RJ 24

November 24, 2009 haleymull

Chapter 8 in FieldWorking:  Chapter 8 talks about ways to develop your first draft. I think I am more of the type to use categories I have arranged in my portfolio rather than spread everything out on the floor. I can definitely use all of my interviews – I need to begin looking for quotes I want to site from them or particular information relevant to my study. I agree that collecting appropriate data is the most important part of creating a working first draft. I have so much data that it can be overwhelming, and if I were to include all of this data into my project, it for one would be extremely long, and two, it wouldn’t portray my points as clearly and vividly as I want them to come off. The down draft will be the hardest, but I think things will soar when that is done. I will be doing lots of revising to make my final ethnography well-written. There will be a lot of questioning, drafting, re-questioning, and redrafting. Through the example provided, I can see that the questions we have been using to develop a fieldnote analysis (what surprised/intrigued/disturbed me?) can help the writer understand his/her positions on the research. To help turn my writings from draft to a “thick description,” I will need to look at a new set of questions: What’s going on here? (descriptive questions of my data, informant’s rituals and routines and interaction), Where’s the culture? (description of language practices, place observations, background research, and artifacts), and What’s the story? (My informants perspective along with my own). I think these questions are going to be harder to answer. Reading Chapter 8 calmed my nerves somewhat. The first attempt at writing a draft doesn’t have to be perfect, and revision can always be done. I find rest in the fact that I can always go back and fix it until I get it to where I want it. As for my plans for my final ethnographic project, I want to find certain themes to have a subheadings that flow together nicely, a nice outline. I have collected pictures throughout my research process, and I think it would be interesting to see how I can incorporate them in my final project. My final project will be text-based with many arguments stemming from numerous interviews.
Annotated Table of Contents:

1. Artifacts
   a.CSO/Catholic Church announcement card provided for students at a booth at orientation: This is a card that I got at orientation after signing up for CSO. It provides two prayers, mass times, and general church information, including contact information. It also has a small section that explains what CSO is and its purpose.
   b. Handouts after mass: I have seven sets of the handouts they give after mass. This is where all announcements go. It lists mass times and has sections for your own reading. It has “Responding to God’s Word” sections that help you deepen the understanding of your faith at home, encouraging Catholics to be practicing Catholics and not just go to mass every Sunday and call it good.
   c. Hot dog cookout handout: This handout was for the first CSO event, one of which I could not attend due to soccer. It was a hot dog cookout that got all the members together for fellowship and fun. They talked about what they wanted to accomplish this year through CSO. It has the purpose of the CSO on it, as well as time, date, and location for the hot dog cookout. It has “A College Student’s Prayer” on the reverse side with a picture of the St. Joe’s and contact information, mass times, Confession times, and a small map that indicates where the church is in relation to the One Stop Shop and the Sam Rayburn Student Center.
   d. Chi Alpha card: This was handed out at Bible study. A few of the boys were urging more CSO members to go to this Christian group on Tuesday nights. They really enjoy the worship and fellowship (people) there, and invited all to attend.
   e. Bible Study handout: This handout states the readings we will be going over in Bible study that night, and has a quote at the bottom pertaining to the reading. There is also space on this for students to take notes throughout the night. It was made and handed out by Veronica Juarez, our Bible study leader.
   f. Parish Registration Form: This is the form you would fill out to become a member of the parish. It is all simple information about the members of your family.
   g. Parish Directory pictures reminder handout: This handout has a place to put the time/date/location you signed up for to take pictures for the parish directory. Olan Mills will be taking the pictures at no charge to the parishioners. It has contact information if you had any questions about the pictures or need to reschedule.
   h. “Faith Beyond the In-Crowd”: This is a letter written by archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York that Father George e-mailed to me. It is so rich with information about people today that once belonged to the Catholic church but were pushed away. It will be very useful to my study, as it is a recent letter (dated July 16, 2009).
   i. The Constitution of CSO, also known as the Newman Club: This six-paged constitution lays out all the rules and guidelines of CSO. It lists eight articles and each article has different sections. It is well-organized and handed out to each member of CSO at a Bible study. The Newman Club (currently CSO) was founded by Cardinal Newman, and the purpose of the group is also stated.
2. Fieldnotes and Expanded Fieldnotes
   This section includes all eleven sets of fieldnotes. All of them are from masses and Wednesday night Bible studies. I have eight interviews in here, complete with written side notes on them, as well as post-its. My Commerce Week on Writing fieldnotes are also in this section. They are laid out chronologically, so the interviews are intertwined in the fieldnotes.
3. Permission Slips
   This section includes the signed permission slips of all my interviewees. Behind the permission slips, I have included the list of questions I asked each interviewee.
4. Writing Assignments
   This section includes all my revised writing assignments thus far.
   a. WA1: “From Competition to Success”
   b. WA2: Catholic Revelations
   c. WA3: Catholic Discrimination
   d. WA4: Life with Veronica Juarez
5. Research Journals
   This section has my all of research journals in it, in chronological order.

One-Page Analysis: Up until now, I have conducted eight interviews and acquired more than six sets of fieldnotes, all from CSO meetings and Bible studies, or fieldnotes on the interviews. I have one last interview scheduled for Monday, November 30, 2009. With the culmination of this interview, I think I will have enough information to draw some striking conclusions. Some recurring themes that I have already picked out include the misconceptions about the Catholic faith from a non-Catholic and Catholic point of view. The source of faulty information seems to come from uneducated Catholics. Catholics are the ones presenting the faith to other denominations. If Catholics are uneducated and present their faith incorrectly, they are giving false impressions to other people that judge our religion. People may not want to become a part of Catholicism because they have seen how Catholics act and don’t want to be a part of that activity, when in fact, that isn’t what Catholicism is about at all. A huge theme that I see over and over again is the need for entertainment. This stems mostly from non-Catholic people, but even one Catholic I interviewed found the mass boring. The mass isn’t meant for entertainment. Many people in this day and age long to be entertained and therefore seek a religion that will provide Sunday mornings with vibrant songs and fun worship. I believe if one truly knew what was occurring at the mass, they would be just as, if not more, compelled to go to the Catholic mass as one that is hopping with rad music. One interviewee said they played rock music at her church. Of course, it was Christian rock music, but I had never heard of such a thing. She also said the only reason she goes to church is because her best friend is really religious, and she finds the music enjoyable. There is a line between going to church for your own eternal salvation and going to church for entertainment. Being the oldest religion, Catholicism is based upon tradition and is very ritualistic. Some argue that it is easy to be a Catholic if that is how you were brought up, but if you get thrown into a mass after you have been brought up, say Baptist, that it will have no meaning and be boring. Many people say the religion is too strict and has way too many rules. People these days just want to do what they want, when they want, and how they want. They agree together that their faith is important to them because they believe in eternity. My question then is, why are you now focused on eternity now? Why wouldn’t you behave on earth how God wants us to so that your eternal reward is great? I thought it was interesting that they all said Catholicism has too many rules. I have been a Catholic all my life, and I haven’t felt bound by any rules. In this case, there are many laws that govern us daily, as are there many ethical rules you should live by. I still feel free. If I break a law, I will pay the price, just as if I break a so-called “rule,” I will pay that price with God. Interviewing these people was very fun because for thirty minutes to two hours I got to get in their world and mindset. Diversity is everywhere, and I think my project shows a wide range of religious diversity. I interviewed Father George, and that was very interesting. The parish of St. Joe’s is old and the origin fascinated me. It started when a railroad came through Commerce, then known as Cowhill. Once the population started to develop, one of the families that came here for the railroad decided the town needed to have mass, and so the mother opened her home for masses. A priest would come in from other towns, and a small community of people would gather in this home. The masses would grow and then subside, depending on what was going on with the town. In 1955, a building was set up on Cooper and Monroe as the Catholic church. It became a parish with a full-time pastor in 1979, and new renovations have just been completed for the new circular structure. I thought this history was interesting. From a small home to a church, and still growing. Next, I need to interview Dr. Joe Webber, campus minister for St. Joe’s. I have this interview set up for Monday, November 30. I think he will give me the final insights I need to draw strong conclusions. He is studying to become a deacon, so he is very wise in knowledge of the church. I am excited for the results of this interview. I also need to code my entire research portfolio one last time before I sit down to make a first draft. This will freshen my memory of all the information I have collected and help me to put my thoughts into words. After the interview, I will begin to draw conclusions and find a way to present those in an orderly fashion for my final project.

4. Codebook:
CP: from a Catholic Perspective
NP: from a Non-Catholic Perspective (These need to be evident because I am getting viewpoints from both Catholics and Non-Catholics.
LK: Lack of knowledge (a main reason for discrimination)
Rit: Ritualistic (reason for discrimination)
TD: Tradition (a main prong of the Catholic faith)
OLD: A reason why the church is so ritualistic; It is the oldest religion around.
CinE: Christ in Eucharist (a concept many don’t understand, and therefore a cause of discrimination)
CON: Confession (raises problems and discrimination)
P: papal authority-aka, the Pope. (many people think we worship him- cause for discrimination)
M: Mary, Mother of God (people think we put too much emphasis on her and “worship” her as well, problem for discrimination)
CSO: Catholic Student Organization
BS: Bible Study
MED: Media, a main form of transportation of discrimination

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