Vanesa's Blog

Research Journal #26

Vanesa — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:16:40 +0000

Digitizing my research portfolio has been a whirlwind full of frustration and headaches, but by golly I believe I did it! I managed to get my documents up using Scribd and a scanner. Through trial and error, I realized that my fieldnotes and WA2 and WA4 had to be scanned as pictures. Then they were uploaded to Scribd without a problem. The one thing I don’t like is that the stuff on my artifacts page and WA page is all under one link, thereby making my table of contents page seem redundant. I’m still iffy on the whole pictures deal. When I spoke to Holly Stevens at the Special Collections Office, she said I couldn’t upload the pictures I’ve taken of the newspapers online. So, I uploaded the pictures I listed on the table of contents, and I am burning the rest to a disk until I obtain the permission needed to upload them.

Research Journal #25

Vanesa — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:12:47 +0000

Oh, my research portfolio…What can I say about it? A lot of it is in my polka-dotted spiral. All of my fieldnotes are in its pages, along with a reflection/freewrite/expanded fieldnotes or two on what I had found intriguing in the newspapers I examined. Beginning sketches of WA4 are also included. Stuffed into the back of the spiral are handouts from class, feedback on WA3 and WA4, and handouts from the Commerce Week on Writing. Outside of my spiral, I have uploaded pictures on my laptop from my camera. These are pictures of various aspects of the newspaper. Advertisements, articles, important headlines, the header of the newspaper throughout the years, pictures of Greta Garbo movie flyers (I know they don’t relate to my project, but I couldn’t resist. I love her movies!), pictures of pictures of the campus and students, and a list of then-current students and ex-lions who lost their lives during the war. Mary McCrary (one of the oral histories I listened to) lost one of her sons to the war. You can see his name of the list. My research portfolio also includes notes over the oral histories of Mary McCrary and John Allen. I ended up using John Allen’s oral history for WA4, since he was a student at E.T. from 1936-1940. Although, he wasn’t a student during the peak of WWII, he provided rich information about student life leading up to the war, and civilian life during WWII. WA2, WA3, WA4, and eventually WA5, will be included in my research portfolio. They all have to deal with The East Texan in some way.

So, what does this all mean? I have been pondering about this for a while now. The heavy influence from the war throughout the years changed the campus and its students. There were more women on campus, as the men were off fighting. Rationing inflicted everyone, as supplies were needed for the soldiers across the Atlantic Ocean. People were trying to do their patriotic duty as mandated by the government, by purchasing war bonds, enlisting in the armed forces, the red cross, and women’s branches of the military. Women were encouraged to write to their boyfriends, husbands, and sons who were fighting in a different continent. Of course, no one would do perform their patriotic duty if there wasn’t a reason to do so. Before the U.S. entered the war, people were aware of the conflict in Europe, but that didn’t impact their daily lives as much, if any at all, like it did when America was involved. If Japan hadn’t attacked Peal Harbor, the U.S. wouldn’t have found it necessary to enter in the war at that time. I’m not saying that the U.S. wouldn’t have gone to war at all, but hypothetically if they hadn’t, daily life of American citizens would not have been impeded. Lets look at Japan and Germany. In The East Texan, I’ve seen political cartoons and propaganda that deal with Japan and/or Germany. They invoke the terror. For instance, there was cartoon dealing with war bonds. In the top panel, a man is walking by a poster that says, “For defense, buy United States savings bonds.” He says to himself (and essentially the audience/reader), “…Too busy today–I’ll get around it tomorrow.” In the panel below that, the is escorted by a big, burly Nazi soldier holding a gun to his (the man’s) head. They are walking past the same poster, only this time the top words are X-ed out and -AGE is added to bond (bondage). I don’t know about you, but if I was living during that time, I would head over to the nearest bank and buy as many war bonds as I could afford. That cartoon is scary! If the enemy wasn’t there, people wouldn’t have had anything to worry about. The threat of the enemy was great enough for the U.S. government to impose all of these regulations, civilian defensive acts, the draft, the printing of propaganda, etc. Interesting what studying these newspapers lead me to. Talking with Dr. Carter has helped a lot too.

Research Journal #24

Vanesa — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:01:02 +0000

Response to Chapter 8 of Fieldworking

I found this chapter to be the most helpful chapter out of the book. I also found it to be the most intimidating. As I was reading it, a rush of fear and insecurity came over me. I’m not sure if I’m ready to write my research paper. Have I gathered enough information? Did I gather that information thoroughly? Are my fieldnotes sufficient enough to get me through this paper? Will I be able to develop the correct ideas that will make my paper tasteful and smart? Putting those worried questions aside, I trudged through the long chapter. I was reassured by the section titled “Resisting Writing”. I love how the authors included quotes from famous writers about how they overcome the struggle to write. “Shitty First Drafts” was my favorite essay of the chapter. It showed me that I’m not the only one that has problems with beginning drafts. I agree with the things the author says. Like Lamott, I have to constantly remind myself that the paper due for Peer Review is only a rough first draft. It’s not my final draft to be graded, or in her case, printed and scrutinized by readers. I find that it takes the pressure off of trying to be prefect the first time around. I connected with the first section of the chapter. Just getting started on a paper or even a research journal is tough.

Another thing I am going to have trouble with is picking which information to use in my final draft. I have collected so many interesting notes and pictures that I feel should be part of the final project, but I have always had a hunch that cramming it all into the paper won’t be efficient. In the chapter, the authors talk about the fact that ethnographers have to pick out which information will make it in their final paper. They only use a small percentage of data to focus on in their paper.

Needless to say, this chapter gave me a lot to think about in regards to my final paper. It has made me nervous, but I am also excited to finally try to piece things together.

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Annotated Table of Contents

1) Fieldnotes over The East Texan

Set 1: General Overview of The East Texan from 1941-1944. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features (“Lions in the Fight”, “Society News”, “Tench-Hut!”, etc.), government propaganda, advertisements, political cartoons, and military enlistment ads.
Set 2: Notes over a few pictures taken of articles and pictures. Includes the conversion of Mayo Hall to a girls dormitory.
Set 3: General Overview of The East Texan from 1944-1945. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features, government propaganda, political cartoons, and advertisements. Includes the death of President Roosevelt, the proclamation of V-E Day, and the surrender of Japan.
Set 4: The East Texan 1935-1940. Although the goal of that session was to collect notes over ’35-’40, it really focused more on ’35. There is a smattering of notes on 1938 and 1939. Notable finds are the swastika borders around the Oliver Brothers’ Drug Store, and the amount of cigarette ads. I also started a reflection period after a certain time of examination.
Set 5: The East Texan 1939-1940. Once again, even though I had initially labeled these notes to cover ’39-’40, I focused on ’39. This was my first disappointing scan through the paper. Everything seemed so carefree and breezy despite the international conflict.
Set 6: The East Texan 1939-1940. This set of fieldnotes does go into the first half of 1940. I also had my first WWII article sighting (“Parade of Opinion: Hitler”). From then on, I noticed the amount of war and peace articles printed, buried underneath the usual news and ads.
Set 7: The East Texan 1940. This set covers the rest of 1940. Here I began to see more preparation for the oncoming war. The aviation school in Commerce was to be set up, and the threat of the required draft for all eligible men into military service was looming in the air with the passing of a bill.
Set 8: The East Texan 1944-1947. This set focuses on 1945. It shows the effort to rebuild the war ravaged campus.

2) Pictures

Look of the paper
Political cartoons
Military advertisements for enlistment
General Advertisements (Coca-Cola, Wrigley’s Gum, Chesterfield Cigarettes, ads aimed at women toward the end of the war, etc.)
Pictures of soldiers
Patriotic slogans (“Remember Pear Harbor!”, “Buy more war bonds!”, etc.)
Government propaganda
Bold headlines (V-E Day and the surrender of Japan)
Mayo Hall picture
New Girls’ Dormitory (now known as Henderson Hall)
The April Fools Edition (“The Last Texan”)
Events mentioned by John Allen in his oral history, including Mr. John Allen himself

3) Oral Histories

Mary McCrary. Wife of an E.T. professor. Speaks of life before their move to Commerce, physical descriptions of Commerce and its changes, the Great Depression, her sons’ and husband’s enlistment into the armed forces, the influx of students after the war, and her thoughts on the progression of E.T. (“Morale of college has dropped considerably.”).
John Allen. Former student of E.T. who graduated in 1940. Later became a radio broadcaster for various radio stations including WFAA. Spoke of his childhood, various family stories, his time at the Training School in Commerce (the high school student teachers from E.T. teach before becoming accredited teachers), his time at E.T. (a member of the band and an acted in school plays). He also speaks of the lingering effects of the Depression, the community’s thought on the college (“life and bread of Commerce”), and physical description of Commerce. He also mentions the effects of WWII on civilians (rationing, brownouts of coastal cities, and government regulation of the broadcasting of the news over the radio). He talks about a student produced play about Hitler’s advances during WWII. That will be looked at into further detail for WA4.

4) Writing Assignments

WA2–”The Evolution of The East Texan“. History of The East Texan from 1920-present times.
WA3–Research Proposal.”Through the Eyes of the Students-The East Texan during Word War II”
First draft of WA4–This one is a summary of John Allen’s life and what information he offers about WWII, and how it affected people and coastal cities.
WA4–”Newspapers and Radios”. Utilizes John Allen’s oral history to show what life was like back then. Incorporates images from The East Texan to support the themes and the events mentioned in Allen’s oral history.

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Codes

Campus Changes (CC)

CC1–New courses offered
CC2–Physical changes
CC2–Government programs (aviation school, possible use of campus for war, etc.)

Government Regulations (GR)

GR1–News regulations
GR2–Radio regulations
GR3–Civilian acts of defense (blackouts, brownouts, “Sealed lips don’t sink ships”, etc.)
GR4–Rationing

Soldiers (S)

S1–Current students, alumni, and teachers in the fight
S2–Articles about supporting the soldiers (writing them, sending care packages, etc.)

Patriotic Slogans (PS)

PS1–”Buy more war bonds/defense stamps”
PS2–”Remember Pear Harbor”
PS3–”Set the rising sun”

Political Cartoons (PC)

Enlistment (E)

E1–Advertisements to for Armed Forces
E2–Women’s Armed Forces
E3–Red Cross Ads
E4–Articles about enlistment

Campus Life (CL)

CL1–Recreational activities

Academic News (AN)

Society News (SN)

Early WWII (Before U.S. Entrance) (Pre)

Pre1–War and Peace articles
Pre2–History of War articles
Pre3–Opinion articles
Pre4–Evidence of awareness (article about Austrian refugee visit)
Pre5–Predictions

After WWII (After)

After1–Reinstating recreational activities
After2–Influx of new students (freshman and veterans) and how that affected current students (i.e. “Between Us Girls”)

Humor (H)

H1–Weekly humor features
H2–Weekly humorous stories
H3–Poking fun at Hitler (“The Last Texan”, variety show, etc.)

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One Page Analysis

I’m glad that I looked at newspapers from before and after WWII. They have given me a richer insight to the campus before the threat of the war and the rebuilding process afterward. Before the U.S. entrance into WWII, and even before WWII itself, everything seemed so breezy and cheerful. Lighthearted human interest articles were printed, along with humorous weekly articles such as “Clippings”. I found this to be curious, since the Great Depression was still eminent during that time. I figure that the newspaper was the way to keep everyone’s spirits up. The only article I found that mentioned the Depression was one about how students save and acquire money to get through school. I also liked finding articles that talk about the events that John Allen spoke about, and even a picture of John Allen during the play “Our Town”. Those articles and pictures helped fuel my WA4.

I need to do outside research of WWII. My knowledge of it is pretty basic. It mostly covers the military aspect of the war (I swear that’s the only thing one learns in school when it comes to wars). I only have a general understanding of what people back home did during the war (being bombarded with government propaganda and constantly encouraged to buy war bonds). I think that knowing more about different aspects of the war will help give a deeper meaning to the things I have found in the newspapers. I can then extract what the students really went through emotionally and daily.

I have been focusing more on the characteristics of the newspaper throughout the years. I haven’t thought of the culture behind the newspapers, or what one really was experiencing. The newspapers are a tool to help gain insight to student life during that time. I don’t think I’ve seen the newspapers that way throughout the data gathering process. I really need to buckle down and see past the text and pictures in order to write an enlightened research paper. Wish me luck!

Research Journal #23

Vanesa — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:20:16 +0000

The week of November 16th, I averaged about 2 and a half hours a day scouring the newspapers in the Special Collections office. My eyes did not like me that week. I don’t know if you all know this, but my vision is horrible. Behind the wide sides of my copper-colored flowered frames are extremely thick lenses. Needless to say, the concentrated amount of tiny text printed on each page of the paper did not help my vision, but it was all in pursuit of my ethnographic project. I am happy to report that I found a lot of interesting things in the newspapers. That week I focused on ’39-’40, and ’45. I had meant to go all the way to ’47, but with the amount of newspapers I couldn’t. So many papers, not enough time. I first scanned through the papers from ’39-’40 the week before. To my dismay, I didn’t find the amount of World War II articles I had hoped to find. The campus was normal and carefree. I decided to look through them again. As I was flipping through the pages of obligatory campus announcements, society news, and sports announcements, a single word caught my eye, “Hitler”. My first WWII article! I hadn’t been so excited to see the word Hitler in my life (crazy, I know). The article was a weekly editorial entitled “Parade of Opinion”. It was on the left side of the second page, out of side from all the other snazzy headlines and advertisements. “So, that’s where they’ve been hiding,” I thought to myself. I look at the previous editions, and find a couple more war-related articles. Toward the end of 1939 and into 1940, there was an increase in war-related articles. Interest spiked when war was declared in Europe, and the U.S. was intent on keeping positive relations with Mexico. These articles only made a small dent in the paper though. Campus, society, and sports news took up the majority of the space, along with lots of ads.

The end of the war signaled repair for East Texas State Teachers College. There was a large influx of students for the ’45-’46 school year, that included 100 veterans. The football team was to play again for the ’46 season. People were no longer encouraged to “buy more war bonds”, but instead to “keep those war bonds.” Peace articles were printed to encourage the conservation of peace. Everything seemed so hopeful.

Thus concludes my collection of fieldnotes on The East Texan. I’ve looked at papers from 1935-1945. Now comes the fun part: trying to make sense of it all.

Research Journal #22

Vanesa — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:15:23 +0000

Lately, I’ve been looking over my fieldnotes and trying to piece my seemingly clipped notes together into insightful thoughts on what life was like on campus. I need to go back to the Special Collections Office and take more fieldnotes. These will be different from my current fieldnotes because they will delve deeper into individual newspapers. In addition to this, the next time I go to my fieldsite, I need to look at papers that will help WA4. This involves papers from the early 30s, all the way to after the end of WWII, so probably ’45-’47. As mentioned in my previous research journal, I will be taking a random sampling of papers, and looking at the various types of articles. From there, I can come up with a general percentage of what types of articles were printed from 1930-1946. For WA4, I also need to review John Allen’s oral history. I only mentioned the part about the student play about Hitler’s advances in m fieldnotes, so I will need to obtain more details about it. That is what inspired my approach to WA4 after all. All of my questions were answered Tuesday by Dr. Carter that pertains to WA4. I can’t think of any about my research project at this present time. As far as from my classmates, discussion helps. I like bouncing ideas off of people, so if you’re free and are up for discussion, don’t hesitate to ask and whatnot.

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Annotated Table of Contents

1) Fieldnotes over The East Texan

Set 1: General Overview of The East Texan from 1941-1944. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features (“Lions in the Fight”, “Society News”, “Tench-Hut!”, etc.), government propaganda, advertisements, political cartoons, and military enlistment ads.
Set 2: Notes over a few pictures taken of articles and pictures. Includes the conversion of Mayo Hall to a girls dormitory.
Set 3: General Overview of The East Texan from 1944-1945. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features, government propaganda, political cartoons, and advertisements. Includes the death of President Roosevelt, the proclamation of V-E Day, and the surrender of Japan.

2) Pictures

Look of the paper
Political cartoons
Military advertisements for enlistment
General Advertisements (Coca-Cola, Wrigley’s Gum, Chesterfield Cigarettes, ads aimed at women toward the end of the war, etc.)
Pictures of soldiers
Patriotic slogans (“Remember Pear Harbor!”, “Buy more war bonds!”, etc.)
Government propaganda
Bold headlines (V-E Day and the surrender of Japan)
Mayo Hall picture

3) Oral Histories

Mary McCrary. Wife of an E.T. professor. Speaks of life before their move to Commerce, physical descriptions of Commerce and its changes, the Great Depression, her sons’ and husband’s enlistment into the armed forces, the influx of students after the war, and her thoughts on the progression of E.T. (“Morale of college has dropped considerably.”).
John Allen. Former student of E.T. who graduated in 1940. Later became a radio broadcaster for various radio stations including WFAA. Spoke of his childhood, various family stories, his time at the Training School in Commerce (the high school student teachers from E.T. teach before becoming accredited teachers), his time at E.T. (a member of the band and an acted in school plays). He also speaks of the lingering effects of the Depression, the community’s thought on the college (“life and bread of Commerce”), and physical description of Commerce. He also mentions the effects of WWII on civilians (rationing, brownouts of coastal cities, and government regulation of the broadcasting of the news over the radio). He talks about a student produced play about Hitler’s advances during WWII. That will be looked at into further detail for WA4.

4) Writing Assignments

WA2–”The Evolution of The East Texan“. History of The East Texan from 1920-present times.
WA3–Research Proposal.”Through the Eyes of the Students-The East Texan during Word War II”
First draft of WA4–This one is a summary of John Allen’s life and what information he offers about WWII, and how it affected people and coastal cities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Codes

Campus Changes (CC)

CC1–New courses offered
CC2–Physical changes

Government Regulations (GR)

GR1–News regulations
GR2–Radio regulations
GR3–Civilian acts of defense (blackouts, brownouts, “Sealed lips don’t sink ships”, etc.)
GR4–Rationing

Soldiers (S)

S1–Current students, alumni, and teachers in the fight
S2–Articles about supporting the soldiers (writing them, sending care packages, etc.)

Patriotic Slogans (PS)

PS1–”Buy more war bonds/defense stamps”
PS2–”Remember Pear Harbor”
PS3–”Set the rising sun”

Political Cartoons (PC)

Enlistment (E)

E1–Advertisements to for Armed Forces
E2–Women’s Armed Forces
E3–Red Cross Ads
E4–Articles about enlistment

Campus Life (CL)

Academic News (AN)

Society News (SN)

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One Page Analysis

In order to understand how the campus changed, I need to paint a picture of what the campus and student life was like before the heavy impact of WWII toward the end of the war. John Allen’s oral history will help immensely in this respect since he does go into detail about student life and his involvement with the music and theatre department. The newspapers will also help because campus, academic, and society news did not go away even with the heavy impact of the war. I want to piece together a portrait of campus life before, during, and after the war. The articles over war coverage will reflect how campus life was altered during that time. From there, I can find the effects on the students as a whole .

I’m not sure what makes my research meaningful. It is connected to Commerce, the place I am earning my higher education degree. It is gives insight on how a previous generation dealt with the hardships of war. As far as that, everything I’ve seen in the newspaper is super patriotic. There are patriotic slogans printed everywhere in the newspaper. Some are bold, others are buried between articles, and pictures. Both men and women got involved in cause. Men joined the Armed Forces, and women joined military organizations such as WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), and the Red Cross. Political cartoons also reflected this increase in patriotism. There were a couple that showed a little boy going around with a wagon full of paper, calling for scrap paper from his neighbors. There was also one where a little boy said he would use his rainy day change to buy war bonds. Hopefully, everything will come together soon!

Research Journal #21

Vanesa — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:56:00 +0000

For WA4, I plan on using John Allen’s oral history. I chose him over Mary McCrary because Allen was actually a student at ETSTC, whereas Mrs. McCrary was the wife of an ETSTC professor. The only thing is, is that Allen graduated in 1940. This creates a problem because he wasn’t on or anywhere near campus when the U.S. entered WWII. In fact he was a news editor for a radio station in Houston when war broke out. He provides great information about the effects of wartime on coastal cities, but that doesn’t really help my overall project. So, after expressing my concern and confusion to Dr. Carter, we came up with an altered prompt for WA4. In Allen’s oral history, he mentions how there was a student produced play about Hitler and his advances. This is evidence of awareness of WWII before the U.S.’s entrance into the war. So, WA4 is going to focus on the transition from the Great Depression to WWII shown through The East Texan‘s reflection of the campus. This is going to be done through random sampling of newspapers from 1930-1945. I will find the general percentage of genres of articles (campus news, society news, economic hardships, and war coverage) that were printed. This also utilizes John Allen’s oral history better, since he does talk about the lingering effects of the Depression and student life. WA4 feeds into my overall research project by providing a wider overview of that time period. It delves into a little bit of the time before the U.S.’s entrance into WWII and the time after the war is over. For this paper, I plan on doing a text-based project with pictures from The East Texan to back up important themes.

As far as codes go, after realizing that I need to look at more than just the articles that deal with the war, I should also look at campus and academic life, and society news. My new codes are going to deal with these. Campus life will be denoted as CL. Academic life will be denoted as AL. Finally, society news will be denoted as SN. Since I don’t have fieldnotes over these types of articles, I can’t break these codes down any further. Once I get back into my fieldsite, I’ll keep an eye out and take note of these types of articles.

Extended Fieldnotes over the East Caney Interviews:

Due to technical difficulties, we weren’t able to hear all of the East Caney interview. I know that for me, it was hard to decipher what Mr. Pryor and Mr. Askew were saying. I got the basic information down, like when Mr. Pryor and Mr. Askew were born. We mostly listened to the parts about their experiences with farming and school. The codes that were given were useful. I remember that one of them mentioned that people form East Caney married people from East Caney. If they spoke more about the culture of East Caney, then a code can be made for that.

I didn’t code my fieldnotes while taking notes on the interview. I was more focused on getting down their words and summarizing statements than coding my notes. I find it more beneficial to code my fieldnotes after I take them. This helps with the anaylzing process, and helps me see the prevalent themes of an interview or oral history. I also like to code my notes afterward, because it forces me to thoroughly look through my notes, and helps provoke thoughts of reflection.

Research Journal #20

Vanesa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:56:33 +0000

Annotated Table of Contents

1) Fieldnotes over The East Texan

Set 1: General Overview of The East Texan from 1941-1944. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features (“Lions in the Fight”, “Society News”, “Tench-Hut!”, etc.), government propaganda, advertisements, political cartoons, and military enlistment ads.
Set 2: Notes over a few pictures taken of articles and pictures. Includes the conversion of Mayo Hall to a girls dormitory.
Set 3: General Overview of The East Texan from 1944-1945. Takes note of headlines, pictures, length of paper, reoccurring features, government propaganda, political cartoons, and advertisements. Includes the death of President Roosevelt, the proclamation of V-E Day, and the surrender of Japan.

2) Pictures

Look of the paper
Political cartoons
Military advertisements for enlistment
General Advertisements (Coca-Cola, Wrigley’s Gum, Chesterfield Cigarettes, ads aimed at women toward the end of the war, etc.)
Pictures of soldiers
Patriotic slogans (“Remember Pear Harbor!”, “Buy more war bonds!”, etc.)
Government propaganda
Bold headlines (V-E Day and the surrender of Japan)
Mayo Hall picture

3. Oral Histories

Mary McCrary. Wife of an E.T. professor. Speaks of life before their move to Commerce, physical descriptions of Commerce and its changes, the Great Depression, her sons’ and husband’s enlistment into the armed forces, the influx of students after the war, and her thoughts on the progression of E.T. (“Morale of college has dropped considerably.”).
John Allen. Former student of E.T. who graduated in 1940. Later became a radio broadcaster for various radio stations including WFAA. Spoke of his childhood, various family stories, his time at the Training School in Commerce (the high school student teachers from E.T. teach before becoming accredited teachers), his time at E.T. (a member of the band and an acted in school plays). He also speaks of the lingering effects of the Depression, the community’s thought on the college (“life and bread of Commerce”), and physical description of Commerce. He also mentions the effects of WWII on civilians (rationing, brownouts of coastal cities, rationing, and government regulation of the broadcasting of the news over the radio).

4. Writing Assignments

WA2–”The Evolution of The East Texan“. History of The East Texan from 1920-present times.
WA3–Research Proposal.”Through the Eyes of the Students-The East Texan during Word War II”

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Codes

Campus Changes (CC)

CC1–New courses offered
CC2–Physical changes

Government Regulations (GR)

GR1–News regulations
GR2–Radio regulations
GR3–Civilian acts of defense (blackouts, brownouts, “Sealed lips don’t sink ships”, etc.)
GR4–Rationing

Soldiers (S)

S1–Current students, alumni, and teachers in the fight
S2–Articles about supporting the soldiers (writing them, sending care packages, etc.)

Patriotic Slogans (PS)

PS1–”Buy more war bonds/defense stamps”
PS2–”Remember Pear Harbor”
PS3–”Set the sun”

Political Cartoons (PC)

Enlistment (E)

E1–Advertisements to for Armed Forces
E2–Women’s Armed Forces
E3–Red Cross Ads
E4–Articles about enlistment

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One Page Analysis

So far the fieldnotes and pictures I have collected have provided great insight into what life was like at East Texas State Teachers College during Word War II. People (mostly women) were trying to do their part while thousands of men were overseas fighting. From my overviews of The East Texan from 1941-1945, I have noticed tons of patriotic slogans, political cartoons, enlistment spreads from the Armed Forces and the Red Cross, and articles upon articles dealing with war coverage. Yet despite the heavy war related material, life went on. Society news, the going ons of social groups such as sororities, academic news, etc., were reported on a weekly basis (the paper was printed on a weekly basis). In addition to doing their part for the war cause, the people who weren’t fighting on the front lines had to continue on with their lives. This meant that for the college students, they had to focus on receiving their degrees while trying to do the government’s idea of their patriotic duty by buying war bonds and giving up commodities they were used to having unlimited access to such as sugar, paper, and gasoline. Picking out what was needed to be printed in The East Texan (government propaganda and coverage of the war), campus news still exists in order to show me and others what life was like for these college students: trying to find that happy balance between patriotic duty and their college education.

I still have a few holes to fill. For instance, as I was writing this, I realized that I don’t know if people genuinely wanted to by war stamps, or if the pressure to buy them came from the government. Another way to look at it is if people felt that it was their duty or if the government was forcing them to be patriotic. Outside research is really going to come in handy for my research project. I need to research government regulations on the printing/broadcasting of the news, rationing and how it affected people, and the use of propaganda in newspapers and political cartoons alike. I am also thinking about reading up on how the war affected the general population. Through that, I will be able to see the similarities and differences between how the general population and the E.T. students experienced the war. I have also noticed that my fieldnotes mainly focus on the war related material of the newspaper. In order to really see what student life was like, I need to take note of the campus and society related articles. This will require more time with the newspapers, not only scanning them like I have been, but reading them as well. Although, that concerns me. There were lots of newspapers printed from 1941-1945. I’m not sure if reading every single article in every single paper is efficient. I’ll need to come up with a plan for which articles to read and analyze. I look forward to filling in these holes, and seeing where my research takes me.

Research Journal #18

Vanesa — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:24:02 +0000

So, I was a dork, and had research journal #18 and 19 mixed up (research journal #19 was originally titled research journal #18). Anyway, here is the correct topic for research journal #18.

Response to Chapter 6 in FieldWorking

Chapter 6 was about listening to the diction people use during an interview, as this provides a deeper insight into their culture. A good example of this was the interview with Danling Fu. She goes into the importance of silk in the Chinese culture. The authors mention that there many different words for silk in the Chinese language. Through the interview, they discover that there many ways that silk participates in the culture. For instance, the silk worms’ principles are used to illustrate how one should live. The chapter also mentions body language as a way to gain a deeper insight of a person and their culture. The authors mention how Karen Downing’s research could have been more enriched if she had paid attention to the way her subjects held themselves and spoke. The section on verbal performances was interesting. “[Verbal] performances use spontaneous verbal art; they are unrehearsed, unscripted, and not often staged. This concept of verbal performance comes from folklore and depends on three features: a performer who is an insider to the culture, a recognizable oral performance, and an audience of insiders.” (FieldWorking pg. 335) When I first thought about what analyzing words from an interview would entail, I just solely focused on the uniqueness of the connotations of certain words to a culture. I hadn’t considered the ways words are melded together to create these culturally rich verbal performances. This is something to chew on as I delve further into interviews and oral histories.

Box Activity #27: Gathering Verbal Performances: Proverbs, Jokes, and Sayings

Through my general overview, I noticed a few lighthearted articles about the intelligence of girls (I’ve noticed that females were referred to as “girls” for the most part) at ETSTC. For example, on September 26, 1941, an article entitled “Evolution of a Co-Ed” was printed. This listed the characteristics of a girl from her freshman year to her senior year. Some of the progressions were about tolerance of dirty jokes, dating frat boys, interaction with men, etc. I wish I had taken a picture of the article, or at least taken some in-depth notes about it, but since it was printed before the U.S. entrance into World War II, I decided that a brief comment on it was enough. On March 3, 1942, another article was printed that poked fun at the “girls”. The name of the article was “Girls Smarter than Boys at ET”. The opening sentence of the article was, “It may not prove much of anything, but figures showing scholastic rating of all the campus organizations seem to indicate that East Texas State girls are more intelligent than boys…” The article then goes on to list the cumulative GPAs of various campus organizations, such as sororities and fraternities. The thing that I’m still hung up on is the first few words of the article, “It may not prove much of anything, but…” Does anyone feel the same way too? Maybe it’s my inner feminist, but it’s hard to see those two articles as purely harmless humorous articles.

Research Journal #19

Vanesa — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:05:56 +0000

Oops…I didn’t respond to Chapter 7 of FieldWorking but I did complete Box Activity 38 in Research Journal #17, so feel free to refer back to that.

Response to Chapter 7 of FieldWorking

Out of all the chapters I’ve read thus far in this textbook, chapter 7 is the most relevant to my research project. In fact, the chapter is titled “Researching Archives: Locating Culture” for goodness sake. How convenient is that? In addition to being relevant to my research project, I found this chapter to be extremely interesting which made reading the fifty-eight page long chapter (not a front to back tally) quite enjoyable. I find reading about things articles, papers, books, etc., that are enriched with history pleasureable. I do love old black and white films after all. My favorite example article in the chapter was the excerpt entitled “The Fridge”. It was humorous and provided a lot of insight into that family. The grandfather in the excerpt reminded me of the grandfather Lionel Barrymore played in the movie “You Can’t Take It with You”. Both of them were kind-hearted, wise, and extremely humorous grandfathers. Family archival materials are very neat. They provide information about one’s family throughout the generations, and come with rich and often times funny stories about family members.

The chapter describes the different types of archival material out there for use in one’s research project. There are electronic archives, alternative archives, museum archives, historical archives, family archives, and online archives. I believe old editions of The East Texan fall under historical archives. So needless to say, archives are plenitful and are waiting to be examined and interpreted. An impactful quote to mention is one that nicely sums up the importance of using archival materials. “Whether you supplement your study with archival research or identify a fieldstudy topic from personal, historical, or online sources, archives can provide the shape, texture, depth, and color that help bring a study to life.” (FieldWorking pg. 379)

Research Journal #17

Vanesa — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:34:52 +0000

Analysis Memo over “Writing Local History”

What surprised me? I thought the panelists were going to discuss their personal history of growing up in/around Commerce and/or their time at TAMU-C. Instead, the panelists mostly focused on what they are writing, the books they’ve published, and how to publish. A few of them went into personal stories, for instance, Bobbie Purdy read an excerpt from her memoirs, and Dr. Spencer talked about his time as a pilot.

What intrigued me? I liked the historical aspect to this event. I also liked the fact that there was a broad range of ages represented in the panel.

What disturbed me? I don’t recall any disturbing factors. The event was pretty straightforward and whatnot. Although, I was hesitant to ask Dr. Spencer if he worked with The East Texan when he was here because he was of hard hearing. My soft and high-pitched voice doesn’t project well. I ended up asking Dr. Spencer if he had any experience with The East Texan after the session. I still had to repeat my question five times, and I felt really bad when he had to get up and lean over so he could hear me (I guess I felt guilty about not having the ability to project my voice). All in all, I got my answer and some advice which was very nice.

Analysis Memo over “NCoW Theatre: A Festival of Films about Writing and Writers”

What surprised me? I wasn’t sure what to expect was far as receiving information on how writing affect people’s lives in an audiovisual form. We had seen a few of these videos in class, but those mostly dealt with NCoW, and contributing to that site. We hadn’t seen the documentaries that showed people’s responses to questions about writing.

What intrigued me? In the films that dealt with interviews, I found the people’s answers to be synonymous with each other. Writing plays a large part in people’s lives, and depending on the experiences of each individual has with writing, it can be either a positive aspect or negative aspect to their lives.

What disturbed me? There was this guy in the audience who rudely interrupted Dr. Carter’s introduction to the “I Hate Writing” film by loudly blurting out, “We’ve already seen that in our class!” I found that to be quite unnecessary and rude. The lady who sat next to me nodded her head a lot. It wasn’t bothersome, but I found it strange because I didn’t see the point of nodding in understanding at a screen.

Chapter 7 of FieldWorking Box 30: Sorting through Public Archives

I found this box activity to be the most relative to my research project since my project is heavy in archival materials. Editions of The East Texan from the forties are the archival materials I am using and examining for my research project. Close examination of these newspapers will provide a great deal of insight into how the students and the campus were affected by World War II. Text and images make up the newspaper, so I’ve decided to break up the two into two separate categories, each with its own subcategories. Advertisements, political cartoons, and pictures that coincide with the articles are subcategories of images. Text is broken up into the different types of genres of articles, the random patriotic proclamations printed in between articles, and the captions under the pictures.

Books and websites pertaining to the history of the United States during that time period will also help immensely. They will help paint a broader picture of how civilians experienced the war. I remember going through an edition of The East Texan and reading the date and time of a practice blackout, along with the guidelines for participating in the blackout. I was perplexed about the blackout event. I hadn’t previously learned about practice blackouts in my history classes, so I didn’t know what a practice blackout was. Outside research through books and websites will help me fully understand what the reports (who took for granted that the people reading the newspaper would be knowledgeable about the issues at hand) wrote about.

Another helpful archival material would be an oral history from someone who experienced the War II time period as a student at East Texas State Teachers College would be an excellent first hand account. It would be rich in information about that time period, and how that person was effected directly by the war. Hopefully, I will be lucky enough to encounter an oral history like this.