CATE SARAH MARTIN

This is me! I'm trying to look literary.

PATTERNS:

After examining my literary practices over three days, I saw a few patterns begin to emerge...

Momma Bear:

Firstly, I see that I am somewhat of a momma bear. I use text messages and Blackberry messages to keep tabs on my friends and family. The communication is often not directed at anything specific, but rather an opportunity to check in and let the recipient know he or she is in my thoughts. On these particular days, I wrote to my boyfriend's big little brother (he's the taller one on the left), who is a freshman at Clemson University, to let him know that whatever happened with fraternity rush, it was "meant to be". I was trying to calm his nerves - all for nothing because he got into the fraternity he wanted.

Also I wrote to my friend, Evan, who is an orthopedic surgeon resident in NYC and married to one of my best friends, Chellis. I wrote to remind him of a Train concert we went to together when he was a freshman at Clemson many, many years ago and to make

sure he was having a good week. Train was playing at Daniel Island that night, so it triggered my nostalgia.

I texted my best friend Krista, who is a medical student at the University of Vermont in Burlington, to tell her about my new laptop as she introduced me to Apples when we were in college. More importantly, the text's purpose was to check in with her. We usually text or call each other once a week just to keep the lines of communication open.

Every other day, I call my parents as well. As an only child, I make sure that I keep them both informed - often repeating the same list of events and concerns to each separately, so neither feels left out. Of course, they are MY "mamma and papa bear", but as I get older I feel the roles changing as I prepare to eventually take care of them.

Bedtime Reader:

It also turns out that I am a bit of a bedtime reader. In this three day study, I read two magazine articles and one psychology article for Psych 103 from bed. It seems as though I have never kicked the childhood habit of reading myself to sleep. I imagine that it is not the best practice for academic subjects and retaining important information, but it is the perfect time for indulgent reading.

I read Rolling Stone Magazine, borrowed

from Michael Charamella, my colleague, and learned that

Katy Perry was once a gospel singer and that

Michael Cera is a true nerd. While the main

purpose of engaging in these articles was relaxation,

I recalled both stories again in social settings. I was able to connect with Michael over the story he had also read about Cera and how harsh the reporting was. Too, at a girls' dinner, I informed my friends about Katy Perry's conservative, religious background - an interesting anecdote as we bopped around to "I Kissed a Girl".

How do I do this?!:

Over the course of three days, I spent a good amount of time reading instructional guides at work and at home. I am a graduate assistant at the Department of Health and Human Performance, and thus I am often asked to perform administrative and professorial tasks that are unfamiliar to me and require a little background reading. Too, as a student with a brand new i-clicker and MacBook Pro, I had quite a lot of installing, registering, and dissecting of "how-to" guides to do in the first week of school.

At work, I helped Dr. Yum Nguyen,

one of the Athletic Training professors,

enter references into a database for a book

chapter that he is writing. I was using Endnote,

a program unfamiliar to me, so I had to pay close

attention to what information went in each blank.

I also helped Dr. Miller find a video for a Public Health class that I was proctoring the next week. I used our lovely College of Charleston Library catalog to search "Public Health" and found just the right one -

Unnatural Causes. It ended up being a truly interesting video about inequalities in health between the rich and the poor and the not-so-obvious cause of this - stress. In this way, I used literacy practices to "problem-solve" for a professor that was going to be absent and, in turn, to help educate her students.

I had to register my new i-clicker before psychology class which was a simple online process, but required me to follow instructions.

And, finally, I read the Apple Installation Guide and Getting Started Handbook as I began my journey as an "Apple person". This is crucial because following instructions at the beginning of the installation and set up process ensures that your computer works properly down the road.

SOCIOCULTURAL IDENTITIES:

Three distinct sociocultural identities emerged through the recordings of my literary practices....

Late 20's:

Firstly, it was clear that I was in my 20's. My comfortable use of text messages for daily communication, my choice of magazine, my job as a graduate assistant, and the purchase of an Apple laptop all indicate that I am in this age bracket. As a 27-year old I have been text messaging since high school and almost feel more comfortable communicating by text and email than over the phone or in person. This is certainly a product of our technologically savvy generation. Though there are some GA's who are returning to graduate school later in life, 27 is a pretty average age for this job position. Finally, Apple has really done an excellent job marketing to young creatives. I imagine their average new client is in their early or late 20's with parents and/or the means to purchase their first personal computer.

Female:

At first glance, it was not readily apparent that I was female by what I recorded in the ethnography. Rolling Stone Magazine is a gender neutral magazine and the tasks of graduate assistant are also pretty unbiased gender-wise. The text messages gave me away! In general, males prefer to use text messages to make concrete plans or ask specific questions. All of my text messages, recorded over the three day period, were without clear purpose. They were the text equivalent of "Thinking of You" cards and, as previously mentioned, showed a motherly, nurturing side. The person behind the texts was clearly female. Furthermore, I texted my boyfriend's brother - which traditionally indicates that I am a female in a heterosexual relationship. It's long distance, so Will does not show up as much as he might otherwise in my ethnography, but here is a picture of us from the summer.

Upper-middle class:

A review of my literary ethnography indicates that I was raised in an upper-middle class home and continue to practice the habits that I am accustomed to, even though I am very much living on a pauper's budget! It is obvious from my bedtime reading habits that growing up I had at least one parent who had the time and energy to read stories to me before bed. It also indicates that I have enough leisure time in my life currently to feel comfortable reading something for pleasure in the evenings. My purchase of a computer also indicates that I am able to afford a relatively expensive product that might be prohibitively expensive for some. Too, I am sure there is some statistical evidence that people who go back university to get further degrees are more consistently middle to upper class.