The end

Well, the end of the project is coming near for our informants. My informants don't seem to care as none of them really got "attached" to me at all. One of them pretty much dropped out of the project but never truly told me. I am unsure what his exact stance is on it. The other night I went to a concert with 3/4 and had a good time. The boys are starting to talk more about the near future, like driving and going out more often, because they all passed their drivers permit written test. It was interesting to see how quickly their focus changed.

I feel pretty good about the end of this semester. I think I have some good information.
I was not in class on Thursday because I had to drive my boyfriend to the DR- He just had back surgery about 10 days ago.

OH! yeah I am also very excited to collect the journal books from all the boys, I think I will get some good stuff out of them. I plan on doing that in about one week so I have time to compile everything while doing other class assignments/finals, Ugh!

Drama

So the boys have been going through a strange period... Both Kyle's apparently skate new school while Paul and Steve skate old school. Now that the new weather is coming around they are fighting and unsure of who to hang out with.... It's definitely weird because the entire winter they were all connected at the hip!!

I can sense the boys disconnecting more from me now that the initial excitement is over with the project. I need to keep them on task and give out a few more questions for them to write about in their journals. I am hoping I will get some good information out of the journals... and if not, I can write about that, too.

I am excited to review all of my information and write up the sections. The only thing I do not like is that I have four boys- a lot of information... I might write about the boys in two sets because I am seeing Paul and Steve are more alike than the other two... We'll see...

I was not in class today because I was sleeping. I worked 10.5 hours yesterday and felt like I got hit by a truck! I hope I did not miss much...

Some recent pictures:

Steve is in all three... the first one shows Kyle S, then Paul M, and finally Kyle M... I am seeing that Steve is the most talkative, (possibly the most passionate), and is kind of the leader... I am wondering if it has anything to do with how he looks older than all three boys. When you see them together in person, Steve is quite small but his face is older than the others. Just something I noticed...

Final section thoughts

I've been thinking about the final sections. Today in class I was just scribbling some ideas down and I decided that I should write them in the blog...

Section 1 - life histories etc
Thinking about some topics covering heroes, family relationships, hobbies, and a bit about girls. Also description of their appearance and demeanor.

Section 2- Rebellion/Breaking the rules/Questioning Authority

I wanted to talk about the allure of the punk rock life. Steve and Kyle S have talked various times about how its the lifestyle they need to have.

Then some various topics I wrote down include:
Music- the messages within, sound, going to concerts
Fashion
Cops/Government
Parents
School Rules
Societies Expectations
How they want others to view them
Beliefs/values/morals

Striving to be 'Punk'- the "calling"
How 'punks' view drinking/parties/drugs- who fits in and who doesn't
Different punks- Posers
Brotherhood/Unity factor
-------------> where does it lead? Are they considering the future at all, jobs? what happens after highschool? Punk lifestyle= what to them?

I tried to text Kyle Mccormick but he was feeling sick... Steve is never online and Paul is online for about 3 minutes. It's hard to talk to them. My brother is giving me the most information. Because I have opened up with him, more than just a sister, he is giving me a lot of different insights.

Steve broke up with his girlfriend and has a new one, Kyle sent me her picture and I said

no values82: http://a153.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/31/l_6abdd5c4c2738fd3c2f293f80be1e728.jpg
parabolove: what is she like?
no values82: bleach hair
no values82: shes cool
no values82: reminds me of u
parabolove: ohh wow... i guess that is cool then- haha
no values82: yeh
no values82: she just reminds me of u

Too funny.
I guess that's about it. Tomorrow I hope everything goes well and I can see all of their rooms... I am going to post a video now, I happen to love this band. They put on an amazing show at the Trocadero last year... full of energy and crazy costumes. Anyway, the lyrics remind me of being younger and breaking up with boyfriends... It also kind of reminds me of how Professor R is forever emotionally wounded from his first girlfriend haha... and I guess we probably all are still somewhat impacted by our firsts....

Of Montreal - Requiem for O.M.M.2

[via FoxyTunes / of Montreal]

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Now playing: Pierre Henry - Psyche Rock
via FoxyTunes

Still trying...

My informants are really moody. One minute they seem to be excited about the project and the next I don't get responses back at all. I guess it goes along with the territory. I have set up a time for this Friday to get over to each of the boys houses to explore their rooms. I feel like I keep having to be apologetic about my needs to see and talk to them, i.e. "yeah i mean I know you're busy but it's just a half hour" I mean, come on!
Here's a few excerpts from some of the boys I thought were interesting:

An original song by Kyle:
no values82: see the ash falling from the clouds and everyone crowds.
my lifes work is too much tension and you just pay no attetion.
but if this is the best america can do then fuck you,i dont wanna be apart of it,i dont care,i dont care that you stare but you better not talk and just walk.no,i dont care i dont care about it.bush keeps takin lives while u sit and pay with your dimes.the death tole is high and u sit and cry gas prices go up while soldiers go down.no i dont care i dont care that u stare,you better keep quiet or theres gonna be a riot we the poeple are sick of the lies were sick of you.
no values82: idk i was bord in school and i was wrtiein how i felt and stuff

There was a problem with my one informant Paul, who supposedly has written nothing in the journal books I gave them and was feeling uncomfortable about the room investigation, but I talked to him on Aim and got this:
Volcomskater124: haha
Volcomskater124: its fine
Volcomskater124: my walls have nothing i would feel uncomfortable with
Volcomskater124: just a bunch of flyer and posters

I don't know. I hope things pick up. I really want to use the recorder more. I am finding that the scheduling is super hard, especially because of my stuff going on with school and work. We still have some time so it should be okay.

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Now playing: Beatles - Girl
via FoxyTunes

Ouch

Unfortunately I was not in class today. I had a dr appt because I got bit by a spider, on my ass. Damn thing swelled up like an orange... scary stuff.. I think I'm okay now ha...

Well yesterday I did end up going home and hanging out with the boys. I only got one consent form back, the other boys "totally forgot" so we'll work on that. I just sat on the floor for about an hour and 10 minutes and they went through various topics. I helped them along sometimes, prompting with questions. For the most part it was good. My brother was the one who tried to make it weird. If there was a split second of silence he'd get nervous and go "okayWELL whatever!" there was no need for that haha. I told them next time if they wanted to we could go somewhere, so they are thinking about that. Was such a nice day yesterday I wanted to go walk through the marshlands in tuckerton to see the old lenape shell mound haha, but I didn't think they would be interested. However, maybe they would be? haha I'll have to check.

I am finding it hard to completely document everything. It was so informal yesterday I would have ruined the mood by whipping out my notebook ya know? I don't know exactly how to go about that... I also wasn't sure if it was Okay to secretly turn on the tape recorder haha....
That's about it for now...

Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill

[via FoxyTunes / Camera Obscura]

:D

Gah!

Teenagers are frustrating... I am not sure if my brother really understands the importance of this project but on Friday he blew me off. He texted me early in the AM and asked me if I was stilling driving up. And I said, I wasn't sure because of the snow but most likely later. He replied with "uGH! Marelen wants to come over" And he asked me if I could possibly reschedule my hang out time, then he went on to tell me that Paul couldn't get a ride and Steve was busy. So I wasn't going to MAKE THEM hang out with me, so I let it go. I asked if Monday would be good and Kyle Mccormick agreed but the others are MIA. As a matter of fact, Saturday night I chatted with Kyle Mccormick on AIM for almost 2 hours. It's interesting because Kyle Mccormick was in all the same basic skills, learning strategies, and resource room classes as my brother but Mccormick uses little internet lingo and even uses periods and commas sometimes. Maybe I am just used to talking to my brother where it is very difficult to read what he is writing. Also, Mccormicks ideas are more mature than the other kids...

I was thinking about the time I went to the show with the boys and they were all cracking jokes about Mccormick saying hes slow and doesn't get jokes. But I think it's because Mccormick doesn't think anything the other boys do is funny. I never knew this about him at all. He doesn't drink or smoke, either. He tries to get people to stop ... I was very impressed with our conversation... I'll post a little:

parabolove (11:28:51 PM): yeah i mean, so many people, especially college level focus their lives on partying... how is it in highschool, people do it a lot?
mobgrip 98 (11:29:45 PM): ya
mobgrip 98 (11:30:15 PM): like im there but not drinking i no, when im older im ganna be the kid whos driving them home, bc ill be sobor

mobgrip 98 (11:36:11 PM): i think people act likethey do to be cool, idk y lol, i feel cool 4 not drinking or doing drugs honestly haha

So I've been thinking more and more about what I am going to focus the sections on and it's still tough to decide because I don't have too much to go on right now. But I think something with rebellion, the kids lifestyles and stuff... ehhh, it's still hard to decides. Whether I meet with the boys tonight or not I am going to distribute some questions to make sure they are doing something in those journals...

...

I love Lata : )

Ajeeb Dastan hai - Indian Bollywood Song English Translation

[via FoxyTunes / Lata Mangeshkar]