Ong- Orality

"Proverbs from all over the world are rich with observations about this overwhelmingly human phenomenon of speech in its native oral form, about its powers, its beauties, its dangers."
(Ong 9)

Reading something is a very powerful thing, but when you hear it, it becomes that much ore powerful. Speech, especially an oral tradition, in its native language is nothing less that fascinating. As Ong says, it really is powerful and beautiful at the same time. What I question is its danger. How is it dangerous? I had never thought of this before. Is it more dangerous to the world that it faces or is the world it faces more dangerous to the speech (in way of destruction)? Ong leaves me pondering the dangers and beauties of oral speech. The list it seems could be endless. I am left thinking that perhaps one of the dangers of orality and native speech is the simple fact that to many it is the "unknown", a mystery that if in another language we would more than likely not know what it was saying.

Kane- Mysterious Relationships

"They knew that we live in a world of mysterious relationship. The whole world seems alive with relationships we cannot see, except that they make their presence felt in other relationships which we can see." (Kane 40)

In a way every relaionship is a mystery to someone. Whether it be a relationship between people, Earth or sky. No matter the relationship, there is always some sort of mysteriousness, unknown substance within it that may or may not be visible. Sometimes the unknown is what holds it together and sometimes it is the unveiling of the unknown that could tear it apart (that made sense to me...)!

Anyways, Kane uses ecology to describe this mysterious relationship that is both apparent and not to us, as humans. Usually, it is relationships in nature that tend to be overlooked, yet are so very important. Many things in nature are entertwined and depend on each other to survive. In myths, any times animals are very humanized in the sense that they are the beauty, the soul and the life of the Earth. Nature is what we try to connect to in some way in myths because it is more knowledgeable than we are. Nature "tells" us things in myths that we otherwise would not know.

Kane also states that, "Often it is better that something remain a mystery." This is so very true. Perhaps knowing can lead to the destruction of relationships. Mystery keeps it exciting, mystery is not seeing the whole picture.

I just have to add this cliché that came to my mind as I typed up this blog..."What you don't know, won't hurt you"- I always hated that one!

Yates- the poet and the artist

One of the most intriguing passages from Yates's "The Art of Memory" is when she presents Plutarch's idea that "Simonides called painting silent poetry and poetry painting that speaks; for the actions which painters depict as they are being performed, words describe after they are done." This quote describes this sort of relationship between art and poetry or poetry as art. Yates also points out that both of these forms of art are so visual which only emphasizes their connection. This gets at the idea of memory because memory is very visual. With memory there is usually some sort of vivid picture, image, which perhaps may be blurred, but its still so effective. To describe this image, the memory associated with it and the impact it has on us we use words. These words are poetic in the sense that they work simultaneously with images and provide others with an intimate idea of the other person's memory.

What is a memory?

A memory is a preservation of knowledge. We learn something new every second of our life. It may be very, very trivial, but it's still new. A memory can relate to a person, place, object, experience or something you heard. Some memories make an imprint causing us to never rid them from our minds, while others are simply "there".

Memories alter who we are. They help us to shape our future experiences and attitudes.

Memories are sometimes all we have.

My Memory Theatre

It took me a long time to come up with one single place to use as my memory theatre. I am going to start with my room, but I am a really indecisive person and my mind is always all over the place so this could be difficult. Pretty much everything in my room is connected with some sort of memory whether it be a cd, photo, lamp or quote. I choose to decororate with things that are most meaningful to me and I always always connect them to a certain person or moment. Ok, even my shoes I somehow think of something. This is a little ridiculous, goodness. My room is so familiar to me that if I connect a certain memory with something, I think I will be more likely to remember it.

I chose my room because to me it is calming, it is the one place that is mine, where I can escape. Everything here is here because I chose for it to be, it reflects what kind of a person I am and what is important to me or what my interests are.

This is my memory theatre. Perhaps, my room does change (in fact, I just painted it) but so do memories. This is another reason I thought it would be appropriate to use my room as my memory theatre.

Room Observation

Dr. Sexson gave us an assignment to observe a room. So, I decided to observe my sister's bedroom instead of my own because I knew it would be much more interesting for me! My thoughts were very random as I observed, but here goes!

Small, though that is probably because of all the clutter! The last time I saw this many clothes was when I was shopping at Nordstrom...my god! I mean how many pairs of sevens does a girl need...nevermind, don't answer that! Frye boots! Jealous! I should have known, nowhere in sight is there one photograph! She hates "junk" like that. Oh-interesting thought! Photos are one way many people remember things, they help us to remember things! Photos are one of the things I cherish most and I don't think that anyone could have too many! But, my sister is the opposite, she will have her photo taken, but don't ever give her one!
Very modern, random paintings...very interesting...she loves art.

What? Brianna reads books? Oh, wait...listen to these titles!!!
~"Are you there Vodka, it's me Chelsea"
~"The Secrets of Skinny Chicks"
~"He's just not that into you"

Moving on...to wrap it all up, a ton and a half of clothes, shoes and health magazines. Very interesting.

Memory

Memory- remembrance

If you ask an english student what memory is, they'd respond with an answer similar relating to what people can/ do remember, a recollection of moments or ideas. If you ask someone from geeksquad what memory is they'd respond by using some sort of computer language, talking about database and gigabytes...thanks, but no thanks.

Memory can be both good and bad. I think that most people remember things that impact them the most. Happy, sad or funny- all can be equally important and affecting. Honestly, how many times at family gatherings do you hear someone say, "remember when..."? A lot!

Memory is amazing because each person's is unique. Not only do people have unique memories, but so do animals. Apparently, elephants have an amazing memory, especially older females of the herds (ability to recognize "friendly" faces). Goldfish do not have a memory only seconds long, but approximately 3 months long!

But...one thing I think that you all will find useful to this class- some tips from Wiki (our most "reliable" source out there, come on!):
~Increase oxygen supply to brain through exercise
~from me- write it down and repeat it until you really are unable to do so anymore!

"What do I know now, that I didn't before?"

If you asked yourself this everyday, throughout the day, you could have an immense amount of things to say each time. The answer(s) to this question may be trivial, but no doubt you'd at least have an answer, or two or three or fifty.

Today, I would say...

I know that it is possible to ride your bike on ice, fortune cookies are my new favorite snack...well, the list goes on and on, and probably only gets more trivial from here...

I think I just might start a journal revolving solely around this topic...I will have to bring it everywhere because throughout, let's say an hour, I learn a lot I didn't know before. Even trivial matters can be interesting and definitely new!

I have been pondering this thought of trivial conversations. Then I began to think...because of all the trivial conversations I have had with my mom, I have gone into debt. Well, trivial conversations amongst other things have put me in debt. But, really- $200 for a cell phone bill- was any of what we said truly worth that. Maybe some, but not much.

Ephemeral- short lived, leaving no trace
*Encarta Dictionary

There are so many things in life that are ephemeral. Friendships, conversations, feelings, relationships...life itself. Most importantly and upsetting, stories are ephemeral or at least they can be. Why are things ephemeral? Can we even answer this? Ephemerality is a little unnerving. The only life we have left of things and people passed are stories, memories. If those are not long lived we lose a lot. Oral traditions are so often looked over. Perhaps, even in trivial conversations there is something of significance hidden there.

"We know there are no facts, only stories"
"Old people have a bad habit- they die"

The nine muses

Muse- to think deeply

Muse- the particular, gift or inspiration of an artist

*Encarta Dictionary

The Nine Muses:

Calliope- epic/ heroic poetry
Clio- History
Eroto- Love/ erotic poetry
Euterpe- music/ lyric poetry
Melpomene- Tragedy
Polyhymnia (polymnia)- Sacred song, oratory, lyric, singing, rhetoric
Terpischore- choral song and dance
Thalia- comedy and bucolic poetry
Urania- Astronomy

*Thanks to Wikipedia

First day of class- the adventure begins...

Class flew by the first day. It was, as I expected, just as intriguing as the first day I had Dr. Sexson for Literary Criticism.

Esoteric- inside. Secret. Understood by few. Wikipedia refers to it as being "Mystic", something that only "enlightened" people can comprehend. These descriptions make the word esoteric seem that much more powerful, exclusive, and mysterious. Yeah...I like that.

As a student, I love google! I googled "unfrequented church" and what I found as my first result included a quote ,"One day, while serving in a remote and unfrequented church, he turned toward the invisible congregation and said, “Peace be to all! ..." Is this what an unfrequented church is all about. The word unfrequented is to not be visited often, lonely and desolate.

Loci- Location helps memory.

Well, that right there is what I call a successful forst day of class.