Interview Preparation – In-Person Interview

Tomorrow, March 21, 2012, I will be conducting my first in-person interview with a local graffiti artist.  I will call him, R.  R. grew up in a small Southern NJ town.  He attended St. Joseph’s University for both his Undergraduate and Graduate degree.  I was able to contact him through Facebook – by posting a status that asked if any of my friends knew a graffiti artist.  I quickly received a response from a friend, who then gave me R’s contact information.  I contacted R through email, and we have agreed to meet at a coffee shop in Southern NJ at 4:30 p.m..  For privacy and respect for the artist, I will not name the location.  We have chosen this location because it is the middle point between our homes.

I will be interviewing R, because he is directly involved in the graffiti culture.  From what I understand, he was even arrested once for writing graffiti.  To me, that shows a great amount of dedication to the art.  I have never met a graffiti artist (that I know of), so this will be my first experience meeting a graffiti artist in-person.

The approach that I will be utilizing will be the Conversational Style of interviewing.  Last week, I used this approach for my online interview with graffiti artist, J, and learned a great deal about the culture.  After the success of this interview, I am convinced that the Conversational Style is best for my subject of research.  This is because it allows the interviewee to speak about and elaborate on topics that they feel are important to grasp within the graffiti culture.  Since I have interviewed another graffiti artist through Skype, it will be interesting to compare each artist in relation to their thoughts on graffiti and the graffiti culture.

– Topics I would like to touch on include:

– his origins in the graffiti culture (how he started and/or chose to paint graffiti)

– being arrested for graffiti

– Most difficult piece? Favorite piece?

– Types of pieces

– did you meet anyone within the culture or was it just your friends?

– anonymity of graffiti

– graffiti as an art

– views on street art

– views on graffiti as a crime

Week 9 Research update & Graffiti Artist Interview – J

Before I start, I would like to say that this post is for reference.  It is not for my Interviews and Reflections assignment – I will be doing those within the next few weeks.

On Tuesday, March 13, I had a Skype interview with a local graffiti artist.  I’ll call him J.  J, now 26, began writing graffiti when he was 12 years old.  Influenced by both the skateboarding and hip-hop culture, J began to tag the area in which he lived.  “All it took was one silver sharpie on a green electric box, and it was like ‘Oh my god.’ It really activates the surface,” he said.  J explained that he began writing graffiti, first out of boredom, and second because he could not stop writing graffiti after his first piece.  He described that graffiti art, “Is kind of a line you step over and you can’t go back.”  J was very passionate about the culture and the friends that he had made while he spoke.  It was obvious that he valued the graffiti culture very much, and mentioned the idea that the graffiti culture is more like a brotherhood.

He then explained the artist’s use of a “black book” – a sketch book that graffiti artists use to draw and practice their designs.  At times, graffiti crews will share and collaborate on pieces within the black books.  In speaking with J, I learned a great deal about the language used within the graffiti culture.  Often, J used the term “writer” when speaking about graffiti artists.  The term “toy” is used to describe a novice graffiti writer, and a “throw up” is a type of graffiti piece.

During the interview, J mentioned that he is now a single father, and that he has not written graffiti since he became a father.  He said that he now creates pieces on a fence in his friend’s backyard.  I asked J if he still looks for good spots to write on.  He said that even though he doesn’t write graffiti anymore, he is constantly admiring spots that would be good to write on.  “Graffiti is a compulsion, like any type of addiction,” he said.  I had never thought to look at graffiti in this way, but I found this quote interesting and easy to relate to – I am a drummer, and even though I may not like a song, I still catch myself subconsciously drumming to it with my hands.  In graffiti art, as well as in music (and most likely any other type of hobby), the culture subconsciously becomes part of you.

Review of Methods

I did not go into the interview with any questions prepared, and I believe that the conversational style enabled me to learn much more than I would have if I had had questions prepared for him.  At times, J would talk about or use a phrase/word that I had not heard before – I wouldn’t have thought to ask about these phrases/words in prepared questions, because I would not have known they existed.  The conversational style also allowed J to speak freely as well as enabled him to talk about the aspects of graffiti in which he felt were most important – he wasn’t locked into answering any specific questions.

In addition, I really enjoyed using Skype for the interview.  This is because the interview was more personal than that of an email or twitter interview.  Also, I believe that the ability to see and hear J’s passion for graffiti and its culture would not have come through as well in an email/twitter interview.  This ability, alone, has led me to believe that Skype is the best way to interview someone online.

Where to go now?

On Wednesday 3/21, I will be interviewing another local graffiti artist.  I will call him, R.  This will be an in-person interview, and I will be posting more details about this later on in the week for my Pre-Interview Preparation post.  I will also be conducting an online email interview on Friday 3/23 with Amy Johnston from the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.  This is sure to be a busy, yet informative, week.

I’ve been reading some pretty fantastic (if I may say so) articles about graffiti with topics ranging from the locations of graffiti, the act as a crime, the media’s intervention on the public views, as well as one that analyzes the word “damage” in relation to graffiti.  I’m really enjoying reading and learning about graffiti, and I am excited to learn more.

Also, I have contacted Cornbread, Philadelphia’s most infamous graffiti artist, in hopes of being able to interview him about graffiti.  I contacted him through facebook – it doesn’t look like he has used his facebook page in a while, and he hasn’t used his twitter account in over a year – but I would really like to hear his thoughts on graffiti.

Disclaimer: Safety first.

In reference to my last Fieldnotes and Reflections post, I would like to clarify my statement and say that it was not the graffiti that caused my fear, but the area of Philadelphia in which the graffiti was located.  The area was run down, dilapidated, and many of the buildings were abandoned.  I would have been fearful of the area even if there wasn’t any graffiti present.

It seems that the media has played a major role in the public opinion of graffiti – causing people to become fearful of graffiti by synonymously linking the act with gangs and crime.  The more I read and speak with artists about graffiti, the more I am convinced that the graffiti culture represents a brotherhood – complete with moral codes, ethics, and a social hierarchy – and that except for a small few, graffiti artists leave nothing to be feared.

 

 

 

Phila. Graffiti – Fieldnotes & Reflections – Post #2

First, let me say that I was originally going to hold off on this post and combine it with another graffiti search that I plan on doing in the future.  However, I think that my experience here was significant, and I wanted to blog about my findings while they are still fresh in my mind……

On Sunday, March 11, 2012, I took another trip into North Philadelphia in search of more graffiti art.  It was a beautiful day, probably around 60 degrees, and I had a an hour and a half of free time.

The area that I had visited last week was simply amazing, and I decided to continue searching there for more graffiti.  Now, I do not know this area very well, but if asked how to get home, I could surely navigate my way to the Ben Franklin Bridge.  Somehow in my travels, I made a wrong turn.  I got very lost and ended up in a bad part of town.  Here is what I found:

Transcriptions

Brick row homes lined the blocks of Master Street.  To my right, I passed a garden on the corner with a chain-linked fence encircling it.  Inside the garden, a man and a young girl, presumably his daughter, were putting sticks inside of a brown metal barrel.  A fire rose out of the top of the barrel and consumed the pile of sticks.  The smell of burning wood permeated the air.  I always liked this smell, it reminded me of my hometown.  I thought it was odd to see someone burning wood inside of the city – something I usually see in the back country.

One block down from this garden, I found my first graffiti/street art piece.  It was located on an abandoned building on the corner of Master and Front Street.  The building had two large window archways on the side and the name W.H. Mulherin’s Sons was inscribed above the windows.  I wondered if W.H. Mulherin worked at this building when it was in use as well, or if only his sons had worked there.  A brown wooden board was nailed over each window.  The artist had pasted (wheat pasted?) his/her piece on the left side window.

The piece, itself, was a black and white 2 1/2 ft x 4 ft  rectangular mosaic of a man playing guitar.  It covered most of the brown board behind it.  The color of the piece popped off of the brown wall in which it was placed.  A white circular doily was pasted near the top left corner of the piece.  I was unsure if this was part of the black and white piece, but I had a feeling it wasn’t.  I could still smell burning wood from off in the distance, and I hoped that this piece would not end up in any sort of fire.

Front Street is located under a bridge overpass that spans the entire distance of the street.  I found some great graffiti under an overpass last week, so I decided to follow it.  One block down, on the corner of Front and Thompson Street, I spotted bright graffiti that was painted over the windows and door of a building.  The graffiti was wavy and reminded me of a radioactive octopus.  The artist used neon purples and greens, and the background was painted neon blue – resembling water drops.  Perhaps this really was an octopus?

I looked around the area and saw that the people in the streets were mostly dressed nicely.  I thought this was odd, because many buildings and homes in the area looked disheveled and abandoned.  When I looked up at the building, I noticed that it was the popular bar, Kung Fu Necktie.  It was then that I realized that this graffiti may have been commissioned for the building.  If so, I thought that it was interesting to see how some businesses support graffiti art in the city and incorporate it into their own business.

After this location, I made a wrong turn.  I ended up in what I believe was the Spanish area of the city.  It was the worst section I had ever seen in Philadelphia.  Gangs of people in the mid-20’s dressed in long t-shirts and baseball caps were on each street corner.  I noted in my fieldnotes that perhaps the good weather was not good for my research.  As I drove through this area looking for graffiti, the gangs would watch me drive by.  I didn’t feel safe.  Twice, when stopping for a stop sign, a group of mid-20 aged males started talking to me in a not-so-friendly way.

On 2nd and Somerset, I saw graffiti all across the back wall of a building.  A lawn of dead grass led to the building.  I saw a man crouched in front of this wall, and I believe he may have been spraying graffiti.  I didn’t want to stop and take pictures, so I drove around the block.

As I drove down the street, I came up to American Ave.  I made a left and found graffiti on the back of a warehouse.  It was located on the corner of American and Lehigh Ave.  In the back of the warehouse, there was a field that was about the size of half of a city block.  The grass here was dead and had a yellowish tint.  I parked the car and got out for a better look.  I trudged my way through the trash littered field and to the graffiti.  Once again, I noted that this location was in a terrible area, so I wanted to be quick.  I snapped a few pictures, and on my way back to the car, a man dressed in all black and a black snow cap asked me if I was taking pictures of graffiti.  He seemed nice, but I was cautious to talk to him.  He told me that he used to be an artist, and that he got D’s and E’s (not a typo) in school.  He then told me that he went to Edison, I assume for college, and that he then got all A’s in art.  He began to point down the road and told me of another school with murals painted on it.  I thanked him and scuttled back to my car.

When I circled back around to 2nd and Somerset, the man was gone.  There was a group of males across the street, and I had been watched before, so I quickly got out and snapped pictures.  I did not feel safe enough to take the time and write down notes, so I snapped a few pictures, got back in the car, and went home.

This is the piece that I believe the man was spray painting:

Reflections

This outing was much different than last week (3/4/12) for a few reasons.

1. Safety.  I’m going to be honest, this week, I did not feel safe in the locations that I visited.  The area was very busy (people outside everywhere) and it was very hard to document the graffiti.  I needed to get out of the car and document, but I knew I was being watched and had to be quick.  At times, I didn’t feel safe getting out of the car.

2. Weather. Last week, it was a bit chilly, and there was nobody (except myself) outside.  I had plenty of time to document and admire each graffiti piece that I saw.  This week was a beautiful day so the streets were packed.  This made it very difficult to document the graffiti pieces.

Questions – Why is the best graffiti in the worst areas? Where was I? Was that man really painting graffiti?

Successful – I think this week was successful in showing that the best graffiti is often in the worst areas of the city.  I have never felt unsafe around human beings until this past trip.  I’m not really sure how I could have visited this part of town differently.  I don’t think I would really ever feel safe there unless perhaps I went and documented the graffiti at 6 in the morning – before the residents are awake.

Where to next? I plan on going back to Philadelphia in search of graffiti for one more time.  This time, I will be going to South Philadelphia.  I am also going to be interviewing a local graffiti artist within the next two weeks, as well as reading articles for my Annotated Bibliography.

Week 8 – Research Update

I have a couple of things that I would like to talk about as far as the advancement of my research:

1. Interviews – Originally, I was supposed to have an online Skype interview with a graffiti artist on Friday, March 9.  He had to reschedule, so we decided that the interview will take place tomorrow, March 13.

2.  Graffiti – This past week, I took a short trip to Washington D.C.  On my way, I spotted a moving van that was covered in graffiti tags.  I also found smatterings of graffiti/street art throughout the city of Washington D.C.  It was amazing to see graffiti there, because it shows how far this phenomenon has grown.  Ever since I have started this research project, I have spotted graffiti art in almost every town I’ve driven through.  It’s amazing how far this underground art has gone, both globally and politically.

3. Film – This week, I watched the graffiti/street art documentary, “Exit through the gift shop.”  It told the story of a French videographer, Thierry, who joined famous graffiti/street artists to document their artwork.  When doing my research, I search for reasons in which artists create graffiti and street art, but I am also very interested in how the pieces are created.  This documentary gave an me inside glimpse into the world of graffiti/street artists including the tools they use and how they reach the locations of their work.

“Why should art be sanctioned by permission, inside a neat little gallery or museum or something?  Why can’t art just be the expression of humans wherever the hell they please?” – Lady Pink, Street Art by Cedar Lewisohn

Graffiti throughout Philadelphia – Fieldnotes & Reflections – Post #1

Transcriptions

On Sunday, March 4, 2012, I took a tour through Philadelphia in search of graffiti art throughout the city.  I had attended Temple University for my Undergrad, so I decided to start there.  I found a bit of graffiti around campus – a few food trucks and road signs had been tagged.  After, I drove around and found some graffiti art on the outskirts of the campus.  The first road was North Carlisle Street.  I used to dorm in the building directly across from this road, and  I had walked down this road for a photography photo shoot while attending Temple University.  I also remembered there was a lot of graffiti on this road.

In walking down Carlisle, I found that one side of the road was just as I had remembered it – disheveled and abandoned buildings lining the road.  A war zone.  The other side, however, had become a construction site for new town homes.  I felt a little safer on this road, knowing that there was new construction.  I wondered if people would purchase these homes with the sight of broken down buildings across the street.  I was able to find a bit of graffiti on a blue garage doorway.

Here are a few links to the pictures I found on Carlisle – I will post the entire Flickr Photostream at the end of this post, but I am having trouble organizing them into the order that I found them along my journey.  They seem to be in reverse order on the Photostream, so If you’d like to see them in the order in which I found them, start from page 10 and work your way to page 1.  Posting a few pics from each location will help you better understand the order on the Photostream.

I then drove to the corner of 15th and Norris Street.  This location is directly across from Temple’s tennis courts.  I spotted a bright red graffiti piece as I drove by.  I put the car in reverse and pulled onto the road.  I got out of the car and walked towards the graffiti.  There was an abandoned one-car garage on the corner of this road.  It was dark inside, but the garage door was open.  Upon closer inspection, I saw that the garage door was  caved into the roof as if it went off track.  Inside the garage was a hearse, presumably abandoned.  I felt odd walking by the garage – as if I shouldn’t be there.  The garage was also riddled with graffiti.  I snapped a picture of the “avoid piece” and got back into my car.

After finding the small bit around Temple, I really wanted to find more.  I decided to take a drive down Cecil B. Moore Avenue.  I had no idea what to expect.

Location 1: The first location of graffiti that I found was on the corner of 9th and Cecil B. Moore.  I drove up to an overpass bridge and spotted a bright blue graffiti piece above on the bridge.  I parked the car to get a better look, and found that there was more graffiti under the overpass.  This is where I really felt unsafe.  I was hesitant to go under the bridge.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe it was because it was dark under the bridge, or perhaps because I didn’t know what was on the other side of the bridge.  Or maybe I was just giving in to the popular notion that graffiti is dangerous.

On the other side of the bridge, there was one graffiti tag that stuck me.  It was on the very top of the overpass on a ledge, probably 12 feet in the air.  It was much taller than anyone could reach, and I wondered how the artist was able to get there.

Location 2: I got back into the car and drove exactly one city block down from Location 1.  I came up to the corner of Franklin and Cecil B. Moore.  The first thing that I saw was a playground in the distance with a mural as a backdrop.  It looked like it was painted on a school.  The mural depicted children playing on a playground.

I got out of the car to inspect, and saw a bright graffiti piece across the street.  The piece was on an abandoned mechanic or used car lot.  I was unable to tell which one it used to be.  A fence for a driveway divided the piece into two pieces.  It was a bright blue background with pink and blue lettering.  It was so bright and stood out so well.  There was a smurf drawn on each side, depicting that the smurf had drawn the piece.  When I saw this piece, my uneasy feeling went away.  Maybe it was because I was excited to find a great graffiti piece, or maybe it felt like the people who created this piece just wanted to make the area beautiful.  Next to the piece was a row of row homes.  I wonder if they mind looking at this piece when they pass it?

Location 3: I was so excited to find more graffiti, I kept driving and wound up on the corner of Cecil B. and Rudolph Street.  There was a building that looked like it was a mechanic shop.  The colors were so bright that I could see it from two blocks away.  Purple and red filled the background, and characters such as the monopoly man and a bear were painted on the foreground.  I wondered how the artists did this piece secretly.  It was so large, it was the entire side of the building and carried over to the other side.  This was the piece that really made me excited.  This was art. I kept thinking that there should be a tour to bring people to come and see this masterpiece.

This was amazing, and had to be my favorite of the day.  It was so brightly colored, and the bricks are painted.  It had to take such a long time to do, especially in secret.

Location 4: I drove down Germantown Ave and came across another abandoned factory.  On the very top, there was a painting of an ice cream cone.  I couldn’t tell if this was graffiti or if it used to be an ice cream factory.  I exited the car and walked around the building.  On the one side, there was an alley.  I walked down and found a mural dedicated to Bryant Barkley.  It was a beautiful mural, but I believe this was done by graffiti artists, not the Mural Arts Program.  There was a large graffiti tag blended into this piece.  The location of the piece was on the side of a house.  The backyard was riddled with trash and random objects.  It resembled a yardsale that had never been packed up and was not going to reopen.  I wondered if Bryant had lived in this home, and if he was an artist?  Was this a tribute to him from his fellow graffiti artist friends?

Location 5: I drove past what looked like an abandoned hotel, much like the Divine Lorraine.  It may have been an office building too.  It was painted a cream color, and trash littered every edge of the property.  Black bags were piled along the sides, and broken glass was everywhere.  I didn’t want to stay here too long, so I looked at a piece that said ‘Sour” in bubble letter graffiti.  It was located under a boarded up window.  Across the street, there was a mailbox that had been tagged.  I found this sort of funny.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe it shows the extent in which graffiti artists will go to perform their art.  Why a mailbox?

Location 6: I drove past an abandoned school, the James R. Ludlow school.  There was a gigantic mural of planet earth, and it depicted children playing on it.  This was a piece done by the Mural Arts Program.  It was a very nice piece.  The school had a basketball court yard around the building.  There was an aqua blue graffiti piece behind one of the basketball nets.  It was a beautiful color choice.  I noticed a man watching me from a window inside a house across the street as I took fieldnotes.  I didn’t want to stay here long.

Location 7: My last location was on 6th and Girard.  I was pulling up to a red light when I noticed a long line of graffiti art on my right side.  I parked the car at the B.P. gas station across the street, and walked over.  There was a black and white piece  – I hadn’t seen one of those all day.  It was refreshingly different.  There was also a nice yellow piece on the corner of a door.  My favorite piece was on the door of this building.  Above, a quote, “Sell your TV, and buy art.” was painted.  I love this statement.  It was more than just a statement for graffiti.  It was a movement in support of all art, including graffiti.

Reflections

When I first began this project, I knew nothing about graffiti.  I only knew that it existed.  This day of searching for graffiti sparked curiosities in me in which I could not have had if I had not seen the pieces, themselves.  I truly believe that the piece on Location 3 should be seen by everyone who likes art.  It can be appreciated by all.  Not that they all can’t, but I found that one most impressive.  I still think about that piece.  It was so exciting to continuously find graffiti pieces at almost every corner, it made me want to find out more about the art.

I plan on going to South Philadelphia next, because I have heard that there is a great amount of graffiti art there.  I will also be interviewing an artist within the next few days.  Seeing these graffiti pieces helped me get more familiar with graffiti, and I believe I will be able to talk about the art a bit more.  I am also continuing to read journal entries about graffiti.

I believe this trip was very successful.  I only stopped looking for these pieces because the sun went down.  I wish I had gone a bit earlier in the day.  I also wish it was a bit warmer.  I was pretty cold out there, but it was all worth it.  Next time, I would like to bring more people with me.  Not only to see the art, but to see their reactions to the art and how it effects them.

Questions – Why did they pick those locations?  How did you do them secretly?  How is your art so crisp even when using a spray can?  Do you think the public supports your art?  Do you consider it beautifying the area?  Do you do it alone?

Photostream pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/75804837@N04/page10/

Interview Schedule

J. – Local Artist – March 13, 2012 – Online Skype interview.

R. – Local Artist – March 21, 2012 – In-person expect post on March 23.

Amy Johnston – Information and Events Specialist at the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program – March 23, 2012 –Online email interview, expect post on March 25.

For the fourth person, I would like to find a Professor of Art, or perhaps someone who teaches graffiti.  I am currently compiling a list of graffiti classes that are offered around Philadelphia.

Week 7 – Research update

This week, I have contacted the Mural Arts Society and a graffiti artist about possible interviews.  The Mural Arts Program replied and asked when my research was due.  I replied and am currently awaiting their response.  I have not yet heard from the graffiti artist (I will not be mentioning his name) but I expect to hear back soon.

I am also pretty sure that I have cleaned out the library of any books pertaining to graffiti.  As I mentioned last week, many of them pertain to the art as a crime.  However, this week I have ordered (through inter-library loan) five books pertaining to the art as an art!

In reading journal articles on graffiti, I came across the name of a famous artist named Cornbread.  According to many of the articles, he is known as being the very first graffiti artist.  He started in Philadelphia.  I would like to try to contact him and interview him for research.  I have found his twitter account, and was hoping to get in contact with him there, but it seems as though he hasn’t used his account since June of 2010.  I will continue to try and contact him, as I feel that his story and thoughts on graffiti would be an amazing addition to my research project.

https://twitter.com/#!/DM_CornBread

Today, I am going to Philadelphia to search for graffiti around the city.  I know of a few locations, and I hope to stumble across a few more throughout my travels.  I hope to update my findings in the next few days.

Class Discussion Week 7

This week, we talked more in depth about last week’s visit to the bowling alley.  Dr. Wolff asked me about a woman I had spoken to who was not very willing to have a conversation with me.  He asked if interviewers get any information out of people who do not talk during interviews or are abrupt during an interview.  At first, I had thought that one would not get much out of an interview like that.  However, my mind had been changed after Myra commented that you would learn about the culture and the people within it – are they competitive? why? do a lot of people take this as a competitive league? etc. (thanks Myra!)  Dr. Wolff also commented that for this project, we need to drop our journalistic sense that interviews are primarily for the interviewee to give information by telling what they know.  Instead, we need to think of the person, their actions, their culture, and what the interview tells us about that as well.  This was a great tip, and was something that I was obviously overlooking. 

In class, we each got together with another class mate and read each others blog posts from the bowling alley.  We were then instructed to create a short piece based on our partner’s blog that attempted to emulate David Foster Wallace’s style of writing.  Here’s what I came up with based on Lauren’s notes:

I have now seen a bubble appear around my self, one that breaks occasionally, only to reform in the comfort of my own. I have seen the loneliest arcade room in the land, one where children would not run to, but scamper away from in fear of the darkness that waits.  I have been watched by women watching white pins scurry about.  I have scribbled, in Lauren Language, my thoughts inside of a notepad.  I have trampled a worn and dirty handicapped ramp, but have not added to its appearance.  I have purchased the greatest cookie baked by a club of young girls, and have frozen them for safekeeping.  I have seen jet-black hair, like oil that runs through a vehicle after 6,000 miles of travel.  I have seen writing on the wall that read, “Fall Down Sucker,” but stood my ground.  I have seen a woman claim she could smell the pictures inside of an unscented catalog.  Alas, I have been to the bowling alley.

 

We were then instructed to create a poem based on our partner’s blog post.  Before I post my attempt at this assignment, I need to tell you that I do not do poetry.  This is probably the first poem I’ve written since grammar school.  Here goes nothing.

 

I am a fortress when I choose

Controlled by neither king nor queen

But by the comfort of my own

 

Opening long enough to consume

And then retreating in silence

I am a fortress when I choose

Fun at the bowling alley

I’m from Mullica Hill, which is only one town over from Glassboro, so I have been to the Glassboro Bowl and Rec Center (though it was called the Brunswick Zone) many times before.  I have even filmed a short piece there during my senior year in high school for my weekly show, The Weekend Warrior, in which I would give ideas for things to do on the weekends.

As soon as I walked through the front door, I was hit with that smell.  It seems like every bowling alley has the same smell to it…a mixture of nachos, beer, feet, and fried chicken.  It’s not strong enough to make you want to leave, but it’s there.

In Megg’s post, she writes that the smell reminded her of going to birthday parties when she was younger, and I fully agree with this statement.  It’s strange how one smell can bring back so many memories, and how the brain relates a smell to a memory.

I met up with the class, and Dr. Wolff read the assignment to us from his iPhone.  He instructed us to split up and take notes on one specific group(workers, bowlers, people sitting, etc.) at the bowling alley.  After he read our assignment, we dispersed.

I was assigned to take notes on what we called “passive bowlers” – those who are at the bowling alley but are not bowling.

As I walked around the bowling alley, the first thing that came to my mind was “Guerrilla attack on the bowling alley.”  I had a feeling that people were not going to take to us (the class) with open arms, and that we may have a hard time interacting with them.

Although I have been to this bowling alley numerous times, I have never been there as an observer.  I never thought to look at the building or the people at the bowling alley – I was only there to bowl.

The first thing I noticed was that the bowling alley was shaped like the letter “I” but with the top and bottom parts jutting out so far that it looked more like a sideways letter “H.”

The top and bottom parts of the “I” were the lanes where the bowlers would bowl.  There were sixteen lanes on each side, and about all but four lanes were occupied.  On the back wall of the lanes, there was a black futuristic city skyline mural that looked like it was painted when the building was built.  The side walls of the lanes were painted a dark blue color, with a bright orange wide-isosceles-triangle painted in the center.  It was such an odd mixture of interior design that it probably looked dated on the first day that it was put together.

The middle of the “I” shape was where bowlers would pay for their games, get their shoes, and order food from the snack bar.  At the snack bar, a stocky female employee scarfed down a tray of cheese fries.  She held the tray close to her face and ate the fries so quickly that it seemed like she wasn’t supposed to be eating while working, and was trying to dispose of the evidence before her boss came around.

I surveyed both sides of the bowling alley and estimated that there were around 30-35 people on each side bowling.  One-half of a side of the alley seemed to be a women’s league, and, with that said, there was a ratio of about 60% female bowlers and 40% male bowlers in the entire bowling alley.  The ages of the bowlers seemed to range from early 30’s to 60’s, and most of them wore jeans and a t-shirt.

While surveying the area, a short, but muscular man wearing a black snow cap and a black t-shirt noticed that I was taking notes and approached me.  “What are you doing, man,” he asked in a slightly threatening manner.  I told him that I was a student at Rowan University and that my class was taking notes on the bowling alley culture.  At this time Laura was walking by and joined in to save me from perhaps being pummeled. (Thanks Laura!) The man seemed to warm up to us after this explanation, and his wife or girlfriend began to talk to us.

“Isn’t bowling boring,” she asked as she turned to us.  She was sitting on a chair just outside of the lanes, and seemed to be in her thirties.  She was wearing jeans and had long brown hair.  We asked her about the league, and talked to her for about 5 minutes.  She informed us that it was a thirty-six week league, and that she was the only woman on her team along with three other men.  I wondered why she was on a team for that long if she thought it was boring?  When we asked her about the women’s league across the alley, she said, “Those old ladies are fierce!”  She then said that her team was not winning, and that it wasn’t fun, but also that she didn’t really take the game seriously.  Odd.

After speaking with this woman, I decided to have a go at the women’s league.  I don’t mind talking to people that I don’t know, and I thought that this may be an interesting experience.  Lets see how fierce they really are.

At first, I was a spectator.  One woman made a spare by curving the ball to the left.  She came back and high-fived a team mate.  An older woman, probably in her 70’s, was eating a hoagie and watching from the seats outside the alley.  She was wearing a white blouse and had gray puffy hair.  Her dangley earrings matched her equally dangley feet as she sat in the chair – her feet couldn’t reach the bottom while sitting.

One team, all wearing a green shirt, seemed especially active.  It was comprised of three ladies, all in their late 40’s or early 50’s.  I decided that they would be my target.  I sat down and watched as one woman with a buzzed hair cut made a strike.  She walked up to another woman, stocky with short hair, and gave her a high-five.  “You a good teacher,” she said.  It was then that I thought that this woman, the teacher, may be the leader of the group.  I’ll name her Barb.  Barb walked back to the area that I was sitting and watched as her other team mate went to bowl.  The team mate made a spare and Barb yelled, “That’s it!”  I had to think of something to say.  I turned to her and asked, “Is this the championships?”  I knew that it wasn’t, but sometimes I feel that a generic question that is obviously wrong is a good ice breaker.  “It’s not a tournament, just a league,” she said to me sternly.  She began explaining that the league starts in September and that it was just for fun.  She began to stand up (it was her turn to bowl) and she said, “There’s about six weeks left, and then there’s the championship.”

Also in this assignment, we were required to take notes on one person’s hair.  We were told that we would have to write around 300 words on that person’s hair, alone.

The man I chose looked to be in his late 50’s or early 60’s.  His hair was so intriguing that I knew he was the one I would like to write about as soon as I saw him.  The front part of the man’s head was completely bald.  The ceiling lights were shining off of it as he moved.  I wondered if he shaved his head to be that bald, or if the baldness was a natural progression.  In the very middle of his head, an odd thing happened.  The baldness stopped abruptly and his head turned into a smoky gray and rustic brown forest of long hair.  A pony-tail that was tied with a rubber band hung off of the man’s head.  It was as if he was shaving his head, and stopped exactly halfway through.  It was strange to see such a drastic change in hair style.  I thought that maybe he once had a full head of long hair, and that perhaps gravity was slowly taking its course and pulling the man’s hair clean off of his head and to the ground.  If you saw him from the front, you would have no idea that he had hair at all.  I wondered if he ever thought of shaving his whole head bald? Or if he was hanging on to every last strand until the inevitable happened anyway.  I wasn’t entirely sure what to this of this hairstyle, but it was certainly interesting to examine.

In looking back at my notes, I was surprised by the amount of information that I got out of an hour and a half at the bowling alley.  I have never taken field notes before, and I didn’t realize how difficult it is to watch people, survey the area for smells and looks, interview people, think of how you(yourself) feel, and take notes on all of this at the same time.  There was so much going on.  It was also very difficult to not feel like I was spying on people while taking notes in my notepad.  I kept telling Tom, “I feel like I’m spying on people.”  Although I was watching people, I felt as though I was constantly being watched and examined, myself.  I didn’t expect the bowlers to fully embrace us, but I was surprised at how much information they allowed and how much time they did give us (our class) as a whole.  Also, normally, I don’t have a problem interviewing people, but this was different.  These people were already doing something else, at times I felt as though I was interrupting rather than interviewing.  I didn’t think I would have such a hard time approaching people, but I believe the reason was because they were already playing a game.  I am an avid tennis player, and I know that part of the game of tennis is focus.  I don’t really mind if people talk while I play, but I know that in order to focus, most people who play like to play in silence.  In fact, there has been a lot of controversy over the women’s professional tennis players and the grunts they make during the game and how it effects the other players.  I believe that tennis has instilled in me this respect for silence during any type of sport.  All in all, it was a fun experience into a world that I would never normally investigate on my own.