assignment one rough draft

7/27/2019 Assignment One Rough Draft

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Discourse Communities Project Assignment One

Figured World a large, social environment with its own set of rules, vocabulary, and protocols.The world I chose is the world of Dump Truck Driving because of a few reasons. Most

importantly is the first reason-my boyfriend drives a dump truck. Also, I think that sort of job isodd and under acknowledged and therefore endlessly fascinating to me. My plan is to ride

around with Sam Warlick on three separate days to observe what its like for him to go to workevery day. I have no idea what to expect because I dont do his job and we dont spend much

time talking about the details of said work (he is much like a mafia lord). As far as the rules andconventions for this place Im going to assume that both in the dump truck and at the various

locations we end up at have similar expectations. I expect that I will have to be calm andcollected because spazzing around would be dangerous given the equipment well be near. I

think that it will be important to be polite to the people we see and work with because they worktogether every day and it wouldnt be good if I were to burn some bridges between Sam and his

co-workers. I feel like respect and seniority are going to be two things that are highly regarded inthis particular line of work due to the manner in which I expect a lot of their business is

conducted. I think it will be important that I dress appropriately as well because well probablyspend a lot of time around dirt, rocks, and other things that will lead to a ruined outfit. Imhoping that the three days I observe will be different enough from each other to make it

worthwhile.

Actors the people who work and exist inside the figured world

Sam Warlick- dump truck driver, strong but silent, not easily amused by my antics.

Randy Warlick-owns the truck company, possibly one of the nicest men to ever walk the planet,brings a nice blend of some work and some play to the table

Tara Warlick-married to Randy, her main job is to offer everyone as much food as possible, it is

strongly suspected that Martha Stewart stole recipes from Tara

Jimmy-another dump truck driver, 54 with a mullet and an incorrectly colored tattoo of theRoadrunner on his calf

Artifactsthe items that the actors in the figured worlds valueSams truck-the chair is actually molded to fit his butt. He wont admit it but I think he has acertain level of pride in the ownership of his dump truck.

Randys clipboard- a brown, wooden clipboard that he uses to keep all his addresses for the day

organized-I have yet to see him without it in his hands.

desktop support 10/31/13 8:10 AM

Comment [1]: Overall, this was a good startthe assignment; you have definitely startedgoing "above and beyond" the guidelines, but would still like to see a bit more. Your attentio

to detail and commitment to the assignmentreally showed both in your organization of thematerial and observations. Your definitions ofthe terms were also very helpful; you expressthese well in your own terms and providedample detail as to why each person or item w

an artifact, part of a discourse community, etcListed below are a few items I want you to woon for the final portfolio:

I would like to hear a bit of personalreflection on completing thisassignment. What issues did you seeemerge as a part of your observations? Anparticular concerns? For example, thinkabout the ways in which assignment oneconnects to your work in assignment two aarticulate that connection.Descriptions for the photos you includedwould also be useful. Give us an idea ofwhat is going on in the photo.

Given what you have shown us so far, itseems that a Prezi may be a useful form totake your readers on a typical "ride" like whyou have described in your observations.A list of terms other than the articlevocabulary would be helpful; though you

mention some of the definitions in yourobservations, separate lists of them wouldalso be useful. Terms I would suggest you

define:Loader ManCraiglist Killer Events (I realize this maybe a common story among people that uCraigslist, but I honeslty did not recognizwhat this meant)

Scale House


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Discourse Communities

The entire work force is only made up of Sam, Randy, and Jimmy every day, so they are really

the only option here. The three of them use lexis and references to things that go completely overmy head. They communicate in one to four word sentences, sometimes they just use looks or

hand gestures-its oddly similar to how I imagine cavemen communicated. The three of themmake up a team that doesnt really lend itself to outsiders and doesnt really seem to need any.

Observations

9/3 Obervation One- Sam and I go to the rock quarry and I get introduced to the first half of thetypical day for a dump truck driver.

7:30 AM- Sam and I go to his parents house to get his instructions for the day (Sams dad owns

the business). Tara(Sams mom) makes everyone breakfast and coffee while we get our orders.Once we get the list of places we have to go and the type of load each place is getting we go to

the rock quarry in Monroe.

8:42 AM- We arrive at the rock quarry there is a white double-wide trailer at the front. Thereare two lanes, one is incoming and one is outgoing. We enter the stock yard and there are piles of

varying shades of blue rock separated by size. We need #5s which are used mostly fordriveways. We talk to who Sam calls the Loader man (this doesnt seem very official) and he

gets whatever amount of rocks we need. The Loader man uses a Wheel Loader, which has ascale hooked up to the bucket so he can weigh as he scoops until the trucks bed is full which

only takes about two scoops (14 tons)


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8:47 AM- We drive through the outgoing lane and pull onto the scale where the scale house

(aforementioned double wide) comes on the loud speaker and asks what we have in the bed, towhich Sam replies Number fives and she tells Sam the exact weight of the rocks in his bed

(today its 14.2 tons). Then Sam pulls the dump truck down to the scale house and gets a receiptfor how much he owes them for his load.

9:50 AM-We arrive at a house in Unionville and we dump the rocks into a pile and leave.

Apparently there is little to no bedside manner with these people.

11:03 AM- After navigating through traffic in a fashion similar to Lewis and Clarke we arrive

back at the rock quarry to get more number fives for the same driveway. The same process fromearlier happens again.

11:11 AM- Samuel and I make a wish that the day as well as our suffering will pass quickly.

Observation 2- Samuel and I get called in on an impromptu mission to pick up some equipment

his father needs.

2:45 PM-Sam has the day off until his dad (Randy) calls him and tells him he has to go to High

Point to pick up a machine that he found on Craigslist. After grabbing some Cokes and snacksfor the trip Sam and I speculate the likelihood that this will end like the Craigslist Killer events

but decide that we should chance it anyways.

3:36 PM- We arrive at the Warlick house to get the money from Tara for the machine Randyneeds. She offers us snacks repeatedly, gives us the money, and sends us on our way. While at

the Warlick house we also get the company pick-up truck to make the drive to High Point.


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3:42 PM- We embark on our journey to the house of the man with the machine. On the way thereI ask Sam what the machine is and what it does. We are apparently picking up a surveying kit

which is used for calculating precise land altitude-or in terms other people understand- itcompares the altitude of two areas of land.

5:26 PM- We arrive at the Man with the Machines house in High Point where we pay him andput the kit in the back of the truck.

5:29 PM- Sam starts shouting enraged expletives about his hunger and demands that we stop

somewhere and eat, preferably a fried dish of some sort.

6:04PM- Sam spots a Cracker Barrel and demands that we stop for dinner (Dump truck driving

people place a great deal of importance on food-requires further observation)

7:48 PM- We arrive back at the Warlick house where Sam gives the new kit to his father, whoseems pleased with his sons work.

9/8 Observation 3- I join Samuel at his house and we go to the sawmill

1:08 PM- I meet Sam at the Warlick house and we drive to the sight in Waxhaw for theremainder of the day.

2:12PM- We arrive at the sight where Randy is loading trucks with logs that Sam and anotherman (named Jimmy) have been sawing into 14 ! lengths. Theyre being loaded to be taken to

the sawmill.

3:09 PM- We arrive at the sawmill where we pull onto the scale and a man waves us through todump the logs. After we dump the logs we drive back onto the same scale and the man gives us a

ticket for how much money he owes us.

4:10 PM- We arrive back at the sight in Waxhaw and get another load of logs that we will take

back to the sawmill we went to earlier.

5:15 PM- We drop the logs off at the sawmill and leave to go home because as Randy says Itsa-quittin time

Discourse Communities

The entire work force is only made up of Sam, Randy, and Jimmy every day, so they are reallythe only option here. The three of them use lexis and references to things that go completely over

my head. They communicate in one to four word sentences, sometimes they just use looks or


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hand gestures-its oddly similar to how I imagine cavemen communicated. The three of themmake up a team that doesnt really lend itself to outsiders and doesnt really seem to need any.

Interview with Sam

1. What kind of training/ qualifications are necessary for your job?A class B Commercial Drivers License (CDL) and whatever on the job stuff you need to

know.

2. How much of your job requires customer interaction?50 percent. We have to speak with homeowners a lot and make sure the job is what

theyre looking for and that theyre satisfied with the quality. Other than that we dontreally talk to people-its mostly just the running monologue I have in my head.

3. What's the gas mileage like on this thing?5 miles/gallon on a good day. Naw Im just kidding its 5 miles all the time.

4. How often do you have to resist the urge to take matters into your own hands and go"off-roading" during a traffic jam?

Never. Im too calm, cool, and collected for that.

5.

Do you ever race other dump truck drivers, similar to a "Smoky and the Bandit"-typescenario?

No, that would be unethical.

6. Given the large amount of time you spend in your truck, do you have a goodrelationship with the radio?

Yes, but quite frequently I hear the same song over and over again causing me to listen tosports radio as a last resort.

7. What kind of gas does this take?Diesel fuel.

assignment one rough draft

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