Research Related Quotes and Stories

1. From a Target commercial, seen on 1/17/2010. The commercial is a dramatization of finding $20 (possibly called the "Found Twenty Dollars in the Laundry Collection?). Near the end, there is a line in voice over that says, "Twenty green backs to spend on a little piece of joy."

[Ex. of material culture and emotions/emotion management]

2. David Sedaris, Holidays on Ice, "SantaLand Diaries": Sedaris gives a remarkable description of working in a themed environment with characters. In many ways he captures the essence of theme park entertainment work better than I could ever hope, with rich, humorous descriptions that seem to read better than my fieldnotes. After I read it the first time, I remember thinking, "Well, someone has already written my dissertation. But in a much more concise, engaging way than I could ever hope. And much, much funnier."

[A source to corroborate my observations from fieldwork on theme park entertainment work; could draw on his examples as well as my own when I write the dissertation; also good for methods appendix - what are the differences (similarities) in our goals, and how does this distinguish (my end product from his?]

3. Louise Fitzhugh, Harriet the Spy: The connections between this and being an unknown researcher are pretty obvious.

[Read it for methods]