john jones | courses

Class on Tuesday was very interesting. I have taken many classes where we have looked at pictures and in turn analyze the messages that are sent whether they were intended or not. I have always been very skeptical of pictures and stories shown especially on the news and for example now the war in Iraq. It is true that pictures speak a thousand words but they may also speak a thousand words that were not intended. I really enjoyed looking at the slides and listening to how many people interpret the messages based on cultural and personal backgrounds. The universal signs really did show how symbols have transgressed across the world to mean the exact same thing almost everywhere.

The concept of a utopia is very interestesting. A utopia is defined as an imaginary, ideal civilization, which may range from a city to a world, and may be regarded as possible in the future. Essentially it is a state of perfection where all involved are in eternal bliss. In Herland the utpoia the men visit is very different from their version of a utopia. At the start of Herland each Jeff, Terry, and Vandyke have extreamly differnet visions of a society with only women. Needless to say they were each supprsied upon their arrival to Herland and the women they come in contact with. Obviously the women were very

Working this past week on the LRO has been a unique experience. I have never had to evaluate myself in a class such as this before. I have of curse done group projects where the teacher has asked the students to evaluate themselves as well as the group but the LRO was extremely different. I think the concept is very interesting. I feel that it makes the students really evaluate themselves but the hard thing with that is knowing how the individual is doing compared to the rest of the class and also in relation to the teacher’s standards. I know that we were given course stands and guidelines as to what each grade requires etc.

I thought class was very interesting on Tuesday. I n many of my classes I have had teachers have always discussed papers. We have often reviewed peers outlines, then rough drafts, followed by anonymous samples of final papers whether they are good or bad. I have found in this class more than any so far just how unique and different every person writing style is from one another. I felt that in high school we were given much more of a standardized outline on how to write an essay. Essays were not necessarily required to be structured into 5 paragraphs but I feel that the writing style and formation was much different than we have seen.

Math is an interesting concept to be the center of D- 503’s world. The general understanding in the text so far deals with the “perfect” formulated world that has been created. There was .2% of the human population left after the two hundred year war which is mind boggling. The entire human race was essentially exterminated and a new human race was born which over thousands of years resembles nothing similar to the human race as we understand it today but rather components of a grand mathematical scheme. D-503 lives by the rules and structure created by the “state” and has no idea with what to do with himself if that structure is not there.

I began reading We this weekend. I had never read it or even heard of it before and was suprised that i had never heard of it. I have always thought that science fiction books such as these were a little odd in the sense that they just seem so odd. I have alwyas though that the utopian like societies they have all created are actually more like disutopias. There are numerous books that i have read where the main characters or themes all revolve around then perfect structured world where no one actually understands what is happening or looks to change what is happening simply because they do not know what is on the other side of their so called "world." My interpertation of a utopia has always been what a specific individual thinks of as perfection.

I have found it very interesting the past few days on just how differently every individuals mind works in terms of interpretation and methods of expressing an idea or thought. With the discussions of our papers in class and having to pay very close attention to the text listening to others and rereading the handouts and book have made me pick up on many more things that I probably would have other wise missed. The Blair-Bush exercise we did yesterday I think may have been one of the most helpful things we have done so far and I would really enjoy doing more activities like that. I had heard about the incident in the news, but never had I sat down and actually looked at the conversation word for word.

When ever Socrates’ name is mentioned many things often come to mind. He was a brilliant orator and debater. In book one of Plato’s Republic the audience is given a glimpse of Socrates in action leaving us with many question and comments. Ethos is defined as the perceived character of the speaker; in the case of Socrates in the Republic many are unsure of his character and his intentions towards his audience or fellow philosophers. We are left asking ourselves whether he is a true guider with flawless wisdom or if he is actually being arrogant and simply looking to argue with first with Cephalus and then with Thrasymahus his son.

For as long as can be remembered rhetoric and the art of speech has been one of the most important tools an individual can poses. Dating back to the Greeks, Rhetoric has been a key to life as they lived in an oral culture. It can not be stressed enough just how important it was for the individuals of the community to understand the skills involved with persuasion and the responsibility that comes with it. In particular ethics play a key role in the use of rhetoric as addressed in James Booths article. Ethics are tremendously important; it is both the written and spoken word that influences our decisions on a day to day basis.