i feel like i skipped a bunch of stuff from my paper when i was presenting it today - but that's ok, because if you guys want to read it, its like two posts down from this one ;)
also, dr. sexson said our last posts should be up by wednesday, and tomorrow is my birthday so i know i won't be blogging (because i'll be p-a-r-t-y'ing lol), and i figured i'd do my farewell blog today...
i think the most important thing i've learned in this class is that oral cultures and writing cultures are not the same, but there are enough similarities and connections between the two that, instead of just co-existing with each other, they help each other exist. i feel like you cannot have one without the other (especially in this day and age), and when they are combined, the world becomes a better place. that sounds dorky, but i don't think anyone can argue that less communication is better than more communication...that just doesn't make sense. what better way to communicate than to use both oral and literal advantages - if you really want to make a point, why *just* print it or *just* say it or *just* gesture it? i want more - i want a fully encompassing oraliterate community! chicka chicka yeah.
also, this class made me want to go back in time and be the first person to know how to read, and then be labeled as a heretic (or a devil woman, whatever), because it'd be amazing to see cultures that have no written word yet. how would they know if one of their friends was dyslexic? ;)
....anyway, i feel like i learned alot from this class, and i wish non-english majors were required to take it so they could see the importance of words and language and how studying the english language isn't irrelevant just because everyone speaks it nowadays. if we didn't know how our language and writing systems evolved, we'd be like that kid who will jump off a bridge just because everyone else was doing it.
that is all. farewell, english 337....
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Chapter 4 in Kane (Dreams)
Here's a rundown of what i said during my group's presentation today - my section was focused on polyphonic knowing:
There are many levels of existence in both dreams and mythtelling, and they are able to exist at the same time; like the natural vs. supernatural, patterns vs. goals, and the spoken word vs. the unseen. These levels of existence mean whoever is dreaming or mythtelling is able to tell their stories while knowing which level they are on.
Mythtellers are reluctant to put definite characteristics to people, objects, etc. because "naming objectifies a being at only one level" (p.145), and polyphonic knowing is all about existence and information on many levels. Many times, beings in dreams told by mythtellers are identified by the word "something" because it keeps that "something" indefinable. This helps the mind sense the "otherness of the other," and two worlds are created: human ingenuity and spiritual ingenuity. Both of these worlds exist with each other (as opposed to against each other), and they create the opportunity for double knowing, which transcends itself into polyphonic knowing.
Myths and dreams are able to survive in our print culture because of polyphonic knowing. This is because the people who hear myths and people who dream dreams re-tell their stories in the spirit of multi-levelness. we are not meant to understand dreams and myths at all levels right away, though. They have to unfold for us, and we start to understand them better as they keep getting re-told by others.
Myths and dreams are flexible, but there are repeating patterns and goals within them that do not change (like how in fairy tales, there are 3 tasks, 3 sisters, 3 chances, etc). Because of this, they can stay set in their multi-leveled existence and allow for polyphonic knowing.
...hope you enjoyed that ;)
There are many levels of existence in both dreams and mythtelling, and they are able to exist at the same time; like the natural vs. supernatural, patterns vs. goals, and the spoken word vs. the unseen. These levels of existence mean whoever is dreaming or mythtelling is able to tell their stories while knowing which level they are on.
Mythtellers are reluctant to put definite characteristics to people, objects, etc. because "naming objectifies a being at only one level" (p.145), and polyphonic knowing is all about existence and information on many levels. Many times, beings in dreams told by mythtellers are identified by the word "something" because it keeps that "something" indefinable. This helps the mind sense the "otherness of the other," and two worlds are created: human ingenuity and spiritual ingenuity. Both of these worlds exist with each other (as opposed to against each other), and they create the opportunity for double knowing, which transcends itself into polyphonic knowing.
Myths and dreams are able to survive in our print culture because of polyphonic knowing. This is because the people who hear myths and people who dream dreams re-tell their stories in the spirit of multi-levelness. we are not meant to understand dreams and myths at all levels right away, though. They have to unfold for us, and we start to understand them better as they keep getting re-told by others.
Myths and dreams are flexible, but there are repeating patterns and goals within them that do not change (like how in fairy tales, there are 3 tasks, 3 sisters, 3 chances, etc). Because of this, they can stay set in their multi-leveled existence and allow for polyphonic knowing.
...hope you enjoyed that ;)
Saturday, April 18, 2009
le paper on le blog
alright, so here's my paper - if any of you read it and are left with a huge question, just ask and i'll try to go back and include better explenations of stuff - this is, ideed, a rough draft.
here goes:
Oral Traditions – Not For the Hard of Hearing
Why Our Chirographic Culture Gave Rise to Deaf Communication
James Joyce wrote in his famous book Finnegans Wake that before writing there was only speech, and before speech there was only gesture. As a way of communicating, gesture has been used by humans for thousands of years, and while today’s systems of signed languages is much more sophisticated than general pointing or large gesticular motions, there are major differences between speaking orally and speaking with one’s hands. In the traditions of oral cultures, voice is a vital component to story telling and exchanging information; before writing systems became an integral part of communication, voice was what kept communities going. But what about those members of a community who had no means to communicate with voice? Imagine the disadvantages to someone living in a primarily oral community before the proficient use of signing. Gestures can only go so far in creating the ideas and morals of traditional story telling, and in cultures where story telling could go on for hours, and even days, the powerful effect of chanting and singing in a rhythm would have been lost on an individual who could not hear. Fortunately, with the advances of writing systems and the integration of print into the modern world, there have been more opportunities for people with hearing disabilities to communicate in oral communities. Learning how to read and write has not just benefitted our society in terms of technology and intellect, it has opened doors to communication. With the decline of primary orality, there became an avenue for the deaf community to become a bigger part of the general public, as well as creating their own way of communicating in a visual way while still retaining the importance of voice.
In chapters four, five and six of Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy, one of his biggest arguments is that the rise of writing and print culture brought on the decline of oral cultures. Before an alphabet was created and writing systems were, as Ong describes them, “a system of recording economic transactions by using clay tokens encased in small, hollow but totally closed pod-like containers or bullae, with indentations on the outside representing the tokens inside,” communication was based on speech. (85). Telling stories was not only a form of entertainment, but a way of preserving people’s history and myths. For a long time, writing was only used to keep track of things in a numerical sense, like keeping records of crops or animals. So it wasn’t until a more sophisticated writing system based on symbols (for example, drawing a tree to represent a tree) was created that led to an alphabetic writing system that formed words that could be written out like the sentences that people were speaking. But while these communites throughout the world were still figuring out how to create a writing system, their main way of communicating with each other was through speech.
If someone is unable to hear, how can they survive in a world where everything is spoken, and nothing is written down? How does one represent the concept of a creation myth to a person who cannot hear them? This is the dilemma that faced deaf people for so many years before a writing system developed. And even then, how does one teach a deaf person to understand a written word that they have never heard being spoken? Perhaps those who were for so long considered “deaf mutes” were in reality just unable to effectively communicate in an oral culture because they could not learn the words written on the page. It took many centuries, but finally, a way of communicating with the deaf was created.
Sign language is, “a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns (manual communication, body language and lip patterns) to convey meaning – simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to express fluidly a speaker’s thoughts” (Wikipedia – CITE). In its earliest days, a signed language was basically assigning a symbol to a word – much like the earliest days of writing. Ong writes about how “Pictures can serve simply as aides-memoire, or they can be equipped with a code enabling them to represent more or less exactly specific words in various grammatical relation to each other” (85). Much like the drawing of a tree to represent a tree, “many signs are iconic, that is, they use a visual image for signing an idea” (library.thinkquest.org – cite). In this respect, both systems of communication started out the same way, but while the alphabet helped contribute to actual letters forming single words, sign language still uses the concept of representing an idea rather than a specific word. For example, the word “day” mimics the sun moving from sunrise to sunset. In this respect, sign language can be a more effective way to communicate than simply speaking because one can create a feeling while simultaneously communicating a word – it is like a two for one deal.
Signing also uses finger spelling, much like a printed alphabet. There is a sign for each letter, and many times, if a word has not been assigned a particular sign, it is conveyed with finger spelling until it is given a true sign. In is interesting to note that finger spelling represents the letters in a visually similar way to the Greek alphabet. For example, an “m” is formed by placing the thumb under the first three fingers, making the hand look like a lower-case “m.” Finger-spelling is the most closely related aspect of sign language to the print culture, and by learning the letters of the alphabet along with the form the mouth makes while saying a letter, speech reading becomes possible, which is probably the most main-stream way that deaf people communicate in an oral culture. Ong says
There is no way to translate the works, literary, scientific, philosophical, medical or theological, taught in schools and universities, into the swarming, oral vernaculars which often have different, mutually unintelligible forms among populations perhaps only fifty miles apart (111).
In this way, a signed language can be seen as a code, much like early writing systems, and in the same respect that one cannot just translate a vernacular word into another language, finger-spelling must be used to spell out a word rather than using a concept sign. Much like learning to read and write the individual letters of the alphabet before learning to actually read a word, young deaf people are taught the sign alphabet before learning to lip-read. In this respect, the visual world of the deaf community is closely related to the oral world of the hearing community, and with the advantages of lip reading, oral storytelling can, in a sense, become visual story telling.
The concept of creating a signed language goes back to the 1600’s, when a Spaniard named Juan Pablo Bonet wrote a book called “Reduction of Letters and Art for Teaching Mute People to Speak” (Wikipedia – CITE). Using his ideas, a Frenchman named Charles-Michel de l’Epee created a French sign language and a school for the deaf. It took about two-hundred more years for deaf communication to become main-stream, with schools being established all over Europe and the United States just for the deaf community. Fortunately, at this time, literacy was also becoming more mainstream, and with the spread of the writing and print culture, it became possible to teach deaf people to communicate with the written word, as well. In fact, for as many languages and dialects exist in the world, there are as many signed languages. For example, American Sign Language, or ASL is very different, even unrecognizable at times compared to British Signed Language, or BSL. This is because
Sign languages are not pantomime – in other words, signs are conventional, often arbitrary and do not necessarily have a visual relationship to their referent, much as most spoken language is not onomatopoeic. While iconiticty is more systematic and wide- spread in sign languages than in spoken ones, the difference is not categorical. Nor are they a visual rendition of an oral language. They have complex grammars of their own (Wikipedia – CITE).
That being said, sign languages are not usually written down. Obviously, people who sign the language of the country they live in can also read the language, but aside from dictionaries for sign language, and basic books used for educational purposes, one will not find a translation of Pride and Prejudice with signs printed on the pages.
The whole point of a signed language is to make it possible for people with hearing disabilities can communicate in a hearing culture. Before the days of the written or signed word, deaf individuals were at a loss in the oral culture. Not being able participate in the sacred story telling of one’s community could have been potentially devastating, making one an outcast in their society. But, as Ong says, “Since the shift form oral to written speech is essentially a shift from sound to visual space,” the creation of a signed language is congruent with the creation of a written language, giving the deaf community a chance to use visual communication in place of primary orality. While there are many differences between the written and spoken word, signing can combine both, using gestures, facial expressions, and conceptual movement rather than just letters strung together on a piece of paper. But without the advantages of a chirographic movement in our history, the use of signed languages would not have come to fruition, leaving the deaf community in silence.
here goes:
Oral Traditions – Not For the Hard of Hearing
Why Our Chirographic Culture Gave Rise to Deaf Communication
James Joyce wrote in his famous book Finnegans Wake that before writing there was only speech, and before speech there was only gesture. As a way of communicating, gesture has been used by humans for thousands of years, and while today’s systems of signed languages is much more sophisticated than general pointing or large gesticular motions, there are major differences between speaking orally and speaking with one’s hands. In the traditions of oral cultures, voice is a vital component to story telling and exchanging information; before writing systems became an integral part of communication, voice was what kept communities going. But what about those members of a community who had no means to communicate with voice? Imagine the disadvantages to someone living in a primarily oral community before the proficient use of signing. Gestures can only go so far in creating the ideas and morals of traditional story telling, and in cultures where story telling could go on for hours, and even days, the powerful effect of chanting and singing in a rhythm would have been lost on an individual who could not hear. Fortunately, with the advances of writing systems and the integration of print into the modern world, there have been more opportunities for people with hearing disabilities to communicate in oral communities. Learning how to read and write has not just benefitted our society in terms of technology and intellect, it has opened doors to communication. With the decline of primary orality, there became an avenue for the deaf community to become a bigger part of the general public, as well as creating their own way of communicating in a visual way while still retaining the importance of voice.
In chapters four, five and six of Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy, one of his biggest arguments is that the rise of writing and print culture brought on the decline of oral cultures. Before an alphabet was created and writing systems were, as Ong describes them, “a system of recording economic transactions by using clay tokens encased in small, hollow but totally closed pod-like containers or bullae, with indentations on the outside representing the tokens inside,” communication was based on speech. (85). Telling stories was not only a form of entertainment, but a way of preserving people’s history and myths. For a long time, writing was only used to keep track of things in a numerical sense, like keeping records of crops or animals. So it wasn’t until a more sophisticated writing system based on symbols (for example, drawing a tree to represent a tree) was created that led to an alphabetic writing system that formed words that could be written out like the sentences that people were speaking. But while these communites throughout the world were still figuring out how to create a writing system, their main way of communicating with each other was through speech.
If someone is unable to hear, how can they survive in a world where everything is spoken, and nothing is written down? How does one represent the concept of a creation myth to a person who cannot hear them? This is the dilemma that faced deaf people for so many years before a writing system developed. And even then, how does one teach a deaf person to understand a written word that they have never heard being spoken? Perhaps those who were for so long considered “deaf mutes” were in reality just unable to effectively communicate in an oral culture because they could not learn the words written on the page. It took many centuries, but finally, a way of communicating with the deaf was created.
Sign language is, “a language which, instead of acoustically conveyed sound patterns, uses visually transmitted sign patterns (manual communication, body language and lip patterns) to convey meaning – simultaneously combining hand shapes, orientation and movement of the hands, arms or body, and facial expressions to express fluidly a speaker’s thoughts” (Wikipedia – CITE). In its earliest days, a signed language was basically assigning a symbol to a word – much like the earliest days of writing. Ong writes about how “Pictures can serve simply as aides-memoire, or they can be equipped with a code enabling them to represent more or less exactly specific words in various grammatical relation to each other” (85). Much like the drawing of a tree to represent a tree, “many signs are iconic, that is, they use a visual image for signing an idea” (library.thinkquest.org – cite). In this respect, both systems of communication started out the same way, but while the alphabet helped contribute to actual letters forming single words, sign language still uses the concept of representing an idea rather than a specific word. For example, the word “day” mimics the sun moving from sunrise to sunset. In this respect, sign language can be a more effective way to communicate than simply speaking because one can create a feeling while simultaneously communicating a word – it is like a two for one deal.
Signing also uses finger spelling, much like a printed alphabet. There is a sign for each letter, and many times, if a word has not been assigned a particular sign, it is conveyed with finger spelling until it is given a true sign. In is interesting to note that finger spelling represents the letters in a visually similar way to the Greek alphabet. For example, an “m” is formed by placing the thumb under the first three fingers, making the hand look like a lower-case “m.” Finger-spelling is the most closely related aspect of sign language to the print culture, and by learning the letters of the alphabet along with the form the mouth makes while saying a letter, speech reading becomes possible, which is probably the most main-stream way that deaf people communicate in an oral culture. Ong says
There is no way to translate the works, literary, scientific, philosophical, medical or theological, taught in schools and universities, into the swarming, oral vernaculars which often have different, mutually unintelligible forms among populations perhaps only fifty miles apart (111).
In this way, a signed language can be seen as a code, much like early writing systems, and in the same respect that one cannot just translate a vernacular word into another language, finger-spelling must be used to spell out a word rather than using a concept sign. Much like learning to read and write the individual letters of the alphabet before learning to actually read a word, young deaf people are taught the sign alphabet before learning to lip-read. In this respect, the visual world of the deaf community is closely related to the oral world of the hearing community, and with the advantages of lip reading, oral storytelling can, in a sense, become visual story telling.
The concept of creating a signed language goes back to the 1600’s, when a Spaniard named Juan Pablo Bonet wrote a book called “Reduction of Letters and Art for Teaching Mute People to Speak” (Wikipedia – CITE). Using his ideas, a Frenchman named Charles-Michel de l’Epee created a French sign language and a school for the deaf. It took about two-hundred more years for deaf communication to become main-stream, with schools being established all over Europe and the United States just for the deaf community. Fortunately, at this time, literacy was also becoming more mainstream, and with the spread of the writing and print culture, it became possible to teach deaf people to communicate with the written word, as well. In fact, for as many languages and dialects exist in the world, there are as many signed languages. For example, American Sign Language, or ASL is very different, even unrecognizable at times compared to British Signed Language, or BSL. This is because
Sign languages are not pantomime – in other words, signs are conventional, often arbitrary and do not necessarily have a visual relationship to their referent, much as most spoken language is not onomatopoeic. While iconiticty is more systematic and wide- spread in sign languages than in spoken ones, the difference is not categorical. Nor are they a visual rendition of an oral language. They have complex grammars of their own (Wikipedia – CITE).
That being said, sign languages are not usually written down. Obviously, people who sign the language of the country they live in can also read the language, but aside from dictionaries for sign language, and basic books used for educational purposes, one will not find a translation of Pride and Prejudice with signs printed on the pages.
The whole point of a signed language is to make it possible for people with hearing disabilities can communicate in a hearing culture. Before the days of the written or signed word, deaf individuals were at a loss in the oral culture. Not being able participate in the sacred story telling of one’s community could have been potentially devastating, making one an outcast in their society. But, as Ong says, “Since the shift form oral to written speech is essentially a shift from sound to visual space,” the creation of a signed language is congruent with the creation of a written language, giving the deaf community a chance to use visual communication in place of primary orality. While there are many differences between the written and spoken word, signing can combine both, using gestures, facial expressions, and conceptual movement rather than just letters strung together on a piece of paper. But without the advantages of a chirographic movement in our history, the use of signed languages would not have come to fruition, leaving the deaf community in silence.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
thoughts on my paper
so at this point, as far as my paper is concerned, i've gone through ong and picked out some points i'd like to build on, but i can't seem to find a lot of information on deaf culture that isn't just from the internet. i know we're not supposed to rely on the internet for academic purposes (although, i figure, if the information is there, and it's correct, just go for it), but most of what i'm finding on the history of sign language is online. my plan is to have my outline done on wednesday and have at least half of my paper done by friday - so look for a post then, i guess.
i'm excited to see some groups present their chapters tomorrow - i hope no one drops the ball or throws up from nervousness. i don't know anyone who has actually done that, but i know i've felt the chunks rise in my throat a few times, even if i'm only going to be in front of like 8 people. public speaking is hard! talking in front of your peers is like getting your pants pulled down in front of your crush...not cool ;)
i'm excited to see some groups present their chapters tomorrow - i hope no one drops the ball or throws up from nervousness. i don't know anyone who has actually done that, but i know i've felt the chunks rise in my throat a few times, even if i'm only going to be in front of like 8 people. public speaking is hard! talking in front of your peers is like getting your pants pulled down in front of your crush...not cool ;)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
apathy, thy name is shannon
so we were supposed to read the part of kevin's paper that he posted on his blog and comment on it. this is what i have to say: good job so far. indeed! i especially liked the last paragraph because it seemed like you're going into the actual ways that imagination and memory lead to better learning and education. guess how much of my paper i have done? absolutely nothing. yay me! but to be fair, now that we're in the last 5 weeks of class, it seems like i have a major paper or project (or both) going on in every class i'm taking. ick. anyway, my paper is going to focus on how the fall of primary orality gave way for print culture, which allowed more ways of communication to blossom, therefore making it more possible for deaf people to interact with the world. i mean, it had to be pretty hard for a deaf person to exist in a totally oral community - unless they became a master at lip reading...but also, in the "olden days" ;), alot of deaf people were considered deaf and mute, because they lacked ways of learning to speak. but once writing came along and deaf people could (somehow) ...( - i'm seeing some research in my future) learn to read, think of the opportunities they had! and the fact that someone who can't hear can learn to speak words that they have never heard blows my mind, too - so hopefully i'll be adding some stuff on that in my paper. it just never occurred to me that oral traditions could exclude certain people - kind of like how print culture excludes people who are illiterate. sad.
i've already found some stuff in chapters 5 and 6 in ong that i can use for my paper, so hopefully i'll be able to make a good case for my paper - i'm really not good at the whole research thing. i get bored, frustrated easily, but since i'm actually interested in this subject, i think i'll be able to stick it out. however, frankly, i'm feeling uber apathetic about school right now - which is bad, based on how much stuff i have to do. whatevs. c'est la vie, oui?
i've already found some stuff in chapters 5 and 6 in ong that i can use for my paper, so hopefully i'll be able to make a good case for my paper - i'm really not good at the whole research thing. i get bored, frustrated easily, but since i'm actually interested in this subject, i think i'll be able to stick it out. however, frankly, i'm feeling uber apathetic about school right now - which is bad, based on how much stuff i have to do. whatevs. c'est la vie, oui?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
theater/theatre
so i have to start memorizing lines from act 5 of richard iii for my shakespeare class, and it. is. so. hard. seriously, i can't train myself to memorize regular english, let alone "english" that was written like 400 years ago. boo. and i keep getting the urge to just say everything in a british accent, but we're performing the battle scenes as a dodgeball game, so i think that might come off as out-of-place. anywhey, the memory theatre thing is not gonna help me on this one - does anyone have an awesome way of memorizing lines?
and also, since we all have to learn epithets for the class, i think you should all go see "i love you, man" because there is some schveet nick-nameage in the movie. and its just hella funny. so if you need a break from reading ong, take yourself out on a date ;)
and also, since we all have to learn epithets for the class, i think you should all go see "i love you, man" because there is some schveet nick-nameage in the movie. and its just hella funny. so if you need a break from reading ong, take yourself out on a date ;)
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
i pity the fool who lives in malta.
i have to say, memorizing and reciting 50 things didn't kill me inside like i thought it would. ;)
i don't know if anyone else felt like they were speaking in warp speed up there, but i definitely felt like i was up in front of the class for about 10 seconds. maybe because my list wasn't too difficult. well, it was difficult for me because i seriously lack in the skills needed for memorization. and i learned something with my list - like there's a town called scobey. and poplar.
if anyone's dieing to know how i commit ed all the towns/cities to memory, you don't have to be a carmen sandiego gumshoe to figure it out. i think alot of us went for the alphabetical method - it's just so practical.
one thing i loved *loved* about everyone's memory stuff was that we all suddenly got a case of ceiling eyes (if you don't know what i mean by that, just google pictures of audrina patridge from the hills. she is permanently looking up. it is weird.). seriously, no one looked down. it reminded me of how you can supposedly tell if someone is lying to you if they look down and to the left or something like that. i wish i could lie when things were important, but most of my lies are weak-sauce - like, "yeah, i've totally been to plentywood. love it there. awesome gas station." and most of my lies are forgettable, much like the town of plentywood. ZING! j/k
anyway, whether you looked at the ceiling or bored into the soul of people in your direct line of sight, i think everyone did a great job memorizing stuff. you go, class. you go.
p.s. hope you all have fun in class on friday - i'll be on my way to chicago in a plane that will probably smell like feet and hand sanitizer. strike that - it WILL smell like feet and hand sanitizer. happy spring break!
i don't know if anyone else felt like they were speaking in warp speed up there, but i definitely felt like i was up in front of the class for about 10 seconds. maybe because my list wasn't too difficult. well, it was difficult for me because i seriously lack in the skills needed for memorization. and i learned something with my list - like there's a town called scobey. and poplar.
if anyone's dieing to know how i commit ed all the towns/cities to memory, you don't have to be a carmen sandiego gumshoe to figure it out. i think alot of us went for the alphabetical method - it's just so practical.
one thing i loved *loved* about everyone's memory stuff was that we all suddenly got a case of ceiling eyes (if you don't know what i mean by that, just google pictures of audrina patridge from the hills. she is permanently looking up. it is weird.). seriously, no one looked down. it reminded me of how you can supposedly tell if someone is lying to you if they look down and to the left or something like that. i wish i could lie when things were important, but most of my lies are weak-sauce - like, "yeah, i've totally been to plentywood. love it there. awesome gas station." and most of my lies are forgettable, much like the town of plentywood. ZING! j/k
anyway, whether you looked at the ceiling or bored into the soul of people in your direct line of sight, i think everyone did a great job memorizing stuff. you go, class. you go.
p.s. hope you all have fun in class on friday - i'll be on my way to chicago in a plane that will probably smell like feet and hand sanitizer. strike that - it WILL smell like feet and hand sanitizer. happy spring break!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
fretting/forgetting
so, i'm pretty sure i'm going on wednesday to present my list of 50 things because i won't be here on friday (going to chicago! woot!), and i'm using my own technique that i just invented. i don't think anyone has ever done anything like this before: alphabetization. cha ching! ;)
i attempted putting up post-it notes so i could do the loci thing, but all that did was bother me because they were in my space!
also, i don't know if anyone else is experiencing an intense spring fever, but mine is interfering with my memory. i have literally forgotten to do homework for my world lit class for like the past 5 classes. i write the assignment down, i even put little check marks next to things in my planner and keep track of things. but for some reason, my mind is blocking out world lit. i'm surprised i can remember to blog, too - because sometimes i'll wake up at like 2am and be like "eff, i forgot to do my blog!" and then i have a nightmare about my memory dissolving right infront (back) of my eyes! not really, but whatever. it seems that writing does indeed hinder the memory.
i attempted putting up post-it notes so i could do the loci thing, but all that did was bother me because they were in my space!
also, i don't know if anyone else is experiencing an intense spring fever, but mine is interfering with my memory. i have literally forgotten to do homework for my world lit class for like the past 5 classes. i write the assignment down, i even put little check marks next to things in my planner and keep track of things. but for some reason, my mind is blocking out world lit. i'm surprised i can remember to blog, too - because sometimes i'll wake up at like 2am and be like "eff, i forgot to do my blog!" and then i have a nightmare about my memory dissolving right infront (back) of my eyes! not really, but whatever. it seems that writing does indeed hinder the memory.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
i know a man named michael finnegan...not really.
so all this talk about finnegan's wake made me want to investigate it more and see if it was worth adding to my summer reading list (along with the twilight books...i just don't have time to read fun stuff during school. and i need to join the phenomenon and learn to love those sexually charged, yet abstinent vampires...)
anyway, i wiki'd it, and whoa - i don't think i'll be pursuing this nugget of literature. check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_wake
it's like the longest and most detailed wikipedia page i've ever seen! ...and i also found out that dropkick murphy's have a song called "finnegan's wake," and even though i don't really like them, i gave it a listen - it's weird. i'm just getting the vibe that i'm not meant to enjoy the "genius" of joyce or something. when i read ulysses, i wanted to kill myself....sorry ireland.
so i'm trying to read yates with an open mind since i'm shunning joyce (i don't think it's good karma for a lit major to totally reject an author, but i'd put yates on my list as well), becuause the first few chapters just confused me. i find it interesting that she spells cabala with a c on page 177, because i've only seen it spelled "kaballah," so i'm wondering what's going on with that one. i feel like i've read alot about kaballah this semester - partly because of a book i read in another class, and partly because of my favorite old lady - madonna. anyway, i almost bought catholicism for dummies the other day, and now i think i should get judaism for dummies, too. it's a sign from zeus ;)
anyway, i wiki'd it, and whoa - i don't think i'll be pursuing this nugget of literature. check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_wake
it's like the longest and most detailed wikipedia page i've ever seen! ...and i also found out that dropkick murphy's have a song called "finnegan's wake," and even though i don't really like them, i gave it a listen - it's weird. i'm just getting the vibe that i'm not meant to enjoy the "genius" of joyce or something. when i read ulysses, i wanted to kill myself....sorry ireland.
so i'm trying to read yates with an open mind since i'm shunning joyce (i don't think it's good karma for a lit major to totally reject an author, but i'd put yates on my list as well), becuause the first few chapters just confused me. i find it interesting that she spells cabala with a c on page 177, because i've only seen it spelled "kaballah," so i'm wondering what's going on with that one. i feel like i've read alot about kaballah this semester - partly because of a book i read in another class, and partly because of my favorite old lady - madonna. anyway, i almost bought catholicism for dummies the other day, and now i think i should get judaism for dummies, too. it's a sign from zeus ;)
Monday, February 23, 2009
contumacious
so on page 78 in his super awesome book that i just desperately love, ong says "texts are inherently contumacious." after reading that sentence, i was like wow - what a profound though. oh wait, i have no idea what it means.
so after a little trip to dictionary.com, i found out that contumacious means disobedient, more or less. i don't feel like texts are disobedient because they've surrounded me my whole life. to me, they represent structure, information, and a gateway to my imagination. i consider puppies to be disobedient - and i challenge you to find a piece of literature that pees on the new carpet (although some of them pee on my soul). i would argue that texts aren't the disobedient ones - authors are. they are the catalysts hurling the written word into our faces.
and now that i know what contumacious means, i'm going to try and incorporate it into my vocabulary to sound like the pretentious english major i'm meant to be. thank you, walter ong. not for your book or your ideas, but for your choice of word.
so after a little trip to dictionary.com, i found out that contumacious means disobedient, more or less. i don't feel like texts are disobedient because they've surrounded me my whole life. to me, they represent structure, information, and a gateway to my imagination. i consider puppies to be disobedient - and i challenge you to find a piece of literature that pees on the new carpet (although some of them pee on my soul). i would argue that texts aren't the disobedient ones - authors are. they are the catalysts hurling the written word into our faces.
and now that i know what contumacious means, i'm going to try and incorporate it into my vocabulary to sound like the pretentious english major i'm meant to be. thank you, walter ong. not for your book or your ideas, but for your choice of word.
Friday, February 20, 2009
l'examen
so i just finished the test, and i have to say...it wasn't too bad. although, i'm saying this before i know my actual grade, so maybe i should shut it. the only part i was frustrated with was ong's 9 parts of orality...i just couldn't memorize them. boo. and i couldn't remember who else was sitting at the quiet desk, so i put kevin bacon. it just seemed right.
now i feel like i can devote more time to memorizing my list of 50 cities in montana! a woohoo! i wonder if the governor knows the name of every town/city in montana off the top of his head. my guess is no. in which case, i declare him as a governor fail.
hopefully on monday i won't be too surprised at my grade - i just wish there had been an extra credit section where we could have written about our favorite muse or something. oh well, maybe on the final...
now i feel like i can devote more time to memorizing my list of 50 cities in montana! a woohoo! i wonder if the governor knows the name of every town/city in montana off the top of his head. my guess is no. in which case, i declare him as a governor fail.
hopefully on monday i won't be too surprised at my grade - i just wish there had been an extra credit section where we could have written about our favorite muse or something. oh well, maybe on the final...
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
word magic
so while we were talking about #3 on ong's list of things that are part of our memory systems (redundancy or copious...ness?), it made me think of my world lit class with professor coffey because on tuesday he talked to us about "word magic" in the norwegian folktale traditions. word magic is kindof like chants or little prayers that we repeat, expecting some sort of awesome result. like at football games - the whole premise of cheerleaders getting the crowd to shout things like "we want a touch down" or "defense!" could somehow improve the performance of the team. even if the crowd knows they're cheering for a team whose record is 0-10. or how some how repeating "hail mary, full of grace..." 15 times will cleanse you of whatever sin you've done.
the redundancy of chanting at games while knowing they probably won't effect (affect?) the game, and the copious amounts of little things we say to ourselves over and over get passed on to others, and that's how "word magic" stays relevant. how else can you explain the fact that we still say "bless you" when someone sneezes over and over again, even though i doubt anyone still believes one can lose their soul through a giant "achoo!"? ...that doesn't sound to homeostatic to moi.
the redundancy of chanting at games while knowing they probably won't effect (affect?) the game, and the copious amounts of little things we say to ourselves over and over get passed on to others, and that's how "word magic" stays relevant. how else can you explain the fact that we still say "bless you" when someone sneezes over and over again, even though i doubt anyone still believes one can lose their soul through a giant "achoo!"? ...that doesn't sound to homeostatic to moi.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
east helena is a town? i thought it was more like a parasite that had latched onto our capital...
i'm not very good at memorizing things that don't have to do with entertainment. so, for my list of 50 things to memorize, i was going to do 50 famous people from the 90's - that list took me about 5 minutes to come up with during class. but then i figured i should do something at least a smidge more useful, so i'm going to memorize names of towns in montana. ok, so i've lived here my whole life - whatever - that doesn't mean i know all of the towns in the fourth largest state in america. although, i do know that our state motto is "oro y plata," our state tree is the lodgepole pine, and the state bird is the western meadowlark. so booyah.
anyway, here's my list, in alphabetical order, because that's how it's displayed on wikipedia when i looked it up...
Anaconda
Baker
Belgrade
Big Timber
Billings
Bozeman
Butte
Chinook
Choteau
Colstrip
Columbia Falls
Conrad
Cut Bank
Deer Lodge
Dillon
East Helena
Forsyth
Fort Benton
Glasgow
Glendive
Great Falls
Hamilton
Hardin
Harlem
Harlowton
Havre
Helena
Kalispell
Laurel
Lewistown
Libby
Livingston
Malta
Miles City
Missoula
Plentywood
Polson
Poplar
Red Lodge
Ronan
Roundup
Scobey
Shelby
Sidney
Thompson Falls
Three Forks
Townsend
Troy
Whitefish
White Sulphur Springs
too bad whitehall isn't on the list - it's my fave ;)
and i have to say, i'm not really digging the fact that we have to memorize the nine muses in the order that kyle put them in, because i was having enough trouble memorizing them using my own mnemonic device, and now i have to start all over and learn them in a new order using new things, based on someone else's ideas. y no me gusta. no me puedo. you could be thinking to yourself "shit happens, shannon," but that, my friend, is a cliche. so shut it.
here's a list of some of my favorite cliche's (not in alphabetical order)
saying things are cliche
isn't that the pot calling the kettle black!
it takes two to tango/it's a two way street
bro's before ho's
people who thank god during award shows (i don't think god helped you win that grammy, lil' wayne)
when life hands you lemons, grab some vodka and have a party! omg! girls night!
i love you more than ___ loves ____
watching middle school girls in public - i bet the conversations haven't changed since 1900.
oh, and here's proof that rats can laugh - in class i was like, psh! cha right! ...but youtube = truth, so that ends that debate. although, if you ask me, the dude tickling the rats is a creeper, so maybe the rats have been roofied. just sayin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myuceywaOUs
anyway, here's my list, in alphabetical order, because that's how it's displayed on wikipedia when i looked it up...
Anaconda
Baker
Belgrade
Big Timber
Billings
Bozeman
Butte
Chinook
Choteau
Colstrip
Columbia Falls
Conrad
Cut Bank
Deer Lodge
Dillon
East Helena
Forsyth
Fort Benton
Glasgow
Glendive
Great Falls
Hamilton
Hardin
Harlem
Harlowton
Havre
Helena
Kalispell
Laurel
Lewistown
Libby
Livingston
Malta
Miles City
Missoula
Plentywood
Polson
Poplar
Red Lodge
Ronan
Roundup
Scobey
Shelby
Sidney
Thompson Falls
Three Forks
Townsend
Troy
Whitefish
White Sulphur Springs
too bad whitehall isn't on the list - it's my fave ;)
and i have to say, i'm not really digging the fact that we have to memorize the nine muses in the order that kyle put them in, because i was having enough trouble memorizing them using my own mnemonic device, and now i have to start all over and learn them in a new order using new things, based on someone else's ideas. y no me gusta. no me puedo. you could be thinking to yourself "shit happens, shannon," but that, my friend, is a cliche. so shut it.
here's a list of some of my favorite cliche's (not in alphabetical order)
saying things are cliche
isn't that the pot calling the kettle black!
it takes two to tango/it's a two way street
bro's before ho's
people who thank god during award shows (i don't think god helped you win that grammy, lil' wayne)
when life hands you lemons, grab some vodka and have a party! omg! girls night!
i love you more than ___ loves ____
watching middle school girls in public - i bet the conversations haven't changed since 1900.
oh, and here's proof that rats can laugh - in class i was like, psh! cha right! ...but youtube = truth, so that ends that debate. although, if you ask me, the dude tickling the rats is a creeper, so maybe the rats have been roofied. just sayin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myuceywaOUs
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
zucco's lookin pretty good today, huh riz?
so i thought it was funny that everyone in class that had seen "groundhog day" before (by the way, it is actually groundhog day - not groundhog's day...the celebration centers around one groundhog, after all. little things like this bug me - like when people say "expecially" or "deers"), couldn't remember character names. it seems odd that we can watch or hear something so many times, and yet not be able to recall certain aspects of the thing. like, i know "grease" practically by heart - all of the songs, almost all of the lines - i even know the schools mascot, the rydell ranger. it's kind of sick. i know i have seen that movie more that 50 times. but i've also seen "10 things i hate about you" probably 30 times, and the only characters i can remember are kat and bianca. and even though i've seen the scene sooooo many times because its one of those things where whenever it's on tv, i always seem to catch it at the exact same moment, but i don't actually know the 10 things bianca hates about...uh, heath ledger. no idea what the character's name is.
i can recite word for word every song from beauty and the beast (oh, and in class on wednesday, i was dying to burst into song and keep going with the bonjour song...little town, it's a quiet village; every day like the one before. little town, full of little people waking up...tooo....saaaaay....bonjour! bonjour, bonjour, bonjour, bonjour! there goes the baker with his tray like always, the same old bread and rolls to sell - every morning just the same, since the morning that we came to this poor provincial town - "good morning, belle!"....oh, belle. i want to be you. i'd marry the beast if i could have a library like that), and even though that proves that i have mad skills and no life at the same time, it still doesn't explain to me why i can remember so much from some movies, but not others. do i have to love the movie to remember? is that why i'm so bad at learning foreign languages? my hatred for any other language other than english must somehow inhibit my brain from absorbing spanish vocab. although, when i took irish gaelic last fall at UM, we didn't have a book, and we had to learn everything through vocal repetition. and while i was pretty kick-ass at speaking gaelic in the class, in the environment - the minute i left i had no idea what i had just studied. and right now, all i can remember is that when someone says "dia gwit," i say "dias moodagwit"...that's phonics, by they way. if i could remember how to spell in irish, i probably would have passed with more than a C. that's why i find it hard to remember the names of the nine muses away from the environment i decided to actually memorize them in. so for me, my way of putting loci into use is using my personal location to my advantage. hopefully when i come up with a list of 50 things to memorize, i'll be able to regurgitate it in class. i can't decide if i want to use song titles or food. but i kind of want to alphabetize my list to make things a little easier on myself. maybe i'll get extra credit if i just sing a song....
i can recite word for word every song from beauty and the beast (oh, and in class on wednesday, i was dying to burst into song and keep going with the bonjour song...little town, it's a quiet village; every day like the one before. little town, full of little people waking up...tooo....saaaaay....bonjour! bonjour, bonjour, bonjour, bonjour! there goes the baker with his tray like always, the same old bread and rolls to sell - every morning just the same, since the morning that we came to this poor provincial town - "good morning, belle!"....oh, belle. i want to be you. i'd marry the beast if i could have a library like that), and even though that proves that i have mad skills and no life at the same time, it still doesn't explain to me why i can remember so much from some movies, but not others. do i have to love the movie to remember? is that why i'm so bad at learning foreign languages? my hatred for any other language other than english must somehow inhibit my brain from absorbing spanish vocab. although, when i took irish gaelic last fall at UM, we didn't have a book, and we had to learn everything through vocal repetition. and while i was pretty kick-ass at speaking gaelic in the class, in the environment - the minute i left i had no idea what i had just studied. and right now, all i can remember is that when someone says "dia gwit," i say "dias moodagwit"...that's phonics, by they way. if i could remember how to spell in irish, i probably would have passed with more than a C. that's why i find it hard to remember the names of the nine muses away from the environment i decided to actually memorize them in. so for me, my way of putting loci into use is using my personal location to my advantage. hopefully when i come up with a list of 50 things to memorize, i'll be able to regurgitate it in class. i can't decide if i want to use song titles or food. but i kind of want to alphabetize my list to make things a little easier on myself. maybe i'll get extra credit if i just sing a song....
Sunday, February 1, 2009
yo' mama's so fat, she...well, she's obese. please help her.
so i just read zach morris's blog (side note: zach - please tell me you have dated or are currently dating a girl named kelly. her last name doesn't have to be kapowski, but it would be nice. also, might you know anyone of the name a.c. slater? just wondering. and what kind of cell phone do you have....?)
because i saw the word "sandlot" and i have to say, i'm glad i'm not the only one who immediately thought of ham porter during the flyting discussion in class on friday. i will literally drop what i'm doing if i see the sandlot on tv and watch it until the very end - it's almost a spiritual experience. plus, my boyfriend from camp huff n' puff looked like smalls, so yay me. i could watch those kids play ball forevER forevER forevER....
anywhey, i'm a girl (doy), and i know girls aren't usually known for witty flyting skills, but i know when i was younger, i not only made my sisters cry (and i might *might* still, today), but i could also throw down with the best insulters...five minutes after they walked away. but at least i experienced the satisfaction of getting the best of my older sisters - and i'm still much, much better than them at handing out a spoonful of dis.
and all that talk about freestyle rap in class reminded me that i actually did win a rap-off in my high school chemistry class - but the only thing i can remember is telling the kid to "kiss my asthma - PEACE!" and then i think i turned on the non-working gas valve for effect. what i really wish is that i could participate in mud-slinging with normal people who just bug me whilst i work. i mean work work, not school work - i love getting bugged when i'm trying to do homework because it helps me with my goal of eternal procrastination....
but seriously, i think i could really do some damage if i started treating/speaking to people the way they do to me - for example:
lady: um, this tag says this shirt is $19.50. how much is it?
me: it's $19.50
me in my head: did you pass 2nd grade?
lady: so it's not on sale at all?
me: no, it's actually brand new - we just put out all of our spring stuff
me in my head: was it in the sale section? when you picked it up, was there any indication that it was on sale? seriously. read.
lady: well, could you check what the price is for me so i know for sure?
me: yeah! definitely!
me in my head: i swear to god, woman - i will go back in time and make sure your mother never gets pregnant.
ok, so thats not really clever insult-trading, but sometimes i think really cruel thoughts but i never get to say them out loud because i like having a paycheck. it is neat. like, i love when someone sees a stack of jeans, but instead of doing what i like to call the "lift and separate" to find the size they need, they just rip the jeans out and mess up a stack of like 10 pairs of pants. then they look at me with faux-guilt and say "ooops - i bet you hate when people do that...heh" and i say something like, "oh, no - you're fine, don't worry about it," while what need to say is, "yeah, i seriously hate people like you. get a job in retail and learn how to shop you selfish turd. by the way, you are not a size 4."...or something like that. maybe i should just work on being more clever than the customer so they won't even realize i'm insulting them until after they buy stuff. then the store won't suffer. ^_^
i hope i won't be as cruel as king lear was to gonoreil when he cursed her womb, and in the even that she may actually become preggers, cursing the child to be ridiculously horrible. that was harsh.
by the way, the best insult ever is "your mom." trust me.
because i saw the word "sandlot" and i have to say, i'm glad i'm not the only one who immediately thought of ham porter during the flyting discussion in class on friday. i will literally drop what i'm doing if i see the sandlot on tv and watch it until the very end - it's almost a spiritual experience. plus, my boyfriend from camp huff n' puff looked like smalls, so yay me. i could watch those kids play ball forevER forevER forevER....
anywhey, i'm a girl (doy), and i know girls aren't usually known for witty flyting skills, but i know when i was younger, i not only made my sisters cry (and i might *might* still, today), but i could also throw down with the best insulters...five minutes after they walked away. but at least i experienced the satisfaction of getting the best of my older sisters - and i'm still much, much better than them at handing out a spoonful of dis.
and all that talk about freestyle rap in class reminded me that i actually did win a rap-off in my high school chemistry class - but the only thing i can remember is telling the kid to "kiss my asthma - PEACE!" and then i think i turned on the non-working gas valve for effect. what i really wish is that i could participate in mud-slinging with normal people who just bug me whilst i work. i mean work work, not school work - i love getting bugged when i'm trying to do homework because it helps me with my goal of eternal procrastination....
but seriously, i think i could really do some damage if i started treating/speaking to people the way they do to me - for example:
lady: um, this tag says this shirt is $19.50. how much is it?
me: it's $19.50
me in my head: did you pass 2nd grade?
lady: so it's not on sale at all?
me: no, it's actually brand new - we just put out all of our spring stuff
me in my head: was it in the sale section? when you picked it up, was there any indication that it was on sale? seriously. read.
lady: well, could you check what the price is for me so i know for sure?
me: yeah! definitely!
me in my head: i swear to god, woman - i will go back in time and make sure your mother never gets pregnant.
ok, so thats not really clever insult-trading, but sometimes i think really cruel thoughts but i never get to say them out loud because i like having a paycheck. it is neat. like, i love when someone sees a stack of jeans, but instead of doing what i like to call the "lift and separate" to find the size they need, they just rip the jeans out and mess up a stack of like 10 pairs of pants. then they look at me with faux-guilt and say "ooops - i bet you hate when people do that...heh" and i say something like, "oh, no - you're fine, don't worry about it," while what need to say is, "yeah, i seriously hate people like you. get a job in retail and learn how to shop you selfish turd. by the way, you are not a size 4."...or something like that. maybe i should just work on being more clever than the customer so they won't even realize i'm insulting them until after they buy stuff. then the store won't suffer. ^_^
i hope i won't be as cruel as king lear was to gonoreil when he cursed her womb, and in the even that she may actually become preggers, cursing the child to be ridiculously horrible. that was harsh.
by the way, the best insult ever is "your mom." trust me.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
everything in my life can relate to harry potter
so today, besides learning that dr. sexson bleeds green, we also talked about there was actually literature before literacy - it was just spoken. it sounds like an oxymoron, which oral literature should sound like, but the concept makes sense. obviously, people had a way of communicating before they had a way to write things down - and why not call that literatrure? they told stories, gave speeches, probably did some simple math (i'm sure they chicken counted on their fingers, though!) and professed love - all things that we do today using writng. ok, maybe giving speeches is still an oral tradition, but that doesn't mean that minutes after a speech is made, the full transcript is available online for everyone to read....
i just like that we're able to push the boundries in this class, and take the written word and the spoken word for more than their face value.
we also came up with nine things in the room to help us remember the 9 muses, so here's my list:
thermostat: thalia (because who doesn't laugh when they adjust the temp.?)
blackboard: calliope (epic things should be in chalk)
projector screen: urania (because its dark when you look at the stars, and the lights need to be off to see whats on the screen)
quiet desk: polyhymnia (that biznatch needs to shut up)
projector: terpsichore (when you dance, you project your skills for other people to see)
old desk: clio (it's old. history is old.)
bullitin board: euterpe (poetry should be posted)
"let it snow": melpomene (cold makes me sad)
weird f thing: erato (it looks kindof phalic. just sayin)
the odds of me remembering the names are low...but maybe next week i'll be able to. i still can't remember anyone but calliope without looking. i think i'm going to associate the muses with harry potter characters instead, because i know hogwarts better than my own family....
calliope: hermione (both have weirdo names)
clio: professor trelawny (ms. cleo and sybil both claim to know the future)
erato: harry (i want to make wizard babies with him)
euterpe: ron (i just wanted ron and harry to be next to eachother in line)
melpomene: malfoy (what a tragic prick)
polyhymnia: luna lovegood (she's kindof sing-songy)
terpsichore: neville (he gets sick/hurt alot)
thalia: hagrid (he's funny, and he might have a thyroid problem)
urania: snape. because he's an anus.
ok, that's as far as i'm going today, but here's one final thought: so, in the mormon church, people give testimonies - like, on how much they love god, or how they got their calling to go on a mission, etc.....i wonder if they know about the whole testicle thing. luckily i know alot of morms, so i shall let them know promptly! i bet joseph smith never saw this one coming...lolz!
i just like that we're able to push the boundries in this class, and take the written word and the spoken word for more than their face value.
we also came up with nine things in the room to help us remember the 9 muses, so here's my list:
thermostat: thalia (because who doesn't laugh when they adjust the temp.?)
blackboard: calliope (epic things should be in chalk)
projector screen: urania (because its dark when you look at the stars, and the lights need to be off to see whats on the screen)
quiet desk: polyhymnia (that biznatch needs to shut up)
projector: terpsichore (when you dance, you project your skills for other people to see)
old desk: clio (it's old. history is old.)
bullitin board: euterpe (poetry should be posted)
"let it snow": melpomene (cold makes me sad)
weird f thing: erato (it looks kindof phalic. just sayin)
the odds of me remembering the names are low...but maybe next week i'll be able to. i still can't remember anyone but calliope without looking. i think i'm going to associate the muses with harry potter characters instead, because i know hogwarts better than my own family....
calliope: hermione (both have weirdo names)
clio: professor trelawny (ms. cleo and sybil both claim to know the future)
erato: harry (i want to make wizard babies with him)
euterpe: ron (i just wanted ron and harry to be next to eachother in line)
melpomene: malfoy (what a tragic prick)
polyhymnia: luna lovegood (she's kindof sing-songy)
terpsichore: neville (he gets sick/hurt alot)
thalia: hagrid (he's funny, and he might have a thyroid problem)
urania: snape. because he's an anus.
ok, that's as far as i'm going today, but here's one final thought: so, in the mormon church, people give testimonies - like, on how much they love god, or how they got their calling to go on a mission, etc.....i wonder if they know about the whole testicle thing. luckily i know alot of morms, so i shall let them know promptly! i bet joseph smith never saw this one coming...lolz!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
a whole new world
so all of this talk about scheherazade on monday got me to thinking...about aladdin. i don't know if anyone else was as obsessed with that movie as i was, but let's just say i once attempted to memorize all of the words to "friend like me" - you know, the song genie sings to introduce to the audience to his awesomeness...best summed up as "EXTREME COSMIC POWER!...itty bitty living space." anyway, at the beginning of the song, genie says "now ali baba had them 40 thieves, scheherazade had a thousand tales" ....and that concludes that little nugget of info about how Disney attempted to incorporate knowledge into my third favorite movie.
alright - i have googled curiosity, and this is what i have found (after i got sidetracked and read about benjamin button for ten minutes):
Curiosity is an emotion that causes natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity. As this emotion represents a drive to know new things, curiosity is the fuel of science and all other disciplines of human study.
props to whoever did this entry for spelling "behaviour" in the best way ever. my favourite colour is greene.
i find it interesting that "curiosity killed the cat," but it's also responsible for fueling science and all other disciplines of human study. that's a pretty sweet reputation you have there, curiosity. a creative killer. i find that curiosity is also why i talk so much - i can just tell that people are curious about me, so i let them know without making them embarrass themselves by asking me why i continue to be such a hot mess. and of course, with out curiosity, we would cease to communicate and ask questions and learn. so basically, that cat got a raw deal, because he was probably onto something awesome.
i also decided to look up jordano bruno, because i thought jordano was an awesome name, and i'm pretty sure i'm going to start adding an o to my bf's name from now on...and then i found out that it's spelled giordano. oh well, guess i'll just have to convince jordan to spell his name giordan.
basically, he was uber smart, and interested in the universe and memory, and he was burned at the stake...i get the feeling most of the intelligent people burned at the stake were a result of low self-esteem on the part of the pope and latter-day evangelicals. like, "oh crap, that girodano dude is on to something that seems like it might be true....lets label him a heretic and burn him. promptly." and so we end up with another martyr for curiosity. damn cat killing popes.
just like how jafar wanted to kill aladdin for getting the lamp - i mean, it was ultimately curiosity that led aladdin to follow disguised jafar into the desert, just to get swallowed up by the sand tiger. then abu's greediness got them the lamp, and the desire to love jasmine got him to the palace. so, the combination of curiosity, greed, love, and of course, a genie to guide you along with his oral wisdom (bee yourself!) will bring you the best. life. ever.
so i'm still trying to find something in the three books for class that really pop out as provocative, but all i'm finding so far is a lot of things that i don't particularly want to remember. ha! but hopefully something will scandalize me sooner or later....although the future looks bleak for ong.
p.s. if you want to be taken to a dream world of magic, hop on your carpet and click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd07uvkTeKo
alright - i have googled curiosity, and this is what i have found (after i got sidetracked and read about benjamin button for ten minutes):
Curiosity is an emotion that causes natural inquisitive behaviour such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and many animal species. The term can also be used to denote the behavior itself being caused by the emotion of curiosity. As this emotion represents a drive to know new things, curiosity is the fuel of science and all other disciplines of human study.
props to whoever did this entry for spelling "behaviour" in the best way ever. my favourite colour is greene.
i find it interesting that "curiosity killed the cat," but it's also responsible for fueling science and all other disciplines of human study. that's a pretty sweet reputation you have there, curiosity. a creative killer. i find that curiosity is also why i talk so much - i can just tell that people are curious about me, so i let them know without making them embarrass themselves by asking me why i continue to be such a hot mess. and of course, with out curiosity, we would cease to communicate and ask questions and learn. so basically, that cat got a raw deal, because he was probably onto something awesome.
i also decided to look up jordano bruno, because i thought jordano was an awesome name, and i'm pretty sure i'm going to start adding an o to my bf's name from now on...and then i found out that it's spelled giordano. oh well, guess i'll just have to convince jordan to spell his name giordan.
basically, he was uber smart, and interested in the universe and memory, and he was burned at the stake...i get the feeling most of the intelligent people burned at the stake were a result of low self-esteem on the part of the pope and latter-day evangelicals. like, "oh crap, that girodano dude is on to something that seems like it might be true....lets label him a heretic and burn him. promptly." and so we end up with another martyr for curiosity. damn cat killing popes.
just like how jafar wanted to kill aladdin for getting the lamp - i mean, it was ultimately curiosity that led aladdin to follow disguised jafar into the desert, just to get swallowed up by the sand tiger. then abu's greediness got them the lamp, and the desire to love jasmine got him to the palace. so, the combination of curiosity, greed, love, and of course, a genie to guide you along with his oral wisdom (bee yourself!) will bring you the best. life. ever.
so i'm still trying to find something in the three books for class that really pop out as provocative, but all i'm finding so far is a lot of things that i don't particularly want to remember. ha! but hopefully something will scandalize me sooner or later....although the future looks bleak for ong.
p.s. if you want to be taken to a dream world of magic, hop on your carpet and click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd07uvkTeKo
Sunday, January 25, 2009
memory timeshares
my memory cabin is like my self control around gummy bears. nonexistant. i really don't think i can have just one place to go to - i have like 10 places where i like to relax and think about stuff, and as far as an old abandoned church is concerned...well, that just seems drafty and creepy to me. i feel most comfortable storing my thoughts in different places - my self loathing memories are reserved for the spot in front of the mirror in my room. my aggressive memories are in my workout brain. my calm memories are stored in my "lets take a walk" brain, my organizational memories are in my bed, at approximately right before i fall asleep, and i know my super happy memories are stored in my mind all over the place, but they usually come to me when i'm spooning. spooning evokes happy memories. anyway, i'm not sure if i can build a memory cabin, because i like the way my memories are all scattered and kept under different roofs. it's more like i have a bunch of memory timeshares that i make annual payments to in order to reap the benefits.
but i do have one place that i think about alot, and i hope my memories from it never fade entirely - it's the house i grew up in on wagon boss rd. it's on a double cul-de-sac, and it's on an acre and a half of the best yard ever. tons of trees, a hill perfect for rolling down in the summer and mini-sledding down in the winter. i had a chartreuse room, a hot pink room, and a basement where all my barbies lived. 16 foot high vaulted ceilings and a piano that was so out of tune, the blind dude who came to fix it one day pretty much laughed for an hour while he tried to make it not suck. i took lessons on that piano. maybe that's why when i play hot cross buns, it sounds more like a dying seal. anyway, this house is the bomb. and i say "is" because i can still see it every time i go to my parents present home sweet home - it's literally through the trees. see, we loved the neighborhood so dang much, we moved back - only to a different, but equally awesome house (not as many trees, but whatever). but, because i have a life and i don't live with my parents, i don't see my old house as much as i'd like. and i'd like to make it my memory cabin, but i know the people who moved into it after we left messed with it and remodeled my dream house into an abomination of 8434 wagon boss rd. now every time i think of my house, i also think about what it might look like on the inside now that new freaks live there. ok, that's not fair, i don't know if they're freaks - but i do know the dad punched one of our beloved cul-de-sac neighbors over a dog problem. for seriously. blasphemy! they don't deserve our house!
so if my memory cabin is currently a work in progress, i guess i'll talk about what we did in class on friday....well, we talked more about how plato hated the idea of writing because it makes your memory muscles get flabby - which, actually, i don't necessarily agree with - in this day and age, writing is how we remember (along with massive amounts of pictures posted on facebook), so for us, aren't we actually flexing our memory muscles? take that plato - i totally p'wnd your theory. go pontificate somewhere else, old man.
i also took some notes about....oh, hey, there are the lyrics to a paramore song written in some awesome purple pen...whoops! guess i wasn't paying attention like i should have, and now i can't really remember what we talked about. but i do know i'm still kindof confused on what we're supposed to be reading, and what our reading groups are supposed to be doing. i'm in group 3, so that means i'm presenting stuff on chapter 4, right?
i guess my goals for this week are to find out what's going on, find a cabin in the woods, and find a better way to take notes ;)
p.s. i've had the business of misery stuck in my head for like a year - seriously, it won't leave. i've written the lyrics to it so many times during so many classes. dang you, paramore! and your catchy lyrics!
but i do have one place that i think about alot, and i hope my memories from it never fade entirely - it's the house i grew up in on wagon boss rd. it's on a double cul-de-sac, and it's on an acre and a half of the best yard ever. tons of trees, a hill perfect for rolling down in the summer and mini-sledding down in the winter. i had a chartreuse room, a hot pink room, and a basement where all my barbies lived. 16 foot high vaulted ceilings and a piano that was so out of tune, the blind dude who came to fix it one day pretty much laughed for an hour while he tried to make it not suck. i took lessons on that piano. maybe that's why when i play hot cross buns, it sounds more like a dying seal. anyway, this house is the bomb. and i say "is" because i can still see it every time i go to my parents present home sweet home - it's literally through the trees. see, we loved the neighborhood so dang much, we moved back - only to a different, but equally awesome house (not as many trees, but whatever). but, because i have a life and i don't live with my parents, i don't see my old house as much as i'd like. and i'd like to make it my memory cabin, but i know the people who moved into it after we left messed with it and remodeled my dream house into an abomination of 8434 wagon boss rd. now every time i think of my house, i also think about what it might look like on the inside now that new freaks live there. ok, that's not fair, i don't know if they're freaks - but i do know the dad punched one of our beloved cul-de-sac neighbors over a dog problem. for seriously. blasphemy! they don't deserve our house!
so if my memory cabin is currently a work in progress, i guess i'll talk about what we did in class on friday....well, we talked more about how plato hated the idea of writing because it makes your memory muscles get flabby - which, actually, i don't necessarily agree with - in this day and age, writing is how we remember (along with massive amounts of pictures posted on facebook), so for us, aren't we actually flexing our memory muscles? take that plato - i totally p'wnd your theory. go pontificate somewhere else, old man.
i also took some notes about....oh, hey, there are the lyrics to a paramore song written in some awesome purple pen...whoops! guess i wasn't paying attention like i should have, and now i can't really remember what we talked about. but i do know i'm still kindof confused on what we're supposed to be reading, and what our reading groups are supposed to be doing. i'm in group 3, so that means i'm presenting stuff on chapter 4, right?
i guess my goals for this week are to find out what's going on, find a cabin in the woods, and find a better way to take notes ;)
p.s. i've had the business of misery stuck in my head for like a year - seriously, it won't leave. i've written the lyrics to it so many times during so many classes. dang you, paramore! and your catchy lyrics!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Whoa! Tangent.
"Aristotle's theory of memory and reminiscence is based on the theory of knowledge which he expounds in his De anima. The perceptions brought in by the five senses are first treated or worked upon by the faculty of imagination, and it is the images so formed which become the material of intellectual faculty. Imagination is the intermediary between perception and thought" (Yates 32).
I really like this idea of imagination preceding knowledge - it's like we can't know anything until we've imagined it in our own head first. I might see a squirrel with a nut and at first just see a hungry squirrel. But then I can see him returning to his little home in a big tree, bringing the nut to share with his little squirrel babies and his loving squirrel wife. Then, they'll all sit together at their little table and eat together, while planning a family picnic out on the lawn of some big house with the best trees and nuts in town. All of the sudden, I have a thought to write a children's story about a squirrel family. Genius. Ok, so I don't actually "know" that the squirrel has a life beyond gathering nuts, but being intellectual isn't merely based on knowing truth. If that were the case, then all of those intellectual storytellers would be out of a job, because aren't they just regurgitating what they've heard? I mean, sure, it may have been considered truth at the time, but does anyone actually believe that Odysseus encountered a giant cyclops that ate some of his crew? Why didn't cyclops get to tell his story? And how come he didn't make any baby cyclopses (word? yes? no.) with a lady cyclops? Maybe because he was the only one in existence, ever? But anyway, my point is, it takes an imagination to picture a little squirrel family, or a cyclops with a hankering for sailors, or global warming for some people ;) But if it's true for them, it's true. It's a thought that they'll have forever: avoid huge caves that may harbor a giant one-eyed man - it's cyclops, and he's not a nice man. Or, don't mess with the salmon in the river, or the river goddess will eff you up. I think in the sense of oral storytelling, the "truth" is perceived with active imaginations, and then the thought of whether to take it seriously or not is the part that leads to so-called "intellectualism." But, on the flip side, if my senses pick up the smell of cupcakes outside of my mom's house, and I imagine the delicious morsels in my mind, the thought of them (and my obsession for cupcakes) will lead me to the truth: my mom...is burning a cupcake scented candle. Fudge. No, wait, not fudge. Cupcakes.
That's a whole 'nother subject though - memory smells - I know personally, every time I smell cinnamon I think about Big Red gum and how my friends and I used to lick the wrappers and then stick them to our face and see who could stand the burning sensation the longest. Fun times! And every time I smell Abercrombie & Fitch cologne, I think of one of my guy friends who had a serious obsession with it in high school and made me gag every day at our lockers. Would those count as "thinking memorable thoughts?" That reminds me - in class today, Sexson said that it's easier to remember grotesque and tragic things...shouldn't it be easier to remember pleasant things? Like the day your kids are born? Ew, never mind - birth is disgusting (so I hear. I mean, I know I was a part of it, but luckily I have no memory of that grotesque act of womb-exit). Wait, here's one - I remember the day...ok, so every major even I'm trying to think of is either kinda sad, really sad, or not really that good of a memory. Oh, hey, this one time I turned 21 and I actually don't remember that at all. Whatever. Ooo! I have a good one - the day I made cheer leading when I was in 8th grade. I knew my freshman year of high school was going to be awesome, and it totally was. I even became a better speller....through memory! Woo hoo! I think by my senior year I knew like 200 cheers, and most of them involved spelling...a-tt-a-c-k, b-e-a-gg-r-e-ss-i-v-e, b-o-z-e-m-a-n, h-a-w-k-s, r-o-w-d-y AND r-o-w-d-i-e (who knew there were variations on that word?) and the list goes on and on...
Ok, I think I've gone on a good long tangent, that, if spoken would make WAY more sense. After reading what I just wrote, I'll go ahead and say "sorry you just read all of that. please don't judge me in class."
Ciao!
Friday, January 16, 2009
why is memory so important?
for my very first blogging experience, i'm going to ponder the importance of memory...here's a little ditty to get us started:during my senior year of highschool, i took AP psychology, and one of our first assignments was to write about our very first memory. i was really stoked because i totally knew my first memory - i didn't even have to try and remember it. i just knew. it was me, trapped in my backyard behind a huge mound of snow, crying and waiting for someone to come save me. i was only wearing sweats and some awesome moonboots, but still, i was cold. then i saw my dad with the video camera, looking for me out in the yard, and i popped up and yelled at him for not saving me in time. i was going to die in the snow. awesome first memory, right?well, later that day, when i was telling my parents about how awesome i was for remembering their potential child-neglect/abuse, i was told that there was no way i remembered that day. i was 2 and a half years old. but i had a distinct memory of that day, and i was sure it had happened - like, 99% positive. then my dad showed me the home video of me, stranded in the snow bank in our back yard, yelling at him for not coming to save me. it was in december of 1989, and i was, indeed, like 2 and a half years old. so....it was a faux memory. alot of other kids in my class had the same experience of creating a first memory based on something they had seen or heard about themselves growing up - which made me realize that memories are not concrete. it also made me realize that having to memorize the prelude to romeo and juliet as a freshman in highschool was a waste of my time...and then i found out, by actually trying to say it all, that i really did remember most of it. WEIRD! i think memory is subjective, and it obviously changes everyday because we add new memories everyday. i wonder how our brains decide which memories to throw out in order to make room for new ones? because if our memories are so important, why can't we remember anything and everything? why do i still know all of the words to every *nsync song, but i can't remember half of what i learned last semester? and what's up with selective memory? how did that work with oral storytellers? hmmm...i think i'm gonna go take some ginko biloba...if i can remember to.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
