Today I begin my final week of my time in New York. I have been taking the 3 to NDI but this week I might get bold and try taking the bus home in the evening. I have not only learned from the dance training but in addition I am learning about how to communicate and create a message by doing a daily blog, vlog, and journaling. These practices are the core tools that will elevate the work that I will be doing during the year. Until I began to prepare for my fellowship, I would never have used Twitter as a device to talk about the work I am doing. Until coming to New York City for my fellowship, I would never have imagined that living in the city would give me the chance to do research about life experience. The world I am living in has and will continue to be my laboratory.
eth·nog·ra·phy (eTHˈnäɡrəfē/)-noun
1. the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.
2. the study and systematic recording of human cultures
3. a descriptive work produced from such research
I first became aware of ethnography during my research coursework last fall with Dr. Douglas Risner in which I practiced taking notes during one of my own classes. It is a very precise science, but in my own messy way I have learned that it is something that I am doing daily, as I watch the activity on the street both here, and at home in Boston. All of this work will be compatible with the research and coursework I undertake in my last year of my masters program. And so, as I round the corner, I will begin to synthesize the work and rather than worry that I am extracting every detail of the pedagogy, I will allow myself time to let the experience seep into my bones, tissues, spirit, and mind. And it will be informed by the notes, ethnographical studies, I have undertaken as a resident of the greatest cities in the world.