Reading Response 3

Both authors, Katz and Anderson, do a really good job showing the examples from Chapter Ten. The authors do an excellent job of showing us how ethnography works and how to employ the tips shown to us in Chapter Ten. First, both authors focus on groups of people who identify themselves as group members. In “The Cave,” Katz focuses on two men, Jesse and Eric, who are members of the Geek Club. Katz wrote his essay after closely observing the two men for a period of time and spending time with them in their “natural habitat,” following the features “Ethnography depends on close observation over time” and “The bulk of research takes place in the natural settings where group members gather.” You can’t write a true ethnography essay without spending time with the subculture you are writing about and going to the places they go. Also, Katz doesn’t write about the entire subculture of geeks, he chooses to focus on two geeks, Jesse and Eric. As we learned in Chapter Ten, ethnography looks closely at the few to get hints of the big picture. By focusing on Jesse and Eric, Katz brought the essay to a much more personal level, as we feel like we are getting to know these people personally.
In “Mary Kay: American Dream in a Bottle,” Anderson also does an excellent job of employing the features of ethnography and other tips we learned about the subject in Chapter Ten. First, she focuses on members of a group, Mary Kay consultants. Second, her research was conducted over a period of time. She had many different experiences with Mary Kay members over time, including her own sister. The fact that she had attended many Mary Kay meetings meets the third feature. She did her research by attending the meetings, not reading about them on the internet. She went and saw for herself. Fourth, she focuses most of her research on the meeting that Sue, a friend from church, had invited her too. She uses the experience of going to this meeting to go in depth in describing the world of Mary Kay to the reader. Lastly, she was openly subjective. Her voice and opinion was heard throughout the essay, as well as her attempt to overcome her preconceived notions.
Katz does an excellent job of describing the culture he researched. The thing I like most about his writing style is that he puts us right in the room with Jesse and Eric. He wrote the essay in a manner that really connects us with these two men and makes us feel like we are personally getting to know them. “‘Too dark,’ was Jesse’s assessment, without seeming to look away from the screen. So Eric went back to his computer and called up a graphic program. Jesse took another phone call, still playing Quake, as Joni Mitchell gave way to Jane’s Addiction, then the Red Hot Chili Peppers” (B47). I also like how he started out describing their living conditions and how they interacted, then switched over to how they were raised and why they were the way they were.
Anderson also does a good job of description in her essay. She helps us see the feelings that she goes through when she’s pressured by Mary Kay consultants from time to time. She really shows us how awkward she feels around them. “Their enthusiasm was painfully embarrassing and, I felt, unwarranted” (B61). She also does a great job of putting us right in the middle of the Mary Kay meeting and describing how the women interact with each other.
Katz evidence given for this interpretation was the tough upbringing that both Jesse and Eric had and how the internet was the only escape they had to get out of Idaho. They didn’t want to end up like everyone else, working at grocery stores for the rest of their life, with no hope of escaping that life. They didn’t have any other choice, the internet was their only option.
Anderson’s evidence for this interpretation is the “fronts” put up by the Mary Kay consultants. It was clear that Anderson thought that the Mary Kay consultants weren’t being themselves. That they were just in it for the money and their showing of fake enthusiasm and friendliness led to false relationships that were completely dependent on business. She also talks about the Mary Kay business and how it go started. She goes into detail about Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay, and describes different business practices of the company.
For my essay, I could do research on how Fellowship of Christian Athletes got started and how it’s been run throughout the years. I could see if its only in the United States and where their headquarters are. I could research people’s views of FCA, both positive and negative.