1,167 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2017
    1. architectonic principle

      See: McKeon, R. (1971). The uses of rhetoric in a technological age: Architectonic productive arts. In Bitzer, Lloyd F. and Black, Edwin (Eds.). The prospect of rhetoric, 44-63. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

  2. Dec 2016
  3. Nov 2016
  4. rhetoricalmeanderings.org rhetoricalmeanderings.org
    1. So my creation process is relatively simple because of the two-dimensional characteristics, but I am able to make complex maneuvers, animations, and placements because of the three-dimensional environment.

      There is something very rhetorically interesting here. Language, well, writing, could be seen as two-dimensional in a strict sense. Words in writing are just flat marks upon the page, but their arrangement (what you call here "complex maneuvers") adds a dimension. Indeed, often times bad writing is referred to as two dimensional. The third dimension must be earned.

    2. Music expresses things

      I would say that music does much more than this. It doesn't express so much as it both evokes and creates. That is, the music expresses things doesn't fully account for how music moves people. Your language here gets at this by the way: in the tension between "expresses" and "inherently persuades". Are expression and persuasion the same thing?

    3. music could be part of that alternative

      Good question.

    4. I'm not sure if he stopped because he felt awkward or because he forgot the rest of the words, but does it really matter? I'm impressed he knows that much.

      This is actually pretty impressive.

  5. Oct 2016
  6. rhetoricalmeanderings.org rhetoricalmeanderings.org
    1. First, it is almost entirely independent.

      Hum. Independent in what ways? Surely, it will have constraints, which are another important aspect of rhetoric and pedagogy.

    2. but am I wrong to wish for what I can only imagine a Greek education would have been like?

      Maybe?

    3. they all emphasize small class sizes, close relationships between teachers and students, and, to a certain extent, community.

      Do these necessarily constitute alternative education? They are perhaps rare, but they aren't not traditional.

    4. Education is exactly what you think it is: the process of giving or receiving instruction. 

      Look up the etymology of the word education.

    5. but I do not think I can, or will ever, stop. Social comparison is a theory within the field of communications and it states: individuals evaluate opinions, abilities, and outcomes by comparing themselves to others in order to reduce uncertainty.

      Nice transition here. Set's up this kind of comparison as somewhat bred into pedagogy. And it makes a rhetorical process.

    6. which can be defined as the act, process, or result of imparting life, interest, spirit, motion or activity.

      Useful.

    7. Composition is relevant because of its interaction with rhetoric, which envelops it. 

      Nice visual metaphor here.

    8. simply

      Well, not so simply but your point is taken.

    9. at least outside education

      Or even inside of it.

  7. Sep 2016
  8. Jun 2016
    1. If any of your devices has geolocation technology, and you haven’t turned it off, you’re now transmitting your exact location to God knows who or what, silently bip-bip-bipping like a little sputnik.

      Magicbands at Disney

  9. May 2016
  10. therunaroundupndown.tumblr.com therunaroundupndown.tumblr.com
    1. While normally I feel like running is a good way of deepening your relationship with your surroundings, there are those wonderful occasions where running leads you to have a stronger relationship with yourself.

      I like that you add another element to your posts at this stage. The link between the outside and the inside.

    1. The distinguished group consists of St. Louis Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III, World Wide Technology CEO Jim Kavanaugh, hotel tycoon Bob O’Loughlin, UniGroup President Jim Powers, St. Louis Blues CEO Chris Zimmerman, former NFL task force co-chair Dave Peacock, Jim Woodcock a global sports co-lead and senior vice president at FleishmanHillard,Rob Ebert, a partner at Bryan Cave, and Vicky Lynch of Lynch Sports and Events.

      Any possibilities for links through here?

    2. has he gives MLS2STL his blessing.

      Something is off about this sentence.

  11. Apr 2016
    1. Apologize for waiting

      You instead say I apologize for the wait here.

    2. episodes

      Not sure what you might mean here. Do you mean something like the history of each person?

    3. have

      Do you mean are here?

    4. had

      Should be was

    1. When I moved to the city I no longer felt out of the ordinary and felt normal because there are many people within the city who do not have cars, like myself, and rely on public transportation or their own two feet to get to the places they need to go.

      I think you should lead with this. Indeed, with all of your posts, I think it's worth revising them so that you lead with your perspective, which is the ethos of this project as you have defined it. Then, through your unique perspective, you can layer in the details you hear start with.

    2. , personally,

      You don't need to say "personally" here.

    3. would not have had the memories we had growing up

      Share one of these memories. Get your audience to feel what you felt.

    4. I was born to teenage parents of low socioeconomic status.

      I like the move to the personal here, but the transition is weak: you just jump from one paragraph to the next.

    5. Some of these places include the St. Louis Zoo, the Missouri History Museum, the Missouri Art Museum, Grant’s Farm, etc.

      At the very least you should provide links to these locations. Additionally, your briefly indicate what each place has to offer. Remember, you are sharing the love here.

  12. inpersuasionnation.tumblr.com inpersuasionnation.tumblr.com
    1. Cleopatra counter-sued playwright William Shakespeare for libel, slander, misogynistic discrimination, and emotional distress brought on by intentional cultural appropriation.

      I like how this part appears as in line with the details within another realm. Very meta.

    2. which means that Kleopatra's relationship with Antony was destined and holy.

      Fantastic connections here.

    3. the same kind of recognition any great male Pharaoh would dream of.

      BOOM!

    4. A precedent is set in the Macbeth case

      Nice. I really like how you use the other plays as a sort of intertextual precedence.

    5. with no regard for her powerlessness to refuse him. 

      I can see where you are going with this. I can already hear the rebuttal.

    6. She is a fully developed, fully realized woman with a very tragic mental illness brought on by the horrible situation in Denmark.

      Very clever move here.

  13. Mar 2016
    1. I don’t believe it would have been the right thing for an MLS team to play in an NFL stadium.”

      You need a concluding sentence or two that comes back to original emphasis of the post (and as capture by the title of the post).

    2. . It’s obvious to anyone who follows soccer in St. Louis that games have been selling out.

      Provide some additional evidence for this.

    3. While football stadiums continue to increase in price, soccer venues only decrease. The San Jose Earthquakes recently built a new stadium with a cost $100 million.

      They sound cheaper, but you seem to be suggesting the cost of soccer stadiums is going down. Can you support this assertion?

    4. t. Louis Rams spent countless months and money, $16 million, to prevent the inevitable, the departure of the Rams to Los Angeles

      Do you have a source you can link to here? You should.

    5. Going back to the posts concerning soccer venues

      Link to this here.

    6. In addition, the soccer games also sell more merchandise. The fact is that, for the most part, everyone in St. Louis or Cardinals fan own a piece of Cardinal merchandise and don’t feel the need to buy more.

      This strikes me as a claim that very much needs evidence to back it. Given the kinds of arguments you are making here, evidence is going to be very important in making your post persuasive.

      Right now, this reads as simply speculation based on a few key assumptions. Indeed, what you suggest here is that Cardinals fans don't buy a lot of merchandise because they have already bought a lot of merchandise, which sort of works against the point you are trying to make.

    7. The tax would end once the money has been raised; English predicts the tax would last for 7-10 years. “We’d have to get a signed contract, a 30 year contract, so we don’t have the same thing happen that the Rams did, that’s key… (for) a lot of soccer people up in North St. Louis County, soccer is still #1, more than any other sport, including baseball. So, I look forward to moving this bill forward.  I really think it’s got some wings and will fly,” English said.

      This is some good detail. In many ways, this is some of what I was looking for in the previous post "The Business." You want to give people really focused and insightful views on and pictures of soccer in STL. This kind of material is how you do it. Be sure to link to any and all sources for these quotes.

    8. The Other Options

      This title is somewhat vague. It reads as if it's an alternative to something else you have already posted here.

    9. Therefore, a Major League Soccer team here in St. Louis would increase income for the city.

      This "Therefore" would be a lot stronger if this piece had a few key citations. It will also be stronger if it were juxtaposed with compelling links to similar arguments.

    1. The work of organizing has fallen out of esteem within many movement circles, where a faith in spontaneous rebellion and a deep suspicion of institutions, leadership, and taking power are entrenched.

      Which is precisely the attitude of reactionary conservatives.

    2. But activist is a generic category associated with oddly specific stereotypes: today, the term signals not so much a certain set of political opinions or behaviors as a certain temperament.

      BINGO!

    1. may eventually be misinterpreted as free will.

      Which is of course a thing no one has ever questioned in humans.

    2. The infantilization of technology is a way of reinforcing social hierarchy: Humankind is clearly in charge, with sweet-looking technologies obviously beneath them.

      An existential crisis.

    3. because you can turn it on and it does a job without further direction

      But do humans even do this? Does anything actually meet this criteria?

  14. therunaroundupndown.tumblr.com therunaroundupndown.tumblr.com
    1. My curiosity coupled with my inability to stop moving had me running around this space in circles for a good five minutes as I tried to take it in.

      Nice. An interesting comment on how a moving body and physical object shape attention. As I have said before, your project is perhaps the most in tune with the other aspects of this course.

    2. When I would walk around The Mall again later that night, I didn’t pay the other tourists much mind, because I felt like I was part of them. When you run, you remove yourself from the people around you because you are moving and existing in a much different state.

      This is nice transition here, and it builds on the previous paragraph. In the paragraphs above you describe your attention and then here you move to connect that attention that to the particulars of running (or of being a runner).

    1. When it comes to public transportation, St. Louis has a lot to offer.

      This is a good place to start, but, again, you want these posts to be a gateway to more information. Links, maps, your own images. And beyond simply more information, you want people to get a sense of what it's like to move around the city via train, for example. Your posts still aren't digging deep enough in this regard.

    2. Streeter

      You need to, at the least, add a description here. You also need to provide context and framework: what are people supposed to make of this? How does it connect to your larger purpose?

    1. but the films being credited are considered to be their jumping off points to the next step in their film careers.

      Sure, that's what these parts mean to these actors, but what do they mean for and to contemporary cinema?

    2. With their extreme portrayal of emotions in extreme and perilous situations, Ridley and Boyega bring their characters to life and give fanboys and girls something to look forward to over the next few movies in the series.

      MORE MORE MORE!

    3. To create a mediocre and stale movie with the likes of a Johnny Depp or an Angelina Jolie can often seem like it’s a studio screaming, “Hey, you! Come give us your money because we know exactly what you want and it’s well-known A-listers, not a crummy storyline!”

      I get what you are saying here, but this feels more like a cheap shot. Also, is this trend a recent one. Have movies, in the past, not been built around star power?

    1. Marcel O’Gorman,

      I'm thinking of the collection O'Gorman and Rice did on the Florida School. That collection could be read as productively performing some of the "tensions" you identify here.

    2. Most of Ulmer’s students either identified as “new media” or “rhetoric and composition.” I, myself, was too focused on Blake and thought I needed to advertise myself as a literary studies scholar.

      This nicely gets back to your earlier riff on the big tent.

    3. not explaining computational mechanisms — but creating aesthetic responses to stark transformations that were happening before our eyes.

      Nicely put.

    4. The vanguardist does not analyze existing art but composes alternatives to it (or uses it as a step toward achieving alternatives)” (xii).

      Boom! (of course, my boom is said from rhetcomp, which has an interesting relationship with DH. Ulmer wrote this in the early 90s)

    5. Gregory Ulmer, who teaches at Florida and has influenced generations of media scholars, sets out this relationship starkly in the beginning of Heuretics: The Logic of Invention:

      I really like the move to add Ulmer here, who seems to never be in whatever big tent is being built.

    6. processing

      I love this word in this context.

    1. Think of one thing: digital humanities is introducing within the humanities, group work, systematically.

      Yes. It's always struck me as odd the humanities prides itself on such "soft skills" as collaboration, the exploration of difference, etc., but that such skills are frown upon in the work (the methods) of the humanities. Nothing strikes me as less politically progressive than single-authored publications.

    2. The humanities have lagged behind

      I would say "parts of the humanities."

    3. omewhat ironic problem relating to the need digital projects have for a rather large amount of real estate in an institution

      I dig this question. Any exploration of the digital ironically attends to physical (or the analogue). In many ways, DH has restored a broader (new) materialism to the humanities. That is, it's not as if humanist were particular invested in physical place prior to DH.

    4. I think this kind of enlarging of the panorama will be more fruitful, rather than splitting hairs within the literary digital humanities.

      Walk across the hall. I get the instinct to travel abroad. But there is a diversity in English studies that sometimes goes ignored in DH stuff. The nonhermeneutic wing. I worry, of course, that my response is just a defense of turf, but folks in digital rhetoric have been investigating and producing digital for quite some time. It's not to read DH as another way in which Literature can ignore composition.

    5. computational research, digital reading and writing platforms, digital pedagogy, open-access publishing, augmented texts, and literary databases, and, on the other, media archaeology and theories of networks, gaming, and wares both hard and soft.

      Nice summary.

    1. Connecting the dots

      I still want to see more here. Also, consider using this space to share resources and link to readings and thinkers that are at the core of this project. Use these posts to aim and direct the energy generated by the nominations you are collecting and sharing.

    1. lets go a little beyond the music.

      You first need to spend some time with the music. You have to help your audience to appreciate and make sense of what they are watching on your website. In others, do not assume that music speaks for itself. You need to speak for the music--you need to advocate.

    2. How cool was that?

      Spend some time here. You need to (and can) do more than this. Make a case for why this is cool, why this is compelling. Make a case for the music and why someone might or should get into it. Then, connect that back the 314.

    3. head over to their Facebook page for more info.

      Why not provide a link here? You need to share.

    1. In English-speaking country, one way to memory pi is account the words in the passage. “How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics. All of the geometry, Herr Planck, is fairly hard, and if the lectures were boring or tiring, then any odd thinking was on quartic equations again (wiki).”

      I must admit that I am lost as to what the connection is here with the quote.

    2. There have two lies in the following testimony:Person A: [The right way is correct]Person B: [The left way is correct]Person C: [Person A does not lie and Person B tells a lie.]Please choose the right way and explain your reason.

      How are we to make this choice? Are we just guessing at this point?

    3. increasing

      "to increase" rather than "increasing"

    4. the password required six digits

      I thought it was 8 digits.

    1. but a violation of the sacred body of a deity. 

      Could you say but a little more here? What is the significance? How does it set the stage for the trial you are here imagining?

    2. Proudhon-style rejection of powerful government

      Will reader's get this specific reference? I suspect not. Perhaps you could link this bit of text to your post on this Proudhon fellow?

    3. Antenora or Ptolomea.

      Again, consider the accessibly of your posts for an uninitiated audience.

    4. isn’t

      Wait. He is or isn't there?

  15. Feb 2016
  16. therunaroundupndown.tumblr.com therunaroundupndown.tumblr.com
    1. but the struggle of the run allows one to deepen their relationship with their surroundings.

      Your blog is really speaking to the course as a whole.

    2. Today, I discovered that it’s a lot springier than I realized. It gave my step a lot more power and ease just when I thought I was going to have to call it quits and walk back.

      This is great stuff here, Anthony! This paragraph starts with a counter-intuitive claim and then really develops it nicely. I'm persuaded.

      I shared this post with one of my friends (who teaches rhetoric and writing at UK) and she responded with, "That's really really nice. I hadn't thought of it before. He is so right."

    3. but running it brought me a little closer.

      This is a bit counter-intuitive, but it's compelling point.

    1. Fanfiction began with fans engaging with works in new and creative ways, and the use of paper and a (quill) pen.

      You've got me thinking though. One could make the argument that prior to paper and pen (prior to writing that is), all fiction was fan fiction. Think of epics, stories told over and over and over again: that is how those stories survived and evolved into the forms we know them now. It seems like, perhaps, the further we go back in time the harder is to draw a line between fiction and fanfiction.

    2. Fanfiction seeks to explore elements such as these and much more.

      I like this opening move. Gets to the heart of what fanfiction is and does.

    3. Fanfiction.net username: xxPurpleStars3xx

      You need to compose a short introduction here. I like what you are doing here, but you need to do a little more set-up work. Don't just drop us right in to a conversation.

    1. that is, this creative soundtrack is able to not only promote the actors’ roles and performances in the film, but is also able to share the impressive vocal talents of those involved with the film’s music.

      Spend more time talking about how it does this. Write about the music as it works itself into scenes in the film. Give us a concrete, moving example.

    2. standing out as unique in today’s world of cinema.

      This is a spot I would very much like you to expand. Given that the posts below spend time on the specific soundtracks, it is here where you are going to have to make your case for contemporary cinema. As we discussed during our meeting, you need to anchor these segments in your larger "argument" about recent films.

      Indeed, it seems to me that you want to make the opposite argument here. You write "standing out as unique." I think I know what you are getting at here, but your project is about finding examples that aren't unique: that is, examples of quality features that speak to the quality of contemporary cinema generally.

    1. Defining Qualities

      I'd strongly recommend combining this post and the "location and demographic" post as a brief introduction. Either way, you need to name the coffee shop in the titles of these posts.

    1. Episode 1.1

      I'd recommend moving the text you have below to above the interview segments. You also need to titles for the individual segments as well as short summaries. While these all go together, you need to make sure that they can work on their own.

    1. Brick,

      I'd recommend creating this as text posts so that you can give them titles. This will also allow you to label the images. I'd also encourage you to improve the quality of your images: we can discuss ways to do this. I also would really like to see the post dramatically expanded. There's not much to it. You need to expand at several points. Also, be sure to include links a several spots. Remember, you want these posts to share the love.

    2. For example, the picture above is of the arch, a key historical landmark in Saint Louis. Normally pictures of the arch are shot from across the Mississippi River but this shot is of the beautiful view of the arch I see every day from my on-campus apartment.

      I would like you to expand this part here. Use it to establish the ethos and perspective of the blog. I'd suggest leading with it and using it to set up this About message.

    3. you

      Perhaps define who this "you" is? Who is the blog aimed at?

    4. t, l

      Don't need this comma here.

    5. I am quite the introvert but the city allows me to be alone in a way that does not feel lonely, you can walk the streets alone but you will quite frequently make friendly encounters with people.

      Break this sentence up as well.

    6. s but I

      Comma missing.

    7. but

      Comma needed here.

    8. Although,

      Don't need "although." The language of "I would be lying" marks the transition well enough.

    9. I remember my senior year of high school I had just decided on attending Saint Louis University, which was only about an hour away from my home, and people were mostly excited (this was probably due to the amazing scholarship I got) but their excitement was, almost always, immediately followed with worry about me living and attending a university in Saint Louis.

      This is an overly complicated sentence here. Go ahead and break it up into two sentences. This will increase the impact of the point your making as well.

    10. school I

      Add "when" here.

    11. of about, a little more than,

      You can make this more concise here. Pick either "of about" or "a little more than". You don't need both.

    1. This doesn’t mean that responsibility doesn’t exist. It means that it’s complicated and should be addressed as such.

      BOOM!

    2. As “actors," it’s vital to consider how bots are related to the rights of individuals, be it to amplify their voices or to potentially drown out or harm the speech of others.

      Some Latour connections here. The Berlin Key, for example.

    3. To what ends will this evolution lead?

      An interesting, unanswerable question given the very nature of evolution.

    4. Having space and allowance for messiness or innovation should not be equated with indiscriminately releasing anything into the world.

      Nicely put. We have to complexify response-ability rather than do away.

    5. Sam Woolley

      One of authors here.

    1. In

      I think this should be the start of another post. Perhaps an about page?

    2. But the plot is not required in mystery fictions.

      Not quite sure what you mean here.

    3. hold

      don't need "hold" here

    4. people

      "person" instead of "people" here

    5. people

      "person" instead of "people" here

    1. Owners

      Consider breaking these all up into smaller, free standing posts. If you do that, which I strongly recommend, consider changing the layout of the page to at least two columns. Remember, you are trying to capture a vibrant music scene with a lot going on: how can you visually convey that?

    2. Why take the time to explore your local St. Louis music scene? If the local bands were good they would’ve run off to L.A., New York, or Nashville already, right? That’s not necessarily the case. Does the name Chuck Berry ring a bell? How about Scott Joplin, Miles Davis, Pokey La Farge, Tina Turner, Albert King, Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald, or Wilco? All of these now musically famous names spent a significant amount of time as a part of the local St. Louis music scene at one point during their careers.  It can be incredibly rewarding to discover the music that is being made and performed right on your own doorstep. St. Louis is also home to a number of renowned concert venues and halls, which attract many non-local, national touring acts, along with great local music shops and record stores. The music scene is alive and well in STL, you just have to know where to look. I intend to bring knowledge of the St. Louis music scene to all who are looking for it, whether you’re just passing through town or a permanent resident. As I mentioned before, the music history is rich here in St. Louis, but what is happening now that makes the STL music scene exciting? Well, let’s take a look

      This opening paragraph works better as an About page here. And shorter version could work as the page description that would appear below the title of the Tumblr page.

    3. As I mentioned before,

      Cutting phrases like this allows your claim to stand out.

    1. Soccer Roots in St. Louis The Soccer Scene in St. Louis Europe in St. Louis

      If you now have these as separate posts, you probably don't need them here as well.

  17. sharetheloveforcoffeeshops.tumblr.com sharetheloveforcoffeeshops.tumblr.com
    1. In sharing my love for coffee shops, I am mainly focusing on the interpersonal relationships held within each coffee shop. In finding a space that I feel comfortable in–enough to talk to strangers and spend hours on end–I have grown exponentially. Cultivating ideas, attending events, and becoming socially aware has given me the opportunity to grow. The purpose of this blog is to bridge the person reading this text on some screen somewhere to the doors of your local coffeehouse. 

      Something is off in the spacing here, I think.

    2. ,

      Don't need this comma. Also, very cool sentence.

    1. In today’s world, there seems to be a stigma associated with movies and how they tend to lack the originality of the “classics” that came before them. Boiled down to nothing more than sequels and blockbuster action flicks, it’s time that the bullied films of today get a chance to be spoken for and defended. In various segments, I will be addressing various characteristics of the films of today and how exactly these elements and films prove that originality is, in fact, not dead.

      Make this into an about page. It will slowly get buried as you add new posts.

    2. to

      should be "of"

    1. musical instruments.

      This is a spot you could expand. You have a made a strong an important claim. Before moving on to another example, spend some time fleshing out a claim like this.

    2. I’ve created this website in order to document my exploration into the variety of ways in which people comprehend and utilize their own musicianship. I am of the opinion that familiarity with a musical instrument has allowed me to not only create and perform music of my own, but also to develop a more fully realized and well-rounded appreciation of music in a general sense.

      This paragraph and the rest of the post seems like another post entirely. I think you can leave this here, but you also might use this material in an "about" page for the site. Once you start posting, this introductory material will get buried.

    3. Musicianship takes many forms, and commercial releases are just one way in which musicians choose to express their musical ability. Nickelback – Rockstar We all just wanna be big rockstars. – Chad Kroeger, lead singer of Nickelback Most of us will never truly know the joys of superstardom that Nickelback describe in 2005’s “Rockstar,” but contrary to the song’s message, not everyone necessarily wants to. There are some musicians who view music not as a means to achieve fame and fortune, but as a more realistic and practical force in their current lives.

      How necessary is this part here. The challenge of this first post is also the risk of this first post. In trying to introduce so much (to squeeze a lot in), you risk losing focus and thus the impact of this post. I would focus exclusively on instrumentality here.

  18. Nov 2015
    1. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/saga-is-a-space-opera-unlike-no-other/383142/

      Nice link.

    2. Love as a Link

      I like this title a lot.

    1. sex

      Come on. Just go for it.

    2. graphic scenes of violence or sex, do NOT look at this book. Literally, the front cover is the child breastfeeding.

      So graphic sex and violence are the same as breastfeeding?

    3. In Saga, the storyline describes a Romeo and Juliet romance where the dying is replaced by a multi-raced child that these two forbidden lovers must protect and raise.

      Ha!

    1. So don’t let the breastfeeding baby on the cover steer you away from reading this book.

      Why would a breast feeing baby steer you away?

    2. random sex scene

      Is it random though? Certainly, it's complex and entangled, but that isn't necessarily random.

    1. So, you don’t like love and you don’t like war?

      I like the way you are setting this up this blog.

    2. It’s like a love child between Star Wars, Game of Thrones, and a Quentin Tarantino movie.

      Ha!

    3. It’s a love story, an action series, an underdog story, and for those looking for something a little deeper, it has many ties back to posthumanism.

      I wonder if that is why there is nudity right away: to shake up the reader.

    1. nd people aren’t always fully good or fully bad

      And that their "goodness" and "badness" aren't simply reducible to their motives or intent.

    2. And while that may be true on a small scale, we can see the pros and cons of this black and white perspective.

      Nicely put. With entanglement, motives don't necessarily explain or account for everything.

    1. We’re all Alana. She read A Night Time Smoke and she got it.

      Nice.

    2. Motive is a similarly complex aspect of entanglement.

      Nicely put.

    3. A lot of shit.

      Not a bad way to describe entanglement.

    4. Fiona Staples, Saga’s visual artist, as she draws.

      This so cool!

    1. If you are interested in keeping your mind active throughout a book, this comic book is a good read for you.

      I like this angle as well: it takes a certain kind of engagement to make sense of all the entanglement.

    2. The entanglement within Saga keeps the reader’s attention by forcing them to follow each of the parts that may affect a later part in the book.

      Nicely put here.

    3. The forbidden love story is not your typical Nicholas Sparks book.

      Ha!

    1. semester,

      Ha!

    2. Originally posted by graphonaute

      This image is amazing and perfectly captures many aspects of entanglement and complexity. I am definitely going to use this at some point in the future.

    3. Originally posted by contagiouscostuming

      This is legit awesome!

  19. Oct 2015
    1. But, don’t you get to choose what chain you’re a part of? Some chains are harder to break than others, but there are certainly ways to remove your link in certain chains. Increase your odds.

      These are compelling questions. What complicates all this is this story is being told by a character we only know as an infant. That is to say, this whole story is a description of entanglements that have no doubt shaped Hazel and from which there is no escape.

      I do like the idea of increasing your odds. I have always been found the word maneuver in this context. Maneuvering is a way of movement attuned with a particular situation. One maneuvers around obstacles. Maneuvers can also be planned out ahead of time (particular, as you know, in military contexts). That is, maneuvers* captures the tensions surrounding our own agency and ability to control what happens to us. We both can and can't at the same time.

    2. Just choosing not to be part of something is still making a choice.

      This is a nice formulation of posthuman entanglement: one is already entangled. And untangled yourself from others is a mess that can make other messes.

    3. I mean, as far as I’m concerned, the pimp deserved it. But, I just wanted to point out that the whole messy conflict affected him somehow. 

      Nicely put. And well traced.

    1. Even those people who live in seclusion are still entangled by all the factors playing from their heritage and prior life outside of exclusion. Nature versus nurture helps to view entanglement with yet another lens.

      Nicely done. there's no sure way to not be entangled, and we need many ways of exploring the entanglement.

    2. This entanglement is the true basis of one’s character.

      Nice. Entangled is a really good word to bring to bear upon the nature/nurture debate.

    3.  Humanity has trust issues.

      Interesting connection back to Dawn. I would add here too that in addition to trust issues, there are simply the complex relationships that come with a necessary entanglement.

    4. However, the 20-year war in Vietnam came due to tension between Democracy and Communism.

      Great point. We certainly think alike.

    5. Through the negotiations on both sides, there was no large-scale nuclear war ending the human race.    

      Although, we did certainly outsource the war to other places. In the Cold War is an excellent analogy. One could certainly see (and many have argued) that both the conflicts in Korea and in Vietnam were proxy wars with the Soviets. This seems to be the scenario with the war between Wreath and Landfall, to a limited extent.

    6. What I am trying to question is the lasting connection between humans and warfare.

      It is certainly worth pondering.

    1. so we can only look to the present and future in order to take an active role in pursuing what is the post huma

      We are tangled in the past yet we can move now, follow certain directions, create new tangles.

    2. Time is a constant constraint, for our characters and for us; it is one of the few things we can never truly become disentangled from.

      I like this take on time itself as an entanglement. It makes me wonder about the distinctions between past/present/future. Are these, in fact, distinct stages. If the past persists in shaping us, how past is it?

    3. extricate

      This word works really well here.

    4. We can never extract ourselves completely from the world, everyone will leave a mark in deciding what makes us, us.

      BOOM! Here is the posthuman insight: to understand the human we have to engage all the things that move in and around the human.

    5. We are all intertwined in some way.

      Great opening paragraph, Brian. A strong articulation of your argument.

    1. I’m sure some forms of anti-Japanese attitudes and behaviors still persist in modern day China.

      The entanglements persist and shape people long after the fact.

    2. War’s effects just is more dramatic.

      Great point. Portraying conflict this way allows the story to really ratchet up the complex entanglements.

    3. War also usually has many effects that are difficult to directly link to the war itself.

      Great point here that connects strongly to entanglement. Not everything direct links with everything.

    4. So maybe part of why we have a tendency to place people into the dichotomy is because we also forget how much of a role situations and our environment plays into how we behave and what choices we make.

      Great point here: this is something that entanglement surely gets us to think about.

    5. It may also be an unconscious thing where it makes us feel better where we make it easier for us to say, hey, those are the people in the evil pile and we aren’t in the evil pile, so we’re good.

      Indeed, there is a kind of box logic at work in your own post.

    6. some monsters are worse than others

      This certainly becomes an important caveat in the story as well as to your own post here. The box built by the narrator here is certainly porous.

    7. sort of struggling to find a better phrase

      This works pretty good.

    1. In reality, it’s a finely controlled chaos

      You raise an interesting point about the challenges of representing entanglement: that there needs to be some sort of orchestration. Now, what does this orchestration look like outside of the literature?

    2. the rats nest that ear buds always manage to make when in your pocket

      I love this image.

    1. In short, your past plays a major role in your future. It is inescapable. Therefore, much like quantum entanglement, a change in your past will ultimately result in a change in your future.

      Great connection here. You met the challenge of talking about love and entanglement.

    2. responsibility

      As a wise person once suggested to me, we can benefit from this word as response-ability. To ask what our responsibility is is also to ask what abilities we have to respond.

    3. If we are able to isolate each unit and look at life in unique segments, we are then able to understand how they are entwined and can alter one another.

      Wise indeed. I like what have done with this. It reminds that efforts to rid the world of confusion are efforts to disconnect or un-fuse what is entangled. That is, there is an ethics implicit in con-fusion.

    4. The best way to see it seems to be to read it in a story.

      BOOM! You just basically describe this course. One of the best ways of making sense of the human and its entanglements is through stories, stories that capture this complexity.

    1. Still, does a mindfulness really empower us to live more ethically in and out of entanglements?

      Great question, as mindfullness itself might be overrated.

    2. now I don’t have to worry

      Interesting concern. Can we find the posthumanism in anything?

    3. It’s not that we’ve been wrong about everything, forever, it’s just that there’s more happening here than we previously thought.

      Nicely put.

    4. A ghost is their entanglements.

      Excellent.

    5. For me, it’s more fun to think about the entanglements that we can’t know about. So, of course I love Izabel. Her character makes it easy to think through our involvements with so many things: the dead, the afterlife, illusions, etc.

      Right on. She is a very interesting character in this regard: she is a near constant reminder of past entanglements. "Haunting" as well suggests place (or context). What are our haunts?

    6. Instead, they seem to understand the human’s relationship to its context, to the point of including the context in the human’s very definition.

      Nice. Kenneth Burke describes this as the paradox of substance: any discussion of what something is is also by definition a discussion of what it is not. It's right there in the word: sub-stance.

    7. because I want a job

      sell out!

    1. Everyone has emotional connections with people, but the strongest connection is that of one’s family.

      Some entanglements are more tangled up.

    2. .

      I really like the image you use here. It nicely captures what you are describing.

    3. hat events can all be entangled, boundaries of feelings, cultures, and love broken, and there may not even be a conclusion to it all, but it leads the reader’s through a world to experience the story.

      Nicely put. Just as there are no clear starting points for entanglements, there are often no clear conclusions. Nothing ever gets tied up into a nice bow at the end--there's just a different looking knot.

    1. The description of these scenes are interesting because there was always an underlying reason for the occurrences, but it is shown to differently through the characters in the scenes.

      I like what you are suggesting here: that comic works to also layer in additional complexity.

    1. In reality, The Stalk’s death, if you trace it entirely down the web, was a result of the birth of Hazel.

      Yes and no. It is the complex results of all of these. What entanglement suggests is that things rarely have singular causes, but instead emerge from complex relations.

      In many ways, the rest of your post attends to this complexity. In short, Hazel's birth results in the death of The Stalk only through a complex series of entanglements.

    1. If we do not put a stop to these social issues, will they become a regular occurrence that we simply brush off? How do we stop these issues from becoming out of control?

      I am still unclear about what you are addressing here.

      Furthermore, there isn't much attention to entanglement here. In many ways, the comics suggests that many of the issues you discuss here are complexly entangled: that is, there are related. So, when thinking through one of these issues, we are necessarily thinking about other, related issues as well. In the case of this post, the issues you address seem bound up in attitudes about sex.

    2. make them seem like they were not a big deal to the characters in the book

      I am not quite sure what you mean here.

    1. This idea of a continuous saga being started by one action and continuing on as a huge snowball is a big theme of life for humans in general and for the characters in the book.

      Nicely put. We are never not part of a growing snowball.

    2. One thing leads to another,more events gets picked up and added to the situation and this goes on and on.

      Again, I see what you mean here, but try to think less in terms of a straight line and more in terms of entangled lines. Everything might be related, but that doesn't mean everything is directly connected to everything else.

    3. delusional

      Not sure this is the best word: it sounds too harsh. Perhaps they are, like us, simply unable to ever and fully now entangled they are.

    4. The relationship then starts a very long saga

      It both starts the Saga and is part of earlier, ongoing Saga.

  20. jacksoncritic.tumblr.com jacksoncritic.tumblr.com
    1. The whole basis of the series is people all over the galaxy hunting down two star crossed lovers and their child.

      In part yes, but the motives of many of the characters are different. That is, these two characters are surely central, but the basis of the series is widely distributed rather than singular.

  21. itsmargeethings.tumblr.com itsmargeethings.tumblr.com
    1. In conclusion, Hazel will be the symbol of hope and lead people into a new time or era for the two worlds in conflict.

      This is certainly a possibility. However, I would have liked to see your post delve more deeply into the entanglements of this story. While "hope" is an important elements, there are many additional elements and forces that complicate this simply reading of the story.