New Corner

This week I was observing in corner three and I was also able to observe people that were in the couch area. And to me those people seemed a little weirder, as if they were literally just trying to kill time before their next class.

This one girl, was literally just staring into blank space. She wasn’t even staring at the wall or anything. She was just staring directly in front of her and she was doing so for a good 5-7 minutes. It sort of freaked me out so I wonder if the people around her were wondering the same thing.

Also in the couch area, there were two people passing their time by sleeping. Like seriously? How can you just sleep out in the open? I would be too paranoid that someone would try to take my bag or my wallet or something.

The rest of the people (mainly girls) were in groups chit chatting, and sitting around in a circle. I figured they were maybe juniors or seniors to have such a big group of people, because usually freshmen are lonely or with one or two buddies to kill time with. Not in a group of about 10.

My other observations were pretty much the same. I came to the same pattern that most men alone rather than the woman, and in my first weeks observation, I hinted that maybe it’s because of the same reason why women don’t use the bathroom alone. They usually drag a friend along with them.
So I see more men eating alone than women, and I also seen more men in groups then the women. Usually when there is a table of ladies, there is usually only two of them, but when you see a table of guys, there is usually about three or four of them, maybe even more.
Another interesting thing that I saw was that this one girl was going between two tables. She was originally sitting with a guy at table 6 and I guess her two friends decided to sit next to them at table 7. Instead of introducing them and merging tables, she was going from table to table. Talking to her one friend at the table she originally sat at and then going to the next table and talking to the two people there. I also wondered how her friends must have felt. I know that if I were to be one of her friends at that table I would have been annoyed. Because it’s like either you are going to sit with us or sit with him or we all sit together. All that running around was unnecessary.
-Rosie G

Common hour reflection

Student center observation

Location: Second floor in the student center

Time: During common hour

   During my last observation I have not seen anything new so I decided to go to the student center at a different time. While I got out of the elevator during common hour, I realize how many student were up there and they were not in groups. All the students that were sitting down were alone and listening to music, watching Netflix or some other stuff. There were barely any seats left. So I decided to sit with a girl. I took my laptop out and started to observe.

   After five minutes passed I started to observe the students, I saw that every time a student came up the second floor they would look for a seat. But first they would make eye contact to the person sitting in that section. If they were comfortable enough they would sit with them. That is when I realize that I have done the same, before choosing a spot to sit. When I got off the elevator I looked at every section and usually turned away from the sections in which there were guys, because they would think you are interested in them. Also because it would feel weird so I sat with a girl who was not paying attention at all and looking at her Instagram. I kept seeing this pattern until two girls and two guys came upstairs and with their opposite gender. I could not help but ask, what drove us to not sit with our opposite gender? Is there a certain type of preference?

    However on the other section there was a couple that was sitting down, they were Hispanic. They were laughing, hugging and kissing each other. They looked very happy and only stayed there for a while because a female student decided to sit in the same section they were in. Of course they felt a little uncomfortable. When they left another couple took their place. The couple this time was white, and they were kissing but mainly just talking. As I reflected on the couple before them I wanted to know why they treated each other differently. Was it because of the environment they were in?

It was pretty interesting to see all of these different things that happen during common hour, I am hoping to find a pattern that is seen every day. I am planning to come back at the same time and see if anything changes

By: Angelica Martinez

funny reactions at the gym

During this week’s observations I tried to learn more about competition but I happened to stumble upon something else that I have not noticed before.  This week I noticed that the same big/ athletic people that only lift are the only ones who scream and grunt while working out. I won’t lie, I also do the same and fall under this category but this is the first time I noticed the reactions of people around the one individual screaming or grunting. 

While I was trying to observe competition between lifters, which is what I will call the big/athletic people from now on, I happened to notice an out of place skinny person working out near the lifters.  He was minding his business doing his own weight and a competition was going on near him between two lifters.  One of them decided to put up a lot more weight than they can handle and during the set they began to grunt and scream then he slammed the dumbbells on the ground. The out of place skinny guy was startled then got up and went back to the machines sections. While I was observing this I could not help but laugh but also get annoyed because neither of them racked their weights.
   Since I was working at that moment,which is why I got annoyed, I was not able to test it out myself by lifting heavy weight and then slamming it on the ground to see if a skinny or obese person always gets up and goes back to the machines.

During my entire shift I witnessed two other similar situations.  Do they get away from the lifter because they are scared of a dumbbell hitting their foot or because they are just intimidated of the lifter? If I get a chance and happen to find a skinny or obese person by the free weights, I will try to answer my question by lifting heavy weight and screaming but when I finish my set I will not slam the weights on the ground to hard. This way if the person gets up and leaves it means he is intimidated by the lifter but if he stays it just means that they were just scared of a dumbbell falling on their foot.  Whatever the answer to my question may be, it is still funny. From now on every time I see a skinny/obese person near me during my sets I might just have to slam the weights even harder on the ground so they could get up and leave and I could have a good laugh.  Just kidding, I can’t be that mean. I might just do it if they are using a bench or dumbbell that I want to use too, but that’s about it.

-Junior V

New Habits

When I first began this project I was expecting to see the same patterns everyday. I mean how much do I expect to observe in a food court besides students eating, wasting time and socializing. I didn't expect to make new observations, so everyday  I would visit the food court and write down the same things I seen previously. I had already noted students habits such as what they ate, who they sat with, the technology they used and how much time they spent there. This wasn't helping much I was on the rode to having a very vague ethnography paper. So I decided to change my patterns. Instead of sitting where I usually sat I sat near the window. Initial all I seemed to notice was the obvious, such as students socializing, their eating habits and there social grouping. So I decided to focus on the people who sat exactly where I sat. People who sat near the window were mostly people from foreign countries. Blacks and whites barely sat alone near the window. I also noticed that everyone who sits at a two seated table near the window are not eating with friends but in fact sitting there studying alone. These students are very focused, completely engaged in there work. I observed  three students at once. None of which stopped studying to look at there phone, socialize, eat or do anything else. This was strange to me because majority of college students always check there phone repeatedly. Once they were completely done with there work they then looked at there phone and went to get food. I didn't understand why did these students choose to sit by the window alone? Why did these students chose not to multitask? Students who did eat and socialize sat in the middle of the food court in the mix of everyone else. These students were studying too but they were multitasking. These students were mainly white and black. This is when I came up with  the question, is multitasking not normal for people from other countries? or do they rather get their work done before doing anything else?
I never expected to notice something like that when I initially started my research. I now know that I need to change my habits and pay attention to the little details and patterns. I decided that every time I visit the food court I will change one of my habits. For example next week I am going to try new foods and observe the people who tried those foods. After I examine everything about the food court I will then start my interviews, prepared with a lot of meaningful questions other then why are you here ? and what are you eating?
-Ayinah S

The site I chose was the food court in the student center at William Patterson University. I chose this site because  majority of the student body spend their free time in the student center including me. Students also seem to feel more comfortable there which means I will be able to conduct more successful interviews.Majority of theses students are commuters. The minority of these students are residential students. Residential students come to the food court to order food and take it to go, commuters choose to sit and eat with other commuters. I came to the conclusion that the student center food court is used for students to socialize, eat and study. I noticed that students would spend more time than necessary in the student center, even if they are no longer eating or studying they will sit there on there cell phone or there tablet. These students are usually separated into groups. For example separated by race, gender and age. They are also separated into social groups like sport teams, sororities and other clubs. I also noticed that these groups all have different food choices. Upper classman girls and girls that are in a sorority choose to eat salad, sushi and other healthy things. The boys on sport teams choose to eat unhealthy options such as pizza and cheese burgers. I then came to the conclusion that the student center is a place to socialize and spend time with your friends.
 My observations led me to a few initial questions. Why do students choose to spend there free time here? What percent of these students are commuters? How does race and social class play apart in grouping in the food court? What are these students interests? and last, Is socializing in the student center something students look forward too?
I participate in this culture on a daily basis. I eat at the food court twice a day and I also study there before classes. As a freshman I have yet to join any clubs or socialize with other students therefore I am there alone. I noticed that other friends do the same thing. So I wonder, is this a freshman thing? do freshman choose to eat alone because they have yet to make friends?
As of now I do not have a main focus, I will continue to participate in this culture to get a better understanding of socializing in the food court at the student center.

-Ayinah S

Reflection on Field notes

In the second floor of the student center there are three different sections to sit. In those three sections each of them have five chairs with an ottoman in the middle. I always choose to sit in the second section. Where I sit, I face the staircase and observe the students who use the stairs and the elevator. But I still pay attention to the other sections around me.

In my head I was expected to see people actually studying instead of being distracted. I soon later found out that, it was false because not all students actually study. It is very interesting to see the different things they do when they have free time. In those days that I spent my time upstairs in the student center it was noon and it was not common hour. There were barely any student in sight and there was so many empty seats.

However when I went to the student during common hour, it was crowed and no seats were available. Luckily I sat next to a girl who was constantly on her laptop and being distracted. While in common hour many students where hanging out with friends in groups. Either they went up there to meet up someone or just sit and waste time.

In another occasion I decided to go to the student center around two o’clock and again not many students around there. Some of the questions that came up was “Do the majority of the students have morning or afternoon classes?” Is common hour a time where individual students hangout? Why there are groups of students in the student center during common hour compare to the regular days? Does culture or race have to do anything with this? There were so many questions to ask but no answers, yet.

While I was observing I notice that in order to get an accurate response to these questions I would need to do some kind of interview or survey.  I want to do a survey to see if there is any specific race/culture that rather be in the student center. My answers to this questions have to be accurate and strong in order for me to find a pattern. Having some much time in between my classes makes me realize that I should go up there and record the different times students tend to be there compare to the other days.

-Angelica M.

Reflection on fieldnotes

There are many things I've noticed while observing "World Gym" that I've never actually thought about. The biggest thing I've noticed while observing the "World Gym" is that among the big/athletic people in the gym, there are competitions between all of us. When I say "All of us", I am  including myself, the reason there is competition between us is because we want to be better than the person working out near us. Since this is the case we even make it a competition among ourselves to see who can lift the most weight with the best form.

I've been doing this for years but just recently realized exactly what it was that I am doing. For example, a person would be bench pressing decently heavy weights and my next workout is to bench press too, so I do my work out in the bench right next to him. I feel as if everyone in the free weight section is so similar and intact with each other that we can make a competition on lifting the most weights with just a simple look toward any person. Since I personally have a lot of experience with this, I can honestly say that if you lose not only do you gain a lot of respect for that person but you also gain a lot of motivation to push harder and better yourself.  In the beginning when I would lose against someone else I would hate the feeling and get mad.  Now I’ve learned that it cannot be like that. I have to be able to accept it and try to better myself.

When I observed for the first time that I have competing like this for years and did not even know it, I laughed at myself.  I feel that it just became second nature for us to just look at one another and compete. While you are in the moment you block everything else and just focus on not losing, which for me is fun.  Other people seem to like the feeling too because when they are working out they seem to always be looking around for someone to out lift.

Lately no one comes next to me to challenge me which I find weird because I would always have at least two people daily. I guess it is because I have nearly beat everyone who goes around the time that I do.  Now when I work out and lift heavy weights all I get is stares from everyone and people coming up to me to give me credit and compliments. I love the feeling of having so much respect but I still do miss being able to compete and trying to out lift the person next to me. Do they not challenge me anymore because they are scared of losing? Can it be because they do not challenge people anymore? Whatever the case may be I will keep observing and ask questions to better understand why this is the case. I hope soon enough there will be someone to challenge me again so I could shit on them real quick. If by chance I ever lose again, I will have my motivation to better myself and work out harder, which I have been lacking and really been needing.

-Junior V

Reflections on Observations and Fieldnotes

My choice of site is the U shaped concrete bench that people hang out at outside Overlook South and I'm specifically studying the vape culture located there that honestly has me intrigued beyond belief. From what I have witnessed so far, it appears to me that vaping is an exclusively male dominated activity. Any females that I see approach usually ask for cigarettes, which I do not understand if vaping is supposed to be better for you than actually smoking cigarettes. Everyone who I so far have witnessed vaping turn out to be very sociable and approachable, considering I'm friends with them.

This leads me to a general question of,"Does vaping make you appear more friendly and approachable?" From what I personally have witnessed so far, yes. As I was observing the culture and tallying how many people passed through the area, I discovered that out of the 137 students that I saw pass by, 67 of them were African-American, 55 were Caucasian, and 15 were either Hispanic or Middle Eastern. This gives me the question of ," Do Hispanic-American and Middle Eastern-American students not like this school, since there's so few of them?" I am going to continue to observe the site and learn as much as I possibly can about the communities that go to this school, as well as vaping.

I participated in the culture via discussion about various things college students talk about (Sports, different mods for vapes, weed, classes, etc.) and when we got onto the subject of vaping, I told them about how I was doing my ethnography paper on vape culture, and they were all too happy to start explaining to me what vapes actually are, the different flavors, everything. It was mind boggling. I have not tried to vape yet, but I am willing to try anything (for those of you that know me, you know this is true) and I have high hopes that it will be a great experience for me.

I plan to go at random intervals of the day to my site because the same group of people with additions here and there are always at the U, and I really am curious if vaping is a male dominated activity. It is also so I can become friends with them and integrate myself into the community, so I may both learn from firsthand experience vaping with them and become friends with them during my four years of schooling here at William Paterson.

Fieldnotes Reflection

I decided to split the student center up into three corners. The first corner being corner number one which consist of the view of Billy Bear Grill, The Asian Cuisine, and half of the Sub Connection. Corner number two gives me full coverage of the Sub Connection and partial view of Billy Bear Grill and partial view of The Wingery. And finally corner three gives me full view of the Pioneer Pizzeria, the couch section, partial view of The Wingery, and also partial view of the Sub Connection.

This week’s observation was in corner three. I was only able to observe on Friday this week, which led me to a possible overall question, “Is the Student Center generally accessed by residents or commuters?” This question came to mind because I noticed how empty the student center was on Friday compared to how pact it usually is during the week days (Monday-Thursday). So I automatically assumed that either the student center is occupied by residents who goes home for the weekends, or it is occupied by commuters who generally does not have class on Fridays.

Knowing that this project is based off of observation rather than assumption, I plan on interviewing multiple students and asking whether they commute or reside on campus. Maybe this will also help with my observations as well because I have been seeing a lot of students eating/sitting alone. I can also ask the students what year they are in as well and then I can put my observations together and see what leads to this.

My observations leads me in so many different directions and so many questions left to be answered. During my observation in corner three, I have noticed that out of 33 people, 16 were sitting and eating alone. Out of the 16 people, 5 were girls which eventually led me to think, “Why are the guys more inclined to be alone then the girls?” But that can be anything, because just as they say that girls don’t like to go to the bathroom alone, who knows, maybe girls aren’t likely inclined to eat alone either.

I don’t want to get too deep into my observation, but I did break everything down into tables, and how diverse the tables were (race). I also wrote down if they were mixed with different genders as well as with different races. I did the same thing fort the people sitting alone. I wrote down how many were of different races, and split them up by gender.

As of now, I’m not really clear of what my main focus is just yet, but I can honestly say that the more I observe and jot down notes, the clearer the project becomes to me. I have so many questions to be answered, but as Professor Myers said, I have to weed out which ones have an obvious answer and keep the ones that are not exactly clear on the answer, and find an answer through my research and observation.

-Rosie G.