Example of Field Notes: Dr. Noel Chrisman
I arrived about 6:15 (it started at 6). Denise was at the entry to the parking lot. She was keeping people out because there had been an altercation over a fender bender. We did not talk about her pending departure.
Once inside, I looked at the whole gym. It was full of tables and families. Most were Latino. There were three singers in the corner that leads out to the parking lot. They sang in Spanish from recorded music, karaoke (spelling) I guess. I walked to the kitchen area. The two rooms by the kitchen (the one where the rec center team taught first aid and the room where we have community meetings) had the wall folded back. Plus the door to the gym was open.
Food was mashed potatoes, stuffing (relleno), gravy, chicken thighs and drumsticks, broccoli, rolls, and coffee. I think there was something else but I did not go look.
I sat at a table and noted its decorations. There were baskets at each table with greens and greens with red berries in them. Very festive. There were nuts in mine and I think apples in some where people had not yet eaten.
Interspersed with the singers was a drawing for turkeys. It was really cute. The Latino guy announced in both Spanish and English and he had two English speaking kids to pull the tickets and announce the numbers. At first they would read in English and he'd announce in both English and Spanish. Then the kids began to try their knowledge of Spanish numbers. They did well. The gave out about 6-8 turkeys in two waves of drawings.
The highlight of the evening-except for the food of course-were the Mexican dancers, three guys (shirts open, scarfs at the neck, white pants and cowboy hats. Very smart) and four women, three Latinas and a gringa.
I looked at at the gringa and remembered that years ago there was a little blond kid who danced with all the Latina girls in the dance troop. I talked to Pam Grago afterwards (she's the one who told me of the celebration. She's on the advisory council, a former parent volunteer at Concord, and now after getting a BA at Western, she is the family support worker at the school up