Archive for November, 2008

Semicolons

{ November 30, 2008 @ 12:12 am } · { WAC Wiki }
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Semi-colons

 

Definition: Semi-colons are used to sort out a list or to separate closely independent clauses. Semicolons can also be used to separate two independent clauses even if these two independent clauses are connected by a coordinating conjunction (1).

 

History: Ancient Greeks first used the semicolon as a question mark. Then an Italian printer named Aldus Manutius revived its use in 1494. Semicolons first started to appear in London in a 1568 chess guide, but it was scarce in writing even up to 1623. The semicolon was not used for relation causes or for interrogation purposes then; punctuation was used for oratorical purposes, so a semicolon was used to create a two-second pause in a person’s speech. In 1793, the semicolon was used to distinguish contraries and divisions, but the common thought was that it was still used for a pause. The semicolon hadn’t reached mass audiences, yet in 1848 Edgar Allen Poe complained about the over use of semicolons in writing. In 1865 grammarian, Justin Brenan, talked of the rejection of semicolons and how they had been disappearing from newspapers, books, and the like. A significant decline in semicolon usage occurred between the 18th and 19th century, from 68.1 semicolons per thousand words to only 17.7 (2). What some suspect is that the decline in the use of semicolons came with technological advances, such as the telegraph. Morse code stunted punctuation use in general; words and punctuation went for $5 each, which meant shorter sentences with less punctuation. The decrease in the use of semicolons continued when a 1903 writing guide said as a rule whenever someone is tempted to use a semicolon they should use a period instead. The California State Board of Education adopted this guide as a textbook three years later (2). Semicolon usage is not popular in modern society, but its unique function keeps it a favorite punctuation mark for some writers.

 

Examples:

  • One would use semicolons between clauses which could stand alone, but which are closely related.
    • “He ran with his shirt over his head; he had forgotten his umbrella once again (3).”
    • “She couldn’t dance in her favorite ballroom; it was being renovated (3).”

 

  • In the following example, there could be a period after “England,” but a semicolon is less harsh of a stop.
    • “Rutland is once again the smallest county in England; no other area in the land is famous for so little (3).”
  • A semicolon is also used when a second clause expands or explains the first.
    • “Neither of us spoke; we merely waited patiently in silence to see what would happen (3).”
  • Semicolons are also used to punctuate mixed lists in continuous prose writing.
    • “Four objects lay on the desk: a large book; a spiral-bound notepad; a glass vase containing flowers; and a silver propelling pencil (3).”

 

  • Semicolons are used when successive clauses describe a sequence of actions or different aspects of the same topic.
    • “There was a sharp, bracing air; the ground beneath us was dry; the sea was calm and clear (3).”
  • They are often used before clauses which begin with nevertheless, therefore, even so, and for instance.
    • “He usually took great care; even so he made few errors (3).”
  • They can be used to mark off a series of phrases or clauses which themselves contain commas.
    • “For this exercise you will need the following materials: some scrap paper; a pen, preferably blue or black; some A4 envelopes; and some good, white, unlined writing paper (3).”
  • Semicolons are used to avoid ambiguity in sentences composed of phrases of different length and mixed content.
    •  “The Chairman welcomed the President, Dr. Garvey; the Vice-President Mr. Barncroft and his wife; several delegates from the United States; and members of the public who had been invited to attend (3).”

 

If one is unsure if they should use a semicolon, it is perfectly acceptable to use a period instead because semicolons are one of the most commonly misused forms of punctuation in the English language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

References:

 

1. “The Semicolon.” The Semicolon. 2004. Capital Community College. 29 Nov. 2008 <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/semicolon.htm>.

2. Collins, Paul. “Has modern life killed the semicolon?” Slate. 20 June 2008. 29 Nov. 2008 <http://www.slate.com/id/2194087>.

3. “How to Use Semicolons.” How to Use Semicolons. 2000. Mantex. 29 Nov. 2008 <http://www.mantex.co.uk/samples/semicolons.htm>.

Schizophrenic Writing

{ November 21, 2008 @ 3:23 pm } · { Personal experiences/Compost, patchwork girl }
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Schizophrenic Writing

Caitlin Carter

English 101

Professor Meehan

November 21, 2008

Hypertext and technologically influenced literature has a schizophrenic style making the message of the work incoherent and unaccomplished. The work is unaccomplished because it lacks a theme, plot, and a narrator. Particular aspects of the work, such as the storymap layout, the disjointed sentences and boxes, are obscure and incomprehensible. The material aspect of the story overwhelms the work.

Schizophrenia “is a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.” Patchwork Girl is a schizophrenic work, as described by Shelley Jackson in Stitch Bitch. The work is schizophrenic because the organization of the story is inconsistent. The web mapping is difficult to navigate and challenging to understand. The links are continuous, but the cyclical layout is frustrating to use. Traversing through the layout was difficult in addition to the overall challenge of the new medium; these components distract the reader from the actual content in the novel. I was unable to find a plot, a narrator, or a main character in the story due to the constant interruptions of clicking on links, getting lost in the web work, and rereading the same material that appears as I pass through the material.

Navigating through the work is complicated and time consuming. The first image the reader sees is the story map of the work. In the story map there is a picture of various boxes with several different topics.

One can click on the boxes and several links will appear for the reader to choose from; the reader decides what pathway to take when reading the story. The links that appear are connected to the previous box or link in some way, but there isn’t always a coherent and logical pattern that the appearing links follow.

Reading in this manner seems uneven and jagged. The only logical way I found to read Patchwork Girl was through the outline view, where the different links are presented in a list.

Even this method became confusing and difficult, for the links under each category, such as the bad dream section, were unsound and illogical. I feel that the work is insubstantial and its reputation as a measurable work is derived from its innovative material but the overall focus of the work is absent. As Birkerts says “we are taken most by the look of it all-the compact, crisp, high-resolution design that inspires confidence.” The flashy materiality of the work overwhelms the reader, preventing her from grasping the deeper meaning of the novel.

A specific part in Patchwork Girl that I find particularly taxing to read is the bad dream section under designs, where the author lists random thoughts. The writing in this section is a list of random phrases or words, such as “peek a boo” and “puss in the corner,” that have no relation to one another. This section was written as if the main character was dreaming disjointed thoughts. I understand why the author listed the bad dreams in choppy syntax; the writing is metaphoric for the literal scarring of the female monster and the monster’s coarse destroyed body. I feel that the metaphor overwhelms the work, distracting the reader from ever comprehending the deeper aspects of the story, like an overall theme or message.

In my opinion the most important parts of reading are the overall message, theme, and plot of the work. When I read I want to be carried by the story, whereas the point of Patchwork Girl is keep the reader aware of reality. Birkerts view of literature is similar to mine where Jackson specifically wrote Patchwork Girl to contradict the normal perception of the reading experience. Jackson’s view of reading is that one should lose themselves in the work to think beyond self image. Jackson wants to “invent a new kind of self” that “changes directions easily, sheds parts and assimilate new ones.” This relates to the schizophrenic manner of the work. Jackson wants inconsistency in people’s selves; she expresses that view in Patchwork Girl. She wants to go against the life advice received to “focus, choose, specialize,” so she writes a work that opposes all of these things. Birkerts believes that losing individuality while reading is damaging to the person and degrades the work as a whole. Birkerts believes “the soul is that part of us that smelts meaning and tries to derive a sense of purpose from experience.” So if a work doesn’t have a meaning and can’t nourish the soul with purpose, it is a failure. I agree with Birkerts in that a work of literature should send a message to the reader and make her think about life and what the message of that work means to her. In Patchwork Girl, I could not find a message and so I believe the work was not accomplished.

The work, in my opinion, was not accomplished based on my perceptions of what a novel is supposed to accomplish. The way a novel is read is in a linear manner with a clear narrator, plot, and theme. Patchwork Girl does not clearly present any of these key components in the story. Some may call this work bad writing, but maybe it calls for a bad reading. What I mean by bad reading is that when a person reads the work they should think in incoherent terms; they should think of each box as an individual story with an individual message. A person should think of the work as a networking system, where each different box is communicating a different message. The work should be read in spatial terms and the work shouldn’t be read in traditional linear terms, but in a sporadic method. Reading the book in traditional terms, the work fails as a whole with the lack of organization, plot, theme, and narration.

Essay rough draft

{ November 17, 2008 @ 2:45 am } · { Personal experiences/Compost, patchwork girl }
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Rough draft:

Hypertext and technologically influenced literature has a schizophrenic style making the message of the work incoherent and unaccomplished.

Schizophrenia “is a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.” Patchwork Girl is a schizophrenic work, as described by Shelley Jackson herself in Stitch Bitch. The work is schizophrenic because the organization of the work is inconsistent. The web mapping is difficult to navigate and challenging to understand. The links are continuous, but the cyclical layout is frustrating to use. Not only is the work itself difficult to use but the overall challenge distracts the reader from the overall message of the story. I was unable to find a plot, a narrator, or a main character in the story because I kept getting distracted by the constant interruptions of clicking on links, getting lost in the web work, and rereading the same material that appears.

Navigating through the work is complicated and time consuming. The first image the reader sees is the story map of the work. In the story map there is a picture of various boxes with several different topics. One can click on the boxes and several links will appear for the reader to choose from; the reader decides what pathway to take when reading the story. The links that appear are connected to the previous box or link in some way, but there isn’t always a coherent and logical pattern that the appearing links follow. Reading in this manner seems uneven and jagged. The only logical way I found to read Patchwork Girl was through the outline view, where the different links are presented in a list. Even this method became confusing and difficult for the links under each category, such as the bad dream section, were unsound and illogical.

A specific part in Patchwork Girl, that I find particularly taxing to read, is the bad dream section under designs; where the author lists random thoughts. The writing in this section is a list of random phrases or words such as “peek a boo” and “puss in the corner” that have no relation to one another. This section was written as if the main character was dreaming random thoughts. I understand why the author listed the bad dreams in choppy syntax; the writing is metaphoric for the literal scarring of the female monster and the monster’s course destroyed body. Although I feel that the metaphor overwhelms the work, distracting the reader from ever comprehending the deeper aspects of the story, like an overall theme or message.

In my opinion the most important part of reading is the overall message, theme, and plot of the work. When I read I want to be carried by the story where the point of Patchwork Girl is keep the reader aware of reality. Birkerts view of literature is similar to mine where Jackson specifically wrote Patchwork Girl to contradict the normal perception of the reading experience. Jackson’s view of reading is that one should lose themselves in the work to think beyond self image. Birkerts believes that losing individuality while reading is damaging to the person and degrades the work as a whole. I agree with Birkerts in that a work of literature should send a message to the reader and make them think about life and what the message of that work means to them. In Patchwork Girl, I could not find a message and so I believe the work was not accomplished.

The work in my opinion was not accomplished based on my perceptions of what a novel is supposed to accomplish. The way a novel is read is in a linear manner with a clear narrator, plot, and theme. Patchwork Girl does not clearly present any of these key components in the story. Some may call this work bad writing, but maybe it calls for a bad reading. What I mean by bad reading is that when a person reads the work they should think in incoherent terms; they should think of each box as an individual story with an individual message. A person should think of the work as a networking system, where each different box is communicating a different message. The work should be read in spatial terms and the work shouldn’t be read in traditional linear terms, but in a sporadic method. Reading the book in traditional terms, the work fails as a whole with the lack of organization, plot, theme, and narration.

Jackson “Stitch Bitch” and Birkerts view on identity

{ November 14, 2008 @ 3:55 pm } · { Personal experiences/Compost }
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Hypertext

-Shelley Jackson’s “Stitch Bitch” —”Hypertext is schizophrenic: you can’t tell what’s the original and what’s the reference.”

Schizophrenia–(from dictionary.com)——

Also called dementia praecox. a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all, of the following features: emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.

-a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements

I feel like the reading in patchwork girl is schizophrenic because there is no organization and i find it extremely difficult to navigate with the web mapping and the spatial reading necessary to comprehend the work. The web layout and the links are very challenging and I get stuck and frustrated at certain points in the work, taking away from the message of the story.

Stitch Bitch–”The self may have no clear boundaries, but do we want to lose track altogether? I don’t want to lose the self, only to strip it of its claim to naturalness, its compulsion to protect its boundaries, its obsession with wholeness and its fear of infection. I would like to invent a new kind of self.”

-Jackson’s view of self is that when one reads a work they should lose their self and be challenged when reading. The message of the work isn’t so much what its specifically saying in the novel but what you find out of the story and how you read the work yourself.

-Birkerts view of the self is that reading is more about finding your identity, taking the message of the novel and reading what that means to you. Birkerts believes that you lose your identity through the use of technology and that losing yourself is a bad thing. Both Birkerts and Jackson agree that technology means losing yourself, but Jackson thinks that is an important and new concept. A technology and literature hybrid means “waning of private self.”

I personally agree with Birkerts I like to read a book and find a message in it that I can relate to myself. I want to be able to connect with a book and understand a plot and a story line, which I feel patchwork girl is lacking. This could be a bias, for I greatly enjoy reading and when I read I am expecting to be taken away from reality in a novel.

possible Thesis: Hypertext and computer reading is schizophrenic and without a clear message in the work I feel the work does not accomplish anything.

-Specific parts of patchwork girl: The work’s layout as a whole is confusing and not easily navigable. The bad dream section especially seems very difficult to understand. The writing is incoherent and schizophrenic, so I feel it is unsuccessful at accomplishing anything. I understand why Jackson wrote the work the way she did (different parts of patchwork girl can be metaphorically expressed through the different links in the work and again in the incoherent rambling in the bad dream section; there are many different pieces just as patchwork girl is made from many different pieces) but i feel that the work is overwhelmed by metaphors and is just not focused enough on a specific theme or message.

Bad reading/Bad writing

-My personal experience with patchwork girl was frustrating and challenging, but maybe that is because I have certain expectations from a work I read. This work was written with a schizophrenic style, maybe that calls for a kind of “bad reading”. Maybe the work would be better read in bits and scraps, just as how it was written. Then a message can be taken and the work can be read as the reader sees fit. One can lose the concept that a greater whole must always be necessary in the work, maybe the work is meant to be read as just a list of messages that one can apply to life later.

Birkerts-Technology’s influence on today’s culture

{ November 7, 2008 @ 2:24 pm } · { Birkerts }
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Birkerts talks of technology as if it is the end of all of life and individuality.

Nature

“Nature was then; this is now. Trees and rocks have receded.” pg 120

Birkerts speaks as if the world is ending now that technology is ever expanding in society. The world is not over isolation has not ended. Nature still exists and the earth’s natural habitat was receding even before technology. Reading and books have destroyed nature because the very material aspect of the book is paper, which must be extracted from trees in nature.

Birkerts says “There are no more wildernesses, no more lonely homesteads, and, outside of cinema, no more emblems of the exalted individual.”

-Reading is not the only way to be secluded. First when a person goes to a library, to find a book, they are around other people. Where as people who are on computers don’t have to be connected to the outside world. I actually disagree with Birkerts assumption that those who are involved with technology are always connected to everything. Some people today are developing serious issues with socialization because they spend much of their time on computers instead of involving themselves with the outside world. Why is isolation such a good thing in Birkerts mind? Isolation means deprivation in my opinion. How can one evolve and think intellectually when their minds aren’t stimulated?

Individuality

Birkerts is also considered that with computers and technology individuality will be lost.

“I have a great feeling of loss and a fear about what habitations will exist for self and soul in the future.”

-His fears are a bit extreme. Maybe Birkerts just fears change. He believes that “language erosion” will occur.

I believe that exposure to technology opens the mind because people are exposed to new things they would not normally have access to, such as photos or books that are from other countries. People become ignorant when they are not exposed to other societies and cultures. This goes back to my opinion that isolation would make someone unintelligent. The people who are small-minded today are the ones that aren’t exposed to the unfamiliar. Technology is unfamiliar to Birkerts so maybe he is the unintelligent one. Birkerts also fails to address the transfer of knowledge. Youth today may not have a large list of books under their belt but students’ math skills and scientific knowledge has increased in the past 50 years. Youth may not know how to go to a library look up a book using the card catalog, but they are very capable of finding the book online and reading the exact same literature. What does it matter if the same goal is reached? It seems to me that Birkerts is just more afraid of change than the actual influx of technology into today’s society. At one point in time books were the new and unfamiliar in society, which Birkerts admits himself, but he fails to address that these changes are constantly occurring and that this evolution of technology in society is just progression in society.

An interesting quote that Birkerts used from Paglia’s work is that “Baby boomers have a multilayered, multitrack ability to deal with the world.” This quote makes sense because the world is in chaos and when a person steps outside sensory overload can occur—people learn to multitask because they have to survive in the natural environment. Reading patchwork girl is somewhat like dealing with the outside world, only people aren’t accustomed to that sensory overload after being exposed to linear and sequential literature. Birkerts generalizes that all youth may think and focus in spatial terms but what he fails to recognize is that not all youth flourish with that environment. What I mean to say is that patchwork girl is a spatial or web organization of words and I struggle when I read that work. The reason people may struggle reading patchwork girl could be that everyone was first taught to read in linear terms. If everyone were taught to read how they thought, spatially and unorganized, then patchwork girl would be easily read and other more traditional works would be the difficult ones to read. This may actually explain why some children have extreme difficulty learning to read, some children read and write backwards. Problems such as dyslexia occur, where the letters or words are rearranged. This could be due to the fact that the brain doesn’t think in linear terms and the specific order of the letters or words is unnatural to the brains processing.