4th floor Howick

The top floor of the right side of the building is the 4th floor of Howick hall.

Freewrite 2/27

There aren't many words, jargon, or lingo that are specific to my subculture, which is the fourth floor of my residence hall that I reside in. Although, there are one or two. First of all, the term RA is frequently used in a college life setting, particularly a residence hall. A resident advisor (RA) is in charge of supervising an entire floor inside any certain residence hall.  They are there to keep order on the floor, provide someone to talk to if  you need that, or just a friend to hang out with.

I don't know about many other residence hall around the United States, but my residence hall has trash room, and it smells quite horrible.  The Trash room is closer to my room than many others on the floor, which means i usually have the opportunity to smell the awkward smells coming from this room. Since the people that clean our floor do not work on weekends, the trash builds up. By the end of Sunday, the room is overflowing with rotting garbage.

Box 11

I chose the fourth floor of my residence hall because it is a place that i spend a lot of my time so i will be able to observe and take notes over many things. Since I technically live where my subculture is, I believe some of my positions may affect what I will see in my field. An example of this would be in the floor kitchen. Certain students feel as if they do not need to clean any used dishes that they might have used, so they just leave it on the counter in this kitchen. Day after day the moldy food rots away as it sits there. I was the person in my family that always had to do the dishes after a meal, so I was never used to any weird smells from the kitchen. It repulses me that people just do not to clean dishes that they had just used. So, since I live on this floor and have to walk by this room every day, my opinion may be effected.

Space Analysis

The fourth floor of my residence hall is where I live. Since I am i freshman at Ball State University, the whole college life atmosphere is new to me, so the place where I live and spend most of my time is quite important. Usually, I am a very friendly person and love making new friends, so this place is a great opportunity to make many life-long friends. There are also some reasons that may not be good reasons, but they aren't too bad either. Whenever I spend too much time with any one person, I get quite irritable towards them. This could be a problem but I believe it will give me a chance to help with my temper. I went to high school with my roommate, but we weren't close friends by any means. I was somewhat worried about having to live with him because i didn't know whether or not i would get irritated with him. I believe this is the chance to overcome my irritability.

Inventory:

Bathroom

Elevator

Staircase

Kitchen

door

study lounge

As you walk down the hallway toward any particular room, you are bound to notice a type of communication used between students. Dry-erase boards are used by students everywhere in more ways than one. They can be used to leave a note for your roommate or a neighbor, a place to write important dates that you don't want to forget, or just to write a joke or funny comment for entertainment.

Unfortunately, some people decide to use these dry-erase boards to cause conflict or to make people upset. As I was doing my researched  I happened to walk by one of the rooms that had a board on it's door. Instead of having a reminder or a nice comment on it, there was a mean and vulgar comment that is too offensive to repeat. I do not know if this comment was serious or just sarcasm between friends, but there really is no way to tell. All I know is that I took offense to it.

This is a video of the infamous sport of residence hall slip n' slide. Although i have never witnessed this interesting sport I hear crazy things. This sport is quite dangerous, but can provide unlimited amounts of fun. (until you get caught)

"Friday Night at Iowa 80"

Rick Zollo, author of “Friday Night At Iowa 80,” is an ethnographic researcher that wrote an essay about a large truck stop. But not just any truck stop, it is said to be advertised as “the largest Amoco truck stop in the world.” It is located about ten miles from downtown Davenport. This essay provides an exceptional use of rhetoric in my opinion. In almost every section/paragraph be provides all three appeals simultaneously.

            To begin, there were plenty of passages that provided great examples of logos. Logos is there to stimulate your reader’s brain, and includes information, specific details, and facts. A certain instance where Rick provides logos is when he is in the truck stop restaurant, and states, “after a short wait, I was led to a small table in the back section, where at an adjacent booth, a young waitress was serving supper to a grizzled veteran. I detected a mild flirtation passing between them.” One part that really caught my eye is when Rick says that the witnesses the grizzled veteran and that he witnessed flirting going on, which provided exquisite detail. His effectiveness made it seem as if I was sitting in that same restaurant the same time they were.

            Pathos appeals to emotion. Pathos helps connect the reader to the reading material, and I believe that Rick Zollo thought long and hard how he would do this, however he did a great job. He connected to the reader by adding a sort of suspense. “The driver’s name was Morris, and he wasn’t sure he wanted t talk to me.” This shows how a trucker was very adamant about answering any questions that Rick asked. I believe that this added suspense because you didn’t know what was going to happen next. This trucker could have done anything. Rick goes on to say that throughout the conversation, he never gives his name, and is just as adamant through the whole conversation.

            Finally, we have ethos, which is your credibility as a speaker. Mr. Zollo does an incredibly great job at finding experienced people for his research, which builds credibility. Everyone that he speaks to is either an experienced truck driver or is an employee of the truck stop. One truck driver he speaks to has twenty-two years of experience, “Gordy was a veteran, with 22 years of service on the road.”  Another reason his credibility is quite good is because he didn’t just show up at a random truck stop and started asking questions, but instead he talked to the owner of Iowa 80 and received permission to hang around and interview people.

            In conclusion, with regards to the triangle of rhetoric, I believe that Rick Zollo put forth an incredible amount of work and knowledge into this research to almost perfect this triangle of rhetoric. Obviously his credibility is legitimate because he had talked to a wide range of people, he also showed great amounts of details to his research, and finally he added a little suspense to the mix to connect the essay to his readers.

Free write with a source

            Life on the fourth floor of Howick hall is nothing as I expected. The idea of sharing such a small space with someone for an extended period of time scares me, especially because you don’t know the person you are going to be living with. “Every year, all across America, millions of strangers are asked to share their lives and living habits for nine months during a year of stress and adventure. ‘Almost sounds like a recruiting ad for the Navy, doesn’t it?” (What is college dorm life like par 3) This statement sounds exactly the same as the thoughts that first rolled through my head as I began to move into this new world.

            As my moving in process began, I realized that it was going to be nothing like I thought. Once I entered the room I would be spending the next nine months in, my view on dorm life changed. Since I moved in a day earlier than my room, I examined the room as it transformed into a living area. When I first walked in all of the furniture was lined up against the wall, not too organized. Once I took some time to rearrange the situation, I watched my home unfold.

 

 

"What is College Dorm Life Like?" College Confidential. 31 Jan. 208 .

Groundwork Activity - p. 55

First: Indoor soccer, hippies, my dorm floor, hacky sack community

Second: Dorm floor. 

Third: i don't think there are many ethical concerns with this community

Box 1

indoor soccer - athletic

Hippies - listen to music

Skateboarding - watching people skate

The main subculture I was in was the hippie subculture. mostly, we would just sit around and listen to music, or watch concert DVDs. Hendrix, Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Van Morrison are just a few of the bands.