UWRT Assignment One

Morgan Bittle
Key vocabulary terms:
Figured world: A large group of different communities that comes together and has its own rules and
conventions for appropriate actions.
Friends: The television show.
Domain: It is concern or passion for something shared by all the members of a specific community.
Growing up: The show covers ten years of the friends lives. In this time the friends experience a
lot of change. Each friend is trying to find their place in the world. They go through many jobs
and relationships; they are able to find who they want to be.
Communities of practice: Members with a similar domain or interest come together to share and discuss
this topic. By coming together in a community the members can learn from each other. Although a
community works with the same domain, does not mean they work together.
The friends: The friends come together and help each other through the obstacles. In the coffee
shop they share their life experiences to help with another friends problem. Just like any group
of friends, they are always there for each and are always there to help one another.
Practices of the community: The practice is when members of a community come together to share their
experiences and tools to address a reoccurring problem. Practice is just what it sounds like, its trying and
learning new things to work on your domain with the members in the community to better the domain.
This can be done by members of the community sharing their tips and stories with each other to learn
from their past.
Drinking coffee: This is how the friends bond. They come together daily and sip on coffee and
socialize. They all drink coffee if its morning, noon, or night. It is a way for them to relax or
vent from the day.
Artifacts: Important ideas or objects that are essential to a community.
Central Perk: This is the coffee shop that the friends constantly find themselves. They come here
during the day to grab a coffee on their way to work or just sit and chat for hours. Both Rachel
and Joey have had jobs working as baristas, and Phoebe performs during their open mike night.
The coffee shop has been a central meeting point through
out all the seasons.
Monicas apartment: This is the other hang out for the
friends. Rachel, Phoebe, and now Chandler have all lived
with Monica in this same apartment. The bright purple
walls and eclectic furniture makes it an iconic hangout
throughout the seasons.
Actors: The people that play specific roles within the figured
world.
Chandler: Chandler serves as the comic relief of the
group. When situations get awkward or too somber,
Chandler is there to say a witty comment to lighten the
mood. Ross and him were roommates in college.
Chandler is married to Monica. Joey and Chandler were
originally roommates, but he now moved in with his wife.
Chandler works at a nine to five business job; he does not complain about his job

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we can assume he is well-off because he often offers to help Joey pay for things.
Monica: Plays the motherly role. Monica has a lot of obsessive compulsive tendencies; she loves
to clean, she wants everything to be in the same spot, and she wants everything done her way.
Monica is married to Chandler, who just moved in to her apartment with her. Her original
roommate was Rachel. Rachel and Monica have known each other since high school. In high
school Monica was a lot heavier and has since lost almost one hundred pounds. Since her weight
loss she is very health conscious and gets flash backs to her old nerdy, heavier self. Monica
works as a head chef at a nice restaurant. At work we know she is very demanding of her staff
because of her obsessive tendencies, she wants things done her own way.
Rachel: She is the diva of the group. Rachel came in to the friend group later than the rest.
Rachel and Monica hadnt spoken in years, but when Rachel ran away from the altar she came to
Monica to help. Rachel basically left her old life behind and started over. Before, she lived a
very affluent life and when she ran away she was cut off by her family. Rachel got her first job
ever at the coffee shop. Since then Rachel had multiple jobs, but now works at Ralph Lauren.
After being Monicas roommate she moves in with Phoebe. Rachel often finds her self in an off
and on relationship with Ross.
Ross: Ross is the nerdy one. He is a paleontologist and later becomes a professor in that field.
Ross is in and out of relationships. He has been married three times. He also has a five-year-old
son, Ben, from his first marriage. Ross has a very dorky personality and usually finds himself in
awkward situations. He is Monicas brother.
Joey: Joey is the goofball of the group. He is an aspiring actor. At the beginning he has a lot of
very small roles, but he eventually gets a role on a big soap opera. Before this role, Joey is very
dependent on Chandler. Joey and Chandler were roommates until Chandler moved in with
Monica. Joey is quite the ladies man; he is not one to be tied down.
Phoebe: Phoebe is the free spirit; she is very all over the place. She was Monicas original
roommate before she moved out because of Monicas crazy antics. Phoebe works as a masseuse;
but from time to time shell take the stage at the coffee shop and sing. She is a very outside of the
box thinker, so she provides odd advice that is either comical or surprisingly helpful. Phoebe also
had a hard childhood; with a crazy mother she ran away from home at sixteen, because of this she
was homeless for the rest of her teenage years. This comes up randomly in conversation as she
pulls memories from her past and probably is the reason behind some of her weird tendencies.
Literacy Practices: How the actors within the
figured world and communities of practice are
communicating.
In person conversation. Most of the
communication between the friends
happens in person. This show is set in
the 1990s to early 2000s so
technology is not popular right now.
At this time the most accessible way to
communicate with someone was in
person, especially if it was something
important the best way to talk was face
to face.

Telephone. This was the other form of

communication at this time. Talking on
Photo courtesy of dailymail.co.uk
the phone is not as evident in the show.
However, we do know the friends leave each other messages and call to let them know
something.

Background:
My figured world is the television show Friends. Friends is a show about six friends in New York city
that often find them just sitting, chatting in a coffee shop. The show follows the lives of Rachel, Ross,
Phoebe, Chandler, Monica, and Joey. The friends central hub is Central Perk, a coffee shop in New York
City. In the coffee shop the friends just share their days and events in their lives. You also find the
friends getting into mischief in each others apartments; such as searching for Christmas presents in
Monicas apartment or trying breaking someones piece of furniture and having to figure out how to get a
new thing or fix it. The show also covers some of their crazy adventures around the city; whether that be
a crazy date, seeing an old enemy, or the jobs they love or hate.
Rules and Conventions:
Although sometimes broken they follow the same rules any other friends would. Rules such as characters
having stable relationships instead of brief romances with each other that could cause later friction,
characters should refrain from random outbursts at each other, and always having a friends back. This
show was filmed in the 1990s to early 2000s, so their communication was mainly in person. There was
no texting or email, there was the occasional phone conversation, but this show focusses on their in
person conversations. Each character of the show has their own community of practice. For instance,
Joeys community of practice is acting; Joey is not highly respected in his field, but the show follows his
highs and lows in his acting career. Rosss community of practice is archeology; Ross is very respected in
his community by his colleges but not by his friends. Although, each of the friends have different
communities of practice they come together to discuss their experiences in each of their different
communities.
Observation 1:
Friends: Season 6, Episode 6, The One on the Last Night
0-3:00 Chandler confronts Joey that he is moving out, so Joey will now have to pay all the bills on his
own. Chandler begins to show Joey all the bills, Chandler offers that if its too much for Joey he can help
paying them. Joey refuses, because he does not want the charity. Chandler begins talking to Phoebe
about Joey not accepting his money or help. Phoebe tries to think of ways Joey could be tricked into
taking the $1500. Chandler is moving in with Monica, meaning Monicas roommate Rachel is going to
have to move out. With all the roommates splitting up, they are determined to have one last fun night.

3:00-6:00 When Monica is about ready for their

last night of fun, Monica asks Rachel if shes
packed. Rachel lies saying she is; she then asks
Phoebe to come in to her room. As Phoebe walks
in she sees the Rachel clearly hasnt began
packing. There are clothes, books, packing
peanuts, and miscellaneous things everywhere.
Monica then comes into Rachels room to find
that Rachel lied when she said that she had
packed. In order for Monica not to freak out,
Rachel tries to turn around the situation. Rachel
began explaining that she didnt start packing on
purpose. That she didnt do it because she knows
how much Monica loves to organize, so on their
Photo courtesy of theodysseyonline.com
last night they can bond over packing Rachels
things. Monica is so excited she wants to get everyone involved. She tells Phoebe to get the boys, Phoebe
gives them more of a warning that its too late for her, so the can save themselves while they can. After
hearing that the boys try to run out, but Monica catches them and tries to convince them to stay and help.
They all make excuses as to why they cant help; Chandler and Joey are spending their last night too so
their spending it together. Ross makes the excuse that he has to watch his son, Ben, for the night. Monica
does not believe Rosss excuse, but from Monicas apartment you can see Rosss place so Ross is going to
make a fake Ben.
6:00-14:00 Chandler challenges Joey to a foosball
game at their place. The prize being money so
Chandler can coax Joey into taking the $1500.
Starting off playing for $50, they begin to play. Back
at Rachels room trying to pack they become very
reminiscent of every item. This brings up a lot of
sadness towards Rachel leaving. Phoebe getting tired
of their crying suggests they should talk about things
they wont miss about each other. This opens a whole
can of worms of things they dont like about each
other. Back at Joey and Chandlers, Joey fell perfectly
into Chandlers trap and is winning every game in
Photo courtesy of Friendsgeneration.com
foosball with winnings already at $500. To
finish
it off Chandler put down $1000. Not taking it
seriously Chandler is basically letting Joey play himself so he would score easily and win the money.
This plan back fires when Joey is the only one playing; he shoots, misses that goal and the ball rolls back
going into Chandlers goal. This causes Chandler to win, making both of them angry. Ross back at his
place calls Monica so she can look to see his fake Ben. Ross created his fake son with a pumpkin for a
head, a hat, and a stuffed shirt. From Monicas point of view, this was actually believable. Back at
Rachel and Monicas there is no more sadness in the room, just anger and tension towards each other.
Phoebe tries to fix the mess she made by trying to bring back the sadness and reminiscence. But, Monica
and Rachel are too far angry to go back to sadness. When Joey lost he angrily kicked the table, causing it
to break. Chandler then tries to invent new games to give Joey the money. Phoebe convinces Monica to
smooth things over with Rachel. When Monica goes to apologize, Rachel is unpacking all her things,
saying shes actually staying. Rachel then tells Monica that she should be the one to move out instead.

14:00-19:00 After seeing all the fighting Phoebe decides she doesnt want Rachel to move in with her.
After saying this Monica opens up to Phoebe about how great of a roommate Rachel was. Making this
speech causes Monica and Rachel to forget their tiff and go back to being sad that theyre leaving each
other. Monica looks over into Rosss to see the fake Ben he made had the head fall off. After his plan
getting soiled he had no choice but to go and help them pack. After helping the girls pack Ross and Joey
played the imaginary game Chandler made up. Joey comes back in mad saying he lost the $1500 to Ross
in the made up game. Joey comes back complaining to Chandler that he lost, but it being their last night
Joey tries to give him the infamous dog sculpture from their room so Chandler could have something to
remember Joey by. But Chandler still trying to give Joey money offers to buy it for $1500, Joey now sees
right through Chandlers plan.
19:00-22:00 Joey then confronts Chandler that he really doesnt need the charity. Rachel finally leaves
Monicas with hard goodbye. Even though theyre not moving far, it makes the goodbye hard because
they were living together for so long. After she left Monica and Chandler walk into Rachels old room
feeling empty. Chandler tries to convince Ross that he didnt actually beat Joey and that it was a fake
game. He then makes up more rules, we assume winning all the money back as the show ends.
Observation 2:
Season 6, Episode 7, The One Where Phoebe Runs
0-4:00 The episode starts with Phoebe and Rachel in Phoebes apartment, after Rachel has just moved in.
They are sitting on the couch making a new answering machine message. They cant agree on who says
what in this message so Rachel gives up because she wants to go for a run. Rachel asks Phoebe if she
would want to come. Rachel suggests it will be a good way for them to bond as roommates. Phoebe gets
up enthusiastically and is eager to go. Before they go for the run Phoebe quickly does the answering
machine message so they dont have to argue about it. At Monica and Chandlers place, Ross is
explaining to Chandler a book that read that by the year 2030 there will be computers that will have all
functions of a human brain. Ross is excited by this because it means he would live forever through this
machine. You can tell chandler is uninterested and does not find it as interesting as Ross does. Monica
comes in, hopping over moving boxes that Chandler left scattered around the kitchen. After Monica asks,
Chandler then gets up to attend to the boxes. Since Chandler moved out of Joeys, Joey put up a search
for a new roommate. He then comes in with a beautiful woman who he introduces as his new roommate.
Ross is eager to come meet her. As the gang begins to ask the new roommate, Jeanine, questions; Joey is
completely shocked by all the answers. Revealing that Joey knows nothing about this woman.
4:00- 8:00 Joey then reveals that he cannot wait to ask her out. Monica then tries to caution Joey that he
should not ask her out because being roommates would make things weird. Ross also tries to caution
Joey but for different reasons; Ross doesnt want Joey to go out with her so he can ask her out. Chandler
then reminds Joey of a scenario from his past about how awkward it is to run into an ex and if they broke
up they would be living together. Joey then comes to the conclusion that theyre right, and unfortunately
he cannot ask her out no matter how hard that is. At the park Rachel begins to do a leisure jog while
Phoebe comes past her flailing her arms running like a maniac. While she runs past Phoebe tells Rachel
that shes running wrong, while Rachel tries to stay back and disassociate herself from Phoebes running.
At the coffee shop Rachel tries to explain to Ross and Monica the crazy way Phoebe runs. Rachel now
sees herself in a predicament, that Phoebe is her roommate and does not know how shell avoid running
with her. Phoebe then comes into the coffee shop. Rachel then tells her that Monica tripped her, so she is
unable to run with her anymore. Phoebe is sad that Monica would do something like that, Monica just
went along with it apologizing that she hurt Rachels ankle. Chandler then finishes unloading all the
boxes so he decides to surprise Monica by cleaning the entire apartment. Chandler asks Joey how hes
doing not flirting with his new roommate. Joey goes on to explain that its becoming a real challenge and
he has lots of flirting built up in his system. Joey goes back to his room to find his new roommate doing

yoga in the middle of the living room.

Joey then tries to pretend to stretch with
her, but then goes to take a shower instead.
8:00- 12:00 Rachel then goes out running
on her own and Phoebe runs in to her,
catching her in the act. Phoebe is offended
that Rachel would sneak behind her back.
Chandler is feverishly cleaning every inch
of the apartment. As Ross comes in hes
nervous for Chandler because Monica is
extremely OCD. So after cleaning
Chandler will have to put everything back
together everything back exactly where it
was. The apartment is a mess because
Photo courtesy of friends.wikia.com.
Chandler has been cleaning everything. So
Chandler decides to call Monica to see if she would freak out, but when she answers shes in a sour mood
because no one at work is doing anything her way. Chandler then begins to panic that things werent
done her way and that shell be extremely upset. Chandler begins trying to put things back where they
were, but soon comes to realize thats a lot harder than he thought.
12:00- 16:00 Joey comes in freaking out about
not being able to flirt with his roommate. Right
away Joey notices the apartment is all out of
order, also cautioning Chandler that Monica will
be upset will be upset with him. Joey decides
that his best option is to repel his new
roommate. Joey then asks Ross and Chandler for
advice because according to Joey they repel
women all the time. Ross tries to deny this, but
Chandler brings up times from their past that they
repelled plenty of girls. Back at Phoebe and
Rachels, Rachel apologizes to Phoebe. Rachel
finally tells Phoebe the truth; that she doesnt
want to run with her because the way she runs is
Photo courtesy of vignette.net.
embarrassing and people stare. This offends
Phoebe, because Phoebe does not care what other people think where as Rachel does. So Phoebe tells
Rachel that shes uptight, and that Phoebe runs like she did when she was a kid because its more fun that
way. Chandler is still trying to put the room back together when Monica tries to come in. Chandler
immediately shuts the door in her face.
16:00- 21:00 Chandler makes an excuse so Monica will come back later. Ross then comes up with the
idea to look at their photo album at old pictures to set the room back up. Joey comes back to the room
acting strange to his roommate trying to repel her. She is obviously very confused as to why hes acting
so strange. So Joey explains to her that its hard for him not to flirt with her, but she then explains that its
ok because she is not interested. Joey then is taken aback that someone isnt interested in him, so he
decides to try a pick up line. Even after he tries flirting she is still not attracted to him so Joey storms out
of the room in disbelief. On Rachels run she decides to give Phoebes way of running a try and loves it
and feels so free. Monica then comes back and immediately can tell everything is different. Chandler
then explains that he cleaned the whole apartment and didnt remember where everything went. Monica
then isnt mad but extremely touched that he would do something so sweet.

Observation 3:
Season 6, Episode 8 The One with Rosss Teeth
0-4:00 Chandler comes over to Joeys to play a video game. When he comes over he decides to look in
his old room to find that Joeys new roommate Jeanine decorated it very girly. Then they notice around
the whole apartment is very feminine details that Joey isnt noticing. Chandler cautions Joey to make
sure Jeanine isnt taking over. At the coffee shop, the friends discuss Monicas new friend who just broke
up with her boyfriend and Ross tries to get her to set them up. Meanwhile Phoebe asks Rachel if she
could make copies for her massage advertisements, Phoebe comes to find out that Rachel has had a
different job for a whole year. But Rachel reassures Phoebe that she could still use the copy machine at
Rachels current job. Then they all realize they shouldnt be in the coffee shop and should be at work
instead. At Rachels work, at Ralph Lauren, Phoebe finished making her copies and begins to tell Rachel
who she ran in to in the copy room. Phoebe gushes to Rachel that she made out with Ralph Lauren
himself.
4:00- 12:00 Rachel begins to tell Phoebe that Ralph
Lauren is married, shes a little upset by that. Back at
Joeys he is noticing decorations Jeanine is putting up.
Joey then tries to address that all the paintings and
decorations are making the place too girly. He tries to
prove his point but he also notices all the positive
changes, for example Jeanine washes and dries his towels
and he likes the smell of the potpourri. Rachel then gets
in the elevator with her boss that wants nothing to do with
her. Rachel tries to make small talk but her boss is having
none of it. So Rachel decides to share that she heard
someone fooled around with Ralph Lauren. This
immediately grabs her bosss attention; her boss stops the
elevator so Rachel could spill everything. Back at the
coffee shop Monica and Chandler are talking, and Ross
Photo courtesy of playbuzz.com
comes in with a huge smile on his face. When he smiles his
teeth are extremely white. Monica and Chandler notice
immediately. They crack jokes about how blindingly white they are. Rachel then comes in to the coffee
shop and tells Monica and Chandler that Phoebe made out with Ralph Lauren. They then gush over a
picture of Ralph Lauren on a magazine. Phoebe comes in confused at who theyre looking at. Rachel
explains thats the man she made out with, but Phoebes confused because that is not the person she met
in the copy room. Phoebe then describes to Rachel who she made out with, Rachel hears right away that
the guy Phoebes describing is just the copy guy. Rachel is mortified because she told her boss a lie.
Back at Rosss, Monica is trying to find a shirt that will dull down the whiteness of his teeth, but nothing
seems to be working. Monica then tries to convince him to but make up on to make his skin look lighter
so his teeth wouldnt appear too bright. At first he refuses, but when Phoebe comes in and sees his teeth
she immediately gets scared by them and runs out of the room. Ross then agrees to put the makeup on.
At Chandler and Monicas, Monica has them making potpourri bags for the drawers and other little crafts.
Chandler then gets up and decides hes going to go over to Joeys after Monica has another feminine
chore for him. Monica then sees that it has been a girly night so Chandler goes over to Joeys.
12:00- 17:00 When Chandler opens the door to Joeys, he sees Joey and Jeanine knitting. Chandler then
storms out and goes over to Rosss. When he walks into Rosss apartment he sees Ross putting makeup
on. He immediately slams the door and leaves in disbelief at how girly everyone is being. Rachel then
goes to meet up with her boss again to confess that what she said about Ralph Lauren wasnt actually true.
But then her boss said that she checked whose key card was used to enter the copy room. The only key

card used was Rachels because she let Phoebe use it. Rachels boss then assumes that shes trying to
make her way to the top by being with Ralph. The elevator then dings, and Ralph Lauren gets on. All are
completely silent. After Ralph left the elevator Rachels boss claims that there was very evident tension
between them.
17:00-21:00 Ross is now on his date. But, since his teeth are so white he is doing everything he can to
hide them. He isnt even talking because he knows that when he talks shell see his teeth. She just thinks
hes a great listener because he just nods to everything she says. When she asks him about himself he
talks with his hands in front of his face and puts the focus back on her. Back at Joeys, Chandler walks in
on Joey and Monica arranging flowers and sharing tips on how to get the best flower arrangement.
Chandler asks Monica to leave, on her way out Monica invites Joey to come over and craft later. This
sets off Chandler and he freaks out at Joey that hes turning in to a woman. Joey then snaps out of it and
realize that maybe he has been too feminine lately. Back at the coffee ppppshop Rachel and Phoebe
discuss the rumor that Rachel has now spread around the office. They still cannot figure out how to put
an end to it. Ross and his date are still hitting it off. They move things to the couch and she turns the
lights off but turns on a black light. Because his teeth are insanely white the show off brightly under the
black light. His date immediately freaks out and puts an end to the date. At the office Rachel again meets
her boss in the elevator for another awkward confrontation. Rachel then makes up that Ralph Lauren
dumped her. Ralph then comes in the elevator causing a very awkward vibe. Rachels boss then thinks
that awkward tension was in fact from them breaking up.
Interview questions:
I interviewed Kristina Harding. She has seen every episode of the ten seasons. It is safe to say the
interviewee is knowledgeable of the show and its background information.
What are your thoughts on Rachel and Rosss unstable relationship?
They can be immature about it at times because they are unsure of their feelings and dont know
how to express it. And they dont want to put themselves out there to get hurt because they have
both been hurt in the past. But theyre cute so I am rooting for them.
The show being such a light comedy, how do you feel when it has very serious and somber moments? Do
you find it to be a nice balance or do you find it to be unnecessary?
I think there is a nice balance. It makes the show more relatable, like real life it has its ups and
downs. But the comedy keeps it light hearted.
Explain how important the coffee shop is to the show.
It gives the show a more relaxed backdrop to their socializing and gossiping. Because a lot of the
things they discuss in the coffee shop give a premise to the show.
Tell me what stands out to you from different seasons? What helps you differentiate them?
They are all in different stages of their lives. You can see them growing up. We watch their jobs
and relationships change. The points in their lives that they are at are very evident in each
season; their mind sets change.
In the fictional Friends world, where do you think the friends are now? Still in the coffee shop, or have
they lost contact and gone their separate ways?

I like to think they are still in the coffee. Im sure they have expanded their families, but they are
all one big family because theyve grown up together. Even though some things may take them
from New York City, they will always be drawn back.

All the friends have very different personalities, describe how this helps and hurts their relationships.
Well, like any good relationship, they will have a lot in common but differences. Some may have
qualities that the others lack and thats what make them such a perfect fit.