Beginning

On an early summer's day in 201x, I was driving down a country road in northern New England. All I could see from my car windows were barns, cows, fields and farmhouses. I was beginning to worry whether I was heading in the right direction. I had been driving on this country road for a while, so I looked at my clock. I wanted to arrive there before sunset. I wished that I had invested in a GPS. For a graduate student heading off on her first field trip for her dissertation study, however, a GPS just wasn't in my budget. I looked at my printout of the directions. I should be getting very close to Middlebury by now. Comfortingly, a road sign appeared and informed me that Middlebury was a few miles away. Feeling relieved, I laughed cynically at myself. This was not my first time driving to Middlebury. I had taken this road trip – a two-day journey from Iowa City to Middlebury – several times over the past summers to teach at Middlebury College. This summer, as a novice researcher, I would be conducting an ethnographic study for a period of nine weeks. With my teacher's lens replaced by my researcher's lens, I was more nervous and scared than excited and happy to return to my old teaching post.

What is Middlebury?

Middlebury is a small town in northern New England with a population of approximately 6588 according to the 2010 US census. Like many other places in New England it is known as a summer vacation destination. I was sometimes asked by a stranger at a random place, such as a bookstore or grocery store in Iowa City, if I had been to Middlebury when that person saw me wearing Middlebury T-shirts. When I answered 'yes', the response was almost always, 'It's a beautiful place!' with an emphasis on the word 'beautiful.' Yes, indeed, Middlebury is a beautiful place.