"Homeplace" by Scott Russell Sanders 2

Seeing 2.

The tone Sanders uses  is similar to the one when you are thinking out loud. You use the simple things to discuss. He compares the truth and the idea of homeplace. When we go somewhere, it is the truth, but when is it the idea of it? The author uses the metaphor. 

I think the tone of his essay is argumentative. He is trying to discover things and ideas on his own, bringing up the thoughts and opinions of others and arguing over them. 

I felt a bit of the sarcasm in his tone, as he describes American building airports, bridges and trails. The most of any nation. I felt sarcasm when he talked about migrants arguing the idea of wheat they brought to native American table and what they took away. 

I think we clearly could pretty loudly hear the voice of the author writing this piece. 

If I would ask somebody to read it out loud, I would have asked them to speak louder as the author expresses his thoughts and come the voice down when the opinions of others are stated. I would notice though it will be quite easy in the beginning to articulate talking about the three tornadoes and the house built on the same spot, but going further it would become much harder. 

If to compare with the essay of Richard Ford, I would say that "At home. For now" is much easy to read and navigate through. It is one of those light reads, stating more of the opinion and expressing the author's own thoughts then stating the argument and going deep into the dark woods. I prefer more compound, more to the core writing with deep reading and discussion, so I like Sanders essay more. Even though I think it will be much easier for public to engage and relate to the Ford's piece.

"Homeplace" by Scott Russell Sanders

Seeing 1.

The first argument that Sanders brings out is in the task of Seeing 1. That "people who root themselves in places are likelier to know and acre for those places than are people who root themselves in ideas." I am somewhat agree and disagree with them. If you have a favorite book, you will be taking care of it, making sure that pages are straightened up and nobody is leaving any marks in the book. But once you do not care about this particular book or hate the subject it discusses, you wont care how the book look or what and who does something to it. The same is to the place. It depends on how the person brought up, what values he or she has, and how careful or careless he or she is to the different things, object, surrounding. 

The author brings up the argument that once you build the foundation, you would rather rebuild on it over and over again no matter what happens with the "construction" that is above that foundation.

As well he mentions that staying put is the result of simple stubbornness of the humans. They invest so much into where they live so it does not matter what climate changes occur, they would rather stay where they were before. It shows another argument called devotion. 

Then Sanders mention how many roads, airports and rails Americans built. But I think it is another sign of the ability of coming back again and again where you have started and staying put in your familiar place. 

He mentions how the migrants bring their own values and tradition to the places they move, but at the same time the ones that stay put cherish and appreciate the importance of those values and traditions that were created by their ancestors and carried them along their lives. Once you move, you carry along yourself the negativeness that might include slavery, smallpox and rats, etc. 

Once you stay put, you value your home; once you move over and over again, you never experience or loose along the way that feeling. 

Once you stay put, you should keep in mind the picture that you see through the window of your place. It means to be aware not only about your surroundings, but the surroundings of the surroundings and so on. 

Sanders brings the argument of the place as the destination of the holy center. He believes that once you sit still there, you might hear what might be heard anywhere. But I think you might have this spot within yourself. It does not have to be a specific location or the spot. It is up to your brain to conquer that challenge. To build around what is important to you. To keep it in your reachable distance. 

Then he mentions about the old woman whose farm was willed to her daughters after her death. But where she lived once alive, they were not any longer. So they let to destroy the farm and build a new shopping plaza out here. But here again we are coming back to the values we have and how we do or do not appreciate things and what is important to us. Whether it is right or wrong, there is no a true answer. Why do they need it if they do not live there? But why would they let destroy it as it is a reminder, or even a memory, of their mother?

Some to live freely and happily have to have a place, where they could find their own themselves. Others are eager to find this within their own "I." What is right and what is wrong strictly depends on your particular nature!

The author defines being settled as "when we cease to be migrants and become inhabitants, we might begin to pay enough heed and respect to where we are. By settling in, we have a chance of making a durable home for ourselves, our fellow creatures, and our descendants." I think the main idea here is when you transform from the migrant to the inhabitant, you will be considered settled. 

Being an inhabitant he describes as someone who has a commitment to any given place. The one who is intimate with his/her home region, knows the territory, understands the life as the local does. But at the same time encounters that there is a diversity of other places, cultures, ways. And you are not able to understand that truth until you travel or move around at least for a short period of time. But every time you come back home to rest and put your body to rest.

Being placed in his understanding has a meaning of not having a place to call home. You just wonder around the world without the final of that marathon, without the rest area with your own couch or crib. You have no ability to compare what is yours and how everybody else does. You are just a sightseer. The author see danger in those individuals not only to their parish but to the planet.  

The author uses numerous sources from different epochs and times of the existence of our or ancient civilizations. I think those phrases, opinions and researches bring new view and idea of the subject and give him the new soil for discussion, expressing his ideas or arguing over a point of particular view. I think they used wisely as "mentions", but supported by personal view of Sanders. What concerns me I would might bring few quotes of different people to see their view on a subject, but it is another aspect of that discussion.

At the end I would just bring the example from my personal life. My grandma has spent all her entire live in her homecountry. She has not even travelled as far as a city or village apart where she lives now. Once she was a village/farm girl until she got married and moved to the city. To my request to come visit me in USA, she simply said, "I am a home girl. And not flying anywhere." Is it the example of that "stubbornness" Sanders is talking about? I would definitely say so. But let her once to find out, that her only granddaughter is expecting a child, and we will see how fast she gets to know an aircraft. 

No Impact Man

What brings me happiness during celebrations like birthdays, holidays, etc.?

Hm... That is an interesting question! Well what concerns birthday celebrations, I just hate them. Mine in particular. Every year I could not wait for that day to be over with. Mainly because you are not getting any younger and have to add another number to your age. By the way, I am sixteen during the last 10 years already ;-). Then I have such various friends, so get them in the same room is quite a challenge. Even though I find a common language with each and every one of them when we are one on one and consider everyone a unique personality, putting them together does not work that easy. Simply because they can not find a common language and have a crucial amount of different interests. So every year I wait for this day to come and get over it as soon as possible. 

What brings me happiness though?... I love when New Years Day coming to the end, you are going to bed being anxious for the Santa to come while you are asleep, you turn off the lights... the only thing you could see is Christmas lights in the windows and in this silence you feel how the last strangers are walking in the streets and you could hear how their winter felt boots squeak in the snow. This noise gets me into a different state of mind and, while my body is falling asleep, I could still hear those sounds of the squeakiness. It is almost like magic is in the air, outside the street, but you are missing on it. Until you wake up later and the story repeats itself again. 

When the family gets together for the holidays, you happen to escape in the washing room for a second. And, i am sorry, but while you are sitting on the toilet all alone, you could hear the noise coming from the family room. Somebody argues, the other tells a joke or an interesting story... You can not really hear what they are saying, but that noise put you in a place of happiness that everybody is right there. Just behind that wall. And it brings happiness to your mind and soul.

The other thing I really enjoy is how the Frost draws images on the windows. Those strange unique snowflakes... You catch yourself on looking at them and smiling... :-)

Enough of the good stuff. Back to No Impact Man.

Can I just say right away that I hated it from the beginning till the very end?! If it was not something that I have to watch for class, long time ago I would have stopped that insanity and switched the channel. While watching it, something inside of me was just protesting every moment of that clip. My anger was growing with each scene. Why? I think every one of us has a choice. To do particular things or do not. To play the "russian roulette" and do not. To watch TV or not. To use the electricity or not. To use cloth or "new era" diapers. I could go on and on with this list. But everything that has ever been invented on Earth has a reason for that invention. And when some things are getting lost in oblivion or obscurity, there is a reason for that. Some will do it faster, the others later. But eventually they will. On the other hand it is, in my opinion, important to respect the choice of others and not to roll your eyes seeing some nonsense going on in front your eyes. But, listen, we pass the ancient times and live in a civil society of light, transportation, garbage etc. What it is necessary to do is to be more cautious and accurate about the environment and those who inherit it. 

So here we are on a journey with the Beavan family in New York City. 

... to be continued...  

The Onion Exercise

For the Onion Exercise I chose the article named "Dwight Howard Makes Talking Look Almost Effortless During Lakers Press Conference"(see below for the actual media). I love sports, so no wonder article that caught my eye was the one dedicated to basketball. Knowing Dwight Howard from his Orlando Magic years and actually seeing him live on the court as well as watching the press conferences with his participation or reading media pieces written about him, I was not surprised by the way he was satirized/presented by the author. The way Howard acts in public and his smack talk about his former coach and team is the proof to it. I might agree that it is to the certain extent exaggerated by the media, but overall the critique/satire is quite in place. 

The article mainly concentrates on the norms of the behavior in public, about the behavior of that particular person, and what light the athletes should or should not present themselves as public speakers and examples for the others. 

Few statements were true in the article: Dwight Howard is really a Laker now; season opener game for Lakers was really on Tuesday; Howard is a true center basketball player.

As well our assignment for this exercise included finding an item that might be associated with the theme of the article. First thing that appeared in my mind was a basketball ball I had at home. A true NBA certified ball. It really resonates with the piece of media and really helps me remember about one another. But as our professor mentioned, there should be a few items she "stored" in the building. So I found this item (see attached picture). It has nothing to do with the article itself, but it gets my attention in the direction that something is really behind those close door. It may be, you do not have to be a regular-minded person to see it. 

"A Waitress at Duval's Restaurant" P.-A. Renoir

I love art in general. Looking at the paintings takes usually quite some time for me. In general I am not a fan of realism, I prefer the masterpieces of artists where you need to spend quite some time in front of the painting to get your sense out of it or to understand the author's approach. What I like about creations of the impressionists is their ability of creating their works by using the quick brush strokes. This technique really allows them to create the unique blends of colors. I find this quite fascinating.

In the suggested painting of Renoir we see the waitress of Duval's restaurant. At first  when I looked at the girl, my attention went towards her eyes. The little black dots on her face. In the beginning I thought that she was looking right at me, but when I really looked into her eyes, it seemed that the waitress was looking right passed me. In the depth of the unknown world. In the middle of nowhere. Slightly bending her head, she was almost visiting the other world that she might see behind the restaurant itself, behind the picture she actually saw in front of her... room full of guests, eating their supper or discussing politics with the glass of whiskey. I feel like she looks beyond this festivities, evaluating her role in this particular moment, in this place, in the world. It seems time to time that she is dull, while at times I might see that she has a slightly noticeable smile. Her hand on the waist is a sign of so-called power over the situation or guests needs. The painting is in dull colors. The curtain matches the waitress's apron, while her color the color of the wallpaper.

I do not think that my perspective has changed after reading the poem. I am willing to say, that the author has his own approach of understanding the painting. So do I have my own. Plus both creations were written in different times in world history, so I would assume that both authors have never met each other. So they are really coming out of their own perspective of one another. 

"The Americano Dream" Angela M. Balcita

Being a personal narrative, this text has an interesting structure. I would suggest it might be either chronological or spatial essay. It is chronological, because the author encounters things that happen with her and her dad and they depend on particular timeline. At the same time miss Balcita might use the spatial structure as her order depends on what she encounters first, second, third (dreaming, making dreams come true, reality of them, living in reality, how that reality hits you etc.). 

The author compares a lot of things and uses the "if" effect. 

It is funny how she mentions the accent and how each immigrant can have distinguish sounds pronouncing particular words (i always compare "ranch" and "runch", "Buffalo" and "Byffalo" etc.). The subject of her essay is immigration and which way/ways it is affecting people. That is where her focus is. She evaluates the consequences of the immigration/moving to a different country, adjusting to that new world of unknown, the ability of getting used to live in it either bringing something of your own or blending with something that already exists there. 

Miss Balcita uses repetition (10) and dialogues (1, 4, 7, 8, 14). In the dialogues we could really hear her voice and its tone. At the same time the tone of the essay is somehow nostalgic in my opinion. 

There are 14 paragraphs in the essay.     

Her ideas include what really matters to her. Particular things that have significant meaning. Like the place you live, the clothes you wear and where you shop, accent, sports you begin to like/follow, things that scare or surprise you... Things that you have dreamed of as a part of you "americano dream" and the ones that became a part of your "american reality."

After the class discussion, appeared that our professor introduced us to the new style of writing called creative non-fiction. This creation is one of them. The paragraphs in the text separated by stanzas. Elements that suggest the main idea of the text are in bold and can be read in different ways. The author goes out of her way to compare the truth and the reality. The truth is the process of the naturalization, when the rest is just a dream. This essay shows how the author grows throughout the process of creating this piece which is the most significant part of writing.

"The Onion" article I chose

Dwight Howard Makes Talking Look Almost Effortless During Lakers Press Conference 

OCTOBER 27, 2012 | ISSUE 48•44 | MORE SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF 

LOS ANGELES—Following a team practice Friday, sources confirmed that new Lakers center Dwight Howard gave an inspiring press conference performance in which he made talking look practically effortless. “He was running his mouth better than ever out there,” said Los Angeles Times reporter Helene Elliott, adding that Howard is “just a total natural” when it comes to incessantly rambling about winning NBA championships. “Having spent so much time out injured, everyone was a little worried that Dwight might not be able to blather on and on at the same level he once did, but he silenced any of those concerns right away with a few arrogant and self-involved comments. His mouth was moving so fluidly that it was like he wasn’t even trying. It was amazing to watch.” At press time, Howard was preparing for Tuesday night’s opening-season press conference by practicing forced smiles and fake laughter in front of a locker-room mirror.

Eudora Welty "The Little Store"

Seeing 2.

I like the fact that Eudore Welty using the photography and writing together, but at the same time, I feel that each of these elements reveal the unspoken truth about one another that each and every of us should discover themselves. It sort of breaks our imagination and let us face the reality without going on the journey of discovery.

Well in the image we could see the old man. As we suggest from the name of the photograph he is a storekeeper. The photo is black and white relating to the time it was taken in 1935. We can not really see the face of the man as one side of it is in the shadow and the other is stroked with the bright light. He is wearing dressy pants with suspenders and a shirt with a tie and a clipper (not sure of the right name of it) on it. It is interesting, but in 1930ies man were already switching to belts to hold their pants, while this man in the picture dated 1935 still wore the suspenders. One of his arm is on the vegetable and we might suggest that it is a sign of ownership over the store. Above the vegetables we could see bananas. Do bananas really grow in Jackson, Mississippi?! :-) In the background we could notice the phone machine (sign of connection to the outside world and other humans) and a poster of "Wright and Ferguson". It appeared to be a name of the funeral home in Jackson, MS, where the author grew up. It is interesting what kind of connections it might have as Eudora Welty mentioned that the family of the storekeeper as him himself "were the only people ever known to me who simply vanished." The store is made up of wood as we might suggest by the wood walls. 

Coming back to the man himself, besides the things that I notice about him, I could add that he sits leg over leg, one arm of the vegetable while other between his legs (it might be a sign of hiding something). He seems to look in the camera, but because if lightning we can not know this for sure. It is almost like he is looking through you in the middle of nowhere, in the emptiness. 

It might be that the image in the background and an old storekeeper reveal to us that one day everything comes to an end. Sooner or later the death will knock on your door, but the birds of life like in the background photograph will sing the song of life and prosperity by the lips of the younger generations. Who knows?

Eudora Welty "The Little Store"

Seeing 1.

I believe miss Welty is using chronological description to organize her reminiscences of running errands to the local grocery store. She encounters where her adventure started, how it proceeded until she reached her destination, what happened there, and finally what was happening on the way back. As well she mentioned that everything started when the sun was up and ended when the day was coming to the end and it was dark. 

I suggest that the author describes all these games she played as a child as an important part of her childhood, but as important as they might be, nothing will compare with the adventure to the store. She recalls quite interesting and amusing games as jumping rope, riding bicycle, dragging her steamboat,  catching lightning bugs, making parade on a singe velocipede etc etc, but as exciting as all these can be for a child, nothing will compare to the adventure to the local grocery store. That is why she recalls them: in order to point out their meaningless in comparison with her little voyage. 

It was interesting, but I noticed her using five senses before I even read the question. She was using our hearing, while mentioning the particular parts from the songs. We could sing them in our head, and could be discovering the rhymes from one line to the other (know-oh/Tickle-toe; Lindsey/influinzy). As well she used sight as her mentioning of the details were so descriptive that it was letting us to draw a picture of the elements in our imagination and see it in front of our eyes. She used taste and smell as she described the Lake's Celery (It was made by Mr. Lake out of celery). And each of us could taste celery in their mouth or smell its little grassy flavor. I felt using of the senses really enriched the story and gave it visual effect.

Eudora Welty used recollection of her childhood memories as a grown woman and as a person becoming a renowned writer. She was recollecting on the things that influenced her and shaped in that particular way. Specific evidence of her childhood perspective? Games and songs, creating silly rhymes, child's hand invited for a choice of candies, importance of the nickel...

The story was interesting and easy to read and I really enjoyed it.

"The Dispossessed" William Deresiewicz

SEEING 2:

Deresiewicz addresses in his essay the black and the whites, the gay and the feminists, the Jews, the working and the middle classes, the creators of the mainstream culture such as journalist, editors, writers, producers... But his target audience, in my opinion, should be considered the working class. Those who so-to-say got vanished over time. He declares so they get up and rise their voices again, unite with each other in order to create the strong community that has his own values and traditions, speak out for themselves, not let the middle class mainstream culturers speak for them, come out from the South and proclaim who they truly are. 

Bill Jones is black. He is artistic director, choreographer and dancer.

Roseanne Barr is white. She is TV producer, writer and director.

Barbara Ehrenreich is feminist, political activist and journalist.

Knowing this, we could assume, that black people will know people of the black culture like Jones; white people will be familiar with representative of mainstream culture as Barr; and finally activists of the feminist movement will be acknowledged who is Ehrenreich. 

Country Music Channel will be seen by "redneck" working class from the South. New Your Times will be read by middle and upper class, for those who able to subscribe or buy newspaper or those whose place of work subscribes to it.

And finally the first passage on page 534 describing the qualities of the working class, I believe, is very essential for the essay of Deresiewicz as it promptly notes what values and traditions the working class used to have, why it used to be powerful and how it used to help the community to develop in time. If the essay were written for a different audience, this passage would have not made any sense, but here and now it is an important part of author's work. 

"The Dispossessed" William Deresiewicz

SEEING 1:

The author defines the "working class" "as a first approximation" as a class whose members are someone who receive an hourly wage. But he admits that there will be a few exceptions. He suggests that working class excludes the true middle class and that the working class has "a very different relationship to their work and their workplace". The author defines the working class as the "American workforce". Those people who sometimes simply are getting unnoticed by us: "the ones who serve our food, ring up our purchases, fix our cars, change our bedpans."

Deresiewicz notices that we hear about the working class from the middle-class observers, those "who get paid to create mainstream culture - journalists, editors, writers, producers." The last ones are "masquerading" as working class even though they are not. As far as I understood, the author tries to prove the point of how one could write or represent the other one when the first has never been in the shoes of the other?! How could the least part of the country - the middle class - talk and make inferences about the majority of that country?! Why the only people who pay attention to the working class are the middle class ones?!

The virtues of the working class are the ability to be unionized, to have a working-class culture with the opportunity to have your own voices, cultural institutions, own sense of who participants of the working class are and what and how they do things. The main virtue of it used to be the ability of the working class to define themselves without depending on the middle class to define who they are. To be a worker used to be something to be proud of. To have the ability to have and pursue your own traditions and values, constituting your own community used to be the most significant part of it. Their virtues are such qualities as "loyalty, community, stoicism, humility, and even tolerance."

On the other hand their "vices tend to be the negative of bourgeois values," such as being "less temperate, prudent, thrifty, and industrious." The working class cares more about their families and communities than about their careers. They take life and their lifestyle for granted and do not strike for more in order to better yourself. 

The working class differs from the middle class, and their virtues and vices differ based on what they strive in life for, their values and qualities.

In order to distinguish working class, working poor, and working families, the author suggests that working poor is "to be called idle poor." It "reminds us how meagerly many jobs pay these days." Meaning that you might be still employed, but you make a bare minimum for your living/or existing. Working families have different values in mind: "the doctor struggling to pay for his kids to go to Harvard, the cashier struggling to pay for medicine". It means each family member works, but they have different goals in mind and different approaches of them. Based on two, Deresiewicz confronts that working class has been erased as a cultural category, but insists that it still exists in our society.

  

Dorothy Allison "River of Names"

When I read the excerpt "River of Names" from Dorothy Allison "Trash" for the first time, I was a bit confused. So later I reread it one more time and decided to read the bio of the author. Something seemed quite strange to me, as the excerpt contained, in my opinion, something that only the person who experienced similar things before in his/her life could describe so in details. 

Appeared I was right. 

Dorothy Allison grew up in poverty and was molested by her stepfather at the early age. Even though by the age of 11, her mother knew about, later in her life her stepfather kept sexually abusing her. She conducted a gonorrhea from him  and by the age of 20 it appeared, she could not have children.

So putting the pieces of the puzzle together, I could suggest that this is exactly what she is writing about in "River of Names". It is a story of survival, going through dealing with health issues and poverty. Even though the narrator is present in the story, we never hear her name. But we could assume that she is lesbian as her partner is another women. So does Dorothy Allison. This topic is very close to her heart and appears to be one of the subjects of her works. We might as well suggest that the narrator of the story is Dorothy Allison herself as she like a main hero are unable to have children. But at the very end we found out that the narrator had a person she was in love with. That person had a fairy-tale life, "that soft-chinned innocence" that gave the contrast to the excerpt. Comparison of life in poverty and life as a fairy tale. 

As well the narrator came out as a bastard. She was brought up by them and lived among them.

The name of the short stories is "Trash". Why trash? Well Dorothy was coming out of the family of so-called "white trash" which derives  form the word used as a racial slur against poor people from the South. That is exactly where the author grew up: in South Carolina.

The excerpt gets the title "River of Names" as there are many more members of the mentioned family. I think she uses here the metaphor "river" as river itself does flew in one direction, it has its beginning and its end and its derivatives so does a family unit. 

I think Allison uses particular words as "classically ugly healthy little boy", "infinitely fragile" to express her tone and point of view of the kids that getting born from "bastards." How fragile they in the beginning and who they are turned out to be.

Overall I liked the excerpt. It makes you think, getting into the details of writing, where the author hiding some parts and we, as readers, are going on a traveling adventure of discovering them.

Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad II

seeing 2. 

Edward Hirsch (interesting coincidence with the artist Edward Hopper, speaking of their initials) focuses on the next:

- strange, gawky house

- the breath of the house

- someone started at the house

- the house being ashamed of itself

- fantastic mansard rooftop

- pseudo-Gothic porch

- its shoulders and large, awkward hands

- what house did to the people who once lived in it etc. etc. 

So to say he is showing the house in the most disgusting manner it could be shown. The author exaggerates with each and every element of it and the elements that the house is surrounded by. At the end from being focused on the house, featured as a single human being, in my opinion, the author shifts our attention to the whole nation, to the whole world. 

Hirsch uses personification giving the house the human abilities of having expressions, hands, someone being stared at, and someone doing harm to others.

The author create the mood of the poem by making particular word choices. Like strange, gawky, desperately empty, utterly vacant, utterly naked... - all of them create the pessimistic mood of the poem, utterly pessimistic. In my opinion these word choices help us better understand the mood of the poem, the focus and purpose of the author. 

I believe the poem exaggerates and help us more in detail to understand the whole idea of the painting, even though it might be going too much above the top. But like an artist, so does the author put a personal touch into it and find personal connections within it.

Edward Hooper and the House by the Railroad

seeing 1.

In House by the Railroad I feel that an artist Edward Hooper concentrates our attention on the lonely and all by itself house in the middle of nowhere. The house is surrounded by nothing, just empty blueish sky and hardly green but mostly yellow grass. And the funny part about it is that the color the house is painted in exactly the same as the sky, and its roof exactly the same as the railroad. 

Looking at the picture you feel loneliness and solitude that the life of the house is going through each and every day. There is nobody around, not a bird flying around, not a flower blooming. It is almost disgustedly calm and quiet. 

The structure of the house is very simple, sharp corners and even columns holding the front of it are almost under the pressure of doing its hard job. We can suggest that the body of the house is the skeleton or the skin.

As well I notice that the work was created in 1925, during the Great Depression where everything was dead and slowly on the way to coming back to life. The House by the Railroad captured here is right on the pick of that depression, showing to the world the catastrophe of humans. So that we might suggest the house is the epiphany to the whole nation during that period. Hungry, lonely, hopeless...  The railroad that is going right next to the house is the sign that like trains move through railroads to its destinations, the live of humans will be moving in any (right or wrong) direction, no matter what, passing the Great Depression. 

Or we might suggest that the house is the author - Edward Hopper - himself. As we read form his bio, he met his wife only in his forties, so after he did this painting. His life before was different, lonely and pointless, from what it turned into after he met Josephine. It is appeared his train reached his final destination, so I hope the House by the Railroad would be.

the uncommon life of the common objects

What gives ordinary objects their value?

There are different approaches to how we assign value to things. Akiko Busch determines "both monetary and sentimental value"(equals to symbolic value). Monetary -  various price value, whether this or that object belonged to a particular public figure. Or whether it was designed and produced during particular time. Sentimental value depends on our own relationship to the object(s). 

As well value may be defined by the way of "objects tell(ing) stories more eloquently than people". In this case "the price" will definitely go up. 

We create a psychic intimacy with the physical objects that we have/own and the value grows in our eyes. 

"Our objects signal who we are" - here the value of objects determine the price and value of our own selves. 

Some "souvenirs of catastrophe" "will speak to generations about the World Trade Center" - meaning the ordinary objects would help us to reflect on particular events that happened in the past, so obviously their value will increase as well. "To be a souvenir hunter is to be HUMAN". 

The ordinary objects "of the physical world" create "a place where mystery, logic, and pleasure coincide". No matter what object is the subject of our conversation or everyday life, it value will be determined by its ability to be unique, simple and enjoyable for each particular person.

In my opinion ordinary objects become valuable because of our own relationship with them. So I agree with Akiko Busch about her sentimental approach to things. We put value in the objects ourselves depending on what, when, where, with who and how we get them into our possession. What emotions or feelings they fire up in our soul and mind. They tell stories about our own selves to the world and to the public and only extraordinary mind will see it in the ordinary objects that we are surrounded by. Those "inanimate objects" are (without a doubt) "our partners in experience" of life and humans. They help us to visit the hidden islands of our memories.

"The Badge of Honor"

1. When I first glimpsed at the work of Pepon Osorio, I was, in a way, shocked as there was too much of everything on the photograph. Walls with multiple players' cards, sports and movie stars posters, numerous amount of sneakers, a few basketball balls, black and white and color family photographs, too much glass reflecting all this "tidy mess" of the room in it, specific bedframe and bed itself, bike in the middle of all of it - I wondered for a moment if the author exaggerated too much or the teenager's room really looked like this?!

Based on my observations, I could assume that the teenager is into sports: basketball, martial arts and biking; he is family-oriented and a religious person; he appreciates comfort shoes and likes to stay fit. Based of the posters on the wall of Michael Jordan, Scott Pippen, Charles Barkley, Chris Webber and Bruce Lee, we could suggest that time takes place in the mid-nineties. The multiple features of the hand into the fist actually surprised me a lot and I can not still figure out the meaning of it... I did not pay any attention to the video on the wall as my attention was drawn towards everything else on that piece. Only after reading the "follow words", I looked into it.

Pepon Osorio uses completely different elements to draw people's attention.  We see the scene, we watch the video on the wall and we hear what is being said in it. To create his installation Pepon uses variety of materials. For example, while creating art, he applies found objects.

Even though he concentrates on the particular example, I think he tries to get our attention to something much more bigger then that particular teenager's bedroom and pass the general message to the mass.

2. In my opinion, Pepon has one an amazing job. He really concentrates on details of the bedroom that help us better understand the culture and interests of this kid. How he lives and what he breathes.

Exaggeration seems to be the only aspect that makes me think of the fiction and fantasy of his work rather then the fact. Even though I would assume it is based on the real story or a few stories applied together to create this piece. While at the same time conversation between father and son, Nelson Sr. and Nelson Jr., is true and this is the fact.

"For me fiction doesn't exist, and fantasy is only an imagination" (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_Fiction_and_Fantasy#ixzz2705wEBNG).

I quite agree with this quote. Fiction is unbelievable, created by us, while fantasy can apply real objects to develop our imagination. 

Playlist

Usually I hardly ever listen to music when I write. Well... Hold for a second. I do! I listen to the music of silence. But here we are anyways:

1. Zemfira “Krasota”
2. Richard Clayderman “Careless Whisper”
3. Richard Clayderman “La Mer”
4. Richard Clayderman “Love Story”
5. Richard Clayderman “Strangers in the night”
6. Richard Clayderman “Warsaw Concerto”
7. Patricia Kaas  “If you go away”
8. Particia Kaas “Mademoiselle chante le blues”
9. Patricia Kaas   “It’s a man’s world”
10. Patricia Kaas    “Summertime”
11. Rick Ross, Drake and Chrisette Michele “Ashton Martin Music”
12. Sting “When we dance”

Magazine exercise

Together with the group of fellow students we we able to observe and discuss similarities and differences of the two magazines we brought. The first one was the U.S. based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics and pop culture named "Rolling Stones". The second - "Snob" - is international magazine in russian language for people who live in different countries, speak various languages, but think in russian. 

Both magazines are published on glossy paper and have similar formats. The front page is featuring the cover interview or story of the issue, accompanied by the abundant photographs. The publications contain advertisements that mostly specified for particular group of people; both of them have correspondence pages where the stuff is able to keep communication with the readers; the style of the photographs are quite unique, it is simple, but charming; each of the magazine has specific columns and opinion pieces that are repeated from issue to issue; both magazines have particular font, size, format and color specified by the stuff or group of designers.

While looking through both of the publications we were using different senses. We smelled and touched the paper that magazines were published on; in order to follow music news, first we had to listen to it; we observe - sight - images that both of them contained; some of the ads have particular products that we might try in the past (so you could feel that particular taste in your mouth while observing them).

While two texts are totally different in content, they could still interest the same or completely opposite group of people. For ones there might be the language barrier, while for others it does not exist. When we have language barrier, we could observe and still be able to make inferences and suggestions. 

"a matter of scale": page, 91; seeing 2

It seems to me that miss Cole ends her essay by quoting another author what helps her to give a great summary of what she has written about. Like she said herself: "No one said it better". The quote gets us to the point, to the conclusion and final remark towards the explanation of the title of the essay. If she had paraphrased the quote, it would have seemed as a discussion of what Schrodinger had said and it would have not seemed as the essay has "a final dot". On the other hand, the first sentence helps the reader engage into the discussion and rises the questions we might have been asking ourselves for a long time. 

As for the other quotes... Right of the door, the very first one by Bob Miller supports the title and let us understand how the scale matters with the simple example of the extraordinary being quite ordinary. Further in the text, the quotes give Cole the opportunity to enrich the essay with the particular examples of others and scientific proofs, not just her personal observations and thoughts. As well the fact that different people discussing the same cases, let us understand that the same questions arise between humans. Quotes of variety of people give readers the opportunity to notice the differences and engage into discussion. First she quote, then explains the quote; or she gives an example and summarizes with a quote; or have a discussion, summarized by the footnote as a proof as of where her previous thoughts are coming from. 

"a matter of scale": page 91, seeing 1

To see through the imagination, to notice the unnoticeable, the pay attention to the ordinary in order to catch the extraordinary... That is what K.C. Cole, in my opinion, considering "magically seductive". She takes us on the journey to rediscovering not only us, ourselves, but looking "outside the bun" at the everyday life around us. We are so burned out with everyday routine of our lives that sometimes we really need to stop and look around. To "explore the invisible worlds" and  understand such things as "downside" of being a giant, or clouds getting transformed into rain, or the postulates of geometry and quantum mechanics, or flies walking on the ceiling, to name a few. It really all depends on the matter of our own scale and what we are personally might be interested in. I have never thought before about the water differently influencing on the human and insect body or the "less than two micrometers" organisms living the ocean... I believe, it is all about seeing little details through the big picture. I do not think any particular facts will change or will not the way I think, but the idea of those facts gives me the new ground for thoughts and ability to view differently the things I am surrounded by.

page 42, seeing 2

The Mendoza Family of Guatemala vs. The Aboubakar Family of Chad

Observations (to name a few):

1. Fresh produce vs. dried food

2. Food as the main focus of the photograph vs. family "shining" in the background because of lack of impressive quality and colorfulness of the food

3. House made of stone vs. the tents

4. Family members sitting on the chairs or standing vs. family members sitting on the ground - the presence of the furniture and its absence

5. The man of the house present vs. the man of the house being absent; opportunity to have live-in helpers

6. Shadow from the house vs. open space of the dessert

7. Jewelry from metal vs. probably fabric or leather band on the hand of only one of the children

Interferences based on observations:

1. Based on observations I made, one family is living a healthy life, while the other is so close to the survival mode.

2. There is a huge contrast of living in a stone house vs. the tent which provides us with the information how one family can deal with the weather changes while the other might struggle with it. 

3. The concentration of the first photograph is on one particular family and its members including the head of the household and "servants" in the background vs. the other shot which is divided into two parts: mother surrounded my kids in the open sun while the men are in the shadow of the trees. We might make a suggestion about enchanting the "privileges" of ones under the other ones.

4. The development of the economy in both countries and money value.

The meaning of the term "full plate" is quite different for each family. Like I mention before having lots of fresh vegetables and fruits allows Mendoza family have/lead a healthy lifestyle, while Aboubakar family counts each and every grain and piece of dry food they consume every day in order to survive. Every family has its values and appreciate what they have, because, it might be true, they have never seen better then what they have. Metaphor - Sun brings some people of the world joy and light, while others struggle from its heat. The same is here. People value what they have and it depends only on them if they would like to strive for more.

Both families though have a few similarities. They live. They give birth. They take the best of the opportunities. They have the necessities they need to survive. They are here and that means the world has a future.

D'Aluisio's text provided us with detailed information that helps us understand what part of the year what food is available for each family; the average age and amount of children in each family; allows us to compare the cost, types of food available in two different countries; compare quality of life by looking at the amount of money that each family is able to spend on food if it is; the way the food is preserved; and let us compare how different are the likes on the food for humans are.

page 42, seeing 1

I look at Peter Menzel's photographs and see people and food their consume in a week. I see differences and similarities. I see humans from all over of world gathered together on the pages of Menzel's book. They have the same matter in common: food is the way of existence. Existence is a sign of the future or absence of it. I see values and appreciation. Opportunities and disadvantages... Little details in the photo images describe the circumstances of living of each and every of them. The expressions of their faces, eyes in particular, tell us another story of joy or sorrow, hope or the loss of it, happiness or difficulties. The surrounding areas of where each image was taken, bring us on another journey. The blooming garden of life, the cold walls of your family household or the empty and dry dessert filled up with mixture of emotions. My eye catches the photograph of the Aboubakar Family of Chad, where each member of the family has a different story to tell. Mother's face full of worries holding her youngest daughter who is just entering this world and her insight into it still unknown. Or her oldest son expressing the signs of happiness and curiosity, intrigued by being photographed. Or the middle children who are surprised, scared, may be posing in front of the camera or going on the protest and questioning "Why are they being shot?" The summary by Faith D'Aluisio helps us to understand the images more precisely providing numerous details of the households, circumstances of their living conditions and encounters the types of food and its cost each of them consuming in different parts of the world throughout different times of the year.

Photographs captures the ordinary. Our goal is to "hear our imagination" to see the extraordinary behind it. 

acquaintance.

Here I am. Transfer student at Columbia College in Chicago. One of my classes in the first semester is Writing and Rhetoric I where creating a blog is a requirement. Interesting. I tried to escape blogging as much as I could. But I guess it is running after me. May be, for the better. Or... I am even getting to the point of being SURE for the better. Miss Kazaj, here I am. Just to say Hi! and get back to reading pages 3-25 of our textbook. It has arrived earlier today in the mail. So let the discussion tomorrow at class begin!