Unit Four Ethnographic Notes B & D

Ethnographic Notes B

Socio-economic class is a form of hierarchic status in that a person or a group is classified based upon their economic success or wealthiness. Especially in the US, the gaps amongst social classes are apparent that negatively segregate people and categorize them into particular levels. In reality, most Americans are dependent on credit cards and work constantly to pay for their debts. Some people are not really the owners of their houses, their cars because they use money from the bank loan to afford it. Also in American society, if you are in lower social class, you also have fewer chances to approach successes because social relationships and life backgrounds are crucial factors to determine your opportunity to successes. In fact, people could acquire a great amount of opportunities brought from family’s supports and social relationships that highly guarantees and enhances a chance of being successful.

On BC campus, socio-economic class is diverse with students from different social backgrounds integrated in one class.

 Students in middle class driving used cars to school.

Some students riding bikes to school to save some gas and maintenance fees.

Some students taking bus to school...

while the upper class' students driving super cars and living in premium housings.

Ethnographic Notes D – Discussion Topics
 
2c) Critically review and discuss the contents of the following site on class in America Class in America: The Unspoken Divide http://www.wksu.org/news/features/classinamerica/class-meaning/index.html

  

In modern American society, the gap amongst social classes is clear more than ever. “Class” is the segregation based upon economic statuses and educational levels. In compare to educational levels, classes divided by economic statuses seems more obvious and popular in capitalist society. In that, people in lower social class are mostly seen as lazy, deceitful, self-contempt, greedy and willing to do whatever it takes to meet their material needs. In reality, when talking about the lower social class, instead of using the “poor” word, the intellectuals and most people use “underclass” or “economically disenfranchised” to imply the poverty. That is definitely a problem when poverty is avoided to be mentioned directly as it becomes an ambiguous implication by society. Also, it is understandable that not anyone who is hard working could make enough money to serve their basic needs and putting food on the table for their family. In addition, in people’s belief, there is no way for the economically disadvantage people to have a rich and meaningful life. It means that poor people have nothing and have to wallow in a painful, valueless and lack of happiness life. To most people, living a value life is synonymous with having successes and material achievements. Nonetheless, the poverty is a culture in that the dignity and integrity not money define a person’s value. According to the society, the poor class is a lazy class, the reason they are poor because they are not hardworking enough. In fact, it is not the laziness made poor people not to work, it is because of the lack of humanity towards them in the jobs offered. 

Rich Vs. Poor

The lower class Americans

The upper class Americans

Also, an element that contributes to the segregation of human beings in society is education. Indeed, a well-educated person is always perceived as the one who could obtain a sustainable life, amend society and even sometime change the world with their devotion and ambition. Certainly, in social perceptions, a person with a good outcome of schooling becomes an educated person and vice versa, you would be called under-educated if you do not have a good life after completing school. In the United States where an education is on top of the world, it is clear to conceive that education is not equal due to the differences of public and private schools. Even though an entrance exam does not exist here when you get into college or university like most other countries, there is still a large number of Americans are high school graduates. In reality, adult education is not free and the most common choice is public school. Nonetheless, government supplies money for public school then it leads to an unequal quality in facilities, instructors between poor areas and rich areas. It does reflect the gap amongst social classes’ differences in America’s society. 

Public school students

Private school students

Unit Six

Ethnographic Note A

          Saint valentines day (AKA) Valentines day is celebrated around the world on February 14th. Valentines day is the day of "love", people tend to make surprises and romantic plans for their significant other, or will ask someone to be their "valentine". The reason we have valentines day is because one early christian saint named Valentinus was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. Today we really don't learn the reason behind valentines day. On the stereotypical valentines day the male person in the relationship plans a dinner, and takes out their partner to a nice a romantic dinner, and buys them flowers (usually roses) and chocolate, the week on valentines day I heard a someone on campus say "I really hope I get spoiled on valentines day."

         In elementary school, kids would make valentines day cards for everyone in the class and attach a piece of candy to it, they would then go around and set a valentine in each kids valentines day basket. After we would finish everyone would sit down and open their valentines day cards. They would usually have someone cheesy on them and no one at that age really cared about the significance of the card, we just wanted to candy. The colors associated with valentines day are red and pink, the colors of "love." Our culture looks at love as having strong feelings for another person, and on valentines day we are suppose to express it. Love in our culture; I believe is interpreted very badly, people mistake a close relationship and sex for love. Love is emotion everyone has can experience, a warm personal attachment of deep affection.

 The Roman god of love and the son of Venus. He is a small, winged boy, blindfolded, carrying bow and arrows. The arrows, once struck the heart, makes the victim fall in love. He is also portrayed as a young man with his beloved Psyche, with Venus or with a small group of winged infants (the Amoretti or Amorini). Some traditions say that he was born from a silver egg.

 Ethnographic Note B

Do you Speak American?

      The Power of Slang

        In 1892, slang was defined as "the start of fancy, imagination and humor, breathing into its nostrils the breathe of life." Slang is produce most likely from youth, sport, vice, and oppressed. mostly, slang has been used by youth because they have not understand the proper use of English Language. Slang is more clever and humorous than the standard English. Mostly African - Americans adapt this language and brought the language to maturity. But, after their teenage years for Americans, slang is being erased on their vocabulary and uses a proper English Language. Overall, slang is adapted on a younger age that changes the American Language and develop it better.

      Americans are Ruining English

       In the early days, British who originated English language was amazed how English was spoken in the new world (America). But not until the American ruined it on 1776. The Americans were using the English Language and they have invented words that the Dutch and British don’t recognize. And when this happened, they felt that the Americans are ruining the English Language. Americans ruined it by changing it in a unique way. It is the same for the British before, both British and Americans evolved the English language in different ways but the American are more conservative and they have invented more words to add in English Language.

     Hip - Hop Nation 

      Hip – hop is a popular culture that is being adopted by youth and it originated from African - Americans. Hip hop is adapted all over the world including USA, Mexico, Cuba, France, Bulgaria, Ghana, Pakistan, Japan, Australia and many more. Hip Hop was started during the 70’s. Hip hop is defined as creative and entertaining. All youth who have adopted the culture was called “street linguist” and “word Warriors”. These people create and invent new words that have developed English Language.

  

      Like, Quote Me

      Like as a quotative? Using like has been scattered throughout the world and it changed the English Language big time. Like is mostly used after a verb or before a noun. Like has been used often on a conversation nearly every sentence. The use of like in quoted speech was reported to originate in California and its neighboring States. Now, like is still used across the English world but it was assumed to change or disappear in the future and it will not be a part of English forever.

      

       Slayer Slang

        Watching televisions can gain you knowledge and things that you did not know before. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an academic publication relating to the fictional Buffyverse established by TV series, Slayer slang is one of the languages that changed the English Language and it has introduced new slang terms and phrases on its every episodes.  Slayer slang is now a part of standard American English because of the new words it created.

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Unit Four Ethnographic Notes A & C

Sustainability is an area or business that can provide for its own community. It can survive on its own as well as not make an impact on the world. I think the way a building is sustainability is if they are low on their global impact.

These are solar panels; they work by capturing light from the sun to create power. With that power they light and heat the inside of the building they sit on. They make the building sustainable by not taking power from other places. 

This is a place that the people’s transportation can be hooked up to. They don’t burn anything in their cars making the air cleaner. These people are also rewarded by being able to park in the front as well as get free energy.

This is a place where they grow food which they can sell in their cafeteria. This makes it sustainable because they don’t have to go and order the foods that they grow, they can get it from here. This can also clean the air.

These are the bins that they throw their waste into. Each one is for different things. The middle bin if for things that can be reused like the things that they drink out of. The bin on the left is where the leftover food goes in. That will be sent to go into the dirt to make more dirt for plants. The bin on the right is the one that the things that don’t go into the first two go into. They are sustainable because they will come back to use in some way.

Notes C

Capitalism is a economic system that a countries industry is owned by private owners for profit. You have to pay for a lot of stuff that is used and things will be around for your using.  A capitalist commodity is a everyday thing that is found in a capitalist society. They are useful and valuable things in this society.

Laptops are something that you will see anywhere in college. You can see students on their laptops during class typing notes and looking up other things. They also sit outside a class and work on things for their next class. 

Another thing that is available is drink products they are everywhere you do and there are multiple drinks to choose from. They often come in containers that you throw away. No one uses drinking fountains anymore.

They are in every other building. Coffee wasn’t a big thing until about twenty years ago when Starbucks became a big company. Originally coffee was a drink that people would sit around a drink but now it is on the go.

Parking lot is something you see everywhere in America. People drive everywhere and try to park as close as they can. More and more cars are on the road.

Computer labs became big in the past ten years more and more things are done online. More places have computer labs. If the school doesn’t it is considered old.

Unit Three Malls

American Malls

This is a picture of the front of the Bellevue square mall in Bellevue ,Washington . A mall is a big gathering place for people to meet and look at new commodities that they wish to own. At malls there is a lot of advertising and people go to there to either socialize or make large purchase commodities.

Here is a picture of the parking lot of the mall, this is where people will park before entering the mall. The parking lot is usually as big as the mall itself! Most of the time is hard to find parking if you go to the mall on the weekend., because most Americana's to not work on the weekends and spend their time shopping at the mall. At some malls there is front row parking that is for very important people (VIP parking) and you have to pay more to park there.

When you first enter the mall if you have any questions you can go to the guest services. This is a very nifty  place to go if you are confused on how the mall works. If you lose something or need to return an item or need assistance of any other kind this would be the place to go. 

Most malls are more then one story tall and use escalators, which are self moving stairs so that you have the luxury of going from floor to floor without using energy. This on the picture above is a picture of a self moving floor that assist you in walking down a slight angle. These make is easier and make you use less energy when moving around the mall.

This is a picture of the more social side of the mall, people tend to like to get a small pastry and a coffee  while they sit and visit. Coffee is a beverage that mos people use to start their day and get some energy, caffeine is in coffee and is a natural stimulant., people also drink coffee to have energy throughout the day. A pastry is a small desert type item with sugar, that people usually get with their coffee to give them an extra sugar boost to start the day.

Nordstrom, Macy's and JCPenny are most clothing stores, they are usually in every big mall and have thousands of customers. At the places you can buy lots of commodities, what most people go to these stores for is clothes. At these stores there are a lot of discounts and sale on clothing. A lot of people go to stores to look at sales going on to save money on the commodities they wish to own. Some Macy's and Nordstorm's can be multiple stories and have commodities from clothing to kitchen appliances. 

Victoria's Secret is a shop for women's lingerie, or sensual clothing. Women are usually attracted to these types of stores because of sales and the desire to have clothe like models. Through out these stores there are pictures of good looking women in nice lingerie. You can connect  this store to what American culture believes is "sexy"

This is a picture of a Starbucks Coffee shop, as you can see there is a line of people waiting to get coffee from this store. Starbucks is a multi-billion dollar company and people are attracted to most name brand things, even if it is a beverage people will chose this over a small coffee shop that could have better prices and coffee, just for the simple fact that it is Starbucks. 

Many malls in American have abstract attractions for people to see and interact with. Most of these piano play music automatically and it just a cool piece of art that attracts people to see it. Some malls like the mall of America have full roller-coasters in them, just to attract more people to come to the mall.

This is a picture of all of the bus schedules around the area, they put these in malls because a lot of people who are going to a mall like the Lincoln square mall take buses to get their because they are in town. In these brochures their are bus times for each day of the week and the times they arrive to the destinations they are going to.

This is a bike rack out side of the mall, a lot of people that live close or bike to work would lock their bikes at this location . People can now also put their bikes onto buses so they can bus to a spot then ride their bike to the mall. 

Unit 3 questions

C1)      What are some of the similarities between sports and religion in contemporary America?

         Their are a lot of similarities between sports and religion in America. One similarity is that they are both huge parts of American culture and people are usually into sports and religion or not, meaning that a lot of people care about sports and religion, and a lot of people don't. Both sides compete for fans or followers. trying to get people to join their side. To some people sports are life and that's all they put their time into. just as some people put most of their lives towards religion. When both groups meet, such as at a sport's game or Sunday mass, they meet to share similar interest.

C3)      Discuss one American television series that communicates moral messages (of how Americans are supposed to behave, what are they supposed to value, what happens to them if they refuse to adhere to these ways of acting and valuing, how they can return to a righteous path after they have strayed, etc.).

          The show that I chose to watch was CSI, it is a show that is about the justice side of criminal acts, showing how criminals are caught and punished. Throughout the show they  find out who the criminal is through little to no evidence at all. The moral message of this television show is that if you do something wrong you are going to end up getting caught. Sometimes in the show they show what the life of a criminal is like, showing the viewer that the life of a criminal is usually negative and bad.

C5) Visit the site titled This Far by Faith http://www.pbs.org.thisfarbyfaith/

Choose a historical period, read about the period and some of the people discussed in the site form that period and share the results.

     Martin Luther Kind focused on a campaign of economic justice and criticized Vietnamese War. However, he was killed in 1968. After his death, Robert. F. Kennedy. also focused on economic justice, but he was killed only four months after he addressed his concerns about churches for black people. As a result, it seemed really hard to keep churched for black people. However, Cone claimed in his book that black people had power to destroy the white mainstream American culture, and his book inspired a lot of young black poachers.
     However, in addition to drug uses of black people, black people’s churches were criticized because of HIV or AIDS. President Bill Clinton tried investigating the decline of the number of black people who came to church. He found that fifty percent of black people came to church in 1970, but only 40 percent of them did after the spread of HIV or AIDS. By the end of 1990, Bolm in Gilead, which was a nonprofit organization for black people, decided to embrace black people who had HIV or AIDS and provide HIV education and support network as a part of their service. During 1999, 5,000 churches participated in HIV education and supporting network. Eventually, the number of black people who had HIV or AIDS declined rapidly.

C7) Religions around the world share several characteristics. In what ways going to college in America is like learning and experiencing a religion?

     All religions around the world share one characteristic. They all have beliefs and practices in orientation toward the sacred. For example, Buddha is the God in Buddhism, Jesus is the God in Christianity, and Muhammad is the God in Islam. People in all religions worship their own gods. Also, some religions share some characteristic. For example, Buddhism and Hinduism share their view of world. Both of them focus on a belief in rebirth.

     I had lived in Japan for 21 years until I came to study in the U.S. Most Japanese people do not believe in religions. Also, we do not talk or learn about religions at all, so we are not familiar with them.
     On the other hand, in the U.S. there are many people who believe in religions such as Christianity or Islam. One thing that surprised me in the U.S. is that I was asked for a permission to be in the picture in an event of Bellevue College. This is because people who believe in some religions are not supposed to be in a picture because of their religions. Another thing that was surprising to me was that some people wear religious clothes in school. I had never seen that kind of clothes before in Japan, and I did not think that religious people would be not that religious. That is why seeing people wearing religious clothes surprised me. In addition, many lectures cover religious thing such as prejudice and discrimination. I had never learned them in Japan, because there are few people who believe in religions. Thus, I think that these are how going to college in America is like learning and experiencing religions.

Unit Three: Ethnographic notes

      For the Religious landscape survey I looked at the Catholic church, the first things I looked at were how old most Catholics were and where most of them subsided in the US. I found out that in the US the people of the catholic religious were pretty geographically dispersed and most were in the age group of 30-49. I was also surprised to see that 61% of Catholics had no children.
     One of the things that was very far-fetched to me was that it stated that people can be Catholics and not believe in god, I really do not understand how people can belong to a religion that believes in god and not believe it. Also is was very weird to read that most Catholics believe that the bible is word of god, but not every word is true. This also does not really make since to me, how can someone live their life by the holy bible but still not believe every word of it. The last thing that caught my mind on Catholic beliefs was that 79% of Catholics believe other religions lead to eternal life, another fact that is odd to me because most Catholics I meet are pretty extreme to their religion.

Unit Two Critical Thinking

Using Critical Thinking Skills

In each day of our lives, we face problems. Sometimes we solve it and sometimes we don’t. Using critical thinking helps you on decision making, solve questions clearly and precisely, and easily communicates with others. A critical thinker has an open mind and evaluates options or an educated that is aware of their surroundings on making choices and understanding options. Being a critical thinker won’t just affect you, but also the people around you either short term or long term.

To apply our critical thinking in class, we want to be comfortable with each other because it can help us when working on a project. Knowing one another will let us share each other’s learning or ideas to solve a problem. First we would want to know what the problem is. Second is to gather all possible information and how we should deal with the problem. Next is to figure out how we can apply these details to solve and change the problem. And then, working on the problem and solving it. After that, see if the solution worked and how it can be better, if not what can we do to fix it. And at last, reflect to the problem and what have we learn after solving it.

Works Cited

"Benefits of Critical Thinking." Doane College. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Critical Thinking: Benefits, Characteristics, and Decision Making." Yahoo! Contributor Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Critical Thinking By Example." Critical Thinking By Example. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies." Critical Thinking in Everyday Life: 9 Strategies. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Critical Thinking: What Is It Good For? (In Fact, What Is It?)." - CSI. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

Unit Two Thanksgiving Rituals

Thanksgiving Rituals

 

Thanksgiving is the day we gather with our family and friends to have a ritual meal. First of all, we make a thank list to say after praying on the dinner table. On our table, it is really special to have it full of food to show thank and respect to the ritual meal. During Thanksgiving, our table is mostly served with a Whole Turkey and Gravy, Potatoes, Veggies like salads or casseroles, Appetizers, and Desserts including Pies.  Table should be also organized in a formal way with a complete utensil. Lighting a candle also symbolizes light of the sun that helps grow our food and light of love that brings us all together.

Thanksgiving Dinner

       

There are many ways on how to celebrate Thanksgiving. Mostly, families eat on the table while other families eat in front of the TV or eat outside. The only important thing in thanksgiving is to say grace and gather with your family and friends.

  

   

 

CRAFTING ON THANKSGIVING

    

  

  CARTOONS ON THANKSGIVING

It has been a tradition for kids to craft turkeys and banners or watch cartoons during thanksgiving. They also write their thanks on crafts and hang them on the door or put them on the table. These traditions were done every thanksgiving and it still hasn’t changed.

REFERENCE

"Breitbart.com." Breitbart News Network. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Duckman's Blog." : Happy Thanksgiving. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

Polis, Carey. "How The Food Network Dominates Thanksgiving." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

Unit Two: Cherokee's Ritual and their First Contact with Europeans

GREEN CORN FESTIVAL CHEROKEE

At certain points of the ceremonies the people fasted, played stick ball, had corn sacrificing and took medicine. Then after the ceremonial fasting they would feast. Another ritual observed was rinsing them in water and having prayer.

The cleansing ceremony was performed by a priest who was followed with fasting and praying and other sacred practices. It is believed when you receive a cleansing it washes away impurities or bad deeds and starts a new life.

Corn Mother Selu

The Green Corn Ceremony was traditionally celebrated during late June or early July for about four days. The Green Corn Ceremony honors the Corn Mother, Selu, for giving them good weather and harvest.The dates varied for the celebration when the first corn ripened. The ceremony was held in the middle of the ceremonial grounds. And they dance around it including stomp dance, feather dance and buffalo dances.

Other tribes including Creek, Seminole, Iroquios, Yuchi and more celebrates the Green Corn ceremony and the ceremony has varied activities from different tribes. There are many different ways to celebrate it and it depends from Tribes culture. The most important in the ceremony is to Thank Corn Mother, Selu, and give thanks for the corn, sun, rain and a good harvest.

Cherokee and their first contact with Europeans

Hernando De Soto

In the April of 1540, Hernando De Soto and his soldiers marched in the Southeastern Woods in the United States were the Cherokee’s are located to search for Gold and Silver. The Cherokee have heard about the expedition toward neighboring tribes and were forced to move up north because of their outrageous conduct. De Soto and his soldiers have crossed through the Cherokee village and they found out that the entire village was deserted.

De Soto and his men marched to the west entering another Cherokee country. De Soto was surprised because they had received a much warmer welcome. The Spaniards reported that Cherokee were hospitable, entertainers and provided them food such as corns, beans, turkeys and more.

After their stay on Cherokee country, they moved to the Muscogee, Creek. De Soto asked two soldiers to look for reported mines with Gold and Silver. But a report states that after Cherokees generosity to the Spaniards, Hernando De Soto chose not to pursuit for the mines. The Spaniards stayed until May 25, 1540.

REFERENCE

"About the Nation:Cherokee Festivals." About the Nation:Cherokee Festivals. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Cherokeehistory.com." - Cherokeehistory Resources and Information. This Website Is for Sale! N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"First Cherokee Contact with the Europeans." American History USA RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Hudson, Charles, and Lewis and Jordan. "Green Corn Ceremony." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"Native American Rituals and Ceremonies - History and Information - Page 2." Native American Rituals and Ceremonies - History and Information - Page 2. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.

"United Cherokee Ani-Yun-Wiya Nation Offering Tribal Handmade Traditional Red Cedar and Hickory Wood Longbows." United Cherokee Ani-Yun-Wiya Nation Offering Tribal Handmade Traditional Red Cedar and Hickory Wood Longbows. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2013.