Event #2: Performance at Memorial Hall

This past Wednesday, I chose to attend a performance at Memorial Hall, Orpheus et Eurydice. It was basically a re-enactment of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Orpheus, a great poet, fell deeply in love with Eurydice. However, Eurydice died from a snake bite, and her spirit went to the underworld. Hence, Orpheus went to the underworld to get the love of his life back. Once there, Hades allows Orpheus to return to the earth from the underworld with his wife only if he does not look back during the journey, but Orpheus looks back, and Eurydice disappears forever.

I think Orpheus et Eurydice would have to be one of the most fascinating performances that I have seen yet. The dancers did an amazing job at re-enacting the story of Orpheus and Eurydice from Greek mythology. Expressions of the dancers were the most important thing in this performance. Most of the times the expressions of the dancers were very intense, but at times, they were really funny. At the beginning, they all just screamed really loud, which I think represented the frustration and anger of Orpheus. Later on in the performance, they just made these really weird and sad noises portraying the feelings of Orpheus after losing Eurydice. One of the dancers really caught my attention, because I could tell that she had really put in a lot of effort. There were hardly any conversations in this performance; hence, she had to express everything using her body to convey the message to us. The audience really seemed to enjoy the performance. I, being a member of the audience, was really immovable throughout the entire performance. The most interesting part was when one of the dancers, playing the role of Eurydice came into the audience, and was literally just crossing over seats and people sitting in those seats. That really caught the attention of all the members of the audience.

Overall, I think this was a wonderful experience. I was a little skeptical at first about attending a performance, because I didn’t think that I would enjoy it. The dancers were just incredible. They in fact got a standing ovation at the end. I came back and told my roommate about the performance and she wants to go see one soon now. So, I might be going before long to see another performance at Memorial Hall.

Observation: hour 3

I did my last observation after my 12 o’clock class on Friday. Since the weather was very nice, many more people were present at the flag pole. With a bigger population, it became very easy to notice the groups that smokers tend to form when they are at the flag pole. Hence, this indicates they prefer to be more social. There were only 2 people who were smoking by themselves. Other than these two, everyone was else was at least with one other person. There were a lot of small groups with two to three people in each group. They all seemed to be having casual conversations with each other.

There were groups of students coming and going. A few of the groups there consisted of five or six students that stayed there the entire hour that I was observing them. However, the other smaller groups of students just came for a few minutes and then left. The interesting thing about them was that, they came in groups and left in groups. It’s as if they stick together as a community.

Observation: hour 2

During the afternoon on Wednesday, I decided to sit in the quad again to observe the smokers. I wanted to see how different it would be now since classes are over for most students. As expected there weren’t as many students there. However, it was very interesting to see that most of the students there were sitting down around the flag pole and doing school work. On one side, there was one female and one male. They both occasionally conversed with each other while they were working and smoking. Other than them, there was one other female who was leaning against the flag pole doing her work as well. She also held a cigarette in her hand. These people remained there throughout my one hour of observation.

Two other males came for smoking. They both stood there for a while. They were talking to each other the entire time they were there. After they left, another male came and sat leaning against the flag pole on the other side of the female that sat there. He also took out a notebook and a cigarette. I had never thought of the flag pole being a place for studying. I always just saw people going there for a smoke break. Upon seeing this, I have realized that the smokers have formed a community of their own. Also, most of them prefer to be social.

Observation: hour 1

During the first hour of observation, I noticed that students were gathered around the flag pole most of the time. However, the amount of students present changed throughout the first hour. The number of students decreased during class time, and it increased during the time in between class change. A wide range of groups were seen, which included of larger groups to people smoking by themselves. At the beginning there were only a few students there. The groups were smaller, including of two or three students, and a few students that were smoking by themselves. One group included of three students. Two of them were standing while the other one, a female, was sitting down. Also, there were two other girls standing away from the flag pole on the grassy area smoking and talking to each other. One male was sitting on the floor leaning against the flag pole, and another one was just standing off to the side and smoking by himself. He seemed busy reading a newspaper.

Later on more people started coming in and suddenly there was this huge group of students gathered around the flag pole to smoke. In addition to the one large group, there were other smaller groups off to the side. However, they were all talking to each other. The most interesting thing that I noticed was the fact that the few smokers that chose to smoke by themselves stepped away from the flag pole. In totality, most of the students gathered around the flag pole were busy talking to one another. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves. The more crowded it was, the more obvious it became that they had formed groups and were socializing with each other. It seemed as if they had all formed a community of some sort.

Hypothesis update

The microculture that I chose is the smokers who gather around the flag pole on the UNC campus. I have been walking past them since the beginning of the school year; however, I have always just ignored their existence like most of the other students on campus. The flag pole is a very common place for students to gather around, because it is one of the few places on campus where smoking is not prohibited. They are generally a group of students who prefer to smoke in groups in order to socialize rather than by themselves.

I plan to observe the behaviors of the smokers at the flag pole, because I want to know how they interact with each other, and respond to the behaviors of the others outside of their microculture. My main concern is finding out why they choose to gather around the flag pole instead of anywhere else on campus. According to the rule, the smokers are prohibited to smoke within 100-feet of all campus buildings. Yet, why do most of them choose to smoke around the flag pole? My hypothesis is that smokers prefer the flag pole area to smoke, because they can socialize with people they share common interests with. This hypothesis could be supported by observing whether smokers who choose to smoke around the flag pole socialize with each other or not.

Studying this microculture can broaden the views of the larger UNC community, because not many people understand the views of the smokers. So many people tend to ignore people who do not have similar views or interests as them, but one can learn to appreciate others by understanding the reasons for their behaviors. Most importantly, studying this microculture can provide one with a better understanding of the smokers as human beings and their beliefs and values.

Smokers at UNC

I plan to observe the smokers on the UNC campus. I have been walking past them since the beginning of the school year; however, I have always just ignored their existence until now. Though, a few days ago, I was exposed to the cigarette smoke as I walked past them, which really bothered me. I finally acknowledged their existence. So, I decided to find out why they were there in the first place. Upon doing some research, I found out that the smokers are prohibited to smoke within 100-feet of all campus buildings. Therefore, the flag pole is one of the few places on campus where smoking is not forbidden. Hence, a lot of the smokers have to gather around the flag pole in order to smoke.

Consequently, I chose to observe the behaviors of the smokers at the flag pole, because I wanted to know how they interacted with each other, and how the behavior of the others, outside of their microculture, was towards them. My main concern was finding out why they chose to gather there and smoke instead of anywhere else on the campus. My hypothesis was that they were able to socialize with others that they had something in common with and because the flag pole is very conveniently located. Hence, most of the smokers choose to go to the flag pole to smoke. Also, the people who do not want to be exposed to the secondhand smoke can easily choose to avoid walking by them.

Studying this microculture can broaden the views of the larger UNC community, because not many people understand the views of the smokers. So many people tend to ignore people who do not have similar views or interests as them, but one can learn to appreciate others by understanding the reasons for their behaviors. Hence, observing the smokers at the flag pole can provide one with a better understanding of them as human beings and their beliefs and values.

Observation 2: Disrupting a Space

I chose to disrupt the smokers at the flag pole. In order to do this, I decided to just walk by them and cough. I knew that I would probably get a lot of mean looks if I did this, but I went ahead and did it anyways. I coughed out loud as I walked past them when I was returning from class on Friday. I then looked to see if any of them reacted to my behavior. I saw exactly what I had expected. The few who actually observed me were just staring at me. They didn’t look very happy. However, the others just carried on with their normal activities.

After a while, I decided to cough while I walked through the group of people that were smoking at the flag pole, instead of just walking past them and coughing. I was bound to get more attention this way. So, I did exactly what I had planned on. I walked through them and coughed. As I coughed while I was walking through them, I noticed that this time I got the attention of most of the people that were there. They all stared at me really awkwardly. I’m assuming that they were wondering what I was doing there in the first place. After leaving I just observed them from a distance and noticed that they all had just continued their normal activity after I left.