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Hyper-ballad
Bjork
We live on a mountain
Right at the top
There's a beautiful view
From the top of the mountain
Every morning I walk towards the edge
And throw little things off
Like car-parts, bottles and cutlery
Or whatever I find lying around
It's become a habit
A way to start the day
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
It's real early morning
No-one is awake
I'm back at my cliff
Still throwing things off
I listen to the sounds they make
On their way down
I follow with my eyes 'til they crash
Imagine what my body would sound like
Slamming against those rocks
When it lands
Will my eyes
Be closed or open?
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
I go through all this
Before you wake up
So I can feel happier
To be safe up here with you
Safe up (here with you) ...
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Last night was so much fun. While I didn't have on the sexy stilletos Carrie wears, my boots worked fine enough. I did try on L's super-high heels (ironically I typed "hells" just now), and toddled around her apartment for a few minutes. I would have not survived the night if I had worn 'em.
We ended up going to the Spadina Freehouse. It's a fun, lil happening place. For a while there, it didn't even feel like Saskatoon. Of course, being the sexy grrrls we were, we had to fight off all the guys. We mostly sat around and sampled martinis and said revealing things about ourselves. A good night.
Today I plan on drinking water non-stop and maybe tackling some of these essays I'm supposed to have marked before the 14th.
EDIT: I've added some more pictures of our night to my fotopage.
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For a little while tonight, I was able to sit by myself in the living room and just watch my Christmas tree.
No distracting television shows, no roommates, no noise besides the occasional car passing in the street below.
Yes, it's not even December yet and I have a Christmas tree set up in the middle of my living room. I may have been a little over-eager to set it up, but now that it's done I'm really thankful. It's peaceful having it around, and even though it's in the slow throes of dying, it's still green enough to fool me into thinking that the entire world isn't covered in white about now.
Not much going on in the real world. Tomorrow looks to be filled with marking papers and spending time with girlfriends. We're going out on the town, Sex in the City style, sampling as many martinis as possible. Since we'll be guyless, hopefully that will keep us warm!
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Top 10 Dangers of Living in the Blog Space
1. You think everyone cares about your opinions: They don't. They care about mine.
2. You stop having normal experiences: Every event you participate following your initial blog post will be constantly interrupted as you simultaneously live the adventure and write the corresponding blog post in your head.
3. You will care what other people think: Even if you really don't. "Stats" will become an important part of your blogging life (also self-esteem),even though you detest math. You'll be glad your web-stalker is gone but regret losing the hits. When stats go down, you will start padding your posts with words like "naked", "nudity", and "clown porn".
4. You will become more news savvy: You'll start reading several news sources to inspire more posts. Unfortunately, you will focus on items that are weird, quirky, or bizarre, thereby eliminating your ability to discuss these items with non-bloggers in real-life (ie around the water cooler) without coming off like the freak you really are.
5. You will feel the need to post: Even when you have nothing to say. Just in case other people are reading. Sarcasmo's Corner, I'm a slave for you.
6. You stop hearing from non-blogging friends: You're behind on their lives, but they feel like they haven't missed a beat with you, because they "keep up with you through your blog." Also, they are tired of talking to you because you constantly ask them "So, when are you going to get a blog?" (You laugh, but our local blog mafia has coerced four independent, strong-willed, intelligent, people into blogging (and we're working on a 5th). All hail the power of peer pressure!)
7. Your work habits change: Why talk to those irritating, clueless, inane people in your office, when you can sneak a quick peek at your favorite blogs for clever quips, interesting insight, and comment-based conversations?
8. You will stop having normal conversations with family and friends: Real life conversations will go like this. "Oh, hey, I saw So-And-So in concert and the weirdest thing happened..." Friend, "Yeah, I know, I read about it on your blog." Silence. Friend, "Did I tell you that I'm..." You, "Blog." Friend, "Yeah."
9, You expect your friends to be witty and clever. Always.: I am lucky to surrounded by bright, witty people with bright witty blogs. I don't know how the rest of the world survives without these for distraction. I suppose they must come here.
10. You demand that your witty and clever friends be blogging. Constantly: Why aren't you all busy shirking your jobs and entertaining me? I need INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION. Or, barring that, something really silly and inane to peruse. Seriously. I'm bored to tears, here people. For the love of Pete, POST SOMETHING. NOW.
(via Jordon)
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"The world is not what I think, but what I live through. I am open to the world, I have no doubt that I am in communication with it, but I do not possess it; it is inexhaustible."
-- Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception
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And now, a warm fuzzy moment of teaching --
Tonight I got the following email from a student I taught last year:
Hey Becky,
This is *** *****, I hope this e-mail account is still active. How are you? how did your term papers turn out? I was wondering if I could come and see you some time next week, perhaps on Monday or Wednesday after your English 110 class (you are still in Arts 201 1:30 to 2:30 aren't you?), I wanted to ask you some questions about taking an English major. I can come see you tommorrow (Friday) to if that would be better. If you get this e-mail tonight please e-mail me back at ****, and let me know if I can come talk to you some time. See ya later.
Yet another convert to the wonderful world of the humanities. Maybe I can steer him to Rhetoric... hmmm. [insert Mr. Burns-like rubbing of the hands together here]
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I'll be home for Thanksgiving, if only in my dreams.
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Unexpected pleasures.
- Flying turkeys!
- Relief after preparing (to excess) my presentation -- and having it turn out a success!
- Three, count 'em, three compliments. One from the cute-ish engineer in my class who said I looked "like a million bucks," one from the prof regarding the level of my presentation, and one from L -- who said, "if I weren't straight, I'd be all over your ass."
- Speaking of her, it's nice to know that there's someone else out there with the same taste in a bad TV show & good sushi. I just love her. :)
- Jobs like this actually exist?! Where do I sign up?
- New boots that make me taller and more confident. That goes a long, long way.
- A decadent bubble bath with a recently found (yet not read) Harper's magazine
- Christmas music playing in November. I am such a sap.
- A presentation completed. Have I mentioned how great it feels to have that behind me?!
- In 110 today, listening to a so-so lecture on this poem, and realizing I would have focused on the fact it's all about a guy trying to seduce a girl. ("My vegetable love should grow...")
- Having my Dead Like Me season 1 download be only 5% away from being complete!
- Not having a presentation hanging over my head, so I can actually enjoy some of the episodes
- Christmas decorating tomorrow. Christmas party invitations printed.
- Having my rhetorical analysis be recommended and linked by JCA (a person I admire and vicariously live through her law school experience). I must be doing something right.
- . . . and not to mention, the discovery of new (and yet somehow old) friends.
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My favorite magnet.
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In case you are curious, here's a rough outline of what I hope to present tomorrow:
I. Description of Object
- Thomas Nelson’s description: A Bible that looks like a magazine! In focus groups, online polling, and one-on-one discussion, Transit has found that the number one reason teens don't read the Bible is that it is "too big and freaky looking." This fashion-magazine format for the New Testament is the perfect solution to that problem. Teen girls feel comfortable exploring the Scriptures and over 500 further-study notes because of the relevant format! Revolve is the new look for teen Bible publishing!
- Revolve is the New Testament marketed as a fashion magazine aimed for young girls and looks nothing like a traditional Bible. While Revolve does include the entire New Testament, integrated through the text are additional features commonly found in fashion magazines.
- There are almost 20 recurrent features in Revolve, including:
▸ Monthly calenders, prompting girls to “pray for a person of influence” on certain days. People of influence include celebrities such as Eminem, Cameron Diaz, Kelly Osborne, and Mike Tyson.
▸ 22 Beauty Secrets: Giving such advice as “When you apply sunscreen, use that time to talk to God,” and “Make sure Jesus would be pleased with what you wear. You don’t have to look frumpy, just make sure you look like a child of God.”
▸ 75 “Didya Know” unattributed statistics – examples: “4 in 5 teens think their parents are as cool or cooler than their friends’ parents,” “African American teens are 40% more likely to have sex than Caucasian teens,” and “Teens who smoke are more likely to become drug abusers.”
▸ 15 Top Ten lists: Ranging from “Top ten random ways to show your mom you love her” to “Top 10 Random beauty secrets” to “Top 10 Random things to know about being a Revolve Girl” to “Top 10 Great Christian books” (oddly all published by the same company that puts out Revolve).
▸ Speaking of advertisements, there are at least 25 examples of different products advertised with Revolve’s pages.
- The Bible-magazine is a success; since its initial run in July, almost all of the 40,000 copies have been sold (as many copies a traditional Bible sells within a year) – with an additional 110,000 to be printed in the near future.
– New issues are planned every 12 to 18 months, to update the celebrity calenders and recurrent features.
– A guy version is in the works, along with a “Wisdom” books edition to be release in the Spring.
II. Why is this object worth rhetorical analysis?
- Revolve’s publication success is worthy of study not because of the effectiveness of its biblical message, but because of the implications of its chosen format.
- Revolve’s format represents a cross-pollination of religion and pop culture.
- Revolve uses the design of a teen magazine as a guise in attracting young people to reading the Bible; in reality, its format distracts readers from the biblical passages. The focus of Revolve is not on the passages found in the New Testament, but instead on the different features of the magazine.
- The treatment of the biblical text is reduced – both in size and importance – by the prominence of recurring features and sidebars.
- Figure & Ground (Tucker)
– Recall Perelman’s idea that the world is “infinitely complex and essentially ambiguous” with an “avalanche of stimuli” that requires us to “make the dash of information into familiar shapes and patterns” in order to cope.
– The editors of Revolve have admittedly taken what they perceive as an ambiguous text (the Bible) and dressed it up into the familiar form of a fashion magazine to better reach their target audience of young girls.
– Whaley to NY Times: “We at Thomas Nelson Publishers in Nashville did some research and found that teens don't read the Bible. They say it is too freaky and too big and it doesn't make sense. The only thing they read is fashion magazines, so we thought, What if we made the Bible look like a magazine?”
– Tucker defines presence as “a property of ‘standing-out-ness’ that rhetors give particular meanings at the expense of others.” By focusing attention on its side features and not the biblical text itself, Revolve borrows the presence and forms of a fashion magazine to make its side features the figure, and the biblical text the ground.
– Burke defines rhetorical form as raising and fulfilling expectations in the audience. The different recurrent features in Revolve work as rhetorical forms because of their close resemblance to elements encountered in most fashion magazines.
– Tucker writes that these shapes and forms can accumulate and then become the ground for the figure to emerge. “What we commonly call the meaning of a text is an impression created in the wake of our experience of it.”
– Similar to the faces and vase picture, we cannot see or entertain two interpretations of a text at once – the consequences of this Gestalt psychology in application to Revolve are important to consider. While the editor’s stated and explicit intention is to inspire young girls to read the bible, what they are implicitly doing instead is to cultivate their vision of a “Revolve girl” through their use of these extra features in the text.
III. How does this object persuade/create identification?
- This overemphasis on the sidebars (and consequential weakening of the biblical text) is evidence of the advertiser’s stance. Booth defines this rhetorical perversion as the “undervaluing the subject and overvaluing pure effect.” And also states that this perversion is a more serious threat than ignoring the audience.
- The publishers/editors are using a text that is traditionally imbued with authority to sell their vision of a “Revolve girl.”
– lack of coherence of extra features to surrounding text (does not engage text but rather interrupts it) – The biblical text is actually harder to read/comprehend because of the distracting extra features that surround it.
– size of actual Bible helps to everything else (visually stimulating: color vs. black & white)
– trivializing of sacred content? (emphasis on teen values, “love notes from God”, blab questions, etc)
- Ethical criticism: an invitation to become something (E. Black)
– “Discourses are, directly or in a transmuted form, the external signs of internal states.”
– “in all rhetorical discourse, we can find enticements not simply to believe something, but to be something.”
– Ultimately, Revolve’s goal is to manipulate its reader into a consumer of religion, ethics, materialism, and mass culture.
- Fantasy Theme analysis
– effect of the side features is that is sets up a script for girls to follow in order to become part of the rhetorical vision that is a Revolve girl
– the choice of repeated questions and words within answers, along with carefully chosen statistics, helps to define its rhetorical vision
– ideology and assumptions are implicitly linked to vision
– fantasies characterized by their artistic and organized qualities – designed to create a credible interpretation of experience.
– slanted and ordered in particular ways to provide compelling explanations.
(phew)
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Today:
-- I taught Browning's My Last Duchess and had fun diving into the realms of narcissism and authority issues that run rampart in that poem. After going over sonnets for so long, my students (and I) welcomed the change of pace!
-- I received my last batch of papers to mark before going home for Christmas. They had a choice of writing about Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, Donne's Death Be Not Proud, or Rossetti's Remember. So not looking forward to marking them.
-- At the gym I used 16 pounds of weight when working my triceps and biceps. Ouch. But I'm liking how my arms are shaping up!
Ah, caffeine highs. -- Tonight A and I went to the oft-neglected Starbucks. Again, we had it to ourselves -- very nice. Not only did we get free coffee (as part of a "coffee tasting"), but I impressed the Barristas with my project topic. They were appropriately horrified as I showed them Revolve. And in between all of that, I actually managed to get some work accomplished. Now I'm fighting a caffeinated hyperactive headache, and am looking forward to a long night of outlining my presentation.
-- I managed to get two pages of Revolve color-copied and on transparencies for my talk Wednesday. This was no small feat, considering the tenaciously ornery color-copier at Staples.
-- Finally, I've been invited to serve as a debate judge for a competition next month. Unfortunately, it's on the same night as our Christmas party. But the nerd in me is flattered that I'd be recommended and invited to such an event. (I know.)
Must work on project. If I get any headway, I'll post what I will discuss for your viewing pleasure!
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Lack of blogging is due to me frantically putting together this presentation for Wednesday. Tomorrow at 3 I'm supposed to meet with the prof and sound intelligent whenever I refer to it. In order to accomplish this facade, much preparation is required from my end.
I'm off to the not-so-busy Starbucks to pump overpriced gingerbread lattes in my system and work on my presentation.
Quick sidenote: My roommate and I are planning on having a Christmas party December 12th. We'll have a real turkey and tree and everything. I can't wait to start decorating the apartment.
And yes, I've already started listening to Christmas music. It's all his fault.
ttfn.
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Grrrr.
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November
by Azure Ray
So I'm waiting for this task to end,
so that lighter days can soon begin;
I'll be alone, but maybe more carefree,
Like a kite that floats so effortlessly;
I was afraid to be alone,
but now I'm scared that's how I like to be;
All these faces run the same,
how can there be so many personalities?
So many lifeless, empty hands,
so many hearts in great demand;
and now my sorrow seems so far away,
until I'm taken by these bolts of pain;
But I turn them off, and tuck them away,
until those rainy days that make them stay;
And then I'll cry so hard to these sad songs,
and the words still ring, once here, now gone;
And they echo through my head everyday,
and I don't they'll ever go away;
Just like thinking of your childhood home,
but we can't go back, we're on our own;
But I'm about to give this one more shot,
And find it in myself, I'll find it in myself;
So we're speeding towards that time of year,
to the day that marks that you're not here;
And I think I'll want to be alone,
so please understand that I don't answer the phone;
I'll just sit and stare at my deep blue walls,
until I can see nothing at all;
Only particles, some fast, some slow,
all my eyes can see is all I know;
But I'm about to give this one more shot,
And find it in myself, I'll find it in myself...
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Go. see. Gothika.
Fuggetabout its rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It's a pretty good ghost story, with lots of fun jumpy parts. Thank goodness L is such a great grrrl friend who doesn't mind me squeezing her arm. Hopefully it won't be bruised tomorrow, considering I was a-scared through most of it. (p.s. It's also fun to see Penelope Cruz looking psychopathic and ugly through most of the film!)
If you live in Saskatoon, here's little free advice for you: Don't go to the Starbucks on 2nd Avenue. It's always packed. If you need that overpriced caffeine fix that only a Starbucks can offer, go to the one in Midtown Plaza. Tonight we had the coffee shop to ourselves! Apparently it's always dead after the mall closes. Guaranteed pick of comfy chairs if you go there. Mmm, gingerbread lattes!
One more random thought: How about that train wreck known as Saturday Night Live? I watched some of it tonight to see her perform some new songs, and I had to quit after the first 45 minutes. I think I laughed once. It's just awful now -- not even the Weekend Update was funny. Pathetic.
Reason number 8 of why it's great to live so damn North: Aurora Borealis. If it wasn't -20 something outside, I woulda drove outside the city to get a better look at 'em!
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How to avoid doing what you're supposed to be doing. (I should write a book, that's my working title)
So far today I have slept late, thoroughly cleaned my room, dusted, emailed several students concerning their thesis statements, made lunch, went to Persian dance class, did weights, ordered a book from McNally, and now composed a blog entry. Note that I haven't worked that much on what I'm supposed to be -- my seminar presentation for Wednesday.
I have a great penchant for finding something (anything) to do other than the schoolwork that looms in front of me.
Earlier today, as I procrast- er, researched more material for my paper, I stumbled across two useful books.
The first book is Paul G. Gutjahr's An American Bible: A History of the Good Book in the United States (Stanford UP, 1999). Turns out that the U of S has this book in their e-library. This is a good thing, meaning I could peruse it in my sweats -- without having to trek over to the library in the -20 temps. It's an interesting book; unfortunately it only covers the history of the Bible from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. I did find some neat quotes I might be able to implement in my paper (or thesis) somewhere:
Dating back to the Puritans, Americans have long enjoyed the nickname ''A People of the Book." A religiously bent printing industry coupled with a Protestant penchant for teaching literacy made the Bible the most imported, most printed, most distributed, and most read written text in North America up through the nineteenth century. (1)
The explosive growth in bible edition diversity and production had a number of momentous consequences. First, the very attempts to make the Bible more accessible both physically and intellectually ultimately contributed to making this special book less special. Put another way, in mass-producing the Bible and producing it in so many different formats and translations, its producers often made the Scriptures appear more ordinary than extraordinary. At its core, the American mass production of bibles and the resultant diversity of biblical editions highlighted the mutable nature of a supposedly immutable book. (176)
The growing number of biblical illustrations also served to de-emphasize the volume's words. Although pictures had accompanied the biblical text for centuries, early nineteenth-century changes in print technology transformed biblical illustration from a handful of illustrations to thousands of images. As more and more illustrations began to accompany the biblical text, their presence enabled readers to bypass the Bible's complex written narrative in favor of the images that sat in juxtaposition to that text. These vast numbers of pictures, increasingly mounted on the same page as the biblical text, could serve to remove the Bible's words from the main field of a reader's interpretive attention. Readers found themselves able to skim over difficult or boring passages in favor of simply enjoying the pictures that purportedly illustrated those passages. Thus, the Bible's many complex narrative strands were frequently reduced to the interpretation offered by a single image, an image often only loosely based on a single aspect of the narrative it purportedly illustrated. (177)
Perhaps most striking in the attempt to understand the Bible's changing role is how it forces one to reconsider the precious Protestant value of sola scriptura (the Bible alone). Most often applied to scriptural interpretation, this clarion call to foreground the words of Scripture frequently ignores the fact that God's word is never truly alone when it reaches its readers on a printed page. Even if not constrained by doctrine and clergy, Scripture is constrained by its own materiality: how it is set in type, formatted, commented upon in marginalia, illustrated, bound, and distributed. If the story of nineteenth-century publishing teaches us anything, it is that bible packaging, content, and distribution all inseparably work together to give the Book meaning. A book is judged by its cover, as well as by all aspects of its content and method of conveyance——a precious lesson worth remembering in any attempt to interpret the meaning and influence of the Word once it becomes words. (178)
I also discovered this book: American Jesus by Stephen Prothero. It's being released on December 1st, and my name is already on a list to get one.
Here's part of a review of it: The United States (it is often pointed out) is one of the most religious countries on earth, and most Americans belong to one Christian church or another. But as Stephen Prothero argues here, many of the most interesting appraisals of Jesus have emerged outside the churches: in music, film, and popular culture; and among Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and people of no religion at all. American Jesus is a lively work of history and an account of the ways Americans have cast the carpenter from Nazareth in their own image. It is also an examination, through the looking glass, of the American character.
Yes, in a little while I will have to invest in a new bookshelf.
EDIT: Wouldn't you know it, I just got an email from a colleague and she's got another book for me to look at!
Her email: I've just been leafing through For Shame:The Loss of Common Decency in American Culture by James B. Twitchell, and he takes on the mega church issue in a chapter called "Shame in Shambles: The Professions of Salvation". He talks about the music videos in these churches ("karaoke Christianity") where the worshippers are called "clientele" and the "audience / customer" dictates the "programming." You might want to take a peak at the chapter.
(insert The Count voice here) Three, three more books to read. Ah, ah, ah!
Eh, who am I to complain? I love reading, and this is pretty fascinating stuff.
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 So tonight, in addition to watching some great John Cusack movies, I also watched the pilot of Dead Like Me (mainly because of his recommendation).
I liked it -- while I'm still sorting through what I think about it, to be quite honest. The basic premise of the show centers around this 18-year-old girl, George, who dies due to a freak (and albeit tragic) collision with some random space junk. She's dead, and her job now is to work as a grim reaper. Lots of possibilities for plot, no?
The show is good. I feel connected to its characters, and I've only watched its first episode! It's interesting to look at death in a different light -- and while the show is funny, I think it's pretty deep in the areas of life it examines. It's the type of show where you can enjoy what's going on, while not having to turn off your brain like most sitcoms/shows. There's some great characters -- including Mandy Patkin (aka Inigo Montoya from Princess Bride). I like how he says "peanut."
Driving home tonight, I saw two bizarre things. First of all, as I drove closer to my apartment, I thought I saw some amazing Northern Lights. The closer I got to Central, the brighter they became -- but they turned out not to be Aurora after all, but rather reflections of street lights! It was like a straight ray of light was going directly up into the sky, whereever there was a lit-up sign or streetlight. It was crazy!
And I think it was the first time I ever considered light pollution of the city beautiful. The train yard was the prettiest of them all, it looked like tons of flashlight beams pointing straight up to the heavens. I think it has to do with the fact it's almost -30 outside right now -- there must be some sort of scientific name for this phenomenon. Whatever it was, it was nice and almost made the freezing cold outside bearable.
The other bizarre thing had to do with several sets of flashing lights stationed directly in front of my apartment building. The closer I drove, the more upset I became -- it WAS in front of my building! Apparently some drunk jackass in a red truck decided to bulldoze the row of cars parked in front of my building. At least 4 cars were hit, and hit BAD. I arrived right before they finished cleaning it up. The red Beretta of our neighbor's looks totalled. I'm SO glad I park behind the house. Maybe all this trouble in my neighborhood are signs from the gods I should move to a better part of town.
Wow. It's late, and I have to get up and sweat at the gym in a couple hours. ttfn.
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(another poem encountered while reading during class)
The Race
Sharon Olds
When I got to the airport I rushed up to the desk
and they told me the flight was cancelled. The doctors had
said my father would not live through the night
and the flight was cancelled. A young man with a
dark blond mustache told me
another airline had a non-stop
leaving in seven minutes -- see that
elevator over there well go
down to the first floor, make a right you'll
see a yellow bus, get off at the
second Pan Am terminal -- I
ran, I who have no sense of direction
raced exactly where he'd told me, like a fish
slipping upstream deftly against the
flow of the river. I jumped off that bus with my
heavy bags and ran, the bags
wagged me from side to side as if to
prove I was under the claims of material. I
ran up to a man with a white flower on his breast,
I who always go to the end of the line, I said
Help me. He looked at my ticket, he said make a
left and then a right go up the moving stairs and then
run. I raced up the moving stairs
two at a time, at the top I saw the
long hollow corridor and
then I took a deep breath, I said
goodbye to my body, goodbye to comfort, I
used my legs and heart as if I would
gladly use them up for this, to
touch him again in this life. I ran and the
big heavy dark bags
banged me, wheeled and swam around me like
planets in wild orbits -- I have seen
pictures of women running down roads with their
belongings tied in black scarves
grasped in their fists, running under serious
gray historical skies -- I blessed my
long legs he gave me, my strong
heart I abandoned to its own purpose, I
ran to Gate 17 and they were just lifting the thick white
lozenge of the door to fit it into the
socket of the plane, Like the man who is not
too rich, I turned to the side and
slipped trough the needle's eye, and then I
walked down the aisle toward my father. The jet was
full and people's hair was shining, they were
smiling, the interior of the plane was filled with a
mist of gold endorphin light,
I wept as people weep when they enter heaven,
in massive relief. We lifted up
gently from on tip of the continent and
did not stop until we sat down lightly on the
other edge, I walked into his room and
watched his chest rise slowly and
sink again, all night
I watched him breathe.
(I got tingles reading this)
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No, this is not a Photoshop contest!
Corporate Sponsorship of Churches?!
In the wake of declining tithes and offerings, churches from coast to coast are partnering with corporate sponsors to supplement their budgets, in exchange for high profile if controversial ad placement.
"This [offer] couldn't have come at a better time," says Jacob Helsinki, pastor of Mach 4 Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, Wash. His church has sold much of the "visual space" in their facility to advertisers, including the bathroom stalls to Burger King, the rim of the collection plates to Hewlett-Packard and the backs of pews to JollyTime popcorn. "We were facing real cutbacks for our youth programs, and these companies were more than happy to step in and bridge the gap, financially speaking."
[...]A pastor in Austin who wished to not be identified, says he is paid $500 a week to wear Tommy Hilfiger clothing, and to somehow incorporate references to his new clothes into the sermon. "It's not a complete departure from who I am, so I'm very comfortable doing it," he says. "And I tithe on the money, and give some to missions."
And I thought Revolve was a step in the wrong direction! Yikes.
It's funny (ironic) that many of the larger churches back home are gearing themselves toward a consumer mentality. My dad's old "church" now has a building which oddly resembles a mall. There's even a coffee shop where you can go to buy a cup of coffee. It's not quite as bad as this yet, but everything they do is based on that church (rather than the Bible).
So yes, I'm still bitter about organized religion. It's mainly because of what I see happening above.
EDIT: Okay, if you haven't gathered it by now -- it's a joke. Unfortunately, what I said about my dad's old church and the move toward consumerism in the contemporary US church isn't.
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It seems to me that CNN has their priorities way out of whack. Why is it that Michael Jackson being back in Las Vegas is the top story? Especially when there's been an attack in Turkey that killed almost 30 and wounded over 400?
I hate our media. I have yet to see the "news" in Michael Jackson's arrest -- and while I'm not condemning him until he's proven guilty, if he is guilty of molesting any child -- I hope he suffers more pain than the worst botched plastic surgery could offer. (and by that I mean worse than he's already had)
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This afternoon I met with my thesis supervisor yet again. I'm really struggling with my artifact. The more I read, the more theories I see working with my rhetorical analysis.
I've never really analyzed something this thoroughly before. Instead of labeling the different rhetorical devices and theories at work within Revolve, I'm going to need to be even more evaluative. I'll have to examine the relationships between these different devices at work, and ultimately make some judgement about what I've uncovered.
The further I go into my research, I'm finding that this process is both exhilarating and frustrating. I have to let the artifact speak to me, instead of taking my theories/ideas and merely tacking them onto it so it fits. This whole process harkens back to the age-old rhetoric debate of which comes first (or is most important), the object or method?
It's hard to explain why I feel so vulnerable sometimes when I think about the project that looms before me. I'm excited about what I'm studying, yet at the same time I'm really intimidated of what I have to do before I've got my thesis completed.
One thing happened today during my meeting with my supervisor that I won't soon forget. I received a compliment! I believe that true compliments are rare, so whenever I encounter one I hoard it like a one-armed pirate. She told me today that she admires me in that I'm not afraid to plunge into a project, even when it's admittedly over my head. Last year, she watched me teach with veteran teachers material I had only just learned. This term, she's proud of the way I'm taking all this theory (and there's heaps and heaps of it) and am working hard to apply it to the complex artifact I've chosen. I really admire and look up to her, academically, so hearing this compliment really made my day.
I'm sure I'll need to remember it once I'm in the throes of writing woes.
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Here I am, posing for the U of S webcam. I felt like the biggest dweeb, standing there for a couple minutes -- posing for a 30 second camera. I had no idea of when to stop posing. Yet Jeff was kind enough to screen capture it and caption it as "American grrrl surrenders .... to winter!"
There's nothing like being outside in windchills colder than your freezer!
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In IKEA We Trust
Swedes trust IKEA, purveyor of affordable assemble-yourself furniture and Swedish meatballs in 22 countries, more than their own government, politicians, media or trade unions, according to a new poll published Wednesday. The only institutions they respect more than the creators of the Billy bookcase are schools and universities.
Asked how much they trusted a list of institutions, 66 percent said they trusted IKEA a lot or quite a lot, compared with just 47 percent expressing the same level of confidence in their parliament and only 18 percent in political parties.
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Speaking of Strong Bad, check out his latest: Local News.
It shivers with grammar! Click on the beefy arm graphic off the Strong Badia News page to hear Strong Bad's Rhythm N' Grammar!
Apparently Strong Bad gets just as angry at misplaced apostrophes as I do. I think I may sing his song to my students, to get it in their heads:
If you want it to be possessive, it's just 'ITS.' But, if it's supposed to be a contraction then it's 'I-T-apostrophe-S,' scalawag.
Don't miss other hits:
What ever happened to capitalization? It used to be so cool!
Girl, don't forget to spellcheck, or I'll come put a brick through your windshield...
And I don't care how they spell things on the internet, when you email me, you spell the whole word out...
Becky "The Yellow Dart" Bennetch.
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Apparently I wasn't alone in my dislike of Weaver. Most of the class had difficulty slogging through his prose. I should have kept at it, instead of giving up -- there's some real gems in what he has to say.
Segments from his Ethics of Rhetoric:
[This quote reminds me of the current US political situation, and in particular Shrub's administration] "Freedom moves on a set of presuppositions just as a machine moves on a set of ball bearings which themselves preserve definite locus. It is when these presuppositions are tampered with that men begin to grow concerned about their freedom. One can well imagine that the tremendous self-consciousness about freedom today, which we note in almost every utterance of public men, is evidence that this crucial general belief is threatened. It is no mere paradox to say that when they cry liberty, they mean belief -- the belief that sets one free from prior concerns. A corroborating evidence is that fact that nearly all large pleas for liberty today conclude with more or less direct appeals for unity."
This quote is only too relevant today, the way the current administration touts freedom and liberty as its motivating factors in applying force or invading countries. Weaver wrote this statement over 50 years ago, in the midst of the McCarthy un-American activities crusade. It's scary how much today's media/political environment harkens back to that scary era.
[and now for an observation I've noticed firsthand] "The Western World has long stood as a symbol for the future; and accordingly there has been a very wide tendency in this country, and also I believe among many people in Europe, to identify that which is American with that which is destined to be. And this is much the same as identifying it with the achievements of "progress." The typical American is quite fatuous in this regard: to him America is the goal toward which all creation moves; and he judges a country's civilization by its resemblance to the American model."
Only too true. I think I fell into this "typical American" stance all too often, until I moved away from home and saw my country in a different light. I love being an American, while I may disapprove of the actions of my President.
"The American, like other nationals, is not apt to be much better than he has been taught, and he has been taught systematically that his country is a special creation. That is why some of his ultimate terms seem to the general view provincial, and why he may be moved to polarities which represent only local poles."
[more commentary from yesterday that is still relevant today] "There seems indeed to be some obscure psychic law which compels every nation to have in its national imagination an enemy. Perhaps this is but a version of the tribal need for a scapegoat, or for something which will personify 'the adversary.' If a nation did not have an enemy, an enemy would have to be invented to take care of those expressions of scorn and hatred to which peoples must give vent. When another political state is not available to receive the discharge of such emotions, then a class will be chosen, or a race, or a type, or a political faction, and this will be held up to a practically standardized form of repudiation. Perhaps the truth is that we need the enemy in order to define ourselves..."
Whether your enemy is your bigger neighbor to the South, a "war on terror," or the deposing of a regime -- there's truth to this statement.
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"Snow grains?" Today is a day to stay inside by the fireplace and read. Unfortunately, I've got a full day of classes and own no fireplace.
C'est la vie.
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My Internet connection has been hit or miss all night -- here's hoping that this'll publish! (appointment already scheduled for Thursday with the dreaded "cable guy")
Not much exciting going on up here near the Arctic. It's cold, it's foggy, and I doubt that I'll be able to see any of the Leonids tonight. Not that being outside in -10 weather is something that is appealing, but I do love the prairie night skies -- especially when there's guaranteed shooting stars!
I caused myself undue stress this afternoon. Before leaving for the gym, I could not find my wallet ANY where. I automatically assumed the worst, hurried over to school to check my office -- and couldn't find it. I came home, tore my room apart, and later discovered my wallet sitting on my shelf, behaving as any good wallet should.
After going to the gym (and having my personal trainer compliment me), I picked up some groceries and attempted to make some tzatziki, thanks to a recipe sent from Adam. I loved grating the cucumbers, it made my apartment smell all fresh. The concoction I've made smells like its supposed to -- but I have to admit it's tasting a little on the funky side. I think I may have bought the wrong kind of yogurt. Maybe something miraculous will happen to it as it sits in the fridge overnight. (btw, how DO you drain yogurt? I quickly found out that the colander is not the solution!)
I've got student appointments all week. On Monday they turn in their third essay -- an analysis of a sonnet (by either Shakespeare, Donne, or Rosetti). I'm worried.
Now I need to finish reading my Richard Weaver chapters from his book The Ethics of Rhetoric. I thought I liked Weaver, I loved his "Language is Sermonic" essay -- but so far this book makes him sound like a disgruntled and crabby Old Rhetorician. Then again, it could just be me imposing this reading upon him, wanting to read more exciting (and non-school related) material.
Your moment of zen.
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Now my belief is that this poet who never wrote a word and was buried at the crossroads still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed. But she lives; for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh . . . For my belief is that if we live another century or so. . . and have five hundred a year each of us and rooms of our own; if we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think . . . then . . . the dead poet who was Shakespeare's sister will put on the body she has so often laid down."
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
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Mmmmm, Turkey & Gravy Soda from Jones.
In time for the Thanksgiving holiday, Jones Soda will launch a limited production of the sugar-free and no carbohydrate Turkey & Gravy flavored beverage in the Washington and Michigan markets.
“We are really excited about the limited test launch of our new flavored Turkey & Gravy beverage. This seasonal flavor allows us to enter a new market segment, the meal replacement market. The new flavor will also appeal to new consumers, those who prefers a savory type flavor to the traditional soda flavors,” says Peter van Stolk, President & C.E.O. “With consumers becoming more and more health conscious, Jones Soda's Turkey & Gravy flavored beverage is a zero calorie and zero carbohydrate beverage that can be served warm or cold with a full flavor that will meet and will exceed our customer's expectation.”
Who knew there was a market for meal replacement or savory sodas? Eeeek.
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I've found a secret to getting schoolwork actually done: LEAVE the house. I walked 3 blocks down the street and studied in a coffeeshop for a couple hours tonight. I'm mostly caught up on my reading, with this week's left to be done tomorrow.
 Tonight's reading was fascinating. I learned about the concepts of Gestalt psychology & figure and ground and how these concepts apply to rhetorical criticism. The article was "Figure, Ground, and Presence: A Phenomenology of Meaning in Rhetoric" by Robert E. Tucker (QJS, Nov 2001).
We're all familiar with the faces/vase picture on the left. The picture has multiple viewings, and we can choose to see either the black faces against a white background or the white vase against a black background. Whichever image we choose to focus upon is considered the figure of the image, and the background would be the ground.
The point of all this is that we cannot view both interpretations at once. As Tucker puts it, "One of the central insights of Gestalt psychology is that any act of interpretation hinders other available interpretations from emerging." Now you may be able to "toggle" (or switch back and forth) between the two images, but you'll never be able to view both images at once.
Tucker discusses "iconic phenomena" in order to illustrate the importance of presence (or "standing-out-ness" as he terms it). I would describe the article's point in more depth, but I'm still absorbing a lot of what he had to say.
I'm planning on using some of these theories of figure and ground in my examination of Revolve. I'm going to argue that it borrows the presence (and format) of a teen magazine -- making the sidebar features of it (Guys Speak Out, Beauty Secrets, Blab Q & A's) the figure and the actual biblical text the ground. Consequently, the reader is more encouraged to see Revolve as a magazine and not as the Bible. This means there's HUGE implications in marketing Revolve as the Bible when its actual intention is quite different.
Like I said earlier, fascinating stuff -- at least for a rhetoric geek like me.
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This afternoon I'm being "observed" by my supervising prof as I teach my tutorial section. With my class, it's always hit or miss on lessons being successful.
I'm a little nervous, so any good thoughts and/or mojo sent my way between 2:30-3:20 would be appreciated.
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I am the poster grrrl for procrastinators worldwide.
I've made my own | | | | | |
