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September 30, 2005

Morphology: The Words of Language

• Based on the specific examples above, do you have evidence that your brain might handle/learn/store function words different than content words? This question holds great validity and truth for me. After reading this chapter, I am convinced that the brain may handle/learn/store function words differently from content words. It just seems to make sense. We can turn content words upside down; add prefixes and suffixes to change the word into a completely different one with a completely different meaning. Function words do not have this ability. They are words that we know cannot be changed and switched. They always have the same meaning. These words must belong to a part of our brain that has to deal with memorization or logical thinking. When words are put together in a sentence, a function word helps to give the sentence grammatical structure as well as fluidity. Content words, on the other hand, seem to belong to a part of our brains that is responsible for part of our lexicon, but also our creativity. Having the ability to change words to form different meanings definitely has to deal with rearrangement and knowing what sounds right and wrong. This chapter of the open class of content words and the closed class of function words further solidifies the hypothesis that separate parts of the brain control each group. -Christina

Posted by lcisgancarz at 10:03 PM | Comments (1)

Representation of the World

It is impossible to treat representation as something that is cut and dry. Categorizing it as either mimesis or social construction is not completely accurate because all representation is a mixture of the two. This can be seen in the case of language...language is composed of some words that arbitrarily represent a physical object, the social contructionist approach, and other words that attempt to imitate the world exactly how it is, onomatopeioas being an example.

However, one approach does dominate over the other, and this is the social contructionist approach. Most representations in this world are social constructions, and we are only able to make full sense out of them because we have equipped in our minds the knowledge needed to interpret these images.

It seems surprising to think that every image we see we are only able to understand because our minds process it. One would imagine this to be an exhausting and time consuming process, however, it is done without our knowledge. So at first thought, one might approach this question feeling sure that our world is represented solely through mimesis, since we do not spend half of our waking time interpreting images. When really thought about however, it is more reasonable to say that the world is predominantly represented through social construction, but we are so used to this kind of representation that it takes on the feel of mimesis.

Posted by lcissullivan at 04:12 PM | Comments (2)

Alfred Leslie's Painting

The semantic meaning that I come up with after looking at this painting for a couple of minutes is that we live in a world where people are trying to control nature by technology. Slowly, but surely, technology is taking over our lives and becoming the most important aspect of our being.

The syntactic elements of the painting that lead me to think of this message are the lines and colors painted. I make meaning out of the square in the middle of the canvas. To me it is not just a square, but a television. The various other shapes painted within the square are merely more squares, rectangles, and circles, but I do not see just those shapes. Instead I see a screen, control panels, and knobs. The white paint in the top right corner of the screen has a familiar shape and color. I connotate this to be the moon. The other shades of color present in the screen are those viewed when the sun rises or sets, therefore I associate them with the sun.

These syntactic elements are what leave me with the impression that this painting is about society trying to control or "tune" nature as one would tune the picture on a television screen.

I think that the television set is a form of metonymy in that it is merely a part of technology, but is used to represent technology as a whole in this painting.

Posted by lcissullivan at 02:18 PM | Comments (0)

Alfred Leslie Painting

Having read the other blogs I will leave out what I could say about denotation in particular and will endeavor to look for meaning not already mentioned.

Leslie’s work is a still life. In other words it’s an arrangement of everyday objects to which the artist wishes to draw our attention and have us view in a different light. The objects are all, I believe, from the same time period and so I don’t believe that there’s nothing unusual in that sense about them. I think the meaning lies in their mundaness.

I agree with previous bloggers that the artist is saying something about our everyday lives. Further I believe Leslie is speaking about the social constructs or realities we develop because the only “natural” thing in the painting is the moonlit scene. And, even so, it is on a television.

I am interested by the little flap that’s open on the television. These are the tuning knobs (I’m giving my age away) and it seems that someone has just changed or seeks to change the channel. I believe this alludes to a searching for what is real or natural despite how advanced and helpful our inventions and technology are. And even in that I think the artist is saying something about the fact that we seek the natural via technology.

I will stop with that point so others can make additional “new” comments. And a hint - the copy on page 88 of the textbook is much easier to see than the one on the blog.

~ Nanette Savides

Posted by lcissavides at 09:35 AM | Comments (2)

Seeing Assignment: First Draft

When, in her essay “Seeing,” Annie Dillard writes “But I don’t see what the specialist sees, and so I cut myself off, not only from the total picture, but from the various forms of happiness,” she is exploring how we both construct and deconstruct what we see.

Dillard is using metaphor to heighten our awareness of sight by comparing it to the way a specialist is trained by years of study and intense interest to pick out specific and detailed elements that others might never even realize exist or contain information worth examining and mounting. These are processes that would take hours of one’s time and certainly great expertise. Through this metaphor she alludes to the complexity of the things we often dismiss as mundane – a drop of water, clouds or stones. The author also, by using the idea of a specialist, plays on the idea of naïvety. Often as children we know full well our ability to construct from anything an absorbing and complex study, we are, it seems, far more aware of the innate possibility contained in every penny. Dillard pointed to this when she illustrates her childhood love of placing pennies on the sidewalk, believing them treasures that fortunate passersby would discover.

The author goes on in the quotation to use herself as a reference for the way as adults we learn to both construct and deconstruct what we see differently, as the author points out earlier in the essay, “who gets excited by a mere penny?” As adults, we separate ourselves from this naïve and visceral experience of the world; in doing so Dillard sees us as cutting ourselves off from experiencing fully the whole of life and any one part of it. She goes further to say that in doing this we numb ourselves to the awe, wonder and ultimately the joy these discoveries and explorations hold.

I believe the author is pointing to the change in visual culture over our life span and is seeking to rebirth in the reader the sense of wonder with the world. A rebirth that would lead to a desire to seek out, by making oneself open and present, in person and spirit, the experiences of the world around one.

~ Nanette Savides

Posted by lcissavides at 08:36 AM | Comments (2)

First Draft (Seeing)

Whether you like Annie Dillard’s essay or not, it is clear that she has a unique way of saying things. “What you see is what you get” is not, in fact, her strongest statement in “Seeing” in terms of originality, however, it is a quote that I think may be the most important for the reader to pay attention to. Although this piece of writing is not the most pleasant to read, Dillard has an imaginative way of describing the point she is trying to make.

What is this point, exactly? Dillard explains her childhood experiences to begin. “…finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days” (Dillard 95). This is her first major idea that she constructs. She is saying that if we are in the mindset that something small, such as seeing a perfect flower or watching a happy family together on the subway, can bring excitement, then we will live all of our days in happiness. This is a strong point to make. Many people in today’s modern world have fast-paced lives full of burden and tragedy. They only see the big picture without the details.

This is very closely related to her other main idea. Dillard writes about how when we take the time to look at something carefully, especially in nature, we will get more out of it. When we make time to see, we get more out of what we are looking at. She uses the example of the birds in the trees, and how if we just glance at a tree, we may see nothing but a tree, but if we sit on the grass and watch it closely, soaking up the atmosphere and staying attune to our senses, then we may notice the birds there even before they move and fly away.

If we look at the semantic meanings of this piece of writing, rather than the literal syntax, other meanings can be found in the text. For instance, when we focus on and notice the people around us who care, and the relationships that we take for granted, the more we will get out of these relationships that we form. Therefore, using nature could also be a metaphor for everything in life.

Overall, I agree with Dillard’s ideas, and after reading the essay again, I enjoy the layers of meaning that she includes, as she points out the importance of seeing life using nature to form stories. And we too, have to really see and focus on “Seeing” to see the semantics behind it and realize that “What you see is what you get.”

--Ariel

Posted by lcishagan at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2005

Semiotic Analysis of Painting

The television set in this painting is very old fashioned, perhaps around the time frame of the 50's. The shoes also seem old and practically unused, almost forgotten altogether. The black telephone is very old fashioned as well, because it has a dial in which you have to spin it so that it will coordinate with the correct number. There is also a dust broom in the corner, which looks as though it has been used for cleaning. The chair is just pretty much propped against the old television set, while the plate is just perfectly placed on top of it. The objects appear to be inatimate, which gives the painting its stillness. Every one of the objects in this painting seems to have a particular place and purpose. Also in the reflection of the television set, their appears to be a moonlight beach with the sun having been set on the horizon.

I think that this painting is a metaphor for the average everyday life of a person. The different shoes are metaphors for work and play. The blue ones represent work and coming home after a long day. This is why those shoes are on the floor, because they are being discarded. The broom is there to symbolize work as well. The other red sneakers represent play and relaxation, which is why they are represented on the top of the television, along with the chair. The telephone and plate are also metaphoric of rest. All of this images form one continuous flow from left to right (top to bottom), except for the shoes and broom which are further away on the floor. The moonlit beach is a metonymy for relaxation, and an escape from the everyday life. All of these objects are illuminated by light, which means that they are just an idea, while the darkness in the background is closed around these objects.

I think that the painter is trying to say that relaxation is an escape from reality and the contemporary world. Sometimes people need to let go of work and preocupations and focus on something that calms them. This is the metonymy of the beach, because everyone regardless of what culture their from, knows that the beach is one of the ultimate ideas of relaxation or an escape from work and stress. This painting shows that we should all have some kind of imagination, becasue imagining is the ultimate escape.

I really enjoyed this painting.

--Yasmin

Posted by lcisperez at 06:21 PM | Comments (2)

mimesis or social construction

I think that the wolrd around us is created by mimesis in a lot of ways. We use our language, our sights, what we know about the world, what surrounds us, etc. to create our own world. But we don't create this language, these ideas, sights, surroundings ourselves. Society and people from generations ago create this and we are merely imitating them. As others have mentioned, the items that are stereotypical of people with money (such as purses, clothes, cars, watches, jewerly) are imitated by people everyday. We need to have this certain car because so and so has it, or we need to have these clothes because it is what's in style. This is how we create ourselves, by imitation. I'm not saying that everyone imitates one thing and everyone is the same person. There are so many things to imitate in the world, it could be one person imitating a certain thing, or it could be 500,000 people. Everyone wants to fit in to something and I think to do this you need to imitate ways that you agree with and like and go from there.

It's not just clothes or items that can be imitated. There are also words and signs as well. I know many people that in their group of friends have certain words that are used so often and that is apart of who they are. They might have heard this wrod from a celebrity or an older brother or sister and now they are imitating it.

Posted by lcisnelson at 03:54 PM | Comments (1)

Definetely Social Construction

I think that we definetely utilize social construction rather than mimesis. I think that it would be difficult for anything to be straightforward mimesis. Mimesis implies that the world is represented exactly as it is. Even this statement does not make sense, for the world is seen differently by everyone. For example, as it was acknowledged in Chapter 1 of Practices of Looking, even a photograph is subjective to the photographer's point of view. Of course, there is a standard way to take a photograph (with the object centered in the middle of the photo), yet everyone sees something and tries to capture that something differently. When I was thinking of what I wanted to write in this response, I thought of Annie Dillard's essay, "Seeing" came to mind. In this essay Dillard spoke of so many apects of sight, of seeing what others cannot see, and told many anecodotes about blind individuals who were able to regain their sight. She stressed the fact that we all see what we want to see and all see what we search for.

Thus, I think mimesis, although not totally dismissable, is a concept that does not have much validity. In my psychology class last year, we discussed what is really in our world versus what we see. We talked alot about the possibility of the fact that mentally ill patients who "see things" that are not there may be seeing the real world while those who are presumed to have well-functioning brains may not. This idea is certainly far-fetched and difficult to grasp, but it is interesting to think about. What is our world really? Is what we see truly what is there? It is for this reason that I believe in social construction.

Another reason that I believe social construction is more prevalent than mimesis is because we base so much of our world and our thoughts on other people's perceptions of things. We base judgement on a potential love interest, for example, on a picture that we see online. We base our view of a foreign country, for example, on the verbal description that someone else gives. For this reason, our representation of the world is based upon layers and layers of social construction.

I hope that I didn't contrdict myself too much in this essay. I had alot to get out and I tried really hard to organize it, but I do not know how well it worked out. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Posted by lciscotis at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)

Picture Analysis

When I saw this painting, for some reason I though of those old Coca-Cola ads from the fifties and sixties. This painting seems like it could be a representation of part of a family living room from forty or fifty years ago. The red sneakers could belong to the son and the blue jelly shoes could belong to the daughter. The telephone, which is central to their every day lives is also in the picture, as well as the broom, which is also an important object in a home. The family seems to be a bit disorganized, since everything is laying on or around the tv, but that also shows me that this can be a place where they all come together and are able to spend some time together (even though that time is spent in front of a television screen). The tv is sitting in what looks like a dark corner, but there is a lot of light in front of the tv, which seems to emphasize it's importance in this family's lives. I can imagine them all sitting on front of the tv together at night watching the news, or some other program which they might all enjoy. The objects here (the shoes, the telephone, the broom, and even the plate), seem to symbolize and be a metonymy for family. Family is the word that comes to mind when I see all of these things, especially because they are centered around the tv.

Posted by lcismardin at 03:14 PM | Comments (2)

Alfred Leslie Painting

Denotation: There is an old TV in the middle of the painting. On that TV, there is red pair of sneakers, a phone, a piece of white paper, and some uncertain object next to it. In the left corner of the painting, there is a broken wooden broom, blue pair of women’s shoes. On the other side, there is a yellow chair that folds in, right next to the TV. All of the objects seem to be directing at sideways. An image of night-dawn scene is shown on the screen. In that scene, there is a moon in the dark night’s sky, and at the same time the rising sun that spreads orange yellow rays across what appears to be the land, earth, or ground.

Connotation: All of the objects and materials in the painting represent its owner(s). While looking at the shoes, the TV, or the wooden broom, one would immediately suspect that the time frame is not in present-day but sometime in the past. The location of yellow chair is uncommon. It is not in front of the TV but next to it. Therefore, it suggests an idea of its owners not using the TV as entertaining tool. Also, the chair looks as if it is a children’s chair since it is smaller compared to the TV. Also there is a sense of mystery since the room is dark in the back ground. What if the TV doesn’t work? What if the image on it is a painting just put into it? It seems that the painting is so much centered on the TV that I keep trying to make meanings concerned with the TV. When I look around the room in the painting, I feel disorganization and awkard, but if I look at the image on the TV screen, it provides me with relaxation and appreciation for the nature's beauty.

Posted by lcisbold at 02:58 PM | Comments (1)

Metaphor vs. Metonymy

If you revisit the chapter on metonymy, on the very last page is a chart comparing metaphor to metonymy. It also reminds us that an image or an object can function as both!

Have fun!

Posted by lcisEllen at 02:51 PM | Comments (0)

Alfred Leslie Painting

Society is always evolving. To me, the broom seems to represent old technology being swept away, providing a basis for the current world to build on on. Although we are always advancing, some things stay the same- for instance, the broom has remained relatively unchanged in appearance and function. Furthermore, the broom is hard for the viewer to see, with the television dominating the foreground. There are various things cluttered on top of the tv, and it seems that whoever is watching the set is too busy and focused to think about the things around it. The broom represents society for me.

Posted by lcissearls at 02:44 PM | Comments (1)

Semiotic Analysis of Alfred Leslie Painting

This picture seems very simple at first glance, but after it is studied a bit,it seems more complex. The denotative aspects of this painting are, first off, the big brown box in the middle of the picture. This box is a television, and it shows, on the screen, a nightime scene. The person viewing the picture knows this because we use our previous knowledge to help us view the painting. We know that a small sliver of yellow against a dark background is the moon, and we know that the background with streaks of gray, blue, and purple is the sky. We also know that the yellow, orange, and red slice at the bottom of the painting is the sun rising. We recognize this based on our prior knowledge. The scene around the television is even more intriguing. On top of the television rests a plate, an old pair of sneakers, and an old-fashioned telephone. Next to the television is a yellow chair, and on the other side a pair of blue sandals and a broom. All of these objects we are able to identify because we match their shape, color, and other attributes to those we know to be true of certain objects.

The connotative part of the painting is much more interesting. It asks us to study more than the simple identity of these objects, but to decipher what they mean. For me, this picutre connotes a family, always busy, always on the move. The placement of objects act as a metaphor in this photo, for their random placement and use in this photo signifies that the same is true of the family. The apparent dishelvement of the objects is also a testament to the same thing. The sneakers appear less vibrant than they probably did orginally, while the chair has a grayish covering, meaning that it has been used again and again. The chair does not seem like one that would be found in this type of room, we would probably expect to see a big, comfy armchair, yet the existence of this chair attests to the frantic nature of the family's life. The metonymy in this photo is the scene on the TV, which in my mind stands for things that are always changing, never static. Just like the life of the family, where a new day begins practically before the previous one ends. I think that this picture could have been interepreted many ways, yet this is the one that was most prominent for me.

--Brenna DeCotis

Posted by lciscotis at 02:12 PM | Comments (3)

Picture Analysis

The telvision is the centerpiece of this entire picture, yet it does not seem to be the center of the lives or life that owns it. The picture displays metonymy by dipicting the life that does own the technology, maybe this person or people are older. The bright blue gelly sandals and the red shoes against the dark background also seem to show metonymy, indicating that children are around or maybe grandchildren. A stark contrast is seen between these two objects, displaying the old and the new. The televison scene is a representation of peace (a metaphor) amoung the chaotic world. When one sits down to watch something, all other problems are left behind. Although the television is cluttered with objects everywhere, acting almost like a shelf, I can't help but noticing that no where is the television screen covered, indicating that the television has some value in the household still. The chair next to the television is highlighted by the light streaming in from some source. For some reason, this chair is added to the picture; potentially to represent relaxation which comes with the televsion, or something unknown to me. -Christina

Posted by lcisgancarz at 01:42 PM | Comments (1)

Alfred Leslie painting

Leslie is using both metaphor and metonymy. The shoes represent their owners (metonymy) who have left reality for the world the television set represents. The television set is a metaphor to show the various ways humans escape their mundane and dark lives, hence the simple everyday objects like the chair, phone, and plate and the surrounding darkness in the scene. The owners took off their shoes to go for a walk on the moonlit beach in the TV, a convential symbol of romanticism and dreaming. Leslie is showing humans need to escape sometimes, though it is rather ironic there is nature scene in the television rather than an artificial world. Alfred Leslie is also demonstrating humans tend to confuse what is artificial with what is natural and real.

Posted by lcisfreya at 01:03 PM | Comments (1)

Response to Alfred Leslie Painting

This painting has many things going on. First of all there is an older style TV with a night scene on the screen. I'm not quite sure where the scene actually takes place. On top of the TV there is a rotary phone and a pair of sneakers, and possibly a plate, it's hard to tell. Beside the TV is a common folding chair and also on the other side, a broom and a pair of old jelly shoes. The whole painting seems to take place in a basement to me because it looks to me like the floor is concrete and it s dark which could mean that there aren't any windows.

I think that Leslie is trying to portray that this TV isn't used that often, since the chair is beside it and would have to be moved to see it and also it just seems it's being used more as a table rather than a TV. However, since there is a picture on the TV, I'm confused. I know it must mean something, but I'm not quite sure what. Maybe the night scene represents cold and darkness, much like the basement that I believe this scene to take place in. Also, all these objects seem to be old so maybe the painter is suggesting that when new technology arrives, people forget about the older technology and just put it in the basement. The TV and phone are obviously older technologies, and the sneakers seem worn and a little dingy as well.

-Jessica F.

Posted by lcisfaria at 12:38 PM | Comments (1)

Alfred Leslie Painting

In a short paragraph or two, approach this painting through a semiotic lens. What is it signifying and how do you know this? Is metaphor used? Metonymy? What do you think the painter is trying to say?

Have fun.

Posted by lcisEllen at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

September 28, 2005

Mimesis vs. Social Construction

If we represented the material world simply through mirroring it, mimesis, then nothing in this world would have any meaning because we would not be adhering our cultural identities to the world. Art can be viewed as only the subject it is depicting but generally it is not because as the viewer we perceive it with knowledge and experience from our societies and cultures and we also try to view it as the artist wants us to view it and to see the deeper meaning behind the canvas or stone. Our cultures determine how we view the material world as social constructionism argues. This post brings to mind the art class I am currently taking, Museum Art. In the second chapter of my textbook, there is the painting The Portrait of Giovanni, Arnolfini and His Wife Giovanna Cenami. The Arnolfini Marriage by the Dutch artist Jan van Eyck from 1434. This painting depicts a man and a woman standing very prim and proper in a richly adorned bedroom, hands outreached and barely touching, and there is a small dog on the floor between them. Now if I were looking at this painting from a mimesis standpoint, I would see it literally: as a man and a woman about to be married or already married. However, the book explains the cultural significance of the painting and that the painting was not merely created to show a married couple. For example, the groom has his shoes removed which, according to the book, is a reference to God's commandment to Moses to take off his shoes when standing on holy ground and the dog is associated with faithfulness and marital fidelity. I found it particularily interesting that in Arabic culture dogs are traditionally viewed as dirty and degrading which affirms we view the world through social constructionalist concepts rather than mimesis. To me, mimesis sounds entirely too objective. We use our past experiences and culture to formulate judgements everyday on people, places, objects. We put meaning to everything we see from our social and cultural backgrounds.

Posted by lcisfreya at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)

Semiotics... I Say Social Construction!

I believe that each of our own worlds is constructed by us. We, ourselves, see what we see. What we see is what we see, what it means is what it means to us. Our culture and society greatly impacts this. One image, such as the one of the American (?) lady and the cow, means something to me, and something to someone else. One image, one "representation", does not "represent" one thing, and that's it. It means what we take it to mean. The more we look at something, the more meaning we seem to find in it. If we just saw that photo on the cover of a newspaper on the ground as we were rushing off to class, we would see it, but it wouldn't mean much to us; whereas today, we saw it, but we examined it and looked closely at it. The longer we looked at and thought about it, the more meanings we found, which let to more possibilities and questions. There is not one meaning, and that's that. It does not work that way, as simple as that might seem to make things... It would be almost impossible to imagine; it not be life as we know it.

Not only do visual images create meaning about our own world, but so does language. And once again, it does not just show the world in one way "as it is". Language, like pictures, can be analyzed in many different ways, taken seriously, lightheartedly, or can often not even be thought about. I thought the "game of love" point was interesting; I had heard that metaphor many times, but I never really, truly, thought of it. Yet as the author raised all the points of the similarities love has to a game, and all that love being a "game" could imply, it was amazing how much there was! We make what we know of the world through what our culture is, what society we live in, what we see, what we hear, what we say, and just how much thought we give it.

P.S. Am I just out of it, or are we supposed to have a painting to look at and write a blog on? If so, WHERE is it?!?! Any guidance would be most greatly appreciated... (:

Posted by lcisthur at 10:17 PM | Comments (2)

Genie

After we googled Genie in class the other day, I was so intrigued by what I found that I went online later in the day to find out more. I went to the website feralchildren.com and found many more stories of children who had been made to live in isolation as well as children who had been raised by animals (one of them was a boy who was raised by gazelles and was caught by an army jeep while running 50 kph!). All of the children that lived in isolation since they were young never learned to talk, even after they were discovered, just like Genine. I also found out that many children who were lost in the wild and lived there in isolation for many years actually lost the ability that they once had to talk. Some of them could also no longer even laugh or cry. I think the whole idea of the critical period is so interesting, even after seeing the movie of Genie and reading all these stories, it is still strange to me to think that we cannot learn language after we have passed a certain age. It is hard to imagine that our brains could change so much in such a short period of time (compared to a normal lifespan). Language is so important that I don't know why our brain does not allow it to learn it after we have passed the critical period. I was especially suprised to see that children who had once been able to talk had completely lost that ability after having lived alone for a number of years. How can we loose the ability to do something that is so incredibly important in our everyday lives? I found the story of Genie and of these other children so interesting, I would encourage everyone to go to the feral children website and read some more stories of children similar to Genie.

Posted by lcismardin at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)

Devil's Advocate

"Hence the material world only has meaning and only can be seen by us, through these systems of representation.” I believe that the social construction theory is more valid than mimesis. While the social construction theory addresses language and images, mimesis is merely an imitation of what is already real. I believe that social construction gives the foundation for mimesis.

Social construction believes that the language and images construct the material world for us. Since various languages and images surround our everyday lives, we are able to imitate the world around us. Social construction is more or less the idea that each person creates their own worldly reality. This is the basis for everything else. It is only after we can make sense of our own world that we can choose whether or not we want to be affected by mainstream society. Not everyone in society conforms to the norms of society, it is merely a choice. Furthermore, chapter 1 in Practices of Looking talked about how individuals view artwork, advertisements and the general world in diffrent ways. Interpretations will always vary due to race, class, gender, and reality. It is people's experiences that contribute to understanding the world.

I tried really hard not to contradict myself. Believe me.

Posted by lcissearls at 04:43 PM | Comments (1)

Mimesis or Social Construction

In response to this quote I believe that society uses mimesis, or languages and images to represent the world that surrounds us. This is something that it perfectly natural, because language and images are what help us to understand the things that are in the world. This is especially true in terms of the social status of people. Social status is understood by images of clothing, food, money, and other possessions. This is type of mimesis is shown throughout the celebrity lifestyle.

People see celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Brad Pitt, and Halle Berry and these type of people become an imitation of real life. People believe that they should look like these people or want to look like them. Just seeing pictures of people who have the "perfect body" (which is a loose term) or "the look", creates people to mimic those identities. This is why there are so many cliques and groups of people who all want to be like someone or portray a certain image.

Mimesis is not only true for images that we see in society, but also words and language. Sometimes there are popular words that should be said in order for someone to fit in, or words/sayings that someone might say that will ostracize them from others. We as individuals use these images and words to construct how we see the world. Although we pretty much don't have to do it on our own, since we are constantly bombarded by media influence. However, coming up with our own ideas about the world gives us our own identities.

Posted by lcisperez at 04:41 PM | Comments (4)

Picture?

Where is the picture, shouldn't it be posted on the blog? Is it under a specific category?

Posted by lcisperez at 04:37 PM | Comments (0)

Mimesis, Social Construction->Imitation

The society consists of people. Within that certain society, people have stereotypical norms and values. Different society have different means. Every individual in the society use language, images, and materials to express themselves. For example, if I walked down the Newbury St., there will be at least one Designer's apparel such as bags, purses, shoes, glasses on someone. Immeadetly after I see it, I understand from images and advertisements that I have been receiving since coming to America that those people are wealthy, or at least they are not poor. People use various materials (clothes, cars, accessories)to represent their identities. If I had same experience in Mongolia, before I got familiar with brand names, the bags from Louis Vutton wouldn't make any meaning or difference than that of purses from Mongolia.

As I was an individual in a different society, I have nearly never received those representations of high quality material objects, therefore it didn't make any sense to me. Now I wouldn't say that I am living in different world, but I am living in broader and richer world just because there are many more representations of this (American) society in my mind. The images that I see everyday are part of American culture, they imitate this society.

Posted by lcisbold at 03:51 PM | Comments (0)

Picture anaylsis!

This painting has a picture of a television. I know that there is a television becuase the lines make a square shape and I know from experience that that is what a televsion looks like. In the television there is night time. The colors used, especially the black and dark blue give this off. The way these colors are shaded together and allow you to see nothing except those things which are brighter allow me to know that it is night. Another item that clues in to it being night time is the moon being so bright. The backwards C like shape and the color, white-ish yellow, gives the idea that it is the moon. The moon is shining brightly against the dark background, another thing indicating that it is night time. The mood of the picture in the television seems to be mysterious. This is becuase of the bright light that lights up the middle. There are shadows on the ground, which you can see because of the contrast of colors. It is as if there is something coming out from the left side of the picture from the lighted area that gives it this mysterious feel. There is also a common fate of the light and shadow becuase they seem to be going in the same direction making it mysterious as well.

Random Side Note.... I just saw this picture and when I went to go look at it again..it was gone?? I seriously saw it..am i losing my mind?? Well thats my post about the picture..if it was the correct one. Maybe Ellen decided to change it?? I don't know but it was definitaly there.

Posted by lcisnelson at 03:13 PM | Comments (1)

Mimesis and Social Construction Ideas

We, as society, definitely represent the world around us through language and images; writing and speech. We are continuously using imitation or mimesis to portray something concrete and real. For example, I was assigned to write a short story in sophomore year. It could be written in any time period, in any place. I chose to write about my grandfather's life; some of the hardships he went through and his baseball career. I sat with him several times, or over the phone, writing everything down: where he had been, what he had seen, how he had felt. It was a truly powerful story. I completed the assignment and handed it in, only realizing the next week that I did very poorly. I had imitated his life, his past, but my writing never reflected the entire experience. I tried to reconstruct or imitate a story that couldn't be fully imitated. Documentaries are related to this representation. Directors try to "reflect the world as it is through mimesis", taking other people's actual stories and bringing them to the screen. In a sense, every movie is a copy of the orginial, which is a copy of an actor's words, which may be a copy a fight between two people years ago. Nothing seems real until one witnesses it first hand. So how can something be represented to another person who was not a witness, without the scence being imitated or replicated in some way, through the use of a movie camera, pictures, or speech? We see this representation on the news every single day, especially with the effects of Katrina on New Orleans (tapes, videos, personal accounts--everything is imitation and representation). As seen today in class, paintings are mere forms of mimesis. I cannot say that the sweater on OldNavy.com is actually there because it is not. I cannot reach out a grab it. I am only seeing little colored dots that seem to come together on the computer screen to make up a sweatshirt. All in all, our world is definitely a product of mimesis. Just pick any place, and there will be imitation.

Posted by lcisgancarz at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)

Mimesis or Social Construction

“Representation refers to the use of language and images to create meaning about the world around us. Do these systems of representation reflect the world around us, as it is, mimesis, or do we construct the world and its meaning through the systems of representation we deploy? In this Social constructionist approach we only make meaning through specific cultural contexts….Hence the material world only has meaning and only can be seen by us, through these systems of representation.”

Please comment, based on your readings of Chapter one in POL and our discussion in class....

Posted by lcisEllen at 10:40 AM | Comments (0)

CHapter 1 POL

I noticed that alot of the picutres in this book they used to represent things, I have seen before. That was weird becuase I'm not a big artsy-type person and don't look at images often except while in school. I remember seeing like 4 of the pictures in my junior year english class. It was just strange because I knew right away what they were going to say.

I liked the metaphor paper, it was quite interesting to realize that practically all of our sentences can be metaphors. I never thought of that, when I think of metaphor I always think of this thing that I now have to come up with in my head and it's going to take forever. But, it was interesting to hear a different view.

Posted by lcisnelson at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)

Genie's Existance

Poor Genie had, and maybe still is having, an all-around terrible life, as we all know. It baffles me how anyone could do such awful things to his own child. Most parents can't help but love their children, it is innate. Her father must have been very mentally unstable. I wonder, though, why he didn't just kill her. If he was capable of doing these shocking things to her, and if he was so ashamed that she might have been retarted, then why wouldn't he eliminate her from his life? I think it was because he liked to control and feel powerful. Having this power over her, her mother, and possibly her brother made him feel superior. Even after Genie was put through this unheard of living situation, she was still put in many more than awkward postitions-- her mother suing the hospital, being placed in many foster homes, even more abuse, etc. In some ways, I do believe that the scientists exploited her in order to finish the "forbidden experiment". Genie's mother sued for $500,000 but this little girl's life was priceless and it is not something that she can buy back.

Posted by lcishagan at 10:17 AM | Comments (2)

September 27, 2005

On Semiotics, iconography, metaphor, and chapter 1

When I first looked at all the reading we had to do, I frustrated myself and mentally prepared myself to severly dislike each word. I started with the Metaphor reading, which was a good idea.

I liked learning about Metaphor and Metonymy. When I think about it, we definetly use metaphor all the time in writing and speaking. When I critiqued my blog, I noticed that I used a lot of metaphor to describe metaphor. It seems talking in metaphors is so common and instilled in our brains. And, it is everyone because I am sure you all understand my blogs for the most part. My favorite part of the article was the breakdown of the metaphor "Love is a game." I laughed when I read each conclusion the author made to that metaphor and then I realized it is true. Though some metaphors may be used out of emotion (making it greatly hyperbolized etc.), they usually are right. Subconciously, we choose the right metaphor to use and it applies in many ways (even if we don't mean to imply other things (such as: in love and games, we cheat)).

Next, I found the semiotics and iconography reading slighty, overdone. The author used so many examples, I found myself skimming through them so I could get to the point. I read that others got caught up in the length and blurry meaning, so I tried my best to undo misunderstanding for myself. My favorite part of the article was reading about interpretations between past and present. It is true, we can interpret anything, from advertisements to paintings, to mean different things. Not only do we take our personal experience, but we either try to figure out how it fit in context to the time period it was made (or how the author thought) or we try to relate it to our modern society. As I read the article, I found myself getting caught up in the similar vocabulary (such as iconography and iconological) but for the most part, I enjoyed learning new things.

Both of the readings seemed very informational yet not terrible to read. I learned a lot in each page and I am excited to share more with you all. It's odd to think that I learned so much about the english language in highschool, yet there is so much more to learn (and this is only the fifth week of school).

Lastly, In the first chapter of POL I found several things to stand out more than others (a lot was repitition from my prior knowledge and the articles). First, I was fascinated by the picture "Their first murder." I looked at the expressions on the children and thought "Oh my gosh, they are devil children!" They all seemed to be either smirking or flat-out smiling. I read a little more of the page and realized that the book was inferring that the adults were just as fascinated. I denied this at first but then i realized, it is true. Our ears perk up to a news story on a plane crash, when there are car crashes we look out the windows and wonder what happened. Then, I looked back at the picture and realized that the adults were craning their necks to see too. This just says some things about human nature (whether its good or bad, we each have to decide for ourselves.). Next, I liked that the chapter pointed out that "no matter what social role and image plays, the creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some degree of subjective chioce..." The best example was the one of surveillance videos. I never thought about the fact that the camera was intented to view a certain area and even the camera maker made aethetic choices of it. It seems we cannot excape the fact that photos can be biased too. I enjoyed thinking about the fact that we put value to things because of where it is and what it is associated with. The book uses the example of Van Gogh's paintings. We generally depict them as "good art" because, foremost, we see them in museams. If something is put on display, we usually think it is a "masterpeice status." One of the articles included the fact that we associate things by what they are put with. For example, if someone is drinking a alcohol in a fine car (such as a rolls royce), we associate the two and assumet hat the alcohol must be fine too.

I found a lot of similarities between the articles and the book (so it got a tish redundant) but I prefer the way/style of writing in the book. Overall, I enjoyed the fact that I constantly learned while I read. Plus, we are learning about how we think, and thats a good thing because I think all of us generally want to know what's going on in our crazy minds.

Posted by lcisyeich at 11:57 PM | Comments (3)

Question #3

In Japanese, there are several writing systems. Kana is phonetic (like English – the spelling corresponds to sounds, more or less) and Kanji is symbolic (like Chinese – words are represented as pictures) Reading which language would be more affected by left brain damage (and back it up with reasons) and reading which language would be more affected by right brain damage?

Reading Kana would be more affected by left brain damage because the part of the brain that dominates in the learning and use of language is in the left hemisphere. Reading Kanji, the symbolic language, would be more affected by right brain damage because it is the right hemisphere of the brain that focuses on recognizing the meaning of visual symbols

Posted by lcisowens at 11:28 PM | Comments (0)

Semiotics Reading

I felt that the semiotics reading we had to do was pretty tough to get through. A lot of the time I found that I was reading the words, but not understanding what they were saying. It definitely confirmed my belief that I am a science/math orientated person as opposed to someone who excels in english or history.

One thing that I did find interesting however was how much the media manipulates our minds. Advertisements are designed with the concept of semiotics in mind. It is a scary thought that the media makes us take certain messages away from advertisements without us even realizing that we are doing it. When I see a commercial, I am sure I subconsciously take from it exactly what advertisers want people to take away from it.

Knowing this information, one would think that it would be possible to outsmart the media and merely take their advertisements at face value, instead of allowing the brain to connotate, or finding deeper meaning behind images. However, I've been doing just that my entire life, and I feel like it's too late to undo this thinking process.

Posted by lcissullivan at 08:04 PM | Comments (0)

Practice of Looking, Chapter 1 and Semiotics

Through images, ideologies (systems of beliefs that exist in all cultures) and important means of that culture is reflected and projected.

Film, TV, and radio are important medias that reinforce ideologies such as good and evil, love, and what is normal and what is not normal life. Sometimes, those reinforced ideologies make us question our goals of lives. For example, after I see a good movie, I do want to have a life like the characters in the movie. It is not because I am not having meaningful and interesting life, but I sometimes forget to seperate what is real and unreal. We are being continuously bombarded with images and illustrations that are sometimes unrealistic. It is important to learn how we see things and absorb what is reasonable and not.

Human minds interpret images that we see depending on historical contexts. Whether we are conscious or not, the "interpretars" use tools of semiotics. They are connotations and denotations. In the book, O.J Simpson's mug shot was taken as an example. When I first looked at the picture without reading the explanation of connotation and denotation, I did think that he was guilty. After reading the explanations, I took a look at his shot and this time, imagined it with lighter background and skin tone. If the image in my mind was the first shot that I took a look at, I would've come up with some questions: Why was his shot was taken? Was he really quilty or not? rather than making unconscious/poorly reviewed judgements so early. It is importat to notice such thinking process. I am excited and looking forward to be able to answer such tricks of one's vision/mind.

Posted by lcisbold at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

A bit of everything..

The reading assignments were very interesting. Basically all the information was new for me, and it felt somewhat unnatural and uncomfortable learning completely new ideas. For me, it was somewhat challenging to process theories about visual analysis: semiotics and iconography. Despite the initial frustrations, this class does a fine job constantly provoking new thoughts and changing the way I view the world.

Chapter one talked about how advertisements can have numerous interpretations and that our thinking can be completely altered by looking at a simple ad. I believe that advertisements, television commercials and bilboards can send subliminal messages through our perception. When reading this, it just reminded me of some of the concepts in Feed. Although the characters in Feed were constantly bombarded with advertisements, news updates and random information, we too are constantly stimulated by the same things just in a completely different way.

I also want to mention that I really enjoyed the Metaphor: Communicating by Analogy gave me a completely different understanding of metaphors and how we use them on a daily basis. Usually the analogies or metaphors we hear about in class are from famous writers and are complex. I also didn't know that there were three different kinds of metaphors. I never really understood the differences between metaphor and metonymy when my english teachers in high school explained it.

The reading assignments were truly very enlightening and I'm excited to learn new things this semester...

Posted by lcissearls at 07:12 PM | Comments (0)

Semiotics And Iconography

I found these readings (the long one in particular) a bit confusing and difficult to follow. I cannot wait to discuss them in class and I hope to get a better handle on the topics being discussed.

Other than that, the main emotion running through my head when reading these essays (and also Chapter 1 of Practices of Looking), was that I cannot believe that all of these theories and ideas about viewing an image go through our brains so fast. I am always amazed at what our brain can do, and this certainly tops it all. We are able to spend as little as three or four minutes looking at an image and immediately form connotative and denontative ideas. That this goes on our brain without us even knowing amazes me.

I was also interested in the differences in opinion and belief between the book and the "handout essays". This just goes to show that although something is in a text book or an essay, it certainly does not have to be fact. --Brenna DeCotis

Posted by lciscotis at 06:27 PM | Comments (0)

Genie

I find it interesting that Genie missing the critical period for language formation not only prevented her from learning language when she was older but also it also made her seem retarded. If I had happened to run into Genie randomly I would be under the assumption she is retarded rather than merely a lack of language and human experiences. Her behavior and intelligence is similar to that of retarded children. I believe also an aspect of Genie's life that may have been overlooked a little bit in the movie was the human experiences she, well, did not experience. Everything we take for granted for experiencing in our childhood Genie did not experience. Birthday parties, Sesame Street, kindergarden, coloring books, making friends, losing friends, playing games, homework, playing dress-up, first crush, first kiss, etc. All of these and more make up who we are today because humans experience and then change and experience and then change; it is a cycle. Genie did not have that oppurtunity and perhaps the critical period was also the period for her to experience everything children with normal lives are supposed to experience to function properly in society. It is impossible to reverse because as our mind and personality grow so does our body; they are supposed to be in sync. Genie's body grew (though obviously not as it should either due to malnutrition and abuse) but she as a person did not because she did not interact and experience with other humans.

Posted by lcisfreya at 05:54 PM | Comments (1)

A Continuation of My Culture, My Life

When we were given the assignment to blog about our own culture, I thought of exactly what I was going to say and how I was going to say it. I would write about my Polish heritage, my Polish background. Never once did I think above and beyond, and stretch my limit to something other than my Polish background and the traditions that I have been a part of ever since I was young. I looked back over my blog and realized that the culture I wrote was only part of me. Of course, my Polish heritage and my family are extremely important. I cherish all the experiences I have and all the love I have been given. Soo..here is another piece of my life, my culture. I have been a swimmer since I was in 5th grade. My swimming and my studies ruled my life. I was always called a fish when I was small (spending hours and hours in the pool; my fingers becoming pruney), but this was a time of competition where I could take out all my frusterations on the waves and the evil water, which sometimes on those cold 6:00 morning practices seemed like teeth, biting and tearing at my skin. I used to live for the water, but then I was hurt and most of my swimming was lost, but the pool is still a part of me, especailly of my past. My skiing has also been a release for me. I welcome the snow, ski jackets, and cold temperatures every year. The feeling of gliding down a ski slope is truly and completely indescribeable. I feel a passion, where human and nature meet. And my French. What an amazing language. I try to watch French films whenever I can, my eyes fixated on the differences in culture--in speaking, dressing, dispostion, or eating. I know that someday, when I am able to stand on the Champs Elysees, I am going to just cry in joy. I have been dreaming about it for as long as I have been taking French, for about 6 years. I hope to not only see France, but other countries, all over just to experience new places and new people with new interests and values. I am passionate about cooking and concocting new recipes like garlic shrimp or vegetarian sandwiches overflowing with peppers and onions. I love to spend time fishing, kayaking, and gardening, especially when it involves my family. I should have defined my culture as who I was, and what I am, but I never connected the two. ** Thank you, Ellen, for forcing us to comment on our writing. I probably would have never added anything to this blog if it wasn't for that assignment.

Posted by lcisgancarz at 05:40 PM | Comments (2)

Genie's word sequencing

Although I did learn some new things about Genie's case from the internet, instead of repeating the facts that everyone has already mentioned, I wan't to mention something that came to mind as I was watching the video.

Genie was eventually taught American Sign Language and although the words signed (for ASL) are English words, the grammar is different. Although I am a native signer, I am honestly not an expert on explaining why exactly the grammar is different. The information below is from a the sign language university website. The reason why I wanted to bring up this idea is because although Genie's sequencing of vocabulary was not similar to that of English, some of her phrases could be accepted when signed in ASL. Perhaps Genie was jumping a bit between both languages? Despite some of Genie's phrases being accepted, I still don't think Genie's progress was actual language acquisiton. But I think this is an interesting thought.

*American Sign Language has its own grammar system, separate from that of English.

What this means is ASL grammar has its own rules for phonology, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.

In general, ASL sentences follow a "TOPIC" "COMMENT" arrangement. Another name for a "comment" is the term "predicate." A predicate is simply a word or phrase that says something about a topic. In general, the subject of a sentence is your topic. The predicate is your comment.

When discussing past and future events we tend to establish a time-frame before the rest of the sentence.

That gives us a "TIME" "TOPIC" "COMMENT" structure.

For example: or "WEEK-PAST Pro1 WASH MY CAR "

[The "Pro1" term means to use a first-person pronoun. A first-person pronoun means "I or me." So "Pro1" is just a fancy way of saying "I" or "me." In the above example you would simply point at yourself to mean "Pro1."]

Quite often ASL signers will use the object of their sentence as the topic. For example:

"MY CAR, I WASH WEEK-PAST" [Note: The eyebrows are raised and the head is tilted slightly forward during the "MY CAR" portion of that sentence.]

Using the object of your sentence as the topic of the sentence is called "topicalization." In this example, "my car" becomes the subject instead of "me." The fact that "I washed it last week" becomes the comment.

There is more than one sign for "WASH." Washing a car or a window is different from the generic sign for "WASH" to wash-in-a-machine, or to wash a dish. The real issue here isn't so much the order of the words as it is choosing appropriate ASL sign to accurately represent the concept.

There are a number of "correct" variations of word order in American Sign Language (Humphries & Padden, 1992).

For example you could say: "I STUDENT I" or, "I STUDENT" or even, "STUDENT I."
Note: The concept of "I" in these sentences is done by pointing an index finger at your chest and/or touching the tip of the index finger to your chest.*

Posted by lcissearls at 05:20 PM | Comments (3)

Genie and Background!

When I was doing more research, I was profoundly struck by the amount of tragedy in Genie's family. There was so much more going on in this situation than just child neglect. First off, Genie's father was twenty years older than her mother, not a very unusual situation certainly, but an interesting fact to add to the story. Her mother was blind, due to an accident when she was young and was hit in the eye while helping her mother wash clothes. Her father grew up in a series of foster homes, but was still devestated when his mother was killed in a hit-and-run accident just prior to Genie's birth. It is believed that her father was serverely mentally ill, which affected his family in so many different ways. The couple had two children before Genie and her brother, both of who died due to apparent child neglect.

The reason I chose to write about this aspect of Genie is because there is apparently so much more to the situation than just face value. It is so complex, and despite Genie's father's apparent guilt, he certainly cannot be blamed for the entire situation, for some of it was beyond his control. I learned about Genie last year in psychology, but each the topic is brought up, I am intrigued beyond belief with the complexity of her situation. P.S. I got my information from: http://www.psychology.sbc.edu/cesarz.htm

Posted by lciscotis at 04:30 PM | Comments (1)

Semiotics

To me visual semiotics and iconography are two complex approaches in being able to interpret the meaning of a visual image. I think that it can be difficult at times to use these methods, because some visual images have multiple meanings that are sometimes hard to categorize specifically. So many meanings can be taken up by various individuals depending on their culture and the time period in which the grew up in. These are some of the factors that can influence the perception of any visual image.

I thought that it was interesting how we categorize wealth and a higher status, versus poverty and a lower status. This can be taken from the clothes that someone is wearing, their physical form, their features, and also what possessions they have. This can all be taken from a visual image.

I was not aware that food was so symbolic on many levels. Like in the 1930's is was used to represent the laziness of African-Americans, or it was used at a biblical allusion. This shows that food is a factor in our perception of wealth, social status, and religious references. This is why the media has such influence in people's decision making and thoughts, because they are able to communicate effectively through visual images.

--Yasmin

Posted by lcisperez at 04:21 PM | Comments (0)

Ch 1 of Practices of Looking

I never really realized that seeing and looking are considered to be two distinct practices. Seeing is more of just observing and taking in object that we may see on an everyday basis, while looking involves interpreting something that we see, exploring it in depth and trying to understand its significance. I think that I spend time seeing objects more than looking at them. I just sort of glance at something and not really pay attention to it or try to analyze it. This chapter gave me a lot of insight into how objects are viewed, and after reading it, I realize that a lot of the visual images that I see constantly are meant to be percieved on a whole other level than I have perceieved them.

For example, in Andy Warhol's work Marilyn Diptych (1962), he created multiple depictions of Marilyn Monroe's face on a very colorful grid. I thought that this was an interesting depiction of art, because it mimics the trends of society, which is mainly to repeat a visual image frequently in order to have an influence on a specific audience. This is so true for the teen generation today, because celebrities are of major influence in the media, and many teens want to resemble those celebrities or "become" them. Now that plastic surgery is so available in today's society, these endeavors are made even more realistically possible.

After reading this chapter it just makes me want to sit back for a while and think about how quickly society is changing, and how much of a powerful influence that visual images have on us. Sometimes it can be too much to absorb.

--Yasmin

Posted by lcisperez at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

The Story of Genie

What I found interesting about Genie was something that I found on the website "feralchildren.com" which was about Genie's brain development. I was interested by a paragraph that I found from a link that was taken from the book The Civilization of Genie which was:

"The theory of language learning recently offered by Curtiss is an attempt to explain Genie’s dependence on her right hemisphere. Possibly, Curtiss wrote in a paper on cognitive linguistics published by UCLA, the acquisition of language is what triggers the normal pattern of hemispheric specialization. Therefore, if language is not acquired at the appropriate time, “the cortical tissue normally committed for language and related abilities may functionally atro­phy,” Curtiss wrote. That would mean that there are critical periods for the development of the left hemisphere. If such development fails, later learning may be limited to the right hemisphere."

This paragraph was significant of the fact that their is a critical period for acquiring language in human, and that if that critical period has passed, there will not have been a normal occurence of specialization in the brain in which the two hemisphere have recieved information back and forth from each other. Although this story was very tragic, I thought that it was very interesting how Genie's right hemisphere of her brain was able to compensate for the left hemisphere of her brain, which had not been stimulated for language. This just shows the amazing adaptability of the brain, and how the brain is able to compensate for a tremendous loss of language such as this one.

After watching the movie I was just shocked and wondered how could someone possibly do that to a child. Language is one of the most important things in our culture, because it allows us to communicate our thoughts, words, and other important ideas. Language makes up and influences our society. It's just amazing for me to think of someone being in a situation of not being able to communicate, it is one of the most horrible punishments. Genie appeared to be so infant-like and helpless, yet she had so much understand in her eyes as if she had so much that needed to be said. This story to me just shows the world how important language is.

--Yasmin

Posted by lcisperez at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)

September 26, 2005

Practices of Looking--Chapter 1

I found Chapter 1 of Practices of Looking very interesting and informative. The part that interested me the most was the comments that the book made about the value of images and while some people may place a certain visual representation at a very high level, others may not.

I found this particularly interesting because I have often wondered, for example, why the Mona Lisa is such a famous painting, and why the painting my eleven-year-old brother made in art class last week is not. Is the Mona Lisa valued because of the quality of the artwork? Is it valued because of the man who created it, Leonardo da Vinci, who is no less than a hero of intelligence in our minds? When I went to Paris in April, I saw the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde in France) and I have to admit, I was entranced, along with the two hundred or so other tourists who were knocking each other over in the hope of getting a glance. (Although I must admit, it was very orderly and everyone got their turn to be up close!) As I look at the picture I took of the Mona Lisa I am still amazed. But, in all honesty, I do not know why. Why is it that back in April my friends and I ran past all the other art to see the Mona Lisa? Is it because there were big signs proclaiming her new location in Le Louvre? Possibly one person was impressed with the Mona Lisa many years ago and the excitement just grew. Who knows? But, I can say that despite the value that is put on certain works of art, I think all art, modern art, digital art, "fine" art, whatever, deserves as much attention and study as the Mona Lisa.

Posted by lciscotis at 11:57 PM | Comments (1)

The genie that couldn't completely emerge from her lamp... (Cheesy, yes)

Perhaps I will start out by referring to my cheesy blog title... Well, Genie in a way, is kind of like a mythical genie, confined and put away, longing to get out, but can only do so when someone from the outside comes along to release her. Genie herself was stored away, in unimaginable confinment. She too, was eventually (after an mind-boggling amount of time) released, exposed to a whole new world. The researchers that found her, although they did care for her greatly, saw her as something that could fulfill some of their dreams - she was infact the "forbidden project", and this opportunity to study her and her situation was incredible exciting for them. Genie did provide lots of fascinating information, but never really enjoyed it as much as those who found her did. Sadly, in the end, she ended up in a similar situation to returning inside the lamp; isolated from the world out and around her.

I'm sure that sounded really corny, but I thought it was an interesting analogy!

Genie really fascinated me. She looked like such a cute, innocent, pretty liitle girl, with such big, expressive eyes that sometimes seemed like a window into her soul. She had endured so much unbearable confinement, and nevertheless, she was never really agressive or violent towards anyone to release any anger. It almost seemed like she did not feel anger, but more fear and frustration.

It is interesting to thing about Genie in terms of brain development, especially after reading Chapter 2 on Brain and Language. Was she in fact mentally retarded from the beginning, which perhaps lead to her being locked away? Or was her confinement, her isolation without conversation, what damaged, or prevented her brain from developing properly? It is difficult to decipher exactly in Genie's case, as there is evidence for her being retarted, like her brain signals when she is dreaming, yet there is also evidence in the theories of brain localization and the critical period that suggest otherwise.

Some think the whole Genie "experiment" was one hundred percent ethically wrong, but I do not agree completely. It was a very difficult, rare, exciting situation, that had an abundance of potential to provide crucial information we cannot get otherwise. Yet, I do wonder, perhaps they should have taken more time to think over what they would do with Genie exactly before actually doing it, without considering alternatives. For example, it was mentioned that if they tried teaching Genie sign language earlier on, not only would they have been more successful, but Genie would have been too.

Posted by lcisthur at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)

Genie

What a truly terrifying story this was. I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined that parents could ever decide one day that they did not want to bring their child up through the knowledge of language, of words, and meanings. My language comes to me without difficulty most of the time. I rarely stop to think about what I am saying or how I am wording a sentence. Genie's inability to speak, even at an old age, gives me this sense of dissappoinment and longing to help her in any way possible. While watching the movie, I felt as though I could just jump through the screen and witness this incredible miracle, in a way, of one girl, touching the hearts of many, without the ability to converse. Genie had this innocence that I couldn't seem to get over. In some of the pictures, her face was just completely drained and plain, but her eyes told the story. Her eyes told of her days strapped to the "potty", and her days filled with anger, yelling, and fear. Yet, this must have happened for a reason. I believe that many things occur for a purpose. Through Genie, scientists were able to dive into the brain and language, in general, more deeply. Though they really did not obtain concrete answers for everything language-related, scientists were able to study how Genie processed different words and sentences. They analyzed her and were able to learn more about this certain "critical period" which deals with the time in which a child should be acquiring language or hearing language in order to develop their own. I have been thinking about Genie often. Her story just captivates me, and I feel compelled to learn more about her whereabouts. Scientists asked for a language experiment, and they sure got one. As cliche as it may sound, this is certainly a girl and a story I will never forget. -Christina G.

Posted by lcisgancarz at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)

Genie's Fate

A girl, a human being, who grew up tied to a potty chair for over ten years. She lived under conditions worse than that of in prison. Her name is Genie. She was abused by her father, and left alone in the dark, empty room in silence. Genie's father shot himself after finding out that she was in public, and his last notes said, "They will not understand". What would be this man's excuse to be such brutal and inhumane? Genie had the least interaction with her family. She was beaten by her father, when made least sound.

Genie's patience is extreme. She went through hard life. Even after being granted "freedom", she had no choice, but to be an experimental subject for the next few years. Throughout the tests, Genie's left brain proved to have almost no process. She nearly had no left brain, therefore wasn't able to learn language efficiently. The scientists also wondered if Genie was born retarded. However, she had almost perfect right brain-nonverbal process. The Story of Genie reports, "She scored the highest recorded score ever on tests that measure a person's ability to make sense out of chaos and to see patterns. Her abilities to understand and to think logically were also strong. She had a perfect score on an adult-level test that measured spatial abilities" in the guide Learning about Learning.
Afterall, she may not have been retarded but missed her once in a lifetime chance to learn language. Her parents failed her to learn language during her critical period.

The parents of Genie tortured her. Still, her mother wasn't embarassed enough that she sued The Genie Team. Even though Genie might have been under pressure of testings, it was through the team's support and help that she learned communication and was rebirn to the world again.

Posted by lcisbold at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)

Genie

Hearing about case studies such as Genie's depresses me. I never understood why someone would want to abuse their child and I'm sure I'll never understand. I read more about her specific case on Wikipedia. I learned many new things about her case after reading this article such as her father was twenty years older than her mother, which shows, I think, that it was probably a little easier for the father to gain such control over the family. The mother, being so much younger and partially blind was probably made to feel so much inferior to her husband because of these factors. I also read about the movie that we found in class today, Mockingbird Don't Sing and I think it would be interesting to watch, especially after seeing the documentary.

With the knowledge I have about psychology (I took an AP course my senior year) and Genie's case, it is my guess and opinion that it is a combination of minor mental retardation and missing the critical period that inhibited Genie's language acquisition. I do believe that there is a critical period that one needs to meet in order to properly learn a language. However in Genie's case, I think it was the combination of the two things, since it was shown that she did have some mental retardation.

-Jessica F.

Posted by lcisfaria at 07:17 PM | Comments (2)

Genie Blog

The Genie story is really disturbing for me to learn about. It reminds me of how evil humans can be towards one another, which is something that I have always known in the back of my mind, but I try not to think about. However, when reading about Genie's story, I can't help but feel so disappointed that something like this could go on for years and years and never be detected.

After we watched the documentary about Genie I visited the web site about feral children all over the world, and I'm not trying to say that one case is more acceptable than another, but I found that the cases that took place in the U.S. (versus the ones that took place in other countries) were so much harder for me to read about.

Many of the cases from other parts of the world included children getting separated from their parents during war or their parents dying, leaving no one to care for these kids. Often times the children befriended an animal, usually dogs, and the children were raised by that animal. However, most of the cases in the U.S. involved deliberate child abuse. These children were knowingly locked away, like in Genie's case, for years by their parents or gaurdians. It is this kind of premeditated torture that makes it so hard for me learn about these cases.

Genie's story is such an eye opener. It makes me wonder if perhaps the same thing is going on somewhere else in the U.S. at this very moment. Somewhere, maybe even close to here, a child could be experiencing this same kind of abuse, but the most frustrating thing about that idea is the fact that there is no way to tell or to help. It is virtually an impossible thing to stop because when people have children or adopt children they are just given the benefit of the doubt, even though clearly not everyone deserves to be given that. I guess the only solution is to make an effort to raise a mentally sound generation so that when they are older they will not turn around and inflict the same abuse on a child that they themselves may have been victim to.

Posted by lcissullivan at 06:08 PM | Comments (2)

Genie

Searching information about Genie in calss today was very interesting. The website that I first found I think is very informative on matters that were not discussed in the documentary. If you want to check out the website feel free..the URL is: www3.georgetown.edu/research/nrcbl/hsbioethics/units/unit3_4.html

The article talks about how the social worker actually first saw Genie. I didn't realize that the mother escaped with Genie and ended up bringing her out in public. The social worker assumed she was six or seven years old and had autism. That is amazing considering she was thirteen. I have been told that I look like I'm still 15 or so but I'm only 18 not 23. Another thing that shocked me was the part where the father would sit with his loaded shotgun on his lap and wouldn't allow his wife or son to speak or to even leave the house most of the time. How awful, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be stuck in one place. It's bad enough for me waking up on a Saturday morning in my dorm room and wanting to get up and go out to my living room and sit on the couch to finish waking up but I can't because I'm not at home. I wouldn't be able to stay in one room for such a long period of time. It's so sad reading and watching the story on this girl. How can people be so cruel? especially to their own child, their own blood. It confuses me and I'm sure it will for a very very long time.

Posted by lcisnelson at 01:07 PM | Comments (0)

Question 3

Reading Kana would be affected by left brain damage because this side of our brain is the centre for the ability to understand, interpret and use a language built of symbols that represented syllables as Kana does. The same, left side of our brain is also responsible for our mathematical ability in addition to our comprehension of rhythm and our temporal-order judgments (Fromkin, 41). While the right-hand side of the brain is responsible for pattern matching, spatial orientation and facial recognition (Fromkin, 41), making it possible to understand a language such as Kanji where each symbol represents a word. Therefore were the right brain damaged an individuals ability to comprehend, interpret and use Kanji would be impaired.

~ Nanette Savides

Posted by lcissavides at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)

A Recipe for Sentence Formation

When a normal functioning person forms a sentence, he or she usually does not even have to think about what they are saying and how they need to piece together the elements of the sentence in order to make it logical and coherent, so it is weird to sit here and actually take the time to think about how exactly the brain assembles sentences.

In order to form the sentence "My patient had brain damage" the brain would first need to focus on the message that is trying to be conveyed. A person, who happens to be a patient, experienced damage to a part of his body, his brain, at some point in the past, and this person happens to be my patient. Those are all of the meanings found in that sentence. Once the brain has determined those meanings, it instantly finds the words in its vocabulary to represent those meanings. The next step is putting together the words to form a correct sentence. The brain focuses on the subject of the sentence, the patient, and molds the sentence around it. The brain makes an effort to convey this message as succinctly as possible so instead of saying "A patient, who happens to by my own..." it simply uses the possesive "my." Once the subject has been established the brain would then convey the next message concerning what happened to the patient, or the term "brain damage." So thus far the sentence is "My patient brain damage," but because the brain has had years and years of experience is speaking grammatically correct, it knows that these words alone are not enough. It then adds the correct verb to denote that the brain damage was experienced by the patient, and this verb is automatically conjugated according to when the experience happened.

Sometimes the brain makes mistakes though. If the same sentence were to come out as "My patient had dain bramage," that would mean that at some point in the formation of this sentence something went wrong. All of the meanings that need to be conveyed are present, and the sentence is grammatically correct as well, but it is the formation of the words to represent that meanings that is incorrect. When the brain decided which words to use to convey each message it did so almost simultaneously so that all the words were chosen at basically the same time. Since the brain was focussing on all 5 words at the same time, it confused some of them, causing several letters on one to be switched with a letter on another, resulting in "dain bramage." Since the process of sentence formation is so rapid, the brain sent out the sentence to be spoken before even realizing that it was incorrect.

Posted by lcissullivan at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)

Brain and Language... Question 3!

I must be ignorant; I always thought the Japanese language seemed rather difficult, but I had no idea that there were two completely different languages... let alone two different languages that used two completely different parts of your brain! I can't imagine trying to communicate with someone if I know one language, and they know the other. How frustrating must that get?!?

Okay, so the question for discussion:

As Kana is the phonetic language of the two, with spelling, and sounds, it is more like "language" as we think of and know it. The left side of the brain is predisposed for langauage from birth, and is better for processing verbal sounds and grammar concepts. There is plenty evidence of this from many tests and studies, including event-related-brain potential tests. Oh, and not to mention the demonstration of our brain having structured seperate facilities by Phineas Gage, the man who had a 4 foot iron rod through his head and still functioned, including language-wise, just fine!

Kanji, the symbolic Japanese language in which pictures represent words, would be processed by the right side of the brain instead. The right side has be found to be better in non-verbal, more visual processing, which includes pattern matching and recognizing faces.

Considering all this, if brain damage was to happen to someone on the left side, the Kana language would by far be more affected than the Kanji. If there was right side brain damage, the symbolic Kanji language would be much more affected.

Eeeesh!

Posted by lcisthur at 02:14 AM | Comments (0)

Language Chapt. Two

I don't think anybody else has answered this question yet in a post, so I picked it just to be different. :) It doesn't make much sense, but I thought it was an interesting question, and I'd like to know the real answer.

Question Two:

A person who doesn’t have any speaking difficulty would quickly think of what they want to say and the words come out verbally as the person’s brain works quickly like a database to search for the correct words in the correct sequence. It also helps if the speaker thought clearly and had a moment to think before they spoke.

When someone speaks incorrectly, they may switch the beginning sounds of words which translates into nonsense. We all make this mistake every now and then, and speaking from personal experience, this is because the speaker doesn’t think about what the words as they’re saying them, like when they are speaking fast, for any reason such as anger, excitement, etc. Because someone who is aphasic has a damaged brain and therefore a damaged thinking process, the words often don’t come out right.

Posted by lcishagan at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)

September 25, 2005

Japenese Writing Systems

Question: In Japanese, there are several writing systems. Kana is phonetic (like English-the spelling corresponds to sounds, more or less) and Kanji is symbolic (like Chinese-words are represented as pictures). Reading which language would be more affected by left brain damage (and back it up with reasons) and reading which language would be more affected by right brain damage?

It would be expected that Kana, a phonetic language that corresponds to sounds like English, would be more affected by left brain damage, while, Kanji, a more symbolic language using pictures, would be more affected by right brain damage. As stated in An Introduction to Language, “he accuracy with which subjects report what they heard is evidence that the left hemisphere is superior for linguistic processing, and the right hemisphere is superior for nonverbal information” (Fromkin 42). Many tests and experiments have been conducted to further prove this lateralization or the differentiation of the right brain abilities from the left brain abilities. One type of experimentation is called dichotic testing where “subjects hear two different sound signals simultaneously through earphones” (41). They may hear a laugh in one ear, and the word “cry” in another. “When asked to state what they heard in each ear, subjects are more frequently correct in reporting linguistic stimuli delivered directly to the right ear, but are more frequently correct in reporting nonverbal stimuli delivered to the left ear” (41). These tests show that the left hemisphere is more likely to distinguish and recognize actual words than the right hemisphere. The right hemisphere, then, would probably be more likely to decipher pictures and colors. To further this idea, many savants who are brilliant in calculating and completing large mathematical equations, do not seem to have the ability to be creative (49). Cases of actual people who have had part of their brain removed have not been able to regain their speech and or their ability to recognize certain objects. There is definitely a separation between creativity and speech development, and these two Japanese languages are definitely examples of this differentiation between the two hemispheres. ** To add, in high school, we were told to complete tests concerning right and left brain thinkers. It is truly interesting how some people really utilize their right brain skills by developing a vocabulary and making incredibly complex sentences, while others can analyze paintings and find great pleasure in color and art.

Posted by lcisgancarz at 09:32 PM | Comments (1)

Kana vs. Kanji

Kanji are one of the five character sets used in Japanese. It consists of Chinese characters that are like pictures. In Kanji, different words would have different "pictures". On the other hand, Kana consists of syllables that correspond to sounds.

The human brain has two hemispheres: left and right. The left hemisphere is superior for language, rhythmic perception, and mathematical judgements. If a person suffers from damage or loss of left hemispheric brain, then he/she wouldn't be able to comprehend to Kana - the syllables. The right hemisphere corresponds to non verbal information, such as drawings and pictures. Therefore, loss of right hemisphere brain will lose ability to read in Kanji - the pictures.

Posted by lcisbold at 08:15 PM | Comments (0)

Sounds v. Pictures

Number Three:

In Japanese, there are several writing systems. Kana is phonetic (like English – the spelling corresponds to sounds, more or less) and Kanji is symbolic (like Chinese – words are represented as pictures) Reading which language would be more affected by left brain damage (and back it up with reasons) and reading which language would be more affected by right brain damage?

Reading Kana would be more affected by left hemisphere damage because it is based on sounds and syllables (like English). The left hemisphere is where language is laterilized. Those with damage to loss of the left side cannot speak (according to Broca). On the other hand, reading Kanji would be effected by right hemisphere because generally the right side of the brain deals with "mathematics, logic, facial recognition, and drawing." If the right side of the brain is damaged, a patient might not be able to use logic and peice the words together to form coherent sentences.

Posted by lcisyeich at 08:09 PM | Comments (0)

Brain and Language Question 3

In Japanese, kana is sound based like English is and there are symbols that correspond to syllables. Kanji is ideographic and each symbol corresponds to a word. Damage to the left hemisphere would impair someone's ability to read kana because the left hemisphere of the brain is the "verbal hemisphere" and is where we process sounds that we hear. Someone with damage to this part of their brain probably would not be able to put together the sounds that they saw on the paper since kana is made up of syllables. Damage to the right hemisphere of the brain would impair someone's ability to read kanji because the right side of our brain specializes in mathematics, logic, facial recognition, and drawing. This is the more visual side of our brain and if since kanji is made up of pictures, someone with damage to this side of the brain might not be able to put a symbol together with an actual picture of an object.

Posted by lcismardin at 07:37 PM | Comments (0)

Brain and Language Question #3

Someone with left brain damage would have difficulty in reading Kana, the phonetic language, because the left brain is typically associated with language, grammar, rhythimic perception, and mathematical thinking. Kana represents the sounds and syllables of the language which therefore can be processed better by the left side of the brain. Kanji is an ideographic language where the symbols depict the action or noun in a way that does not represent how the words are pronounced. The right brain does visual tasks such as recognizing faces and spatial orientation and someone with right brain damage would find it difficult to read Kanji because it is a language composed of visuals.

Posted by lcisfreya at 03:48 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 2

Question #3

Kana, the phonetic language, would eb more affectd by left brain damage and Kanji, the symbolic language would be more affected by right brain damage. The left brain deals more with the verbal aspects and therefore a phonetic language like Kana or English would be hard to read if there's damage. When reading a phonetic language, the brain actually still sounds out the words in order to comprehend the reading. The right brain is more visual and would help read a symbolic language like Kanji and therefore if damaged, it would be quite difficult to make sense of the symbols.

-Jessica F.

Posted by lcisfaria at 03:01 PM | Comments (0)

Language Chapter 2: Question #1

This question is a very interesting one because it seems that the language of each aphasiac is affected differently by disease or trauma. However, some similarities can be found. For example, patients with damage to the front part of the left hemisphere, Broca’s Aphasiacs, tend to have difficulty with diction, syntax, and small function words. On the other hand, patients with damage to the back of the left hemisphere, known as Wernicke’s Aphasiacs, had difficulty with vocabulary and diction. However, their pronunciation and speaking skills were excellent.
In general, the language problems of aphasics seem to be small, but they make a big difference in language. In the examples that were given in the book, the most common problems included misuse of specific parts of speech and difficulty with word order. In general, vocabulary did not seem to pose a problem. Patients had no trouble choosing words that signified what they were trying to convey. In addition, although I was unable to study the pronunciation of the patients, there was no comment about overwhelming mispronunciation by the patients. Thus, although the language of each aphasiac is changed uniquely by trauma or disease, it seems that, in general, grammar and finer points of language are what is lost by aphasics, while a larger sense of vocabulary and general rules of language are maintained.

Posted by lciscotis at 01:55 PM | Comments (0)

Question Number 3

Question 3...In Japanese, there are several writing systems. Kana is phonetic (like English – the spelling corresponds to sounds, more or less) and Kanji is symbolic (like Chinese – words are represented as pictures) Reading which language would be more affected by left brain damage (and back it up with reasons) and reading which language would be more affected by right brain damage?

Reading Kana would be more difficult if a person had left brain damage. This is becuase Kana is based on the sound system of the language and the left hemisphere of the brain is superior for linguistic processing and understanding language based on words alone. With the left hempisphere damaged, people would have a hard time hearing the language and relating them to the words.

Reading Kanji would be more difficult if a person had right brain damage. This is because Kanji is based on symbols corresponding with a word and not on the sounds of the language and the right hemisphere of the brain is superior for nonverbal information, so with this hemisphere damaged, people would have a harder time putting together these symbols and relating them to words.

Posted by lcisnelson at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2005

Chapter 2 of Language

Question #3

Q: In Japanese, there are several writing systems. Kana is phonetic (like English-the spelling corresponds to sounds, more or less) and Kanji is symbolic (like Chinese- words are represented as pictures). Reading which language would be more affected by left brain damage (and back it up with reasons) and reading which language would be more affected by right brain damage?

A:In the Japanese writing system it would be more difficult to read or understand Kana, if someone had left hemisphere damage. This would be because Kana is based on the sound system of the language (spelling corresponds to sound), and the left hemisphere of the brain deals with understanding language based on words. Written material was to be processed in the left hemisphere to be understood. This portion of the brain directly relates to linguistic naming.

Reading the Kanji language would be more difficult if a person had right hemisphere damage, because Kanji involves symbols where words are represented by pictures. This would occur, because the right hemisphere deals with interpreting visual information and making sense of it. In all actuality both hemispheres work together to interpret both visual and linguistical information.

--Yasmin

Posted by lcisperez at 09:34 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 2 Question

3) The left hemisphere dominates language, rythmic perception, judgement and mathematical thinking while the right hemisphere is superior in pattern-matching, recognizing faces and spatial thinking. Since the left brain controls language functions, Kana (phonetic, like English) would be more affected by left brain damage. Additionally, the left brain is known to process letters, numbers and words. This ties to the speech aspect of the left side.

On the other hand, a patient with right brain damage would have more difficulty reading Kanji because it is symbolic and uses spatial and recognition skills. The right side of the brain is able to distinguish objects or symbols from one another. The right brain is better at processing faces, places and objects.

My answer can be backed by the apple experiment conducted with a split-brain patient. The experiment placed an apple in the left hand of the patient. The left hand was being governed by the right side of the brain (dominant in processing objects etc.). The person, with the apple in hand was able to use it, but not name it. Contrarily, when the apple was placed in the right hand (controlled by the left part of the brain) the patient was then able to name the object- apple.

Posted by lcissearls at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2005

Seeing

When I first began "Seeing" by Annie Dillard, I was unsure of what direction she was going in. Although she was very descriptive and provided numerous images, I didn't really enjoy the piece until I started reading all of the factual information about the newly-seeing blind. The essay posed a repeating issue in culture- medical advances and 'who' they benefit. Is it right for parents and medical professionals to have the power to change a child's life, especially those who are blind (or deaf) at birth? Although its only natural for all parents to want the best for their children, I cant help think that it absolutely changes the child's life, for better or for worse.

Obviously, I have not been a parent yet, but it is strange for me to think that parents have total authority over their children's fate. I know this is a very sensitive topic, but I would like to hear comments about what everyone else thinks about these medical advances.
For some similar cases think.....

-Achondroplastic dwarfs undergoing surgery to lengthen their legs -Intrasex (born both sexes) being designated a boy or girl by the parents -Profoundly deaf children born to hearing parents; cochlear implants to make them "hearing"

Posted by lcissearls at 11:00 AM | Comments (1)

Annie Dillard Sees

I think that this essay by Annie Dillard is powerful in the fact that it points out that there is more than one way to "see" things, but we do not often realize it.
Through her own unique style of syntax, she shows readers that we, as one, must see for ourselves. Sure, sounds obvious, but it's not! We often see through something else, and because of this, and because of the fact we are unaware of it, we often cannot see what surrounds us. What we do not see clearly, what we do not appreciate, is nature in all its beauty. Modern society, "culture", technology, etc. distracts us away from it, but we all need to take the time to break away and stop to actually look around and see what is truly there, and what truly matters.

Posted by lcisthur at 12:24 AM | Comments (2)

No Longer Overlooking What We Look At

I thought that the introduction to "Practices of Looking" was actually quite interesting. It brought up some points we, or most people, do not normally think about. We look at "things" all the time, everyday, and rely on it to get us through life as we know it. Yet we rarely think about what these images that don't "seem" to mean anything, actually do to us. Images, now used more than ever in television, photography, computers, etc., have a powerful impact on our culture even though we may not realize it. Images affect what we think about ourselves, others, and the world around us... what we do in our lives, what we think is good or bad, beautiful or ugly, acceptable or not. In many ways images are very harmful to us. In advertising commericals, for example, they are used to create ideas that "you are not okay the way you are, you 'need' this", which makes people insecure and vulnerable consumers. It is actually quite disturbing when you think about how powerful images are in our lives, yet we do not let them register with us, or simply do not want to have to face the fact.

Posted by lcisthur at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)

September 22, 2005

Lateral Inhibition Predicts the Opposite Effect

When I look at this image, I see a square of black horizontal stripes. On the left side some of the bars are colored blue to form a rectangular shape, and on the right side there is an obviously darker, brighter blue rectangle in the background of the black bars. But when I use the tab to remove the black bars, the two shades of blue turn out to actually be the exact same as each other!

The "comment" behind this illusion is that "Lateral inhibition predicts the opposite effect."

Hmmm... I suppose as we "train" and learn our perceptions of what things are are aren't over our life, we rarely encounter cases like these, and therefore, have trouble accepting or believing them. I find it quite amazing. One would think our eyes, that see and determine such fine details everyday in our lives, would be able to tell when two colors are the same! Think again!

If you are interested in this particular visual illusion, which is indeed quite cool, (or many more good ones on this same site), check out:

http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/lum_white-illusion/index.html

Posted by lcisthur at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)

My Visual Illusion

I think this is so cool. Basically, both the upper and bottom part of this object are the same color. However, because they are separated by a center section, shaded differently, and surrounded by different colored backgrounds, it appears that the two surfaces are different colors. If you block the center section it becomes obvious that they are the same color. I think this is interesting because it shows us how often times we see things in relation to their surrounding rather than just seeing the object itself.

If you want to check it out it is http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/alumni/dm29/purves.html. It’s figure four.

-Emmy O

Posted by lcisowens at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)

Seeing in the Dark.

What is most interesting to me about Annie Dillard's "Seeing" is the part about what happens when people who have never been able to see are no longer blind. Their reactions, quotations and behavior are things that I've never read about, so this is enlightening. The beginning of this piece of writing, however, I find slightly unorganized. It is difficult to follow, and I ended up falling asleep while reading it. The only part I remember well is the part about how you can't see in the dark, and you imagine what you see, your senses are heightened and you see things that aren't really there. The second half is more direct and easier to follow. I do understand what she is getting at, though, how we should really take the time to see what is in nature, and how people will miss the beauty of it when they don't take the time to "see".

Posted by lcishagan at 10:20 PM | Comments (1)

Seeing by Annie Dillard

I have already read this passage once before in sophomore year of high school. Well, more specifically, attempted to read this passage because I don't believe I ever got through it. This time around, however, I did manage to get through it and I did like some parts! I feel that Annie Dillard can find words to describe the most minute and literally indescribable facets of nature and life, such as the color patches. A few parts I could relate and even got excited about, and others I found to be tedious and irritating. For example, I found her description of seeing the color patches after reading the book to be unbelievable and overdramatic. On the other hand, she makes up for it with the next sentences explaining she cannot undo her knowledge of the meaning of the forms she sees and her inability to "unpeach the peaches", which I thought was a great expression. She lost me on the very top two paragraphs of page 103 and how she can "see truly" when she blurs her eyes and looks at the brim of her hat. I just found the paragraph to be too wordy. I could appreciate it in a poem but too much is too much. However, there was one part I enjoyed and brought back memories for me and that is when she is describing how she is always on the lookout for antlion traps and monarch pupae and all things minutiae. It reminded me of how when I was younger I loved to go in my field and look for monarch butterfly catepillars and then house them with some milkweed in a small mesh bug "house" through the stages of eating, chrysalis, and hatching, then setting them free. It was always so exciting. Now, however, I can't find the catepillars anymore, though I am always on the lookout like Annie Dillard is. So I suppose this passage wasn't as tedious as the first time through, and yes, I did enjoy most of it.

Posted by lcisfreya at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)

Annie Dillard's "Seeing"

After reading Dillard’s story I felt swindled. The story seemed disorganized and off task. She put too much detail and almost overwhelmed her point. She didn’t use every sentence to its fullest. On the other hand, I could appreciate her concepts of appreciation and taking advantage of what you get. I could relate to her going into the woods and looking for something interesting to happen. My favorite part of the story was when she described the blind people coming out of their state and not understanding size, depth and space. They were forced to live a new way that was almost regretted. Most of the patients that she described still used their old ways and found it more convenient and meaningful to do so. We cannot imagine not using our eyes and these people couldn’t imagine using them. Dillard created a sense of hope by describing the blind person that called everything “So beautiful.” It seemed like those who were blind and then cured were the most appreciative of the little things and described things in such a romantic way that it takes us time to realize what they mean. For example, the trees emitting light seems wrong and unrealistic but to these people, every ounce of light meant tons.

-Jessica Yeich

Posted by lcisyeich at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

A blogging mistake

Maybe it is just my constantly malfunctioning computer but I believe our lovely blogging system has not included all of my first paragraph and even made the few words it decided to keep of it very small. So here is the first paragraph.

The introduction to Practices of Looking left me completely ecstatic. I am greatly looking forward to learning about how we make,understand, make meaning, and globalize our visual culture. I completely agreed with the agitated tone of the authors towards the fact that though visual images have become "dominant in our culture," we still learn very little about modern image-based cultures. I know when I was making my hopeful choices for classes, I saw that Simmons offers many classes based on images (movies, television, comic books etc.) of different cultures. It seemed so interesting to me and I think that was because normally we don't think of college offering those sorts of classes because we generally don't think them as useful. It is relieving to know that something we do in our modern culture is useful and unique to the past.

-Jessica Yeich

Posted by lcisyeich at 05:44 PM | Comments (1)

Practices of Looking Introduction: The Best I've Read (for an intro)

 The introduction to Practices of Looking left me completely ecstatic. I am greatly looking forward to learning about how we make,understand, make meaning, and globalize our visual culture. I completely agreed with the agitated tone of the authors towards the fact that though visual images have become "dominant in our culture," we still learn very little about modern image-based cultures. I know when I was making my hopeful choices for classes, I saw that Simmons offers many classes based on images (movies, television, comic books etc.) of different cultures. It seemed so interesting to me and I think that was because normally we don't think of college offering those sorts of classes because we generally don't think them as useful. It is relieving to know that <strong>something</strong> we do in our modern culture is useful and unique to the past.

I liked the word choice in the introduction as well. The authors used "cross-fertilization" to describe the process of associating things to others. Such as a TV show with an advertisement. The word gives a living element to our visual culture, which is perfect because our culture is a "process" (as the authors called it) and because it changes so rapidly, it almost is living