Blog #6: Identities

In our everyday lives we rotate between many identities based on which communities we associate ourselves with in a given time. In the examples given by Prof. Flewelling she explains that her roles as a professor online, in class and in the writing center as well as her roles as a colleague, mom, wife etc. are rotated about. These roles each express a unique identity that she possesses, and associated with each of these identities is a uniques discourse that is learned through affiliation with the identified community. 

In my own case the way I express myself as a student now differs that I am a student at San Diego States University. Now that my classes have become more specialized towards my major I more specifically as a civil engineering major. Towards the end of my time at San Diego Mesa College I had a more generalized identity as an engineering major, and before that I lumped myself in as a general STEM major. Like Flewelling's differing roles as a professor are similar yet different, my role as a student has been altered yet I retain many of the qualities associated with each discourse; and thus each role contributes to who I am, to my Identity.  

Though there are many benefits in being a part of a multitude of discourse communities there are things to be couscous about and costs associated with them. Johns provides a few examples of this in her text. One being the case of her husbands affiliation with a cycling community. The members of this community share a common interest in cycling their views on politics my differ, and expressed contradicting views may lead to tension within the community. The second example she uses Richard Rodriguez’s conflict between his discourse in his academic community and  that of his family. Although new discourses do grow an individual’s set of identities, the values associated with newly established identities may contradict and could potentially deteriorate the ties with one or more of one’s identity. 

In my own case my identity as a student has clashed with the some of the values of my family holds. One example of this my family’s preference to save money and stay close to one-and-other. I didn’t leave home for college partly due to the large costs associated with housing and other living expenses, but now after hearing about the life lessons some of my friends have experiences I wish I would have put more thought into it. My sister on the other hand, who just recently graduated high school and got accepted to CalPoly San Luis Obispo had the chance to experience living without our parents. My parents weren’t too excited about her leaving, and made the argument that I would be better for her to stay in San Diego for school. I didn’t want my sister to miss out on this aspect of college like I did, so I stood up for her and supported her decision to leave. This created tension within out family until my parents finally accepted the fact that she was leaving. 

Blog #5: Embroider's assistant to Civil Engineer

The first job I had, I worked as an embroiders assistant of my cousin’s embroidery company. It was a small company consisting of only my cousin and his mom, but during the busy season (the summer) I would be the third addition to the team. Starting out the job was fairly simple, I was responsible for folding and packaging the products, but as I became more familiar with the processes my cousin began to trust me with more responsibilities. Loading and unloading the embroidery machine, preparing products for packaging, fixing errors in the machine and stitching, answering emails and phone calls, my simple job became more complex. 

At the beginning, learning how to do the job just took repetition and muscle memory. The majority of the products were all the same. They were nursing scrubs, which were fairly stiff and easy to fold, bag and box. The process was simple, almost mind numbing. I would pick a shirt off the finished pile, follow the creases to fold, put it in a bag and then a box. There were days when I had to fold upwards of 300 shirts, so I had to develop a technique that would allow me to get through the piles quickly. But, occasionally I would come across a grouping of a different product. For instance, groupings of polo shirts, which were made from a softer fabric, would be harder to work with, and the fold could easily become sloppy when they are bagged and boxed. So, I had to develop a new technique for dealing with such products.

Learning the new aspects to the job was a bit more challenging. During the times I was employed, the shop was swamped with orders, and there was little room for error. When I started fixing the machine errors (meaning errors in the machine’s ability to stitch) I had to first drop what I was doing and access the problem. Once the issue it clear I quickly manage to fix it while staying mindful about the product so that it does not become damages. Although this task does not seem to resemble any aspect of the restaurant service, it is similar to how a server, preoccupied with many tasks, can be interrupted by a customer. The servers must instantly access which discourse to use when addressing the issue, and quickly fix any such problems while ensuring quality service. 

In the restaurant industry, according to Mirabelli, servers must learn to be able to communicate is man different ways. The discourse they use when talking with customers is largely dependent on who these customers are. Servers must be able to judge which discourses are appropriate, and must be able to switch between discourses as they rotate between tables. Servers also must be able to transcribe variations of orders from the customer to the cooks in a way that is quick and easy to understand. 

One aspect of the civil engineering profession is to work with communities to understand their wants and needs or their infrastructure, so that they can be taken into consideration when planing for these projects. Meetings are scheduled so that engineers and the community can meet face to face. In such situations, engineers  need to be able to read the community’s reaction to understand if such a project is wanted, and if it isn’t, how it can be designed so that it is more appealing.

Servers are stereotyped because people typically only understand this occupation to be a relay of information and food from the table to the cook and back to the table. But, what many fail to realized how complicated the communication of information between the two points can be. Mirabelli makes this clear and depicts servers not as an individual incapable of doing any other job, but rather as a super hero. Civil engineering professions are usually thought to have little to no social aspect to them when in fact communication is an integral part of the profession. Analysts could avoid stereo typing this profession by taking a closer look at the dynamic process plans undergo as they migrate from person to person.