Glitch

Teaching myself.

Lies My Teacher...

I really like how this talked about the presentation of ideas within history textbooks. So often the ignorant assumption is made that showing a serious of facts is somehow objective. But this just simply is not true. While information in a history text may be presented with an objective rhetoric as a serious of events are explained and listed, this does not mean that the system of inclusion and exclusion of information is not highly subjective. But showing the ideas people had, expressing how they were thinking whether they be positive or negative by another's standards displays a level of transparency that is usually not represented.

A second thought on The Parenting Trap

I have been thinking about the article titled The Parenting Trap about cultural traps of how parents should raise their children to help guarantee the kids success in the job world.The images associated with the article show a child having a diligent and studious life but becoming some kind of generic boring desk job while the child with sunglasses on and a magazine reclining in the grass becomes the CEO of Apple. The whole point being that these are not things so easy to guarantee and you will make mistakes and no system will guarantee any of it. All that has been going through my mind is, WHO GIVES FUCK? I apologize for the crude language. But really, why would any parent put such a huge value on what your child profession becomes? Of course you want them to become successful in life. But there are so many more worthwhile definitions of success  the ones that will far outlive how you earned a living. I am far from having a child. But when I do, I will of course encourage them to pursue their dreams and pursue an education. But I will be far more concerned with other aspects to develop. Is my child a good person? Do they have love and devotion to their fellow humans? Are they kind and caring? Did my child ever find romance with a person with a good heart as well? Not are they happy, but are they content with the life they have? These questions seem ultimately far more important in the scheme of things, rather than will my parenting direct them to the dream job. Maybe I am showing how I see the world too much. But I want to show my future child, if I ever have one, how to be loving and kind in this world, far before how to climb the social ladder.

Worried Dog

Worried Dog

I checked the mail today.

There was a dog running down the street.

The kind that always looks a bit worried.

Was he running from the cold?

It was windy and terribly miserable outside.

What is it even a he?

She let me pet her.

I think we both felt safer for a moment.

Then she ran away, spooked by the neighbor kid.

I hope she found her way home.

She looked so worried.

My book came in the mail.

I will hide away with it.

This may seem like a strange poem to talk about comfort. But I think comfort can come from the enjoyment of a ritual habit and having some new walk into that experience. I like checking the mail and a few days ago a dog came wondering up to me while I checked the mail. Although the poem may seem a bit sad I was actually quite happy for the momentary friend.

Where I Comfortable

Horsey

Parenting Trap and Skin Speak

"Then we can teach our children that if they do not feel they are brilliant, then it is only because they do not know whence they came. Their not achieving is not the way things should be, but a serious break in the history of the world."

Of all the quotable parts of this text, I found this to be the most profound and striking. Specifically the very last part that I have italicized. What a great thing to point out to any group of people who feels marginalized or not respected in the world today.

The second article The Parenting Trap was pretty funny but I have one major problem with it. Every time the reference is made about certain times of childhood as being the most carefree time of a child's life concerns me. Where does this idea originate from? In the time before we developed the concept of public education it is not as thought children ran around with wild freedom not having anything to concern themselves with. Before standard and public education also means before the rise of the middle class and the industrial revolution. Children were out to work. If public schooling offers anything it was the removal of child labor. Maybe education can be laborious, but that still doesn't show any point in history as to assume that first 15 years should be some carefree point of existence. What evidence is there to point to such a thing?

POV

I Seem to Be/ But Really I am

My body is out East,

But my heart is still in the West

I seem to be outgoing,

But really I am an introvert

I don’t mind the cold,

But I long for the sun.

I may read a lot,

But I am not confident with my own writing.

I am from California,

But I haven’t been to LA in ten years.

I do not make emotional Art,

But I am a Romantic at heart.

Sometimes people think I am being facetious,

When I am actually quite sincere.

I keep moving further and further from home,

But really I long to return.

Im no Poet, but here is a poem I like.

ONE TRAIN MAY HIDE ANOTHER In a poem, one line may hide another line, As at a crossing, one train may hide another train. That is, if you are waiting to cross The tracks, wait to do it for one moment at Least after the first train is gone. And so when you read Wait until you have read the next line-- Then it is safe to go on reading. In a family one sister may conceal another, So, when you are courting, it's best to have them all in view Otherwise in coming to find one you may love another. One father or one brother may hide the man, If you are a woman, whom you have been waiting to love. So always standing in front of something the other As words stand in front of objects, feelings, and ideas. One wish may hide another. And one person's reputation may hide The reputation of another. One dog may conceal another On a lawn, so if you escape the first one you're not necessarily safe; One lilac may hide another and then a lot of lilacs and on the Appia Antica one tomb May hide a number of other tombs. In love, one reproach may hide another, One small complaint may hide a great one. One injustice may hide another--one colonial may hide another, One blaring red uniform another, and another, a whole column. One bath may hide another bath As when, after bathing, one walks out into the rain. One idea may hide another: Life is simple Hide Life is incredibly complex, as in the prose of Gertrude Stein One sentence hides another and is another as well. And in the laboratory One invention may hide another invention, One evening may hide another, one shadow, a nest of shadows. One dark red, or one blue, or one purple--this is a painting By someone after Matisse. One waits at the tracks until they pass, These hidden doubles or, sometimes, likenesses. One identical twin May hide the other. And there may be even more in there! The obstetrician Gazes at the Valley of the Var. We used to live there, my wife and I, but One life hid another life. And now she is gone and I am here. A vivacious mother hides a gawky daughter. The daughter hides Her own vivacious daughter in turn. They are in A railway station and the daughter is holding a bag Bigger than her mother's bag and successfully hides it. In offering to pick up the daughter's bag one finds oneself confronted by the mother's And has to carry that one, too. So one hitchhiker May deliberately hide another and one cup of coffee Another, too, until one is over-excited. One love may hide another love or the same love As when "I love you" suddenly rings false and one discovers The better love lingering behind, as when "I'm full of doubts" Hides "I'm certain about something and it is that" And one dream may hide another as is well known, always, too. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve may hide the real Adam and Eve. Jerusalem may hide another Jerusalem. When you come to something, stop to let it pass So you can see what else is there. At home, no matter where, Internal tracks pose dangers, too: one memory Certainly hides another, that being what memory is all about, The eternal reverse succession of contemplated entities. Reading A Sentimental Journey look around When you have finished, for Tristram Shandy, to see If it is standing there, it should be, stronger And more profound and theretofore hidden as Santa Maria Maggiore May be hidden by similar churches inside Rome. One sidewalk May hide another, as when you're asleep there, and One song hide another song; a pounding upstairs Hide the beating of drums. One friend may hide another, you sit at the foot of a tree With one and when you get up to leave there is another Whom you'd have preferred to talk to all along. One teacher, One doctor, one ecstasy, one illness, one woman, one man May hide another. Pause to let the first one pass. You think, Now it is safe to cross and you are hit by the next one. It can be important To have waited at least a moment to see what was already there. -Kenneth Koch

You can here it read by the poet at http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15592

Look like flowers, but really they are not.

The Nature of Photographs

I have been familiar with Stephen Shore's book The Nature of Photographs for many years. It is still a great classic book on photography and how the camera and lens can function to communicate in photography. The section on mental modeling is really interesting in how it talks about the process of layering all these concepts on how to build an image. Where is more experimental photography though Mr. Shore???

Response to Reading, Writing, Rising Up

Language as a political system that can be exploited to create a social hierarchy is not an idea I’ve had presented to me in the past. Of course, it makes perfect sense. Who has what language is a powerful hierarchy I have experienced most of my life. Growing up I could recognize adults that were well spoken and articulate with a vast vocabulary must be intelligent people. Never did I consider about who had access to obtaining such skill sets. I am not a particularly strong writer myself; this is something I’ve been working to improve. But I do have access to easily improve these skill sets with a little work. This article made me consider what other system could be viewed in this way.

Aesthetics. For sometime now I’ve been thinking about our idea of aesthetics. For the sake of this I will use a working definition as aesthetics being the beauty of design. Art students are taught rules of composition, color, and design. Now given following these systems can help you produce an artistic result that fits within a historical reference of what good design and art looks like. Artists are also taught to break these rules. But you are taught to break them from the perspective of the rule itself. Which means it is still serving a function within the system, whoever knows the “rules” of what makes acceptable ideas about aesthetics is the better artist.

The real problem with this system goes beyond those who have access to knowledge sets. When one certain language, or concept of aesthetics is allowed to be viewed supreme within a hierarchy, it becomes what is strived for. Not new thinking itself, or different ways of seeing, but a already prebuilt pedestal, I believe this ultimately halts the opportunity for new ways of thinking, seeing, and interpreting our world.

Self Portrait as a Still life

STILL LIFE WITH CAMERA, GUITAR, BOOKS, AND CLIMBING SHOES