http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/ en Copyright 2007 Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:23:45 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Wow, so the end of the semester is finally here. I was going to write something emotional and nostalgic here, but then realized I didn't have anything in that vein to say. So instead I leave you with a very poignant conversation I had with my friend Mike Sanders online a few days ago (and my fellow MFAers will know that Mike Sanders matters). So enjoy and discuss! http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/and_then_there_were_none.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/and_then_there_were_none.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:23:45 +0000 Lying, now I miss Never Let Me Go. Definitely a dissapointment that I didn't get to hear what everyone had to say about the novel, but it's been interesting reading your posts. ]]> http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/reading_ishiguro.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/reading_ishiguro.html Reading Assignments Sun, 09 Dec 2007 20:06:07 +0000 Reflecting on my final project I've realized that I haven't written a paper in a really long time. And I think I might have almost forgotten how. Is that even possible? I suspect it might just be my natural laziness coming out. And my complete disbelief that I decided to do a real paper over a fiction piece. I feel bad for my group-mates who'll have to read the jumble of thoughts that is my first draft. I'm not really sure if I have a clear thesis yet, which is probably a bad thing to admit this late in the game, but I'm stuck with this topic now so I'm going to try to make the best of what I've got. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/and_continues.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/and_continues.html Final Project Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:47:06 +0000 So I've been doing a lot of research, reading a lot of different books in new areas I've never really explored before in any of my other english lit classes (literary psychology - who knew?) and this are starting to take shape. Sort of. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/the_final_project_continues.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/12/the_final_project_continues.html Final Project Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:58:30 +0000 post really hit home for me. I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease when I was about 14 and now coming up on my tenth year of diagnosis I can definitely see the changes I went through with how I was able to deal with the disease through the years. ]]> http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/chchchchanges.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/chchchchanges.html Wed, 28 Nov 2007 03:33:29 +0000 So even after our workshop I didn't really have any clue what I was going to write about. I decided to go to the central library in Jamaica (I know an actual library! how very 1995 of me) and just kind of stroll around until I found some books that interested me and consequently create a paper out of that. Amazingly it worked. I'm going to stick with the whole dream/sleep idea but lose the Jew bit (sorry, I know you were all so fascinated by it). Instead I was thinking of writing a paper/literary essay on sleep, dreams, and insanity in literature. There are so many great examples out there from classics to contemporary - Fight Club, Macbeth, Hamlet, ok almost any Shakespear play, Alice in Wonderland, Yellow Wallpaper (maybe?), Jekyll and Hyde, and so many more Basically I want to discuss the connection between dreams, sleep (or lack thereof) and insanity and how this is used as a literary tool. An example that popped into my head right away was from Macbeth when he can't sleep and he goes outside and sees the dagger. But is it a dagger? Is he dreaming? Is he crazy? Either way this is the point in the story where he makes the decision to kill Macbeth and alters his life forever. Also, he doesn't know for sure if the weird sisters are real or a dream. Ah, too many ideas! Ok I realize I really need to focus this in a bit. I figure once I start writing it a more focused theory will take shape. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/proposal_final_project.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/proposal_final_project.html Final Project Tue, 20 Nov 2007 22:33:56 +0000 I had so much fun writing the autobiographical lie that I figured I'd keep going on with it. I really wanted to write something on sleep/dreams, or I guess what I called the unconscious consciousness. Main things I need help with: Is my language too, uh, "flowery?" Be honest! At points it really sounds that way to me, but I have a problem re-reading things I've written and not seeing it all as trite. Is the piece too tangential? Does it seem to have a point...I'm not sure if I really did. That's probably a big problem no? I guess my major concern is can this be turned into a longer piece? I'd love to use it as the basis for my final project. ]]> http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/seeing_in_the_dark_an_autobiog.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/seeing_in_the_dark_an_autobiog.html Sun, 11 Nov 2007 23:50:03 +0000 I don't know what's up with that cheesy 50's horror flick title, it just felt right. So here's my attempt at an autobiographical lie. I'm a horrible sleeper and to make it worse my dreams are usually terrifying and extremely realistic. My sleeping problems are really important to me, so much so that sometimes I find myself exaggerating when it comes to how little sleep I get. Though that's a difficult thing to pinpoint in general. So maybe I'm not exaggerating? Either way we haven't really touched on sleep or dreams too much this semester and like I said it's something I'm really interested in, something that I'm constantly thinking about so I figured I'd go with that. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/it_comes_out_at_night_an_autob.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/it_comes_out_at_night_an_autob.html Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:47:14 +0000 CONSCIOUSNESS REPORT #7 Well, I was trying to come up with something to write about for this thing when I decided to just go with what's right around the corner: my birthday! (woohoo!) Tomorrow I'm turning 24. There are so many things to talk about when it comes to birthdays. Growing up I always made such a big deal out of them, I guess I still do. But more in the sense that I make sure everyone knows that it's coming. I don't generally do anything for them, I just like to have people be aware. Then I've always had friends who basically hid in a dark, warm corner for the duration of their birthdays. I could never understand what they were afraid of. Ok, getting older can be a bit of shock but I'm completely looking forward to it. I've always been friends with kids who were older than me, everyone I work with is substantially older than me (and they make sure to remind me of it, often) so I've never been afraid of age. I actually always remember embracing it. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/lisa_its_your_birthday_happy_b.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/lisa_its_your_birthday_happy_b.html Consciousness Reports Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:41:15 +0000 Well, I was going to write about Metallica's video for One but since Dominik completely stole my thunder I guess I'll have to go in a completely different direction with this post. The idea of the "authenticity" of the autobiography really struck me. Maybe because as an autobiography we are led to believe that this is the most authentic account we could be getting. It is the author's personal story being told, through eye witness accounts. What else could be more authentic a story? Yet a few examples were brought up in class where we see that maybe we could be giving the author too much credit on this front. Or are we? http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/the_authentic_bauby.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/the_authentic_bauby.html Reading Assignments Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:19:38 +0000 30 Days of Night the horror flick about vampires that prey on an Alaskan town during the month when they have no sunlight. Actually it wasn't really typical horror. There weren't moments where things jumped out at you or you were wondering what was behind the door. It was suprisingly good and very beautifully made. Yeah there was a lot of blood, which I'm never good with. Like I say my sister's the doctor in the family not me. She used to watch those televised surgeries, like while she was eating dinner sometimes. I never understood her. I just get really lightheaded when I see blood and ugh, just not my thing. ]]> http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/out_out_damn_spot.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/11/out_out_damn_spot.html Consciousness Reports Sat, 03 Nov 2007 19:20:56 +0000 OK I know that title is kind of disturbing, but keep reading and you'll understand...maybe...hopefully...either way I loved that book growing up so let's just pretend it's all about that... Reading Slater's Lying was incredibly enjoyable, probably my favorite book so far this semester. I loved it so much I called up my mom mid-read to recommend it to her. I was giving her a brief rundown of what I had read so far and when I got to the part about the phantom smells Slater got right before seizures she stopped me and goes "Oh yeah I get those sometimes. I'll smell something and a very strong memory will be attached to it." I was completely shocked. I hadn't told her anything about the smell being attached to memories. Truthfully it was a piece of the story I couldn't really understand, I guess its just one of those things you have to experience to understand. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/are_you_my_mommy.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/are_you_my_mommy.html Reading Assignments Sun, 28 Oct 2007 22:28:02 +0000 (That line is a quote from a Tegan & Sara song - it came on just as I was pressing save. Freaky!) Memory is a funny thing, isn't it? I spent so much time in high school (and hated almost every minute of it) and now I can barely remember any part of it. Friends will bring up stories, even just mention old classmates and a lot of the time I find myself completely lost. I can't connect names with faces, teachers with classes, brief memories with the grade in which it occured. The few friends I kept from high school are always shocked and confused at my complete lack of memories from those four years. Not that they enjoyed it (I live by this theory: never trust anyone that liked high school) but at least they still remember it. http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/memory_is_a_funny_thing.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/memory_is_a_funny_thing.html Reading Assignments Sat, 27 Oct 2007 02:10:31 +0000 Mixing Memory blog. It must have been the "occasional side of whatever the hell else I want to talk about" bit that got me. I wasn't really sure what I'd find there but I was presently suprised when I found this post entitled "Women in Math, Science, and Engineering, and Playing Video Games." Now that sounded interesting. The post discussed the idea that females always perform worse than males on spatial reasoning and spatial attention tasks. He ties in a study done with first person shooter video games proving this theory but also proving that if both genders played long enough, the difference in their abilities disappeared. While I felt that the author made a lot of interesting and valid points I couldn't help but feel like he had left out a huge one. If all of these numbers are correct then doesn't this prove that women are able to learn more, faster? Not only that - but they are able to learn things they naturally have a disadvantage at extremely fast and extremely well. Both genders started playing the video game with the little to no first shooter experience and after playing for ten hours, both genders spatial reasoning improved greatly. But what was interesting is that the female players improved at a much greater rate. The males improved 10% while the females improved 17%. If they both started with the same amount of experience we can only assume that they would improve at the same rate, but they don't! Chicks are better at learning things that they are naturally worse at! How cool is that! Girl power!]]> http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/blogs_blogs_everywhere.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/blogs_blogs_everywhere.html Sat, 20 Oct 2007 23:33:50 +0000 SAD (seasonal affective disorder). In general, I'm not a fan of light (natural or not) or heat (though dry heat has had its moments), but with all these gloomy days, and my windowless hell of an office, I've noticed a definite change in my moods.]]> http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/you_dont_need_a_weatherman_to.html http://blogs.qc.cuny.edu/blogs/0907N_1599/008/2007/10/you_dont_need_a_weatherman_to.html Consciousness Reports Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:28:19 +0000