The Art of Getting the Kids Out On Time
Rundown of the morning:
5:55 — alarm 1 goes off
6:00 — alarm 2 goes off
6:01 — Sean and I both get out of bed
6:04 — I’m in the shower
6:04 — Sean is in the kitchen making eggs, bacon, feeding the kitten and watching Mike & Mike on ESPN
6:14 — I’m out of the shower
6:15 — kitty uses the litter box
6:18 — I blow dry my hair while Sean showers
6:25 — I make myself cereal and watch Mike & Mike on ESPN
6:33 — Sean comes out to eat his homemade breakfast burrito
6:35 — I get dressed for work
6:38 — I start my makeup routine and Sean is still watching Mike & Mike
6:44 — I straighten my hair
6:50 — Sean gets dressed for work and I clean out the litter box
6:52 — my boys (bf and kitten) hog the sink while I try to squeeze in to brush my teeth
6:55 — I make myself lunch (a ham, turkey, am. cheese sandwich)
7:00 on the nose — we kiss the kitty goodbye and walk to our respective cars to drive to work
phew.
The Wealth of Reality: An Ecology of Composition by Margaret A. Syverson PART I
e·col·o·gy 
[i-kol–uh-jee] Pronunciation Key – Show IPA Pronunciation
| 1. | the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment, including other organisms. |
| 2. | Also called human ecology. the branch of sociology concerned with the spacing and interdependence of people and institutions. |
Throughout our Rowan University graduate course Writing for Electronic Communities, students consistently question the writing of books on topics that seem otherwise ‘obvious.’ Maybe we know too much. Maybe we think we know more than we do. Maybe we only know that which our environments provide us with and everything beyond is out of our grasps.
For tonight’s class, Dr. Bill Wolff assigned chapters 1-3:
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Introduction: What is an Ecology of Composition
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Thinking with the Things As They Exist: Ecology of a Poem
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“Next Time We’re Not Giving Steve Our Essay to Read”: Ecology of Writers
The introduction was very meaty, elaborating on the environment surrounding a writer, otherwise referred to in this book and on this blog as the ecology. Chapter 2 was my favorite of the three, as it used one example throughout, a poet named Charles Reznikoff, who considered himself a loner yet did not esape community or ecology of poetry. This understanding yields that large or small, the ecology exists as long as any single person presents others with what s/he is thinking. Chapter 3 was equally enlightening and called to mind the Learning Record, an ongoing assignment we have for this class. In this chapter, readers are students, ushered through the collaborative aspect of the interaction of ecology, and then react to this interaction.
I look forward to reading the next three chapters. I have a feeling this will be a keeper on my list of three books for my Review Essay.
The Art of Sewing
I am attending a wedding this coming Saturday in Brooklyn and bought the most beautiful dress a few days ago. It is chocolate brown and floor length with an open back…but the top doesn’t have any support built in and because of the open back, I cannot wear a bra.
Unfortunately, this revolutionary item by Maidenform, as of now a one-of-a-kind, is not yet available for purchase…
…so I took a different approach.
First, I cut in half my almost $50 wireless IPEX Victoria’s Secret bra. It was scary but strangely satisfying.
Second, because I don’t have a sewing machine, I whipped out my $1 sewing kit and stitched in each cup, using another dress with built-in cups as my guide.
Finally, I tried the dress on, and Voila! Perfectly symmetrical cups sewed into a dress that couldn’t survive without it. Perhaps I should become a seamstress 🙂
“You can’t tell me I’m wrong…
…only that you don’t believe.” –The Unknown
The Unknown is a hyptertext novel that Dr. Bill Wolff has assigned to his Writing for Electronic Communities class, which by this time I am sure you are aware that I am enrolled in this course.
The hypertext novel is fascinating. Generally, I struggle accepting left-of-center writing styles, like Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. I wonder why? Maybe I’m linear.
Could I be a linear thinker? A left-brained, non-creative, generic, ordinary, passive, linear reader??
The vote is in after reading The Unknown and it looks like I’m not as linear as I had feared. I think the problem was that certain mediums lend themselves more easily to certain styles. For example, The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is a trade book, printed with black ink on white paper; the medium is linear but the style is associative. Hence the struggle.
Another example: George P. Landow’s Hypertext 3.0 is another linear medium, but the style is also linear, hence no struggle. The reading can flow.
My final example: The Unknown is published in an associative medium (hypertext) and the style is also associative. What this means is that when the writer wrote The Unknown, he (they?) wrote small pieces that could stand alone but that better associate with their sister pieces.
One problem that Landow sees with hyperlinking is if the link brings a reader to an unanticipated result. Above, I linked “Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid” and although you didn’t know where the link was going to bring you–a review, a sales site, an academic paper–you expected it would bring you to something relating to the novel. And it did. But had I linked you to something else, you would have gotten confused and distracted.
Why? Because my blog is a linear medium (one-to-one linking) written in a linear style, and if I had thrown an associative link at you, it wouldn’t have served a purpose unless my purpose is to confuse you. Sometimes that works, but it is not my goal.
Moral of the story: Hypertext is brilliant.
The Art of Not Caring When You Are Misquoted On the News
I made today’s title long for a reason: to show that all of the necessary information required to reflect accuracy can, in fact, fit despite the small space alotted.
On my way to Rowan University (a one-hour commute from my home) yesterday, I filled my gas tank. Instead of going to a gas station “on the way,” I drove five minutes in the opposite direction to fill up at Garden State Fuel. You’re probably thinking, “That must be crap gas, I’ve never heard of it.” Well, I have not done a study on the quality of the gas that pumps up from the tanks under GSF, but I do know that Plus reads 89 octane and my pepper white Mini Cooper has yet to complain.
Ok, back to my story….
So I’m filling up yesterday and the news station from two buildings away, NBC 40, is interviewing customers about gas prices.
How the conversation actually went:
Greg the interviewer: What gas price will impact your driving habits?
Me, the interviewee: Well, I was watching the news today and THEY told me that four dollars will impact me. Hahaha. But no, I don’t really have a set number.
How the conversation was quoted on the 11 o’clock news:
Me, the bratty complainer: Four dollars will impact me.
The title of the video is “‘High’ NJ gas prices, still lowest in U.S.” found via this link. Unfortunately, NBC 40 does not support embedding their videos into others’ sites, including my blog.
I should not have expected anything more than being misquoted. But really, it’s a shame that these reporters or editors were so desperate for a story that they would misquote me. They were after an angle, in search of a number, and didn’t take into consideration the fact that people, like me, are somewhat in denial that the prices are rising so drastically because we don’t have much of a choice or a say. It’s an interesting angle that I have not yet seen published and maybe one day they’ll write that story. Maybe.
The Art of Juggling
Balls:
The boyfriend.
The kitten.
Running errands.
Keeping tidy.
Cleaning messes.
Writing freelance.
Editing freelance.
Cooking meals.
Attending class.
Driving South Jersey.
Doing homework.
Where do I come in? I’m the doer, not the receiver, and every now and then a girl just needs a freaking break. For one hour today, I’m setting the balls aside to free up my hands and paint my nails. French manicure. Yup.
Hypertext 3.0 by George P. Landow
Each week in my graduate course Writing for Electronic Communities at Rowan University, our professor, Dr. Bill Wolff, assigns a very meaty (to say the least) book based on community and/or electronic theory. This week’s book, Hypertext 3.0 by George P. Landow, explores the role that hypertext plays and whether or not it is a new thought.
Landow struck a chord with me that left me thoroughly excited to talk about this text: hypertext is not new! Of course, its use in electronic mediums is and the actual word “hypertext” is not very old, but the concept itself is. This concept is based on basic human congition to read something, feel something, and react to the feeling.
It wasn’t until Landow mentioned Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (a novel rewritten from the Caribbean woman’s perspective of Jayne Eyre) that I really got it. There are thousands of books that have been rewritten to try to understand the time period or cultural setting that the author lives in. Another great example of this is the rewriting of Shakespeare’s The Tempest in Aime Cesaire’s A Tempest, where focus shifts from love/marriage in Shakespeare’s version to slavery in Cesaire’s version.
This idea of shifting voice is undoubtedly accepted, and in the electronic world of hypertext, Landow references a shift in focus, or voice, by hyperlinking to other pages on the web. For example, there are several links already placed in this blog where I have given authority to those schools, profs, books, authors instead of accepting myself as the dispenser of their knowledge. The pressure’s off in knowing everything and space is saved. You, my reader, can now inform yourself about my references on your own. It’s fabulous.
The Art of Shopping: Underwear edition
Today it came to my understanding that underwear isn’t as private as we once thought. While department stores still shove their lingerie sections in back corners, stores more like Victoria’s Secret are not the only open displays of panty-wearing models.
There is actually a National Underwear Day, sponsored by freshpair.com that sells all major brands for men and women.
But what is underwear? How does this fit into my quest for domestication? Well first, I believe in broadening my horizons. It turns out that we absolutely misuse the word “underwear” as we do so many words in the English language. Underwear isn’t just another word for “panty” or “boxers” but actually includes all of the following items:
Mens–
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bikini
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boxer briefs
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boxer shorts
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briefs
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g-strings
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jockstraps
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thongs
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trunks
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t-shirts
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socks
Womens–
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bras
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bikinis
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boy shorts
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briefs
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control & full briefs
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g-strings
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thongs
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hosiery
I’m truly fascinated and I hope that together, we can spread the knowledge of what constitutes “underwear” so that when National Underwear Day rolls around, we needn’t be ashamed.
What to expect to see at National Underwear Day:
Street interview before National Underwear Day
The Art of Being Informed
In the midst of watching daytime television last friday (ahh, a relaxing yet informative day off), a commercial about the polar bear crisis and melting ice caps in the north, I realized another wonderful avenue of domestication: volunteering. I offer you my opinion on the importance of the World Wildlife Fund and the struggle to green our country from an article I wrote for Advanced Feature Writing at Rowan University:
Until a few days ago, I thought “WWF” stood for the World Wrestling Federation. Turns out I missed the boat on that name change several years ago when the World Wrestling Federation had to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment after another organization demanded they find a different acronym. WWF was taken…
…Taken by the World Wildlife Fund, the organization raising awareness of environmental issues, mainly habitat protection and slowing the freight train of global warming. I was in the middle of watching a mind-numbing daytime television show when actress Sharon Lawrence shot me with two minutes of guilt in a commercial for the real WWF.
Lawrence is best known for her role on NYPD Blue, with a few stints here and there on Desperate Housewives and Monk, but is showing face in honor of “one of the most magnificent animals on the planet,” as she puts it. Polar bears.
In the past several decades, celebrities like Lawrence have learned to channel their popularity towards the greater good, raising awareness for civil rights, AIDS, Parkinson’s, eating disorders, and now global warming.
But the concerns for global warming are nothing new. As television viewers, we’ve heard what the logging industry is doing to wildlife habitats. As consumers, we know to buy organic and recycled paper goods whenever possible. So what’s the hold-up in protecting our earth?
Maybe the problem lies in the hands of our politicians. In today’s ever-tense primary race for official party nominations, neither McCain nor Huckabee dwell on environmental issues in the Republican race, the same true for Clinton or Obama.
The only reason anyone today really cares about sustainable energy is because the shortage on oil is soon going to be a crisis and soon going to be drained out. This leaves the oil companies in desperate need to find alternative fueling sources to prevent losing their multi-billion dollar businesses, but just like Sharon Lawrence asks—what about the polar bears?
And what about Cynthia McKinney, the Green Party candidate for the 2008 Presidential Election? Clearly she’s not making enough noise, at least not in my neck of the woods, so let’s take a closer look at our potential 44th president:
| 2008Presidential Candidate | Most Prominent Environmental Platform | Grade |
|
Mike Huckabee (R) |
|
C |
|
Barack Obama (D) |
|
A- |
|
Hillary Clinton (D) |
|
A |
|
John McCain (R) |
D |
Information provided by ontheissues.org
Can we rely on platforms and charts when presidential candidates are face-to-face with endangered species? That depends on who you’re talking about. Let’s start with Mike Huckabee. His intentions are credible and his view on protecting the earth is at the same level of a 5th grade boy scout: leave the earth better than you found it. So, while I know he cares, he has not proven himself as a proponent of environmental issues, so for that, he earns a C.
Next, we’ll take a look at Barack Obama. Here’s his biggest holdback: he only talks about environmental issues when someone else raises them. I do believe he cares about the environment and green technologies, but like the oil companies, only a drastic shortage and public pressure seems to be what’s lighting his fire. Obama earns an A-, because despite his shortcomings, the public will pressure him into higher standards, and he will take the bait.
Hilary Clinton is the winner of this competition. She is tying together economics and green issues, planning to devote $5 billion dollars towards brand new jobs which will not only stimulate our economy, but get it on track for a greener future. For this line-blurring strategy, Clinton earns an A, and a serious eyebrow raise to Sen. McCain’s backwards disconnect of economic and environmental issues.
And while I’m sure McCain will keep American soil protected, he’ll probably kill enough people that we won’t have to worry about the planet’s condition in 100 years. If he had run for election in almost any race other than the upcoming 2008 election (assuming he is voted the Republican Presidential Nominee), his military valor would have won over voters, but in the wake of the Iraq War, Americans are growing more concerned with what is going on in our own nation, not abroad. We don’t want the United States to go down in history as a leading contributor to the escalation of global warming. McCain earns a D.
Presidential campaigners should be more like Sharon Lawrence, backing the work of the WWF so that the polar bears don’t drown in search of food. Or, more like Hillary Clinton who understands that we have no future if we allow global warming to continue escalating at today’s alarming rate. I’m sure the public would feel more passionate if we were the ones drowning in search of food. Maybe one day we’ll have our chance.
The cited commercial for WWF with Sharon Lawrence:
A Post-Grad's Journey Towards Domestication 