g parents and always attending Church on Sundays.  How I participated in the church frequently until about the age of 14, and then to explain how I had questions that no one in the church could answer.  After trying to make a emotional connection with the reader I will try to make a smooth transition to some of the background information that I have obtained on the Christian religion and how it came to be the money making power house it is today.  Of course I will set my biased opinions aside the best that I can.  I think that I will be able to reach out to more people without the sarcastic tone throughout the paper.  Though this has become increasingly harder as I have researced the topic and found of its origins and things that have come along with it.  The use of my interviews and observation notes should be able to help me balance myself, to a more well rounded ethnography.  

Week 8 Posting

A reoccurring theme that I see through my research and interviews with informants is that people are continually relying on God to answers their questions of the unknown and to give comfort from fear and the unpredictable.  Many if not all people that I have spoken to have said that when they have hit hard times and cant seem to see the light that they simply ask God to to it in his hands.  That it all has meaning and part of a bigger picture.  Which I totally agree, we are apart of something greater, I am just not sure that my "God" is a man in the sky and can come down and directly interfere with my life.  With this theme running through my project everytime I have an interview with an informant I can tell that I would not be accepted into this way of thinking simply because I don't know what this is and it all means.  And to be a practicing Christian in this subculture that is one of the first steps.  To believe that it is this way, or have "faith."  I think that now I may be even more of an outsider in this culture than I had initally assumed, I cannot get myself to believe that their is a divine right and this holy person has a set plan for all of us.  Which is a major foundation of the subculture, but what I have found is that through my research I have found a more focused belief of mine rather then believing in nothing.  The belief of pantheism, being that something is above us it has a greater knowing than we do, I am just not sure as to what it is.....and I can go around and say that I know infact it is this.  I am thankful to have figured that out.

Week13 Posting

Though most memorable observation that I can remember doing was on March 1.  It was a little bit snowy out and the wind was something fierce.  On the drive to the church I had to battle with snow and wind going across the road. I also had to leave a few minutes early from then time i normally would have to, in fear of not making it on time.  As I drove I saw some people ready to pull out in front of me, whom looked very familiar.  I had got to high school with three of their daughters, one of which goes to Ball State with me....The Yoder family.  They were five deep in a car to go no other than them same place that I was headed.  Right then I thought that if i had driven by that same place about the same time on every Sunday, i would be sure to see them there.  As we got to the church you could see the older gentlemen dropping off their wives by the doors so they wouldnt have to walk through the cold and other families walking up hand in hand.  And despite the cold and fiercly windy wheather(the kind the hurts your face) all these people had the biggest smiles on their faces.  And as I walked through the door to be greeted by an elder all they could saw was how blessed they were to be here today and so happy about all that could join.  I was completely astonished!  Here I am being pissed off that its cold out and that I have to get up in the morning to go to this nonsense......and These people couldnt be happier.  This was the first of many motions that lead to the awesome oberservation

Six Word Memoirs

Good Music, Good Drugs, Good Friends

Questions? Comfort? Fear? Jesus Anwers Me

In Class Writing Quote

This is a quote that I found I really like:   Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.-Cyril Connolly

 

Write for one reason; to express your findings-Chase McCain

Week 11 Posting

This entire project has totally fucked up my normal writing process, I still listen to mellow music as I am typing and have to think things through a million times while I smoke my cigarette.  But usually when given the opportunity to write I can just write exactly what I feel or think and put in right into the paper, but with me having to take a closer look at something that I think is disgusting and keep my attitude to myself is damn near impossible.  I have to constantly remember to keep my feelings in check when working on this project, i just get fired up and go off on random tangents.  So yeah, this assignment has been kicking my ass.  Were any assignments unexpectedly easy?  I would have to say no.  I mean these blogs are somewhat easy, but for an english class I always felt like I could bullshit my way through it but with this project I really really cant.  Why do we write?  I guess I would have to say its because we have emotion, feelings, and beliefs that we need to get out and what a better way then to right them down so we can have them forever!  I think we write to share our emotions, feelings, and beliefs.  The roles of writing play little in mylife right now, just mostly English.  But in the future I intend on doing alot of psych research and I will have to be doing a great deal of writing so i can keep my thoughts and observations straight.  So the future looks brighter for my pen.