Ethnography

Ethnography: Gym Rats

            Nowadays people have become obsessed with looking fit and being healthy. So subsequently more and more people are flocking to the gym to try and get in shape especially with summer around the corner for our section of the country. But there is a certain group of people that every gym has, gym rats. Now when I say gym rat I don’t mean it in a disrespectful manner, it’s just a term for the people that hit the gym every day rain, sleet and snow. It is easy to spot them; they’re the people most people want to look like. The gym I chose to observe is actually the gym I go to, Workout World. It is located in Fall River right below the Braga Bridge.

            In a normal week for me I usually go to the gym 2-3 times a week, but during spring break I went 5 days and just took it all in. During this week I didn’t lift with my friends like I normally do I chose to lift with the gym rats. They lift ridiculously more than me but they agreed to let me join them for the sake of my paper. I lifted with three different people that I would consider to be a gym. Before we started lifting each day I asked my new lifting partners a few questions. I asked each person how many times they get to the gym in a normal week. They each said barring any kind of freak accident they usually get to the gym 6-7 days a week with 7 being the ideal number. I also asked how long they have been lifting for. Two of the men said they had been lifting since they’re freshmen year in high school and the other said that he’d been lifting since he graduated high school. For a handle on how long they have ben lifting, the ages of the men are 28, 29, and 32.  So they have each been lifting for years. The final question I asked them was, what is the most annoying thing you’ve come across while lifting. The universal response was people taking a weight or machine before they were done. Each of the men expressed serious anger when talking about the thieves.  

            I realized after the three days of lifting with them it was hard to really observe their behavior. So for the other two days I went to the gym I didn’t lift with them. I lifted with my friends while taking notes on their behavior. From observing I saw that most of the time they lifted alone and were sort of in some kind of zone. All three lifted with head phones and never took them out the entire session.  They seemed sort of in a weight lifting trance. Also each of them had to lift in the mirror just watching themselves lift. On occasion they would take a minute or two to have a conversation with someone else but for the most part they were lone wolves. On the days I observed they lifted for an average of 3 hours give or take a few minutes. Each of the men also carried a back pack with them. When I asked them what was with the bag they replied that the bag was like a utility belt, it had all the stuff they needed, cloths to wipe sweat, water bottles, and protein products. On the way out I asked each of the men what was next after the gym. They each said that they would take a shower and relax for a bit before doing what they normally do at night.

Reading Journal IV

The Coming Medical Revolution

This article is mainly about the authors book which looks into the fact that technology is advancing so fast, that we will eventually be able to digitally look at our bodies and be able to fully look into it and diagnose any abnormalities far easier than we do now. The author discusses several ways technology will greatly benefit human preservation and how he can't wait for that day to come. I enjoyed this article alot i think it is exciting to think that pretty soon most medical problems will be detected and treated at lightning fast speeds due to the advances in technology. The author has a wide range of knowledge but because he is speculating on the future he doesn't really know what is going to happen, but he still has a very good idea and i would be pumped if life turns out how he says. Overall this was a good read and i would recommend it.

Reading Journal III

House of Memory

This article is a sad memory of the times the author spent with her husband before he died of cancer. The article is sort of a collection of flashbacks that the author distinctly remembers of her husband and her daughter. This article was kind of a pointless read. I didn't really learn anything from it and it didn't really have anything to do with health and science. But on the other hand i liked the way the reader started the article with an anecdote, and the way she described in full detail the flashbacks she remembered. Overall i wouldn't really recommend any one read this article it was kind of boring i would more than likely give this a thumbs down.

Reading Journal II

The Fat Trap

This article was about the struggle most people have losing weight and keeping it off. The article discusses several factors that scientist are looking into to that prevent obese people from keeping off the weight they originally lost when they started a weight loss regiment. The article is mainly just shedding some light on the difficulties of loosing a good amount of weight and how difficult it truly is and also dismissing some other factors that people believe make people regain weight that they lost.
I was surprised that the factors i previously thought influenced obesity aren't as responsible as i thought they were. Also I like the fact that the author tied in several real life stories of people trying extremely hard to keep off weight. Overall i think it was a good read and i would recommend it to any one thinking of dropping some lbs.

A trip to the market (memoir)

My mom has only wanted to be one thing her whole life, a nurse. She worked hard to achieve her goal and after leaving the navy and having three children she attended bcc and became a nurse. She got a job at Charlton Memorial Hospital and became an emergency room nurse. Now in my mind I could pick out several memories where her knowledge has come into play, but none stick out more than one trip we took to the grocery store. This particular incident took place when I was pretty young right around the time I was 8 years old. This was the first time I ever got to see my mom in action, putting her skills to the test.

            My mom had picked me up from school and asked, “Do you want to go to the grocery store with me?” Now normally I would say no because let’s face it for a man there’s nothing worse than going to the store with your mom. But I decided to save my mom a trip and just suck it up and go to the store with her. The closest supermarket at that time to my house was Shaw’s next to the harbor hall and the former site of big top. The store was on the opposite side of the city from my school so we took the highway and got there in no time. I remembered thinking in the car that this excursion was going to suck and take forever.

            When we got to the store we walked in the front door and started shopping. We didn’t have a carriage, we were only there for dinner stuff so we had basket that I had to carry. We made about three aisles in and then we saw and elderly man around 60 or so standing in the isle. He was a short old Portuguese man and was wearing jeans, a sweater, and an old dirty hat. As we started walking further down the aisle the man collapsed on the floor about ten feet away from us and I was just frozen in a state of shock. The man didn’t fall straight back, he buckled at the knee and took a weird angle as he fell. My mom ran straight over to the man and started checking him all over to see if there was an obvious reason for the tumble. I had never really seen anything like this outside of the movies so I was creeping closer and closer to the man’s body. My mom was vigorously performing CPR on the man, and then she yelled, “Anthony go in my purse and call 911,” now this was my first serious call to emergency services so it was a crazy experience. The emergency operator picked up the call and started talking to me, I explained the situation to her and how my mom was a nurse. I had no clue where the building was address wise so I had to get a worker in the store.

                        I was on the phone the entire to my mom was attempting to resuscitate the man. Finally after what felt like a lifetime, which just so happen to be maybe 15-20 minutes the ambulance showed up and the paramedics took over. I watched them strap the man to the stretcher and hook him up to all the different devices. After the man was evacuated and on his way to the hospital, my mom was in a tizzy and said, “I don’t even want the groceries anymore; I just want to go home.” So we left the store without getting a single thing. The drive home was completely silent; I think we were both in shock that the man collapsed just as we were passing. My mom ended up calling the hospital later that night to see what happened to the man. He unfortunately died later on in the hospital. The family thanked my mom repeatedly and sent her several cards to thank her for all that she did. I was amazed on how quick my mom responded to the situation.

            When I asked my mom if she remembered the event she and I talked for a good while about the whole thing and how crazy it was. Looking back on that moment it taught me to expect anything at any moment, granted nothing like that has happened to me again but I wouldn’t be in total shock if it did happen. I have never been more proud of my mom than in that moment and I saw her passion for the preservation of human life.  

Class Work 1

• My hometown was a wonderful place to grow up.
• I grew up in a small town with white picket fences,green grass,year round sunshine, and the friendliest people this side of the Mississippi.
• Laci had a rather eccentric style.
• Laci walked in wearing her leapord print jacket, lime green pants, and giant hoop earings making her the focal point of the room.
• Mr. Brown is the worst teacher I’ve ever had.
• Mr. Brown is constanly showing up late to class, losing his train of thought, and giving assingnments on material we havn't got to yet.
• The room seemed very institutional.
• The room was plastered with motivational posters and bookshelves, making the many desks come together in a special way.

Reading Journal I

Need a hand?


    For this week's reading journal i read the article, "Death Becomes Him." It is about a man named Ludwig Minelli that helps people kill themselves, also known as assisted suicide. If your wondering how this isn't against the law, its because he lives in Zurich and there aren't strict regulations about helping someone kill them self. The article is mainly about the controversy over letting someone kill them self and if it should be allowed or not. I found the article to be a good read and it had some surprising facts that were cool to find out. For instance Oregon, Washington, and Montana all allow someone to assist another person commit suicide the only stipulation is the person has to have an incurable disease. Also Ludwig has helped over 1,000 people commit suicide and has made Zurich the unofficial suicide capital of the world. The article is pretty lengthy but transitions well and is interesting not just a page of boring facts. Overall i would give this article a thumbs up because it sparks a debate automatically and is interesting to hear peoples opinion on the subject.