Zooming In

December 03, 2005

James Baldwin Article

In his article James Baldwin’s writes, “Language, incontestably, reveals the speaker” Through out this semester’s reading and writing and discussions in the course I came to an understanding that language is the most significant way of communication and expression that can be used to state one’s identity, personality and everything beyond. In my opinion, a great illustration of both James Baldwin and Bernard Shaw’s point is played out in “Pygmalion”. In this play Higgins improves not only Eliza’s appearance but he literally changes the way Eliza speaks and behaves. By the time that her spoken language was completely different she had become a different person who used “higher class” English. However, changing her language affected her life. As she describes, she was not who she was, even though she now belonged to better social group. As her language changed, she changed as well. Her language became more and more grammatical, correct, and appropriate for where she was.
In some cases it might be true for people of different races and social level to be able to successfully learn how to speak in different dialect. When Baldwin writes, “Language also far more dubiously, is meant to define the other—and, in this case, the other is refusing to be defined by a language that has never been able to recognize him” he is not talking about language as foreign language. But he is using the term ‘language’ as in language that people in certain groups use to communicate and express themselves. I think that we all have our own languages. How we say things to others may not be repeated. Therefore our speech and language reflect our personalities just as we have our unique version of personalities.
Baldwin also argues that people from different regions have different languages. One would automatically assume that they might have different dialects. But Baldwin didn’t use the term dialect but instead used more broader and general term; language. People have different life styles and realities therefore their expressions and thoughts differ from one another. Moreover, “they each have very different realities to articulate, or control.”
I agree with the author that “language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power”. It seems that one of the most important goals for politicians is to make people to have faith in you and believe what they are saying. Language is a powerful instrument to convince people. Often times the most successful leaders are those who are great public speakers. They find the most “common” language of their people to touch the people’s hearts and connect with them. If the politicians are able to convince their people they have the power in their hands.

Q1: What is Baldwin suggesting by, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances,” Q2: Why language might become a political issue in France? What would that issue be?
Q3: What does “Beat to his socks” mean?
Q4: What is Baldwin suggesting by, “Now, no one can eat his cake, and have it, too, and it is late in the day to attempt to penalize black people for having created a language than permits the nation it sonly glimpse of reality, a language without which the nation would be even more whipped than it is”? Q5: What “understanding” is Baldwin talking about that white men cannot understand and “this understanding would reveal to him too much about himself, and smash that mirror…”

Posted by lcisbold at 03:18 PM | Comments (1)

December 02, 2005

humble response to katie's question

-What makes one dialect more aesthetically pleasing than another one?

From the readings that we have been doing lately, I formed this idea that this issue was more of a social/class attempt to separate “masters” from “servants” initally. Especially, in Britain it is considered fashionably fine to speak certain ways and to have certain dialects. For instance, in “Pygmalion” Eliza and Higgins illustrate this idea of having “advanced” and rational dialect puts you even in different social group. I suppose what really makes it “more aesthetically pleasing than another one” is that that person who speaks in “high-quality” dialect gets socially accepted by others who expect one another to have certain dialects.

Posted by lcisbold at 10:00 AM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2005

Chapter 3: No Kinda Sense by Lisa Delpit

C1: It is sad that Maya, the fifth grader thought she should get plastic surgery to become pretty and ultimately to fit in the circle of her White school girls. This also shows how early girls start to become target of objectifying themselves.

C2: When African American popular singers, rappers, and actors clearly use Ebonics in their works, they are making it famous and are attaching certain pleasant meanings to Ebonics. They are creating new values for Ebonics.

C3: “The real issue was our concern about what others would think” There is notion of being worried because of their language or their own dialect. It is as if they are living in a foreign country but they are not. It sounds as if they are aliens in their own country.

C4: The man wrote on website “…they are just too stupid to learn to speak English like the rest of us.” Even though the comment was very racist, I think his comment represents what others think in general. We would agree that it is not because they are stupid to learn to speak Standard English. Their own version of English, Ebonics is what they truly can express themselves. Obviously anybody who wishes to speak Standard English can learn it but I think it is matter of whether they WANT to use it or not…

C5: People can be socially connected through the similarities of their language, dialect and conversational styles. In Maya’s case she did not necessarily spoke the Ebonics but her willingness brought her in the group.

Q1: What is the significance of those ads they put in the magazines such as “Hooked on Ebonics worked for me! Ah plays basketball and ah makes millions of dollars. If you gets Hooked on Ebonics, you can be a millionaire, too, jes’ like me!” Are they encouraging the use of Ebonics?

Q2: “The real issue was our concern about what others would think” There is notion of being worried because of their language or their own dialect. It is as if they are living in a foreign country but they are not. It sounds as if they are aliens in their own country.

Q3: What is meant by “…there are as yet few pockets which can ‘listen beyond’ language form” (38)

Q4: Is Stubbs saying that because the teachers are not encouraging their African American students, they are not recognizing their potential brilliance? (p. 46)

Q5: In the end, what is Lisa Delpit’s feeling towards Standard English? Is she encouraging the rest of the community to be more respectful to Ebonics so African American children will “adopt our language from as one to be added to their own”?

Posted by lcisbold at 06:34 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 5: Some Basic Sociolinguistic Concepts by Michael Stubbs

C1: Anyone who makes or draws conclusions has linguistic stereotypes when he/she speak to others. As they speak they wonder what kind of background they had come from and such. Language is one of many major stereotypes that people make.

C2: Stubbs comments that “British people are very sensitive to the social implications of dialect and accent” (67) The power of difference in dialects can affect people’s way of looking at others.

C3: In an experiment done in Northern Ireland, linguists found out that fifteen out of fifty teachers they interviewed agreed that students’ should improve their speech and become more “able” academically. Sometimes, I have hard time fully understanding my professors. Sometimes, it occurs to me that the professors use their own language in class. Some professors or teachers in high school seemed very distant from their students and was not communicating with them; because of the way the spoke and how the students responded to them. This is where misunderstandings between students and faculty come in. They are not able to understand each other fully because of their difference in conversational styles and expectations.

C4: I am thinking that it is wrong to establish that powerful distinction between “standard” and “non-standard” languages. The sole purpose of language is to communicate the speakers’ ideas. As long as the speaker is being understood by the other speaker, their language is rational.

C5: I change my mind. The initial purpose of language was to promote communication between human beings. However, over the centuries people developed different social classes and status. Language and dialect is truly part of one’s identity. Therefore, the language does not have single/sole purpose to serve humans as communicators.

Q1: What is meant by “It is difficult to overestimate the importance of people’s attitudes and beliefs about language”? (66)

Q2: While I know that it is not wide spread and common for teacher to evaluate their students by the way they look and sound, I noticed in high school that some students had done the best they could do in the class and was still getting lower grades because of some teachers didn’t like the way they spoke. Stubbs suggests that this should be prevented (teachers survey in Canada) from happening. However, is there moral solution for teacher or students to understand one another?

Q3: Do people draw conclusion about someone who they are speaking with just from hearing their dialect, without noticing what the speech context was?

Q4: What about “standard writing”? If one speaks “non-standard” English and can write extremely well, would that person still appear as reduced in his/her social standings?

Q5: Stubbs finishes off his essay “…then you will probably try to change people’s attitudes to language”. In this essay he analyzes the stereotypes that people make regarding differences in language and dialect. Is it possibly to change the attitudes toward language?

Posted by lcisbold at 05:14 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 2: "Homeplace" by Scott R. Sanders

In his essay “Homeplace” Scott Russell Sanders writes, “Migrants often pack up their visions and values with the rest of their baggage and carry them along.” (McQuade 146) Sanders’ writing style intrigued my senses and mood as I kept on reading. However, this particular passage kept coming back to me and I went back to read it again. The words “migrants…pack up…visions and values…carry them along” If you are a migrant and when you leave your country for any reason you consider yourself as “exiting” your country and your culture. Once you part your country for some time it might be that your vision of what you see will never be the same again. In that country, your ancestors have been rooting the values of life and culture for decades. It is not amiss leaving one’s country and that is what people have been doing; that is what America is made of. However many of us recognize that as we travel and move around we still keep what is truly and deeply determine us; our own culture. Cultural and other differences make us see what is good and what is not good about us and them.

Sanders quotes from Salman Rushdie, “The effect of mass migrations has been the creation of radically new types of human being: people who root themselves in ideas rather than places, in memories…” (McQuade 146) In my opinion, Rushdie argues that migrants take leave of absences but in respect for their past lives and countries they often come back to their home country in their minds. We will always find “home” in our minds, a place of comfort and origin.

Posted by lcisbold at 11:23 AM | Comments (2897)

November 24, 2005

What is in name Pygmalion...

Ovid was a Roman poet who lived during 43 BC and wrote on topic of love, abandoned woman, and mythological transformations. The story of Pygmalion in Ovid’s Metamorphosis inspired many writers and artists through out the centuries. George Bernard Shaw named one of his play “Pygmalion” after Ovid’s Metamorphosis.

In Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Pygmalion is a sculptor who doesn’t have interest in women. However, he is rewarded by his “hatred” of women when he is granted his wish by the gods. He falls in love with the sculpture that he makes out of ivory, a figure of a woman. Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty realizes Pygmalion’s love for Galatea and transforms her into a real woman.

The romantic myth of Pygmalion and Galatea had affected minds of artists and their works such as George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion”. A similar idea of romance and love take place in the play when the character Henry Higgins, a rich and educated man tries to create that ideal woman out of an uneducated, wild, and vulgar woman Eliza. Ideally speaking both Ovid’s Pygmalion and Shaw’s Henry Higgins are keen sculptors and creators of the women they love.

Lastly, I think that both Shaw and Ovid illustrate the historical idea of supreme power of males over females. In other words, with the helps from Pygmalion and Higgins the females are able to find their true and “improved” faces/identities and even come to life as Galatea. Their works show the state of interdependentce of men and women and most stories have endings like this and this is the “happily ever after” finale. As if Elize and Higgins it is true because Eliza still takes care of the bachelors and has desire for Higgins even though she knows that it will never be that way.

Posted by lcisbold at 05:15 PM | Comments (0)

Chapter 11 and Baby Talk

Changes in pronunciation, lexicon, and syntax occur throughout the time. As we read materials from hundreds and hundreds years ago we instantly notice differences in “our” language and “theirs”. In my opinion the pronunciation changes take the least amount of time due to many factors such as change in locations of speakers of certain languages and when they settle in their new location they may start to spread the “new” way of saying and pronouncing words.

Change in lexicon comes next in line. There are new words being added and some words getting illuminated in languages daily or monthly. You learn new word and you forget the old word. Also meanings of words change along time and people start using them differently under various circumstances. Such as before the inventions of magnificent calculators, the word calculate would have meant to do a calculation using slide rules. Nowadays, when you want to calculate something, the first thing that comes into your mind is a calculator.

The change in syntax comes last in line. Because it takes long time for speakers to learn and really start using it, the rules of sentence formation and words orders don’t change overnight but rather takes long time to build up in one’s mind.

I would assume that babies learn in order such as pronunciation, lexicon, and syntax. They start making sounds and eventually they learn pronunciation. Even though they don’t know the exact meaning of the word they imitate what people around them say. Next they start connecting the meanings of words with the pronunciations. Afterwards they learn to express themselves by using complete and understandable sentences.

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

November 18, 2005

Guns vs. Dolls

Is it possible for girls to be attracted to ‘boy’ toys and boys to ‘girl’ toys? The articles “Snakes and Snails” by Ellen, and “Why Boys Don’t Play With Dolls” by Katha Pollit seemed to be supporting a similar notion that no matter how hard the parents try to change the fact of boys preferring guns and girls Barbie dolls might as well won’t change in the near future. Those of you are who have younger or older brother would agree that you find it uninteresting and boring to be playing with boy toys. More than that, if you even tried to play with their toys and got caught by your parents or others members in your family or friends might have experienced the embarrassment from them; the society.

Have you ever wondered why they liked ‘war’ toys and games so much? Many of us fall into a stereotype: girls who like to play with dolls and will stay that way. There is nothing wrong with this and this is the way how it has been for centuries. I wonder whether it is possible to reverse the attraction towards toys change, that boys might find it more interesting to be braiding the Barbie’s hair than ‘fighting’ in the war games with their toys.

In the country side in Mongolia, children used to play with various shaped stones as they were not supplied with ‘normal’ toys such as Barbie dolls or gun those modern children, they still have the same ability to play their “appropriate” roles in their games. Girls play the roles of mothers and boys play as fathers when they play as a family, usually imitating their own family style. It is not only about the toys children play with, but these toys create the border line in their minds what women and men’s role should be in the society.

Posted by lcisbold at 08:41 AM | Comments (0)

Average Attraction

I found one of the articles very interesting in Chapter 4 of POL. Written by Bruce Bower, "Average Attraction" points out and shows proofs on what characterizes "attractiveness". He writes that if the person is closer to being an average and have more characters of common features then people find that person as being the most attractive. The test results generated by number of college students prove his conclusion. In my opinion, every one of us has unique parts and elements on our faces and that is what distinguishes us from one another. I used to think that the more “not common” the person’s features are the more unique and attractive they are. After reading this article I realized that either way, whether you have common face or unique face you are beautiful in each sense.

Posted by lcisbold at 08:40 AM | Comments (0)

November 15, 2005

MFA and Ansel Adams Observations

1. As I entered the museum I felt myself diminishing in that great space. In the entrance floor and in the exhibition halls the walls were painted creamy white and it promoted to make me feel smaller and the museum and the works of arts greater and to stand out in the whiteness. The architecture of the halls that I walked through seemed to be plain and simple yet the emptiness of the space felt enormous. The tall ceilings stroked me that I was in a castle. The neatly organized bright caramel colored tiles on the floor made me to feel more lifelike and convinced me that the great white space wasn’t creating emptiness in my mind. Despite the fact that it was very crowded in the entrance hall I managed to “space” for my observations.

2. As I entered the Ansel Adams exhibition I was not sure what kind of works of arts to see and feel as I have never been to any kind of exhibitions. While I was taking notes on the photographs I was thinking that if I wasn’t required to write down my thoughts and observations I would not be looking and reflecting at the photographs as profound and intense as I was. It helped me to think deeper and go back and forth to the photographs I saw earlier. The originality of the photographs brought me back in time where the photograph was taken. I could envision myself standing on top of a cliff looking over the great plain below my feet. I was absorbed in the photographs. It is important for the viewer to come in contact with each photograph they looked at and challenge their traditional assumptions of certain sight in the photographs. After coming back from the exhibition I realized that Ansel Adams’ works effected and reminded me the different and more beautiful way that I look at nature.

3. The photograph of a landscape that intrigued my emotions and vision was a photograph named, "Winter Sunrise" which was taken in Sierra Nevada, from Lone Pine, California in 1944. The photograph was almost the size of a window which was placed in the middle of the exhibition halls. Ansel Adams’ camera lens framed snow peaked high mountains in the distance and river on the bottom of those mountains. It showed and captured the beauty of nature that we don’t see everyday. Cloudy sky above the mountains reminded me of the fresh winter morning breeze. In the middle of the snow covered mountains very dark black shadow blocked the view what was the middle parts of the mountains. It seemed to me that the big shadow was created because the sun hasn't set its morning rays on it yet. The shadow continues until the bottom ground where it meets a tiny dark creature - a horse drinking from the river. This image of a horse appears in gray. The leafless trees form forest in the background. From the left side a very light and small cloud makes its way at a snail's pace through the sky. It is very low in the sky that it only at a height of the middle of the snowy mountains. I suppose that Ansel Adams was trying to remind his viewers the vastness of the nature. Through his camera we were able to see and feel how important it is to understand and appreciate the nature. The high contrast of the snow white and black shadow added very strong feel which better the viewer’s attention. The mountain peaks come into view in white bright light. The photograph could be a symbol for the nature of life where there is light/happiness, dark/struggle, and at last gray/everything in between.

4. A portrait of an old man strikes my interest. The name of the photo is "Mr. Shepard at His Home" taken in Independence, California in about 1936. An old man in a regular shirt and pants rests on the chair outside of an old white house. Even though the picture is a portrait of the man he is not centered in the picture instead put in the back into a corner of the picture. The focus of the old man is blurry. The focus is not on the man but on the white fence which is right in front of the camera. The white paint seems to be peeling off of the fence due to weather and passage of the time. Both the man and the fence are old. The old man is directly looking at the camera and has his back straight somewhat posing for the photo. His stick is in between his legs and he stretches his arms and holds on to it as if he really needs it. The stick represents his physical weakness in walking. The whole area is under the shadow of a summer tree. The house in the background is not in its best condition and the dark windows represent the motionless and dull atmosphere in the house. Because of the shadow and darkness in the house and representations of aging subjects the photo left me feeling blue. My interpretation is that through this photograph Ansel Adams was trying to communicate his idea of getting old and it nature of life. The man is sitting outside by himself who may represent loneliness and stillness yet life is not still since the painting is falling off and the time is passing away, never to come back. Compared to the previous photo of powerful nature, the portrait reminds me that human being is a small creature in the wild and great nature.

5. The abstract photograph that interested me was "Grass and Pool" taken in 1938 in Yosemite Valley. The image is of floating grass/hay on the surface of the water. The sparkles on the water coming from the camera flash add glamorous and glorious feel to it. Hay sticks are overlapped and intertwined with each other. The water is very dark. The sense that I got from the dark water and hays suggested me that the world and life is like the water and human beings and animals are like the hay sticks. When we are born we get our opportunities to float freely in the water yet always connected in some ways with one another. We fight to stay on the surface and as the time passes the hay sticks get soaked in the water and drips down and eventually sinks to the bottom of the water. I think that Ansel Adams was trying to capture that moment when there were many grass on the surface and there were sparkles reminding glory of life and that moment. This photo connects to his other works as landscape artist because in many of his works he captures the beauty of nature at that precise moment. The beauty of this photo was that the viewers only saw the grass on top of the water; the life.

6. “At Palm Springs” California, 1936.
   I found myself “gazing” through Ansel Adams’ camera lens to the world of stillness and purity. The photograph of a single and deserted leafless tree in an open space called for my voluntary drop of tear which ran down on my cheek. In disbelief I wiped it in a hurry hoping that no one had seen me doing this. I shivered and felt cold inside me but yet I found something peaceful and comforting in that image. I imagined various thoughts and interpretations piling up in my brain waiting to be elevated to become the most corresponding story to match my frame of mind of that moment. A lifeless unfortunate tree stood on the winter dry ground. However, the sacred tree portrayed worship of the motherly nature. Morning bright sky on the lower part and dark night sky on the upper part wrapped around the tree and the snow topped mountains. Ansel Adams took the photo using low angles and greatly exposed the size of the tree high up in the sky. The branches of the tree spread to their highest degree into the dark night sky. The idea behind this photograph is that the lifeless tree emerges from the earth and sets itself high up in the sky is so powerful that caused me to freeze in awe and respect. I wished that I could be the one of the branches to be in that pure and grand sky; the heavens.

I appreciate the beauty in the works of Ansel Adams. Thank you Ellen for giving us this great opportunity. I will never forget this experience.

Posted by lcisbold at 11:12 AM | Comments (1861)

November 13, 2005

Conversational style

It is hard for people to talk on the phone if they have different conversational styles. It is because they are not able to see the gestures they make in order to "signal" the other speaker to start talking. Over the past week I observed two conversations. The one was with my parents in Mongolian, and the other with my friend who live in Boston in English. As I talked with my parents I noticed that I was taking longer pauses and taking more time to reflect and to think what I had to say. I was more patient and waited longer. I was usually the listener in those conversations on the phone. However, it was the other way around when I was talking to my friend. I was talking more and even interrupted few times when my friend was talking but excused myself and encouraged her to continue on. Nevertheless, I was the speaker and my friend, the listener. I noticed this before that I reflect on my cultural tradition to wait longer and be the "quiet" one when talking with elders and parents even after acquiring or learning different styles of conversations, like those with my friends. It is important part of our skill and knowledge to know what kind of conversational styles to use with various people.

Posted by lcisbold at 10:04 AM | Comments (0)

Dialects

1. I grew up and lived in Mongolia for sixteen years. I've been living in the USA for the past three years. Through out my English learning experiences I have acquired certain local dialects as I moved from one place to another across the country to come up with what I have now, the very mixed Zaya's dialect.

I lived in Oregon for a month, in Virginia for a year, and in Maine for two years. I must shamelessly admit that I do not recall what dialect or accent people had in Oregon, since both tension and excitement took me over as I came into an entirely different environment. Even though I lived near the Rocky Mountains for only a month, I suspect that Oregon dialect had an impact on my own American English-Mongolian dialect as important as Virginia and Maine dialects.

When I moved to live in Radford, Virginia I noticed considerable Southern dialect and may have absorbed it while I was there but I think it faded away during my two years of my life in Maine. Even though I was in Maine, I do not have significant Maine accent. I don't think that people can listen to my conversation and tell that I was in the South or in Maine. Probably it is because my Mongolian dialect is more significant than the other two. However, my Mongolian dialect is slipping away as time passes and I might even sound just as American as you are in few years!

1. Nannette commented that, "'social group' might actually be the operable factor in different dialects" I think it is true that people change dialects depending on where or with whom they are with. I remember some fascinating and out of the ordinary conversations that took place between my Korean and Japanese friends. Sometimes I was not able to tell whether they were speaking Japanese or Korean with on another. As I became close friends and spent more time with them, they told me that they were speaking English which definitely sounded just like Japanese or Korean to me. When they were talking to each other they totally ignored the American dialect and started to use their own dialects on English language. For example, when they intended to say, "Let's go to dinner" they said, "Letch (english-korean dialect) oyo (adding Japanese 'flavor') go to dinnereyo (more Japanese)". They switched back to their American dialect when they talked to me though, otherwise I was not able to tell whether they were speaking in English, Japanese, or Korean with me.

Posted by lcisbold at 08:42 AM | Comments (0)

November 09, 2005

There are many things that helped me to think and reflect beyond my usual point of view in this class. The advantage of being in small class and be able to be in a small group discussion group gave me and my peers to give each other feed back. Having feed back from them gave me different and helpful ideas on certain topics we were discussing in class. In high school I always wondered what my classmates opinion on certain topic were and never had ability to share our opinions outside of class. With opportunity to blog I offered my relfection on their works, weekly and commented on others' works helped me to see where my peers stood and what their writings reflected upon.

In learning, nothing is too easy. I don't recall anything that "blocked" my learning at this moment. I hope that "block" occured to me to point out what I needed to evaluate.

Posted by lcisbold at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)

November 08, 2005

S L A M M E D ...

Trapped between the walls he manages to impress his enemies

Except from his heart there is no place for his memories

ALL day long the man fights to survive his community

Cops hate him, stabbs him with stares of scrutiny

Harder to breath, as hatred and frustration fill his veins!!!

Us and them, what is the difference in life of games

See the sun and one day your time will come.
The opportunity that you slammed away will come back...

Posted by lcisbold at 09:53 PM | Comments (1)

November 06, 2005

Etta and Marion

When the anthropologist Spencer Cox starts to question about Indian dance and their culture, Etta Joseph takes control and starts talking about what she would like to talk about, not answer questions. She decides to have fun. She answers his questions with questions. She goes back in time and describes how she was young and beautiful. Spencer doesn’t know that she used to be an actress and knew John Wayne.

Etta Joseph tries to pass on her love story with Marion Morrison to Spencer. Her intriguing story of how they met first reveals that there is no boundary in life to pull apart loved ones. Regardless of their races and social levels they fell in love. However, they realize that since she was an Indian and he was a family man, no matter how much they love one another they had to let go and keep going on their own paths. They knew that someday it would come to an end. Even after being parted for decades Marion misses Etta and calls her one last time before he left her for forever. Etta passes on her love story because Marion had a place in her heart for forever. That is love.

Spencer questions whether the story was true or not. As for me, I don’t mind whether it is made up or not because it is not totally unrealistic. Etta might have made up the story but as long as she can make happiness out of it doesn’t matter whether it is true or not. That is the true nature of stories. If we did not witness it, it is hard to say it really happened. Yet we choose to believe in stories told by others whether it was true or not. Life is a story.

Posted by lcisbold at 11:55 AM | Comments (0)

November 02, 2005

Harvey Pekar

I was in a group with words but no pictures. Along with group mates we came up with young and somewhat cheerful looking Harvey. I suppose that if we had to draw pictures individually I am sure that everyone would have come up with different Harveys. Since I already have clear image of what Harvey Pekar looks like, it is hard for me to take out that image and go back and try to imagine what he looks like. Once it is stored in my brain, it is hard to take it out.
When I look at the words and images together I was disappointed that there weren’t much filler in the real Harvey Pekar comic. Personally I thought the comic would look full of decoration in the background. When I saw the gloomy looking man my expectation and excitement somewhat went down.
After looking at the comic and the movie my imagination of our initial young looking Harvey completely changed. I understood that Harvey Pekar was not as happy, innocent, young looking as Harvey who wore glasses and had pee on his pants. I liked “our” Harvey better because as a group we had created a character with personally and humor.

Posted by lcisbold at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

October 30, 2005

Anna Deavare Smith

I picked out a photo of Anna Deavare Smith taken in New York City by Annie Leibovitz.

Denotaion (Studium): This photo was taken in black and white. The photographer framed upper body of a woman wearing a black shirt. The top botton is unbottoned and the viewer can see her neck and a little part of her upper left chest area and a shoulder. In the photo her right hand is raised half way through and her palm is facing out towards the camera. Anna's index and middle fingers are straight and pointing out. The other three fingers are bent down. Anna has black curly hair which is tied back and some shorter hair left out and not tied back. She has her mouth wide open that you can see some of her bottom teeth over her lips, eyebrows raised and eyes closed. Her head is leaning down to the left side of her body. There are some fine wrinkles on her forehead and neck. She is not wearing any accessories. The background of the photo is plain gray.
Connotation (Punctum): Anna's facial expressions suggest that she may have been singing when the photo was taken. The way her hands are posed could mean that she was waving (gesturing) while she was singing. She is very open and free to express herself because her hair is not fixed and she is who she is in the photo. Anna is a middle-aged woman because there are wrinkles on her forehead. She cares about her looks because she has a make up on her eyes. As a viewer I get the feeling that she is independent and strong since she is not afraid to show her hand and "reach" out, not hiding it behind her body.

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

Please don't look at them now...

I like to take pictures on my digital camera. For a while, I had an obsession of taking pictures of anything I see and going back to see how it came out after I bought my first digital camera. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that I was letting go of every moment that passed away while I was checking to see whether the pictures were acceptable or not. When I looked at the pictures, I was looking at the moment that had just passed, the moment that would never come back to me. Since I read the article "Making Memories in Real Time" by Amy Harmon, I try not to "waste" my time looking at pictures on my camera, instead of enjoying the time. Last time when I went out with my friends I caught my friends taking pictures and "sneaking a peek" on the camera. It was funny how I remembered the article right at that moment and suggested my friends to live the moment. Don't look at them now.

Posted by lcisbold at 04:54 PM | Comments (1)

October 25, 2005

Java Jive

I don't go to Starbucks. During my three years in the States probably I was there only for three times. However, last weekend I went to explore the Prudential area with a friend and we went into Barnes and Nobles and decided to get a coffee while looking through magazines. When I approached the counter there was no one around except the cashier. I asked for a small coffee. She mumbles to herself. I again asked for the small coffee. She looked at me in an annoyance and said, "We don't serve small coffees, we only have tall ones" I looked at the chart and assumed that the cheapest one would be the smallest, so I went for the "tall" coffee. I think the Starbucks managers chose to promote to have "tall" coffee and abuse the meaning of the word "tall" instead of small is that the many consumers in this country choose "extra large" s over the regular sizes. Now who would like a tall coffee?

Posted by lcisbold at 12:11 AM | Comments (2)

October 23, 2005

Eliza and I

You: how does stock market work Eliza: Does that question interest you? You: yes Eliza: You are sure? You: absolutely Eliza: Please go on. You: Why don't you say anything else? Eliza: Perhaps I will say anything else in good time.

Eliza is an interesting programm. I made the same conversation with several different types of Elizas and they were responding in different ways. It is as if they had different personalities. It is quiete interesting to see that these computers actually generate reasonable responses to what we are typing to them. However, I noticed that their responses get repetetive after a while. It seems to be fun program if you just want to type about random matters. I almost got into a fight with one of the Elizas just for the fun of it (shown above). Have fun everyone,

Posted by lcisbold at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2005

Comics: Jumpstart

http://www.comics.com/comics/jumpstart/archive/jumpstart-20051017.html

JUMPSTART is a multi-panel comic by Robb Armstrong. To me, the artist seems to use two out of three levels of visual data: representation and symbolism. In the first panel a girl is holding a paper with that seems to represent a currency of wherever they are from. They marks on their faces distinguish the children in the panel as being satisfied and surprised. There is a curled line near the boy’s head that shows how taken back he is to see the “ten bucks” in the girl’s hands.

In the next panel the viewer will understand from the image that the boy is upset and angry. I see that the boy is screaming because the sharp and straight lines coming out of his mouth suggest that he is screaming. Also the shades in the background implies that specific moment I which he is screaming. This applies to Gestalt’s theories because the dots form lines (similarity) and those lines flow outward in the same direction (common fate).

In the third panel the artist doesn’t draw frames around the panel but still I see the panel to be in a closure. Gestalt’s continuance theory applies in this panel because I can imagine the boy’s lower body and the boy seems to be walking away from the girl and attempting to “protest”.

In the last panel, there is a father sitting on the couch and holding a newspaper. The “angry” boy’s head and shoulders are shown and put in the lower corner of the panel. The position they were draw in makes the viewer to feel what is in the atmosphere. The father’s brow is drawn to be only one short line over his eyes, which represents he is being distracted from his newspaper readings.

The panels relate to each other as scene to scene because the backgrounds keep changing and there is not single panel with the same background and angel. This comic strip is an example of word specific because the words deliver the same meaning to the viewer without the images.

Posted by lcisbold at 11:35 AM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2005

Being a teenager in a political distracted country

Personal stories always seem to attract readers. I'll admit that it is far more interesting than a research paper. I was doing some research on the assignmen about Iran and I didn't quite grasp such informative and attention grabbing moments from those official web-sites.
Persepolis helped me to understand or get a little feel of what was it like to grow up or live in such environment and how people really treated each other. The little girl's image stays in my mind as I finish the book and put it down. It amazes me how much of a strenght she has, to be so expressive and responsible. Her actions, thoughts, and personality is so strong that she becomes heroine herself when she is faced with the decision of leaving her family behind that seemed as an exile to me. She is not afraid and she is brave.
The family goes through intimidating and life threatening moments during the revolution and war. Some of Marji's reaction reminded me of my own during 90's when there was a revolution in Mongolia. When communism fell in Russia so it took its turn on my country. I was about 4 and I vaguely remember my parents leaving our apartment at night sneakily. Later, when I was old enough to understand my parents told me that they used to attend secret meetings because there, they met with people who wanted to have change in the communist govermnet. My mother is my heroine because she was among those women who stepped up and helped the revolution and the democrative movement to happen in my country, so the rest of the world can be connected, besides Russia.
I am happy that the revolution in Mongolia wasn't as aggressive and brutal as that of in Iran. Many good things came out as the results of the revolution, and I am assuming the same thing might have happened in Iran. I will present you the details on Wednesday along with Jessica Faria.

Posted by lcisbold at 09:20 PM | Comments (1)

October 14, 2005

One hour of delightful observation on Jack Welch's gestures

Hi everyone!

I just got back from NU. There, I heard Mr. Jack Welch who is a former CEO of General Electric Co., make a speech. He was named "Manager of the Century" by Fortune magazine. For the man who earned millions and millions of dollars, his answers to the questions from NU faculty and students were both inspirational and humorous. Mr. Jack Welch was excited to answer all of the questions. While he was answering the questions, he was almost siting on the edge of the couch, and had his hands near his face. He was holding the microphone with both of his hands. Between the questions, he leaned back and crossed his legs, which suggested that he was "taking rest" before answering another exciting question. The speech was truly one of the best experience of this year.

Posted by lcisbold at 05:29 PM | Comments (0)

October 06, 2005

Words and pictures

I am going to complain about the article "Funny What You Can Find In The Funnies". This article didn't made much sense and didn't grab my attention until the last paragraph. All of the writer's examples were so unfamiliar to me, that I didn't know how to respond to the writing after I read it. The "Dick Tracy", "Blondies", "Joe Palooka" what kind of comics are they? After my reading was done, I noticed that I gathered little information on how in some of those comics the main characters were intended to convince politically (Little Orphan Annie).
On the other hand, the other packet which included young couples' comic and conversation was interesting to me. When I read their conversation I felt little tension between those two. However, when I looked at the pictures on the next page, it almost made me very unsettled. In my mind, I imagined a picture of the couple to be closer to each other, but in the comics in the packet, they were physically close but emotionally detached from each other. The straight lines on their clothes, furnitures, on the walls, and finally on the blinder almost "screamed" at the viewer to be disturbed when looking at that comic. Visual images can show the meaing in few pictures what words can't in pages and pages.

~~~Zaya~~~

Posted by lcisbold at 05:22 PM | Comments (3)

October 04, 2005

"Seeing" Draft

“Bud I don’t see what the specialist sees, and so I cut myself off, not only from the total picture, but from various forms and happiness” (Dillard 95)

People have different perspectives. If I see an image and interpret its meaning in my mind I don’t expect anybody else to have exactly the same interpretation. While growing up, our perspectives keep developing almost every moment as we go along the unbroken line of life. Our experiences diverge and vary in different societies and cultures and we unintentionally choose to bring those practices into our understanding and analysis of what we see.

I have come across interesting incidents in my culture that make me ponder about image and its meanings and how people acquire it. One day, I went to have lunch with my friends back at home in Mongolia. It was the day after I came home from boarding school in another country for the summer. We went into a typical local bistro. As soon as I stepped into the bistro, I started to observe and experience using all of my senses. I remember the smell of the food that emanate only at the bistros, and the sight and touch of those typical tables and chairs that looked so memorable to me. Nevertheless, I wasn’t sharing this commemoration with any of my friends, since they went in there everyday therefore they didn’t have any interest besides eating. I told them about my feelings and explained in this situation, to my friends who were “the specialist” and I was the guest, the outsider. I became an outsider in my own culture because I was coming from another culture with different views.

As people travel and expand their vision they certainly are encouraged to compare cultures. Annie Dillard, the author of “Seeing” writes, “I don’t see what the specialist sees, and so I cut myself off” Her observation and vision don’t have to be exactly the same as “the specialist” who can be referred to anyone but her. Each one of us has unique way of looking at the world. Our ways of looking to the world “out there” will never be repeated. I was intrigued that my “guest vision” brought an unusual view of the bistro to my friends and I. My revelation differed from my friends’ and it might have made my friends take another look at the bistro.

When Dillard states “cut myself [herself] off, not only from the total picture, but from the various forms of happiness” she is afraid that she may not be original and therefore she may not fit in. She states that she becomes unhappy when she cuts herself off “from the total picture”. If one is disconnected from the society, that person will feel alienated. People sometimes need time to be by themselves. However, not many people can be isolated and be happy. In my opinion, the character is not happy in the essay, because she detaches herself from the rest of the society, illustrated as “the total picture”, and she becomes unhappy and disengaged from “various forms of happiness”. Human beings feel better if they are attached and involved to society and its groups. We become connected through what we see and what we experience together through visual culture.

~~~Zaya~~~

Posted by lcisbold at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2005

1. Morphological Modification

•“Part of our linguistic competence includes knowledge of the morphology of the language” (Fromkin 107) Words are units of meanings with internal organization. Under the rules of morphology, root morphemes combine with affixes to form more complex words. The morphological modifications make language easier to learn because once we know the lexical content, or root we recognize affixes that change the meaning (derivational) of the word. These rules help us to remember or recognize new words. Therefore, morphological modifications make it simpler for us to make new entries to our mental lexicon.

Posted by lcisbold at 06:01 PM | Comments (0)

September 29, 2005

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)

September 28, 2005

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)

September 27, 2005

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)

September 26, 2005

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)

September 25, 2005

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)

September 22, 2005

Reaction to "Seeing" by Annie Dillard

I liked the beginning of the essay. An innocent girl on the sidewalk drawing arrows. As she learns to write, it points out her process of her growing up and maturing. Learning to observe and look around her. She wants to see what many of us don't see. The girl is eager. There was smooth transition when the girl grows up and the author writes in first person. People see what she sees, but don't take the time to observe that nature around us, as the insects crawling in the grass. Another Dillard's good example was, The Osage orange tree vs. hundreds of blackbirds. How the birds flew by in hundreds and hundreds from one tree to another, but her reaction is as same of those who have never seen them before.
The author lost me after the third paragraph. The paragraphs were flat and full with too many details and pure observations of what the author saw. It was hard to see through her eyes.
I liked the sentence, "If we are blinded by darkness, we are also blinded by light." We are not blinded by light. But even if there is light, people don't see what truly there is to see. If people don't see the obvious, it is as same as being blind, or being in the dark.

Posted by lcisbold at 04:06 PM | Comments (1)

September 21, 2005

Woman in Vanity or Skull

http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/gif/opti3.jpg

Two years ago, I came across this image in the middle of a night, while I was surfing on friends' web photo album. The image appeared randomly, so I had no clue that it was a trick illusion. The first idea came to my mind was that the image showed me a skull, staring at me through the computer screen. Darker shades behind the woman's mirror makes the suggestion of the skull, over women in vanity.

People see and choose what to believe in. At first, I chose to see the skull involuntarily, but the woman in vanity convinced me to see her. I am sure, she will convince you, too. ;)

Posted by lcisbold at 12:17 AM | Comments (2)

September 18, 2005

language

1. What is Language?

Language is an established method used to express one’s mind. Through language, people are able to understand each other’s imagination. Human beings must learn language, the system of communication, to improve within the society. It consists of thousands of words, sets of grammars written in the books and dictionaries, and unwritten grammars that people mechanically produce. It is not enough to learn grammars and words to understand and speak the language. Why do some people travel over the border to learn language? After learning the meanings of words and grammars, the hardest part of learning language develops, to receive and to produce correct responses to the speaker. As a result, either pleasant or uncomfortable contact rises, but we all try to develop friendly society while making efforts to fully communicate with one another.

1. Why learn a word not a sentence?

Why do I say I learned a new word today but not a sentence? Let’s assume that I learned a new word today, which spells out T-A-B-L-E. I never heard this word before. The table is a flat surface made out of various materials to place object(s) on it. Why the previous sentence is not new to me, but the word table is new to my imagination and a little storage in my brain? I seem to recognize most of the words, except the table. So, I learned a new word today, not a new sentence. By the way, I did learn the word table, when I was six in daycare.

Zaya

Posted by lcisbold at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)

September 13, 2005

Ode to my cellphone

A cellphone is a tool that makes it easier for people to communicate with each other. Every morning I wake up looking at it. I hold the precious little equipment in my hand and feel its mirror like spotless surface. As I open my eyes, I am eager to put its half inch of antenna between my index and middle finger and flip open the top cover with the tip of my thumb to find out what time it is. Once I know the time, my brain requests me to play with its all kinds of pretty, small, and neatly organized rows and columns of buttons that lets me to snooze.

This navy blue, gray, rectangular and light object is one of the most important and stable link between people of the modern world. Very nearly every one of us has cellphone. If we lose it, it hurts not only our emotions but it might affect our personal information. The plastic or metal apparatus make people paranoid, angry, and nervous. I am obsessed with this tool. If I didn’t have cellphone in my life I will fail to keep up with people around me.

The cellphones have various purposes: to call, to text message, to calculate, to set alarm, etc., In the dark, I even use its blue display light as flashlight. I don’t usually trip in dark hallways to find my keys but I use my cellphone to look around. It proves me its necessity in every moment of my life. It brings me and my family and my friends up to date who are 6200 miles away from me, within several seconds from wherever I am.

When the cellphone rings, it brings me happiness, curiosity, or anxiety depending on the situation. Its cheerful ring tones travel through air and hit my ears to signal. My right hand slips into stuffed purse or bag of mine to locate the cellphone that is usually hidden under books and notebooks. Wherever I go and whatever I do, it will be one of the most essential tools I will carry on myself.

Posted by lcisbold at 05:12 PM | Comments (2)

18th Birthday

Hobbits going home after various adventures. My birthday was on the next day but Raskolnikov worn out in his apartment. Cut off Captain Nemo on the Nautilus. However, I decided to be one of the Incredibles on my birthday evening. Strangers greeting Gatsby at his party. The plan was Shrek dining with King, Queen and Fiona in the castle. I was Julia Roberts in red dress on the stairs in Casino. Blackout of 2003 in New York. All of a sudden, New Year’s Eve on Times Square!!! Aah, Ocean’s Twelve party after the job was awesome.

Posted by lcisbold at 11:09 AM | Comments (0)

September 12, 2005

My culture-Mongolia

I am a descendant of Chinggis Khan who is known to Americans and the rest of the world as Genghis Khan. No, I am really not. However, my family and I don’t know who our ancestors were. I know about my ancestors up until my great grandfather. As Mongolians take their father’s first names as their last names it is impossible to track down who is whose grandson or grand-daughter. But it might be possible that I am Chinggis Khan’s descendant.
In middle school and high school my teachers used to say that, “Once upon a time, our country was known to the rest of the world, as the Mongolian Empire under Chinggis Khan’s rule”. On the contrary, when I first came to America not many people were even heard of my country other than Chinggis Khan. He, who first established Mongolia as a country was not as celebrated but paralleled his name with Hitler or Napoleon, outside of Mongolia. My country is located between China and Russia. Most of the time I am usually the first Mongolian that Americans or other foreigners meet. It makes me feel special but sometimes sad as once my ancestors have ruled the half of the world but today hardly half of the world knows that my country even exists. Many people ask me whether Mongolia is a part of China. The Mongolians prefer to be recognized as completely independent and separate from China.
The Mongolians are affected by Russian and Chinese cultures. Our traditional food is dumpling and almost every family cooks Russian noodles soup everyday. We use Cyrillic alphabets and celebrate Chinese New Year.
When I go to Mongolia during summer, I notice how different and sometimes hard to relocate my thoughts and perspectives from American culture to my own. If I tell American jokes to my Mongolian friends, they wouldn’t be able to understand why I would think the joke would be funny. In the world of globalization, many people experience cultural and ethical dilemma between two countries-two cultures. In my opinion, people who experience the differences between cultures have advantage to see the gap from another angle. I encourage every one of you to go through different culture-different country, if you haven’t. Yet. Enjoy.

Posted by lcisbold at 08:55 PM | Comments (2)

September 09, 2005

For him, Orange is Not an Orange but...

The author of this essay grew up in 40's. I imagine that during that time, there werent as many convenient and fancy grocery stores that we see everywhere in USA was established. As customers, we could purchase orange from anywhere in the country any time we want. The boy's desciption of craving for the orange seems to be really strong and he admits that he almost waits Xmas to arrive because of the oranges. The author writes, "...digging pasteverything else in your Christmas stocking..." bringing up that the oranges were included in the Christmas presents during that time. In today's world, would you be as happy as the boy if you find an orange in your presents? Of course NO, we are living in a different time, we are getting used to the habbit of getting what we want, whenever we want it. It wasnt always like that as I grew up in a communist country. The stores never used to sell fruits, cakes, cheese and such delicate stuffs to public. During one holiday afternoon, I came home from school and found watermelon on top of each other in my parents' drawer. I remember how I got excited to see those watermelon. Now I lost the excitement and that childish "I want that ..." feeling. In my opinion that feeling is both encouraging(will do anything to get it) and precious(so you get to have a nice memories and such) thing to have, not only for oranges and watermelons!

The essay is not only about the process of putting the orange in one's mouth and feeling the sensations of the fruit. It is about an American Culture during 40's.

Posted by lcisbold at 02:07 AM | Comments (0)