UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH BLOGS
The Office of Undergraduate Research sponsors a number of grant programs, including the Circumnavigator Club Foundation’s Around-the-World Study Grant and the Undergraduate Research Grant. Some of the students on these grants end up traveling and having a variety of amazing experiences. We wanted to give some of them the opportunity to share these experiences with the broader public. It is our hope that this opportunity to blog will deepen the experiences for these students by giving them a forum for reflection; we also hope these blogs can help open the eyes of others to those reflections/experiences as well. Through these blogs, perhaps we all can enjoy the ride as much as they will.
EXPLORE THE BLOGS
- Linguistic Sketchbook
- Birth Control Bans to Contraceptive Care
- A Global Song: Chris LaMountain’s Circumnavigator’s Blog
- Alex Robins’ 2006 Circumnavigator’s Blog
- American Sexual Assault in a Global Context
- Beyond Pro-GMO and Anti-GMO
- Chris Ahern’s 2007 Circumnavigator’s Blog
- Digital Citizen
- From Local Farms to Urban Tables
- Harris Sockel’s Circumnavigator’s Blog 2008
- Kimani Isaac: Adventures Abroad and At Home
- Sarah Rose Graber’s 2004 Circumnavigator’s Blog
- The El Sistema Expedition
- The World is a Book: A Page in Rwand
7.8- 7.13 – Peck Farm
Sorry for the long absence friends, it’s been a busy July!
At the beginning of the month we went to Peck Farm, beautiful agricultural land converted into a prairie and visitor’s center. The prairie was very dense and had beautifully soft soil, unlike some of the Chicago Park District sites, since it used to be tilled land. Pizzo used a different seeding mechanism at this site which may have contributed to the density of the growth, since the seeds were possibly planted less deeply according to Becky. I’m still encountering far fewer worms than I expect to while coring, although perhaps the worms burrow more deeply into the soil during the hot days.
I’ve got a lot of pictures of this site for you, since it’s one of my favorites so far.
Silphium laciniatum (Compass Plant) in bloom
One of the coolest parts of field work is that I get to see plants at several different stages of life over the course of the summer, from seedlings to blooms! Here’s a blooming compass plant, much taller than I expected, with the characteristic yellow Silphium flower.
Compass Plant flower, detail
In a similar vein, here’s another plant that we were only identifying by the leaves before:
Ratibida pinnata (Yellow Coneflower)
A lot of the Solidagos on this site were afflicted with galls, abnormal growths in the plant where insects have laid their eggs.
Solidago canadensis with gall
A common plant at this site was Sonchus oleraceus, which looks like a very tall dandelion (although they are from different genera.) Unfortunately it’s an invasive 🙁
Sonchus oleraceus (Common Sowthistle)
We had an absolutely gorgeous day for our second visit to Peck.
Peck Farm, Geneva IL
And Bob found a bird’s nest lashed securely into a stand of compass plants! Anyone know what they are? Looks like a robin’s egg blue to me but all I saw in the prairie were the dreaded Red-Winged Blackbirds.
Bird’s Nest
Here’s a false sunflower close-up, so that you can see the disk is made up of little flowers of its own!
Heliopsis helianthoides (False Sunflower)
And here are three of the five undergrad goofballs that are part of this summer’s Camp Prairie Fun! From left to right: me, Taran, and Bob.
And one glamor shot of me taken by Evelyn!
TKTS and rehearsal #2!
I am writing this post from We Are The Tigers rehearsal. Today we’re doing individual vocal parts, while yesterday was devoted to teaching ensemble parts. We have seen several of the ladies in the show in 30-minute increments as they learn their various solos throughout the show. It’s been interesting to see the difference in teaching ensemble parts versus solo parts and the different kind of rehearsal that happens for each.
This afternoon, I went to the Brooklyn TKTS booth to get a ticket for a matinee tomorrow. I will not be doing that again. I thought there wouldn’t be a wait, but the line crawled for almost 2 hours and I ended up walking away with a $75 dollar ticket because it was the cheapest thing and I didn’t want to leave empty handed… I guess I paid to not make that mistake again. My New York friends were right, TKTS is for tourists getting last-minute tickets. I have so much time to plan out what shows I’m going to see, so from now on I’m going to use discount codes online and I’ll try student rushing shows once my schedule opens up a bit. The ticket I ended up buying is for On the Town. I’m SO excited to see it tomorrow! Once I realized how much better it is to buy student tickets, I went and locked down a ticket for An American in Paris next week, as well.
All in all, it was another beautiful day in the city. Tomorrow is a jam packed day of On the Town and our Tigers sing-through/read-through!
The Ocean is a Scary Place…
Ahh reunited yet again. Since my last correspondence I have had the pleasure of traveling to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye and back, and what a trip it was. We boarded our 2 hour water taxi ride at 7 am to provide optimal fun-in-the-sun time. We crowded onto the vessel and managed to get seats together. It was a tight squeeze having 4 people to a three person bench but some how we managed. The waters were choppy so our bums were a wee bit sore upon arrival but our excitement acted as a natural pain reliever. We bumbled around momentarily as we got our barrings and be for we knew it we had reached our destination, the Ocean Tides Hotel. This cozy little bungalow had everything we could hope for: cozy beds, a pool, comfy lounge area, complimentary coffee plus a welcome drink, and AC! The gods were good to us as it was the iciest AC I’ve experienced in Belize and I didn’t even have to loiter in a bank to enjoy it! We made a beeline to the pool to soak up some much needed rays, in hopes of evening out our fieldwork tan lines, 3 weeks in the making…it didn’t really work but a girl can dream.
Once we were sufficiently sun-soaked we decided to find a bite to eat before our snorkeling trip. We meandered through the streets of San Pedro, dodging gringos on golf carts (which is arguably the strangest thing I’ve witnessed here for reasons I can’t even explain) finally locating the perfect street food vendor: Belizean street BBQ. Let me just say Belizean BBQ is an experience. You get a massive piece of BBQ chicken (that is the perfect combination of smokey, tangy, and sweet), baked beans, coleslaw, and tortillas. I thought I had known the glory of Belizean food but nothing quite compared to that. We plopped down on a nearby bench and gorged ourselves. BBQ sauce coated our fingers and faces as tongues tried to lap up every last drop. I can only imagine what we must have looked like, ravenous hyenas delighting in the carnage perhaps.
After the feast we headed to our dock to wait for our snorkeling boat to arrive. Our captain did not instill a lot of confidence in me as he let the boat bang about the dock as he pulled in and out and his deep island drawl made understanding him a challenge. Never the less we made it out to Hol Chan and jumped into the water. We were greeted by all manner of aquatic life: crabs, eels, barracudas, fish of every variety, beautiful corral, and sea turtles! Discovery: Finding Nemo is a LIE!…the sea turtles never came up for water! Blasphemy! Anywho, after Hol Chan we traveled farther down the reef to Shark Ray Alley where guess what? We saw sharks and stingrays! I know it’s shocking. But on the real, I was not entirely enthused about jumping into shark infested waters, be them nurse sharks or not. However, I did jump and the sharks were actually the least frightening thing. We pet one nurse shark and it was much scalier and rough than I had imagined. The stingrays and the weird fish with teeth were far more frightening. The fish were darty and the rays were HUGE! Like the size of the hood of a car. (is that a weird comparison? I’m terrible at judging size or making comparisons) But they look pretty as they swim so I accepted it.
The boat was really the best part. I wish we could have stayed out on the water just enjoying the view. When we got back to the hotel we showered and combed the ocean tiddlybits out of our tangled manes. Then we decided to grab some dinner at a local restaurant. Kacey ordered ceviche and accidentally ate a little too much of the habanero pepper. Her mouth was on fire and nothing seemed to help. For the rest of the night she feared the residue from the pepper was still on her face and hands and was afraid she would rub her eye and enrage the beast. A thorough hand washing took place but it still came back with a vengeance. Let that be a lesson to you, never trust a habanero.
Then we had some time to kill before trying to have a big night on the town so we had a pillow fight, people watched ex-pats and gabbed. At 9pm we thought it was finally an acceptable time to go out…we were wrong. Not much was open but we managed to find a small bar and grab a couple drinks. The problem with fieldwork days starting at 5:30am is that it makes it nearly impossible to stay up past 8pm so we called it quits pretty early and headed for bed. We were finally able to sleep in until 8:30 though so that alone made it an incredible weekend.
Note: So far the only things I really miss from home are french fries and my family.
Also: Locals asked us if we get offended when they call us gringos. Should I be? I always figured there were far worse things they could call me. But also this is where being racially ambiguous comes in handy because most people think I am either Belizean or Cuban here or so I’ve been told. AHH race and ethnicity what a funny thing.
Taiwan, July 28
A thunderstorm just ended, which is a relief because it’s been a while since it rained in Zhongli, and it was burning hot today.
This afternoon I traveled to Chung Yuan Christian University in Zhongli to interview a Hakka student. The interview went great. The student I interviewed was born and raised in Guanyin, a Hakka village, and her father and relatives speak Hakka, which is how she learned it. As a child, her aunt taught her Hakka songs, and during holidays they cook Hakka food. In middle school, she participated in a Hakka speech contest, and this sparked her interest in exploring Hakka history, language and culture on her own. Although she does not use Hakka as much now (since she usually speaks Mandarin with her parents), she still watches Hakka TV so she does not forget the language. In addition, she researches Hakka history and culture on the Internet because she never learned about it in school. She has also joined Hakka Facebook groups that focus on learning the Hakka language. She believes it is important to keep the culture as aspects such as the language and culture may be lost through the generations. She says it is up to the Hakka people to preserve these aspects because once it’s gone, they are just the same as others in Taiwan. In addition, she believes schools should also teach Hakka history as a part of Taiwanese history.
I don’t have anything planned for the rest of this week, other than picking my sister up from Chientan. I may not blog for a while unless anything interesting happens. So here are my goals by the end of this week, in order of priority.
Research goals
1. Contact two new sources that I was introduced to.
2. Finish the interview data spreadsheet that I have created.
Coding goals
3. Review Ruby on Rails and practice building apps.
4. Learn how to use the canvas element in HTML.
5. Learn Python.
A Closer Look at Brazil and Spain
Today, dear reader(s?), we take a break from my usually whimsical (and entertaining?) blog posts so I can put on my academic hat and do some preliminary analysis.
I have been thinking a lot about my data from Brazil and Spain. The most striking similarity between the two is the “grassroots” or “underground” feminism groups at universities in each country. I believe I’ve mentioned this in a different post, but in both countries, there were instances where feminists responded to decisions by the university in rather unconventional ways. In Brazil, a “colectivo feminista” posted the names of suspected aggressors in women’s restrooms and even forced one male out of the university. In Spain, a group of feminists had posted the picture of an accused aggressor with a description explaining that he was still receiving pay and benefits from the university despite having been found “guilty” by the investigation commission.
At right is one of the examples of the grassroots movements from a university in São Paulo. This poster was put up in response to comments made by a male student in lecture stating his opinion that women are not discriminated against and are not considered inferior to men in society. The group of feminists decided to respond by putting up posters explaining what feminism is in order to raise awareness and educate. In this diagram, they outline visible violence (visível) and invisible (invisível) violence. The

“Gender Violence” poster put up by a colectivo feminista in Brazil. This poster attempts to educate other students about the types of gender violence. Here, the students have broken down the types of violence into visible violence (physical abuse), and invisible violence (discrimination).
forms of violence are also divided into explicit forms and subtle forms. The diagram itself is supposed to resemble an iceberg, with visible forms being the “tip of the iceberg” and invisible violence being the iceberg underneath the water. Following the classic metaphor “just the tip of the iceberg,” the invisible violence is much larger than the visible.
It seems that the presence of grassroots feminist actions suggests several things. First, it shows that there are committed students working to promote a discussion about gender violence and sexual assault. This is, perhaps, an obvious conclusion, but it is an important one. If no one is working on the issue or working to promote it, then there will be no discussion or change. Thus, the presence of these groups is very important.
Second, the fact that they are underground is intriguing. It suggests that there is no institutional buy in or support for the cause. This could be the institution actively ignoring the groups or it could be that the institution has voiced their support for change, but are not committing resources to it. In Brazil, it seemed that the feminists groups were acting entirely without the support of the university, and often worked against the university. They had no recognition, met informally, and had no one professional staff on campus devoted to the issue. In Spain, gender violence was an identified issue by the university, but there were not resources committed. This is in contrast to Northwestern’s campus, where there are multiple groups sanctioned by the university that work on gender violence and sexual assault, and even receive funding from the university.
The underground/grassroots nature of these groups also means that they are unregulated. In both places, groups had publicly accused male students of being aggressors. There was no due process, and any accusation they made could have been false. This would, in short, never be allowed of a student group in the United States. I can already see the letters to the editors, the emails sent to the entire university condemning the actions, and the public debate that would follow on any university campus. The ability to act unregulated is a dangerous power that these groups possess. Because of the lack of oversight, they can act in basically any fashion that they feel is appropriate. In some cases this may be wonderful and help them promote their cause and awareness. But, left uncontrolled they could make a mistake and hurt their cause, another student, or cross a line that brings action from the university.
In other news, I’ve concluded data collection in the Netherlands and I’ll soon provide my thoughts on the data. I also hope to get out a post about grocery shopping in foreign countries and a wonderful misadventure on a “Rainy Day in Holland.”
Team Music, Workshops, and Prospect Park!
It was another stunning day in the city. I am so uncontrollably happy here.
I started the day by exploring the neighborhood. Those of you who have me added on Snapchat (and for those of you that don’t, add me!! Username: caseyrreed! I post about this project constantly.) probably saw my many videos and pictures of Prospect Park from my walk today. I walked around the lake and saw so much wildlife that it was practically a zoo. The park is absolutely beautiful, and so big that you forget about the urban sprawl of Brooklyn surrounding it. I then went home to prepare for my second observation, and my first ever professional Team Music!
Tonight was the first rehearsal for We Are The Tigers, a new musical premiering in Los Angeles in a few months. They are doing a workshop of it to make some last minute changes and see how the show has evolved over its many readings. I am observing and assisting music director Patrick Sulken, a Northwestern Team Music alumnus. I will have a lot to write about him and other NU alums that I observe in the city since my project is based around education and its path to a career. I am immersed in the NU music directing educational world, so observing the people who went through similar experiences to me is very helpful for my project. There was also a cast member from Northwestern- we even had the same acting teacher! The whole rehearsal room is so friendly, creative, and exciting. I was surprised at how quickly I felt comfortable, and especially at how quickly I felt like I was an actual part of the rehearsal room. We learned a ton of music- we’re finishing off the show vocally tomorrow to prepare for a read through on Wednesday. I’m very excited to continue observing and working on this show for the next week, and I am going to look for other opportunities like it for my remaining 7 weeks.
That’s all for today! Tomorrow, I’m going to get a ticket to a Wednesday matinee- probably the cheapest Broadway musical I can find at the Brooklyn TKTS booth. Then it’s another Tigers rehearsal. I can’t help but feel like I was made for this city. Something just felt right today.
Taiwan, July 27
This morning I worked on some coding, and in the afternoon I took the bus to National Central University to interview a Hakka studies graduate student. She majored in ethnic and indigenous studies in college, and now she is focusing on Hakka studies. She is interested in Hakka studies because it is an important part of her. Although she grew up in Taipei (usually young Hakka people in urban areas do not know how to speak Hakka), she can speak Hakka because she spoke it with her parents and grandparents. Her grandparents live in Meinong, an area in Kaohsiung where most people are Hakka, and Hakka is often spoken in public (as opposed to only within Hakka families). She often goes to Meinong to visit her grandparents and to do research.
After the interview we chatted for a while about our research projects, and then I took the bus home.
In the evening, my grandma and I took a long walk, and we bought some fruits at a fruit market: pineapple, grapes, watermelon and bananas.
Tomorrow I will be going to Chung Yuan Christian University to interview another student.
First Day: Amazing Grace
I am back in my apartment after a long and rewarding first full day in the city. I had to do a surprise “test run” into Manhattan to find my roommate so that I could get keys to my apartment that actually worked! Turns out I grabbed the wrong ones. So, after traversing the subway, getting my keys, and coming back to Brooklyn, I changed into my concert blacks and headed right back out to the Nederlander. It’s a good thing I got an unlimited month long pass- I’ve used the subway five times already!
Sitting in the Amazing Grace pit orchestra was an unforgettable experience! I met briefly with Joseph Church, the conductor of the show and the author of a book on music direction that I am using for my research. We will be following up with a longer interview at a later date. The keyboard 1 and keyboard 2 players were very welcoming and kind to me; I got to see their books up close while observing the conductor and following along with a rehearsal score. In a rush this morning getting my key situation figured out, I forgot my notebook- I jotted down every observation I could once I returned to my apartment. Essentially I realized that Broadway pits are just better paid, more musically skilled versions of what we do at Northwestern! Jokes were made, fun was had, and the casual-while-still-professional environment was something that really struck me. It felt like I was stepping into the Cahn auditorium pit for a performance of Waa-Mu…at least, until the first downbeat when I proceeded to be blown away by the seemingly effortless orchestral sound of the musicians. The finale was particularly moving, with incredible vocal arrangements by the music director. Every audience member was on their feet once the iconic song began, and there was not a dry eye in the house by the end. I was also very impressed by the orchestrations throughout the show. They added a much-needed layer of musical complexity to the sound. I am looking forward to seeing this show later from the house and following up with Joseph Church on his educational history and process.
After Amazing Grace, I got dinner and amazing cookies with my friend Marin! It was great to see a familiar face after two days of strangers and self-sufficiency.
Tomorrow is the first day of WE ARE THE TIGERS rehearsal! Look out for another post after that!
Taiwan, July 26
It’s been a more chill four days. I stayed home Thursday and spent a good portion of it sleeping (I was exhausted).
On Friday I went to Taipei. First I interviewed a student who is half Hakka and half Taiwanese (or Mi-Nan), and she grew up in Taipei. I interviewed her at her internship office, and it’s pretty cool. There was a coffee shop at the bottom, lots of space and white walls you could write on.
Afterwards, I met up with one of my mom’s friends, Aunt Shuyin. We went out to lunch and ate ba-wan, or fried meat dumplings from Changhua City. These dumplings are stuffed with pork, bamboo shoots and mushrooms, and the skin is thick and somewhat transparent. I also ate wonton noodles.
After lunch, we went to Bopiliao Old Street, which has old red brick buildings from the Qing period, Japanese occupation period and post-war periods. There were museums explaining the history of the district. Some of the buildings were falling apart and were in the process of renovation. Here are some photos from the day.
Afterwards, we went to YongKang Street in Dongmen, and we ate fruit ice. Taiwan is known for this. Basically, it’s shaved ice served with fruits and ice cream. It’s so delicious in the summer.
On Saturday I met up with my friend Albert in Taipei, and we ate at a curry restaurant and caught up. I went to Mass at night.
This morning my grandma and I went grocery shopping in Taoyuan. We took the bus there. The place was crazy, kind of like an outdoor market with different vendors selling different kinds of produce, but there was a roof above. We mainly went there to buy fresh fish and clams, which were just caught. When we bought the clams, they were still alive, and my grandma made clam soup for lunch (it’s quite tasty and simple: water, clams, ginger, green onions, salt). Also, we bought green onion bread, and it was freshly baked and delicious. We ate most of it on the bus ride home.
We spent the rest of the day at home, and I’ve been learning JavaScript online and contacting interviewees. In the evening, my grandma and I went on a walk, and while we were at it, we visited my grandma’s cousin and her husband (the principal). We stayed and chatted for a while. At night, I met up with a professor near the train station, and we talked about my research project. She talked about possible places where I can obtain information, and she said she would give me contact information for people who live in places where most people know how to speak Hakka, such as Xinwu and and Meinong (up to this point, I’ve mostly been interviewing students who live in urban areas).
I have a couple interviews this week. Other than that, my goals are to continue improving my JavaScript skills and organize the information I have. I’m making a spreadsheet of all the people I interviewed, noting their age, where they live, whether they can speak Hakka and interesting points in the interview. I will also take note of information I need to do more research on.
Waiting at the Gate…
The day has finally arrived…I am waiting at the gate for my flight from O’Hare to JFK. I have been counting down the days for months, and I could not be more excited. It feels like there is a boulder on my chest, in the good sort of way. The next eight weeks are an actual l dream come true and it still doesn’t feel real that it’s actually happening.
Tomorrow, I will observe Joseph Church- music director, conductor, composer, and author of my research book- as he conducts the matinee performance of Amazing Grace. I’m particularly excited about observing this Broadway musical because it began in Chicago! I always root for Chicago world premiere musicals to succeed in New York because it is such a difficult transition. I reached out to Joseph on my own after reading and rereading his enlightening book, Music Direction for the Stage: A View From the Podium. This book has been a foundational text for my research, and I am very lucky to be able to interview and observe the author of my most relevant primary source.
On Monday, I will begin shadowing Northwestern alumnus Patrick Sulken as he music directs a new workshop musical called We Are the Tigers. I will observe every rehearsal and the final performance next Monday. I am sure that observing the same process day after day for a week will be very useful for my research.
I have a jam-packed week coming up, and I look forward to not only exploring the world of Broadway, but the rest of the city as well!