Brainstorm Conversations with Outside Readers

I am working very closely with my second reader Tim Soulis. We are currently revising my working draft and trying to shape it towards that first complete draft. At the moment my main issues are in deciphering what is important when it comes to writing about my perceptions of the two microcultures. I feel like I can say so much about both of these locations, but I dont want to fall in to hasty generalizations or fallacious reasoning.

With my outside reader I want to discuss ethnography and how to tie in my concept of self and my ideas with the broader picture. 

1. What is relevant to discuss in Microculture
2. How do I make this project more personal
3. What is my next step in my interview process. 
4. How do I compile everything I want to say into one project. 
5. Help me digress, and compress my ideas in the revision process. 
6. How do I let go of some of my ideas in order to be more indepth and precise on my ideas. 

Reflection on Self throughout Senior Seminar

As a writer, I consider myself to be a strong arguer. I always have an opinion and I am not afraid to share it within my writing. In compiling my Writerly Portfolio, I discovered that my strongest pieces were ones in which I felt passionate about the topic, and was able to form a well thought out argument to support said opinion. Overall, I say the theme of my work is passion.

Throughout the writing portfolio process, It was fun to look back and remember the excitement I had with each project that I felt connected to. Many of those projects focused on my hometown in one way or another. For example my speech on  the California Avocado Obsession will always be a favorite. I let my passion drive my work and my opinions, in order to create projects that are very personal to me, while making a statement that is relevant to my audience.

The biggest gaps that occur when I write in such a manner falls in to the minute details of a project. I tend to think to much "big picture" and not enough about the details that compose that larger idea. Many times, I look at a project I love, and I realize I could have done an entire project on one aspect of that project alone. I always want to go big, and tackle the ideas head on, but I need to be careful not to overlook the details, or give myself too much to take on, in the amount of time that I have.

My goals for Senior Seminar basically included creating a meaningful project that would be of use to me past my time at Transy, and also learning about myself and my future my looking back on my time at Transy. Focusing on microculture, has really helped me define my experience, and help me to realize how I have grown not only as a writer, and a student in my time at Transy, but also as a person. Studying in a different microculture taught me lessons that I would have not been able to learn had I stayed in California for school. While it was difficult, it inspired my writing, and made me a more well rounded thinker.

I hope moving forward, that my Senior Seminar project will continue to help me build on these concepts and qualities.

Progress Report: A Gap in my Research

After researching into the broader conversation on my topic, I realize I have come across a gap amidst the scholarship on interpersonal communication. The larger conversation focuses majorly on cultural communication when people are integrated from two foreign macrocultures. However, few have looked into the issues of communication that occurs when people from different microcultures communicate. When one comes from the same macroculture, it seems logical that they will be able to communicate with someone who has the same broad cultural influences. However, people neglect to realize that our socializations from a variety of microcultures affect our abilities to communicate with those around us as well. 

Within a single subculture, which is defined as a smaller section of a broader macroculture, there are thousands of microcultures that define a person's identity. A microculture is an aspect of the subculture that a person identifies himself or herself with. For the purpose of my project, I am looking into microcultural communication between my personal microculture, Laguna Beach and Southern California, and the microculture, which I have attended college in. By examining the microculture of Lexington and Southern California, I will be able to definitely make a statement about the issues that occur when people from different microcultures communicate. By drawing from my own experiences, and collaborating them with evidence from other Southern Californian's experiences in Lexington, I will be able to definitively answer this question. 

At this point in my project, I am in the midst of my research speaking with and conducting interviews with others in order to see if my experiences are similar to theirs. I have drawn from my personal experiences and now I am in the process of collaborating them with the experiences of my interviewees.