Nothing Elegant

In class last Tuesday we were to pick a Gertrude Steiner poem to analyze.  As soon as I heard the word poem I wanted to scream.  Poems.... I could go on for days and days about how I have never understood them and dislike them, but I won't.  So, I started to read Nothing Elegant:

A charm a single charm is doubtful. If the red is rose and there is a gate surrounding it, if inside is let in and there places change then certainly something is upright. It is earnest.

I must say I was pretty mind blown.  What in the world was this lady talking about!?  I started with the title which seemed pretty easy.  The word "elegant" to me means rich and proper, but the word "nothing" in front of it makes it seem like the poem is not about rich things and such.   That is why I was confused.  The poem talked about charms and red roses so why did Steiner title this Nothing Elegant?

I left my analysis at that for the class period but I decided to look further into it for this weeks blog post.  It seemed like everything in the poem was unrelated... It would jump from one thing to another and nothing seemed to flow.  I like things that are orderly and flow so I think this is why it was hard for me to grasp Steiners poem.  I decided to google Gertrude Steiner and try to figure out what it was about.  I figured out that she is really into fashion.  So I applied that to the poem and it started to make a little more sense. 

So basically my interpretation of Nothings Elegant was that no object is singular and everything is never ending, things keep being created and changing.... And maybe that is why the things in her poem seem unrelated. 

Hazel tells LaVerne

In class last week we read a poem called, "Hazel tells LaVerne" to respond for our writing into the day assignment.  I was not really in the mood to go into detail and really tell what I thought about it, so that is what I will do here. 

When I started to read this poem I figured it would be like ever other fairytale.  But as it progressed I realized that this was going to be different.  Hazel has the choice to take the frog with her and love him and kiss him but instead she replies almost rudely to him and says no she will not. 
To me, this was very interesting because in a typical fairytale there is always a happily ever after.  I also figured that since this poem had a frog in it that the girl would end up kissing the frog. 

I looked deeper into this peom because I thought to myself. "There has to be a point and meaning to this poem just like all the others right?"  So when I thought about this I figured out that Hazel was very unlike the stereotypical girl in  fairytale society.  She uses broken English that sounds very hillbillyish.  She turns away from the frog and tells him no, which is different than the typical fairytale that we all are used to. 

One thing that I found interesting was that when I got the piece of paper and looked at it I dreaded reading it.  I dreading reading it because I saw it was a poem.  But... as I was reading the poem became more like a story to me.  It was very easy to read and comprehend. 

Annotated Bibliography

In class on Thursday we were given the assignment that has to do with MLA formatting.  Yeah I have heard the word before and kind of knew what it was, but I didn't know exactly what it was or how to do it.  Our task was to research websites that did MLA formatting and to also look more into what it is.  After we did this we were to describe three sources we did with our ethnography project and describe them. 

So, after I did some research and learned more about MLA, I came up with this:


Interview 1:
Arin: Hey do you have a moment to answer a few questions about this sculpture?
Katie: Yeah sure what would you like to know?
Arin: Okay well what is your first impression of this piece?
Katie: I think it is very interesting actually.  I like how even though it is made out of sticks it still looks cool.  To me this is a very odd representation of the human form.  The way one leg is full and the other is skinnier and tapers off is different.  If you look at it from different angles it looks more interesting and you can see more differences in each side of the body.
Arin: Wow that was very detailed thank you! Okay so another question for you, what do you think the artist was trying to say with the piece of art?
Katie: Well I think this piece seems broken, unfinished and unfulfilled.  I am sure there is some sort of narrative behind it.  But maybe the author was trying to leave it open in places and "unfinished" because that's what our lives are like.  We can leave space to grow each day.
Arin: Thank you so much Katie I really appreciate it!
Katie: No problem.

Dangelo, Katie. Personal Interview. 30 October. 2012

- This person really gave me a lot of what she thought about the sculpture.  She looked at it with an open mind and in a completely different way than I did when I first saw it.  This made me think about all the different literacies and how each person might think of them differently. 

Interview 2:
Arin: Hey Micah can I ask you some questions about this sculpture right here?
Micah: Yeah sure as long as you hurry haha.
Arin: Okay I will.  What do you think of this piece?
Micah: I think it looks really weird and deformed.  It seems dull and in an awkward position.
Arin: Do you think the artist did this for a certain reason?
Micah: Well yeah obviously.  I think he probably wanted to make something out of sticks so he made a man out of it. 
Arin: Okay.. How does this piece make you feel?
Micah: It really isn't that exciting so kind of dull.  Definitely not happy though.
Arin: Thanks so much.

Johnson, Micah. Personal Interview. 30 October. 2012

- As you can see Micah gave me a different interpretation of the sculpture, proving my point that not everyone sees it the same way.  There are so many types of literacies in the world attached to different meanings as well.  There is no right or wrong.  It is open for your own judgement.

Artist unknown, Stick Man, n.d, UNC Charlotte Campus, Charlotte NC.
- Being able to take pictures is a wonderful thing.  You can go back and look at them, bringing back memories maybe.  Pictures can be with you at any time too.  Without having "proof" of something it is hard to tell what someone is talking about.   With this picture here, I hope you have a better understanding of what this sculpture looks like.

Fieldwork Assignment: Sculpture

In my group we decided to choose sculptures as our literacy fact.  In class last Thursday we talked about the different kinds of art we could do and what seemed interesting around campus.  All of us agreed that sculptures seemed the most interesting and everyone in my group had already done a sculpture, well except for me.  We thought it would be a good idea for each of us to pick a sculpture we wanted to dig deeper into and go from there.

I chose the one that is in front of  the Rowe Arts building to the left as you walk up the stairs.  I figured people see it frequently since it is right there ya know?  Our group came up with a few questions that we would ask random people passing by the sculptures. 

So since I cannot upload a picture of the sculpture I will just describe it to you.  It is made out of sticks.  Like from a tree.  It embodies a man.  One of the legs is slightly in front of the other and the same goes for the mans arm.  However he has no feet or hands and the top of the head is not inclosed.  It is almost like the ends of his body kinda flow outward in different ways.  My perception of the sculpture from the way he was standing was that he was trying to get somewhere and the limbs of his body were open and going in all different directions, just his mind should be to different places and ideas. 

I interviewed two people today (yes only two because it was freezing cold outside and no one wanted to stop.)  One of the people I talked to was actually an art major so I was anxious to see what she had to say about the object.  She said, "It looks like one leg is full and the other kind of tapers off.  From the right it looks like a long arm but it looks different depending on where you stand.  It is a very odd representation of human form but I think the author was trying to give him the title of being broken, unfulfilled and unfinished."  The other person I interviewed was a guy and his thoughts were a little different.  He said, "I think it is a very interesting piece that I have never payed close attention to.  It looks almost depressing and since it is made out of sticks it has that bare, boring look to it.  I would be interested to know what the story is behind this interesting piece." 

I think a lot of people over look the sculptures we have here at UNC Charlotte, I know I did.  But there is so much more to it then just what you see on the outside of it.  Each piece had some kind of story behind it. 

Mapping Assignment

For our homework assignment we were to find a place at UNCC we had to find a location that we saw literacy.  I thought hard about where to go... then I thought some more... and more... and then I walked into my dorm, Moore Hall, and saw people painting picture frames by the front desk. 

I didn't think anything of it at first but as I was walking by I decided to actually stop and see what they were doing.  You see, there are all sorts of activities that usually go on but I just choose not to interact with them.  I'm not sure why, I just don't.  But anyways... I thought I could connect this to literacy somehow. 

I think that visuals help people connect to text better.  It lets people open their minds and actually map out things.  When I was a kid I read a lot of childrens books.  What I liked about them was the fact that I could look at a picture to help me understand the words on the page.  If it wasn't for art I feel like my childhood experience with reading would not have been very good. 

Another thing that I noticed about Moore was that the RC's and RA's post stuff on the bulletin boards in front of the elevator.  You have no choice to read it as you wait for the elevator.  The board actually gives you a lot of things you can do to get involved as well as all the important dates you need to know academically.  They are really trying to promote ways for us to ingage and get involved at UNC Charlotte. 

For the most part Moore Hall is a pretty boring, but for some reason the past two weeks they have really spiced it up a bunch.  The walls are not as boring, they have fun, engaging activities to do and they post a lot of helpful information for us freshman. 

Like all my other blog post I am unable to put a picture up of my map because it says the file is incompatable to my computer... So sorry about that. 

GRAMMAR!!!!

This past week we had to write in our daybooks about grammar.  Lacy told us to go write anything we want about it, to either say how much you love it or how much you despise it.  I quickly opened my daybook and got out my pencil.  I could not wait to write about this! 

 I personally hate grammar.  I cannot emphasize the word "hate" enough here.  If grammar never existed I would be one happy girl when it comes to writing.  I cannot spell to save my life.  In Elementary school I would always lose the first round of spelling bees and even now I found myself turning to my neighbor asking for how to spell something.  I never know when to use commas and semi-colons.  They just really confuse me for some reason.  Another thing that I am terrible with is word tenses... I tend to talk in past and present tense while talking about the same thing.  I really hate all the red marks that were constantly covering my papers because of all my mistakes. 

 After we wrote in our daybooks about grammar we did an improv game where we just rambled on about what we thought of grammar.  One of the interesting things I learned was that a lot of people dislike and struggle with it as well, it wasn't just me!  But one of my concerns is why do so many people dislike grammar?  What really is so annoying and hard about it?  You would think that since we are in college we would have lots of practice with it and wouldn't hate it as much... Well at least that's what I think!  Unfortunately for me I feel like I will never be good at it, but that doesn't stop me from trying to get better at grammar.   

**Oh and just so you guys know, my computer doesn't have to update to recieve pictures that I send from my phone so I can't get it to work.  And I cannot figure out how to download the update!  Sorry.

Midterm Assignment

Instead of going to class on Tuesday, I met with my writing group to do our midterm assignment.  We decided to meet at the Library obviously because we had to find a mentor text of some sort to help us with our literacy narrative.  I have been in the Library many times but still didn't know which floor was which.  I was told to go to the second floor so when I thought was the second floor I was actually on the third!  Dumb me.  I finally found them on the second floor by the lounge chairs.  We sat down and discussed what our objective was and how we were going to do it.  So... The journy began.

From there we wandered to the third floor in search for a book.  Once we got there we realized we had no idea what we were looking for...  So I suggested we go to a computer to search for one.  Cory searched "mentor text" and "writing" and from there the computer directed us to the 6th floor.  There we looked for this book that we thought would be a good one, but once we found it we realized it was not what we were looking for.  Johnny had the bright idea of googling to find us a book, and sure enough he found one that looked decent.  The book was called "Owl Moon."

I had a picture of the book on my phone but my phone is currently not working and will not send the picture to my email for the life of it!!!!

"Owl Moon" was located on the fifth floor of the library, so we got back on the elevator and prayed we would find it.  Sure enough we did!  We sat in a circle and read through the book.  It was from first person perspective and very detailed.  We got out our pencils and paper and wrote for five minutes in the way the author did.  To my surprise it wasn't too hard.  I expanded on a part of my literacy narrative that I thought was weak and I hope to add it to my paper. 

Overall this experience was very interesting.  Even though it took us a while to find what we wanted, we eventually did and I think it turned out to be a fun, eventful project.