Summary of WP #1

The place that I have chosen for my writing project is the Sun Angel Stadium, where the track is located.  Writing this paper I used a few of the different lenses that we created in class including Mark Twain’s “Two Views of the Mississippi”, Frank Vanclay’s “Place Matters”, and I also slightly used James Baldwin’s “Fifth Avenue Uptown.  Upon walking into the space for the first time I kind of get the feeling of dullness and boringness.  The first things that I see are the old concrete steps of the stadium and the oval shaped red track.  Neither of these things make me really want to go back to see it again.  What brings me back are the excitement of the races and events going on the track.  I see all the people cheering and for the runners and it just makes me want to come back.  In this paper I was trying to make the reader feel like there was something worthwhile to go and see and or do at the track.  Using the lenses I connected my experiences with the way that Mark Twain experienced being a river boat captain where his views of the river became very different after becoming more experienced or seasoned.  I tried to connect Vanclay in to this project because without the people in the space it is just boring and there is no need to call it a place or destination.  I also used James Baldwin by when Baldwin was explaining that even though segregation was no longer a law or rule, there seems to be segregation based solely upon the skills of the runners. 

Peer Review 2

Ian Miller

It seems a little odd and I don’t think that you were supposed to spend an entire paragraph writing about the lens that you were about to use.  This is in reference to the Polk street paragraph.  I think you did a very good job at using the Polk street references to talk about the basketball courts in the same way, but again I think you used to many direct quotes from the story.  You should go in to more detail in describing the point system used, because it is far from conventional being that a “three point shot” is only worth two points, like why do they do this instead of the regular system.  I think that your third paragraph could be divided into a couple more paragraphs especially near the end because it doesn’t seem that the last few sentences have anything to do with the beginning ones.  Getting to the part where you start to describe the squeaking of the shoes and then you say the names of the shoes.  It just doesn’t seem to fit when you say what the shoes are called, in my opinion I would take it out.  I think you did a fairly good job at sticking with the original ideas that you laid out in your introduction, I would just stay away from over describing and quoting from one of the readings, again I may be wrong but it just doesn’t seem right.  You are doing a really job at effectively using the lens of Polk street to describe the space.

Peer Review 1

Ryan Farrell

I think that you did a fairly good job at encompassing all the aspects of this project.  There are a few flaws in this as well though.  I think you need to do a better job of explain what Hayden East is, because you never tell whether it is a dorm or it is another building you found your way on top of.  I think the reference to Mary Austin was well implemented showing which lens you used.  On the part that you reference the taggers, I’m not sure what your point of view on the topic is because at first you say it is an insult to the users of the space but then just after that you say it shows the artistic vision and a safe haven for artists, this seems like it would mean that people like the art now.  I’m just a little confused.  After this you begin to talk about something called “Arcadia”, I think that you need to explain this a little more, such as what it is and where, for the people that don’t already know about it.  Another thing is it seems that your paragraphs don’t transition very well from one to the other and they don’t seem like they have very much connection with each other.  I think that your paper did an adequate job of following the general idea that you stated in your introduction.  I do think that you should talk a little bit more about the lens that you are using as well. Other than that it was good.                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Rough Draft WP #1

Walking in to the space you begin by seeing the mostly ugly concrete tiered pieces of the back of the stadium structure and as you continue walking you begin to see the outline of the bright red track.  From there on most of your view is a vast wide open space with many things located on the surface of the ground but not very much protruding up from the earth.  Beyond this you can see the outline of rural road and hear the buzzing of cars going by, through the line of trees next to the eastern fence.  After getting the first impression of just stepping on the track you may start to notice many other things as well such as the presence of much activity on the infield by athletes and the not so overly crowded stadium for the audience.  This may be the track but there are vast varieties of events taking place to suit your liking whether that is watching strength events such as throwing or speed and endurance events taking place on the track.  Pretty much there is something for everyone to come and watch.

The track itself from can be seen from Mark Twain’s more touristic point of view as a boring inanimate object but the details in it make it a little more interesting, such as the lines and the way that everything is laid out on it.  Everything is very uniform and has a specific purpose for one thing and one thing only.  The things that give the space the life that it has and the ability to become a place are the Athletes and coaches using it for its intended purpose.  Depending on the day that you come, you will see anything from an easy practice day to a conference championship taking place on the Olympic quality track.  Looking past the track you will see the very large and extremely tall flight of steps that welcomes you in the beginning and urges you to continue your way up to the press box, but unless your one of the athletes running on the track you will probably be out of breath halfway up the steps and assume a position on one of the seats there.  Sitting down on the cold or hot hard metal bleachers will start to make you wonder how anyone would ever want to come and watch these events because they are so unbearably uncomfortable.  Just about the time that you are thinking this you glance around to see most of the other spectators that have chairs that sit on the benches to make them a little more comfortable.  This brings to mind all of those times that you wish that you had come up with such a simple idea but somebody beat you to it.  While you sit there and you ponder over your lack of brilliant ideas at the moment a gunshot rings through the air and breaks through the silence like a wolf’s cry in the night.  You look around to see what happens and then you realize that it was just the start of one of the many racing events of the day.  Watching the athletes run around the track brings a certain question to mind. That question would be about what it would be like to actually participate and run one of the races.

Now from a current runner’s way of looking at things a race can feel very different depending on many different factors such as how long it is or how much competition that he has in the race.  This seems much more in line with Twain’s professional approach to a subject after he learns all the ins and outs of doing things such as the navigation of a river.  I can tell you one thing about races thought they are always appreciated much more after the race is over with.  From the stadium it may seem like all fun and games before the race but it is actually much more serious than this it just all depends on the race.  When you are warming up and stretching all that you can do is telling yourself that you know you’ve put in the work to be able to run the race and hopefully win.  When they call everyone out on the track to line up for the race everything that I was previously thinking about I try to push out of my mind and just think about the race that I am about to run.  I look up at the crowds and see all the people lining the fence, and think to myself that if all of these people came here to watch something exciting. it may as well be me.  The gun goes off and I round the first turn into that longest just shy of two minutes in my entire life.  These experiences are much different than when I first started using this place. 

Before I gained the experience that I have currently, running in all the races that I have, I saw this place as a more fun place and it brought out the adventurous side of me.  I wanted to try everything no matter what it entailed.  As I wander around I fall into the group of distance runners because they seem most like me.  The track team may seem like a melting pot of people all working together but a lot of the times it is more like James Baldwin’s Fifth Avenue Uptown with most of the people segregated between races.  Mostly all of the sprinters are African Americans while most of the middle distances to distance kids are Caucasian.  This is not because most people like to stick together with their race it is just the different abilities of the runners. No matter how hard people try to bring everyone together as one group, people still end up being segregated just like in the past.  Going beyond the initial segregation of the different people on the track everyone seems to get along and is working to push each other harder and harder.  In the end the only thing that matters is winning the race or winning the meet.  To win it is a group effort especially in the relay races.  You can see the hard work and time put in to training for these races as they hand off between legs of the race.  These athletes completely trust that each one of them is going to do what needs to be done.  It is very easy spot the kids that don’t trust each other because there are a good many times that the hand offs go terribly wrong. 

Other than the athletes running the races there are many other people running around wildly on the infield.  These people appear to be the coaches running around trying to do everything that makes the meet run.  You can see a whole line of them run to different corners of the track together as they wait for their athletes to run by so that they can give them their splits.  Sometimes I think that the coaches get more excitement for the races than the runners. This is probably true because they are not the ones that have to endure the huge amount of pain that a runner is put through a race.  Then there are the fans that are continuously getting yelled at for getting too excited when they cheer for their favorite runners and they start to do stupid things.  I have learned the hard way that there are many things that fan cannot because I have gotten yelled at many a times.  All of these different aspects go to show how much of an active space this place is to be in on race day. 

On any given day other than race day, if you walk out on the track you will most of the time see an absence of activity other than during practice times.  One of the reasons for this is that it is insanely hot outside during the middle of the day but if you can stand the heat, I find it a very peaceful place to use to study.  I can sit and listen to the cars go by or the rustling of the trees as there is no one there to bother me.  I look up from what I am working on and I see the wide open grass field in the center of the track used for all of the non-running events, past the past the track and the long jump pits.  Occasionally an airplane flying overhead disturbs the silence and breaks my concentration.  The fresh air can do wonders for your ability to think and come up with ideas such as what to write for an essay.  I sit and stare down those long straights while I’m working, wishing that I could be one of those runners out there on the track during race time but that chance has come and gone.  All of these things starts to remind me of the time when I used to run, and work every day towards the goal of running in college.  Every day at practice we would all run countless laps at what seem like blazing speeds to people that have never run on the track.  I can remember every day wanting to die after practice because our coach pushed us so hard, knowing that there was a purpose behind everything which was to make us better runners and people than we were before. In the end knowing everything that I do about the track and what it takes to run these races has taken most of the beauty and fun out of the sport for me just like Mark Twain experienced when He was a river boat captain.  Running became more than just a fun activity it became my life and it slowly lost what I used to love so much about it and that was the feeling of freedom.

Mary Austin's Mesa Trail is talking about a trail used a long time a go in the past during the time of the Indians and cowboys.  The story brings you back to a much simpler time than of today and makes you sometimes wish it were like that again.  The trail follows a very flat open mesa with very little to break up the monotony of the flat land.  If you are not on horseback it takes too long to travel the lands and you will soon be bored mad.  Even on horseback it takes nearly a days ride for the landscape to change.  After the landscape changes there starts to be many a different kinds of plants and shrubs off of the trail, most have names given by children in the and have never been renamed. This land is also a land of many lizards, from small to large "salmon" sized ones,  you can get two bits for one if you catch it.  Cattle and sheep are driven across this land to make money and while the driver sleeps he trusts his dogs to keep the flock at bay.  The air is full of winds and smells all over the place. The end of the trail is the smell of the salt grass.

Mesa

 McTeague in Polk street is rather fascinated with the street that goes by his window.  The street is a bustling place and has a very rhythmic schedule to it.  The street is full of shops and stores as well as random vendors trying to sell things on the street.  Everyday there was a pungent odor of ink in the air from the factories.  Along with the smell every once in a while a cable car would rumble by taking people places.  The street was bustling at breakfast and lunch time and at the same time the school children would takeover the street on their way to or from school.  The school children would very suddenly disappear as they had some where to be.  At night time there was a much happier atmosphere when no one had any work or school left to do and they all went out for entertainment.  By the time eleven rung on the clock every one was asleep and at one the cable car quit running and everything was silent.

 A place is more than just the general definition of space.  A place is somewhere where human activity has taken place in the past or currently.  If there was no human activity in a place then there would be no knowing that the place even exited.  A place can be something as simple as a place where you went to eat lunch one day to a place where you had your first kiss or where you proposed.  A place is defined as a place of social gathering or activity.  So a house is not a place until it becomes someones home, before this it is just a space unoccupied.  This is referred to as place making.  Space is personal, meaning people all have different views on the same place.  This so called sense of place is mostly passed along through stories of past events so the later generations have the same ideas and respect for the place.  Place is a major part of our lives and is the topic of much discussion.

Plagiarism is a very bad practice in academic writing doesn't help anyone either the party plagiarizing or the victims.  There are two different types of plagiarism, one is unintentional and the other is intentional.  Unintentional plagiarism usually occurs when some one forgets to cite a quote in their paper or assumes something is common knowledge but is not.  This can happen very easily and it mostly starts in the note taking process.  People take notes in a hurry and don't put quotes around something that they think that they will remember later but then they just forget.  Intentional plagiarism is a much worse form of it and is subject to very severe punishment.  Most of the time this occurs when a person is just running out of time or just doesn't care in general about the project.  In any case plagiarism should be avoided at all costs and if you find your self in a position of plagiarizing something, DON'T.

I believe that there are many benefits to working through the lens that you have constructed from another authors text.  It seems to have opened my mind a bit more on how other people view the space and is helping me to see things differently.  Other people have their own opinion about a space and most of the time these opinions are very different from my own.  These new viewpoints seem to make it a little bit harder to write a paper being that I'm not writing though my own eyes but it is getting easier as I construct more lenses and start to write writing project one.

Notes 2 Pages:

Your Space:  Sun Angel Stadium, Joe Selleh Track

What are the intended functions of the space?              

The intended functions of the space are for the running and training for track and field events.

What overt messages does the space send (i.e., openly communicated through signs)?

There are signs for the name and the times of the runners currently running in a race.

What covert messages does the space send (i.e., hidden messages)?

There are signs that display emergency information, implying that this sport could be dangerous to participate in.

Have previous users left traces behind in the space?

Yes, they have.  From the worn down white lines of the track to the empty water bottles left out after races and workouts.

Has the space been re-appropriated (i.e., beyond its original functions)?

Certain parts of the space are currently being used to store old exercise equipment and building materials for around campus.

What social or cultural customs did you observe (i.e., rules governing appropriate behavior)?

Which way people run on the track, what people do when a faster person comes along, what everyone does before the start of a race.

Who has access to the space?  Are there insiders and outsiders?

This space is intended to be used only by any ASU athlete, but many a non-athletes also go there to train or exercise as well.

Who owns the space?

          Arizona State University owns and operates the space.

What is the space’s value (i.e., monetary or otherwise)?

          The space is valued as a place to go to compete and display speed and skill.

Are there official representations of the space (i.e., online, in promotional materials)?  Do they accurately capture the space as you experienced it?

There is an official representation on ASU’s website but the site does not talk very about the track or stadium.  It just talks about that the track was redone in 2008 and was the home to two conference track and field championships.

Is the space in transition, a changing space?

The physical aspect of the space remains very static or unchanged as the same components are always there.

What conflicts or tensions are there in the space?

The conflicts of the space are between the people using the space and with themselves.  As the people in the space try to push themselves harder their bodies don’t want to continue.

What is the space’s history?  Do you see evidence of the past there in the present?

The space has history of holding conference championships and many other things.  Some of the evidence of past things in the present is the presence of old equipment no longer in use for anything.

How does this space differentiate itself from other spaces?  What other spaces is it similar to, but how is it different from those spaces?

The space differentiates itself from other spaces on campus in that it has a sole purpose and has few people willing to use it the way that it was intended to be used.

What questions do you have about your space?

One question would be who came up with the original idea of the track and why

Key Features / Profiles (taken from the Norton Field Guide (Goggin and Bullock) Chapter 16, pages 165-166)

An interesting subject.  What is unusual about your space?  Alternatively, is there something ordinary about it that you can show in an intriguing way?

That the space is a combination of good and bad all in one and they can change very quickly from one to the other.

Any necessary background.  What background information will you need to include about the space in order to situate readers?

          The location of the space which is west of rural road next to the tennis courts.

          It was opened in 1976 and named after a former track coach.

An interesting angle.  Rather than trying to tell readers everything about the space, what angle(s) might you use?

I can use the angle that the space has a certain beauty to it they should go see.

A firsthand account.  Did you interact with people in the space or participate in some way?  What experiences did you have there that you can write about using “I”?  (Yes, first person point of view is encouraged, especially for this paper.)

I watched the people using the space as it was intended as well as participated in the use as well.  I fully felt both the negative and the positive aspects of the space while running on the track. While using the space most of the time you get the negative side as you feel like you want to die, but then after you are done it transitions to good as you feel good about what you accomplished.

Engaging details.  What specific information must you include in your description of the space?  What potential does your space have for the use of sensory images, figurative language, dialogue, anecdotes, and showing rather than telling?  What do you want the dominant impression to be?

There is fairly good potential for using sensory imagery and other things.  Some things could be talking about the evenly spread lines of the lanes on the gradual uniform turns and straights.  The start and finish lines denoting the start and the end of something whatever that may be, to the evenly spaced towering set of stairs going up the stadium.

Generating Ideas and Text (taken from the Norton Field Guide (Goggin and Bullock) Chapter 16, pages 168-169)

Explore what you already know about your subject.  Why do you find this space interesting?  What did you already know about it?

I found this space interesting because there are few places that combine the feelings of good and bad into a single use. Prior to this I already knew the general purpose of the space.

If you’re planning to interview someone, prepare questions.  What would you like to ask someone in the space in order to better understand it?

          I would like to ask what they are using the space for and what it means to them.

Do additional research.  Does your space have an online component?  How else might you gather additional research?

I could also look at published articles about the stadium and events that have been held there.

Analyze your findings.  What patterns, images, or recurring ideas or phrases did you use to describe your space?  What contrasts or discrepancies do you see?

          I mostly used the contrast of good and bad, and pain and victory. 

Come up with an angle.  What is most memorable about your subject?  What most interests you?  What will interest your audience?

The history and the use of the space for events.  How they can participate in using the space.