Blog 12/12

My advice to future writers is to keep an open mind. This semester in WSC 1 there were a variety of projects. From blogs to prezis to papers to slideshows. I would never have used a blog if it wasn't for this class, because it was not something that interested me. But I found that blogging is not that bad and a useful way to share information. Do not dread the papers either. You can be as creative as you want, so don't feel like just because it is a paper you can't enjoy writing it. The same goes for everything in the class. There may be some things you enjoy more than others but thats to be expected. If you keep an open mind you can get what you want out of the course. I didn't remember everything from the class, but I did remember what was important to me. It's your choice to either hate the class, or keep an open mind and get what you can from it.

Blog 11/12

I would not consider the four letter word projects writing. They are made up of images and sound and only have on word. I think writing is something that uses text to say something. Since the four letter word projects were mostly images and sounds, it did not use the text to say something. The viewer would have been able to see the point and figure out the word even if the word wasn't there. I would also not consider a movie with credits a piece of writing, so just because there is text doesn't make it writing. I believe that the text has to do something for the viewer.

Blog 10/12

Rodney Jones is arguing that once you lose an idea, it is lost forever. He was wading out into the water which represents his thoughts. Then the shout from the beach is someone distracting him from his idea. And he drops it into the water and loses it. Even though he really liked the idea, it is too late to ever get it back. As he says "then the idea I was not finished, then the act of reaching down with the idea I would get it back." This describes him losing his idea.

Blog 9/12

Sometimes I anticipate readers of text I put on. There are times when I know where I am going, so I dress accordingly. There are times when I just put on a random shirt because it matches with what I am wearing. All of the text on my shirts mean something. Otherwise I would not have bought the shirt. I don't wear jewelry and I don't have any tattoos so the only text I wear are shirts. There are times where I don't wear something because I know that the people I am around won't like it or understand it.
When I use Twitter I do not anticipate a reader. I know that since I am not famous I cannot expect a large amount of followers. If someone is following me then they will be very disappointed because there are not many interesting things that I have to say. However it is still on the internet so I do censor myself sometimes.
The texts we wear or post on Twitter create meaning for ourselves. We wear text on our clothes because the text mean something to us. Even if we just throw on the shirt, the text still means something to us at sometime, even if it doesn't mean something at that time. The text that we wear can tell everyone who sees it something about us. The only case where text would not have meaning to us is if we received the clothing for free and had nothing else to wear. Then we would be lucky to have something to wear.

Blog 8/12

Zadie Smith state that "I believe that flexibility of voice leads to a flexibility in all things."(194) I completely agree with this statement. Once you are able to adapt a specific voice that is not your own, you can start to develop different traits that the voice may have but you do not. Like the saying "Fake it till you make it" it is easy to *something* yourself into being someone you're not. Making different traits from different persons become apart of you and leaving you with a better and more flexible view point of other things.

Blog 7/12

Yes the writer was influenced by their writing implement. One thing I thought was interesting was that she wrote the quote in a different  color. This made it stand out more than just using quotation marks. I think the writer was more expressive because she used different colors throughout the piece. On the back she wrote her name and also a small picture. If she was writing in pencil she may not have felt the same urge to draw a picture.
I think that the writing is good. She wrote just as if she were writing in pencil, only the presentation was different. The colors she used were calm so they did not distract. If it had been very bright it may have taken away from the point. The difference in presentation only enhanced the piece.

Blog 5/12

The difference between a president and a poet are that a president is more formal. A poet is not constrained to the rules of being a leader. They can be imaginative and free. While presidents "tend to dismiss this land."(193) Smith suggests that there is a difference, however she hopes that one day this difference may dissolve. She thinks that Obama may be the president which breaks the mold. Because he has already shown that he is not afraid to speak about sensitive subject matter. However it is something that only time will tell.

Blog 4/12

Zadie Smith says that "voice adaptations still the original British sin."(180) Why is voice adaptation so bad in the eyes of the British?
Smith describes Obamas voice at seventeen and says this is his voice "remembered by Obama."(183) Couldn't Obama have remembered his voice differently than it really was?
When Smith is describing Obamas speech she seems to be looking very deeply into it. Couldn't Obama have just been trying to reach one audience rather than subtly speaking to more than one?
Smith talks about how angry Jesse Jackson has been, and then when Obama won he was crying. Why does this make everything better just because he won?
Smith describes all the atrocities that Shakespeare has seen and experienced. How did this give him the ability to write as multiple personalities?
Smith puts an excerpt of a poem towards the end of her piece. What is the purpose of this poem? It seems very strange.

My Project 4 Revised Video

Here it is.

Blog 6/12

When the main character asks "who are they talking to?" I have the same question. Do they really think that people care what they tweet about? For most online writing I feel like there is purpose. This blog has a purpose so if people on the internet read it then at least they will know my opinion. It is not just random personal updates that won't benefit anyone. The only way I would want someone to read my tweets is if I was famous and people actually cared. Most people don't seem to feel the same way, they just tweet whatever they are doing.

I think that Twitter would be a useful resource for projects like the one we were going to do. It is a good way to collect many short ideas. However in my personal life Twitter is not useful. Also it would be good for entertainment when celebrities use it. If interesting people are actually using it, then it would also be interesting.

Blog 3/12

What I really think about the writing space that twitter affords is that it is just annoying. People constantly are updating their twitters. I don't think that there is any reason to know what someone is doing at every single moment in their life. The Facebook status updates are enough. The only reason someone should have a twitter is if they are famous and are doing something interesting. Then it would be interesting to hear what they are doing. Otherwise there is no reason why I would want to hear what you are doing.

Blog 2/12

I'm not sure why so many people wear texts on their clothing and on their skin.  Perhaps they feel that such portable writing serves to express an idea that they have. It may have a very emotional attachment to them also. Since tattoos are on your skin forever, they are usually well thought out. Shirts are usually more casual than tattoos. Sometimes they try to be funny or want to show something that is clever.

Blog 1/12

The argument in the poem is that a tree does something that is so amazing, someone cannot describe it in words. Robert Hess tries to describe the tree, but he can't. Of course everyone knows what a tree does, but they cannot describe it. Even if there is beautiful poetry that tries, it doesn't do the tree justice. So Hess ends his poem by saying that the tree does "something in the wind."

I think Hass is trying to show how poets try to describe trees. They use language that is supposed to be deep and beautiful, but in reality the language could never describe what the tree really does.