week 8

The theme that i think thats running through my research is relaxed and easy going. Everyone on the equestrian team is pretty laid back, easy to talk to, and just want to have fun and ride horses.

I believe that my place in the culture is about the same. I know more of the people and have talked to more members but i am still an outsider because i really dont hang out with any of the members outside of the equestrian things. So i believe that i am still somewhat of an outsider but hopefully that will change by the end of the semester.

Version 2

The diagram describes the barn, where the horse stalls are located. Where the aisles of horses are located, the indoor ring, and the wash stall area is located at. The diagram also shows where the outdoor riding ring is located in proximity to the barn.

Version 1

My diagram is of the English barn in which the Ball State Equestrian Team rides. The barn is called Black Dog Enterprises. The road in front of the barn is 550 N, and there is a long, gravel drive way that you turn onto to come up to the bar opening. The barn in which the indoor ring and the horses are kept is white. The stalls inside are made of wood. The door that keeps the horses in their stall is like a gate to a fence, it has holes in it. There are two parallel aisles with rows of horse stalls on each side. There is another aisle that runs perpendicular to the others on the wash stall end of the bar. On one end of the barn there is a wash stall and on the other there is an indoor riding ring. Outside catty-corner to the barn is the outdoor riding ring. It is oval in shape and made up of sand and dirt with several jumps and boxes set up to jump over.

Box 18

My box 18 is more of an "expected focal point" since i have not actually been to the site yet because of transportation issues. But i expect to visit the western and english barns here very shortly. I have gone to the english barn before because i actually used to take lessons there when i was younger. I know there there are tons of horses, an indoor exercise ring and an outside one, stable hands, the owner is very active in the activities that are going on, there are a few corgi's running around the barn, if they are still alive. I have not visited the western barn yet but i would imagine that i would expect the same things. I dont really see any contradictions happening after i visit because those are the things that i expect and is already true for one barn.

Week 7

As of right now, I really do not have a specific plan to finish this mini-ethonography. I do know that i need to visit the barns in which the Equestrian team rides before i finish this assignment. I intend to get more interviews from members as well as the owners of the barns. Since i am not an actual member, im just observing what they do i cannot participate in any of their activities but i can be there to watch what they do. I need to also collect some pictures of some horses, the barns, the people so that i can incorporate them into my portfolio. I, in general, just need to gather some more information and do a little more research.

box 16

I walk into the library, and immediately take the stairs up to the second floor. People all around me doing what they need to do in the library such as reading, writing, researching, yet i am there for a meeting. I find the room and i walk into the room and there is a long table with chairs all around. There are only two walls that dont have windows and those are the east and west walls. The south is a huge window that if you look out you can see the front of braken library. The north is windows that you can see out into the second floor of the library. There really isnt any privacy during the meeting. Yet the Equestrian team holds there meetings here. There is a smell of new books mixed with the smells of the barn as members come into the room. With two of the walls being windows it is almost impossible to stay focused because you can easily become distracted.

Week 6

I havent really spent much time with my site other than the one meeting i have been to because they have had shows and are really busy. I wasnt able to attend those horse shows. I can however, draw the conclusion that my site is a group of students here at ball state that like the country life, like horses, and love to ride them in competitions or for fun. I think that if i were to go to another campus and they had an equestrian team, i believe they would be very similar in what they do and how things are done. I will hopefully be conducting some interviews here soon to get some more information and a better conclusion of the site.

box 12

Some priviledges that I consider enjoyable are being female, the level of education, the scholarships i received because of my high school grades, being semi-wealthy, having a loving/supportive family, the right to believe and practice what i wish. These are some of the priviledges that i have but i sometimes take for granted. I believe that these things will affect my research because I am one of a kind. No one else has the exact same priviledges that i do, but they may be similar in some areas. Having these priviledges may help me get closer to the people in my subculture or it may set us apart and make it hard for me to connect with some.

week 5 blog question

I have gathered a few articles that pertain to other equestrian teams but none that directly related to the bsu equestrian team. These articles arent directly about bsu but they do give some insight into similar activities that it does. I have collected a schedule of shows that the bsu equestrian team is going to be performing in and in the near future i will be setting up interviews with some of the people from the culture. I guess something that i havent found that im kind of looking for is an article related specifically towards the BSU equestrian team but i may not really find an article about that.

Box 9

After reading and rereading Mama Day i found it very confusing to read the first time. After rereading it a second time i found it way easier to read. Its written in the voice of what seems to be an illiterate southern person. The sentences aren't coherent and i had to read each sentence very carefully and possibly twice to fully understand it. It was hard to pick up on the story the first time i read through it. The narrator seems like a very interesting person because he knows alot about the culture and the things that are going on. It leads me to believe that the narrator was a really good observer or researcher or that the narrator was in fact part of the culture itself.