IMS 103 Assignment Blog

Advertising:
-advertising acts like language
-ads make certain assumptions about how item being sold might function in life
-bird is often a word used for women.
-women's bodies are used to sell all sorts of things; bahamas ad
-dress ad: assume world is white, upper class, heterosexual (or wants to be)
-women need to be desperately thin, and very young (and even to point of dressing like young kids)
-new trend: shows women being physically active, even sweating.
-look at ads to see how often women are shown being reflected or being watched by men; used to be common in 70s and early 80s.
–guess ad campaign: images of rape and battery. designed for girls around 13.
-jackhammer ad: jackhammers are phallic, and the guy is looking at woman's mid thighs, not his feet.
-have to be white to sell beauty
-we live in a world where sex has been eroticized, yet when you try to talk about it, people are incredibly quiet

The Dolls (Jacki Kari):
First, the sestina form defined:

sestina –SIS-TEA-NAH (It: sistine, sesta rima) A highly complicated verseform practiced by troubadours which is composed of six stanzas each containing six lines often with a three-line envoy. Instead of rhyme, the use of repeated words from the end lines of the beginning stanza are used in progressively reversed patterns. If the numbers 1 –6 represent the six end words of the first stanza, the sestina uses the following pattern.
stanza 1: 123456
stanza 2: 615243
stanza 3: 364125
stanza 4: 532614
stanza 5: 451326
stanza 6: 246531
envoy: 531 or 135

It’s interesting that this poem is in a very strict form, yet the form itself seems to be liberating for describing conventions in the poem.

Notes about the poem:
-the girls are trying to be doll-like
-the little girl is chasing her way into the life of older girls
-the beads are like a “bride price” – in that the boyfriend of the mother is molesting the girls and giving them beads (to keep their silence, maybe?)
-it’s a cycle that can’t be broken. The mother remembers seeing what’s happening to her daughters happen to her sister, and although she’s trying to give her girls a better life, she’s really just reinforcing the cycle
-when they flirt with boys, the girls are participating in conventional forms that do violence to them
-the poem is a critique of a form, yet the poem itself uses a strict form

Anne Sexton
-1950s-colleague of Sylvia Plath-conversational tone in “Cinderella”
-author’s version of Cinderella story is closer to original Grimm Brothers writing rather than the Disney mutilation

Stanza 1:

"You always read about it:
the plumber with the twelve children
who wins the Irish Sweepstakes.
From toilets to riches.
That story."

“You always hear about it:” – the event never happens to you, but you hear about it only through reading news (no one in your world has it happen)

Stanzas 1-4 present unattractive people that:
-don’t have a remembrance for the world they left behind when getting money
-the people are mostly passive (with the exception of the milkman); you get the feeling that they don’t deserve the boon of money
-the tone is gritty – doesn’t leave things unsaid

Stanza 5:
“Once” – the event the author’s about to describe has only happened once, but you hear about it constantly, as if it could happen again, and maybe even to you (when the chances that that will occur are nil)

Stanza 8:

“The eldest went into a room to try the slipper on
but her big toe got in the way so she simply
sliced it off and put on the slipper.
The prince rode away with her until the white dove
told him to look at the blood pouring forth.
That is the way with amputations.
They just don’t heal up like a wish.
The other sister cut off her heel
but the blood told as blood will.”

Original Grimm Brothers version of the events told in Stanza 8:

“The eldest went with the shoe into her room and wanted to try it on, and her mother stood by. But she could not get her big toe into it, and the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut the toe off, when you are queen you will have no more need to go on foot." The maiden cut the toe off, forced the foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the king's son. Then he took her on his his horse as his bride and rode away with her. They were obliged, however, to pass the grave, and there, on the hazel-tree, sat the two pigeons and cried,

"Turn and peep, turn and peep,
there's blood within the shoe,
the shoe it is too small for her,
the true bride waits for you."

Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was trickling from it. He turned his horse round and took the false bride home again, and said she was not the true one, and that the other sister was to put the shoe on. Then this one went into her chamber and got her toes safely into the shoe, but her heel was too large. So her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut a bit off your heel, when you are queen you will have no more need to go on foot." The maiden cut a bit off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the king's son. He took her on his horse as his bride, and rode away with her, but when they passed by the hazel-tree, the two pigeons sat on it and cried,

"Turn and peep, turn and peep,
there's blood within the shoe,
the shoe it is too small for her,
the true bride waits for you."

He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking quite red.”

Book 6:
What expression does Odysseus give off?
-speech, vocabulary are flattering; has knowledge of the gods; shows he is a noble, not a common man
-he speaks with conviction – he refers to the simile Homer has earlier in the text; Odysseus is completely confident in his ability/identity as a leader. It’s a conscious expression, but also possibly unconscious.

The Wife of the Man of Many Wiles (Stallings)
-poem refers to Penelope
-constant litany…not what happened if it makes you feel better
-Penelope is famous for brains, discretion, and waiting for Odysseus to return
-in most stories, Penelope is characterized as a submissive wife, and Odysseus is the dominant husband
-this poem discredits the image of Penelope as the submissive wife

Siren Song (Margaret Atwood)
-poem is about women’s power over men
-sirens have a woman’s head on a bird’s body
-what is the song about? tells men that there is a woman who needs help, but the truth comes with this line, “Alas / it is a boring song / but it works every time.”
-poem is about the manipulation of a story/myth

Illiad 9:

• Achilles feels too betrayed to accept any offer.
• Ajax: Even when you lose a loved one from murder, the bereaved still takes the blood price. Achilles won’t do that. He’s upset because the woman was a physical representation of what people thought of him.
• When Achilles refuses the Embassy, he’s spelling the doom of his closest friend and himself.

Illiad 24:

• Achilles is materialistic; in that era, what you owned – war booty – showed that you’re a good warrior. The more you have, the better you are.
• Priam lost his son, Hector. Achilles lost his best friend. They both lost something that they love deeply. People who share profound loss can help start healing for each other, because in the presence of another who has suffered as you have, you feel that they understand more than others.

Book 6: Odysseus and Nausicaa
What does this encounter reveal about Odysseus’ character? It has been said that in the Iliad character is revealed through speech and in the Odyssey through speech. To what extent do you agree with this?

The encounter shows that Odysseus is cautious – he weighs his options when hearing the girls, and chooses a course of action that allows the girls to not be scared of him. In his speech, lines 149-189, he compliments Nausicaa’s beauty and also wishes that the gods grant her desires. He explains with a honeyed tongue why he is naked on the beach and says that his trials are from the gods. He must persuade the girls to help him, or he will die; and he must do it in a non-threatening way or he could be killed for threatening the girls.

We agree that in the Iliad character is revealed through action – the Iliad has many war scenes that show characters in a physical way. The characters are described and known their actions in battle.

In the Odyssey, character is revealed through speech; the interaction between Odysseus and Nausicaa is a good example. Characters in the Odyssey often give long speeches that describe who they are; or in reaction to another person’s dialogue, thus revealing more about themselves.

Stigmas – how do they affect a person’s sense of identity?

Pip’s self-awareness comes when he steals food for Magwitch; it’s something he has to hide from others, like a stigma.

Many people feel they have something to hide or atone for. Ironic because many people feel this way, when really, what they want to hide is not all that important at all (in the grand scheme of things).

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life:

“The expressiveness of the individual (and therefore his capacity to give impressions) appears to involve two radically different kinds of sign activity: the expression that he gives, and the expression that he gives off.”

How are these different in real life, and online?

Expressions you give off are both conscious and unconscious:

• gender roles
• accents/styles of language
• there’s a physical element to verbal expression
• unconscious adoption of manners of speech, then conscious realization of what you’ve said

What does the recipient think? Do they put their own feelings/ideas on how they interpret you?

Primates. Scientists teach them sign language, and humans interpret human feelings from how the primates react – signing furiously can mean anger/frustration.

Essay tests. When students don’t know the answer to question, they put down as much information as they can, hoping that the grader will interpret that they know the answer from what they’ve provided.

“Thus, when an individual appears in the presence of others, there will usually be some reason for him to mobilize his activity so that it will convey an impression to others which it is in his interests to convey.”

When you’re famous enough, you can control what people think of you because you can control (to a degree) how the media presents you, what sort of work you do, and what you say to your fans.

An example I can think of is Will Wright. He’s one of the most famous game designers, having come up with Sim City, Sims, Sims 2, and now Spore. I’ve never met the man, but the impression I get of him from having played games that he designed is that he’s one intelligent, amazing guy.

Another example is when you interview for a job. You wear your best clothes so that you give a professional appearance. You research the company beforehand, so that you can appear knowledgeable. You’re careful in what you say, so that you appear intelligent. You attempt to give off the impression that you’d be a good addition to the company so that they’ll hire you. Your actions aren’t entirely fake, but they aren’t entirely you, either.

“We come into the world as individuals, achieve character, and become persons.”

What I think of upon seeing this quote is World of Warcraft. In the game, you create a character that literally becomes an extension of yourself. The character is your avatar; it represents you in a virtual world. I have a character in World of Warcraft that I’m quite attached too – I’ve spent over 17 days playing her. She has a story that’s developed while playing her, from doing quests and adventuring around in the world. My character started out as a blank model without personality, but now she’s become a person.

I don’t remember as much of our Friday debate over Powerpoint as I’d like; I should have blogged about it before class instead of waiting until after spring break. At least I do have some notes so that I can mention a few things I felt were important during class.

“Students make a conscious decision to attend class”

When I heard someone say that, I recalled an article I’d read the day before on an Apple news blog, which while it doesn’t at first seem relevant, is once you think for a minute. The basic situation? While the girl mentioned in the article made a decision to attend class, she’s not really attending because she’s surfing an idiotic site and writing a paper while in class.

“Is the audience smarter? Why can’t you see progression in teaching writing?”

I personally believe that writing is a difficult subject to teach. Writing thrives on creativity – no matter what type of writing you’re doing, adding a creative spark makes your work more memorable and enjoyable to read.

I write a lot for myself. I have a novel idea that I’ve written 50 pages of. I keep a few blogs. I comment on blogs I read. I write emails. None of those have anything to do with schoolwork; and I enjoy them considerably more than assigned writing.

I’ve also done a lot of contest/professional writing. I don’t enjoy those as much; they’re more something I have to get through than something that I want to put a part of myself into.

What I’m trying to get to with all of this is that I believe learning writing isn’t like learning history or science. It’s something you have to make a conscious decision to improve and work on. It’s not something you can always see improve overnight, or even over a semester.

“Does new technology dumb down students?”

Laptops.
Palms.
iPods.
Podcasts.
Online courses.
Google.
IM.
Email.

Students have more options available to them than ever before. Some universities try to incorporate some of these technologies; an example, one university is partnering with Apple to provide podcasts of lectures.

But how many of these technologies are actually making us smarter, or more involved? I don’t know what I think on this topic. I think that I try to combine what’s available to me to benefit me as much as possible. I don’t know how well I succeed…information overload is a problem that comes to mind.

I do think Powerpoint dumbs down minds during presentations, though.

In “Politics and the English Language” George Orwell writes about the destruction of the English language. While this piece was written in 1946, I think what Orwell mentions is truer today than it ever was.

I mentioned in class the increasing use of “netspeak,” which I feel is slowly killing the English language. I’ve actually heard people saying “lol” in actual conversation, which made me want to cringe. This led into the discussion of acronyms, and how people are so used to seeing letters representing something that they don’t even think of the meaning behind the letters.

Laura brought up the Patriot Act, and how the real name of the act is: “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.”

Wow. That’s a mouthful. I’m sure if more people knew the actual name of the act, instead of the short title, they might think more about blindly supporting it. Personally, I’m against it, but I won’t go into a political tirade. However, it was enlightening to go through and pick apart the actual meaning behind abstract words, like “intercept” and “obstruct.”

I also read through George Orwell’s “Why I Write.” I particularly liked this bit at the end:

Good prose is like a windowpane. I cannot say with certainty which of my motives are the strongest, but I know which of them deserve to be followed. And looking back through my work, I see that it is invariably where I lacked a political purpose that I wrote lifeless books and was betrayed into purple passages, sentences without meaning, decorative adjectives and humbug generally.

I think that illustrates the point he makes in “Politics and the English Language,” of people are writing simply for the sound of the words, without actually saying anything.

How do different types of media lead us to reflect on our lives?

• different mediums
• quality of presentation (form, expression) . . . makes it hard to define a medium

Plays/Theatre:

• audience is necessary to have a play, otherwise it’s just a rehearsal
• performance is never the same
• respect for audience/actors (dramatic theatre conventions)
• “double” deception of plays – audience is supposed to watch the main action unfold, but can chose to view other characters on stage
• why is a curtain call important? allows the audience to see the person behind the character
• dvds and movies take away from audience participation
• in film/tv, you can see the camera angle only; versus where in a theatre you can look at the entire stag

Books translated into movies:

• I almost always hate when a book I love is translated into a movie, because I know the movie is going to be awful
• Hard to make a book into a movie because in a book, characters aren’t fully fleshed out, and the reader creates a mental picture of the character by reading and analyzing the novel; this isn’t possible to do in a movie

New York Times article on how email has changed relationships between professors and students (clicky):

I have differing opinions on this article. Personally, I believe that I use email correctly to address professors – I try not to be overly familiar, while attempting to ask questions that can easily be answered in a quick reply. If there’s something I have a huge question on, I’ll generally try to email a prof to let them know that I’m planning on coming to their office hours, so that they can let me know if they’ll be there. I’ve found that profs don’t always stick to their office hours, so it’s a helpful way for me to make sure that they’ll be available then. If I continue to converse with a prof, our email exchanges usually will become less formal, but I try to follow the example I see, not start it.

However, I do think that most of the examples in the NYT article do show that some students don’t think before they send email and just fire off whatever they want. They feel that it’s easier to say something like “I wasn’t in class because I was drunk” in an email rather than in a face-to-face conversation; but they definitely shouldn’t be saying that to a professor. It shows a lack of respect for the professor. I think that if those students quoted actually thought about what they sent, and maybe waited a few hours to reread the email before sending, they’d realize that what they’re writing isn’t proper.