The Tellings of a GT Freshman

2003-12-08T08:39:00.000-08:00

TIME DOES FLY

Well it feels as if only yesterday I moved into the dorm and started classes here at Tech, but really it is almost the end of the first semester. I can still remember when Dr. Tryon first assigned us our blog assignment. It was an assignment to last all semester. We would be required to write one entry a week, a reflection on something we had been assigned to read. At first I thought the assignment sounded really stupid, and I was not very interested in it. Slowly however I started to enjoy blogging. I was free to express my opinion and it gave me a feeling of release. So blogging went from being a pain to being something I looked forward to every week. I enjoyed it so much I even started my own personal blog. Even though I was enjoying blogging there were times when it was a struggle for me. Let me recap my semester of blogging introducing you to my best and worst blogs.
For starters I wrote an Introduction blog that was meant to simply introduce myself to the reader. I think it was by far the easiest blog but an important in creating a connection between the reader and myself. My hope was to make my introduction welcoming as well as informative, and I think I did this effectively. Even though it is an into to myself as I read it now I can see many changes in my personality that have occurred over the course of the semester.
Looking back I remember reading Tom Daschle's blog, and I recall writing my first true blog entry about what I thought of it. I was not impressed at all by Daschle's travel log as he so calls it. So I decided to voice my opinion, and I did. Calling Daschle out on his use of pathos form of persuasion I tried to make it clear that Daschle was simply counting on people reacting to the sad stories he posted on his blog. Although I was able to see that certain people might react to Daschle's blog the way he had intended for them to I looked beyond the sob stories and found...... well nothing which was my whole point!!!
Another blog of mine I thought was successful was a blog I wrote about pictures and the purpose they serve. I think this is a successful blog because the topic was something I was very interested in, and that I had mixed feelings on. For these reasons I think that writing the blog came fairly easy to me, and I was able to say exactly what I wanted to. I also like this blog because it allowed me to be a bit more personal and share some of my personality, and not just my opinion.
Now that you have seen a couple of my best blogs lets take a look at a few that were more of a struggle for me. The first blog that comes to mid was a blog I wrote about an essay we were assigned to read entitled "The Storyteller" by Walter Benjamin. This blog was a struggle for me for a few reasons. First of all the reading was difficult. Walter chose to use a lot of difficult words, and his style bothered me. Another reason it was hard was because I was not interested in the topic. The one thing that saved me was that I completely disagreed with his argument. I simply used my blog to bash his ideas and warn others to avoid his essay at all costs. In hindsight I wish I had put forth a little more effort on this blog. The content is fairly weak and I didn't put the focus where it should have been!!!
Another blog I found I had some trouble with was a blog I wrote in response to an essay by Tara McPherson, "Reloaded". While I enjoyed this essay and agreed with many of the points Tara made I still found this blog more difficult. I think this is because there was a lot that could be said about this topic and I was trying to cram it all in one tiny space. At first glance I don't think that the blog appears to be that bad, but when I look at it I am not satisfied. Although I touched upon a lot of good points I feel like I completely missed what I was trying to say. This was something I was aware of while I was writing this blog, but I could not figure out what to do. Eventually I became so frustrated with the blog that I gave up and forced myself to be satisfied.
Overall I think blogging is a very effective learning tool, and a fun project as well. I enjoyed posting to my blog and I was able to experiment with different writing techniques while doing so. At the start of the semester there was a lot of focus on argumentative persuasion techniques and I think that trying to find those in essays and other blogs and then blogging on them myself helped me a great deal in understanding those concepts and ideas. I would recommend blogging to anyone it is great for any purpose, and easy to use.
Well I guess that about wraps it up. I am one final away from the end of my first semester here at Tech, I am finished with Dr. Tryon's class, and I have brought my blog to a close. Thanks for joining me this semester. I hope my blog has been of some interest to you, and that's it......I'm all wrapped up....bye!!!!!!

2003-12-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

I personally enjoyed very much getting to create a group blog. I thought It was a very interesting project and really neat to be able to see different viewpoints on certain subjects. It was really cool to see the other groups present and I thought they all did a very good job. I was really impressed with one of the group’s blog. It seemed to be really together and it had a lot of fun extra things on the site that caught my attention. The group I’m speaking of focused their group blog around comedy movies. Each of the members choose several movies to watch and then write on and rate. I really liked the reviews and AI thought that adding the pictures to their blog added a nice touch! I recommend checking it out. I thought that all the movies they mentioned that I had seen were hilarious and those that I hadn’t seen I am going to try to watch sometime. The group not only summarized the movies but they also analyzed the type of humor in each of the movies. I thought their opinions were very well researched and thought out, and I am eager to see the movies that are on their list that I have not seen yet!

2003-11-17T15:09:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm....... "E-TOPIA"

Imagine a world where leaving your home is never necessary. Where your work, your family, and your recreation are all found in one central location. This is the idea behind William J. Mitchell's essay "E-TOPIA". Mitchell theorizes that eventually (probably soon) technological advances will make all the different aspects of our lives converge and all of our responsibilities can be taken care of without ever leaving your home. Much of this is based on telecommunication and the idea that it will allow people to work from home rather than actually going in to work. He explains how with the help of the internet and other technologies people no longer have to run errands, they simply telecommunicate and it shall be done! For some this may seem like the perfect life, but I however must disagree. The first thought that came to my mind was the novel "Anthem" by Ayn Rand.

The thought behind that book is that all individuality has been removed from society and people do not make chocies, instead their lives are decided for them. The two topics may not seem to relate, but the do to me. In the book people communicate by television and they live in small uniform communities. This concept is how I imagine society going wrong under the conditions Mitchell speaks of. I think that somehow technology (or the people creating it) would seize power over the population and people would becomes puppets to "society" AKA technology. I am not worried about this too much however, because I think people are responsible enough to control technology and not let it control us. At least I hope this is the case!!!!!

2003-11-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Tara McPherson's Reloaded was an interesting article that discussed the internet and television and the roles that they each play in society and how two things that appear to be closely connected are in fact two very different things. My response to this is that I agree that they are two separate things. There are a number of differences. Television is definitely more restrained and more structured. Normal people have no say in how television is organized. They must fit teleision into their lives by working their schedule so that they have free time to watch their favorite shows. The internet is quite different on this level. The internet is always available and the material placed there is bound to be available for an extended period of time so that you can look at it at your own convenience. There is also a lot more variety present on the internet. There is information on any topic you want to find, and you can even create your own webpage. When you use the internet it's almost as if you are entering a whole new world. There are other people to connect with unlike TV where you are simply there to watch a structured show. Through chat and e-mail people are able to contact one another and use the internet as a tool for connecting poeple. This article was interesting and evokes a lot of thought. If you get some free time you might look it on the web, I doubt that there will be a TV show about it anytime soon!!!!

2003-11-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

After reading selections from Roland Barthes' Camera Lucida I am pleased to admit that I am intrigued by many of his thoughts and ideas on photography. There were a number of times I had actually had the same thought myself, and it was interesting to know other people, or at least one other person had thought the same thing I had. For instance, when he began talking about the picture of his mother and how he recognized her but that it was not the mother he knew, I understood exactly what he meant. I feel that way every time I look at a photograph of someone I know that was taken before I knew them. I have even had that feeling looking at childhood pictures of myself. I know they are pictures of me but I do not remember those times and it is so hard for me to connect to the picture and see it as me. I also related to his section on posing and becoming an object in pictures. I think that pictures are meant to capture something special. Something beyond faces; a moment in time, or a feeling. Whats strange to me is that although I think this way I prefer posed pictures. I like the sense of order and getting eveyone in the picture to look their best. I'ts a strange conflict that I struggle with. I think Roland even struggled with it a bit himself. He talked about how he posed and knew that he wasn't himself in photographs, but yet he always posed and became an object despite his knowledge. The selections were what I think of as a series of thoughts. I found them to be quite interesting and mentally challenging. I reccommend this reading to anyone who is looking to think a bit deeper and question things for a while.

2003-10-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

EARLY FILM whats to be gained from it???

Movies are a very popular interest among people today. There are movies made to entertain every age group and personality type. Today a lot goes into making movies. There are extreme special effects, twisted plots, make-up artists, costumes, well-trained actors and actresses, and entire crews of people that pull the whole thing together. But it all had to start somewhere. That somewhere was a place where movies were mere minutes long, without color, sound, or special effects, the sets were small and the make-up and costumes were at the bottom of the priority list. It might sound really boring to a person who is used to the way movies are today, but if examined properly there is a lot to be gained from early films and they are actually very interesting. When the first movies came out they were limited and the topic of the film had to simple and suitable for a wide variety of people. They themes usually dealt with popular interests of the time period and a lot can be learned from examining these themes. For instance there were many early films that focused on women and placed them in unusual often "forbidden" types of story lines. Film alone was fascinating, but the controversy that would come out of certain films was intriguing in its own way. Movies have become extremely important due to the controversial issues they cover and I feel they have had a major impact on society by educating them in a sense and also by bringing forth sensitive issues that might otherwise have gone ignored. There is also a lot to be said for the creativeness that early movies were created with. Because they were so short the entire story had to be told in mere minutes and often without the use of words but with actions alone. There was also a lack of technology and any special effect had to be created using the simplest means possible. Looking at all of these things it is obvious that there is much to be gained from early films; a sense of the social climate during that time period, knowledge about the people and interests, and above all an appreciation for technology and the time it takes to develop and improve it.

2003-10-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

cheryl
goldsleger

utopia

Last Saturday I went the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia where there was a exhibition of works by Cheryl Goldsleger an artist from Georgia. Her works focus on and are inspired on the work of women architects. Her artwork was created on many different types of media and she used a variety of different architecture styles from various time periods throughout history. The Museum had cleared out all of its regular works to display only Cheryl’s work for just over a month. Although all of her work is focused around architecture the way she uses mixed medias and different viewpoints makes each piece unique and beautiful. Her work comes in many different sizes as well. In her smaller works the detail is incredible and her use of texture and lines makes every piece have a unique feel and meaning. My personal favorite piece was a series of five blocks that were designed to recreate a building from the 18th century. Each block contained an new level of the building so that you were able to dissect the building floor by floor. Her entire exhibit was amazing and devoted to representing women and the greater good of society. To add to that last comment each separate work was based on a building that was home to a social reform group or a building donated to underprivileged people. Overall her work was very inspiring and I recommend you check it out.

2003-10-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

A BIT MORE SPECIFIC

I have decided that the topic of my next paper will be on gay "marriages" or what are better known as civil unions. There are many differences between an actual marriage and a civil union, but the start of civil unions being allowed between gay people brings us all one step closer to acceptance. My visual text will specifically be a website created for helping gay couples plan there civil union, where to have it, where to honeymoon, and of course how to decorate for such an occasion. The website is www.gayweddings.com I hope you take time to check it out and find it interesting!

2003-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

PAPER TOPIC?????

I have not yet chosen my specific visual text that I plan to use for my second paper, however I have chosen a topic that I will be focusing on. In light of coming out week here at Tech and my personal feelings on sexuality I am going to choose a visual text related to gay rights. I feel this issue is a major one in today's society, and it becomes more and more important as we are trying to grow as people and as a society. I feel that being gay is a choice and one of the freedoms we Americans have. I had been thinking of choosing a visual text related to gay rights but I did not make my final decision until my little sister said something that really interested me. One day Rachel (8 years old) and I were talking and the word gay came up in our conversation. The gay we were using was geared towards meaning "lame" or "stupid" but Rachel being so young questioned my usage. She informed me that there were three meanings for the word gay (happy, stupid, and two boys or two girls dating). After informing me of this she proceeded to ask me how I meant to use the word. I was so shocked that she knew what it meant to be gay in a sexual context. I don't think I was introduced to the concept of homosexuality until well into my middle school days, and here she is eight years old talking about it. I realized that the issue of homosexuality had changed a lot, become more open, and I knew that I wanted to focus on this topic. I look forward to writing this paper and when I do choose my visual text which I plan to do this weekend I will be sure to post it up so you can have a look at it.

2003-10-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking a great deal about pictures, and the effect they have on people, and have come to the conclusion that pictures are wonderful things. For the most part pictures are used to capture a moment in time, and in theory make it last forever. I often look at my own pictures and recall moments from my life, reliving them with my visual aid. I can understand how it can be seen that pictures make people lazy. Because we rely on pictures to retain our memories and as long as we have them there is no need to actually store the memories into our own minds. So in some ways it can be seen that pictures impair our memory. However, I personally think pictures are a great way to help keep a record of events. Having the most terrible memory ever (only short-term, extremely short-term) might make me a bit bias in my opinion but that's what I got stuck with. I take pictures of all sorts of things, family, friends, scenery, and neat things I see. When I look back on my pictures I am flooded with not only memories, but feelings associated with them as well. A great example is a picture I have of my little sister making what I call "the wolf man face". It's just a funny face I taught her to make when she was two that always made me crack up laughing. Over the years she stopped making the face and one day while I was digging through my pictures, my memories, I came across one of her making that face. I couldn't help but laugh. I had completely forgotten that she used to make that face. The face though wasn't the only thing I remembered, I remembered numerous things relating to that face; teaching her to make it, making her show my mom (who wasn't impressed), adding a growl to go along with the face, and even taking the picture itself. For me there are a great deal of pictures that I find have the exact same effect on me. I'm not sure what it would be like to not have pictures. I am sure I would still have all of my major memories stored in my brain, but the smaller (not less important) memories, like "the wolf man face" might just slip my mind. I guess I am spoiled not having to remember everything for myself but I am very grateful that there are pictures to assist me.

2003-09-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

SABAWOON

I have been looking at a website entitled Sabawoon that is designed to provide news and information about Afghanistan. It covers topics from the land, people, government, and history, and it also covers topics dealing with political, and cultural issues. There is a special editorial section on this website that allows many different people to publish their thoughts and ideas. The editorials focus on not only Afghanistan issues but on issues from around the world. Many of the editorials focus on war and conflicts between different countries. One particular editorial I found very interesting was one that was written about the effects of September 11th and what has happened since then. The editorial was written by a U.S. citizen who discusses how September 11th caused many diverse reactions. Using a cause and effect method of writing he is able to show how many great and how many terrible things have come from the September 11th tragedy. He writes about how the attack brought America so much closer together and many other parts of the world as well. In a time of need the people of our country became extremely involved in politics and current affairs. We were a country UNITED determined to stand up and demand justice and strive for peace. However wonderful our intentions were bad things still came. The plan the U.S. designed to receive justice from these attacks was not a good one. The U.S. had a plan to fight terrorism which seemed to be a great plan, but people ended up having the wrong idea of what this actually meant. People began to harass, discriminate, and humiliate people of Middle Eastern or Islamic name or outlook. Innocent people were pushed around and treated like criminals. We were so angry that we forgot about justice and became interested only in blood and revenge, and it did not matter who we took revenge on as long as someone went down. In this editorial all of these things are discussed in detail and the saying that you have to take the good with the bad seems to be true. There are many editorials like this one that focus on similar topics and many others that are written on completely different topics. This web page really has a different perspective from the average American perspective and I recommend checking it out!

2003-09-19T07:20:00.000-07:00

I've recently been reading a blog entitled Riverbend by a girl from Iraq. She uses her blog mostly to get out information to the public about the situation in Iraq. She speaks up about the negative influence the Americans have on Iraq. She uses her own personal experiences to give the reader an idea of what it is like to live in Iraq these days. She tells the stories of all the harsh treatment of the citizens and the poor lifestyle the people are being forced to live in. She is very descriptive in her blog making the stories seem real and very personal. Being that this blog is in first person you really want to get up and help this girl and do something for her. The stories she tells range from stories of house raids to stories based on the poor economy. She often mentions electrical losses and she has talked about how hard it is to cook because there is no gas. I really feel that the writing style and narrative used throughout this blog make you feel as though you are actually having a conversation rather than simply reading a blog. This blog really challenges your imagination. Considering that most people that are reading this blog have no experiences that can relate to what she is going through your imagination is challenged to understand and relate to the stories without any personal connection to them. She talks frequently about the chaos and confusion that has taken over Iraq. She often seems to loose hope for the situation and days will go by that she does not write in her blog. During these days off she seems to find inspiration and always comes back with more stories and feeling she wants to share. If you get a chance I recommend checking out her blog…. http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/

2003-09-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

"THE STORYTELLER"

I have recently finished torturing myself with Walter Benjamin's essay "The Storyteller". His essay which uses large (capacious) words, and complex (byzantine) metaphors was such a struggle to read I cannot imagine actually trying to make sense of all the hidden meanings and undertones of his essay. Benjamin's essay focuses on storytelling and its impact on society. He describes storytelling as the connection between the past, present, and the future.
Benjamin makes a strong argument against novels saying that they are not able to pass on knowledge and wisdom to the reader because they lack a personal connection from the writer to the reader. However a storyteller stories become the experiences of the listener throughout the listening of the story. Advances in technology, such as printing (which made novels possible) are seen by Benjamin as "symptoms of decay". The past will simply die and be forgotten without storytellers to pass it on.
This essay which was written post WW1 holds strongly to the importance of storytellers, for only they have the ability to pass of the feeling and experience of each story. I personally disagree with Mr. Benjamin because I have found many writers to have the ability to pass on experiences through their novels. As I blog I feel I am in between writing and storytelling. Yes, I am writing and entry, but I am writing from my own experience and attempting to pass my experiences on to you, my reader. However just in case I failed my mission with this blog let me leave you with a word of advice. If you were considering reading Benjamin's essay...............DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!

2003-09-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

BLOGGING ETHICS???

There has been some controversy building on the topic of how blogs should be used. What is right and what is wrong blog usage? Many people feel that if a blog is trying to argue a certain point that the facts used should have cited resources for the information used. There are also a lot of people that feel that once published it is wrong to delete a blog. In short it appears as though people feel the blogger has a responsibility to its audience to make sure the blog is not corrected or deleted and that all the information is 100% facts! WRONG!
Bloggers have no responsibility to the people who read their blog. If a blogger is trying to rally support for an argument it might be wise for them to cite their sources but definitely not required. It is the reader’s responsibility to determine weather the information is right or wrong by researching the topic they may choose to support or disagree with.
As for people who believe that bloggers should not reserve the right to delete post, HA! A blog is someone’s personal property. They do as they wish with is. The blogger might remove a post for many reasons and that may be annoying but it is their right.
Blogs are a place to express feelings and opinions.
Public blogs are simply journals that have been opened for other people to examine. I, as a blogger reserve all rights to do what I wish with my blog, the information in it, and I find this to be true of all bloggers!

2003-08-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

DASCHLE > COME ON

I have been reading the web log of Tom Daschle, a Senator from South Dakota and I must say I am not impressed. Being a senator from South Dakota Daschle focuses his topics on the residents of South Dakota and the issues he hopes to reform there. His web log is in the form of a travel journal, which he wrote as he traveled all over South Dakota to meet with the people he calls “South Dakotans”. The major issue Daschle has addressed in his web log is the issue of healthcare.
Daschle makes it quite obvious that he feels the healthcare policy of South Dakota is the major problem the “South Dakotans” are facing. The strength of his argument for healthcare reform is seen in majority through the pathos form of argumentative persuasion. He uses the personal accounts of people he has met on his travel through South Dakota to create his argument.
All the stories he uses are stories of tragedy that are directly related to the lack of healthcare availability and funding. These stories work well to bring emotion and sympathy from the reader, and also bring the ethos form of argumentative persuasion into effect by showing a bond between Daschle and his “South Dakotans”, thus relaying the image of trust to the readers of his web log.
Despite this seemingly effective argument I feel Daschle is lacking in his facts and is using many sources that may or may not be credible to build his argument! He never states any solution he has come up with to fix the problem of healthcare. Instead he uses the reader’s sympathy for the “victims” of his stories to build support for his plan to reform healthcare, while he has yet to state his plans for doing so. Depending on the reader of Daschle’s web log his argument may or may not be effective. Personally I rely more on hard cold facts than I do on sob stories from people I have no reason to trust.

2003-08-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

ME ME ME

My name is Tessa Rutledge. I am a freshman at Ga Tech. I was born in Atlanta, Ga but I have lived in many other states including Illinois, California, and New Mexico. I am now living in Atlanta with my mother, father, and three sisters. I recently graduated from Tallulah Falls boarding school in North Georgia. I have not yet declared a major mostly because I have no idea what I want to do with my life at this point, but I will more than likely end up in a science field. I hope to study and work in numerous fields throughout my life, and when I retire from whatever profession I end up choosing I hope to become a writer. Outside of class I enjoy sports, reading, writing, shopping, hanging out with friends, and partying (responsibly)! I consider myself a very open person, but I am also very stubborn. When I take a stand on a matter of serious importance I am not one to change my view easily however I will always listen and consider someone elses beliefs. I hope that you will get to know me more as I expand my blog. Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog please feel to do so anytime!