Exploration 1: Snake River Alliance

Strangely, when I began my first observation, I was overwhelmed with shock and surprise. Nothing about the place, the people, or the type of meeting was what I had expected. Snake River Alliance is located downtown in the Jefferson Place on the lower level. The first think I saw when I walked into the building was a fancy hair salon. How can Snake River Alliance, a professional organization, be located near a hair salon? I was very confused. I walked down to the lower level where Snake River Alliance was located and there was a large, empty room with a long table placed in the center. I thought to myself, this is where the meeting is? Sure enough, Andrea Shipley, the director of Snake River Alliance, greeted me and offered me a seat at the table. The first thing that I realized was that there was a young child sitting at the table and cookies, peanuts, and oranges were available to snack on. Apparently this meeting was informal. I also noticed that the man at the table had a beard and one long earring. Then I was wondering whether the members were all more unique than your average person. I had been expecting business-like members in a fancy meeting room. Therefore, I was surprised that although this organization is portrayed as profession, and they participate in governmental and legislative issues, they are normal, casual, and very informal.

After being introduced to the group, I realized that there is a difference between being a member of Snake River Alliance and being a staff member of Snake River Alliance. So the staff is the leaders of the group and the members are the people that participate. This meeting was actually a membership meeting, open to anyone who was interested in learning more about the organization and what they stand for. It was actually a little uncomfortable because they wanted me to participate in the discussions and activities. Since it was a membership meeting, Andrea stressed the significance of members in the organization. She said that membership is vital and it drives the alliance; the members are heard and they are considered advocates for clean energy. She said that the membership committee focuses on expanding the community. Since only eight people were at the meeting, she also noted that they needed to work on advertising better. Honestly, it sounded a little desperate to me. Now I am curious about how many members there are, how they found them, and how educated they are. I wonder if Snake River Alliance is desperate for more members. What extent do they go to to get members? Do they select easily persuadable people? I never thought of these things before this meeting.

Jen ran the meeting, and she prepared an activity where she would read a statement concerning the group, and then we would place an item on the agree paper or the disagree paper and then give our opinions why. The opinions from the members were fascinating. The biggest thing that stood out when people gave their opinions was where the ideas and information were coming from. Although these people had opinions, all of their ideas and suggestions were sourced from somewhere else. Members were explaining a documentary they had watched, shows they had seen on PBS, something they had watched on the internet, something they had read in a book or heard on the news. It was interesting! None of them had thought up an idea or solution on their own, they were considering other people’s solutions to our world’s problems. This isn’t necessarily a shock, but I didn’t realize it before. However, they deeply consider alternatives and renewable energy sources. They think about how it works, what it’s affecting, and if it’s truly a renewable source that doesn’t have negative effects on the environment.

It’s fascinating to me that these people truly want to help the world and make change, even though they are just normal people. I wonder how educated all these people are since they feed off of other people’s innovations. Perhaps that doesn’t matter though. These members have drive and passion for making the world a better place and creating the best solutions for our problems. I am curious to find out where these motivations arise from when I do my interviews and other observations.

Exploración Número Uno

Exploration 1:

Unfortunately I will not have an opportunity to begin my interviews until 1 March; however, my research has exposed some glaring questions and subsequently caused something of a change in my approach and focus. My consideration of those dealing with handicaps has always been rather superficial, I was always aware they existed but did not give much thought to the life they lead or the real world challenges they are faced with, especially once they have grown out of the public education system and no longer have the support of publicly funded educators. We live in a world that is largely intolerant and ignorant of those who are different; thus, Autistic young adults are forced to live in a world they are unprepared and unequipped to handle.

This reality has prompted an expansion to the scope of my research… it seemed rather short sided to only consider the prospective of family members and ignore the point of view of educators and psychologists who are also grappling with these complex issues. Once an Autistic individual reaches adulthood, what resources are there for parents who are now asked to fully care for them when they themselves are becoming older and less able to handle such intense responsibility? For those with the necessary financial resources, there are facilities specifically built to address these issues; however, what options do less affluent families have? Such questions are easy to ignore as they make one feel uncomfortable about a rather politically incorrect issue… do we reinstate asylums (organizations with a tendency towards abuse), or do we allow those with diminished mental capacities to roam the streets and live out of shopping carts, is one really a better alternative to the other? As a teenager, the movie Le Huitieme Jour touched on this very issue, causing me to consider things hitherto foreign in my privileged and isolated world. It caused me at a young age to think of these rather serious social problems in a way I had never considered, but as with many serious questions without obvious answers, it was easier to repress it and move on.

Therefore, I hope to gain a more holistic perspective of the challenges faced by people dealing with autism by interviewing not only parents, but also caretakers and educators who specialize in Autism. I will be observing a support group at St. Lukes on 1 March, with interviews to follow shortly thereafter. I have arranged meetings with a parent to an Autistic child, a special education teacher, and an administrator at a facility that specializes in working with Autistic adults.

exploration 1

Some major things that have stood out to me so far in the culinary arts community is that their general intensity that they have. All the observations I have made so far I have seen all the chefs be very intense and mostly quiet when working. They tend to be extremely focused on their work, which drives them to get things out on time and with great accuracy. Another large observation I have made that I was quite un aware of before coming into this project, was how much of a roll the rest of the restaurant plays in the culinary community. Though the wait staff does not play a pinnacle role in the preparation of the food, they are there to support the chefs and make sure that they are representing their food as well as possible. The language that I have noticed so far from my first interview is that they are very harsh with each other. The head chef tends to have the rest of the crew whipped into shape because it is his or her kitchen that is being represented with each meal served. During the interview I found that the language consists of a lot of cursing, which tends to be rather similar to what we see on any reality TV cooking show, but in my mind it would seem that, that is a over statement of a real kitchen just to get people to watch. But I am learning the contrary, it is much more aggressive then I would have anticipated, but am starting to understand.

Some of the questions that I still find my self wondering about are why do they decide oh that profession? It is a very high stress work environment from what I have seen so what kind of personality is one that thrives in that kind of environment? Are all chefs people that thrive on high stress? Or is it just some of them? How many chefs are ones that graduated from culinary art institutes? What is the top culinary arts institute? Also what separates someone from being able to just be a grill cook, from someone that is able to become a master chef? Are their biases between culinary arts graduates and people that have just worked their way to the top? What kind of stigma is associated with culinary arts graduates and how would that affect them in a current day job market?

Another thing that I have found is really intriguing me is why choose the kind of food to cook that they do? Does that have to do with demographics or where they grew up? It seems to me that if I grew up in say a Italian family and was going to make culinary arts my profession I would go with what I knew, but I am curious if that is how many other chefs would decided on their area of expertise. Over all, my observations have been intriguing but the interviews are holding a lot more for me. Seeing a chef in action is much different then getting the answer of why did you choose to be a chef, and it is much better to answer the rest of my questions that I still have. Through my observations so far, I am seeing how the restaurant works, which is much more intricate then taking an order and then giving the food to the customer, which is how they make it seem when you just eat at a restaurant. It is keeping my interest and I am really looking forward to my next interview, solve some more of my questions that I still have.

Electronic Babysitter or Social Outlet?

Considering the ongoing argument regarding the acceptability of using media to occupy children, one may be surprised that a group so involved in the upbringing of their child would embrace media in the way they have; however, to understand why, one must also understand the role of such things in the life of these families. The characters on the screen are not fantasies; indeed, they become members of the family, their role being continually acted out by the autistic child. Autistic children have an incredibly finite ability to interact with the outside world, variety and change can only be handled in very small and controlled doses lest there be a meltdown of biblical proportions. Thus, characters in movies become very real friends to those living with Autism--they are always the same and can be depended on. They are able to quote entire movies, using inflection and different voices for different characters. Indeed the television is not a way to idle away time as it would be for most children, instead it provides a vehicle for Autistic kids to interact with others.

I found it surprising how cut off the truckers are. I would have imagined they would yearn to associate in groups to compensate for their long hours alone, but it seemed the opposit was actually the case.
It was interesting how this entire society had built itself around the truckers and their lifestyle. the article talks about how this particular truck stop was just one of many that served the needs of truckers across the country, and how they generally began to all know each other and lived by a series of unspoken rules.
I found it concerning how the truckers were something of scapegoats that were forced to make concessions just to appease the public. For example, emissions regulations were aimed largely at the truckers and not as much at the big corporations that cause the bulk of greenhouse gasses. Interestingly, I noticed this is something of a trend in society. One industry or group having to shoulder more than their fair share of regulation simply because of their visibility.

Friday Night at Iowa 80

1) The most surprising part of the story was when a trucker reported drug dealers that they heard over the CB. Apparently they police themselves. For example, they turn in shoplifters to keep the prices low at the truck stops. I was extremely surprised when I read this, because it seems like truckers would be more like rebels than policemen.

2) I was intrigued with the overal Iowa 80 truckstop community. The environment seemed fit for truckers, and all the employees bragged about how great their job was. The staff sounded like family who openly welcomed the truckers to join their family. I was intrigued by this community and how they have created a home away from home for the truckers.

3) In this article I was disturbed about the logbook, and how the truckers are forced to be liars and cheaters in order to make a living. I was also disturbed about how long the truckers spend at their homes and how long they drive for. I also think it's disturbing that the Department of Transportation and the American Trucker Association doesn't help the truckers out.

Iowa 80

First and fore most i found it very interesting that the truckers had so much more to offer at a truck stop then a pack of cigarettes and some mediocre coffee which is a general stereotype that i tend to associate with truck stops in general. I actually found it interesting that there was an arcade and such a diverse community, consisting of truckers of all sorts of interests. It is interesting to me that some of them were so set on how long they would go on the road for, and how some of the benefits of say a week on the road straight at rewarding enough payoffs. It is a life style that really seems like it takes much more commitment then i had originally pictured. It also interested me that they were so off put by someone seeming to just want to get to know them, but then it made more sense when they came up with the term spotter, which just shows my lack of literacy with the trucking community as well as the authors. Though some of them were quite open and willing to discuss the troubles and benefits of being a trucker. It also seemed like it was quite beneficial to have bought your own truck vs the option of leasing. One thing i found a bit disturbing was just the general feeling of being a outsider that the author felt, and how much the truckers seemed to keep him feeling that way for his visit. Obviously it is a feeling we have all felt, but the way the author described it made me thing of a very very uncomfortable situation, one that i would not want to place my self it. That would have to be the most disturbing thing, and also how the author was so open to placing him self in the situation that made him feel like the outsider.

Records

I found it interesting that records and albums were used for more than just listening to music, instead it was the textbook (their bible, if you will) from which they learned the lingo, uniform, and behavior of the Punk culture.

Punk literacy

One of the artifacts that caught my attention was the home-made clothing that they created from things such as plain white t-shirts and also leather jackets. They took their style and imposed it on just run of the mill kind of clothing, so that they could obtain the image that they were looking for. This artifact is one that in a way really defines their image that they are trying to obtain, it is discussed mostly the bottom of 143 and the top of 144.

Punk Literacy Sketch Artifact

The sketch artifact of the "Waco Punk" community that was most striking to me was their "do-it-yourself" attitude. It was described in the reading on the bottom of page 143 and the bottom of page 144. The do-it-yourself attitude made the group unique because they expressed their creativity and ideas all on their own. They designed their fashion trends and they colored and styled their own hair. So, the do-it-yourself attitude defined the "Waco Punk" with a unique style, and a statement that anything is possible if you just do it yourself.

Access to my Community

Snake River Alliance is easily accessible for me because they have an office downtown Boise, and they have many people that are willing to talk to me during business hours as well as after hours. They have a website with detailed information about their group and they also post newsarticles and news releases pertaining to their company and their work. They have offers on their website of several ways to get involved with Snake River Alliance such as joining their group, volunteering, and interning for them. They are more than willing to share information and to get people involved with their work.

My connection

I am researching Autism and its effects on parents and families. In an effort to gain further insight into these rather personal issues, I will be working with my aunt (who's son is Autistic) and participating in one of her local support groups (she lives in SLC). I have also made contact with a Treasure Valley based support group who has been kind enough to allow me access to some of their members for my research.

my in

My in into the culinary arts community is my dad. He will be my first interview as well.

hello

im here

I'm here!

Team awesome signing on!

awesome sauce

yeah that's right