Writing My Heart Out Without Seeing What I'm typing...Just A Black Screen and Words That Should Not Have Been Said

There are so many instances that I said or wrote something and regretted it later. The moments that stand out in my mind that I have said or written something I wish I hadn't are all due to me trusting people with personal information or feelings when I should have known better and just kept them to myself. People like to pretend though, having false pretenses about their intentions and friendships. You would think that someone you have known since you were six years old was someone that you could trust, but no. They didn't care about me or my feelings they just wanted to something good to talk about and use me like a gossip story like they did with everyone else they knew. So I regret telling them anything, and that's a lot. It's not like I said something mean to someone by accident or wish my Mom didn't overhear something I said. I wish that I can take back the truth I unleashed to those I saw as friends and I wish that I hadn't just let them know these things without being the slightest bit reluctant. But as much as I regret saying those things and sharing words that should have just been kept private, I can't help but think that I did myself a favor. How else would I have learned that certain people were not to be trusted? I would be stuck in the same rut that I was one year ago and so, although a part of me regrets those words, a part of me is thankful to myself for taking a situation that is quite unfortunate and seeing the positive influence it has had and will have on my life. So I went through some rough things like loosing close friends and finding out that they were not really being a friend. I think that it was worth my regret to be able to move forward to better things and people in my life.

How does this electronic space refashion its predecessor? How does it claim to improve on print's ability to make our thoughts visible and to constitute the lines of communication for our society?

Digital writing and mediums such as Microsoft word and apple's equivalent, pages changes the actual space that is being written in. When these processors were first invented, it was amazing that you could grab certain text and copy and paste it other places or rearrange the order of your words, sentences, and even full paragraphs. It improves the organization of our thoughts because we are able to go back and perfect the way our words come together to express whatever we are trying to communicate through the writing. This creates a better way of communication through writing within our society.

Bolter Ch. 2

          In chapter 2, Bolter focuses on defining technology and writing together. He wanted to make sure it was understood that writing is always changing but that there are underlying things about writing that technology could never really change. No matter what decade it is, "The writer always needs a surface on which to make his or her marks and a tool with which to make them, and these materials become part of the contemporary definition of writing"(Bolter 15,16). Bolter makes it clear that writing has developed throughout history through different means of technology from a printing press or Linotype machine to electric presses and computers. He explains how it requires different skills to writing with quill and parchment than to writing with a printing press than to write with a computer. Yet he finds a way to bring them together by claiming that, "all writing entails method, the intention of the writer [is] to arrange verbal ideas in a space for later examination by a reader"(16).

Sample S refute

Cliche images do not control the viewer's thoughts, but help lead them through the argument that is being stated. There is alway more than one way to send a message through an image so relying on a cliche visual is a conscious decision made by the author. I see it as the easy way out, the most reliable images are ones that you know a majority of your viewers will recognize and relate to what you are trying to say instead of loosing your main points. Whether an argument is simple or complicated does not matter in deciding to use cliche images. Hope can be expressed in an endless amount of ways and the choice to use an image such as a rainbow is an artistic opinion that clearly works because when the author thought of how to express hope after destruction of rain, they thought of a rainbow. The probability that your viewer will also make that connection is very high because it is something that everyone is aware of and it seems like it was the only positive image in the production according to the way the author talked about rain and destruction.  

Ink-shedding on "Stitch Bitch"

"Hypertext blurs the distinction between subject and object, matter and the absence of matter."

Hypertext enables a reader to interpret the meaning of the text they are reading, whichever way they would like causing a "blur" in the actual meaning of the text. Because of this, the reader has more control over what they are reading. They get to choose the meaning of the text and with hypertext it becomes difficult to distinguish between what the author is saying and what they are referencing. Through hypertext, different ideas can be brought together, crossing certain lines that were once looked down upon if crossed, therefore causing a blur between the subject of the text and the objective of the text.

Reading Quiz on Wednesday:  Prepare 6 - 10 bullet points on Bolter, ch. 1 for use in planning a prezi.  You might want to familiarize yourself further with prezi at prezi.com.

• text mediums have been changing since the stone age
• all kinds of communication are becoming digital and rely on computers
• writing for digital mediums may result in careless writing
• we as authors and readers still turn to books to find the most powerful and respected texts
• the late age of print is a transformation of the way we feel and use technology --> books and other printed texts in the late age of print are still common and enjoyable but they have a rival in the electronic world
• electronic writing is similar to printing as far as mechanically and accuracy are concerned, similar to handwriting because it is natural and evolutionary, and similar to hieroglyphics and picture writing because has a wide range visually

Bolter Ch.1

          Most of what Bolter had to say about the evolution of print is pretty obviously known. Like Bolter explained, the way text has been communicated throughout history has constantly changed from writing on stones to writing with ink on animal hyde to paper. Books were an innovation of their own time and, "Now, however, the distinction between lasting texts and pragmatic communication has broken down, and all kinds of communication are being digitized" (Bolter 2).
          Abnormal discourse can be productive because it is helping ideas be developed. Personally, when I'm given no direction whatsoever it is much more difficult for me to write something or come up with an idea or even just focus on doing an assignment than it is if I had some structure and direction. Guidelines help narrow the thinking process down. Otherwise I think too greatly, and have more difficulty creating something of substance. It's more productive to have some direction and goal in mind so abnormal discourse is definitely productive. Looking at this in connection to other points Bolter made, I see that abnormal discourse could possibly come in handy when dealing with the medium that you are writing with. Bolter talks about how, "The shift to the computer may make writing more flexible, but it also threatens the definition of good writing and careful reading that have developed in association with the technique of printing" (Bolter 4).

Stitch Bitch Response

BANISHED BODY
"It's not what we wish it were."
I'm easily confused by this writing style because the author contradicts what they're saying constantly to prove their arguments. What I took away from this section was that "the body" is something that we wish we could control but in reality have little control over it. It's constantly changing and it is in between being an object and a thought. The author refers to it as "the monkey in the middle" and that makes me envision a struggle between becoming a solid object or becoming a lucid thought. It is easily influenced by what surrounds it and comes in the form of a story or in smell and sight along with happiness and pain. 

"Its face is a collage of stories, borrowed images, superstitions, fantasies. We have no idea what it "really" looks like." This section ends by using the metaphor of a body-bag and how, like most junkyards, it holds the garbage, the stories, that will never be told.

REALITY FICTION
"It's not what it says it is."
Why does reality conquer over fiction? That doesn't seem right. Reality is a type of fiction. It shouldn't overpower it. Fiction can be many different categories and they each have their own standards and laws. 
Reality thinks it "includes" fiction, that fictional works are embedded in reality. It's the boast of a bully. But just "Every fictional world competes with the real one to some extent, but hypertext gives us the chance to sneak up on reality from inside fiction." It can be subtle by including links to non-fictional works which makes hypertext fiction create a separate text of reality in a fictional world. Reality relies on the feeling of security, like home. But as the author argues, "By writing we test the seams, pick out the stitches, trying to stretch the gaps between things to slip out through them into some uncharted space, or to let something spring up in the real that we don't already know, something unfamiliar, not part of the family, a changeling" so writers try to take reality and stretch it, distort it slightly to fit their needs and create realities that we may have never experienced but could encounter some day.

Four Letter Word Project

I keep getting and error when uploading. putting it on vimeo.

I wish I had more time to do this.

http://vimeo.com/20836198 

          For my visual four letter word argument, I chose the word risk. I wanted to start with images that showed literal meaning of risk and then transition into more specific examples that would support my argument: To achieve something great, you need to take a risk. I used a variety of examples to prove my claim such as: being a performer whether a dancer or a musician, or putting your heart on the line, more specifically proposing to someone, or choosing the right path to take to reach your goals. Images were grouped into categories of ways risk ends positively. Risking your life, risking your heart, risking your career, risking your art, and even risking your mind. 

I used Final-Cut Pro to edit it.

Taylor Mali

Blog this:  How does the form of the poem affect your apprehension and appreciation for it?


I watched the video that was all graphic design and animated text over the audio of Taylor Mali reading the poem. So when I watched the video of him actually performing it, I did not get the same impact. It was more effective for me to see the words while he was saying them. The animated text took initiative to help tell the story within the poem and was designed appropriately to exaggerate and push forward Mali's points. One part sticks out in my mind. When he asks "Where are the limbs at which we once walked" small foot-print like images surround the words that now resemble branches of a tree and the foot-prints look like leaves and as Mali speaks the words "chopped down" the tree is hit by the word chopped and falls to it's side. Creating visuals through text is an art form that I value because it is difficult but it can create such great meaning.

"The Problem of Describing Trees"

"And the tree danced. No.
The tree capitalized.
No. There are limits to saying,
In language, what the tree did."

It is very obvious that Robert Hass, the writer of this poem, finds it difficult to write what he saw from the tree's action in reality. He doesn't see how he could possibly describe the tree in a significant way. He says the tree danced and right away I see a trees branches swaying in the wind, slightly melodically, with a certain rhythm to it. But right away Hass takes it back and replaces danced with capitalized. This is so strange to me. Why would he use capitalized to describe the tree? Is the tree risking something to gain an advantage? Is the wind causing the tree to risk it's life because it is so windy that the tree could fall down or lose branches? Maybe that's it, and maybe the positive thing that the tree gained was  the beauty of it's leaves glistening in the sun because of the wind. But no, it doesn't make sense because it doesn't justify what the tree is doing and that's his point exactly.