Cultural Influences Everywhere

People are influenced in so many ways. You could have been influenced from your parents who are not from this country. This could lead to several different beliefs and customs. It could also effect the way you speak, you could perhaps have an accent due to all of these influences. My entire family is from Pittsburg and because of this I have seen several influences that now effects my family.

For one, the Steelers come first in my household. Whenever there is a game on TV, you can bet were all watching it. My dad even got the NFL package from Direct TV so we would never have to miss a game. Even during the games, my entire family will be jumping up and down, screaming at the TV whenever something good or bad happens.



Another Pittsburg influence is "Pittsburghese."This is the accent that comes from Pittsburg and it causes several confusions because of the words used. Phrases such as "up air" and "'n-at" are some of the things used in my family. "up air" means up there and 'n-at means this and that.  Pittsburghese is widely used in Pittsburg and many of my family members use various forms of it.

Community Literacy Within A Major

Upon becoming a student at a college or university, one instantly becomes part of a distinct community among other students and staff. At Ohio University, this is no exception. Most of the students on campus have a special bond with one another, even among mere strangers. Whether it be distinct language or some form of inside knowledge such as how to act smart during "fest season," students at the school undoubtedly share something unique with each other. As a student at OU, I have witnessed first hand the discourse of such a community. While the student body as a whole is a strong community with its own cultures, if we dive even deeper into the community we can find a mixed array of interesting sub-communities that students become an integral part of. Examples could include sports, clubs, residence halls, fraternities and sororities, and many more.

One such sub-community that all students inevitably become a part of is that of their major. By choosing a particular field of study (or declaring as undecided), students almost immediately become involved with the discourse of an exclusive community. Majors of all varieties involve insider knowledge, values, specific language, and also outsider perceptions. I have often heard friends of mine who study biology, chemistry, and other science fields speak in lingo that sounds nearly foreign to me, yet is completely natural to them. The same can be said about any major/college on campus. When I discuss classes taken so far with my peers who are of other majors, I often feel joyful that I am not required to complete some of the difficult coursework that they have. However, I am sure they feel the same way about classes that I have completed which they see as being equally daunting.

College of Business students at Ohio University are a terrific illustration of community literacy within a major. Business majors are group of their own, with a slightly different set of values than other students. Personally, I am a finance major, and have therefore experience the discourse of the business community. Like the science students previously mentioned, those who are in the various business majors have a certain language between each other that is unlike others. You will often hear those in the business field speak of the "cluster": a group of time consuming courses and outside work that all business students must take and complete in a single term. It is a quarter/semester that OU business students often dread. Business majors are also one of the few types of students who could tell you what MIS stands for.

Copeland Hall: home of the College of Business

Being a business major sometimes involves outside perceptions from other students. To a lot of people, a business student involves walking around in a shirt and tie, writing resumes, and studying economics. While these are al important aspects of completing the major, it is much deeper and more involved than that. What others may not be fully aware of, is how writing in the professional world differs from typical academic writing. Writing in the business field requires an individual set of skills including distinctive writing formats. For example, writing a schematic report was something new I had to learn that varies greatly from the typical MLA reports that I was used to.

Taking the various business courses at OU as well as interacting with other business students on campus has been crucial in becoming literate amongst the community. Through my studies in these classes, I have been able to learn and adapt to the community's language and values. The community literacy is benefiting me by preparing me for my professional career. It is also helping me to become adequate in the communities that I will be a part of in the future. Experiencing the discourses of a particular major has many positive effects on an undergraduate student. It is encouraged to actively participate and become literate in the community of your major, regardless of the specific major chosen.

My Musical Discourse

Friends in Distraction playing out on Court StreetPhoto Credit - Elizabeth

     

Walk around Court Street some weekend night, and chances are you’ll start to hear the strumming of guitars and singing in the distance. As you walk towards the sound you see a guy dancing around on the sidewalk, jumping off of benches all while singing songs he wrote while playing his black acoustic guitar. His name is Dan, and he’s the leader of the band Friends In Distraction. To the right of him would be Garrett, he sings and plays guitar in the band. In between the two of them, I’m sitting on a bench pounding on a djembe, playing stuff that should be on a drum-set on a single African hand drum. We’re just one of the many little groups that plays around on the street and in coffee shops and bars in Athens.

            When I arrived at Ohio University, I found a community of musicians that I never really thought would have existed. I also never would have thought I’d be a part of it, I thought I’d finished playing music once I’d gotten out of high school. This little community, the one that I’ve come to know at least, mostly hangs out at Donkey and Front Room Open Mics. It is this little network of people who play, but also people who come to watch and listen, which makes it really fun and interesting. This is how I came to meet my band-mates, and how I got into playing music nearly every weekend with them under the name Friends In Distraction.

A performance at the Union. Photo Credit: Cassie

            The thing that really interests me about this musical community is that there are a lot of students here at Ohio University who are great songwriters and performers. Not just that, but a lot of them want to collaborate and play with each other, or even just watch each other play just to hear new things. Playing music is a way to have fun with one another, because it is something that the players get to create with each other. Not just that, but then they get to share it with friends and 

others who come and watch, whether it is somewhere 

on 

A FID show at Donkey. Photo credit Abby

Court Street, an open mic performance or a full set at the Union.

            Being a part of this free form kind of musical community has been a great experience because it has taught me to be more comfortable with doing things in public I would have never considered even just a few months ago. It has also introduced me to a lot of really cool, open-minded people who are great communicators not just when they play music but outside of it too. They’re something that I aspire to, and something I want to share whenever I get to drum with one of them somewhere. This has been an experience that I absolutely love to be a part of, and hopefully I’ll see you out on the street sometime. It’ll be fun, because that’s the point of all of it really.

Academic Community Literacy

By: Doug Sidwell and Zach Robbins

INTRODUCTION

All through out high school you hear about how challenging college can be.  Most high school students don’t know that the transition itself from high school academics to college academics.  For students to be successful in this transition they must pick up new studying habits and techniques.  With that said, there are some conflicts that take place and can hinder the academic experience.  To give evidence of how this transtition works and affects the student, Doug and I wrote our very own experiences.

ZACH

            In high school I never struggled academically.  But I still was nervous that college might be too tough for me.  I knew that if I was going to succeed then I would need to change my study habits.  I wouldn’t read a book in high school, but now I read as much as I can because my family has high expectations for me.  Academics are very important to my future, and many people criticize this university and say it focuses too much on extra curriculars then it does on preparing students for the future.  I couldn’t disagree more.   I have learned a great amount in every class I have been in, and the school of accountancy ranks in the top of the country in job placement after graduation.  I may not get straight a’s throughout college, but I will be more then ready to tackle my future endeavors.  Not only have I become smarter by hitting the books, but I have also learned how to balance my outside personal life with my time consuming academic life.  Ohio University has given me the best opportunity for me to achieve my dreams while learning life lessons along the way.

 

 DOUG

Making the transition from high-school academics to college academics took me a while to get used to. In high school I didn’t really take it as serious as I should. I didn’t study or push myself to be the best I could be but I got by and did pretty well. However, the first couple of weeks of college sure gave me a wakeup call. I progressed from one community discourse to another that was entirely different than what I was used to. I realized that in order for me to do well and to avoid academic probation I needed to push myself to develop good study habits and good time-management skills as well. I realized that teachers and my parents wouldn’t be here to get on back when I start to slack. These are the two most important things that you need to have coming into college or you need to develop them quickly in order for you to succeed because if you try to get by on only your smarts alone, you are wasting good money my friend.

CONCLUSION

As you could see we both have had challenging but successful transitions from high school academia to college academia.  People will always look down on the academics of Ohio University, but if taken seriously, your classes and teachers will fully prepare you for your future.  All it takes is a little time management and effort.  In conclusion, the changing of academic community literacy should not deter any high school student away from trying to be a successful college student.  

Dark Faces In White Places

Coming from New Jersey it was expected that there would be many ways in which I would have to adjust to the new communities that would surround me. I had expected the roommate conflicts, time management issues, and difficult journalistic challenges, but I never knew that discourse would be my keys to evaluating my developing literacy in this community. The community that I feel like I am a part of is the discourse of attending Ohio University as an African-American student living in and attending a predominately white university.

Ohio University as a whole has a very unique discourse. It includes subcultures based on race, religion, location, and even educational choices. People view OU in a very one-dimensional way, and my time at this school has introduced me to communities, like the multicultural one, within the OU discourse that challenge this single dimension. Although the university tries to promote diversity on this campus it has not achieved much past the physical presence of minority students, and the frequent opportunity to have their pictures plastered on brochures, programs, and websites. It has been difficult to find an identity in the social aspects of coming to college that blends my connectedness to the black community with my desire to integrate with the overall student body as just a student and not a “student of color”.

Existing in a community where I didn’t share much of a common ethnic background carried over into my collective dormitory living experience. Being a minority in a very forced atmosphere I encountered people who had had little to no exposure to this kind of diversity, and even less instruction on how to deal with it with tact. For example, living with people who still feel it appropriate to refer to me as “colored”. Many of my experiences as a minority student makes me realize that we may not have come as far as we have thought, but the university attempting to address it; the dorm experience is most likely only a microcosm of experiences at large in the world.


In my experience the multicultural community operates separately from the communities of non-ethnic background. The goal seems not to distance ourselves, but to create a sense of community with people who understand the difficulties of not being heard or understood by most of the population at Ohio University. I never had the experience of being the single and only person of color in a classroom until I came to OU. Having a community of people that can relate to this feeling and understand this minority discourse without having to be preached at about diversity is also comforting. Not to say that the community on campus is like a big happy family, but it seems like an easier and more accepting transition to make as a younger student than trying to formulate a relationship with students who don’t look like yourself. It may seem kind of strange that people are more willing to make contact based solely off of race, but in this community as a whole its not uncommon to smile, wave, or strike up random conversation with another multicultural student just because they are one of the few ethnic people that you encounter in the day.

Language is an interesting thing at Ohio University because much of the discourse is centralized around the ways in which we communicate. Being able to understand other people and be understood in return is a major function to be successful in this community. Learning the dialect of the Ohioan culture proved difficult at times. This form of language builds a sense of community because when I got it down, I gained access into an exclusive group of people that I had felt foreign to during my arrival to OU. This same power of language can also break down a sense of place and community because of its ability to exclude people. The multicultural community here is small, and our specific cultural language make our community close but excludes us at the same time from the majority of white students on campus. Certain parts of language in general develop from communal experiences and for people who do not share similar backgrounds or experiences then their ability to do more than sympathize with that community is blocked. I had to use language as a minority that so that I can build relationships with people that run deeper than individual parts of my identity.





Knowing this discourse matters because this knowledge will help me to make the most of the next four years of my life. This exploratory year in college culture has opened my eyes in a way that I could not have experienced in my home discourse. I would say any situation that makes me more informed is a positive effect on my life, but learning the community literacy has opened my eyes to some negative things that I have had to interact with. For example the way our university represents itself in the yearbook as well as recruiting commercials completely ignores the multicultural community, as if this particular part of the OU discourse is non-existent. But, I think that the realization of imperfection is the most major part of community and personal growth.

By: Adrienne Green

The James Hall Community

For my freshman year at Ohio University I chose to live in James Hall, a learning community dormitory on West Green. This meant that I would be living with people of similar majors to mine, and we would share many of the same classes. I bonded with other video production majors along with audio and journalism majors. Many of us work on student-run media organizations such as Athens Video Works and All-Campus Radio Network, where we learn about how shows are run, how to produce quality content, and how to manage other people. Over the past year, James Hall has become its own little community of residents who share many of the same interests. When I am not busy with school work, I spend time with my friends in James Hall playing video games, browsing the web, or sometimes even being productive.

One of James Hall’s greatest strengths is the many talents of its residents. Each floor is made up of artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, athletes, designers, photographers, and thinkers who are willing to help other students. The James Hall study lounges and lobby are often filled with students buzzing away at a paper or relaxing. The first weekend I spent in James Hall, I immediately sensed that I could approach anyone from the building. A further connection has been created between the residents of James Hall through the official “James Hall” Facebook group. The group is a useful tool to find people to have lunch with, study with, or ask for help. The use of Facebook as a communication device for James Hall reflects on its residents as students who utilize technology as problem-solver. There is no doubt in my mind that a majority of James Hall residents will head leadership positions in the media industry due to their friendliness, willingness to help, and ability to take advantage of technology.

By Jarrod Dowalter

Community Literacies - George Peck & Dan Roy

George:

Community Literacy is very important to all of us. It is our means of understanding the world around us. It is the means of communicating and connecting with those people we converse with every day. It is what enables us to continually learn more and more about a person, or a subject. The only way to become an "expert" in a subject area is to dive right in to the community literacy.
George:

One community literacy I am a part of is the tennis community. I am a tennis player, an avid fan, and I have worked at tennis clubs over the past couple of summers. One outsider perceptions is that tennis isn't a "real" sport. In reality, tennis is a very physical game. Tennis has become an extremely physical game. With new technology players can hit the ball with ridiculous velocity, smacking serves up into the 130 mph range. Tennis players must have tremendous athletic ability and endurance to last an entire match.


Another community of which I am a part is the community of my dorm. Living in Jefferson Hall (an all-freshman dorm), I have met a lot of new people throughout the year. I did not really know what to expect moving into the dorms in September. It has not been quite the same experience as living in my house back home, but it's been a great experience. I have met a lot of cool people, and learned their individual discourses. I've picked up some new words I use in my vocabulary now such as dingus. I'll never forget the dorm-life experience.


Dan:

My most favorite community literacy that I belong to is the aviation world. After I started flying, my local airport soon became my favorite place to be. The atmosphere is always warm and bright even on a day that wouldn't allow visual flight. People are always willing to help each other: weather to have another pilot on a flight to Florida for the week, or to build a home built aircraft. We all talk about normal things: Politics, the economy, and even sports. The trait that keeps us together, though, is our undying love for flight, the respect we all have for each other because only we can do it.

The hockey community literacy was one of the first community's I belonged too. It was more a world for me when I was younger. I gained most my morals and values through hockey. Friends, teamwork, the ability to problem solve, and handle high pressure situations all came from this sport. The friends I made are still with me today and so are the values it instilled in me.

Every community literacy that we are a part of has a powerful impact into what makes us a human being and how we participate in society. I look forward to seeing what new community I gain through out my life and to the impact the early ones have on my older life.

Buckeye Nissan as a Community Literacy

         Working at a local car dealership the last five years has taught me a lot about the real world and what it’s actually like to work for a living.  I have become very accustom to spending most of my day moving and washing cars.  A lot of people have been to car dealerships but not many can say that they were actually a part of one as a discourse learning community.

    
       One person that made becoming part of Buckeye Nissans discourse was a man by the name of Dale Evans.  He was the first person that I was introduced to and taught me everything about working for a successful car company.  Dale made working at the dealership a fun and exciting job I never knew what I was going to be doing that day some days a simple task other days I would be driving to Cincinnati to pick up a car.

           

What I loved was that I was treated like family there I was like the little brother.  Being that I was one of the youngest employees working there, everyone was willing to help me out whatever that might be.  One person in particular was Mike he taught me how to drive a stick shift car.  He took time out of his busy day to teach me something.  That’s when I knew that I had become a part of their discourse community, when they were willing to teach me things that would make me a better employee.

          

          I would have to say that throughout the years it is very important to become a member of as many discourse communities as you possibly can.  You will learn a lot about yourself and a little about those around you.  One of the best feelings that you’ll have is when you know that you’ve finally been accepted into your discourse community.

Hittner Family Literacy

One of the most important community literacies  you will ever experience is your family.  Family is something that we learn a lot from and helps us shape who we become.  Every family community literacy is different and dynamic in how it operates and functions.  Some range from small to large.  This is my family minus my mom and dad and it has become the community literacy I am most literate in and understand the best.

My family community starts with my dad and mom, Mark and Sally.  They are the ones that have created and established the core values, cultures, customs and methods used in my family.  They have always had a very lenient and self discovering approach to learning this community.  They did not believe in hard discipline or creating fear it was more about do what is best because it is the right thing to do for yourself.  Both my mom and dad established high levels of responsibility with each member of the family when it came to our actions, friends, and school and to others it can seem like they really don't parent or aren't hard on us but really they set these morals so early in me especially I knew when I was doing something wrong and didn't need the parenting.

The next part of my family literacy that is probably the hardest to learn from and understand are my older sisters.  Talk about something I still have not completely mastered and still trying to become literate with them.  Jamie is 28 and Katie is 25 so they are significantly older than me which makes it hard.  When I was younger I was the annoying younger brother and I really didn't understand why they would always get so mad at me. Another thing that added a lot to our family literacy is the fact both my sisters are married to their high school sweet hearts so these guys have been around my life for a long time.  Their names are Phil and Anthony and they are just as important to the family as anyone.  They have taught me how to understand my sisters and give me some outsider knowledge into their own family and how I can use this knowledge in my family.  But through the years I have learned mostly through their yelling at me and giving me advice on school and girlfriends about how to operate in our family community literacy with ease making sure we please our parents and ourselves.  

Probably the important part of my family literacy that teaches me the most and I learn the most from is my brother Ben.  He is 17 years old and going to be a freshman at Ohio State.  Ben is 19 months younger than me and we have been inseperable since he was born.  Trust me it has not always been all love Ben and I would get in huge fights but that is because I still had to learn what would set him off or annoy him.  We have   always been associated with each other, "Nick and Ben" or the Hittner Boys, and that is part of the outsider perception of the Hittner Family.  We are always seen as these really athletic guys who do not seem that close because we don't look alike or act alike.  That could not be further from the truth.  Ben and I are best freinds we tell each other everything and always give each other advice on the family dynamic in our literacy. My relationship with my brother made me a better person by making me more understanding, level headed, and caring.  It has effected me and the person who I have become more than any other relationship.  

Community Literacy- Roomates Become Family

Graduation with my parents. 

When you’re a senior in high school, typically all you can think about is graduation, moving out, and becoming an independent adult. College seems like a vacation due to all the movies portraying college as one big party. When I arrived to Ohio University with my family’s SUV packed full, I can remember feeling the excitement nearly pouring out of me. I couldn't wait for the all the people I was about to meet, and all of the friendships that were going to be made. After saying goodbye to my parents, I made my way up to the fourth floor of Mackinnion Hal, sat on my new bed, and I remember a feeling of confusion take over. I didn't know what to do with myself, and all the new freedom I had. Anxiously awaiting the arrival of my roommates, I began decorating my room with the relationships I had formed in high school, and my family.

Mackinnion Hall, my home away from home. 

As I heard the door open, I wondered which of the two roommates I was assigned had just walked in. Before even introducing herself, I knew it was my roommate Kate Verner because of all the Facebook conversations we had shared over the summer. After she settled in and said goodbye to her parents, we found ourselves sharing the first of many conversations. At that point, I knew I was going to get along with Kate just fine. Again as the door opened, I met my second roommate, Katelyn Lilly. She and Kate were both very friendly, and I remember thinking about how comfortable I had already felt with complete strangers. Over the course of our freshman year, we have formed an unbreakable bond between the three of us. They became my new family.


     During fall quarter, we did everything together. We were inseparable. I knew I was blessed with good roommates because that can determine a lot during your freshman year. I had witnessed many girls on my floor struggle with their roommate situations, causing them extreme unhappiness. As the course of the year has played out, we formed our own friendships with others outside of our family. However, it has never been an issue because we know that no matter what, we have each other.

Kate(left) and Lilly(right)

This year has been a blast, and it is one that will be unforgettable. Through triumphs and failures, I have had a beautiful new family to support me and encourage me be the best.  My freshman year would not have been so wonderful, had it not been these two ladies I met this year. They quickly became my friends, they quickly became my family. They are my community here at Ohio University, and will continue to be for the years to come. 

Pittsburghese - Not Your Standard English

Have you ever had dippy eggs for breakfast?  Ever been caught in a jagger bush?  Have you ever pushed a buggy through the grocery store?  Did your nebby neighbor ever get you in trouble?  In winter, are you careful of the slippy streets?  Have you ever been told to redd up your room?  Does your family ever argue over who has the clicker?  Do you order jimmies on your ice cream?  I bet you have and don’t even know it!

Having a native Pittsburgh tongue doesn’t always make it easy to communicate when you travel past the outskirts of the Pittsburgh area.  As a couple of Ohio University students living out of state in Athens, we have quickly learned that our untraditional English language of Pittsburghese might as well be foreign for others.  Throughout our first year of college, we learned that many of our phrases and words are not typical.

Here are a few of our learning experiences:

Alexis:  “In Pittsburgh, dippy eggs are what I order when I want to dip my toast in my eggs.  When I first ordered these for breakfast here in Athens, I quickly learned that this was not a common term.  What I call dippy eggs is what most English speakers call over-easy.”

Logan:  “One time I was walking on the bike trail to Walmart with my roommate from Akron, Ohio.  The trail leads through a little bit of woods.  As we were walking through here I told my roommate to avoid the jagger bushes.  The bewildered look in her eyes told me immediately she had no idea what I was warning her of.  That is when I pointed out the sharp pointed bushes that I was discussing.  Anything kind of bush with thorns is considered a jagger bush in Pittsburgh.”

Alexis:  ‘’During my sorority’s philanthropy event at the Aquatic Center, I had put on lotion before getting into the pool.  As I was getting out, I almost fell and said ‘I am all slippy from my lotion’.  A group of people gave me an odd look and one of them mocked me for saying slippy and then asked what it meant.  I explained that it is a word I use in place of slippery.  In Pittsburgh, we often use slippy to describe icy or snowy road conditions.”

Logan:  “After a Walmart adventure, my roommate and I pushed a shopping cart back to our dorm.  On our way up the elevator of my dorm and entering into our mod, my mod mates cackled at my possession.  I exclaimed, ‘We stole a buggy form Walmart to carry home our purchases!’  My modmates questioned the word buggy and corrected me with shopping cart.  I then explained that in Pittsburgh, we push around a buggy when grocery shopping.”

Alexis:  “One day as I was leaving my dorm room, my neighbor asked where I was going.  I said ‘Well aren’t you a nebby neighbor’.  She laughed and said ‘What do you mean nebby?’  I explained that nebby is a word meaning nosy.  Then I said I was going out to get ice cream and I could not wait to get rainbow jimmies as a topping.  Once more she had to ask what I meant.  Then I explained that jimmies are a Pittsburgh word for sprinkles.”

Logan:  “As I was cleaning my room one day, I poked my head out into my mod and told them I had just redd up my room and had finally found my clicker!  First, one of my modmates asked, ‘You painted your room red? I don’t think you’re allowed to do that.’  At this point in the year, I had gotten used to the odd looks and misunderstanding of my vocabulary, so I quickly explained that “redd up” means to clean up.  Then they asked what a clicker was and I asked ‘What else would change the TV channels?’  They said a remote.  Apparently, “clicker” is not a common substitute for the word remote outside of Pittsburgh.”

These learning experiences throughout our first year of college taught us a great deal about Pittsburgh’s unique community literacy.  We knew previously that Pittsburgh had a different dialect than most English speakers, but these shined light on how many of our every day words are truly unique.  Because we live in the Pittsburgh suburbs, our Pittsburghese is not as strong as those living within the city streets.  The most commonly used example of Pittsburghese is not one that we use.  “Yinz”, meaning “you all”, is a word that would be undoubtedly heard if you visited Pittsburgh.  Another part of Pittsburghese is the tendency to slur words together, such as “jeet jet” which is really asking, “Did you eat yet?”

These are just common examples of Pittsburghese, but to fully learn about our community literacy, you would have to visit our hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania yourself.  Yinz are always welcome, but if a native asks “jeet jet?” we suggest trying out Primanti’s, a Pittsburgh restaurant, or ordering a salad that will always come with fries on top!

- Alexis Johns & Logan Trautman

Community Literacy: Dorm Life

      The transition from high school to college is a terrifying experience for everyone. Somewhere between throwing the cap in the air and registering for classes do you realize that everything is about to drastically change. And the thing is there's no way to explain the college experience to anyone who isn't in college simply because it is different for everyone. Freshman year is a year of transitioning and it's nearly impossible to predict how you personally are going to get through the year. Some people rely solely on their friends back home, refusing to open up; others have no problem broadening their horizons and going outside of their comfort zone. In my experience, the ones who enjoy their freshman year the most are the ones who form a solid group of friends on campus. This is why I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones.

True House - 132 S. Green Drive

      I moved into True House on September 2nd, 2011, a dorm located within the depths of South Green. When my parents drove away after unloading the infinite amount of shit I insisted on bringing with me, all I could do is look around and think "now what?" As I sat in my room, bored out of my mind, I decided to be adventurous and journey out into the mod area. Looking back, that was one of the greatest moves I could have made. My simple leap of faith encouraged other residents to wander out of their rooms as well. From the very beginning, all of us seemed to click extremely well. It was as if our energies simply played off of one another. Our personalities were compatible in ways that seemed almost surreal. There's no doubt in my mind that we became a family right from the start. 

       Our dysfunctional family started out with seven members; all of which were freshman. From there, our family grew by another six members - two being upperclassmen, one being from another floor, and three being from a completely different building. By week five of fall quarter, we acted as if we had known each other for years. It seemed unusual that we had only lived with each other for a few short weeks. As the quarter began to progress, however, family members started dropping off of the branches. We had lost five members by the end of the quarter. Not because of anything serious, simply just a conflict of interest. Even though the clan was down to eight members, we still managed to flourish and become even closer.
      There is no way I can even begin to describe how much these fucked up hooligans mean to me. Even though we have our arguments and disagreements, we still love each other at the end of the day. They are my friends, they are my family, they are my community.

Mowing Lawns as Community Literacy

Working for a landscaping company in the scorching heat of the summer does not sound very appealing for a job.  Bending over all day cutting grass that gets shot into your eyes and mouth makes a person think about quitting pretty fast.  However, most people don't know the inner-workings of this community that made me come back to work every day.  I am going to discuss the discourse of this community and how it changed my view of this job from pity to interesting.

The perception of people mowing lawns for most is that of poor, uneducated and doing hard work for the wealthy.  Well, most people are right and it was no exception for the company I worked for.  Half the employees had to ride bikes up to 10 miles to get to work.  Also, that we wake everyone up at 8am in the morning with that annoying buzzing sound that just never seems to go away.  The customers treat us like slaves, telling us what we missed cutting and that the grass needs to be blown off the street, AGAIN!  What they don't know is that we get the last laugh.

Mowing lawns is only tolerable all day if you make it fun and there are plenty of ways.  If the customer is rude and bossy to the mow crew, mowing their lawns can become quite interesting.  We have mowed 30 foot penises in the front yard.  We lost that house contract soon after.  If there are objects in the way such as baseball bats and trampolines, we put them in obscure places or hide them with the cuttings of the grass.  First learning the ways of the so called "mowing technique" was very different than I expected.  My boss took it very seriously and trained me for weeks before I could mow a customer's lawn, which I ended up destroying.  The longer I worked there, the more respect I had for the workers.  It is not as simple as everyone believes it to be and the conditions only make it worse. 

Another component that I had to learn was the name of the equipment and mowing terms.  Some were easy to pick up and others took a while.  One that was universal known and used often was, "LUNCH TIME".  These guys were lazy and they didn't care either.  As time passed it all become second nature and we repeated the process close to 20 times a day. 



By: Garrett Couche

Community Literacy in Dorms

South Green

Transition into college:
For the majority of students, the transition from high school to college is a big one. After high school graduation, everyone wanted to tell me how excited they were that I going to college. At the time, curious to know what its like, that summer I asked all sorts of people what kind if things I should expect or be prepared for. The most common responses I got from people was that its "life changing", it "opens doors to new opportunities" and most frequently that its a place to "make friends" or " have a real relationship".

What things aren't they telling you?
Judging from the college experiences that I've had, the kind of advice I was given about college has been fairly accurate. So far, through my efforts I have made many friends on campus and have even had the opportunity to have a "college relationship". Despite this, the advice I was given was very misleading. Unlike becoming a freshman in small high school, when you join a large university, your not only a "small fish", your a small fish that probably doesn't know anyone. To further complicate the situation, most large universities have individuals from nearly all walks of life that attend them. For me this came as a real eye opener because I saw and herd of people doing things that I'd never come across before.

Is this diversity a bad thing?
My short answer to this question is no. Just because diversity is not always the easiest thing to work through doesn't mean that it should be avoided or frowned upon. In my experiences as a freshman living in college dorms, variety amongst students is undeniable but should be looked at as opportunities to see new light and grow as an individual.

Weld on South Green

Personal Experiences (Insider Knowledge):
 This year I lived on the third floor of Weld, located in "dirty south" (South Green). At the beginning of fall quarter, ten other freshman, two sophomores and a junior moved into my mod. Unique compared to other dorms on campus, mod style dorms consist of two wings each with a common area and two bathrooms, that are mainly composed of singles and and a double or two on each floor. At the beginning of the year my mod consisted of fourteen people.

Fall Quarter Mod

At first, all fourteen of us interacted with one another. Of those fourteen, nine of us shared basic common interests like, wanting to be social or the desire to make new friends. Within the group of us, two of us were from a rural area, four were from the city and the remaining three were from somewhere in between. As you can imagine, our different backgrounds often led to different ideas. In some instances our different discourses led to conflicts and problems. The most challenging but also rewarding aspect of having to live with new people in dorm rooms is overcoming individual differences and creating sense of
community literacy.

Outsider Knowledge:
An outsiders perspective on this topic may be way different. If this were coming form someone who has never lived in a dorm it might be easy for them to assume that dorm relationships are small or miniscule compared to the relationships people will build outside of them.

Reflection:
To me community literacy is the ability to understand, interpret, handle, and act accordingly in a particular environment. Every environment that we interact with has a specific discourse. People are always adapting to new environments and trying to follow the unwritten rules of a particular discourse. Even though all discourses change with time, the hardest time to adjust behaviors in when you're moved from one environment to another. Because of this, I find the relatively short lived and highly diverse living conditions of dorm life to be a great test in a students ability to create community literacy with others.

By: Zach Heming

Marijuana as a Community Literacy

Photo courtesy of Google Images

   Although the use of marijuana is frowned upon by the law, the act is becoming more socially acceptable in today's society. Being a freshman at a highly pot-ulated university, I've grown to the conclusion that the use of marijuana is a way of culture and brings together a community that consists of many different types of people. To explore this certain community, I've dissected the characteristics of it into five parts: cultural values, important issues, language, insider knowledge, and outsider perceptions.

-Cultural values

  Marijuana has become a cultural aspect in college life and even in life outside of college. What promotes the use of marijuana is the media and the people around us. You see marijuana in movies and on television, hear it in songs on the radio, or even in an article of a newspaper. The culture has become so big that it is now socially acceptable to put this illegal activity in our media. This culture can be described as a large group of people who want to turn their boring free time into a fun and sensational time. People who use marijuana say they do it for many reasons. One reason is that it makes everything around you sensationally better. Activities listed below are just a few ones that stoners agree are much better when you are on marijuana:

            -Eating and drinking

            -Laughing and telling stories

            -Sexual activities or expressing love

Another reason why people use marijuana is that it is a way to relax and free your mind after a hard day at work. To sum up this community, marijuana is a culture in where people seek to enhance life and have fun during their free time.

-Important issues

   The main important issue in regards to the use of marijuana is it's legal standpoint. Although marijuana is becoming more decriminalized in many cities and states, pot smokers are still running into the law for the innocent act of enhancing their life. People of this community argue that marijuana should be legal in all states of the US for many reasons. Some of the major reasons are listed below: 

• Marijuana is clinically proven to be non-harmful to your body and safer than alcohol. Marijuana use has positive attributes such as its medical value and use as a recreational drug with  mild side effects.
• A regulated, legal market in marijuana would reduce marijuana sales and use among teenagers. It would also reduce the number of people using other and more harmful drugs. 
• Legalized marijuana would reduce the flow of money from the American economy to international criminal gangs.
• Prohibition has failed to control the use of marijuana. Although arrests are being made, a source says that over 25 million Americans are currently using marijuana.

   

-Language

Photo courtesy of media.photobucket.com

   People who use marijuana have essentially created their own language that is directly related to the plant. Numerous nicknames have been created to represent marijuana and the process of smoking the plant. While smokers are speaking of these nicknames, non-smokers who are not familiar with marijuana may have no clue what the smokers are talking about. Terms such as "bud", "spliff", "El", or "dank" are more than like not located in the vocabulary of those who do not use marijuana.

-Insider knowledge

   Being an insider and having experience with marijuana, I've gained a lot of knowledge about the drug. Topics such as ways to use the plant, safe places to use it, who to smoke it with, and even general knowledge about the plant are big points of interest. Ask any pot smoker their knowledge on these topics, and I guarantee you will hear numerous different answers. This is what makes marijuana a culture. There are so many ways to use the substance, which create many different groups of users.  Also, one main insider knowledge that stoners can agree with is that marijuana doesn't drastically impair you to the point where you cannot operate.

Outsider perception on marijuana is best described in this photo.
Photo courtesy of blog.wheresweed.com

-Outsider perceptions

   Outsider perceptions are opinions said by people who don't use marijuana. One of my favorite perceptions that I've encountered is that marijuana is a safe substance to use, but they don't use it because of drug tests. Others may argue that marijuana is a gateway drug and therefore they do not take part in the use of marijuana.