Cultural Site Visit

I have not yet interviewed anyone in the subculture of cheerleading. When I come to interview some of the cheerleaders I plan on asking them if they cheer because they like it or just for the name of being a cheerleader. I would also probably ask them if it is hard to keep up with their academics with all the practices and games that they have. Another question that would come to mind would be to ask them about why they do some of the things they do. With being an insider I could answer all these questions, but to get a wider understanding of my subculture I plan on getting different opinions on these questions. When doing my subculture I do not plan to do a lot of interviewing since I am already an insider, but I plan on doing a lot of observing of the practices and games. I have been attending cheer practices and games since the beginning of the school year and never really thought about observing my own subculture. When being an insider to your subculture you do not really get to think about why you do some of the things you do. This is why I plan on observing my own subculture by trying to look at it through a different perspective. Though most my thoughts of the subculture will come from observation, I plan on doing some research on the web about cheerleaders and how they are looked at by others. Some other research that I will do will be from magazine articles. For my subculture I do not think I can do much academic research. Most of the research I will find will be based on opinions, beliefs, and ideas. If I did an academic research on cheerleaders I would have to find some statistics on them.

My subculture study is going to be on cheerleaders. Fortunately, I am currently a ball state cheerleader and can be and insider to some of my study. My field work site will be at the practices, games, and inside the locker room. With already being an insider to this subculture I am going to try and see things through the eyes of others who aren't familiar with this subculture and maybe come up with some questions about some the characteristics we cheerleaders have. Though I am an insider, I hope to learn more about some of the characteristics that are just natural to the subculture of cheerleaders and maybe get an answer to why we do some of the things we do.

In my field study of the subculture athletes, I know that some factors may affect my view of things about the culture. These factors include my gender, my class schedule, and also personal experiences of being an athlete myself. The fact that I am a female could change the experience and influence of a male athlete. Another factor would be my class schedule. With my schedule I will need to dedicate myself to some athletic observation and maybe a little less time on class study so that my field of study comes out accurate. The last factor is that of me being an athlete myself and having my own personal experiences with being one and letting it influence my writing.

When getting ready for a basketball game I would have routines or rituals that I would do. When doing these rituals or routines I felt they would help me play to the best of my ability. Some of the routines I did was eat a good meal of carbohydrates and drink lots of water during the day. Also, before the game I would come in to the gym 30 minutes early to practice shooting and dribbling. Finally, when it was just 10 minutes before warm ups me and my team-mates would go in the locker room and play songs and dance to get us fired up for the big game. Many would think that listening to music and dancing would not get you ready for a game. This ritual is one that I must follow because it really gets your blood flowing and it is like a pre-warm up so that you do not look so bad when you first show your skills on the court.

Past Stories

A past story that I wrote was about a trip that I took on spring break to Florida. It was a narrative essay in which I told the story of my trip. In writing this story, I first began to make an outline. In my outline I had an introduction, a body with important events that happened on the trip, and a conclusion. After making the outline I put all the different pieces together and wrote a rough draft. When I wrote my rough draft I looked over my paper many of times to see if I left any main points out or to see if I could be more specific on my ideas. I also looked to see if my sentences made sense. When I finally thought I had everything that I needed in my paper, I looked over it to see if there was any mistakes in my grammar, spelling, and punctuation. After I was finished, I revised and edited my paper one my time before I turned it in. I think the difference in revising and editing is, revising is looking at the whole story and fixing mistakes in the story and editing also has to do with fixing mistakes in the story, but it is grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes.