Moving...

I've made the move to Wordpress...

I'll keep this open for random junk, but for the time being, most of my work can be found at http://montageman.wordpress.com. So readers, change your bookmarks...

August 7 - State Theater again...

August 4th State Theater, baby!

In-class Writing # 1

Fredrich Nietzsche states:

"...ever since there have been human beings there have also been human herds (family groups, communities, tribes, nations, states, churches) and always very many who obey compared to the very small number who command - considering, that is to say, that hitherto nothing has been practised and cultivated among men better or longer than obedience, it is fair to suppose that as a rule a need for it is by now innate as a kind of formal conscience which commands: Thou shalt unconditionally do this, unconditionally do that, in short 'Thou shalt'. This need seeks to be satisfied and to fill out its forms with a content: in doing so it grasps about wildly, according to the degree of its strength, impatience and tension, with little discrimination, as a crude appetite, and accepts whatever any commander - parent, teacher, law, class, prejudice, public opinion - shouts in its ears." --- Genealogy of Morals (1887)

We have read a series of articles and essays about identity. What is Nietzsche saying about identity in this quote? How is his claim similar or different from the authors we've read so far? In our digital age, are the notions of leaders and followers complicated? If so, how? If not, why not?

How to tame a wild immigrant

In watching the President's speech (transcript and video here) tonight, I was struck by his blatant disregard for difference. This is not a new realization by any means, but when the leader of the free world is calling for mass assimilation in order to remain in this country - something has gone awry. Brian comments on this petition and asks the question, "What if such a ridiculous proposal became law, would that mean anybody not speaking in English would be arrested?" Mr. Bush tonight said the following,

"Americans are bound together by our shared
ideals, an appreciation of our history, respect for the flag we fly, and an
ability to speak and write the English language. English is also the key to
unlocking the opportunity of America. English allows newcomers to go from
picking crops to opening a grocery, from cleaning offices to running offices,
from a life of low-paying jobs to a diploma, a career, and a home of their own.
When immigrants assimilate and advance in our society, they realize their
dreams, they renew our spirit, and they add to the unity of
America"

English, then, is a fundamental part of being American. Nevermind that English is not our language, but Mr. Bush claims in the same speech, "we must honor the great American tradition of the melting pot." Ok, fine, then why must these people assimilate? If we are a melting pot, does that then mean that any culture interested in surviving here must speak English as well as his/her native language? Will classes be provided for people to learn English?

In a locker room recently, I was changing inbetween 2 men. One an older caucasian, the other an older black man - both were store owners. The caucasian fellow asked his friend if the "Aye-rabs" minded that he opened a store in their neighborhood. He responded, "I don't give a shit. They can go back to 'I-rack,' they can't speak English either." Aside from the fact that I look fairly Middle-eastern, I was shocked at the level of intolerance and hatred in this guy's voice. So rather than looking at bilingualism as a positive (like everywhere else in the world), it's a negative here. "If you want to be American, speak American," (Anzaldua, 54).

Anzaldua takes pride in her langauge, "If a person has a low estimation of my native tongue, she also has a low estimation of me," (58). English is a "neutral" language. No need to lose your culture, just have English on the side. Arguments might arise that Japan has Japanese, Spain has Spainish and so forth, but as the president said tonight, we are a melting pot - "Bring me your huddled masses."

Another "key" plan tonight:

A key part of that system should be a new identification card for every legal foreign worker. This card should use biometric technology, such as digital fingerprints, to make it tamper-proof. A tamper-proof card would help us enforce the law, and leave employers with no excuse for violating it.

What would a "tamper-proof" card entail? Would it be an identification card or another way to racially profile "terrorists"? He did mention those danged terrorists tonight - those folks won't EVER be granted citizenship because they won't have access to the tamper-proof cards! Yeah, those new driver's licenses have totally negated high school kids getting fake IDs. Once the word "tamper-proof" has been said, it gives immediate reason to tamper.

Stephen and George

speaktruthiness
Originally uploaded by stricklin_family.

mmm...Breakfast

MySpace: An Aesthetic

There has been some talk recently about the aesthetic of Myspace, a social networking site with the tagline "A Place for Friends." Thinking back to the early days of my internet surfing, I recall being consistently annoyed by large, flashy fonts, annoying music on a loop, and large images that hog bandwith so that your computer can't help but move at a snail's pace. As HTML evolved and developers became more saavy with code, these annoying sites subsided into a more subdued, less in your face layout. But, Myspace has brought the days of poor web design back.

As mine states, this is quite possibly the most annoying part about Myspace. Let's face it: this site is not being used to utmost potential. In fact, MySpace is an exercise in narcissism - a place where the self is magnified to the tenth degree. However, narcissism is not necessarily a bad thing. What social networking sites do offer is an unprecedented chance for us to appropriate yet another tool into the writing classroom.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the issue of aesthetics, writing, and MySpace. I can't help but think that MySpace could be an excellent device for the writing classroom. For example, my MySpace page (and any other MySpace page) has potential to hold, at the least: 12 pictures, some video (not sure of the exact amount), unlimited blog space, commenting capability both on the "homepage" and the blog, and an infinite opportunity for networking both within the classroom and outside into the larger community of users.

Many high schoolers are using MySpace already and a lot of them have toyed with HTML to "pimp out" their pages. Unknowingly (or otherwise), they're becoming webdesigners at the most fundamental level. The logic of design is directly important to the logic of composition. Even the most basic page has images and text intermingling.

Teaching MySpace would concentrate less on the site itself and more on how the site can be used is a way that is conducive to the logic of digital literacy. Students would start a page at the beginning of the semester (even if students already have a page, a new one should be created). After the page is created, students become each other's "friends" and the class in now networked. Using MySpace groups, instructors could form a virtual classroom and allow discourse to continue beyond the classroom.

Of course, none of this is new per say, but MySpace is a more convenient way of combining all aspects of a digital classroom: blogs, listservs, and e-mail. The only problem with MySpace is that it lacks total open-source coding of a Wiki. However, the Wiki seems like it would be more effective in an intermediate course while MySpace is a nice way to get students' feet wet in the world of composition design.