I thought that the point in the article about how trying to get Hispanic folks to all subscribe to one cultural identity is foolish was a good one. There are far too many differences in culture between one country and the next for them to all want to come together under one label. I don't really see why we expect that considering that we make such a huge deal out of separating the different European countries' cultures. I know that I would be offended if someone told me that because my ancestors came from Europe I was supposed to eat snails like the French.
I thought that the film was interesting in that it portrayed the different cultural groups within just one city competing and claiming to be different from one another. I think that the need to identify one's self from another group is too strong to completely ignore. It was nice to see that the Carnival in Bahia was able to allow people to express themselves as being different in a (somewhat) safe environment while still letting everyone be free to party.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Celebration
From the reading Tuesday, getting together as a whole and sharing everyones differences was the sole purpose. which is great and understandable, but it seems to restricted to the carnival film. i liked the film more because the concept in both was to celebrate, and the carnival film sure did that. the idea of celebrating was different because the carnival let you be free completely; for 5 whole days. any concerns, dreams, persona's, that had been tucked away is let out during the carnival. free to be yourself and no judgment. while the reading celebrates a stricter celebration and control of all the organized events. you wouldnt her the reading talking about people passing out in the streets and that be the ultimate goal of the celebration. Or see a baby next to a drag queen next to a completly wasted clown during the celebration. it was interesting to see the differences of interpreting the celebration types.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Comparing Carnaval and "Latinismo"
After watching the film and reading the article about Latinismo, I can see some differences between the two.
The film expressly said that the purpose of Carnaval was to have fun, to break from reality for five days out of the whole year while the article reported that the purpose of the Latin culture events was to bring unity in diversity. The article examined several events which had this purpose in mind and reported their level of success based on their "key scenarios."
So, on the one hand, we have a culture event based on fun while the other is founded on the basis of cultural unity and diversity, of finding a common interest and identity while maintaining each Latino country's pride and dignity, which is the tension between nationalism and panethnicity.
Also, the article reported the events in clear though general details and these events seemed to be well-organized events that celebrated this unity in diversity concept. Carnaval, on the other hand, seemed like one of our classmates confided, like "organized chaos." There was lots of dancing and noise and people in the middle of the streets and--at the end of the festival--lots of trash to clean up. Carnaval just seems like a huge event compared to the ones mentioned in the article.
Though I can say that Carnaval did represent all of Bahia's cultural heritages through their respective clubs. I cannot say that for many of the cultural events mentioned in the article, as Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday and other Hispanics try to celebrate it. The Mexicans have historically been the culturally dominant ethnic group in San Francisco. But the Berkeley Fiesta and the 24th Street Fair showed that Cinco de Mayo could represent more than one Latino country in bringing in group-specific music, dance and food.
Carnaval in Bahia seems to already have this unity in diversity concept in hand, though some culture events in San Francisco have some work to do to achieve this goal of Latinismo.
The film expressly said that the purpose of Carnaval was to have fun, to break from reality for five days out of the whole year while the article reported that the purpose of the Latin culture events was to bring unity in diversity. The article examined several events which had this purpose in mind and reported their level of success based on their "key scenarios."
So, on the one hand, we have a culture event based on fun while the other is founded on the basis of cultural unity and diversity, of finding a common interest and identity while maintaining each Latino country's pride and dignity, which is the tension between nationalism and panethnicity.
Also, the article reported the events in clear though general details and these events seemed to be well-organized events that celebrated this unity in diversity concept. Carnaval, on the other hand, seemed like one of our classmates confided, like "organized chaos." There was lots of dancing and noise and people in the middle of the streets and--at the end of the festival--lots of trash to clean up. Carnaval just seems like a huge event compared to the ones mentioned in the article.
Though I can say that Carnaval did represent all of Bahia's cultural heritages through their respective clubs. I cannot say that for many of the cultural events mentioned in the article, as Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican holiday and other Hispanics try to celebrate it. The Mexicans have historically been the culturally dominant ethnic group in San Francisco. But the Berkeley Fiesta and the 24th Street Fair showed that Cinco de Mayo could represent more than one Latino country in bringing in group-specific music, dance and food.
Carnaval in Bahia seems to already have this unity in diversity concept in hand, though some culture events in San Francisco have some work to do to achieve this goal of Latinismo.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Carnival and Latin American Events
The main thing that Carnival in Bahia had with the events we read about was that there was a mix of cultures. However, the cultures that were mixed were different and the reasons were different also. In Carnival there was a mix of South American, Native American, and even African influences because those cultures are prominate in Brazil. It is a part of Brazilian culture. The events we read about usually mixed different country's cultures together, in order to show unity among the latinos in America. There seemed a stark difference between the events we read about and Carnival. The events in America were a concerted effort to bring people of different nationalities together. There was a blend that would have made it hard to differentiate the cultures, they were all just latino. For instance for cinco de mayo in one of the events there were several cultures other than Mexican featured. They were trying to create a sense of community. Carnival is a result of community, not an attempt for community. The cultures there are Brazilian and nothing else, they are already united, and no one is trying to force them to unite, and they are confusing their culture with any other. The events we read about seemed more contrived, while the Carnival was natural. There was no greater plot behind it, the point is to just have fun.
Carnival Edition
The film was interesting because I'd actually never heard of Carnival...or Bahia. The equivalent here[in the U.S.] religiously would be Mardi Gras whilst the equivalent overall would be Key West's Fantasy Fest. With Fantasy Fest, it is the only week long festival where authority tolerates public intoxication and debauchery. The one aspect of the film that stood out to me was when the elderly woman performed a ritual that involved killing chickens to remove the evil from the club. That was one of the only main aspects that didn't really match up with the great carnival-like events in America. As exciting as the carnaval seemed, I don't think I'd personally attend it but it was great to view it through film none the less.
Carnival
The article does a good job in exploring the history of cultural unity within the United States in South and Central America. While the article talked about the unity of different cultural groups and the celebration of Cinco de Mayo in San Francisco, the film was a visual expression of the unity of culture in Bahia.
Different cultural backgrounds were united in a 5 day celebration which incorporated song and dance, although the different social classes would typically divide these groups. It was compelling to see how these distinct groups, each with their own distinct customs and traditions, were able to express themselves with freedom and acceptance.
The film was a great way to see the written words of the article, although different location and demographics. Both the article and video described the cultural unity the Hispanic population shared, despite their individual differences.
Different cultural backgrounds were united in a 5 day celebration which incorporated song and dance, although the different social classes would typically divide these groups. It was compelling to see how these distinct groups, each with their own distinct customs and traditions, were able to express themselves with freedom and acceptance.
The film was a great way to see the written words of the article, although different location and demographics. Both the article and video described the cultural unity the Hispanic population shared, despite their individual differences.
Carnaval
The film that we watched in class was very intriguing. I had always known about Bahia, but never heard of this celebration called Carnaval. It is a time for all social classes to get together, forget their troubles, and party for days on end. In many ways I was reminded of the Mardi Gras celebration that takes place in New Orleans. The article also concerned Carnaval, but in America, San Francisco to be exact. Unfortunately, clearly the experiences of the two are completely different, due to the more generic feel given off by the San Francisco celebration than the Bahia one. While the Bahia celebration was a coming together of all different types of Latino people celebrating different aspects of their heritage, the San Francisco one was much more subdued and made so that all of their residents, not just Latino one, could take part in the fun. Overall I found the video to be much more compelling to the article and enjoyed watching it.
In the film "Carnival Bahia," carnival is an all-encompassing celebration. Although, according to the film, it began in Bahia as a celebration for mostly upper class citizens, the film portrays it as now being a celebration for all social groups. The article describes the Carnaval in San Francisco as an attempt to create a celebration of all ethnic groups - more of an international celebration. There is a large Brazilian influence, and the elements of Carnaval in San Francisco, according to the article, make it too generic for the large Latino population to claim it as their own. The Latino population in San Francisco is varied, and each group has separate elements that it prefers to emphasize. In the film, each group, like Olodum, has its own cultural emphasis. Some are trying to go back to their African routes, others relate to Ghandi. However, the film says that they are all Brazilian, but first,they consider themselves Bahian. That is the common element that they celebrate in their own Carnival.
Carnival
In the film that we watched in class, Carnival Bahia, there was one main carnival that everyone wanted to participate in. People from every class participated in Carnival but some were more limited than other because of their class; Olodum being one of the poorer clubs to participate due to their limited amount of funds, however still leaving their mark on Carnival. Both the film we watched and the article we read deals with immigrants; Carnival Bahia deals with more African aspect of the immigrants while the article opens up to many more different ethnicities. Both Carnivals allow everyone from each class to tear away at the labels and escape to a fantasy world.
Film vs. Article
"Carnival Bahia" portrayed the carnival as 5 days of universal celebration. All social classes, people from all walks of life set aside their day-to-day struggles just to have fun. Of course, as in all forms of fun, there was some competition, but all with good intent; the only prize was bragging rights, but that was enough. In those 5 days, people were able to live out even their wildest fantasies in broad daylight without fear or shame, a true celebration of individuality.
Although the article and the film may describe the same thing, the film does a much more compelling job. It's far easier to understand what the carnival means to people when you see it for yourself, rather than having some author say, "This carnival is a true escape for these people."
Although the article and the film may describe the same thing, the film does a much more compelling job. It's far easier to understand what the carnival means to people when you see it for yourself, rather than having some author say, "This carnival is a true escape for these people."
Film vs. Article
In the film Carnival Bahia, there was one main carnival and everyone participated in it. The main difference between the people participating was their class. The film concentrated on the plight of the Olodum. They faced more struggles to be apart of the carnival because of their limited amount of funds. This carnival is just one example of how culture can blur the lines between classes. Even though Olodum was one of the poorer clubs, by the end of the carnival everyone was singing their song.
In the article I found that there was a concentration on how the different groups of Hispanics celebrate different carnivals instead of focusing on one like the film. The article talked mainly about the origins of carnivals like Cinco de Mayo, which was the "commemoration of the 1862 battle of Puebla" (39). Reading about different carnivals is immensely different than actually witnessing the for oneself.
Both ways of viewing carnivals have a way that shows the audience it is possible to cross certain lines, i.e. class. It is also possible to, for at least a while, not differentiate between the different groups of Hispanics and they can all be one large group, i.e. San Francisco.
In the article I found that there was a concentration on how the different groups of Hispanics celebrate different carnivals instead of focusing on one like the film. The article talked mainly about the origins of carnivals like Cinco de Mayo, which was the "commemoration of the 1862 battle of Puebla" (39). Reading about different carnivals is immensely different than actually witnessing the for oneself.
Both ways of viewing carnivals have a way that shows the audience it is possible to cross certain lines, i.e. class. It is also possible to, for at least a while, not differentiate between the different groups of Hispanics and they can all be one large group, i.e. San Francisco.
carnival
The film we watched in the class last time describes about Carnival Bahia in Salvador, Brazil. It shows that people in Bahia (mostly poor) who has African descent gather together and enjoy 5 days of festival. They live other 360 days for the Carnival and forget about stressful matters in their ordinary lives. The film also shows how people prepare for the carnival and enjoy it. The article also describes several Latino festivals in the United States. It focuses more on origin of those festivals and expression of same hispanic identity in the US.
Article vs film
I found the article to be quite lacking when compared to the film. Reading about the event and seeing it are two completely different things, even more so in this case with the huge scale and the cultural meaning of the carnival itself. Personally seeing the carnival on film got me quite excited. 5 days of near anarchy appeared to be a lot of fun. Moreover the multitude of cultures gathering together for a single celebration where class and social power almost do not matter at all is an impressive thing. I get the feeling that perhaps America would benefit from something like this. But then again i would imagine our crime rate would be much higher. I always knew that letting go was good for you once in a while but to do it on the scale of tens of thousands of people is amazing at least from the government perspective.
You cannot capture the spirit of the carnival, which revolves around chaos and a general letting go, with words in an article. It is just something that you have to go see. (something that i hope to see eventually as well)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Carnival
The movie was very different from the article. The movie focused a lot on the fact that the carnival was a way for the people of Bahia to forget their everyday lives. It made the carnival out to be five days of debauchery. There were several images of people taking there clothes off, homosexual kissing, cross dressing, and prostitution. They went into detail about how the people are in poverty. The movie made it seem like these five days are the only time these people, who have horrible lives 360 days of the year, can enjoy themselves and that they act without the thought of moral repercussions. The article explained that Hispanics created these carnivals as a way to establish a cultural identity, and to get together and express said cultural identity. The article made the entire activity seem much more civilized. It was portrayed as more of a statement of their culture and less of a day to go wild.
One similarity I noticed was the presence of African culture within the Latin culture. The African rhythmic pattern has been infused into much of the music in Latin countries. Like in the movie the Africans that were brought to work in these countries refused to let go of their culture.
One similarity I noticed was the presence of African culture within the Latin culture. The African rhythmic pattern has been infused into much of the music in Latin countries. Like in the movie the Africans that were brought to work in these countries refused to let go of their culture.
Blog 6: Carnival Bahia
What struck me the most about Carnival Bahia is that it instantly reminded me of Marti Gras celebrations that I've seen (from televsion) and heard about, but Carnival Bahia is much more extreme in size, scope, and general anarchy. I noticed that the three carnivals had at least one thing in common, and that is that they are all brought over by immigrants and maintained by the descendents of immigrants. Carnival seems to preserve some cultural pieces (such as the emphasis on having an African heritage in C.B.), while generating a unique culture specific to the area, no matter where the original idea came from.
CvC
Both the carnival in the film and the carnival we read were made for immigrants. The contrasting aspect to this is that carnival Bahia is much more focused on the african aspect of the immigrants. The carnival we read about includes many more ethnicities. Both carnivals have floats that celebrate the specific groups which participate.
Carnival
Although I am aware that Brazil is full of many different cultural backgrounds, I was still surprised to see the many different groups that participated in the Carnival Bahia. I was not aware that they identified themselves so strongly with their specific cultural groups. Interestingly enough, the African roots were common in both the video and article amongst the Latin American groups. Even though the Carnival celebrations from the article were very different in style and presentation from those of the video, they all had that underlying base of African traditions. So no matter how differently the people may represent their cultures, it was clear from the article and the video that they were all brought together by the deep roots of the African culture they share. The most fascinating part is the idea that any one country can be represented by so many groups of people who identify with very specific aspects of their culture and yet they all remain so connected by an underlying culture that comes out in their art, singing, dancing, and social expression.
Carnival
The article speaks of a national Hispanic heritage as impossible as it is too general. I completely agree. Hispanic culture is spread over three land masses (Europe, South America, and Central America), has numerous dialects that cannot translates (for example the word potato in Castilian Spanish has a completely different meaning in South American countries' dialects). I was not surprised at all to find group-specific cultural/folklore activities such as Carnival Bahia. There may be similar activities in other countries but their differences are often quite noticeable. The same can be said of America. We may all speak the same language, but a carnival in NoVa is highly different than one in WVA. Nova carnivals involve mechanical rides and creepy carnies, WVA carnivals have hay rides and corn field mazes. They'll have similar overlap in foods (cotton candy, caramel apples, funnel cakes and so on), age groups (young children with their parents), and so on but when compared side by side they are noticeably different.
The Carnival in the article seems much more low-key than Carnival Bahia. The one mentioned in the article (Brazilian inspired) is only 1 day long instead of five, furthermore it does not unify the neighborhood as much as Carnival Bahia simply because the Brazilian version leaves the main neighborhood. One of the major similarities, however, are the floats of differing nationalities and ethnicities. This allows the mass to unify under one broad banner while being separate facilities on their floats. Also, both Carnivals are heavy with Afro-tradition despite the fact that most people no longer identify with such traditions (either because they have no Afro-heritage personally or because that have been so long removed from it).
The Carnival in the article seems much more low-key than Carnival Bahia. The one mentioned in the article (Brazilian inspired) is only 1 day long instead of five, furthermore it does not unify the neighborhood as much as Carnival Bahia simply because the Brazilian version leaves the main neighborhood. One of the major similarities, however, are the floats of differing nationalities and ethnicities. This allows the mass to unify under one broad banner while being separate facilities on their floats. Also, both Carnivals are heavy with Afro-tradition despite the fact that most people no longer identify with such traditions (either because they have no Afro-heritage personally or because that have been so long removed from it).
Friday, October 23, 2009
Carnival events in Latin America - Anelise
Prior to this week, I had not read a lot about the Carnival in Bahia or any other Latin American carnivals. It was very educational. I was amazed at all the similarities between the film and the article. The Carnival in Bahia was definitely emblematic of other Latin America carnival events. In both there was definitely the symbolic use of music, costumes, dance, rituals, and religion. It was also interesting how the festivals seem to be composed of one large group which is then subdivided into a bunch of smaller groups. In the article, the two festivals that are described in detail are the 24th Street Culture Festival and the Cinco de Mayo festival - both located in San Francisco. The Cinco de Mayo celebration was originally a Mexican event; however, it had been reorganized as a Latin American event - bringing the whole Latin American community together. Additionally, it was interesting to see how the African elements of Latin American heritage are portrayed in both the film and the article. I was unaware of the negative way some Latin Americans view the African roots in their heritage. From both the film and the article, it is evident that it is common for Latin American carnival events to be concurrent displays of culture - both different and similar - all within a unifying foundation.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
grimm tales
When i was little there was definitely Disney and the whole happy ending. there was always good feeling of knowing the princess was saved, the good guy won, etc. it wasn't until later in my childhood that i was introduced to the Grimm stories. i didn't know at the time that was them, but as a kid, the stories can be heartbreaking. of course this is all Disney's fault. the Grimm stories did make grim impressions on me when i would remember some of the stories. but watching them acted out in class did help me laugh on some that as a kid i wouldn't have been able to.
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Tales of the Brothers Grimm
I love these tales from the Brothers Grimm, though I know not whether they were collected or created. These stories are so enchanting and pleasurable to read; if I had only time to read these tales, I would do it. Surely, reading it for homework is a pleasure.
The tales seem to combine elements of reality, i.e. dangers from cutthroats or cannibals, stupidity and foolishness present in young 'uns, how dangerous persons can seem like friends, etc. with elements of enchantment and magic, i.e. witches, talking animals, elves, changelings (creepy things, really), and the oddest human characters you may ever read about. These stories clearly occupy the realm of imagination.
But as they are based on reality, they seem to convey some sort of message about it. It would not be far-fetched or unreasonable an idea to learn a lesson from these tales. For example, check and make sure who you're marrying is not a cannibal or otherwise dangerous and unsavory person. Another example would be that doing good invites the goodwill and blessing of others so that you may live a prosperous and happy, well-to-do life. Certainly, the stories seem that way.
So, the tales are purposed for disseminating social mores, giving warnings of potential dangers, putting on display the wonderfully idiotic actions of "unreal" characters, or just gathering peoples together for a good tale. It must be wonderful to tell and to hear of such fancy tales.
The tales seem to combine elements of reality, i.e. dangers from cutthroats or cannibals, stupidity and foolishness present in young 'uns, how dangerous persons can seem like friends, etc. with elements of enchantment and magic, i.e. witches, talking animals, elves, changelings (creepy things, really), and the oddest human characters you may ever read about. These stories clearly occupy the realm of imagination.
But as they are based on reality, they seem to convey some sort of message about it. It would not be far-fetched or unreasonable an idea to learn a lesson from these tales. For example, check and make sure who you're marrying is not a cannibal or otherwise dangerous and unsavory person. Another example would be that doing good invites the goodwill and blessing of others so that you may live a prosperous and happy, well-to-do life. Certainly, the stories seem that way.
So, the tales are purposed for disseminating social mores, giving warnings of potential dangers, putting on display the wonderfully idiotic actions of "unreal" characters, or just gathering peoples together for a good tale. It must be wonderful to tell and to hear of such fancy tales.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Grimm Tales
As a child I read the happily ever after tales rather than the ones that were written by the Grimm Brothers. The tales as a child made life seem like everyone was always happy and people got what their hearts desired. The tales we read for class did not always end with a happily ever after. The Death of a Hen is one fairytale that I did not hear as a child. In that tale everybody died and this killed, no pun intended, the illusion that all fairytales had happy endings. The purpose of these tales, in my opinion, are to show people that life is not always happy. There are no princes who come to rescue the damsels in the towers. These tales also provide morals that young kids should know. In Prudent Hans, the moral would to not take things for granted because you never know when they can disappear.
Grimm tales
I read these tales as a young child and I have forgotten how disturbing some of them are and how harsh some of the lessons seem. Clearly the tales are to teach or explain (a lesson, a phenomenon, and so on) and sometimes have a quality of amusement (Hans in Luck for instance). What seems interesting to me is how Disney (among other children story tellers/movie makers) has swooped in and altered the tales for children. As time went on and I got further away from when I actually read the tales I thought of Grimm tales and Disney as much more similar than they really are. The first version of Rapunzel I saw on TV had no thorns to stab out the prince's eyes. Instead there was an epic fight between Prince and witch; the prince won and whisked Rapunzel away--completely cutting out years of desert wandering. I've been trying to figure out who decided to alter the stories for children instead of leaving them as more adult household tales and why.
Grimm's Tales
I had known of some of Grimm's tales, but never really read them before. After reading some of the tales, I have a few opinions on them. My main opinion was that I had always seen the Grimm tales as fairy tales that are told to children. Well after reading the dark nature of the stories, clearly this isn't always the case. This explains why the book is termed "household stories" and not "children's stories." As for the purpose of the tales, other than entertainment of course, the tales seem to give lessons, such as in "The Death of the Hen" which teaches what can happen if you are greedy. Overall the Grimm Tales are very interesting and I'm excited to read the rest of them.
Grimm's Tales
Growing up, I was very familiar with fairy tales, from Hans Christian Andersen to the Grimm Brothers. My sisters and I would read the tales or watch videos about them. We really enjoyed listening to the stories, and to this day, I still like reading them. They remind me of my childhood and all the different variations of the stories that I read.
I was home this past weekend, and I completed the assignment by reading the stories to my seven year old brother. Although I had read most of the stories before, my brother was hearing them for the first time. For him, he saw the tales as more than entertainment. He was filled with questions after every story; he was learning lessons and having fun at the same time.
These stories provide the reader with a message that is received in a fun and interesting way. Without the entertaining aspects of the these stories, I doubt that people would be as interested in their content.
I was home this past weekend, and I completed the assignment by reading the stories to my seven year old brother. Although I had read most of the stories before, my brother was hearing them for the first time. For him, he saw the tales as more than entertainment. He was filled with questions after every story; he was learning lessons and having fun at the same time.
These stories provide the reader with a message that is received in a fun and interesting way. Without the entertaining aspects of the these stories, I doubt that people would be as interested in their content.
Folk tales
The pupose of these tales is to teach lessons. They are designed to convince common people of their position. So children must stay on the path in the woods and work hard.
Some stories are of more entertainment value. Hans in Luck allows the audience to laugh at a man who makes bad trades consistently, while the Six Soldiers of fortune do impossible things and triumph over those richer and crueler than they. It's a way to feel hopeful for th future.
purpose of tales
Aside from entertainment, the tales serve as a lesson to the audience. Here are a few highlights of what I've gleaned from the stories.
I was a tad bit confused by the lesson in "The Three Spinsters." While it does demonstrate that you will be rewarded by keeping your word, it gives a conflicting message about lying. The mother lied to the Queen, and therefore received nothing, yet the daughter lied to the Prince and recieved a life of leisure and luxury.
"The Fisherman and His Wife" teaches the audience to be careful with what you wish for and be happy with what you have. I also think it encourages us to stand up for what we believe in -- since the fisherman always complied with his demanding wife (against his better judgement), he never enjoyed a day's rest or peace.
"The Elves" is one of my favorite childhood stories. Although I recall it ending a little differently, the moral of the story is the same: One good turn deserves another.
Although I think "The Queen Bee" emphasizes the same moral as "The Elves," I also believe it points to the Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Witling's high regard for others led the creatures to look out for him and help him gain his fortune. His mean brothers, on the other hand, ended up getting what they deserved...
I was a tad bit confused by the lesson in "The Three Spinsters." While it does demonstrate that you will be rewarded by keeping your word, it gives a conflicting message about lying. The mother lied to the Queen, and therefore received nothing, yet the daughter lied to the Prince and recieved a life of leisure and luxury.
"The Fisherman and His Wife" teaches the audience to be careful with what you wish for and be happy with what you have. I also think it encourages us to stand up for what we believe in -- since the fisherman always complied with his demanding wife (against his better judgement), he never enjoyed a day's rest or peace.
"The Elves" is one of my favorite childhood stories. Although I recall it ending a little differently, the moral of the story is the same: One good turn deserves another.
Although I think "The Queen Bee" emphasizes the same moral as "The Elves," I also believe it points to the Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have done unto you. Witling's high regard for others led the creatures to look out for him and help him gain his fortune. His mean brothers, on the other hand, ended up getting what they deserved...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
The Grimms's Household Stories serve multiple purposes. Some of them teach a lesson. For example, in "The Robber Bridegroom" the reader learns not to be too trusting of strangers. In "Little Red Cap" we learn another lesson about the dangers of trusting strangers and straying from the correct path. Lesson abound in the tales, but they aren't all about lessons. They also offer commentary on human nature. "The Three Spinsters" introduce us to a lazy girl who gets ahead by being resourceful, and in "The Gallant Tailor" we meet a little man who is able to trick people into making him a king by sheer cleverness. The wife in "The Fisherman and his Wife" exemplifies the human human greed and the tendency to covet power. Even if there isn't an overt lesson in each tale, some aspect of human character is being examined.
Blog 5: Grimm Tales
My main impression of these tales is that while some are horrific and others are humorous (or both at the same time), many of them have multiple meanings and lessons in them. The one that I'm most familiar with is "Little Red Cap," after I read this original story a few years ago in another English class (I heard an "edited" version, without the particular punishments done to the wolves, as a child). The most obvious "lesson" in the tale for children is, naturally, "don't talk to strangers." But there's also a warning against young girls talking to strange men in particular (with the wolf representing men); a belief that children should listen to and deeply respect their elders; and a praise for those who show that they are clever. There are probably others that I'm missing, but my other impression is that these stories also contain a lot of symbolism that was important to the people who shared them.
As for their purpose, I also believe that they do impart lessons and advice. If I were to study these fairytales more in-depth, I would learn a lot about the folk culture that they originated from
As for their purpose, I also believe that they do impart lessons and advice. If I were to study these fairytales more in-depth, I would learn a lot about the folk culture that they originated from
The point behind Grimms Tales
Grimm's Tales obviously serve to teach a lesson or prove a point or hone in on an issue. The story of the fisherman and his wife for example, was not just to teach you that hard work is important, but the overriding point was to be content with what you have. It shows that greed can be an all-consuming, life changing force. The wife began to manipulate her husband, loose sleep, and eventually ruin her "good fortune" by being greedy.
Most tales teach and instruct about greed, sloth and some of the other major sins. As was prevalent in the time of Grimm and to a lesser extent today, stories that instruct young and old about the repercussions of undesirable behaviors are an important part of society.
Most tales teach and instruct about greed, sloth and some of the other major sins. As was prevalent in the time of Grimm and to a lesser extent today, stories that instruct young and old about the repercussions of undesirable behaviors are an important part of society.
Fairy Tales
The purpose of these tales other then entertainment is to teach a lesson. The tale of "The Three Spinsters" is meant to teach people that they should keep their promises. The young girl in the story keeps her promise, and everything turns out even better then she expected. In the tale of "The Fisherman and his wife". The wife and the husband get what they deserve. She gets what she deserves because she is so greedy and he gets what he deserves for doing everything she tells him to. All of the stories are like this. When someone does something good in the story or has a good trait then good comes to them. But when they do bad things or have bad traits bad things come to them.
My impression of these stories are that they are a little harsh, even when people are good and eventually get good back. Some of the elements of the stories are violent, and scary. Like in "The Gallant Taylor" when he kills the giants and they are swimming in their own blood. I like the lessons that the stories teach, but I think I will stick to Disney for my nighttime movies. No one wants to fall asleep watching "Rapunzel" when the prince gets his eyes gouged out.
My impression of these stories are that they are a little harsh, even when people are good and eventually get good back. Some of the elements of the stories are violent, and scary. Like in "The Gallant Taylor" when he kills the giants and they are swimming in their own blood. I like the lessons that the stories teach, but I think I will stick to Disney for my nighttime movies. No one wants to fall asleep watching "Rapunzel" when the prince gets his eyes gouged out.
Grimms Tales
I really enjoyed these stories, but I was surprised that I knew most of the ones in the anthology for our class. I hadn’t realized how much of childhood story-time I’d absorbed. I was also surprised that some of them were by the Grimms Brothers and not authored by Hans Christian Anderson. I guess it makes sense that both of them would tell similar stories since these fables were popular folk tales. It seems like all of these stories are meant to be tools. Whether they advise, warn, or just try to get a laugh out of the audience, each of them seems to have a central message. Like in the tale of Clever Grethel: it’s better to have an ingenious servant than an honest one. That isn’t a very moral moral, but it is (was) practical housekeeping advice. I liked that each of these tales had some form of sensible wisdom or entertainment value to offer to its audience. I think that’s why they get re-done/ re-told and have a sort of timeless quality about them.
Grimm Tales
When I read the tales, I was very glad because I have read all of these stories in the childhood. I was also surprised at myself because I knew every story in the book. Some stories had life lessons or moral in the plot but other stories did not have morals. In addition there were several stories that were not happy ending. I think Grimm Tales are different from fairy tales like Cinderella or Snow White. They are a lot more realistic.
As a grown up reader, these tales are for entertaining, but I think they can give children some lessons. For example, if you do not hear mother's words carefully, you will meet bad fortune like the little red cap met the wolf in the forest. Or, if you are greedy, you'll lose everything as in "the fisherman and his wife".
As a grown up reader, these tales are for entertaining, but I think they can give children some lessons. For example, if you do not hear mother's words carefully, you will meet bad fortune like the little red cap met the wolf in the forest. Or, if you are greedy, you'll lose everything as in "the fisherman and his wife".
Brother's Grimm
I have heard and/or read most of these in some form or other ever since I was a kid. There are so many different versions and these, being the originals, are the most non-sugar coated versions. They teach different stories and have multiple morals and I think the reason they are so violent and mostly unpleasant is because the real lesson is not lost among extraneous details. With stories today, they become so convoluted with rainbows and fairies and magic that the morals are usually lost in translation. But with the direct and obvious meanings of these stories, the people during the time that they were written, would have no hard time trying to understand them. I particularly loved "The Three Spinsters" story because it begins like the story of Rumpelstiltskin but ends up being something completely different with a humorous ending. For the modern day reader, I think they are purely for entertainment because we have different ways of warning others and setting examples. But for the people back in the time when these stories were written, they definitely served the purpose of teaching lessons.
Grimm Tales
After reading all of the Grimm tales that we were assigned to read, I've come to notice that all of them have the same general lesson behind it. Most of these tales were violent, they had kidnappings and murders, but I feel like that is not uncommon for the Grimm brothers. The Fisherman and his Wife is the classic lesson of appreciating what you already have and do not take things for granted, and the wife in this tale just wanted more and more and became greedy with every wish that was granted for her until she was put back to where she started from. These tales are for pure entertainment, as we all know fish cannot talk, although we would like to believe that there are magical fish that we could communicate with; who wouldn't want to know what a fish was thinking. The Grimm's tales may be a varient of the fairytales that children are told today, they may be darker and not appropriate for a certian age group but they still have the basic lessons that children need to learn.
Impression and Purposes
My impression of these stories is that most are very interesting and entertaining but many are very violent, which is what I expected because of the Grimm’s reputation. I was still surprised sometimes at how gory they can get though. But, I really like most of the stories especially Hans in Luck and Hansel and Grethel because they are funny and weird. I was not really expecting many of the stories to be funny. I have never read any of the original Grimm fairy tales but I herd that they were quite gory and depressing. So it was a pleasant surprise when some were actually light hearted and funny.
I think that many of the stories are purely for entertainment. But there are many that have some sort of lesson in them also. Some of the stories I would think act as a great deterrent to bad behavior among children. After being told the story of The Goose Girl, it would be a lot harder for me to lie and deceive than if my parents just old me not to lie. These stories teach impressionable children all the bad things that happen if they do not live a smart, and moral life. At least it is what the parents want the children to think that is what happens when they are bad.
Grimm Fairytales
Some of these tales are funny and some definitely are not. They do have lessons in each of them. It seems that although there are some with different versions they seem to have the same message behind them. Overall I think they were stories that were created to teach people lessons and told so others would learn from them. Every culture has certain tales that they pass down through experiences or stories such as these. The majority of these tales are fantastical, but if the audience is able to get past that then the moral or lesson is glaringly obvious.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
FT.E&P
These tales all require some thought to come to their true understanding. I think these tales are meant to get people thinking, and they do so very effectively. But their outlying purpose is hard to discern. The only real purpose I got from any of these tales was from The Robber Bridegroom. As cynical as it sounds, I believe that The Robbers Bridegroom is about the horrors or marriage. How after you commit to something that seems to wonderful, you become trapped in a house a lone, left only to the friendship of an old woman, with your husband killing your spirit and eating your sole. Well, thats a bit dark, but hey, it makes sense.
Anelise - Blog #5 - Fairy Tales purpose
I really enjoyed reading these stories. A few of them I had heard before; however, not necessarily in this form. Aside from the wonderful entertainment these stories provided, I believe that they serve many purposes. Each of the stories illustrated at least one life lesson. There were many lessons taught throughout the stories - some obvious and others encoded. To many parents the stories might be viewed as gruesome or unsuitable for children. However, I thought it was wonderful how the stories do not always have happy endings. Although most of them are strictly fiction, these stories give off the message that not every story ends “happily ever after”. They also address the issue of cultural values and norms. Moreover each of these stories is filled full of metaphors, symbolism, lessons, wisdom, and of course - entertainment!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Hand gesture
I have always been one to support gestures; if i want to point to something without speaking-I'll point with my lips or nose and look in that direction. In my family there are a lot of gestures done with hands and their faces that don't need explaining. Their gestures while they tell jokes or stories are the best. When i listen and see a story its completely different from if i read it over aim/text-the Internet. I feel a lot is lost. In person you hear and see what the person is portraying: movement of their body and actions, along with the pitch of their voice- changing voices when there's another person talking and accents they might have.
On the computer I will read plainly, and if i want to portray any emotion i have to result to the smiley face option on my AIM box. The problem with that, is the smiley faces fall short since the Internet lacks the connection of personal interaction. Reading is different from person to person and so, i might get offended if my friend types in all caps..thinking she's yelling at me when really she's just really happy and hyper. It's difficult to get the whole story across through an email or through chat, till the web cam. It makes a bridge that wasn't achieved before. Now i can see, talk, and hear my family that's all over the world. Even though there's miles dividing, i can still wake up real early, or stay up real late, to see, talk, and hear my brother that's in Kabul.
On the computer I will read plainly, and if i want to portray any emotion i have to result to the smiley face option on my AIM box. The problem with that, is the smiley faces fall short since the Internet lacks the connection of personal interaction. Reading is different from person to person and so, i might get offended if my friend types in all caps..thinking she's yelling at me when really she's just really happy and hyper. It's difficult to get the whole story across through an email or through chat, till the web cam. It makes a bridge that wasn't achieved before. Now i can see, talk, and hear my family that's all over the world. Even though there's miles dividing, i can still wake up real early, or stay up real late, to see, talk, and hear my brother that's in Kabul.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
A Mental Aside - Gesture On the Net
It may definitely be understood that we are able to express emotion and gesture through writing and specifically through the internet. However, the interpretation of the devices that we use to convey such things as inflection cues or hand-gestures are just as likely to be misunderstood. Did you read the italicized portion of my first sentence with a mental elongation of the words? That reading would be entirely appropriate under a certain context, especially one in which I was trying to emphasize sarcasm as much as possible. But, implying that italics is sometimes a valid method for expressing sarcasm is not a universal opinion, nor extend to all groups of internet users. It often seems to be the case that an individual’s comprehension of more advanced forms of internet parlance is based upon that individual’s experience with the specific mode of communication he or she is using, whether that be e-mail, instant messaging, or a favorite message board. That may indicate the presence of something more akin to a lexicon of etiquette than anything else. ON THE OTHER HAND, I MAY HAVE JUST SPENT TIME ADDRESSING A COMPLETELY OBVIOUS ISSUE. Sorry, didn’t mean to get passionate there.
To the main question of the topic, how one might express physical gestures through the net, the most common example that comes to mind would be what I can accomplish if I use parentheses to encapsulate a small idea, or fact into a larger context. How many people equate the use of such parentheses to the similar physical action of cupping one hand around your mouth and speaking softly? (Maybe you might even turn your head away from the subject of your softer comment) I’d call that “an aside” in regular conversation and it usually comes to mind often when I think I see it being expressed through black text.
To the main question of the topic, how one might express physical gestures through the net, the most common example that comes to mind would be what I can accomplish if I use parentheses to encapsulate a small idea, or fact into a larger context. How many people equate the use of such parentheses to the similar physical action of cupping one hand around your mouth and speaking softly? (Maybe you might even turn your head away from the subject of your softer comment) I’d call that “an aside” in regular conversation and it usually comes to mind often when I think I see it being expressed through black text.
Gestures Online
I'd say the first thing anyone thinks of as far as conveying emotion online are those nice little smiley-faces. They seem to have every option now, from happy to sad to cool to confused (...at least, I think that's what that face means). And here enters the problem: Even though one person may see a face and react one way, there is no guarantee that the person on the other end will see it the same way. (In my opinion, :P could be seen as "That's silly." just as easily as "You're silly."
I feel much the same way about all of these "emotional inserts." (*cries* *wink* *hugs*) They all fulfill a purpose at times, I suppose, but they shouldn't be our only form of expressing emotion. Personally, if something is so important that you have to labor over the correct emoticon or *action* to put in your IM message...GET OFF IM and meet in person. If you can't do that, at least have a phone conversation. That way, no one has to worry about a lost internet connection interrupting at a crucial time (think about all those dropped calls and what silence used to mean on the telephone).
Either that, or get really good at writing all your thoughts and feelings really fast, really well...
I feel much the same way about all of these "emotional inserts." (*cries* *wink* *hugs*) They all fulfill a purpose at times, I suppose, but they shouldn't be our only form of expressing emotion. Personally, if something is so important that you have to labor over the correct emoticon or *action* to put in your IM message...GET OFF IM and meet in person. If you can't do that, at least have a phone conversation. That way, no one has to worry about a lost internet connection interrupting at a crucial time (think about all those dropped calls and what silence used to mean on the telephone).
Either that, or get really good at writing all your thoughts and feelings really fast, really well...
The online world can be very expressive, but I don't think that gesture necessarily translates to the online world. Instead, I think that online conversations have adapted to the point where there is a new means of expression. There are smiley faces, asterisks to denote sarcasm, acronyms, etc. Each of these things portrays a certain emotion or tone, but it does not necessarily have a direct translation to a human gesture. For example, when a person types "lol" that doesn't necessarily mean he or she is actually laughing out loud. More likely, the person just found a comment humorous, and "lol" is the only way to express that via online conversations. In addition, some physical gestures are involuntary, but convey a great deal (giggles, frowns, raising of eyebrows, clenching of fists). In an online conversation, a person has more time to consider his or her response.
Gesture
I do not think that you can fully translate gesture to the internet. The tone of a person's voice is very important, and impossible to translate. For instance bad things can come from sarcasm on the internet that has not been followed with the word "sarcasm" in a pair of *asterisks* to show that you are preforming the act of sarcasm. One time I was IMing with one of my guy friends, and complaining about how I did not have a date to the upcoming dance. It went something like this:
Me: It's really sad how I'm soooo pathetic that I can't even get a date. :(
Him: Your not pathetic.
Me: Really now then why is my patheticness eating my head.
Him: Well then we should just go to the dance together.
Me: Yeah, ok.
Him: Ok I gotta to bed.
Me: K, night
Him: Night
Somehow I ended up committing to a date without realizing it. My "Yeah, ok" was supposed to have a drawn out ok, more like "ooook". But that did not translate through the internet. I was just talking out my butt, and did not realize that his invitation was sincere. However I did find out. The next day at school it had circulated throughout our friends. I ended up getting my best friend to call him on the phone the day of the dance, and tell him I was not coming. Then I ended up going anyway, he got the wrong idea, and was mad at my without telling me for weeks. Without the power of voice inflection and tone the internet can be very dangerous. People can easily get the wrong idea.
You just can not get the same level of emotion either. Just because you write *cries* into your e-mail does not mean that the other person is going to feel bad for you. It takes real tears in person for the other person to really get the idea. Which is why it is extremely weird when adults try to start relationships on the internet. You can not get a good sense of the other person from a few emoticons. :P
Me: It's really sad how I'm soooo pathetic that I can't even get a date. :(
Him: Your not pathetic.
Me: Really now then why is my patheticness eating my head.
Him: Well then we should just go to the dance together.
Me: Yeah, ok.
Him: Ok I gotta to bed.
Me: K, night
Him: Night
Somehow I ended up committing to a date without realizing it. My "Yeah, ok" was supposed to have a drawn out ok, more like "ooook". But that did not translate through the internet. I was just talking out my butt, and did not realize that his invitation was sincere. However I did find out. The next day at school it had circulated throughout our friends. I ended up getting my best friend to call him on the phone the day of the dance, and tell him I was not coming. Then I ended up going anyway, he got the wrong idea, and was mad at my without telling me for weeks. Without the power of voice inflection and tone the internet can be very dangerous. People can easily get the wrong idea.
You just can not get the same level of emotion either. Just because you write *cries* into your e-mail does not mean that the other person is going to feel bad for you. It takes real tears in person for the other person to really get the idea. Which is why it is extremely weird when adults try to start relationships on the internet. You can not get a good sense of the other person from a few emoticons. :P
Gestures Online
It's so easy to put an emoticon or to use punctuation to express how you feel when you are online. While it does seem that you are getting your point across, more times than not, the real emotion and feeling of the conversation is not being relayed to the person you are talking with online. Especially for people who are not familiar with the lingo of online conversation, it is very hard to understand their attitudes and emotions because they have not adapted to expressing themselves without making eye contact, hand movements, and facial expressions. It is practically impossible to understand that they are being humorous because without the "lol", who knows what's funny and what isn't?
A perfect example of this is the first time i met my brother's fiance, we were online. I did not even know what her voice sounded like and we were chatting on facebook chat. She had never really been online like that before and did not understand any of the chatting lingo that I am so familiar with. She was asking me questions and stuff and I began interpreting these questions as being invasive and rude. I had no idea what her facial expressions were so I couldn't tell if she was joking and I couldn't here the tone of her voice to identify any kind of rude attitude. Unfortunately that gave me a very bad first impression of her and I still have not met her in person so I think that until I do, I will not like her.
Lack of real human gestures online has taken away from truthful expression and while it does serve it's purpose for a quick chat, it really undermines our abilities to express ourselves the best way we know how.
A perfect example of this is the first time i met my brother's fiance, we were online. I did not even know what her voice sounded like and we were chatting on facebook chat. She had never really been online like that before and did not understand any of the chatting lingo that I am so familiar with. She was asking me questions and stuff and I began interpreting these questions as being invasive and rude. I had no idea what her facial expressions were so I couldn't tell if she was joking and I couldn't here the tone of her voice to identify any kind of rude attitude. Unfortunately that gave me a very bad first impression of her and I still have not met her in person so I think that until I do, I will not like her.
Lack of real human gestures online has taken away from truthful expression and while it does serve it's purpose for a quick chat, it really undermines our abilities to express ourselves the best way we know how.
Gesture in the Online World
On the Internet, there is such a thing as smileys, which are just big yellow faces (generally). My sister uses the icons all the time. Instead of seeing your face, the people you talk with online through im, chat, e-mail and whatnot can see these smiley expressions.
These expression represent a whole range of emotions, from a smiling face, a surprised face, a bored face, an angry face, an embarassed face...you get the idea. Not exactly body motions, but these expressions do communicate a great deal of emotion, if shared honestly. A type of body language, if you prefer.
In the absence of smiley expressions, people use keyboard symbols like < and /, and letters as well. For example, :D, which is a combination of a colon and the capital d. It communicates the big smile perfectly. There are other forms, or expressions, like <3, or heart, etc. I realize that many people reading this will go duh, but for the uninitiated, there you go.
Also, I searched online for "im speak" and came up with a website titled "The Largest List of Text Message Shorthand (IM, SMS) and Internet Acronyms Found of the Web." Succinct enough. But it certainly is a long list. For example, there is the shorthand, W9, for "wife in room," or YBF, which means "You've Been F***ed." Since I don't im that much, I find this list fascinating and enlightening.
There must be hundreds of abbreviations and shorthands for phrases for online communication. I say this is gesture not only because it is a special form of communication developed among a particular group of people, but because, like the bird and other such body language, they are unintelligible and/or innocuous. However, the body is not used for this communication, it is the keyboard, so perhaps this is a new form of communication apart from gesture, or I'm just late to the game and it has a name but I just don't know it.
These expression represent a whole range of emotions, from a smiling face, a surprised face, a bored face, an angry face, an embarassed face...you get the idea. Not exactly body motions, but these expressions do communicate a great deal of emotion, if shared honestly. A type of body language, if you prefer.
In the absence of smiley expressions, people use keyboard symbols like < and /, and letters as well. For example, :D, which is a combination of a colon and the capital d. It communicates the big smile perfectly. There are other forms, or expressions, like <3, or heart, etc. I realize that many people reading this will go duh, but for the uninitiated, there you go.
Also, I searched online for "im speak" and came up with a website titled "The Largest List of Text Message Shorthand (IM, SMS) and Internet Acronyms Found of the Web." Succinct enough. But it certainly is a long list. For example, there is the shorthand, W9, for "wife in room," or YBF, which means "You've Been F***ed." Since I don't im that much, I find this list fascinating and enlightening.
There must be hundreds of abbreviations and shorthands for phrases for online communication. I say this is gesture not only because it is a special form of communication developed among a particular group of people, but because, like the bird and other such body language, they are unintelligible and/or innocuous. However, the body is not used for this communication, it is the keyboard, so perhaps this is a new form of communication apart from gesture, or I'm just late to the game and it has a name but I just don't know it.
Family
My family is big on family closeness. Whenever someone goes away for a long time and then comes home, we have a big mini celebration. We go out to eat and things like that. For example, my brother went to the Marine Corps, and he'd only have a couple days of leave a year. Whenever he came home, my parents made sure it was a comfortable stay for him.
But I remember one moment of religious superstition for our family. It is pretty funny now that I think about it. One late afternoon (early, evening, I'm not sure), my parents and my aunt (who was living with us at the time with her daughter) each took a bottle of oil (olive, I think), went outside the house and walked around touching the exterior of the house with the oil, all the while praying in tongues. I was invited to tag along. It was pretty bizarre. I didn't understand why they were doing it, even though I knew the reason--to ward off evil spirits from our house.
I guess I'm in one of those very religious families, then.
But I remember one moment of religious superstition for our family. It is pretty funny now that I think about it. One late afternoon (early, evening, I'm not sure), my parents and my aunt (who was living with us at the time with her daughter) each took a bottle of oil (olive, I think), went outside the house and walked around touching the exterior of the house with the oil, all the while praying in tongues. I was invited to tag along. It was pretty bizarre. I didn't understand why they were doing it, even though I knew the reason--to ward off evil spirits from our house.
I guess I'm in one of those very religious families, then.
Gesture in the Online World
There is a constant idea that things are lost in translation on the internet. It is a constant problem because words can be misconstrued as well as a person's tone. Gestures, tones of voice, attitudes, emphasis are all lost by writing on the internet UNLESS they are underlined, italicized, capitalized, boldfaced, have a larger font, or something is dramatically different about that word to make it stand out from the rest. Most likely to make the point that the author was trying to convey. Writing has also become a lot less formal online so it is harder to perfectly understand the emotions behind an article, blog, post that is put up on the internet. The only way that true gestures are shown on the internet is through emoticons but also writing out how you feel (ex. *deep breath* or LOL) about the situation. However, most people do not literally laugh out loud when they write "LOL" they just want to be nice to the person that they are talking to online, but sometimes they do. Writing has become such a remote way of communication in our culture that it is seen as something that people don't really pay attention to unless it immediately pertains to them (or at least for the Y-Generation that seems to be occurring). This loss of understanding or creation of misunderstanding is diminishing the gestures that are transmitted through folk ways.
Online Gestures
The only way I've ever been able to translate gesture into an online conversation is by placing my action in asterisks. It has become fairly commonplace to do so, and I think you would all know what I meant if I said "*slaps you with a fish*".
Otherwise, I completely agree with Samantha, it is near impossible to communicate body language textually.
Otherwise, I completely agree with Samantha, it is near impossible to communicate body language textually.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Gesture
I don't think gesture can carry over truthfully to the internet world. The pretense of gesture (emoticons :] D:< and "dancing kirbys"
<( '_' )>) but there is no way of knowing if the person you are chatting with or whose blog you are reading actually expressed those emotions. I frequently type "lol" and ":D" when I am not laughing at all nor smiling--it is the idea of gesture that is carried over into the blogs and chats online.
My hands, my eyebrows, my mouth, my posture, my voice intonation and so on are not carried over from face to face situations to the internet, only my intent is. As noted in lecture only 7% of our communication comes from the words we say and that is all chats and blogs are: words.
<( '_' )>) but there is no way of knowing if the person you are chatting with or whose blog you are reading actually expressed those emotions. I frequently type "lol" and ":D" when I am not laughing at all nor smiling--it is the idea of gesture that is carried over into the blogs and chats online.
My hands, my eyebrows, my mouth, my posture, my voice intonation and so on are not carried over from face to face situations to the internet, only my intent is. As noted in lecture only 7% of our communication comes from the words we say and that is all chats and blogs are: words.
Family story.
Growing up, I idolized my father. He was usually away on business. He traveled to different states and different countries, but I had no idea what his job entailed. On the weekends, we would go places as a family, and he would always have oldies music playing in the car.
One day, while driving to my uncle's house, Don McLean's song American Pie came on the radio. My sisters and I loved the song, so we immediately began singing whatever words we knew. Out of the blue, my dad said that he wrote the song. Although we questioned him at first, he told us that he also wrote Brown Eyed Girl, for my two brown eyed sisters, and Sweet Melissa for me.
Since I did not know what my father did, and his love for music was obvious. I believed him for a few years, until I heard the song with my aunt and she told me that my dad was in accounting and did not write any songs.
One day, while driving to my uncle's house, Don McLean's song American Pie came on the radio. My sisters and I loved the song, so we immediately began singing whatever words we knew. Out of the blue, my dad said that he wrote the song. Although we questioned him at first, he told us that he also wrote Brown Eyed Girl, for my two brown eyed sisters, and Sweet Melissa for me.
Since I did not know what my father did, and his love for music was obvious. I believed him for a few years, until I heard the song with my aunt and she told me that my dad was in accounting and did not write any songs.
Gestures Online
I really do not think gestures can really be translated online, unless it via webcam or ichat or something like that. If no one can see the gestures than the effect is lost. Typing on aim or chats is more like writing and reading a manual or textbook, it is not a normal conversation. Today in class we talked about how 55 percent of communication is non-verbal. Gestures add so much to a conversation, typing cannot show those gestures. Now if by online, you also mean webcam or ichat, then gestures can be translated online, but that is the only way. Even when people type :) or something like that, it is still just typing, not a gesture.
Gestures
In face to face conversation, I generally to not use very many gestures. Yet while texting of instant messaging someone I use them all the time. I use exclamation points to show excitement added with smiley faces. Its pretty funny because when my best friend or I like a guy we will analyze how text messages to that particular person. We debate such things as, should I put another smiley face here or is one enough orshould i use an exclamation point here so he thinks im excited? I know it sounds silly but yes, we really do that. Communication of feeling and or emotions is hard to emote through the computer. Despite that of video chat you cant see someones face and the signs that can tell. All you can go off are words, periods, smiley faces, all caps letters, etc.
Gestures and the Online World
I am the type of person who always uses gestures. When I talk, it is extremely difficult for my hands to stay still; they are constantly waving or pointing or moving in some sort of way. I had a professor once tell me that when I am giving a speech, that these sort of movements can be distracting to the audience. It was very difficult for me not to move my hands. Gestures is one of the ways that I get my point across.
Gestures are lost in the online world. They may have smiley faces and other facial expressions that can be used, but it is not the same. A graphic image may be a way of attempting to convey a gesture. However, when I see these images, I am not picturing someone smiling, laughing, crying, or frowning. All that is translated is the emotion, not the gesture.
Although technology and the online world has its advantages, there are still some things, like gestures, that cannot be replaced with a little icon in a text message or email. One on one conversations between individuals are far more effective and less misconstrued than anything presented in the online world.
Gestures are lost in the online world. They may have smiley faces and other facial expressions that can be used, but it is not the same. A graphic image may be a way of attempting to convey a gesture. However, when I see these images, I am not picturing someone smiling, laughing, crying, or frowning. All that is translated is the emotion, not the gesture.
Although technology and the online world has its advantages, there are still some things, like gestures, that cannot be replaced with a little icon in a text message or email. One on one conversations between individuals are far more effective and less misconstrued than anything presented in the online world.
Gestures in the On-line World
One would assume that gestures, in order to be received, would have to be in person. However, today's high tech society has come up with ways to gesture on-line without the face to face contact.
When texting people can use symbols that emulate actual gestures. For example, one can wink by using a semi colon and a closing parentheses, ;). Another example is the "oh my gosh" face, :0. These kind of gestures are known as emoticons. When emoticons first started coming up I was wondering why people were sending me random punctuation marks. It took me a little while to figure out that they were meant to be faces. There is also the "less the 3" you, <3 u. This means that whoever sent this loves the recipient.
I know that by sending these emoticons helps express emotions and gestures that can be shown by words but they also contribute to the lack of person to person interface. Sometimes the little emoticon things can be a little bit annoying, especially the <3. Just tell the person you love them and get it over with. It means more, I think, when the words are actually spelled out or said in person.
When texting people can use symbols that emulate actual gestures. For example, one can wink by using a semi colon and a closing parentheses, ;). Another example is the "oh my gosh" face, :0. These kind of gestures are known as emoticons. When emoticons first started coming up I was wondering why people were sending me random punctuation marks. It took me a little while to figure out that they were meant to be faces. There is also the "less the 3" you, <3 u. This means that whoever sent this loves the recipient.
I know that by sending these emoticons helps express emotions and gestures that can be shown by words but they also contribute to the lack of person to person interface. Sometimes the little emoticon things can be a little bit annoying, especially the <3. Just tell the person you love them and get it over with. It means more, I think, when the words are actually spelled out or said in person.
Gestures
Gestures translate in the online world with texting images and facial expressions. For example a smile face, a frown, or a heart. This indicates to the reader of the text what the person is feeling in a simple sign. Texting is also used as just giving an emotion without words. A heart for example can say you love something or you’re in love. A smile can say you’re happy or enjoyed something etc. Also saying things in quotations can be construed as a gesture. For example “crossing fingers” or “knock on wood”. The quotations make it seem more like you are doing the action. Especially now with facebook and twitter people tend to use gestures to give a sense of their emotions at the moment. It’s more of a short cut instead of writing out a whole status. So if you are happy, sad, in love, or just ok gestures can be helpful online.
Family Story
In my family we tend to view my brother as someone who is a little crazy. We think this because of the many antics he got up to when he was younger.
When he was about 4 he decided that he wanted to be Tarzan. Our grandmother figured she could leave him in the family watching television and he wouldn't get into trouble, yeah right! The kitchen in our old house was right next to the family room. Our grandma was gone for like 5 minutes and when she went to check on him he was up on the couch with the curtain cord that opens the curtain around his neck. She quickly went over to him untangled the cord and started to yell at him. She asked him why he was playing with the curtain cord and he said, "I wanted to be like Tarzan."
After this incident he tended to get into even more crazy stunts. One time he ended up breaking his arm because he was trying to copy our god brother and myself. We were flipping off the slide and he decided to do it. Now that he has gotten older we still hold the Tarzan story over his head and needless to say he gets a little bit mad. However, now that he is older he has passed his craziness gene onto our youngest cousin who had gotten stitches when he was around 3 and a half from jumping on the bed. Hopefully, there wont be any broken bones.
When he was about 4 he decided that he wanted to be Tarzan. Our grandmother figured she could leave him in the family watching television and he wouldn't get into trouble, yeah right! The kitchen in our old house was right next to the family room. Our grandma was gone for like 5 minutes and when she went to check on him he was up on the couch with the curtain cord that opens the curtain around his neck. She quickly went over to him untangled the cord and started to yell at him. She asked him why he was playing with the curtain cord and he said, "I wanted to be like Tarzan."
After this incident he tended to get into even more crazy stunts. One time he ended up breaking his arm because he was trying to copy our god brother and myself. We were flipping off the slide and he decided to do it. Now that he has gotten older we still hold the Tarzan story over his head and needless to say he gets a little bit mad. However, now that he is older he has passed his craziness gene onto our youngest cousin who had gotten stitches when he was around 3 and a half from jumping on the bed. Hopefully, there wont be any broken bones.
Gesture in the Online World
When it comes to everyday conversation, I use gesture a lot. I use my hands with almost everything I say, usually to hep convey my message or story better or to give more effect (and as the joke goes, the way to keep an Italian from talking is to tie their hands behind their back). In the online world, this is much more difficult. Obviously, being online, no one can see your hands, or even your eyes to try to interpret further meaning in your words. Some people can type gestures, such as smiley faces or different "emotocons." I rarely use these, however, because I don't feel it's quite the same as actual interaction and using actual gesture with people. Overall, yes, gesture is possible in the online world, but it's not as effective, and therefore, less used.
Gesture
I don't really know if gesture can be translated into an online version. It's hard to even get tone to come across correctly online, and gesture can be something that varries from person to person. There is no way of knowing exactly what to the other person what gesture at any given point. I do have to say that when I get an e-mail from my Mom or my Nana I do know exactly what their gestures and tone would be. From anyone outside of my family or really close friends I do not believe that I would be able to. A lot of the time in e-mail or on AIM people will try and say what their gesture is. There are a few ways to do it that I have come across. One is to put :: :: around the gesture, or * *.
I believe you lose something without the gestures. Something about talking face to face and getting so caught up in the conversation is lost when you have to sit there and type it out. There is that feeling of a disconection. That of course doesn't stop me from irratically throwing my hands around and jumping up and down as I type, but it does stop the other person from seeing it.
I believe you lose something without the gestures. Something about talking face to face and getting so caught up in the conversation is lost when you have to sit there and type it out. There is that feeling of a disconection. That of course doesn't stop me from irratically throwing my hands around and jumping up and down as I type, but it does stop the other person from seeing it.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Gestures
Honestly as much as we try to convey our emotions online I don't think the message fully gets across. We have the smileys that help when trying to get our gestures and current emotions across but they still aren't the same. Tones are necessary in communication. You can tell a lot from someones tone and when you are missing that in messaging or chatting online you can quickly misconstrue emotions. I have seen it first hand. I get mad at people because I don't know they are joking, etc. The tongue out smiley :P and the abbreviations jk (just kidding) and lol (laugh out loud) help but do not solve the problems. I don't think anything can replace the way someone looks at you or away from you when they are talking to you. You can lie easily online, in person you generally look away from the person if you are lying to them. Gestures are very important in conversation, how you hold yourself, if you look comfortable with the conversation or not, or if you are exasperated or irritated. I think it will take awhile before gestures can be used online appropriately. Web cams is one way, but not everyone has a web cam.
Gestures
I think that gestures do not make it to the online world all the time. Sure we have the smiley faces that say we are happy, sad, mad etc. But what about the tone in the voice of the person that is mad, that does not translate to the online world. It has come down to it where we have to put LOL at the end of a sentence that is funny or when we are joking around just so the person will not get offended. I think in some ways the online communication world can cause more problems that is can help. When we are talking to someone online and they say something that makes you mad, the only way that you can communicate that to someone online is by sending them a face that looks mad, that is your only gesture. They cannot see your true expression. We have come so accustomed to instant messaging and texting that a smiple winking face ;) means someone is trying to flirt with you.
online gestures
I think that online gestures are definitely capable of translating to whoever is receiving the message. I haven't read any of the other blogs, but I'm willing to bet that most people have mentioned the effects of the little smiley faces ;), winks ;), and even tongues sticking out :p. The reason we all put them in our messages is because they are useful in conveying our particular attitude. There's a big difference between:
Get your lazy self home right now
(which may be considered a threat)
-vs-
Get your lazy self home right now =)
(which can be considered a friendly joke).
I find the gestures particularly useful when working in groups, especially if there's a lot of online communication involved. Although I don't have any trouble admitting that I can be a demanding person at times, sometimes my online comments come across too strongly to other members of my group. By placing a smiley face or even a heart <3 next to a comment, I can convey a friendly attitude and a willingness to be a flexible member of the team, while at the same time asserting my position in the matter.
My favorite gesture is on facebook, when I'm instant messaging two of my daughters. O:) turns into a smiley-angel face, and it allows me to make an off-handed remark about something serious -- and helps me get to the bottom of an issue that concerns my daughters -- all the while, I'm a cool Mom who just cares about her kids, instead of an overbearing pain-in-the-you-know-what. ;-)
To many who have blogged on this topic, I'm sure that my answers are pretty basic. There are some creative ways to use our everyday symbols and letters to convey an attitude. Even though I might be older, I think I'll stick to the basics and let my oldest daughter have her delusions that I don't know what fml means. :/
Get your lazy self home right now
(which may be considered a threat)
-vs-
Get your lazy self home right now =)
(which can be considered a friendly joke).
I find the gestures particularly useful when working in groups, especially if there's a lot of online communication involved. Although I don't have any trouble admitting that I can be a demanding person at times, sometimes my online comments come across too strongly to other members of my group. By placing a smiley face or even a heart <3 next to a comment, I can convey a friendly attitude and a willingness to be a flexible member of the team, while at the same time asserting my position in the matter.
My favorite gesture is on facebook, when I'm instant messaging two of my daughters. O:) turns into a smiley-angel face, and it allows me to make an off-handed remark about something serious -- and helps me get to the bottom of an issue that concerns my daughters -- all the while, I'm a cool Mom who just cares about her kids, instead of an overbearing pain-in-the-you-know-what. ;-)
To many who have blogged on this topic, I'm sure that my answers are pretty basic. There are some creative ways to use our everyday symbols and letters to convey an attitude. Even though I might be older, I think I'll stick to the basics and let my oldest daughter have her delusions that I don't know what fml means. :/
Online Gestures and Family Stories
I don't think you can completely convey the detail of a gesture through text, but you can still read the detail. Whenever you make up the details of a character in a book, you're filling in extra meaning that isn't really there. And when you talk online with a close friend, and she sends you :-) or ^.^ or :-D, you know exactly what face she's making because of context and because you know your friend. The same way you can hear the tone she uses or different subjects.
As for family stories, when Aunt Mary Kay and Uncle Bill (who met at William and Mary) were newly weds, they had an orange cat whose name escapes me. The cat ran off and on Good Friday, a man brought its body back apologetically, having hit it with his car. They sadly buried it and mourned. However, on Easter morning, Aunt Mary Kay was in her kitchen, and as she pulled a pie from the oven, the orange cat hopped up on the window sill, scaring her half to death and expecting to be fed. The upshot of all this is, of course, that they'd buried someone else's cat, but he was still the Easter miracle that year.
the ":D" and "D:"
I find that even after the introduction of smilies and emoticons the use of the standard ":)" for a smile i tend not to see it as often in chat. Personally i do not use it because, well its really not an equivalent of a smile. it is a bit too creepy and reminds of of the smile of a sexual predator. Obviously physical gestures are very hard to translate on-line short of actually typing out the action. But on the other hand i find that emotions are easier to read over the Internet because it is done through symbols and words together.
I often use ":D" in my chats not as a smile but as an expression of happiness or amusement. I find that these faces and such are not replacements for gestures, but instead for emotions. When accompanied with text these simple faces are able to convey quite a bit of meaning and are, more importantly, much easer to read then physical gestures. "D:" would be a negative emotion such as shock, sadness, and at times just a small show of displeasure. Although, with the negative emotions often times it is mostly expressed through large font and bright colors with caps lock on, the degree of emotion is usually reflected in the length and capitalization. I find it amusing that while positive emotions are easily expressed through simple symbols, the negative ones are better done in simple text.
Blog 4: Translating Gesture Online
When I use instant-messaging communication, I don't feel that I'm limited in my expression. I may not see the person I'm communicating with face-to-face, or hear him/her speak, and vice versa, but both myself and that person will be able to use effective gestures such as "emoticons," or we can simply write exactly what body language "phrases" for expression. =) for "smiling, pleased, happy," or D= for "shocked, saddened, disappointment," are the most common icons that I use in online communication.
However, this is by no means a perfect system. Just as I can mistake someone's words or body language in person, I can also mistake someone's meaning online. For example, I may interpret a friend's single phrase answer as terse, or as a sign that she is annoyed with me, unless I see a reassuring "gesture" such as a smiley face or this "<3" - a heart emoticon that also expresses happiness, love, friendship, etc. But such symbols can also be used in sarcastic remarks, but unless you know the person very well and can "read between the lines" in that person's online expression, then you can also miss the hidden meaning.
Gestures can be translated to online communication, but like communication itself, nothing is perfect.
However, this is by no means a perfect system. Just as I can mistake someone's words or body language in person, I can also mistake someone's meaning online. For example, I may interpret a friend's single phrase answer as terse, or as a sign that she is annoyed with me, unless I see a reassuring "gesture" such as a smiley face or this "<3" - a heart emoticon that also expresses happiness, love, friendship, etc. But such symbols can also be used in sarcastic remarks, but unless you know the person very well and can "read between the lines" in that person's online expression, then you can also miss the hidden meaning.
Gestures can be translated to online communication, but like communication itself, nothing is perfect.
Lol
I use the acronym LOL to respond to basically everything in online conversations. I may not truly be "laughing out loud" but it is a generic response that means a whole range of responses most of which would be non verbal markers. It sounds incredibly redundant and is very illustrative of how we attempt to include these non-verbal markers in our writings but some things just don't translate well.
"lol?" is used when there was the possibility of a joke, or they've said something that requires confirmation or clarification, as in "wait you're serious?"
"LOL" is when I actually did laugh out loud, LMFAO is reserved for when it was enough laughter to perform a spit-take at my computer monitor.
"lol" is when I'm not sure what to say, but I want to indicate that I'm still reading and paying attention, which would be non-verbally indicated by a head tilt, nodding or another change in position.
Something that is also common among my friends and I is the use of Astericks to set off actions, or example *shrug* or *Hugs!* there is also the interesting aspect of chat rooms run on an IRC server because they involve the command line /me which sets up for an action, an example of this is /me pounces nightwolf or /me throws a trout at spacemonkey those lines of chat are usually highlighted or offset slightly and help to make actions a little more noticeble and "realistic"
None of these gestures really translate well, because we miss the whole range of describing shapes and motions with your hands as well as expressions the speaker may not even realize they are making
-Missy Isaacs
"lol?" is used when there was the possibility of a joke, or they've said something that requires confirmation or clarification, as in "wait you're serious?"
"LOL" is when I actually did laugh out loud, LMFAO is reserved for when it was enough laughter to perform a spit-take at my computer monitor.
"lol" is when I'm not sure what to say, but I want to indicate that I'm still reading and paying attention, which would be non-verbally indicated by a head tilt, nodding or another change in position.
Something that is also common among my friends and I is the use of Astericks to set off actions, or example *shrug* or *Hugs!* there is also the interesting aspect of chat rooms run on an IRC server because they involve the command line /me which sets up for an action, an example of this is /me pounces nightwolf or /me throws a trout at spacemonkey those lines of chat are usually highlighted or offset slightly and help to make actions a little more noticeble and "realistic"
None of these gestures really translate well, because we miss the whole range of describing shapes and motions with your hands as well as expressions the speaker may not even realize they are making
-Missy Isaacs
G
I don't believe that gestures truly make the transition to the online world. Yes, we have emoticons that serve as a reasonable substitute, but they in no way capture the essence of a gesture. No smiley face captures the effect of the eyes on the smile. Without the eyes in a smile you can't tell if it is genuine or not. Yes, it captures a smile and sends the message you want.
Think, for a moment, about how important gestures are in a normal conversation. If someone tells you something flattering, but doesn't look you in the eye, the compliment loses its effect. While on the internet you can throw out compliments one after the other, and they have to be taken literally because you lose the context in which they are given. It is so easy to lie on the internet because the lack of gestures gives you overwhelming courage to say what you want, even if you don't truly mean it.
Gesture does not transfer to the internet. The use of the internet as a tool for communication can and is effective, but we cannot rely on it to express our emotions because we lose full elements essential to expressing them. Yes, we have alternatives like the emoticon, but the emoticon will never be an accurate substitute for the subtleties of the muscles around our eyes or the movement of our bodies. So, no, it does not transfer.
Family Story
Since my entrance into this craziness called college, I haven't been interested in drinking at all, much to the dismay and disbelief of those around me. Though I dismiss it with the excuse, "It's just not my thing," I believe my sobriety has a lot more to do with a short story my father told me once I'd gotten my driver's liscense:
He had a 1964 Impala, as I remember him saying, and he told me that one night he decided that he was indeed sober enough to drive home, despite (though probably because of) the many drinks he'd had at a party earlier that night. His journey went well enough until he came to an intersection and failed to heed the red light. A semi truck t-boned him halfway through the intersection, and so ended his drive home. He shook his head when he said that what was worse than the accident was getting out, unharmed, and having to call his dad to pick him up. And to top it all off, the car was totaled, so he had to ride the bus for the rest of high school, and everyone knew why.
He had a 1964 Impala, as I remember him saying, and he told me that one night he decided that he was indeed sober enough to drive home, despite (though probably because of) the many drinks he'd had at a party earlier that night. His journey went well enough until he came to an intersection and failed to heed the red light. A semi truck t-boned him halfway through the intersection, and so ended his drive home. He shook his head when he said that what was worse than the accident was getting out, unharmed, and having to call his dad to pick him up. And to top it all off, the car was totaled, so he had to ride the bus for the rest of high school, and everyone knew why.
Though the story was originally used to persuade me to be extremely careful when I drove, as I grew older, he used it again to emphasize that this accident was the result of his drinking beforehand, and to urge and implore me to not repeat his mistake.
Well, I've made it through high school and college without so much as a speeding ticket.
family story
Telling a family story is tough for me -- probably because I don't have much of a family to glean a story from. Just giving an overview of my family background is story enough.
My Mom had me when she was not quite 18, divorced my biological father when I was two (I didn't meet him again until I was 36), and remarried my stepfather (who I call Dad) soon after. I didn't really know my Mom's family because her mother died when she was ten, her Dad mentally checked out because of the death, and my Mom was pretty much on her own, occasionally defending herself from her physically abusive, older brother (apparently my uncle). She told me about a time when he was beating her up and chased her into the kitchen. She opened the freezer, grabbed a frozen roast, and threw it at his face -- sending him running into the bathroom to check the damage. Meanwhile, my mother stuck a butcher knife in the crack of the closed door, in the hopes that it would fall on his foot when he opened the door again. These events went on regularly for her. I recall a period of about 10 years when her Dad (apparently my Grandpa) completely stopped speaking to her for no apparent reason, and my mother would cry about it often. Her Dad did remarry, and I ended up having a half-cousin and three step-cousins, but eventually that marriage ended in divorce and I don't know anything about them.
On my Dad's (techinally step-dad's) side, he was also a step-child because his biological father walked out on them before my Dad can remember. My Dad's mother, Melda, remarried an awful man named Ray (apparently my Grandfather), and had two other children (Little Ray and Tammy) with him. Ray always called my father a stepson and literally called him the black sheep of the family. He was an alcoholic, and once chased my Dad with a butcher knife (does anyone see a motif?) out into the snow of WV. My Dad was only wearing boxer shorts and had to run to another person's house for safety. Since Ray was also a politician, he would make my Dad go buy his alcohol and pick up local hookers so as not to be implicated in any wrongdoing. My Dad ended up joining the military when he was 17 to escape the physical, verbal and emotional abuse from Ray. My Dad still wanted to visit with his mother, so I had occasion to spend the obligitory family time with all of them, but as an adult I decided I was no longer obligated to keep in touch with them. I figure after a life of us being introduced as the step-grandchildren, I don't owe them anything.
To top that all off, my parents divorced after 26 years of marriage, thereby continuing the damaging cycle of divorce in our family.
Whew! After reading about family ground rules in BSKC, I can definitely agree with the author's claim that "we learn about the idea of family and how to be a member of a family from our families" (17). I've been married to Randy for almost 20 years, and we've got three precious daughters (18, 16, & 8). Time and time again, Randy and I have vowed to each other that we will be better grandparents than what we each had (yep...my husband has a dysfunctional history, too!), and try to build a foundation for our children's children that is reliable and filled with lots of love and traditions. According to the author of BSKC, "family stories, ... for good or ill, delineate the rules and mores that govern family life..." (31). I wholeheartedly agree. No matter how negative my family's history is, I can learn from it and do my best to create a positive history for my own, immediate family to look back happily upon.
My Mom had me when she was not quite 18, divorced my biological father when I was two (I didn't meet him again until I was 36), and remarried my stepfather (who I call Dad) soon after. I didn't really know my Mom's family because her mother died when she was ten, her Dad mentally checked out because of the death, and my Mom was pretty much on her own, occasionally defending herself from her physically abusive, older brother (apparently my uncle). She told me about a time when he was beating her up and chased her into the kitchen. She opened the freezer, grabbed a frozen roast, and threw it at his face -- sending him running into the bathroom to check the damage. Meanwhile, my mother stuck a butcher knife in the crack of the closed door, in the hopes that it would fall on his foot when he opened the door again. These events went on regularly for her. I recall a period of about 10 years when her Dad (apparently my Grandpa) completely stopped speaking to her for no apparent reason, and my mother would cry about it often. Her Dad did remarry, and I ended up having a half-cousin and three step-cousins, but eventually that marriage ended in divorce and I don't know anything about them.
On my Dad's (techinally step-dad's) side, he was also a step-child because his biological father walked out on them before my Dad can remember. My Dad's mother, Melda, remarried an awful man named Ray (apparently my Grandfather), and had two other children (Little Ray and Tammy) with him. Ray always called my father a stepson and literally called him the black sheep of the family. He was an alcoholic, and once chased my Dad with a butcher knife (does anyone see a motif?) out into the snow of WV. My Dad was only wearing boxer shorts and had to run to another person's house for safety. Since Ray was also a politician, he would make my Dad go buy his alcohol and pick up local hookers so as not to be implicated in any wrongdoing. My Dad ended up joining the military when he was 17 to escape the physical, verbal and emotional abuse from Ray. My Dad still wanted to visit with his mother, so I had occasion to spend the obligitory family time with all of them, but as an adult I decided I was no longer obligated to keep in touch with them. I figure after a life of us being introduced as the step-grandchildren, I don't owe them anything.
To top that all off, my parents divorced after 26 years of marriage, thereby continuing the damaging cycle of divorce in our family.
Whew! After reading about family ground rules in BSKC, I can definitely agree with the author's claim that "we learn about the idea of family and how to be a member of a family from our families" (17). I've been married to Randy for almost 20 years, and we've got three precious daughters (18, 16, & 8). Time and time again, Randy and I have vowed to each other that we will be better grandparents than what we each had (yep...my husband has a dysfunctional history, too!), and try to build a foundation for our children's children that is reliable and filled with lots of love and traditions. According to the author of BSKC, "family stories, ... for good or ill, delineate the rules and mores that govern family life..." (31). I wholeheartedly agree. No matter how negative my family's history is, I can learn from it and do my best to create a positive history for my own, immediate family to look back happily upon.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
gestures can translate to the online world
Some people think it is hard to translate off-line gestures to on-line. However, I think it is possible to translate some expressions and gestures to on-line as well, especially facial expressions.
For example, as many students said before, we can express happy feelings with :D, :), ^0^, >_<, *^^*, o(^.^)o, ^3^or ↖(^0^)↗(they created hands and arms, too!). We can also express sad feelings with T_T or ㅠㅠ (Korean). To express "frustrated" feeling, we use OTL (It looks like a person is depressed and knocked out. O is a head, T is body and arm, and L is his leg.) in Korea. In addition, if you see something that doesn't make sense, you can use -_- or . People who use the Internet created a lot of "written facial expressions" to transmit their feelings to other people.
For fun, I will show you the dancing of characters (but I'm not sure whether you can see Korean characters on your computer) It seems like they are shaking, or dancing, isn't it? :)
" 후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸
후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸
후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸"
People even created the motion of characters.
For example, as many students said before, we can express happy feelings with :D, :), ^0^, >_<, *^^*, o(^.^)o, ^3^or ↖(^0^)↗(they created hands and arms, too!). We can also express sad feelings with T_T or ㅠㅠ (Korean). To express "frustrated" feeling, we use OTL (It looks like a person is depressed and knocked out. O is a head, T is body and arm, and L is his leg.) in Korea. In addition, if you see something that doesn't make sense, you can use -_- or . People who use the Internet created a lot of "written facial expressions" to transmit their feelings to other people.
For fun, I will show you the dancing of characters (but I'm not sure whether you can see Korean characters on your computer) It seems like they are shaking, or dancing, isn't it? :)
" 후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸
후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸
후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸후루꾸"
People even created the motion of characters.
a nice gesture
Emoticons and parenthetical narration can help to express the gestures that someone communicating online might want to express. That being said: it’s just not the same.
Without facial expression, physical gesture, or the patience to use full words, telling a story to someone through messaging is not going to have the same texture. A person can type::flailing their arms::, but the image that is created won’t have the same effect as almost being smacked by someone flinging their arms around. The physical comedy or/and dramatic emphasis the gesture was meant to achieve will be diminished by the pause that “narration” creates. Typing “ :0)” isn’t the same as seeing the person smile because you have no idea what kind of smile they are smiling. Is it a smirk or a sheepish grin? Are they beaming, or just putting a good face on it? An emoticon can’t convey that, and generally people texting or typing won’t bother to narrate the facial expressions, or gesticulation of themselves or the people they’re telling the story about.
I’m not saying emoticons are worthless or that using descriptive language to try to convey what was done is pointless, because that’s not true. Both description and smiley-faces help to clarify intent and tone, which is necessary since online communication lacks the nuances that face-to-face, or even telephone conversations can have. All I’m saying is that even though people are trying to incorporate gesture into online communication, a lot gets lost in translation.
Without facial expression, physical gesture, or the patience to use full words, telling a story to someone through messaging is not going to have the same texture. A person can type::flailing their arms::, but the image that is created won’t have the same effect as almost being smacked by someone flinging their arms around. The physical comedy or/and dramatic emphasis the gesture was meant to achieve will be diminished by the pause that “narration” creates. Typing “ :0)” isn’t the same as seeing the person smile because you have no idea what kind of smile they are smiling. Is it a smirk or a sheepish grin? Are they beaming, or just putting a good face on it? An emoticon can’t convey that, and generally people texting or typing won’t bother to narrate the facial expressions, or gesticulation of themselves or the people they’re telling the story about.
I’m not saying emoticons are worthless or that using descriptive language to try to convey what was done is pointless, because that’s not true. Both description and smiley-faces help to clarify intent and tone, which is necessary since online communication lacks the nuances that face-to-face, or even telephone conversations can have. All I’m saying is that even though people are trying to incorporate gesture into online communication, a lot gets lost in translation.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Gesture in the on-line world
In many ways gesture will translate into the on-line world. I use emoticons such as :) for happy :( for sad ^^ happy o.O puzzled, and so on. Although, in many ways, these motions do not mean the exact same thing to everyone and it leave a lot of room for someone to misconstrue your message. You can also indicate gesture with :: or * such as ::smacks forehead:: or *grins like a goof* Gesture looses some meaning once it is taken from the visual realm, even in print, explanations of gesture just don't cut it sometimes. But for a generation that is living primarily on-line, I think we are handling the transition quite well ;) <-- winking
Friday, October 2, 2009
How gesture translates to the on-line world - Anelise Lemon
I believe that gesture does translate to the on-line world. There are many ways people express gestures electronically. Emoticons are the most common way. People type " :) " to express happiness or just to “show” that they are smiling. Likewise, people type different faces for sadness, anger, flirting, excitement, surprise, or anything they can think of. Also, it is common to see people put asterisks around an action to mean they are doing that. For example: *jumping up and down* could express an excited emotion, or *shrugs shoulders* could express doubt or uncertainty. In addition, there are also acronyms for certain gestures. One of the most common is the acronym ROFL. ROFL stands for “rolling on the floor laughing”. New on-line gestures are being created and utilized all the time, but the ones I mentioned are just a few of the most popular and widely used forms of non-verbal expression.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
family story countinued
Something went wrong with my computer.... here's the rest of it....
We came inside to get ready for dinner when my brother began having difficulty trying to close the knife. He then forced the knife closed and sliced off a thin layer of skin from his thumb. my grandma came in the room soon after and saw my extremely pale brother in shock. She ran for the umbrella girl salt, and proceeded to chase my brother with that blue box; finally when she grabbed him, everything went in slow motion for me.... the grains of salt slowly pouring out... and onto his thumb... then the cry of pain that followed. Once my father came home and heard what happened he laughed and proceeded with "i told you to wait for me to get home" and went to dinner. My brother is impatient to this day, the rowhouse in philly held many memories of that; but this story gets repeated most frequently.
We came inside to get ready for dinner when my brother began having difficulty trying to close the knife. He then forced the knife closed and sliced off a thin layer of skin from his thumb. my grandma came in the room soon after and saw my extremely pale brother in shock. She ran for the umbrella girl salt, and proceeded to chase my brother with that blue box; finally when she grabbed him, everything went in slow motion for me.... the grains of salt slowly pouring out... and onto his thumb... then the cry of pain that followed. Once my father came home and heard what happened he laughed and proceeded with "i told you to wait for me to get home" and went to dinner. My brother is impatient to this day, the rowhouse in philly held many memories of that; but this story gets repeated most frequently.
family story
My father gave my brother a swiss army knife when we were little. I can remember that day clearly; it was definetly a summer day in philly. He was showing off his new knife, but he couldn't open it. Persistance combined with a stubborn boy is defiently a recipe for disaster. he found the safty lock and opened it; and proceeded to sharpen a stick he would later chase me with. It wasn't long for my grandma (who was suposed to be watching) to yell for us to stop and come inside.
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