I’m still in shock that this is my final blog post for the semester. I feel like I have a lot left to do on my MA Project, but I also am very proud of all the work I’ve done on my MA Project so far. The feedback I received on my Proof of Concept …
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Week 12 – Connecting the Starbucks Dots
For my second-to-last (!!) blog post, I decided to read a chapter from Professor Bryant Simon’s (2009) book Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks. I read Chapter 6: Not-So-Green Cups, a look at Starbucks’ environmental messaging and how it ends up at odds with the less-than eco-friendly realities of Starbucks business practices. …
Week 11 – How is it week 11?
This week, I decided to read scholar John Logan’s piece High-Octane Organizing at Starbucks. This piece was a useful look into the recent history of how Starbucks Workers United organized beginning in 2021 in Buffalo, NY, with special attention to Starbucks’ union busting techniques. The piece also discussed the unique flexibility of the SBWU organizing …
Week 10 – Studying Up
This week, I decided to read a piece shared with me by Dr Shaw. One of my committee members Yvonne Latty, a seasoned journalist, told me I should get an opinion from Starbucks in my documentary to avoid it turning into a union PR piece. I believe an interview with Starbucks will also serve to …
Blog #9 – Thinking about Social Media and Communication
This week, I read an article by scholar Gino Canella about the relationship between technology and Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) exploring the central questions: “how are SBWU organisers communicating unionisation with their co-workers and the public? And, how are social media influencing workers’ campaigns and organising practices?” (Canella, 2023, pp. 2). Canella describes the unionization …
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Blog #8 – Into the Fray
This week, I read Kim Kelly’s excellent book Fight Like Hell: the untold history of American labor. I’ve been excited to read it for a long time and I hope to interview Kelly for my documentary. I like Kelly’s work because it is thorough and well-researched, yet written accessibly. Accessibility is deeply important to me …
Blog #7: Well, how did I get here?
I’m very excited about how my research has progressed, especially having found Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I was most concerned with finding a theoretical framework because while I’m confident in my research abilities, I am less familiar with specific theories and when I think of theory, I usually am worried that I won’t understand it. …
Blog Post #6: I find an exciting theoretical framework
Last week in Dr. Kogen’s class, I was introduced to the work of Paulo Freire and discovered Friere’s book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, works as an excellent theoretical framework for the creation of a documentary and a facilitation guide to go along with the documentary. Freire made many excellent points throughout Pedagogy of the Oppressed, …
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Blog Post #5: Why make a documentary?
In response to Dr. Shaw’s feedback on my academic sources, I decided this week to find an article that explores why scholars might choose to make a documentary film from a feminist lens. I was very excited to find this article, “‘My parents never read my papers, but they watched my film’: documentary filmmaking as …
Blog Post #4-Understanding Starbucks Unionization Techniques
For this week, I found an older article that discusses Starbucks unionization techniques dating back to 2007. While this article is not as current, I am familiar with these techniques as my coworkers and I worked with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) when we attempted to organize our store, which was a part …
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