doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
Archive for January, 2006
peace
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“I firmly believe that free societies are peaceful societies, and I believe every person desires to be free.”
~ President George W. Bush ~
Today is a fitting day to think about peace. Coretta Scott King, wife to the venerable Martin Luther King, Jr., passed away in her sleep. It is the end of an era in the United States.
We live in a time when peace is not being respected or treated as something that we want to aspire to, no matter what rhetoric is being thrown about by politicians.
“I don’t see how you can be a partner in peace if you advocate the destruction of a country as part of your platform. And I know you can’t be a partner in peace if you have a — if your party has got an armed wing.”
~ President George W. Bush ~
Our highest officials advocate peace but we, too, have an armed wing and in the light of Afghanistan and Iraq, I cannot but think that the citizens of those nations may see us as promoting the destruction of their nations.
What could have been different if we had taken more time to affirm the lack of WMDs? What could have happened if we had had more patience? What could have happened if oil and revenge hadn’t been at the center of a war that is not necessary (as if any war is really necessary)? We will never know. Those opportunities were never given a chance to grow to fruition. It was so much easier to send in troops and take a country by force.
The bombings continue. Civilians are being killed in the streets. Just two weeks ago intelligence thought the number 2 al-Quaeda man was in a village and it was bombed, killing dozens of innocent people but missing him (and he laughs at the United States about this, according to al-Jazeera).
It’s time to stop. It’s time to focus on non-violent means of solving our issues.
What will our children learn from our leaders rushing in to fight fights instead of approaching situations with non-violence in mind? Will they, too, learn that picking up a stick, a knife, or a gun will solve the fight?
“But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.”
~ William Butler Yeats ~
pet peeve
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I don’t see this much in Flagstaff but when I do, it drives me crazy (much like it did in Los Angeles when I lived there – and where it was MUCH more prevalent).
This is the thing – if you can’t get up early enough to put on your makeup at home, then go without.
I’m driving to work. It’s dark. This woman in a HUGE SUV has her interior light on and is applying a lip liner. She is watching her mirror, not the road.
I know people will say they can multi-task while driving but I think that all of the studies on cell phone usage while driving attest to the fact that this is simply not true.
It’s dangerous enough on the roads. People are typically going 10-20 miles over the speed limit. They tailgate. They cross over lanes without using their indicators. They cut one another off. They drive aggressively.
One stupid woman putting on her unnecessary makeup will only add to the dangers of the road.
Don’t take my life into your hands just because you can’t get up 5 minutes earlier.
Either put it on at home or go without. It won’t kill your skin to give it a breather. It won’t kill you to go au natural. You’re probably much more beautiful that way anyway…and you don’t even know it.
Save a life. Don’t drive and apply makeup.
mongrel heart
06 years ago
american life in poetry: column 043
by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate
Unlike the calculated expressions of feeling common to its human masters, there is nothing disingenuous about the way a dog praises, celebrates, frets or mourns. In this poem David Baker gives us just such an endearing mutt.
Mongrel Heart
Up the dog bounds to the window, baying
like a basset his doleful, tearing sounds
from the belly, as if mourning a dead king,and now he’s howling like a beagle — yips, brays,
gagging growls — and scratching the sill paintless,
that’s how much he’s missed you, the two of you,both of you, mother and daughter, my wife
and child. All week he’s curled at my feet,
warming himself and me watching more TV,or wandered the lonely rooms, my dog shadow,
who like a poodle now hops, amped-up windup
maniac yo-yo with matted curls and snot nosesmearing the panes, having heard another car
like yours taking its grinding turn down
our block, or a school bus, or bird-squawk,that’s how much he’s missed you, good dog,
companion dog, dog-of-all-types, most excellent dog
I told you once and for all we should never get.
Reprinted from “The Southeast Review,” Vol. 23, No. 2, 2005, by permission of the author, whose newest book of poetry is “Midwest Eclogue,” W. W. Norton (2005). Copyright (c) 2005 by David Baker. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.
self-confidence
06 years ago
So many of us live in that in-between world of not quite feeling confident enough to blow our own horn but feeling that we are doing a good job at whatever it is that we’re doing.
I have surrounded myself with brilliant people. I like being around them because I learn so much from them. I see the world in a different way. But I hate being around them, at times, because I don’t feel as intelligent or I feel inadequate at the same time.
Two of these brilliant people told me that was silly (and one has called me brilliant himself). They told me that maybe what I’m doing is focusing on a different area that we don’t discuss so much (which is true with my graduate work – I don’t talk about it much and the stuff we do talk about tends to be areas where they are much more fluent and confident).
Thursday I had my performance review at work. I was nervous. I’ve never enjoyed that kind of stuff because I’ve never really felt confident about my role in an organization.
Right before I go in, one of my co-workers comes in to my office and tells me that one of the student workers is appreciative of my work. He says that this person has asked that we don’t allow projects to go public without having me look over them first. He said that having me look over them and verify things makes the end product that much better and makes him proud of the work he is producing.
Wow. Just wow. That’s pretty cool to hear. I wasn’t sure if anyone really noticed me or the work I was doing.
So I go in for the review and my boss and I are talking. She’s great. I couldn’t ask for a better supervisor and one who really seems to *get* me and all my foibles. We walk through the ratings and the comments. I’m cool with all of it. I knew where I had to make some adjustments and was pleasantly surprised by the areas she commented on as strengths for me and the areas she thought I’d like to set for my goals for the next year. It all ends up using my education for my career (and how many of us can say that these days???).
We’re at the end and she asks me to look it over again and to tell her where I think I fit within this 5 point rating. She tells me that I have to be realistic. I can’t go too low.
She knows me.
I say 3. It’s how I feel (well, I would have said 2 if she hadn’t said I couldn’t go too low). She shakes her head. She disagrees with me and we talk about it. I laugh, chagrined and a bit embarrassed, and tell her I was going to say 2.
I think, sometimes, when someone you respect tells you that you’re worth more than you think you are, it can make all the difference.
And that very day, four different people told me that I was worth a lot.
I wasn’t invisible.
winning
06 years ago
I’ve been thinking about this topic for a while and a conversation that I had last night pushed me in the direction of writing it. While the conversation touched on this, the people involved were not in the same situation and didn’t want to hurt anyone or cause any grief.
I’m not one of those people who thinks that competition is bad. I’m not one of those people who thinks that we should give ribbons to everyone and declare everyone a winner.
I think that healthy competition is good for us. It motivates us. It prompts us to do better, to push ourselves, to invest in something that matters.
But I’m also a little leery when people say they win at an argument or that they have come out on top and it leaves someone else feeling bad or hurt or angry.
I wonder what the point is then. Why would you want to win if you’ve hurt someone else? In the long run does it make you feel better? Does it make you a better person? Does it make you more humane? Probably not.
I like to win as much as the next person. In fact, I have this stupid computer game that I play sometimes for fun. It is impossible to win. I have tried it a million different ways but the way it is set up, I don’t think it’s winnable. So when it comes to the end of the game and I haven’t won, it tells me that I’m a loser. It states, unequivocably, “Loser!” How rude, I tell it each time. You don’t have to laugh at me just because I can’t conquer you.
Winning. We have to win the war on terrorism, drugs, illegal immigration. It’s mandated.
Our society has become about winning. The person who makes the most money says, “I win!” What do you win? 80 hour work weeks? Time away from your family and friends? The pleasure of a missing out on a walk through the forest with your trusted pet?
When we win a war, do we really win? And what happens to those who lose? I can’t help but think of Bosnia and all of the people who still suffer there. Or Afghanistan. Or any number of other places. We won. Yahoo.
It doesn’t make me feel like a winner. I feel like we dropped the ball somewhere and let our fellow mankind down.
We didn’t win. We lost something precious.
And I think we need to think about that. When we say, “I win” what does it mean? Have we let someone down along the way to attain that? Have we hurt someone?
Is conquering things really that important?
all mixed up
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I was talking with a friend last night and I said something about thinking about everything that is said to me. Even the most casual conversations turn in to this full-blown “thought session” with myself.
That got me to thinking (hah!) about the reason for this. Why do I pick everything apart long after the conversation is over? Why do I mull it over and then go back for clarification later, long after the other person is probably done with the conversation? Why do I seem to *need* that further input?
This isn’t to blame on anyone or any situation. I want to figure out the “whys” of what I do.
And I think I know.
I have walked on eggshells my whole life. I grew up knowing that my dad didn’t want kids and wasn’t exactly fond of the ones he had sired. I grew up trying to prove myself worthy of my mother’s love over and over and over.
When you know your dad didn’t want you, what do you do? You try to please him. You work hard at school and you join the sports you think he will like and enjoy watching. You look for the signs, the clarification that you’re getting through. You’re afraid to ask because you don’t know where it will take you but you watch. Carefully. All of the time.
And when you’re dying inside to know your mother has some affection for you but she doesn’t seem to know how to show it, what do you do? You become that star. You join student government and the speech and debate club. You become the lead in your high school play. You look for some sign that your successes have made her proud and that, somehow, that pride will be converted into love.
And you watch. You always watch, trying to see the clues that you’ve been successful. And you listen to the language, carefully, trying to discern whether or not you’ve gotten through.
And you hope. You hope with all you have, that you will be loved and respected and admired.
And noticed.
And not invisible any longer.
And when that doesn’t come, you started looking elsewhere for something, anything. You want to matter – to someone, anyone – even if they are bad for you. And you watch the signs. You listen to the language. You are careful to get clarification because it could lead to those very things you’ve been searching for your whole life.
Do my signs get mixed up? Undoubtedly. Do I have problems with understanding boundaries. Yup.
This is why I think and think and think. Is this what this person meant? Did I cross a line? Did I say the wrong thing? What was she really saying when she said this? Is he being honest with me?
I don’t know answers. For some reason, in my brain, these things are hard for me to discern. So I think, I mull, I ponder and I ask. Because I need clarity. I need to understand.
I need to know where I stand. I need to know if I fit in.
I need to know that I’m not invisible.
hopes
06 years ago
english 570 – intro to multimedia design
Walter Cronkite states that it is the responsibility of the educated to make a difference, to change the way society is
working in order to suppress and/or expunge us of war. I wonder, though, if it is possible to do that when, if what Carlin says is true, there are universities churning out “educated� people to promote war. Is it a losing battle or is it one that should be fought daily in order to reach that promised land of peace?
Howard Zinn writes, “The images on television were heartbreaking.� (Zinn, vii) When we, as a society, are faced with emotional images that become the impetus for anger that then feeds into a mob-mentality of retaliation, what kinds of images can change that anger into a non-violent action? What types of images will promote peace?
We see people jumping out of buildings, fleeing from dropped bombs, burning effigies, decapitations, and stonings. If historical context defines how we culturally interpret those images, we must change the historical context to define the images as an incentive for change in the ways we deal with such actions. But is this possible?
Cronkite suggests that we must employ the very communications that are being used to fight wars and use it to create peace. In the photo below, taken by Krishna109, protestors who seem to be fighting against war are promoting violence. If we are, as Sturken and Cartwright assert, processing images with a single glance, would we be able to ascertain that this may not be an anti-war protest? This may not be a peaceful demonstration? A single glance, in this case may not work. A careful assessment of the entire image may. But who takes time for that in this busy world? (The woman’s shirt says “God Hates Fags.comâ€? – a group of conservative evangelical Christians.)
Using the communication resources that are currently available to us to promote a philosophy is smart. However, I believe that it’s also important to understand how those same technologies could be used to promote an ideological point of view that is very different and how these two “sides� may come into conflict with one another.
While we want to believe that a photograph is true to life, we never really know how much manipulation has been done to it. Do I know that the words on the t-shirt above were not put there after the photo was taken? No. I also don’t know what is happening outside the scope of the lens. I also don’t know what the situation for the protest was nor do I know what the participants are shouting. The photograph is one piece of the contextual puzzle. It is useful. It is important. But it must be understood that it is as easy to manipulate visual communications as it is to manipulate statistics or sound bites. They can be used to promote any number of philosophies. Coupling images with the proper message is what will make all of the difference.
Works Cited
Collopy, Michael. Architects of Peace: Visions of Hope in Words and Images. Novato, CA: New World Library. 2002.
Krishna109. “Anti-War Demonstrators�. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/47023741@N00/78842460/)
mamalemma. “S i g h …â€? (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelemmas/56331902/)
Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. New York: Oxford University Press. 2003.
Zinn, Howard (ed.) The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace. Bostonz; Beacon Press. 2002
pondering this and that
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What happens when you flirt with someone and they don’t flirt back? And what happens if this occurs repeatedly? How does that affect you?
I feel stupid. I feel self-conscious. I start to question myself. I begin to wonder what I’m doing and why I’m doing it. I begin to doubt my appeal to others.
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In my multimedia class last night we were told that our first project is coming up and it is going to focus on close-ups. It can be of anything but it has to be close-ups.
And this made me laugh so much. Jonathan used to tease me about being the macro queen and now I’m being required to do those very same kinds of shots for a class. Whee!
We are to make an iMovie with our photos and play the movie for the class. That will be great fun. I have to think of a theme. What do I want to portray at a macro level?
First thing that comes to mind is little fingers and toes of my nieces and nephews interspersed with nature and close-ups of Dakota – things I love.
I’ll have to think on this and if you have any suggestions, please throw them my way.
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I wanted to share a beautiful site with you today. It is stunning. I am so moved by these images that I can’t begin to say how much they touched me.
Gregory Colbert is doing an exhibition in Santa Monica, California, next to the pier. His exhibit, Ashes and Snow is an ongoing project that weaves together photographic works, three 35mm films, art installations and a novel in letters.
The interactions between humans and animals is breath-taking.
Please, please take a moment of your day to check out his website. And if you’re in the area, go to the exhibit. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
sensory surplus
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I’m currently taking a course in grad school that is an introduction to multimedia design. It’s not what most people envision though. It’s a rhetorical study of visual communications. Why are certain images used? What do they evoke when they are used? What kind of audience response is desired when a specific image is used?
We are tying this in to the concept of peace. How is peace portrayed in visual communications and do images have the same effects on everyone?
Last night I was reading about peace and the visual impact of images. Simon sends me an e-mail about the Canadian elections. We start talking about the new Prime Minister, Harper, and how he has some ultra-conservatives on his team. We talk about what that could mean for Canada.
Because of the books I had been reading just prior to that, my thoughts are on the world at large and how one country’s elections can have an impact on the world at large. And I say this to him:
I’ve been reading the books on peace tonight for my class. I think my head is in that place where I want to believe in the goodness of people and our desire to do right by others all over the world.
Pollyanna-ish, I know.
I think that your election just reminds me that it’s a struggle to have leaders who aren’t all about money or power or control. And is that even possible? Isn’t the whole meaning of being a leader about power and control?
I don’t know.
And then I start thinking about the images that flicker by nightly on the news. We see images of genocide in Darfur. We see killings in the Congo. We see people suffering from natural disasters in Pakistan, Nicaragua, and Indonesia. We see people being stoned, shot, and hung.
And my heart hurts. I feel like there is nothing I can do – it’s just too much.
But those people who have power, they can do so much more. And do they? Do they care about the woman in the Sudan who is hungry and giving everything she has to her child so that he can grow up to fight a battle that he doesn’t need to fight? Do they care about the child in Afghanistan who sees the surplus holdings of the warlords and knows that is the only way to survive?
Do they care?
Do we care?
Or is it all just a little too much? Do we bury our heads in the sand and hope that tomorrow will be a better day?
And if we can make a difference, just by speaking out, helping out when we can, will we? Can we?
I want to believe that I’m a good person and that I would do what I can to make a difference in the lives of others. Even if it is that person one state over who is in despair and tired and lonely and hungry and just needs to know someone cares.
I do. I care.
And if I can do more, I will.
That’s my promise for this new year.
looking in
06 years ago
Yesterday I bought my plane tickets to Vancouver. To say I’m excited is an understatement. I fell in love with that city. It is beautiful in ways that are impossible to describe.
I can’t tell you how it feels to stand on a landing and watch a storm come in and envelope the city. I can’t explain the peace of riding a very crowded express bus along the highway but between the towering trees of Stanley Park.
I can’t begin to convey how much the melding of ocean and mountains touches me.
Vancouver takes my breath away.
But mostly, it’s the people I visit, the people I meet along the way. They are what make the trips especially joyful.
I’m an interloper on this beautiful city. I’m not an inhabitant of the city nor even the country. I’m being allowed in by the good graces of the people of Canada.
And I appreciate that more than they can ever know.