"transcending perceived distinctions..."

As Geoffrey Sirc discusses "transcending perceived distinctions of age, gender, rave, and ethnicity, and emphasizing rich verbal and visual style," I first thought about the literature test for the comprehensive exam (138). In particular, I first wondered how visual rhetoric could blur the distinctions. Next I thought that Sirc might mean something completely different than that. he might mean that there are clear distinctions that should not be overcome. I don't know...

"You'll never find it now."

So tonight, my littlest one, Kayla, a two year old, grabbed my cell phone, and I said, go ahead and play with it, thinking it would be no big deal. The next thing I know--she is making it vibrate as if I am receiving a voice mail. So I tell her, "Let me have it, Kayla." So she throws my cell phone and says, "You'll never find it now."

"Kendall!"

So I was camping last year with my wife, three children, and our neighbors/friends. Anyway, we were all inside a net/tent (whatever those are called) spending time in camping lounge chairs, in the sun but out separated from the flying bugs. One of my little ones, who was three then, was smacking the net with her hand. There was the potential of making a preexisting hole bigger than it was, so I threatened her: "Kendall," I said, "if you keep it up, I'm gonna spank you so hard you won't remember your name." So the next thing we knew, she hit the screen again. I got out of my lounge chair, went out of the screen, spanked Kendall, and immediately I heard her shout, "Kendall!"

I don't spank them anymore: it obviously does not work.

Virtual Classroom

Re: the virtual classroom, which we received a link in an email from Dr R—
Briefly, it is a program that allows a teacher or teacher-to-be to try out strategies on virtual kids. The advantage is that the teacher can’t hurt the real classroom climate or hurt a real student’s feelings and so forth. I love it. I wish the state had infinite funds so our districts could eventually get a hold of this program. I’d love to try it.

Here’s the site:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-virtualkid1508may15,0,1998552.story

text rating for Writing New Media

The more I read and notice the format and images in the Writing New Media text, the more I dislike it.

I hate to sound as if I know what the authors and editors should be including in their text. I definitely don’t know. But this text seems so primitive; it seems so in a state of experimentation, which is good, but also it is as if the authors or editors just want to piss me off with an obscure design.

But it makes me think of what it is like to look back at some very old texts that have such primitive visuals. Can I try to compare them to ancient scrolls? Can I look at ancient scrolls and compare them with texts with similar purposes of today? Can I imagine that I go into future and compare this text to a future text about writing media? Will this appear to be a relic? I don’t know; I could stand looking at ancient scrolls. This I can’t!

I will continue my idiot wind—having to turn my head to read the page numbers is just stupid. No you can’t get me to explain myself any more than you can get the editors (is that who is in charge of formatting?) to have a bit of reason for facing page numbers so inconveniently in two different directions, neither of which is the direction of the letters on its page. I’m surprised the headings and subtitles aren’t upside-down. Is technology supposed to make things more difficult? Am I missing the point? Is it supposed to be ironic? Oxymoronic? Or just moronic?

Perhaps the problem is mine. Is it me who comes from such a life of luxury that I wish my literature to have reason with its formatting? Is such a formatting issue really a puzzle, which I must interpret? I generally don’t mind interpreting puzzles of sorts, but my interpretation is that I’m supposed to notice that it looks weird. I must be missing something. Perhaps it is like those pictures, whatever they are called, that you must stand at a distance and look through them to get a view of something hidden. That must be it. Excuse me. I must go back to turning the text sideways to see if there are any hidden holograms behind it.

My visual essay: today's in-class assignment

Q: What was I trying to convey about literacy in my visual essay?
A: I tried to convey how I learned to read and write. I also tried to show where I am now in my skeleton of a creative writing path. In other words, it isn't much , but it may lead somewhere again, if that makes sense.

Q: What parts worked best? Why?
A: I think what works best in my essay is the lack of flesh because it leaves much to the imagination, and yet it reveals more than one might initially think. It is as if you are looking at an invisible woman, but it is really an invisible man (based on my female pseudonym). Irony never fails to find its way into my writing, whatever kind of text makes no difference.

Q: Which had the most impact? Why?
A: The biggest impact may be the link behind the glasses because (1) it is one of the most amazing views from the top of Mount Everest; (2) it is even interactive as you can direct the computer which direction to look from the top.

Q: What parts worked less well? Which had the least impact? Why?
A: The lips did not work so well because I originally intended them to burp, but to get the burp you would have to be redirected to another site and link, and I just wound up hating the idea that it would not be an instant burp. So I ended up directing the link to an image of the Stones' Tattoo You album. It is probably not obvious how that even relates to literacy, except that tattoos are a form of imagery and text.



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Viual Literacy "The Problem of Electronic Argument" by Michele S Shauf

Visual literacy--re: "The Problem of Electronic Argumnet" by Michele S. Shauf
Problems of visual rhet is that they think “old school”? Perhaps the problem is when their “old school” rhetoric is dysfunctional. Perhaps that is my problem. Do I really know what is meant by comp’s “return to its classical roots in the rhetorical notion of discursive arrangement”? I have an idea…but when linguistic sculptors drop utterances with such genratic register, organization sprays like streaming consciousness from a fire hose.

Visual Literacy "Toward New Media Texts" by Cynthia L. Selfe

Visual literacy—re: "Toward New Media Texts" by Cynthia L. Selfe
The emergence of visual literacy—we’re in its midst, which means we’re defining it, which means it hasn’t a solid meaning, which means…Let me break it down—the visual part is pretty clear: you can see it; the literacy part is less clear: you can read it. To me that means it is anything (PERIOD). Can we have insights that can’t be seen with our eyes? Could visual literacy be extended to images that reside strictly in the mind? Does visual literacy have to be limited to visual sight with eyes planted in skulls? So many questions, so few answers.