Writing #5
Ideologies are just sets of aims. Goals for how we perceive what we are being exposed to. My next piece is going to be about the history of body art and modification and there are many diffferent ideologies that can be declared about the topic. Ancient history and modern research has shown that in paerticular parts of the world people looked upon tattooing and piercings as a passport from childhood to adulthood. Beauty was also affiliated with many different types of piercings and tattoos. Age was also another factor. Stretched labrets and earlobes in some cultures indicate age hence the older you are the bigger the stretch. Now-a-days, when we reach a certain age we believe that piercings should be taken out and allowed to grow shut and tattoos should not be so flaunted. Within the American borders, we have many different ideologies about body art. Some people look upon modified individuals as satanic and evil where as some others believe the modifications to be a form of expression and beauty. When you look at this on the flip side, what are the ideologies of the people who wear these modifications? Some people obtain tattoos and/or piercings because they like they way it looks while some others do it because they are marking their bodies for mourning reasons or even therapeutic reasons. Some on the other hand want others viewing them to see them as “hard-core” or “bad ass.” Basically, some do it for shock value. How and why do people have these certain ideologies towards body art and modification? That is a very good question and meta-ideology might be able to help us get a insight or at least a better insight than we had before.
Meta-ideology is the structure, the form and manifestation of ideologies. The how and why. It is more normal for soemone in america to see the face of a human being tattooed or pierced with stretched piercings and wicked tattoos and be shocked a little. Africa, on the other hand, might be a stranger place if they saw a person or people who did not have stretched piercings and tattoos on their face (along with the rest of them.) The ideology of a particular place involves understanding the normal perspective of the whole whether that be country, community or household. All depending on the societal norms of that particular location has influence on your personal ideologies as well as others personal ideologies. Not only personal but rather political ideologies are affected and based on society.
Political ideologies tend to concern themselves with things such as education, labor laws, criminal laws, healthcare…etc. Body modification could very well become a topic of discussion during a certain political debate. Seeing how piercings and tattoos can reduce the likelihood of someone obtaining a good paying job and going somewhere with the knowledge they know inside but do not socially show. Massacheutes has already made tattooing illegal and who knows what other states are next. It only depends on whether or not the ideologies of the main people in charge are for or against it. Whether or not the norm requires change or not. It can be very complicated but I would llike to think that my ideas are mine and not that of just the norm. I don’t want to be like everyone else. When are the ideologies of the norm going to become that of the abnorm as well? Either way it goes, there will always be conflict of interest and different ideologies flying around, we just have to learn to make our own minds up.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Media Literacy and it's Importance.
Writing # 4
I know I have seen at least two of the few people I see in my classrooms, where note-taking on your laptop is permissible, “listening” to the teacher and playing on Myspace or watching you-tube videos. Speaking of you-tube, there was a video posted of a class from Kansas State University where students held up a piece of paper with a few words expressing themselves, and among a couple of these expressive placards were, “I facebook through most of my classes” and “I bring my laptop to class but I’m not working on class stuff.” Professor Michael Wesch of Kansas State University, responsible for the you-tube video, gave a speech on different ways to teach and understanding that with time comes changes and learning to understand the different multiliteracies out there plays a significant part in how the new generations should be educated.
I would like to think I am not alone but when it comes to writing a piece for a class or whether a good story flashes within my head and I want to preserve that thought, it is very challenging for me to transfer information from my brain to a sheet of paper using a pen or pencil (depending on preference at the time) and make sense of it. Typing on a keyboard, allowing me to freely rearrange sentences and locations of paragraphs without arrows and squiggly lines, is a much easier way for me to create a writing. I’ve noticed the quality of the flow and meaning of my words is better when I’ve typed a piece rather than writing it by hand. When Michael Wesch asked his students during one of his lectures, “How many students do not like school?” around half, give or take a few, raised their hands. Following that question was, “How many students do not like learning?” The results yielded zero hands in the air. If we really think about this, since all the students in that class liked to learn but half did not like school, does that mean that half of the students just do not like the environment in which they are learning? Sounds like to me it’s the classroom, not the criteria. That is why some students Myspace, Facebook, You-Tube,… during class.
What is a good way to get the internet junkie to want to do their homework? Put it on the internet, maybe? That is one good point Professor Wesch was trying to make in his video on ’Media Literacy.’ According to the students’ self report, they admitted to only reading, on average, approximately 49% of their assigned readings while finding only about 26% of them seemed relevant to their life. He mentioned how we perceive information on paper as a thing and a thing cannot be in more than one place at a time while Hyper-linking, on the other hand, proves this wrong. Information can not only be in many places at once, it can actually come to us rather than having to be searched for. It is amazing how times have changed and I agree with Professor Wesch when he proclaimed that learning to read the media and understand how it all works is very important, especially with the technology that is already here and soon to come.
Professor Wesch asked, isn’t saying “I’m just not cut our for school” the same thing as saying “I’m just not cut out for learning?” I do not agree with this statement although Professor Michael Wesch does. I do understand that school’s purpose is to teach students and maybe it is not the criteria being taught but how and where it is being taught. The ways in which the criteria is being taught might not work for some students. Some people just cannot learn in a classroom setting where they feel confined by the walls surrounding them. Wesch stated, “To learn is to create significance and meaningful connections.” and some students cannot do this within the walls of a classroom.
Kevin Kelly put it best when he said, “Nobody is as smart as everybody.” and with the use of media (internet) knowledge can be combined to find the most advanced information on any subject (when you can decipher between sources and reliable sources.) Students can also put personality into their work by using visual and audio aid rather than just words. I would have to agree with Professor Wesch that media literacy is becoming more important than ever and it is important for teachers and professors to incorporate media literacy into their methods of teaching.
I know I have seen at least two of the few people I see in my classrooms, where note-taking on your laptop is permissible, “listening” to the teacher and playing on Myspace or watching you-tube videos. Speaking of you-tube, there was a video posted of a class from Kansas State University where students held up a piece of paper with a few words expressing themselves, and among a couple of these expressive placards were, “I facebook through most of my classes” and “I bring my laptop to class but I’m not working on class stuff.” Professor Michael Wesch of Kansas State University, responsible for the you-tube video, gave a speech on different ways to teach and understanding that with time comes changes and learning to understand the different multiliteracies out there plays a significant part in how the new generations should be educated.
I would like to think I am not alone but when it comes to writing a piece for a class or whether a good story flashes within my head and I want to preserve that thought, it is very challenging for me to transfer information from my brain to a sheet of paper using a pen or pencil (depending on preference at the time) and make sense of it. Typing on a keyboard, allowing me to freely rearrange sentences and locations of paragraphs without arrows and squiggly lines, is a much easier way for me to create a writing. I’ve noticed the quality of the flow and meaning of my words is better when I’ve typed a piece rather than writing it by hand. When Michael Wesch asked his students during one of his lectures, “How many students do not like school?” around half, give or take a few, raised their hands. Following that question was, “How many students do not like learning?” The results yielded zero hands in the air. If we really think about this, since all the students in that class liked to learn but half did not like school, does that mean that half of the students just do not like the environment in which they are learning? Sounds like to me it’s the classroom, not the criteria. That is why some students Myspace, Facebook, You-Tube,… during class.
What is a good way to get the internet junkie to want to do their homework? Put it on the internet, maybe? That is one good point Professor Wesch was trying to make in his video on ’Media Literacy.’ According to the students’ self report, they admitted to only reading, on average, approximately 49% of their assigned readings while finding only about 26% of them seemed relevant to their life. He mentioned how we perceive information on paper as a thing and a thing cannot be in more than one place at a time while Hyper-linking, on the other hand, proves this wrong. Information can not only be in many places at once, it can actually come to us rather than having to be searched for. It is amazing how times have changed and I agree with Professor Wesch when he proclaimed that learning to read the media and understand how it all works is very important, especially with the technology that is already here and soon to come.
Professor Wesch asked, isn’t saying “I’m just not cut our for school” the same thing as saying “I’m just not cut out for learning?” I do not agree with this statement although Professor Michael Wesch does. I do understand that school’s purpose is to teach students and maybe it is not the criteria being taught but how and where it is being taught. The ways in which the criteria is being taught might not work for some students. Some people just cannot learn in a classroom setting where they feel confined by the walls surrounding them. Wesch stated, “To learn is to create significance and meaningful connections.” and some students cannot do this within the walls of a classroom.
Kevin Kelly put it best when he said, “Nobody is as smart as everybody.” and with the use of media (internet) knowledge can be combined to find the most advanced information on any subject (when you can decipher between sources and reliable sources.) Students can also put personality into their work by using visual and audio aid rather than just words. I would have to agree with Professor Wesch that media literacy is becoming more important than ever and it is important for teachers and professors to incorporate media literacy into their methods of teaching.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Life
WRITING #3
When you know everything, you are practically immortal; when you know nothing, there is no existence. Life in general, teaches us how to survive. If something is wrong with our being, survival requires tending from others. Does this go towards all living things? We all know the saying, "The strong survive, the weak die." When I look at the picture above, I think of my life and the handfuls of shit that life has thrown my direction. I feel as though this tree represents all things about me (and others) and it makes me realize that everyone has problems, how you handle them represents who you are. I see life when I see this tree and where it begins for both human and tree life, is birth.
Conception of a human lifeform begins with a fertilized egg within a woman's uterus. We are as a seed beneath the earth protected from all outside dangers. Though we are protected, we still are affected by our outside host. Weather complications as well as pregnancy complications are outside complications and what goes on outside, helps/hurts the inside. As we grow older, our bones (branches) grow larger, taller and stronger. We are more likely to survive during harsh conditions. The older we get, the more independent we become and along with age comes knowledge. When I gaze upon this tree, I perceive knowledge and knowledge is also vital to survival hence that saying once again, "The strong survive, the weak die." Strength is having both brain and brawn and I would like to think I obtain a little bit of both.
Everything we learn gives us a new branch to explore and learn from. We find that with each branch comes a new lesson about what not to do again or where the best position is to absorb sunlight. We are given so many options but only a few we take just as which direction a branch chooses to grow is a vast limitation where all options can not be occupied. The more we learn, the stronger we become and the more independent and able to protect ourselves we become. Where trees grow flowers and fruits, people grow a better understanding of concepts and ideas. Life tends to be pretty cruel at times and certain experiences we endure, mold and shape the foundation of who we are and what we will become. Life can sometimes send things our way that leave us twisted and knotted and it seems that we have no symmetry. One shoulder always seems heavier than the other and we tend to feel a little less wind resistant. Sometimes, the wind just hits a little too hard and we all end up losing a couple branches but as long as we still survive, we've done exactly that, survive. In order to survive, we must live and with life comes death. Death is something I, as well as many others, do not like to think about but we all know it is bound to happen. Everything that lives, must die.
Like a tree, we all have a beginning, a middle and an end. Although the whole process may differ in various aspects, when you really look at the picture from a metaphoric view, humans and trees have quite a bit in common. As a tree ages, it loses a few branches here and there and when death is approaching, leaves are no longer produced. As people age, we tend to forget certain things we used to know thus causing a few of our branches to dilapidate and fall to the ground and as death calls, we can no longer comprehend new ideas or form them for the matter. Our flowers curl up and die and we are left with an empty lifeless branch. While both human and tree life end, that's not to say we do not leave something behind.
Both humans and trees have roots that lie deep down below the surface and whether the purpose for our existence consists of offering shade on a sunny day or helping a friend change a tire, our existence leaves an imprint deep down below the surface. At least one person or one thing will benefit from our existence and both human and tree life is important. Whether life hands us a a bouquet of flowers or a heaping pile of pain, we must learn to take things one branch at a time and no matter how we choose to respond to life, we leave that mark behind and with that mark comes the world's perception of who we are and were and that is why I love this image. It makes me want to be the best person I know how to be.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
