Observations 2, Dorm Life. Comments..

7/30/2019 Observations 2, Dorm Life. Comments..

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Colwell 1

Matthew Colwell

English 1102

3/27/13

Mrs. Walden

Assignment 2: My Dorm

For my figured world I chose to observe was my dorm, the Sycamore Suite room 36B.

The reasoning in this was because after living there for around six months or so I have noticed somany different things going on. For example all of the artifacts that make up these dorms from

TVs and posters to shoes and clothes spread out everywhere. There are plenty of discourse

communities and actors in the dorm as well. You have the fraternity guys, including myself, very

artistic type people and jocks. There are only four people in the dorm but the friends each of the

others bring on a frequent help make up these discourse communities. There are tons of rules that

are in this figured world as well. Rules such as being quite during silent hours, picking up after

yourself to not make other roommates mad, not doing anything inappropriate like yelling out

fowl language or anything like that. Another rule would be when inspectors come in before long

breaks to make sure your room is up to par, as in, not messed up. You will get fined if furniture

is not in the condition it was, if you have stained the carpet or something of that nature. There are

also a good amount of different behaviors present. For example, I will see roommates stressed

out and staying up all night doing an essay. Sometimes people are frustrated with one another for

not being as tidy. There is also a lot of friendly behavior as well, people wanting to hang out and

things like that. It is a very diverse figured world and I am ready to observe it in a lot more in

detail.

Observations:

My observations took place at a lot ofdifferent times of the week and during the day. I

spent some time observing the dorm when people were at class and a lot more quite. I also noted

times when my roommate and I have friends over and when my other roommates have friends

over. Here are my observations.

Observation 1: Wednesday 10AM My Room

As I first walk into my dorm room from class I noticed a few things. For starters the door

to my dorm has all of our names on a black and grey hat to let people know who lives there. Iswipe my yellow card key to open the door, just like opening a hotel room. The first breath I take

from the dorm is a combination of must and cologne, not an ideal smell. The must smell is from

Comment [M1]: Think of something flashy for

the title.

-CJW

Comment [M2]: Id maybe look for stronger

word choice than this phrase.

-CJW

Comment [M3]: What are the common artifacts,

literacy practices, and specialized languages

present? -RC

Comment [M4]: You do a pretty good job in

showing the diversity of the life in the dorms.

-CJW

Comment [M5]: The choice of non busy/busy isa good way to show the diversity.

-CJW

Comment [M6]: I like this it adds to the

atmosphere makes the reader feel as though they

are there.

-CJW

Comment [M7]: I like the detail on the smell -RC


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Colwell 2

the trash standing next to the door that probably hasnt been taken out in a few months. I follow

the smell of the cologne to the bathroom. I notice a few artifacts such as soap, deodorant, tooth

brushes, toilet paper that is all over the floor. Not the most clean room. The white and grey floor

has a lot of black spaces on it due to the shower over flowing on to the uneven floor in the

bathroom. There are plenty of wet towels hanging from the railings in the bathroom that havent

been cleaned in a while and are starting to smell a little moldy if you smell close enough. I leave

this room and walk across the green carpet into my room. My roommate is not around but I

notice a sea of clothes all over made up of different colors. There is a laptop on his wooden desk

with a bunch of scattered pencils all over it. There are also empty water bottles on the floor due

to the overflowing of the trash can. I see shoes everywhere scattered across the floor which get

mixed into the sea of clothes. There is noise coming from the TV that was left on. The TV is on

top of a black refrigerator with an Xbox leaning on it. There are a bunch of republican stickers

on the fridge that my roommate put up. I also notice a few shirts that say KA on them whichare both mine and his. These shirts mean that we are obviously in a fraternity. There are also

tennis racquets lying around that belong to my roommate.

As you can see based off of these things that there are plenty of artifacts about in the

room, there are also a bunch of discourse communities. You have the people that are not as neat

as the average person; you also have a Greek community as well. There is also a sports

community based off of the tennis things lying in the room. Those groups might have not been

present in the dorm but that community is there a lot, in my later observations I will include the

behaviors of the people when they are around more.

Observation 2: This past Thursday at 8PM

Sitting in my room with a few of my fraternity friends I realize how loud we can get. The

group of us cracking jokes and playing really loud music just hanging out and getting ready to goto a party. All of us are wearing button downs and khaki pants with visors or hats on. My one

roommate walked in to see what was going on. My one roommate was with his friend, they both

just got back from architecture class. My roommate is named Robbie; he is in the more

skateboarder and artistic discourse community. He walks in wearing skateboard brand clothes,

and his friend as well. He has this tired look on his face from working on a project all day and

came back to the dorm with his friend to take a break. He was rambling on about how much he

has to get done with his projects and seemed really stressed out. I was not too surprised when he

said that because he is always working. I went to go to his room for a little bit to talk a little more

with him. His room is a lot cleaner than mine. He has all of his clothes neatly put in his dresser.

He also has a bunch of artwork he did hang up all over the room. The atmosphere in his room is

a lot more quite than mine is, it is a lot more peaceful. While I was talking to him I noticed that

his friend had a long board in his hand with some sort of skateboard company design on the back

of it. This long board had black grip tape with green wheels on it, I thought it looked interesting.It was interesting because I never really long boarded and it looked like it would be fun. Robbie

put food bought from the Outtakes in the microwave. He was getting ready to head back to work

Comment [M8]: I think that each of the

observations need to have times written on them-

MM

Comment [M9]: What are common literacy

practices that take place in your dorm room? -RC

Comment [M10]: Redundancy in the choice to

call him your one roommate maybe add names

early on.

-CJW

Comment [M11]: Do these skateboard guys

bring a different s ort of mood to the room when

mixed with your discourse community of friends? -RC


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Colwell 3

on a project and just stopped by to say hey and get some food. Shortly after they left to pull an

all nighter, as he called it, I walked back to the loud and talkative atmosphere that is my dorm.

While we were talking I hear a loud knock on the door to my dorm. I opened it and it was my

RA. She was saying that we were being a bit too loud and asked if we could tone it down. A few

minutes after that my friends and I left to go out.

The things I noticed in from these observations were the diversity of the dorm room. You

have the fraternity guys who are loud and dressed in nice clothes. You also have the

skateboarding and artsy people. That discourse community is a lot more quite than the one I am a

part of. I also noticed there is a discourse community of people who are clean compared to those

that arent.There is also the hard worker discourse community. In this community they are the

people that have a much stressed out behavior and are always lookingbusy. There are a lot of

different behaviors in these communities and artifacts as well.

Observation 3: Last Tuesday at 11PM

The dorm is a lot more different at night, its a lot more quite because people are on their

laptops trying to get work done, well most of us that is. I noticed my roommate start getting

frustrated from the loud TV being played in the living room of our dorm. My one roommate was

watching a cartoon TV show that was really loud. I walked in there to tell him to turn it down a

bit before my roommate lost his temper. This was my other roommate, Bryce, he is going to play

on the UNCC football team next year and he just got back from rugby practice. He hadnt

showered after practice so the smell was not too great. In this living room there is an

uncomfortable tan colored couch with a soccer team flag hanging above it. There is a lot of trash

of rappers from food and empty soda cans lying around. There is one TV in there as well. The

room itself is really small and hard to fit four people in. After I told him to turn down the volume

I went back into my room. I feel like my roommate, Evan, was getting tired of living in such asmall space with the same people all the time. The air conditioner was blowing a cool breeze

throughout the room. Shortly after midnight I brushed my teeth and got into bed. My bed is

placed on top of my desk and dresser to help create space. Lying in bed I took notice of how

close the ceiling was to my face. The rooms were not too big and after this realization, I knew I

did not want to live here next year.

In these observations I took note of a lot more things. You have the jock discourse

community which consists of smelling like body odor, wearing a hoodie with a football team on

it and things like that. I also noticed the behavior in the discourse community of the hard

workers. If they are bothered by anything that breaks their concentration, they tend to get mad.

Interviews:

Interview 1: Evan Blalock

Comment [M12]: Since they left to do school

work, does that mean that the dorm is not a great

place for school work to take place? -RC

Comment [M13]: This discourse community

sounds interesting. Id like to hear more detail on

that community. -RC

Comment [M14]: Once again a bit of

redundancy in the world choice look to add

something new to keep the paper fresh and lively.

-CJW

Comment [M15]:

Comment [M16]: Tell him to shower! -RC

Comment [M17]: I would maybe add what you

smelled like you did in the first observation the

description will add to the overall quality.

-CJW

Comment [M18]: Once again I like how you use

the senses too add to the overall feel of the paper.

-CJW

Comment [M19]: Great description of your

room and roommates. It sounds horrible to live

there -RC


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Colwell 4

A little bit of background on this roommate Evan is a fraternity man who also plays a

lot of sports. He works hard when he needs to and likes to have fun when he doesnt.

Evan, what made you move into the dorms?

-Well, I really felt like I needed to because mostly every freshman does. I wanted to be close to

classes because I wasnt familiar of the campus when I got here in the first place.

How does living in the dorm effect being in a fraternity?

-It is not fun. I say that because I am so far away from brothers houses when I want to go out

and have a good time. I need to waste gas in my car to go and do the things I want to do. On the

plus side, being on campus helps because thats where chapter is, so I dont need to drive there.

Is it hard to do homework in the dorm?

-Yes Very. There are so many things in the dorm that block my concentration. Sometimes

roommates are playing music too loud and things like that. I choose to go to the library if I need

to get work done.

Do you think youd play more sports if you werent living on campus?

-No, being able to walk to the basketball court or tennis courts is awesome. It makes me feel

like its not a hassle to drive all the way somewhere to play some sports.

Would you live in the dorms next year?

-No! It is way too small here and Id rather be off campus to feel more like I am an adult and

am not trapped on campus.

Interview 2: Robby Stubbs

Robby is a hard working individual who wants to do architecture when he is older. He is

barely around because he works so hard in the studio. He is constantly stressed from all of the

work he has to do. He is also really into skateboarding and does it a lot around campus.

Why did you choose to live in the dorm?

-I needed to be closer to my classes because the campus is unfamiliar to me. Thats really the

only reason. That and my parents forced me too.

Do you think youd skateboard as much if you lived off campus?

-Well, it depends. But probably not because the campus is so nice to just skate around on, it has

a lot of flat surfaces.

Do you like being close to the studio if you need to work?

Comment [M20]: Good idea giving background

on the guy youre interviewing-MM


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-Yeah, if I didnt live on campus then half of my work wouldnt get done. Thats probably the

only thing I really like about living here. I wouldnt want to drive back and forth to campus just

to work.

Do you like living with someone youve never met before?

-Well It goes both ways. I do because I like meeting new people and getting to know them.

On the other hand, the roommate doesnt know who I am and doesnt know how I like to keep

the dorm. What I mean by that is he doesnt know if Ill be mad if he is tidy or things like that.

What do you hate the most about thedorms?

-The bathroom, hands down. It is gross, as simple as that. I usually clean up after myself in

there but others dont. I really like having my own bathroom so sharing one has been a struggle.

Interview 3: Bryce Murray

Bryce is new to the dorm as of second semester. He transferred from North Carolina

A&T because he is playing football in the fall. He lives pretty far away from UNCC. He is also

on club sports teams such as rugby.

How does living here compare to living at the dorms at A&T?

-These dorms are huge compared to them. I could barely move around in the last dorm I had.

Im glad I made the switch.

What do you like most about living in the dorms?

-Well, I love how I dont have to pay for cable or other things such as water. I also like my

roommates and always am entertained by getting to know them better.

Do you ever think your roommate, Robby, gets mad at you for not being tidy?

-Oh yeah, he doesnt say it much but I can tell. I would be cleaner but Im always out playing

sports and dont really have much time to do it.

Do you like living on campus near the practice fields?

-Honestly, no. I dont like it because I have a lot of things I need to bring to practice that I cant

fit in my dorm, but its not that bad. I do like being close to them but I wouldnt mind driving my

car to the practice fields.

Would you live in the dorms next year?

-If I had to, yeah. They really arent too bad, I like being on campus and I like meeting newpeople.

Comment [M21]: Fairly good interviews I

enjoyed them.

-CJW


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Narrative:

For my narrative, I chose to write about why I decided to live in the dorms and what kind

of experience it has been living in them.

The summer was over, I felt scared about being somewhere I have never been before. Everything

was new to me except my roommate, Evan. Ive known him for a long time so I knew I wasnt

all alone.

Comment [M22]: How did you feel after youstarted living here? Are you happy with you

decision? -RC


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Colwell 7

As soon as I set foot on UNCCs campus, I felt a lot older. This is it, I thought to myself, I had

this feeling like all I knew was the past and my life starts here. Everything before this was just

building blocks to this, to help ready me for my life. I was an overwhelming feeling.

My parents and I walked from their car carrying thing after thing into my room. The door was

weird to me, in order to unlock it you needed to swipe your room card. I thought it was like

Comment [M23]: I like this kind of motivational

-CJW


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living in a hotel or something.

After we finally unpacked I gave my mom a big hug. With the tears in her eyes as if I wasnt herlittle boy any more, I got a little homesick already. Comment [M24]: Beautiful

-CJW


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One of the main reasons why I moved into the dorms was because my parents wouldnt pay for

student parking or an apartment. I lost the freedom of being on the open road in my old car. That

kind of made me mad.


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My roommate and I finally got settled in and started to catch up about what happened over the

summer. We began walking around the campus to find out where our classes were located. I

liked how close I was to my classes since Im not the fastest person in the world.


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It was hard to get used to living in the dorms at first. I hated sharing a bathroom. It was

disgusting, the floor was kind of moldy and after awhile there was a lot of trash in it. That made

me an unhappy camper.


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After months passed, I didnt really mind living in the dorms. A lot of good memories have

happened in it and it made me meet new people. It was a scary and unfamiliar experience but

ended up being a new home for me.

Comment [M25]: I really loved how you were

able to tell a story through the pictures. Each led

into the other very well done.

-CJW

Comment [M26]: Add a few more pictures and

give some more detail on each picture. Overall, Ithink you have a really great start. -RC

Observations 2, Dorm Life. Comments..

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