My Blogging Portfolio

Well, in reflecting back on my first experiences with blogging I guess it’s only appropriate to start with how I got the blog in the first place. It was a lot easier to make a blog then then I thought it would be. The hardest part, by far, was finding a name. I originally named it “sawdustanddiamonds” from a lyric by one of my favorite musicians, Joanna Newsom. After my first post I changed it to my name. I decided that since what I would be writing would be my personal opinions and observations I should make it more obvious who owned the blog.

Becoming a blogger was very natural. I think that most of us are “bloggers” in that to go through the process of writing blogs all the time, just with out actually writing any thing down. We think about, analyze, complain about, and celebrate the wold around us all the time; we just never had a blog to write about it in. For me, blogging just became a process of writing down the things I was already thinking about.

Most Effective Posts:

I worte this about the War On Terror at 4:22 am and tomorrow (in 3 hours) I will need/love starbucks

Perhaps not one of my best titled blogs, liked this one because I put a lot of myself into it. This post didn’t really get a good response. I attribute this to the ambiguous title and the fact that it’s fairly opinionated yet I neglected to include enough facts and figures to support my claims.

I believe, I was inspired to write about torture by a discussion we had in class. This method is not representative of the rest of my blog. I typically looked for material from outside of class.

Is alternative medicine the right alternative? (Blog Post #3)

This received the most comments of any of my posts and I think it was probably my all around best. It addresses alternative medicine, a topic I’m fairly knowledgeable about and have experience with. I was surprised that it got the responses that it did.
I didn’t think it was such a hot topic.

The blog was inspired by an article I read in Politick. A publication of student work I picked up at Bard College when I was visiting.

Children Of Men (and why you need to see it)

This blog got no written responses but I hope that it generated some interest somewhere in seeing the movie. Movies are a passion of mine so they show up as subject matter in a bunch of my blogs. I felt that as my third favorite blog I should pick one that is different from the first two favorites.

The subject matter I approached was diverse throughout the past semester some were serous some were very lighthearted.

Less Effective Posts:

One Very Important American

This entry which I wrote on the value of logical argument but it digressed into a political rant. It was a totally ineffective attempt at humor. I learned I should not attempt humor. At least not political humor. I have sort of bitter feelings about the subject matter so what I intended to be a joke probably came across as just like a diatribe. If I include humor in a future post it should probably be more lite hearted.

My Blogging Experience:

There isn’t much that I used on the internet form my blogging. Most of my source material was from offline experiences. However one blog that I found really interesting was meditations on meaning. I enjoyed how opinionated and witty his entries were although I often found the opinions disagreeable.

I certainly have been more aware of current events because of this class. Reading other peoples blogs and looking for material for my own has helped me keep up with things like the new abortion laws and the Virginia Tech. tragedy.

Through commenting I have had the opportunity to express my thoughts and opinions, and engage in positive discourse with the rest of the class.

Overall I have had a really positive first blogging experience and I think there are several pedagogical uses for it. Blogging like any technology that is gaining popularity in the classroom is merely a tool and alone does nothing to enhance the learning experience. Its value will be in how it is used. The focus of technology education for future teachers should not be how to make a power point or set up an excel chart. It seems that is largely the focus. It is far more important that teachers learn how to use the technology to enhance the learning experience. How do you incorporate power points, excel charts, and blogs into your lessons? There are effective ways and then there are very ineffective ways. It is just as imperative that the next generation of St. Rose graduates learn this as it is that they learn how to operate the programs. Anyway , just some thoughts I guess. Have a great summer!

Katie Degentesh and Denise Duhamel

Katie Degentesh is a found word poet and part of the new flarf or flarfist movement. Her poetic method resembles a writing exercise. Her latest book The Anger Scale is based off of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. The test consists of true or false questions that supposedly can identify mental abnormality. Degentesh googled each of the questions and strung pieces of her results together to give meaning and coherence to otherwise disparate fragments of personal writings she found on blogs and other search results. We talked briefly after the show and I asked her how the concept of the flarf movement got started. She said that her and some contemporaries got the idea after trying to create “bad” poetry and realizing there was something to the method. Over all the poems where unique and she presented them well.
An excerpt from one of the poems in her new book:

There Is Very Little Love and Companionship in My Family as Compared to Other Homes

With everyone doing their own thing
all he does is stand on his head and win games
while trying to suck blood out of a turnip.

He thinks the world today is upside-down;
What counts is waiting on walls
For the arrogant time-pleaser
with his assurances of love braced with sentences.

He is an out and out egotist
He likes his love different to anyone else
But all he wanted to know about was love.

This produces a slave who is also extravagant
He planned to save to produce distinctive,
lifestyle centered cars for young buyers
but he did not have the spirit of Christ

Who was he? Why wasn’t he on the earth?

Denise Duhamel was a very interesting and very funny poet. I cant remember the order in which she presented her poems so I’m just going to talk about them in general. My favorite poem she presented was titled “Kinky”. It was the story of sexual experimentation between Barbie and Ken, and the obvious dilemma they encounter due to their lack of certain anatomical features. An another poem she tells the story of a rock stars rise to fame using only words from an old dictionary of 1970’s slang. Duhamels poetry was light hearted, incredibly clever, and well presented.
And excerpt from the poem “Kinky.”

The night had begun with Barbie getting angry
at finding Ken’s blow-up doll, folded and stuffed
under the couch. He was defensive and ashamed, especially about
not having to breath to inflate her. But after a round
of pretend tears, Barbie and Ken vowed to try to make their relationship work. With their good memories
as sustaining as good food, they listen to late-night radio
talk shows, one featuring Doctor Ruth. When all else fails,
just hold each other, the small sex therapist crooned.

This was a great ending to this years St. Rose poetry series.

A blog about blogs that raises more quesions then it answers.

This morning, I came a cross a blog imbedded with a humorous youtube video of Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton rating presidential hopeful Barack Obama on their “blackness scale.” This video got me thinking about the last presidential campaign in which online slander videos and blogs played a huge role. I was disgusted with with amount of slanderous videos that were circulated but also intrigued by the centrality of the internet in the campaigning process. I got to thinking about the ethics of posting slander online and specifically on blogs.

Is Blogging journalism and therefore accountable for upholding journalistic standards? I don’t believe blogs are strictly journalism considering, the authors are not necessarily journalists. They are not solicited by a news source like CNN or the New York Times. Part of me believes, blogs, with their new found influence (particularly on the political world), inherit a responsibility to follow some code of ethics. But then again, who am I to say that people should not be aloud to express themselves freely on their private blogs? Again, I think this problem boils down to our ongoing conversation about public vs. private spheres.

Blogs are a grey area between public and private. Another overlap. Blogs are hard to compare to other forms of journalism as they are so diverse in their subject mater. However, they can be said to have at least one thing in common. They are predominantly intended to be read by as many other people as possible. Because of this, I would say there is justification for sites like word press to impose a set of standards such as the one I listed below on bloggers. I found them here.

A BLOGGERS’ CODE OF ETHICS
Be Honest and Fair
Bloggers should be honest and fair in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Bloggers should:
• Never plagiarize.
• Identify and link to sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.
• Make certain that Weblog entries, quotations, headlines, photos and all other content do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
• Never distort the content of photos without disclosing what has been changed. Image enhancement is only acceptable for for technical clarity. Label montages and photo illustrations.
• Never publish information they know is inaccurate — and if publishing questionable information, make it clear it’s in doubt.
• Distinguish between advocacy, commentary and factual information. Even advocacy writing and commentary should not misrepresent fact or context.
• Distinguish factual information and commentary from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

Minimize Harm
Ethical bloggers treat sources and subjects as human beings deserving of respect.
Bloggers should:
• Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by Weblog content. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
• Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
• Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of information is not a license for arrogance.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
• Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects, victims of sex crimes and criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

Be Accountable
Bloggers should:
• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
• Explain each Weblog’s mission and invite dialogue with the public over its content and the bloggers’ conduct.
• Disclose conflicts of interest, affiliations, activities and personal agendas.
• Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence content. When exceptions are made, disclose them fully to readers.
• Be wary of sources offering information for favors. When accepting such information, disclose the favors.
• Expose unethical practices of other bloggers.
• Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

Children Of Men (and why you need to see it)

Do yourself a favor and go see the movie Children Of Men. This was possibly the most amazing movie I have seen all year. This post will not reveal anything about the plot that is not already apparent in the trailer nor will it tell you the names of the actors, actresses or even the director. I simply don’t remember their names and don’t really want to look them up. (its not cause they went amazing actors I just have a name problem) Anyway, the movie is about a world ravaged by war in which women have lost the ability to have children. The story takes place in London not to far in the future. The main character is a man who has numbed himself to life and seems to be living consumed with a mixture of hopelessness and frustration.

What I was most impressed with was the consistency of the world the movie creates. Brilliant cinematography merges with an intense story and helps paint a picture of a frighteningly believable future. The acting was awesome. There wasn’t a character that I couldn’t believe. I thought it was a nice touch that at one point a character puts on the radio and our music now was on the oldies station.

The movie shows a picture of the future but does not extend beyond reason. There are no flying cars or light sabers. In that sense, I found the movie to be especially disturbing at times. There are several scenes of urban conflict, the kind of conflict many American soldiers are facing in Iraq even as I write this blog. The movie doesn’t do anything to sugarcoat the horrors of war but at the same time war is not at the center of this story. It’s really about people and hope. It’s about the power of children’s voices.

Myspace/ Facebook what is it to you?

I was searching around wordpress and ran into this interesting article about the recent ban of all Photobucket images from MySpace. I thought it was interesting that I would come across this particular article because just today Facebook, the online college community most of us are a part of, drastically changed its format. I thought I would take some time to reflect on MySpace and Facebook as cultural artifacts.

3 years ago, when I first heard about MySpace (and of course lied about my age to get one) my dad was quite skeptical of the whole thing. I don’t remember telling him I got one but I imagine it wasn’t to hard for him to notice the unprecedented amount of time I was spending on the computer. He would remind me countless times, “don’t give out an personal information.” Personal information. Looking back on all of that. I wonder, What more personal information could have I given than all of those pictures of myself and my friends and my name. I mean I didn’t list my home town or phone number but my name and pictures would probably have been enough for anyone who wanted to find me to do so.

What I think is particularly interesting and what I think my dad found so shocking about MySpace is not only that generation is sharing its personal information but that we are doing it indiscriminately with strangers and friends alike. It seems there has been a major shift in mode by which our generation interacts. I wonder, for anyone who reads this and has a page on an online community… What is that page to you? For me online communities are a way of keeping in-touch with my friends back home and all across the country as well as making plains with people right here in Albany. What is it for you?

Patricia Smith

This evening, at eight-o-clock in St. Josephs I had the opertunity to see “slam poet” Patricia Smith. She was incredible. Let me first say it was really nice to see such a cool cultural even come to St. Rose. One of my biggest disapointments last semester was the lack of events like this one. Patricia Smith opend with a piece called “Building Nicole’s Mama” from her book “Angry, jubilant,weeping poets -we are all/ … Then let us bless this sixth grade class- 40 nappy heads,/ 40 cracking voices, all of them/ raise their hands when i ask. They have all seen/ the Reaper, grim in his heavy robe”

The poem is about an experience she had teacing poety to a groop of middle schoolrs, most of whome had lost famuly to drugs or voilence. I found it interesting that their initial reaction to her teaching them poetry was that of skeptisim. “Can poetry hurt us?” they asked. Despite this initial hesititation, poetry became for at least one girl, a means of adressing her repressed emotions about her mothers death.

She performed a set of poems from her unpublished manuscripts dealing with hurican Katrina. Each poem began with a fact and a date and progressively personified Katrina culminating in the work that initially inspired the project. The longest piece, her inspiration for the book, ended with a raspy whisper “leave them.”

Her last poem was a drastic reversal of tone. It was a comedic poem through the voice of a black barber.

Stranger Then Fiction

In the past five-or-so years Will Ferrell has become a household name. If you haven’t seen at least one of his movies you probably heard someone quoting them. He gained popularity, like so many other great comedians, on the cast of Saturday Night Live. Some of his most memorable skits on the show were the cowbell skit and Celebrity Jeopardy (which are amazing, by the way).

His new movie Stranger Then Fiction was a big change of Genre for Ferrell who’s past credits have almost exclusively been comedies. Stranger Then Fiction is a dark romantic comedy/tragedy in the vein of Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. I was pleasantly surprised to see Ferrell take on, and nail, such a different role. For those who haven’t seen it, I will refrain from talking in detail about the plot. The general point of the movie is that Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is probably the most boring man in the world; An IRS agent who counts his brush strokes and times his life down to the second. One day he wakes up and a voice in his head is narrating his life. Throughout the story he meets marvelously unique characters my favorite of which is the intensely dark best-selling novelist, Kay Eiffel (Emma Thompson). One critic I found calls the movie to “quirky” but I believe they are expressing dissatisfaction with the style of movie more then the movie itself. The movie is a compelling story about life and fate.

If you get a chance it is definitely worth checking out.

Looking Good For Jesus

We have all heard the adage/cliché beauty on the inside is more important then physical appearances. Except apparently this doesn’t apply to our relation ship with the good Lords right hand man. Yep, that’s Jesus for you. I don’t remember that bit from Sunday School…but apparently Tammy Bennett, the founder of Makeover Ministries and the author of “Looking Good from the Inside Out” does.

She describes her Ministries as “inspiring women to look good from the inside out and to be supermodels for Christ. And it’s based on Proverbs: ‘just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.’” The purpose of her book, she says, is to “help your daughters be as beautiful as they can be.” I can’t put my finger on why but for some reason this seems kind of sick. I think it’s that what she is saying 1. makes Jesus out be vain, and 2. suggests by reversing her logic that if you are not beautiful you are a impure and unfit for Jesus.

No God/Jesus I would ever pray to would make ,or ask that, women alter their natural appearance. It just doesn’t make sense. If god wanted girls to have makeup on he would have made them with makeup on.. I mean really he is god and all. I dare say its not beyond his ability. No… Rather I think this is really about Ms. Bennett projecting her own insecurities about beauty and or feelings about the way women should present them selves to men on impressionable young girls. What is worse she is disguising it as religion.

I worte this about the War On Terror at 4:22 am and tomorrow (in 3 hours) I will need/love starbucks

The killing and torture of prisoners can and does have a dehumanizing effect on our country. In a war on terror, a war between ideologies, we must maintain higher morality by the means of warfare we chose. Torturing detainees who can be held with no adherence to our democratic values (the values we are defending) is brutal and, I believe, negates the moral argument Bush gave for invading Iraq. Every account of american soldiers sexually abusing prisoners, raping Iraqi girls, or murdering innocent iraqi families transforms america from an “innocent victim of globalized terrorism” into an “oppressive victimizer/vigilante.” It seems to me that this is many ways a new, backwards, Isolationism. The more we ignore the United Nations, and break international laws (including those governing torture and wartime behavior) the further we will find ourself from global aid when we realize that terrorism is an idea.
An idea, perpetuated by oppression. With the direction the war is taking (the prolonged occupation of Iraq and of possible intervention in Iran) america may find itself an occupier (balls deep) in yet another middle eastern country. The more the administration pretends we are fighting a war against an identifiable piece of land that can be conquered the more isolated and in-danger of terrorism america will become. Fortunately for the president, he is relatively safe from a terrorist atack on him directly cause, lets be realistic, nobody wants to see Cheney in charge. (just kidding sort of…) But seriously, the question of morality is what is important here. By our actions in Iraq and wherever else we oppress and torture, we lose moral credibility in the eyes of the onlooking world.

America should defend herself, but an abandonment of the very fundamental democratic values we are defending, is defeat both… symbolic and actual.

I think its safe to say…

Maria’s “discussion starter” reading tore the Bush administration a new hole. George W. Bush the environmentalist…do you really think the american people are that stupid?