Ethnopoetics

In class the other day, we got to analyze our interview transcripts in a unique way. We read through them and found important things that they said. We then condensed what they said, and formatted it into a poem. Therefore we really got to the core point they made in the interview. I did this with my interview with Katie. Here is my poem:

People that are visiting in
the fall and spring
are the people that live
in Southie
And then in the summer
you have
everybody

It's a popular
known place
It's kind of
wide open
There's a lot
going on there

There is usually a
line to the curb
It's just
very chaotic with
all the families there

Ideas

I met with my professor, Dr. Cook today. We talked about interesting aspects of my interview and developed ideas to possibly talk about in my paper. One was the difference of Sullies between summer and fall/spring. I may even divide up my paper on this concept. The other is the involvement of the owners, which is rare is business today. Dr. Cook wrote this ideas down on a index card to keep handy. I uploaded the index card for myself and all you guys to look at!

Interview

So I completed my first interview last week! I was lucky because my interviewee was one of my best friends, Katie. She has been an employee at Sullies for several years. Last Wednesday I interviewed Katie at her home in Weymouth, Massachusetts.

Being that Katie is a friend, I was worried how serious she was going to take this interview. Luckily she understood the project, and was extremely corporative and thoughtful. She reiterated some points I had wrote about in previous pieces and enlightened me to some things I did not think about. Although Katie did not give paragraph long answers, she did elaborate on almost every question I asked. I was extremely appreciative of that. Even with your best friends, there are a ton of "um...so...like" and awkward pauses. We both managed to push through those and have an engaging conversation. Half of my questions were based off things Katie said, while the other half were just questions that popped up in my head. When typing up the transcript, i realized there were some great points Katie made that i wish i had asked questions about so she could elaborate. The next interview I will just have to make sure to be more observant while the actual interview is taking place.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with how my interview turned out. I'm proud of Katie for sitting down and being serious and honest with me for 25 minutes. This interview will for sure enhance my paper.

Pictures

When I was talking fieldnotes I took a bunch of photos but never posted them, so here are a bunch of pictures from Sullies and Castle Island!

Updates!

Hey guys! So i haven't really posted in a while so this is just a post to let everyone know what I have been up to. I have completed all my fieldnotes. Observing them really helped me figure out what direction I want to go with with this project. An important aspect of Sullies is that it is located in an irish neighborhood. This was evident when i was observing Sullies and i think that the location of Sullies is important to its success. I dove deeper into this thought with my textual analysis. I found scholarly sources discussing the irish immigration and their settlement in South Boston. the inhabitants of south boston formed a strong community and they are proud of it. I think that is why they are loyal to Sullies and why it is so important. I have also completed my first interview! but i will make a separate blog post about that. All in All everything is coming together. ideas and themes that i want to further pursue and discuss are formulating. I am excited with the direction this project is going!

Mind Map!

Timeline of Sullies