This picture is the inspiration for my ethnography. Her name is Ziva David and she is one of the main characters of the television show NCIS. Ziva is not your stereotypical Jewish woman. She has come to the United States and became part of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to protect marines and solve murders or myseteries dealing with marines. I watch this television show probably too much but have grown to follow the characters as the story goes on. Ziva is probably one of my favorite characters on the show because she breaks the stereotypical version of Jewish women. She is strong physically and emotionally and very skilled in martial arts and using a weapon. I believe that Ziva is a good role model and a very interesting person. The more I watch this show, which is pretty much every day, the more I enjoy working on my project.

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February 19, 2009

One of my favorite TV shows that I watch religiously is NCIS on USA. I do not know why this show is so interesting to me but I like the storyline. The characters on the show develop as each episode is watched; NCIS does not focus entirely the life of the characters but instead provides the viewer with just enough information to keep them wanting more. My first idea for the project for this class was to focus on race in this show. It seemed odd to me that there were no races besides caucasion on the main team of NCIS. As I developed my topic, I discovered an idea that seemed so obvious that I had missed it. One of the main characters is a woman, which is already interesting, who happens to be Jewish. She came to work for NCIS from another country where women were looked down upon and seen as the weaker sex. I found it an appealing topic to discuss since women in the United States seem to becoming more equal to men. As part of NCIS, this woman is one of the stronger team members and can be arguebaly one of the best with martial arts and weaponry. However, if stereotypical, this woman has many errors in her understanding of the English language and needs to be corrected often by her male counterparts. I find that I will have much to talk about in my project and will be able to discuss my topic quite fully.