New Technologies, New Literacies (and a Digital Story)

I've been researching some of the newest developments in technology for a presentation for my lit class. Brain-computer interfacing (BCI), brain to brain communication, speckled computing, augmented reality - it's made me realize just how vital digital literacy is and will be. I didn't need to know how to use a BCI to play Atari when I was little...but my son may need to know how to use one to play his Playstation(insert # here).

I'll be posting some information about this stuff later this week, after I've completed my presentation.

Until then, here's my digital story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJm1JQTvx2M

Here's the background on it - the book we read (Air by Geoff Ryman) revolves around a future world in which brains are formatted and everyone gets the internet inside their heads. This is what led me to research new technologies. The video is a montage of art and reality. Hope you enjoy it.

e.e. cummings

I've been a big fan of cummings for quite some time. Despite that, I don't believe I had ever read "somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond." After having read it, I realized that this poem touched my soul for a reason I could not discern. I soon came to understand that, while the poem could be interpreted as being about romantic love, I found it appealing to the deep and abiding love I have as a mother. I'm so glad that I did not continue with the experience of not having a child, for my son's eyes would have remained silent. Before my son, I had always been somewhat wary of babies; afterwards, I found myself behaving in ways that I never had before ~ he has unclosed me. The lifestyle I led before he came into my life is quite different from the one I'm living now - that chapter of my life is shut, and I couldn't be more grateful. With him, though, I have also discovered my own mortality and watching him grow is a constant reminder of the passage of time. Still, I couldn't imagine a greater blessing in my life.

Trifles

"Trifles" is a play about a murder. Mr. Wright was found dead, his wife is being held on suspicion and the local law enforcement is trying to gather evidence for a motive. Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, and Mrs. Hale, a neighbor of the Wrights, have joined the men at the Wright farmhouse. As the men go about their business, the women are left alone in the kitchen. Eventually, they begin to turn up evidence for a motive. They find erratic stitching in a quilt, indicating Mrs. Wright's mental distress. Finally, they find Mrs. Wright's canary, dead from a broken neck. The women quickly realize that Mrs. Wright wrung the neck of her husband just as he had wrung the neck of her only friend and joy. Mrs. Peters empathizes with Mrs. Wright's anger and loneliness. Mrs. Hale understands how much Mrs. Wright's life had changed for the worse. She also feels guilty for not having visited. These factors combine to lead the women to conceal from the law the evidence of the motive.

I liked this play because it made me question what I would have done if I had been in such a position. After finding the dead bird, the women discuss the unbearable loneliness which ensues from the death of a child, as well as the atrocity of seeing a beloved pet murdered by a mean-spirited boy. I'd like to think that if I'd been in Mrs. Wright's position, I wouldn't have killed my husband. I honestly don't think I'd have the stomach for it. I probably would have stolen anything of any value and just left. However, had I been in the position of the women who found the evidence, I think I probably would have done just as they did.

The White Heron

"The White Heron" is the story of a Sylvia, a young girl living in the backwoods of the Northeast. After having moved from a manufacturing town to her grandmother's farm, Sylvia has found a refuge in nature. She and an orinthologist cross paths one day, and the young man offers Sylvia ten dollars to help him find the nest of the white heron. Ten dollars is a lot of money for Sylvia and her grandmother, but the young man wants the heron in order to kill it for his studies. One morning, Sylvia finds the nest aftering venturing out alone. She ultimately decides to keep the location a secret, at the cost of losing the young man from her life.

This is a romantic story in both subject matter and characterization. A remote location and nature were often the setting for romantic stories. Romanticism also stressed emotion over reason, as well as individual control, and both are apparent in Sylvia's final decision to keep her secret.

An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge

"An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge" takes place during the Civil War. Peyton, a Southern farmer, is about to be executed for attempting to destroy a bridge in order to stall the Northern troops. As the plank is kicked out from under him, he feels the noose tighten around he neck. Suddenly, the noose breaks and he is in the river, dodging bullets as he makes his escape. Just as he makes it back to his home and is about to embrace his wife, it is made clear that this escape has taken place only in Peyton's mind, in those brief seconds when the noose choked the life out of him. He swings from the bridge, dead.
I found this story is very naturalistic. It is a dark and depressing subject matter. Although naturalism often depicts stories of the lower class trying to survive, Peyton's imagined escape is indicative of the great effort one will put forth in order to survive. Also, naturalism puts forth that one's will is bound by environment, hereditary and chance. Peyton came from a respected family and was a Southern slave owner and politician. He longed to fight in the war but was prevented from doing so. It was (perhaps) by chance that the Federal scout arrived at Peyton's farm in the guise of a Confederate. It was these factors which led Peyton to attempt to burn the bridge.
I enjoyed this story, despite it's twisted ending (or maybe because of it). Being relatively new to motherhood, I could whole-heartedly empathize with Peyton's pain at the thought of never seeing his family again, as well as the extreme relief and exhileration he must have felt when the noose broke and he fought to make his escape. I wanted to see him make his way back to his family, despite the deed he had done to cause his execution. I believe this may be the only story I've read in which I found myself rooting for a Confederate.

The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is a story of a woman's mental decline. Following the birth of her baby, the narrator falls into a depression. She feels her spirits could be lifted with more social contact, but her physician husband tells her that it is best if she "rested" in a more isolated atmosphere. She and her husband go to a house in the country and she is essentially confined to the house. She abhors the yellow wallpaper in the room she is in and becomes obsessed with it. She becomes delusional, imaging figures crossing about the yard and a woman trying to escape from behind the wallpaper's pattern.
I've always had an interest in both psychology and horror stories, so I liked this story quite a bit. As it is written in a journal-type fashion, the 1st person narration gave a clear view of the narrator's mental decline. The story is peppered with vivid descriptions of the narrator's delusions. I found the final scene of the woman crawling around the room, trying to get back into the wallpaper, quite disturbing. It was not only the imagery of the scene, but also the realization that the woman did not know that the marks she saw on the wall had been caused by herself, which I found disturbing. The writer's grasp of such psychological disturbances was, I feel, ahead of her time. At a period when the "rest cure" was the most offered remedy for mental disorders, the writer understood that this was more of a bane than a cure. Literature can have a profound effect on the mentality of a society and it is, in part, through writings such as this that our understanding of psychology has progressed to its current state.