Disclaimer: Formatting

These blogs are in very simple formatting that does not separate quotes as this site does not allow for quotes to work in the desired format, thus they are simply in the text. My apologies for the inconvenience.

Blog 3 Crash

For a moment all I could do was feel the pounding. Like a funeral procession, it beat slow and powerful. Every beat was a hammer against my hollow body. Nothing truly existed outside of the sensation for what felt like innumerable lifetimes. My taste came back to me like the slow ebb of the tide. Metallic mint. An unusual but not surprising mix; nothing surprises me right now. A gooey object falls from my mouth held agape. It took the mint away. I hold out for as long as possible, but whatever is trickling over my eye is too much. I wipe the stream away with a hand that screams for stillness. The view is incredible and fleeting as it is blurred once again with the red stream. A crumpled white sack sits before my eye smeared in red as vivid as a sunset over an ocean of shattered glass and crunched steel. Flashes of blue intermingle with the red destruction. Back and forth the colors dance, and it is only now that I begin to hear their shrieking music. The whine is almost unbearable, and yet there is a comfort to its obnoxiousness. I can finally release to the enveloping pain that is ripping apart my body. It all dims into the blackness of the pain. I smile a bloody, broken smile. It’s going to be ok.

The paragraph above uses the writing technique of sensory detail and diction. The piece describes a car crash in all the detail and sensations that would conceivably fit into a single paragraph. Sensory details are a literary technique that can greatly improve a description and help the author to truly show and not tell, when describing an event or place. A car crash is a wealth of sensory details, as your entire body is affected by the event. The sensory details are separated in this particular paragraph in order to try and help the reader focus on each one and not be overwhelmed by all that truly is happening in the scene. A specific example of sensory details is shown when describing the heartbeat in the very beginning. By never directly calling the sensation a heartbeat the reader is forced to imagine the pulse, hard and slow, as if a methodical hammer against their body. This type of sensory detail impacts the audience as it throws them into the scene whether they want to or not. The detail of the passage is what makes it real to the reader. A car crash is something we have all seen; we can fill in the very basics of what it is. To simply say that the first sensation was his heartbeat does not do the character of the scene any justice to what was really being felt. The character did not feel a heartbeat, but a hammer, even if the audience knows that in reality it was his heart and not a hammer pounding into him. Sensory detail is a powerful tool in which when done correctly can help authors transport their readers into the world of the passage and all that it entails, the beauty and the pain.

Word Count:297

Blog 2 Learning Outcome 2

The text that was used in this blog post comes from the second act, fourth scene, lines 175-195 of the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. In this part of the scene Romeo is speaking to the nurse in order to deliver a message to Juliet saying that if she goes to Friar Lawrence that afternoon they will be married.

This particular passage of Romeo and Juliet can be found to be difficult for the layman to read and understand as it is ripe with outdated words and those that have changed meaning since they were first penned. The second learning outcome is exquisitely displayed in this passage as it demonstrates how language can change so drastically over time. The second learning outcome is unique in the fact that it is a constant in languages all over the world. Change comes from the use and lack thereof of in the day to day language. A prime example comes from the 179^th line. “What wilt thou tell her, Nurse? Thou dost not mark me.” This quote uses words such as thou and dost that are no longer used in the modern day to day language. While widely used in their time period the words have changed to “you” and “does” respectively. Another example of how the English language from the time of Shakespeare to the present is in the 195^th line of the scene when Romeo says “Farewell. Be trusty, and I’ll quit thy pains.” This sentence would not make perfect sense today as the word “quit” has changed meanings. Today it means to stop or give up on something, while in Shakespeare’s day it was meant in this instance “to reward”. The words may change with spelling, pronunciation and meaning, but the one constant in the equation is that languages are malleable and forever changing. This is the basis of the second learning outcome where in this passage of Romeo and Juliet it is easily visible.

Word Count:266

Blog 1 Learning Outcome 1

The piece, Body Ritual among the Nacirema, written by Horace Miner, is a prime example of the first learning outcome. The purpose of this writing is to show Americans at the time the piece was published, their ethnocentrism, and the inherent quirks and faults of their own society. Miner accomplishes this purpose by describing the content of the American way of life in the context of a tribal setting. By changing the way the content is presented Miner effectively shapes his audience into feeling superior to the Nacirema tribe, effectively gearing his purpose to fit his audience though the means in which he describes and structures his content. An example of this can be found when Miner describes the “holy-mouth-men” or dentists. “The practitioners have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of these objects in the exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the client.” By describing the dentist in such a manner it is possible for the reader to see the practice in that society as being very uncivilized, thus supporting Miner’s overall purpose.

Another quote from the piece that further supports the purpose is found when Miner describes Playboy. “A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hyper-mammary development are so idolized that they make a handsome living by simply going from village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee.” This description of an American vice, as something lewd and crude is accurate, but when viewed in “another” culture it further degrades the civility of it in the eyes of the audience.

Miner is very skilled at changing his content and structure in order to better serve his purpose and audience. The piece is written in such a way that the average American would believe they are culturally superior. When effectively utilized, the first learning outcome can create a very persuasive writing by serving the author’s purpose and connecting to the audience.

Word Count: 336

Practice

So yeah, just figuring out how this all works. Lets see if i can have fun with all of the little buttons at the top of this little box. So first one makes things crossed out apparently. I can also mess with the font size too! So this isn't as cool as I hoped. Ah well, its school. Blue is pretty cool though. As is what a pink highlighter! So, much like a small child, I am becoming amused with the simplest things at the moment. For one to truely live one must be happy! So yeah, happy only works if you enjoy the little things. in my exploration of the buttons I accidently erased all my colorful effects. Easy come easy go I guess. If you spent any time reading this and not doing our assignment then please congradulate yourself on being a good procrastinator. To be great one must spend more time commenting on this. Are you great?