Zooming In

December 19, 2005

Final Post

For me, the highlight of this semester was visitting the MFA and writing about the Ansel Adams photos. Going to a museum and seriously studying art is not something that I would do on my own, but I really enjoyed thinking deeper about Adams's work and other works in the museum as well.

One skill that I notice I now have is the inability to look at an image in an advertisement without picking it apart. I do it especially when I'm riding the T. I literally cannot look at the advertisements without trying to figure out what audience the advertisers were trying to appeal to, the signficance of small details in the image, the use of colors, etc...I definitely never thought about these things before taking this class, so it has opened up my eyes in that respect.

This class exposed me to practices that go on in the media, such as the objectification of women, that I knew existed, but gave very little thought to. Watching the movie "Killing Us Softly" made me realize that the objectification of women is a topic that I, as a woman, should have more passion for. My goal for the future is to act more aware of this issue and challenge it more often instead of just accepting it as "the way things are," like I did before this class.

Posted by lcissullivan at 03:30 PM | Comments (2)

December 05, 2005

The Skin that We Speak: Chapter 3

The opening of this chapter raises an important issue in linguistics and that is that despite the fact that linguists say that everyone is entitled to use language as they wish and there is no form that is superior to another, we still want to sound correct when speaking. Even though we have the privellage to speak however we want, we don't, and this is because we fear being viewed a certain way. Linguistic profiling encourages people to speak the same because they do not want to become victims of stereotypes.

The opinions of Maya Angelou sharply contrast those of James Baldwin. Whereas Baldwin thought that calling Black English a dialect, rather than its own language, was insulting, Maya Angelou felt it was dangerous to call it its own language. She felt that this could suggest that African Americans are unable to learn White English, and as a result they would be looked at as stupid. It is interesting how two people can have such a different take on a subject and how each can have valid reasons for their opinion.

It is frightening to think about how much rides on the interview process of applying for a job. This chapter talks about the over-qualified computer technician who could not get hired because of her Southern and rural dialect. This enforces the idea that when you are competing for a spot in some sort of organization, the most important aspect of you is how you present yourself, specifically how you use language.

The concept of conscious learning versus unconscius acquisition is intersting because it states that basically the speed with which a language can be learned depends upon how much a person identifies with that language and whether or not using the language is fun. This reminds me of the Genie case, in which Genie was able to acquire language at first at a ridiculously fast rate. This accelerated acquisition was probably based on the fact that for a girl who had practically no human contact all of her life, speaking and interacting with others was fun and therefore she picked up the language at a faster rate.

When I read about the style in which young African Americans are taught I realized that the author is correct in saying that in schools the main focus of African American heritage is slavery. That is all I can remember learning about in regards to African Americans, and although it is an important part of history, schools should also make a point to teach about the positive aspects of African American heritage.

Some questions I had about this chapter were: Would African Americans be offended if white people tried to learn both forms of English as they have? Can a language be owned by its people? Does segregation have any advantages in the sense that African American students would not feel "less than" their white peers? In rejecting a student's mother tongue, are school systems weakening the education that those children receive? Is our nation's inability to see beyond language hindering our progress?

Posted by lcissullivan at 09:29 AM | Comments (0)

The Skin that We Speak: Chapter 5

The study of linguistic stereotypes that is investigated in this chapter reminds me a lot of John Baugh's work. In 1971 experiments were held in Britian in which people listened to the same speaker put on different accents and were asked to describe that speaker. The subjects said that the person speaking standard English was more intelligent, when reality it was the same person who was speaking the less proper English. This is similar to the recordings we heard in class. We too made assumptions about the person speaking, when in reality we were listening to John Baugh everytime.

The transcript of a conversation with a young British girl I think brings up a good point about our perception of language. The young girl perceives another person as being uneducated because they use improper terms such as "sort of," when she herself uses that exact same term. This shows that people shouldn't criticize or judge others based on their use of language because no one uses language perfectly. Everyone is at least somewhat grammatically incorrect, therefore criticizing others becomes hypocritical.

Another important point that this chapter stresses is that of all the languages and dialects out there, none are superior over others. There are "culturally learned notions" which suggest that one dialect is more "proper" than another, but these notions are only based upon the wealth and prestige of the people who use that dialect, not the actual language itself.

I find the parts about linguistic profiling by teachers to be very interesting. The author seems to suggest that often time a teacher's perception of a student is based more on how that students appears and speaks, rather than how he or she actually performs academically. The author points out however, that teacher should not be so quick to judge students based on their use of language becuase they only get to see one style of a pupil's language. Teachers do not get to see how that pupil speaks to his or her friends or family, therefore they should not judge a pupil on something that they themselves do not have full access to.

Something I realized when reading this chapter is that we often think that people who speak what is considered to be an improper form of language are the victims of linguistic profiling, as they are assumed to be uneducated and of lower class. However, people who speak their language properly are also many times victims of linguistic profiling. Such people are assumed to be snobby or stand-offish, when this may not be the case at all. So speaking both proper and improper forms of a language has its advantages and disadvantages.

Some questions I had about this chapter are: The author states that prescriptive grammars are no longer around, and today most grammars are descriptive. If this is the case then why are people still criticized for using evolved forms of a language? Why does the author seem to focus on the language of young children, which is constantly changing and developing, rather than that of adults? Does there exist one style of a language that can be appropriately used in all situations (for example with friends, family, superiors, etc.)? Why do higher class dialects have more consistency despite geographic location than working class dialects, which vary greatly from region to region? Does being in an educational setting as a child merely hinder childrens' abilities to form their own individual style of language?

Posted by lcissullivan at 08:53 AM | Comments (0)

December 04, 2005

The Grammar of Our Blog

A prescriptive grammar is one that believes that the evolution of a language is a corrupt process. I notice that most of the posts not only reflect English as it would be spoken by us, rather than written, but also reflect a style of English that is used on computers. This style of English ignores rules of capitalization, punctuation, and often times spelling.

A prescriptive grammar would probably cringe at the use of slang that has been present since the beginning of the year, as well as incorrect sentence structure. The spelling would be criticized not only for the unintentional mispelling of words that we were probably too lazy to look up, but also for spelling that suggests how we would say a word (for example to stress one of the morphemes you repeat a letter over and over again like in the word "soooooooooo").

Our blog should definitely be appreciated because of the content of each post, rather than the actual grammar.

Posted by lcissullivan at 09:05 PM | Comments (0)

Response to Freya's Question

Is this article at all irrevelant today because it was written in 1979?

I know that a lot racial tension still exists today in the U.S., especially between African Americans and Caucasians, but I feel that the U.S. in 2005 is a very different place than it was back in 1979. Baldwin describes the education of young black students as something that the majority of white Americans were not interested in. I feel like today that is not the case at all. Steps have been taken to ensure that the color of a student's skin does not affect the manner in which he or she receives an education, and although these steps are not 100% effective, they certainly have changed education drastically since 1979.

So I think that in regard to the educational issues Baldwin talks about, the article is absolutely irrevelant. However, his final paragraph sounds like something that would be written today. He points out that the U.S. does not acknowledge the fact that minorities are the ones filling our prisons and streets. I feel like this issue still exists today, and it is something that our country has done little to understand in the past 25 years.

Posted by lcissullivan at 08:44 PM | Comments (1)

Black English

I can tell that James Baldwin is passionate about this topic of Black English because he writes with a tone of anger. The essay conveys his frustration with the way in which the world views blacks and their use of English. He writes in a very personal manner that speaks to people differently depending on their background and experiences in life.

I understand to the best of my ability what Baldwin is trying to say, and that is that Black English should most definitely be distinguished as its own language, rather than a mere dialect. Baldwin actually seems insulted at the fact that most people consider it a dialect. He feels that language is basically a result of people needing to survive, and different languages arise based on the different threats that people have to face in their struggle to avoid death. In his opinion, Black English came about as a way for blacks to communicate without whites fully understanding what they were saying. This form of communication was often the deciding factor in life and death situations, therefore it qualifies a language.

Baldwin sheds light on a topic that I never really gave much thought to; I always knew that Black English sounded different from White English, but I thought that the major difference was just in pronounciation. He emphasizes that words said in White English could take on a completely different meaning when said in Black English. This made me think that perhaps whenever I heard Black English, despite the fact that I thought I understood it, I really didn't know what was truly being said.

I thought Baldwin's opinion of the education received by young black children was also eye-opening. He claims that whites are only interested in educating black children if those children deny the experiences they have that are the essence of their identity. These children enter a "limbo" between black and white, but are unable to embrace either side. This behavior convinces Baldwin that an education from people who demand such a change of identity is not even an education worth receiving; or in other words, black children are better off not learning from whites in this way.

Some questions I have about Baldwin's essay are: If Black English should not be considered a dialect because it evolved based on the need to survive, as all languages did, then is there even such a thing as a dialect, or is every variation of a language a language in itself? Besides terms that were borrowed, how has Black English shaped White English? Is there a solution regarding how young black children can maintain their identity while still being educated in a white world? How does Black English permit the United States with its only glimpse of reality?

Posted by lcissullivan at 07:56 PM | Comments (0)

November 28, 2005

My Thesis Statement

Not all language has the same syntax, but rather syntax depends on the genre of the language as well as the person or people using the language.

Posted by lcissullivan at 11:13 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2005

Chapter 11 Hypothesis

In my opinion it takes the least amount of time for the pronunciation of words to change, a little bit longer for the lexicon to change, and the longest for syntax to change. I think that the amount of time it takes for each of these things to change is based on whether or not they exist as rules. In forming words we never learn a set of rules(where to put our tongues, whether a vowel should be long or short, etc), but rather we just naturally pick up on how words should sound. This flexibility with which people learn words allows there to be a lot of variation, and as a result different pronunciations form. The same idea goes for words. There are no rules as to what can be a word and what can't be a word (it's not like certain letters cannot follow others), therefore there is always room for variation, and that's why new words are created and put into use. However, syntax is more structured. There are rules as to what order words must be put in a sentence, and we usually don't understand why things must go in this order, but we just accept it as the only way to do things. Therefore there is no room for variation...we learn the rule and stick to it.

These timing correlates to the acquisition of language in babies in that the things that take less time to change, take less time to be learned. For example, pronunciation of words, which can change the quickest, is always learnt the quickest by babies. Usually babies, once they learn a word, learn the phonetics of that word and don't mess up saying it. Although babies have limitted lexicons, the words that they do know they usually are able to use in the right context (for example a child usually doesn't say "I see a dog" when they mean "I see a car"). It is the forming of sentences, syntax, that children usually have the most difficult time learning. Often times they use all of the correct words and pronounce those words correctly, but they do not string them together in a way that forms a coherent sentence.

Posted by lcissullivan at 11:32 PM | Comments (0)

The Pygmalion Effect

The Pygmalion Effect is a phenomenon in which one's expectations of another person actually cause that person to act in ways that conform to the expectations. It basically suggests that if a person holds a certain view towards another person, then that person is likely to live up to that view. The idea comes from an Ancient Greek myth, in which a man idolized a statue of a woman so much that a goddess agreed to turn the statue into an actual person, and the man and the newly formed woman fell in love. However, this idea can be seen in modern entertainment as it is the underlying plot in many movies, including "My Fair Lady," of course, "She's All That," and "Pretty Woman."

The Pygmalion Effect is not just explored in film, it has been studied in various places, such as the work place and in schools, to see if it really has a significant effect on performance. In 1966, Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson did a study on teacher expectations in which they administers I.Q. tests to students at the beginning of a school year. Before the teachers received the results on these tests, they randomnly selected certain students to be labelled as academic acheivers, and other to be labeled as academically challenged.

At the end of the year when they administered the I.Q. test once again they found that each student's score correlated to his or her label. For example, students labelled as academic acheivers scored higher, while students labelled as challenged scored lower. Rosenthal and Jacobson concluded that a teacher's expectations of his or her students could affect the students' ability to excel. This finding gained a lot attention because it suggested the possibility that the wrong teacher could inhibit a student's learning.

This Pygmalion Effect is similar to the idea in pychology known as the self-fulfilling prophecy. This theory states that an individual usually acts to fulfill an expectation held about him or her, ultimately making this expectation reality. Psychologists believe that the self-fulfilling prophecy has more to do with self-image and determination, therefore suggesting that students who scored high on the test did so because they were confident in themselves.

The Pygmalion Effect seems like a reasonable theory, especially in the classroom. It seems feasable that when a teacher believes in his or her students, the students believe in themselves, and as a result they perform better. Films that suggest that this theory extends into real world experiences, are somewhat ungrounded in that there is no research done to prove this correct.

http://www.users.muohio.edu/shermalw/edp603_group2-f00.html"

I believe that the source from which I got this information is credible because it is an essay written for a college course. The authors, date, and professor for which it was written are all included. At the end of the paper there is a rather long list of references cited. Also, the fact that the URL is muohio.edu is an indicator that it is a credible site.

Posted by lcissullivan at 09:42 PM | Comments (0)

November 17, 2005

"The Skin Game" By Joe Queenan

Chapter Four of Seeing and Writing talks about how people identify themselves. It mentions that clothing, hairstyle, and body type all say something about who we are. Tattoos bring an interesting twist to this idea of identity in that they are permanent. Once you get a tattoo, you can't change it, and since tatoos identify who you are, in a sense you can't change that part of your identity. So I guess a person's opinion of tattoos really boils down to whether or not they feel comfortable enough with their identity to do something that will forever freeze it in time. People who don't like tattoos must not be sure enough about their identity to commit to something that will stay with them forever.

This essay also brought up a good point about the evolution of tattoos. They used to be much more common in males than in females, and they had an edgy or "bad boy" feel. Today it seems the opposite. Out of the people I know, I hear of more girls getting tattoos than guys, and these tattoos are usually anything but edgy. Most of the tattoos that girls get are butterflies or hearts. It's amazing how quickly the tattoo has evolved and I wonder if it will continue to evolve past its current state.

Posted by lcissullivan at 03:44 PM | Comments (1)

Seeing and Writing: "Average Attractions" by Bruce Bower

When I came across this essay in Chapter Four of Seeing and Writing I was completely absorbed in the reading. I think the questions "What is beauty?" is so interesting. I have seen shows before that talk about a magic ratio, I forget what the exact ratio is, that determines whether or not a body is considered beautiful.

This essay also suggests that beauty is based on how close we come to looking "normal." Perhaps "normal" is proportional according to the magic ratio? Regardless, when the article talked about how babies are more likely to play with attractive people, it made me think about a young girl that I babysit for. I have been babysitting for this family for years, and I have known this girl, Chandley, since she was 2 or 3-years-old and she is now 6 or 7. She has always loved to dance and one year she started ballet. She enjoyed the class and when it was finished she planned on enrolling for the next class. One day when I was babysitting I asked her how this second ballet class was going and she told me that she quit. I was really shocked to hear this so I asked her why and she wouldn't answer me. It was then that he little sister, Lauren, who was about 4 at the time, told me that she quit because he teacher was ugly. Chandley tried to defend herself by explaining that her teacher was overweight and she didn't like to watch her dance. I remember not really knowing what to say to her. I just thought it was really sad to see a young girl hold prejudices against other people because of their appearance.

Having read this essay and having had this experience I completely agree that no matter how young you are, you already favor people who are attractive, who look "normal," over people who look different. There is no way that Chandley acquired this prejudice from her parents. It's sad to think that we all come into this world already judging others, but I guess when you think about it, it's true.

Another interesting point that this article brought up was that if beauty relies on someone looking normal, then why are certain celebrities who possess unique traits considered beautiful because of this uniqueness? The celebrity that came to my mind was Angelina Jolie. She is considered beautiful mainly because of her lips, but I tried to figure out if she was not a celebrity and I just happened to see her walking down the street one day, whether or not I would consider her beautiful. I honestly don't have the answer for this because I know that she's a big star and it's hard to imagine her as an average person, but I'm guessing that I wouldn't find her as beautiful as I think she is now. I think this idea of fame contributing to beauty is interesting, and it makes me wonder that if given enough wealth and glamour, can anyone become beautiful?

Posted by lcissullivan at 02:48 PM | Comments (0)

Gender Roles

After reading "Why Boys Don't Play With Dolls," by Katha Pollitt, and "Snakes and Snails," by Ellen, I've realized that determining what makes a girl "girly" and what makes a boy "macho" is so much more complicated than the toys they play with.

Both essays have left me feeling defeated in regards to raising children. It seems that you can either go with the flow and let your girls play with Barbies and your boy with toy guns, or you can desert these conventions and raise your children as you see fit. Both paths seems to have their advantages and disadvantages, leaving me to believe that there really is no perfect way to raise a child. No matter what you tell them, what beliefs you impose on them, you will be doing them both good and harm. In letting them do the typical kid stuff they might never learn that girls can play in the mud and boys can do ballet, but in holding them back from the typical kid stuff, you will only create feelings of lonliness and hostility as they feel different than their friends. How do you raise a child who is able to think outside of the box and not conform to stereotypes, but at the same time doesn't feel like he or she has missed out on a normal childhood? I don't think anyone really has the answer to this, and perhaps this is why when you look at adults, you see that everyone has their issues, most of which stem from their childhood experiences.

One confusing aspect of gender roles is whether or not they are determined by Biology or society. The cartoon at the end of "Why Boys Don't Play With Dolls" displays the idea that girls are the way they are because of Biology. How else could you explain the fact that a 3 or 4-year-old tends to nurture everything she comes in contact with? It seems that she is too young and hopefully too unexposed to society to have learnt this kind of behavior. Another idea is that society determines why boys and girls act certain ways. In the case of Ellen's son, one could say that he would never have felt the desire to have a toy weapon had he not had experiences such as the one at the circus, where he was surrounded by other boys with laser swords. Was his desire for that sword really innate, or was it merely a result of our society?

The roles of males and females are probably due to a mix of Biology and society. Biology may determine up to a point whether or not a young girl would rather play indoors with dolls or outside in the dirt, but these roles are more clearly defined by society.

Posted by lcissullivan at 02:16 PM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2005

MFA Reflection

1. To me, the MFA feels like an escape because when you're inside, you don't really think about any of the work you have to do that week, or any tests you may have coming up, or what your plans are for the weekend. It's really just a time to appreciate the art and relax your mind. The architecture of the museum really helps to create this feel. The high ceilings, large rooms, and general silence give me room to think because my mind doesn't feel very cluttered. I like how the architecture of each room, mirrors the style of the exhibit in that particular room. For example, when you go into the room with the mummies, the lighting is dim and the air is warm and almost stuffy, giving it the feel of a tomb.

2. I brought virtually no assumptions to the Ansel Adams exhibit. All I knew about Adams as an artist was that he worked in black and white. I did not know that he was a photographer, rather than a painter, not did I know that the main focus of his work was in nature. I really had no clue what to expect when going in there.

"Lake Near Muir Pass, Kings River Canyon, Sierra Nevada" -1933

Since he works in only black and white, many of Adams's photographs have dramatic color contrasts. In this photo, the snowy white mountain meets with the black lake creating a distinct barrier between the two and really separating the two elements. Adams uses shading to create texture in the mountain. He also uses focus to differentiate between the real mountain, and the fake mountain that is only a reflection in the lake. The real mountain has roughness to it and it is sharply defined, whereas the reflection is a little blurrier and everything looks smooth and glossed over

Adams presented this photograph to a comittee when proposing that the Kings River Canyon be transfered to the National Park Service in order to ensure its preservation. At first glance, the photograph appears to contain two mountains, but when you look closer you see that one is merely the reflection of the other and it is not real. I think Adams's message is that there is only one real Kings River Canyon; it cannot be replicated, therefore we must act to save it.

Since this is a photograph, it definitely contains representative visual data. We see the mountain as it would be seen with our own two eyes if we were to stand in front of it and see it in person. Adams does not distort the image, he merely presents it to us as it appears in reality. I think that Adams's use of water is symbolic of purity. The pristine lake has not been polluted or harmed by society, and Adams is suggesting that it stay that way. The abstraction of this piece is in the reflection of the mountain in the lake. This image gives meaning to the piece because it suggests that there is no way to replicate nature exactly, and it would be a shame to not preserve such a one-of-a-kind mountain.

1. "Maynard Dixon, Artist, Tucsen, Arizone" -1945

Adams's use of shading is prominent in this photograph. There are dark shadows cast over the old man so that half of his face cannot even be made out. The shading also gives way to texture. The texture of the man's wrinkled face and clothes, the texture of the screen in front of the man, as well as the texture of the dry and wilted plants makes this seemingly simple photograph full of details to observe.

I think that this is a photograph about death. The old man's expression is sad. He is not smiling and his eyes are gleaming at the camera. Adams really capture his age by surrounding him with dead plants, and the dried-out, cracking bark of a tree. The man sits behind a screen and is immersed in shadows, giving his a ghost-like appearance.

There is representative visual data because it is a photograph. Symbols include the dry bark and the wilted flowers, which represent death, and the glasses that the man wears, which represents failed sight and old age. Abstraction is in the form of the screen and the shadows, which distance the old man, and give the photograph a ghostly feel.

This photograph relates to some of Adams's landscape photos in that he uses texture in both to give detail and complication to an otherwise simple image. Also the man's old age corresponds to the ancient mountains.

1. "Rails and Jet Trails, Roseville, California" -1953

The contrasting dark and light shades in this photograph distinctly separate the ground and sky, which are the two main focuses. Adams also uses perspective to convey a feeling of vastness both on land, as train track can be seen until they disappear in the distance, and in the sky, as looping jet trails give a sense of how much space there is up there.

I think that by taking what would have been a landscape picture, but having it dominated by reminders of our industrialized world, Adams is commenting on our disregard for nature. He is also suggesting that we no longer take the time to enjoy nature, as we live in a high speed world where we are constantly travelling across the globe at record speeds.

Besides representative visual data, there are symbols in this photograph. The train tracks and the jet trails are symbolic of transportation. There is a big antennae that is blocking the sun. I think that this is symbolic of how our inventions have come to dominate the world, and we no longer notice nature anymore. Abstraction is present in the similarity between the winding train tracks and the winding jet trails. This similarity represents the fact that we have come to dominate both the land and the sky.

This photograph is similar to Adams's landscape pieces, except that is has reminders of technology in the way of nature. Like in Adams's landscapes, the black and white simplifies the scene, but even more so in this photograph where the idea of a technologically complicated world is present.

1. "Slave Ship" -Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1840

This painting is compelling upon sight, but one you know the actual story behind it, it is even more moving. It is a landscape of a turbulent sea and blazing sky. The sea however is not blue as one would expect it to be, but instead it is brown, red, orange, and a greasy white. The sky is red, yellow, and white. The two elements (water and sky) mix and blend together as if they were one plain. A wooden ship can be faintly seen sailing away from the foreground of the painting. The ship's wood appears red and bloody.

The story behind this piantin gis that it is supposed to depict the slave ship Zong, whose captain, in 1783, threw sick slaves overboard in order to collect insurance money for slaves lost at sea.

In the bloody ocean, sinking away from the surface, can be seen chained limbs of the slaves. Swarms of fish are preying on these limbs, giving way not only to humans violence, but natural violence as well. The color used in this painting are what truly depict the emotion in it.

Although it deals with a difficult subject, and the violence is hard to look at it, I think this piece is a "work of art" because it causes so much emotion. Just in sitting in front of it for 10 or 15 minutes, I noticed that this is the type of painting that people really stop to look at. People are drawn to it because it raises questions and challenges ideas. I think that if a painting has the ability to make people stop and think, then it is definitely a "work of art."

Posted by lcissullivan at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)

Crash Sentence Correction

By having his characters desert their previously held stereotypes toward other ethnic groups, Haggis suggests to the audience that they too should reevaluate their own beliefs and any stereotypes that they themselves may have.

For Jean, it is a young black male, like the one who carjacked her. This experience confirmed her belief that wealthy, attractive white women, like herself, are targets for lower class black men.

However, sometimes people do fulfill a certain stereotype that society holds towards them.

Racism is the most apparent theme that is developed throughout Crash, and it is manifested most notably through the actions and interactions of the characters.

When things are in focus, the characters tend to break free from stereotypes; meaning that either they have stopped judging others or others have stopped judging them.

Most of the time, things are so out of focus, that all we see are the faces of the people who possess the stereotypes.

The director establishes this brief, but courteous, exchange in order to emphasize the drastic change in each character's attitude that is about to take place.

In this scene Richard Cabot, the district attorney of Los Angeles, and his wife, Jean, return home from having just had their card stolen. They immediately get the locks on their doors changed because neither of the two, both of whom are caucasian, feel safe.

When semiotically interpreting a movie, colors are just as important to pay attention to as the words are because both speak the semantic language.

There are also other ways in which Daniel does not conform to the typical stereotypes held towards Hispanics.

Haggis keeps the backgrounds in the film vague to convey a sense of ambiguity, while simultaneously using various symbols to create a subliminal holiday feel. He thereby offsets the ambiguity by coupling it with something that can bring us familiarity and relief.

St. Christopher is a religious figure that people of Christian faith often time carry with them because he is believed to protect those with whom he travels.

Guns symbolize the isolation that humans feel, which ultimately drives them emotionally, and often times violently, crash into one another.

Although he knows all the reasons why his people struggle to succeed in such a segregated world, he still holds stereotypes toward his community.

The focus on the phone coming out of Jean’s hand and hitting the floor symbolizes her letting go of her racist beliefs, through which her angry and intolerant mentality was evident.

As the viewer, I know that none of the characters completely fit into any of the categories because I have had the chance to see the different facets of each person. Yet the director also displays them in a way in which they appear to identify with their specific stereotype.

We, as members of a once extremely segregated society, always seem to associate the juxtaposition of black and white with skin color.

This advertisement epitomizes American culture, as the young boy stands for youth, fun and hope.

The scene entitled “Trust” not only shows that one person can have two completely different sides, but it also suggests that interpreting a person like this should not be a cut and dry process.

Posted by lcissullivan at 08:00 PM | Comments (2)

November 14, 2005

My Dialect

When I used the Speech Accent Archive website, it said that my dialect is english21, a female from Boston, MA. All my relatives are also from Boston, and therefore have similar dialects to the one I have, but I found it really fun to click on all the different places in the U.S. and listen to the dialect from each one. I think it's amazing how different the woman from New York sounds from the woman from Texas.

Posted by lcissullivan at 12:04 AM | Comments (1)

November 13, 2005

Dialect Determiner

Social groups definitely have a lot to do with how people talk, but I think that geography has a greater impact on dialect. Most people learn to talk when they are babies from their parents, and the dialect of their parents is about the same as the dialect that they grow to possess. This dialect is usually typical of the dialect in that geographical region, as most adults have out-grown any dialect changes they went through as teenagers. Therefore this original dialect is basically representative of the geographic region in which a person's parents grew up.

This dialect is shaped and changed through interaction with people other than one's parents. Friends shape young adults' dialects, but the foundation of that dialect is still based on how one's parents taught them to talk, not how their friends talk. This is why teenagers from Boston have a different dialect than teenagers from California. Even though they are both teenagers their original dialects are different, therefore it doesn't matter that they all belong to the social group of "teenager."

If social group governed dialects more than geography, then why wouldn't the "working class" of all areas talk the same regardless of location? Differences in their dialects are due to differences in the dialects of their parents, which usually reflect the dialect of the geographical area.

Changing the way one talks when in the presence of different people is not change one's dialect. Just because some people may talk more "laid-back" when they are with their friends, and more "proper" when they are with someone who they are trying to impress, doesn't mean that they have changed dialect, but rather they have changed the style in which they speak their dialect.

Posted by lcissullivan at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)

Conversational Styles

At first when we received this assignment I was somewhat reluctant to do it. I did not want to purposefully fill a conversation with long and awkward pauses because I don't like the thought of making someone else feel uncomfortable when they are talking to me, but I then realized that in going home for the long weekend I would have the opportunity to try this experiement with an old friend.

This friend has always had a very different conversational style than anyone else I have ever met. He talks extremely slow, often times pausing for about five seconds before continuing a thought. This pace always annoyed me, and I would usually fill these pauses because they made me uncomfortable. However, every once and I while I would wait a pause out and sure enough he would have something to say at the end of it. It's like during that pause his brain is working to sort things out and concisely say what it is he wants to say.

So I decided that when I talked to him this weekend I would fight the urge to fill these pauses, and instead I would just let him talk. There was a distinct difference between the conversation I had with him this weekend and any other conversation we have ever had before. I felt like he did most of the talking, whereas before it was the opposite, and I was the one to always do all the talking. Even though for me having those long silences was uncomfortable, I realized that for him it wasn't at all, and he probably viewed our conversation as an enjoyable one.

Doing this experiment made me wonder if he has always felt like I interrupt him, whereas I have always thought that in talking a lot I was doing him a favor by making the conversation less awkward. It was a good experience to have because it will probably affect the way we talk in the future in that I will make more of an effort to give him time to finish talking.

Posted by lcissullivan at 06:51 PM | Comments (0)

November 09, 2005

Mid-semester evaluation

I like how when we are assigned to write a paper, we are given usually a few weeks to write it, then we pass that draft in. We are then given the draft back and given another week or so to make changes to it, then we pass the final copy in. In most English classes I have taken this has not been the case. Usually when I have been assigned a paper, I am given a certain amount of time to complete it, then I hand it in and that is the end of it. I like how here we are the opportunity to spend more time with our writing. It makes you critique yourself more and really work on what could be better in your paper, and I find that this helps a lot.

I also like how the class is not as structured as other classes are. For example, in other classes sometimes worrying about when exams are and what information you need to know for the exam, gets in the way of actually listening in class. I find that in here I can really focus on the material because I do not have thoughts or worries in the back of my head concerning when or how I am going to be tested on the material.

I enjoy the creative aspect of the class as well. I feel like we are engaged in an interactive learning process, whereas in other classes it often seems like we are just copying notes from the board. In here we seem more responsible for the learning that we are doing, and I think that helps to make information stick.

One thing that impedes my learning in here is the subject matter itself. It is hard to sit for two hours and learn about different facets of communication when that is not what you are interested in at the time. I understand that what we are learning is important, but I think that in only allowing honors students to choose between two MCC courses (communication or government) the college has made it difficult for us to really choose a class that we have genuine interest in. There really is nothing that anyone can do to fix this problem, but I think it is a definite impedement to my learning.

Posted by lcissullivan at 11:07 AM | Comments (2)

November 01, 2005

Postcard Analysis: Jamaica Kincaid

The name of the image on my postcard is "Jamaica Kincaid," and the photograph was taken in Bennington, Vermont by Annie Leibovitz.

Studium

The photograph is in black and white. There is an African American woman standing in the center of the photograph. She is wearing a sun hat, a plaid shirt, what appear to be jeans, and boots. She is holding a hose and a shovel in her hands, and the hose is running. She is looking straight at the camera, but is not smiling.

Behind her is a garden, full of plants, and even further in the background are trees, but these trees are out of focus. The out-of-focus trees contain a lot of white, as opposed to the plants in the garden which are mostly gray toned.

Punctum

This photograph was taken not too long ago, as the woman's style of dress is modern. It was taken on one of those nice summer days when it is not too hot out. I say this because the woman is out gardening, connoting that the weather is warm, but she is still wearing long pants, which indicates that it is not scorching hot. It is a weekend day, specifically a Saturday or Sunday morning, because that is when most people do their gardening. The sun is shining brightly on the out-of-focus trees, indicating that it is not going to set anytime soon, therefore it must be the morning. I imagine this photograph to have been taking in a small suburban town because the quality of the garden is superior and there appears to be plenty of yard space for planting.

The woman has just taken a moment away from her work to pose for the camera. This is evident because the water is still running out of the hose, indicating that she is in the process of watering the garden. Also she is holding a shovel in her hand, which shows that she was working on digging a hole as well. She looks to be about 50 years old, judging from the wrinkles in her face, but is in good physical shape (she is not overweight and she has a nice, tall posture).

It is hard to pinpoint her attitude in this photograph. Her eyes are somewhat squinted and her mouth is closed forming neither a smile nor a frown. It almost looks as though she is about to open her mouth to say something. Her posture is relaxed, as she holds the hose loosely in her hand. When I see her I imagine her having a leisurely morning. She is just out in her yard enjoying her garden and taking in all that nature has to offer. She seems content with her life. She is at a point in it where she can relax and get back to life's little pleasures, such as gardening in the morning.

This image reminds me of family, as I can imagine her grandchildren coming to visit her later in the day. It has a comfortable feel to it, perhaps because I grew up with a mother who enjoyed gardening during the summer. In my experience, those gardening days were relaxed. No one had anywhere important to be...we could spend however much time we wanted doing anything we wanted. This photograph reminds me of that feeling, and the fact that it is in black and white even further simplifies it. When I look at it, my eyes do not struggle to interpret all of the different colors, they only have to work with black, white, and shades of gray. I think that Annie Leibovitz did this on purpose to create such an effect.

Posted by lcissullivan at 10:15 AM | Comments (4)

October 30, 2005

Eliza and Irregular Verbs

Eliza isn't that bad at having a normal conversation. Most of the conversation consisted of me telling her information about myself, and never vice versa. Whenever I would ask her a question she would respond with another question, but other than that she seemed like a normal person to me.

The one thing that gave her away though was her use of irregular verbs. You can tell that she was programmed to repeat what you say by replacing the "I" with "you," and this would normally work. For example, if I were to say "I love snow," she would respond with "you love snow." However, when I used the verb "to be," she responded with "you am from Hanover." Eliza cannot conjugate irregular verbs like we can because that would involve programming each individual form of the verb. It is amazing that our brains are able to do this programming, having the capacity to store so much information.

After talking to Eliza, I talked to SmarterChild to see if he had the same problem with irregular verbs. SmarterChild was able to correctly conjugate the verb "to be" so that he could respond to me with "you are..." Perhaps SmarterChild has all of the irregular verbs programmed into him, or perhaps he just has a few commonly used ones, such as "to be." Either way, his ability to use this verb correctly shows a higher level of linguistic knowledge that has been acheived by computers.

Posted by lcissullivan at 12:38 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2005

Technological Determinism

I'm not quite sure whether or not I have a really good grasp on what technological determinism means, but from the reading I take it to mean that advancements in technology allow us change socially. For example, we were only able embrace photographic images and have them make up such a huge part of our culture because the chemical and mechanical elements need to produce photographs were present.

An argument against technological determinism is that it is society that determines which technological advancements come along, therefore society is indirectly responsible for social change, and technology is simply the middle man between the two.

Evidence to support this argument is that the technique of perspective existed before its first use, but society at the time chose not to employ this technique because of social standards. For example, the Egyptians were more interested in representing objects according to their importance (more important objects are bigger).

I think that technological determinism is too much of a simplification of how the world works. It only examines how social change comes about, but neglects to examine how technological advancements come about.

Posted by lcissullivan at 10:08 PM | Comments (0)

"Making Memories in Real Time"

This article directly relates to the question that Ellen asked us last Friday "Would you rather experience something with just your own two eyes, or would you rather be equipped with a camera to capture that experience in a photograph?"

The gist of my free write was that if I were in the presence of something incredible, I would rather see it with my own two eyes and take in as much of it as I possibly could, than distance myself from it for even a few seconds by viewing it from behind a camera lens. A camera will never be able to capture images in a photograph as well as our eyes capture images and our brain stores them.

Amy Harmon's article is important because it addresses a trend occurring in our society. It seems like people are sometimes so preoccupied with trying to take a picture of something, that they miss out on the first hand experience of that thing. Harmon shows just how powerful the tendency to do this is in admitting that by the end of her trip she herself had become obsessed with taking digital pictures.

This article made me think that our world is moving way too fast. We can experience something, capture it in a digital photograph, and moments later have that photograph saved on a computer, and ready to be modified or sent out to others. Harmon points out that back in the day when we had to wait for photos to be developed and we had that "comfortable gap between experience and reflection" it forced us to solely rely on our memories of an experience for a while, rather than an image of it. If we lose this gap, and no longer need to rely on our memories, then we will most likely forget the experience sooner, and become totally dependent on images to remind us of the experience. What would become of us if something ever happened to those images? What if the computer they were stored on crashes and they are all lost? Our pasts would be lost. It makes you wonder if we rely so much on technology to the point where it has become dangerous.

Posted by lcissullivan at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)

Bell Hooks's Take on Photography

One thing that struck me about Bell Hooks's essay is in the first page she describes how a mere picture of her father meant so much more to her. The picture represented his past, something that none of his children knew too much about. It represented his closeness with Bell's sister, V. It represented jealousy and competition between the two sisters even at a grown age.

I don't even realize how much baggage is attached to each one of my photos until I really stop to think about it. I too have photos which represent my close relationship with another person. I have photos of people who are no longer in my life...these photos represent my past. I also have some photos that I'm sure my sister wishes she as, just as she has some photos that I wish I had. Upon first reading this page, I thought it rare that such a meaningful photograph could exist, until I realized that all photographs mean more than merely the image they contain.

I understand why Hooks links the art of taking photographs to the pyche of African Americans. Photography was a way to produce truth in a world where blacks were depicted in such dishonest manners. However, I found the essay overall hard to understand, and I don't feel like I took eight pages worth of information away from it.

Posted by lcissullivan at 08:29 PM | Comments (1)

October 19, 2005

Jennifer Camper's Graphic Review

Jennifer Camper's graphic review of Persepolis 2 presents the differing opinions that people living in America have of the novel. Camper's central point, however, is that the novel has a different appeal to different people based on their interests and background.

For example, Camper begins her critique by having the starting panels depict two Iranian women in the bookstore. They are excited to see American interest in their culture, which is apparent by the display of Middle East and Islam related books, but at the same time they are frustrated that Americans only seem to be interested in these topics because of the attacks on September 11. The two women return home with a copy of Persepolis 2 and have a discussion concerning Iran in the 1970's. The topic hits close to home for these women, as they remember what it was like to live in Iran during that time. For them, the appeal of the novel is that it is a personal trip down memory lane.

The subsequent panels show two artists viewing the novel. To them, the appeal of it lies in the artistic techniques Satrapi used to create the images.

Next, two young girls in a comic book store are attracted to the novel because they find it impressive that a female would dare to enter the male-dominated world of cartoons. This bold act by Satrapi is in accordance with these girls' feminist attitudes, thus they are interested in the novel.

Camper then portrays two young people who seemingly immigrated to the U.S. at a young age. For them, the appeal to Persepolis 2 is in the way it exposes the difficulty associated with the immigration process...something that I'm sure is universal no matter where one immigrates to or from.

Camper acknowledges that in the opinions of older Americans, Persepolis 2 seems like a meaningless and "dumb-downed" novel. This shows the resistance that some older Americans have towards the breaking of older and generally accepted conventions, whereas she depicts the youth of America as open and excited about the idea of a graphic novel.

Camper shows the impact of the novel on three Muslim women who are sick of being misrepresented by documentaries on Islam and the Middle East. For these women, the appeal of Satrapi's novel is the truth with which she wrote about Muslim women.

Camper ends her graphic review by showing educated women having a sophisticated discussion on the novel. The appeal of Satrapi's work to them is that it seems to be full of signs that can be semiotically analyzed.

All of the different scenarios that Camper puts forth in her review of Persepolis 2 serve to show us that the novel is popular for many different reasons and whether or not it will appeal to you depends upon your personal interests and tastes.

Posted by lcissullivan at 03:54 PM | Comments (3)

October 17, 2005

Comic Analysis

http://www.comics.com/comics/spotthefrog/index.html

The comic Spot the Frog, by Mark Heath, is definitely an example of a word specific comic. If the picture was completely absent, I would still be able to take the same exact meaning from the comic strip. The picture only serves to provide us, the readers, with a mental image of what the words have already said. The picture does not add humor to the comic, but rather it is simply a nice touch.

I thought that the panel transitions in this comic strip were particularly interesting becuase the first panel is enclosed by a box and consists of horizontal lines on which the words are written. Heath gave this panel such a look to give the idea of words written on a piece of paper. He repeats the look of this panel again in the third panel where more words are located. By presenting the words in the comic as if they were written down on a piece of paper stresses their role in the comic. Heath makes sure that there is nothing in the panels containing words that would distract the reader and take their attention away from the words. It is like Heath knows that the humor of his comic depends on the understanding of these words and does not want to compromise that by cluttering the panels with pictures.

The middle panel is interesting in that there is no box or outline surrounding it, nor are there any words in the panel. The lack of structure suggests that the space is purely there for artistic purposes. The lines used in the illustration are free and flowing, and the lack of boundaries allows our minds to undergo the gestalt theory of continuance. Although the picture only shows a man and a frog in grass watching a leaf, our minds imagine the two outside in nature, perhaps in a field, on an autumn day. Such semantic meanings that are taken from the picture are due to the nature of the lines, bent and curvy, which indicates movement and wind, the changes in color, which separate one object from another, for example the man's pants from the grass on which he is kneeling, and common shapes, which allow us to see faces and a leaf out of mere ink marks. I think that Heath purposely left the middle panel without a boundary to make it seem in the background of the comic, whereas the two outer panels seem to be overlapping the scene, and thus more important.

The writing style also helps to give this comic a certain feel to it. The words are written so that they look like someone just wrote them down, as if they were writing in a daily journal. The writing is legible of course, but it is by no means neat. The informality of the writing reminds me of my own writing and gives the comic a personal feel, as opposed to computer font, which always gives a detached feel to writing.

I would have to classify the panel transitions as scene to scene, but this is a loose catergorization because the first and last panels don't really give any sort of setting, so it is not completely accurate to say that they are in a different scene than the middle panel. To me, however, the first and last panels have a distinctly different feel to them than the middle panel, and that makes me lean towards the idea that Heath was trying to establish two different scenes. Although at first glance this comic may seem short and simple, it contains many components that give it a certain semantic meaning and add to its overall feel.

Posted by lcissullivan at 06:21 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2005

Importance of Gestures

Last night I went to UNH to see the comedian Dane Cook perform. While he was doing his stand up comedy, I was trying to pay attention to the gestures his was using not only with just his hands, but with his entire body. I realized that much of the appeal of his shows is due to his physical humor. He is always moving around and acting things out. His jokes would definitely be much less funny if he just stood still and told them. He used all sorts of gestures, but the prominent category of gestures he used were beats. At one point in his routine he even acknowledged his use of a beat, although he didn't use the word beat to describe his movement. When saying something important, he moved his arm up and down, almost like a chopping motion, and he referred to it by saying something along the lines of "When I move my hand like a hatchet you know I mean business..." It's amazing how much of a role gestures play in communication.

Posted by lcissullivan at 10:48 PM | Comments (1)

October 15, 2005

Comic Analysis

The comic I chose to analyze is Zits by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman. Zits is based on the life of a teenage boy who epitomizes society’s stereotypes of teenagers in general. I cut this particular comic out of my Sunday newspaper a year or so ago because I thought (and still think) that it is a good representation of my life.

There are a few symbols in this comic strip. The first is the white sheets, which symbolize paper, and thus, homework. This is abstraction because a pile of homework has been simplified down to a single white sheet. Another symbol is the shapes formed by these white sheets. For example, a few clumped together on the top of a brown branch is an abstraction of a tree, presumably part of a jungle. Also, the white sheets which are shown cascading in a wavelike shape are meant to represent a tidal wave, something that will capture Jeremy eventually. Lastly, the papers are clumped in a cylinder shape to represent the wheels of a cement roller, threatening to flatten Jeremy. The last symbol is the expressions on the family’s face. Jeremy’s blank stare is representation because it looks exactly like individuals look when they are fed up with a situation and not willing to discuss something. In addition, the facial expressions of his parents are also representations because they look expectant, ready for an answer from their son. Their faces resemble those of real-life people.

This comic is interesting because there is one big panel, but there is also a smaller panel inside of the larger one. The transition between the two panels is scene-to-scene because our mind shifts to another location within the larger story. In the larger panel, we are inside Jeremy’s brain, where he is trying to combat the large amount of schoolwork he has to do. In the smaller panel, Jeremy is interacting with his parents as they ask him how much homework he has to do. (In typical Jeremy style, he refuses to interact with his parents.) In terms of the connection between the words and images, it is different for each panel. The larger panel is picture-specific, as there are no words; the pictures are all that are needed to tell the story. The smaller panel is additive, because the words get the message across, but the picture amplifies the message and makes it clearer and more interesting. Basically, I think that this comic works on only one level. It is fairly simple and cleverly visualizes the “battle” that students fight everyday, a battle that many adults deny exists.

Posted by lciscotis at 07:51 PM | Comments (2)

October 13, 2005

Persepolis

I am not very familiar with the history of Iran, but nonetheless I find this novel very understandable. I think that if this novel lacked pictures, it would be very hard to keep straight all of the characters and how they are related, but by being able to see and associate a face with every character the author introduces, I am able to not worry about memorizing names and relations, but rather I can focus on the story itself. Just as gestures help us communicate, pictures help the author communicate the history of her country to us. I know that if the words were taken away from the pictures, the story would lose a lot of its meaning, but at the same time I think that the general idea would still be captured through the pictures alone. I really like reading this novel...I find it's one of those books that once you pick it up and start reading, you don't want to stop until you've finished it.

Posted by lcissullivan at 06:34 PM | Comments (2)

October 05, 2005

Annie Dillard's "Seeing"

Despite the flexibility with which the two words "seeing" and "looking" are interchanged, the two have very different meanings when it comes to viewing images. In her essay, "Seeing," Annie Dillard addresses these difference through the following quote:

"The world's spiritual geniuses seem to discover universally that the mind's muddy river, this ceaseless flow of trivia and trash, cannot be dammed, and that trying to dam it is a waste of effort that might lead to madness. Instead you must allow the muddy river to flow unheeded in the dim channels of consciousness: you raise your sights: you look along it, mildly, acknowledging its presence without interest and gazing beyond it into the realm of the real where subjects and objects act and rest purely, without utterance. 'Launch into the deep,' says Jacques Ellul, 'and you shall see'" (pg. 103).

Seeing is something that we cannot help but do. From the moment one opens their eyes when they wake, until the moment they close them to sleep, they are seeing everything that is around them. We do not choose what we see, but rather go about simply happening to see other people, places, objects, etc. Looking is different in that we choose what it is we look at. Looking involves a conscious process of interpreting and finding meaning in something that we merely see.

In our world today we are constantly bombarded with images that are meant for us to not just see, but really look at. When we view specific advertisements, we do not merely acknowledge the syntactical elements of the image, such as the shapes, lines, colors, etc., but instead we relate semantic meanings to the advertisement and form some sort of idea about the product being advertised, ultimately helping advertisters accomplish exactly what they set out to do.

Annie Dillard suggests that we not look at the "ceaseless flow of trivia and trash" that we are constantly exposed to. We must see those things, but waste little time and effort on their existence. We should gaze "beyond it into the realm of the real where subjects and objects act and rest puerly," or in other words we must remember the fact that images, which are just blobs of color, should not invoke any deeper meaning into our minds. It is the social constructionist approach in us all, or the tendency to make meaning our of everything we merely see, that makes it almost impossible for us to see images, but not look.

Posted by lcissullivan at 04:19 PM | Comments (1)

Language According to Gender

When reading the Tannen article, I was struck by how true it described the behavior of women. I never realized just how much women are always trying to divert attention away from themselves and are always ready to compliment others, but never feel comfortable receiving compliments themselves. When Tannen described the behavior of boys as practically the opposite, always needing to "one up" other boys and never wanting to represent themselves as weaklings, I was not surprised because this is definitely true of most young boys, and I have observed this many times.

However, I always thought that this self promoting use of language that young boys employ was something that they eventually grow out of. I didn't think that grown men still felt the need to avoid the "one down" position through their use of language, but rather I assumed that as men grow older, they slowly depart from this practice and begin to use language as women do.

I realize after reading this article that this is not always the case. Some men live their whole lives feeling as though they need to be the boss, and what one grown woman may consider to be a very innapropriate or rude remark, a grown male may find perfectly acceptable. It is sad to think that for some men and woman there will always exist this communication barrier, but if more people were informed of the psychological reasons behind the behavior of men and women, perhaps fewer conflicts would arise from these differences.

Posted by lcissullivan at 03:48 PM | Comments (1)

October 02, 2005

Chapter Three Writing Exercise

Question 2

The verb "to be" is different from other verbs, such as "to ask," because it undergoes irregular morphological modification. Unlike most verbs that can be conjugated as the following: I, you, we, they ask; he/she/it asks, the verb "to be" changes form: I am; you, we, they are; he/she/it is. Based on this, the verb "to be" should be a content word because it does not follow the rules of morphology, but rather one must memorize its different, grammatically correct forms.

Quantifier words are not a closed class of words. An example of a quantifer word that is only used in the Boston area and probably wasn't around 50 years ago is "wicked," which is another way to say "really." People living in other regions of the U.S. are not familiar with this word, but perhaps someday it will become incorporated into their vocabulary of quantifier words. Another example of new quantifier words comes from a popular movie about future life in space. In this movie the characters use the terms "micro" and "macro" to express quantity as in "very" or "not very." Although they are not used in this way today, perhaps in the future they will be used like this as quantifier words.

The process in which the brain learns function words is a simple process of memorization. On the other hand, when the brain learns content words it only needs to learn the root and rules for morphological modifications, but does not need to memorize every single possible morphological variant of the word. The brain draws upon these components when they are needed and compiles them accordingly in a creative process, whereas when the brain needs to call upon a functional word, it simply needs to memorize the word, and use little to no creativity in applying it.

Posted by lcissullivan at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)

September 30, 2005

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)

September 27, 2005

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)

September 26, 2005

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)

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)

September 22, 2005

Annie Dillard's "Seeing"

I overall liked Annie Dillard's essay, "Seeing," however I felt that at times it dragged on and I found myself losing interest in it. There was one passage towards the end of the essay though that really caught my attention, and it was the following:

"The world's spiritual geniuses seem to discover universally that the mind's muddy river, this ceaseless flow of trivia and trash, cannot be dammed, and that trying to dam it is a waste of effort that might lead to madness. Instead you must allow the muddy river to flow unheeded in the dim channels of consciousness: you raise your sights: you look along it, mildly, acknowledging its presence without interest and gazing beyond it into the realm of the real where subjects and objects act and rest purely, without utterance. 'Launch into the deep,' says Jacques Ellul, 'and you shall see'" pg. 103

After I read this I immediately thought of the book Feed. Even though we ourselves do not have feeds, we are still continuously presented with this "ceaseless flow of trivia and trash." Dillard accepts the fact that trying to change the world that we live in would be a futile act, so instead we must learn to live with this "muddy river." We have to learn how to acknowledge the presence of all the garbage we are exposed to, but leave it at that. We shouldn't waste any time really thinking about it, but instead we should just gaze beyond it. For me, this passage is what gave meaning to the essay and made me overall enjoy reading it.

Posted by lcissullivan at 09:30 AM | Comments (1)

September 20, 2005

Counting Optical Illusion

http://www.brainteasercentral.com/riddle.php?riddleid=119

I've looked at this optical illusion a bunch of times and I still don't completely get it. This was probably about the tenth website that I looked at that had optical illusions on it, so my eyes are really tired, but I have the feeling that if I looked at it right when I woke up and my eyes were fine, I still wouldn't understand it. The explanation is given on the website and it makes sense, I just can't see it happen whatsoever. If anyone gets how this one works will you please comment on it, thanks.

Posted by lcissullivan at 06:21 PM | Comments (4)

September 13, 2005

Questions from Fromkin

1. Knowing a language is not just knowing the sounds of that language, or knowing how to combine those sounds to form words, or knowing how to combine those words to form thoughts and sentences, but it is a combination of all three. Language is an infinite form of expression that allows humans to be as creative as we want to be. The most important concept to take from the reading in Chapter One is that in language there are no limits. Language allows us to expess ourselves using both old and new sentences, as well as allows us to understand sentences that we have never heard before in our lives. When it comes to language, only so much can be taught. The rest is learnt subconsciously so that it often times feels like we can talk and communicate to others without really thinking.

Question # 7 in the Fromkin book proposes that if a wolf were able to express one thousand different emotions through the positions of his ears (instead of the mere 11 that they are actually able to express), would this be considered a language. Since there is a limit to how many expressions the wolf can make, this would not be a language. This would merely be a system of individual memorizations, but it would not allow for any creativity on the wolf's part, and therefore it would not qualify as a language. It is important to distinguish a scenario like this from actual language because it is literally what separates humans from all other animals. Our ability to understand and use a language, rather than just communicate through a series of memorized expressions, sets us apart and therefore needs to be distinguished.

2.

It is possible to learn a new word in one day because each person has a specific lexicon that does not include certain words. A word is just a sound or composition of sounds that represents a certain concept or meaning. So one could memorize a word and then attach that word to a meaning, and could say at the end of the day that they learned a new word. However, knowing a language does not mean that one can memorize a sentence. Most of the sentences a person comes across are new to them, but they are able to understand these sentences and create new sentences of their own becuase of the creative aspect of language. If the brain had to memorize every single different sentence a person hears, then that person would run out of memory and eventually start forgetting things. Forming sentences is where the creativity of language comes in, so the number of sentences that can be formed is practically infinite. You hear new sentences everyday, but you do not learn new sentences.

Posted by lcissullivan at 06:10 PM | Comments (1)

Getting My License

I was Apollo 13 returning to Earth, but my cup was half empty instead of half full. Like Matilda to Miss Trunchbull, I thought I was the "weakest link, goodbye." Bag over my head, I tried not to Niagra Falls infront of Scrooge, but turns out it was on sale! I left Pats at the Superbowl and it's been Brady Bunch ever since.

Posted by lcissullivan at 05:08 PM | Comments (0)

My Blog About Culture

I was reading some of the blogs that people had written about their culture and it made me realize how detached I am from what many people typically think of as one's "culture" (I mean one's ancestors, native country, etc).

I'm Irish. My mother's grandfather came to America from Ireland and was actually supposed to travel here via the Titanic, but the story goes that he couldn't afford a ticket, which is a very good thing becuase I probably would not be here had he been able to come up with the money. That little story is basically all I know about my great-grandfather and his time in Ireland.

If I could travel anywhere in the world, it would be Ireland. I really want to know more about the land and experience it because I have heard nothing but amazing stories from people who have gone there, but I don't think that will happen for me anytime soon.

So in the meantime I would have to define my culture in terms of what made me who I am today, and looking at it in that aspect I feel like my family is my culture (as I'm sure most people feel).

I've just realized something this past week in moving away to college, and that is that I need my family so much more than I ever thought I did. When you are bombarded with unfamiliar experiences and new people who you have never met before, it is so easy to lose a sense of who you are and what you're all about. All I have to do to feel like myself again is just talk to a family member, and it doesn't matter who it is either. It could be one of my two brothers or my sister or my mom. Just listening to their advice and knowing that they know exactly how I am feeling is such a comfort. We all think and act the same for the most part, so in a sense we have created our own five person culture.

This is my immediate culture, and then I feel like I have an extended culture, which includes my cousins and friends, and although I definitely feel like I belong to that extended culture, nothing can quite compare to the feeling I get at home, with my family.

Posted by lcissullivan at 04:20 PM | Comments (16)

September 09, 2005

"Ode to an Angel"

Before I went off to college my mom gave me this little glass angel to hang in my car. She said it would "protect me" when I was driving. I'm not really that spiritual of a person, but to me this angel symbolizes the fact that my mom is always thinking about me and worrying about my safety, and for that reason it's priceless.

I brought the angel to college with me because it tricks me into thinking that my mom is here. Through my window right now I can hear police and ambulance sirens, car horns, screeching breaks, and blaring radios, but looking at this angel reminds me of my home and helps me block out all of the noise in this city that I don't need to hear.

The metal frame of the angel is rusted from a night when I left my car windows down and it poured, but this is a good thing because it makes me laugh about how absent minded I can be sometimes. On the front of it, I can feel nicks in the second-rate stained glass wings and on the back glue is still stuck on it from the pricetag.

The clinging together of the angel's flip flops (yes the angel has flip flops...this also makes me laugh because it's one of those weird things you could only find at some random craft fair) is a familiar sound. It actually sounds exactly like that electrical noise that you hear when you shock someone or someone else shocks you.

The angel is this really nice shade of pink, but its wings are purple with flowers on them (to match the pattern on the flip flops). Even though there is not a lot of light on it right now, the glass of the angel still glistens so that it looks like I take much better care of it than I actually do.

I like the angel most when it's hanging over my desk by a string attached to it's halo. It's presence could make any space feel personal and it's just what I need to feel more at home.

Posted by lcissullivan at 04:16 PM | Comments (3)

September 08, 2005

Woiwode's Approach to Writing

After I read "Ode to an Orange," I went back to the beginning and read the little biography on Larry Woiwode on page 48. In this biography Woiwode says that writing fiction is paradoxical in that the more simple, specific, and succinct a sentence, the more readers can relate to or take from it. He says that if you wanted to describe the state of North Dakota to someone who has never been there, then you are better off describing it with a sentence about a specific place rather than trying to encompass the feel of the entire state into that one sentence.

Woiwode proves his theory correct in "Ode to an Orange." I am not a huge fan of oranges and I definitely have never experienced as deep a wanting for an orange as Woiwode has, but because he pointed out such specific characteristics of an orange and took the time to describe each of these characteristics separately, I, someone who has not felt the urge to have an orange in years, came away from this essay knowing exactly how it felt to want to eat an orange with such an intensity as Woiwode had as a child. He succeeded in making someone slightly unfamiliar with the experience feel as though he/she could relate to the impulse. This proves that specifics give a universality, as Woiwode says in the biography, to writing.

For me, the most impressive thing about this essay isn't so much the flow of the writing or the subject itself, but more the fact that Woiwode wrote this piece with a plan in mind, yet made it so that the average reader is not aware of what he is trying to do. Had I not read the biography part at the beginning, I would never have figured out why it was that I was able to get so involved in such an unfamiliar experience. This kind of preparation and almost sublimal scheming on Woiwode's part is what, I think, makes this a fun essay to read.

Posted by lcissullivan at 06:40 PM | Comments (2)

September 07, 2005

Hi I'm Brenna Sullivan

I can't think of any quotes of the top of my head.

Posted by lcissullivan at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)