Field Notes: Sociology, Emailing, & Texting
Sociology Class
My favorite class so far is probably my sociology class. I find the subject to be immensely interesting and easy to connect with. In the past whenever I wrote about social issues I had usually connected them to personal experiences in order to prove it was something relevant and real. Sociology had been connected to writing merely anecdotes and attempting to validate those anecdotes. However, in the writings for this sociology class, there is no need for anecdotes. Since I no longer have to expose personal experiences in order to prove something, most of the time when writing, it is significantly easier to analyze the solutions or the implications of social issues. Analyzing different authors in order to convey discontent with social structures made me realize the importance of the emotional toll it takes for some people to combat those structures. Usually, my mood is dependent on the topic but most of the time I feel serious when writing simply because I feel a moral responsibility in understanding the history of foundational systems of oppression. Since my essays aimed to analyze the authors, the stakes had fulfilled a sense of obligation in understanding the struggle of each author. Another aim seemed to be to build a more socially conscious student since we were exposed to various experiences of different people of all backgrounds. The audience had been my professor to ensure we understood each point, but I had considered the audience to also be myself as I would be able to document a process of unlearning. Overall, the topics felt heavy to write about but had significant importance in understanding and using the proper language in conveying.
Emailing
One of my professors had everyone in the class email him all our work for the class and I had gone back to previously sending emails to ensure I had the right when. When doing so, I realized I sign off my emails with “kind regards” and begin with “I hope this email finds you well.” I find emails to be strange since they work in the same way as texts, however, the writing is excessively formal and serious. While emails that share important information can be formal, I find it interesting for the expectation of formalities to transcend into casual emails. In this instance, I wanted to ask a question in the midterm and thought it was interesting that my introduction and thanks were longer than the question itself. When writing out the email I was already worried since I could not find the information anywhere on the syllabus or canvas page and being worried about sounding rude was something I found to be almost comical. Considering the relationship between student and professor is at stake when emailing, it is not surprising that there is an expectation for utmost respect. Also, since the intent is finding out information it is, once again, not surprising. In comparison to casual emails to teachers in high school, it seems there is less of a pressure to be formal. In the past, my emails had been straightforward and did not include a signing-off as they do now. It now forces me to consider if emailing etiquette simply changes with institutions or if it is universal and I had been wrong in the past.
Emailing
I was writing a text out to my friends during midterms to ask how their tests were going. I consider texting habits to be dependent on the person who receives the message but now consider it is much more dependent on the context. Initially, I had asked in our group chat how they were feeling about exams but as soon as the conversation shifted from school to something about pop culture the entire writing style changed. I noticed that all of us kept switching between half-finished thoughts and random words when describing something we saw versus using legible sentences when talking about school. Since I don’t like texting very much, my texting has consistently been short and mostly acronyms but in cases where the conversation is serious, it gets excessively long. In our conversation, after discussing something on pop culture my friend had mentioned he was having a hard time in one of his classes, so our group chat had sent him support. With the stake now being the emotional security of someone we cared for, the language was more geared towards making sure we were serious about our support. At the time I felt upset because I care for my friend and wouldn’t want him to feel upset either. The feedback from my texts as well as our friends, fortunately, was assurance that our friend was alright and our conversation was changed and the writing dynamic with it. I still think my texting style isn’t going to be changing anytime soon but that my writing style is much more dependent on the context and the stakes rather than the person receiving the writing.
