Conneaut Lake and Ethnography Blog #3 09|14|14

Part I

I walked hesitantly into the dimly lit room. I had never been to a group meditation before. People had already began to sit around in a circle. I followed their patterns to a musty smelling closets where there were mats and pillows for us to take. I found an open spot in the circle and sat down. In this room there were hardwood floors and large mirrors lining the wall, which I assume when not used for meditative purposes, is some sort of dance studio.  Across from the mirrors were large windows that were partially open, allowing hot sticky air and the organic and non-organic noises from outside to enter in. You could here the crickets of the night and an occasional car or truck drive by. Other than that there were assorted whispers all around. People in the circle were making small talk and so was I at the moment with the girl sitting next to me. She told me she had never meditated before and asked me if I had. She seemed kind of nervous, so I tried to assure her that meditation is just calming your mind and body and there is no right or wrong in  how a person meditates. Across from seemed to be the leaders of the group. They were all sitting around a Tibetan singing bowl. When finally it rang out. The president of the club introduced himself and had the VP and the treasurer do the same for themselves. They all seemed very calm and even the treasurer with her bright blue hair and piercings was more zen than I  had every seen someone be. She was doing yoga positions on her mat as she was introducing herself. The president spoke again and asked us about introducing ourselves. He said to say our name, grade, and how long we have been meditating for. We went around our circle and those who have never meditated seemed so nervous. But there were also some veterans in a circle and sprinkled in, a few who meditated for religious purposes. When the circle finally had gotten to me I did a quick introduction and stated that I had started meditating 5 years ago after I converted to Buddhism. I did notice as we went through the circle that I was one of few freshman. I'm getting quite used to that now. Eventually though we reached the end of the circle, there were a couple words exchanged between the president and the VP about when meditation was, and then the lights were turned off..
The president spoke, telling the group to clear our minds and calm our bodies. You could here the rustling of people not being able to silence their bodies because of the heat and discomfort. Meditation is difficult for some people when they first start off. In a world that all go, go, go it's hard to sit there and try not to think about everything thats going on around you and the stresses of life. The president spoke again leading the group in meditation. He said that just accept the noises around you and your bodies discomfort. Acknowledge that they exist and continue to clear your mind and focus on the now.  This is not how I normally meditate which was alright. I knew what was best for me. I focus on one of my chakra points, which in this case was my third eye or Ajna. Its the chakra point that honors the physic. I needed to be reconnected with my mind. College has been a whole new world for me and my anxiety has been on a whole new level. So I simply focused on the for the remainder of the meditation period. Closer to the end of the meditation, the president began the ring the Tibetan singing bowl to try to bring people back to the now. He rang it about three times then told people that it was time to stop meditating and to take there time coming back. He slowly turned off the lights and I allowed myself to open my eyes. I noticed how many people had moved and switched positions. Some looked bored stiff, some looked like they had taken a nap. Most of them had moved out the typical, criss-cross applesauce meditative position into a more comfortable, legs extended all different directions kind-of-position. The president mentioned a few more technical notes and said if we wanted to go we could. I picked up the pillow and mat I was sitting on, folded them and put them away. By the time I had turned around half the room had cleared. Meditation can be extremely difficult for people. It takes awhile to be able to calm your mind and body. Its something you have to practice and even after meditating for 5 years, I haven't completely grasped it. It seemed as though meditation club wasn't what some of those people thought it was going to be. But for my first time meditating with others, I didn't think it was all that bad.

Part II

• cold
• gray
• dark and icy
• stuck in the past
• lonely
• silent
• some parts run down
• getting there
• picking up the pieces
• trying to rebuild 
• THE MUSEUM
• bright
• lovely
• cared for
• unique
• the work very hard for it
• community at its finest 
• life's work
• genuinely cared about its guests
• THE PARK
• abandoned 
• cold and dark
• lonely 
• scary 
• rotting 
• broken down
• beyond repair for the rides
• meeting its fate
• needs some intense TLC

It was cold and dark and really it seemed abandoned when we first got to Conneaut. As we walked I noticed that it was very much stuck in the past. It was cute and quaint in it's own way, but nothing like a modernized place. Even in Erie where I am from we have more than corner stores. It's a small town and sometimes reminded me of something from a horror movie where the town was completely abandoned. It was very different from what I am used to. Some of the houses were beautiful and even the lake was beautiful on a cold, dreary day. Some of the town was livelier than the others, but all in all it seems like there is a lot of work to do.  

 When we got to the museum there was a huge change in atmosphere. People came out, while in town the people  were all in there cars or gazing at our group from inside buildings. George seemed like someone who lived for the museum. It seemed like such a bunch of trinkets at first but when he walked around and talked to us it gave life to them. He cared so much about all the different things in this museum and this town. It created a whole new life to some place that seemed so dreary. All the workers seemed to genuinely care about this little town. They all loved it in their own ways.

When we walked around the park, the man who spoke to us at the beginning seemed so angered by what was going on. He was distraught and in someways desperate to save this piece of land and then he said why. It was a community. It was his community and even though it was in dire straights, he still wanted it to thrive. They would just have to help it thrive in a different way. The park seemed cold and abandoned inside but when we went to the hotel you could tell once again of how much these people cared. It was beautiful inside and they were trying to fix it up. The entire time I was walking through all I could think about was how I would've loved to see this in its prime. People swing dancing in the ballroom and couples laughing with one another going to their rooms. It felt like something out of an old movie. 

This town was Georges and all the other people we spoke too. Captain Jack was a wealth of knowledge and you could tell wanted all of us to know about the lake. These people loved that cold, dark, dreary, town we walked into. It created a whole new light to shine on Conneaut Lake. 

Part III

We started to walk into the old amusement park. It was raining slightly and colder than it had been all week. I couldn't feel my fingers by this time so I wasn't doing much for my writing. I decided, that I would record all of this. We walked across the darkened, cracked pavement. There were still leaves from the following fall scattered about. I recorded as we walked up the path that led to what seemed like a ticket booth. On the sides of me where closed down building where they may have had games or food. It was eery to think that at one point and time little kids would've been running around with toys they had one of snacks that they had gotten. Their parents would be chasing them through the park and laughing at all the different antics of their children. The little kids would be yelling "I want to go on this ride Mommy! Please! Please! Please!" This place used to be alive for a different generation. When we had made it to Kiddyland, to maniacal clowns were there to greet us at the entrance. I walked in not sure of what I would find. The boat ride was rusted and had green and brown tinted water at the bottom. There was this classic wooden Merry-Go-Round. It was absolutely stunning and in its prime would've been bright and colorful. It would've attracted many little ones with its music and ponies to ride. Now it was rotten and wood was falling off the ticket booth. The mirrors were warped in the center piece and it looked like something that would be haunted by hundreds of ghosts. The roller coaster in Kiddyland didn't look like it could hold a small child let alone multiple children. I was trying to imagine the entire time I was recording what these rides would've been like to children when Kiddyland and Conneaut Lake Park were in it's prime. How colorful and inviting it probably all was. Its sad to think how much of that has changed. Now Conneaut Lake Park is a shell of what it once was. Now its used for a haunted house that comes around every fall and its the perfect location for it. These rides and the chipping colors of it's past belongs in the memories of some people. Thats were Conneaut Lake Park resides now. What I was seeing was simply skeleton of something that was once alive and thriving.