Post 10

I haven't chosen exactly how I want to structure my mini ethnography together yet, but I do know that I want to inform the reader of different stereotypes right off the bat. So, I guess it will kind of be thematic in a sense of addressing the stereotype and then giving information on it. I think that whoever is looking up my subculture will probably have the same general thoughts about the team that most everyone will. Hopefully, what I put out there is helpful. I'm going to tell where I got my information, but I'm not going to jump right in with who my main informant is. I think that if I start by telling my story and observations and then let the reader know who my sources is, it may not lead to any bias. I want to talk about why I chose my subculture because I am really interested in it, and what my initial thought about it was before I began my research. I do want to take the reader through everything chronologically so that it may help them understand a little better or so that they can see all the observing I did to get my conclusion. Since most of my research and information comes from observation, that is what most of what I write about will entitle. I did talk to people and took some interviews so I will definitely add those when it seems the most appropriate. I haven't chosen exactly how I want to end the piece, but I know I want it to be something interesting and something that not many people would know about the team to kind of bring everything I wrote together. The structure that I think I am going to choose will be the best because I can't just mention a stereotype or random information without any backup. If I don't structure everything thematically then it will be a mess of random information without any connections.

In Class Writing

Lead off- first batter of the game
Clean up batter- the 4th batter that is essentially the strongest
RBI- Runs batted in
Walk out song- a song that plays for each player when they enter the game
Bunt- hitting the ball with the bat very softly
Slap- swinging half way through and hitting the ball on the ground
Saluki- a type of dog, the school's mascot
Single- hit that allows you to make it safe to first base
Double- hit that allows you to make it

In Class Writing

I think that as a researcher I would just try to get a more diverse crowd, something maybe a little different then just the typical Brooklyn, Texas accents.
It seemed like all of the accents that they covered were the ones that seemed drastic to us and how we speak. I do think that people can turn them on and off but to us, it was just funny and seemed weird. I really don't think that the Midwest was really represented too well considering that they showed strong accents for peopled that were called hicks, but that was only in certain towns that were an exception. It may be more appealing if in the first clip if they would have given you a caption with the dialogue so that it would be that much more interesting to actually know what they are saying.
Language is really important in the sense of being able to understand and relate to people. Like the Italian guy said, he can use his stron tough accent to give him power since everyone has there stereotypes. It can be a comfort thing.

In Class Writing

At my fieldsite I haven't really used a lot of interviews or asked a lot of questions. I have based all of my information, for now, on observation. Here and there I will get some insight from my informant, who is my sister, but I haven't directly asked any questions yet. When I go to my fielsdite I usually am alone just sitting on the bleacher watching the softball team play. My sister is on the team, but it isn't like I can talk to her while she is playing, so I just watch and wait. I'm really just an outsider when it comes to actually observing the players, but when they are done playing I get more into the mix.
My relationship with the informant is obviously close since we are related. Whenever I come visit though, I am her main priority, therefore I probably don't know a lot of stuff that goes on when I'm not around. Our relationship is strong in a sense that we can talk about anything. Basically we are like good friends that don't really hold anything back. On the other hand, she is close to some girls on the team and I have witnessed several times that she doesn't like to talk about anyone other players when I am around.
When my sister talks to me about anything I know that she's telling me the truth. She has no reason to lie or sugar coat anything. But, that is only when she wants to tell me stuff. I don't want to force anything out of her.

Post 9

The hardest part of my research is probably trying to make connections from observing and talking to the team. It is kind of hard to assume some things without being bias. My sister tells me things about people and like everyone else would, I think about what she said when I see them. But since I have been trying to make a correlation between the players on and off of the field, I have to put all of that aside.
If I were to start over I think that there really isn't much that I could change except for my approach. When I started to write out my draft explaining what I was going to write about and how I was going to do things, I had a lot of ideas that only led me to some confusion and a lot of questions that I really wouldn't have been able to answer. After looking over everything I narrowed it down to only a few subjects. If I would have kept my subculture exploration a little more compacted and had fewer outsiders then I could have gotten a lot done sooner.
Keeping a blog has kind of helped me keep my thoughts straight. When we do in class work and write in our blogs I initially write one thing and then when we go over it I think of more things to add on. Also, I think that if i wasn't keeping track of everything I would be repeating myself frequently. Since I am typing something about every other day, I can pick out things that I am restating.
In preparing for my mini-ethnography I plan on writing my paper with everything I have already wrote about in my other drafts and then going back over my blog posts and checking over them to add any information that I haven't mentioned.

In Class Writing

My readers care about this issue because they too have the same concerns. Everyone has an opinion about the stereotype of college athletes gettng special attention. Maybe my answers will help them get a better sense on the issue.
The readers will want to know facts about my subculture which is the SIU softball team. Besides from the normal boring statistics or bland facts, they want to know something special that isn't really known to a lot of information. Maybe, an inside look.
Obviously the readers already have a general idea of looking up information on the SIU Team since it is about 99% of what I am writing about. Aside from knowing they are a team, the readers may not know much more and that could be there reasoning for researching.
I want the readers to know facts about whatever they are looking into my written information for because if i give them false information that is really know help at all for them, and may portray the team in a negative way.
Depending on if the reader has a background with the team, they may be hard to persuade just because they might have there own opinions or may have more information than me depending on how much they know or have been around. If the readers are newcomers trying to just get a basic knowledge of the team and how it works, it should be pretty easy to persuade since they don't know too much already.
Readers may use the writing to base some kind of subculture off of it even if it isn't the same team. They may use it to compare or contrast or maybe just use some of the information I have written to prove something.

Post 8

Through my research, the main theme that I see is a team. But instead of everyone being best friends with everyone, there are some cliques. Even though there aren't multiple people on the team that absolutely don't like each other, you can still tell who is close and who isn't by body language and overall communication. Although I see these friendships, it is only off of the field. When they are at a game or practice they all unite as one and there is no evidence of any dislikes.
Obviously everyone knows who they get along with and who they don't get along with, but the question of if this theme runs through the fieldsite by the members is absolutely yes. I mean since they are girls and girls seem to have to tendencies to gossip or talk a lot, if you ask a player how they feel about another player they will give you the truth. But since they are a tight knit group because they are always together, it is only natural for not everyone to get along and since they are a team, I received the vibe from them that even though they have disputes they are still closer to each other then they are to outsiders.
In the subculture I feel like I am closer in status to being an insider, but obviously I will never be called one of them. They seem to have gotten used to seeing me around and now they know me pretty well and I know everyone on the team opposed to my first couple days when I knew only a hand full and hadn't even seen some of the girls before.
I would say that my place in the subculture is basically self explanatory. I'm the sister of a player and a fan. Every one of the players knows each others families and they are all pretty comfortable being around each other. So, since I am a sibling they know me, but since I have been around a lot they have noticed me as a fan that watches them and cheers them on, noticing everything during the games, and I am family meaning that I was a shoe in to knowing everyone.