Responses to Readings

Q: What kinds of Data or Evidence did the Authors use?
A: They both used in depth research and insider information on their topics. The author of "Friday Night at Iowa 80" used personal interviews of the truck stop regulars and integrated them into his final report. On the other hand, the author of "House for the Homeless: A Place to Hang Your Hat" used more of a personal insight to complete his essay.

Q: What kinds of research do the authors do?
A: Like I said before, Rick Zollo interviewed truckers at the Iowa 80 truck stop, whereas Ivana Nikolic uses more of her personal research into herself and persons like herself.

Q: Why is each group a subculture? Does the author convince you that they are both subcultures?
A: Both each have their own rituals, both have their own language of sorts, and most of all they both consider themselves to be different than everyone because of these reasons. Both authors did a swell job to convince me that their topics can be depicted as a subculture.

Q: After reading the essay, do you understand what it would be like to be a member of this subculture?
A: Yes, being a trucker or on the other hand a young, poor, homeless child would both, in different ways, have their challenges and their rewards.

Q: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the essays?
A: Both essays have rich detail integrated from beginning to end. This really puts you into the epicenter of the research and makes you, the reader, feel as though you have experienced it yourself. I believe that Rick Zollo organized his essay more efficiently than Ivana Nikolic, but other than that, their essays were very, very good.

Q: After reading both examples, what ideas or questions do you have about completing your own ethnographic research project?
A: I do not have many, if any. I might have some questions about organizing our projects, and or what information we are supposed to gather and use for our papers. Other than that it seems self explanatory.