Metacognition: Jane Eyre Mashup

The Jane Eyre Mashup was a lot of collecting, searching, and organizing of the books I have read this year, especially Jane Eyre, as well as movies, songs, and quotes that may have resonated with me. 

This project allowed my thoughts to be very broad, but they also became very contained as I sifted through all we have done this year.  I was surprised that I was able to stay on task for as long as I did.  This project required work to be done every day, for a sustained period of time, and I succeeded in doing that.  Although I was please with that, I would like for my thinking to follow structure better.  I do enjoy having a creative, wild mind, but for projects like this, a simple-thinking brain would suit just fine. 

My ability to stay focused for a long time was truly effective.  I learned that I always had the ability, that it is all about desire.  I wanted to do well on this project, so I worked with a sense of urgency, especially during the final day.  Obviously it would be nice if I could always work with that sense of urgency.  That would definitely be something I would like to change.  I do believe though, that with some extra effort, my interest in all subjects in school could soar, leading to more success. 

As I stated before I do at times enjoy a wild, creative brain; however, in some scenarios it would quite helpful to be able to turn a switch and be able to structure my thoughts and ideas without going off on a tangent. I don't know if that is possible, turning a switch that would make me think in a different way, but I am sure I can change my thinking slightly in order to accomplish what I want.

My thinking has been challenged rigorously this whole year, but this project challenged my thinking in a whole different way.  Structure and organization were key, but paradoxically so were imagination and creativity.  I am struggling with the fine line between the two sides.  This project was definitely a useful way to make more observations about my brain, and how it works.  As well as how I am going to need it to work in the future.

What If: Mashups

What if mashups became a common tool used to express complex ideas?  Could they replace genres like books, newspaper articles, and/ or videos?  Mashups are a new and possibly upcoming way of making a claim or observation using multiple sources.  Mashups can take multiple forms, like video, written paper, etc.  I believe that mashups have the potential to become something commonplace in the future.

Why would mashups need to replace the genres like novels, music, etc?  In other words, what do mashups do that our current genres can not do?  First, mashups provide multiple viewpoints.  The mashups we are working out contain around eight to fifteen sources.  That means that fifteen different perspectives on one issue form one whole idea.  This postmodern idea that fragments form the whole shows us that mashups could possibly be the next big thing. 

Also, mashups go further than the current genres because it requires more research.  For example, Khaled Hosseni's Kite Runner most likely required little research.  The most i could imagine him doing, is making visits to Kabul, San Francisco, and also doing research on the human neurological responses like regret.  On the other hand, the mashups that we are doing now demand that we use at least a dozen, maybe even two dozen sources.  This means obviously that we need to find the sources, then peruse them for proper mashup material.

Mashups go further than the current genres because they are more complex, and therefore produce more complex claims or ideas.  Using Khaled Hosseni as an example again, his memoir inside a fiction was about as complex a narrative scheme that an author has ever implemented.  However, with mashups a memoir within a fiction is combined with other novels, songs, videos, or articles.  These sources are all working together within one mashup (in whatever form the creator chooses). 

I truly believe that mashups have the potential to overcome the genres we see today for the reasons i mentioned above.  I also hope that mashups pass the genres because of its ability to communicate complex ideas. 

360 Degrees: Facebook Use

Facebook has become a primary tool used to communicate and keep up with friends in this day and age. It is a widely used method to manage your social life.  However, Facebook also has the damaging sideaffects of poor grades in students, addicts, and has even ironically done something that directly contradicts its purpose- pull people apart. 

From the positive spectrum, Facebook has done it all.  It is used by over 200 million people all around the world.  To all these people, Facebook is a convinient way to talk to their friends, family, and collegues.  Facebook has even helped in dethroning a vicious dictator in north Africa.  Aside from the bright side, Facebook has a dark side that many people ignore.

Facebook's addicting side has served as an inconvinient distractor for many students, at least in America.  A quick second away, Facebook is always available to provide relief to overwhelmed students.  Surrounded by friends and games, kids have a hard time concentrating on what is really important, and are lured into the Facebook trap.

Facebook can be a drug to those who abuse its purpose.  Some stay up late at night updating statuses, following friends, or uploading pics of themselves in their favorite footsie pajamas.  But is that what Facebook was made for?  How much is too much?  These are lines that each individual needs to draw for themselves, not just with Facebook, but with other unimportant things like Twitter, MySpace, etc.

Facebook, ironically, defeats its own purpose because it does something nobody would have expected- pull people apart.  Why go over to your friends house to talk about how cute Christopher Jenkins looked in class today if you can instant message her on Facebook?  This effect is one of many postmodern ideas today.

These negative effects of Facebook can all be intertwined.  Once an individual gets on Facebook, to connect with friends, he/she becomes attached to the website- eventually addicted.  Then, that individual is ironically pulled away from what they were originally looking for.

Dialectics: Fate and Free Will

Fate and free will provide two contrasting perspectives on the future of an individual.  Fate supposes that humans' destinies are predetermined, and that their future is out of our hands.  Free will claims that humans have the power to control their destiny.  However, we can fomulate two ideas on the destiny of humans through these ideas.

An individual's destiny is determined by gods or some higher being to an extent- however, humans have the ability to defeat the intentions that the gods have for them.  All humans have the choice and ability to thwart their presupposed destiny, but it is up to them to determine their threshold for how willing they are to get what they want.  This Greek idea is clearly illustrated in the story Oedipus, when the main character is able to triumph over the gods and return home from the battle of Troy to his home.  This concept is a synthesis of the fate and free will, stating that humans are suspect to each. 

An individual is suspect to whatever concept they believe holds true.  Unable to prove either concept, an individual's destiny can be predetermined by the fate of a god, or other powerful being.  A parellel to this concept would be pain killers.  There are two effects that has advil has on your body,  phsyical and phsycological.  The physical part, obviously is treating the pain you have whereever you may feel pain.  The phsycological aspect can be explained through the summary of a passage in Harry Potter.  On the day of the big quidditch match between Slytherin and Griffendor, Harry tells Ron that he is slipping a lucky potion into Ron's beverage before the game.   Under the impression that the is drugged to do well, Ron plays a great match and wins the game.  After the game though, Ron is notified that he was never given any lucky potion.  So, if one believes that he has the power to defeat the plans of the gods, then he can posess the power to change his destiny.  Likewise, if one believes that his destiny is predetermined, then he will not do anything to change his destiny, and therefore suspect to his own beliefs.

Change of Mind: Women

Prior to reading Jane Eyre, I viewed women through a very primitive, ignorant lens.  Portrayal of women as helpless, dull, and weak in movies, books, etc. were main reasons why.  I do not have a strong, feminist woman in my life either.  My mother is a stay at home mom and does not assert herself over my father often.  These conditions lead to the development of my mindset before Jane Eyre. 

Going into the new book, I thought to myself that it would be a waste of time.  However, only six chapters through the book, and my perspective has already undergone a noticeable shift.  The first thing I noticed in Jane Eyre was simply the amazing writing of Charlotte Bronte; her ability to describe a situation with such color and flare, in such a dark story is uncanny.  Also, seeing women portrayed in many different ways in Jane Eyre has shown me that there is not one "type" of women.  There are still stay at home mothers; however, there are also strong, independent women. 

This change of mind is significant because now that I have a genuine respect for women, I can gain a greater knowledge from their opinions.  The completely unique perspective that they have can help me develop a full perspective on a variety of issues. 

Best of Week: Cathedral

Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, uses verbal irony as a tool for humor, and foreshadowing to bring a deeper meaning to the short story. 

"But she and the blind man had kept in touch."  Stating the obvious, this is ironic because blind people communicate through touch, due to their inability to read.  Blind people are usually taught to write and read braille.  Carver uses irony as a comic device, possibly making fun of the blind man's disability.  This irony is Carver's way of communicating behind the characters' backs; he's trying to tell us that he is cold toward blind people, and that he feels superior to them, the irony gives him that feeling. 

Later in the story, Robert and the narrarator end up watching television late at night.  Robert listens as a cathedral is described, and needs more detail. Unable to explain, the narrarator gives up.  Robert then proceeds by using the sense of touch to teach the narrarator how to describe a cathedral.  The irony here is Carver's way of telling us that the tables have turned.  The narrarator now has the disability.  He can't see.  

Recognizing irony in Cathedral is important because as learned through Heart of Darkness, irony must be something I "get" in order to understand the Postmodern Era we live in.

An Inconvenient Truth: It Was Only Just a Dream

My life is a dream.  This theory, presented to me by the movie Inception, has rubbed me off the wrong way.   Inception forced me to make the startling connections between what I perceive as dreams and what I perceive as reality.  For example, in both a dream and life I do not remember how it all began.  I do not remember the day I was born just like I can't recall how I entered my dreams.

If this theory is true, then it could either be a major gain, or a major loss.  The output all depends on who's or what's dream I am in, or if I am in any one's dream.  If I am in some thing's dream then all the hard work and good times I have experienced in this thing's dream has a final destination.  That's a major plus.  An author doesn't publish a book for it to sit in their attic.  Books, like this hypothetical situation, are meant to be read and enjoyed by others.  On the flip side, if my life is a dream owned by nobody, then that would straight up suck.  If that were true, then everything that means something to me would truly mean nothing. 

If this theory were not true, it could possibly affect me just as much as it would if it were true.  If it were not true, then just my belief that this could be true would affect my thinking.  If this under-developed theory were proved false by Harvard scientists, my thinking would already have been changed.  In this hypothetical world where my life is a dream, the disproving of the theory by scientists is just another twist in the plot of my life.

This theory bothers me quite simply because there is no way for me to possibly discover whether my life is a dream or not.  Therefore, coming to terms with the theory is very hard.   Coming to terms isn't even the right word.  The only way to deal with this dilemma is forgetting.