1. Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts, characters.
Folklore- the collection, classification, and interpretation of many products of human interaction in their full cultural context.
Oral folklore- not casual or formal discussions but communicative events that are memorable, repeatable and fit recurring social situations.
Tradition- a consistency that connects familiar names and phrases and turns it into folklore.
Urban legends- a subclass of folk narratives, unlike fairytales are believable, unlike myths are more recent, and humans are the main characters.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
“We must make the best of what we have (as this book attempts to do) and we must encourage the further study of urban legends in much more depth and with better social, cultural, and performance data.”
Brunvand uses “New Legends for Old” to explain the structure of folklore and the motivations behind their creation. He describes them as constantly changing each time they are retold, whether to suit the new audience or improve the storyline. It is as though legends are edited and revised by their teller each time they are shared. Sometimes they are told to evoke certain emotions from listeners, or even carry a moral. Since legends do have facts to make the fiction more real, he believes by studying myths, people can gain perspective on the past, society and the ideals upheld of that time.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
In today’s fast-paced world with more communication taking place on the internet/AIM/phone/etc., will oral folklore become extinct and remembered as something of the past?
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Alyssa: “The Fascination of the Miniature” by Steven Millhauser
1. Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts, or characters.
o The miniature does not exist in isolation: It is by nature a smaller version of something else.
o The miniature implies a relation, a discrepancy.
o The eye is forced to perform an act of recognition.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include a quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
“I believe the answer is this, that discrepancy of size is a form of distortion, and all forms of distortion shock us into attention: The inattentive and jaded eye, passing through a world without interest, helplessly perceives that something in the bland panorama is not as it should be.”
Something small isn’t what catches our eyes. A piece of salt or even an ant does not fascinate us. It may catch our eye, but we don’t give it so much attention, as we might give a mini bottle of ketchup or a mini ping pong table. A miniature is a smaller version of something else. It is a relation. “The eye is irritated into attention.”
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
When you look at a miniature, do you stare at the tiny details or do you look at the miniature as a whole? Do you ever imagine what the original size looks like? Do you ever think to yourself: “what if I was a miniature?” Do you think you would have the same outlook on life?
o The miniature does not exist in isolation: It is by nature a smaller version of something else.
o The miniature implies a relation, a discrepancy.
o The eye is forced to perform an act of recognition.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include a quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
“I believe the answer is this, that discrepancy of size is a form of distortion, and all forms of distortion shock us into attention: The inattentive and jaded eye, passing through a world without interest, helplessly perceives that something in the bland panorama is not as it should be.”
Something small isn’t what catches our eyes. A piece of salt or even an ant does not fascinate us. It may catch our eye, but we don’t give it so much attention, as we might give a mini bottle of ketchup or a mini ping pong table. A miniature is a smaller version of something else. It is a relation. “The eye is irritated into attention.”
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
When you look at a miniature, do you stare at the tiny details or do you look at the miniature as a whole? Do you ever imagine what the original size looks like? Do you ever think to yourself: “what if I was a miniature?” Do you think you would have the same outlook on life?
Jon S.: The Fascination of the Miniature by Steven Millhauser
1. Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts, or characters.
Fascination- The state of being extremely interested. In order to fully understand Millhausers main idea in this essay, we need to think why we are so fascinated by the miniature things as opposed to something minute?
Miniature- A small scale reproduction. We may be amazed by something which is small; however something that is an imitation of something else seems to excite us even more.
Discrepancy- Discrepancy is the difference of two measurements of the same quantity. When Millhauser explains miniature he uses discrepancy as one of his key words. “The miniature that is to say, implies a relation, a discrepancy.” He is not trying to say measurement so much, but the same idea, in that something we know to be something big we see as a smaller version.
Distortion- Changing the way an object looks by stretching or changing it to make it more interesting or to emphasize the image or object in a different way. This just explains in more detail what a miniature of something really is.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
“Smallness alone compels no wonder. A grain of sand, an ant, a raindrop, a bottle cap, may interest or amaze the eye, but they do not arrest the attention with that peculiar intensity elicited by the miniature.”
When Steven Millhauser wrote this essay he was trying to teach us (human beings) that small things such as the examples he uses earlier, do not entice or arouse are curiosity as much as the miniature objects in this world.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
At the end of his essay Steven Millhauser begins to question the idea of this discrepancy in a broader sense. “Some understanding of the spell cast by this particular discrepancy may be gained by first considering the nature of the particular discrepancy that is the gigantic.” Is ones curiosity drawn to the larger things as it is to the miniature? Do larger things attract our attention as the miniature's do?
Fascination- The state of being extremely interested. In order to fully understand Millhausers main idea in this essay, we need to think why we are so fascinated by the miniature things as opposed to something minute?
Miniature- A small scale reproduction. We may be amazed by something which is small; however something that is an imitation of something else seems to excite us even more.
Discrepancy- Discrepancy is the difference of two measurements of the same quantity. When Millhauser explains miniature he uses discrepancy as one of his key words. “The miniature that is to say, implies a relation, a discrepancy.” He is not trying to say measurement so much, but the same idea, in that something we know to be something big we see as a smaller version.
Distortion- Changing the way an object looks by stretching or changing it to make it more interesting or to emphasize the image or object in a different way. This just explains in more detail what a miniature of something really is.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
“Smallness alone compels no wonder. A grain of sand, an ant, a raindrop, a bottle cap, may interest or amaze the eye, but they do not arrest the attention with that peculiar intensity elicited by the miniature.”
When Steven Millhauser wrote this essay he was trying to teach us (human beings) that small things such as the examples he uses earlier, do not entice or arouse are curiosity as much as the miniature objects in this world.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
At the end of his essay Steven Millhauser begins to question the idea of this discrepancy in a broader sense. “Some understanding of the spell cast by this particular discrepancy may be gained by first considering the nature of the particular discrepancy that is the gigantic.” Is ones curiosity drawn to the larger things as it is to the miniature? Do larger things attract our attention as the miniature's do?
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Calogero: A Community By Any Other Name
1. Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts, or characters.
Community -- a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
Utopia -- an ideal place or state.
Home -- the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
The main idea of the reading can be summed up in a few words: “Home is where you make it.” Whether it is in a small, designed community or in the open range, people decide where “home” is. The poet Gary Snyder (in Homeplace essay) writes about our need to “inhabit” a place. He states: “…Life in the United States depends in part on people, neighborhood by neighborhood, county by county…”
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
Why do people live where they do? What reasons make them stay or move to another place? Is living in a certain area beyond the fact of just real estate? Is “home” just a shelter you live in or a part of life?
Community -- a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
Utopia -- an ideal place or state.
Home -- the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
The main idea of the reading can be summed up in a few words: “Home is where you make it.” Whether it is in a small, designed community or in the open range, people decide where “home” is. The poet Gary Snyder (in Homeplace essay) writes about our need to “inhabit” a place. He states: “…Life in the United States depends in part on people, neighborhood by neighborhood, county by county…”
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
Why do people live where they do? What reasons make them stay or move to another place? Is living in a certain area beyond the fact of just real estate? Is “home” just a shelter you live in or a part of life?
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Jessica: “What Writing Is”
1. Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts or characters.
Stephen King - a famous writer
Telepathy - communication between minds by some means other than sensory perception
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include a quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair-the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart.”
This quote means that even if you have all these feelings towards something you can never completely get the feeling in writing. The words will still never equal how you feel. The author Stephen King basically says that writing is easy. Through his writing, there is a connection between the author and reader.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon on specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
What makes it easy for you to write? Is it easier for you to write when something happens to you, or can you just pick up a pen and start writing?
Stephen King - a famous writer
Telepathy - communication between minds by some means other than sensory perception
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action, or event of the reading. Be sure to include a quotation that best captures the overall feeling or mood of the reading.
“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair-the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart.”
This quote means that even if you have all these feelings towards something you can never completely get the feeling in writing. The words will still never equal how you feel. The author Stephen King basically says that writing is easy. Through his writing, there is a connection between the author and reader.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon on specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
What makes it easy for you to write? Is it easier for you to write when something happens to you, or can you just pick up a pen and start writing?
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Jon Claude: "Observing the Ordinary"
1. Identify and briefly define important words, terms, concepts, or characters.
The important words are: notice, analyze, observe, and ordinary. Some of the Concepts of this piece are:
- Observing and taking notice is similar to analytical writing
- To analyze we must take notice of the detail of the ordinary, the everyday
- The observations we make not only give us evidence to make inferences about the subject but ourselves as well.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotations that best capture the overall feeling or the mood of the reading.
The feeling I was given by the author was as if she was trying to impart knowledge upon me by opening my eyes to the world around me and showing me how to use it to write analytically. The quote I chose to represent this mood was, “To be an effective thinker and writer you need to bring all of you sight - and insight – to bear on what is around you.” The main idea of this piece of writing was: By properly analyzing everything, as if it were a photo, and taking notice of the ordinary and extraordinary is what it takes to make a memorable writer.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
Is analyzing the world around you while bearing you thought on paper all it that is necessary to become a memorable or even good writer? Is achieving the state of mind to do such a thing even possible?
The important words are: notice, analyze, observe, and ordinary. Some of the Concepts of this piece are:
- Observing and taking notice is similar to analytical writing
- To analyze we must take notice of the detail of the ordinary, the everyday
- The observations we make not only give us evidence to make inferences about the subject but ourselves as well.
2. Summarize the main idea, theme, action or event of the reading. Be sure to include quotations that best capture the overall feeling or the mood of the reading.
The feeling I was given by the author was as if she was trying to impart knowledge upon me by opening my eyes to the world around me and showing me how to use it to write analytically. The quote I chose to represent this mood was, “To be an effective thinker and writer you need to bring all of you sight - and insight – to bear on what is around you.” The main idea of this piece of writing was: By properly analyzing everything, as if it were a photo, and taking notice of the ordinary and extraordinary is what it takes to make a memorable writer.
3. Formulate a question for discussion. The question should be relatively substantial, based upon a specified passage or scene from the text, and capable of sustaining a thoughtful discussion.
Is analyzing the world around you while bearing you thought on paper all it that is necessary to become a memorable or even good writer? Is achieving the state of mind to do such a thing even possible?
Friday, September 7, 2007
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