The Interaction Between Body and Writing
My first text for this assignment was this haiku:
thank god for spring in
Ypsi; makes it easier to get out of bed.
It seemed appropriate to the task of attempting to write in English without using any technology, as the haiku form is traditionally concerned with the natural world. I envisioned the grass and earth on my property, newly bared to the sun again after the snows, and the letter-making materials available on the site. I could hear my paper unfolding in my head; since the point of the project was to come to terms with the bonded nature of language to technology in writing, I could see whole paragraphs about my use of found sticks and mud as well as bits of discarded junk that my landlord had left lying around since last fall. My argument would be that the use of materials that had originated from the natural world and been manipulated by technology that were now returning to their natural home symbolized the interwoven relationships between thought and feeling and action that is written communication. I had some lovely big ideas.
But then I started wandering around in my head a little bit, and some interesting questions came up. Having grown up in ballet and still acting in the world to some extent as a dancer, I wondered if dance is also a technology in the same way that the alphabet and writing are. It seems to me that social dance, while it does serve the purpose of communication to some extent, has no articulated 'alphabet' of signifiers that compare to words and letters. Dance forms like ballet and flamenco, however, most definitely do. For the trained dancer and the educated audience member, ballet is a system of movement with numerous gestures, movements and shapes that signify specific meanings. The manner in which dance is formed, however, via the body of the 'author,' doesn't perform the same separating function that Walter Ong claims writing does in his essay Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought. The technology of dance is contained within the author, but the technology of writing is external to the author. While writing "promotes 'objectivity'" by distancing the performer from his/her ideas via performance (326), dance to some extent preserves the unity of thought/emotion and the thinker.
With my confidence shored up by Naomi Baron's discussion of the
In the book Theodore Roosevelt by Louis Auchincloss, I learned a great deal about the twenty-sixth President of the United States of America. Former President T. Roosevelt made many accomplishments as president, and did not have a high number of scandals. Roosevelt did very well in keeping the peace between the different countries, which earned him many admirers and the coveted Nobel Peace Prize. The author’s purpose for writing Theodore Roosevelt was to tell his readers all about America’s former president, Theodore Roosevelt’s life. Louis Auchincloss did a great job at describing President T. Roosevelt’s life from Teddy’s childhood, his life before presidency, to all of Teddy’s accomplishments as president, and finally to his life after his
Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2005). Negotiation, Fifth Ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Lewicki, J. R., Barry, B., & Saunders, M. D. (2011). Essentials of negotiation (5th ed.). New
Theodore Roosevelt, also commonly known as Teddy Roosevelt, was born on October 27th, 1858 in New York City. Theodore grew up as a very sickly child and suffered from poor eyesight and asthma. He described himself as “a sickly boy afflicted by asthma as well as poor eyesight” in his autobiography. Despite his health issues, Roosevelt devotedly participated in sports such as football and boxing. Growing up, Roosevelt's father played a major asset in his life. His successful father had very high expectations of him. When he was eighteen he decided to attend Harvard College, where he developed a passion for politics and decided to pursue it. However, after college Roosevelt decided to take a break from politics, and then got married to his wife
Theodore Roosevelt was one of our greatest presidents. He created the FDA and improved the position of the presidency greatly. Before Theodore came to be president, the position of presidency was slow and wasn’t very interesting so he made the executive branch more powerful by starting new reforms and a strong foreign policy. The life of a president is hard. It is full of stress, responsibilities, and a strong dedication the welfare of your country. Theodore had to deal with all of these presidential stresses, taking up much of his time. Do you know, though, that despite being a president, he led a life of excitement and freedom that many other presidents had never before experienced? Theodore, “Teddy” as his first wife Alice called him, Roosevelt was more than just our president, he was a dedicated author who wrote many books; he was also a rancher, and, surprisingly, he was a big time hunter. Even though Theodore Roosevelt was a president, his life was filled with exciting adventure, times of hardships, responsibilities to many, and influences upon many government positions.
World War II was one of the deadliest military conflicts in history. There were many different battles that took place within this war; some more important than others. World War II began once Germany’s new dictator, Adolf Hitler, decided that he wanted to gain power for Germany and for himself. One of Hitler’s first moves in power was invading Poland on September 1, 1939. Many other countries became involved in this war because of the alliance system. The two sides during this war were the Allies and Axis powers. German, Italy and Japan were on the Axis powers; France, Britain, and the United States were on the Allies. Germany first began with the Blitzkrieg tactic meaning “lightning war”. This tactic is based on speed, surprise and was the most popular tactic. It is set up with military forces based around tanks which are supported by planes and infantry. The Blitzkrieg tactic lead to air wars with airplanes between countries. All of the countries were allowed to participate in the air wars but the four main countries were United States, Japan, Britain, and Germany. During the 1920’s and 1930’s airplanes grew in size and structure giving them more power, and making planes more effective. Planes made it easier to drop bombs, or plan attacks. All of these countries fought over air superiority. Air superiority is the position in which the air force has control over all of the air warfare and air power of the opposing forces. Germany began with air superiority but they lost it when Britain defeated them at the Battle of Britain. Gaining control over the air is a very big advantage because it is easier to plan an attack on an opposing country. All of the countries relied on their aircrafts during this war. The issue about the use of...
Dance presents a human desire for personal expression and social connection. According to Jenna Garecht, author of “Is Dance a Sport or and
Lewicki, R., Saunders, D.M., Barry B., (2010) Negotiation: Readings, Exercises, and Cases. 6th Ed. McGraw-Hill Irwin. New York, NY
Writing in Dance 2367 has changed my outlook on writing. After years of engineering and construction courses, I became so used to dull writings consisting of lab reports and countless calculations. Writing about dance was a new outlook for me in my writing career as instead of talking about objects or experiments I was given the chance to describe people and their unique movements. In terms of description, it was refreshing to be able to use new words that held emotion and feeling to describe the body language that I saw on screen and in person. In construction, there isn’t room for interpretation as it mainly consists of clear cut items like building materials and timelines, however through this course’s writing, I was able to voice and support
“It takes an athlete to dance, but it takes an artist to be a dancer.” Quote from Martha Graham, an American modern dancer and choreographer. Dance is a very complex form of art that has been considered a sport because of the physical aspect of it. Dance has a very physical side to it, but at the same time there is the storytelling, emotional side to it that dancers must connect with. While dance can be considered either an art or a sport, it is both because it was once considered to be a sport in the Olympics, the physical aspect of it, and the way the dancer has to tell a story while dancing.
Mina Loy in “Feminist Manifesto” seeks an individual female identify free from the masculine. The three most important characteristics in her writing promote individual freedom, women roles, and feminine status. Loy, in her manifesto seems to choose a destructive path against the man and female in a struggle power of one another. She states in the beginning that women are not equal to men. “be brave & deny at the outset-that pathetic clap-trap war cry woman is the equal of man-she is not” (Loy, 2013, p.1981). She argues that men and women are enemies “the only point at which the interests of the sexes merge-is the sexual embrace” (Loy, 2013, p. 1982). Relationships between men and woman require sharing, but Loy dismisses men by stating women must “seek within yourselves to find out what you are” (Loy, 2013, p. 1982). Women need to find themselves before successfully having a relationship with a man. This would be necessary for the relationship to grow and nurture. Loy states “to obtain results you must make sacrifices” (Loy, 2013. p. 1982). However, making these sacrifices does not r...
“There is no royal path to good writing; and such paths as exist…lead through…the jungles of the self, the world, and of craft” (Jessamyn West, qtd. in Lindermann 22). As West states, the process of creating “good writing” is as much an individual process as it is a challenging course to accomplish. How does one teach an individual process to a class of students? In order for instructors to reach every student, they need to inform students of the personal, ongoing process it takes to write a paper, or in the words of Lindermann “Writing involves not just one process but several”(22). To reach every student, instructors need to apprise students of the personal, ongoing process it takes to write a paper. The writing process is not a formula, or template to be taught as a one size fits all aspect. Lindermann attempts to answer the question, what does the process involve by tackling the elements of the process as what is
Lewicki, R. J., Barry, B., & Saunders, D. M. (2007). Essentials of Negotiation. New York: McGraw-Hill/ Irwin.
Lewicki, R. J., Saunders, D. M., & Barry, B. (2010). Negotiation: Readings, exercises, and cases. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin
According to our class lecture, the formal elements of dance are time, space, energy, and intention. I contend that all of these elements are sustained when looking at dance through a sport-related lens or an artistic lens. Dancers’ ability to integrate each of the mentioned formal elements of dance attests to the remarkable abilities of dancers and demonstrates how dance is more powerful than simply an art or a sport. With the help of this course, I have learned how to actively view dance as more than just a sport or as an art but as both concurrently. When people argue that dance is defined by the word “art” or the word “sport,” I am able to effectively convey my stance on the debate by explaining how dance can and should be defined by everything associated with the word “art” and everything associated with the word “sport.” All in all, I defend the reasoning that supports dance as both an art and a sport and I believe it is important that more people view dance in this same