Final Portfolio

I'm finally finished. All of my work is now up on my website.


http://aaronpayne.weebly.com

Final Portfolio Example

Time is winding down and I need to start working on my final portfolio. Our teacher gave us examples of some portfolios of previous years to show us what she expects. One example was from a student named Meredith who observed a music venue in Muncie, Indiana called "The Living Room." Based on her portfolio, I now better understand what to do for my final paper. What I plan on doing is dividing it into maybe 10 or so segments, talking about different things involving Rita's, frozen custard, etc. in a way that's easy to read and organized. I believe that this is the best way to complete my project, and this can be seen in Meredith's portfolio. She used Scribd to display her documents, but I don't think I need that, because it's simply a lot easier to write it on my website itself, As long as I divide the sections, each page shouldn't be too long.

A Mind at Work

"A Mind at Work" by Mike Rose should aid me in my ethnographic project. I like the beginning section where Rose talked about his background in an immigrant blue-collar family. He mentioned how his uncle was a railroad worker and his mother a waitress; this shows me that I should try to use some form of allusion in my paper, because of the personal feel to it. The imagery in it should keep the readers attentive. Rose also mentioned some of the details of the work his family did, talking about the information his uncle studied and the trip he took to a museum to learn more about his profession. So I too should include information about how Rita's operates and some of the products they offer.
Another thing I've found is that around halfway, as he starts talking about his book, he defines and describes terms like intelligence and work, among others that are relevant to his study. I've already done this a little bit in my interview essay by explaining the difference between ice cream and frozen custard, but it should also help in my analysis paper. Also, Rose seems to have some sort of theme about intelligence and the relationship between it and skill. I too need to find an overall theme or thesis for my analysis. I have bits and pieces for what I want to talk about, but I don't have an overall theme yet.

Extra Research

My ethnography project is going pretty well so far, and I have some decent sources to back up what I'm discovering in Rita's. I like "The Franchise Mall" because of the press releases from Rita's, which should give me a good history about when Rita's started, when they've opened in other states, etc. One thing I might want to find out is how ice cream shops are decorated and designed, since I'm trying to get into Virginia Tech's architecture program. I want to see what in the interior design makes them stand out, compared to places like McDonald's and 7-Eleven.

I consider Rita's to be a pretty laid-back place because they really only receive customers on the weekend, and then only when the weather is right. The majority of the customers are college students, while there are still adults that come in, usually with their children. Just about all of the employees are college students, excluding Jim, an elderly man whom I assume to be the manager. Rita's is a relaxing environment that has a desire to serve quality Italian ice and frozen custard, and lives up to its motto, "Ice. Custard. Happiness."

One of My Sources

In order to continue my ethnographic study, I will need to both conduct an interview with two employees at Rita's, as well as create an annotated bibliography in order to list my sources and describe their importance. One of the sources that I intent to use is a website known as "The Franchise Mall." Apparently its intent is to show people how to buy a popular franchise, but it also has numerous articles from the past six years or so talking about numerous things, from business information and statistics to articles talking about the newest store opening, or the first Rita's opened in a particular state. The first article posted on this website was posted on March 17, 2004, and gave a brief history about the store from the first shop which was opened in 1984. These articles will aid me, because I believe it will be important to give some history and/or background information about the franchise before the interview. I might be able to ask the manager some questions about either the history of the entire establishment or the history about the Rita's on College Avenue.
It says that the founder was a fireman who felt like starting a small business for fun. So he bought a used Italian ice maker from someone who advertised it in the newspaper and set up shop in Bensalem, PA. He didn't expect to make a whole lot of money, but his business was popular enough to make 3.5 times more than what he expected for his first year. I wondered how well the sugar-free Italian ice sold for, and apparently it only accounts for 1 to two percent of Rita's sales.
This article will give me great information about the humble beginnings of Rita's, and should help me compare the success Rita's knew in the beginning to the success it experiences now.

http://www.thefranchisemall.com

more specifically:
http://www.thefranchisemall.com/news/articles/10593-0.htm

Possible Subjects for Secondary Research

In order to obtain more information for my ethnographic study on Rita's, a frozen custard and Italian ice shop on College Avenue in Blacksburg, VA, I need to do some secondary research. For those of you who don't know what the difference between primary and secondary research is, primary research in this case would be gathering information either directly from Rita's or from Rita's own website. Secondary research would include gathering information about more general topics related to Rita's, such as dairy treats in general, and what specific attributes makes each brand successful in the eyes (and stomachs) of the consumers. That's one topic I'm considering looking into; I'm also thinking about conducting research about the competition that Rita's has in Blacksburg like Ben and Jerry's and Cold Stone Creamery, among others. Perhaps I can talk about the relationship between ice cream shops and the small locations they choose to sell their goods. After all, almost every ice cream joint I know of conducts business in a small location. Not many other topics have come to mind yet, but as architect Edmund Bacon has put it, "It's in the doing that the idea comes."

Helpful (hopefully) websites:

http://www.ritas.com

http://www.benjerry.com

http://www.coldstonecreamery.com

http://www.serving-ice-cream.com/ice_cream_facts.html

http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/64189.aspx

My new website

I also posted a website which will further display my progress as a writer in this class.

Here's the URL:

http://aaronpayne.weebly.com

2/25 Observation Practice

As I walked in to Rita's tonight some time around 7:30, I was the only person there, except for the employee and a man who came in behind me five seconds after I did. Apparently, that person was either a coworker or a friend of the employee on shift, since they both started talking. They first talked about work and then about school. The girl working tonight mentioned something about how she couldn't study like she wanted to. After that, they just had a usual conversation about their friends, and then the man who wasn't working left. I could also hear a machine-like noise, which was probably the custard machine. During the last few moments I was there, the employee turned on the radio, probably because she was bored and by herself.

"Lay of the Land" Blog Entry

In my first blog, I stated that I am writing this blog for my English class. For this class, we will be required to write a blog entry each week in response to a reading. My reading for this week is entitled "Lay of the Land" and was written by my teacher Nicole Williams.
The paper is an example of one that I must write for my ethnographic study. In her paper, she describes the appearance and events that occur in the bowling alley of her hometown. She uses a lot of imagery, which is an allusion to the stereotypical bowling alley that everyone has visited at least once in their life. I was most surprised about her detail, including everything from the people around her to what was on the menu. I didn't expect her to go into detail about the different bowling teams. It also caught me by surprise that she alluded to past stereotypes, such as the old bowler with the fancy collared shirt.
Another thing I noticed was the fact that she made assumptions about the men, such as when she mentions that one bowler must be a fan of wrestling, and that he will probably leave around 8-o'-clock. I don't think you should make such subjective assumptions in a paper like this, which is meant to describe the location. It doesn't seem to fit into the other objective descriptions shown throughout the essay.
I consider this essay a great descriptive essay that took plenty of observation, since so much detail went into it.

Observation Practice

I decided to observe the lounge in DX (Dietrick Xpress) for practice. As I looked around, I saw four tall tables, three small tables, five couches, and two cushioned chairs stationed around. The walls were colored a pale yellow, probably for the intent of calming the customers. There were ten paintings on these walls, and they all shared some sort of abstract fruit theme. The idea must be to instill a harmonious mindset into anyone around. There were also two flatscreen televisions that were playing the Virginia Tech and Wake Forest basketball game. The place was in pretty decent condition, with only a few pieces of trash on the ground and some crumbs in the chairs and couches. That's basically what I expected. Even though it was chilly by the door, it was still a laid back and casual environment,
When I walked in, there were fifteen people at first with an equally divided number of boys and girls, but it grew as time went by. Everyone must have either been at the game or at the neighboring "Deet's Place" for ice cream. However, after I left, many people came from Cassell Colosseum to grab a post-game snack. What struck me though was the fact that at least seven or eight of the people in DX lounge were of Asian descent. This must be a coincidence. I couldn't hear any of the conversations going on, since the game was playing louder than everyone who was speaking. The most consistent noise i heard was the noise of people either talking about the game or cheering on the Hokies. Everyone wore warm clothing, since it was freezing; this is typical for a Tuesday Blacksburg night.

3 Possible Site Topics for Fieldwork

As the title of this blog implies, my name is Aaron Payne and I'm posting a blog for my English 1106 class. I am currently a freshman at Virginia Tech and even though I'm currently enrolled in University Studies, I plan on transferring into Architecture. This semester, my class and I will learn about fieldwork and the writing that's associated with it. We will choose a site and observe our surroundings in order to inform others about the importance of where we are. So far I've come up with three ideas as to where I'll conduct research.

1.) Rita's on College Ave. Rita's sells frozen custard and Italian Ice made everyday, and is a hot spot for college students, especially during the hotter days. Even though Blacksburg is known for its freezing cold weather, it doesn't stop students (me included) from stopping by at night to grab a cone of creamy custard or sweet Italian Ice.

2.) Art Pannonia on Main Street. Art Pannonia offers both Junior and Advanced classes for anyone considering art, and displays many paintings for sale from up to thirty-seven different artists.

3.) Bud Foster's on Prices Fork Rd. Named after the defensive coordinator of one of the best defenses in college football, Bud Foster's Restaurant is devoted to serving quality food to the Hokie community and keeping the Hokie spirit alive in Blacksburg.

These three places all seem to me like great areas to observe, so I need to consider which will be of the most importance.