Viet Nam

When Professor Rhodes gave us writing prompts in class on Wednesday, for some reason my memory settled on a magazine photo that I had seen when I was only 8 years old. It was in Time magazine and can be seen at the website: http://www.famouspictures.org/mag/index.php?title=Vietnam_Execution.

Mom and dad subscribed to numerous magazines and encouraged us kids to read, but they didn't count on me finding the photo in Time of a Viet Kong soldier being executed by an enemy General. The photo, to this day, sends chills down my spine, and while I can't remember what I did yesterday, I can remember the soldier's face perfectly.

I remember asking mom why the photographer didn't stop the killer, and why we (I guess I meant the U.S.), didn't punish the "bad man" for what he did. She calmly explained that the "bad man" was on our side and if he hadn't killed the soldier, the soldier would have eventually killed him. I just didn't get it, but I kept my thoughts to myself, mulling over good and evil-a conversation I still have with myself to this day.

Because of that photo, I do not trust people who say they're "doing the right thing," especially in the name of God. I do not trust politicians who want to rush into war, unless they want to be on the front line with the soldiers, and for better or worse, after that day I no longer trusted my parents' version of the truth.

How this ties into computer technology is that images of war are now commonplace. No one flinches anymore when dead bodies are shown on the news or on news websites. We have so much more access to what is going on in the world, which I think is a good thing, because it stirs us to action and allows us access to help others in need. I just hope we don't lose the significance of the horrors of war.

Twitter can be fun

Learning to Twitter was something I never thought I'd do, but surrounded by other 'Twitterers," I really enjoyed the experience. I also felt more connected to the world around me, watching the youtube videos and visiting the hyperlinked sites. Curiousity was the key that led me from site to site, not knowing what I'd find. It was lovely just to be led again, like a school kid, to new and surprising pieces of art, cartoons, political sites, etc.

Selfe speaks of the potential for a sense of community through technology, citing Negroponte's view of the future generation as "emerging from the digital landscape free of many of the old prejudices. These kids are released from the limitation of geographic promximity as the sole basis of friendship, collaboration, play, and the neighborhood" (29, 30). In other words, technology, in concealing superficial tags of wealth, ethnicity, culture, age and gender, allows individuals to speak more freely, listen to viewpoints with less judgement and make friends with people from outside the neighborhood of their streets, cities, countries, races, cultures, and comfort zones. A dose of anonymity can be a unifying experience.

I just found a website that talks about teaching poetry in the classroom in new and engaging ways. It offers a couple of examples for pulling students in to writing projects. The website is: http://www.cpits.org/. Go to the poet/teachers link and click on sample lesson plans.

Foucault and Computers

Chapter 6 of Cynthia Selfe's, Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century, struck a chord with me. Her statement that "technological literacy has been enacted at what Foucault calls the capillary level, 'where the power reaches into the very grain of individuals, touches their bodies and inserts itself into their actions and attitudes, their discourses, learning processes and everyday lives'" (99), mirrors our society today. We speak in computerese. We communicate through cell phones, blackberries, and laptops. From the oldest of us to the youngest, we rely on computer technology to process our bills, remind us of doctor's appointments, program a trip, and communicate with family members and friends who've moved across the country, or maybe live just next door.
When computers crash and cell phones drop our calls, we are more than frustrated. We are temporarily out of touch with the immediacy of the world around us, and we have come to believe that we must constantly monitor as much information as we can download, upload, facebook and twitter. Tuning out is not an option, or is it?

Is the future looking brighter?

Lester Faigley's essay, "Literacy After the Revolution," ruminates on the "revolution of the rich" (32), bemoaning the lack of computers and computer training for all, but I've found that in order to participate at CSUSB, one must have access to a computer and the internet. Blackboard, e-mails, and documents listed on external links seem to be the classroom protocol, and I wonder if Faigley would find the requirements for computer access a step forward, or if he would see them as a deterrent to those who have had no or little previous access to computers.
In other words, are CSUSB's computer literacy requirements pulling in students who are already computer savvy or are they challenging new students to learn skills that may have been denied them in the past. If the latter is true, then the prognosis for the future of those denied access to computers for socio-economic reasons may not be as dire as once thought. Now, the concern would turn to the training offered at the college level, and the time that the professor is given to work with those in need of extra help.

Hello

Thank you to my fellow classmate Thomas for helping me set up this blog.