First Interview

Yesterday, I conducted my first interview. I interviewed Nicole Denton, director of the Woonsocket Middle School Band. We talked in length about this year's parade, the first in 5 years to include the middle school. We discussed previous parades and their impacts on the middle school band and vice versa. I met Mrs. Denton in 8th grade when she became my band director. Knowing her made the interview more comfortable, and I learned some valuable information that can greatly enhance my study! I'm excited to see how I'm going to use this information.

Parade Day

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, been trying to organize all my data so far.   I went to the parade for AutumnFest at the end of its weekend (Columbus Day) and had a decent time. I say decent because during the parade the people in front of me kept standing up during the parade. It got to the point I had to stand for a duration of the parade. Still, it was enjoyable. There were dozens upon dozens of children lining the street, waiting to see the performers and hear the bands. Dunkin Donuts and Burger King were overloaded with people. I was set up across from the park and Dunkin Donuts and just to the left of Burger King. The street was packed shoulder to shoulder and people were talking quietly amongst themselves. Politicians walked by and received small amounts of claps, but when the police walked by they were met with cheers and enormous amounts of applause. I found  the parade full of interesting things. The most disturbing thing, however, was when a trope of people in scary costumes came by, scraping fake metal cleavers across the ground. The woman in front of me ran back in terror, trampling small kids, knocking over a coffee, and nearly falling on top of me. She didn't even apologize. Despite these incidents, the parade was enjoyable and the people seemed satisfied with the performances.

Taking A Look Around: 3rd Person Sources

Today I looked through a few different websites on a few different things related to my fieldstudy on AutumnFest.  The first site I came across was actually a recent article from one of the local area newspapers, The Valley Breeze.  The article is written by a man who was in the annual parade this year, leading the parade with a protest sign.  His article focuses around one specific Woonsocket police officer rudely demanding he not carry his sign, despite no other officers asking him to not carry the sign, and his feelings that his First Amendment rights were being violated.  This article says a lot about the community that AutumnFest is a part of.  First of all, it shows that individual people in Woonsocket are full of independence and willingness to stand up for what they believe.  Secondly, it shows that some individuals are not always willing to be accepting of other peoples’ ideas.  The second site I came across was the AutumnFest website.  On it I found pictures of previous AutumnFests and dozens of links to information about the festivities.  The site even includes a link to get directions to the festival!  The fact that the website is decently detailed shows that there is a lot of pride and spirit behind AutumnFest.  This only furthers my belief that AutumnFest unites a city that otherwise can ignore itself.  Yet another site I found (now taking a turn away from directly AutumnFest related information) is GoLocalProv.  This Providence, RI related website gives minor information on all kinds of festivals (including AutumnFest!).  Unfortunately, the site is dated for 2012, but it is definitely interesting to see the other kinds of festivals that take place before and after AutumnFest.  Many communities seem to come together in a very similar manor. Perhaps the season of autumn itself is a unifying season?  I hardly hear of any winter festivals, I don’t recall hearing any spring festivals, and the only summer festival I can think of is CumberlandFest, which is just barely outside of Woonsocket.  It’s definitely an interesting concept that I’m considering looking into a little more.  The final site I explored is a New England fall festival site, which showcases on its home page a small amount of festivals that take place specifically in Rhode Island.  Each festival is giving a small little paragraph to let viewers know where it is, what it is, and if it costs any money.  Overall, looking through these sites, I find that each site gives off a friendly vibe, or an informational vibe that isn’t overpowering.  With The Valley Breeze, the site is set up like a newspaper in a sense, so it’s not too overwhelming with other means of information of pop up ads trying to grab your attention.  All of the sites have easy to read fonts that don’t seem to distract you from the purpose of the information.  These sites show that the subculture related to fall festivals in general is family-oriented, friendly, and about enjoying the festivities and getting a break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  I’m providing the links to these sites below if anyone wishes to view them on their own and take a look into some possible fall festivals for the future, or if they’re interested in reading the protestor article from The Valley Breeze.

The Valley Breeze Article
http://www.valleybreeze.com/2013-10-23/woonsocket-north-smithfield/why-stop-free-speech-ahead-parade#.UmnE1fkqjXw

AutumnFest Website

http://www.autumnfest.org

GoLocalProv

http://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/rhode-islands-best-fall-festivals-2012/

Fall Festivals Rhode Island

http://www.newenglandusa.com/Fall/fall-festivals-rhode-island.html

Study Area 1: Beach, Day 1

Most years, the beach in World War II Memorial Park is occupied beyond belief.  Usually, I have to push, shove, "excuse me", and practically parkour through the crowd.  Much to my surprise and disbelief, the beach was practically empty at around 2:30pm on the first day of AutumnFest.  In place of the usual mobs of teenagers I found a group of 10 teenagers playing hacky-sack.  Rather than being obnoxious, loud, and immature, the group was polite, quiet, and peaceful.  Intriguing to me was the fact that there were now groups of families walking across the beach; people walking hand-in-hand, or with their children.  I hadn't seen that in a long time.  Usually children are off with their friends or parents are turning a blind eye.  I couldn't help but wonder, has the economic situation of Woonsocket brought its people more together?  I overheard a group of my friends discussing how to avoid a girl.  To them, the best solution was to pretend to be gay.  This made me question the ethics of my friends, but also realize the idea has the ability to work.  Interestingly, a question formed in my mind: do other people in Woonsocket behave similarly or have similar ethics, or is this a contained situation?  On another note, I was disturbed by the sight of a woman in a ill-fitting wedding dress.  She was clearly not getting married, especially at an event like this, and she wasn't one of the Beacon Charter School of the Arts "Living Statues" that are in the park every year.  She was parading across the beach, not appearing to be drunk, but still disturbing to the eye.  It bothered me to see a woman dress like that for no reason.  Needless to say, the beach on day 1 of AutumnFest was interesting and by far a different experience than anticipated.

A Little Context

I am a white, 18-year-old male from a middle class family from the small town of Woonsocket, RI.  I spent the first 2 months of my life in Fort Pierce, Florida where I was born, but then moved to Woonsocket where I grew up.  I grew up and went to school in the poor district of Woonsocket and saw a lot of children who lived in poverty stricken homes.  I later moved to the more wealthy area of Woonsocket, despite being middle class.  I went to school at the public middle school and high school and was a member of the band and jazz band.  I attend Rhode Island College currently, majoring in Elementary Education.  My parents grew up around Woonsocket, instilling me with their own memories of the city.  I grew up a fan of superheroes, classic cartoons, classic music, watching movies, and reading books.

My focus in my fieldstudy are the people of Woonsocket.  They're believed to be drug addicts, thugs, punks, scum, drunks, and homeless.  Growing up in this city, I've come to see some of this as true.  My own view is that the people of Woonsocket are more than just these categories.  There are many more categories, and publicity in the media has skewed the view of Woonsocket to be negative.  I could, however, very much be wrong, and with AutumnFest being the biggest collection of residents, I may very well discover that I am wrong.

As an insider to this subculture, it worries me to a degree I may know too much about it.  At the same time, I fear I may not know enough about my own culture.  Woonsocket is a city of over 41,000 people, meaning there are people from all walks of life, and people who I may have never seen before.  I won't claim to know everything about the culture of my city, but I believe I know a lot.  These worries I hope I can overcome by paying a little more attention at AutumnFest and coming to understand the possible reasons as to why I don't know much or why I know too much.

Since the city is so diverse, I can safely assume that I differ greatly from many of the people in the city.  Politically I'm moderate, supporting right-wing economics and left-wing social issues.  The city tends not to be concerned about parties and instead focuses its political attention to who can try and fix the economic disaster.  Woonsocket is a Catholic majority city, while I am not religious at all, despite being Protestant.  A balance of races makes up the city, almost equal in each race.  Being a insider, I hope to see that I am able to discover things I've never noticed before.  I feel that in my city, I go unnoticed, but I never really mind, because some times its better to just blend in.

A New Leaf

AutumnFest is a big deal for residents of Woonsocket, RI.  Trust me, I've been going my whole life.  It's really an amazing site to see so many people come together to celebrate the city, and this year is no different, especially since it's the 35th anniversary.  While I've been going my whole life, I honestly haven't the faintest clue as to what exactly drives people to go back year after year.  I only go for the food court, (and let me tell you, if you haven't had a blooming onion or a doughboy, you haven't lived!), it's always packed with at least a dozen different types of food stations.  Yet, there are so many other things going on at once.  What is really going on that brings people back year after year after year?  Is Woonsocket really as "scummy" as people claim?  AutumnFest is full of Woonsocket residents, so I'm sure it can hold the answer to some of these.  What else is there to discover?  Have I missed something over the years?  Is there an underlying subculture within the culture of AutumnFest that I'm unaware of?  There are so many questions on my mind, and exploring AutumnFest and its impact on not just it's location, but the community it takes place in might just hold the key to finding out answers to my questions and to the questions of others.