In class on Wednesday, it was our task at the beginning to think about how The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms is organized. Though I did not know how this could relate to our English class, I went along with this talking about how hard it is to find a word without having to go look up another word or the reasons why they choose the pictures that they did. Continue reading “Connecting School and Social Archives”
The bedford
Today in class, we went through the bedford dictionary and thought about the format of the work. I thought that it was interesting how everything was interconnected when giving the definitions of one word or idea. So you could look up a word and see go to a different word for the definition. That could use a lot of time, but it makes sense. I wondered if it would be better to group some of the ideas together. For instance, there are so many different types of Irony. So under I, perhaps you could see all the Ironies. I think that would have helped me when going through the book. I did like looking through the book and reading the definitions that I already know. It’s very interesting to look and see a bunch of different ideas, because they added a bunch of Ages where the ideas are no longer a simple definition book. They are a plethora of ideas in this book and even though it had a lot to get through, it was full of knowledge that I didn’t think would be in there.
Subconscious Expression
In chapter three of Interdisciplinarity, Moran discusses how “for example, it is regarded as common sense that language is always secondary: that it neutrally describes phenomena, and that as independent, autonomous individuals, we can use language as a way of expressing ourselves and our relationship to others and the world.” This idea of language as a means of expressing relationships and Moran’s discussion of Freud and the subconscious got me thinking: is our use of language as expression always a conscious decision? Continue reading “Subconscious Expression”
Meridian’s teaching practices
While reading through Meridian, one line that made me think was the quote from Meridian that said, “I imagine good teaching as a circle of earnest people sitting down to ask each other meaningful questions. I don’t see it as a handling down of answers” (p. 203). This was a very interesting thing to read because it relates to my life today and the way that I learn and work in a class setting. While in the majority of my classes I work in a stadium kind of seating, where the professor is in the front of the room giving a lecture and the students are in their seats taking notes. Continue reading “Meridian’s teaching practices”
A Further Look at Phillis Wheatley
While reading Alice Walker’s “In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens”, there were a list of names of back female authors and creators. It struck me that I did not recognize most of the names on the list, and it inspired me to do some further research. For example, Phillis Wheatley’s life story and accomplishments are fascinating to say the least. Continue reading “A Further Look at Phillis Wheatley”
Open The Box!
Open the Box!
Thinking about the specific words and the order in which to place them for this blog post was something that seemed to haunt me these past couple days. Reading Meridian by Alice Walker put me in the center of a labyrinth in my mind and forces me to try to find a safe way out. I soon realize that safety and comfort isn’t a mode through which this journey can be traveled rather discomfort and uneasiness is embraced and encouraged as an escape.
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”
Western Medicine Forgets Patients
In his chapter, “Theory and Discipline,” Moran includes some interesting assertions about Western medicine. He attributes the advancement of medicine as a discipline to a strict hierarchy of knowledge (like debunking certain practices like bloodletting) and people. As for the personal hierarchy, Porter comments , “… physicians at the top and surgeons and apothecaries at the bottom, and other healers dismissed as quacks.” The hierarchy of Western medicine seems to have forgotten the patient, strewn at the feet of the pyramid. Porter finds a place for the patient and observes, “Western medical tradition has been distinguished by its explanation of sickness not in terms of the relation between the individual and the world but in terms of the body itself.” Porter asserts that sickness is viewed in a one-dimensional way – through the body.
Schrodinger’s Cat, Meridian, the World
When we first watched the videos on Schrodinger’s Cat I was reminded of all of the reasons I never pursued science. Thoughts ran through my mind, with the liking of, “this makes no sense,” “did someone actually become famous for this?” and, “how long do I have until I can stop paying attention, because I don’t like this theory!” However, a lightbulb flashed and I understood the theory and now I can’t stop seeing it. Schrodinger’s Cat is not stating that things are both literally dead and alive at the same time, as I thought it was claiming originally. Rather, in means, our perception declares how we view a being. A cat, that could be dead or alive, is only dead when we finally see it, because as humans, we have a specific perception of death. Meanwhile, the cat might not perceive death the same way, and therefor, still be living.
Science as romantic writers
It was brought up in class today the idea of violence and romance and how these two terms, though very different, end up going hand in hand whenever we talk about a sensitive subject such as violence. This was discussed when we were thinking about the Schrodinger’s cat experiment. It was determined that when putting cats in a bunker with some exploding gunpowder that only half of the cats would die. Continue reading “Science as romantic writers”