Portable writing (2 of 12)

I'm not sure why so many people war texts on their clothing and on their skin. Perhaps they feel that such portable writing serves to...make a statement about who they are. Some people choose their clothing very carefully every day, while others just throw on the first thing they find, but I would venture to say that the majority of us choose clothing we like to have in our wardrobe (what we have accessible to us to wear). Tattoos are a different story, I think. Every person I hvae ever met with a tattoo (that I notice), I ask about it. Tattoos almost always mean a great deal to the people I've spoken with. It was something very important/with a lot of meaning to them for them to even consider getting it permanently inked into their skin. I think clothing might be less of a permanent statement about ourselves than tattoos. But to some people, clothing is a way of life...Although the experience for transgender* people differs by individual, for me, clothing is my statement to the world that my gender is not defined by society's cookie cutter outlines. For other transgender* people, however, clothes can tell the world that individual identifies as a particular gender not typically associated with their genitals.

LIVE

Presidents and Poets (5 of 12) **to add to later**

To conclude her essay, Zadie Smith discloses: "In this lecture I have been seeking to tentatively suggest that the voice that speaks with such freedom, thus unburdened by dogma and personal bias, thus flooded with empathy, might make a good president" (192). However, she rejects this claim by advocating for the many-voiced role of the poet. What is the difference between the rhetoric of a president and that of a poet? Does Smith suggest there should be a difference?

 

Dance with me, dancer

When I found this quote:

"And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once."

- Friedrich Nietsche

I immediately thought of the italicized line in Robert Hass' poem, The Problem of Describing Trees. 

You can find Hass' poem here.

My next [rhetorical] move will be... 11/2/11

I keep thinking about my project 3, and I'm pretty sure my next [rhetorical] move will be to step away from my topic a bit; to make some distance between the topic & the reader. I've used metaphors and personal narrative to draw the reader in and to help him/her/hir understand my view, but now I need to come at it from a distance.

*add in the distance to the beginning to give framework & foundation*

A sentence starts out like... 10/28/11

A sentence starts out like a new puppy waking from a nap. It slowly but surely rolls over itself, with a cloudy sense of clarity, unsure of its surroundings. It blinks a few times, bringing more into focus as the seconds tick by, with each letter that appears. After getting up, the puppy suddenly stands, swaying slightly, beginning to stumble along. Its young hips swing to and fro as he weaves with a drunken mind, not knowing where he's going.  After circling his spot once, twice- even three times, this drunken puppy collapses with exhaustion onto the carpet, allowing his eyes to once again droop slowly shut.

If walls could talk... 10/28/11

Michael Wesch's A Vision of Students Today

 

What is his argument?


Although technology has helped society & the world make huge strides for centuries, it has taken away, or further removed us from the knowledge we are actually seeking or looking at. For example, the microscope has helped us see the details of the microscopic world and learn the parts of a singular blood cell, but what has been happening in real life  around us - without us - during that time?? Students, especially, are getting so drawn into this world of technology, as the years pass, we are less and less able to experience what's actually around us. If I was analyzing this  as a teenager's life, I would say our society is unconsciously using technology as an escape from the larger problems physically surrounding us