Language Revitalized

[Strangely, this blog is first though it should be the last]

Finally, we come to the End. Is it truly the End Times or is there hope for our humanity? Is there hope for the Late Age of Print, our technological predecessors and the Book? How can we as writers and authors make creative and intellectual use of this new medium, the World Wide Web and the Age of Technology? At the end of Bolter’s book he discusses “writing the self.” The dichotomy of the mind and body mirrors the division of nature and technology. Suddenly, writing of the self is not just about the written word bound and twined with a spine but it is about the visual creation and utilization of a new and intangible medium. According to Bolter, “the electronic technology can free human discourse and even human interaction from the body” (201) therefore, we have come full circle with the (written) freedom of voice and choice. We are in a phase theorists have deemed the Postmodern Era; for Bolter and his concepts of hypertext we are creating and experimenting with our “electronic selves” (203). The internet exists as not only an omnidirectional means of communication but also a way for us to “rewrite our culture” (204). As our knowledge mutates and grows we are both destroying and creating parts of our humanity. We venture into the abyss in hopes that we can retreat when needed. Maybe we will destroy ourselves in the process of progress; maybe we already have. But if we implode ourselves will not books go up in the flames anyways? Print is not dead. God is not in the machine. The only thing we can do now is watch, wait and keep writing in any fashionable way we chose. Viva la pluma!

Irony and Our Post Human Existence

"Alike for those who for today prepare,
And those that after a tomorrow stare,
A Muezzìn from the Tower of Darkness cries
'Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There.'"
-Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Most everything in our daily universe balances on the edge of advancement and change. Our very humanity remains in a crucial state of technological progress. How bizarre to be our grandparents living in this futuristic wormhole! Donna Haraway, an esteemed literary theorist and writer, takes us on a journey through the mysterious reality of becoming "post human." Her prodigious manifesto breaks new ground as she philosophizes about “cyborgs” and “the machine.” Haraway seeks to help the reader understand the synthesis of human nature and technology. As she makes her way through some of the history behind the idea and creation of cyborgs an ironic concept emerges. The barrier between social reality (150) and science fiction no longer exist; as humans delve further and further in to the unknown we are reverent (149) yet terrified.


Is the creation of the perfect machine the end to our humanity or is it merely the evolution of our species? Haraway’s literary theories coupled with her ideas of a “cyborg world” allow the reader to understand that suddenly boundaries no longer exist. In the beginning, the separation between (wo)man and machine was vivid yet as our technology progresses (at an alarming rate) we must accept our fate. What once was our organic biology of flesh and blood is being integrated with a mechanical organism (150). Haraway questions the veracity of our reality and the irony is that we reap this havoc upon ourselves. There is no turning back. Only literature and history will tell the tale of humanity pre-machine. Her literary theories of Marxism and feminism are distributed throughout the chapter. She claims there is suddenly a lack of social unity due to the onset of the cyborg revolution and she fears that gender issues will take a backseat to the technological explosion. Ironically, the Marxist ideal of community and social progress is what propelled these advancements in science. The feminine half of the species is the original example of organic reproduction. Haraway deals with the idea that because cyborgs and humans share a respective brain our very nature is being compensated. “Nature and culture are reworked; the one can no longer be the resource for appropriation or incorporation by the other” (152).

Literary Theory & the New Medium

“Having seen a small part of life, swift to die, men rise and fly away like smoke, persuaded only of what each has met with…Who then claims to find the whole?”
- Empedocles, On Nature
Jay David Bolter’s book, Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print, remains an essential read for one pursuing both a career in English and vast knowledge of the intricacies of web text and hypermedia. He gives his reader not only a history lesson of the writing process but also a torrent of new information involving technology. To begin with, Bolter’s explanation of Ekphrasis incorporates the history of the actual term. Ekphrasis is an ancient method for conveying visual ideas with the first attempts at a written language. Indeed, the Greeks had forms of written communication though spoken thought prevails their ancient time period. They had stubborn difficulty perfecting a lateral and linear scale for writing. Pictorial presentation presented the Greeks with an anomaly; and frankly they were less than thrilled with the challenge. (This is not to say that the Greeks didn’t relish a good quarrel; they just preferred control and tradition a great deal more.) Basically, writing was a means to remember what to say. “The word myth, taken from the Greek mythos, literally means ‘utterance’ or ‘something one says’… [g]reek myth was originally an oral phenomenon, transmitted by word of mouth’ (Harris 11).

Bolter also offers the reader the idea that the Renaissance marks the cross-over of the oral tradition. Thus we have the Age of Print, etc. But, let’s get back to Ekphrasis. The actual concept chimes primitive ways of Deconstruction (i.e. the loveliest and most chaotic way to interpret a text). In layman’s terms, Ekphrasis swallows itself and emerges later as butterfly. Visual representation sculpted a written pattern. The pattern gave way to the basis of a written language yet continued to flutter and fluctuate until our humanism allowed for the inevitable evolution to pollinate. Like Deconstruction, Ekphrasis must first “undermine” itself and mean absolutely nothing; leaving only the visual symbol (icon) as an open portal for interpretation. And then Voila! A playful art slithers forth; a colorful way to be! Oh! Drat this blog attention span!! I’m getting carried away…

To sum up the dither and the blather, Bolter jives on meshing our roots with the idea that print has most definitely morphed into an entirely new creature.

The Unamerican

Void.
Devoid.
Temporary anguish reveals a weakness that is revered by the bothers of reality.
And our godless government.
The miscellaneous, make-shift monsters who listen,
watch and teach through today's technology.
Unloved and rendered ugly in our collective unconscious.
Everyone has "learned" to operate beneath their individual potential,
All humanistic attributes forsaken and plainly (self) belittled.
We stink of the masses.
We are sickened by our desire for social validation-
Or luscious "lifestyle."
The American Dream.
An unattainable status quo of vapid virtues and monetary value.
Eclipsed by a haunted society,
Rushing into the unknown.
~C.R.G
"The oppressed love the oppressors, and cannot wait to follow their example."
-J.M. Linsner

The Salvation of Generation "Y Bother"

“Longing for solitude, the hermits have been chained to their grumpy fellows and set among others given to indiscriminate and voluble amiability.” Carl Sagan, Cosmos

In 1991, Douglas Coupland published a novel called Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. I read this gem and although the story reigns supreme, I have not pondered the plot much in the last millennium. I remember being knocked off my feet as a teenager, mesmerized by the concepts and candid veracity within the text. (Alas, I scoured my bookshelf with no luck of having held fast to the book itself… bullocks.) The story is about four 20-something friends who each tell their tale/version of creation and their current rotting society. So, in search of truth or at least a modicum of interesting blog babble, I Googled my heart out. Not much exists in the way of viable criticism for this particular genre-iffic book. Although, I did find one chap who erroneously claims the title of the book spawned the name of the generation. Let me clarify, Generation X is an actual categorization of people “born between approximately 1965 to 1980, and connected to the pop culture of the 1980s and 1990s they grew up in. Other names used interchangeably with Generation X are Reagan Generation, 13th Generation, and Baby Busters” (Wikipedia source). Onward, shall we?

To say the least, I suppose curiosity and exploration is tethering me to a nouveaux medium. During the course of my media literacy class I have begun to search for answers and a grave understanding of this new technological territory we are breaching. I seek answers and knowledge yet still shy from the advancing conformity- a catechism for the future. However, I guess I am classified as Generation X. Therefore, I divine the obnoxious rite to blithely bitch about those my junior. Ha Ha. Generation Y, the precipitous mass of unholy technological bums... Man, that sounds so bitter but really it’s more the green-eyed monster of envy rearing its ugly head. “Ah! Kids these days!” What the hell are we going to do? The generation of decoded, near technological perfection is here! These babes are now graduating high school and college. They rule this dynamic now. Cell phones instead of sippy cups and ipods instead of turntables, we ARE (NOT) doomed. Joking aside, I am at an impasse with the virile and computer-savvy youth. Society mocks their relentless laziness and broad-ban boredom yet we revere their knowledge! I am equally shocked and impressed by their inherent nature and ability to navigate “the system.” To whom do I owe my admitted gratitude and faithless abandon of OUR future to? I guess, in short, inevitability and (darn that) Charles Darwin. Dearest Gen Y, set forth and dominate during this critical hour. For goodness sake, remove those micro headphones and listen for your destiny. I bid you, wake up from your cyber-induced coma and connect those USB ports to a greater and more tangible reality. Your silence proves either numbness or genius- let it be the latter! We need more from you than humble disregard! We need to know the brightest and most innovative generation is upon us. You remain a generation consecrated with both humanity AND raging technology. Pivot or watch this thing end.

Serendipity Strikes Again

"Old friend, what are you looking for?
After those many years abroad you come
With images you tended
Under foreign skies
Far away from your own land."
-George Seferis

Behold, this is a purely personal blog- naturally unrelated to our media theory class...So... I was rearranging my bookshelf today (a tedious and mildly refreshing task) because my new roommate decided to "move stuff around." I have a fabulous and quite large bookshelf, it's divine and proudly spans the entire wall of my living room (yay Ikea). As I become unhealthily immersed in this activity I dawn upon, of all things, a book! No really, not just any silly and trite thing- but a book I didn't even realized I owned. Some time ago I decided my new favorite book of all time is, The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Neffinegger. It's a fabulous read and I recommend it to all of you! Through out the novel she quotes from another text, A.S. Byatt's Possession. I doted on these quotes, rather marveled in their alacrity and perfect complimentary value to the story. Consciously, I thought, Damn I really need to get that book of poetry (?) the author is quoting. Well guess what gem I found, lingering in unread peril, on my bookshelf? Jolly good for my instinctual obsession with collecting and shame on me for never having even turned the cover. I initially freaked out and began jumping around the living room with glee and then I snatched the book and inspected its content.

And yet, hence forth is the real kicker:A.S. Byatt is a literary critic! And NOT ONLY THAT--- one of her books, Angels and Insects, is the next in a series of sixteen readings for my other graduate class. I deem all of this serendipity, yet it must actually be my unconscious mind doing the work for me. Somewhere in the realm of my long-term memory I must have known this book existed on my glorious bookshelf, and somehow (unbeknownst to my waking self) my chaotic and annoyingly oblivious brain made the connection. Thus, flailing in my find revealed two things: mere luck of timing (in the sense that serendipitously I was propelled to rearrange my books) and a perfectly frightening example of the one truth in life...nothing is really an accident and all is meant to be. Well, maybe that's making the whole thing a little too deep, but so what! I am beaming with creative ingenuity. I honestly make it a point to pay attention to random shit. Most details go in one ear and out the other--so be it. I unconsciously displaced or forgot the name of the author of Angels and Insects. Ehh, maybe its all coincidence and me being a phenomenal jackass. Haha. To this I laugh, I still made the connection and all is right with the universe.

Meditating on Moulthrop

In trying to remember to not take the author, Stuart Moulthrop and his article too seriously, I found myself mesmerized by the intricate data in this paper. As I tried to discern both the complexity of the subject matter and Moulthrop's brain soup I somehow came to terms with his fictional postmodern paradise, Xanadu. With patience and fortitude I sifted through his techno-garble only to find the concept of Xanadu and Hyperreality all frightenly relevant and bewitching. I say bravo to Moulthrop for following the rigid guidelines of a critical paper while at the same time stepping far beyond the boundaries of conventional writing. What's more, his ability to implement an entirely new system of words and terms baffles me; I wonder how much longer society can stave off the vernacular use of such words like "populitism" and "hypotext."To begin with, Xanadu is a theoretical ideal (much like a techno-paradise or heaven) that paradoxically exists in the world of online omnipotence yet also remains a total myth, think urban legends of other dimensions and Utopia. Moulthrop challenges the reader to consider both the complete destruction or "implosion" of technology and the inevitabl evolution of communication through the "system" or in layman's terms: the web. According to Moulthrop the orgins of hyperreality stem from a false reasoning, a simulated reality in which we have all become all-too accustomed. Yet it is the hopeless and reckless abandonment of the past that will eventually propel us furhter forward into The Age of Technology and Perfection. Recently, I realized a severity and dominance of online jobs these days. The economy dives into torrents of poverty and despair yet the uprise in online companies and the boom of website-only functioning businesses ricochets with power and force throughout our suffering society. Is it a question of embracing the madness or holding fast to a dying form of communication, simple print based text? Moulthrop's Hyperreality has strange charateristics of not only a New World Order (which, of course is an antiquated term at this point) and religion. Realistically Moulthrop has indeed touched upon another scary concept involving online text and literature becoming something of its own "catechism." Technology certainly has the ability to morph into a new religion; or maybe it already has...Society's obsession with staying connected resembles a religious fervor and a collective passion reflected in the pages of the Old or New Testament. As we pray to the gods in cyberspace scholars and writers can take comfort that Hyperreality has not sacrificed old print and the book, but instead technology has merely changed the form by which we access our simple ways of communicaton. "Hypertext...[t]he end of the death of literature."

Memoirs and First Podcast

Having toiled over the actual technical aspects of this project I realized I was jumpimg in the pool backwards. Seeing the bottom suddenly became less important than getting my feet wet. The whole thing is both a trip down memory lane and a learning process. To begin with, my project is in 4 functioning parts. The first part is what we could call a blast from the past. I wanted to show my audience visually the path of my own technoLiteracy memoir. So, creating a power point seemed innocuous enough. The second part of the project is quite obviously the use of this blog to be the technological vehicle for the generalized information. The third part is the old-fashioned written paper which depicts the course of my personal media literacy. And finally, the most alien piece of the puzzle is the Podcast. The entire project was a learning process. Creating a podcast gave way to yet another way to blend into the new face of technology and media literacy.

After gathering and "uploading" my memories I realized that simple text was just not enough to show any advancement I have achieved as a media literate writer. I am incorporating a link to a piece of technology that I find to be off the charts in the catagory of media literacy. The device of all literary devices and the internet gods present: the new Kindle2 ebook. Also, if you are in the market to purchase this bizarre and innovative piece of technology try going here. I am also incorporating a link to the how-to video of this device.
And last but certainly not least is the video podcast. Please enjoy the music too!

A New Book for a New Brain

While reading Bolter's book I am drawn to certain simple words such as "space" and "control." The space extends into the nether regions of cycling cyber pages. And to truly appreciate the changeling technology of online "literature" the reader must willingly relinquish his/her control. In chapter five Bolter addresses the concepts and confines of both books and the possible new face of literature: the electronic book. Mainly, Bolter is exercising the idea that unlike books the data in an electronic book and/or written online document very purposefully lacks closure. For instance, let us say that I wanted to read a book via online. Regardless of whether the book was published specifically for (or by) the World Wide Web or if it is John Steinbeck's East of Eden in a pdf file, the outcome for the reader is the same: an unending circuit of information following the close of the story. An example would be the links posted at the end depicting websites where one could buy the book, read criticism online, or something as random as being redirected to a website for carpet cleaner or chewing gum (though I have yet to come across a website for bubble gum). All things at one point in time where an invention- were shiny and new. Bolter points out that even the ancients had to change from writing information on rolls to finally divining an actual book. The origin of books gave way to a change in verbal communication, and so on and so forth.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Our culture has never ceased changing and inventing new ways to grow and alter our brains (it's the beauty of a collective unconscious). Bolter uses the term "refashion." The term accurately describes the changing face of literature, print, and written media. Suddenly, we no longer crave a sense of peaceful closure to the story- but instead we have re-routed our brains to desire an ad infinitum of knowledge.

Scribes and Pirates Away

Welcome to the end times. All we have left is "world enough..." This is my first blog. It feels strange and yet very liberating to suddenly have a medium such as this one to be creative and explore the world wide web as a writer. I wonder if maybe this could be my niche or opportunity knocking. Which reminds me, my son is really rather clever at the obscure art of knock-knock jokes. I cannot for the life of me think of one, but when I googled it (all hail the google gods) I found a ton of links to a literal slew of Knock knock jokes. Knock knock!! Who's there? Mary Lee. Mary Lee who? Merrily we roll along. And on...I truly believe you can find anything on the Internet- ANYTHING. Instead of Crazy Eights (great card game by the way) let's play Try to Stump Google. Admittedly, I am one of those select few who tread lightly upon the grounds of technology. In other words, I live in the dark ages; I do not own a laptop or an ipod or even a smartypants cell phone with a "qwerty" keyboard. I have no idea what DVR stands for and I have a mild disgust for GPS locators in vehicles- especially the ones that talk to you in the creepy, robotic lady voice. I guess I am in denial; longing for a world of love letters and landlines, mixed tapes and road maps. "Old school," remains a great vernacular term for someone who is privy to the original source of something considered cool or trendy. Though after pondering being "old school", I can't help but find delightful puns and metaphors for those lost (such as myself) in the Age of Technology. Dusty books, love letters and telephone booths truly do come from an old school of thought, a less modern way, and very simply signify a chapter in history we have finished. This is not to say that suddenly books and pencils will become extinguished or even forgotten. Rather they shall be shelved as historic specimens and classic décor. For me, it's time to join the dead man's party, time to set sail this electronic boat. Sign me up for the real deal, the buzzing beat of the world wide web, the technological heart of humanity. Blog me, pod me, and plug me in.