Semester 2 Blog 3

Since the advent of social networking, today's society has been morphed so drastically from society 10 or 20 years ago. When it came to communication, many people relied on handwritten letters and telephones to maintain a relationship with someone far away. If the person was close enough, you simply went to see them in person.
Now that there is Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, the way we reach other people has become completely digitized. We send emails, text messages, Skype, Facebook messages, tweets instead of letters or phone calls. A person can maintain a close relationship with someone on the opposite side of the Earth. That same person could also be friends with someone only through the internet and never ever hear their voice or see their face in person.
Because of the negative aspects of social networking, many people think that it is taking over our lives and will eventually overtake gatherings and other social meetings. They believe that we are slowly isolating ourselves from one another.

Even though that social networking requires a small amount of effort to maintain a relationship it could never overpower human’s primal need to be physically near one another. Bringing a sick friend some soup and company is far better than wishing them well on Facebook. Because most socializing is done online, physical gestures hold more power than they used to which is something that many may consider progress. Our society is not letting go of our old ways of communication, they are only treasuring the real effort it takes to show you care when compared to a minimal effort.

Social networking is the same as mass media. They can both take up a large portion of our lives but they will never dominate.

Semester 2 Blog 2

In Mondello's article, "Our Media, Ourselves: Are We Headed For A Matrix?" it talks about the way sci-fi stories have depicted the future and that we are slowly headed for that same future that frightened us years ago. He mentions E.M. Forster's short story, "The Machine Stops" and how the author correctly predicted many things about the future almost a hundred years in advance. Forster describes a room that is hexagonal in shape with artificial light, music and air that features only three pieces of furniture. Later on he shows the reader how everything in the room is automated and how attached one of the characters is to this type of environment.

"Then she generated the light, and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance amd stidded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everwhere- buttons to call for food for music, for clothing. There was the hot-bath button, by pressure of which a basin of (imitation) marble rose from the floor, filled to the brim with a warm deodorized liquid. There was the cold-bath button. There was the button that produced literature. And there were of cours buttons by which she communicated with her friends. The room, although it contained nothing, was in touch with all that she cared for in the world." (The Machine Stops)

This paragraph coincides with Mondello's arguement that we are losing many of our material items to be replaced by digital versions. Proving his arguement, he includes data that book sales have been dominated by e-books and cd's have been replaced by mp3 sales. He agrees that we are headed toward a future like Forsters.

"There are good reasons for imagining a sterile environments in stories about the future. Space travel requires elimination things that might float around in zero gravity; clean lines feel "modern" because they contrast with the accumulated mess of everyday existance. But isn't accumulated mess what defines us as individuals?" (Mondello)

While Mondello makes a good point that modern design has become all about simplicity, it does not mean that this is permanent. In society, popular trends in fashion or design don't last very long and old trends come back. It's as if trends are just recycled and used later on when it is "retro".

A good example of circular trends are in fashion. One week lace and boxy style dresses from the 1920s will become popular. The next week high-waisted, bell-bottom jeans are back from the 1970s. The next week dresses from the 1950s will come back. In another 20 years styles from the medieval times will return.
When it comes to design for our homes, we will someday return to the cluttered mess that it was years ago. If you look back to furniture designs from the late 60s and early 70s they too tried a style that looked futuristic.

However, Mondello makes a strong arguement when it comes to digital movies, music, literature, et cetera. It is unavoidable that many things will slowly become more digitized because of the rapid growth of technology in this age. With the rise of social networking it seems as if we have started putting personal relationships on a computer screen.

The thing is, while many tasks have become automated, it could never overpower the primal feeling humans have for physical needs. Humans are not the machines that they've grown attached to because humans have thoughts and emotions and wants and needs and not everyone of these things can be taken care of by a device. A child would rather have a parent physically be at their baseball games instead of a screen of the parent watching from halfway across the world. Hugging and kissing someone is better than sending a text message of Xs and Os. Technology cannot satisfy everything we need. That is why a future of isolation that both Forster and Mondello predict will not happen.

Second Semester Blog 1

Image Number 2:

In the image you see a white dove with wings spread outward as if in flight, a branch with green leaves in his mouth, the dove is wearing a gray and black vest that appears to  be bulletproof and on his chest appears to be red cross hairs from a gun.
The flying dove with the branch in his mouth has a very biblical connotation and symbolizes peace. In the Bible, a dove with an olive branch flies back to Noah as a peace offering from God. The bulletproof vest is associated with violence and protection from danger. The cross hairs symbolizes immediate danger or a target.
I would say that the message here could be interpreted in many ways. I see it as saying that peace is artificial now because if you are to really offer peace you wouldn't also be protecting yourself. Or that having peace in our world is in danger. With all the sickness and violence in our world peace has had to find a way to protect itself but with the cross hairs on it, it really seems as if this bird will be shot soon.
The audience that this image would appeal to would probably be adults of all kinds only because it takes a bit of prior knowledge to understand what is happening in the picture. Because the audience is adults I would say that the purpose of the image is to shock people when they see something so innocent in danger that it will make them see what violence has done to humanity.
The creator of this image used the dove wisely because of the pure, innocent and biblical connotations it has would evoke a feeling of shock, sadness and maybe even anger when it is portrayed with a bulletproof vest and cross hairs on his chest and that is what makes it effective at conveying its message.

Blog 1, Outcome 1

The text I choose to use is "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote.

I believe that Truman Capote's purpose, audience and structure all affect one another. There are many speculations as to what the purpose of writing this book was. Capote wanted to create an unbiased, non-fiction novel that mocked modern journalism's lack of literary talent. Perhaps Capote wanted the readers of The New Yorker to broaden their horizons to a place outside of the big city or perhaps he wanted wanted to share his stance on the death penalty. The structure of this book encompasses and emphasizes the purpose of this book. If  Capote's purpose was to show big city folk a world outside their own, that crimes and death happen elsewhere and that these towns are not always able to shake them off. The way that Capote goes into great detail about the town of Holcomb and the people living there is to prove that purpose.

"The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call "out there." Some seventy miles east of the Colorado border, the countryside, with its hard blue skies and desert-clear air, has an atmosphere that is rather more Far West than Middle West. The local accent is barbed with a prairie twang, a ranch-hand nasalness, and the men, many of them, wear narrow frontier trousers, Stetsons, and high-heeled boots with pointed toes. The land is flat, and the views are awesomely extensive; horses, herds of cattle, a white cluster of grain elevators rising as gracefully as Greek temples are visible long before a traveler reaches them."

If Capote's purpose was to oppose the death penalty, he structured the book by showing the background of Dick and Perry. You can tell by the lengthy descriptions and anecdotes of Perry that Capote truly wanted his audience to see that he wasn't just a cold blooded killer, but that he was a person that had had a terrible life and was probably very mentally sick.
One could impose that the way he structures the book, and how he divides up the amount of detail and description per topic could rank which was Capote's true purpose. Whether it be showing New Yorkers a new place or showing the injustice of the death penalty, he certainly made an impact on people by writing this book. Whether it truly was a non-fiction novel or not.

Blog 2, Outcome 1

The text I choose to use is "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. The synopsis is below:

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

I believe that this book is an incredible example of the purpose affecting the structure of the book. As one can assume from the synopsis, this book is about a young girl who is stealing books. And the main purpose of the book may appear that it is simply about her story, but upon closer inspection this book is discussing the power of words. Whether they are used for good or for evil.
Using the setting of Nazi Germany to show the deep, dark evil of words and their destruction, it juxtaposes the enlightenment and saving power it possesses for Leisel. Literally, writing her story saves her from dying when a bomb was dropped on her street.
The actual structure of this book is broken up into ten different parts. Each part is named after a title of a book that Leisel has stolen. The significance is that each book represented a different part of her life and how each book and the words it contain were connected to her life. For example, one of the parts is called The Grave Digger's Handbook. This is the book she stole while her little brother was being buried and the last time she ever saw her mother. Learning how to read it with her foster father was not just a bonding experience but a battle that she had to overcome.

"Looking back, Leisel could tell exactly what her Papa was thinking when he scanned the first page of The Grave Digger's Handbook. As he realized the difficulty of the text, he was clearly aware that such a book was hardly ideal. There were many words in there that he'd have trouble with himself. Not to mention the morbidity of the subject. As for the girl, there was a sudden desire to read it that she didn't even attempt to understand. On some level, perhaps she wanted to make sure her brother was buried right. Whatever the reason, her hunger to read that book was as intense as any ten-year-old human could experience."

So the fact that Zusak decided to set up the book not just chronologically, but in a way that describes the significance of every single word that flew into Leisel's head while reading her precious books. This in turn makes the reader feel the power of words that Zusak was trying to convey.

Blog 3

Over the past semester I feel as if the one technique that I have mastered would be diction. While writing the Travel Narrative I felt most comfortable and most proud of my work.

After a hard day at school where I've been bumped into, josteled by different people, scolded by my various teachers and choked down a pitiful lunch I finally make it home.
Entering the door I'm immediately greeted by my two dogs. The black one jumps and digs his claws into my hips and legs vying for my attention while the other smaller white one wags her tail ferociously and is hoping for me to give her a quick belly rub. I give them their allotted time of attention, kiss my father's scruffy cheek and head upstairs.
As I approach my room I see all the decorations on my door and how badly it's in need of repair. A long time ago I scowered magazines looking for pictures to cut out and tape to the door. I had abandoned that project long ago but I'm far too lazy to take it down or fix it.
I swing open the door and let my over-loaded backpack fall where it may. It feels as if I've taken a literal and metaphorical load off my shoulders. I look around my room at the array of clothes strewn about and my desk which is covered in makeup debris.
I plummet face first into my bed. My bed is what I call a 'canoe-bed'. The springs are so worn out that the middle caves in and the edges are still taut. I flip over onto my back and pull my iPod and headphones out of my pocket. I slip the little white plastic ear buds into my ears, pull the covers up and over my head and press play.
I set a quick alarm on my phone and let the music seep through me, making my eyelids heavier and heavier until I slip into a light slumber.