Interesting PBS show on the expanding powers of the executive and it's constitutionality. The show's kinda long (three parts) but you should watch it if you have time.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10262007/watch.html
I'm ready for home. You know I'll hardly have time to breath before it's time to come back again . But it'll still be a nice and very much needed break. I'm ready for the end of Fall07 ...
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Taps
I only have a purely emotional reaction to share.
When we watched Maya Lin in class on Tuesday I cried. None of the other movies that we have seen so far have produced in me a moment of such intense reaction the way this documentary has. Full Metal Jacket was disturbing, the killing and shooting in Platoon was upsetting, and Hearts and Minds made me cringe and disapprove of an American government I already disapproved of. The images in all these movies were horrifying, all the killing had the appearance of being real, and the fighting was violent and disgusting, but in all their horror, my eyes never watered. All it took in Maya Lin was one scene after Maya spoke to everyone at the Vietnam Memorial. After all the speeches and the ceremony the film shifted shifted to images of people from the crowd approaching Maya and thanking her. After or during that scene (I can't remember the exact point), over the humming of the crowd pierced the anthem of the dead- Taps. And I, I am shot. Taps continues to play and the camera shifts over to a long shot of the black memorial and at the bottom of the screen a tiny American flag propped up against the wall. What really got to me in this scene wasn't so much the seeing- the images were far from shocking or grotesque- instead it was the 3 note lament of a single haunting bugle that made me feel. I could actually feel it resonance in me as the sound came out of the bugle, passed the speakers, and into my ears. 3 notes, 3 notes and one bugle and I've felt more for a moment that I have in an entire semesters worth of watching movies and documentaries on the Vietnam War. That song is no ordinary song. It's not even a song, it's a a lament, a sad, sad, requiem for the dead. It's pain, it is suffering, it's agony, all of it in a single line of music played on one horn. When I heard Taps played in class, I remembered instantly the funeral I went to this summer for my mother's uncle (may he rest in peace) that served in the military during WWII. I never knew the man. I had no emotional attachment, nothing to cry about. I was there to pay my respects as a relative and to support the family. I never knew the man, but 21 rounds and 3 notes later I wept for him. I felt the vibrations of bullets penetrating through the air, the crack of the barrel, the perforating sound of the horn shake my very being. It was like I could feel the presence of death and it gripped onto me and pulled tears and muffled whimpers out of me. It was like I experienced, in a very small but very real way, war, grief, and death. There is something terribly haunting and melancholy about that 3 note melody and when I heard it in class, I relived the sensations of the gun shots, the whizzing bullets, the Taps, the weight of the air heavy with grief.
I'm not done. I'll finish this later.
When we watched Maya Lin in class on Tuesday I cried. None of the other movies that we have seen so far have produced in me a moment of such intense reaction the way this documentary has. Full Metal Jacket was disturbing, the killing and shooting in Platoon was upsetting, and Hearts and Minds made me cringe and disapprove of an American government I already disapproved of. The images in all these movies were horrifying, all the killing had the appearance of being real, and the fighting was violent and disgusting, but in all their horror, my eyes never watered. All it took in Maya Lin was one scene after Maya spoke to everyone at the Vietnam Memorial. After all the speeches and the ceremony the film shifted shifted to images of people from the crowd approaching Maya and thanking her. After or during that scene (I can't remember the exact point), over the humming of the crowd pierced the anthem of the dead- Taps. And I, I am shot. Taps continues to play and the camera shifts over to a long shot of the black memorial and at the bottom of the screen a tiny American flag propped up against the wall. What really got to me in this scene wasn't so much the seeing- the images were far from shocking or grotesque- instead it was the 3 note lament of a single haunting bugle that made me feel. I could actually feel it resonance in me as the sound came out of the bugle, passed the speakers, and into my ears. 3 notes, 3 notes and one bugle and I've felt more for a moment that I have in an entire semesters worth of watching movies and documentaries on the Vietnam War. That song is no ordinary song. It's not even a song, it's a a lament, a sad, sad, requiem for the dead. It's pain, it is suffering, it's agony, all of it in a single line of music played on one horn. When I heard Taps played in class, I remembered instantly the funeral I went to this summer for my mother's uncle (may he rest in peace) that served in the military during WWII. I never knew the man. I had no emotional attachment, nothing to cry about. I was there to pay my respects as a relative and to support the family. I never knew the man, but 21 rounds and 3 notes later I wept for him. I felt the vibrations of bullets penetrating through the air, the crack of the barrel, the perforating sound of the horn shake my very being. It was like I could feel the presence of death and it gripped onto me and pulled tears and muffled whimpers out of me. It was like I experienced, in a very small but very real way, war, grief, and death. There is something terribly haunting and melancholy about that 3 note melody and when I heard it in class, I relived the sensations of the gun shots, the whizzing bullets, the Taps, the weight of the air heavy with grief.
I'm not done. I'll finish this later.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Answers
1) Be the best poster you can be
2) [sic] is used when you quote a passage from some text verbatim and you know that the original had a grammar or spelling mistake, or some misuse of the language. To indicate that the mistake was not your own but the original author's, you put a [sic] next to the mistake.
2) [sic] is used when you quote a passage from some text verbatim and you know that the original had a grammar or spelling mistake, or some misuse of the language. To indicate that the mistake was not your own but the original author's, you put a [sic] next to the mistake.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Re: Midterm Feedback
Mr. Piekarski,
I hold your word in high regard. I know what I need to do.
Concerning my project:
A presentation about rhetorically interesting images/posters/war propaganda sounds good. But I'd also like to make my OWN image and I promise you it would be a thoughtful, constructive, rhetorical one. I'm still figuring out what I want my message to be but I know it would be in response to Iraq and paralleled to Vietnam. Permission to do this as well? Your thoughts?
I think that's a wrap. Oh! M.I.A., two mo' dayz! Whoop!
Eva
I hold your word in high regard. I know what I need to do.
Concerning my project:
A presentation about rhetorically interesting images/posters/war propaganda sounds good. But I'd also like to make my OWN image and I promise you it would be a thoughtful, constructive, rhetorical one. I'm still figuring out what I want my message to be but I know it would be in response to Iraq and paralleled to Vietnam. Permission to do this as well? Your thoughts?
I think that's a wrap. Oh! M.I.A., two mo' dayz! Whoop!
Eva
Midterm Feedback
I don't know if my blogs have gotten any better. I think I've become more afraid of them because you Mr. Piekarski are looking at them. I know this sounds stupid, but sometimes when I've blogged my heart out towards the beginning of the school year and got nothing in response it was disheartening. I know I would say a lot and God you might have been thinking, Eva stfu already, but I NEED FEEDBACK.
Eva, my most humble apologies as I certainly never intended to become a looming presence of doom. I was also under the impression that our post-class talks were giving you feedback that they would become redundant had I also put them into words. Know that I read and cherish and savor each and every word of your soul in its bloggerly incarnation.
Know also, that I think your personal blog is one of the most adventurous and creative in class, and that your comfort level with looking at the world through multiple forms of media (and rhetoric) is a great strength which you should begin thinking about harnessing and developing further.
I am also most pleased with your class participation and the energy you bring to the topics at hand. Your class presence is always felt and is an integral part of our little humble community.
And as per our post-class discussions, I think you know what you need to do to improve your analytical thinking and writing on the RAs and I am ready to assist you with more candid talks and revision opportunities. Only say the word(s).
So, in conclusion (ha ha!) I'd like to reiterate that your approach to learning, and your ethos as a student and as a person is most excellent. Your RAs still have a full month to improve to the next level. And I imagine the project and how you present it will be a super treat for all of us. You seem to be fascinated by the visual rhetoric of posters... How about a presentation about the most rhetorically interesting images/posters/war propaganda?
So right now, I think you're right. You're at a B. But sneaking into the A territory is not impossible. If you will it, Dude, it is no dream.
Eva, my most humble apologies as I certainly never intended to become a looming presence of doom. I was also under the impression that our post-class talks were giving you feedback that they would become redundant had I also put them into words. Know that I read and cherish and savor each and every word of your soul in its bloggerly incarnation.
Know also, that I think your personal blog is one of the most adventurous and creative in class, and that your comfort level with looking at the world through multiple forms of media (and rhetoric) is a great strength which you should begin thinking about harnessing and developing further.
I am also most pleased with your class participation and the energy you bring to the topics at hand. Your class presence is always felt and is an integral part of our little humble community.
And as per our post-class discussions, I think you know what you need to do to improve your analytical thinking and writing on the RAs and I am ready to assist you with more candid talks and revision opportunities. Only say the word(s).
So, in conclusion (ha ha!) I'd like to reiterate that your approach to learning, and your ethos as a student and as a person is most excellent. Your RAs still have a full month to improve to the next level. And I imagine the project and how you present it will be a super treat for all of us. You seem to be fascinated by the visual rhetoric of posters... How about a presentation about the most rhetorically interesting images/posters/war propaganda?
So right now, I think you're right. You're at a B. But sneaking into the A territory is not impossible. If you will it, Dude, it is no dream.
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