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(hard copy submitted 12/5)

Peg's Pocket

Peg’s Pocket is a pool hall with billiards, pool tables and a bar. People cannot look inside the bar from the outside, because of its tinted windows. The only things you can see are neon signs advertising beers, pictures of bikini-clad models and a small “open” sign.

If you are brave enough to step inside, you will discover a place very different from its shady exterior, one filled with people young and old, successful and the still-struggling.

Peg’s has been in business for 30-something years, which is the best estimate that Mickey can give. He has been working at Peg’s “on and off for 14 years.” While he is in his mid-30s, he looks mid-20s because of his boyish good looks and fun personality. As soon as you walk in, he smiles, waves and asks “hey, what can I do you for?”

Due to the aforementioned darkened windows, it was not very bright in there. The fluorescent lights give off a weak, slightly yellow light that keeps with the “seedy bar” mentality of pool halls. While the crowd is younger on “Free Beer Tuesdays and Thursdays,” no one is young enough for the few candy and game machines at Peg’s.


One group of frequent visitors to the pool hall is a group of friends in their 20s, Emily, Daniel and Brandon. They all work non-high paying jobs, so a cheaper place, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, like Peg’s makes a good place to hang out on a weeknight.

Another group consists of Arthur, Gary, Paul, and Frank. They are also all white, older and retired. They don’t limit their pool nights to the free beer nights, but come once o twice a week when they feel they need a “boys’ night out” away from their wives, except for Gary who is divorced, and is also the friendliest of the group towards the ladies.

A couple of other of people that I have met there, I have never seen again. Mickey, whose job is to keep the pool tables neat and bartend, says the regulars are pretty much the only business that Peg’s gets.

“Yeah, that’s not good business, but I kind of like it that way. I get to know the customers better,” said Mickey. I never asked for his last name, because while he knew I was on assignment, I didn’t want our little interviews to sound too formal.

Before walking into the pool hall, I always looked at it suspiciously, thinking to myself “I would not want to go in there.” After this experience, however, it has definitely given me a new way of viewing different people and places. As Forrest Gump infamously said, “you never know what you’re gonna get.” While I used to think this phrase only referred to a box of chocolates and/or life, I know now that it can also be relevant to shady-looking pool halls by the highway.

1st story will be...

A sort of feature/introduction to my listening post, Peg's Pocket to get a history of the place, its people and its purpose. Who began the pool hall? Who owns it? Why did they start it? How is business? Are there better times than others, financially? Who is the target demographic, and is that who comes there?

visit #2

I finally braved my fears and hectic schedule, and went back to Peg's Pocket. Tuesdays and Thursdays are "free beer nights" so I went Thursday eve, at what I was hoping was a better time to meet people, and.....

There were actually people there this time! While slightly disappointed because now I would actually have to talk to strangers, I was glad that maybe I wouldn't fail this project after all.

It's still freaky walking in, because the windows are all blacked out, so you literally have no idea what you will see when you walk in. This time, I saw some people playing pool, some standing around, sticks in hand, waiting for their turn, and some sitting down at the bar, sipping beers. After a quick canvass of the area, I went and sat down at an empty stool next to a guy and a girl that wre talking to each other.

At first, I studied the signs and waited for the barkeep to come over, as he was busy with other customers. After a minute or two, he came over and asked to see my ID (before I even said anything!) I showed it to him, and then he asked if I wanted Budweiser or Budweiser light, and as it was Free Beer Night, it was on the house. (Of course they would serve domestic drinks for free, and not my favorite Imported brands). I replied Bud light, because after all, it is free beer.

I then turned to the girl next to me and said "hey." She said "hey" back, and i launched into my introductory spiel.

"So I'm a journalism student at FIU, and I have to do a project for a class that involves me going out to a place and getting to know some poeple there. Could I talk to you about this place and whatnot?"

Girl: "Uhhh, sure. I don't go here that much, though," she said between sips of her free beer.

The waiter guy then gave me my cup of Bud light. "Thanks," I said to him, before turning back to my target.

"That's ok, about how many times have you been here?" I asked the girl.

"A few, usually just when we don't know what to do at night. We came for the free beer." "uhh, why else would anyone come here?" I joked.

She laughed, "exactly!" but then pointed out some people that she's seen here most whenever she does come.

What's your name, by the way?" "Emily." "I'm Suray." "What?" "Sue-die" "Suray?" "Yeah." "Oh, that's pretty." (LIE)

Emily then pointed out some people, including the guy next to her, Daniel, which they are "just friends" but I can clearly tell she likes him, along with another friend with them, Brandon. They were all mid-20s, white, working, all friends who like to hang out places, especially cheap ones.

They were deciding whether or not to play a round of pool, but with 3 peopl in their party, it was kind of awkward.

"Oh, well, would you mind if I played with you guys?"

And an epic girls vs boys game of pool was born.

"oh, that would be perfect!" said Emily, with Daniel and Brandon nodding in agreement that it would be ok.

While I'm not excellent at the game, I figured I wouldn't be horrible, and besides, I made their teams even. Plus, I really like playing pool so I was super happy.

We chalked up and triangled the cue balls. Ladies first, so Emily broke. No balls went in, so the boys went. Daniel got one in, first try, making them Solids. He hit again, but missed. "yess" from the girls. My turn. Daniel gave me a pretty good set-up for me to hit a striped ball into the corner left pocket, "yeahhhh!" I went again, missed. Brandon next: missed. Emily next: missed. Daniel: two more solids gone. Back to me: One more stripe bites the dust.

Emily: "woow, you're good." "I'm really not," I say as I miss again. "See??" All four share a laugh.

As the game continues, I talk to Emily about the people she'd pointed out before. "So tell me about these people you see here." "I don't really know them, I just know they come here a lot." "ok, maybe i'll go talk to them later." "they're usually here when we come, and they're still here when we're leaving. "Ok perfect, i'll go talk to them later."

For the time being, us girls have a game of pool to win.

Throughout the game, I learn more about Emily. She is 26, divorced, a high school French teacher, has a twin sister in Tennessee, and a cat named Isis. She really loves her cat.

I shared about the same level of info: "I'm 22, hoping to graduate in the spring. I have a cat too! Cafall. I live around here, too, but my campus is way up north, it really sucks, but what can I do?"

Daniel and Brandon kept up a bit of chatter, too, but not quite as much as Emily and I, of course, but I do know they are 26 and 27 years old (I forget who is which age)

While I felt comfortable talking to Emily from the get-go, by the end of the game we were the best of friends. We exchanged numbers, and plan on hanging out again soon.

articles for class

http://www.nreisner.com/BlocVotingaRealityattheBallotBox.htm

I definitely agree with this article, because I know that I do the same thing.

"Ethnicity and race - especially race - are important factors in campaigns all over the country," says the article. I remember during the presidential campaign/election of 2008, forget party lines, it was alllllll about race, to a slightly smaller degree, gender.

"We know that people will vote for the person closest to them... and the less detail they know about the candidate, the more important ethnicity or race is in making that vote,'' said Marvin Dunn.

While not true for everybody, the majority of people will most likely vote for the candidate most like them, just like when deciding who to sit next to in a room, or who to talk to among a big group of people you don't know.

racism within the same race

Yesterday we got into a discussion near the end of class about racism within the same race, such as dark latinos vs lighter latinos. Through the years, I've actually come to hear that that actually is present in just about every culture on the planet. While that present awareness was not enslaving the other, or having it be a physical separation, it is an almost unspoken 'thing' that exists.

One instance that comes to mind is from America's Next Top Model, Cycle 7. Anchal Joseph ( i met her once!!!) is originally from New Delhi, India, but has lived in the US since she was 6.

POINT IS: I remember an episode where she was telling Tyra how in her culture, the lighter-skinned girls were "beautiful" while the darker ones generally were not. She said this as a darker-skinned Indian. She also used to put lighter eye color contacts, to make her super dark brown eyes blue, to try to be lighter.

That's just one example that immediately came to mind, but it directly relates to the question that Sonya brought up.

News as American as America, and Newspaper Diversity Report

http://www.c3.ucla.edu/toolbox/newsroom-toolbox/diversity-toolbox/news-and-newsroom-diversity/news-as-american-as-america/

First off, I think that's a really great title!

This article begins with the story of a small town in which the vice mayor thought it would be nice to have many different country's flags in a parade, along with the United States; flag, at the town's 4th of July parade, which of course did not end well.

Our country is one that is, for reasons unclear, awfully sensitive and super protective of anything as "American" as our flag. We want to arrest anyone who vandalizes our flag, or says anything negative about our country; either you love the good ol' U.S of A. or you're a terrorist.

Sometimes I understand why the rest of the world looks at us the way they do, and I really don't blame them.



The second article, newspaper diversity report, talks about what exactly is a "minority," now that more and more numbers of said "minorities" are ever-increasing in this country. The percent of blacks and Hispanics will soon outweigh that of the white majority.

Speaking of minorities, it also talks about minorities in the workroom. While,yes, I believe in diversity, I don't think companies should hire people "of color" just so they can show that they employ people "of color." That's dumb.

monday's class-8/11

Today we discussed a lot of things in class. From our listening posts, to [readings we were supposed to do?], to homophobia (and foot touching!!), to how to report with a poker face on.

.....po-po-po-po-poker face, po-po-po-poker face...

I had a thought during that discussion. Most jobs require people to not judge, not just reporters/journalists. In fact, maybe all of them.

Teachers, doctors, lawyers (especially), dentists, social workers, etc. all have to look beyond the race, gender, morals of everyone they encounter while working.

EXAMPLES:

Teacher= some kid who doesn't do well asks a "dumb" question during class. Teacher has to NOT put a face that says "dumb kid asking a dumb question"

Doctor= young, pregnant minority girl walks into office "don't look surprised/not surprised." OR person has nasty looking medical something- no "ewwww wtf is that!!" face allowed!

Lawyer= picture this guy looking at O.J. and trying to figure out his defense

Dentist= cannot have a face that says "eww wtf brush your teeth" to anybody

Social worker= cannot judge who they're saving kids from, can only work to help them!

In conclusion, it is not just journalists who need to get their judging in check, but everybody does! This is because, as you all know, everyone's a little bit racist...sometimes.

update

Our class met yesterday, Wednesday, for the first time in a week because poor Prof. Reisner was in the hospital with intestinal blockage. I was once in the hospital for colitis, so I had an idea of what kind of pain he was in. But, he's back in action and we were all relieved he was better.

I have not had time yet to make my 2nd visit to my listening post, Peg's Pocket. Last time I went, there was no one there, so I think I need to go later in the day, but that's when I'm busiest! SO, I'm currently trying to find a day/time for visit #2.

It is pretty interesting hearing about other people's LPs in class. I also read other people's blog posts, so not only am I learning from my own experience, but everyone else's as well!

Listening Post Visit #1

Saturday afternoon, around 2pm, I ventured out to visit my chosen listening post, Peg's Pocket billiards/bar.

I had absolutely no real idea what to expect, because it is impossible to see inside the place, so I didn't even know what it looked like inside. I'll admit that after I parked, I sat in my car for a minute composing myself. Instead of diving straight into the assignment, I decided I would just do some reconnaissance, just seeing the inside is step #1.

I walked in and it was not particularly bright in there. It did not give off a "clean and sanitary environment," per say. There were a couple of pool tables, and a bar, with some various machines about, including change, poker, some kind of candy things.

I noted a sign for the bathroom in the corner, which I silently hoped that I would never have to see what those look like.

I also noted that there was no one there. I guess other people don't think it should be socially acceptable to drink earlier in the day.

In the hopes of looking inconspicuous and not just randomly wandering in there with nothing to do, I went over and sat down at the bar.

The bartender was cleaning something on the other side of the counter, but I did not want to interrupt to call his attention, so I just waited and stared at all the liquor signs advertising drinks like Corona and Budweiser. He looked about mid-late 30s.

He finally came over and asked if I'd like anything, with a super suspicious look on his face. I am used to this look though, because I am very aware that I do not look old enough to drink. I ordered a Heineken and waited for the imminent "ID?" question. I gave it to him while he scrutinized my picture and calculated if my birth year made me legit or not. I handed over the $4 in exchange with my ID he handed back, then he went to get a bottle from the freezer behind him. He opened it up with a bottle opener and gave it to me with a cocktail napkin. Then he went back to his cleaning duty.

I half turned around on my stool to look around some more while I drank my beer. After another good look-through, I thanked the man, hopped off my stool, and left.
I left there knowing that gathering my courage just to come out to this place by myself was a job well done, and I knew that I had completed part 1 of this project.

assignment

My talking post for the project is Peg's Pocket, which is a billiards bar that looks super shady from the outside. There is one door, with no window, and all the windows are dark so that you can't see inside. The sign "Peg's Pocket" has a drawing of a woman from the back in a miniskirt playing pool. It look seedy and I've always wondered what the heck is inside there. I guess I am soon to find out. Wish me luck.

embarrassing newcasts

In class, we discussed some news stories and broadcasts that seemed a bit biased. The biggest one was the story on how 2 "urban" Popeyes restaurants ran out of chicken and interviewed many irate customers, all of whom just so happened to be black. The kind of blacks who get pissed that Popeyes ran out of fried chicken to go with their collard greens and purple drank. Yeah.

Popeyes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek-CwbiPeZI

Someone in class also brought up Antoine Dodson, a black guy who stopped a rapist in his sister's bedroom in Lincoln heights. In the news segment, he was rather flamboyant and, while no doubt serious about the warning for everyone to "hide ya kids, hide your wife, cuz they rapin' everybody up in here" it WAS pretty funny and most likely NOT AT ALL what the anchor/camera guy/whoever is responsible expected. But, is it their fault that the victim's brother happened to act and talk that way? Absolutely not. Another instance that I have seen of completely unexpected answers at a live interview for a news segment is this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMNry4PE93Y

While this boy is not black, it is clear that he was "different" than what the reporter expected. It is not always black people that get caught in news stories! They really are not the only ones who can act less than the best...case in point:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww&feature=related

Antoine Dodson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54yESyq6Io

While the whole world is trying to be so "PC" all the time, it is just impossible to not somehow offend somebody, somewhere. Although, sometimes, you can't be too careful.

article response

The first article I read was "Examining the Cross-Race Effect Using Racially Ambiguous Faces," which was a study done by scientists in Texas. When I began reading, I agreed with the premise that people can usually distinguish someone's race if it is your own.

Personally, I cannot tell anyone's race, really. I can see the color of your skin, sure, but usually that doesn't mean anything. My mom has white skin, but she is 100% Cuban. My own skin is brownish, but nobody has ever correctly guessed that I'm actually white/black/Mexican. People of all other races always think I am Dominican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, even Egyptian, but they do not know my race just by looking.

I think that the reason people can tell people of their race is because that is what they're used to seeing. If you are Cuban, and your entire family is Cuban, chances are you have some Cuban friends too, and most likely you all share some similar features/characteristics that make that Cuban-ness known to you.

The second article was in the same vein as the first. It also spoke of my theory about when growing up, the look of your family, Cuban was my example, is what you are most familiar with and therefore what you identify with best.

For example, I don't recall growing up with many Asians around, which is probably why I am not very familiar with the differences between Chinese, Japanese, Thai, or Vietnamese people. To this day, I don't know nearly enough Asians to be able to tell them all apart. OK, even if I did, I probably still wouldn't be able to.

explicit or implicit?

In class, we did an activity at implicit.harvard.edu. It was a test designed to demonstrate if we have a preference towards certain racial groups. Disclaimer: While I don't believe all stereotypes and I know they are not applicable to everyone of whatever race/religion/color/ethnicity, I do believe they are mostly derived from fact. Sue me.

I took 3 tests: african-american/eastern europeans, light-skin/dark-skin, and muslim-arab/other people.

The first demo revealed "slight preference to eastern european." This did not surprise me that much, because while I don't think that's necessarily true about me, the pictures of blacks that they put on there all looked like big black scary men! Call me racist or whatever, but I think my test results would have yielded a different answer if they had used pictures of Taye Diggs or Tyrese instead of scary looking potential rapists that would make me wants to hide my kids and hide my wife.

The second one was slightly confusing to me, because the pictures were like cartoon/drawn instead of real faces. Some of the "dark skinned" people had straight hair that looked the same as the lighter skinned pictures, which slightly threw me off. Yes, I know white people can have curly hair, and dark skinned can have naturally straight, but still. It was weird.

The third one said I have little to no preference between Other and Arabs. That one really did surprise me. While I really don't care about that, I do know that I don't know much about Arabs, and from what I personally know, some of them can be kinda smelly. Not all of them, I know, and no, I am not stereotyping because I have literally been around them and some do smell. I can tell you the same about most Europeans because I have been to many countries over there and I found that stereotype to have come slightly from fact. I also know that my religion is completely different from theirs. While this doesn't change what interaction I would have with any, I have not experienced much of it, so I really couldn't say.

All in all, I thought it was a really good class assignment for Multi-Ethnic Reporting, and I do agree with Prof. Reisner that in order to be a reporter, especially in a multi-racial area like ours, we need to be equipped to handle all kinds of groups, even ones that we know nothing about.

never judge a book by its cover...

... but we all do it. It's called a FIRST IMPRESSION. Some might be able to change that first opinion later, but what we see on first sight is how we judge people. From the color of their skin to the clothes they're wearing, we make judgments within the first few seconds of seeing someone. "That's shallow," some say, but the rest of us know that it's just what we do, whether people admit it or not.