As I begin commenting on these class readings, I'm struck with a thought: within this blog, open to the public, I feel the need to filter for my audience. My professor will probably say that's a good thing, that keeping one's audience in mind while writing is essential, but honestly, it kind of ticks me off. What if I really hate a piece? What if my response to a reading is that, literary masterpiece or not, it bored me to tears and/or drove me to drink?
I suppose I can always just label the blog "private" at semester's end before handing out this website link to potential employers. :)
Now that that's out of the way, on to the readings! Might as well start with "The Collected Works of Billy the Kid" by Michael Ondaatje. Being half brain dead, I was glad to have the notes in the margins spell out thoughts of imagery and symbolism for me, but those notes also reminded me of something. I want to say it was in Writer's Mind with Maxson(?), but one of our readings also had scrawls and underlines throughout the file. The question was posed: does it affect how you interpret the text? Well, duh. Whether you mean to think the same thoughts as the original scribbler, the fact that an extra line or word is there draws your eye and forces your brain to think about it differently. Why did someone label this section with particular emphasis? Was he right? Was it the teacher just trying to throw us off the scent? So many questions...
Other than that, I didn't care much for the piece. A story told in straight description with no dialogue can get pretty tiresome pretty fast, and it didn't help that the focus on imagery and symbolism bogged down the already slow-paced plot(?) for me.
"Paris to the Moon" by Adam Gopnik had Billy's issue of dallying about, describing and then describing some more, meandering through a plot(?). However, I had a little more connection here because bits and pieces reminded of both other classes and my Semester Abroad experience. The ideas of media permeating everything, affecting how we think and use technology, and yet seeing technology adapted to fit different cultures' needs, struck home. In America, with all our plugs and outlets and cables, escaping the media seems a dream of the past. As for a "Regulon" to hold it in check, keep it from devouring us all...I suppose we haven't met a universal for this pest as of yet because the demand remains, so the supply continues. Unless, of course, you want the government to come in and reign everything in. But that's a whole other bucket of radioactive worms I won't go into.
As for my Semester Abroad comparisons, it was the little things that made me smile. Adventures with adapters and converters, idiotic machines that refuse to run the way you know they should. And my favorite line: "But then all cultural prejudices seem like practical facts to the prejudiced" (52). It's true, and funny...especially when the old people sitting at the cafe table ask if you have a jacket and then laugh at the silly American who'll freeze to death in (what would be) warm New Jersey weather. Yeah, it works with the old folk. :)
I think this piece worked, explaining the author's insights and opinions, without sounding overbearing or over-preachy because Gopnik presented it as experience, as life. That personal connection, the human factor, kept me from tuning him out...even if it was France. ;)
And now I'm going to save this before this evil program gives me another scare and makes me think (momentarily) that it has deleted all my hard work. ¡Hasta luego!
I suppose I can always just label the blog "private" at semester's end before handing out this website link to potential employers. :)
Now that that's out of the way, on to the readings! Might as well start with "The Collected Works of Billy the Kid" by Michael Ondaatje. Being half brain dead, I was glad to have the notes in the margins spell out thoughts of imagery and symbolism for me, but those notes also reminded me of something. I want to say it was in Writer's Mind with Maxson(?), but one of our readings also had scrawls and underlines throughout the file. The question was posed: does it affect how you interpret the text? Well, duh. Whether you mean to think the same thoughts as the original scribbler, the fact that an extra line or word is there draws your eye and forces your brain to think about it differently. Why did someone label this section with particular emphasis? Was he right? Was it the teacher just trying to throw us off the scent? So many questions...
Other than that, I didn't care much for the piece. A story told in straight description with no dialogue can get pretty tiresome pretty fast, and it didn't help that the focus on imagery and symbolism bogged down the already slow-paced plot(?) for me.
"Paris to the Moon" by Adam Gopnik had Billy's issue of dallying about, describing and then describing some more, meandering through a plot(?). However, I had a little more connection here because bits and pieces reminded of both other classes and my Semester Abroad experience. The ideas of media permeating everything, affecting how we think and use technology, and yet seeing technology adapted to fit different cultures' needs, struck home. In America, with all our plugs and outlets and cables, escaping the media seems a dream of the past. As for a "Regulon" to hold it in check, keep it from devouring us all...I suppose we haven't met a universal for this pest as of yet because the demand remains, so the supply continues. Unless, of course, you want the government to come in and reign everything in. But that's a whole other bucket of radioactive worms I won't go into.
As for my Semester Abroad comparisons, it was the little things that made me smile. Adventures with adapters and converters, idiotic machines that refuse to run the way you know they should. And my favorite line: "But then all cultural prejudices seem like practical facts to the prejudiced" (52). It's true, and funny...especially when the old people sitting at the cafe table ask if you have a jacket and then laugh at the silly American who'll freeze to death in (what would be) warm New Jersey weather. Yeah, it works with the old folk. :)
I think this piece worked, explaining the author's insights and opinions, without sounding overbearing or over-preachy because Gopnik presented it as experience, as life. That personal connection, the human factor, kept me from tuning him out...even if it was France. ;)
And now I'm going to save this before this evil program gives me another scare and makes me think (momentarily) that it has deleted all my hard work. ¡Hasta luego!
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