Continued...

I've been jotting notes and collecting memories the past few days, it's been a good time of remembering. There are so many facets to the woman I grew up knowing that it's difficult for me to decide what will best convey my sense of her. Please bear with me as I find the my voice.

Her home was immaculate. I don't mean tidy... I mean hospital clean, immaculate. Move anything you can envision (bear in mind this woman was prob'ly 5 1/2 feet and one hundred pounds soaking wet). You'd never find a dust-bunny or a smudge regardless the detail of your search. Of particular note were the bed linens, those of amazing white cotton crispness, that only improve with age. This is my personal standard in bedding to this day... in our era of ridiculous thread counts and exotic origins.

Additionally this was a woman who never raised her voice. But make no mistake, she was always heard. Her power (and yet as a very mild self effacing woman I really hate to even use this word) was not in the demanding of respect but in the simple fact that she had earned it. She knew this and so did everyone around her. It is difficult to explain authority that has no insinuated threat... and one that is used humbly with absolutely no desire to exploit.

My earliest memories seem to date back to preschool years... the best impression I can leave is resting gently in the midst of a perfectly sunlit white cloud filled with gentleness, smoothness of sound, and simplicity of spirit.

So... installment one... hope it was pleasurable... remembering was for me =)

Grandmother....

Today I received word that my grandmother is dying. So I have spent this day remembering so many things. She is an amazing woman. It somehow seems fitting that I describe her and share her life, to let you know her as I have known her.

She had 12 siblings and her mother was widowed in the 20's. They lived at the top of a mountain in the Arkansas Ozarks. Life was hard. They worked hard. It would be a kindness to call them farmers.

As entertainment they went to the front porch at the and "made music". For a time I lived on that mountain and I knew the house well. An annual gathering took place each year, I have many memories of that porch in the evening when they'd gather together. My memory tells me it was a very special thing I got to see.

She married, had two children. Family photos during that time show a hard life. This would have been during the Depression as well as the mid-western dust-bowl days. They left home, as so many others did at that time, to eventually land in California to seek their fortunes.

My Grandfather worked on the docks. My Grandmother raised her children and eventually went to work in the Sunshine Biscuit company factory (from which she eventually retired). She rode the bus to work. She and my Grandfather purchased a home in Alameda. I have a hazy vision of the sequence of events during this time however I do know that the second world war came and went.

My Grandfather was not called for service due to injuries from a long ago hunting accident. I imagine in that time that would have been a hard blow for any man to weather. He was a hard man. And a hard drinker. He was not a kind man. Much to his shame he was also illiterate.

My grandmother didn't finish high school. But make no mistake about it, she had a fine mind. In all my years of childhood I saw her read anything and everything, she was a true and loyal national geographic fan... I remember as a kid going thru them and seeing how very large the world really can be.

I tell these things primarily to acknowledge the true difficulty of the circumstances of the life that she lived, in which she shaped herself into the person I grew up to know.

I remember her home in Alameda well. I remember the drive there from Oakland... somehow if only I could hold my breath all the way thru the underwater tunnel I imagined would mark the time which I could make the swim on my own... I never did make it thru the tunnel =)

I remember so many many things about that time. It is etched in my memory along with the sun on the water. I think that with this bit of historical recollection complete I can begin to tell you about the woman I know as my Grandma.

Capitalism...

cap·i·tal·ism

   [kap-i-tl-iz-uhm]  Show IPA

noun

an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is madeand maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations,especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned meansof wealth. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/capitalism

Sounds fair enough right? Business owned privately, exchange of wealth, economic growth, jobs.

These are buzz words I hear all the time to advocate our version of capitalism. And it sounds great. That it would grow and become self sustaining even better... collectively we all as a nation benefit from this idea.

But last night it hit me... this is not a self sustaining system at all... the form of capitalism that has grown in the United States sits squarely like a monkey on the back of big government. Corporations seek profits plain and simple. 

Investment in growing a workforce and care of the elderly are placed under the responsibility of public education and social aid programs. Lobbyists hold the ears of our electorate to council beneficial legislation... for our citizens? No... for the greater good of capitalism... you know, that system with a ravenous appetite to consume more and more without accountability or benefit to any other than the bottom line. 

In reality I think Democracy and Capitalism are both good. It is simply the manner in which the two have become perverted within our country that I believe needs scrutiny... these days, these times... we are not self sustaining.

Food for thought.

Starry Starry Night

Last night I waited till the wee hours of the morning to watch meteor showers. Almost like a child waiting for Santa the anticipation mounted as the minutes slowly ticked off.

This was no simple meteor shower, the Perseids are an annual event in their own right. It’s early to start watching for them but the apex of the event hails a full moon. But there are also two smaller events going on, the Delta Aquarids and the Alpha Capricornids. Combined with the start of the Perseids and a nearly moonless night sounded like some promising star watching and I was ready!

Finally 2AM! I lowered the lights, turned off the outdoor floods, stepped out into the still night air. I selected my spot and lay on the deck gazing upward expectantly. Almost immediately I was rewarded. A brilliant white streak painted across the night sky, almost certainly a Perseid. Seconds later another meteor, this one very low and yellow streaked low on the sky. This one was the trophy of the night, from the Alpha Capricornids, stunning.

The action would pick up and then lull. I found my attention wandering and taking in the beauty of the evening. Immediately on stepping out the door I was on sensory overload. There were so many sounds that it took several minutes of listing to begin to sort out the riot of individual voices singing out with such zealous joy. First the frogs, there must be thousands of them, in the ponds, in the woods, hell at any moment I expected them to come pouring from the sky like that bizarre scene from the film Magnolia. Slowly I was able to pick out the voices, the rhythm section provided a creee-creee-creee pulsing beat, steady and repeating. Another lighter voice intermittently wove in and out of this beat but still playing within the framework of that steady rhythm, then way down deep I could make out the rumble of bull frogs, surely the base section. Delightful, a frog chorus!

In my stillness I began to make out other sounds, the splash of the waterfall on the fish pond beside me, the sound of water is always beautiful, cool, refreshing. The occasional comforting snuffle of horses grazing in the pasture nearby added another dimension to the sounds of the night. Further away a hoot owl talking in a one sided conversation, his voice carrying far thru the woods to another that I could not hear. The air was soft warm and fragrant, sweet smelling, like fresh grass.

I closed my eyes to more fully focus and sort out, appreciating all the elements of this evening. But wait… I’m here to look at stars! My eyes flew open and again I was rewarded. The starlit sky which is glorious in its own right with the bonus of a celestial light show making what seemed already perfect even more amazing.

And that was my starry starry night =)

Final Summarization of the blogging assignment:

I began this assignment with the very clear objective to discuss a current event and attempt to personalize it for readers. At some point during the process, I realized that this had become personal in a different way. At this time in my life I am striving for self-improvement working to rediscover my own voice. In a way my expression of a compassionate view towards others is also speaking to a compassionate view towards self. Tolerance and acceptance of differences became more of a central theme rather than the mere relation of current events. The ability to write in a “bloggy” or personal mode I think allowed me to make this transition more easily as I was in fact speaking in that voice that I have been trying so hard to find.

The use of visual images was also freeing - choosing images to reinforce my points was a good challenge, but the visual rhetoric analysis was a revelation into what makes a good image speak. It is as if I learned a new language and way in which to communicate thought. By far I will say that this was my favorite part of this assignment. The lessons learned here will be used in many aspects of my future efforts to communicate, which would be the entire point of a composition course, to communicate effectively.

It always is positive to learn, but to enjoy the learning process is a true gift.

Thank you!

Shawn

Visual Rhetoric - final thoughts

Final observations:

I find that this has been a very interesting assignment. I think that most of us on a subconscious level understand that images do profoundly affect our perception of a message. We also should be very aware that this is used frequently to manipulate our thinking. Advertising is certainly guilty of this, and I am pretty certain this is not a secret. But I can see other applications that are not quite so blatant in their efforts to shape our opinions. This is certainly an area for further thought.

Another perspective that I am in the process of mentally working through comes from my interest in the creation of art. Until I sat and looked at the different communication strategies I did not have the vocabulary to express the elements that make one image powerful and another simply a family snapshot. I see now that the images having the most impact are those that combine multiple strategies. Case in point, the surfing kitty only invokes Logos, Pathos and Mythos. It’s a cute picture; it gets its point across and is memorable in its own way. The handshake image on the other hand uses all four strategies to good effect. Additionally this image also is transparent enough in its simplicity to be a different story for each person who views it. Now that is powerful.

Visual Rhetoric - Surfin' Kitty

The image:

This image uses humor to make its point. My subject matter and message in this blog are both pretty heavy, this was a more lighthearted way communicate the accessibility of electronic media. Technology is so pervasive in our world that in fact even a cat (a coffee drinking cat at that) can use it, leave aside all of the mouse jokes =) 

Humor is a good tool, we laugh our minds open and we are receptive to a message.

Logos, Pathos, Ethos, Mythos defined:

Pathos is most certainly a strategy used in this image, we laugh, joyful feelings are invoked. The silliness of a cat at a computer makes us laugh while it also challenges our logic or Logos to recognize that computers are everywhere. I see the two strategies as sort of a double whammy. Invoke a feeling and engage the mind, it’s pretty effective and certainly makes the message more memorable. Mythos is also a player in this image, we are members of a wired society… look around, the only place you don’t have to listen to somebody else’s conversation is on a plane and it looks like that won’t be quiet much longer. I swear I have even heard women on the phone while sitting on a toilet in a public restroom. It’s almost as if we’ve experienced a hostile takeover of our auditory world! I do not see much of a role for Ethos in this image. Our sense of belief, value and trust are not particularly tweaked by the web surfing kitty shown above. 

Conclusion:

There are still people intimidated by the gadgetry we are surrounded by, I know several. When I was training business people to convert to an automated process in their work place I had an elderly gentleman in my classes. I would get calls from him routinely with problems. Imagine my surprise when I went to his office and discovered that his keyboard was sitting on top of his monitor, he’d stand up to type hit enter and have no idea why this wasn’t working for him. I still chuckle at the image. But more importantly I realize that his frustration was very real.

The reality is that everyone is using technology. The point that I was attempting to convey in my blog post is that while people are being enabled in their efforts to rise up and seek freedom using tools to communicate, the same tools are being used by those who would do harm as well. The image is lighthearted but the message is anything but.