Braxton Baker
4/6/14
SOC 101
Observational Notes

Cherry Blossom Festival

Time Long

4/14 -> 12:00-3:00

Notes

Clothing -- jeans, shorts, sweatpants, sunglasses, hat, dress, suit, camera, sneaker, handbags (it’s a warm spring and bright sunny day)
Walk slowly, wandering, running around, stopping and going. Marching, hiking. I seen many people roaming around and watch what other people do.
Some groups focus on taking pictures of the cherry blossom when other people were sight seeing of famous places
Every 10 sec cars drive by – Most of them had 2 or more folks
Family w/ small kids –little kids playing with kites, dad throws football to son, and family would play Frisbee catch, and play fetch with their dogs.
Family spreads out blanket for picnic, or just lay out, enjoying the sun, sleeping, cuddling, and reading.
Teens in cars look bored, staring at their phones, or just looking out the windows
Most people wore shorts because of the environment; it was a beautiful warm day
Kids running around with the kites to make it fly higher
A group of cheer kids making a pyramid
The only animals there were dogs
Older man chasing and older woman and loses
The trees had several of colors
A circus group doing the hand stands
There were more than 15 kites in the sky at once
Children were running around the Washington Monument, tagging each other.
Fences were set up around the Washington Monument, due to earthquake. (Making sure its 100% safe before taking the fences down but I heard they were going to make it a museum)
Some people were dancing so I assumed there was live music playing somewhere
Different food trucks were advertising their products
Cherry blossom were falling due to it being a little windy
Everyone respectfully minded their own business and didn’t cause trouble for others.

Cherry Blossom Festival
The purpose of this observation assignment was to investigate and interpret the different types of interactions between the individuals and groups present, as well as the environment in which these interactions take place. Every spring, I look back on my life memories; I relive how my entire family on my mother’s side always goes shopping at producer-only farmers market near the festival. This area I'm attending to is completely different than any festivals & it has a lot of history that I haven't researched on yet. It begins on the 14th night of April 2014; standing outside, it was warm and unusually bright. Unexpectedly, I am distracted by this awful scent & I couldn't identity what it was, praying to a God that can allow this smell. I had no choice but to abandoned the area. I quickly took my navy blue 2006 civic to the Tidal Basin that is beyond the Gallaudet University area.
When I arrived the area was mysteriously loud rather than normal. And I know I shouldn't sit here typing with my back to the car door when I have so carelessly left it wide open in such a notoriously dangerous neighborhood that we call Washington D.C but I'm tired, and bored and I just can't be bothered to get up and close the door. As I look out, I can see the festival is set out with an interesting towering design, 3-D like shape building, which is the Tomas Jefferson Memorial. The spot of the architecture was phenomenal and Circular walking path, enables you to walk in a full circle around the water, checking out different Cherry Blossom trees in your path gives you a chance to check out the Cherry Blossom Festival tents that were set on the pathway nearby. The festival tents offer different types of food, as well as mementos from the festival for purchase, like t-shirts multitude of activities and cultural events. I choose to sit on a bench between the Ranger station and Sylvan Theater by the Washington Monument. My leading focus was on the people who actually came to the festival area.
I examined two sections of groups. The first group stayed in the field, and the second group walked the circular