The Bowling Alley

I found this reading of the bowling alley interesting because it highlighted on several different aspects of the place in great detail. The author introduces readers to social groups active in the alley at the particular time of day she went which included the employees and the bowling leagues she had been curious about in previous writings. 

It is explained how the lanes and teams are divided up and how the actual scoring system works. The author goes on to observe the prices of items such as; price to bowl, price of shoe rental etc....

In my essay on the BSU I plan on asking individuals who I know personally there about their work out routines included; how many days they come to the gym and whether or not they are consistent, what machines they typically use and how long they spend at each one. There is also a snack station at the gym that I have never before used so I will be curious to see what exactly a fitness place sells for snacks and drinks. Is it the typical sports event snack stand or is it protein packed and healthy?

BSU Gym

      What do I know about the gym at Bridgewater State University? It's a cold, downhill walk from hilltop Shea-Durgin freshmen dorms. The first time I went there was when I was still feverishly fighting my parents over whether or not I would be going to this place for the next four years. It was big, much bigger than the gym at my high school, and cleaner too. The exercise equipment was new, and there was a lot of it. Now that I actually go here I've been a few times with friends when the guilt of eating was too much to ignore. The routine would be the same; plug in my iPod and go on my machine and never make eye contact. With anyone.
      Questions I have about this place are pretty simplistic; why do people come here? For sports? To lose weight? Health reasons? The cute boy in the weight room? I want to know what compels certain individuals to work out several hours each and every day. How do they keep going? Or not get bored? I just want to know why people can just go on for hours without stopping.

Memoirs

      This week for English the assigned reading was about memoirs, the act of writing about one's life. I've always personally found these types of writings interesting because I can both read about the lives of people I admire or laugh over the humor inspired lives of comedians that seem to be filled with misadventures. This reading talked not only about entertaining one's audience but about personal responsibility as the author of such work. In a memoir the author is trusted to write about their past, and in doing so has to relive their lives, perhaps reliving things they would rather forget.
     I have always found memoirs to be tremendous works of courage for authors. This is because they are opening their past, their memories and their feelings to the public. Not only is this scary in itself but also the author must first think; 'Is my life important enough for people to even CARE about?'. It's facing that question and being able to actually answer it is what I find courageous about memoirs and why I find them so enjoyable to read.

Friday Night at Iowa 80

      The closest research I have ever done on truckers is listening to the background noise of advertisements for Ice Road Truckers until I read  Friday Night at Iowa 80. With low expectations on how strongly this required reading was going to hold my attention, I was surprised to find myself not only intrigued but even enjoying the paper as well. I found it to be an interesting twist on how truck stops are viewed by the truckers themselves.

      The whole idea of the log book being such a central object for the truckers, a symbol of both profit and loss for the truckers was what I found particularly interesting. How the men and women need to cheat the system in order to survive and how their paper logbooks are slowly but surely being outdated by computerized models made me feel worried for their ability to cheat and ensure at least enough profit to get by.