Chapter 3 Reflection

1. Every thanksgiving while growing up, my entire family would meet at a lake in Glen Ellyn, Illinois for a morning hike. This tradition started when my Dad was really young with his three other siblings and my grandpa would take the kids out of the hosue so that my grandma could cook and prepare for guests. Even when my Dad and Aunts and Uncles were grown-up and having families of their own, the hike was still very important and a habitual part of our thanksgiving traditions. My grandpa passed away last March so this Thanksgiving we wanted to continue the tradition he started. Instead of driving to the lake in Glen Ellyn, we hiked around the park next to his house where two trees were planted in his honor. With my sisters, my parents, my aunts, uncles, and all my cousins, we took a picture in front of both of my grandfather’s trees. This changed tradition is important to my whole family because its continuing the tradition my grandpa once started and also respects his love for nature and the trees we had planted.

2. The Little 500 is a race that has been existent at IU for a very long time. But recently, it has come to my attention that everyone seems to be increasingly excited and enthused for this ongoing tradition. Every student is aware that the Little 500 takes place in the springtime, and without fail, every year all the students get even more enthused about the race come second semester. Since this race is incredibly vital to the students at IU, I recognize that it has become increasing central in importance to not only me, but the student body in general.

3. My best friend, Brooke, and I were highly involved in the organization, Young Life, all throughout high school. When we were juniors, our Young Life leader, Bethany, decided to create positions within Young Life for students such as us. Since we never missed a Young Life event and demonstrated our love for the Lord, we were asked to be junior student leaders. This meant that we would have responsibilities at Young Life club, be held accountable for our actions, and meet with Bethany once a week and read from the Bible, another book, talk about our faith, and talk about life in general. The best time in all of our schedules to have these meetings was early Friday mornings before school at 5:30 at a local coffee shop. It was a very early time to meet, but it was the best time of my week. We did this every morning for two years and Brooke, Bethany, and I became so close. Since Brooke and I are away at college now, we meet with Bethany over breaks at the same coffee shop, but because we don’t have school, we choose to meet at a later time.

This post is in response to the Chapter Three Reflection questions.

Album Review

I listened to a recording from the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings website (www.folways.si.edu). The album is entitled the “24 Best-Loved French Folk Songs”. I chose this album because I feel like it is a purchase that will enlighten me, but also be very useful. I am very interested in the French culture and am inspired to learn more about their society and language. I was intrigued when I viewed the song list to this album to see if any American folk songs have stemmed from or even resemble these loved French songs. I was correct with this assumption when I listened to track 3 “Frere Jacques” also known as “Brother James”. In track number 11, there were thirty seconds of only instrumental that sounded almost exactly like the American folk song, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. It was very interesting to listen to the different accents and styles. There were several different styles of songs on the album. Track 15 “Il pleut Bergere” was similar to a lullaby, where as number 16 “La tour prends garde” sounded more like a march. There were a few tracks that I really did enjoy. “Savez-vous planter les choux” was very funny, a song about planting cabbage; it made me laugh that this song was included in an album dedicated to France’s most loved folk songs. I also enjoyed “Ah! Mon beau chateau!” It reminded me of any American sing-a-long song because of the echo effect displayed by the singers.

All in all, I benefitted from hearing the different language and accents presented in the songs, but the styles were fairly familiar because of American folk songs that resemblance them.

This post was in response to my Second Encounter Project.

Reflection Question #2

As stated in the text, belief is “one of the most powerful elements of any kind of folklore”. I agree with this claim wholeheartedly as I am strongly affiliated with a non-denominational Christian organization or group called Young Life. Recently, I have officially become a leader in this group which means each week I lead different events for Eastern High School students in Greene County, Indiana which is about thirty minutes West of Bloomington. Within this large organization of Young Life there are several sub-groups; for example: on-staff leaders, volunteer leaders, committee members, high school leaders, middle school leaders, high school students, middle school students, and many more. Specifically in Bloomington alone, there are six separate groups of volunteer leaders. Five groups lead at different high schools: North, South, Edgewood, Brown County, and Eastern) and there is one group of middle school leaders who are affiliated with all the surrounding junior highs. I have really benefited from being incorporated in the Eastern High School leader team, which includes three guys and three girls, they have become similar to a family while I am away from home at school. It has been interesting to view how the dynamics of the team have changed since I have joined. I feel I have brought new ideas to the table and have gotten my other teammates more excited about the workload involved with leading this semester.

It has been very fun and beneficial to be apart of such a group, especially while at school and away from home. Young Life has held me accountable for my beliefs, stepped in to help me out whatever the circumstance, and has been an incredible support group when feeling lonely or out of place here on a big campus like IU.

This post is in response to the Reflection Question #2.

Peer Review #1

Grace demonstrates a great interest in her first encounter assignment. She obviously did an abundance of research before she wrote her review of the Mandalay restaurant. Grace is very detailed in her description in her review and gives great background information and an excellent introduction into the cuisine type. I particularly enjoyed her first opinion of the restaurant when she first enters and is warmly greeted by the manager. This displays Grace’s efforts to make her restaurant visit not only about the food, but the experience in its entirety. I thought her experience and encounter was very authentic and valid because she tried several entrees similar to a professional restaurant. In the review, Grace slips in facts about the Burmese cuisine including that 75% of their diet consists of rice; these facts made her experience engaging and interesting to read.

This post is in response to my first Peer Review.