doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
Archive for October, 2006
all hallow’s eve
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I had to photograph something from Halloween for this week’s assignment. Then I had to write a specific poetry form about Halloween and put it with the photograph.
I chose to photograph a Halloween decoration and to write the pantoum.
The pantoum is a rare form of poetry similar to a villanelle.
It is composed of a series of quatrains; the second and fourth lines of each stanza are repeated as the first and third lines of the next.
ABAB
BCBC
CACAThere can be as many stanzas as the writer wishes. However the ending stanza repeats the second and fourth lines of the previous stanza and repeats the first and third lines of the first stanza. The first line of the poem is the last line of the poem.
The pantoum is originally Malaysian, but was adapted through French and is infrequently found in English.
My (not-so-good) version:
On a cold and dark All-hallow-even,
the harvest has begun and summer is ended,
the ghouls and goblins do hearken,
children are dressed in costumes resplendent.The harvest has begun and summer is ended,
the moon hangs heavily in the crisp autumn sky,
children are dressed in costumes resplendent,
while tree limbs wave and black crows cry.The moon hangs heavily in the crisp autumn sky,
the ghouls and goblins do hearken,
while tree limbs wave and black crows cry,
On a cold and dark All-hallow-even.
Happy Halloween!
green tea
05 years ago
american life in poetry: column 083
by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate, 2004-2006
Poems of simple pleasure, poems of quiet celebration, well, they aren’t anything like those poems we were asked to wrestle with in high school, our teachers insisting that we get a headlock on THE MEANING. This one by Dale Ritterbusch of Wisconsin is more my cup of tea.
Green Tea
There is this tea
I have sometimes,
Pan Long Ying Hao,
so tightly curled
it looks like tiny roots
gnarled, a greenish-gray.
When it steeps, it opens
the way you woke this morning,
stretching, your hands behind
your head, back arched,
toes pointing, a smile steeped
in ceremony, a celebration,
the reaching of your arms.
Reprinted from “Far From the Temple of Heaven,” Black Moss Press, April 2006, by permission of the author. Copyright (c) 2005 by Dale Ritterbusch. 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.
friday fun #3
05 years ago
This Friday’s fun is going to be filled with ghosts and ghouls, pumpkins and parties.
Halloween is one of my favorite times. People make it a point to have fun. Imagine that. It’s also my sister-in-law’s birthday (big shoutout to Jenn!).
So, without further delay….
screams
Josh Shapiro and the NPR gang have come up with some audio streaming that is meant to raise the hair on your neck. It’s not only Halloween fun but an adventure into new technologies.
orange is the new black
Who hasn’t always wanted their own pumpkin computer? I mean, really. This computer will dissolve in 5-4-3…
existential pumpkin
Have you ever wondered what a pumpkin thinks of its life and those around it? Pumpkins have deep, esoteric thoughts. Think carefully before you tear the innards from a pumpkin’s body.
black is *not* the new black
Only Martha would think that black pumpkins would be the new trend. I wonder if she uses environmentally-friendly paint?
zap!
Dude! This is so 1980s. I was coloring my hair blue back when I was a young pup.
snap!
You’re worried about getting your Halloween photos perfect, aren’t you? Or is that only me? Well, photojojo gives us all a few pointers that will help in any low light, high glare situation.
no investigations here
And only because I think that HP needs some good press, I’m going to share their oh-so-fun halloween projects.
o, scary night!
On a final note, imagine being an immigrant to the United States. Imagine that you had *never* heard of Halloween nor known about this strange event where ghoulish characters knock on your door and make threatening sounds. Juliet Jegasothy talks about her first Halloween in the States after immigrating from Sri Lanka. She has a great sense of humor about it even though it sounds like it was a very scary evening.
Have some fun out there today. Halloween is *not* just for kids.
for love
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There have been many writings on what people will do for love. Many writers have taken pen to paper to note the extravagant lengths they will go to for their one true love, for their children, even for their pets.
In fact, I’ve written many times on how much I treasure my own little furry guy. I’ve written about how he knows when I’m upset and will cuddle up to me, even nuzzle me when I’m crying. I’ve written about his seeming empathy for a dying prairie dog. I’ve written about the joys about coming home to him and seeing his excitement to have me there — finally.
I don’t ever think I’ve seen a story quite like the one I’m going to share, though. This is a love story, an intervention story, like I’ve never seen.
It made me laugh. It’s heartwarming and funny and silly all at once.
An excerpt:
Lady “was really perky, and happy, and generally excited to see you when you came in the door every day,” recalls Andrew Mirsch.
But that was before the Mirsch family moved into a new house.
“We noticed Lady spending an awful lot of time down by the pond in our backyard,” Laura Mirsch recalls.
Lady would wander the area, disoriented and withdrawn, soporific and glassy-eyed.
Learn more about Lady. I highly recommend listening to the five minute audio. It is well worth the time.
you’re it
05 years ago
I’m at odds on the banning of tag in the small suburban city of Attleboro, Massachussetts.
On one hand, I see it as another nail in the coffin of childhood.
We have these games we play as kids. Ring around the Rosey. Olly Olly Oxen Free. Hide and Seek. Tag.
These games help us understand social order and how to interact with one another on different levels than playing with dolls and racing cars in our safe homes allow us. They encourage interaction, confrontation, and diplomacy.
On the other hand, they encourage confrontation and aggression and one-ups-manship.
I wonder if the civic leaders who implement these rules are thinking about how this will affect the futures of these kids.
Will banning tag lead to kids who don’t understand how harsh and cruel the world can be? Or will it foster kids who grow up to be adults who think that there are other means of solving problems than physical violence?
Or are they mostly concerned with the issues of litigation? And if that is the case, aren’t they promoting a more litigious community? If these kids grow up thinking that yelling loud enough will get them what they want (no matter how irrational) and that if they don’t get it, they’ll sue, are we better off for it?
I really do understand the banning. But it also leaves me in a quandary.
negative capability
05 years ago
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk :
‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness, -
That thou, light winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale
John Keats wrote about a theory he called negative capability.
I had not a dispute but a disquisition, with Dilke on various subjects; several things dove-tailed in my mind, and at once it struck me what quality went to form a Man of Achievement, especially in Literature, and which Shakespeare possessed so enormously – I mean Negative Capability, that is, when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason-Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half-knowledge. This pursued through volumes would perhaps take us no further than this, that with a great poet the sense of Beauty overcomes every other consideration, or rather obliterates all consideration. (source: http://www.mrbauld.com/negcap.html)
Keats’ theory was that great people, and great poets in particular, reach a point where they can transcend the need to resolve everything. They know that it cannot be done, that at some point a higher authority takes over.
It is at this point that the greatest artistic endeavors are undertaken – that point of in-between. The artist is not wholly cemented to the ground in reality nor so flighty as to not be accepted.
I wonder if that is still possible in this day and age. Are we able to transcend belief in what we see, to go a bit further? Do artists do this today? Or is it the scientists and the dreamers who create new and fantastical technology who are now able to transcend that grounded space?
What does it take to make a person great? What does it take to make someone a genius in their field? What kind of drive or natural abilities are held by a person who reaches that status. And is genius or greatness accepted universally? Do we all agree that Keats was a genius poet? Do we all agree that Einstein was a great man? If we do, why are these beliefs universal?
Keats continued on in his letter to say that Shelley was out. His poetry didn’t quite meet the criteria. But would we, today, consider Shelley one of the great Romantic poets of that age? I would say that he is considered great. His poetry has lived on for more than 200 years. There is something to be said for that. But does it reach the great aspirations of Keats, Shakespeare, or Coleridge? Isn’t that subjective?
Isn’t it, then, conceivable that genius is subjective? That the honor of greatness that is bestowed upon people is subjective?
When does the line between negative capability cross over into madness or blind belief in something greater than yourself? Do you hold a responsibility to your patrons to stay within that realm of negative capability? I think that should a person follow blind faith in this way, it could not only result in losing patrons of a certain ilk but it may garner patrons of an entirely different breed.
Keats was a mere 26 years old when he died. He was tackling, at the time, theories that take lifetimes to comprehend, if it can be done at all. As the anniversary of his birth approaches (October 31, 1795), I am reminded of how much time I have squandered away on things that don’t matter to me. I am reminded of how much I love to read theory and bury myself in the words of people who make me think. Keats made his short life mean something. Can I say the same of my own?
love: internet style
05 years ago
For some reason, I can’t seem to embed movies in my blog anymore. They throw off all of my settings. So, I’ll link to it until I figure out what the problem is.
Yes. I know it’s irritating. And yes, I know this is the type of song that will stay in your head all day long.
But come on! It’s funny. And so close to the truth (at least for me, at times) that it’s almost painful.
What, you may ask, is the painful part? Oh, it’s the meeting someone online that you can’t wait to talk to. It’s the logging in to email or IM and hoping against hope that that person is there. When he isn’t, you are disappointed but would you ever show it? Oh, no. You (or, in this case, me) act nonchalant as if nothing fazes you.
Nothing. Not one thing.
Not even his apparent disregard for your full-blown crush.
Ahem.
Not that I pine for people, you know. I don’t. I’m much more independent than that. I don’t need to wile away my days, thinking about and missing someone.
Really.
I don’t.
Am I fooling you yet?
I have myself half convinced of this.
But only half.
Because the other part of me, the much more insightful and intelligent part, knows that I’m full of it. Like anyone else, I enjoy attention and like to know I matter.
clean
05 years ago
american life in poetry: column 082
by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate 2004-2006
Many poems celebrate the joys of having children. Michigan poet Jeff Vande Zande reminds us that adults make mistakes, even with children they love, and that parenting is about fear as well as joy.
Clean
Her small body shines
with water and light.
Giggling, she squeals “daddy,”
splashes until his pants darken.
Five more minutes, he thinks,
stepping out quickly,
pouring himself a drink,
not expecting to return
to find her slipped under,
her tiny face staring up
through the undulating surface.
Before he can move,
or drop his scotch,
she raises her dripping head,
her mouth a perfect O.
The sound of her gulped breath
takes the wind out of him.
Her face,
pale and awed,
understands the other side
of water and air.
His wife didn’t see,
doesn’t know.
Her feet pulse and fade
in the upstairs joists.
His daughter cries,
slips from him, not giggling.
She wants out.
He tries to keep her
in the tub, in the light.
He’s on his knees.
Reprinted from “Rattle,” Winter, 2005, by permission of the poet, whose most recent book is “Into the Desperate Country,” March Street Press, 2006. 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.
friday fun #2
05 years ago
I like doing this post. Mostly because I get to share interesting, quirky, fun, or bizarre things that I find while I’m out surfing around the ‘net. Today is no exception.
color
You remember that Sony Bravia ad that featured thousands of colorful balls being dumped down a San Francisco street? They’ve done it again. This time with environmentally and human-friendly paints. This is an amazing commercial that has me going back to it just to see the choreography.
words
Have you ever felt the burning desire to read more of Darwin’s writings? Come on. You know you have. You know you’re interested in reading more about his escapades in the Galapagos Islands and while he was on the Beagle. Now you can. BBC News reports that Darwin is now online. What took him so long?
animals
You like pink, right? Who doesn’t like pink? You like piggies, right? You like iPods? Answer yes to any or all of those questions and this product might be exactly what you’re looking for: Pink piggie speakers. Everyone should have a pair.
religion
Stephen Colbert, a practicing Catholic and witty satirist, and Richard Dawkins, a renowned biologist, debate the existence of God. At times funny and scary, this video will show you that even serious, brilliant scientists can have a great sense of humor.
photography
Shell has announced the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year. Beautiful and amazing photographs of wildlife in places that most of us only dream about visiting. Well worth the visit.
beauty
05 years ago
On Saturday, I wrote about body issues and how I view myself because of what other people have said about me or described me.
This week, I’ve found that I’m not alone – not at all. I had a few people write and say that this is a problem for many people. It doesn’t matter if you’re overweight, underweight, average weight (for you) or not. It doesn’t matter how others view you or how you view yourself. It seems that many of us have issues with how we regard ourselves in the eyes of others.
Most of you have probably already seen the Dove Campaign for Beauty. Links and videos are all over the internet these days. Evolution is the newest one and chronicles the changes that a model’s face goes through before it is put up on a billboard. From a fresh-washed face to stylists working on her with makeup and hair products to photoshopping, she is transformed into a person entirely different from who she really is.
What strikes me about the campaign, however, is how they are reaching out to young girls. The images we give them every day in magazines and videos and tv are unrealistic and it is making them look at themselves in a way that young girls shouldn’t. I can’t imagine not liking my freckles. They are such a part of who I am. From the time I was a little girl, my grandfather would tell me that they were angel kisses and I was special to have them. I try to tell Willow the same thing as the freckles increase in number across her nose.
Should we be concerned with why Dove is doing this campaign? We know they are out to make money. Does that matter, though, if they are getting an important message out to the people who need it the most?
There are moments when I feel beautiful. There are moments when I feel dowdy and unattractive. I’m not someone who pays a lot of attention to a mirror or to buying the right products or wearing designer clothes. That’s not important to me.
I do, however, recognize that I make efforts to look good for certain people. I do realize that I will wear something because I know someone likes it or that I will pull my hair up or back because it makes me look a certain way. I also realize that when someone else thinks I’m attractive, I feel moreso.
Is this right? Probably not. I should feel it from within. But getting that acknowledgment is nice. It makes me feel good.
And while I hate that we, as a society, spend so much time and effort on the physical body and forget that beauty really does shine from within, I also realize that we are visually stimulated and what someone sees will mean that they assess me in a certain way.
If I can instill in my nieces that they are beautiful because of how they treat someone or how they react to adversity or what their minds create, then will this translate into physical beauty? I don’t know. But I think that both need to be nurtured. And I think Dove is on the right track. They are telling us something we already know but sometimes forget.