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.