Some of my data...

 Depressed 

Bleak

Kind of strange

Hopeful

scary

 changing

 Drastically, The City doesn't seem to have the same values it did when I was growing up.

 I was helped by a total stranger to find my way...the beauty of the water,

Raw Arts ...an amazing oasis for youth.

 Visiting the marsh and checking out the wildlife ecosystem and walking along the 

breakwater when the waves were crashing up and getting splashed...

 No best aspect just a crime ridden city that is unsafe for the people to walk the streets 

no matter what time of day or night.

 When i visited RAW in downtown Lynn, I couldn't help thinking that it might have been pretty nice and

 lively at one point. I hope it can be again. It has a ton of potential.

 An old city with some great treasures.

 Ocean Views, Gritty City

Lynn Coding

My coding process has given me so many rich directions... and repeatedly i am finding the codes to have an alternate opposite or contrasting code along with it.

Mourning the loss of the old city/ potential for future growth
natural beauty/ decay, abandonment, desolation
affluence / poverty
pride / disgust

other stand alone themes are diversity, youth, crime, frustration.

It seems that with all the opposites happening: this is not a dichotomy. This is a both/and situation: Lynn has both beautiful mansions and foreclosed triple deckers; both wooded forests and industry; both a sense of pride and shame for what has happened to a once thriving city. It's all there, and it's all part of the story.

I came into this project without knowing just how passionate the 'believers' are about the wonderful things the city of Lynn has to offer, and how upset it makes them not only to hear what others say, but to know that most of it is true. I think many people, including myself, had a pretty bad idea about the city, mainly that it is unsafe and depressed, but it's also got a lot going on. There's an interesting art scene going on, and I get the sense that there's much brewing in the way of social progress.

I'm very inspired by all the hope and potential evident in my small amount of research that Lynn might someday soon turn itself around. I find that instead of serving to expose my biases alone, this project has converted me into one of the believers.

Status update, 12/9

So I am deep in the process of coding at the moment. I was chatting to Dahlia today as I coded the results from my survey and she asked me if I could tell whose answers were whose. Truth is, Yes! I absolutely can. But I mixed them up before coding as much as possible to hopefully mix it up a little. I want to avoid having my impressions of the responders cloud my coding process. I know many of them well, or I know what they do, (i.e. a Lynn cop, his responses are pretty obvious!) and I wonder how that may effect my work. For example, I know that the cop's responses tend to be the most optimistic as he wants to protect and serve his community, so do I instinctively put his responses in my section of 'optimistic' themes and codes? or would they normally go somewhere else? I need to reflect solely on the words and the meaning behind them. Or perhaps knowing who they are is indeed important to know?

Another concern I am having is that i have certain opinions or impressions of words or phrases. Here's a good example: diverse. I automatically assumed that diverse is a GOOD thing, a positive. However, it is really just a description. I myself think of diversity as a positive, but maybe my responder does not. I then decided to set this word aside and make a new theme, that of diversity on its own, and not associate it with good or bad.

My survey data is quite interesting. There is a lot of conflicting opinions about Lynn, including within each responder. The opinions are very strong in both directions.

So on I go with the coding. I am finally feeling this come together. I still feel quite behind: I feel as if I was not sure what this project was really to look like until recently. It took a long time to get there, and I am not sure why it was so hard to get my head around it. Perhaps it was my high level of stress this semester thanks to work.

Lynn, Lynn...

In the midst of data collection!

I've got 9 responses so far on my Survey Monkey survey. (you can take it, too!)
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VSNLGDH

I am going to start coding from these responses today and writing poems from my coding.

I have also collected articles and books about Lynn and it's history which i will code from as well.

For my presentation, i plan on creating a photo/ poetry book. I like the idea of presenting my poems and collected images on one page, and then have another page for people to write in or draw their reflections. I stole this idea from my friend's wedding album! Cheesy, but we will see how it works!

Poetic Inquiry

Our guest artist expert in class for the poetic inquiry group was Danielle Georges. I felt she gave an excellent, relatively comprehensive for the short time period, overview of the different types of poetry and its uses. Danielle also clearly explained the structure and composition of poetry and how it differs from prose. She's an excellent instructor who made the class engaging and interesting. While she did not answer our specific questions, it was an inspiring introduction that really took the fear out of writing poetry, at least for me, and that was worth so much. I wrote in my notebook, 'understand the nature of your tool', and I can't recall if that is something Danielle said or not, but it's a great way to explain the session. 

When it came time to hold our own session, I could tell that the class was eager to begin creating their own material. We had originally planned on leading 3 exercises... we could only fit one! "More time!" the class asked. I felt good knowing everyone was overflowing with ideas--- i'd love to hear what people think of the session weeks on and how it helped their writing, analysis, or research.

I found the session useful myself, and i created two good poems myself from data i collected at RAW artworks in Lynn. I gathered business cards from inside the art pieces done by high school aged kids in the program, with their own words on both sides. 

The first is a concrete found poem taken directly from the artists' quotes on the cards:

I then reflected on this and created a haiku that expressed the most true statements as they struck me:

grow up, build me up

particle in a dust storm

see me as a whole

In small groups we shared our poems with others and gathered their reactions. This is just as important as the creation of the poems, as the reactions to the data is data itself. here are some of the things they mentioned:

inside/outside

different angles/perspectives

puzzle

time/journey

carries powerful emotions

cries out

chaos/ cry from the chaos

juxtaposition

pressure to 'grow up'

judged for that moment

What was most striking to me was how they picked up on this notion of inside/outside; a theme that RAW specifically discussed in one of their programs; in fact, i think a whole exhibit was called inside/outside. I was pleased they caught on to the idea of internal chaos that I wanted to convey.

Then again, how do I know what the artists at RAW meant to communicate on these cards? Would they think  my poems express the same? Perhaps not: when reflecting upon reflections, the original intent and images can get distorted over time.Also, the opinions of those doing the reflections begin to take an effect as well. It's not like a mirror reflecting a mirror and the images go on and on: then, the image is a perfect copy, never distorted or altered over time. This work isn't like that, the researcher, reader, reflector, the writer... they can't not help but project their own feelings as they respond to the data they collect. No one is ever a blank slate- a perfect mirror. 

My project is a self-reflective journey that I hope will help me develop methods of exposing my own opinions and processes so that I can record them as they change. If I am more aware of my own reflections, then I can track how my research changes me over time. In the future, I will be working in communities where I will have opinions, biases, and judgments: this is fact. If I can become aware of these, in a methodical way, and record them, I can better see how I change, or rather how the community changes me. Perhaps I can transfer these skills to observing changes in others as well. 

My Research Question, part deux

I've completely re-done my research topic from the original one. Of course, this means more work! But I really like my new topic, as it involves self reflection and challenging my own assumptions. Earlier I noted my struggle to dedicate time and energy to this work, and so this question is the perfect challenge for me right now. 

Self Reflection: Using poetic inquiry to examine my own impressions of the community of Lynn, MA

How can poetic inquiry illuminate our own preconceptions and understanding about a community as we research it?

I am doing my internship at Boston Youth Arts Evaluation Project, which seeks to analyze, gather, and understand data about the impact of the arts in the lives of youth at risk. It is an off-shoot of RAW ARTworks in Lynn, MA. I realized that all I knew of Lynn was from what I heard from others, and I wanted to explore my preconceptions and be aware of them before I dive into this research to be sure that my own judgments do not cloud my analytic process.

Lisa asks: how will you track your own evolving perceptions?

This is the nut of the thing, really. How do I track it? This is what my internship is all about, too. Not only do I want to be focusing on my initial opinions and thoughts, and then my thoughts as I research and learn, but the evolution of this and most importantly how and why and record this in some way.

I need to research some more on this topic to get a better idea. I need to better understand the methods others have used so my work will be valid and more useful.

where I'm at...

I have to apologize for my inconsistent blogging. I have several posts I need to complete that have been gestating in my head for a while now, so hopefully I can begin to get them out.

I'm just totally exhausted lately. My job should take up 35 hours of my week, but it's taken more like 45. And it's taking everything out of me, psychologically. And I know I am not alone. My question to the class, if anyone has any answers, is how do you find the mental capability at the end of the day (if your work is like mine and rather unrelated to our field) to turn to this work with fresh eyes? I am struggling with this lately, and I'd love any guidance or advice. It sometimes begins feeling like this looming elephant in the room with me all the time; one I love and want to play with, but that demands attention and care that I find myself struggling to muster.

In the end, I am here at Lesley for this program and this work so I need to find a way to do both. I feel like a glass that is completely full, and as more is poured in, more of the old spills out. Does the glass ever grow, or does it just break eventually?

I also am reminded constantly how everyone, especially the communities I will someday work in, has got it rough. We're all overloaded. There's a quote that I can't quite remember, about remembering that the other person is running their own marathon, or something...regardless, appreciation and understanding is at the heart of what we do.

And with that, i'm on to my long overdue postings...