Assignment 7: Prints and Photographs

Wrigley Field, located in Chicago, Illinois and Fenway Park, located in Boston, Massachusetts are the last surviving dinosaurs of classic American baseball parks. They represent an era of baseball unmarred from the current steroid scandal and far removed from excessive salaries and multimillion-dollar stadiums built from tax revenues. In fact, these two stadiums did not even host night games until 1988 and 1946 respectively. Wrigley Field and Fenway Park continue to draw sellout crowds despite their lack of modern amenities offered by their competitors.

I attended a Chicago Cubs baseball game at the historic Wrigley Field on Thursday, July 15, 2010. It was an amazing look into past juxtaposed with the realities of the modern day. Perhaps patrons who sat in the upper decks in the early 20^th century did not have to use the bathroom facilities during the course of the ballgame, because they still do not exist. Patrons must exit the upper decks and walk down to the ground level to use these facilities. However, when they enter, they can use the bathroom amenities, updated since 1914.

I began my search for photographs or prints by searching exclusively for Wrigley Field. This search only yielded eight results. I continued my search using the following search terms:

Wrigley Field Chicago, Illinois

Classic American Ballparks

Chicago Cubs

I did not have much success. The “Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois” search garnered me the same information as my first search. I received one result during my search of “Classic American Ballparks”. My search using “Chicago Cubs” produced the most results. However, most of them were baseball card prints and did not feature Wrigley Field.

I next searched for Fenway Park. I received 26 results, far greater than my search for Wrigley Field. I continued to search using the following search queries:

Fenway Park, Boston Massachusetts

Boston Red Sox

The “Fenway Park, Boston Massachusetts” search resulted in a reduced number of results (12) while the search for “Boston Red Sox” produced (162) results. The latter search produced many print baseball cards very similar to my search for the Chicago Cubs.

The lack of results surprised me. I intended to find some quality photographs or prints of both the exterior and interior of two classic American ballparks still used today. I did not succeed in this quest. I only bookmarked seven results on my Delicious account and very few of them are Wrigley Field. I believe that this is a good source for a narrow topic. It would also be a good source to use for someone looking for historic photographs or prints. Although I was not successful with my research, I would give this service another attempt in the future.

http://delicious.com/anthony.forfia

Assignment 6: Flickr Folio of Small Group Residence Halls

I moved to Kent State University to begin my undergraduate education in the fall of 1997. I moved into Altmann Hall in the First Year Experience housing program, otherwise known as “Small Group/World. Eight residence halls housed only freshman in two areas, upper and lower plaza. Altmann Hall was located in Upper Plaza and that is where I would call home for all four years of my undergraduate career.

The Small Group Residence Halls, constructed in the late sixties to early seventies, had many structural problems. With its massive use of concrete and plethora of stairways, Small Group’s features prohibited accessibility to those with physical impairments. Unfortunately, the cost to renovate and bring these halls up to code was too great. Therefore, Small Group was demolished during the spring semester of 2009. As the bricks fell, many memories tumbled along too. Never would I have the chance to take my children to visit my old residence halls. The former Small Group residence hall complex is now a green space designed for student relaxation and recreation.

My intent is for this photo gallery to serve as an everlasting memory of “Small Group”. Despite its structural limitations, and its geographic problems, it will always stand as my college home away from home. I was concerned that I would not locate any photographs on Flickr of my intended subject. To my pleasure, I located roughly eight photographs which I then supplemented by adding six of my own. I used the search terms below:

· Kent State University Ohio

· Kent State University Ohio Residence Halls

· Kent State University Ohio Dorms

· Altmann Hall

· Small Group Kent State University

· First Year Experience Kent State University

My goal was to locate outside photographs of the Small Group buildings. I hoped to find some photographs taken within the buildings as well. My first search term was broad and elicited many results. I looked through a few pages before I decided to narrow my search. The following search terms connected me with two different Flickr accounts. One account belonged to a user with the account name of Simmah, and the other with an account name of Authorwannabe. Simmah’s photo is the first one included in my gallery, while Authorwannabe’s make up my next seven photographs. Authorwannabe’s uploaded his photographs in the fall of 2008, about a year prior to the start of demolition. Simmah’s uploaded his panoramic shot during the fall of 2007. I only found eight photos during my research of the aforementioned terms. Although I did not find any photographs taken inside any of the buildings, I was pleased with my results.

I decided to include some photographs that I took as I started my graduate career at Kent State University during the summer of 2009. By this time, Small Group was a field and all that remained were Stewart and McSweeny Halls. It was tough to walk around the deserted area with all the memories that I hold dear. Cooking out with my grill on the steps of Altmann Hall one summer, delivering the mail each day to the eight buildings, and performing hall checks during my rounds as a resident assistant were now all a distant memory. It was tough. I never gave a second thought to demolished buildings. History has taught me that buildings, although constructed with faults, hold memories to the people who lived and worked there.

Although I was pleased with using Flickr for the first time, I did find fault with one thing. I discovered that I could not include my uploaded photographs to my gallery. I used the help feature to make sure of this problem and discovered that Flickr encourages its users to include other users’ photos within their personal galleries. I was upset with this simple philosophy and decided to create an additional Flickr account so that I was able to include my photographs. This was my only fault with Flickr and it is something that I would encourage them to change for the future.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pizzatony/galleries/72157624631003782/