Reading Response #3

Both of the essays do a great job studying and proving their evidence about the subculture they researched. Dudley’s essay is focused on the history of the Hemp culture. It shows the origin and how it has evolved from hippies to people of all ages. Cassa’s essay is a firsthand account of coffee lovers. No history, no facts just a typical day in a small hometown coffee shop.
One characteristic of a ethnographic essay is to explore a subculture to see how and when it started. Dudley’s did exactly this by showing the progression of Hemp stores and also a walk through of a major store that exist today. As Ballenger said the point of a ethnographic essay is to “test your research skills by bringing them out of academia and into the field”. This essay requires work but the topic are about people and a deeper understanding of the thing that they have in common. Marijuana a illegal drug and banned from the American society is still makes companies a lot of money. How is this, head shops more commonly called head shops. Dudley’s says that they shops are not hidden and far and few between but in most major cities. This is one thing I find interesting and I think also helps the essay is the historical knowledge and the first hand experience of something currently happening. As he shows the items in the store such as pipes, bongs, rolling paper, tee shirts, male and female clothing and other paraphernalia it shows when marijuana was banned and when it was how head shops used to be. They sold everything including hemp and were allowed to even partake of this practice openly. Now they are not as open by having signs saying “for tobacco use only” but not not having any agreements on using them only for tobacco. This is good to show that the practice of use is still going on and that these stores support it even though it is illegal. As Dudley points out, “In 1966, head shops could be extremely open about their facilitation of marijuana use and still remain open”. This comparison to past and present shows that true research was done. As Ballenger says about ethnography essays, “they depend on close observation over time”. This essay is a good example of a well researched ethnography essay.
Cassa’s essay was a little less researched however it was more personal. A key ingredient of ethnography is “spending time in the field simply watching and taking notes” (Ballenger). Cassa tells you the day in a life of a coffee shop and shows that all coffee lovers are different they hold a bond stronger than coffee but a sense of community. Another ingredient for ethnography is “a bulk of the research takes place in the natural settings where group members gather” (Ballenger) and this common gathering is the local coffee shop. I think time spent in the environment that you are researching is key. You can only get so much information from books, articles and research but in person watching and observing allows you to see how people in the subculture view themselves and their beliefs. The customers think of themselves is as a community. They could get the same coffee if not better at Starbucks, but they would have the same talks with familiar faces, celebration of one’s birthday, a personal greeting from everyone, their orders already made because everyone knows everybody. This essay as I said has a personal touch and makes you feel the warm comfort of this small town. With the breakdown of every hour and the story of customers bringing in cakes to celebrate each other’s birthdays shows this subcultures true colors. You can’t research things like this because this is deeper than academic knowledge. As the saying goes it takes one to know one and in order to know about subcultures you have to emerge yourself into one to see just how great it might be.