The New York Times vs. The Chicago Tribune: NBC News Twitter Account Hacked

On the evening of September 9, 2011, NBC New’s Twitter account was hacked and a false threat claiming that a hijacked plane had crashed at the Ground Zero memorial in New York was tweeted.  NBC News immediately disabled their Twitter account to prevent any future hacks and NBC profusely apologized for heightening the already possible threats that have been made by al Qaeda on New York City for the tenth anniversary of September 11.  The New York Times (online) and The Chicago Tribune (online) both covered this story later that night on Friday, September 9, 2011.  Although both stories were not on the home page of their respective news sites, The New York Times article, by Brian Stelter and Jennifer Preston, felt as though this story had more news value because its story was eleven paragraphs long and included more in depth information.  The Chicago Tribune article (which was reported by Jill Serjeant and edited by Bob Tourtellotte and Cynthia Johnston) was only eight paragraphs and focused on different elements of the story.  The New York Times titled its article, “Hackers Take Over NBC Twitter Account” and included no picture with the story.  The article quotes the statement that NBC News’s anchor Brain Williams read on NBC news later that evening, as well a quote by Ryan Osborn, the director of social media for NBC News.  This newspaper focused more on the reaction and response of NBC News to the hacked tweet, while The Chicago Tribune’s article concentrated more on the group that did the hoax, The Script Kiddies.  The Chicago Tribune’s article titled, “NBC News Twitter hacked with fake attack messages” included a picture of the Twitter logo, the small blue bird.  This newspaper's article title, brief story, picture and content made the article seem more casual compared to The New York Times account of the situation.  The Tribune include quotes from the same statement given by Williams on NBC News at night, an excerpt from the Business Insider and a quotation from Melissa Bell (Washington Post blogger).  Twitter is a worldwide social media site that many use as a source of both national and international news, so this prank tweet reached many people and caused some hysteria.  Both stories highlighted how the wrongful information in the tweet worried people that read it, therefore it reflected badly upon the always-reliable NBC News twitter account.  The New York Times article about this event centered its story around the apologetic nature of NBC News, not The Script Kiddies as The Chicago Tribune did.

Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-sept11-nbc-hackingtre7887kl-20110909,0,3086885.story

New York Times: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/09/hackers-take-over-nbc-twitter-account/?scp=1&sq=nbc%20news%20twitter&st=cse

My Partial Literary Narrative

Annik Spencer

May 9, 2011

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Paper 4

My Partial Literary Narrative

            In Joan Didion’s talk, “Why I Write,” she describes when, why and how she started writing.  Didion and I are very different in our individual reasons why we write.  I feel as though I write because I am required to and she writes because she wants to.  Didion writes because she is so inspired by and observant of her surroundings that ideas come to her simply by being attentive of the world around her.  These inspirations fester in her head until she must write them down.  She says that while she was developing as a thinker and a writer she “would try to read linguistic theory and would find [herself] wondering instead if the lights were on in the bevatron up the hill.”  She is so distracted by her environment that she cannot focus on facts and theories, but only on inspiration to write.  She must write because she is so stimulated by the world around her.  I must write because I am told to do so and because I need to write to communicate.  I am required to write papers, essays, emails, and text messages many times a day.  I enjoy writing and don’t mind writing, but I will only write if I am required to. 

Didion also discusses how she has “pictures” that “shimmer” in her mind that she must write about.  These pictures motivate and dictate her writing.  They begin her writing process and “arrange” her entire piece of writing.  She says, “The picture tells you how to arrange the words and the arrangement of the words tells you, or tells me, what’s going on in the picture.”  Didion and I may write for different reasons, but we create art for the same reasons.  The “shimmered pictures” in my head are choreography that then turns into steps to a dance.  I am not required to create this choreography.  I want to.  Creating movement is to me what creating writing is to Didion.

            Since I “write” in a physical way, like by creating choreography, I envision a sentence starts out like a good, long run.  First you start off thinking, "wow I really do not want to run three miles, but I know it is good for me and I'm at the gym so I might as well."  Then after that first lap around the track, you're off.  You let your mind roam and you think about things, while your legs just put themselves one in front of the other.  You do not even think about what you are doing physically.  All of these thoughts that you have are the sentence.  The ideas and themes in your head while you run are the words you write or type in your sentence.  And then you finish that good, long run by sprinting to the finish, or while writing, by closing up that magnificent sentence.  The finish line is your period at the end of your sentence.  And then as you look back at your run, you congratulation yourself and think "I will run longer next time and continually get better."  This is your revision of your sentence.  Maybe you change a few things in the sentence, but in the long run your sentences will just continue to get better and better.

            And I want my writing to get better and better.  I am a perfectionist, and so even though I feel as though I only write because I am required to, when I do write I want to get it right.  In Billy Collins’s poem, “The Flight of the Reader” he discusses how he feels about his readers.  Collins describes in his poem that he really has a crush on his readers.  He even goes as far to say that, “[he] hates to think of that morning when [he] will wake up to find [his reader] gone.”  Billy Collins and I feel the same way about our readers in this way.  I too want to please my reader and hope that he or she “[stays] perched on my shoulder.”  Collins and I both constantly think about our reader while we are writing.  Collins and I have different outlooks on the extremity that we relay on our readers.  In his poem Collins says that, “It’s not that [he] cannot live without [his reader].”  I disagree with this because I think so much about reader’s reaction to my writing endlessly.  While I am writing I tend to do exactly what Collins says he does not do which is “pester” my reader “with invisible gnats of meaning.”  I tend to embrace my reader so much that I am almost begging him or her to love and appreciate my work.  Collins and I both agree and disagree with how we feel about our readers.  And since I love my readers so much, I have much advice for them and their own endeavors in writing.

            My advice is to remember and then forget.  The remembering part is to remember your roots.  Remember how and where you learned how to write.  Always remember the essential writing techniques that you learned.  Keep this technique with you, so that you can write without fear.  Also, always remember who you are and what your personality is.  You need this in your writing.  After all, it is you who is writing what you write, so you must be in it.

            After you remember, you must forget.  This is hard to do if you are used to coloring in the lines like I am.  Nevertheless, forget everything you think is right.  Even if you can only do this for just a split second, it is essential because this is when creativity starts.  This is what makes you a truly, wonderfully, readerly, writerly person.  This forgetting references Ron Koertge’s poem, “Do You Have Any Advice for Those of Us Just Starting Out.”  His last stanza says, “When the tower
falls, be like that child. Laugh so loud every body in the world frowns and says, ‘Shhhh.’” Everyone else is frowning and quieting you because they are stuck in their boxes and their technique.  They cannot forget.  Please remember what it feels like to be those people, then throw your head back and laugh.  This moment is when you will forget and just create.  Write on. 

What Is Happening to Writing? Essay!

Annik Spencer

April 27, 2011

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Dr. Lay

What Is Happening to Writing?

           

            The author Eric Maisel said in his book, A Writer's Space: Make Room to Dream, to Work, to Write, that “The writing life is defined by the succession of choices you make, primary among them whether or not you will write. You honor your writing space by entering it with this mantra: ‘I am ready to work.’ You enter, grow quiet, and vanish into your writing.”  This quote describes what it is like for a writer to create.  Inspiration and imagination is what did, and still does, compel humans to write down his or her thoughts.  Writers have been vanishing into their own personal “writing spaces” to create writing for many years.  Just like the ideas and thoughts of authors change, authors writing spaces change and develop as well.  The way in which we create and write changes the way that we transcribe writing.

      To appreciate writing it is important to understand why written work is essential. In Chapter 2, "Writing as Technology," in J. David Bolter’s book, Writing Space, he discusses the evolution of writing and writing surfaces in his section titled, "Hard and Soft Structures."  Writing has always been a necessary and valuable way for people to remember events and stories.  This is why symbols and language were created in the first place.  Old texts were then translated, so modern audiences could comprehend and read them.  These texts were often translated to "fit the times" and translators often changed, restructured and rewrote them.  These are all considered hard structures because they are "tangible qualities of the materials of writing" (Bolter 41).  Bolter explains soft structures as being how we present our text visually.  The way we present our writing has evolved as well.  Bolter says that we have introduced grammar, punctuations, paragraphing, and chapter divisions so that the modern reader can more easily read the text.  The very first example of a soft structure was actually the alphabet because it was the first time the ancient people had put together a structured way of how to present ideas, or how to write.

This section, “Hard and Soft Structures” also discusses how text is restructured, changed, and sometimes even rewritten so that it will make sense to the modern reader.  The first change is the actual writing space itself.  Bolter discusses how in ancient times things were written on papyrus.  And before the printing press was invented, scribes wrote down text by hand on paper.  The final evolution is the technological evolution of writing spaces.  Bolter says that is evolution is inevitable because the writing space must evolve with the times so that the reader may understand it.  

Writing spaces have grown and changed over time.  Chapter 5, “The Electronic Book” of Writing Space discusses the evolution of writing spaces, specifically how the papyrus evolved into the codex.  Bolter says that the papyrus was the first form of the "book."  Papyrus were usually about 25 feet, but there length was not predetermined.  The author would simply write until he or she felt that their story was finished and then they would cut the papyrus.  Papyruses were also rolled like a scroll, not bound.  Stories were a large part of the culture at that time and papyrus rolls were the most effective way to transcribe the stories that were being told.  Storytelling was the main form of entertainment and so papyruses were mainly scripts that storytellers would use.

Writing was not done in a sequential order, but at random.  Other works could be added before, during, or after the papyrus was written.  Writers wrote as much as they wanted on a papyrus because one’s space was not predetermined and the author could write with no stopping point.  All of these elements of papyrus writing changed how the writer wrote because ideas were not continuous, writing was never stopped, and other works could be referenced or added.  

The shift from papyrus to codexes not only was a change of physical writing space, but also a change in the way humans wrote.  This is because people began to have an interest in writing down more complete thoughts and ideas.  Also, society wanted to transcribe information and facts onto paper and this could be more easily done in a codex.  Because the writing space changed the way the author thought, the way the author wrote ultimately changed as well.  This is mainly because a codex was more complete and other works could not be referenced or added to it.  Writing now had to be planned and organized before the writer began to write because the codex had pages bound together with a cover.  The codex eventually evolved into today’s modern book. 

Codexes replaced papyrus because they were more complete and bound together.  They protected and limited writing and made written work a complete verbal structure.  They were different from papyrus rolls because they had to fill predetermined space.  Codexes also closed off other works because they were only one story long where papyrus rolls would sometimes include other works. 

After papyruses and codexes, writing spaces finally developed and changed with electronic age with the introduction of WebPages and eBooks.  WebPages remind the reader of the days of papyrus.  This is because WebPages are not sequential and can be changed and added to.  The use of hypertext on WebPages makes the website multi-dimensional and not chronological.  Chapter 3 of Writing Space by Bolter, "Hypertext and the Remediation of Hypertext," defines hypertext, discusses the existence of hypertext, and the difference between hypertext and regular text.  The chapter describes hypertext as being a link on a webpage that can create relationships between different things.  Hypertext creates a network.  It can take the reader on a path, from one idea to another.  Also hypertext and WebPages are very different from today’s modern book.  Books give the reader control, but not as much imagination.  Hypertext can enhance the imagination and overall experience for the reader.  The new invention of the eBook takes the modern book digital.  Society had moved to the electronic age, and so the writing spaces have had to change to fit this new era.

Another comparison of how writing spaces can change the way the author creates is verbal text versus written text.  Verbal text may seem like an unusual form of writing, but all speech can be written down as it is being said, so it can be considered writing.  In fact, the contrast of spoken text and written text strongly demonstrates how writing spaces can change.  The writing space of written text is obviously on wherever it is written, but the writing space of oral text is much more complex.  The writing space for verbal text is the listener’s ear.

Chapter 6, “Refashioned Dialogues” of Writing Space talks about the differences between spoken and written text.  The chapter discusses the variation in the thought processes of the written philosopher, Plato, and the oral philosopher, Socrates.  Bolter says, “It may be harder to hoodwink a reader than a listener because the reader can stop at anytime, reflect, and refer to a previous section of the text” (Bolter 102).  Plato was a written philosopher and he wrote all of his theories down, his readers could interpret or use his text any way they wished.  This frustrated Plato because his teacher, Socrates, was an oral philosopher.  Socrates could easily convince his audience because he could guide a path for his listeners to follow.  His listeners would never argue or challenge Socrates’ oral teachings because they we were so easily convinced by his speeches.  The reader can control how the information is interpreted when the text is written.  “The question of control can be posed in the absence of writing…” (Bolter 101) and thus Plato had to understand that the reader might read his philosophies in the wrong way.  Because the reader has the control, Plato and all other written speakers, must analyze what they are writing down.  The difference of written and oral text shows how the change in writing space can change the way in which a person writes.

            So why does the change of writing space change the way we think and vice versa?  To analyze this one must know why writing is so important.  Writing has always been the most effective way for humans to communicate and remember events, although the way society uses writing has changed over generations.  It was first used as a way of remembering stories, facts and events.  As humans became more advanced, their writing became much more developed as well.  Society began to not only want to remember stories and events, but also to write down their thoughts, hopes and dreams.  Philosophers like Plato and Socrates began to both write and speak about their philosophies.  Spoken and written texts now became the newest forms of writing spaces, but these two forms were so different that they often challenged each other.  Plato, the written philosopher, and Socrates, the oral philosopher, both differed in what they felt a writing space was.  Writing was now used differently than it was when it was first developed.

These changes in writing forced writing spaces to change as well.  Over time the writing space has changed and developed to fit the times.  Because the way that we communicate, think, and write changes, our writing spaces must change as well.  Papyrus rolls and scrolls served a different purpose than codexes and books.  New forms of writing spaces were invented because they needed to most effectively record what people were writing at that time.  The modern WebPages and eBooks are the newest forms of writing spaces.  They make writing and information accessible to everyone, anywhere and at anytime. 

The great American author Truman Capote once said, “A writing space is not a physical place, but a place inside your imagination.”  Capote is referring to the writing space in one’s mind.  This writing space is where one’s stories, philosophies, ideas and thoughts are created.  After the author creates writing in his or her head, he or she must leave that writing space to enter another writing space, the physical writing space.  The development of human’s means of communication affects the way in which human kind thinks.  The way that human kind thinks affects the way humans write, and finally these developments influence the physical writing space.  The way that society thinks and communicates changes the way that they write on their writing spaces.

Bibliography

Bolter, J. David. Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Print.

Maisel, Eric. A Writer's Space: Make Room to Dream, to Work, to Write,. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2008. Print.

Truman Capote. Web. 25 Apr. 2011. <http://www.capotebio.com/index.php>.

Chapter 6 "Refashioned Dialogues" Prezi

http://prezi.com/f3p8kr9zbxo6/copy-of-chapter-6-refashioned-dialogues/

Interesting Video About LANGUAGE

"Writing Space" by J. David Bolter Chapter 5, "The Electronic Book"

This prezi on Chapter 5 was extremely well organized.  It had light blue, pink, and white writing on a dark gray background.  The points made flowed from one to another by arrows.  The physical arrows from one point to anther helped the viewer to organize the points in his or her own head.  The prezi itself was also not as zoomed in as most of the other projects. When the presenter had one specific quote from "Writing Space" on the screen, you could still see the other points because it was zoomed out.  I feel as though this was a weakness because it did not make the viewer solely focus on just that point.  This prezi also did not include as many examples.  It only had one example which was a YouTube video that discussed the difference of eBooks vs. printed books.  More examples could have helped explain the presentation.  Some of the presentations strengths included its extreme organization.  Also, it was almost theatrical in the way it was "presented," or shall I say, "performed!"  The presentations were very well prepared and they presented the information very well.

 1.    1. How is a codex different from a modern-day book?

2.     2. Is a web page never ending with no closure, like a papyrus roll?

3.     3. Which is more authentic? The eBook or the book?

4.     4. Are electronic encyclopedias or text encyclopedias more useful?

5.     5. Will physical libraries not exist in the future?

6.     6. Will people stop finding information they need in printed books?      

This presentation begin and ended with the same quote from Bolter's "Writing Space."  This quote was, "They are writing in and on the world."  This quote refers to how all writing spaces are important and utilized in today's society.  The beginning of the presentation discussed how the book has changed throughout time.  The papyrus roll was the first form of the "book."  Papyrus rolls were about 25 feet long and were cut after the author was done writing them.  They were scripts that story tellers would use.  Papyrus rolls then developed into codexes.  A codex was a cousin to today's modern book.  Codexes replaced papyrus because they were more complete and bound together.  They protected and delimited writing and made written work a complete verbal structure.  They were different from papyrus rolls because they had to fill predetermined space.  Codexes also closed off other works because they were only one story long.  Then the prezi discussed the chnages that "books" have made throughout time.  The shift goes as follows: papyrus->codex->book->eBook.  eBooks seem like they are close to the papyrus rolls because they can scroll up and down, like a papyrus can roll.  Lastly, the encyclopedia was a new invention that took all information and put it into one place.  The encyclopedia became one of the first books to not read all the way through.  It became a benchmark to hold all credited facts and sources.  Britannica was one of the first printed encyclopedias, but it also became electronic to fit with the modern times.  The presentation ended by saying that cyber space will become the universal book, encyclopedia, and library all in one.

"Writing Space" by J. David Bolter Chapter 4, "The Breakout of the Visual"

The prezi physically was a black background with all of the text in white writing.  Within the text there was also examples that included a graph and a picture.  The main strength of this project was its organization.  The presenters organized the prezi very well and each presenter’s points flowed nicely with the other presenters.  Also, the examples used in the prezi were helpful and beneficial to the audience.  The examples included helped explain the points in the prezi.  Some weaknesses include that the prezi itself was sometimes hard to read and sometimes the prezi had some repetition.  Some of the text in the prezi was too small to read and the black background made the text sometimes ard to read.  Also, the presenters sometimes repeated each other, and sometimes their points seemed to be repetitive as well.  Overall, the presentation was effective and informative.

1.     How do books with no pictures have “visuals?”

2.     What exactly are electronic magazines?

3.     How is email not electronically advanced?  Can’t emails link videos and visuals?

4.     If graphs include text then how are they visuals?

5.     How is a “metaphor” in a book considered a visual description?

6.     Are we going back to the medieval times with how we write because we now often include visuals within our writing like that did in the medieval times.

This presentation made many points about how text can be considered visual.  Printed text in the Medieval Ages was very different than it is today.  Text at this time included many pictures and visuals around the actual text.  Although, Bolter says that print is remaking itself to be more like these medieval texts.  Newspapers, like USA Today, include a lot of pictures and visuals.  These pictures enhance the visual experience and give a more behind the scene look to what the reader is reading.  Another example of something that is purely visual and does not require many words are graphs.  Graphs have few words, but they visually make their point without needing a lot of writing and paragraphs.  Bolter explains that text can also make visuals through the use of metaphors and descriptions within text.  Text is also developing into visual work.  Books that are made into movies are a perfect example of this.  Also, the use of “Ekphrasis” transforms readers into viewers.  Electronically (we obviously have to reference the electronic age because we are reading Bolter!) books are being changed from purely textual electronic books to combined visual and textual electronic magazines.  The hypermedia is now replacing the hypertext.  

"Writing Space" by J. David Bolter Chapter 3, "Hypertext and the Remediation of Hypertext"

What I Heard in the Telephone Game: "Thinking Critically about the Bolter Text"

The lay out of the Prezi was a dark blue background with white text.  There was one YouTube video that was a satirical look at hypertexts.  The text was all bullets points with many direct quotations from "Writing Space" by Bolter.  One huge strength in this prezi was the real examples of web pages that had hypertext. Showing these examples from the actual websites "Wikipedia" and "ebay" really showed what hypertexts look like within real web pages.  A second huge strength was that the presenters used so many direct quotes from the chapter.  These quotations made the text come alive for audience and made them focus on how the presentation directly related to the text.  It also showed that the presenters really read the chapter and analyzed it.  This was impressive.  Lastly, the prezi was organized very well and it “flowed” very nicely.  One weakness of the"prezi" was that there were spelling mistakes!  For a presentation on hypertext and the advantages of technology, it was annoying that some words were spelled wrong!  The Internet can help correct spelling and it was not utilized fully.  Another weakness was that the presenters were sometimes unprofessional while presenting.  It was distracting and made the audience not fully focus on the information being presented.

         The point of Chapter 3 of “Writing Space by J. David Bolter, "Hypertext and the Remediation of Hypertext" was to discuss what hypertext is, the existence of hypertext and the difference between hypertext and regular text.  The presenter’s describes hypertext as being a link on a webpage that can create relationships between different things.  Hypertext creates a network.  It can take the reader on a path, from one idea to another.  This presentation also contrasted books and web pages.  Books give the reader control, but not as much imagination.  Hypertext can enhance the imagination and overall experience for the reader.  This chapter highlights the importance of hypertexts. 

Can there be hypertext within books?  (Not just in the index of the book or in "Make Your Own Adventure" books, but actually within the writing in the book like you would see within a web page.)  Is hypertext easier or more challenging than regular text?  How is hypertext a path when it really can take the reader in so many different non-sequential directions?  Can hypertext be more effective to proving arguments than regular text?  What can hypertexts do that books cannot?  Does hypertext or books give the reader more control?

"In the dark" Blog

5. One time when language has gotten my something I really, really wanted was when I convinced my parents to take me on vacation to Italy.  The story goes as follows: When I was younger my parents and I lovd to go out to eat to Bertucci’s.  Sitting in the authetic Italian feeling of of Bertucci’s I decided that I really wanted ot travel to Italy.  My parents have always been huge yravlers and so I knew they would bo on board (a pun haha).  I first mentioned it to my dad on a car ride to dance class.  He was very intrigued!  He talked ot my mom and on our next Bertucci’s dinner night out, they brought up the subject.  The onbeance of t Bertucci’s and the delicious Italian food created the perfect environment for my argument.  I used produing and storytelling to convince them!

My arguments worked and my parent and I went to Italy that year.  To be honest Ive always been kind of a daddy’s gir, so I knew my idea would not be hard to convince him.  The vacation was one of the best of my life and it was the first real vacation I LOVED.  Without language I couldn’t have gone!

Response to Professor Lay's Prezi on Bolter's Chapter 1

This electronic space refashions and redesigns its predecessors in a big way.  Prezi's change everything about the printed word.  They have almost no restrictions and their movability makes them easily changeable.  By being able to flip, travel, change, reorder, and spin the presentation the presenter can communicate their information different every time.  This is an improvement from the printed text because not only is it digital, but it can be changed in an instant.  This reordering improves how we, as the presenters or the authors, can present our information.  This is because we can communicate our information completely different every time because we are not presenting it left to right, page by page.

Bolter's "Writing Space" Response

In Bolter's Chapter 2, "Writing as Technology," he discusses the evolution of writing surfaces or spaces in his section titled, "Hard and Soft Structures."  This section discusses how text is restructured, changed, and sometimes even rewritten so that it will make sense to the modern reader.  The first change is the actual writing space itself.  Bolter discusses how in ancient times things were written on papyrus.  And before the printing press was invented, scribes wrote down text by hand on paper.  The final evolution is the technological evolution of writing spaces.  Bolter says that is evolution is inevitable because the writing space must evolve with the times so that the reader may understand it.  This also correlates to what is being written.  Old texts are translated, so modern audiences can comprehend and read them.  Although, these texts are often translated to "fit the times" and translators often change, restructure and rewrite them.  These are all considered hard structures because they are "tangible qualities of the materials of writing" (Bolter).  Bolter explains soft structures as being how we present our text visually.  The way we present our writing has evolved as well.  Bolter says that we have introduced grammar, punctuations, paragraphing, and chapter divisions so that the modern reader can more easily read the text.  The very first example of a soft structure was actually the alphabet because it was the first time the ancient people had put together a structured way of how to present ideas, or how to write.  I find Bolter's explanations of hard and soft structures to be very interesting.  Like most things, even writing must change with the times.  To look at the drastic change writing structures and materials have taken over time is exciting.  What will happen in the future?

Ink Shedding on "Stich Bitch"

In "Stich Bitch" Shelley Jackson discusses the idea of whether a part can be as impressive or important as a whole?  She is wondering if the different parts of a whole can be as powerful as the whole itself?  A quote from the text that states this says "...just because I advocate dispersal doesn't mean I'm as impressed by a pile of sawdust as I am by a tree, a ship, a boat."  These "parts" are all connected to create the whole, but indeed they have no direct bearing on a the whole.  Saw dust can be considered boring and a radically fragmented component of a tree.  The beauty of this constraint is the way that a small space can be filed to meet a strict limit.  Another example of a constraint is in our own writing and speaking.  Constraints are a part of our lingual expression whether we know it or not.  We can only make use of 26 letters and our own personal vocabulary.  Although, constraints can limit the creativness of a writer or an artist, they can also help one work faster and push him or herself.  A dancer can dance and create only after learning the constrained form, the technique.  This technique, or constraint, is vital and cannot be ignored or skipped!

"A Brief Version of Time" By Alan Lightman

I just thought this was interesting...

Suppose that people live forever.

Strangely, the population of each city splits in two: the Laters and the Nows.

The Laters reason that there is no hurry to begin their classes at the university, to learn a second language, to read Voltaire or Newton, to seek promotion in their jobs, to fall in love, to raise a family. In endless time, all things can be accomplished. Thus all things can wait. Indeed, hasty actions breed mistakes. And who can argue with their logic? The Laters can be recognized in any shop or promenade. They walk an easy gait and wear loose-fitting clothes. They take pleasure in reading whatever magazines are open or rearranging furniture in their homes, or slipping into conversation the way a leaf falls from a tree. The Laters sit in cafes sipping coffee and discussing the possibilities of life.

The Nows note that with infinite lives, they can do all they can imagine. They will have an infinite number of careers, they will marry an infinite number of times, they will change their politics infinitely. Each person will be a lawyer, a bricklayer, a writer, an accountant, a painter, a physician, a farmer. The Nows are constantly reading new books, studying new trades, new languages. In order to taste the infinities of life, they begin early and never go slowly. And who can question their logic? The Nows are easily spotted. They are the owners of the cafes, the college professors, the doctors and nurses, the politicians, the people who rock their legs constantly whenever they sit down. They move through a succession of lives, eager to miss nothing. When two Nows chance to meet at the hexagonal pilaster of the Zahringer Fountain, they compare the lives they have mastered, exchange information, and glance at their watches. When two Laters meet at the same location, they ponder the future and follow the parabola of the water with their eyes.

The Nows and Laters have one thing in common. With infinite life comes an infinite list of relatives. Grandparents never die, nor do great-grandparents, great-aunts and great-uncles, great-great-aunts, and so on, back through the generations, all alive and offering advice. Sons never escape from the shadows of their father. Nor do daughters of their mothers. No one ever comes into his own.

When a man starts a business, he feels compelled to talk it over with his parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, ad infinitum, to learn from their errors. For no new enterprise is new. All things have been attempted by some antecedent in the family tree. Indeed, all things have been accomplished. But at a price. For in such a world, the multiplication of achievements is partly divided by the diminishment of ambition.

And when a daughter wants guidance from her mother, she cannot get it undiluted. Her mother must ask her mother, who must ask her mother, and so on forever. Just as sons and daughters cannot make decisions themselves, they cannot turn to parents for confident advice. Parents are not the source of certainty. There are one million sources.

Where every action must be verfified one million times, life is tentative. Bridges thrust halfway over rivers and then abruptly stop. Buildings rise nine stories high but have no roofs. The grocer's stocks of ginger, salt, cod, and beef change with every change of mind, every consultation. Sentences go unfinished. Engagements end just days before weddings. And on the avenues and streets, people turn their heads and peer behind their backs, to see who might be watching.

Such is the cost of immortality. No person is whole. No person is free. Over time, some have determined that the only way to live is to die. In death, a man or a woman is free of the weight of the past. These few souls, with their dear relatives looking on, dive into Lake Constance or hurl themselves from Monte Lema, ending their infinite lives. In this way, the finite has conquered the infinite, millions of autumns have yielded to no autumns, millions of snowfalls have yielded to no snowfalls, millions of admonitions have yielded to none.

-Alan Lightman

February 8th, 1993

SO COOL

Response to Sample R

I strongly disagree with Sample R's response.  In this response the writer states that images do not need to occur subsequently, but writing does.  I feel as though both modes of communication must be specifically sequenced.  Images cannot be randomly placed in any order simply because then they will not successfully argue their point.  In fact, one must place images in a specific order or they will never prove their point.  Sample R states that "One doesn't have to look at image A to understand image B and so on and so forth."  I feel that this is not true and realistic.  Images must be placed in a specific order to made them understandable.  In many of the visual arguments shown in class, one picture was the "turning point" of the visual production.  This one image swayed the audience to believe and accept the creator's argument.  If that one image was placed randomly in the montage the argument would have not made sense.  Both visual arguments and written arguments need flawless organization to prove their point correctly.  The "big picture" or "big idea" of an argument is not nearly as strong as the specific yes or no argument.

"Writing Space" by Jay David Bolter Chapter One Response

This chapter, the Introduction, discusses the evolution from the printed words, like books, to electronic texts, like computers.  This chapter compares books versus electronic devices.  It discusses which "writing space" is better for the reader.  While I was reading this chapter all I could think about was how dated the text was!  It brought up the possibility of inventing a reader that would be like a small computer combined with a physical book.  This "device" is a Kindle!  Also, it talks about the probability of having a device on lecterns that one could write on lightly with a pen instead of typing.  This also exists!  Reading that these devices could be possibilities for the future was so funny and interesting.  The argument between whether printed or electronic text is better is very hard for me to not take a biased side on.  Since, I have grown up in a world that is so electronic I usually always side for the more technologically advanced side in these type of arguments.  I do respect and appreciate the printed word, but computer and Kindles can do more things that books will never be able to do.  Also, the world is moving in this direction so way not move with it?

Taylor Mali's Poem "Like You Know"

I first watched Mali perform his poem, then I saw the text version.  As I was watching the text, I found my mind drifting to Mali performing it.  Because I did this I know that I appreciate and relate to Mali's performance better than the text.  The text was helpful, but not enough for me.  Hearing a poem read ALWAYS helps me!  As a dancer, I need the gestures, the costume of the Scrabble t-shirt, the quirky voice and pregnant pauses.  Who else knows how to read a poem, then the poet him or herself?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCNIBV87wV4

http://www.taylormali.com/index.cfm?webid=9

"Stitch Bitch: the patchwork girl" by Shelley Jackson

I just want to start this by saying I was confused in every way with this reading.  I honestly couldn't exactly figure out what she was trying to say or prove because her writing was so backwards and unclear at times.  On that note, here's my attempt...

GAPS, LEAPS

You won't get where you think you're going.

A conventional novel is a safe ride. It is designed to catch you up, propell you down its track, and pop you out at the other end with possibly a few new catchphrases in your pocket and a pleasant though vague sense of the scenery rushing by. The mechanism of the chute is so effective, in fact, that it undoes the most worthy experiments; sentences that ought to stop you in your tracks are like spider webs across the chute. You rip through, they're gone.

Hypertext likes give and take, snares and grottos, nets and knots. It lacks thrust. It will always lack thrust; thrust is what linear narrative is good at. As far as I'm concerned, we can trust thrust to it. It means we'll need other reasons to keep readers reading--assuming that's what we want--than a compulsion to find out what happens next. There's no question that hypertext will lose or never acquire those readers for whom a fated slalom toward the finish line is the defining literary experience; hypertext's not built for that. Probably it is because linear text's so well-built for it that it has become the dominant narrative style in the novel. But there are other reasons to read. I can be caught in that slalom myself, but I emerge feeling damp, winded and slightly disgusted. It is a not entirely pleasant compulsion disguised as entertainment, like being forced to dance by a magic fiddle. It becomes harder and harder to imagine going anywhere but just where you're going, and words increasingly mean just what they say. (Common sense reality does the same thing: there is little opportunity for poetic ambiguity in the dealings of everyday life.) Plot chaperones understanding, cuts off errant interpretations. Reading a well-plotted novel I start by knowing less than I know about my own life, and being open to far more interpretations, which makes me feel inquisitive and alive. I finish by knowing more than I want to know, stuck on one meaning like a bug on a pin.

In a text like this, gaps are problematic. The mind becomes self-conscious, falters, forgets its way, might choose another way, might opt out of this text into another, might "lose the thread of the argument," might be unconvinced. Transitional phrases smooth over gaps, even huge logical gaps, suppress contradiction, whisk you past options. I noticed in school that I could argue anything. I might find myself delivering conclusions I disagreed with because I had built such an irresistable machine for persuasion. The trick was to allow the reader only one way to read it, and to make the going smooth. To seal the machine, keep out grit. Such a machine can only do two things: convince or break down. Thought is made of leaps, but rhetoric conducts you across the gaps by a cute cobbled path, full of grey phrases like "therefore," "extrapolating from," "as we have seen," giving you something to look at so you don't look at the nothing on the side of the path. Hypertext leaves you naked with yourself in every leap, it shows you the gamble thought is, and it invites criticism, refusal even. Books are designed to keep you reading the next thing until the end, but hypertext invites choice. Writing hypertext, you've got to accept the possibility your reader will just stop reading. Why not? The choice to go do something else might be the best outcome of a text. Who wants a numb reader/reader-by-numbers anyway? Go write your own text. Go paint a mural. You must change your life. I want piratical readers, plagiarists and opportunists, who take what they want from my ideas and knot it into their own arguments. Or even their own novels. From which, possibly, I'll steal it back.

Jackson is discussing how a novel is completely different from a hyperlink.  A hypertext is spontaneous and unpredictable.  Jackson describes a novel as being perfectly formulated the same every time.  The first paragraph of this section describes this.  I love how Jackson explains a novel.  Especially when she says "It is designed to catch you up, propell you down its track, and pop you out at the other end with possibly a few new catchphrases in your pocket and a pleasant though vague sense of the scenery rushing by."  This phrase reminds me of reading a novel by someone like Nicholas Sparks.  His books are all very similar, but so familiar in how they are formulated that it is a comfort for the devoted reader of his novels.  On the opposite end of the spectrum is hypertext.  It is not safe and predictable like novels, but different.  This different, as Jackson explains, is sometimes good although not what is most common in literature because novels are.

CONSTRAINTS & THE BOOK

It's not all you think it is.

I have no desire to demolish linear thought, but to make it one option among many. Likewise, I'd like to point out that the book is not the Natural Form it has become disguised as by its publicists. It is an odd machine for installing text in the reader's mind and it too was once an object of wonder. Turning the page, for example, has become an invisible action, because it has no meaning in most texts, the little pause it provides is as unreflective as breathing, but if we expected something different, or sought to interpret the gap, we might find ourselves as perplexed by that miniature black-out as by any intrusive authorial device we get exercised about in experimental literature or hypertext. Similarly, the linear form of the novel is not a natural evolutionary end, but a formal device, an oulipian constraint, albeit one with lots of elbow-room. Like all constraints, it generates its own kinds of beauty, from graceful accession to linearity to the most prickly resistance. My favorite texts loiter, dawdle, tease, pass notes, they resist the linear, they pervert it. It's the strain between the literal and the implied form that's so seductive, a swoon in strait laces that's possibly sexier than a free-for-all sprawl. Constraints do engender beauty, Oulipo and evolution prove that, but maybe we've shown well enough how gracefully we can heel-toe in a straight line. We can invent new constraints, multiple ones. I think we will: just because I advocate dispersal doesn't mean I'm as impressed by a pile of sawdust as I am by a tree, a ship, a book. But let us have books that squirm and change under our gaze, or tilt like a fun-house floor and spill us into other books, whose tangents and asides follow strict rules of transformation, like a crystal forming in a solution, or which consist entirely of links, like spider-webs with no corpses hanging in them. Language is the Great Unruly, and alphabetical order is a contradiction in terms.

Jackson is defending linear thought in this section which is odd because in the previous section I have quoted here she seems to claim that she enjoys hypertext more than linear thought.  Jackson's argument in this section, as well as in the previous one, about linear thought is that it is simply so "classic" that it is still helpful.  She describes how the thoughtless act of flipping a page while reading a book is so natural that if we stopped to think about it, we might become baffled why it is so natural.  As much as Jackson likes and supports hypertext, she still realizes how important linear thought is and always will be.  

So, I hope I did this right!  I tried to take apart each section, piece by piece, and interpret it!

Wordle.net (I Used My Blog URL)

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/3272843/My_Blog

Four Letter Word Project: Fire

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/auth_preview?work_id=14189828&autoplay

Here is the link to my Four Letter Word Project.  I hope it works and you can view it.


I used onetruemedia.com to make this montage.  It was fairly easy to use once I explored it a little bit.  I also used Garageband on my Mac to overlap and cut the music.  I've never used Garage Band before and I found it kind of complicated.  I love music, but I've never been into creating or editing it, so it was hard to do.  All in all creating this project was pretty easy and very fun to do.  I hope you can view the link!

Shift of Idea- "The Problem of Describing Trees" by Rober Hass

In Hass's poem, "The Problem of Describing Trees" his original idea shifts at this point in the poem: "And the trees danced.  No.  The tree capitalized.  No.  There are limits to saying, In language, what the tree did."  The rest of the poem also discusses this change in proposition, but this portion of the poem is the best example of this.  The beginning of the poem discusses the leaves fluttering on the tree and the aspen, itself, glittering in the wind, etc. etc.  This part of the poem is ridiculously "poemy."  It is so descriptive and beautiful, just like most poems are.  After all, poets are usually writers who are creative and hate academic writing, like essays.  Hass even addresses this by saying in his poem, "It is good sometimes for poetry to disenchant us.  Dance with me, dancer.  Oh, I will."  He is saying that poetry usually has an enchanting factor.  Also, this "dancer" Hass is referring to is the reader.  Hass is suggesting that poets often ask the reader to become enchanted by his or her poem.  Hass's switch in his poem is obvious because he says, "No."  At first he begins to describe the tree, and then he stops himself.  He says (in some many words) "Hello I can't describe this tree because there is no language for that I could use to describe it!"

Free Write February 28, 2011 One

Q: Do you think it's odd or peculiar that the telephone as cell phone (so named for its design as a purveyor of "phon" - sound) has been adapted to purvey text as image? Why do you imagine this change has occurred?

Because I have grown up in the technological age of texting and cellphones, I am so accustomed to writing and receiving text messages on my cell phone, rather than calling.  When I first got my cellphone in seventh grade I right away was signed up for a texting plan.  Because of this I do not find it odd or peculiar that cell phones have been adapted to purvey text as image.  I am a supporter of texting because it is so much more convenient.  This change has occurred because the point of technology is really to make the user's life easier.  This is why texting was created.  When picking up your phone and calling someone is too time consuming because you just have a quick thing to say, texting is the answer.  

On a side note: Usually we listen to music while we free write in class and I get very distracted and to be honest slightly annoyed.  But today when we listened to Santana while writing this, I found it enjoyable because Santana sings in Spanish.  I wasn't distracted by the English being sung as I usually am.

Free Write February 28, 2011 Two (Winter Syntax by Billy Collins)

A sentence starts out like... a good, long run.  First you start off thinking, "wow I really do not want to run three miles, but I know it is good for me and I'm at the gym so I might as well."  Then after that first lap around the track, you're off.  You let your mind roam and you think about things, while your legs just put themselves one in front of the other.  You do not even think about what you are doing physically.  All of these thoughts that you have are the sentence.  The ideas and themes in your head while you run, are the words you write or type in your sentence.  And then you finish that good, long run by sprinting to the finish, or while writing, by closing up that magnificent sentence.  The finish line is your period at the end of your sentence.  And then as you look back at your run, you congratulation yourself and think "I will run longer next time and continually get better."  This is your revision of your sentence.  Maybe you change a few things in the sentence, but in the long run your sentences will just continue to get better and better.

Free Write February 28, 2011 Three (A Painful Glimpse into my Writing Process; In 60 Seconds by Chel White)

"Mouths reciting 'Old Man and the Sea' by Hemingway"- This image is interesting because writing is always thought of as a non-verbal form of communication.  But sometimes, or all the time it doesn't have to be like that.  I often say out loud what I am reading or writing because hearing my voice can help me to retain what I am reading or trying to say while I am writing.

"Making a Sandwich"- This image of the parts of the sandwich being spiraled down a deep hole was very hypnotic to watch.  But I wasn't sure what this had to do with the "writing process."  Is the sandwich making or eating helping the writer write?  I'm not sure, I felt this image was kind of random.

"Driving Off a Cliff"- This is definitely a strong image about what it feels like to write!  He even says something along the lines of "I drive my car off a cliff to kill myself."  Wow!  So that is what writing feels like to you Chel White?  I can almost relate to this because sometimes certain things that I have to write I absolutely do not want to write at all.  When I go into writing a paper or an essay thinking like this, the process can feel like driving a car off a cliff. But unlike, Chel White I sometimes never find that central idea before I fall down the cliff.  Sometimes I feel like I write a paper that literally sounds like I have fallen off the cliff.  But honestly I'm okay with that.  If I don't like the topic I'm suppose to write about and I can't really "get into it" I probably will write a paper like that this.

My Responses to My Peers Billy Collins Questions

From Daniel's Blog:
Q: Did you purposely choose to make some of your metaphors ridiculous?
My Answer: I think that Billy Collins definitely made some of his metaphors ridiculous.  The point of his poem was to poke fun at the poem he was "mimicking" and so his metaphors had to be over the top.  The ideas and objects that Collins compares in the metaphors in "Litany" are so over-the-top to make his point.  His point being that love poems, especially the one he is re-writing, are usually absurd and ridiculous.  

From Haley's Blog:
Q. Was the purpose of the poem for a laugh, or something deeper?
My Answer: All poems must have a meaning and a purpose for the poet to write them.  I personally feel as though this poem's purpose is solely for a laugh.  The way that Billy Collins reads his poem, "Litany" is completely sarcastic and monotone.  Because of how Collins reads "Litany" I am almost positive he wrote this poem for a laugh.  Also, the poem itself is full of ridiculous metaphors and absurd proclaims of love for the poet's subject.  The way the poem is written also shows that Collins wrote this poem for a laugh.  

From Alison's Blog:
Q: Were you trying to gain a positive or negative response from the audience?
My Answer: This is an interesting question because Collins poem could really get a positive or negative reaction from the reader depending on who the person is that is reading it.  I think that Collins was trying to gain a positive  responsive from his audience by trying to make them laugh about how ridiculous some love poems can be.  His poem filled with metaphors and proclaims of love that seem like they have are written by a lovesick teenager.  The poem itself arises a feeling of humor and playfulness out of whoever is reading it.

Six Things That Moved Me to "Tears"- Positively and Negatively (Take Two)

"It Gives You Wings" Essay:

Likes:
1. I LOVED that you brought up our nation in the first paragraph instead of bringing up the product right away.
2. "Our nation dances to the beat of a fast drum." -I loved that sentence, set the energetic "dancing" mood of the whole essay
3. loved the point that Red Bull logo/name=power
4. The quotes you took from the Red Bull website were so interesting
5. Including Drank in your essay was such a great idea because it showed how our society does not want this kind of drink they want Red Bull
6. The comparison between the "Door Close" button and Red Bull was a nice touch

Dislikes:
1. The 6th paragraph included too much run-on sentences and comma splices
2. Sometimes having many sources became confusing for the reader
3. Discussing the "subject" of the "object" more would have been more informative
4. Talking about personal experience would add more
5. Some quotes/facts you included seemed a little off topic and "all over the place" for the reader
6. Using more verbs about flying and having wings would create a nice flow and focus within the essay

Six Things That Moved Me to Tears- Positively and Negatively (Take One)

Apple's iPod: I've Got the World on a String (Shaped Earphone Chord):


Loved:
1. Discussing the "hipness" of the iPod- plus I loved the word hipness that the author made up!
2. Bringing up "What iPod are you?
3. iPod's simplicity makes it the best
4. Podcasts- I sometimes forget how helpful they can be
5. I loved the cool, "hipster language" you invented/used
6. Facts at the beginning added a nice touch!

Did Not Love:
1. Grammatical Errors! Made the essay hard to read!
2. Talked too much about the product itself and the "facts" about the product
3. Run-Sentences made it tedious to read at times
4. Some paragraphs were also too long!  They could be split up to be better.
5. Sometimes used too much "technical language" which made it hard to understand
6. Did not seem personal- no personal stories about the author using an iPod

Billy Collin's "Litany"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Iq3PbSWZY

This is the link to watch Bill Collins read his poem!

Questions Involving Billy Collin's "Love" Poem

1. Why did you choose to write your "love" poem in such a sarcastic way?
2. Where did you find your inspiration for some of the metaphors you used?
3. Why did you choose to use all metaphors in your poem?
4. Why did you switch back and forth from talking about your "lover" to yourself?
5. What kind of punctuation did you use in your poem?
6. Was your poem organized in stanzas or in lines?

More Than Just Paper

I love the idea of arguing my essay topic in a different way from just typing my essay on Word.  My essay topic is Four Loko.  In my paper I open with a "scene" that makes the reader imagine that they are at a party and are so incredibly drunk that they have no idea what is going on.  I state that the reader has drank a Four Loko that night.  And so, to "recreate" this "scene" from the beginning of my paper I would plan on creating a skit for the class to help them visual the feeling I am trying to portray in my opening paragraph.  The feeling I am really trying to express in this scene is the emotions of an innocent, drunk person who has drank the first Four Loko of his or her life because their friend gave it to them.  The person is hazy about their night and looking around a party not knowing where their friends are.  I would recreate this in a skit to perform for the class using other people as characters in the story.  After the skit, I would pass around samples of Four Loko so that the class would understand how bad Four Loko really does taste.  This is because parts of my paper discuss why a person would even want to drink this drink because it is so dangerous and tastes so bad.  The answer to that question is because our nation needs instant gratification and this "blackout in a can" can get a person obliterated and energetic all night long.

Give Me the Specifics

Today in class we played "The Shell Game."  While playing I realized that people guessed the correct shell faster and easier when the questions asked were more specific.  This is something that I think can really help in my own writing because sometimes when I use a more "creative" word it becomes too vague then the original word I wanted to use in the first place.  Sometimes the writer just needs to give his or her audience the specifics.

"Flight of the Kuaka" Response (Questions 3 & 4)

Don Staps article, "Flight of the Kuaka," includes information and quotes from two wildlife biologists, Nils Warnock and Bob Gill.  Staps incorporates this information about these men into his writing to make it more real and factual.  In the second paragraph he gives a biographcial background for Warnock by stating that he is "codirector of the Wetlands Ecology Division at California’s PRBO Conservation Science" (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1510).  In fifth paragraph he does the same for Gill by explaining that he is "a wildlife biologist at the Anchorage, Alaska, office of the United States Geological Survey (USGS)" (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1510).  Staps gives these small backgrounds to make sure the reader knows that the two men are learned in their study and can be trusted with what they say.  Just like a college student must always cite their sources, an author, especially an author of scientific material, must always give credit and backgrounds for the people they interview and quote from.  These biographical backgrounds of Warnock and Gill are used in the text to ensure that the reader knows that they are knowledgeable about the flight of the godwit birds.  

Staps also includes dialogue said by these two men within his article.  He only does this four times, but each time he does it adds variety and liveness to the text.  In the very first paragraph when Warnock is quoted as saying to Staps, "Don’t hold him too tightly," (http://www.allaboutbirds.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=1510) about the gotwit bird, it creates a picture and feeling for the reader.  Although, the quote is so small in the grand scheme of the article, it is so important to use quotes like this to make the reader feel as though the story is real and interesting.