Paper or Plastic...

I was not surprised to read about the importance of paper even in an increasingly digital world. Human beings tend to be most comfortable with a concept when they can touch it, see it, even smell it. Paper affords us that luxury. In an era where most information is computerized or, at the very least, visualized, having a more concrete representation of whatever information we are trying to pass on helps with the comfort factor. It makes us feel just that much more in control of the situation, that much more actively influential and that leads to a sense of power that is all too elusive and all the more coveted because of it.
Paper = power?
I’m not necessarily saying that’s true but I do tend to see the parallels in certain situations. For instance, if I were to type a document on an unsecure network and leave it to be viewed by whoever may feel the urge, there is a chance someone may feel the need to alter or adjust said document; perhaps to adjust a fact or too, perhaps to add their own thoughts or ideas. Whatever the hypothetical reason may be, if that adjustment were to be made, there would be nearly no way of knowing where the other persons thought end and mine begin. It would be as though my very imprint of information, lo, my actual document in its original form, would be forever lost to the editing styles of one John P. Anonymous. But with paper, no matter how many times you erase or how good your white out may be or how similar my handwriting may be to someone else, it is impossible to remove all memory of one sentence or phrase and replace it with a completely different one. As soon as that pen or pencil touches the page, the author has permanently changed its purpose, its meaning, perhaps it’s very reason for existence. The once blank sheet is now the beginning of a short story, or a letter to friend, or a diary entry, or list of statistics from the latest stage in your most profound experiment to date. It has become something with just one simple movement of fingers.

Cat People My Left Foot...

Of course we respond to that mischievous cat.
That wild and crazy Cat in the Hat,
with his antics, insanity, tricks and all that.

We are children when we first read The Cat in the Hat and those are the things we wish we could do, if mommy and daddy wouldn’t put us in time out for it. The fact that this author identified with the damn fish is all too obvious, considering he analyses this book with the idea that the mother is a philandering children’s welfare case at best. I feel like, perhaps, he wasn’t breast fed enough as a child, or has some repressed angst about his own childhood. His brazen harshness slightly offends me, but it isn’t surprising in the least considering his “fish” affinity.

All of that aside, the idea that children learn by phonics is much more agreeable and obvious. When I was first learning how to read, I was one of the lucky children who was blessed with a want to read. I loved it. It was a way for me to jump into worlds and planes of existence that I wanted, so badly, to be real. I had an imagination to stop the world and, even when I had to read in school, I would find books and such to read outside of the usual homework. That is what worked for me. Constant practice and education at school and at home. My grandfather would sit down with me at the dinner table and chose a word out of the dictionary, teach me how to pronounce it, and explain what it meant in terms I could understand. I always had new and exciting words in my vocabulary that made me feel smart and accomplished.

What I do understand, unfortunately, is that not everyone has that opportunity, nor does everyone enjoy reading. My brother, for instance, didn’t have my grandfather around as much as I did due to his increasing illness. Not to mention he simply didn’t enjoy reading. He would have much rather gone outside and played hide and seek or climb trees. Don’t get me wrong, I loved playing with the neighborhood kids as much as the next tom boy, but I was the one who climbed the tree, book in toe, to sit on a limb and read about the most recent development in my favorite series.

My point is reading takes practice. Lots and lots of practice. Not necessarily memorization, but just as with anything else, practice makes perfect and too many children don’t get the kind of constant practice they need. No matter what books they are, if you keep reading them, eventually, you get really good at it.

As Time Flies By...

A blog entry about my research “paper”: Exciting! And no, I am not being facetious; I really am excited about this project. Finding out that I can create a creative piece of literature for this sparks my interest and gives me a spring board for some interesting inspiration. I’ve decided to write a short story exploring the evolution of language and the benefits and possible consequences of such. My brainstorming goes as follows:
· Cyclical society evolution
o Most of history unravels in cycles
o With the advent of electronic media, massive amounts of information are pumped into mainstream society
§ With time will:
§ Censorship increase?
o Forced/ imposed censorship?
o Welcomed censorship?
· Censorship decrease?
o Totally free media in the wake of social “enlightenment”?
§ What constitutes social enlightenment? Is it brought on by mass media? Seclusion/personal study?
· Print culture vs. Orality
o With time:
§ Would society grow to depend more or less on print media?
· i.e. words as opposed to flash animation or dialogue such as the news is today?
o News is spoken; society watches and listens to reporters speak the news but will time put more emphasis on written information such as articles in an online newspaper or magazine?
§ Would society grow to depend more or less on visual information?
· Pictographic or live visual representations of information as opposed to written info?
o Would people begin to speak in abbreviated formats?
o Would that change language as a whole in orality?
§ An increasing need to shorten information in order to increase quantity?
· i.e.: text messaging, instant messaging (new languages?)
· Transference to speech from written?· If society evolves into a purely literary state, what consequences would result?
o Literacy = necessity?
o Loss of orality?
o Discrimination more prominent between literate and non literate people?
§ Superior = literate
§ Subordinate = illiterate
§ Purposeful and calculated education for breeding purposes?
Highlighted are the concepts that intrigue me the most. The idea that society could evolve into a purely literary state of consciousness where in all information is transferred through visual representations of concepts (words) and those who speak, or need to speak, in order to transfer information are somehow subordinate. On the converse side, those who are able to refrain from such a “backward” and “ancient” way of communication such as auditory speech are the intellectuals, the elite, the controlling echelon in such a society.

Such a short story would ask the question: What if society became a discriminatory totalitarian concept in which those who still speak, those who depend on Orality, are subordinate to those who communicate solely through textual transference? In order to research such a concept, I would have to study the direction that humanity has been traveling in with regards to textual media vs. visual information, it’s play in societies across the globe, it’s central or decentralization, and then project, though analysis of already recorded evolution, the direction society may be headed in at this point in history.

I’m not entirely sure if this is the exact direction I will be going in but I do know that what I write will be a social commentary on the conceptual ideologies of “advanced” or “remedial” as we discussed in class at the beginning of the semester. Just because it is different than the widely accepted norm doesn’t make it backwards ( ancient ways of oral communication were often more complex than standards today).

The Scent of Inspiration...

The Upturned Palms of Literacy.

 

This thing we know,

To know; To own.

It’s mine, this mind from which these

words

leap forth with fervor,

server to her,

who is their master. Faster on,

Oh Lettered Heralds, ‘pon feet

of fettered gossamer. The last of

honesty in fading, dimming light of

morning, mourning what

was lost in trusting, doing what

is known and must be harkened

on in dusted trussing,

crumbling down up the

hearth.

Twisting, curling graying memories

pressed to paper with self same

lettering, kneeling for the eyes of

better men. Women in their shifting

shifts, with linguistic whips and swishing

hips of seductive language, hang their

pains with nails naught of copper, but of

literary fodder. All the hotter

grows the ember. Better, then,

to not remember but instead to

pass asunder, to the one who’s fingers

fester with the urge to push out words.

Produce the mind for purchase while the purchasers

lose their own. Home to ownership,

owning ships that sail the public sea,

 seeming seaworthy, and sliding softly into

the upturned palms of literacy. They

may all read the thoughts that sit, placated

on the pallid page.

Pustules of protest,

capsules of contemplation, dressed in

consternation,

alliteration, all accoutrements for a

coup de tat, housed in a box with a bow.

And arrow, pointed pointedly the way the

compass shows, too loud to hear,

to soft to ignore, the shower falling to the

floor.

The owner, owning.

Selling what is owned.

Moaning in libation to the

stationary on the table,

able to create and yet unable

to sate the hunger in the

belly of humanity: knowledge,

wisdom,

aNaRcHy in letters, all the better

not to remember?

But instead to

pass asunder, to the one who’s fingers

fester with the urge to push out

words.

 

For the first time, the reading this week actually inspired me to write poetry. I haven’t written like this in a while: as a result, not as a goal. I have found myself stuck in inspirational limbo. These readings were so very difficult for me to get through. See, I have been rehearsing non stop for the past month and a half or so and have been inundated with so much “script” that it has been difficult for me to keep up with my work the way I know I should be. But today is the first day in a long time that I have gotten out of class and actually have time to do HOMEWORK! yay? I think. So, I sat down in front of the computer screen, elated about the fact that I was going to fee so accomplished in just a few hours and found myself trudging through page after page of copyright crap. It began to make me feel so disheartened. Suddenly, words began to swim through my head. I recognized their oh-so-familiar smell immediately: it was the scent of inspiration. It felt so go to be able to write like that again that I did this blog with a smile. And all of this has been possible because of Copyright? Well, in a way, I would suppose that’s true. See, I just couldn’t help but the see the parallel between a four year old child on the playground and everyone else during the advent of Copyrights: mine, mine, mine! Now, I know it’s a bit necessary in order for people to earn their dues, I just grow tired of the human obsession with ownership. It’s everywhere. It’s unavoidable. And its just a bit annoying. But then again, if we didn’t have it, everything would just belong to everyone and then we’d all have whatever we need, whenever we needed it. But that would just be ludicrous in a capitalist society, wouldn’t it? 

Lemme think about it...

Hamlet’s tables. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I dove into this piece. I didn’t really know what the title referred to when it mentioned his “tables”. Honestly, I thought it may have had something to do with a set of “informational” tables, such as spread sheets, that were compiled in order to aid with the study of Hamlet as a whole. As I read, I found out that the tables were actual physical writing implements that were used during Shakespeare’s time. I could just imagine a small, pocket-able, portable piece of equipment and I found myself astounded. These people we thought to have “inferior” methods of media, compared to our modern day technology, actually created advanced pieces of technology that are so similar to ours its mind boggling. Not to mention that Shakespeare mentioned them in his play. This means that these erasable tablets were not just some once in a blue moon concept that only a few people had, but that they were items used on a regular basis by different people from different walks of life. Of course, these people had the common strand of literacy in common but, none the less, this product was a relatively common piece of equipment. Yet there were tables popular among the more elite and monetarily well endowed as well, just as in modern times. Where one person may just have a cell phone with a note taking ability and another, more affluent person may have a fully functioning palm pilot; the same was the case in Willies time. It all boils down to accessibility, convenience, and what one is willing to part with to get them.

The way in which the tables were used interested me as well. Full thoughts and concepts were not put down on these tiny placards, but instead, table users simply put down snips of ideas for later contemplation when these thoughts were transferred to a common book. This truly reminded me of myself. When I write, there are times that I will just hop on the People Mover down town with my note book and write full, beautiful comments on life. There are other times when I can sit in the park all day and not come up with one intelligent or articulate thing to say. Such is inspiration: fleeting and fickle. But on those days when my mind is all but empty I’ll venture to write just a few words or phrases and leave them to marinate between the pages. I have found many a comment or strategically place words sitting in a journal or notebook that have flowered into full songs, stories or poems. This is because, for me, sometimes literary art is the hardest thing to force.

The History of Wood Engraving...

This week I explored the web site on The History of Wood Engraving. This site was set up by the University of North Texas and can be found at this address:

http://blackboard.wayne.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_41_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_702202_1%26url%3D

. Admittedly, I found myself surprised when I began to navigate this web site. There were a number of different links leading to everything from notable people in the craft throughout history to Kent Kessinger, the subject of the exhibit. The site was visually stimulating and the examples of the wood engraving prints were extrememly detailed but the information seemed sparse at best and left me less than satisfied.

To begin with, I first clicked on the link that seemed, of course, the most obvious: the Introduction. Here, one will find a wealth of information on the history of the craft, its uses and its main participants and influences. In this processes, trained craftsmen begin by carving out pictorial representations of what it is they want to print. Then, the newly created wooden image is inked and pressed against a piece of paper to transfer the image onto a more manageable medium. Wood engraving closely mimics the modern day stamp in that the raised portions of the original wooden image are what become transferred onto the paper.

One of the first notable artisans in this craft was a man named Thomas Bewick. Bewick was one of the influential craftsmen involved in making wood engraving into an illustrative art form. This process was quick and inexpensive to complete, especially because each engraving could be used multiple times if needed and would create the exact same image with each use so it became popular quite quickly. As demand for its use grew, the concept of wood engraving as an art form began to diminish and soon became just a common procedure for illustration reproduction. Eventually, wood engraving came full circle and became, once again, an artistic practice some time after the 1920’s.

After reading about the history of wood engraving in the introduction, one may want to learn more by clicking on the other links on the main page such as “Early Period”, “Late Period”, “Cover Design”, or “Periodicals”. Unfortunately, the extensive information in the introduction seems to be where said information ends. The rest of the site is mainly pictures and examples of such prints made from wood engraving. The titles “early period” and so on simply refer to when said prints were created, not more of a history of the development of wood engraving, as I believed they did. Continuing through the web site, I clicked on the link called The Works of Kent Kessinger, the gentlemen for which this entire site was created. I will admit, this man’s work was quite beautiful and did move me to go a bit easier on the rest of the site. There were clear and stunning abstract images on the site but I did find myself wondering where the examples of older works, with such realistic imagery and meticulous creation, would fit in with this more modernistic, abstract approach to the process.

I chose to report on this topic because I am an artist at heart and wood engraving seemed to me to be an interesting thing to learn about and experience. Truthfully, I chose this one because my first option was already taken and I wanted a topic that would peek my interest and make me want to actually traverse the site without feeling forced to do the work. My first impression of the site was that it was very simplistic, as though it was set up in a hurry as opposed to meticulously created by a web designer. I felt that the information on the site itself was a bit incomplete but the examples of the art work were beautiful and moving. Such dedication was required to create the wood engravings themselves that I would have been much more satisfied if a similar level of attention to detail and dedication was used for the site itself. Unfortunately, the site was bare and remedially formatted. The layout was simple enough, there were five links on the main page, each directing the viewer to what I previously believed to be different collections of information on wood engraving but, upon further investigation, found were lacking in information. The typography used for the links was easily legible and I believe it was set on the “engraving” style. Conversely, the fact that the words were merely oulines as opposed to dark, solid words made it a bit hard on the eyes when trying to navigate the site as opposed to the title which was bold enough to read without trouble. At the bottom of the page there were more links to different areas of the site including the mother site for UNT. Here it was a bit easier to read the links but the light blue type on the white background gave the words a luminescence that was slightly annoying. Not all of the links had a direct connection with the information on the site but they did have some correlation with the subject matter or, at least, had a connection through the sites “exhibition” quality. For example, one of the links, “Rare Book and Texana Collections” was a link to a different literary exibit that didn’t have anything to do with wood engraving but was still in the same family of art exhibitions. All of the graphic designs were examples of wood engraving prints and nicely complimented the subject matter of the site itself.

I do believe what little information given in this web site is reliable and valid. The site was created to house the more obvious concentration of Kent Kessinger’s artwork and, therefore, wasn’t really an all illumination exploration on the history of wood engraving, as the name implies. Never the less, that which was provided was concise and interesting, providing the surfer with useful information as they studied the various printings on the site. This site highlights the importance of “print” for me. It highlights the usefulness of a master cast of information, and how with the development of the printing press, rapid reproduction began to overshadow hand craftsmanship and art simply for arts sake. Unfortunately, the site doesn’t really explore this concept very deeply at all. Instead, in just a few sentences, it mentions how the practice of wood engraving became a strenuous task of “slavish reproduction” and then went back to an artistic medium later on in history. It would have been more interesting to address when and why such an artistic product became industrial and then morphed back into art. Despite its downfalls, I would recommend my class mates to visit this site because of its information on the notable people in the wood engraving industry. There is a wealth of information on the “Engravers and Illustrators” page, providing people with short histories and blips of information on a number of people through out the development of the process. I would also recommend the site to outsiders mainly for its artistic value. The examples of wood engraving on this site are truly lovely and could inspire other people to create their own personal art.

Letters and words with StYlE...

It absolutely astounds me how vast the human ability to create a work of art has always been. Now, I say art here, not necessarily literature because before I look at the content of a piece of hand crafted word play, I look at the pictographic appeal of it first. Thus the lovely invention of word processing both intrigues and saddens me. See, we have covered the idea of print versus handwriting already in class but I do feel that it is pertinent to this unit as well. The History of Typography wasn’t necessarily something I wanted to learn about but knew was necessary.
At first, I trudged along through the reading, wanting nothing more that for it to just go on and be over so I could move on to more interesting aspects of my education. But, my eyes stomped heavily across the words on the screen; I quickly became much more interested in what I was reading. See, they began to use diagrams that allowed me to not only see the technical side of the different styles of type, but the art in them. The different angles, minute variations in line angle, stoke size, they all pointed to the artistic flow of words in a visual sense as opposed to an analytical or intellectual sense. Things I had never really thought about were brought to my awareness and, even now, as I type this blog, I wonder if I could or would change the type to convey a mood, or perhaps just an abstract of my opinion.
I used to change the font on the computer according to “how I felt” that day, thinking it didn’t really make a difference and never really wondering where the different types of print even came from. But now I sit here scrolling through the different types of, well, type and I can’t help but see them in a new and much more appreciative light.