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Ethnographic Study Paper

Ethnographic Study Paper Through the Eyes of a Child Karl F. Heilman Wayne State University

Ethnographic Study Paper

Introduction My name is Karl Frederick Heilman. I am the son of Donna Sue and Daniel Paul Heilman and the brother to Joseph Paul, Anthony James, Annette Marie and John Paul. We collectively are a family, which is multidimensional and abstractly cohesive in our beliefs and values. Throughout time, we have veered from the road our parents have sent us down and are beginning to evolve from a cultural norm or way of life. Though our different roads taken have lead us away from which we were sent down, we will never forget the journey thus far. Donna Sue Heilman (Mother) My mother was born in Mt. Clemens, Michigan in 1962. She was raised by her mother Lillian and father Donald and had two siblings, Anthony and Linda. Life was seemingly easy for my mother, her parents were middle class small business owners, and although frequently moving, found any house a home. This Italian family based the majority of their beliefs and values on family and religion. They loved one another and were always there for each other at any time of need. Daniel Paul Heilman (Father) My father was born in Cadillac, Michigan in 1960. He was raised by his father Frederick and mother Elizabeth and had ten siblings, Bernadette, David, Janet, Yvette, Karl, Jossette, Collette, Lissette, Victoria, and Annette. Life was a bit more difficult for my father than my mother. Money was a major issue seeing the size of his family and with the father supporting all thirteen members of the family. This German family based most of their beliefs and values also

Ethnographic Study Paper on family and religion. Although their love for one another was strong, conflict amongst the family was abundant with the number of children, the financial obligation of the father and restricted roles of the mother. Marriage of Daniel and Donna Heilman Before my father was enlisted in the military, he met my mother at her fathers restaurant in Algonac, Michigan. He was employed as a cook and my mother a waitress. At this time, my mother had the upper hand on my father because her family employed him and at many times had to take orders from her in the absence of her parents when she filled in as manager. After months of working together, my father decided to ask her out on a date and she refused. Knowing my father was dating another woman who was much older at the time and she babysat for on the weekends, she thought it was inappropriate as many would. To escape the tragic relationship my father was in, he enrolled in the military and was stationed in Georgia where he spent the next few years until moving back to Michigan. After serving, he moved back and again tried to date my mother. At this time, she acknowledged his advancement and took him up on his offer. After dating for two years, my father proposed to my mother and she accepted his hand in marriage. In 1983, my mother and father were married at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Marine City, Michigan. The decision to marry in the Catholic Church was mutual between my mother and father, although not practicing their religion at the time. Once married, they rented an apartment in Port Huron, Michigan and began life together. Within a few months from the time they were married, my mother found out she was pregnant with her first child, me. At this time they both were attending school at St. Clair County

Ethnographic Study Paper Community College. My mother was taking her general education classes and my father majored in education. He is brilliant at math and wanted to teach because he found himself helping others throughout his education. Because of the pregnancy my mother decided to drop out of school because she found it difficult being pregnant and working as a waitress at a small diner in Marysville. My father continued on with his courses also working at a metal shop in Marine City. Having Children On May 14th, 1984, my mother had me after going through eleven hours of labor. My parents named me after my fathers father who coincidently died exactly five years earlier and his grandfather who was still living in Cheboygan. After the birth of their first born, my father found it difficult to work midnights, go to school during the day and stay up with me when I was an infant, while my mother was at work. Because of his lack of sleep during this time, he also quit going to school. After my parents brought me home, they decided they were no longer going to be able to live in the apartment they once thought fit for the situation. The noise and amount of people coming in and out of the apartment drove them crazy, so they moved into a house still in the Port Huron area. This house is where I spent the first six years of my life and where we brought my first brother home to. On October 5th, 1986, my brother Joseph Paul Heilman was born. My parents named my brother after my fathers uncle, the former Mayor of Mackinac City, and Paul from the bible. At this point of time, my father began to become overwhelmed with his responsibilities as a parent and began to push a large amount of the responsibilities of being a parent on my mother, causing

Ethnographic Study Paper her to resent my father more than ever. With the lack of responsibilities around the house and with us children, my father began to party with friends, as if trying to relive his childhood once more. His alcohol and drug use began to rub off on my mother and for the next twenty years was a continual battle. For the next four years in this house in Port Huron my mother worked at a restaurant and my father worked in a factory. Daily routines were revolving around their work schedules and the responsibilities of being a parent were thrown back and forth between the two. My father became very angry with the world and my mothers resentment grew larger and larger with each passing day. Although young, my brother and I also began to resent my father because of his verbally and physically abusive behaviors. The Next Four Years With my mother and father continuously fighting, they decided to make a change and move to a better community in St. Clair, Michigan. Although only a few miles away, my parents decided to move closer to both parents families and their childhood friends. While this attempt was meant to better the relationship and the childrens life, it had a reverse effect. After the move, my parents began to hang out with old friends more while continuing to work on opposite shifts. My brother and I had entered elementary school; we were taken care of during the day and left to fend for ourselves the rest of the night. Because of the increased time my parents were spending with their friends, they began to use drugs and drink more often. This left the two of us by ourselves around the neighborhood or hanging out with our parents in a room hazed with smoke and people intoxicated. The effect it had on me and my brother was irreversible. I remember a time when my father brought me to a

Ethnographic Study Paper party in the middle of the night when I was around seven years old, on the water at a riverside park. He and his friends were smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, I was so mad at my dad for bringing me here; I left the party and sat on a rock in the dark, watching him and his friends search for me for hours in the light from the bonfire. When I was around the age of nine my mother and father knew they had to make a permanent change or they would lose their children, to CPS or to a culture filled with illegal activity. The change was brought on by their children, my brother who had vandalized new constructions in the neighborhood at the age of seven and me who no longer wanted anything to do with his father. To make this change and permanently better the lives of their family, they moved to Fort Gratiot, Michigan and separated themselves from their lifelong friends. At this point my parents allowed me and my brother to start playing sports and to have a normal childhood. With this change came a new found way of life, one involved with the church, surrounded by positive influences and with coherent parents. Back to Basics-Religion With this new move and challenge of getting their family back in order, my parents decided to go back to church and practice lost religious beliefs. They started introducing religion to us by teaching what they knew and the importance of faith. After introducing us to religion, they brought us to St. Marys Catholic Church in Port Huron where we were welcomed and became part of a family. Every week we would go to church and meet new people, people which had a great influence on the way we lived our life.

Ethnographic Study Paper Through regaining their beliefs, which they felt important, my parents began to live a lifestyle by way of the church. This involved daily activities around religion and the tradition of the church. We began to pray as a family, say the rosary each day before diner, thank God for our dinner and read scripture after dinner. Each night entailed us saying bedtime prayer and thanking god for all he has given us. By the age of 12, my familys life was revolving around the church. My brother and I became altar boys, received the sacraments we had missed at an early age such as baptism and first communion and went to bible school once a week. My parents began teaching bible school and adult education for the church and traveled with groups to experience God and Mary through visions at places like Conyers, Georgia. Along with the Catholic traditions came the lack of birth control. My parents no longer believed in birth control, they believed it was in Gods hands as to how many children they had. Although I believe my father played a large part of this role, my mother went along with it. Raising Children, Again Because my parents no longer believed in using birth control, my mother again was pregnant. I was thirteen at the time and could not believe our family was about to change again. My brother on the other hand had no worries and could care less whether or not my mother was pregnant. At first I was shocked and then angry. How could my parents be having another child? We barely have enough money to support our family as it is, any you are going to have another child? Then on May 8th, 1997 a day after my mothers birthday, Anthony James Heilman was born. My parents named him after my mothers brother and he was a splitting image of me.

Ethnographic Study Paper When I first saw him, I fell in love and could never imagine the world without him. Then only a few months later, my mother said she was pregnant again. I had changed my thought process after this news. I was wondering, is this ever going to end, and is my mom going to be having kids forever? On October 20th 1998, my mother gave birth to my sister on my dads birthday, Annette Marie Heilman named after my fathers sister who had died in a car accident. She was adorable, the cutest infant ever. Now this posed a problem, where was she was going to sleep. We now had three boys and my mother and father in a three bedroom house. They decided to put her and my brother together in one room and me and my other brother together in a separate room. Then on July 9th 2000, the last of my siblings was born, John Paul Heilman, named after the Pope. After his birth my mother said enough was enough and she could no longer have any more children. I do not think my father was too excited about the news, she was deliberately going against the churchs teachings, but there was nothing he could say or do about it. After the birth of my brother John, I was sixteen years old and going to church was a little different, everything was a little different. When at church, people would ask about my son, which I had to explain was my brother. At home, my parents were working, so I had to watch the kids along with my brother Joe who is only a couple years younger than me. I realized we had taken on the role of the parents when our parents were not around. We continued to live in the same house we had moved to in Fort Gratiot because my parent financially could not afford any larger of a home. After all five children were born, my sister and youngest brother shared one room and the three older boys shared another. Life from

Ethnographic Study Paper here on out was very consistent, with a day to day routine, broken up by scheduled activities and problems which still lingered from my parents past. Issues Within The Family Although my parents made a dramatic and difficult decision which would better the life of each member of our family, we still endured problems. Money was always an issue when raising five children. With my father being the main provider and mother working part time to keep the children out of daycare, money issues caused a lot of tension within the family. To protect my mother and keep her worries to a minimum, my father decided to take on the job of paying all the bills with the exception of food and household necessities. Without my mothers strict budget, my father went on a credit frenzy, maxing credit card after credit card. I remember there being a time in which my parents were spending money freely and without thinking twice about their decision, a year or two later I remember them going through the bills and my mother finding out he was almost forty thousand dollars in debt. Another situation which was commonly brought up within the family was centered on my fathers attitude and inability to control his temper. He would have little to no patients for most of us and start conflict with any subtle change in the atmosphere, his attitude and disrespect reflected in our attitudes and respect for him, causing a continual cycle of anger and hatred. Although there was a huge change within him which was noticeable from the time he decided to rekindle his faith, the demons still lurked and found their way back into our lives. I began to forgive him for his past behaviors, but he would continuously remind me why I use to hate him. Other conflict within the family was based off the use of marijuana. Although my parents no longer smoked illegal substances, one day I found a bag of it in a dresser drawer when trying

Ethnographic Study Paper to find a sweater for a friend. We both knew what it was and stuffed it back in the drawer we found it in until we needed to use it against them in the future. Every week I would look around the room for it to make sure it still existed until the day my parents were so angry with me for not wanting to do yard work. My brother and I did all the yard work around the house after the age of ten. So one day my parents sent us outside to do the yard work and continued to instruct us in doing so. We were doing a fine job and there was no reason to keep nagging us, so I went in the house and brought it out. My parents were shocked and come to find out, it was my mothers; she was hiding from my father, it stirred up drama which was most likely unnecessary. Although unnecessary, it was needed for them to understand I am not a child anymore and there will no longer be me obeying them when I know their wrong in what they are saying or doing. Other issues arose around my sexuality around the age of nineteen. Without my knowledge, my friend decided to come out to my parents for me before I returned from work. At first my parents said they loved me no matter what, and then my father decided to inform me homosexuality was classified as a mental illness. This sprung up other confrontations between my father and I based around religion and with my brother. My brother told me if I brought anyone over to our house he would shoot them with his gun. After dealing with this situation, I decided to move out and form my own opinion about homosexuality and my family, free off criticism and treats. Eating Habits Eating habits were very similar at every time of life within my parents house. For breakfast we ate cereal, oatmeal, eggs, bacon, sausage, muffins or pop tarts. We did not eat them all at once, but those are a few examples of the types of foods we would eat. For lunch we would

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Ethnographic Study Paper eat anything in the house we could find, they also included breakfast foods and sandwich makings, such as salami, bologna, or peanut butter and jelly. For dinner my mother would cook. She made all different types of foods usually including a form of meat, vegetable, dairy, and possibly fruit. Some of her famous dishes were made by her Italian parents and others passed on through my father and his German family. Political Views My parents and all of the children except for me would classify themselves as being Republican. Even if they did not like someone running for office, they would choose them over the democratic candidate, just because. The major issue brought up whenever a presidential election is coming up is over abortion. Based off the Catholic Churches teachings, my parents find it a topic which tops all others when choosing the president. I find myself a Demublican. I find republicans and democrats to have valid identifiers and can equally see the importance behind each of them. Being a homosexual leads me a bit more towards the democratic side, but I swing both ways depending on who is running in office and what is important to me and for those within our country. Holiday Traditions Tradition was a big part of both parents families. For each holiday, our families would get together and celebrate. Depending on the time of the celebrations, we would choose whether to go to one side of the family or the other, or decide to go to both if able. Each year we would go to both parents families houses for Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving and celebrate individually for other holidays not recognized in the church such as Labor Day or Halloween.

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Ethnographic Study Paper For Easter, we would go to my mothers sisters house were all the family gathered and ate dinner mainly consisting of ham and side dishes. During the celebration, family members would be off in side conversations about each other, politics, family or religion. During dinner the family was slightly divided by age at two different tables, one for the kids and one for the adults. For Christmas, we would celebrate with my fathers side of the family on Christmas Eve. During this time, each member would make a dish to bring and my aunt would buy sandwiches for everyone. The main excitement for the night was around Santa Clause coming to my grandmothers house that night and delivering presents to all the children. We also had a talent show which involved every person doing some type of act, whether it is reading a poem, dancing, singing or playing a game. The only exception was for my father and grandmother. My father was always the master in control and my grandmother read the closing scripture reading from the bible. After the Christmas Eve party we would all attend mass at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Marine City at midnight and then go home to sleep while Santa brought us gifts. For thanksgiving, we would once again go to my mothers sisters house and have dinner. Dinner consisted of a turkey and side dishes. The main excitement around thanksgiving dinner was with the thankful tree. The thankful tree was set by the front door and everyone who came had to write down what they are thankful for and hang it on a branch of the tree. After dinner was complete, we would take turns reading everyones papers and guess who they came from. Traditions Continued Another tradition we had as a family was going camping every year. Around the first week of August, our family would go camping for roughly a week. Although the location would

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Ethnographic Study Paper sometimes change, we generally would go to Caseville or Mackinac, Michigan. We would set up tents, cook over the campfire and stay busy enjoying nature, such as the lake, trails, canoeing, and bike riding. This was always the one thing we looked forward to, the one time my father would enjoy himself and the one time we knew he would not got upset about. Present Day Dwellings Well, my mother and father made it through the hard part of raising children at a young age and deciding how to raise those children to be productive members of society. Although they showed they themselves are not perfect, they took strides in the right direction, not only to better themselves, but the family as well. I think my parents did a great job at raising us children, we never went without, and we were raised with faith, hope and definitely love. Mistakes were made and forgiveness was granted, we are at the best point of our lives together. My parents love each other more than ever and are continuing to raise the remainder of the children still living with them. My mother still works part time as a waitress in Marysville. She now owns a beautiful house with more square footage and a forth bedroom thanks to my grandmother. Her and my father love to garden, thrift store shop, drink coffee with us kids and talk for hours while walking through the neighborhood. My father still works for a factory in St. Clair. He has been there many years now and is the Union Representative on his shift. He now has a way of controlling his anger and tries to be as patient as possible, old age plays a part in this, I am sure of it. My brother Joe is twenty six now and has two children of his own. He is not married although both children are with his girlfriend of five years. He scraps metal from peoples trash and his girlfriend in the main provider in the household. He does not take his children to church

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Ethnographic Study Paper on a regular basis and his girlfriend believes she does not want them baptized in the church. They both tend to argue more and more, I believe he picks it up from my dad. My brother has inherited many traits from my father, mainly the ones around his attitude, behaviors and irresponsible financial decision and continues to blame him for things which have happened in the past. My brother Anthony is fifteen now and in tenth grade. He is still a splitting image of me and we get along great. He looks up to me and I look up to him. He is the kindest teen and continues to impress me every day. He already works maintaining a companys lawn and does side jobs for other people in the community. He is a beautiful musician, playing the piano and trumpet and plays baseball as well. My sister Annette turns fourteen this month and is one of the top students in the ninth grade. She has excelled in her academics and I could not be more proud of her. I encourage her to get active within the community and she has done so in numerous ways. Throughout the past years she has danced competitively, was a cheer leader, and currently a member of student council. She looks beautiful and is having a lot of fun doing her hair and dressing to impress her freshman year of school. John is in his first year of Junior High. He is an amazing baseball player and plans on becoming one of the best, playing professionally. His academics are not at the level of his two older siblings still in school, but he tries his hardest. He is the most compassionate person I know and loves to express his feelings with his family. Although only ten, he is definitely interested in girls from school, he has been the most mature and girl crazy one of the bunch. Then there is me, I am all over the place in a responsible manner. I moved out, went to school and have been dating the same person for the past six years now. I love being involved in

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Ethnographic Study Paper sports and community activities and love achieving success. My hopes are to finish school and help my siblings out in a way which was never offered to me. I work in retail and was also a hairstylist until I decided to let it go until I was finished with school. I am twenty eight as mentioned and going strong. Self-Assessment Attached is an assessment of myself within my environment. This idea was Jeannie Lawrences, an instructor at Wayne State University when assessing Native Americans. I used the assessment on myself to illustrate the areas in my life which are positive and the areas which need adjustment. The design was used to keep life in a continual loop, as shown, my life overlaps in emotional, spiritual and physical health, meaning these areas are lacking opposed to my mental health. When filling in the original diagram, I wrote in positive ways which I contribute to all four areas, I found it very easy to write in positive contributing factors in the mental health area, when filling in the other three, it was more difficult. The experience alone allowed me to realize my life was a bit unbalanced and there is room for improvement in other areas of my life. Although the illustration showed me there is room for improvement in the emotional, physical and spiritual aspects, mental health would be more prevalent seeing the situation of my present being. Meaning at the present time, my life is filled with education, critical thinking and competence which have allowed me to think more critical of the other areas, which should be easier to improve because of the knowledge I am acquiring. In addition, the diagram allowed me to assess myself after family life using the multidimensional framework addressed in our text. Psychological Dimension

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Ethnographic Study Paper As Mentioned in our text, the psychological dimension is, The systems that contribute to the organization or integration of the individuals mental processes (Ashford, 2010, p. 20). I believe some contributing factors include my parents upbringing and the takeaway of different beliefs and values along with the blending of both parents takeaway. In addition to this, I believe both parents did not have a stable self-image, one which they felt necessary to identify with. This unstable measure was transferred to the children within the family, leaving them questioning their own identity and self-worth. Another contributing factor when discussing the psychological dimension would have to be my parents way of problem solving. They did not have a very effective way to discuss issues each other felt were important. By not having a healthy relationship and hostile attitude toward one another, problem solving ended up in screaming matches among one another, verbal and physical abuse. Many of these characteristics were passed down to the children and some continued with the parents disorderly methods of solving situations and communication. The Social Dimension Also mentioned in our text is the social dimension. It is described as, the systems of social relationships that a person interacts with individually or in a group (Ashford, 2010, p. 20). Through the beginning of my parents marriage, they interacted strongly with negative influences from friends and positive influences from family. The interactions my parents had influenced us children negatively at a young age, and positively throughout our adult lives. As time went on and our parents went back to their Catholic roots, our family was filled with positive social interaction. The church felt like home and the people much more positive and influential. Beliefs and values set forth at this time guided our lives and continue to influence

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Ethnographic Study Paper decisions made today. Although altered to a degree, key takeaways from these interactions were a major component when molding us through adolescence and into adulthood. The Biophysical Dimension The biophysical dimension was also addressed in our text. The biophysical dimension is, the multidimensional framework consists of the biochemical systems, cell systems, organ systems and physiological system (Ashford, 2010, p. 19). Factors which contribute to this dimension of our family are the overall physical wellbeing and health, drug dependency of my parents and the activeness of the family pertaining to sports and physical work around the house, inside and out. The overall health of our family is good, we all live problem free. There have been a few issues which were environmental, such as asthma within my brother Joe. This was directly related to the household, in terms of the smoke he was inhaling from my parents. As time went by and the issue was addressed, he no longer was diagnosed with asthma. Future problems may arise due to the drug dependency within my parents. The amount of marijuana and cigarettes smoked could directly influence their health in the future. Although nothing has risen thus far, the potential is great. Alcohol use was an issue early in their marriage, but is controlled now and at a minimum use.

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Conclusion My parents may have not made the right decisions for themselves or for us children, but we all turned out ok. Through the mistakes my parents have made, especially my father, I have

Ethnographic Study Paper become the productive member of society he strived to be for so many years. I look at all the identifiers which label our family, and although I do not approve of them all, they have molded us into the people we are today. I could not imagine life without my family and I am sure they could not imagine life without me. As a social worker, I hope to identify with the youth of today and the adults of tomorrow. Although my parents raised us with the necessities needed in life, we have experienced many downfalls relating to relationships, emotions, anger, financial stress and abuse. I hope to take the coping skills I have learned and help others uncover them as well. Through using the multidimensional frameworks, I was able to assess my family along with myself into adulthood with the influence of an Italian/ German upbringing.

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Works Cited
Ashford, J. B. (2010). Human Behavior In The Social Environment. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Claire Fraser, A. M. (2009). Exploring the Impact of Parental Drug/Ahcohol Problems on Children. The British Journal of Social Work, 846-866. Cowell, D. D. (1986). Growing Up and Growing Old in Italian-American Families. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 316-317. Frenken, r. (1997). The History of German childhood through autobiographies. journal of psychohistory, 390-401. J. Jani, R. M. (2011). Common human needs, uncommon solutions: Applying a critical framework to perspectives on human behavior. Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 13-20.

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