Bird by Bird

I believe that this chapter, "Letters," is very relevant to what we are doing with our papers right now, because we are focusing on audience. Lamott does this as a cure to writer's block, by suggesting that you write a letter to someone you know. For example, she writes a letter to her son about his childhood. Not only does this help cure writer's block, but it also helps you work on writing to a specific audience, and an audience who knows you very well. This helps with our geanealogies, because many of them focus on very personal stories, and it may help if we write them as if they were directed towards people who know us well.

Editing Day #1

After editing Brianna's paper, I learned that it is very important to keep a very clear tension throughout the entire paper. I think it is very important to make a genealogy effective, to make sure you have a very concise tension throughout the entire paper, otherwise your definition of the word gets a little lost. Also, I learned that it is important to make sure your personal stories are very concise. The longer they are, or wordier they are, the less effective they are. The paper should not end up sounding like a personal narrative, but should be your definition of a word.

On the Genealogy of Morals A Polemical Tract

While Nietzsche's article is little tough to read through, it does ultimately explain the genealogy of the meaning of good and evil. First, Nietzsche begins explaining that good and evil vary from person to person, that they cannot be given one clear definition. Then he explains that good is a word associated more often with high society and aristocracy, and that evil is a word associated with low class and things that are common. I don't know if I totally agree with that, however. I think often times we often associate very very high society to be "evil," most people members of high society being very haughty, when that is not always the case. On the other hand, I do not view all members of high society being good either. I think those definitions vary person to person, just as Nietzsche was explaining in the beginning of his genealogy.

Setting the Record Straight

Aside from the fact that McCloud's essay sticks out in the middle of Making Sense like sore thumb, he ultimately has created an illustrated genealogy of comic strips. I think the fact that it is illustrated helps demonstrate every point he is trying to make, for example, how he explains mediums on page 351. I think the fact that it is drawn makes it even more emphasized, or at least easier to understand, than an essay like Kuhn's or Percy's. Also, given what McCloud is taking about, I think it helps make his point even clearer, than if he had just written it out; you can see the difference between comics and sequential art. In addition, I think it's interesting how McCloud shows how nearly every from of art, if you apply the definition of sequential art, could be considered a comic.

The Historical Structure of Scientific Discovery

In Thomas Kuhn's article is example of a genealogy. He explains the development of scientific discovery. He is more or less trying to explain that "the thrill of the chase" is more important than the actual discovery, that in trying to find what you are originally looking for, you can find something greater accidentally. Also, that after you make the initial discovery you will have even more questions, which lead you to further discoveries. I think he also trying to make the point that there is a difference between someone who is classically trained versus someone who is self-taught. However, I think the real meat of this assignment was the fact that this is a genealogy, which is exactly what we have been covering in class. He breaks down how things such as oxygen and x-rays have been discovered, and thus explains their genealogy.

"The Loss of the Creature"

Walker Percy's "The Loss of the Creature," to me at times was a bit confusing and unclear of what point he was exactly trying to make, however, buried within his essay there is an interesting message. I think Percy makes an interesting point about being different, or not conforming. His story about the man going to the Grand Canyon, and asking an "expert" about how to travel on the path less taken, makes the point that in order to be different you shouldn't have to ask someone else on how to do it. If someone is truly original or not conforming, it should come naturally, you shouldn't be copying anyone. Also, I think he also trying to make the point that if you search or work for something by yourself (without help) the result is much more rewarded than if you were helped every step of the way.

KFKD

I don't think it's just chance that we happened to have this assignment when we did, because nearly every one of the chapters that we read related to the issues I was having this afternoon while revising my paper. I definitely experienced the constant distraction she talks about in KFKD. This afternoon I suffered this kind of distraction before I even opened the word file on my computer. I was thinking about the most asinine things, and definitely nothing that actually pertained to my paper. The next chapter, jealousy, is definitely an emotion I experienced as I was reviving Brianna's paper. I always get that peer editing. I see something that someone else wrote, and like it better than what I wrote, and instantly want to find a way to either fix my own paper or sabotage the other person. The final chapter in this assignment talks about writer's block, which happened to me this afternoon when revising my paper. I laughed when I read the analogy, "starting at your blank page like a cadaver, feeling your mind congeal...(p.176)." I experienced this same situation while sitting at my kitchen table staring my laptop, feeling like I had absolutely nothing to write. So I suppose these few chapters of Bird By Bird delievered the same reassuring advice as it usually does, letting you know that your mental condition while writing is perfectly normal.