HTH100 – Festivals: Culture in the Making

Another Blog

Well things are starting to really come together. Interviews are going well. I was surprised at the turn things have taken. Talking to one person has shed a new light and direction. I was able to talk to and interview the coach of the school cycling team. He is also a key member of the hotter than hell ride. He gave me some great insight into the ride and how it helps the school team. The team is hosting a race this weekend and I will be helping out with the ride. This will give me a great chance to be around a ride and to talk to some of the riders. I have decided on a format for my site at last. There will be a home page with opening comments. A history page with the history of the ride. A racers page with a look at the ride from a racers view. A casual riders page. A page with insight into training and equipment and a closing page. I known nothing is on my site yet but it coming together. I have tons of notes and pics that are just waiting to blossom into a site.

Weekly Blog

Not real good at blogging but I will try. The project is starting to take shape very nicely. Irb forms are ready and just waiting on them to come back. I have spoke with to of the people I plan to interview. They are both very excited to do the interview. I have done some […]

Still just going through the book and video I have on the event. I plan on contacting a few more people who heve information on the event. Just really starting to get rolling. Going forward I expect things to come together nicely. Still need ot get to the history musem and go through their archives. Also one of the things I am looking forward to in the next couple of weeks is the bike race to be held on campus. I believe this will be a great place to gain an understanding of this type of event and to talk to a few bike people. So just plugging along and getting ready to put everything in place.

Contract

Midwestern State University George Dale Ralston Jr. George Dale Ralston Jr. HHH100 contract Project Site: http://course.festivals.coplacdigital.org/ralston/ Mission The main goal of this project is to capture the true essence of the Hotter Than Hell bike ride. I am striving to look in to the history of the ride that started in 1982 in Wichita Falls, Texas. The website will be to show the deep history and the devotion of the riders that make is a success year after year. The ride is biggest one-day ride in the nation. The goal is to find out what brings riders back year after year. Also how does the ride effect the city itself. The structure of the site will be many fold. The first section will include pictures and stats provided by the HHH organization. This section will include a detailed history of the event. Time lines of changes and plans for growth in the future. This section will also include past maps of the ride and current and future maps. The second section will include information from riders of the event. This section will include the experiences of different riders. This will feature a father and daughter that ride on different levels. While the father is just a novice rider the daughter is a competitive rider and now competes at a professional level. This will detail their motivation to first start the ride and what keeps them coming back year after year. Also I hope to include a point of view from riders that travel great distances to participate in the ride. The third section will focus on the impact on the city itself. This will include interviews with city and county officials and local business men. This will be an in-depth look at the monetary impact of the ride. The forth section will look into the way the people of the city feel about the ride. What drives a person to ride in this intense heat. Do the people of the city look forward to the ride each year or do they dread it? How do people feel about volunteering to work? How do people feel about the constant bike riding around town? Everywhere you go you see people on bikes in all weather. The plan is to bring the ride to life for the reader and use the many parts of the site to further the ride in the future. TOOLS I PLAN TO USE At this point I am still in the planning stage. Still playing with the many themes on word press. I will use my knowledge of website design to make a astetic pleasing presentation. I do plan on time lines with photos of the ride and descriptions of the event. I also hope to use some audio of a professional rider and her emotions and experiences in the race. PROPOSED TIMELINE March 4^th meet with HHH 100 director. This is to obtain pictures and history of the event March 18^th start interviews with riders and official interview of director. April 1^st first of interview dictation done. April 15^th drafts of final project done April 25^th final polishing of project starts May 5^th project completed and turned in.

A night at the bowling alley

Village Bowl is the last remaining bowling alley in town. The alley has been open over 60 years. The building is rather small and has 16 lanes. There is a snack bar and a small arcade with video games. This is league night and the house is full. Most week days there a bowling leagues and the house is packed to over flowing. The participants range from old to young. From experience to new bowlers. The range of attire is vast. From polo shirts and slacks to baggy shorts. There are a few teams that take this very serious. They even have matching bowling shirts. The more experience bowlers seem to walk with an air of confidence. Balls are on the counter being cleaned and polished. As the games begin you begin to see the many personalities come to life. Some are quiet and reserved when they do good or bad. Others are very animated, weather it is a good shot or bad. Many are drinking and just plain having fun. Others are very serious and to the point. For some they only interact with those on their lanes. While others walk lane to lane and have fun.

FIELD NOTES

On Feb 9^th I visited the Village Bowling Alley. I spent 1 hour watching and observing. This was a league night and the Alley was full. There are 16 lanes with 4 people to a lane. So there were 64 people in the league and at least another 20 watching. When I first arrived people had just started to show up. One of the first thing one noticed it the variety in age and class. There are people ranging from 24 to 79. There are bowlers ranging from 100 avg to 225 avg. Everyone is friendly and talking and having fun. As you look around you can see the many rituals being performed in preparation for the league. Many have bags full of balls while many others have lockers and their balls stay at the ally. There are many styles of dress. The older bowlers seem to be dressed in collars and slacks or jeans. The younger bowlers are wearing baggy shorts and lose t-shirts. Many are just getting off work and are rushing to the snack bar for dinner. As the games start you begin to see the different rituals among bowlers. Some just grab the ball and throw. Some are very deliberate in their approach and throw For many this is a just a chance to hang out with friends and drink beer. As you walk up and down the lanes the scene changes from lane to lane. On one a man is real upset because his game is not going as he thought it should. He is storming around and mad at himself. The thing is he just bowled a 200 game but is upset. On the lane next to him is a girl that is super excited. She just bowled a 123. One thing you learn is that each person has an idea as to what they should bowl. Bowling is really a game of competing with one’s self and this becomes very evident. One of the rituals between bowlers is when every someone bowls a strike or spare everyone slaps their hands and says good job. But if you listen close you can hear someone say man I wish he would miss just once. The hierarchies are played out in the tenth frame. As the games come to an end the better bowlers are expect to come through for their teams. A NIGHT AT THE BOWLING ALLEY The strengths of this kind of observation are that people tend to be more them self’s if they are not aware they are being watched. To me the weakness is the lack of connection. I am a people person and like to be part of the action. You do tend to get more true information and can see people at their natural state. At the same time being apart from the action you also lose the intimacy of the moment. This method of observation was a little hard for me at first. I had at first tried another location and did not get the information I needed. I felt out of touch with the scene and could not connect. When I switch to the bowling alley I had much better results. I went on a night when I was not bowling and could just set back and watch. I still knew some of the people there but was left to watch and learn. I bowl in a league on another night and have been for several years. It was fascinating watching all the different actions instead of being part of it. In doing this kind of research I do not really see any ethical issue. As an observer you are just taking notes of the actions you see. You are not taking names and naming people and the things they are doing. You are just a bystander and recording what you see. If doing this research included taking pictures and finding out names, then posting those without consent. Then I would see and ethical issue. As this research did not include that information I believe it is fine. The data I gathered on this observation was tremendous. I was able to see the scene in a different way than I have before. I did try a different location first and was not able to get much information. This may have been because I was disconnected form the location. I myself felt out of place. With the bowling alley I felt at home. I could move around at the bowling alley and no one really thought anything of it. At the previous location I was seen as an outsider. People tended to avoid me and made observing very difficult. If tasked to do this assignment again I would approach it a little differently. I believe I would look more at the underlying scene. This my first attempt at such research and I was not sure of just what to look for. Now that I have completed this assignment I can see where I could have changed my approach. I would try a different location and try to connect. Or if I stayed at the same location I would attempt to look deeper into the actions. I would try to get into the heads of the participants and what they were thinking more.