Top 15
1. Strange fruit (Billie Holliday)
2. Under pressure (Queen/David Bowie)
3. Driftin' (Pearl Jam)
4. Fear of the Dark (Iron Maiden)
5. Sympathy for the devil (The Rolling Stones)
6. Me da para confesarlo (AlmaFuerte)
7. Please be mine (Jonas Bros)
8. Wherever you will go (The Calling)
9. Hotel California (Eagles)
10. The reason (Hoobastank)
11. It's my life (Bon Jovi)
12. Just a moment to myself (Macy Gray)
13. The Uncomfortable Truth (Nneka)
14. Nothing Lasts Forever (Maroon 5)
15. Stuck in the middle with you (Stealers Wheel)
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Writing not alway has been with languages!
I don't agree with the stamen that says writing establishes a context-free, an autonomous discourse that can't be doubted because the written discourse is separated from its author, for the reason that writing must connect authors’ experiences expressed with certain affinity with determined audience for they can understand his ideas and they can be debated. On the other hand every discourse can be questioned even if the author is not present, because every field of the knowledge is based on doubts about itself for discovering more aspects unknowns about that field, and in this level writing has been useful as technology in order to show to the whole world what an author thinks about a filed, and like this information is written, other people can use it to back it up or to reject it. However human being not always has have writing, but languages were still considered as languages, in fact, writing emerged more for other reasons than for the nature of themselves, that’s how writing was developed as an artificial element or an extension of the languages but up-to-date this is part of many languages.
On the other hand writing can help us to memorize specific information, because every time we write about something our brain can retain 70% of what we wrote. That’s one of the reason why I think writing is considered as technology and as artificial because writing must have been developed during human being history and it was necessary to express orality in other way to transmit and preserve the real message of what the author wanted to say, because when the author doesn’t write what he thinks about certain field anybody else could interpret the message in other way and the real information is going to be lost. Of course they are many other languages that don’t have writing and that doesn’t make them inferior or underdeveloped ,but obviously cause of the effects of globalization for languages can survive must be at least in the middle of the game, on the other side even if some languages are not emerged in the competence for getting an important place in globalization, it doesn’t determined if their oral traditions and culture is going to disappear, at least for the people of these specifics cultures their traditions and customs are going to be pass to the next generation.
Luis Fernando Agudelo Ledezma
Skeleton
Bobsledding, Luge and Skeleton
"Sledding, or tobogganing, was first recorded in the 16th century. Modern racing began in Switzerland in the mid-19th century. Three forms of tobogganing developed: a bobsleigh, or sleigh, has 2 axles and 2 pairs of runners, is steered with a wheel, rope or bungie cord and is operated by teams of 2 or 4 racers; luge uses a single sled (a 1- or 2-seater) with the rider lying back from a sitting position; in Cresta tobogganing the rider lies on his chest. In the later 19th century skeleton was introduced, where a single athlete slides on a sheet-like sled face down and head first in the prone position."
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/
Writing does have advantages!!!!!!
Once at the university someone told me that “writing is the means trough wich speech can be transmited and preserved", and that made me think a lot of things, for example, how people who didn't write preserved speech and knowledge of their ancient culture? and then, just then I realized that there are some cultures that only have an oral tradition and have no writing system, so writing is not the only way of transmiting and preserving speech, orality is a different and ancient way of preserving speech and knowledge.
Nevertheless, because of its tradition we cannot understimate writing, this activity has evolved trough all times, actually "writing must be understood as a technology and therefore as artificial", nowdays writing involves many tools that took years of evolution like the pen, the paper, the pencil, the eraser, the computers and so on. writing is also artificial because in contrast with the naturality of oral speech, we are concious all the time what writing implies, it's a harder work than speaking, writing doesn't "flow" as speaking.
On the other hand a good thing about writing is that "it establishes a context free language, an autonomus discourse that can be doubted or directly questioned because the written discourse is separated from its author", of course we can question a text, but it will never be separated from its author, there will be a bond that always will take the reader to the text source, so when we are reading a text we are reading a llitle bit of its author personality.
At the end we can say that writing is such a great activity, as complexed as itself, it helps you to train your brain, because it involves deep reflection in order to shape undestandable ideas, I dare to say that writing strengthen memory and thought.
Nevertheless, because of its tradition we cannot understimate writing, this activity has evolved trough all times, actually "writing must be understood as a technology and therefore as artificial", nowdays writing involves many tools that took years of evolution like the pen, the paper, the pencil, the eraser, the computers and so on. writing is also artificial because in contrast with the naturality of oral speech, we are concious all the time what writing implies, it's a harder work than speaking, writing doesn't "flow" as speaking.
On the other hand a good thing about writing is that "it establishes a context free language, an autonomus discourse that can be doubted or directly questioned because the written discourse is separated from its author", of course we can question a text, but it will never be separated from its author, there will be a bond that always will take the reader to the text source, so when we are reading a text we are reading a llitle bit of its author personality.
At the end we can say that writing is such a great activity, as complexed as itself, it helps you to train your brain, because it involves deep reflection in order to shape undestandable ideas, I dare to say that writing strengthen memory and thought.
Jhon Alexander.
Friday, 24 September 2010
Bilingual education at Simunurwa indigenous school
As others indigenous communities of America, not all the Simunurwa's people want their native language written. The "mamos", for exemple, as the spiritual community leaders and protectors of the sacred bond between culture and land, they have been very steady with their decision of forbidding to write the "ika" language.
Clean your ears out!
Hi everyone!!
This isn't particularly academic, I just wanted to share an example of my dialect with you all.
Free Bon Yurt to anyone who can understand...good luck!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiG1stRg8BM
This isn't particularly academic, I just wanted to share an example of my dialect with you all.
Free Bon Yurt to anyone who can understand...good luck!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiG1stRg8BM
Student Writing as Academic Literacies: Drawing on Bakhtin to move from Critique to Design
This article written by Professor Theresa Lillis will be the basis for our next discussion. Make sure you get a copy. I'll leave it downstairs.
Tasks for Friday, september 24th
*Working on your PWP (Remember deadline: October 8th!)
*Working on your text based on the "4 statements"
*Working on your text based on the "4 statements"
Monday, 20 September 2010
PEOPLE VERSUS PERSONS. When should we use which?
There is confusion about the best way to describe more than one person. It often feels better to speak of “three people” rather than “three persons”, but this suggests that people is the plural of person.
The words people and person derive from different Latin roots, the former from populum, referring to the people in the sense of the populace, the latter from persona, “an actor’s mask; a character in a play” and which in the English form person came to refer to an individual human being. (It was first brought in via French in the form parson, which for some unexplained reason soon took on the separate and specific sense in which we still use it, so that the word had to be re-borrowed with a new spelling. And persona itself was borrowed in that form by Jungian psychologists early this century to identify the personality a person presents to the world.)
The normal plural of person was persons, as in “two persons were present”. However, there is evidence from Chaucer onwards that some writers chose to use people as a plural for person, not only in the generalised sense of “an uncountable or indistinct mass of individuals” but also in specific countable cases (Chaucer wrote of “a thousand people”). This began to be questioned in Victorian times, and the pseudo-rule grew up that the plural of person is persons when a specific, countable number of individuals is meant, but that people should be used when the number is large or indefinite.
Modern style guides disagree, being able to quote many examples of the use of people as the plural of person in both situations, for example in sentences like “the plane crash killed 370 people”, and “Many people visit the park every day”. Though persons survives, it does so largely in formal or legal contexts (“Killed by person or persons unknown”, “This taxi is licensed to hold four persons”) and often seems awkward and old-fashioned.
Where it survives it emphasises that each member of a group is being considered as an individual: “The nearest persons they can vent their feelings on are the ball boys and girls”, “Eight persons shared a single room”. From the evidence, it seems that the trend towards using people instead of persons is accelerating and that it may not be so long before persons vanishes from the language except in certain set phrases.
The reverse process seems to be happening with people. Though in origin it is a singular collective noun, it has almost from the earliest times been treated as a plural term for people at large (which has no doubt aided its acceptance as the plural form of person). This has now become so commonplace, as in usages like “People are always looking for a bargain” or “The people are being asked to vote in a referendum”, that now the singular form of people seems even stranger than the plural form of person: “This people is angry”, “That Aboriginal people has died out”.
The plural form peoples logically refers to more than one community or nation, although down the centuries some writers have been chary of it, and in the nineteenth century one described its use as “uncouth”. These days it is the accepted form in contexts like “His authority shaped diverse peoples into common views and allegiances” or “Magnified traditions especially bolster peoples embittered by subjugation or newly come to nationhood”.
SOURCE: http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/people.htm
World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–2010. All rights reserved.
The words people and person derive from different Latin roots, the former from populum, referring to the people in the sense of the populace, the latter from persona, “an actor’s mask; a character in a play” and which in the English form person came to refer to an individual human being. (It was first brought in via French in the form parson, which for some unexplained reason soon took on the separate and specific sense in which we still use it, so that the word had to be re-borrowed with a new spelling. And persona itself was borrowed in that form by Jungian psychologists early this century to identify the personality a person presents to the world.)
The normal plural of person was persons, as in “two persons were present”. However, there is evidence from Chaucer onwards that some writers chose to use people as a plural for person, not only in the generalised sense of “an uncountable or indistinct mass of individuals” but also in specific countable cases (Chaucer wrote of “a thousand people”). This began to be questioned in Victorian times, and the pseudo-rule grew up that the plural of person is persons when a specific, countable number of individuals is meant, but that people should be used when the number is large or indefinite.
Modern style guides disagree, being able to quote many examples of the use of people as the plural of person in both situations, for example in sentences like “the plane crash killed 370 people”, and “Many people visit the park every day”. Though persons survives, it does so largely in formal or legal contexts (“Killed by person or persons unknown”, “This taxi is licensed to hold four persons”) and often seems awkward and old-fashioned.
Where it survives it emphasises that each member of a group is being considered as an individual: “The nearest persons they can vent their feelings on are the ball boys and girls”, “Eight persons shared a single room”. From the evidence, it seems that the trend towards using people instead of persons is accelerating and that it may not be so long before persons vanishes from the language except in certain set phrases.
The reverse process seems to be happening with people. Though in origin it is a singular collective noun, it has almost from the earliest times been treated as a plural term for people at large (which has no doubt aided its acceptance as the plural form of person). This has now become so commonplace, as in usages like “People are always looking for a bargain” or “The people are being asked to vote in a referendum”, that now the singular form of people seems even stranger than the plural form of person: “This people is angry”, “That Aboriginal people has died out”.
The plural form peoples logically refers to more than one community or nation, although down the centuries some writers have been chary of it, and in the nineteenth century one described its use as “uncouth”. These days it is the accepted form in contexts like “His authority shaped diverse peoples into common views and allegiances” or “Magnified traditions especially bolster peoples embittered by subjugation or newly come to nationhood”.
SOURCE: http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/people.htm
World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion, 1996–2010. All rights reserved.
If I were lucky enough
The following is a poem written by Ernesto Carriazo, my dear professor and friend.
He was generous enough to allow me to share it with you. Here it is:
If I were lucky enough
To be exhumed
Five thousand years from now
So that one mere thread
Of hair, or rusty tooth could tell
Who I used to be
Or better still
Become the irrefutable
Evidence of another story
That restores my pulverized existence
And recreates
The brilliant fantasies
Of generations upon generations
Of those who examined
My remnants under a microscope,
I could become
What I never was
A colossal palace
Built out of words, and ideas;
The ruler of an ancient empire
That never existed
As it was reconstructed;
Perhaps even a god, or a goddess,
Fierce or benevolent;
Another image to sublimate
The minuteness,
The ultimate nothingness
Of those who may find
”me.”
Ernesto Carriazo
University Park, PA 18 September 2010
He was generous enough to allow me to share it with you. Here it is:
If I were lucky enough
To be exhumed
Five thousand years from now
So that one mere thread
Of hair, or rusty tooth could tell
Who I used to be
Or better still
Become the irrefutable
Evidence of another story
That restores my pulverized existence
And recreates
The brilliant fantasies
Of generations upon generations
Of those who examined
My remnants under a microscope,
I could become
What I never was
A colossal palace
Built out of words, and ideas;
The ruler of an ancient empire
That never existed
As it was reconstructed;
Perhaps even a god, or a goddess,
Fierce or benevolent;
Another image to sublimate
The minuteness,
The ultimate nothingness
Of those who may find
”me.”
Ernesto Carriazo
University Park, PA 18 September 2010
What's the difference between "persons" and "people"?
"people" is a collective noun, and it is used to refer to a group of people collectively
These people are a community.
"persons" is the plural form of "person" when you want to refer to a number of people individually.
These persons are part of a community.
Note: The word "people" can also be used as a singular noun and pluralized:
That native people has died out.
The invention was worked on by many peoples from all over the world.
Thus, a list can be made:
Person (A person)
Persons (A group of persons individually)
People (A group of persons as a unit)
OR
People (A specific group of persons)
Peoples (Multiple groups of persons)
The use of the word "persons" nowadays is being shifted towards "People". The word "persons" is seldom heard even though it is often gramatically correct (i.e. Four people died is wrong. Four persons died is correct).
Nobody will punish you for using "people" instead of "persons" in most cases, though.
Source: Yahoo answers
These people are a community.
"persons" is the plural form of "person" when you want to refer to a number of people individually.
These persons are part of a community.
Note: The word "people" can also be used as a singular noun and pluralized:
That native people has died out.
The invention was worked on by many peoples from all over the world.
Thus, a list can be made:
Person (A person)
Persons (A group of persons individually)
People (A group of persons as a unit)
OR
People (A specific group of persons)
Peoples (Multiple groups of persons)
The use of the word "persons" nowadays is being shifted towards "People". The word "persons" is seldom heard even though it is often gramatically correct (i.e. Four people died is wrong. Four persons died is correct).
Nobody will punish you for using "people" instead of "persons" in most cases, though.
Source: Yahoo answers
THE AUDIENCE OF MY PWP:
According to the topic of my PWP “Multiliteracy promoted through a technology-mediated learning environment”; I think that the audience could be teachers that are using in this moment the different technological tools or are interested in doing it. Particularly, the target audience in my PWP is Foreign Language teachers that use virtual environments to support the teaching of EFL or ESL. It also could be useful for teachers that haven’t incorporated these new technologies to their practices yet.
AN OXYMORONIC EXPERIENCE: WRITING IN SPANISH, ENGLISH, AND FRENCH.
Thinking about this subject, it came to my mind some of the feelings and funny experiences that I’ve had through the process of becoming a writer or, at least, a regular student who writes. I’ll explain what writing is like for me in three different stages taking into account that Spanish is my native language, and I consider English as my second language and French as a foreign language.
Writing in Spanish for me is like learning how to ride a bike; it could be easier once you have learnt the basic rules, but during the process you're surely going to fall down with your face on the ground... Painful! Isn't it?. That's exactly what happened to me when I started writing at the university; my Composition in Spanish teacher here told me that I sucked in writing. In that very moment I felt my face scratching the classroom floor. As from that day my practice in writing started and I haven't stopped; I even was part of a quasi-writing group, (so-called “CESCRIBE” or something like that), with some classmates that had the same interest in improving the practices of writing. We didn't succeed in the organization of the group and finally we couldn’t make it. For now, I’ve been riding this bicycle quite well; I’m not as bad as that teacher said, just decent.
When writing in English, on the other hand, I feel like playing as a quarterback in a football game. You don’t want to be tackled by the opposite team, and you need to be sure that you profit every single second to get a touchdown to win the game… that’s the difficulty! When I say tackled by the opposite team, I mean by Spanish, because sometimes when writing in English I’m just literally translating the exact words I have in my mind and it sounds really primitive; as long as I don’t stop thinking in Spanish I’ll be tackled over and over again. So I’ve been trying to improve this and using English everyday is the best thing to do; listening to music, watching TV or simply practicing with a classmate would really help. My touchdown would be a good text in English without, or at least, with less Spanish taste. I’m still running to see if I can finally win this game.
Writing in French is like running a marathon; when you think you’re almost done you realize that you still have 10 miles left. Every step you make seems not to be enough to get you safe till the end. And it is frustrating when you see other competitors far ahead from you, even though you are giving your all for it. I just feel so far away from writing a decent text in French, and my biggest concern is that I don’t really know when am I going to finish learning grammar rules that don’t even make sense for me. And I go back to cero every time I learn a new piece of rule that contradicts what I thought I knew; it’s like I’m no longer running but crawling. What makes me stand on my feet again is the fact that I love French, so I’m doing my best to catch up with the other competitors of this marathon.
Anyway, for me the experience of writing has been an adventure because I’ve suffered in the process but I’ve finally enjoyed it. At the beginning everything seemed to be very difficult; however, it turned into a doable work. I can define my process of writing as a sweet pain, a tough pleasure, or just an oxymoronic experience. It doesn’t matter what language I’m writing in, even if it’s hard to do it, at the end it has a healing effect in my soul.
Iveth Rodriguez.
Writing in Spanish for me is like learning how to ride a bike; it could be easier once you have learnt the basic rules, but during the process you're surely going to fall down with your face on the ground... Painful! Isn't it?. That's exactly what happened to me when I started writing at the university; my Composition in Spanish teacher here told me that I sucked in writing. In that very moment I felt my face scratching the classroom floor. As from that day my practice in writing started and I haven't stopped; I even was part of a quasi-writing group, (so-called “CESCRIBE” or something like that), with some classmates that had the same interest in improving the practices of writing. We didn't succeed in the organization of the group and finally we couldn’t make it. For now, I’ve been riding this bicycle quite well; I’m not as bad as that teacher said, just decent.
When writing in English, on the other hand, I feel like playing as a quarterback in a football game. You don’t want to be tackled by the opposite team, and you need to be sure that you profit every single second to get a touchdown to win the game… that’s the difficulty! When I say tackled by the opposite team, I mean by Spanish, because sometimes when writing in English I’m just literally translating the exact words I have in my mind and it sounds really primitive; as long as I don’t stop thinking in Spanish I’ll be tackled over and over again. So I’ve been trying to improve this and using English everyday is the best thing to do; listening to music, watching TV or simply practicing with a classmate would really help. My touchdown would be a good text in English without, or at least, with less Spanish taste. I’m still running to see if I can finally win this game.
Writing in French is like running a marathon; when you think you’re almost done you realize that you still have 10 miles left. Every step you make seems not to be enough to get you safe till the end. And it is frustrating when you see other competitors far ahead from you, even though you are giving your all for it. I just feel so far away from writing a decent text in French, and my biggest concern is that I don’t really know when am I going to finish learning grammar rules that don’t even make sense for me. And I go back to cero every time I learn a new piece of rule that contradicts what I thought I knew; it’s like I’m no longer running but crawling. What makes me stand on my feet again is the fact that I love French, so I’m doing my best to catch up with the other competitors of this marathon.
Anyway, for me the experience of writing has been an adventure because I’ve suffered in the process but I’ve finally enjoyed it. At the beginning everything seemed to be very difficult; however, it turned into a doable work. I can define my process of writing as a sweet pain, a tough pleasure, or just an oxymoronic experience. It doesn’t matter what language I’m writing in, even if it’s hard to do it, at the end it has a healing effect in my soul.
Iveth Rodriguez.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Thinking about the topic on my PWP...
I would like to know if someone is interested in the topic teaching languages in virtual environments, particularly in Biliteracy/Multiliteracy in L2 reading and writing practices. I've been looking up some information on the internet and I found a couple of interesting documents I would like to share with you, so here is the link.
http://jabba.edb.utexas.edu/it/seclangtechrev.pdf
http://jabba.edb.utexas.edu/it/seclangtechrev.pdf
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
I think an academic text can be described as...
A piece of hard work which aims the transmition of a scientific standing or message that corresponds to the result of a research or the reflection of an author who struggles to find an answer about any issue in the world. The main purpose of an academic text is contributing to the academia, in the way that the construction of knowledge through the development of an idea in a specific field has an outstanding importance.
Because it is my name!
The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller; film directed by Nicholas Hytner in 1996; distributed by 20th Century Fox. Daniel Day-Lewis as John Proctor.
Hey you guys I'd like to share some words I found very shocking... they are in spanish because are literally taken from Hector Abad Faciollince's book "El Olvido que Seremos"...
"Vivir simplemente para gozar es una legítima ambición animal. Pero para el ser humano, para el Homo Sapiens, es contentarse con muy poco. Para distinguirnos de los otros animales, para justificar nuestro paso por la tierra, hay que ambicionar metas superiores al solo goce de la vida..."It is a speech from Hector Abad's father before he was killed... and they remind you of the very first goal in our life... that is precisely to "LIVE"... think about it!!! Take care... I miss you all...
Because it is my name!
The following is a quote from the movie: The Crucible, released in 1996, starring Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis. I remembered we mentioned it in one of our classes. We were talking about commitment to one's words:
John Proctor: Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
John Proctor: Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
Academic text as scientific knowledg
Lets define Knowledge, but first of all we have to ask our selves some important questions.
a. How do I know that I've learnt something ?
b. How can I validate the knowledge I have acquired?
c. Where does the knowledge come from?
These questions make us think about the nature of knowledge. And if we agree with Selier and Shoamy (1989) that 4 types of knowledge exist, (e.i.)
personal and social beliefs as knowledge.
Authority as knowledge.
A prioi or axiomatic knowledge.
Sci8entific knowledge.
In this sense we have to ask our selves at first place where exactly the knowledge we have comes from, so we can validate it.
Lets define Academic texts
When writing academic texts we need to know that its main purpose is to transmit and produce knowledge, but the type of knowledge based on a scientific research as the product has to have a scientific background in which we can rely on if it comes to build science.
TO BE CONTINUED
An academic text as I see it.
An academic text is the result of a dedicated reflection about a particular issue of a specific field in human knowledge. The typology used by the author must permit to form her/his clear vision about that portion of reality, in order to make it comprehensible to other people who could be interested on that field.
That's my sight.
That's my sight.
Lost Tongues and the Politics of Language Endangerment
From: University of Chicago | By: Salikoko S. Mufwene
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION | By some estimates, thousands of the world's 6,700 languages will be lost before the turn of the next century. What are the factors that drive a language to the brink of extinction, and what allows others to prosper--or simply to survive? Salikoko Mufwene (right), professor and chair of the department of linguistics at the University of Chicago, explains how globalization, colonialism, politics, and race relations affect how and why we speak the way we do.
http://www.fathom.com/feature/122144/
From: University of Chicago | By: Salikoko S. Mufwene
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION | By some estimates, thousands of the world's 6,700 languages will be lost before the turn of the next century. What are the factors that drive a language to the brink of extinction, and what allows others to prosper--or simply to survive? Salikoko Mufwene (right), professor and chair of the department of linguistics at the University of Chicago, explains how globalization, colonialism, politics, and race relations affect how and why we speak the way we do.
http://www.fathom.com/feature/122144/
My academic text's definition
An academic text, besides building knowledge (every text is useful in that way), it contains specific information, often supported by a research of any kind or an analysis which brings about a reflection or hypothesis in any particular academic field, and which then can be turned into a reliable source.
An academic text deals with a specific topic which is important or interesting for an academic community therefore every text can be considered as an academic text if it is useful in an academic field. Although it is necessary to make a difference between the purpose given to the text and its original nature, so its use will define its kind. In this way an academic text could be every text we find in the academia.
ACADEMIC TEXTS ARE...
Texts for specific purposes, written with a formal structure in grammar and language; meant for a specific community: it could be students, teachers, writers, politicians, scientists, etc. It is possible to differenciate a non-academic text from an academic text because the latter has a clearly-defined rethorical structure, and its content has an academic purpose.
An Academic Text
These sort of texts are about building knowledge, never mind whether it is a specific scientific field or humanities field based on personal experiences. On the other hand, an academic text let us see a more specific point of view of the field about, it let us go deeper in certain aspects of the field deal with. Always an academic text no matter the style of the author has to be backed up.
Luis Fernando Agudelo
Academic text.
Academic texts are not acedemic just for the fact that they are written by someone from the academia, academic texts have to be the result of a research, have to be written for specific communities and for specific pruposes just like producing knowledge and promoting critical thinking proceses.
Jhon Alexander
The academic text's essence
I think an academic text has 3 essential features that clearly composes it, its intention, its destination, and its origin. thereby, an academic text has the purpose of producing certain kind of knowledge, the purpose of adressing to a certain audience (i.e. potencial readers), and it may come from an academic institution or even a socio-cultural community (like our "ireadiwrite's community").
INTRODUCING PROFESSOR I.M. BORING
An academic text is given to present specific and reliable information about an area of knowledge (science, humanities, arts) based on a research of empirical experimentation.
Short definition for big reasonings.
Please feel free to comment.
What an academic text is
For me, It is a text written for academic purposes in certain fields, it also includes some scientific activities or experiences and it helps to the readers to get new knowledge. Generally In an academic text the author shares what it is found during a resarch and uses quotes for supporting the ideas.
Writing in French
When I read in French is like if someone with a sweet voice was reading for me, but when I start to write in French that sweet voice begins to shout me and then whips against my back start torturing me while I write. But at the end when I finish what I write about, I can feel freedom in all my being.
Writing in Spanish Writing in Spanish is like to be under the shadow of a tree in a sunny and hot day, and it’s hard to go out from there because I know I want to be there, but more than taking a refuge, I enjoy being there, since every kind of feelings start to coming up into my mind and then I start to take care of every sort of little thing around me and suddenly, I realize about tings that I’ve never known.
Writing in English In English is different, I enjoy every part of the process, perhaps it’s because I can explain what I want to express shorter than in Spanish or in French, but this doesn’t happen just because the nature of English, but also because I feel words are the correct ones . And if I must compare writing in English with something, I thing that is like climbing a mountain, because when I’m standing in the door to star climbing, in that moment, I’m conscious that is going to be hard but I don’t care, and I enjoy every part of the ascent.
Luis Fernando Agudelo
When I read in French is like if someone with a sweet voice was reading for me, but when I start to write in French that sweet voice begins to shout me and then whips against my back start torturing me while I write. But at the end when I finish what I write about, I can feel freedom in all my being.
Writing in Spanish Writing in Spanish is like to be under the shadow of a tree in a sunny and hot day, and it’s hard to go out from there because I know I want to be there, but more than taking a refuge, I enjoy being there, since every kind of feelings start to coming up into my mind and then I start to take care of every sort of little thing around me and suddenly, I realize about tings that I’ve never known.
Writing in English In English is different, I enjoy every part of the process, perhaps it’s because I can explain what I want to express shorter than in Spanish or in French, but this doesn’t happen just because the nature of English, but also because I feel words are the correct ones . And if I must compare writing in English with something, I thing that is like climbing a mountain, because when I’m standing in the door to star climbing, in that moment, I’m conscious that is going to be hard but I don’t care, and I enjoy every part of the ascent.
Luis Fernando Agudelo
An academis text is...
A text that contributes to the building of knowledge in each one of us, it doesn't need to be complex in its lexical or its structure to be academic. The text can be a result of an experimentation, an empirical study or a reasoning.
Academic writing is formal writing?
According to many people, an academic text refers to a particular style of writing, characteristics of formal writing includes use of the third person, a "formal tone", references, quotes etc. In my opinion an academic text is a piece of information, narration, research etc that is useful in order to build knowledge.
In opposition with the general idea about the definition of academic text, for me it does not matter if the text is not scientific or if it is write in third person, or if inside the text we can not find characteristics of formal writing because sometimes the subject the text is talking about is a serious topic and this text can build knowledge since a debate or a discussion about it.
In my example I have a leaflet called "El Papanatas" that is a personal writing by a student known as "Papas", I can not say that this text is academic but I can say that if this text is useful for a class in a discussion it could be an academic text because the topic the text is talking about, "El Papanatas" has many productions in which we can find economic, social or political issues that are very important, maybe the text is not formal but my question is: academic writing is formal writing?
In opposition with the general idea about the definition of academic text, for me it does not matter if the text is not scientific or if it is write in third person, or if inside the text we can not find characteristics of formal writing because sometimes the subject the text is talking about is a serious topic and this text can build knowledge since a debate or a discussion about it.
In my example I have a leaflet called "El Papanatas" that is a personal writing by a student known as "Papas", I can not say that this text is academic but I can say that if this text is useful for a class in a discussion it could be an academic text because the topic the text is talking about, "El Papanatas" has many productions in which we can find economic, social or political issues that are very important, maybe the text is not formal but my question is: academic writing is formal writing?
Post d:
What is a leaflet?
Leaflets are a type of open letter or postcard, designed to be handed out to people, either by hand, by post, inserted in local newspapers for distribution, left in venues, shops, restaurants, cafes, libraries... Anywhere where they will catch someone's eye. ( taken from http://www.christianaid.org.uk/ActNow/usefulstuff/how_to_produce_leaflet.aspx)
Tasks for Wednesday, September 15th 2010
Dear students,good morning!
These are the tasks I would like you to develop during the following two hours:
*Post your definition of academic texts. (2nd MWP: second microwriting practice)This will be considered class-work and will be marked.
*Edit your first MWP (For me, writing in English, French and Spanish is like...)When I say "edit", I mean, improve it. Make sure there are no "formal" mistakes and check that what you wrote actually matches the ideas you wanted to portray.
*Start working on the "statements". Remember the instruction: Decide whether you agree or disagree with these statements and briefly explain your position.(You can find the four statements in our e-mail account)
*Explore the topic of your PWP so you can make decisions about your audience.
I'm on-line, available to clarify your doubts, questions, comments, etc.
If you have a g-mail account, we can chat through it. If you don't, you can use our course account: inglesiks@gmail.com, password: solcolmenares.
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle
These are the tasks I would like you to develop during the following two hours:
*Post your definition of academic texts. (2nd MWP: second microwriting practice)This will be considered class-work and will be marked.
*Edit your first MWP (For me, writing in English, French and Spanish is like...)When I say "edit", I mean, improve it. Make sure there are no "formal" mistakes and check that what you wrote actually matches the ideas you wanted to portray.
*Start working on the "statements". Remember the instruction: Decide whether you agree or disagree with these statements and briefly explain your position.(You can find the four statements in our e-mail account)
*Explore the topic of your PWP so you can make decisions about your audience.
I'm on-line, available to clarify your doubts, questions, comments, etc.
If you have a g-mail account, we can chat through it. If you don't, you can use our course account: inglesiks@gmail.com, password: solcolmenares.
Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some sort of battle
Friday, 10 September 2010
BRIEF HISTORY OF ENGLISH
Hey Guys!!!
I have been reading about the history of English, it is very cool to know about that, there is a piece of information, I can give more than that if you want!
The English language has changed considerably during its history. According to the Venerable Bede, northern tribes - Angles, Saxons and Jutes - invaded the British Isles in AD 450. Each of these tribes settled in different areas and spoke different Germanic dialects. However, it is believed that during the ninth and tenth centuries, one of those languages was standardized. We now know this standard as Old English. In 1060, the Normans invaded the island. They spoke a French dialect, which became the language used by the new aristocracy. This change meant that Old English was no longer a prestigious language, and so it broke into multitude of dialects. The language that was spoken and written at this time is referred to as Middle English. Toward the end of fifteenth century, Gutenberg's printing press helped the English dialect used by the London aristocracy to spread throughout the country and to become the standard. In this Modern English, there were more than ten thousand words taken from French. The English language has continued to grow by taking words from other languages whenever they seem suitable, and regularly inventing new words.
Sources: http://es.wikibooks.org/wiki/Inglés/Breve_historia_del_inglés
Different feelings when I write
Writing in English in contrast with French is very comfortable, I can give my opinions, explain my ideas more than if I use French.
In English I ‘m feel free, is an universal language and there are many ways to write just one thing, you can play with words, the reason is , I guess, English is a flexible language with a lot of vocabulary and compound words.
On the other hand with French I’m feel like in jail, I have some barriers around me, I know the language, actually I have more contact with French, but all these conjugations, every idiom, every way to say something is a little difficult.
About Spanish I frequently write in my natural tongue, I write email for my family, my boyfriend almost every day, it is a kind of diary and I am feel very quiet writing in Spanish.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
What are people in our field talking about?
http://www.deprolex.com/docs/Programa_SeminarioUdeA_2010.pdf
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Politics and the English Language
"Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell.
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
Monday, 6 September 2010
Some research objects in our field
Lenguaje
Volumen 38, número 1, junio de 2010
Applied Lingustics and Language Teaching
Linguistic change in Inga: Colombian Spanish-Inga Lexical and Grammatical interpolation
Carlos Enrique Pérez
The Reflective Teacher: Pros and Cons of the Teaching Portfolio
María Vicenta Gonzáles
Encarna Atienza
Cognitive Context in Kindergarden Story Reading
Ana María Borzone
María Soledad Manrique
Access to a Written Culture: Analysis of Twenty-two Stories of University Students
Sol Colmenares
Characterization of Assessment Practices in Foreign Languages
Fanny Gonzáles
Jhon Fredy Ríos
Pragmatics and discourse analysis
Self-consciusness, Lingusitics of Orality and Text Hermeneutics
John Fredy Lenis
Comparative Analysis of the Cosntruction of Ethos and Audience in Centennial Argentinian Academic Discourses
Pablo von Stecher
Self-image and Intrasubjective Politeness in an Autobiographical Text
Rudy Mostacero
Translation and Terminology
Editors' vision of literary translation in Colombia
Norman Gómez
Semiautomatic Extraction of Specialized Spanish Economics Idioms
Pedro Patiño
Volumen 38, número 1, junio de 2010
Applied Lingustics and Language Teaching
Linguistic change in Inga: Colombian Spanish-Inga Lexical and Grammatical interpolation
Carlos Enrique Pérez
The Reflective Teacher: Pros and Cons of the Teaching Portfolio
María Vicenta Gonzáles
Encarna Atienza
Cognitive Context in Kindergarden Story Reading
Ana María Borzone
María Soledad Manrique
Access to a Written Culture: Analysis of Twenty-two Stories of University Students
Sol Colmenares
Characterization of Assessment Practices in Foreign Languages
Fanny Gonzáles
Jhon Fredy Ríos
Pragmatics and discourse analysis
Self-consciusness, Lingusitics of Orality and Text Hermeneutics
John Fredy Lenis
Comparative Analysis of the Cosntruction of Ethos and Audience in Centennial Argentinian Academic Discourses
Pablo von Stecher
Self-image and Intrasubjective Politeness in an Autobiographical Text
Rudy Mostacero
Translation and Terminology
Editors' vision of literary translation in Colombia
Norman Gómez
Semiautomatic Extraction of Specialized Spanish Economics Idioms
Pedro Patiño
audio file
Dear students,
In our e-mail account you will find the audio file of our debate.
inglesiks@gmail.com
password: solcolmenares
Best regards,
Prof. Sol Colmenares
In our e-mail account you will find the audio file of our debate.
inglesiks@gmail.com
password: solcolmenares
Best regards,
Prof. Sol Colmenares
Wednesday, 1 September 2010
words are thoughts, and we cannot speak withou them. When we write we are revealing our thoughts, no matters which lenguage we use to do that and so happens way we speak.
Nevertheless, there aremany differences when it comes to write either spanish as a mother tongue or english and french as foreing lenguages; as a matter of personal opinion, I can find some differences when "I try to write" – and I swear I try- in in the three of them:
Language economic: writing in english allows me in, in few line of words,express something that in spanish could take even more lines. When I write in english I have the impression of being clearly understood, if I compare it to french.
diversity of expressions: when I write in french is more difficult for me to articulate the thoughts, however I can have the opportunity to be more descriptive thanks to the profusion of words that come to my maind like images.
Sheer confortability:when I write in spanish i feel more confortable with words, at the same time I feel I need many of them so I can be understood.
Nevertheless, there aremany differences when it comes to write either spanish as a mother tongue or english and french as foreing lenguages; as a matter of personal opinion, I can find some differences when "I try to write" – and I swear I try- in in the three of them:
Language economic: writing in english allows me in, in few line of words,express something that in spanish could take even more lines. When I write in english I have the impression of being clearly understood, if I compare it to french.
diversity of expressions: when I write in french is more difficult for me to articulate the thoughts, however I can have the opportunity to be more descriptive thanks to the profusion of words that come to my maind like images.
Sheer confortability:when I write in spanish i feel more confortable with words, at the same time I feel I need many of them so I can be understood.
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
When writing in english, it feels like going from movies, to music, to TV, I mean, It's everywhere, most spoken language ever, no doubt. In english, It's fun to be whoever I want to be, different dialects, different characters, but at the same time you're learning from the mistakes you make in the process.
In the other hand, there's writting in french, where I feel like a stranger in a strange land, 'though I have the tools, I still can't build my own den. But It all changes when I'm writting in spanish, my mother tongue, and even more when I have just written in english and french... It's just good to be home.
Writing in spafrenglish is like...
Writing in Spanish for me is like being in momma’s company
Since I’m a little child I have always felt this kind of confidence when momma is next to me. For this reason, the fact that Spanish is my mother tongue makes me feel accompanied and supported when writing. In comparison with the two foreign languages I write in, writing in Spanish turns out to be a little bit easier and makes me feel more comfortable -it is like if I were at home with momma on Sundays-.
Writing in French for me is like cooking a new recipe
When I write in French I have to play with words in order to create “sexy” texts, while in the kitchen I have to play with ingredients in order to make a good recipe. In other words, when I write in French I start by putting a little of syntax, a pinch of coherence, I chop up some adverbs, adjectives, prepositions and verbs very carefully, willing to have a well cooked text. I always try to find the best ingredients I can use, so that I can chop them up, put them into the pot and make a delicious dish. From time to time I have to take a mouthful directly from the pot for checking if my recipe goes in its right point -this would be similar to go over the text and make some changes-. Finally, I end up with something that can be delicious for me, but not for the audience.
Writing in English for me is like climbing a mountain
When I write in English I feel like climbing a mountain; I do really have to be aware of where I’m stepping in and I always try to find the safest paths on my way to the top. During my journeys there are some clear days that make me feel like climbing like an expert, but there are other times that I get to potholes that make me feel kind of blocked and my frustration comes out and doesn’t allow me to keep on my way. The important thing is try to find a way to get over these potholes and reach the top. I know it isn’t easy to reach the top. I always do my best, though.
I think no matter which language I write in, it is always gonna be a very slow process FOR ME for sure
♦♣♠♥ Edward Sarasty ♥♠♣♦
Since I’m a little child I have always felt this kind of confidence when momma is next to me. For this reason, the fact that Spanish is my mother tongue makes me feel accompanied and supported when writing. In comparison with the two foreign languages I write in, writing in Spanish turns out to be a little bit easier and makes me feel more comfortable -it is like if I were at home with momma on Sundays-.
Writing in French for me is like cooking a new recipe
When I write in French I have to play with words in order to create “sexy” texts, while in the kitchen I have to play with ingredients in order to make a good recipe. In other words, when I write in French I start by putting a little of syntax, a pinch of coherence, I chop up some adverbs, adjectives, prepositions and verbs very carefully, willing to have a well cooked text. I always try to find the best ingredients I can use, so that I can chop them up, put them into the pot and make a delicious dish. From time to time I have to take a mouthful directly from the pot for checking if my recipe goes in its right point -this would be similar to go over the text and make some changes-. Finally, I end up with something that can be delicious for me, but not for the audience.
Writing in English for me is like climbing a mountain
When I write in English I feel like climbing a mountain; I do really have to be aware of where I’m stepping in and I always try to find the safest paths on my way to the top. During my journeys there are some clear days that make me feel like climbing like an expert, but there are other times that I get to potholes that make me feel kind of blocked and my frustration comes out and doesn’t allow me to keep on my way. The important thing is try to find a way to get over these potholes and reach the top. I know it isn’t easy to reach the top. I always do my best, though.
I think no matter which language I write in, it is always gonna be a very slow process FOR ME for sure
♦♣♠♥ Edward Sarasty ♥♠♣♦
Tuesday, 31 August 2010
Tasks for Wednesday, September 1st 2010
Dear students,
These are the tasks I would like you to develop while using the computers' room:
*Checking our blog, peer-reviewing classmates' contributions.
*Looking for information about the movie we watched.
*Exploring possible topics for your PWP (Personal Writing Project)
*Reading the text: "Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell. (See article on Wikipedia)
*Looking for an academic text about "Language and Citizenship".
These are the tasks I would like you to develop while using the computers' room:
*Checking our blog, peer-reviewing classmates' contributions.
*Looking for information about the movie we watched.
*Exploring possible topics for your PWP (Personal Writing Project)
*Reading the text: "Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell. (See article on Wikipedia)
*Looking for an academic text about "Language and Citizenship".
Memorable quotes for The Last Station (2009)
Memorable quotes for
The Last Station (2009)
Sofya Tolstaya: Oh, Leovochka, why do you insist on dressing like that?
Leo Tolstoy: What do you mean, like what?
Sofya Tolstaya: Like a man who looks after the sheep!
Leo Tolstoy: It wasn't meant to offend you.
Sofya Tolstaya: You're a count, for God's sake!
________________________________________
Leo Tolstoy: Despite good cause for it, I have never stopped loving you.
Sofya Tolstaya: Of course.
Leo Tolstoy: But God knows you don't make it easy!
Sofya Tolstaya: Why should it be easy? I am the work of your life, you are the work of mine. That's what love is!
________________________________________
Sofya Tolstaya: I'm your little bird, you know the sounds I make.
Leo Tolstoy: And that was some sort of love call, I suppose?
Sofya Tolstaya: Brought you back to me.
________________________________________
This has no taste...
In both writing in english and french there is a problem in the sense of lexical resources and all the tenses' usages. It is not easy as in spanish to express exactly what I think in the way I want it, actually even in spanish sometimes is very hard.
Making a comparison, writing in English can be a little easier than in french, talking about gramatical aspects (variety of tenses, conjugation, irregular verbs, etc.), but it is also true that our language is more similar to french, so you can think in a way closer to the other language.
Besides, I think french is richer in vocabulary than english, that means you can adorn your text like in spanish, however, this is "counter-productive" because this makes english writing simpler, or faster, of course this depends on the kind of text.
Making a comparison, writing in English can be a little easier than in french, talking about gramatical aspects (variety of tenses, conjugation, irregular verbs, etc.), but it is also true that our language is more similar to french, so you can think in a way closer to the other language.
Besides, I think french is richer in vocabulary than english, that means you can adorn your text like in spanish, however, this is "counter-productive" because this makes english writing simpler, or faster, of course this depends on the kind of text.
Monday, 30 August 2010
Writing...
For me writing in English and French is like a favor that my mum asks to me, I seldom want to do it but I have to.
Just when is my will, writing in Spanish is like weeping, I do it in sad moments but I like it because I find a rest.
Just when is my will, writing in Spanish is like weeping, I do it in sad moments but I like it because I find a rest.
Our e-mail account
Dear students,
check our e-mail account:
englishseventh@gmail.com
password: solcolmenares
Regards.
Sunday, 29 August 2010
Writing in English, French and Spanish...is like...
For me writing in English is like swimming in the sea (with a boat or a beach near me). Sometimes I feel confidence and I can swim without difficulty. I remember the names of some of its creatures and I like it. But when the sea reminds me its magnitude and that there are many things unknown for me, I lose my concentration and my confidence… So I just try to remember things that I know in order to improve my stroke and not to feel suffocated by the uncovered creatures and water of the sea: English language.
Writing in French is like to write in English. The difference is that I see more colors in the warm water of French Language, and that I know much better its creatures. Thus I understand its rhythm and its sound...
It is less unknown for me, but when I feel its vastness also I remember that I have to improve my broke and my knowledge about it.
Writing in Spanish is like being a fish or a turtle or a whale in the sea of Spanish Language. I just need listen to my soul and my thoughts to arrive where I want… because I‘m part of this sea. Writing in Spanish is a kind of freedom for my feelings.
D.
Writing in French is like to write in English. The difference is that I see more colors in the warm water of French Language, and that I know much better its creatures. Thus I understand its rhythm and its sound...
It is less unknown for me, but when I feel its vastness also I remember that I have to improve my broke and my knowledge about it.
Writing in Spanish is like being a fish or a turtle or a whale in the sea of Spanish Language. I just need listen to my soul and my thoughts to arrive where I want… because I‘m part of this sea. Writing in Spanish is a kind of freedom for my feelings.
D.
Writing in... for me is....
For me....
Writing in English is like doing the pattern of a building when you are a civil engineer... he/she has the knowledge but he/she needs to be careful and to use the right tools for building a solid structure.
Writing in French is like playing a puzzle; you have to put every piece in the right place for finding the perfect match.
Writing in Spanish is like learning to swim, you have the theory, but it is difficult to apply it and it takes many hours of practice.
Writing in English is like doing the pattern of a building when you are a civil engineer... he/she has the knowledge but he/she needs to be careful and to use the right tools for building a solid structure.
Writing in French is like playing a puzzle; you have to put every piece in the right place for finding the perfect match.
Writing in Spanish is like learning to swim, you have the theory, but it is difficult to apply it and it takes many hours of practice.
Writing.....
Writing in english for me is like making wood statues without some tools, because sometimes I have the idea, but I don't know how to write it, there are some linguistics structures that are difficult or I don't know how to use them.
Writing in french for me is like cooking, because sometimes I write and I suppose that is good, but when the teacher checks it out is wrong.
Writing in spanish for me is like dancing because I feel good, trusting and comfortable, although at the end my texts don't have sense.(not all the time), anyway I feel good.
Writing in french for me is like cooking, because sometimes I write and I suppose that is good, but when the teacher checks it out is wrong.
Writing in spanish for me is like dancing because I feel good, trusting and comfortable, although at the end my texts don't have sense.(not all the time), anyway I feel good.
What is writing in english, french and spanish like?
English represents nowadays the tool to spread information. why is that? because english is the empire's language (i.e. "empire" allude to our "western civilization"). Like latin was the roman empire language throughout ancient age, helping them to spread and to impose the roman political system, their technology and their science. So, for me writing in english is such an enjoyable expirience and english is such an organized and punctual words system in terms of language economy that permits clearly to show what you really mean. French on the other hand, I think is very dificult for me to write and that's because is a language that I've been contact with no more than 3 years. For that reason, french is a language that I haven't got accustomed to write. Now, for me spanish is my conscience language; my ideas, my thoughts and my work are expressed in spanish, and writing in spanish it's always like being my self but beside these conditions, spanish it's a language that can capture any words from others languages, that explain why many spanish novels are famous and really wanted.
1984 - George Orwell
What's up guys... here it's a BBC Television's live production of George Orwell's "1984". So for those who want to above the stress of reading the book. thank God YouTube!! ....just kidding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hATC_2I1wZE&feature=related
Plus, the 1984 movie trailer released in the same year...weird isn't?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rBDUJTnNU
see ya.
Zorak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hATC_2I1wZE&feature=related
Plus, the 1984 movie trailer released in the same year...weird isn't?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4rBDUJTnNU
see ya.
Zorak
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Writing in ... is like ...
I find English as the easiest of all languages I know, since it's very objective and I like objective things, I can express myself and Shape my ideas clearlly and to the point, I mean "I really say what I want to say", but, sometimes I find a lack of vacabulary for expressing some thoughts. Actually writing in English is for me like dancing the songs I like.
On the other side writing in Spanish is also an activity I enjoy, because I can say anything I want, so I say everything but sometimes it means nothing and othertimes I don't find a way for putting everything together and create an understandable idea. In fact I find writing in Spanish like a complicated way of going home.
Finally writing in French is such a great activity because you express yourself in a very poetical way, for me is the politest of all languages, everything you write makes you look intelligent, everything you say or write looks pretty... the problem is... I suck writing in French, I have huge problems with the accents and the lexical choices but in general I love it. The interesting thing is that writing in French is for me like singing a beautiful song I don't like.
By Jhon Alexander
Friday, 27 August 2010
Do I write?
Writing in English is like making a puzzle with an image of a forest. There is a sunshine on top; some of the pieces are extremely blurred because of the nature of the forms and the shadows. Fortunately a melody comes from the inside, a warm melody sung by the trees.
Writing in French is like being in charge of a building project, to be an architect with some kind of disorder. The architect is lazy: he sleeps in the building while his drunk workers talk about their pathetic boss. Who wanted to hire this guy?
In Spanish, I fly above the trees, above the buildings. I see the ocean, I hear a mermaid singing a beautiful song that sometimes makes me dream with disaster and hope, black and yellow. Although it's an endless flight, makes me smile. I'm always writing a timeless letter.
Eduardo Valderrama
Writing in French is like being in charge of a building project, to be an architect with some kind of disorder. The architect is lazy: he sleeps in the building while his drunk workers talk about their pathetic boss. Who wanted to hire this guy?
In Spanish, I fly above the trees, above the buildings. I see the ocean, I hear a mermaid singing a beautiful song that sometimes makes me dream with disaster and hope, black and yellow. Although it's an endless flight, makes me smile. I'm always writing a timeless letter.
Eduardo Valderrama
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Writing in English
In English is different, I enjoy every part o the process, perhaps it’s because I can explain what I want to express shorter than in Spanish or in French, but this doesn’t happen just because the nature of English, but also because I feel words are the correct ones . And if I must compare writing in English with something, I thing that is like climbing a mountain, because when I’m standing in a foot in the door to star climbing, in that moment, I’m conscious that is going to be hard but I don’t care, and I enjoy every part of the ascent.
Luis Fernando Agudelo
Writing in French
When I read in French is like if someone with a sweet voice would be reading for me, but when I start to write in French that sweet voice begins to shout me and then whips against my back start torturing me meanwhile I write. But at the end when I finish what I write about, I can feel freedom in all my being.
Luis Fernando Agudelo
Writing in Spanish
Writing in Spanish is like to be under the shadow of a tree in a sunny and hot day, and it’s hard to go out from there because I know I want to be there, but more than taking a refuge, I enjoy to be there, since every kind of feelings start to coming up into my mind and then I start to take care of every sort of little thing around me and suddenly, I realize about tings that I’ve never known.
Luis Fernando Agudelo
Tuesday, 24 August 2010
Why I write, George Orwell
Why I write by George Orwell
http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw
http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw
Thursday, 10 June 2010
READING THE KISS
READING THE KISS
Pasaba las hojas del libro lentamente en un rito extraño que me permitía moverme al unisonó con el tiempo, para no sentir la quietud de una espera monótona que amenazaba con tragarme entero.
Ya lo veía venir: sentado en esa silla, en la que seguramente otros tantos habían esperado antes que yo, y habían sentido seguramente, al igual que yo en ese instante, como aquella silla, lograba de algún modo sacar cuatro pares de brazos con los que incesantemente intentaba engullirme. La lucha parecía interminable. El sonido estridente de sus patas amenazaba con reventar mis tímpanos, mientras su espaldar laceraba mi columna clavando en ella sus estacas que ya advertían un final horrendo. Todo parecía estar escrito. Finalmente terminaría sucumbiendo a la crudeza de esa silla, a la que la tediosa espera me había confinado. Pero no fue así... cuando creía mi destino llegado encontraría algo que me absortaría, en un trance casi onírico y me transportaría hacia una especie de oasis metafísico, en las profundidades de un desierto omnipresente. Ahí, tendida en la página que acababa de pasar, reposaba ella, su imagen parecía entonces estar más cerca, más bella, más profunda. Admirándola, en la grandeza que le permite una página entera en un libro de arte Europeo, me dejo tomar por su silueta dorada que embriaga mis sentidos. Mis ojos se tienden queriendo abarcar toda la belleza desborda por dos amantes entrelazados por la pasión, el jardín a sus pies parece florecer en la eternidad con un beso furtivo. No hay temor a su alrededor, todo parece eternamente quieto. La manta que recubre sus cuerpos cubre también el secreto de su encuentro. Él con sus brazos alrededor de su cuello besa su rostro en un acto desafiante, y ella, ella solo se deja llevar en un acto de infinita rendición entregándose a los brazos de él.
Si consideramos la lectura, más que un acto de decodificación, un acto de creación de significado a partir de una serie de signos. Podríamos, por eso decir que nuestra capacidad lectora puede lograr la construcción de significado a partir de diferentes tipos de signos, es decir, no solo hacemos lectura a partir del signo lingüístico. Si tomamos todos los elementos que constituyen la anterior obra de arte (estética, color, líneas, forma, etc.) entando que signos no lingüísticos (signo visual), igual podríamos llegar a la construcción de significado que si realizáramos la lectura de una obra literaria. Y si consideramos esta obra de arte en tanto que un “texto gráfico” y nos propusiéramos hacer la lectura que propone Meurer y comprendiendo que no solo hablamos a través de palabras, ¿Seria válido Suponer que existen modos retórico en esta obra? ¿Cuales son? ¿Acaso el color vivido del cuadro? ¿Acaso la estética de lo que yo llamo los amantes? En todo caso, si acordáramos la existencia de los modos retóricos en esta obra de arte, le damos conscientemente una intención comunicativa a Gustav Klimt.
Friday, 4 June 2010
"Does the writer you are reading "matches" the writer described by Tony Morrison? Gives concrete examples from the literary piece you are reading to illustrate your answer"
I already finished my literary piece Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote; according to Tony Morrison writers have an enormous responsability with people, not only writers also journalists, in order to give us another type of look. Truman Capote in his book Breakfast at Tiffany's tries to show the sickness of society through the characters, it's not only a "beautiful book" in which you can find a love story with a happy ending, it's a description of the society we are living, drugs, mafia corruption, how the high society is the most terrible, how money can buy some things, like friends. Why? Because there is a part almost at the end of the book in which Holly has a big problem, she is in prison because she is linked with Sally Tomato, a mafia leader, actually Holly is (according to the author) guilty because she did some things, visits to Sally Tomato to receive money, but in this part, the most difficult part of the life of Holly, she needs help, so the author (who is narrating the facts) looks for Mag Wildhood's telephone number, first of all, Mag who was Holly's friend gets married with Rusty, a rich man, who was the companion of Holly, at least, she could think of helping Holly, but not, she says Holly is a bitch, and she and her husband (Rusty) doesn't want to know nothing about Holly, also his over, Jose a Brazilian leaves Holly, in order to keep his image, his "name" (because he is a diplomatic), and the women who lives in the same building as Holly and the narrator, says terrible things and hits Holly on her face. So, we can make a kind of conclusion and it's that people only think about themselves, it doesn't matter if you are suffering a lot, if you need help, is actually an overview of the real important in the society, basically the high society, because Truman Capote is always doing a kind of criticism to these people, people without values, so...Truman Capote gives us another view of this society, the sickness, the famous girls, all that.
Holly wasn't a good person, she didn't have anything in her head but she was a woman who was battling, fighting always with society she was living in, all the characters found in the book had a specific features: how people are in real world. For instance, people who take care of their public image, real love, values, mafia, corruption (expressed by Tony Morrison in the video). These elements are a part of the real world, through the author we can see another society, a sick society and we can think about these things, we can analyze the world we are living in.
I wish I had more time to write, because I enjoyed a lot this book, because is another view an excellent writer gives us.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
I think that Toni Morrison and her work match the writer described by her because Morrison’s work is a reflection about the social practices in which all the persons who conform a specific cultural context are involved. In her work she tries to show a reality bur she also tries, deeply and sensitively, to explore the impact and influence of this reality over each person. Thus Morrison gives the opportunity to be aware of how we shape our personality, our thought, and so on, in relation with the other and also in relation with our social and cultural reality. In Tar Baby Toni Morrison explores this kind of phenomenon between black and black, black and white, and women and men showing different situation and problems when the characters share their psychological, cultural and emotional features.
Diana L
Diana L
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Una reflexioncita...
Quisiera recordar un poco nuestra primera publicación, acerca de la definición de lectura que cada uno dio... debo decir que - (y lo digo en español para tener una mejor fluidez en mis pensamientos) - con la experiencia de lectura de este semestre, aún estoy ( o estamos... para muchos... creo y disculpan los que no) en pañales con respecto a las palabras que construyen universos, con aquellas que nos permiten liberarnos y con las que, algunas veces, aborrecemos... sin embargo hace poco releyendo un pasaje de un libro de Ivan Eguez - La Lectura, esa íntima batalla- me encontre con estas palabras que quisiera compartir:
"Aquí está mi voz en su oído para decirle que sin usted, lector, esto no existe; sin otro que sintonice, esto sería una semilla estéril. Pero gracias al tímpano de su alma, gracias a la Palabra -ánima también, pero en los labios del cacumen-, ambos ya estamos en la gran jugada: la lectura, es decir, la creación, la posibilidad de otra vida en la vida. Sólo de este modo puedo reforestar sus sueños, reabastecer de alas a sus pájaros en pleno vuelo, y de esta manera usted puede enriquecer este desvarío, encontrarle sentidos que sólo su vivencia tiene la capacidad de descubrir y dialogar. No se trata de una exégesis sino de un contacto, de un posible intercambio de sentidos"
Aprendamos un poco sobre todo através de las palabras... paridoras de vida... leamos, leamos y releamos.... que sigan siendo felices Rogelio les dice...
"Aquí está mi voz en su oído para decirle que sin usted, lector, esto no existe; sin otro que sintonice, esto sería una semilla estéril. Pero gracias al tímpano de su alma, gracias a la Palabra -ánima también, pero en los labios del cacumen-, ambos ya estamos en la gran jugada: la lectura, es decir, la creación, la posibilidad de otra vida en la vida. Sólo de este modo puedo reforestar sus sueños, reabastecer de alas a sus pájaros en pleno vuelo, y de esta manera usted puede enriquecer este desvarío, encontrarle sentidos que sólo su vivencia tiene la capacidad de descubrir y dialogar. No se trata de una exégesis sino de un contacto, de un posible intercambio de sentidos"
Aprendamos un poco sobre todo através de las palabras... paridoras de vida... leamos, leamos y releamos.... que sigan siendo felices Rogelio les dice...
Monday, 31 May 2010
Does Capote "match" with the writter described by Toni Morrison?
Toni Morrison's speech has one particular word that captured my attention, "chaos". The universe so wide, so infinite his simple form of essence is chaos. Nevertheless, we couldn't say that this is his unique form; there is also "light" whose obviously is the contrast of chaos. Our universe, our world is full of these ambigous contrasts. However, the magic trick is that "reality" keeps these two essences in touch, no matter how far away you're in chaos you always have the opportunity to see the light and vice versa.
Breakfast at Tiffany's shows a world in one particular character, Holy Golightly. Holly's life throught the pages is a enormous chaos; her adventures, her fights, her reflections are continuously changing and getting so far from imagination until it gets to the point that you can see that her chaos is real and perhaps you could understand and feel his experience. But, Capote is the only key to understand this character, otherwise if we could find a holly walk down the street, we definitively wouldn't care a bit. For that reason, I belived Truman Capote "matchs" with Morrison's idea of writer because he was the light that illuminated the holly's chaos and because he built "the universe of invisibles meanings" that maintain my eyes through the pages of breakfast at tiffany's.
Freedom of writers
Does the writer you are reading match the writer described by Toni Morrison?
Give concrete examples from the literary piece you are reading to illustrate your answer
Yes, Mary Gaitskill matches in some way what Toni Morrison has said, through her writing I’ve discovered how to regard beyond in my society, I’ve learnt to reflect about what happens around me, as Toni Morrison said, I was called by “Because they wanted to” to built a deeper look about the government, about the university, about my family situation, about the girl next door, what I want to say is that Mary has taught me trough her short stories to increase my reflexive points of view.
Mary talks about real people, having real problems, she’s “disturbing” what people know about society, because she’s showing reality using her characters, for example in her short story “because they wanted to” she shows a girl who is taking care of some children who were abandoned, the thing is the girl (babysitter) didn’t know what happened.
So when I read the story I confronted it with my context and I realized that there are thousands of possibilities that that situation could happen here, of course!!!, a mother who is in a bad situation, looks for someone to take care of her children and then leaves… because she has no job, no money for raising her sons, I was like touched in a deep way by Mary, even if she doesn’t know Colombia, I do, and what I’ve just said it’s true.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Deer heart
needing a bit of color
needing a lot of magic
waiting for the deer heart
Will you steer me towards the clear?
towards the clean form?
towards the pure form?
needing a lot of magic
waiting for the deer heart
Will you steer me towards the clear?
towards the clean form?
towards the pure form?
Does Adam Haslett match the writer described by Toni Morrison?
It's impossible for me to say that Adam Haslett matches the writer described by Toni Morrison perfectly, however I could say, according to my perception of the book “You are not a stranger here”, that there are some aspects in which Haslett could match that writer.
First, Haslett expresses the consequences, the result of a broken society. In my opinion the basic distinction I have from the book is some kind of disconnection of the people with their families, as in “The Beginnings of Grief”, in which a young boy who lives with substitute parents is involved in a reality of drugs and desperation without any help or support. In our society, in our world this behavior rejected because of our “comatose” state of life. As everything is in coma, the feelings of shame and desperation are hidden.
To continue with this idea, in “War's end”, a professor has to handle with his mental disorder (if it really exists); with his frustration of not taking charge of his role of husband. But he found another chance, outside, where his illness had no importance, with people he considered strange. This radical individualism is the starter of the majority of these disorders, and it has been presented as a form of a main personal goal by the worldwide net of control shared by the governments.
And that impossibility of communication is clearly reflected in “Notes to my Biographer”. Adam Haslett tries, in my opinion, to disturb this state of coma presenting us how important the other is, and how important the family is for the young people and for the elders.
I get from Morrison's speech the idea of a writer who disturbs and shocks the established patterns, but not because she or he wants to make that just for fad but because it is a deep feeling which moves the deepest threads of her/his soul. A feeling which claims for revolution but not the people’s revolution with violence and with the goal of change a social system, the revolution those writers want is firstly their own revolution, in their own lives and after, and only if it is possible because this isn't their main objective, to help in some way to build and to feed the own revolution in every reader that they might have. That single revolution gets along with one of the last ideas Morrison mentioned, that idea about the choice of stillness but stillness that becomes art, art for constructing meanings and for sharing with the others, those who want to begin with their change.
Now, if I think that the author of the book that I am reading fulfills those ideas of a writer, of course, not because is Morrison herself (I am reading beloved) but because in this book there are many examples of shocking the false peace of a world which did not want to recognize the abuses and the pain produced by slavery. I do not know what examples I can mention for showing that I have read the book but maybe I could say that the most shocking was not that a mother killed her own daughter, or the abuses applied on the slaves; the most shocking event was the love that Denver had for Beloved. She thought her mother had a debt with that girl, and at the same time, she had that debt too. For that reason Denver loved Beloved in that strong way. So I feel myself identified with Denver, in some way I have always thought that my mother has a debt with my oldest brother; therefore my love for him is bigger than the love for my other brothers.
Now, if I think that the author of the book that I am reading fulfills those ideas of a writer, of course, not because is Morrison herself (I am reading beloved) but because in this book there are many examples of shocking the false peace of a world which did not want to recognize the abuses and the pain produced by slavery. I do not know what examples I can mention for showing that I have read the book but maybe I could say that the most shocking was not that a mother killed her own daughter, or the abuses applied on the slaves; the most shocking event was the love that Denver had for Beloved. She thought her mother had a debt with that girl, and at the same time, she had that debt too. For that reason Denver loved Beloved in that strong way. So I feel myself identified with Denver, in some way I have always thought that my mother has a debt with my oldest brother; therefore my love for him is bigger than the love for my other brothers.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
The Writer' spirit
Does the writer you are reading match the writer describe by Toni Morrison?
Give concrete examples from the literary piece you are reading to illustrate your answer.
I strongly believe that Toni Morrison, who is the writer I’m reading, does match perfectly in the description she herself proposes to define, I would say, a writer’ spirit. I will illustrate such consideration by remarking some strong reflections she makes in her speech.
I can appreciate and observe the strong image that comes to my mind when she says that the writers disturb the social coma (peace), when they take a deeper look regarding to the reality and also when she says that the writers can transform the social trauma, that is to say, they are capable to turn the sorrow into meaning. The book I’m reading is clever in doing so.
First, the story itself inquires me and confronts me to see the sadness of the racism from the author point of view, and that happens when she proposes the dead as a way out to the slavery, to this kind of suffering.
I remember Sethe the main character, saying to a guy named Paul D that the worst part of that suffering was to be alive. The shocking part is reveled when Sethe decide to kill her own daughter in order to set her free, in a not easy act of braveness. At that moment is where the big question is placed.This sorrow turned into meaning by this author, allows me to at least, understand the deep roots of racism
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
I’m reading “Sula” by Toni Morrison and her writer’s description was a deeper description of what she is, as a writer. I remembered the Susan Sontag interview in which she said that “being a writer is a good position from which you can pay attention to the world and realities” and I consider that this phrase describes very well Toni Morrison intervention (the video). Is difficult for a writer ignores the world and realities, they have a deeper look of the things, they build meaning, faces, characters and stories, some real some fiction but always from a deeper overview that carries us to think in those aspects and questioning about their existence.
In Sula’s book, the author is like a witness that has the ability to describe that society not only in their cultural aspects but also in theirs moods and feelings as individual persons, one examples of that was the part in which Hannah, Sula’s mother asked her mother Eva if she loved her children and she answered saying that she was very busy to think about it because she had to bring food for them so, in that part the author let us to see part of Eva’s feelings, carrying us to think in more than super-fictional things.
In Sula’s book, the author is like a witness that has the ability to describe that society not only in their cultural aspects but also in theirs moods and feelings as individual persons, one examples of that was the part in which Hannah, Sula’s mother asked her mother Eva if she loved her children and she answered saying that she was very busy to think about it because she had to bring food for them so, in that part the author let us to see part of Eva’s feelings, carrying us to think in more than super-fictional things.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
exam, written part
I have to say that when I read for the first time the question I thought my answer would be negative, but Toni Morrison gives, I think, a completely description about what the writer is, and if you get deeply in Mary Gaitskill's work you can find many things that Toni Morrison says in the video.
As I said in first place, I thought my answer would be negative because Mary Gaitskill writes about uncommon and personal topics like sex, and although I say that is an uncommon and a personal topic, actually it is not, because sex makes part of all people.
Perceptive: Guao! I liked a lot a part of a story when through a character Mary talks about the ugly world of Hollywood, she is very perceptive at this moment, because everybody thinks Hollywood is amazing but she writes about the superficial and horrible of this path. “He found Hollywood too horrible to bear. “the vanity... the falsity it's so base. You lose everything, you turn into this creature”
She narrates the life of people around the culture of sex. Writing is freedom, so Mary is able to say things nobody dares to say, because sex is a “taboo”.
As I said in first place, I thought my answer would be negative because Mary Gaitskill writes about uncommon and personal topics like sex, and although I say that is an uncommon and a personal topic, actually it is not, because sex makes part of all people.
Perceptive: Guao! I liked a lot a part of a story when through a character Mary talks about the ugly world of Hollywood, she is very perceptive at this moment, because everybody thinks Hollywood is amazing but she writes about the superficial and horrible of this path. “He found Hollywood too horrible to bear. “the vanity... the falsity it's so base. You lose everything, you turn into this creature”
She narrates the life of people around the culture of sex. Writing is freedom, so Mary is able to say things nobody dares to say, because sex is a “taboo”.
Mary abandoned the control and then she wrote, wrote about herself, about people she knows or she knew, about her experience, and about what she imagined of her life, but she used other voices and she caught all those things into different characters.
What I want to say is that she wrote about the terrible life and there are cultural forces that drive us to some places or situations. Crhisthian Diaz Calderon.
TONI MORRISON'S DEFINITION OF WRITERS
"...Writers contruct meanig in chaos... writers turn sorrow into meaning..."
In Toni Morrison's speech, she says that a writer causes "troubles" with its words; troubles in social realities, political issues in day by day situations.
It is funny because it is true. Writers are the voices of the untold reality, the facts that nobody touches or even those that are as common as life itself.
In Toni Morrison's Novel "Sula", (the one I am reading), she pointed on the fact that a young black woman in the 1920's leaves her house, her family, her traditions, her "life" and goes after her expectations. It is a shocking and disturbing act, not only because she is a young black woman, but the fact she is located in a moment of history when it was unthinkable for a woman to do that, to express her individuality, her motivation of life, her desire of giving a "meaning" - a real one - to her "being".
On the other hand, Morrison tells us the story of Nell, Sula's best friend in her childhood, a good looking black female, who was taught the good manners of a woman in society, the correct language to use and the way a "good" black woman must behave. But deep inside, she was eager to look for something else, even when she was a little one, (age 12) after she came back from New Orleans from her grandmother's funeral; she recognized herself as a "me", a strong "me" reflected in a mirror.
Those examples of individuality, of self-recognition, show us the generosity of Morrison in her cultural and political "writer-being". She is a trouble maker because she expresses the voices of those passionate females and their lives. She responses to the - historic - chaos of the US, first naming and telling the story; then she mapped it locating the story in a black community and, finally; she expresses her "stillness" by defying the status of two black woman.
That is why I think Toni Morrison matches "perflectly" her own definition of a writer.
In Toni Morrison's speech, she says that a writer causes "troubles" with its words; troubles in social realities, political issues in day by day situations.
It is funny because it is true. Writers are the voices of the untold reality, the facts that nobody touches or even those that are as common as life itself.
In Toni Morrison's Novel "Sula", (the one I am reading), she pointed on the fact that a young black woman in the 1920's leaves her house, her family, her traditions, her "life" and goes after her expectations. It is a shocking and disturbing act, not only because she is a young black woman, but the fact she is located in a moment of history when it was unthinkable for a woman to do that, to express her individuality, her motivation of life, her desire of giving a "meaning" - a real one - to her "being".
On the other hand, Morrison tells us the story of Nell, Sula's best friend in her childhood, a good looking black female, who was taught the good manners of a woman in society, the correct language to use and the way a "good" black woman must behave. But deep inside, she was eager to look for something else, even when she was a little one, (age 12) after she came back from New Orleans from her grandmother's funeral; she recognized herself as a "me", a strong "me" reflected in a mirror.
Those examples of individuality, of self-recognition, show us the generosity of Morrison in her cultural and political "writer-being". She is a trouble maker because she expresses the voices of those passionate females and their lives. She responses to the - historic - chaos of the US, first naming and telling the story; then she mapped it locating the story in a black community and, finally; she expresses her "stillness" by defying the status of two black woman.
That is why I think Toni Morrison matches "perflectly" her own definition of a writer.
Did you realize how a “grade” can shape us?
It’s funny to think about that because maybe I’m writing about a dilemma even I’m playing with a double-edged sword (I hope can handle it in a smooth way). But since we have a grade between us and our success, sometimes we fell in the game (yes! Don’t deny it, we are all sinners) entering ourselves into a pathetic role playing as bootlickers or little toadies (I’m not judging anyone) standing boring, tedious activities that seem to be everlasting in order to give a good perception to your “viewers”: “Oh, that’s a hard-worker guy/girl attending all the activities and doing very good interventions” however, there’s a common goal in all that superficial stuff: fighting for a good grade…
Beyond the meaningful objectives and all the interest we have in every reading, discussion, whatever! (Really believe it) It remains a dark side on the table: a little voice far away saying: “oh god! When are we going to finish this, have we taken all the time to do THIS? Maybe this time would be more pleasant and better used if I do other assignments” But no! Keep going, don’t cancel it, don’t cancel it!
Language is something that grows in society and needs practice every time, but attention and a good environment where people could feel the tentative to take part in that is also relevant. A good reading is good because it is! (Think about it) a bad selection of activities around it can turn it into something boring and a lack of initiative, on the other hand I don’t see the aim if you come and sit down feeling left out, be confident! No matter if you open your mouth to say “des conneries” just to get the attention of the professor and thinking that as a better grade in your 30 % of “trabajo continuo”, pffff (yes I said it!)
Grade, grade, grade… A good grade makes us good learners or disciplined people doing what they have to…???
(The thoughts in here don't represent the thinking of the author)
Obviously I will be waiting for my 5.0...
eehhh just kidding, Ironic subject for Ironic people.
Does the writer you are reading "match" the writer described by Toni Morrison?
Of course! They’re closely related in many aspects of her life, noted in her style of writing. As Toni Morrison said we are caught in a world where dictators, fools are in charge of the most part of our activities. This world's impact has to be abolished/erased from people's perspective, even a minority has to do all the work by themselves, THIS IS A CLAIM FOR HUMANITY! The writer profile given by Toni Morrison is a clear example of what Mary Gaitskill tries to express in her work, we can appreciate the conception of censorship in her short stories, but in the very own way that Mary Gaitskill develops them. We talk about a "non-censorship" that gives a tremendous meaning to her writing, "a romantic weekend" is the proof of that, while reading this short story you feel the chaos that Beth is living, trapped in a sado-masochistic relation that turns the sequence into something desperate and passionate with a morbid sense; or in "secretary" how this apparently "common" woman became a savage lover that explores a completely new sexual world with her employer. Mary Gaitskill shows how people’s judgment does not matter in the development of her "pieces of art".
We can also see in Gaitskill's work the perception of violence (described by Toni Morrison as one of the tools of Chaos with naming), however, her characters seem to be in perfect harmony with that issue, because they love feeling absorbed by external facts and the inside part that it takes consequently. We can say that Mary Gaitskill's stories take part in society issues, not in the common way (showing what is 'correctly good') but making a reflection (inner reflection) developed by oneself. This nightmare as Toni Morrison presented is called society and is up to us to find a widely-opened view of what we want to happen in this unknown world.
Monday, 24 May 2010
According to Toni Morrison’s speech, I could say that Samuel Becket was a writer who had many characteristics that Morrison describes: one of them and what I considered is the most important and the most beautiful is “Building meaning through imagination”. I think Samuel Becket had a lot of this characteristic and I could read it in waiting or Godot when he created theses characters; Vladimir, Estragon waiting for someone who never arrives, and just some years ago Samuel was living in the middle of the World War II, but using his imagination and combine it with his real experiences, he could create a play where represents in certain way the appreciation of life for people involved in this catastrophic war and for him, on the other hand I can see how too how Godot became hope.
Maybe hope for Vladimir in a different sense than for Estragon and the boy, but maybe those characters shared their different perception of hope with millions of people who lived during the period of the World War II; perhaps Becket saw many Vladimirs and Estragons. And here I remark other characteristic that Samuel Becket had of which Morrison talked about, because as Toni said an author has to go deeper and look what’s really going on and also take place from where he or she is, in the case of Becket, he could take place of his world around him and did what he could do, to write. And I’m sure he never lived the nightmare of an author (Never been posted). In fact Becket was persecuted because he defended his ideas, his beginnings and always tried to exposed what he thought about humankind , about society about his own existence, and he didn’t fall in what many authors fall, in passivity and stillness.
Waiting for Godot was and is the sample that Becket was really interested on write about the real reality and not just to write without sense.
Luis Fernando Agudelo
Toni Morrison’s speech is about the freedom of expression in the contemporary world and how through history writers have been persecuted by different political regimes. Writers construct meaning with their works and they have an impact on society, for this reason, the protection must be initiated by other writers who form a big power.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a short novel written in 1958 by the American author Truman Capote (1924-1984), is a good example of persecution or criticism toward author’s thought. Capote introduced a new style and used new language in which he criticized social conventions, therefore this book was forbidden. But, this oppositely caused an author’s success. He dealt with homosexuality using a new language which was “inadequate” for that moment, some people only saw this point. Instead the real meaning of the book was the identity search through the two main characters who had different psychological features and different points of view about the life, but with their sincere friendship and respect each other, they created a meaningful life.
GLORIA PATRICIA MARTÍNEZ
Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a short novel written in 1958 by the American author Truman Capote (1924-1984), is a good example of persecution or criticism toward author’s thought. Capote introduced a new style and used new language in which he criticized social conventions, therefore this book was forbidden. But, this oppositely caused an author’s success. He dealt with homosexuality using a new language which was “inadequate” for that moment, some people only saw this point. Instead the real meaning of the book was the identity search through the two main characters who had different psychological features and different points of view about the life, but with their sincere friendship and respect each other, they created a meaningful life.
GLORIA PATRICIA MARTÍNEZ
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