Project Timeline

This timeline of research activities gives an account of the study in an episodic way, while also weaving together analysis across the activities through my use of coding and other commentary. For each of my early event-based engagements, I have constructed this narrative by lightly editing my field notes; by including artifacts such as field recordings, photographs, and preparatory or follow-up email exchanges; and by exploring my memories and ongoing interpretations.

These activities influenced my early thinking but are not meant here to be “officially” representative of the project’s formal analysis and write-up. I conceived these representations and analytic-documentary methods at an early and somewhat naive stage of the project with respect to my understanding of the time and effort necessary to produce the documentary proper (see below).

In addition to adding codes and commentary, I have removed identifying information from this data and my engagement with it. These techniques of protecting identity and respecting privacy and personhood include substituting participant, location, and organizational pseudonyms; excluding or editing photos that show youth participants’ faces; and sometimes removing excerpts and details that, in my judgment, either inappropriately reveal private information and experiences or do not add significantly to my understanding of Tapestry and the questions I brought to my inquiry.

As I reached the period of time for which I had consent to make field recordings with participants (October 17, 2019, and following, depending on the type of event and who was participating), this act of public analysis and documentation proved too time-consuming to pursue comprehensively. Transcripts and audio files of “outing”- rather than “memo”-length are much more time-consuming to de-identify and prepare for publication. At this stage, the Becoming Tapestry podcast—particularly Episodes 3 and Episode 4—must accomplish alone the work of “accounting” (Latour, 2005) for the project.

Timeline

2018
October 4, 2018

Encounter: Chance conversation with Hannah

Church exterior

On October 4, 2018, shortly after relocating to a West Coast metropolitan area, I attended…Read More

November 19, 2018

Meeting: First Time with Tapestry Co-Directors

An atrium in a commercial building

On November 19, 2018, I met Sam for the first time. I rendezvoused with the…Read More

November 24, 2018

All Tapestry: First Time Meeting Participants

Playground photo

I arrived 20–30 minutes after the start time Hannah had given me, possibly because Beaumont…Read More

December 15, 2018

All Tapestry: First Participation Framed as Inquiry

Supplies for and products of decorating cookies

Although I would not yet apply for Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval for my research…Read More

2019
January 12, 2019

Mentors: First Volunteer Training

Objects from the Guiding Principles story

Although I had already begun to understand my relationship to Tapestry as genuinely inquisitive, the…Read More

March 7, 2019

Meeting & Mentors: Planning & Gratitude at WSCC

Interior bookstore / cafe

I arrived early at the Walnut Street Community Coalition to do some other work and…Read More

April 17, 2019

Mentors: Another Thank-You Dinner

Person eating in a taqueria

I arrived early to this second, more regionally targeted mentor thank-you dinner, and passed the…Read More

April 26, 2019

Proposal Hearing: First Major Feedback from Committee

Proposal hearing slide screenshot

I have found it difficult to know how much research and facilitation process material to…Read More

June 8, 2019

All Tapestry: Mini Golf with Team R

Playing mini golf at Trail's End

I arrived at the course on my bicycle mid-morning. I could see a group that…Read More

July 20, 2019

Encounter: Errands with Marie at Remembrance Event

Mural in park

Operating mostly from an instinct I’ve developed as a pastor (say “yes” whenever you can,…Read More