Redwine Honors Program Orientation Experience

Prior to your City as Text activity please read the following short readings to prepare for your experience:

Downtown Wichita Falls. 2021. History of Downtown Wichita Falls 

Peter Turchi 2007. “Metaphor or The Map” in Maps of the Imagination The Writer as Cartographer. San Antonio: Trinity University Press.

 

Destination: Downtown Wichita Falls

The purpose of your Wichita Falls City as Text activity is twofold: 1. Explore the town of Wichita Falls; and 2. Develop your ability to read a place, map your experience, and convey it to an audience of your peers.

The exploration: Downtown Wichita Falls was the original commerce and transportation hub of the city and spans several blocks. For our exploration, the railway line will provide the northeastern border and highway 445 as the southeastern border, while Austin street, provides the southwestern border and sixth street the northwestern border. During your exploration you can explore any portion of this area but please do not wander beyond these streets. We will provide transportation for you and your group to a spot in this area. You will have four hours to explore the area, including eating dinner. During your exploration you should be walking slowly, observing, listening, and talking to people.

Before you start: For your assignment, you will want to take photos of buildings, signs, and public spaces you see in Downtown Wichita Falls. Your photos should capture aspects of downtown Wichita Falls that are especially interesting to you and your group. Please do not take identifiable photos of ANYONE during this exploration, especially children. Also do not record ANYONE in your exploration, including throughout your conversations with people you encounter during your exploration. Instead record your thoughts and impressions of the people you meet and sights you observe.   

Questions to consider during your exploration of Wichita Falls

As you explore downtown Wichita Falls, observe, consider, and examine the following questions. As you consider these questions, be sure to go beyond the superficial level of observation. Many of you may have been to this area or similar areas multiple times. Use this opportunity to begin to develop observational skills that go beyond the superficial level. Begin to think about how you are connected to your environment and how it shapes your behavior. As part of your exploration please visit the Kemp Center for the Arts and the Museum of North Texas History.

  1. What kinds of buildings do you see? Are they businesses or residences? Are they old or new? Are there any buildings that seem to be especially important, for instance historic landmarks, high traffic areas, or key centers etc.? How do you know these are important places?
  2. What kinds of spaces do you see? Are there spaces intended for public use (parks, benches, etc…)? What are they? How are they being used? Are they being used? Are any spaces designated as private? How do you know? Do you observe people making private use of public space? How do they do this?
  3. What are the people on the street doing? Stand in one place and observe for a few minutes. What do you learn?
  4. Talk to at least one person to learn more about the downtown area. Who lives and works here? What role does the area you are exploring play in the town?
  5. During your exploration you will see a number of historical locations and works of art around downtown as well as during your visit to the Museum of North Texas History and the Kemp Center for the Arts, think about how the area is represented in these displays. How do these displays portray the city of Wichita Falls and its inhabitants? Are they accurate portrayals why or why not?    
  6. Find a Mustang and take a group selfie in front of it. What does the Mustang represent?
  7. Go into at least one store. What kind of store is it? What does it sell? Who seems to be shopping there? Note one unique thing you observe about the store.
  8. Eat dinner at one of the listed local eateries. What type of eatery is it? Who does it market itself too? What is unique about the restaurant?

Concluding your exploration & Debrief

We will pick you and your group up at a designated location. Upon your return to campus we will briefly discuss your exploration. Take some time to discuss what you feel was most important with your group.

Presentation & Reflection

During our orientation event on Saturday August 24th, each group will share their exploration experience with the larger group. Each group will be allotted ten minutes to share their experience with the larger group. This presentation can take any format and can be as creative as you would like. Please use any pictures or experiences that you think best represents what you saw. In this presentation please try to go beyond just telling us that you “saw a building”, tell us what you think the building represents, is it part of a larger pattern in the local area etc. Interesting presentations will have a coherent theme of their investigation and provide insight into how the space influences all of our lives. Please use the skills of your selected field of study, i.e. do English majors see important patterns in the writing you observe, do engineers see key elements in the use of technology in the area, or do sociologists see a key pattern in the way individuals interact as groups. Lastly, include some reflection on how the experience impacts your journey to college and Honors education. Specifically, what will you take from this experience as you begin this new academic journey?

Presentation Format:

There is no single format required for the presentation. It can be a digital multimedia presentation or a more traditional presentation. During the orientation we will have a computer and projector screen available. You are welcome to use such presentation programs as Powerpoint, Prezi, Canva, Spark, Wakelet, Padlet, Google maps, Youtube, or any other program that you think would work best. In the past we have had students create a skit of their experience or draw a collage that do not require multimedia tools. This is more than acceptable. The format is up to you. Be as creative as you would like to be and utilize the presentation method you are most comfortable with. The only requirement is that each group member has to participate in some recognizable fashion.