Gang Communities

Now I know this community isn’t original, but I consider this community one of the scariest. Gang communities. Gang communities are one of the scariest communities out there, in my opinion, and one of the most dangerous communities out there. They scare me because I’ve seen what they can do and I’ve heard even worse. Gang’s, I believe, thrive off fear even though the reason most of the member’s joined was out of some fear from some situation. If you fear them then they’ll make you fear them more by doing some harm to you or damaging something that belongs to you. They live under no laws, and they have no respect for anybody else, but themselves. If that doesn’t scare someone then I don’t know what will. What keep communities safe are laws, whether we agree with them or not they still keep us from being barbaric and out of control. A world without laws would be complete chaos and full of anarchy. That’s why this community is so scary to me. They’re uncontrollable and the cops arrest one gang member while the gang initiates another person.

gypsies

soooooooooo i was watching the movie snatch which is a Guy Ritchie film and in short is awesome. While iw as watching this movie a community popped up that i had no clue still existed. That community was gypsies and right off the bat i was really intrigued. I remember hearing about gypsies in history class as one of the groups the nazi's targeted and aimed to destroy but i never really thought to much about the types of people they were. In the movie snatch brad pitt plays a gypsy bare knuckle boxer and maybe its just bradd pitt being the awesome actor he is or something else but i got really drawn in by the gypsy characters that were in this film. They talked really weird and no one could really understand them and they also did a lot of trading and always threw in dogs in with the deal. Another cool thing was they moved around all the time and lived in caravans of trailers. It seemed really cool that a group of people could live outside of normal society like that and just do their own thing. So I think this would be a really cool group to investigate and really find out more about how they live and their lifestyles.

Naked People

Amongst the odd, weird, strange and elusive communities our beautiful rock we call earth hosts, I think naked people stand out the most. they are after all, naked. they are by far at this in my life the most interesting community. Nudist colonies are something I know pretty much nothing about. Other than the fact that their naked and they live together. What are their customs? What is acceptable? How do they deal with sexuality? When happens if someone is arroused? Do they share a religion? What kind of people decide one day that they want to be naked? hahahaha. ok. umm. Aside from that I think it would be interesting to explore the lives of the homeless. There system of bartering, bumfights, drugs, respect, food,shelter, clothes acts of kindness they recieve or unkindness ect... I'd also like to explore the cigar community. The people that make them, how to choose which tobacco plants to mix, the cigar cultures lingo, who buys them, who lobbies for them in washington, what climate tobacco grows best in, health effects, people affected by them how much we make in tariffs because of them. We could also discuss the counterculture community, people that expose what the mainstream media doesn't show. I would be willing to do this, but I'm hesitant because I know how scary this topic would be. Did you know that legally fox news can knowlingly lie? Did you know you can pantent a seed? Did you know you can patent a gene? What is interesting about that is that nobody voted on weather you can patent life. That is a decision that one court made for a coporation and now all things that follow will refer to that ruling. Life is evolving, in all living things, that means that whatever that living thing evolves into you have the patent on as well. And isnt owning a living thing like slavery? Owning the patent to genes! Those are the fundamental building blocks of human life, what happens when somone gets gene therapy or has a gene transplant and they replace your genes with ones a company made then what? Can they charge you anything they want? Do they make it so that the gene only activates if you take a special shot? Have you read up about september 11th or about fluoride in our water? What about the steriods and antibiotics in our food? What about genetically engineered plants and foods? The problem with this topic is that its hard to decide what information is exaggerated, or biased. The cold hard facts are hard to come by and alot of the information out there is scary. Its hard to know who to trust when your knee deep in information that tells you everything is a lie. Have you seen blood diamond? Farenheight 9/11? Lord of war? The future of food? Zeitgeist? (these are movies) Honestly how can you participate in society if you accept what the alternative news is showing you? Anyways. If your interested in this go to sprword.com and the future of food can be checked out at the library and zeitgeist can be watched online for free.

I am not saying any of the above is true or not true. I am merely saying that these things exist in the counterculture. Please don't come to class ready to fight with me about any of this. If you do, I will dump chocolate pudding on your head and quietly exit the room. Outside of the room there will be a broom which I will use to fend you off in case you follow me. Then I will skateboard to get some lunch at the union and laugh to myself about the pudding all over you. After calling my brother to tell him what happend, I will go to chinese class.

Paranormal Community

There are vast populations of communities out there ready to be explored. Right now I want to venture into the community in which paranormal investigators belong to. Growing up we hear about so many careers people want to make for themselves. We hear about our friends and peers wanting to become athletes, doctors, lawyers, military personnel, police officers, television personalities, writers, chefs, and so many other careers but how often do we hear one of our friends say I want to make a career out of investigating the paranormal? How many people even believe there is such thing as the paranormal? Sure, the show X-Files delves into the subject fairly well but television shows are a form of media and are quite often fictional. Questions arise like “Are there really psychics?” and “Do ghosts exist?” People are fascinated by these things; or at least some people are. Others, others are too afraid to admit there may be a possibility of such things just like there is a possibility of life outside our planet there may be the chance of “life” after death. The community of the paranormal and the paranormal investigations is unique in the sense that not many people explore it in depth alone but they think about it because it is a good source of entertainment for none other than the media of course with movies like The Ring and Resident Evil which is a different form of paranormal all together. This relates to me yet again personally because I feel that I have had paranormal experiences both visually and physically so it makes the topic all the more interesting to research. “Are these things real?” “Has there been research done to prove that verdict?” “If they are real has there been research conducted to determine why such things occur?”

Models

For a strange and uncommon community, I find the models to be a good example. Not just any models though, just the emaciated ones that are literally skin and bone. True, it is a prominent one that we see regularly, but what really goes on inside the community? What are the motivational factors that lead up to this trend for thinness? I would also like to look into the very hot debate that is currently going on about these models and whether they should have a weight minimum, because we all know there must be a maximum. How do eating disorders play into models and their thinness? And of the ones that suffer from eating disorders, did they have an eating disorder and then get so much attention for being thin that they decided to become a model? Or were they already thin and then acquire an eating disorder after being told that they need to be thinner? There is a lot to look into within this community and I hope to specialize on the eating disorder aspect of it should I find a group that likes this topic. It amazes me the lengths that some people will go for appearance. Also, the age-old question must be asked: What kind of affect is this having on society?

Yet Another Research Paper

So here we are on the verge of the third paper for this english class. An lucky us its a research paper. Actually im not that worried about it. I think i learned a lot from the last one so i think this one will be great! I have always been fascinated by polygamy and the mormons. The fact that it got publicist recently just fuels my fire to learn more. I am a catholic and this idea of multiple wives and christianity going together is just strange to me and i want to know more. its kind of like a car accident, you know its wrong to stare but you cant help but be curious as to what is going on. I started watching a show on HBO called big love about polygamy and the religion that these people follow. i have only seen a few episodes but i am so drawn to it. on the show the people dress "normal" for our time, unlike all the polygamists in the news recently who are really old fashioned dresed like amish people. i wonder if they dress like that in all polygamists sects or just the one in Texas. There are questions i want answered and what better way to get them answered than to do a paper on it and get a good grade on it! Hope everyone has a great time doing this paper!!

Strange Communities

The second paper really did scare me because I had no idea how to complete a research paper. But now that I know what go's into a research paper and how to complete one, I am actually excited for this third paper. I think that it is going to be very interesting and I am anxious to learn about something completely foreign to me. When this paper was first introduced to us in class last Thursday, I started to think about what groups I was interested in learning about. The first one I thought of was the Amish. I am intrigued with their way of life, and I barely know anything about them. I know that they do not use electricity and live an old fashion way of life style. I also have heard that they are extremely religious. I would like to research all the aspects of these people. I have so many questions and wonders about this community. My neighbor actually visited an Amish community and has told me all about it. She bought me a pillow that they made, and also brought back a book all about them. This was the start of my interest with these people.

Unknown Communities

For our final paper, we have to explore groups/communities that we do not have very much information or knowledge on. I have to admit that at first I was a little brain dead. But then I began to do some brainstorming. I have always wondered about Amish people and the community that they live in. They are depicted in the media and things like that but I really would like to know if those stereotypes are accurate. They are shown as really isolated and removed from the rest of the world. To me it seems like whenever they are portrayed on the television, they all have unique hats on and their hair is really long and uncut. They also have very long unkempt beards. To me it also seems like the media shows the Amish man much more than the Amish female. Amish people are also usually portrayed to be very religious, and interpret the Bible very literally. I wonder if all these things that are shown about Amish people are true. It seems too often like stereotypes that are used in the media are incorrect about groups of people. One of the other ideas that I had about what communities to write about was the “hate” groups like the Ku Klux Klan or the Neo Nazis. The KKK used to be much more widespread than it is today, but even still they persist. They used to be really quite violent in the past and I wonder if they are just as bad today, as they were back then. As far as the Neo Nazis go, all I really know about them is that they are very Anti Semitic. I also understand that they are somewhat against all minorities. These hate groups are not well known about because people fear them, I would like to explore and try to remove some of the fear caused by these organizations.

A few community ideas

This paper could go in many directions. I have many ideas of the types of communities I would be interested in researching, all of them different from each other. I started off brainstorming and this is what I came up with. One culture that is still prevalent in the world, but one that you don’t hear too much about is the Australian Aborigines. The Australian Outback is such a dangerous place to live, so desolate and dry, and yet this community of people are a living tradition here. It’s not necessarily the group of people that I am frightened by, but almost bewildered by, that they are able to thrive as a culture in the Outback. Another idea I was thinking about (and also discussing with another classmate) was focusing a paper on a group of socialites such as The Real Housewives of Orange County. We love to envy them, but is there an underlying truth about their lives in reality? We only know what we’ve seen on television and the tabloids, and this can be related back to our last paper discussing stereotypes. My last idea is to possibly explore a darker community, such as Neo-Nazis or White Supremists in America. It seems as though discrimination has died down, yet groups like these are everywhere. You may not see them on the streets, but are they still killing?

Rastas and other ideas

I have been thinking about what I could possibly write about and I have narrowed my possibilities to a few. Through reading DarLetha’s blog post, it came to me how fascinating secret societies were. An example of these can be seen through the movie The Skulls. It is rumored that many high class Ivy League schools continue this tradition in secret. I would like to see what exactly the difference is between secret societies and fraternities are. Another group that interests me was people who consider themselves Atheists. I would like to know what they think happens to them after death. I would also like to know what their explanation for the beginning of time and mankind is. Do they view interpret death the same way as portrayed in Dane Cook’s comedy show? Do they believe they will die and become ficus trees? Another group of people who interested me were Priests. As weird as it sounds, I want to see why they decided to dedicate their whole life to a certain cause. I want to see if they consider their church to be hypocritical or not. Also, I want to investigate why some priests decide to take advantage of children. My fourth option that I thought would be interesting to write about is the Rastafarian religion/belief. I find this ideology to be fascinating and quite appealing. I want to see whether this form of ideology is just practiced in Jamaica and the Caribbean Islands or if this lifestyle originated somewhere else.

Masons??

Recently my roomate was trying to educate me on sororities and fraternities which I am completely clueless about. During the conversation she brought up a word that I had heard before but forgotten about. She was explaining to me how masons were a group of professionsals who basically looked out for each other. I remember seeing some type of special on it a couple years back but the info pretty much went in one ear and ou the other. Apparantly every president except for 4 have been masons. What was more interesting was that she said the 4 presidents who werent masons were coincidentally the same ones who had been assasinated! Crazy right? Its almost impossible for me to believe that Obama and Clinton were masons. Masons are supposed to be the forefathers of fraternities and sororities or basically where the ideals of a frat/sorority come from. Masons apparantly have really strange practices ( some groups have even been accused of worshiping satan...according to my roommate of course). Hazing is probably one of the ways that greek groups and masons are related. I think this topic is really interesting because since I know nothing on it there is a lot of room for learning. Also just the idea of the presidents being involved in a group like this in order to make it to powerful positions seems really conniving and I would like to know more about it.

Mayan Indians

A community that is somewhat interesting to me and that I would be willing to explore is the Mayan Indians. I come in contact with Mayan Indians whenever I visit my family in Guatemala because they make up much of the population there. The Mayan Indians are also located in the Yucatan Peninsula as well as throughout the South East of Mexico. I have only personally experienced seeing the Mayan Indians in Guatemala, but many of them are very poor and rely on making and selling crafts as their living. Every time we travel to Guatemala we visit a Mayan Indian community about an hour from where my family lives and we spend the day walking around their markets and looking at all the different goods that they have hand-made. They rely very much on their selves for everything they do, including building a place to live. These Mayan Indians are very easy to pick out of a crown in Guatemala because their skin is much darker than just the average Hispanic Guatemalan native. This community would be very interesting for me to research because I have come in contact with these types of people, and their way of life is very natural and interesting to me.

New York Socialites

OK so we’ve all watched Gossip Girl or The Real Housewives of New York City… and if you aren’t owning up to it, it’s your own loss. But I think that a lot of people are weirdly attracted to the community of New York Socialites. They’re wealthy, beautiful, and fabulous, right? It’s a world where old money meets Big Business, and where fashion meets philanthropy. Paris and Nicky Hilton have made it big in the last few years just by being little spoiled daddy’s girls. But a lot of these women are very influential and do a lot in the community. Granted, most of them spend thousands of dollars on Botox every year, but they still try to help the underprivileged.
They’re celebrities that don’t need media coverage like Hollywood starlets… their money doesn’t come from fame; they’re famous because they’re wealthy.

Shows like the Kardashians and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous give us an insight into this community of Socialites… from their extreme shopping outings to their 150-foot yachts. I think this would be a really interesting paper and group project. We could split it up into famous socialites… like the Hilton sisters, or Edie Sedgwick – who was Andy Warhol’s muse back in the 60s. We can also take about real estate and travel… Fashion and philanthropies. The Kennedys are some… think Titanic, and the wealthy passengers of first class. The Vanderbilts and Rockefellers are still around.

Are you up for it? Let me know...

Did that guy just pick his nose?

I was reading another article for my Research Methods graduate course. It discussed a specific ethnography that observed the "community" of grcoery store check out lines. Hmm...I never thought about thatt one. But now that I think about it, some crazy stuff happens at the check out line. Have you ever observed the people in line behind you? In front of you? Have you ever peeked at another's cart and made judgements about her based on the contents of her cart? Oh, I totally do! I admit it. And have you ever read the name tags of the cashiers? Sometimes I think they make up their names. I had one friendly girl the other day. She was probably in highschool. The name on her shiney white name tag was "Gertrude." I'm not sure about that one. And what about the tabloids? Do you look at them? Do they influence your shopping experince? How do they shape the environment of the check out line? So many things to think about! Oh yeah, I almost forgot - I was on line (or in line, whatever) and I definitely caught the guy behind me picking his nose. Gross, right?

Getting The F!!! Outta Dodge!!!

I am ready to go home. These papers exams and assignments are taking a toll on my beauty rest so not only do i feel a mess, I look a mess. Im ready to get back in my bed back home and sleep until the cows come home. This paper was the most work I have ever done for a paper. Ive had to harass my friends, went to a couple seminars about relationships, checked out a million books like a nerd and of course I didnt count the hours that I would just sit around looking at my computer. Stumped. Curse you JLO!!! JK!!! During this rollercoaster ride of these first few drafts I have even seriously considered dropping out of school, going to a couple trade classes and becoming someones secretary (specifically a sports agency firm). I mean why not? I would have a steady cash flow, be invited to company holiday parties where I could search for a football player to handle my bills, and of course theres that satisfaction of spitting in someones coffee every morning because they are demanding, rude and rich.(ewww jk) Ah it would definably be a good life. That plan could actually work out really well but instead I stuck it out and got the paper done so now im a little closer to just being fin with the whole f-in paper all together. This week also just so happened to be my roomies birthday so we HAD to do something. We planned this party at this really upscale restaurant and it was supposed to be a surprise. We got balloons cake and the whole nine. She had better be lucky we like her. And of course because teachers dont care if we burn out and crash my computer class assignment was due thursday. Now this assignment was been posted but hey cant a girl procrastinate every once in a while for some dramatic effect? Sheesh. Anyone who has that class knows that those assignments are so specific, borderline anal, and they take forever to do. My eyes literally almost fell off my face when I was sitting there doing the assignment. Okay I think Im done now. That wasnt that much right? Because some people can complain all day... : )

Stressed!!!

AHHH! this has been a very stressful process. At first it wasn't that bad but now towards the end of this paper it is getting increasingly harder to concentrate! Not to mention we have so many other things to do too. The blogs are killing me! having to do the paper and do the blogs is a bit much. Plus the paper I'm just not so sure about. I hope im doing this right but i feel likeeveryone else is doing theirs so differently. And everyone is really into their paper and im into it but im just never feeling like I WANT to work on it. Maybe twice throughout this whole process have i felt that I wanted to work on it. which sucks because then when i do work on it it is forced and not free flowing thought. Sadly I dont think I will do very well on this paper. I need help but I'm not sure of the questions to ask to get the help i need. Hopefully this relazing break will give me time to sort through all of the thoughts i have for this paper. I need a break from school and this paper its really stressing me out!!!

Is there anything I can do to make me more motivated to put my all into this paper?

AHHHHHHHH

This has been a hectic time for me to do my research paper. The topic something that I enjoy and that is the best part of the paper. It took me so long to figure out what exactly to write about. I wasn’t into it too much and just had a lot to do. As I write this, I am still not done with my third draft. I hit writers block and it is killing me right now. Over the past few weeks I have had so much work to do. I had to study for my exam in statistics and that took a while. I also had to do so much for my macro class, with assignments due online every Wednesday and Friday and a quiz on Mondays. My brain was hurting a lot. On top of all this was the research paper. I know we talked about it before how it wasn’t really a typical research paper but it is still a pain in the ass. I’m still having trouble finding stuff to interview and my life has been so hectic. I forget to do everything until its too late and im going insane. I need this spring break to come now. I need to relax and get away from all of this. I need to take a deep breath and just do it.

Minnesota, here I come.

My biggest issue with interviews so far has been time. It’s a crazy, hectic time in the semester… all the teachers are trying to squeeze in one more test, one more essay, one more quiz/reading assignment/research project. All this is going on and I don’t know where to begin, let alone make appointments with people I hardly know to ask them personal questions regarding their sexuality. It’s a bit invasive. Not to mention I’m trying to get everything done ahead of time so I can pack for my trip to Minnesota, and I have to do my laundry!!! I have this research paper, and another one going on at the same time. Bah. But anyway, I decided to take advantage of the fact that Seth, my boyfriend, goes to a college that is .much. more liberal than Florida State. In fact, the gay/lesbian/bisexual community is pretty prominent there and they’re not afraid to let everyone know it. So I plan to interview some people that I know have strong opinions on the topic, in an environment that I know they’re not afraid to speak out in. I think this will greatly contrast the culture here and how the community is seen in our area and, more specifically, at our school.

Is everything in my paper relevant to my topic? If not, how can I improve it?

Eeeep!!!!

This is more difficult for me than I thought it would be. My topic is so broad I have no idea how to narrow it down so that it will fit snuggly into the small amount of pages it has to fit into. I cannot even narrow down what I want to talk about so I can maintain my focus. I have so many thoughts and ideas running through my head and I feel incapable as to how to focus them properly. My thoughts are sporadic and sometimes I lose them and sometimes I just do not know what to do with them. I am writing about the stereotypes of women and I know I really want to focus on how women as a corps have evolved throughout society. I have that primary focus but I am unable to identify where I should obtain the information that aids me in clarifying this. Yes, I am using the movie Love & Basketball and yes I have gotten some insight and input from another more advance female midshipman but where do I go from there as far as information. I can most definitely search the internet but then I feel like my paper will be too politically correct in a sense that it contains too much fact and that is not my style as far as writing go I like to ease factual information in. I could also go to my numerous peers and mentors or people that have higher authority over me but then all of their opinions would take up the space where my opinion belongs. What do I do? My opinion on this matter is not even clear to myself and if I have not gotten that clear and on point how am I supposed to begin properly entering all the other information I have received? Are there any exercises that I could possibly do that will aid me into clearly setting my focus? I believe if I get my focus entirely together then I will be able to complete my paper on a much better level than I would be able to right now.

UGH!

Done, I am completely done with writing this paper. I’ve been trying to avoid it, but it’s impossible. This research paper is the worst thing I think I’ve ever written. I can’t write this paper, it’s killing me. It stresses me out; it drains me of all energy because I’m so focused on it and trying to fix it that I’m probably making it worse every time I revise it. And on top of that if I fail it then I’ll probably fail the course and get kicked out of FSU. I hate this paper; if I had a time machine, I would go back in time and straight up murder whoever invented the research paper. I mean it was probably some asshole teacher who wanted to “expand his student’s minds”. What a cheesy fucking line. No this isn’t expanding our minds it’s just draining our minds of everything else so that we’re so focused on the paper that we have trouble keeping up in other classes. This is not a helpful paper for the real world for me; this paper is just another reason why I didn’t choose an English major. I know that probably means I’m going to have to write research paper’s again, but I cant help, but think if I had an English major then I would write more of these God awful things. But just like everything else this course has thrown at me I’ll find a way to make it out on top.

Nonsense

Depressed, confused, angry disappointed and disillusioned would all be great understatements to the ways I feel and the ways my paper seems. You would think that stereotypes and athletes, AND Hispanics, AND College students would all mix together fine to form a kick ass paper right? Well you were mistaken. At first, my essay seemed awesome since I had so much to work with. Writing the 8-10 pages isn’t the problem, it’s the research and the relevance of all three topics that kicking my ass. The thing that I didn’t realize while I was getting enough references to right a good essay was that they all basically state the same shit over and over again and even contradict each other the same way.

“All athletes are treated unfair because of what another smaller group of athletes have done to ruin the athlete reputation.”
“All athletes are treated like kings and don’t have to work as hard as every one else.”
“Hispanics are a valuable asset to this nation.”
All Hispanics do is take American jobs and provoke violence.”
“College students are all drunks that don’t have their priorities set correctly.”
“College students get a bad rap for what a small group actually does.”

And that wasn’t even the worse part!
I thought I had a problem with my topics and relating them to one another, but I thought I would be able to work through it,”No problem”, until the curve ball that they call the “interview process” hits me dead in the head.
I was planning on interviewing Myron Rolle, the Rhodes Scholar and Seminole defensive back for my research paper since he is living proof that contradicts the typical “dumb jock” stereotype. But then, there was no way of getting a hold of him, and I called the athletic Department on campus and they put me on hold for basically 8 hours. So then I tried to interview a couple of my buddies that were on the swim team and track team and only one of them answered me back, and he told me that he had recently quit the team! Its like someone is trying to piss me off, and nothing is going right.
AHH!! The only good thing is that Spring Break is just around the corner and I can finally step away from this paper for a couple of days and then, tackle it again until the final draft is at least presentable.

Jennifer, since I know I can probably improve this paper drastically with your critique like I did in paper one, will you give us a chance to perfect the final draft and resubmit it again like you allowed us to do for Paper 1?

take out the papers and the trash...

Contrary to my original belief that this research paper might not be as bad as previous research papers I still hate them. I do not like writing to begin with, but research papers is a different story all together. I actually find stories the best thing to write because everything is already in your head, all you have to do is put it all on paper. But this isn’t about stories… it’s about research papers. They are by far and away the worst writing assignment in existence. I find them so boring to write and I can’t stand them. I also hate the process of gathering research for the paper. It always seems to me like I can never find enough sources for my paper. Sure, I find some information and usually it’s pretty good and is able to suffice, but I always feel like I could use more. I get so sick and tired of backing up every point in the paper with a quote. I’d rather just write about my opinion on a topic then prove it with what other people said. The works cited is pretty bad too. I hate making sure that everything is in perfect place for MLA citation. If one little thing like a period is in the wrong place then the entire citation is wrong, that’s so stupid. Whenever I am working on this stupid paper I may write a few sentences and then my mind wonders. I find myself reading the latest news on NFL free agency or talking to my friends via IM or text messages. I end up doing almost anything but working on the paper. I have to mentally slap myself and tell myself to concentrate. Too make things that much more hectic this week I have a test in psychology on Friday that promises to be the most challenging we’ve had so far.

blahhhh

Fskgnesikgnkfgn eskg…..that how I feel about this paper at this moment, the timing couldn’t be worse with it slapped right in the middle midterms along with allllll the other assignments that other teachers decided to slap on us. The paper hasn’t been all to difficult just the small amounts of time to formulate the first and 2nd drafts but hey those are supposed to be shitty right? The only thing that has really bugged me has been all the other damn assignments that we have been doing, the 3 notebook pages on note taking and the two additional pages added on our interview, we do have a whole week to do those two pages but its more like a few hours when we get back from spring break Sunday night. But I’ll grin and bear it and do it all on time and all the other work will only help me in the long even though it’s a pain in the ass at the moment. It really forces me to not procrastinate as much as I would like but hey I guess that’s part of growing up. I’m looking forward to finally being done with this paper but then again I think the draft 1 of our third paper is due like a week later or so.

My question isssss any chance for a extra credit work this semster?

Ranting makes me feel better :)

I’m not one to complain, but I AM SOO OVER THISSS. Not only do I despise research papers, but I feel like I have tried to make this paper as interesting as possible but it’s like beating a dead horse. At first I thought it was a great topic: stereotypes! They’re everywhere! I could take this in so many directions! But then beginning to start my drafts the sh*t hit the fan….how am I going to come up with 8 pages on one stereotype? And actually make it sound convincing without boring people to death. I never wrote ONE SINGLE research paper in high school, so I felt completely lost. Eventually I got my act together and got through my first two drafts. One of the biggest difficulties I encountered was trying to find actual LEGIT sources. Stereotypes, I found, are incredibly hard to research, particularly mine. Teenage girl stereotype- of course they are plastered on today’s hit T.V. shows…. And of course they are exaggerations. But who’s to say that those stereotypes aren’t at least half true? And every source I tried to find sounded like an opinion rather than a fact.

Coming into my third draft I knew I had to include some interviews…and that was another big problem I encountered. How can you interview someone about stereotypes? Who are you supposed to interview that would be considered an EXPERT on teenage girl media stereotypes? So I went with a non-expert approach which seemed to work out but idk it still feels like if they are not experts it’s not legit. Whatever. And don’t even get me started with quotes and citations. That is a nightmare in itself. It has become such paranoia to me that I feel like I can’t even relax a little bit just to write a good paper without being paranoid and anal about not plagiarizing. Rules, rules rules. Details, Details. I AM SOO OVER THISSS.

JLo- How many quotes is too many quotes?

这是真难。为什么神为什么？！！！ ( this is hard. WHY GOD WHY?!!!)

I don't enjoy doing research and my paper has been problematic since the start. But anything original is. Getting my friend to finally sit down with me and interview was a difficult task indeed. But he was very helpful once the questions came flying at him. The paper is writing itself for the most part and I like the way it flows. I have to do a little more research on a few points but otherwise its not too shabby. My ending is what scares me. I haven't written it yet. But the funny part is I think once I know my ending ill be able to clarify and develop my thesis (also known as my beginning). Which is sort of ironic and twisted because I've written a whole paper without really knowing the end result I'm aiming for. But as long as it works I have no worries. Balancing my time between the paper and studying for Chinese, which I'm still mediocre at, has been difficult. At the moment I'd say the worst part about writing the research paper is having to read the curious researcher and turning things in on different due dates. I like to do my own things on my own time. Tell me when the due date is and the paper will be done for you. But I understand why were doing it this way, and that is fine with me ill play that game. The best part of writing the paper is those flashes of insight and great ideas. And I love when I write a sentence and it just comes off exactly the way I want and says exactly what I mean in a really sophisticated way. Unfortunately, those sentences are rare.

Papers suck in general. But they are a necessary evil.
Adios

My question would be....hmmmmm

Is a former lifeguard a legitimate source for an interview. The interview is inherently based on opinion because their aren't any scholars on the subject of "who is a hero and why?".

FML

I hate research papers! The thought just scares me. Thank goodness we got to pick our topics, mine was something I was really interested in so it made it easier to do. The reading writing center was a pain in the ass and it didn't help at all. I feel like the lady was so preoccupied with the time so she could leave that she didn't really give all her attention to my paper and she didn't answer the one question I had for her. It really pissed me off and she only checked half of my paper. She would mark out and told me to cut half of my stuff because I didn't back it up or it didn't make sense but then she would read on and be like "oh well you did do that so I guess the stuff I marked out before is ok." Trying to schedule interviews in between writing the paper and doing all my work was kind of dificult but besides those small little things, the research paper really wasn't that bad.

fml.

Ugh. I'm completely hating this research paper right now. I had no trouble with the crots and I think I spoiled myself with the crots. I had soooo much fun writing the crot paper and I pumped myself up for an equally fun paper this time around, but nooopppeeee :\\

It sucks finding sources for all of the things that I consider common knowledge, and that people who are in the "drug policy circle" consider to be common knowledge. 

It's hard stepping back and realizing that some people might not know what the hell I'm talking about.

It's also hard to stay on topic. Being a drug policy reform activist I start going off on tangents, I need to learn to focus on the STEREOTYPE and not trying to get people to our side.

Finding the appropriate sources is also proving difficult. The government refuses to provide money for marijuana related studies...so it's usually privately funded university studies. These sources are limited. 

There's a ton of sources on the crime levels, health studies, economics and such related to marijuana, but not specifically stereotypes. 

I'm having trouble separating my firm opinions from this paper. I want everyone in the class to read my paper and see why having this drug illegal is creating more harm than good, economy wise. So that sucks.

All of my classes are also having papers and lots of work right now (I'm an idiot and didn't notice I signed up for 3 gordon rule classes) so I'm having trouble trying to balance all of the work and get enough sleep. And I'm tired a lot because my heart disease is acting up, so it's just all around a bad combination of a bunch of sh*t. 

Jennifer -> Do we need a specific number of sources?

Holy S***

Ok for starters… I hate the freaking structure of a research paper. I liked the Crot, where I could just write and write however I wanted to and still get my point across. Reading about people who turn an adolescent thing like high school cliques into this heavily scientific, wordy, basically monotone prose is awful. AWFUL. Like it literally makes my head hurt. My own sanity in this paper is preserved by watching Mean Girls like 6 times, each time continuously laughing my ass off, and thinking that this is a funny and informative representation of what Girl World really is. And Rosalind Wiseman’s book – Queen Bees and Wannabes – it’s “educational” and interestingly written. I’m tired of trying to connect my topic in the media because NO ONE writes about it. I’ve found like one article. I mean, journal articles don’t tie a PG-13 rated teen movie (almost chick flick) to the real world. Because they’re boring. Journals are boring… and God help me for being a psych major and knowing I’ve got to read this crap for the next 8 years through grad school. I really want this paper to be interesting… if not to instruct, at least to inform. I want some snobby freshmen that had to give up her power in high school to read it – maybe even researching something of her own – and think “Oh. Maybe I was a total bitch in high school.” Maybe it’ll make those imaginary light bulbs to flick on over someone’s head. Maybe people will come to realize that popularity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be… that it’s just about power… and people who don’t have it resort to desperate measures like shooting their classmate… like the tragedy at Columbine. And maybe the girl who’s starving herself for the approval of the “popular crowd” will come to realize it’s not worth destroying herself to have a few fake friends. I went through all of this… and I know everyone else has to. I want this paper to mean something… but it’s hard for me to write in this structure to be able to do that. I know I want to end with something about how even though the media portrays these cliques – sometimes – in an over-the-top way, most of the time they lose their throne. I don’t know if I can find any legitimate evidence to back that up… but that’s what I believe.

grrr

Writing a research paper has to be one of the most frustrating things that I am going to do this semester. Just trying to figure out a topic, first of all, is difficult in itself. Then actually trying to find research that supports the things you are trying to say and helps you to sound actually somewhat smart is a pain…and SO time consuming! It is easy to sit in the library at hours at a time and not find anything useful…trust me, I know!! And then actually trying to find 8 pages of information could probably kill someone…just kidding. But it is obnoxious. It’s just hard trying to sound so official and correct all the time. And there are the introductions..and even worse, the conclusions. I’m having so much trouble getting my conclusion exactly the way I want it! I seem to summarize and state exactly what I have been saying for the past seven and a half pages. It doesn’t help when that is the way we were taught all through high school. It is really hard to adjust to being interesting with a paper that could potentially be so boring. The practice today in class, though, helped me a lot in trying to figure out what I am trying to tell the audience. I guess my biggest problem just has to be getting what I am thinking actually down on paper the way it is in my mind.

Ranting and Raving

ahhh research papers. They stress me out so much its ridiculous. In high school I was taught how to write completely different than what I am being taught now. In high school everything was so structured. You know the typical 5 paragraph essay? We were also taught that our conclusions should summarize everything up, and not leave the reader hanging. I am also told this now but I have such a hard time wrapping everything together without repeating myself. However todays lecture gave me an entire new perspective on conclusions. It really did help me out a lot. Another extremely difficult part from this paper was how to write down all of the information I have gathered from research. In high school I used to not have enough information to complete the page length. Now in college I was introduced to an entire new world of resources and now my problem is I have too much information. So my final question is....

Is it okay for my conclusion to tell a new story that may ask other questions?

Im just trying to figure out a way to avoid the typical conclusion.

Thankss

Interview?? heck no

My topic is Will and Grace and the stereotypes perpetuated within the series. I decided to interview my sister Jessica because she watches the show often and is familiar with the characters. We talked about the stereotypes that were obvious to her first. She said the one that stood out the most to her was the character Jack and his flamboyant demeanor. When I asked her to give me more detail she was very specific. She described him as girly in the way he walks, swinging his hips, sometimes with his hand on his hip or in the air with a limp wrist. She said he wears tight clothes and is very well groomed. The second stereotype she told me she saw a lot in the show was Karen and her drinking habits. She said that Karen is seen at least once in every episode with a drink in her hand and she is often depicted as very sloppy. She sometimes slurs her words, and she never does any work for Grace. I thought that the stereotypes my sister thought were obvious were obvious and it made me realize that I was more focusing on the ones that were not obvious. In my first and second draft I mostly wrote about the stereotypes of Will and Grace’s characters and the stereotypes between them, which I thought was good because it shed some light into some more in depth stereotypes that most people might not have found in the show. When I asked my sister to think of one stereotype that was not as obvious she started to tell me about Grace’s mother, who is Jewish. She is only seen in a few episodes, but to my sister she is always the image of what Jessica thinks a Jewish mother is. She said that Grace’s mother is controlling and very critical, always wondering when Grace will get married and whom she is dating and what her job is like and things of that nature. She sometimes criticizes Grace’s hair and posture in the series too. I really enjoyed interviewing my sister because it gave us a chance to laugh about the series that we both watch and find hilarious. It always gave my sister and I a chance to bond over my college assignments.

Interviewwww

I haven’t done my interview(s) yet, however, I know who I am going to interview and could not get one scheduled until next week. I believe they will enlighten my research because rather than only having statistics about hate crime and reviews of the films, I will be able to add a personal touch to my research paper. They may be able to provide specific examples of stereotypes that they have encountered as well as give insight as to how they may have been seen differently after they “came out” by their friends, family, and/or community. This is an effective tool because getting a real person’s perspective is much more personal than just giving a lot of facts. I do not think they will change my view on the matter, rather, I think they will deepen the view and make me feel stronger about it. I can incorporate it into my research paper in the end when I relate the research to what we can do to change these stereotypes. When I ask them the questions I will give them open questions that let them explain their points and take the conversations where they feel necessary, yet still keep it relevant to my paper.

Interview Process from Hell!!!!!

I am embarrassed to say that I am yet to interview any of the possible people that I wanted to interview. All of the people that I have tried to interview have either been too busy to answer me back, don't answer their emails, or have openings in their schedules only after Spring Break. This interview process has gone from decent to bad to even worse. I have a couple appointments scheduled for later tonight with non-athletic students, but I will have a Hispanic student’s perspective on stereotypes by tonight if everything finally goes according to plan.
My plan was to interview a couple of Florida State University student athletes and get their perspectives on the norm stereotypes of student athletes as portrayed by media and how they are affected by it. I have emailed a couple of student athletes regarding the interview process but most have not replied, but I am still hopeful. I have received a reply from a member of the swim team, but he informed me that he is no longer part of the team.
All of these negative issues which I have had to address are just detours along the path to a hopefully, well written essay. I have other alternatives for Spring Break because I will be going back home to Miami and I am pleased to say that I have former high school friends who have full athletic scholarships for both the University of Miami and Florida International University that I hope to interview.
However, I will soon I interview Steve Badoya a Hispanic freshman student here at Florida State University. This interview will mostly not cover the athletic perspective of my report, but I am sure his perspective on Hispanic stereotypes will be a great attribute to my paper.
Another interview that I have planned out for tonight is my roommate Dustin Pillow. I believe that Dustin’s perspective will help me with my point that college student are not all in the mind set of partying and having scholarly activities as a second priority. His Anglo angle of looking at the Hispanic stereotypes will also be very interesting to incorporate in my research.