Personal Ethnography

Growing up, I was never told much about my birth, only that I was large. I was raised in a single parent household and I was pushed out into the world to develop and learn many different things about life. Being born in the 90s, I would have thought more diverse worldwide events would have occurred. While researching the date I was born and the various years, I found quite a bit of criminal activity involved in the articles I found. Although my birth was the happiest day for some, it was possibly the worst day for others.
On a quiet Sunday morning at Kings Daughters Hospital in Madison, Indiana, I was welcomed into this world via c-section. With my mother completely unconscious, my father was first to hold my whopping nine-pound six-ounce body. I was bald and twenty and a half inches in length. I arrived at 7:57 on January 8, 1999, and the weather was below freezing and snowy. For my mother, giving birth was an occurrence that she never intended to endure. Before my mother had me at the age of thirty nine, she went through multiple abortions. She had never wanted kids, but my father convinced her to
keep me (Sauley). On January 10, 1999, an article was published in the New York Times that headlined “Boy, 8, a Witness in a Murder Case, Is Found Slain With His Mother”. An eight year old boy named Leroy Brown Jr., who was a witness in a pending murder case was found shot to death on January 8, 1999, with his mother Karen Clarke. They were found in their home in Bridgeport, Connecticut (Waldman). This article makes me realize how everyday life can be completely different for many people. As I was coming into this world, two individuals were taken out of it unfairly. Having the comfort of feeling safe on a daily basis is not a gift that everyone is given. I only hope that my children and grandchildren to come will never have to worry about such unfortunate events.
On January 11, 1998, an article was published by Joe Sexton in the New York Times titled “Ideas & Trends: Don't Shoot; The Culture of Cops and Guns”.
This article focuses mainly on the psychological attachment cops have to their guns, more specifically New York police officers. In the United States a police officer is not required to carry a gun twenty four hours a day. According to a veteran Brooklyn homicide detective, carrying off duty is a matter of choice, judgment, and disposition. Most officers do not carry their gun all times a day out of fear. Other officers carry because they can't imagine doing otherwise (Sexton). This article is easily related to this decade because we’ve seen a rise in the media putting a spotlight on cops not just in major cities, but in all cities. Police misconduct, shootings, and police brutality are all emphasized in today's
media.
The day I was born was the happiest day for my parents; however, there were many tragedies for many others. The lives lost on my birthday impacted the world in many ways, but for my parents, none of those tragedies mattered at the time. Leroy Brown and his mother Karen Clarke lost their lives on the day I was born (Waldman). Like many others, their legacy will continue on in the world. I also hope that the day I leave this world I will be remembered in a good light, like many others.