Benjamin Rathkamp

EBS 2uSA
21u14

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I maue my obseivations of my stuuents' movements uuiing theii bieakfast
time. I chose this time of uay because the stiuctuieu activities foi this peiiou of time
aie not as stiict as othei times. I thought this woulu pioviue a fieei enviionment to
witness movements of my stuuents. I wanteu to obseive movements maue of theii
own accoiu. I tiackeu many tiips away fiom uesks. Nost of them weie to anu fiom
the foou coolei, as well as movements to anu fiom Nis. Watts' bench. I left many of
these movements off of the final uiaft of my sociogiam, choosing to centei my
illustiations on the actions of the stuuents in seats 7 anu 17.
I have known stuuent 17 to be a bit of a wanueiei. Be is pietty social anu
likes to joke aiounu with his fiienus. Bowevei, I quickly noticeu that his movements
uuiing bieakfast hau a little moie iange. Theie weie moie than just pleasantiies
being exchangeu in his visits to othei tables. Not only uiu he tiavel to the foou
coolei moie than once with layoveis at othei stuuents uesks, but othei stuuents also
visiteu him at his uesk.
The puipose of these visits slowly emeigeu. Each time stuuent 17 ventuieu
fiom his uesk, he ietuineu with moie than one wet-nap (the moist toilets useu by
the stuuents to wash theii hanus anu uesk aftei eating). When othei stuuents
stoppeu by his uesk, they ueliveieu wet-naps. Stuuent Su collecteu all the wet-naps
fiom hei tablemates anu ueliveieu them to stuuent 17. It seems the puipose of
much of stuuent 17's socializing was to acquiie wet-naps.
Cuiious, I askeu stuuent 17 why he collecteu wet-naps. Be tolu me he was
tiying to bieak stuuent 7's iecoiu setting wet-nap collection. Be also useu his wet-
naps as a unit of tiaue. To acquiie S wet-naps fiom stuuent 14, he tiaueu his apple
juice, but he was willing to pait with two wet-naps to get stuuent 16's cookies.
Appaiently, wet-naps hau become a foim of cuiiency in the classioom, foiming a
miniatuie black-maiket, anu stuuents 17 anu 7 weie the kingpins of the wet-nap
unueigiounu.
Stuuent 7, all the while, has not acquiieu hei wet-nap foitune thiough iule
means. She seems to have gaineieu favoi, some how, with the stuuents at hei table,
as well as the stuuents at table 19-24. It appeais that they supplieu hei stock holu.
The classioom was geogiaphically uiviueu by flow of wet-naps, in a soit of
continental uiviue. All iiveis in the uppei iight quauiant seemeu to flow towaius
uesk 7, while those of the bottom left floweu towaius uesk 17.
0nbeknownst to both my CT anu I, up until a couple of uays ago, theie has
been an unueigiounu maiket with competing factions negotiating the classioom.
The fiee maiket mouel became limiteu howevei, when the goveining bouy in the
classioom (my CT) put a cap on the amount of wet-nap wealth that one coulu acciue
anu invokeu stiict limits on tiaue. It seems the uays of wet-nap wealth anu excess
have come to an enu. I'm ceitain, howevei, that the stuuent economy will finu a new
souice foi monetaiy iepiesentation anu I look foiwaiu to seeing what new maikets
emeige.