Thursday night my long-time boyfriend’s grandma was admitted into the hospital. She has suffered from Alzheimer’s for about 4 years and ever since she was diagnosed the doctors had said, “It won’t be long until she passes.” Yet she is still alive, in a vegetative state, but alive – as my boyfriend has been a primary care-taker for her along side his grandfather for years. She was admitted because she started having seizures uncontrollably and will now reside in the hospital until her inevitable death. That’s it. That will be the end of her story. So very similarly to the thought about the “-” between dates on a grave, that small dash is a representation of our “So what,” of our interdisciplinarity. Continue reading ““So What?””
Buried in Interdisciplinarity
As I sit here on my laptop looking through the just about 8 different assignments that need to be complete within the next week, I am beyond overwhelmed. But in this whirlwind of chaos that is the end of the semester, I am amazed at the interdisciplinarity that has occurred within my classes this semester. Here I am in the beginning of the semester, walking into an English class with no idea what I’ll be in for and I’m introduced to this idea of interdisciplinarity. Never had I heard of this concept before nor had I ever considered it in relation to my own life. But now looking back, all of my classes were hand-in-hand at some points.
Tackling Professor McCoy’s “Wordiness” Edit
After speaking with Professor McCoy in regards to her comments on my first essay, she asked that I blog about where I learned how to be “wordy.” I was quite confused by what she meant by “wordy” but then again that is how I was previously trained – and to think that being “wordy” is bad makes me a little more conscious of how I am writing. Similar to the interdisciplinarity we might find looking into the pages and structure of a dictionary, the way in which we craft our own pieces of writing depend on our interdisciplinary realm that has shaped the way in which we do everyday tasks. Continue reading “Tackling Professor McCoy’s “Wordiness” Edit”
It’s All About Perspective: The Things You Learn from a Cat
Who would have known that we could learn such an insightful life lesson from a scientific theory about a cat? Not just any house cat but Schrodinger’s cat to be exact. A cat in a box with something that could kill it, cannot be determined dead or alive until we open it – therefore it is both dead and alive at the same time until observed. Mind you, the fact that we learned of such a scientific theory is a perfect example of Moran’s Interdisciplinarity (conversation between multiple disciplines that can advance our knowledge as individuals) but the main focus of this post is that because of this interdisciplinary-based lesson in class, my knowledge in regards to perspective and observation will be forever changed. Continue reading “It’s All About Perspective: The Things You Learn from a Cat”
Interdisciplinarity is Everywhere
Who would have known that something as simple as a set of definitions at the beginning of the novel, Meridian, would bring us back to the ideology behind Moran’s Interdisciplinarity. Alice Walker’s insightful and strategic placement of these definitions in regards to the title and main character of her book, serves as a starting point for readers to have some sort of prerequisite knowledge when it comes to understanding her book. Among the many definitions of the word “Meridian,” there are also specifically stated interpretations per discipline. This word, like so many others, has different meanings for the different disciplines it may inhabit at the time. Each discipline has claimed its own interpretation of the word and regardless of how absurd it may seem to have so many different definitions at the beginning of this novel, they are all connected.
What Is Space Anyways?
As I write this blog post, I am filling space. Just as we wondered, how we affect space and how space affects us. Moran’s Interdisciplinarity, never fails to be relevant at times we least expect it to be. When one reads a chapter titled, “Science, Space and Nature” you might conclude that this chapter will have nothing to do with literature – and quite frankly it doesn’t. But while it is not directly referring to English as a subject, it is in fact emphasizing interdisciplinarity which thus, refers to English. We used our mini-field trip in class on Wednesday to deduce that as we act on space, space then acts on us and that space exists to somehow be filled. Continue reading “What Is Space Anyways?”
Cane: A Theory
In Moran’s Interdisciplinarity, he offers that a “theory is concerned with big questions about the nature of reality, language, power, gender, sexuality, the body, and the self, and it offers framework within which students and scholars can debate about these broad-ranging issues without getting too extensively mired in detailed arguments within disciplines” (83). I believe that Jean Toomer is exercising this ideology of “theory” through his work Cane. As Moran explains, this is a type of theory that is not used in the sciences, there is no scientific proof in supporting this type of theory. Toomer is using Cane as a vehicle for this theory where he is proposing big questions about all of these key particularities that Moran describes except he is doing so in a manner that doesn’t explicitly present these questions.
The Role of Interdisciplinarity in Cane
Aside from my excitement in regards to reading Cane, it truly is amazing how without interdisciplinarity, there would be no Cane. Before reading the “Afterword” of Cane, I never quite connected interdisciplinarity to real-world examples.
Jean Toomer’s chaotic and quite indecisive life is the reason that Cane is the masterpiece that so many critics claim. Our stigma of a “successful person” is against everything that Toomer had done throughout his life but yet he was still successful. Due to his switching schools, indecisiveness regarding his race, indecisiveness regarding his jobs, he came to have the experiences necessary to writing a successful composite novel. The many disciplines that Toomer had the opportunities to experience, each created a conversation within each other (interdisciplinarity) that allowed this novel to come about. Had Toomer not had the experience at the movie theatre for example, “Box Seats” would not be a part of Cane. Continue reading “The Role of Interdisciplinarity in Cane”
The ‘Mickey Mouse’ Subject: A Low Blow to English Enthusiasts
After reading the first chapter of Moran’s Interdisciplinarity, I was not only taken back by the low expectations society and professionals had for English as a subject, but whole heartedly angered by it.
Throughout my lifetime, I heard repetitively, “English is so easy” and “Math and Science are hard.” Over and over again these statements were drilled into our brains, so much so that I found myself saying them. I believed that English was easier and I struggled in Math and Science, partly because psychologically I believed that English was the “Mickey Mouse subject” – that it was an easy option. But there came a point after I graduated that I actually had to work very hard in English, in fact just as hard as I did in the Maths and Sciences. There became a point when I was challenged in English, challenged with new ideologies and challenged with “outside of the box interpretations.” But as I rose to these challenges, I began to be confident in my knowledge and interpretations in English courses – suddenly I felt like I knew what I was talking about. I began to challenge ideologies and social constructs instead of just considering them. Continue reading “The ‘Mickey Mouse’ Subject: A Low Blow to English Enthusiasts”