Before the 30 ft burgundy coach bus even turns onto the street where Chestatee High School is, you hear it; the loud “booms” and “pows” that can only be the sound of drums. To one who is experienced in attending band competitions, this sound is welcoming and invigorating. The students’ bodies begin to shake with anticipation of the events that are to come. Finally when the bus is parked you are welcomed by a high school band student of the school hosting the event. In her band’s show shirt and jeans, our guide for the day arrives and asks every band member to follow their orders so their competition experience can run smoothly. Standing at about 5’3″ with strawberry blonde border line orange hair, freckles scattered across her face and a set of wire frame glasses surround her pear green eyes. She directs us to our warm up area and to the field for the performance. After warm up and the big performance, the entire band and staff feel a small weight lifted off their shoulders. All that remained was to watch other groups perform and see the results.

When you finally walk into the stadium, you are greeted by the strong smell of grilled meats, popcorn, coffee, pizza and many other foods that are quick and easy to prepare. You are also greeted by a sea of people preventing you from getting these so desired foods in a quick fashion. Try as you might, maneuvering through ninety people in line for three different stations is no small task and must be done with keen awareness and slick movement, or like a truck and a lot of “I’m sorrys”. Andrew is a senior in high school with a very fair complexion, glasses and a lanky build. His hair was long and curly resembling a tumbleweed. I conducted an interview Andrew Harris who played bass guitar for Wesleyan High School’s marching band and he said that he loved band competitions but he wished there was more room for people to move around and purchase food. After finally getting to the front of the line for concessions you look down at the upper abdominal height wooden bar counter and look at the small white laminated sheet of paper which contains the content of the menu and you decide what to order. You know that whatever you order will be good because band parents prepare everything with the utmost respect for band students and they would not let you down this time either. You also know what you are about to consume is some of the greasiest, most savory food you will eat in a while but you don’t care. It’s that food that lets you know exactly where you are and what you’re doing. Hamburgers, Hot dogs, BBQ sandwiches, French fries, cotton candy, and most importantly the little balls of sunshine with a soft chocolaty and mushy creamy interior known as fried Oreos,  a commodity at any band competition.

Now you have your food and the next anticipated part about band competitions is getting the opportunity to watch other groups who have put just as much work and effort as you perform their own shows. You take your seat in the now chilly concrete stadium seats surrounded by your fellow band mates, staff and parents covered in band merchandise who are cheering for their children and around them are other bands and their fan bases. Being in northern Georgia, the temperatures dropped quite a bit and sitting on the concrete without a blanket or sweatpants was asking for a cold in the morning. While interviewing Andrew he said that loved watching other groups perform because there were some groups he knew his was better than but he still clapped for them and understood that every year in band yields different talent; however, his favorite part about spectating was definitely watching groups that were better than his own. To watch high school groups perform at such a high level made him aspire to be a better musician. He described that when listening to certain groups he feels as if he is in a trance. The amount of sound and the quality of sound these groups produced was mesmerizing.

According to Andrew, this is a special space to any marching band member. It is their “Saturday Night Lights.” A space in which the entire day is dedicated to them and their craft. Their friends and family come to watch them perform a show they have put hundreds of hours into perfecting and they also get watch others perform and talk to others that are just like them and share the same love. Ultimately where they compete comes down to where the band director decided is the best place for the kids to perform but almost regardless of where it is they are competing, the same sense of comradery and unity betwixt marching band members is the same.

The floors which are square tiles with a dark brown color which is similar to the color of coffee. The color is similar to the color of coffee was convenient as can be used for hiding any coffee spills and stains or just be used as an aesthetic. On this floor was black colored chairs, stools, and tables near the edges of the floor, a counter with three cash registers and a pickup area,  and people have the option to sit, stand, and wait in line. Though the store can fit all the items, the interviewee Marian Vo, an Asian girl with red hair wearing a pink polo shirt, blue shorts, brown sandals say that the place should have expanded its space.

The counter, located in the middle of the store, has tannish colors with many small products like in front of it and an open fridge with sandwiches, bottled coffees, cookies, and cartons of milk and juices. On the counter are cash registers and last second shopping items like gift cards and snacks. The placement is quite convenient for the customers to have a fast order on one side of the counter where the cash register is and pick it up on the other side and it is a good selling tactic to put small consumables on the counter for a quick sell. On top of the counter, customers can pick a plethora of options on the three black chalkboards with their products written in green chalk like ice caramel macchiato and a double bacon and a cake pop which an Asian man with a black suit, grey dress pants, and a blue button-up shirt had ordered for him and his daughter or the also plentiful options of products you find on the shelves and you give your items or order to the cashier.

The workspace is a small space filled with equipment like the coffee makers, espresso machines, verismo machines, clover machine, presses, and grinders to make coffee which is all silver in color. The workspace is a nifty spot where it’s behind the counter where the orders are placed and picked up so customers can go in and out quickly with their orders. At the workspace, employees wearing a green apron and visor for the uniform either take the customer’s order, make their order, or throw out the garbage, which one did in a haste.

The tables and chairs also have similar coloring as coffee, brown and black, and the reason is most likely for stains and aesthetics. The shop provided them so that customers can stay for brief or long periods of time to do whatever customers want like using your phone or laptop, which they do provide free Wi-fi. It is setup for you to relax, be with and conversate with friends and acquaintances, and to use their internet service to your utmost advantage like doing homework or studying. The interviewee Marian Vo said that she comes here to relax and to use the Wi-fi.
 

In the common area in the dorm there is a glossy white table that is about 3 ft tall with six chairs four are currently occupied. There are four females sitting at the table, three are talking and the other has her hazel eyes glued to her laptop. The space is full with loud noise at this point. There is a flat screen tv that is on the wall and with the volume at 40. There’s also people sitting in these short wide blue leather chairs that are conversing with one another about school and the tv show that’s playing on the tv. During the interview the interviewee said that one of the reasons why they choose to come to the common is because they get to make friends and make connection with different people, which is what was going on in the common area. The girl that has her eye glued to her laptop continuously twirls her hair through her fingers and taps her foot on her chair, it’s as if she is in her own world away from all the distractions going on.

Behind the big blue leather chairs is a huge window that reveals a piece of down town Atlanta. There’s a small table on the side of the window that was has two chairs, one pushed in and one occupied. The boy that is seated in this chair seems happy, he has work on the table in front of him but he keeps lifting his head and looking out the huge windows, gazing at the view. The interviewee can relate because she enjoys the view and said it helps her whenever she has brain block. The boy continues to stare out the window for a while, forgetting all about the homework that lied on the table untouched.

In this common area there’s also a laundry room. One of the washing machines are working out of three and the one that is working is full with clothes. Four people have walked in and out of this room dragging over stuffed laundry bags with a look of disappointment on their faces. At one end of the laundry mat there is a boy about 6 ft tall leaning over the sink trying scrub a stain out of his shirt. The sink is over filling with soapy water while he continues to scrub his shirt repeatedly. In the middle of the laundry room there’s a table occupied by someone who is washing their clothes and doing work on their laptop. This relates to the interview I did because interviewee said they enjoy the common room because they can wash their clothes and also get work done.

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The Georgia State University Library, home of the printers and Saxby’s Coffee, is one of the most visited and yet ignored buildings on campus. As you walk in, the security guards gives you a mixed feeling of safety and anxiety. You can simultaneously smell crisp paper of all the books and the baked goods at the coffee shop. A student, Kayla, claims that her “first floor is [her] favorite because of Saxby’s.” Students all clamoring together to finish their assignments and study for their fast approaching exams. Uncomfortable chairs and tables are placed about the area for the people who chose to come alone.

Two security guards look thoroughly at IDs as you walk through Georgia State’s University Library. A polite nod is given as one walks through the turnstiles. The smell of coffee grinds and and the cacophonous sounds of blenders are immediately sensed to the left. Students scrambling to print out their assignments and faculty waiting to help are strewn about. One immediately feels the cold breeze as you make your way through to your destination.

The unmissable reception desk is one of the first things you see when you walk in. At least 3 people behind it are ready and prepared to help eager students with any and all questions. Beyond that, there are just a few aisles targeting magazines and newspapers. An employee continues to update these sections with current newspapers/magazines. Right next to that are the tables and chairs always filled with students to use for their own pleasure, something absolutely necessary.

Both students and employees are present as they study with co-workers and students. All of the computers are seemingly occupied while people constantly go back and forth to the printers. People wait in line as their coffee is being brewed, twiddling their thumbs and scrolling their phones. A study group clamor together, figuring out the study guide given to them. Students and teachers alike sat at these tables, engrossed in their computers and their books, completing the assignment of the week.

Georgia State’s Library welcomes all types of guests. Students, teachers, and faculty roam the halls and stairwells as they go about their day. The library is a mecca of sorts, having multiple resources for various uses. Students flock to this advantage because it’s common sense. One of the most biggest libraries in Georgia, one would be a fool to not take advantage of this building.

Omar Rulida Abdul-Rahman

Professor Smith

English 1101

10/10/16

Spatial Ethnography Final

Usually in the College of Education all the seats in the room full with individuals as expected in the somewhat dimly lit room. Even though all of the individuals couldn’t be any more different in a number of ways, they were all doing one of three things. Reading something from a book/laptop/phone, talking, or just resting. The College of Education was quiet that day, like my interviewee was stating that she liked about the “COE”. The people still sprawled across the couch made it hard to accommodate other visitors. This was a problem my interviewee mentioned; she wanted the room to be a little bit bigger. After around five minutes though a tall pale chalky man in a brown suit with a white shirt, and a brown diamond shape patterned tie left one of the four turquoise chair that were placed in a square shape around a small square table. The chairs were placed in a way that if you sit straight you can see the other three people sitting in their chairs. Something about today was strange though. Usually the people sitting in the four chairs in a square formation are usually talking to each other, or at least having a light conversation. This time though the people in the four adjacent sides were enamored on whatever they were looking at be it a phone book or a phone. On one side was a mocha colored lady wearing a black sundress. On the opposite side was a man the color of white sand with a black button down, blue jeans, and brown suede shoes on. The girl adjacent to them though on the mocha female’s right, and the sandy man’s left had on white skin tight jeans, a navy blue Tommy Hilfiger shirt, and white shoes on.

Over on the couch though there were considerably more people there than there where in the four chairs, but they were stirring way less than the people in the four chairs. Two out of the six people there had their eyes closed, and were breathing a little too heavy to be conscious. This is reminding me of what my interviewee said about the College of Education being a great place to rest or work. The other three were just sitting around on their electronic devices. One of them a girl with black hair, a gray shirt was trying their best to stay awake, but her eyelids were drifting up and down. After a few more moments of that she just got up, and then walked away.

At around that time though, at about 1:30, with only around fifteen minutes’ left until the observation would be over everyone was rushing to pick up their things, and heading out the door in a wave, well everyone except the people in the cubicles. All three of the glass cubicles had occupants. One was a young lady with shimmery, sparkly, wheat blonde hair. The other man was a man who was about 5’6, wearing an olive green shirt, and weighed around 220lbs. The last cubicle held a young man, and a young lady. The two people were both brunettes. The lady had long hair with a black hoodie, whilst the man was sporting a black leather jacket. They were both sharing a laptop watching either a video or a movie. The people in the glass cubicles who were still fast paying attention to their business. One of them though was paying attention to the information board. The information board is just a flat screen which just shows upcoming events with a royal blue background. It is encased in a plexi-glass box on the wall, with four metallic bolts on the corners. A lady with long black hair, skinny jeans, long black boots, and a black t-shirt was sitting at one of the table on the other side of the room gazing out of the window facing her. Outside was the downtown Atlanta scenery, and cars hurriedly passing by. After a couple of seconds, she snapped out of her daze, and went back to her book.

During the process of sitting, and observing, I interviewed a female student named Tyra. Tyra is a tanish-bronze woman around 5’4, with her brown hair cut into a short bob.  Tyra was explaining to me that she liked the College of Education. The College of Education in her opinion is a nice quiet place to work, and it’s a place where she can see, and meet up with her friends between classes. She had no issues with the place other than the fact that the College of Education isn’t a little bit bigger.

The courtyard in Georgia State’s Piedmont Central building is  located right outside the Piedmont Central dining hall. The courtyard is mostly just grass which is a bright green color, there are some scattered trees with missing leaves that are starting to change colors, and extremely tall lampposts, like big black giraffes, that come on at night. The small black metal tables are big enough to accommodate about four people comfortably. There’s also a single walkway which is made out of smooth newly built gray cement that leads to a closed off road. Students spend time in the courtyard for multiple different reasons.  

These objects are in this space for specific reasons.There are multiple small black sets of chairs and tables. A group of students are sitting at the table as they are typing on their laptops, and some are writing intently on a piece of paper.  The girl Interviewed, Ashlee, stated that she goes to the courtyard to do work with her friends. The lamp posts are in the space so that students can even come out to enjoy time in the courtyard at night. The bright lights shine on the lime green grass as students are getting work done or laughing with friends. There is a bike rack placed in the far right corner of the courtyard that holds two bikes, one red and one black. These objects control the way people occupy the space in that the tables and chairs indicate that this is where students can sit, and the lamp posts let students know that they can occupy the space at night or any time of the day.

The people in this space are Georgia State students. There are male and female students of all classifications. There is a group of boys, two with  brown hair and one with dark blonde hair, skateboarding up and down the vacant clean street beside the courtyard. After they take a break from skate boarding, one boy with the brown hair is showing off his green dragon tattoo piece on his arm to his peers. They look back at him with smiles of approval. There is also a tightly clustered group of students who look like sardines and seem to be debating about something, while some are goofing off and laughing. At the last table sits two girls with cups of Starbucks coffee. The girl on the left of the table has long hair that touches the middle of her back, which is coffee brown with purple highlights. The girl on the right has jet black curly shoulder length hair. They are both intently staring at their computers as if they were doing schoolwork. 

The type of people in this space are Georgia State college students. Most of them are either just hanging out and playing around with friends, or getting schoolwork done. The reason they are in this space is because they want a refreshing area to go to. They are able to get work done in a spacious area with fresh outdoor air. Just as Ashlee stated in the interview.  Some students are in this space because they simply enjoy spending time with friends, skateboarding, or doing any other outdoor activities with the convenience of still being on campus.

The floor in Chick-fil-A is a mixture of gray and brown colors.  Its a hard floor that has evenly placed drains on the floor. The ceiling is all gray with bright lights scattered across it. The walls are full of advertisements of cows and pictures of their food.  The east and west walls both have large windows the size of paintings with no blinds that let sunlight come through. Outside the window you can see tables with umbrellas sticking out from the middle and chairs around them. The restaurant has tables and chairs spread all along the south side. Each table has a vase with flowers in it and a mini menu on the table. Two chairs go for each table and along the wall are booth like chairs that’re attached to the wall and ground. Even farther south is a room called the play room where kids can play. It has a shoe holder and a large slide that connects to various areas in the play room. The north side of the restaurant has railings that lead to the counter where you order your food.The bathroom is located directly right from this area. Behind the counter you can see the big light up menu above all the employees.

Many people come to Chick fil A ranging from all different shapes an sizes. Many different customers came in and out at a fast speed. The employees work incredibly fast and welcome every customers individually showing great hospitality. The customers lean and sit and the railings as they wait in line. Kids run under the railing and hang on it like monkeys. The child with the chocolate skin wearing a fitted cap that covers his head completely cries. He has on a yellow collar shirt and navy shorts with black shoes. He begs his mom to let him go in the play room but she adamantly says no. His mom wears a pink tank top a leggings with slides on her feet. She has a dark complexion and her hair is wrapped up in a cloth. She tells him that they have to go straight home after this. His moans echo throughout the store until they leave. A customer named Deondria talks about her experience with the space. She has thick black hair and clear caramel skin. She says that she comes here because she loves the service and the food quality is better than Mcdonalds.

The kids that go to the playroom take their shoes off and enter through the main tube. They run around and scream in the tubes as they slide down and climb up. After reaching the counter the employees use the registers to ring up the customers food. The customers wait on the right side to receive their meals. If it’s dine in it come on a tray and if it’s carry out it comes in a bag. After receiving their food dine in customers sit in the chairs and eat their meals and carry out customers exit through one of the two exit doors. Customers eat at the table, some alone and some with friends chatting as they dine. Employees approach customers as they eat asking if they need anything and if they’re okay. As customers leave they clean up their tables and place their trays above the trash can.

This evening in the library, on the second floor, it is not empty, but it is not overpopulated. The second floor is a floor devoted to computers and reference sources. On the ceiling, there are six fluorescent bar lights, casting a silhouette on the ceiling, and a very harsh, bright light on the floor, but it is what is needed to see. Along the walls, there are small rooms reserved for study groups. Ten all together. In those rooms, there are rectangular rolling chairs, made up of tiny hard circular material that gives the chair a hard texture. They are scattered about the rooms, all each facing a different direction. In the middle of those rooms is a long wooden table, with a glass frame in the center. Above that table is a whiteboard in a wooden frame. Many of them have drawings on them in Expo marker. A lot are math equations: numbers and addition symbols in sloppy columns across the board. One board just has a bunch of scribbles on it, with an array of circles above it. It is undetermined what the diagram represents. A glass door protects the room. On the first room from the left, there is remainders of tape that was once holding up an ad plastered on the glass. All the rooms have a large flat screen computer on the wall. Behind it, there is a tangled mess of black wires with a different color piece of tape marking each one, ranging from red, to yellow, to blue.

In the center of the second floor, there is a large, deep opening for where the stairs are. There are 25 stairs in all, and after the first 12 there is a small platform before the other 12 escalate. During the one hour, many people exited the stairs onto the second floor. Across from the stairs, there are workstations and an array of computers and rolling chairs like the ones in the study rooms. There are nine workstations total: They are divided into groups of three, with three in each group facing one another in a triangular format. The workstation provides a trapezoidal table for each computer and mouse. Each computer has a black keyboard below it, with white letter and number markings. The rest of the computers are in rows of five, with a long, white table holding all of them. There are six rows of these. Along the OTHER side of the wall, there is a view overlooking Decatur Street. This whole wall is made up of glass, in a grid-like fashion, as there are brown bars sectioning off each rectangle of glass. There are seven sections going up, and eleven going across. The floor is a carpet of navy green color, also in a grid like fashion. Each square of carpet has a shade of darker navy green stripes in many different sizes. Some of the stripes are thin, some thick. On the floor, there are nine sections of cushioned chairs and tables. Each chair is a small one, with a stripe-like design, of yellow, green, brown and purple stripes. There are two chairs alongside one another, and two facing them the same way. In the middle, there is a marble top table that is square-shaped. In the corner of the room, there is a printing station that includes a computer for assigning the printing jobs. A sign reads “WORKSTATION DOWN” on the computer, letting people know that that computer is out of service, hence, not to use it.

In the third study room from the left, there is a dark-skinned man wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt, and dark wash blue jeans- he is standing up in front of the board and talking. He has a pair of white headphone draped lazily across his neck. He is smiling as he talks, and his head bobs up and down when his mouth isn’t moving, like he is communicating with another person in the room. There is another dark-skinned male sitting in one of the rolling chairs and rocking it back and fourth, looking up at the man. He is talking, and he is wearing a red snap back, khakis, a solid green shirt and a pair of orange Nikes. In the workstation area, there is a male with black hair and facial hair with silver Beats on. He is wearing a solid orange shirt, and blue medium wash flare jeans. He seems to have a short, solid build. He is writing something on a large notebook and doesn’t look up from it for a long while. The computer in front of him is black; he is not working on it: his attention is focused directly below him at the crumpled paper with scribbled words across the lines. When he does finally look up, it is up at the ceiling: he closes his eyes for three seconds and lets out a small sigh before resuming to his writing. A janitor in a white blouse and blue sweatpants is heard rolling a trashcan across the aisle near the spot I am sitting. He is a light-skinned man with brown facial hair on his chin, and rolls the can with one arm, while the other arm bops against his side, his gaze fixed on the wall opposite across the room.

In the area where the cushioned chairs are, in one of the chairs, there is a white Asian female wearing a burgundy T-shirt and faded jeans with rips on the knees. She is wearing black Vans, has a high ponytail that drapes along her right shoulder, and a green navy jacket resting on her back over her shoulders. In her lap is a black laptop which she is typing on. Two sections over, there are two girls in the chairs that are right next to each other. One girl is tan, she looks of Indian descent and is wearing a white tank top with a burgundy cardigan over it. She has black hair which is medium-length and wears faded jeans with white tennis shoes. She is facing the other girl, and they are both laughing and talking. The other girl is white, wearing a neon purple fitness jacket that is zipped all the way up to her breasts, revealing a black tank top. She is wearing black compression shorts and pink Nike running shoes. Both girls have textbooks in their laps, and a mess of books is seen on the table in front of them. Two sections behind them, a couple is snuggled together on the chair- both are Asian, one is male and female. The male holds out an iPhone in front of them both, and they both proceed to make a pouty face at the camera before the flash goes off. They look at the photo and grab one another, laughing.

Hailey is a new freshman at Georgia State University. Her outfit was a well-blended contrast of burgundy and black; k. Her dark jeans were cuffed at the ankles and she had on a pair of off-brand maroon converse. Her hair was up in a short ponytail. Hailey shared that she enjoyed the library because she liked the fact that it was a convenient place to do homework, as it was on campus and generally close to all the students. She also commented that it wasn’t too much of a deathly quiet space, so people weren’t constantly too afraid to make the slightest noise, and they could still have fun to some degree while completing their assignments. This comment seems to be true, as there is always a dull roar on the second floor of the library. The people who occupy this space treat it as a place they are visiting: with respect. There are no food or drinks allowed by the computers. Many of the occupants have student ID’s by their computer or around their neck, giving reason to believe that they are students wishing to complete their work in the library.