Archive for July, 2007

tweet tweet for 2007-07-31

Jul 31st

Posted by dawn in social networking

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who are you?

who are you?

Jul 31st

Posted by dawn in cultural & textual studies

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This morning on NPR I heard a segment on creating avatars in virtual worlds. I’ve had a lot of interest in this because 1) my field of study is understanding how we create identity – particularly online; 2) my friend, erin, has really dived in to second life and I’m curious about her choices of avatars; and 3) I’m interested in why people would want to be someone other than they really are.

simpsons rendering of dawnErin recently had a post about creating a Simpsons avatar for herself and that comparison to her Second Life avatar. Since she did it, I just had to create my own Simpsons avatar on the Simpsons movie website.

As I was going through, creating this virtual “me,” I was really focused on making it as close to me as possible (I mean, as close as you can with Matt Groening’s rendering). I could have made my avatar anything: a boy with blue hair, a little girl, an old man with a mustache. I chose “me,” though. Just as I do on this website, depicting “me” with my real name and real situations, I chose an avatar that was as close to me as possible. I didn’t feel a need to be anyone but me.

Why would we choose to be someone else? The segment on NPR had some great insight into this (and I really want to dive into the book). I can understand if you have cerebral palsy and want to project yourself sans wheelchair, breathing apparatus, etc. I get that. I also understand wanting to have some authority in online role-playing because women are rarely (even in real-life online situations) given any authoritative roles or the respect that goes with that.

I don’t, however, understand wanting to be someone other than me as I am. Am I comfortable in my skin and like who I am? Pretty much. I’ve worked really hard to get where I am and am working hard to get where I want to go. I like me, overall. I’m not such a bad person. Am I stunningly beautiful? No. I’m your girl-next-door. I’m ok with that, too. In fact, I like it. I love my freckles (and would have given my avatar freckles, if I could have), my strawberry-blond hair, and even my need for glasses due to an astigmatism. I’m not skinny. I’m not perfect — but I’m me. And I’m ok with that.

I don’t feel the need to be anything other than that even in the virtual world. But I recognize that for many, this is an escape, an enabling tool to allow them to get to new places. I also realize that for some, it is like being an actor. You get to put on a persona for a certain amount of time and get to act out in different ways. I am probably not creative enough for that. I find it time-consuming enough to be me. I’d have a difficult time portraying myself as another for too long (and I think, for me, five minutes would be too long). But I can understand the draw.

Do you use avatars? If so, who are you online versus your in-person persona? If you don’t, would you be someone else online if you did create an avatar?

tweet tweet for 2007-07-30

Jul 30th

Posted by dawn in social networking

  • [art] The Simpsons: Out of Africa. (heh) http://tinyurl.com/2fd7na #
  • @scottkarp: oh…you’re *not* just talking to me? Heh. :-) #
  • @scottkarp: lol #
  • [pets] Pets: Why owning a pet is important (dedicated to alan levine who just got a new beagle :-)) http://tinyurl.com/yu7tle #
  • [masculinity] a call for writers http://tinyurl.com/2h8ao9 #
  • watermelon for dinner — it’s almost like cereal for dinner…yummy when you’re in the right mood for it (and I was) #
  • @scottkarp: if you use the twitter app in facebook, it eliminates double entry + facebook is just a nice way to keep everything organized. #
  • @scottkarp: yeah, it’s finicky. Mine is currently updating but that isn’t always true. #
  • avoiding writing…by playing on twitter, facebook, and anything else I can find #
  • [photography] cast http://tinyurl.com/23p73u #
  • [Creativity] Pinholes, Zone Plates and A Camera Made Out of Boxes! http://tinyurl.com/24lkh6 #
  • [Language] American Regional Accent Map (record your accent) http://tinyurl.com/2f3w3f #
  • [Language] Post-Modern Monday: Rhinoplasty (brilliant) http://tinyurl.com/yudrn8 #
  • [Writing] 10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals http://tinyurl.com/2u7hgu #
  • [micromedia] Web Communication Experiment: First Round Goes To Twitter http://tinyurl.com/2f47zo #

all in

Jul 30th

Posted by dawn in blogosphere

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One of my favorite things about the blogging community is how there is a lot of interaction. People want to be heard and to hear what you have to say.

While many of the blogs that I read are technical, political, and/or feminist in nature, I also like to check out new blogs or find people who are creative and interesting — who give me insights into issues that I wouldn’t normally encounter or would approach from a different angle.

I found Jaycee’s Semantically Driven through BlogHer, a site that is geared toward promoting women bloggers. How could I not be drawn in? I mean really…the title of her blog is all about language. Have I said how much I love language? Whee!

Seriously, though…Jaycee helps women promote their blogs through an exercise called all women blogging carnival. It’s a nice way for people from all over the world to see what one another are engaged in and to be introduced to some new bloggers. I’m going to highlight a few that caught my attention.

  • Becky, at Just a Girl in Short Shorts, writes about spanking her daughter and wonders if others feel the same way about corporal punishment. Anyone who has ever been a part of the torrential downpours that occur during the season and have seen the powerful walls of water that go through normally dry beds will understand her fear, her concerns, and her overwhelming need to teach her daughter about this subject.
  • Klamath Design writer, Linda, reminds us about the importance of backing up our databases — information that we should always remember but rarely do.
  • Jill, from Writes Like She Talks, shares a YouTube video that isn’t quite the rhetorical response to female legislators that most of us would prefer to see.
  • At Spiritual Journey of a Lightworker, Patricia writes about her friends, the love she has for them, and how death can’t supersede that love.

I probably would have never seen these blog entries if I hadn’t gone to Jaycee’s site. It’s a good thing to go outside of your communities. There are wonderful and interesting things to read and see.

problems

Jul 30th

Posted by dawn in admin

I am aware of the problems with individual blog posts and my photoblog.  I am in touch with my host provider to find out what is going on.

Thanks!

tweet tweet for 2007-07-29

Jul 29th

Posted by dawn in social networking

visitation

Jul 29th

Posted by dawn in poetry

american life in poetry: column 115

by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate, 2004-2006

Each of the senses has a way of evoking time and place. In this bittersweet poem by Jeffrey Harrison of Massachusetts, birdsong offers reassurance as the speaker copes with loss.

Visitation

Walking past the open window, she is surprised
by the song of the white-throated sparrow
and stops to listen. She has been thinking of
the dead ones she loves–her father who lived
over a century, and her oldest son, suddenly gone
at forty-seven–and she can’t help thinking
she has called them back, that they are calling her
in the voices of these birds passing through Ohio
on their spring migration. . . because, after years
of summers in upstate New York, the white-throat
has become something like the family bird.
Her father used to stop whatever he was doing
and point out its clear, whistling song. She hears it
again: “Poor Sam Peabody Peabody Peabody.”
She tries not to think, “Poor Andy,” but she
has already thought it, and now she is weeping.
But then she hears another, so clear, it’s as if
the bird were in the room with her, or in her head,
telling her that everything will be all right.
She cannot see them from her second-story window–
they are hidden in the new leaves of the old maple,
or behind the white blossoms of the dogwood–
but she stands and listens, knowing they will stay
for only a few days before moving on.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2006 by Jeffrey Harrison. Reprinted from “Incomplete Knowledge”, Four Way Books, 2006, with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Introduction copyright (c) 2006 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

tweet tweet for 2007-07-28

Jul 28th

Posted by dawn in social networking

heartbreaking

Jul 28th

Posted by dawn in books

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The Kite Runner

Rating: 4 out of 5

Author: Khaled Hosseini

Year: 2004

Publisher: Riverhead Trade

ISBN: 1594480001

I didn’t actually read the book but listened to it on my iPod. In any case, this is an amazing piece of literature. I laughed and cried, cringed and reveled. It is one of those books that is gripping and engaging and forces the reader (listener) to look within and address serious issues about humanity, self, and our interactions with others.

It is not a long book but it tackles serious issues like racism, classism, sexism, rape, adoption, and family structure.

If you haven’t read it, I urge you to do so. I was swept away. At moments, I didn’t want to go any further. It was that painful. But I think, in the end, it is worth it.

tweet tweet for 2007-07-27

Jul 27th

Posted by dawn in social networking

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