Litany Questions

1. The bread, knife, wine and goblet make sense when thinking about religion. However, do the other objects mean anything together?

2. Are the objects of comparison grouped together for a reason?

3. Why in the fifth stanza does it change from "it is possible that you are" to "you are not" in the next?

4. Why would it "interest you to know" what "I am?"

5. Why should it be comforting that "you are still the bread...the wine?"

6. Is there really any meaning to this poem or is it only meant to sound like there is? In other words, are they trick metaphors that mean nothing?

Chip and Dan Heath/"Made to Stick"

If something is sticky, it is very difficult to get off, like jam or honey. Ideas can be sticky in the sense that they do are not easily forgotten. They stay (stick) with you. These concepts are difficult to “get off,” or “unstick from” the brain. I’d like to be able to do that—get people to remember what I say (write).

The Heath brothers write that templates enforce more creativity. This is certainly true for myself. If I am told to write something, I need guidelines of some sort. I don’t think everyone feels like this, though. Templates could definitely hinder some artists. Music in the twentieth century was all about ignoring preset forms, and some of the greatest pieces have been composed because of that (in my opinion, anyway).

Stalking 2

The subject is poised in her blue outfit. She's small, and thin. This female sits up straight with her feet flat on the floor--wonderful posture--like a proper person. She is ready to write whatever she sees, pen in hand. She tilts her head, looking at her own subject, and then at the paper on which she records her findings

Most of her actions consist of looking for and listing information. She looks up, then down again. She talks to a friend, and laughs, but promptly returns to her work. Much of her attention is focused on said work.

The girl seems to be a diligent worker, set on accomplishing her goals. Her body language suggests a confidence. Maybe she's an athlete. Although proper and confident, she is not mean-spirited. The subject is friendly and a hard-working student. She trusts in her ability to get done what she sets out to do.

Stalking

The “Stalker project” was actually really interesting. You have to wonder who was watching you, and if the person you were watching knew you were doing so.

However, that was not the point. This activity made you think about different words for the same thing, without being synonyms. Case in point: Listing 12 things that can fill in for the word “green.” I personally used a lot of symbolism in that list. Envy is green. But so is grass, which is not so abstract.

I had a hard time making metaphors out of physical descriptions and activities. I kind of just wrote what that description might mean about the subject’s personality. For instance, my subject sat up very straight, with wonderful posture. So I wrote that this person looked regal. I might have missed the mark a bit though…

For a writer, describing things in multiple ways is a great skill. We think of synonyms all the time, why not words/phrases that are not exact, also? To think of metaphors for a word is more difficult, but is more interesting in a piece of writing.

Gladwell/"What the Dog Saw"

Dogs follow humans. They need some kind of direction to function well. However, if the human is lacking direction, they cannot possibly hope to control a dog. Dogs see right through to our emotions. If they see that we are struggling, they’ll take advantage. Likewise, when we humans are unstable, other humans can usually tell, and that affects our judgment of a person. If someone is uncomfortable with something, we are less likely to want him or her to do that thing.

Gladwell argues that we need to try to understand each other by entering each other’s worlds. Only then can we learn what someone is really about. “Exercise, discipline and affection” are what we should, according to Gladwell, strive for in understanding others. An action is taken and it is either corrected or praised. We (should) raise children like this, and train animals like this. If we cannot do this, it is pretty much useless to attempt to communicate effectively with others.

Peter/"Stitch Bitch"

From Peter’s blog:

5.What community of writers does the creator of "Stitch Bitch" reach out to?

6. Does the creator of "Stitch Bitch" ultimately find himself/herself by the end of the text?

Jackson is speaking to all writers, especially those who think they know what they are saying, or what they want to say. She wants to prove them wrong, that no one knows much at all. But she also wants them to realize this, thus helping them, in her own way.

Maybe she just wants writers to realize that readers “might just stop reading” and is trying to help them keep readers. I’m not convinced that Jackson has “found herself.” I think this article brought her closer to that goal, but she’s not completely there yet.

Jackson(?)/"Stitch Bitch": The RIght Questions

1. Is Jackson plagiarizing herself?

2. If Jackson was able to persuade classmates to think one way only, why not her readers?

3. Is hypertext the “good writing” or the “dirty flesh” of “the feminine?”

4. Can one make anything without it being a collage of others?

5. “Alphabetical order is a contradiction in term” how?

6. Are the banished body and the patchwork body opposing forces?