| Project Proposal |
[Oct. 12th, 2006|03:10 pm] |
My project is to learn about the ghosts in Chicago. I want to find out if ghosts really exist. The whole thought about ghosts freaks me out so this will help me gain an understanding of the supernatural. I want to learn about the ghost societies and the people who devote their lives to “hunting” ghosts. My first goal is to learn about the hauntings in Chicago. My second goal is to learn about the ghost societies/researchers in Chicago. My third goal is to learn about the ghost hunters in Chicago. My fourth is to learn how to get rid of ghosts. My fifth goal is to go to some sites and see some ghosts.
Even though this will be a fun and interesting project, this was not my first project. After I had some trouble finding some sites for my film project I decided to switch ideas. I did not want to get cut close on time. I decided to do this idea instead of the Bollywood idea because this one appealed to me more. I have a personal connection to it because supposedly my building is haunted.
To get started on my project I need to ask some questions. My first question is where are the haunted spots in Chicago? This will lead me to finding sources, such as the internet and books that can give me the information. This will also lead me to finding the societies that would have a lot of information as well. My second question is what happened in these haunted spots to make them haunted? I will be learning about the history of the ghosts and in the process learn some of the history of Chicago, the notorious part. My third question is why would someone become involved in researching or finding ghosts, which would lead my to finding out about the ghost societies and ghost hunters in Chicago. My fourth question is how do you find a ghost, or how do you know one is in your presence? This will help with understanding ghosts better, or what defines a ghost. Then I can go on to find out how to get rid of a ghost or ghostly presence.
All of my questions relate to my goals in some way. I probably have not addressed all of the questions out there because I will think of more as I get involved in this project.
My first plan of action is to find resources that will help me find the haunted spots in Chicago. This includes searching on the internet and finding books. Then I will research what you need to have in order to see a ghost. I could find out by contacting a ghost society or ghost hunter or by finding it online or in a book. I also wanted to search for a store in the area that might deal with the supernatural. There has to be a place that supports the ghost searcher community in Chicago. I want to visit some site as soon as I find them. This way I will have direct action and get a first hand look at haunted places, not just read about them.
When I look for the haunted sites, I also want to find out about the ghost societies and ghost hunters in Chicago. I have already found two names that I could research, Troy Taylor and Ursula Bielski. I will find a way to contact them and interview them. This will help me with my research and be a first hand account from the professionals about where the best spots are and when to visit these places for the best results in ghost sightings.
In order to get my feet wet in ghost sightings, I am going on a ghost tour around the city on Monday the 16th. They take you to haunted spots and let you look around. They do not guarantee any sightings, but they have had sightings before. Even if I do not see anything, I can go back to the places they took me and see if I get a sighting by myself. I have already found some sites to check out. Some of these sites include my apartment, Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, The Dome Room, Loyola University, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, The Givins Castle, Graceland Cemetery, Holy Family Church, The House of Blues, Hubbard High School, Kelyvn High School, John Hancock High School, Mount Carmel, S-M-C Cartage Company, and Robinson Woods. I hope to go to a site a night after Monday. I will go after dark, which will probably be after 10pm. My friend John Upton will be accompanying me to the site. He is important because he is going to let me use his video camera to record the sites and what happens. He is also going to be my moral support because he is really into this sort of thing. The type of people that will be involved in my project will be ghost enthusiasts and experts. They will be important in informing me about ghosts and sites.
Since culture can be described as a community of people that shape each other’s behavior, the ghost society is a culture. Their life style is to become involved in the supernatural. They have created their own societies that believe and respect each other. They have their own definitions as to what is right and wrong, for example, on a site I visited, they told people not to trespass on sites. It gives a bad name to ghost hunters if people go conduct searches illegally. They always recommend asking permission first if a haunted site is private property.
I will be observing this culture and try to gain an understanding for it. I want to gain an understanding for their passion towards the supernatural. It would be interesting to find out how they found each other and formed their community. I also want to know how the public views them and how they think they are viewed.
An important part of learning about this culture will be to interview members of it. This will count towards my primary research. I will also gather primary research by going to the different sites. In order to help record data and experiences, I will be bringing a video camera along with me. I have also heard about taking pictures of ghosts, but with a special camera. I will have to look into finding out what is so different with this camera than regular cameras.
I am not sure whether I will be invited to interact socially with this community. I am not sure how open they are to outsiders. I will be interacting with different members of the community to get more information. I should not have any difficulties entering the public haunted sites. The only difficulties that might arise would be with the private sites. I may not be granted access. I will be actively participating with finding ghosts, since I am trying to figure out if they are real.
One of the main reasons for choosing this project is trying to figure out if ghosts are real or a figment of the imagination. Obviously enough people believe them to be real, or else there would not be any sightings or pictures, let alone societies. I can easily freak myself out by just thinking about actually seeing a ghost. I would hope that this project would get me over this fear and gain an understanding of these ghosts.
I had a personal experience that triggered me to create this as a project. I found out that our building more specifically our floor was haunted. Our neighbor explained that there was a death in the room 715 and that the ghost liked to play tricks. She also said that there is a ghost called Gloria that can be seen in the elevator. My roommates were so scared that we decided to sleep in the living room. The next morning we woke up to a crash. My roommate came out of her room saying that her closet door had moved by itself and then her mirror had fallen over and shattered. Was it our ghost?
I think that anyone would be interested in this project. I think that there is a general interest in the supernatural. Our society has a whole day dedicated to it. Since I am a nonbiased researcher, people would be more willing to believe my research and outcomes. They will be intrigued as to whether I believe in ghosts once I am done with my project.
Many books have been written about ghosts. I think our society is fascinated with the after life and what happens to those who cannot reach their resting place. The movie The Sixth Sense was a worldwide success and it addressed the question of whether ghosts stay to finish the business they could not while they were living. Are only certain people supposed to see ghosts? There are people out there who would not care about my project but they should. These haunted sites have a history that is part of our culture. Most haunted sites have something to do with horrendous acts. Since America can be viewed as one of the most violent countries in the world, these ghosts or other worldly presences are a remainder of these acts. They are like a reminder of the worst things that can happen in our society. If they are real then they should not be thought of lightly. |
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| change of plan |
[Oct. 9th, 2006|11:13 am] |
Ghosts in Chicago
After running into the problem of finding sites for my film idea I decided to switch to the paranoia in Chicago. After learning from a sophomore that our building is haunted I was creeped out and later excited. I figured there had to be some places in the city that are haunted due to the tragic history of the city, such as the great fire. This would be a really intriguing project. As a kid there were the games to see ghosts, as in looking in the mirror to see Bloody Mary. I would never do it because I was too scared. This project would help me gain an understanding of ghosts and for me to come to my own conclusions as to if they really exist. I will either lose my fear of them or never be able to go to a haunted place again. I would hope to communicate with the people involved with researching ghosts. I hope to learn about the history of the haunting in Chicago. By doing this I will also be learning about Chicago. This project will inspire a new kind of respect for the societies and Ghost Hunters who consume their lives with tracking down ghosts. All of the information that I will be gathering will be new to me so I will be learning an extraordinary amount on the subject. Will I become bonded with the supernatural? I can only guess now, but by the end of the project I will know.
Goal #1: My first goal is to learn about the haunting in Chicago. This will lead me to sites in the city to investigate. I could this through websites online, ghost tours in the city, and ghost societies.
Goal #2: My second goal is learn about the Ghost Societies in the city. They could give me lots of information and support. Most of them have sites on the internet.
Goal #3: My third goal is to lean about he Ghost Hunters in Chicago. They would be interesting to learn about because they sound like the kind of people who are not afraid of anything. Are there any legendary Ghost Hunters from Chicago? How do you become a Ghost Hunter? I would probably find them through the societies or ghost magazines.
Goal#4: My fourth goal is to learn how to get rid of ghosts. My building is supposedly haunted and I want to find out how to make sure that a ghost does not come into our apartment. I would want to learn how to tell if it is haunted or has a presence. It would be cool to find a shop that specialized in the paranoia and how to fend it off, but I could find information on line or from a book.
Goal #5: My fifth goal is to go to some sites and see if I can see any ghosts. I think that this will be the best way to get over my feat of ghosts. I think it would be interesting to bring a video camera with me to document what I find. I will need to find a buddy or group to go with me because I would never go to a haunted place by myself. |
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| Project goals |
[Sep. 28th, 2006|01:27 pm] |
The Film Industry in Chicago
For my project I wish to learn about the film industry in Chicago. Some of my interests are in the successes of the industry, what the industry consists of, and what it offers for students interested in filmmaking. This project is intended to help me become involved in the filmmaking community since that is what I hope to do as a career.
I hope that this project will inspire me to create good films. I want to be shown that anyone with passion can make a living at what they love doing. I would love to find a role model in the Chicago film industry. Along with being inspired I want to accumulate connections and resources. In order to understand what the industry consists of I will have to find as many companies as possible and come in contact with them. Once I do that I will be networking within the industry. Since I will be directly participating in this project I hope to learn as much as possible about the Chicago film industry and what is has to offer. I hope to bond with as many filmmakers as I can. If I do this I think I will have better success at becoming a serious filmmaker.
Goal #1: My first goal is to find out about the different film companies in Chicago. In order to do this I will have to research the film companies in Chicago. If I have an understanding of the company and what their goals and accomplishments are as a company, then I think I can approach them accurately and get more valuable information from them. If I go unprepared then I will be wasting their time and will not be making a good connection. It would make myself look bad and I probably would not be asked back.
Goal #2: My second goal is to become directly involved with the film companies. In order to do this I will volunteer my time. If I can help them with more menial things, then in time I might be able to help on actual projects. Just being in that environment will help me learn more about how the creative process works for making a film. Watching a film be made will inspire me and help me with my own future projects. As they get to know me they might eventually trust me to help with a project.
Goal #3: My third goal is to find a role model. When I go to the film companies I will look for some one who has had success and knows how to make a project to be proud of. I will interview them to find out how they started out and what advice they would give to a film student. I would observe them work and see how they go through the creative process of coming up with an idea for film, to going through post-production on the film. |
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| Defining Culture |
[Sep. 27th, 2006|11:53 am] |
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What is culture? It can be described as a lifestyle, an ethnicity, or a community. A lifestyle can be considered a culture because it involves everything you do, including what you eat, where you live, work and the friends you have. Ethnicity is a big part of culture because our parents and their cultural background usually bring us up. When we are little we don’t realize the impact of our ethnicity. A community has a huge impact on our culture. It dictates what is acceptable and what is considered right from wrong. The problem with culture is that it encompasses so many important parts of our lives that it is hard to peg down as one certain thing. Even in David Inglis’ essay, “Culture and the Everyday”, it is stated that, “In sum, ‘culture’ is a word that has a lot of work to do in the English language, because it is used to describe so many different things” (6). There are so many aspects to take into account to describe a person’s culture. Any aspect of a person’s life has been affected by their culture. “No human society can exist without the people within it having certain ideas, values, norms, beliefs, and ways of thinking" (Culture 4). This makes it impossible for anyone to say they do not have a culture. Culture is part of being human. Taking this into consideration, a culture can be as big as a whole country or as small as the South Loop in Chicago. Culture is something that surrounds us and helps bring meaning to our actions. |
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| My 3 Ideas |
[Sep. 13th, 2006|01:45 pm] |
Idea #1: Ghosts in Chicago
This idea came to me last night when I was informed by a sophomore that ghosts lived in my building. I live in S. Plymouth Ct. and supposedly many people have died in the building. I don’t find this very hard to believe since it was built in 1871. The very thought of living with ghosts scares the crap out of me so I thought it would be interesting to learn more about ghosts and in particular the ghosts in Chicago. I figured that there have to be a few since this is an older city with lots of history. I know that I will be able to find many secondary sources on ghosts since people have been fascinated with them since the beginning of time. I would hope to find some primary sources. There may be a ghost spotting society or something of that nature in Chicago. It would be interesting to find out if there are any famous ghosts in the area and if it is possible to visit the place of their dwelling. I might be in for the scare of my life but maybe it would help with getting over my fear of ghosts. If no such places exist I can always use my building as a place to spot buildings. I could recount how to live with and get along with the neighboring ghosts.
Idea #2: Bollywood
I recently became fascinated with Bollywood. After seeing a few Indian movies and attending a workshop on Bollywood, my interest has been peaked to find out more about this industry. I hope to understand what I love about the films and genre. Is it because I find Indian culture fascinating or is it because it is completely opposite from Hollywood? I want to learn the history of Bollywood and the effect it has on the population in India. Why is it so popular in their culture but would never become big in our society? For research I would look for secondary resources on directors, actors, and choreographers. I would probably be able to find an Indian store that rents Bollywood films or the library has some as well. As for primary sources I would hope to interview someone who knows a lot about Bollywood. I could try to get in touch with a person involved with making Bollywood films. It would be interesting to find out about the Indian community in Chicago and if they have any connections to Bollywood. Maybe they have a theater that plays these films.
Idea #3: Networking in the Independent Film Industry
My major is film and it would be good for me to learn the ins and outs of the independent film industry. I have no idea what the community is like in Chicago besides the students at Columbia. I want to learn how I get started and who I should look to towards mentoring and presenting ideas. I want to learn how to run an independent film production company and it would be cool to see first hand, which would be an excellent primary source. It would be interesting to learn about the influential women in the independent film industry because I think it is important for more women to become involved in the actual filmmaking process. I would like to meet some and ask them about their impressions on what it is like to work in a male dominated industry. Any interviews with people involved in the industry would be good primary resources. There are many independent film magazines available that would be excellent secondary sources. Along with the magazines, there are countless websites that would be good places to start making contacts. I am sure that I could find several teachers that would be willing to give me several places to start. |
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