work update

Some noteworthy anecdotes/observations this week (or at least, they are interesting to me).

-(this story was relayed to me by another intern-I was not present for it) At one of the sites were we were adminstering the survey, a little kid was bothering another kid. The intern told him to say sorry, and he did in a not very convincing way. The intern asked if he knew what "sorry" meant, and the kid said, "no. my mom says it doesn't really mean anything."

-Number of white adult males who told me and my partner, also female, to be careful this week: 3. A police man, a mailman, and some guy who had some official business in the low income housing neighborhood we were in. After asking us what we were doing, one said, "well don't be out after dark." Right, in case we didn't know how to take care of ourselves and exercise caution, thank you for reminding us to watch out. --While these neighborhoods can be dangerous, in the 10 years of the study there has never been an incident. The people we have talked to have been nothing but nice and friendly; many have welcomed us into their homes to chat and to do interviews. The sense of an environment of fear and distrust has only been created and reinforced by the -usually white- males -with some position of authority.

-A fun highlight - it was hot this week and the group I was with was at a Boys and Girls Club in one of the neighborhoods. Our sign in table was set up outside - with shade for most of the day, but still very hot. Inside was cooler but not much better. So it was hot and sweaty week. The kdis were fun and there was plenty of time for playing and joking around. Several kids were walking around with frozen popcicle-type treats in plastic cups. We found out the house were these were available, for 25 cents each, and had a nice end to a long day.

-Another cool thing -- apparently we, the interns this year, are awesome. There is enough money budgeted to do 3000 surveys and -I think- it has never been used up in previous years. This year, however, we are on track to do 3000 with time to spare. One option for the extra time we will have is potentially to do some community-support type projects in the places we have been. Another theory, besides we are awesome, that the study director has is that the weather has been a factor. Alabama like many southeastern states is having a major drought. Apparently this is the least it has rained any year they've done the survey. We have had a couple summer storm rainy afternoons, and maybe one or two days that had rain or drizzle off and on. That is it. So, more kids out and about, more kids willing to leave their houses and come down to take the survery. Maybe it is a combination weather and awesomeness.