Eng. 658 – Week 10 Blog 2

Julian Dibbell’s “A Rape in Cyber Space” fascinatingly gives a reflective look at the psychological ramifications of non-responsible technology use. On first glance, the article reads like a the board game Clue on the drug “ecstasy.” Yet after reading the piece, the underlying psychology of the article shines through on the purveyance of sociopathic behavior amongst pockets of society. In other words, the figure known as “Bungle,” who later becomes “Dr. Jest,” is in the end an amalgam of NYU students all shouting out replies to moves on a computer game. This technology-meets-game meets-sociopath-behavior seems to be playing out in the other social setting such as the movies. Technological “thrillers” based on murderous behaviors such as Saw build on our inner demons that are let out when certain individuals don the masks of computer aliases. However, the article does bring up other questions? Where else is technology heading that people can be manipulated by aliases? Why do people allow themselves to be manipulated by computer games? And why don’t they just say “no?” Maybe the last question is naïve; Steven King’s book sales show society is enthralled with being scared. Maybe it is this same fascination that drove those people to play “Bungles’s” game—a drive that is stronger than personal responsibility, the drive to be scared out of a seemingly mundane existence into some kind of altered “exciting” world. Who knows?

Eng. 658 – Week 10 Blog 1

The Post-Journal article on education being changed by incorporating technology complements the discourse we have engaged over the past three months. As a substitute teacher, I find the possibilities helpful and exciting. For instance, last week in a math class the students needed to find the square root of a number. Instantly, I remembered our technology discussions and pedagogies surrounding them and asked the students to take out their cell phones (I saw this as a ways to integrated technology into the classroom). I did this to the students’ amazement—as we know they are not allowed and should not take out phones for personal matters in class. After they pulled out their phones, I asked them to navigate to the calculator page, and then I showed them the square root button. Now they had a new use for their phones, and we took the phone out of simply the “phone” instrument category and into a usable school tool. Although the kids were excited, they said I was “cool” because “No teacher ever has us use our phones,” the value of integrating technology into the classroom took the obnoxious cell phone from being a teachers’ enemy to being an aid. However, this does not take away from the phone being a nuisance at times, but the experience showed me the value of being open to bringing technology into the classroom. In fact, I have a class tomorrow that is a tough one, and after reading this article, I’m churning my brain to find a way to bring some form of technology into the classroom to engage the students, to take them out of the box into other realms of learning.

Eng 609 – Week 10 Blog 2

Aristotle’s “Degree” topoi can be fashioned into a lens for viewing Okawa’s essay on coming to consciousness. As an American woman of Japanese descent, Okawa speaks of her journey to consciousness, having to endure racism, gender slamming, and academic belittling because of her ethnic and cultural background. However, the degree I am speaking of is her focus on Freire’s critical consciousness. She paraphrases Freire, “coming to critical consciousness becomes a liberator alternative, involving reflective reconsidering and the discovery of a dialectical relationship between theory and practice…” (282). This liberatory alternative comprises the humanness inside each of us and our innate humanness. Further, Freire and Okawa are stating that as we move in degrees to a deeper self-reflective relationship with ourselves, we gain in our humanity—we gain in our ability to see the beauty in each other—even those we don’t agree with. In addition, Okawa and Freire lay groundwork for connecting theory and practice in the academy so that we may move past barriers and stereotypes into a higher humanity. This ties into my current research into meditation and the composition classroom. Meditation’s aim is always a deeper understanding of ourselves, a self-reflection so we may slow our minds in order to enjoy the “joy” around us as well as see the “non-joy” we create through our non-reflective think that does not allow for critical consciousness. Hence, Freire and Okawa will play a role in my further research, my continuing effort to dig for deeper degrees of critical consciousness.

Eng. 609 – Week 10 Blog 1

Listening to Professor Glascott, I was reminded and so wanted to muse on Aristotle’s topoi concerning authority. Aristotle states that citing experts lends credibility to one’s argument; however, following an authorities lead can also produce credibility in our own abilities. Professor Glascott laid out her circuitous route to her doctorate, and I felt a kinship. I did not come back to school to become an English scholar, I came back to enhance my composition skills, yet I found myself wholeheartedly drawn into English studies. My circuitous route has been fashioned at times on cartographies laid down by those who have come before me, those who have become authorities in their fields. Thanks to them, I’m enjoying my own path to authority…

Professor Glascott’s talk also intrigued me in regards to her visit to the Huntington. Earlier in the quarter, we learned of the Huntington’s collection, and at the time I paused to mull over my own excitement at the possibility of actually touching one of these old texts. Being book “geeks”, I don’t think most people understand the excitement we feel at the possibility of holding one of these ancient texts with its musky smell and pungent wet dog aroma. I guess that is the joy of being an authority—no need to care what others think. After all this time and effort, we deserve to feel comfortable and confident in the value of the words we cherish, the texts that bind them and the research that leads us to them.