Understanding the Meaning Behind the Words

"When you work with self-performed texts, you work with texts in which the lyrics (the what) cannot be separated from the music (the how). You also realize that, as is the case with academic writing, if you
are not there to perform the text, the lyrics and the music have to be encoded. That is, in academic writing, you must not only say what, but also how. You must not only make an argument, but also make it with eloquence, a human touch, and polish. Great composition writing must not only be clear and analytical, but also phrased with music. One of the ways to get students to a place where they truly understand the importance of "how words are said" is to work with self-performed texts in which this distinction is literally embodied and personified."

When I first started writing in my college classes this was a concept I tended to struggle with.  Having the ability to place the way I meant something to be read into the way it was written.  Throughout high school having mostly the same teachers every year read my work they had learned my pattern and style of writing and were able distinguish key tones and phrasing from the pages of writing with me having to make it obvious.  In college then this came as a shock that I needed to be more active in my means of communicating the feelings and true meanings behind sarcastic phrases and connections between stories.  I enjoy the idea that writing has an essence of performance behind it mainly because sometimes its easy to forget that all writing for school isn't merely a deed to be done for a good grade.  Well its that too.  But especially in this course the freedom we're given is a chance to truly use our skills to entertain and make a performance of the topic we've chosen to more easily educate others.

On a slight side note I loved that one of their examples included AOL messaging and the use of sarcasm over it.  I can remember many times getting in trouble for not quickly enough putting a emoticon up after saying something.  I wonder how papers would change if we started allowing things like that and lol or haha in them. Actually I really hope that never happens.

Pop goes the Head.....er Watermelon.

Physics with a Twist

The video is what generated my idea for my project this week. I decided to take my research and apply it by using it to profile my own serial killer that I created.  The story is completely fictional.  The names were actually supplied by me sitting at a Sharis restaurant with some friends and telling them to give me random names.  Not telling them what they were for till after they provided them. Congrats to them they just named all my victims.  This paper was a little harder to write than I originally thought it was going to be.  I found myself constantly switching between first and third person narration.  About half way through the paper I gave up worrying about that and let the story unfold.  It was just easier that way.  I'm pretty sure this story will be a large part of my final portfolio it needs some expanding details I think.  You should watch the exploding watermelon though its pretty cool.

The Writing Revolution

This article was an interesting read for me mainly because I was one of those kids who caught what was needed to be a decent write from the extensive reading I did growing up. It was decent, but still well below what it should have been. My twin on the other hand didn't enjoy reading and struggled with all the concepts of writing.  We were home schooled all up through high school by my mother.  The younger years we focused a lot on math and spelling, but sentence structure and writing was always pushed back and never given a priority.  The reason for this was the need for my mom to sit down with us and teach that topic.  This never happened very often because I have a special needs sister who is 3 years younger and during the time where we should have been getting the "formula" we were instead tagging along on hospital visits.  Once in high school we joined a charter school program that could be done at home with the guidance of teachers.  This guidance helped shape my writing and improved my brother's understanding of the basics.  I really liked  the quote "Give them a formula! Later, when they understand the rules of good writing, can figure out how to break them."  Once I was taught the "formula" I enjoyed learning to break the rules.

Researching Serial KIllers

Over the long weekend I started doing some unofficial researching, I guess you could call it, for my topic.  I've decided to go with my first choice of the psychological study of serial killers and how they have become such a popular theme in the US.  When I say "theme" I'm talking about the horror films, dramas on TV, and crime books that are so popular today.  Starting with getting names of some famous and well known killers was fairly easy.  There's Top 10 lists for everything on the internet now.  The website that I found had the most information on each of the subjects themselves at least in layman's terms, which right now is what I'm looking at, was about.com.  It seemed for the most part a reliable source of information and I was  curious to see if anyone else had ever used it before. 

I've narrowed my list to about 8 serial killers and will probably lower that number as the research continues. 
Charles Manson, Richard Ramirez, Coral Eugene Watts, The Zodiac Killer, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jack the Ripper, and Ed Gein.  Another thought that hit me as I was copying these names down is that the names themselves are relatively unremarkable and most are common.  This is of course ignoring the Zodiac Killer and the Ripper part of Jack.  It is the acts of these individuals that make their names recognizable.  My curiosity is why is America so set on desensitizing individuals to these acts or is it their need to understand the acts themselves?  Why are they so popular? 

Anyway those were my thoughts off and on this weekend while I clicked through research and TV guide descriptions.