10 of 12

"Nearly sunset, and time on the water
of 1984. Language its tracer.
No image like the image of language.

I had waded out about thigh deep.
Then a shout from the beach.
I held in my hand half a coconut shell

of coconut milk and 150-proof rum
and dumped it white into the waves
when it came on me how sweet it had been,

then the idea I was not finished,
then the act of reaching down

with the idea I would get it back."

I think that Rodney was trying to make a statement depicting how hard it is to describe scenes and emotions using only language, yet noting the magic of how language can completely change the meaning. If one takes this poem in a literal sense, it is about a man who is in the water, dumps a good drink into the waves, and then regrets it. However, this can be interpreted differently depending on the reader. I, for example, took the writer being 'thigh deep' in the water as a danger- he could be swept away by the current at any moment. Furthermore, the drink itself could represent an idea that he let go, but then came to realize that he could do so much more with said idea and thus regretted his decision. The writer, therefore, took a risk (when he was thigh deep in the water) when discarded his idea (rum).

11 of 12

Are these Four-letter word projects writing?

I don't believe so, to be honest. To me, it was as if I was making a movie or an AMV (anime music video). I associate writing with text, so to see these picture montages as a kind of writing seems foreign to me.

However, as an anthropologist-to-be, I try my best to understand foreign things. The projects presented arguments, where some ideas were better executed than others. Any movie, likewise, presents an argument or idea. In this sense, although they aren't properly termed compositions, movies are created with a writing base. Like a pen and paper, computers and cameras can be writing tools. When uploading and created the project in software, the computer uses different coding (consisting of numbers, letter, and symbols) to read and process the information.The coding print creates a story and an accompanying argument and this is a kind of text--one that I can more easily identify with.

Blog 9 of 12

When I wear text, which isn't very often, I expect to hear a comment about it; I anticipate someone to go, "Hey, I love [insert fandom here]" or something along those lines. I try to stay away from wearing text unless it's referencing a fandom I follow or sporting a witty saying because I think it looks tacky. For the latter, I expect an "EL OH EL", if anything at all. Besides that, the other text I own deals with sports teams and schools, none of which I expect a reaction to because so many people wear text like that and, for example, don't actually attend the school.

When I tweet, I tweet to myself, yet subconsciously hope that other people will read it and value the information. I want people to read and reply, but that's not my ultimate goal.

Questions for Zadie

"We feel that our voices are who we are, and that to have more than one, or to use different versions of a voice for different occasions represents, at best, a Janus-faced duplicity, and at worst, the loss of our very souls. (180)    Doesn't this completely disregard pretty much every minority in America? There are are children in this country who have parents who don't speak English and, therefore, the kid has to learn two languages to survive. You're literally saying that every immigrant child is a two-faced soulless bastard.

"How persistent this horror of the middling spot is, this dread of the interim place. It extends through the specter of the tragic mulatto to the plight of the transsexual, to our present anxiety- disguised as genteel concern- for the contemporary immigrant, tragically split, we are sure, between worlds, ideas, cultures, voices-whatever will become of them? Something's got to give- one voice must be sacrificed for the other." (182) Language is an indicator about your life and, like the way you dress, is subject to change depending upon who you interact with. It’s not duplicitous, it’s the basis of human social interactions in the modern world. We have to change the way we speak in order to interact with various contexts. Don’t you think that, by sacrifice one voice for another, it limits one’s ability to function in today’s society?

"This new president doesn't just speak for his people. He can speak them." (182)

Obama is a politician and all politicians are groomed in the same way. What makes him different from any other given candidate, aside from political alignment and the color of his skin?

"Throughout his campaign Obama was careful always to say "we." He was noticeably wary of "I." (184) Well, duh. He has to appeal to everyone. He can’t just appeal to blacks for the black vote, nor to solely the whites. When he speaks, his message is the same, but the interpretation made by different ethnicities may be different. Wouldn’t it be racist to assume his rhetoric changes when he’s speaking to blacks?

". . .and roll my eyes at anyone who insists that Obama is not the first black president but the first biracial one." (185) But he technically is biracial. His father was a black man from Africa and his mother was a white woman from Kansas. You can’t ignore the fact that he’s still part white just to prove a point about how a black man can adopt a white man’s façade and, therefore, speak in many voices. Do you really think that Obama would have stood a chance in the campaigns if it wasn’t for his Caucasian heritage? He needs to appeal to the largest ethnic groups in the United States, not just one or another.

"It's the Joyces of this world who 'talk down to black folks.' And so to avoid being Joyce, or being seen to be Joyce, you unify, you speak with one voice." (188) All Joyce is doing is acknowledging her Caucasian heritage. Aren’t you jumping to conclusions by saying that she’s ashamed of her black heritage and that mentioning her white background is a defensive mechanism to save her from scrutiny? Joyce is right-- she doesn’t need to choose one heritage over another.

    

President vs. Poet

The rhetoric of a president and a poet are different. A president, when making a speech, must remember to be politically correct. He has to watch his words and make sure to never end up in a situation where he wished he bit his tongue. Ultimately, the president's speech writers aim to appeal to a wide range of people and to refrain from insulting anyone. A poet, however, has more freedom with their variety of voices. Poetry is a form of creative writing, full of symbols and metaphors. These symbols can be controversial in order to get the reader to analyze and think about the written piece. Furthermore, when a poet like Shakespeare embodies a character, the character may not be liked by every reader because of a flaw, personality trait, or an action gone wrong. A poet doesn't have to appeal to everyone, just the general public. They don't have to worry about offending the reader because the reader knows that the character is just that, a character--a piece of fiction. A poet has the luxury of being able to lie in his many voices for the purpose of entertainment, while a president must always be wary of thin ice everywhere.

Twouble with Twitter

"Who are they talking to?" A little birdie answered, "No one and everyone."

The usual Twitter user tweets to point out something they may think is relevant. Usually, it's something that breaks up their daily routine in some way or another, even if it seems mundane to everyone who may be reading it. When one tweets, they are tweeting for themselves. At the same time, the user hopes that their followers can look at the tweet and go, "Huh. Cool," or maybe even reply to it. Thus, when one tweets, they are subconsciously looking for acknowledgment by their followers.

When I write online, I write rather informally; I'm lazy when it comes to capitalization and writing out whole words (ie: I don't know = iunno). Writing online is usually a more personal experience for me, considering that most writing I do online is in blog form. I blog to help myself, not to appeal to anyone else and, therefore, I do not care for the opinions of others. This differs from when I write something on paper, such as a formal essay or a letter to someone I care deeply about, because I then write to prove a point and search for acceptance. On twitter, I tweet quotes that mean something to me or random tidbits of my every day life. These tidbits, I've come to notice, are often complaints and have been so since I made my account in high school. Whether it's moaning about homework or vaguely hinting towards my disgust in an individual, I use it as a way of releasing pent-up frustration.

I think Twitter, as mentioned in one of my previous blog posts, is an effective form of blogging depending on how it is used. Very powerful things can be said in a few words, such as the cliche "I love you." Sure, lots of useless stuff is also mentioned, but sometimes you can find a real gem in the middle of the grime. Microblogging allows one to experiment in finding the right words to summarize what they want to say in a limited space. The fewer words you use in your argument, the more strength each word carries.

A Dozen by a Dozen

"Flexibility in voice can lead to flexibility in all things because you are not providing a firm answer--what you say (when you are flexible in voice) can be interpreted in any way. The best example of flexibility was in Dr. Lay's 12/5/11 class when she answered "mhmmmmmmmmm" to my two questions. (Q1) Can we draw a picture instead? (Q2) Portrait or landscape?

He drew to what appears to be a classroom or lecture hall. On the left side, standing before a podium and towering above the students, is a teacher. The teacher is portrayed as a man with muscles and short hair, which is important because he is one out of the two figures drawn that have hair. Sitting at desks are four students and, all the way in the back, stands Jay Leno. The talk show host is the other figure with hair and the artist makes him recognizable by exaggerating his prominent chin. It should also be noted that Jay Leno is the only character whose face is drawn from the profile view, instead of the frontal view, and is the only one wearing shoes.

Flexibility of Voice

The writing implement of a crayon did affect the writer. Half-way through his argument, he changed from an orange crayon to a black pen. I believe that he may have felt inhibited intellectually by the crayon. In fact, his over-all argument was rather short. With crayon, he wrote bigger than he did in pen. I'm not talking about the thickness of the lines, which would be expected to be larger in crayon, but the size of each letter. When he switched to pen, not only did his font get smaller, but he also began incorporating script with print writing. When the writer used the crayon, he wrote completely in print.

The writer's creativity was ultimately not stifled, as shown by his picture on the reverse side of his paper (see previous blog post). The argument itself was good, and the writer proved his point and supported it with clear examples.

Advice for those starting out

One can have a superb vocabulary and amazing diction, but without the proper grammar, the writing can be God-awful and a headache to read. Ergo, I plead that one will respect punctuation. Know your commas and your semi-colons. Keep the same voice throughout the piece and don't stray off topic. If you are writing creatively and have an army of original characters, keep them in character. Develop their personalities, their strengths and their weaknesses. If the reader wants to connect to your character, they can't be perfect because, well, no one is perfect. Likewise, the writer must search themselves for their own flaws and work towards ultimate improvement.

Practice won't harm either. How can one improve without practice? "Practice makes perfect," after all. Practice with different styles--experiment. Learn how to manipulate words to adapt to a variety of situations. Don't be afraid to cross taboo boundaries, either. Write a steamy love scene or about a morbid homicide. Go all out. Play with different possibilities.. Most of all, don't be afraid of the reader. You are supposed to manipulate them, not the other way around. Control them, change their state of mind with your words. Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Twitter as a Writing Space

I had a twitter account before we were told to make one for this course. However, I only made one because I lost a bet. I, like many others, thought that twitter was stupid. Why? Because of the limited writing space, of course. But, as I began to tweet, I discovered that the writing limit is what gives twitter its unique charm.

Twitter is made for short snippets of information. Most tweets are silly and irrelevant, announcing what one had for dinner or when one showered that day. There are other times when a tweet holds a lot of emotion.  Tweeting, "I hate you," or "I'm glad I made that call," can have so many different meanings to the reader who doesn't know what the tweets refer to. Tweets can be powerful and meaningful, or virtually useless. It all depends on how the user chooses their words. In a limited writing space, every word counts.

Wearing Text

Clothing:

Often, a person wears text on a shirt to proclaim their interest in a particular fandom. This may be in the form of a band-tee or something else one could buy at their local Hot Topic retailer. Usually, references can be obscure if one doesn't know the inside jokes of said fandom. With sweatshirts, people announce their membership to some kind of community, such as a club or university. We don't see much text on pants unless it deals with showing off a brand name, like Juicy Couture or Victoria Secret's Pink. Text on clothing is something we don't think too hard about. In fact, we usually stay away from text unless the article of clothing was a gift or if we're really into the fandom portrayed. 

Skin:

Skin is a different story. When getting tattooed, one has to keep in mind that theie words can't be shed, unlike a piece of clothing. Therefore, the words usually have a deeper and more symbolic meaning to the wearer. They can't be taken off and shoved into the back of a closet, only to be found twenty years later to sell at a garage sale for more money than its worth because it can labeled as 'vintage'.