Blog 4: A Listening Exercise

The interview I listened to this week was with Amy Royce, the executive director of Maryland Art Place (MAP).  The interview itself is very informative in the history of MAP and with a lot of information about arts districts and Bromo.  However, it kind of falls flat to me.  I would have really enjoyed hearing more about specific exhibitions in the space and Amy’s favorite memories and moments at MAP.  While at times Amy kind of seems nostalgic and optimistic about MAP and how it has moved back into Bromo, I would have loved to hear more about the why behind these feelings.  I felt like a lot of the interview was a lot of an advertisement for MAP until the questions shifted.  Amy was able to speak about how MAP has gone about reaching out and involving the community, but also the physical division she feels within the city due to the light rail and other commercial and residential divides that she sees in place.

I think this interview really speaks to the importance of the interviewer and the recorder working as a team.  I think this is something that is really vital in completing a more successful and thorough interview.  By having questions from both Kaitlin (the interviewer) and Adam (the recorder) there are almost two sides to this interview.  I think the two interviewers speak well to  the idea of not just using the questions written down, but also following up with questions not necessarily related to the ‘original plan’.   

For whatever reason, this interview overall kind of rubbed me a strange way.  I'm not sure if it was just that Amy's position in MAP has made her very knowledgable and able to give straight forward answers or what, but it was just kind of dry to me.  While full of information, it lacked something.  I am definitely interested in checking out the space and comparing it to other similar venues I have been to.

Blog 3: Flexibility is Key

Interviews are hard.  This week's blog was supposed to be dedicated to the interview I was to have about the Bromo Tower, my place for our small assignment, however earlier today I got an email saying my interviewee was unable to meet, messing with the timeline of things.  However, I won't dwell and instead thank Professor King for flexible deadlines (thanks again!!).  Interviews are stressful and nerve wracking, however I'm grateful for the opportunity to be involved in a class that values such qualitative methods of research.

My experience with interviewing in the past has been more behind the scenes.  It's been transcribing and coding, involving myself in smaller projects and interviews with people semi-close to me.  This semester will be different as I engage firsthand in the interviewing.  In the future, I'll make sure to plan my interviews before deadlines a little more, but luckily I can take the advice from peers in class tomorrow and use it towards my interview.  I definitely plan to rework my questions more to make sure that they are open-ended, and really pay attention to how people speak and tell their stories.  I love the idea of capturing how people talk and am really interested in working towards doing that.

Throughout class last week we focused a lot on the separation of Baltimore throughout history.  Baltimore as a city seems to me to be consistently divided, almost always through methods of gentrification.  I think that a major question of our project should relate to these divisions within Baltimore that exist.  I think it would be important and beneficial to ask every person we interview: what is your Baltimore.  By asking that question, we can look for themes based on what individuals talk about, it could be the people or the places, I just think a lot of the project needs to build off of what we receive from those that we talk to...this kind of relates back to the idea of being flexible in building the project.

I think my focus would be best in finding these over-arching themes.  I enjoy thinking critically and trying to put together and find the connections (or disconnections) of stories.  I also think it could be really fun to have people participate in cognitive mapping, and through that put together something for the project.

Blog 2: Bromo Tower...Fit for a Captain?

I still have a lot of time to fill in for my place, the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower located at 21 S. Eutaw Street, but here’s the timeline I have so far.  Also, for now I'm adding hyperlinks so I can later go back and add citations when I figure that out on here.

1911- Tower constructed, designed by Joseph Evans Sperry and built by Captain Isaac Emerson, a pharmacist and owner of Bromo Seltzer, a popular headache and handover remedy.  The tower would act as a large advertisement for Emerson’s company located adjacent to the tower.  At the time of construction, the tower was the tallest building in Baltimore at 289ft. In 1923, it lost this designation as tallest building (I’m not sure to what building yet, but I should figure this out!)
Captain Emerson was a real captain!  He received this naval ranking for his actions during the Spanish-American War.  Upon returning, he had the idea for the tower to be modeled after the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy.

On the top of the tower, Emerson had a 51ft illuminated, revolving replica of his famous blue bottled drug.  The replica itself weighed 20 tons.

Also some things to know, there is no 13th floor (however there are 15 total) and because the floors are so small there is only a bathroom on every third floor.  Also the minute hand on the clock itself is a little more than 12 feet long.

The architect's original drawing of the tower, found on the Baltimore Sun website.

1936-  Due to structural concerns, the bottle was removed from the top of the tower.
1969- Bromo Seltzer Factory attached to the tower is torn down51973- John F. Steadman Fire Station opens (I’m not sure if this was attached or in…still need to finalize where but I’ve read about the fire station on multiple sources).  The tower is added to National Register of Historic Places.
2007- Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts began renovations to create 33 artist studios.
The tower itself originally operated as an office building and held businesses such as Cone Export and Commission Co. (I plan to look up more about the business to find out the next steps to the story!).  I’m still looking into what businesses operated out of the tower, as well as why they closed.  The tower now operates as artist studios and on Saturdays the tower is open to the public with artist studio tours and clock room tours.

I am still very much trying to put together the basis of my place research.  I’m still pretty google-deep in researching, but have been referred to a lot of Baltimore Sun articles which I plan to follow up on and continue to look through.  My biggest struggle right now is that details are vague.  While the tower has a lot of information available, it’s all the same information.  I need to find out more about the businesses in the tower, what artists have studio space in the tower, and more of the real story.  

Honestly, I’m still very unsure of where we are going with the radio series.  I feel as though we might need to dive into the details a little more on the last semester Bromo project to help figure out what our next step is.  Ideally, I’d love to continue capturing the energy and feelings of the district.  It would be amazing to have people answer the question “describe where you currently are and why” and hear their thoughts on the places and spaces we are meeting them at.  

Blog 1: Getting to know the Bromo

    The Bromo Speaks radio series showcases how the projects have changed and gotten more advanced as semesters have passed.  My favorite part of the series is the introductions for every segment.  The introductions to the pieces is something that I have felt like is most important in creating consistency and fluidity of the projects and I think Bromo Speaks does this almost perfectly.  The consistent intro sound clip creates a tie between the days that  captures the sounds of the district and gives the piece life.  I really enjoyed how in some segments interviewees introduced themselves and where they were in the beginning of the piece.  Making this part of the introduction consistent in every segment could expand the listeners understanding of Bromo.  I love all of the sounds and these small details of introduction throughout the whole radio piece.  By having these details, the life of the Bromo Arts District is captured to a larger extent.  The background noises of spaces like Lexington Market create a fuller view of the residents, business owners, and visitors of the space. 

     While I don’t know what much could be improved, other than creating more consistency, I  think that the stories could be expanded.  I think that there is a lot of that space that could still be explored, I know that before last semester, I did not even know that Bromo had a specific name for itself, I think that there could be an expansion in developing a better understanding of where Bromo is and why it is an important place in the city.  I think that what could make the projects better overall is creating a supplementary piece to help listeners explore the space more.

     While it did not have the same introduction (it was lacking the names of interviewees), I think that Day 2: Lexington Market was the strongest day.  I think this strength comes from the history that is told through the piece but also how listening to the piece really puts you in the space.  I feel as though this piece represents more of the people that you could meet any day in Bromo walking down the street.  I think it captures a sense of community and history that is needed and such a large part of the neighborhood.

     I think with our project, we should really focus on continuing to capture the feelings and essence of being in the neighborhood.   We have a cool opportunity to continue to build and grow from the relationships made last semester through the Bromo Speaks project and I think we should really take advantage of that as we continue.  I also think we should continue to to separate the pieces based on themes that make sense organically.  We should see where the interviews and works lead us, not being afraid to make changes in focus as needed.  I would be interested in finding out from the group their experiences in Bromo and hearing specifically from students in the course last semester.  I think they could provide insight into what was left out of the piece last semester and why...maybe there is something in that we could build from.  

     Of the possible project ideas, there are several that are most interesting to me.  I think that Mapping Bromo...walking tour could be interesting to create as a guide for people to explore Bromo.  I think that this side of the city is so close and so accessible, but so many people to realize what is there.  I think we could provide an opportunity to show this side of the city.  I would like to know more about what makes Bromo an arts district and what that's like as compared to other arts districts in the city and what their involvement is.  Over the summer and during the fall semester, I worked in another arts district in the city, in Highlandtown at the Creative Alliance.  During my time there I learned a lot about how the organization engaged the community in the creative process and I would be interested to see how organizations in Bromo do similar, or completely different, work.

     I think I may be interested in helping with interviews, but I know my strengths include researching, analyzing interviews (including coding for themes), and GIS/map making.

I've been to Bromo only a couple times, mostly to see plays or go to Lexington Market.  The last time I was there was for the Bromo Speaks listening party.  Before that, I attended a play at the Everyman Theater.  Here's a picture from November!