On Tuesday, Dr. Harrison said that he is not “very creative.” I didn’t make a big deal of it because writing doesn’t necessarily mean to write fiction or poetry. That statement, though, sounded a little bit out of tone, but I did not say word. I kept listening him for the rest of the class.
What he said today confutes his previous statement and confirms my thought. When he writes, he said (I am paraphrasing him), he touches different aspects of a subject because it helps him to dig into the sense of his own words. Writing, in his case, is a quest of the self that, translated in human words, means that writers may discover themselves through their own writing. That’s creative! It is one of the most creative utterances I have heard.
Lovely Dr. Harrison, I hope yours, on Tuesday, was a joke; and if it wasn’t – which thing, since intelligent people never say they are gifted, is not impossible at all– I can help you with an (important) theory: you are beautifully and humanly (the most importanst aspect of the entire quest) creative!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Honesty is a solitary word...
I dove into the Net, I found it. When poetry meets music, the words I want to say freeze in my throat. Like slender, sharp needles they prick my tongue... Don't ask me to comment on it, I can't.
Read More... option in blogger
I found out how to accomplish the "read more" option in Blogger, but it is a bit above my technical grasp. For those of you who understand it, or have an easier way to do it, please let us all know.
Ask my Feet how to Protest
Today’s flash blog topic got me thinking, not about voting, but about protest and how rarely it accomplishes its aims. When I lived in Chicago, there was always a protest of some sort- taking place. One of the biggest protests I can remember was in October of 2007. The college campus was all abuzz with various students loudly wearing their causes on banners or backpacks. It was strange to me, the charged element in the air, and the excited expressions on the student’s faces as they descended the school steps and charged out onto State Street to join the other dissenters.
All of it seemed wrong.
The protest seemed to be nothing more than a reason for people to let go of their inhibitions and become rowdy. Some people were making out in the streets-others held signs that protested an issue as unfairly and violently as the original issue they were protesting against. To top it all off, the speed of the protest was determined by Chicago’s finest whom all walked laboriously slow. The expression on their faces said it all-“This is a joke. See how we control the breadth of your objections?”
That night the el ride home was charged with excitement too. Everyone was chattering away with his or her new best friend as if something really had changed. It seemed the societal spell of Chicago solitude had been broken with slogans and banners. But the next day nothing had changed, not even the banners left behind on the subway.
All of it seemed wrong.
The protest seemed to be nothing more than a reason for people to let go of their inhibitions and become rowdy. Some people were making out in the streets-others held signs that protested an issue as unfairly and violently as the original issue they were protesting against. To top it all off, the speed of the protest was determined by Chicago’s finest whom all walked laboriously slow. The expression on their faces said it all-“This is a joke. See how we control the breadth of your objections?”
That night the el ride home was charged with excitement too. Everyone was chattering away with his or her new best friend as if something really had changed. It seemed the societal spell of Chicago solitude had been broken with slogans and banners. But the next day nothing had changed, not even the banners left behind on the subway.
Dram Shop Dilemma
I hate my job. No, this isn’t some whiny, bitchy post about how mean my co-workers are, or how awful my customers are or how hard I work for no recognition. I actually don’t have any of those problems. My problem is that, as a bartender, I find myself contributing to what many view as one of societies great evils. In class on Tuesday, someone asked the question “if you were the bartender who knowingly served an intoxicated person and then watched them walk to their car, would you stop them?” Well, yes. I cut people off. I call a taxi cab, take the drunk’s phone and call one of their friends to pick them up and, in extreme cases, call the police. I’ve watched men (sorry guys, but I’ve actually never seen this happen to a woman) get arrested in the parking lot, slurring at the officer and throwing sloppy punches.
It’s just a part of my job. If that individual leaves and causes harm to anyone I will be held responsible. I will go to jail. My place of employment may lose their liquor license. If an individual has been barhopping and my bar is the last stop, even if I refuse them service I will be the one held responsible. On a really busy Friday night, it is hard to keep an eye on everyone who walks in and out the front door. And it terrifies me. At the risk of being extreme, it shouldn’t even be legal to drive to a bar alone with intentions of drinking; how are you supposed to leave? My next post might be on the need for better public transportation in SW Florida…
It’s just a part of my job. If that individual leaves and causes harm to anyone I will be held responsible. I will go to jail. My place of employment may lose their liquor license. If an individual has been barhopping and my bar is the last stop, even if I refuse them service I will be the one held responsible. On a really busy Friday night, it is hard to keep an eye on everyone who walks in and out the front door. And it terrifies me. At the risk of being extreme, it shouldn’t even be legal to drive to a bar alone with intentions of drinking; how are you supposed to leave? My next post might be on the need for better public transportation in SW Florida…
Additional reading for 2/5 class
Please note: for our 2/5 class, you'll need to read this review of books about blogs from the NY Review of Books. Come prepared to discuss ... and blog, naturally.
The Real World Is Crumbling
It is easy to watch T.V. or do something where there is no true enlightenment of what is really going on in “real world.” Is it our fears that are taking over this world and we are blind to it? I don’t understand how people get so offended by others that aren’t like them. Why are you or me any better than anybody else? Is it pride that takes over and destroys our compassion for the human race? That’s right, “human race,” we are categorized together and will always be categorized together. Wouldn’t it be nice to not worry about how people respond to our beliefs and just accept it? There are so many tragedies such as war, terrorism, and global warming. Our lives are full of choices and we can choose to sit back and be ignorant or we could work together to help prevent a lot of this devastation. The littlest things can make such a difference, saying excuse me if you bump someone, smile at someone passing by, pull over lending a hand to someone who broke down on the highway, or even just talking to someone who may need it. Every little bit counts. Please know that you, me, and that other person are different. That will never change and by choosing not to accept these differences the world will continue to shatter from our ways of life.
aesop in the city
In case no one's noticed there are a few links on the class syllabus. On my paper copy they appear in blue. Here I thought they were simply the titles to something (I'm not really a blonde I just play one on tv). Last night I fought off sleep in an effort to be a better student. I went to Angel to check out the ones attached to today's class. I love my "ah ha!" moments. A lesson on linking. Which I still don't get, but hope to master by week's end. I gave the two links a read. I giggled at the new millenium version of Aesop's Fables. Unfortunately the Republican open forum debate put me to sleep. (drool on a new laptop is not pretty) But not before I witnessed the skillful linking going on. Now to figure out how to link.
Moral: Drink large pot of coffee after consuming considerable carbs for dinner. (And the Hare will eat anything)
Moral: Drink large pot of coffee after consuming considerable carbs for dinner. (And the Hare will eat anything)
Misinterpretation between generations.
Informing my father about the classes he is paying for this semester, I got onto the topic of Styles and Ways of Blogging. "Blogging?" he said. "Like a log... with a B in front of it?" Picturing an actual wooden log with a bumble bee next to it, I laughed outloud. "Lol'ed," if you will. I love him to death, and he cracks me up when it comes to technology. He actually has a notebook of the things I show him how to do on the computer. There are at least three entries in that journal of his on How To Copy and Paste. Which he still doesn't have down just yet. He is a highly educated man, with many university degrees under his belt, but this computer era baffles him. It is so interesting in a way, of how out of touch he is (and others in his generation for that matter) with the internet. Computer usage in general, really. Copy and pasting is pretty much like blinking to this generation, and seemingly minuscule tasks like this are like nothing. I can only imagine what my children (hypothetically speaking) will be teaching me.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Who Knew?
Before reading Blood’s chapter 6, I never knew there was proper etiquette to writing a blog. Some of the things she explain were common sense such as crediting your links and responding to e-mails no matter how long it takes you. Something I did learn from reading the chapter is giving fair warning to your readers if you’re linking to disturbing pictures or sites that require free registration. Another thing I also learned is to announce your schedule to your readers if you will not be posting for a about a week or starting an activity that is time consuming. For example in Dr. Harrision’s blog entry titled “Merry Christmas” seen here, he let his readers know he would be out of town and may or may not post. I think this is a helpful tool because I do not want my readers to constantly return to my blog and see nothing. Once they have come one too many times and have not found an update, I am sure they will not return to my blog. Blood also stated other tips, but her tips on blog etiquette were the most important considering I don’t want to attack anyone or ever respond to flames.
ATTENTION: YOU MUST READ THIS POST!!!
Just kidding. You don't have to read it, or comment on it, or think anything of it whatsoever. But titling is perhaps the most important part of our exercise in pseudo-blogging, the part that gathers or frightens away readership. The problem with contributing to a mandatory “blog about blogging…and other stuff” is that unlike other blogs, our readers don’t approach us with pre-endowed interest or even knowledge of what they’re about to read. Thus, our titles are really the only hope we have to attract an audience, whereas in most “real” blogs the titles merely serve the function of specificity, catering to an implicitly interested audience and clarifying not that “I’m talking about drugs” but that “I’m talking about mescaline.” Clever titles are entertaining, but rarely essential. Here, they are both. Titling tactics can make or break an entry, and it seems most people here know this. We see colloquial hooks like “Reality Check!” and alliteration like “Creation, Not Confession,” albeit an abundance of alliteration will anesthetize anybody to its attention-grabbing aim. We also have aurally and visually pleasing repetition in titles like “Good Writing is Good Writing.” But is this an effective strategy, or code for creative bankruptcy? Is there a shortage of metaphors in the modern world?
Let’s admit it. We don’t read every entry from start to finish. We may even skip over entire posts, scrolling up or down in search of that bright orange beacon of megalomania or narcissism that coerces attention from clicker-happy college students: “I am blogger, hear me roar!”
Let’s admit it. We don’t read every entry from start to finish. We may even skip over entire posts, scrolling up or down in search of that bright orange beacon of megalomania or narcissism that coerces attention from clicker-happy college students: “I am blogger, hear me roar!”
Linking Frenzy
After reading Linking 1-2-3 by Lawerence Lee I realized that there is so much information about all of our subjects. It is just ridiculous to see the amount of news/articles/commentary about my topic of the environment. Lee opens up many doors for us. For example, the websites that provide the service of letting their readers know about a story that is still being finished before the complete story is published. I cannot believe that. Journalism has changed drastically, hasn’t it?
Another thing Lee touched on was the fact that a couple sites are trying to better the linking system. “There are two sites that are at least making some attempts to accommodate linking that will continue to work a week later.” Isn’t that so frustrating? To search and to search and finally find a great link and then a week later it is pulled from the web. Or even the link is copied down wrong. How depressing!
Another thing Lee touched on was the fact that a couple sites are trying to better the linking system. “There are two sites that are at least making some attempts to accommodate linking that will continue to work a week later.” Isn’t that so frustrating? To search and to search and finally find a great link and then a week later it is pulled from the web. Or even the link is copied down wrong. How depressing!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Reality Check!
I was really caught by this line in the Blood reading for the week: "Approaching your weblog seriously can make it better; taking yourself seriously never will."
Ms. Blood was discussing the petty online squabbling that sometimes arises between bloggers, pointing to a loss of perspective as the ultimate cause.
In other words, just because you have a blog doesn’t make you god. You are not the ultimate authority on the rest of the universe, and your opinions aren’t the end-all and say-all of every argument.
Blood is saying hey, we’re all error prone humans here. Just do your best in writing your blog: provide insights, be creative and novel, make sure your grammar is impeccable, but realize that you are going to make mistakes, because, without a doubt, it will happen. One has to have the humor and grace to realize a misstep and take responsibility for it, even if your embarrassing stumble is seen by everyone in the room.The real problems start when people think that they are incapable of error, and start stepping on toes in their attempt to justify themselves.
So don’t try and hide your falls and faults, fess up and then get up. Everyone will think better of you for your candor and resilience.
It’s reassuring that I don’t have to be perfect all the time, even if Katie Almighty does have a nice ring to it.
Ms. Blood was discussing the petty online squabbling that sometimes arises between bloggers, pointing to a loss of perspective as the ultimate cause.
In other words, just because you have a blog doesn’t make you god. You are not the ultimate authority on the rest of the universe, and your opinions aren’t the end-all and say-all of every argument.
Blood is saying hey, we’re all error prone humans here. Just do your best in writing your blog: provide insights, be creative and novel, make sure your grammar is impeccable, but realize that you are going to make mistakes, because, without a doubt, it will happen. One has to have the humor and grace to realize a misstep and take responsibility for it, even if your embarrassing stumble is seen by everyone in the room.The real problems start when people think that they are incapable of error, and start stepping on toes in their attempt to justify themselves.
So don’t try and hide your falls and faults, fess up and then get up. Everyone will think better of you for your candor and resilience.
It’s reassuring that I don’t have to be perfect all the time, even if Katie Almighty does have a nice ring to it.
Hope Found
For the longest time I considered myself to be a student of classicism, addicted perhaps insalubriously to the 18th and 19th centuries, with the occasional Elizabethan foray. I adhered to such a regiment with an almost self-righteous conscience, touting the Emersonian concept of language degradation in a contemporary world of imbecilic vernacular, slurs, and abbreviations. Indeed I had despaired in the present and sought refuge in antique pages, unknowingly blinding myself to the hope that still remains for modern literature. I haven’t given it a chance, but am now more open minded, thanks to my wonderful aunt who introduced me to Jeanette Winterson. By contrast to previous dabblings in Steven King and Jonathan Franzen (who seem to sacrifice elegance and sublimity for plot-twists and length), Winterson is a remarkable change of pace, putting art and language alongside plot and context at the forefront of her work. Her words are purely brilliant and strangely memorable, the kind of poetic prose that stays with you well after closing the book. Someone in a previous post wrote about pretty sentences – Winterson is a goddess of the sentence aesthetic, and I too have underlined the near entirety of her novels as testament of her skill. Evocative, sophisticated, and legendary, Winterson gives me hope for the modern craft, but she is almost too good. It seems futile to aspire to her greatness. Is she a blessing or a curse?
Prepositions
I am currently ensconced deep in the pages of the transitive vampire and I thought I’d blog about what I learn. Today’s topic: prepositions. Now, whether the rule of thumb remains, ‘never end a sentence with a preposition,’ I don’t know. This book says yes; the last book I read on writing said that rule was old and to be disregarded. I suppose that makes it up to our very own professor. Either way, you need to know what they are. The Deluxe Transitive Vampire says their function is to, ahem: “indicate the relation of a noun or pronoun to some other words in the sentence.” Hasn’t knowing this made your day? I know I feel more educated. My apologies to the masses who already were in the know. Be patient; I’m getting there!
Example by your truly:
I ran through the flowerbed, outside the house, around the garden, into the shed, out the door, in the yard, under the gate, over the ditch, through the field, onto the road, past the cemetery, toward town, down a hill, to the school, with a friend, for fun.
Oh yeah, prepositional phrases are separated by a comma. Happy Hunting!
Example by your truly:
I ran through the flowerbed, outside the house, around the garden, into the shed, out the door, in the yard, under the gate, over the ditch, through the field, onto the road, past the cemetery, toward town, down a hill, to the school, with a friend, for fun.
Oh yeah, prepositional phrases are separated by a comma. Happy Hunting!
Passing the Blame Buck
Most Florida Gulf Coast University students are (hopefully) aware of the alleged alcohol problem on and around campus. There was a student who died of alcohol poisoning last semester, and a more recent fatality in August involving an intoxicated female returning home from a off-campus party. The two students who hosted the party were charged with a misdemeanor and sentences to six months probation. The two students had never met the girl, nor did they invite her to the party. This tragic situation is perfect example of the lack of responsibility our society renders on the individual.
Our society has adopted the “it’s someone else’s fault” attitude, so, there must be someone to blame besides a teenage girl who drank to much, got behind the wheel of a car, endangered the lives of other drivers, and unfortunately caused her own death. And, there must be someone else to blame besides two young men who hosted a party where alcohol was distributed without a clear knowledge of who would be consuming it, and the level of sobriety of each guest upon departure from the party.
Who is to blame? Let’s blame the college experience. Heck, let’s blame the college. Better yet, let’s blame the parents for not instilling moral values in their children. Let’s blame Anheuser-Bush! Should we blame ourselves? …just a question.
Our society has adopted the “it’s someone else’s fault” attitude, so, there must be someone to blame besides a teenage girl who drank to much, got behind the wheel of a car, endangered the lives of other drivers, and unfortunately caused her own death. And, there must be someone else to blame besides two young men who hosted a party where alcohol was distributed without a clear knowledge of who would be consuming it, and the level of sobriety of each guest upon departure from the party.
Who is to blame? Let’s blame the college experience. Heck, let’s blame the college. Better yet, let’s blame the parents for not instilling moral values in their children. Let’s blame Anheuser-Bush! Should we blame ourselves? …just a question.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Does this sound right?
I have always felt fortunate in my ability to write well without truly understanding what constitutes good grammar. Sure, I've got the basics down, but even some of the simpler rules are hazy to me. I can follow nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives around (well, sort of; it's actually quite embarassing how limited my understanding is) but throw a gerund or past perfect participle into the mix and I will soon be lost. And in a full panic. Diagramming sentences? No thank you! I am not sure how it happened, but I have managed to receive absolutely no instruction in grammar since my freshman year of high school. That was about nine years ago and I didn't even understand it then. Yikes, am I in trouble or what?!
It is about time for me to stop getting by on simply knowing what sounds right and start learning why it is right.Hopefully It is my hope that this writing intensive course and the infinitely amusing "Deluxe Transitive Vampire" will jump-start my learning process. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Right?
It is about time for me to stop getting by on simply knowing what sounds right and start learning why it is right.
Links
Wow, the web sites for Florida are wonderful. I never realized this much information would pop up on florida. There is just about every topic you can think of. This is exciting to be able to use all of these references for my blog site. The only thing is there are so many, which ones to add to my blog page? Well, I suppose the more the merrier. If I can’t blog about a million things that Florida has to offer, then I’m just not worthy to be a blogger. There is a problem though, what to start writing about? That is the situation here. What to talk about first and why that first? Well, I guess all we can do is the best we can do, after all this is a learning process for all of us.
Text Links
It seems that a lot of you are way ahead of me in text links. I started this weekend staring at our syllabus with the words “text link” running circles in my head. I’m not tech savvy at all, and I only had a vague idea of what a “text link” even was. Your talking to the girl who could barley figure out Facebook; forget MySpace completely! So inevitably, I Goggled it. While I don’t want to give away anything that we’re going to use in our presentation, let me encourage you that if I could figure it out, there’s nothing to it really.
Be verrrrry careful
This post is way long overdue, but I figure better late than never. I had no idea what to post into this beautiful array of observations by our everyday mixture of collegiate minds until the smallest incident fueled me with the energy to post.
Playing a video game with a couple of my buddies, we were engaged in chatter with another person via text online. During our conversation I explained something to him and he responded with "YOU ARE RIGHT" immediately followed by "Whoops, caps, sorry."
You better be sorry! What did I do to deserve this verbal abuse? At the very sight of those capital letters my spine tingled. I felt as if I'd done something terribly wrong. The point behind this story, my fellow classmates, is to be careful with the way you write your words. Your eyes can be deceiving.
Playing a video game with a couple of my buddies, we were engaged in chatter with another person via text online. During our conversation I explained something to him and he responded with "YOU ARE RIGHT" immediately followed by "Whoops, caps, sorry."
You better be sorry! What did I do to deserve this verbal abuse? At the very sight of those capital letters my spine tingled. I felt as if I'd done something terribly wrong. The point behind this story, my fellow classmates, is to be careful with the way you write your words. Your eyes can be deceiving.
No... Thank YOU, Esther Forbes
“They were not merely sentences but compressed moments that burst when you read them,” is such a great line in itself. After reading this part I had to underline it and circle it on my paper. Isn’t it so magnificent, those lines that consist of anywhere between three to ten words. These types of sentences make me want to be a writer. They make me want to be a good writer at that. It’s these sentences that I want people to read and react and say “Wow, what a great writer.” This is what I strive for.
“By honing the sentences you used to describe the world, you changed the inflection of your mind, which changed your perceptions.” Yet again, here it is. To be fully invested in a sentence seems easy to me. It is not. I love when I come across material like this. The Braindead Megaphone has brought more motivation to write better. It’s likely you will not be able to read any powerful sentences here in this post; I tend to hide them and use them as a secret weapon for admiration every once in a while when I am slacking.
“By honing the sentences you used to describe the world, you changed the inflection of your mind, which changed your perceptions.” Yet again, here it is. To be fully invested in a sentence seems easy to me. It is not. I love when I come across material like this. The Braindead Megaphone has brought more motivation to write better. It’s likely you will not be able to read any powerful sentences here in this post; I tend to hide them and use them as a secret weapon for admiration every once in a while when I am slacking.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Oooh, Pretty Sentence…
I’ll admit it: I am sometimes a bad English major. When I sit down to read a novel or short story for a class, often it’s not the allusions or symbolism that drive me to deface my books and underline words; it’s beautiful sentences. When an author writes something poetic, something that really gets to the heart of life, it is sometimes enough to make me stop reading, re-read said sentence, and just feel jealous for a few moments that F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” and I did not. A great sentence, for me, is like a shiny object. It steals my attention away from what I’m meant to focus on and puts a smile on my face. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
The 90-10
What necessarily is a blog? Can you think of one way to describe it? I don’t think so because every blog is different, but one component I believe is always used is the ninety percent storytelling from experiences and ten percent gathered information from credible gossip, stats and news articles. It might not always be 90-10, but storytelling from experiences does make up a large percent of a blog. Each blog I have read has an opinion that is supported by a few links and a life experience. Many who contribute to this blog use a large percentage of storytelling in their entries. Why does an experience always find its way into a blog? Does it make for an interesting read or a credible opinion? I do believe experiences make reading blogs interesting and all the storytelling only adds to the personality of the blog. It makes wanting to return to a blog a pleasure and not a chore.
I let the Fox eat my Goat
I’ve been finding it to be a bit difficult to find blogs, websites, etc. for my blog. Given this situation, I become extremely excited when I do find a source that seems both credible and unique. Recently, I thought I found an awesome source, “Site A.” I had begun brainstorming some ideas for different posts, often referencing this particular site. Then, I noticed that the site I was referencing seemed to be relying quite heavily on another source. We’ll call it “Site B.” I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I came across an issue that I felt I needed more background on; so I Googled it. In this particular post on “Site A,” “Site B” was directly quoted. After reading up on the topic from various newspapers I came to a grim realization: the site I had been relying on was getting a great deal of its information from a source that was not only biased, but seemed to be misconstruing the data to fit its agenda. I immediately felt frustrated; I had written several posts for the upcoming week, only to realize that they were now worthless. I could’ve easily avoided losing my precious time and written work, if I had simply taken ten minutes to check out “Site B.” Instead, I let my excitement at finding what I thought was a great source; overtake the reality of the situation. It’s like Yoni Brenner says in The Fox and The Goat, “Always check the website.”
Once and Forever... About Grammar
We all agree that grammar is essential. Now, writers have only two – and two only! - tools to improve their writing. Read and write, or reversed, write and read. Practice is the key, hard work is the path. So said, let you(self) go! Do you remember when you learned how to ride you first bike? In those moments, did you ever think, “oh gosh, now I am going to fall!” To be honest, I do not believe we ever thought about falling because children – God blesses their irrationality! - are inherently unconscious and adventurous. In other words, children let them(selves) go! Most of the time, they do not rationalize. This is why they learn most of what they know actually “doing” what they know. It is not always the case that, when you ponder and rationalize, you will be fine. Creativity should be the freest part of you. You may kill it with much reasoning.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
I don't have a witty title yet.
As I read the various posts in our class blog, I often exclaim to myself "Ah-ha, I feel just like that!" and often: "I see what you did there, and I wish I could do it half as well!" These thoughts result in a sad face emoticon :( and a few moments of woe. How can I comment critically on my classmates' posts when our viewpoints are so harmonious! "Yes, yes, yes" and "Very nice!" clearly do not suffice. The easiest thing would be to label myself obtuse, but maybe my classmates will save me the trouble. What's that you say classmates- try harder? Nope, I think I'll get my A.D.D. treated instead.
Creation, Not Confession
Blogging with a deadline has its merits, but I often find myself slipping into the all-too-dangerous habit of reading behind the lines of other students' blogs - is the writing self-initiated, or does it only feign sincerity out of last-minute deference to the minimum course requirements? Do the writing constraints ensure a steady stream of concise and thoughtful blogs, or do they produce a sort of quasi-blogosphere that trades a high mark for written artifice? At the heart of the art, it really shouldn't matter, nor should we read each other's writing any differently than we would an onerously wrought life-work from a classic master. It may do us well to embrace Gautier's "l'art pour l'art" (if we can stomach, by correlation, the effusing pomposity and devilish style of Oscar Wilde) as an adequate mantra while critiquing blogs and all other "art forms". Although we all remain cognizant of the pressure evenly laid upon us by the syllabus, we should keep in mind that any external audience, as in all blogs, has only the current product to view and will judge accordingly. As a class, we have the impediment of communal responsibility to make us overthink each entry. Most English majors, writing at least four times a week for a grammar-obsessed and highly opinionated professor, will think more than twice before clicking "publish post" and will read an entry more than once before attempting a thoughtful comment. And this is not a bad thing, unless we let the knowledge of personal circumstance cloud our experience of others’ art. In the same way, I do not care that Nietzsche was read by the Nazis or that Foucalt was a sado-masochist or that Freud took cocaine or that Van Gogh went loony. These are not reasons to disregard their work as mere glimpses into troubled and dysfunctional lives. Art is creation, not confession. Art is art, ideas are ideas, and each should be treated with reverence.
Thank you, Kendra O’Conner!
My sisters and I arrived at her house every morning, sweaty and out of breathe from out frantic three mile bike ride. She always greeted us at the door, strait, red hair aflame, and proceeded to rigidly instructed us in the fundamental of writing. It was with her that I learned the true meaning of the saying “misery loves company”, and that anything well written was the product of hard work and tireless effort. The few months we study under her were all to short. But in that time she showed us that you can wield words like a sword, that you can cuddle them into submission and use them to strengthen your prose. She would sit down with each paper I wrote for her and question every statement, every comma, every idea presented. Nevertheless, this helped me begin to make my writing concise and effective.
This week’s assignment really struck home with me. I loved it beyond measure not only was I able to relate to it (I read Johnny Tremain in third grade also) but it reinforces the idea of questioning every sentence for compatibility, necessity, style and merit.
This week’s assignment really struck home with me. I loved it beyond measure not only was I able to relate to it (I read Johnny Tremain in third grade also) but it reinforces the idea of questioning every sentence for compatibility, necessity, style and merit.
Meet The Ramifications of Irreverent Humor
I didn’t have to see the movie or read the reviews to know Meet the Spartans would usurp Joe Francis as the 21st century’s biggest piece of shit. This cinematic trash was the reason I feared Family Guy’s cult success: an entire American generation now believes the mere mention of cultural figureheads constitutes a substitute for comedic talent. For example: How did Seth MacFarlane and his all-star writers lampoon 2002’s internet meme “Ding! Fries Are Done”? By adding Peter Griffin to the fun! That’s hilarious, because Peter is fat, and eats fast food, and...is...fat? Youtube’s traffic skein suggests I’m the only one who doesn’t find it funny, and I hope that bothers people other than myself.
Family Guy first spawned Cartoon Network’s late-night programming block Adult Swim, headlined by a show about fast food that fights crime but never actually fights crime. It should be little shock this taste of stupid found its way into the movie medium. Just remember that Meet the Spartans is no one-and-done shitfest: this movie was fathered by Epic Movie, which was adopted from the mental ward by Date Movie. America’s pre-pubes green-lighted those movies with daddy’s wallet, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone if another one hits theatres.
So thank you, Robot Chicken. Thank you, Two Vaginas and a Rat Called Todd. Thank you, Gork McGlork the Racist Spork. Your irreverence has fucked up our youth on a level that American schools are jealous of.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Being Re-Schooled in Grammar
Is being a great writer part of blogging? Does every period, comma, and the usage of has have to correct? Why can’t I get this? What is a gerund and will he ever make us use them in some weird way? Since entering this class, the only thing repeatedly playing in the back of my mind is Dr. Harrison’s voice pointing out the proper usage of grammar. I always thought of myself as a great writer, but after attempting to write the last flash blog entry in class and at home, I finally declared to myself that I know too little about grammar. Writing my first real blog entry for “The Dabbling Native,” I found myself referring to “The Deluxe Transitive Vampire” to see the correct way to use a comma and what a fragment really is. All those years of honor classes and challenging English classes have not helped. Attempting to be a better writer is not what I want. Becoming a better writer is what I am going to be. Therefore, with grammar book in hand and Dr. Harrison’s voice replaying in my head, I will pass my test of using proper grammar.
Fear and Blogging
The past couple of days have found me landlocked in front of my computer screen, with various questions/condemnations swirling around my head. “What will you write Norris? It better be first-rate, and grammatically blameless!” I have been seized by doubt, left at the train station with nothing but a copy of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style to leaf through. I had never before realized that blogs were viewed in such a high-quality capacity until I enrolled in this class. And to read the good blogs, is equally paralyzing. I blame this “fear” on reading too much Beat literature and Hunter S. Thompson when I was younger. It may sound ridiculous, but it is all true. To the above authors, punctuation and grammar was secondary at best to emotion and creativity. Kerouac used commas the same way one uses salt. And forget about Thompson. He just raved complete gibberish, much like I am doing now. How does one sit calmly and write wonderful soaring thoughtful prose that changes the world? It cannot be done.
Dumbing It Down In Society
Because I'm a little bit of a slacker, I just read the post about dumbing it down. I couldn't help but think to myself how ridiculous but true the middle school writing level stuff was. It really got me thinking about our society in general. We “dumb it down” for everyone. If you think about it, we have to write “Slippery When Wet” on a sign when someone is moping the floor to prevent someone from thinking that a wet floor might possibly be bouncy, or spongy, but certainly not slippery. We have to write “Caution: HOT!” on coffee just to reassure everyone that the coffee they just ordered is probably not cold. When you get a new computer, the first or second step usually tells you to plug it in, as if you just hoped it would run forever without electricity. Even on microwaveable food there are caution signs because the food will come out hot. This discovery peaked my curiosity, and I just wandered to my freezer to check out some of the boxes, and on a certain frozen dinner the box read, “Do Not Eat Plastic Wrap.” Thank you for informing me that plastic was not edible, because I certainly would have chowed down on it had I not been advised. It really kind of makes me sad that someone somewhere actually might need these warnings.
That's Mine!
The Mouse and the Donald by Yoni Brenner was probably one of the few stories on that page for our readings that I understood. Maybe it was because I’m so familiar with Donald Trump and what he does. Anyway, isn’t that story so true? How many times have people taken credit for things that they never came up with? I know I am careful about my blog and what I say because I do not want to overlap with someone else’s exact views. The fact that these blogs will be out for the world to see makes it even more important to watch that you do not copy someone else’s work. I know if I came up with someone extremely poetic and perfectly wordy and flowing and I saw it on someone else’s blog or page claiming it as their own, I would be furious. I would be even more furious if I saw that they got credit for it or if they got a "leg-up" for it as well.
The Transitional Transition
Hitherto, my blogs consisted of mundane observations about the copious readings assigned. Insofar as the productions of practical blatherings proceed, inevitable results of massive headaches disseminate to the class at large. Therein, lay possibilities for extensive and permanent trauma. Wherefore, I have elected to embark on the path to enlighten my fellow men to the transitions dissipating into the void of temporality. Wherein, possibilities for topics previously assimilated proliferate due to extreme overdose of thought processes. Heretofore, my dissertation documents numerous uses of terms once in vogue. Theretofore, comprehending and regurgitating antiquated words necessitated previously only by leisure becomes an assignment in clarity. Whereof, metamorphosing transitional techniques vanguard distinct eras.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Messaging
This is more of a question than a blog post. I've reccently found that it would be useful to be able to message members of our class within blogger. However, I am unsure if there is a way to do this without posting a comment on that individual's post. I was wondering if anyone had discovered how to do this yet, or if it is even possible?
Fod•der (fŏd'ər) n.
Fodder. It’s such and awkward word. It interrupts my train of thought whenever I hear this particular noun. Fodder. Don’t get me wring, I understand the word perfectly. Despite the abruptness the context it makes sense. But it’s not a very picturesque word. All I can ever think of is horse feed. Forgive my narrow mindedness. Perhaps the more often I hear it I’ll get used to it. Fodder. Then again…
"Good Writing is Good Writing"
This phrase, attributed to FGCU's own Professor Allen in a previous post, struck me as the most relevant summation of the written word in a blogospheric domain that is entirely all-inclusive. When topic choice is infinitely varied (and consequently irrelevant), it seems to be HOW you say it rather than WHAT you are saying that is most significant. Any idea or concept or fetish has at least one blog dedicated to its discussion. Of course, there are even blogs that discuss nothing at all. There is, however, a great divide between the inane and the brilliantly inane, and the canyon between courts a river of words and wordplay. The barren coast of "personal" personal blogs - that usually involve a girl named Emily counting and recounting how many mocha lattes she bought from Starbucks one day - unknowingly wave a white flag to the opposing shores of the "blogademic". So here we all are, writing at least four times a week on strangely disparate topics, all hoping to catch the eye of the professor, a fellow classmate, or the random websurfer who happens to share our interest and unwittingly stumbles across an amateur's thoughts. But it doesn't really matter. In today's world, it almost seems that a blog is a blog is a blog, and the only distinctions are drawn in the sand of eloquence. Good writing is good writing. So write well, and good luck.
Transitive Vampire More of a Giver
Although even cracking the spine of an ominously shaded grammar book titled "The Deluxe Transitive Vampire" scares me half to death, I've found that the black cats and gargoyles offer more than just brain-numbing grammatical information. Flipping through the pages doesn't only suck the joy from the moment and the minutes from my day, it also provides a host of obscure words for this cryptic logophile. The words and mythical allusions aren't just good, they're also catchy in the sense that I find myself looking them up and then turning them over in my head until I figure how to employ them in my own creative endeavors. The Vampire is also useful for brushing up on your Greek, with words like xenophobia, deus ex machina, omphalos, and Lamia (the vampiric daughter of Poseidon). Other mythological bits are peppered throughout, like the Gordian knot and various woodnymphs. Aside from the sometimes refreshingly and sometimes maddeningly nonsensical sentences (i.e To nuzzle flagpoles is her secret desire), the book is rich with esoteric allusions worth investigating. Check it out, y'all.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tragedy Strikes: to post, or not to post
So, last night I was in class and heard that Heath Ledger had died. Beyond being completely surprised and even slightly skeptical, I wondered if I should post about the news on my blog. Would that be tacky? My blog is about entertainment news, so all of the sites I visit on a daily basis were devoting huge amounts of text to the news. I had no new information to present, no exclusive content to provide. I blogged about it anyway. What happened was sad and it was consuming my thoughts last night as I read coverage on dozens of websites, so I made the briefest commentary that I could. It was kind of cathartic. Today I’m not sure how I feel about my post, but at the moment that I hit publish, the thought of putting even a couple of nice sentences out there about something terrible felt right.
Stream of Consciousness.
I am really interested to see what people write during some of their flashblogs. Not necessarily the one we wrote without using adverbs and any form of "to be," because I found myself typing "caveman-esque" sentences. I want to see the "prosthetics" types of flashblogs; where different people's streams of consciousness take them with a given topic. For example, my flashblog on prosthetics ended up at spontaneous combustion.
“Cheetah legs.”
If humans could redesign the body, we would be dealing with more than just a case of Cheetah Legs. THIRTY percent more agility to every part of your body is pretty much an overload of energy, and you could probably just explode. Consequently, the phenomena of spontaneous combustion might become more common. Although I have heard that when spontaneous combustion occurs, everything goes except your shoes. If you are wearing shoes, of course. So if you decide to invest in something that can be passed down in your family, but afraid of the increased chances of combustion, steer away from expensive jewelry or cufflinks. Your best bet is shoes.
Hit Counter For Blogger
I spent about 5 minutes googling and found this neat counter. I don't know if it's actually going to work for very long because there is a free one and a premium one, but I figured I'd check it out.
These are the steps to apply the counter to blogger, and this is the website where you can register for it.
A tip that the steps do not mention: after you've set up the counter click on the settings button on your counter on the bravenet page (there is a green check mark next to it) and type in your blog's URL.
Hope this helps!
These are the steps to apply the counter to blogger, and this is the website where you can register for it.
A tip that the steps do not mention: after you've set up the counter click on the settings button on your counter on the bravenet page (there is a green check mark next to it) and type in your blog's URL.
Hope this helps!
Did You Just Ask Me to Dumb it Down?!
For the first thirteen years of school, most of us (if not all) were beaten senseless with proper grammar, good sentence structure, big words, and eloquent writing styles. For me, I believe this writing boot camp began in about the third grade. You see, I am a Florida girl, and of course, our schools practically bow down to the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test-- the dreaded, ferocious, and in my eyes feral FCAT. In third grade, I was first introduced to a thesaurus. "Don't say good, use admiral, congenial, or stupendous instead... Make sure those sentences are long and flowing, its more eloquent that way... Your score will be higher, and of course your writing will be superior if you follow our guidelines." It continued though middle school, and the beginning of high school. We learned to write for the FCAT, we attended more FCAT writing workshops than church meetings. Eventually, we took our last installment of the test in tenth grade, and providing we passed it, moved on to bigger and better writing. In my last two years of English classes, if I wrote an FCAT style paper, my teacher threatened to burn me at the stake. "That style is no good, it is elementary, your professors will laugh you out of college with that garbage." And so, I survived and entered FGCU as a Communications major. She was right, the Comp professors get quite agitated with small words and over usage of adverbs. But in the Public Relations classes, there is a recurrent theme. "You have to write on a 4th to 6th grade level." What?! I spent all these years toiling over improving my writing, learning big words, actually discovering what an adverb is, and now you're telling me to intentionally dumb it down?! I understand the logic behind it, yet it still fascinates me to see the irony of it all. Wait-- irony... That might be a 7th grade word...
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A Blogging Fable
A college student decided to take a blogging class in order to hone her writing skills and to become a little more tech savvy. Plus, she thought it looked rather interesting. "What the heck," she said "I might as well try my hand at it." So she went to the classes and gave it her best. She wracked her brain for a blog topic, and tried to make every post as meaningful and eloquent as possible, even when the professor asked the class to flashblog without using any adverbs or forms of the verb "to be." Yet, something wasn’t quite right. "I feel like I’m missing something," she scratched her head and said, "something really important." So she read through the chapters again, thought over her blog idea for the umpteenth time, and reread the syllabus, but the thing that was missing was not in any of those places. She went to the next class more than a little dejected. "How am I ever going to be a good blogger if I can’t figure out what I’m not getting?" When people shared their blog ideas, she listened very hard, hoping for her eureka, and she eagerly took in the presentation on news feeds, again hoping that the key was there. But it was all in vain. Sadly she returned to her dorm room, sat down at the computer, and accessed the week’s reading assignments. "Aesop In the City," she read with a sigh, " I bet this is going to be profound and memorable and something that will make me think. Everything that my blogging isn’t." And with that, she started to read. After a bit, she started to laugh. It was all those things she expected it to be, just not in the way she had expected. Then she got it. "AHA!" she yelped, "I’ve been so wrapped up in trying to be profound and moving that I’ve forgotten to have fun with my writing!"
Moral: All work and no (word)play makes Jack a dull blogger.
Moral: All work and no (word)play makes Jack a dull blogger.
Getting off the Pot
I’m glad that I’m not alone in seeking a voice for my blog. I’m even happier that I’m not the only one having problems determining what to blog about. It baffles me why I’m having such a hard at this. Being as opinionated, cynical and willing to “keep it real” as I usually am with family, friends and coworkers this should be a breeze right? I can usually wax poetic on a variety of topics that touch a nerve or strike a chord within me. Just the other morning while driving to the medieval fair I rambled on about the merits of handmade quality items versus mass produced imported crap. Standing in checkout at Publix yesterday, a customer and I vigorously debated the entire paper or plastic question that would be asked us by the bagger. Last month I shot off an eloquent email to a laundry detergent manufacturer bemoaning the fate of my favorite product that is no longer available. Then there is the “voice” issue. Should I blog from the point of view of a woman and how things affect me as a woman? Should I approach topics from the black perspective and risk the ire of just about anyone not comfortable with that? Dare I combine the two and blog in the voice of a black woman’s perspective? My boyfriend of course thinks that last one is who and what I am so how else would I “voice”. I hate it when he makes sense. There is no dearth of choices for me to make as you can see. Now I need to either poop or get off the pot.
Monday, January 21, 2008
A Voice of My Own
I was really struggling with my new blog. Primarily, I was feeling stressed over this little voice in my mind that kept repeating, “Well what are you going to write about? How are you going to say what has already been said- yet still make it sound fresh? And how can you produce something that people want to read about?” These thoughts just kept cycling through my head, making me feel increasingly nauseas at the thought of writing my first post. Reading chapter four helped me to realize that I don’t need to be putting all of this pressure on myself. Paraphrasing here, Blood said that even if you are writing about something that has been written about hundreds of times before, if you are writing about it everyday, it is going to be impossible for your voice not to come out in that writing. Reading this chapter helped me come to the realization that yes, this is my blog, and I can write from my perspective, because hey- this is me talking. And who cares if everyone doesn't love what I have to say, or even how I say it. That’s just too bad for them. Because if in the end there is one thing that I took away from this chapter it is this: blogs are a medium for an individual to discuss issues that are important to them, and to craft that discussion in a way that is meaningful for the individual, not for the entirety of internet society.
My Rules for Writing
These are rules I wrote for my advanced fiction course. My criteria are not new to everybody in this blogging class because some is taking the same fiction course I am taking.
Albeit to write fiction is different than to compose journalism and blogs, as my dear professor Allen says "good writing is good writing" don't matter what its aim or purpose is.
I share with you some of my rules:
1. Write more than talking about writing.
2. Read, read, read, and read! Read as much as you can. And if you don’t read, then you write. Why? A writer has two means to better her writing: reading and writing. It is all!
3. Have the courage of your own words.
4. When it is time, kill quickly your “darlings.”
5. There is no such a thing as the “perfect writer.” Every writer needs an editor. If you don’t believe me, you are wrong!
6. Don’t watch TV; it burns your creativity.
7. Tell the truth. Never feign what is not.
8. Don't do drugs. Don't think that under influence you will be a better writer or you will find your inspiration. All this is only a cliche'.
To be honest, I don't believe much in rules, but sometimes they can help to focus on crucial points. When a writer establishes her own rules, it may mean two things: the writer is conscious of what she is doing - which awareness is always great, or the writer is ready to forward her writing and accept constructive critics.
Do you follow me?
Albeit to write fiction is different than to compose journalism and blogs, as my dear professor Allen says "good writing is good writing" don't matter what its aim or purpose is.
I share with you some of my rules:
1. Write more than talking about writing.
2. Read, read, read, and read! Read as much as you can. And if you don’t read, then you write. Why? A writer has two means to better her writing: reading and writing. It is all!
3. Have the courage of your own words.
4. When it is time, kill quickly your “darlings.”
5. There is no such a thing as the “perfect writer.” Every writer needs an editor. If you don’t believe me, you are wrong!
6. Don’t watch TV; it burns your creativity.
7. Tell the truth. Never feign what is not.
8. Don't do drugs. Don't think that under influence you will be a better writer or you will find your inspiration. All this is only a cliche'.
To be honest, I don't believe much in rules, but sometimes they can help to focus on crucial points. When a writer establishes her own rules, it may mean two things: the writer is conscious of what she is doing - which awareness is always great, or the writer is ready to forward her writing and accept constructive critics.
Do you follow me?
It all makes me a bit nervous
I must say that I am a bit apprehensive about the idea of blogging. It's not something that I am good at or something that I felt would help me as a student and a person. But as I read more and more about blogging I have come to realize that this can be a great way of freeing myself from the everyday censors of my life. Every single day people walk and talk differently than they would like to. Manners must be observed, ideals must be respected, you can't just go running around town screaming, unless you like holding cells. The blog lets people freely express themselves. Whatever is on the mind can be written down for all to see. I love this idea! Although I am still nervous about being a part of this class blog, I am somewhat excited about keeping my own blog. So please bare with me if my class entries never make any sense... some of you intimidate me with your words.
Ten Tips
Blogging is new for me and the Ten Tips for building a Bionic Weblog is a great reference to the basics. While reading the first paragraph it did make me think for second what do I really want to blog? Sure, why not. I found that it is important to have a good time with blogging, but having a good time also means to be as original as possible. It was interesting that there was a whole lot of swearing throughout the ten tips because I thought it is important to watch the words you use? I did however, take in that it isn’t how many people visit your webblog, but it is intriguing enough to make them come back and visit it. Confidence is always appreciated and needed if you want your point to get across to the reader, but don’t over do it. These are some suggestions I found will be useful from the ten tips that I will be sure to utilize.
Blogging
To blog or not to blog that is the question? Yup, I registered for this class because I needed this class to graduate, not because I’ve been a huge blogger and wanted to get better at it. I really didn’t think this class was for me what so ever, but then after being in a few classes I have a totally different perspective on what blogging is about. Before this class, it seemed as if blogging was calling all people who have opinions about anything and everything that meant nothing, if so please be seated in front of your computer and admit your opinions as soon as possible. Well, I assumed wrong as most people do when they do assume, so don’t assume! Anyway, that whole stereotype was thrown out the door the minute I stepped into Mr. Harrison’s class. I realized that blogging can be about topics that help you and me as a reader. I did however come to the understanding that you will get the good with the bad in blogging, but all-in-all to blog isn’t so bad.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Power
For the longest time I found it impossible to come up with anything even remotely sensible to write for the class blog. Then I was struck by some ridiculous gossip about some celebrity being advertised on the yahoo homepage. More than just my normal 'who cares' it got me thinking about the power of words. Sure, we know that active verbs have more of an impact than passive ones. But, as we are all posting things in a public forum we also have a responsibility to our readers. Not just to write well, but realize the things we write will have an impact. It's up to us whether it will be positive one or a negative one.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Your local KGB Agent would like to remind you about the following class rules:
- The contents of every update in both the class blog and your personal class blog will be limited to 250 words. Each word found to infringe upon this rule will result in a beheading.
-Polygraph tests and retina scans will be administered at the beginning of each class in-order to determine whether or not assigned reading materials have been consumed. Failure to locate eyeballs before said testing will result in a beheading.
- Class participation will be enforced by robot sentries. You may take note the sentries are out-of-shape rent-a-deathbots. They are very sensitive about their weight, and calling them fat will result in a beheading.
- “Flash Blogging” sessions will now be limited to the following topics: the infallible leadership of the professor. Note that none of those words were separated by commas and “the infallible leadership of the professor” will be addressed in its entirety.
- Have any questions about the above rules? You know the punishment for that.
-Polygraph tests and retina scans will be administered at the beginning of each class in-order to determine whether or not assigned reading materials have been consumed. Failure to locate eyeballs before said testing will result in a beheading.
- Class participation will be enforced by robot sentries. You may take note the sentries are out-of-shape rent-a-deathbots. They are very sensitive about their weight, and calling them fat will result in a beheading.
- “Flash Blogging” sessions will now be limited to the following topics: the infallible leadership of the professor. Note that none of those words were separated by commas and “the infallible leadership of the professor” will be addressed in its entirety.
- Have any questions about the above rules? You know the punishment for that.
All hail the professor; born in the meadows of the most benevolent mountains, he is the will of this weblog.
(If you have any concerns about the stability of the author during the conception of this post, he assures you he CAN justify it. But not now. The author has to go take his medication.)
Mind Your Words
While reading Chapter 4 of Rebecca Blood’s book, I came across an interesting section. The section on “Using Your Audience” was very helpful for me. I agree with her about keeping your audience in mind while you blog. This is important because while you want to give people your view and your analysis on your topic, you also want to watch what you say. We have to remember that our thoughts are going to be out there for the world to read and I am sure we will offend some people with our views, but we should try not to do that. Blood was also helpful when she pointed out that at times we can become dry with our topics. Going through other blogs and new fresh material should help us overcome that little bump in the road. We should try to find a few blogs that have a related topic that get a lot of readers daily; taking tips from them and understanding why people read their blogs will hopefully help the rookie blogger in most of us.
Choosing a Topic is Like Shopping
Before beginning this class, I thought we were going to be given topics to write about. I was wrong because here I am trying to decide on a proper topic. Why are topics so hard to come by? Finding a good topic is like finding that perfect piece of clothing that you can’t pass up while shopping. Yes, there was help provided in finding a topic from both our peers and a presentation, but for me it did not help any. I wonder how many of you reading this entry also could not come up with a topic you want to talk about in six weeks. If so, I can not say this is advice, but I can say that you need to find that perfect topic. That topic that makes you think of that one piece of clothing that you never want to get rid of. Your blog is going to be that piece of clothing for the upcoming weeks.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Blog Supporters Perceive Bias as a Strength?
I was shocked to learn how much faith internet users place in blogs. The Johnson study reveals that people believe “candid viewpoints” to be a higher form of journalism and a more trustworthy news source than traditional media (yuck!). What a terrible world we live in when old-fashioned fogeys still get their news from a “traditional” source that relies on strict reporting standards and, compared to blogs, an unbiased presentation of facts. Who needs the truth? Wouldn’t we rather let some anonymous and self-proclaimed pundit tell us not only what to think about but how to think about it as well? The study discussion says that while traditional media are expected to maintain standards of fairness and balance, “such expectations are not extended into the blogosphere.” This would, in any other situation, seem like a laughable dismissal of blogs as a news source. Yet somehow the discussion continues with “blog supporters perceive bias as a strength that allows for a more detailed and in depth examination of the issues.” Is this a joke? Sadly it appears to be the opposite - it is the result of a scientific and quantitative analysis, and a very serious one at that. Blogs, once sources of entertainment, frivolity, and sideline commentary have today usurped the throne of media credibility in an age that allows the bar to be lowered and asks no questions.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Howlers: My Biggest Blogging Fear
Once, when looking up something else, I randomly opened my Handbook to Literature and an entry caught my eye: Howler. The first line of the explanation of a howler is as follows: “A small error that begins in innocence or ignorance and ends in folly and potential embarrassment.” It was not terribly illuminating, but I read on. Basically, a howler is a word or a phrase that is misused by the author because they didn’t know any better.
A friend of mine once posted on her MySpace page that she took her family for granite sometimes. At the time I didn’t know what a howler was, but I knew that granted, not granite, was the way the phrase was meant to be completed. My friend fixed the mistake, and months later I learned that she was in the company of Whitman, Browning, and Hardy, who were all used to demonstrate the meaning of howler in Harmon’s Handbook.
Daily Howler, a blog included on our very own site’s blogroll, defines a howler as a stupid and ridiculous logical blunder. I don’t want to make one of those either.
It’s nice to know that some big names in literature have made some embarrassing mistakes. It puts any mistakes I might make on my blog in perspective. But, if I can get through the semester without a howler, I’ll be ecstatic.
A friend of mine once posted on her MySpace page that she took her family for granite sometimes. At the time I didn’t know what a howler was, but I knew that granted, not granite, was the way the phrase was meant to be completed. My friend fixed the mistake, and months later I learned that she was in the company of Whitman, Browning, and Hardy, who were all used to demonstrate the meaning of howler in Harmon’s Handbook.
Daily Howler, a blog included on our very own site’s blogroll, defines a howler as a stupid and ridiculous logical blunder. I don’t want to make one of those either.
It’s nice to know that some big names in literature have made some embarrassing mistakes. It puts any mistakes I might make on my blog in perspective. But, if I can get through the semester without a howler, I’ll be ecstatic.
Battling the Braindead
I was paging through my journalism textbook today after I had finished the assigned material, stopping and reading anything that caught my eye. (Yes, I am that nerd who reads things out of their textbooks when they don’t have to. Have pity.) As I was scanning the articles a little box of statistics caught my eye, one line in particular:
Percentage of journalists who say they avoid running stories readers think are important, but dull: 77
Yes, you read that correctly. I did a double-take too. I was so sure that the number was faulty in some way that I looked up the source in the back of the book: The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press; and then Googled it. Lo and behold, there it was.
My New Year’s resolution of sorts was to stay up to date on current events. I’ve done tolerably, scanning the headlines and reading some pieces from the New York Times online. You want to know something though? Usually I stop when they get boring, I just move on to the next one. Same thing if I don’t understand. This was a big wake-up call. I’m a person who is making the statistic a reality. I’m adding to the problem.
So, what to do?
Like Saunders urges, we need to be aware of what is going on around us. The news is being dumbed down, and to get the whole picture, we, as an educated and concerned audience, need to be ready to do a little digging. We may have to suck it up and read things that may be "complicated," or >gasp< "boring." We may not understand everything right away, it may take us a while before we do, but that’s okay, because we’re getting the real news and fighting that idiot with the megaphone.
Percentage of journalists who say they avoid running stories readers think are important, but dull: 77
Yes, you read that correctly. I did a double-take too. I was so sure that the number was faulty in some way that I looked up the source in the back of the book: The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press; and then Googled it. Lo and behold, there it was.
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=39
It just screams "The Braindead Megaphone," doesn’t it? Here is concrete proof that the question now is not "Is it news?" but "Will it stimulate?" News stories are being overlooked because they are deemed "too complicated for the average person" or lack audience appeal. What is this, sweeps week on NBC?My New Year’s resolution of sorts was to stay up to date on current events. I’ve done tolerably, scanning the headlines and reading some pieces from the New York Times online. You want to know something though? Usually I stop when they get boring, I just move on to the next one. Same thing if I don’t understand. This was a big wake-up call. I’m a person who is making the statistic a reality. I’m adding to the problem.
So, what to do?
Like Saunders urges, we need to be aware of what is going on around us. The news is being dumbed down, and to get the whole picture, we, as an educated and concerned audience, need to be ready to do a little digging. We may have to suck it up and read things that may be "complicated," or >gasp< "boring." We may not understand everything right away, it may take us a while before we do, but that’s okay, because we’re getting the real news and fighting that idiot with the megaphone.
Flash Blogging make me Nervous
I’m climbing up the stairs of Reed Hall and I’m dreading it already. Soon I’ll be sitting behind that computer, you know the one; it stares back at you, taunting, teasing, with its malevolent cursor flashing-- daring you to write. Then the announcement comes. Today’s topic is wamwamwamp. Begin. Ah, the flash-blog, that name-stay of Styles and Ways of Blogging, which makes my heart race and causes my palms to get clammy. The very idea of having to produce some piece of myself in three to five minutes makes my stomach churn. I am a perfectionist. I am indecisive. These facts make it difficult for me to commit to a course of discussion, and not re-read every sentence seventy-two times to make sure that there isn’t a misplaced modifier. Not to mention the anxiety produced by trying to craft a masterpiece, yes a masterpiece, in the miniscule time allotted. There is this inescapable- almost dire need to put forth something unique and astounding in 150 words or less, and it gives me the willies. Stop. Time is up. I feel myself exhaling; I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath. Yet the perfectionist in me surfaces again and I find myself trying to tear my eyes from the screen and pry my fingers from the keyboard as Dr. Harrison moves on to the topic of the day.
The Intent of Content
I think we are beginning to see the stratification of blogs more clearly as this infant genre marches towards adolescence. Not in its apparent use (aggregators, journals, op-ed essays, etc.), but rather its intent. I think the line between “indie blogs” and “professional blogs” is becoming more apparent.
“Indie Blogs” are those that are self-published by amateur or professional writers with no financial reward as their motivation. “Professional Blogs” are either financed and hosted by corporations or self-hosted by individuals on private websites cluttered with ads and ad-links getting paid per page view.
At issue here is the content, intent and dissent that bloggers are embracing. Once a personal form of commentary written from outside the mass-media machine, blogs might be loosing their relevance as they assimilate into the machinery they were once the alternative to. Is a New York Times paid blogger allowed to reveal a devastating factoid about Hillary? Would a paid Fox News blogger loose their contract if they reported the control Rupert Murdoch exercises in controlling the content of his media empire? Even “Indie Blogs” fall into suspicion now as their writers become producers trying to write updated resumes in the form of a blog in hopes of attracting a paying sponsor. Rather than examining and discussing issues at hand, regardless of the financial repercussions, this kind of self-imposed editing leads to cliché attacks, rumors and opinions targeted at the sponsors’ detractors.
With the raw amount of data being posted every day, it is becoming harder to find nonconforming blogs we are interested in that are not just esoteric rants. By nonconforming I do not mean simply disagreeing with either Liberals or Democrats. I mean nonconforming in the gritty way that real life is not pure black and white. I mean nonconforming in the way that human opinions usually do not match up perfectly into a political pigeonholes while at the same time being able to not offend the advertisers. Nonconforming in the way that one would support an idea, not just attack the inverse.
With too many choices and no clear indication of intent, are blogs destined to become mere media articles paid for by the same machines that now process our news, or are they going to become small enclaves of very specific views and knowledge unintelligible to the masses? The separation has begun, and where we direct our page views as customers will determine how the end is written.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Title Help
Hey all. Once you overcome the task of finding a blog topic, you will need to have a title. I really hope our presentation today helped you all in some way or another with your blogs. Happy blogging!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Human Future in The Internet’s Hands
I enjoyed our last readings. In all, I found that the world is changing (thank to the Net? Perhaps). Lifestyle and way of communication have changed already. People are in the middle of a revolution, which is not only technological. The metamorphosis is reaching unimaginable heights. I would say that the Internet, for now, is like the otherworld, but it is a real otherworld that, even though seems unsubstantial, is there every moment of human life, and people rely on it, and they believe in it. In America, the revolution of Internet is progressing more than in Europe, I guess, probably because in the U.S. its users are more demanding than they are in other countries.
If on one hand, I believe the Internet to be a useful and necessary tool, on the other its immediacy scares me. The urgency of having everything published in a few minutes, and sometimes only seconds, may lead either to a bad journalism or to a bad reading. Again, the relationship the printed-paper (newspaper or book) creates with the reader is destined to succumb to the urgency of the internet.
Few days ago, browsing the site of Amazon, I saw a new device invented by Amazon itself, which, in the size of a paperback, can download from the Net up to 200 books. That is, people who buy the gadget have a special connection to the Net that allows the consumers to download books for less than ten dollars per published work. The device can also download headlines from the major American newspapers, email pictures and documents, etc. I sense this will be another technological piece people will carry in their backpacks and in their purses as it occurred with the cellular phones. Today, everybody has a cellular. Tomorrow, everybody (the readers, at least) will have this precious – it costs $399.00 – gadget. Stay with me on this…
If on one hand, I believe the Internet to be a useful and necessary tool, on the other its immediacy scares me. The urgency of having everything published in a few minutes, and sometimes only seconds, may lead either to a bad journalism or to a bad reading. Again, the relationship the printed-paper (newspaper or book) creates with the reader is destined to succumb to the urgency of the internet.
Few days ago, browsing the site of Amazon, I saw a new device invented by Amazon itself, which, in the size of a paperback, can download from the Net up to 200 books. That is, people who buy the gadget have a special connection to the Net that allows the consumers to download books for less than ten dollars per published work. The device can also download headlines from the major American newspapers, email pictures and documents, etc. I sense this will be another technological piece people will carry in their backpacks and in their purses as it occurred with the cellular phones. Today, everybody has a cellular. Tomorrow, everybody (the readers, at least) will have this precious – it costs $399.00 – gadget. Stay with me on this…
Cotton Candy vs Violins
A well turned phrase; contemplative prose, quirky word play, I love writing. Sometimes I can whip out something fairly decent with little or no effort. Then there are days where every word appearing on that stark white page smells of fresh horse caca. I've never liked editors though. Be they a boss correcting my press releases, classmates proofing my papers or an editor of a publication slashing my story to bits. Most writers can imagine the angst a mother would feel if after twenty-nine hours of labor someone in the delivery room were to start plastic surgery to correct her baby's mistakes! To the mother-writer the child is perfect. To the doctor-editor the child's arms are too long; the head too big and there are way too many toes. Gary Kamiya's "Let Us Now Praise Editors" claims we writers have to learn how to be edited and being edited can teach us "about writing, about distance, objectivity and humility". Those of us that have sweated through innumerable revisions and rewrites and have read and reread our works countless times until we finally can sit back with a huge glass of satisfaction and think of ourselves as the next Faulkner or Austen might not be so convinced. But Kamiya says writers must "let go of your attachment to the specific words you've written and open yourself to what you were aiming for." How many times after a bit of gut wrenching, emotionally draining red pen editing have I thought to myself oh yes that is exactly what i was trying to say.
I don't like editors, but I see the value of their work. Constructive criticism can be hard to take, but if we "grow a thick skin in order to have a thinner, more sensitive one" our skills as writers can only excel. A blog's job according to Kamiya is to communicate clearly but not really last. Am I wrong to want the effects of my writing to stay with a person? Is it ego to want my words to occasionally haunt my reader? What will be the role of editor in the world of blogging? There's a veritable universe of folks giving voice to their every piddling; half-baked; unfettered and unedited thought. Should we blog as if no one else is reading? Do I want my words to be cotton candy for the mind? Yummy when first bitten into but quick to dissolve and dissipate on the tongue. Should we be aiming to make our blog work more like that Stradivarius and less like that common microchip? Only time will tell.
I don't like editors, but I see the value of their work. Constructive criticism can be hard to take, but if we "grow a thick skin in order to have a thinner, more sensitive one" our skills as writers can only excel. A blog's job according to Kamiya is to communicate clearly but not really last. Am I wrong to want the effects of my writing to stay with a person? Is it ego to want my words to occasionally haunt my reader? What will be the role of editor in the world of blogging? There's a veritable universe of folks giving voice to their every piddling; half-baked; unfettered and unedited thought. Should we blog as if no one else is reading? Do I want my words to be cotton candy for the mind? Yummy when first bitten into but quick to dissolve and dissipate on the tongue. Should we be aiming to make our blog work more like that Stradivarius and less like that common microchip? Only time will tell.
My Wallpapered Psychosis
Reading "The Yellow Wallpaper" backwards illustrated the importance of reading a blog correctly. If one were to open a blog and read it top to bottom, they might be confused about the order of events and the development of the writing. In the case of "The Yellow Wallpaper", the reverse method of revealing the plot to the reader provokes their imagination. When I read the last entry, the use of the word "creep" tickled my fancy. By piecing together the tangled story, the reader's relationship with the narrator starts out saturated with insanity and gradually becomes diluted.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Yellow Wallpaper
I found that The Yellow Wallpaper was a very interesting piece of literature to give the class. The reading of these blogs from the ending to the beginning made it even that more intriguing, the only thoughts that ran through my head were… what is really going on here? And what is her problem? I realized that blogs can be in reverse order and the reader can still understand them. I found it to be an interesting perspective especially because I have never really blogged before, so this is all new to me. Reading this backward still made it feel like a story was being told. Little by little I craved her thoughts. I fell into this crazed tale of who the woman was behind the yellow wallpaper. I truly felt bad for her, all she wanted to do is write and her husband felt that she was ill for that and locked her up. It’s upsetting that her voice was forced into a silence of craze.
The Word Wallpaper is Enough
After reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” all I could think about was wallpaper. For some reason all I could think about is how it takes away from the simplicity of a wall and just clutters it. I discovered that wallpaper can drive a person crazy and rekindled some childhood memories. Once my mother decided to hang some floral crap called wallpaper in the living room. Everyday it seemed as if it didn’t like the wall because all it did was peel itself away from the wall. Each day I would get a chair and attempt to stick it back against the wall. Eventually, I ripped it off the wall and ended up being grounded for weeks. It was worth it and I would have done the same thing. Wallpaper drives me crazy and after reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” I was reintroduced to wallpaper, something that should not e sold in stores, hung in homes, or placed anywhere else for that matter.
A cultural loss has occurred in the past decade. The common statement, as Ellen Ullman wrote, “Today I visited the museum of me, and liked it.” is an all too often a reoccurring soliloquy. There are three types of blogs that flood the internet with culturally irrelevant gossip. From the personal, too the vehement none discussions, too the over bearing and opinionated posts this once informational and useful web is now bogged down with this obsessive me-ness.
Another area in which culture no longer plays apart is the media. The non-media media coverage, of which you can now instantly be updated through pod casts was a recent discovery of mine. This brought many interesting and thought provoking topics up: the St. Charles, Missouri, attempted ban on cussing, a cross-dressing crook, the recent issue of candidate kissing as opposed to crying, a 48 year over due library book, and finally the German craze over polar bears. In this six minuet January 11 CNN “In Case You Missed It” pod cast few of these topics held any relevance to me personally.
The dumbing down of the American media could easily be remedied by “the clarification of the vague” This idea as proposed by George Sanders can be taken one step farther by asking, “What is the cultural relevance of this subject to the reader?” Not only will this continue to bring clarity to the reader, but it will help filter out the nonsensical such as a 48 year over due library book, for instance.
Another area in which culture no longer plays apart is the media. The non-media media coverage, of which you can now instantly be updated through pod casts was a recent discovery of mine. This brought many interesting and thought provoking topics up: the St. Charles, Missouri, attempted ban on cussing, a cross-dressing crook, the recent issue of candidate kissing as opposed to crying, a 48 year over due library book, and finally the German craze over polar bears. In this six minuet January 11 CNN “In Case You Missed It” pod cast few of these topics held any relevance to me personally.
The dumbing down of the American media could easily be remedied by “the clarification of the vague” This idea as proposed by George Sanders can be taken one step farther by asking, “What is the cultural relevance of this subject to the reader?” Not only will this continue to bring clarity to the reader, but it will help filter out the nonsensical such as a 48 year over due library book, for instance.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
It's My Party and I'll Cry If I Want To...
If you in-fact believe that Hillary Clinton’s epic tearfest secured her unexpected New Hampshire political victory, then you agree with that ideas and political positions have become a dead issue in American politics. Connecting with your audience on a raw, emotional level has now become more important than debating the Iraq War. You also believe the apathy shown towards Joe Biden was egregious. Far-and-away the most experienced candidate in the lot, he ended up so far behind in the polls that any victory in New Hampshire wouldn’t have been, you-know, “clean”.
Liberal voters have yelled for years that our political process rewards style over substance, so naturally, the two candidates with the least political experience have ascended to the top. Something broke the political process when the Democratic message became “elect me, because I’m better than what you’ve had the last eight years. Oh yeah, Rudy Giuliani? Mitt Romney? They’re both insane, too.”
I’ve always argued that the John Kerry crowd can’t relate to America because they opt not to yell, scream, and show the kind of emotion that Republicans have employed so well. But a female candidate connecting with her gender through a potentially-phony outburst isn't the way to do it.
Today's Forecast Includes Domestic Violence and Vehicular Manslaughter.
Today's media yells at the public through the ostensible "megaphone," filling our minds with the days unfortunate events. The media is "That Guy" with the megaphone, emphasizing every story that doesn't matter, but just like George Saunders points out-- we, the public, eat it up. Watch any six o'clock news broadcast and you will see how much it thrives on violent events and gory stories. Heartache, turmoil, and sex scandals are a focal point in any story, and this has permeated into movies, where there is never enough blood and affairs. Whether or not you want to be susceptible to this type of entertainment doesn't matter, as blockbusters such as 300's profits reflect. The consumer will watch it anyway. It is pretty much a way of life. 300 even promises, "There will be blood!" amidst a story of sex and war. I have found that I can rarely sit down and watch a movie with my parents and not have an awkward moment, due to the addiction of throwing in sex scenes.
The Braindead Blogger
If there is one thing I despise (and lets face it, there are several), it is people who talk simply because they can. The people who have nothing original or fascinating to say, but go on and on just the same are torturous. Do they have a word quotient they have to meet each day? Or are they just that in love with their voice, words, and opinions? As much as I despise these people, I fear sometimes I trip and fall face first into that category. Saunders writes of the braindead megaphone, but what about the braindead blogger? How do we, as bloggers, avoid falling into this category? How do we as people avoid falling into this category? I try to read every piece and listen to every conversation objectively, pretending I am someone else. If I have to read the passage multiple times before I can comprehend it, I delete it and begin again. If I have to drink a Red Bull to survive the post, I delete it and begin again. And most importantly, if there is any reference to any blond-haired bimbo making the tabloid covers every week, I delete it and seriously contemplate joining a convent…
Friday, January 11, 2008
Illusion of Me
Ullman’s “The Museum of Me” incisively picks apart society’s response to (and control of) the internet, but relies too heavily on the use and misapplication of the term “disintermediation”. In her essay, the internet is the harbinger of individuality in a populace searching for control. Privatization is top priority, and the web allows desperately reclusive citizens to move from the friction of civic space to the comfort and power of their own computer screens. Today’s internet and society in tandem seem to function in vastly different terms. The world wide web is in fact the ultimate intermediate agent and the ultimate commune. When one logs online, he places himself at the mercy of a massively complex social engine that robs our personal information and distributes it to countless online salespeople, who are far more numerous, invasive, and automatic than the shoe salesman at the mall. If we value “disintermediation” in the internet, it is only the illusion of control which impresses us and keeps us tethered to the desktop. At heart, humans are social beings and crave interpersonal connection. As the internet hypnotizes us with the impression of immediacy, so too do social networking sites like MySpace satisfy our desire for connection without actually providing it. At its core, the internet is a money-making machine that gratifies primal human needs without granting them. It is, like the screen-bound “pleasant virtual reflections” in the Packard Bell commercial, just a shadow on the cave wall.
Suggestions are Nice Too
George Saunders writes about a society, which is being perpetually inundated with ill-informed, quasi-sensationalist media in “The Braindead Megaphone.” He tells us that our society is effectually becoming dumber because apparently, our peevish minds cannot rise above the volume of the money-grubbing voices that now run our newspapers, magazines, and so-forth. Saunders informs us that, alas, there is a simple solution. He essentially calls for a high degree of skepticism and asks the masses to implore “…specificity and aplomb and correct logic.” Now, it would be great if Americans could suddenly lift the veil of idiocracy, which we have helped the media to pull over our eyes. Yet, I would say the problem runs much deeper, than can be corrected by looking through the lens of skepticism. I believe the problem lies within the nation’s youth, and it’s largely rooted in the public education system. A focus on state implemented standardized tests has violently shoved teaching students about the world, government, etc. to the outskirts of the scholastic curriculum. In an academic arena where the principle focus is on maximizing test scores, we can hardly expect the students produced to be adept at detecting fallacies, half-truths, or arguments of questionable logic in the media. Thus, while Saunders’s be skeptical mentality is a nice suggestion, it’s far from a reasonable solution in a society whose future constituents have not received the tools at the academic level, that would enable them to utilize “…specificity and aplomb and correct logic.”
Twisted Threads
Reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” starting from the end made the plot more mysterious and intricate. It was difficult to tell if the woman was in an asylum which held bolted down beds and incredible gardens, or if she were simply imagining them into existence because she felt trapped. Reality blurred, and you couldn’t quite see a reason for beds strongly bolted to the floor if she wasn’t being held in ward for the insane. A second mystery was if the man John, indeed, was her husband, or simply a Psychiatric doctor of whom she was having elaborate fantasies. Even the term doctor became ambiguous. What kind of doctor was John, or was he a doctor at all? The further towards the beginning you came the more interesting the possibilities. Was the woman ‘trapped’ behind the pattern a reflection of her own feelings of entrapment behind the window bars? Had she always been insane or had she been driven out of her mind by some secret horror? Was she being held against her will? Were some nefarious experiments being run in an out of the way, broken down mansion? The story was better being read from end to beginning because it allowed for heightened suspense and more varied plot. The possibilities became endless. Until one or two entries from the beginning, there were very few indicators of what had actually happened. Curiosity drove you to follow the thread to the beginning to untangle the mystery. May all our blogs be so lucky!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Danger, Will Robinson!
While reading Ullman’s "The Museum of Me," I was struck with déjà vu. I had read this before. Well, clarification: I had read something like this before. Ullman’s discussion of the Web as an intensely personal, isolating space, reminded me of an article I read way back in, god forbid, high school. Flashback to Science Fiction Lit, Period 6, right after lunch, with a curriculum chock full of cheesy 50’s Sci-Fi flicks and a textbook full of Bradbury and killer meteorites. I remember one reading assignment in particular, partially because it seemed so out of place, and partially because it scared me to death. It was an essay from a reputable magazine, the name and author lost to me, discussing how advances in technology are slowly isolating individuals from the rest of society. People are moving away from each other as a society because they are so wrapped up in their own little asocial worlds ( i.e. Ullman’s Web). The article got pretty sensational, hypothesizing about a world where people just holed themselves up in their houses and never socialized in large groups. A little far-fetched yes, but it does raise some valid points. I mean, don’t we find ourselves text messaging or emailing people rather than talking to them face to face? Or waiting for that movie to come out on DVD so we can watch it in the privacy and convenience of our own homes? We are isolating ourselves in a way. So tonight, go hang out with some friends, or see a movie in a loud theater, or go be part of an audience for a play or comedy show, and then pat yourself on the back, oh defender of all things social, you’ve just saved the world from impending doom.
Adjectives
I stumbled across this wonderful bit of advice that Russell Cheney gave to the literary critic F. O. Mathiessen early on in his (Mathiessen's) career:
Do everything possible to avoid the expected adjective in writing or speaking or thinking. ... Trying to find the right word each time ... [is] the thing that counts."
Easier said than done. Try it.
Check your ego at the door
One interesting comment I found in the Kamiya piece, was the bit about what writing is in regards to the relationship between writer and editor. Kamiya writes “In an odd way, the exchange between writer and editor encapsulates the process of growing up. The act of writing is godlike, omnipotent, infantile. Your piece is a statement delivered from on high, a pronouncement ex cathedra, as egotistical and unchecked as the wail of a baby. Then it goes out into the world, to an editor, and the reality principle rears its ugly head. You are forced as a writer to come to terms with the gap between your idea and your execution—and still more deflating, between your idea and what your idea should have been.”
The above comment is especially true when one considers the enormous amount of love and hate thrown around between authors and their editors. It seems every writer has both a love story and a horror story for their editors. Jack Kerouac for example, sat on the manuscript for On the Road for seventeen years before it was published. Thomas Wolfe on the other hand, had a completely dependent relationship with his second editor, allowing him to edit or change vast chunks of prose into whatever he liked.
Strange. It seems there should be an easier way to have a better working relationship between an editor and an author. If only money and artistic vision were not up for grabs.
The above comment is especially true when one considers the enormous amount of love and hate thrown around between authors and their editors. It seems every writer has both a love story and a horror story for their editors. Jack Kerouac for example, sat on the manuscript for On the Road for seventeen years before it was published. Thomas Wolfe on the other hand, had a completely dependent relationship with his second editor, allowing him to edit or change vast chunks of prose into whatever he liked.
Strange. It seems there should be an easier way to have a better working relationship between an editor and an author. If only money and artistic vision were not up for grabs.
The Yellow Wallpaper, Again.
The first time I read The Yellow Wallpaper I really enjoyed it, however after the fourth (and still counting) time I have come to find that not only am I sick of it, but that I don't really understand why every English professor feels the need to continually assign it. I get the idea that our blogs are in reverse order and that reading The Yellow Wallpaper backwards would help us understand how reversing things can effect the way the reader perceives the story, however I believe that there are other stories that would convey the same type of point. Something like The Swimmer by Cheever would have the same effect when read backwards, and in my opinion, it would be more entertaining, less like beating a dead horse, and easier on us English elective junkies. I guess it really could be worse, I could have to read Kafka's Metamorphisis four times.
“Put Another Way, To Write Is Human, To Edit Is Devine.”
This is what Stephen King says in his third forward of his On Writing; and Kamiya’s words are divine and true! Every writer needs an editor. Every writer should wish to deal with a good editor. The editor can see in a work what its author cannot. However, there are many bad editors around. That is frightening. What? Don’t believe me? Look at the articles of the online version of The News Press!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Burn the TV!
Nothing may be truer than Saunders’s words on television and mass communication. I dislike television and I do not know almost anything about the shows going on at every time. I watch television maybe about five minutes a day, sometimes even less. I do not believe in all the news I listen to in TV. I am disappointed when TV picks a particular ethnic group to show its struggle. For instance, the CNN seems obsessed with illegal immigration and with family of illegal immigrants separated by the human law. To hear this news, which is becoming not news anymore, is always painful, but eventually all these stories will have the same, identical patterns, the same trade, the same effort, and the same pain. Pain is addictive in the sense that when one is accustomed to a certain grief, the grief is not a grief anymore, but it is a habit. Thus, the viewer will get bored, and instead of listening to the “news,” he or she will just switch to a different channel. Thanks TV!
The Yellow Wallpaper
Reading: what amazing activity! In every story, there is a secret world that unravels itself line after line. For the reader, it is always a special journey. I enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing (well, more or less) and it is difficult to me to admit that I did not get the story or its purpose. It is true that I have a hard time with short stories: they are always a challenge, probably because I am convinced I am not good at writing them. As a reader who reads with the eyes of a writer (or tries to do so), I am concerned with language and style, and symbols, and images. I use “to get it” (the story), but about this in particular, something fled from my hands, my pencil, and my notes. Here, I need help. I need somebody who takes my hand to show me where I failed, if it ever would be a failure of mine. I recognize The Yellow Wallpaper is a complex crafted prose. It is not only difficult to understand but also to write that particular way. Yet, I am not happy with this reading. I should give the story and myself a second try.
Wallpaper Yellow The
One thing that I thought was interesting about reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” backwards was that it did feel like I was reading numerous blog entries. To watch the main character go from crazy at the beginning to ill at the end made the story have more of an impact to me. I kept thinking to myself, “I cannot wait to see how she used to act in the beginning of this story compared to how she is acting now.” I noticed that at the start of the blog entries the word “creep” in different forms was used a few times. Then as I started reading backwards the word started to almost disappear from the text. This reminded me that she used the word a lot more when she was crazy. Another good thing about reading the story like a bunch of blog entries backwards was the part in which the main character starts talking about how she used to write. It made me feel so sorry for her. At the end (or I suppose the beginning of the text) it becomes apparent that she went crazy because she was locked up in a room. Only because her husband thought she was ill because she was writing and having her own voice. I haven’t read this story since my freshman year but I enjoyed reading it a second time. I especially enjoyed reading it backwards.
Kamiya’s Ancient Imagery
As I read Kamiya’s “Let us now praise editors,” the following sentence about a poorly-written piece he was editing stood out for me: “Seizing my Rosetta stone, I descended into the foul-smelling cave and emerged hours later, having successfully translated the cryptic runes.” Having no concept of Rosetta Stone beyond its function as the moniker of a band I’m only vaguely familiar with, I headed to that glorious, proceed-with-caution online information depot, Wikipedia, for clarification. Thankfully, good ole’ Wiki taught me that the Rosetta stone was an ancient Egyptian artifact which was instrumental in achieving our modern understanding of hieroglyphic writings. Whew. I knew it was a great image Kamiya had set up, and once I understood it I liked it even more. I think it’s those little things, like knowing what the Rosetta stone is, that help us write the sentences people actually find funny and interesting.
THE COMMA CHAMELEON SPEAKS - TIP #1
Periodically, the Comma Chameleon will use this space to offer tips on style and usage that you should diligently note and add to your writerly skill set (if for no other reason than the Comma Chameleon's alter-ego - that is, your instructor - will be on the hawk-eyed lookout for these sorts of style issues in your writing and put the hasty smack down on them when they occur).
TIP #1: MYRIAD
Note in the Ullman piece, p32: "the services formerly performed by myriad intermediaries ..."
NOT "myriad OF." Never, in fact, "myriad of." This is one of the most common stylistic blunders people make when they want to sound intelligent but don't know how (see also improper uses of "you and I" when "you and me" is actually correct ... do you know which is which and why? If not, consult your Transitive Vampire).
BONUS TIP: COMPRISE. See Strunk and White, p43, for the correct use of COMPRISE. It is one of the Comma Chameleon's most loathed misuses, and he will be no less forgiving of incorrect “comprises” than he will be of misused “myriads.” (One bonus point for the first person who spots an incorrect comprise in an edited publication and posts about here.)
Remember: Blogging is an informal, pop-culture discourse. But that doesn’t mean it’s a space where you get out of style and usage jail free.
TIP #1: MYRIAD
Note in the Ullman piece, p32: "the services formerly performed by myriad intermediaries ..."
NOT "myriad OF." Never, in fact, "myriad of." This is one of the most common stylistic blunders people make when they want to sound intelligent but don't know how (see also improper uses of "you and I" when "you and me" is actually correct ... do you know which is which and why? If not, consult your Transitive Vampire).
BONUS TIP: COMPRISE. See Strunk and White, p43, for the correct use of COMPRISE. It is one of the Comma Chameleon's most loathed misuses, and he will be no less forgiving of incorrect “comprises” than he will be of misused “myriads.” (One bonus point for the first person who spots an incorrect comprise in an edited publication and posts about here.)
Remember: Blogging is an informal, pop-culture discourse. But that doesn’t mean it’s a space where you get out of style and usage jail free.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Welcome to the Styles and Ways of Blogging Blog
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