When I prepare for written assignments, I like to plan out what I need to do in order to have the paper done by the due date. I prepare myself to have it done a couple of days before, in order to have time to edit it for last minute mistakes. If possible, I break down the essay on my planner and schedule time frames for it to be done. I enjoy writing down all my ideas and thoughts on my topic, including everything I know and things I think I know, finding evidence to help me support or debunk my ideas.

Before I begin, I like to know what my topic is about and what I am going to need to complete it. I like to go through the requirements and past them on top of my paper, this reminds me to answer the questions asked and include the details wanted. As I go through this process, it allows me to incorporate my thoughts while also answering questions without going off topic. This process has not really changed throughout the semester because my papers were broken down, allowing me to have pieces of my papers done by certain due dates, forcing me to avoid leaving my papers done before the due dates. Although since distance learning has started, I have had more time to split up my papers or spend a whole day writing them a bit closer to due dates than I would like. Overall, the layout of the papers I’ve had to do this semester are helpful.

I chose to review, How Individual Upbringing Affects Young Adult Romantic Relationships by Chardell Park which caught my attention with the introduction. I enjoyed reading it because the topic is interesting and it showed a lot of connection information with the sources that were cited. Personal ‘baggage’ influencing relationships was proven by the sources used especially when it is mentioned children reflect their own relationships with those of their parents. Overall, I enjoyed this paper and would give it an above average if not exemplary. As far as I could tell the grammar was good, the research question was well thought out as well as the organization of the paper. I do think this question has been researched a lot and written about a lot but still, an interesting topic. 

I chose “Who Needs Feminism When You Have Femininity?” which was a great attention catching title to begin with and sounds very appealing to read. It was kind of hard to read due to grammatical mistakes which makes it seem a bit sloppy and rushed. This is a bit terrible because if they had put more effort into writing, their information would carry a heavier weight. I feel like this writer could have gone deeper into what the community is about, it all seems like surface information. I’d like to see what people are posting, commenting on, offering their opinions on in a direct informative way, basically what they’re talking about. I give this paper a 76.75 overall score. 

Incel is short for involuntary celibates, a name for those who lack romance and intimacy in their lives. The author notes a lot of interesting things about these members, such as describing them as awkward in real life, specifically with sex and dating. Not only that, they describe it as a “social justice warrior community.” A trend that followed after the death of Sohe Chung was calling for the disrespect of women and to encourage attacks on them, blaming them for their lack of sexual intimacy. What started off as an online forum for advice on how to approach women became a safe place to bash women and call for violent attacks. These patterns and trends inform the insider experience because it shows a progression of how a group went from mild to extreme after an incident opened up the stream of negativity. A trend I noticed while reading this is that it begins with loneliness and possibly being left emotionally fragile by a woman. This tells us that these men might be a bit unstable and insecure because they all claim that attractiveness is the root of all problems with women. In a wider context, this all seems to relate to insecurity which can lead people to look for help over the internet rather than with a therapist. While they might find comfort in a community consisting of people with similar issues, one can not fix another person’s problems or provide help if they have the same unsolved issue. As the author stated at the end, everyone shares rejection, some until  adulthood, but not everyone finds comfort and similar opinions about blaming women for the lack of confidence and sex in ones life which Beauchamp relates to misogynistic rage. While these men might need a range of support, love, and intimacy, it is not a woman’s job to give it to them nor is it a given right for men.

I believe I have a couple of privileges, my parents are hardworking people. My mom works with the elderly while my dad is in charge of a department at the company he works for, bringing home a steady and reliable paycheck. I believe having a job is also a privilege because during these current times, a lot of people are not having the same luck. My parents have always told me that school comes first, being a privilege in itself that we all share, getting an education is something we might take for granted. Along with constantly reminding me about my education, they always let me know that if I ever wanted to leave my job, they would help support me financially which a lot of people around me wouldn’t be able to do. I learned this because during a past field research, I took a deeper dive into my coworkers lives and I learned a lot of deep emotional things about them. To me, my job was just a way of funding my hobbies but to them, missing a day of work meant light groceries or staying in until the next pay cycle. 

As cliche as it might sound, in the topic I want to research, being ‘born a woman’ and being in a relationship are privileges in two topics I chose. As someone who was assigned female at birth and maintained that identity, it is sometimes easy to forget that not everyone who identifies as a woman has the same privilege. Finding love and relationships of all calibers is difficult, and not being able to share the same experiences can affect my field of research. Going into a women’s bathroom is something I take for granted, while others have terrible and dangerous experiences doing so. In my other topic, being a woman and having a different perspective can easily cloud my judgements in regards to men thinking that women owe them intimacy and are to blame for the lack of it being provided. Although I do not agree, keeping an open mind can be difficult when all your senses are telling you to drop everything and run but one can try their absolute best to achieve great data.

1. The culture/ online community that Wu is trying to portray is the factitious disorder, when she was looking up information on faking illness. 
2. She creates a verbal portrait of this community because she gives the definition, gives severe levels of this disorder, like a common one which is Munchausen syndrome. She continues to explain her experiences and what happens to those who have this disorder. She also includes why she decided to look it up, again, including her own personal connection to this topic. 
3. She uses the internet to find sources, while also using specific citations from published writers. She uses message-board forums led by threads posted by other users. She then finds out the forum consists of those they’ve “played for” as in the friends and family of the FDers. She also uses her own experiences as a source because being a part of this community, she has knowledge on her own experience and that is important because it is like interactive research, inserting oneself into the topic she’s researching. She also notes down Dr. Feldman’s own words and prognosis, but includes that he is essentially plugging his own book for further knowledge. She mainly uses forums and real life experiences to triangulate the data from her findings and determine the right information. 
4. Footnotes play a role in Wu’s text because she lets us know information such as name changes, little facts, and even some more in depth details that would fit oddly into the writing and also developing information. 

The place I chose to observe people was a Korean bbq. Right off the bat, watching the servers and how they stare at customers who’ve been here long is quite amusing. They don’t shy away after being caught, continuing to bravely stare, making it known that they’re ready for them to leave. The couple just laughs as the boyfriend gets up and grabs more meat to cook.
Walking in, the manager or possibly even the boss, happily shows us to our table, taking in face fresh faces as more money on a Tuesday night. The serves immediately turn on the grill and advises us that the buffet closes at 11:30 and the establishment at 12am.
As we’re picking out the meat we want to cook, another couple leaves, and the waiters immediately rush over and grab the tip, pocketing it and cleaning as fast as they could, relived there was one less table to worry about.

A older white man walks in with two dogs, immediately advising everyone that he’ll be “quick” while the servers look amused at the sight of a dog in a bubble backpack.

As the night reaches closer to 11:30 the Hispanic clean up crew begin to eye the last two remaining tables, making noise that indicates it’s time for us to hurry up and leave.

The servers begin to talk amongst themselves in their common tongue, one would self consciously wonder if it’s about them. The other 4 faces at the table look tired and ill, focusing their eyes on a plate of chicken left to be cooked. They look at it as if they’re regretting even going out for the night, wondering if it was even worth it.

As the night wraps up, the servers quickly hand over the check and before it’s even signed, the table is cleared and the server has already turned off the grill.

I found it odd that the server was just staring at an innocent couple enjoying their mean, not even hiding the fact that he was doing so. A takeaway would be that the boss is always in the mood for more business and clients but the servers don’t feel the same.

In the reading, a couple of shared beliefs would be the idea that stripping was liberating and no longer degrading. Also, one of the rituals/ behaviors at Hustlers and in the dancing world would be to work in groups in order to obtain the maximum amount of money possible from the clients. Samantha was old but maintained her capital by having clients and “cultivating younger dancers.” The use of the word clients could be insider language because it sounds more professional rather than calling them customers or Johns. Some beliefs also include that men are there to be manipulated and have money taken from, believing that men are not real. 

Having put in the part where Rosie was a pathological liar and with multiple felony charges was interesting because it helped develop her character and paint a portrait of her, especially with both descriptions of the women, one can imagine their beauty and believe the amount of money they bring home from Hustlers. The description is important because I can just picture the setting of the club as rambunctious and picture family men begging for their kinks in a dark setting. 

These descriptions also help understand how they got away with asking for rent or school payments, scamming them out of money. Also, when reading further describing the situation Rosie was in set the tone for the desperation many girls might feel, which explained why they went through such drastic measures to spike a man’s drink with drugs in order to run up credit cards and earn their wage for the night. The fact that they believed they were the aggrieved party was a bit ridiculous. It was all very exciting to read but at the end, it was like everything came falling down and Rosie, again, was lying about it not being true and about her plans for the future which was credible, being that Pressler mentioned that in the very beginning. Overall, this was very beautifully written and the descriptions of everyone played a good part in the reading because it set up the tone for the story.

After reading Baldwin’s essay, I believe the cultural information included in the article would be the way they speak, how grammatically incorrect they are and yet seem to be understood easily. I believe this shows how different African Americans and white people speak. I also found it absurd that the police had such a strong negative reaction to the boys who overturned the fruit stand and wholeheartedly agree that had the boys been white, the chance of police taking out their guns would have been much more nonexistent. I think this shows an insight into police behavior, rules/rituals. The use of the N word is also prominent to expose perception and how they distinguish who they deem to be good and bad. 

A fieldworker might ask 

Have the police been around there before?

Have they interacted with you before the incident?

Have you been on this street for long?

Do people who are approached know their rights and enact them? 

Do police interactions differ when speaking to different subgroups in the community? 

A fieldworker might insert themselves into the lives of the people living in the area, get to know everyone in the area by providing help to the street vendor whose eye is now missing. A fieldworker should familiarize themselves with the people they would like to study/ observe. A fieldworker’s best bet would be to use the insider stance by inserting themselves into the community and just observe all that is going on without manipulating it or changing it, having any effect on it at all could possibly jeopardize the investigation like Dunier did in Sidewalk when he inserted himself into a police altercation which I believe led to more troubles for the street vendors. Also, having someone be an inside man for fieldworkers might be good because you have a public figure in the community who everyone trusts and they might be able to vouch for you and help you infiltrate the community you’re trying to study.