When preparing for assignments and tasks I usually make sure to read what the assignment or task is asking of me. I make sure to carefully pay attention to the details of the assignment and take a look at some of the sample essays as well. After this, I usually try to come up with what my specific topic is gonna be which helps me think about if my essay is going to be strong depending if I actually find the topic interesting. When I do so I start my first draft. Starting the first drafts are sometimes hard for me. I’m always trying to figure out a way to start my essays but once I do its easy from there. Most of my first drafts aren’t complete since I like to plan out and categorize my paragraphs. Once I do so I start going back and start writing which helps me organize my thoughts and points better. Something that helps me understand where I’m at or if I’m doing it correctly is actually the peer reviews. I usually don’t like peer reviews but for this class, I get a lot of good feedback from students and the professor that gives me more insight on what I should fix and if my essay is thought out. Something that I learn through this process is that there isnt always one way to write an essay. This is something that I feel everyone knows but I always have to remind myself. I also learn different writing styles through my peer’s drafts as well. Compared to the begging, this process has helped me develop my own writing style and tone and makes me write differently from regular writing classes. It helps me elaborate on my thoughts while connecting it back to the actual task as well. One thing that really guides me is the sample essays. I find that I sometimes model my essay around one I like or take some elements of that essay and incorporate it in mine. 

I read “Who Are The Flat Earthers?” by Richi Barua for this assignment. The writer did give us a basic understanding of the Flat earther community and what they believed in. however, I thought that the author could’ve done more with it. A lot fo his evidence and points were not too compelling especially for a topic like this. I thought that the essay was fairly organized and that the development was adequate since the evidence wasn’t super concrete. I think that the writer should have delved into the topic more since it is pretty controversial and there are many videos on it. Maybe instead of only using a video that showed flat earthers and scientists he could’ve used a parody video as well and observed the behavior between flat earthers and the rest of the people online. Even Though the writer did include some of the language and behaviors some of the flat earthers use, I felt like there wasn’t much interaction between the writer and the community itself. The writer did have good grammar and the introduction was compelling. I give this essay an above-average grade but there are definitely places for improvements. 

“Our Incel Problem” by Zach Beauchamp is about an online community called Incel. At first, this community brought people together who were awkward when it came to dating or just life in general. It became a space for members to communicate their problems and frustrations when it comes to romance.  In its earlier days, the incel community was most focused on advice and advice-giving becoming friendly and welcoming but the author soon notes the big change in the online community a decade later. However, it was soon almost unrecognizable when an incident involving two people. Two college students were injured; one ended up dying while about 26 other people were injured. It was later found that the driver was apart of the modern Incel community. The author explains how the Incel community is now mostly made up of men and is now very sexist. It is apparent the transition from being an open-minded community being welcoming and friendly to becoming closed-minded and full of hatred. The author talks about how he discovered this new form of the online community and describes it as “ amounting to fundamental rejections of women’s sexual emancipation, labeling women shallow, cruel creatures who will choose only the most attractive men if given the choice” while blaming women because they have lack of romance in their life. There is an obvious trend of hostility in this new form of the community and how it is made up of men instead of previously being made up of both men and women. The patterns and trends of this online community inform the insider experience that this community is now very hostile a dangerous towards women. Not only does it show their hatred towards women, but also the insecurities they have and cant deal within a proper way. This connects to the bigger picture in which the behaviors of the incel community can be dangerous in real life and is becoming a problem not only online but in real life.

By definition, privilege is an advantage or special right that someone has. Different people have different privileges based on their situation such as race, age, gender, social class, or even where you live. All of these factors plays a part in someones life. Most come from our parents but there are that we can make for ourselves. I have a few privileges myself. I have two houses that I can stay at (my mother’s house and at my father’s house), financial aid for college, an education, supportive family and friends, freedom of speech, the right to vote, growing up in a Hispanic household giving me the privilege of being bilingual, and parents who provide me with the things I need even though they are both lower-middle class-middle class and are not together so that I can focus on getting an education. Although these all seem small or what some people might not consider as privileges, they have helped me grow and continue to succeed in life. 

The reason I chose my online community is that I am apart of that community myself and never really thought about how some of the things like inside jokes or behaviors might be weird or unusual to others. The fact that I even have the privilege of having a phone and social media to access it plays a role in the reason why I chose it. Many people that are apart of this online community buy a lot of albums, merch, and concert tickets. Most don’t have a lot of money to afford good concert tickets or tickets in general since they are very very expensive (I would know, I’ve always ended up in the nosebleed section) or fan meetings. Since I am apart of this community most of the behaviors that I will be exploring aren’t new to me but since I am an insider I have to try and make outsiders understand some of the language and behaviors. Due to the fact that the fanbase is made up of different races and people from all over the world I will also be analyzing the language barrier and the difference between international fans and Korean fans.

Elise Wu’s essay “The Out-Patients” is about the online community that is on Factitious Disorder where people with FD create psychological or physical symptoms to take on the role of the patient according to Wu. The essay starts with one of Wu’s experiences where she discusses how she always feels guilt after and finds out that she isn’t the only one who does this. she does some more research and finds articles by doctors, patients, and even family members. She later finds an online community filled with people that suffer from this disorder. Not only is it someone having FD scared of being caught but its also the fact that some are being manipulated. We then find out that the doctor that Wu doesn’t trust is also advising the online group she encounters, which then made her question if treatment was even worth it if it’s only being managed. Wu wanted a better recovery and to do that she knew she would have to observe how “FDer’s” interacted within that subculture. She describes “coming out”  as a term that FDer’s use when faking illnesses and knowing who they can trust. Two years later, Wu finds herself on Doctor Feldman’s webpage where she finds a virtual discussion group. Wu made sure to keep track of posts and comments. The sources that Elsie Wu uses is herself due to the fact that she has FD and uses her experience to validate and relate to other FDer’s. The role the footnotes play in Wu’s essay is to help the reader understand and contextualize what she is talking about without having FD or going to search up the meaning of some terms.

I decided to go to St. Nicholas Park to observe those around me. It is currently 4:27 and their arent many people. There are four people, a pair playing basketball, another playing by himself, and the last person in skateboarding. The pair that is playing basketball is actually a mother and her child. another person entered the park and he is riding his skateboard. there are occasionally people who walk their dogs or are just passing through to get to the dorms. The two skateboarders started to skate together. now one is sitting on the phone while the other skates. the one sitting down is wearing a grey t-shirt and the other is wearing a black t-shirt with black pants. A couple passes through the park and so did a father and son. A few more people entered the court and started their own game of basketball. the weather is gorgeous and the sun is shining. It is not too hot but not too cold. by the chairs, there are three people sitting separately, one watching the basketball courts. there’s not much noise except for the occasional car or airplane. the sun is starting to slowly go down. There are a few people who just got out of school. as the hour passed, more people came to the basketball courts. There is a big group that is set up to play a game. They all seem like friends and are joking around with each other. The sky becomes much duller and it looks like it might rain. It also got a bit chillier. The common theme within the park is to go to the basketball courts or just to pass through the park.

The article “The Hustlers: The Real Story Behind the Movie” gives us a glimpse into the lives of strippers who are way smarter than society makes them out to be. We are introduced to Rosie and Samantha. Samantha took Rosie under her wing so that they could both work together in making more money by also drugging and scamming men that visited the strip club. Pressler gives a little background on Rosie and Samantha’s lives to help us understand where they came from and why they started striping. Rosie was caught up in the wrong crowd in high school and was a troublemaker. However, she was good at math and made some money selling candy bars at school. It is also mentioned that Rosie had a curvy body which prompted her into getting in trouble. Samantha, on the other hand, was one of the club’s top moneymakers. She was a single mother from the Bronx. Samantha was seen as “ancient” in the stripper world because she is 30 years old, but that doesn’t stop her from making money. She takes the younger strippers and makes them more money by teaching them her skills. Throughout the article, there are many shared beliefs. It was thought that any man from wall street had money and that most of the men were assholes even if they were married. it also got to a point where the girls “… stop believing men are real”. The goal was to make as much money as possible. So the women would go from changing their appearance to drugging and scamming the men. Pressler vividly describes her informants by describing each of their appearances and past.

“A Report from Occupied Territory” by James Baldwin is about how African Americans are treated poorly and usually take on menial and degrading jobs that further this prejudice that they are “animals and uneducated”. This essay brushes on the Harlem Six. The Harlem Six were six teens who were wrongfully accused of first-degree murder. They were later sentenced to life terms, but it was eventually revealed that the confessions were coerced. Their names are Wallace Baker, Daniel Hamm, Walter Thomas, Willie Craig, Ronald Felder and Robert Rice.

One major issue of this was the fact that they were black. Before they were convicted, a few of them overturned a fruit stand. If they had been white, they wouldn’t have been as big of a deal and wouldn’t be falsely accused of first-degree murder. This article shows multiple cases of segregation and how white Americans were superior to African Americans. It also shows how White Americans almost have this inherited prejudice by saying the N word and not caring and acting as if they are better than everyone else. Same with white Americans who were police and used police brutality for no reason expect for the fact that they had the power of authority.

 A fieldworker might ask

How often are the police in the neighborhood?

Do they often abuse their power?

How do they interact with those living their?

How do they handle situations that involves other races?

A fieldworker might penetrate an insiders perspective by getting to know locals and try to understand their day to days and the events that go on in the neighborhood.