J. L. Bell Reflection

Bell ended up being a great candidate for an online interview. He took my simple questions and expanded on them to provide really useful answers. I didn’t have high expectations for the interview because I just found his blog online and as I know anyone can just create a blog. I took the risk emailing him because his blog posts were thorough and informative. Also, his “About” section listed professional credentials including: history writer, expert on History channel’s Histories Mysteries, etc. Also, when he responded to my email inquiring about an interview he said give me a deadline and I’ll let you know so I got the feeling that he was busy, and that he might not have took me seriously, but I was wrong. He exceeded those expectations and provided knowledgeable, thoughtful responses.

I learned that Bell started researching the Revolutionary War in Massachusetts because that’s where he lives. This gave me the confidence that what I was doing wasn’t so far off base from what others have done and are currently doing. He created the blog Boston 1775, to share information he was gathering with anyone who was interested.

He discussed the historical sites and how they are important because when you visit them it creates an emotional connection to the historical event and makes it seem more real. He also said that these types of places can be recreated and get the same effect so preservation of the actual sites makes it easier for these places to exist.

If I had done this interview differently, I may have conducted it via twitter to get more attention from other Revolutonary War people that are following both Bell and I to create a conversation about these topics.

Philadelphia Freedom and Reflection

On Friday April 2, 2011 I headed into Philly to visit some of the Revolutionary War path. I went alone — I was a little afraid of at first because I usually don’t like go places alone. However, this trip was pretty relaxing – at first. I drove in over the Ben Franklin bridge and made a quick exit onto 5^th street, missed the turn right after the exit and had to cut back down 4^th to get to the first stop on my trip 5^th and Arch, the Constitution center.  I parked at a meter and paid my $4 for two hours – I didn’t think at the time but this ended up being a bad move because I ended up running back to the meter 3 more times.

I walked into the Constitution Center only to find more kids then I really wanted to see at the time and a security guard glanced into my bag. You know, if I did have something in it I wasn’t supposed to he wouldn’t have found it – he was preoccupied talking to a buddy. I was trying to ask him questions about paying to visit the exhibits – he said the whole museum was free. I soon found that to be false information. I paid the $11 student price for a ticket to their show Freedom Rising, and to walk around the museum afterward.

The show started at 11:30, which was in about 10 minutes so I walked into the waiting room. When the doors open I found a seat by myself. It was weird going to a show in a museum alone. I had been to a show in this room before. The room is round with cascading seats. It’s dark and an actor walks into the middle of the room to tell the story of our nation’s constitution. I’ve seen the show twice before – the first time was the best time. This time was really good though – they changed it up a bit. The story (surprisingly enough lol) was the same, but they added a piece at the end that touches on the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage, all the way through the election of President Obama. Between the music and the actor’s delivery, it was pretty epic. Going to shows like this really force you to think about the story of how we (Americans) got here (independent).

At the conclusion of the show, you exit up the stairs and out the back doors that lead into a museum in a round room around the round theater. The first exhibit is a cyclone shaped structure of frames with moving faces at the base are touch screen computers where the faces float by on the screen and you can touch on them to hear the stories of Americans who have effected history. Along the walls is a timeline from the Declaration of Independence through the Revolutionary War through the ratification of the constitution all the way to the health care reform bill proposed by President Obama.

Once you walk around the circle you end in the room of delegates. Where you can sign to ratify the constitution. Also if you fill out a form on computer screens near the walls they send you a certificate.

After the constitution center, I paid $1 to walk around the Christ Church Cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried with other American Revolutionaries. While it wasn’t the most engaging place I’ve been to it was interesting to see something so old still maintained. Lots of school groups walked by and threw change on Franklin’s grave for good luck.

After the cemetery, I put more money in the meter and headed to Independence Hall. Unfortunately, when I got there I realized I needed to walk a block back to the Liberty Visitor Center to get a ticket for the tour. Fortunately, the ticket was free – but not until 2:30, which meant I had just enough time to peruse the gift shop and run back to the meter. I bought a book about Independence Hall, Women in the Revolution, and Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and other writings. More reading never hurts a research project. The more I read the more I learn and remember. Sometimes when I’m speaking about my project or what I’ve learned I surprise myself with how much I know.

I got into Independence National Park pretty quickly and had time to look around the west wing of Independence Hall. They store an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution. The park ranger in west wing was very accommodating to the family with small children, but didn’t really speak with anyone else in the room. I could have asked questions if I had them, but I wanted to hear his schpeel too. I was a little annoyed because a person trying to learn is a person trying to learn no matter the age.

Just then it was time for the tour. I kind of jumped in the line ahead of some of the families. Being that I was alone I didn’t think anyone would really fight me on it – I was right. Our tour guide, park ranger Larry McClenney (I think this was his last name), took us into a small room in the east wing of Independence Hall where we sat down and he spoke about what we were about to see. On the wall in the room was a painting of a meeting of the continental congress. Finally we moved into the main building that had 2 main rooms – courtroom and the meeting room for the continental congress.

In the courtroom, the lawyers sit at a round table beneath the judges in the front of the room and the accused stands in a box above them opposite the judges. We can only guess that’s where the term “stand on trial” came from. The lawyers negotiate and do the dirty work sitting at the round table.

In the meeting room there were enough tables for each colony, 2 delegates per colony – who were all self-governing bodies. In this room, they deliberated and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Most of the artifacts in the room original from the time period (as opposed to replicas) even the chairs. (I could only think so that’s what a 200 year old chair looks like). The most important chair was at the table at the front of the room. George Washington’s chair with half of the sun carved in the back of it. Benjamin Franklin once looked at that sun and wondered if it was rising or setting. They decided it was rising on the new nation.

After the tour, I had to run back to the car to make it back to the meter in time. I was 2 minutes late, but thankfully there was no ticket. If someone finds out that parking is free on Fridays please don’t tell me because I ended up spending $11 and doing some running – not that I don’t need the exercise but I could do without the meter-maid stress.

Once in my car, I drove back to Rowan to start work for the night.

Reflections

While most of the information the Constitution Center provided about the Revolutionary War wasn’t new – I found the museum to be interesting and inspiring. I think I want to start my final piece with a Thomas Paine quote “these are the times that try mens’ souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman,” or “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” I will discuss how the quote is relevant today by explaining that it’s been used in many speeches and transition into the RevWar.

The cemetery adds to the ambiance of historic Philadelphia. It looks old and creepy because most of the tombstones are old and thin not like the monument-type you would see in a more modern cemetery. I don’t know how it will inform my final paper but it was interesting to see. All of the Revolutionary tombstones have the original American flag next to them. If I had more time, I might do something similar to the student  Gerard describes, and take a name from a tombstone and look into their past.

The tour of Independence National Park was helpful. I learned a lot about Philadelphia and what happened there with the Continental Congress making decisions during the Revolutionary War Era. In my paper, I will describe how Philadelphia plays a major role in keeping the Revolutionary War alive today with it’s dedication to keeping historic sites nice and it’s informed tour guides.

I followed Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes suggestion and wrote down descriptions that would be able to job my memory later when completing transcriptions. I tried to avoid any preconceptions of what I found interesting and wrote things that were the most important to the events that happened here and details that would add to the transcriptions and later for my paper.

If I was going to do this differently, I would probably have found a lot to park in and spent more time in the Liberty Center which had more things in it, but I’m sure entirely what because I never made it there.

Annotated Bibliographies

The last time we had Core 2 class in the classroom the focus was our Annotated Bibliographies for this project. Everyone was required to come up with 12 sources: 4 books, 4 scholarly journals, and 4 alternative sources (magazine articles, newspaper articles etc.) that aren’t necessarily scholarly.

Professor Wolff handed out a copy of the assignment from his website and we exchanged bibs with classmates to do some peer reviewing. I find peer review to be both immensely helpful and nerve-wrecking. I care about what people think about me and my writing as an extension of me – including on writing as scientific as a annotated bibliography. I often second guess myself as to whether I’m really cut out for the writing program, and putting my writing on trial in front of a peer is a point of contention. However, I have always found and continue to find the opinions of classmates honest, genuine, and helpful.

Most of the comments on my bibliography were regarding format – which is very important because Professor Wolff made it extremely clear Bibliographies are either right or wrong. I have to use Chicago Style for my project because it’s going to be a feature article. Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with it at all, but I was able to get a 30 day free trial on the Chicago Manual of Style website.

When I was reviewing a classmate’s annotated bib, I tried to give helpful comments regarding the annotation – if anything was unclear in addition to typos, spelling, and grammatical errors.

Online Interview with J.L. Bell

I found J.L. Bell’s blog Boston 1775 during a simple Google search and shortly thereafter began to follow him on Twitter. Bell is a writer who specializes in the Revolutionary War. He lives in Massachusetts and writes primarily about  the New England campaign. He’s published numerous scholarly articles and was an expert for an episode of History Detectives.

I got the impression from his blog and twitter that he is a pretty busy person, and I thought my best bet would probably be to e-mail him. In my e-mail I stated that I am a student working on a project, and the goal of my project: to find out what is so important about old battlefields and memorials and why people are interested in the history of the Revolutionary war time period.

It took him about 2 weeks to answer my initial e-mail requesting him to answer some questions on these topics. This confirmed for me that e-mail would be the best method.

Here are the questions I sent:

What motivated you to start your blog?

Why are you interested in the Revolutionary War era?

Have you done any research on battles that took place in New Jersey – more specifically the Battle of Trenton? I ask this because when I started my project I wanted to keep it to my county in Southern New Jersey (Gloucester County), however my research lead me to Trenton because of it’s importance in terms of the war.

Why do you think it’s important to preserve historical houses, buildings, and battlefields?

What do you think we can learn from studying history outside of text books?

I came up with my questions based on what my research has been missing so far: an opinion besides my own that discusses the importance (if there is any) in the importance of the Revolutionary War and this type of research.

I value Bell’s opinion because he is a professional writer on the subject, and therefore an expert who understands the topic.

He asked for a deadline in his e-mail that agreed to answer my questions so I decided on April 3rd.

Trenton Trip Transcriptions and Reflection

Transcriptions:

On March 18, 2011 I left my house in route for Darlene’s apartment. She was going to come with me on my journey to Trenton to visit the State Museum and the Barracks museum, and if time allowed the George Washington State Park. Diana’s research brings her to Trenton often so she met up with us at the museum.

I didn’t know if the museum would have anything, but I knew that the Battle of Trenton was pretty important in determining the outcome  of the Revolutionary War and being that the state museum is in Trenton, I figured they had to have something.

The first thing I found in their NJ History section called “Pretty Big Things” was a porcelain vase from 1904 with a hand painted image of Washington crossing the Delaware en route to the Battle of Trenton created by the Trenton Pottery Company.

It became clear relatively quickly that the museum did not hold much, which we thought was strange because it is supposed to be representative of the state just a few doors down from the capitol building.

Washington Crossing the Delware is handpainted on this vase

Back of the vase - the handpainted picture is depicting the harsh winter before the Battle of Trenton

The room with the vase had lots of interesting pieces from the early 1900s: beds, wardrobes, quilts, and a boat , but not much from the 1770s and 1780s. On the other side of this unusually placed wall that split a quarter of the room apart from the rest of it was big pieces of iron on the walls. I learned that the iron is from the Pine Barrens, particularly, Batsto. It was the same iron used to make the cannonballs that American forces needed to win the war.

Iron on the walls

After leaving the museum, we decided to go eat lunch and our best plan was to get in my car and drive around looking for restaurants. Two blocks up from the museum we saw our safest bet in downtown Trenton, Subway and no place to park. I turned left down one road to try to find a parking lot when Diana yelled “Academy St?! Roll up the windows!” We quickly and accidentally stumbled into a bad neighborhood. I cut my losses and drove back to State St. and parked in a new spot, which was unfortunately metered 1 hour parking. We walked briskly to Subway and bought lunch. The sandwiches were good, but I think we all could have done without the smell of the homeless man in the shop.

After lunch, Diana stopped to take pictures of what looked like a hole in the ground to me. But was the foundation of a plating mill. Then we had to hurry back to my car before the meter ran out. I moved my car up a block and a half to 2 hour metered parking. We walked to the Barracks Museum.  We paid $6 for a tour that started in a half hour. They sent us to this small room that had many artifacts in it to watch a movie about the Battle of Trenton.

The movie started out talking about the state of the colony, NJ. Many battles were lost and the revolution was basically considered over. There were 10s of 1000s of British troops occupying space within the state in addition to Hessians, professional German soldiers hired by Britain. The Hessians were nasty and badly behaved soldiers ransacking homes, raping young women and destroying anything in their path.

It was December of 1776, General Howe of the British troops decided to suspend fighting for the winter and left the Hessians to guard the fort at Trenton. George Washington decided he was gone lead his troops out of PA across the Delaware and attack these Hessians. They got in the 6ft long boat built to hold iron ore with 1000s of soldiers, horses, and 18 cannons to cross the Delaware in the freezing, walk 9 miles and fight the Hessians.

Washington’s troops outnumbered the Hessians 2400 to 1500 and were able to win in 2 hours and marched back to their boats and crossed the river back to PA. When General Howe heard the news he brought his troops back and sent some down to Trenton. Washington was able to defeat the British in this 2^nd Battle of Trenton.

At that point, the video ended and we had about 5 minutes before the tour started so I took some photos around the little room.

Barracks - Old Barracks Museum Trenton, NJ

Our tour guide, Bob Butera, was dressed for the times in striped cloth pants that looked like pajamas and a white cotton shirt and green vest with brass buttons and a white hat. He took us right outside the door into the courtyard and began to set the scene in the 1750s during the French and Indian war.  Fighting is suspended for the the winter and colonists would be forced to let soldiers live with them. Well, these soldiers were nasty human beings rude and diseased. Who would want that? The colonists voted to have some form of housing built for as quick and cheap as possible – the Barracks were built – sort of like a hotel for soliders. (The Third amendment now protects us from this – No soldier in time of peace or war may be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner.)

Bob then explained that officers refused to stay with the soldiers so a house was built for them. The first floor had two rooms that we were taken into. The first room had a desk were the officer with the best handwriting would write down all of the soldiers and officers staying.

The second room on the first floor was a living room/dining room. Painted in Prussian blue (baby blue)– the most expensive color paint. They spent most of their time drinking, gambling and smoking. Bob explained that soldiers drank twice as much as the heaviest drinker today. The soldiers often held parties to pass time in the winter.

We then moved upstairs to the hallway which had a 4 trunks in it some made of wood, others made of cow skin or pig skin – a captain was allowed to bring up to 1,000 pounds with him. And on the floor was what looked to me like a big dog bed – but was a bed for a human, the batman, as he was called. And no, not like the superhero, explained Bob, the batman was more like Alfred the butler, a smart soldier who got to be the butler for the officers.

We then moved into the Junior Captains bedroom. The room had one double bed, which was shared by two officers with a shaggy rug on top. The rug was to keep the officers warm because they didn’t have big blankets back then. The room also had a desk, fireplace, and a small metal bowl (a private bathroom, Bob joked). The mattress of the bed was fabric stuffed with feathers or straw and they laid it across ropes ties tightly to the bed posts. I asked Bob if that’s where the phrase “sleep tight” came from. He said he wasn’t sure, but it’s a good guess.

We then moved into the Captain’s bedroom which had a similar four post bed, desk, fireplace, etc. The desk had on it the Captain’s wig – all captains had to have nice hair so most of them shaved their heads bald and wore the wigs. They used hog lard as gel to keep it nice. If they were lucky they had a tooth brush maid out of pig bristle – toothbrushes were not mass produced until 1780.

This discussion brought us to the topic of hygiene in general. Bob explained that people back then didn’t shower. If there was no visible dirt they considered themselves clean – and underwear did not exist as we know it today. The men wore very long shirts which they would bunch up in their pants to cover their private parts.

Diana, Darlene and I looked at each other pretty grossed out and we had just ate. Bob started to talk about the really nice coats that they wore with brass buttons. The captain had a gold decorative piece on string that he wore around his neck. It looked like a horseshoe shaped plate – Bob explained this served no real purpose except to let people know he was on duty. His daughter calls it 18^th century bling.

We then moved into the other officers’ room with a packable bunk bed (Bob explained the whole bunk bed could be broken down and fit in a tiny box it was maybe 3-4 ft long and a foot high.

The officers also had nice coats in their room as well. Bob explained that buttons were for men only women had to tie on all of their closes with strings and wore corsets, which were very uncomfortable.

Officer's House - Old Barrack's Museum - Trenton, NJ

After the officer’s house we walked into the actual barracks to the soldiers room. It was a small room, no bigger than the average bed room in a small house – but up to 16 soldiers would sleep in it in 6 beds.

We then moved on to the “hospital” room where Bob handed us off to a younger man named Asher. Small pox was the biggest disease to worry about – it came in 4 forms one where you get tiny pestules all over, one with slightly bigger pestules, one that turns your skin brown with huge pestules, and finally one that has tiny blisters on your skin but underneath your body is covered with the huge brown pestules. Doctors would try to find someone with small pox that produces small pestules all over the body because it has the highest vitality rate, they would collect the disease by pricking the pestules and then inoculating all the soldiers with it. If they lived, they would never get small pox again, but if they died well then they wouldn’t have survived the war anyway.

Asher went on to explain several other instruments (torture devices) that they used to try to help soldiers in the war. And that concluded our tour.

Right before we left, Bob said, “The success of a historic site is defined by the easy with which it can be visited.” I thought was a pretty good point for my project.

We walked around the giftshop for 10 minutes and I was able to purchase a map of Revolutionary War Battle sites which I thought was going to be a good object to annotate for an upcoming class project. However, the map just wasn’t what I was looking for. I did get a small book about George Washington which I found helpful.

We got back to my car with no minutes to spare on the meter.

Then Darlene and I accompanied Diana on a driving trip around Trenton so she could take photos of old abandoned buildings for her research.

Then we headed home.

Reflections

After this trip I have a better understanding of what happened at the Battle of Trenton. One of the books I purchased has a timeline in it about the entire affair which I think will help to clarify any questions I have. The tour was really extensive and I was able to walk away with a lot of information. The only problem I really had was trying to figure out the order of events because the tour was fluid.

In order for this trip to be more successful, I might have done more research about Trenton beforehand. In order to have better questions prepared for any tour guides I may have met or other museum staff.

As suggested in Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, I took down as much details as possible in order to write an extensive post about the trip that will later inform my paper. I think that the success of this trip was not in the overall experience but in all of the small details that made it more interesting and informative.

Most of the questions I still have are regarding George Washington’s role. I don’t think I have a good grasp on him as a person and what his motivations were. This is important because all of the information I have points to him being a major decision-maker.

My next moves are to do more research about Washington. I will also go back to Red Bank to see if I can get more information about the battle that occurred there and to visit historic Philadelphia,  which has a lot of tours, museums, and other things to do, but unlike Trenton, has many more visitors.

Interview #2 Reflection

Lee Weatherby

My second in-person interview was very successful as well. I had high expectations for this interview after having spoken to Lee on the phone quite a few times. I left work late to get to the interview because my boss rescheduled a meeting an hour before it was supposed to happen. I was heading to the Caterer’s Corner, Lee’s shop in Woodbury and a few closed roads and detours later I found the place with a parking spot right out front.

I walked into the tiny shop. It was square shaped and not much bigger than the average kitchen packed with snacks, sodas, and other foods. It reminded me of the corner store I used to go in when I was little. We lived in Philly and there was a convenience store across the street on the corner where my parents sent me to get lunchmeat, milk, or eggs.

Lee asked me what I was working on and what my goal was and after explaining to him he just started to talk. Lee was born and raised in Woodbury, NJ. He volunteered in his community his whole life. He was a part of the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Company, and has been Santa during the holidays for 33 years.

He went to Rutgers-Camden and was the first person to ever graduate a double major – Business Administration and Marketing with minors in Political Science and Economics. He was offered a job at Proctor & Gamble, but didn’t take it. The Caterer’s Corner store was owned by a older lady and at this time we was looking to get out of the business. Lee worked there growing up and didn’t want to see the business go under so 29 years later he and his wife Jacki are still running it today.

Lee currently serves as the Vice President of the Merchant and Professional Association of Woodbury. The Merchant’s Association holds events throughout the year to bring people and money into the town. Some of the events include a car show, 6 cruise nights through the year, Santa parade and holiday shopping, and the taste of Woodbury.

Lee feels with the proper investments Woodbury could come back to life as a town and the G.G. Green project is a major step in the right direction for that.

I found out from Lee, the G.G. Green building renovation is only half of the project. The other half is renovating the Woodbury Antique Center, just a block or two up Broad St. from the Green building. The project is to turn the Antique center into a media center with a T.V. station, radio station, the works broadcasting for South Jersey. They want to be able to tape the performances that happen at the Green Building performance arts center and broadcast them over the air, as well as have them available On-Demand video.  In an ideal world, the theater’s renovations would include multi-robotic-cameras to capture all of the performances.

This is the perfect location, explained Lee, because in front of these buildings is the largest trunk-line for cable services.

“Any town looking to develop themselves needs to look outside of the box,” Lee said. A television station in the middle of South Jersey is out of the box. Lee’s vision is that the station will have big windows like the Today show in NYC so people walking by will be able to look in and see what’s going on. Lee joked about wanting to host a morning show called “What’s Up, Woodbury.”

The project will not only create jobs but bring people into the town to see the media center or to see shows at the performing arts center which will ultimately bring people into the shops and restaurants in town producing revenue.

The Woodbury Merchant’s Association was the first entity to be on board and support the project. Lee also said that Rowan University’s President Farish, a Woodbury resident, was also on board.

As a Radio/TV/Film and Journalism graduate from Rowan, the opportunity of more media jobs closer to home is very exciting. I hope that the town can come up with the money. Lee explained with the economy that a tough road lies ahead. They won’t be able to get money from the state and could not fundraise enough to scratch the surface so they’ll have to rely on private donations. Lee mentioned that QVC, headquartered near West Chester, PA had a positive impact on the town and hopes this will do the same for Woodbury.

I owe all of the success of this interview to Lee who was more than willing to talk with me for 45 minutes about his life and this project. I was writing furiously most of the time.  I wish I had more to contribute to the conversation but he brought up a different side of the story that I didn’t know about. I also realized that Lee was much younger than Don and was not around when the Green Building was the Rialto Theater.

Towards the end, Lee even asked more about me. He said with a smile it’s not often anymore to see young people motivated and working hard – and props to everyone in Core 2 because I thought of all of you.

Trip to Red Bank

On Friday, March 4^th I planned to get up and take a trip to Red Bank Battlefield. I really wanted to go in the Whitall house. I heard that Ann Whitall stayed in her house even while it was under attack and then took care of wounded soldiers both American and Hessian.

Whitall House

Unfortunately, the water heater at home was broken and if they didn’t fix it it could leak carbon monoxide into my house and my parents could have been killed in their sleep. Needless to say it was important to me to do my mother a tiny favor  – sitting at home until they fixed it.

But, that meant not leaving to go to Red Bank until 3 p.m. and not getting there until 3:40 because I got lost. My grandmom used to take my little brother and I  there when we were little. It’s one of her favorite parks and it was close to home. (It’s only 15 minutes from my house – and I usually have a good sense of direction).

I got there and I started snapping photos of everything. There weren’t very many people around. One couple was sitting on a bench cuddled together in the cold wind. It was cute, but the bitter single girl in me said get a room it’s freezing.

The battlefield at Red Bank in National Park, NJ

The park has a great view of the airport, navy yard, and Commodore Barry Bridge. I put a quarter in the binocular machine just to look around and ended up watching planes out of focus for my 2 minutes – I didn’t see the focus knob until it was too late.

Scenic view of Philly

I didn’t realize this before but Red Bank Battlefield is a part of Fort Mercer. I took some photos of the monument near the fort and at that point it was time to head to work.

Monument in honor of Colonel Christopher Greene at Red Bank Battlefield

Colonel Christopher Green on top of his monument

In-person interview #2

Tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Caterer’s Corner in Woodbury, I will be interviewing Lee. Lee is the owner of the shop and a former mayor of Woodbury Vice President of the Merchant’s Association* who I am going to speak with again about the Green Building. Being younger, I think Lee will offer a different perspective of the town and what the Green Project means.

My last interview went really well and I hoping this does as well. I’ve talked to Lee on the phone a few times and he seems not only very nice, but also talkative.

I want to ask him about his life currently, mostly because he always sounds busy, as well as his involvement in the Green Project and more importantly why it matters to him, as a Woodbury resident, to be fixed at all.

In my reading, I came across the name of a man named Ben with the same last name as Lee who lived in the area around 1776 and opened a tavern. It’s not a catering business/sandwich shop but how close can you get. I wonder if Lee has heard of him and if they are related. On one hand it would be cool to hear from a living relative, but it would also be cool to introduce Lee to an ancestor.

Once again, I will follow the lead of Gubrium’s Postmodern Interviewing and conduct an active interview – not merely using my interviewee as a bank of information

*Updated March 19, 2011

Things that talk

In last Tuesday’s class, Professor Wolff asked us to first close our laptops – something we never do which should have been a red flag but I paid for it so I stayed.

We began our discussion with Things that Talk by Lorraine Daston. “Could you imagine a world without things?” Some students in the class discussed floating beings in nothingness, others discussed a very boring existence. I pictured it to be bright white space that looks like a Mac v. PC commercial.

Then we thought about how things define our culture. Some responses were:

• Give us things to talk about
• Give us things to build civilization
• Things are a reflection of past actions and thought as you move to the future they become artifacts

I think that things define our culture by giving us goals – things to work toward. These goals might come from necessity (the need to communicate, the need to sit down, the need to get clean), and others might come from want (wanting to be entertained, wanting to have fun, wanting to take photos).

This discussion lead to the difference between things that have “thingness” or “talk” versus “non-thingness” or “mute.”

Things that talk:

• Reflect our culture and vales
• Depends on the perspective of the viewer or user
• Have a rich history
• We understand the implications of it
• Changes the status quo
• Encourages interaction
• Challenges the old modes and classifications
• Resists Binaries
• Moves across boundaries

In order to find our own things with thingness, one of our assignments for the semester is to analyze a thing that speaks about our topics and write up a annotation similar to the Document Analysis that appear in Harper’s magazine.

How do we analyze?

By looking at the following:

• Social Issues surround the object (race, class, gender, politics, education, socio-economic impact)
• Practicalities
• Context
• Historical
• Statistics
• Finding tension

We have to look at the object and try to find the associative impact of it.

For my research, I’m considering analyzing a map or a old newspaper clipping. I have to do some more research to decide.

Reflections on the Interview

I just got home after my first in-person interview and it went very well. Much better than I expected. I was nervous going into this interview because I didn’t know what Don would be able to tell me. On the phone, he was kind but spoke quickly and seemed preoccupied. I asked to come in at 11 a.m. on a Friday I thought it wouldn’t be very busy at that hour for a small florist.

When I arrived around 11, I wasn’t sure where to park because there were scattered cars parked but faded signs said no parking. I ended up behind a truck just outside the shop. I figured if I park behind someone else they can’t tow us both, right? Well they probably could, but I took the risk.

I walked into the shop to find that Don wasn’t there yet. He had a busy morning heading to speak to 7th and 8th graders in Woodbury for career day.I was greeted by a tall blonde woman in her early 50s with a kind face. She said Don was expecting me and that I should just relax.

I overheard her ask someone in the back room that I couldn’t see if someone was picking him up. I was kind of nervous because I knew he was old but if he can’t drive anymore how does he run this business and how is this going to go.

As soon as he arrived back at the shop he quickly greeted me and with a quick follow me  disappeared into the back room. He cleaned off an old wooden chair that reminded me very much of furniture my grandparents had. Don is about 5’4 and was dressed in a gray suit with a swear, shirt and tie and an American flag pin. He began working right away, quickly arranging 2 flower baskets with red carnations, yellow and pink daisies among other assorted flowers. They were almost done within 10 minutes.I liked that he worked while I talked I got to see him in his element and it made both us more comfortable.

He began to talk fondly about the history of the Green building which had been built in 1880. It has had many uses over the years including opera house, basketball court, amateur boxing ring, armory, and theater. It will cost $14 million to turn it into the performing arts center that they want it to be.

He explained that even though the building is so old is structurally still intact and very strong.

Don used to be the mayor of Woodbury about 9 years ago and was for 8 years – he was involved in the town’s politics for 30s years as a councilman and president of the council. He explained that there was some type of housing supposed to be built  – he went to the meeting to oppose it and was approached immediately following by some other councilmen who liked the way he spoke and encouraged him to run.”And 30 years later it was time to get out,” he said.

The florist business CJ Sanderson Florist, has been in business for 98 years. His dad was from Scotland, and his mom was born in America. He grew up in Woodbury, in the house next to the shop, attending Woodbury High School. Don and his brother went to University of Maryland College Park for Horticulture to run the family business. This business is his now as his brother went on to get his PhD and taught at Auburn College for 30 years.

From the 1920s to the mid50s the GG Green Building was the Rialto Theater – a movie house. In the 20s they had an organ to show silent films and then of course sound came later. Don stopped working to reflect fondly on a memory of going every Saturday to the matinee to see Buck Jones, a serial movie. You had to go every week, he explained, you know to find out if he was going to fall off the cliff or not.

Don thinks that it is important to preserve this historic building in Woodbury – which still has the stage, seats, and the projection room. It’s an opportunity for the arts: concerts, plays, and bring continuous business back to Woodbury.

Before the Deptford mall was built, Woodbury was the mecca of Gloucester County – you couldn’t walk down Broad St. on Friday and Saturday nights because there were crowds of people everywhere going into the  shops and supermarkets, eating in restaurants and hanging out.

Don thinks the performing arts center will bring some of that back to Woodbury and will also bring a balance to the leisure activities of South Jersey which is mostly all about sports.

Don explained that the importance for preserving historic buildings in general is two-fold.

1. It gives you a heritage and a basis to build other things. For example, the architecture can be studied and is the basis and influence for current buildings.

2. It’s a testament to the accomplishments of our forefathers so that we can appreciate their work and their intelligence.

Don remembers going to the movies at the Rialto and then walking to the drug store next door which had candy and soda shop counter and getting a Cherry Phosphate. I told him about visiting a drug store in Alaska which still had the soda shop counter. He laughed, remembering the old days.

He talked about a halloween costume contest they had every year and how every year his brother won the $5 wearing the same lion costume because it was based on applause and they brought 27 boys from the neighborhood into the theater with pots and pans to make the most noise.

Don has high hopes for the new building he says that if they can get some money from the state – which will be difficult given the economy – it will do well especially because the biggest problem was the lack of parking but now there’s a lot behind the building. They are thinking of all the things they need to do to bring people and trying to make them happen.

I think the interview was successful because of all the information I was able to get and how comfortable it was given Don continued to work. It was a conversation – nothing formal. Don was able to just talk about his memories of Woodbury and time he spent at the theater.

I think I was a little uncomfortable and I wish I had spoken to him a little bit longer on the phone to have more to talk about. He is a really interesting person with an interesting life and if I had gotten more information out on the phone it could have lead to more conversation day-of without the need for preliminary information.