Here I go, entering the wonderful world of blogging for the very first time… but how do I start my thought? Thoughts are random and really have no definite beginning or end, they are just words scrambled up next to each other in a somewhat coherent fashion. Well I guess I could introduce why I’m doing this blog in the first place…
Okay, so I have no background in making jewelry or anything of that nature, but I am an avid fan of it as well as other cultures’ rituals/social norms compared to my own. I love to see the array of differences in everyday events between various backgrounds. It intrigues me to think that a trait one person can see as normal, another can view as completely backwards (even offensive at times!) Eventually, I want to write a research paper on the knowledge I have gained in the entire experience that is this blog. The only barrier I have is that I don’t have a refined topic to study. I have many questions, but have not pinned down a specific focus as of yet.
Are certain social classes represented by specific types of jewelry? What is the social norm related to jewelry or piercings? Are some types forbidden? What is the average view on the matter? Has it evolved in the past decade? Has it changed much from the history of the area? Is it more popular among men or women?
So many ideas, I just can’t think of where to start. My goal is to try and tackle one of those questions (or another one that hasn’t come to my mind as of yet) with each entry I write, so I can narrow down my thoughts and actually find a good topic to write a decent research paper about that isn’t all over the place with random facts.
I have found one site so far - http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com - that describes the history of jewelry/body adornment among assorted cultures during a range of time periods. It does touch on some of the questions I posed (in one of the previous paragraphs), but doesn’t go into great detail. This could be a start for my research, but I haven’t checked its credibility as of yet. I just stumbled upon it recently. If you know of any (reliable) sites/books/etc. I would love to know them, so please don’t be greedy with your knowledge!
Now I bet you’re wondering who I am - or maybe you don’t care, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Why hello there! As you can tell, I really don’t want to disclose my name quite yet; otherwise I would have just used it as my username. I’m still new to this whole blogging idea and I would rather get a feel for it before getting all personal. I don’t have anything against sharing your deep personal feelings, but I don’t know you…that could get awkward, at least for now. I will tell you, though, that I am a fourth year vocal music major (photo. minor) and I really just want to learn more about body adornment (especially jewelry) in various cultures, that is the reason why I am writing this blog anyway.
Well, it looks like my allotted time (that I set for writing this entry) has expired. Hopefully this blogging adventure turns out fruitful and I gain enough knowledge to write a well articulated and intelligent research paper. As I said before, I love comments and would appreciate any of your expertise/advice on the subject! I look forward to chatting to you again, but my next entry is less than a week away, so I better get started researching…
