And here is the result:
http://nonfictionproject.weebly.com/
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Name that Student
Small spectacled athlete speaks softly, casually
Dressed - ponytail, sweats and sneakers
stories of social media for aspiring athletes
But here she's our coach for computers
Giving well composed commentary
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
What I Will Remember about NonFiction in the Information Age
I don't think I ever made a post with a list, and there are entire blogs consisting of only lists!
1. Social Media is not scary, it's your tool.
3. A blog is not frivolous, it can be an incredible opportunity for disseminating your work.
1. Social Media is not scary, it's your tool.
2. Twitter is not frivolous, it can be incredibly informative.
3. A blog is not frivolous, it can be an incredible opportunity for disseminating your work.
4. Multimedia is not scary, it's your tool kit.
5. Journalists do not need to ask permission if they can pursue something themselves.
6. Reporting today means writers need to be more concise, immediate, flashy, and interactive.
7. After NonFiction I, I learned about the importance of Literary Journals. Now I know the importance of online subscriptions for networking with the writing community, finding news and research, and my own self-benefit.
7. After NonFiction I, I learned about the importance of Literary Journals. Now I know the importance of online subscriptions for networking with the writing community, finding news and research, and my own self-benefit.
8. Storify is a legitimate platform for storytelling through Twitter, links, and images, an artistic assembly.
9. The human desire for story telling does adapts to social media as social media adapts to human interaction. "Stumbling", "tweeting", "liking" are not robotic concepts, but human ones.
Use social media to express yourself and you need not feel stifled or outdated.
10. Social Media need not be so intimidating.
If It Were Possible
Regarding my previous posts of doubts for writing, here's some positing about me writing in the future:
Perhaps I can write. Perhaps I can research and write summary articles. Perhaps I can learn to interview appropriately and sensitively. Perhaps I can edit other people's stories, or at least give advice, feedback, and encouragement. Perhaps I can intern somewhere else - for pay!?
What if I could be a journalist? I would need experience, and more training. I've never "gone out in search of a story" I've never held any kind of investigation or inquiry. I've never amassed so much research for a published project. Does one start with a contract for writing articles? Books? Or do you work your way up from the bottom as an intern?
The thing is, I don't think I'm ready for graduate school. I feel such disillusionment towards school that I feel incompetent while still an undergraduate. I don't think I could study for graduate tests - I'm not sure enough what I want- except that logically it really should involve writing - right?
The other thing is, I don't see myself as writing local news about a community - I'm an out of state student - I don't feel savvy about Pittsburgh, and I was never tied in a communal sense to my own hometown. I don't have a sense of "neighborhood" or "local" I don't feel ties to the University of Pittsburgh as a community either. I worked part-time jobs off campus, I lived off campus. I don't know what a fraternity is like, I don't know what events there are on a Friday night. I didn't think I had any qualification to write for The Pitt News, much less apply as an intern at local news media..
But I do have some sense of being foreign and alien in my writing and in my life. I came to Pittsburgh to study English and foreign language - specifically Japanese, which I later failed, miserably.. And since coming to Pittsburgh, I've made friends with quite a few foreigners, especially through my part-time jobs. I began to tutor English as a second language to women from Korea, Japan, and Turkey. Now I intern at Sampsonia Way, which writes about writers and journalists around the world persecuted for freedom of expression. I know a little bit about what it's like to study language, I know very much what it's like to fail language, I know a little bit of what it's like to be foreign, I know a little bit of what the global world is like, and I know a little bit of what it's like to feel intensely personally isolated.
Disclaimer: But I'm an expert in nothing. I've scarcely been outside the United States, and I've never successfully learned a foreign language. Do I really need to sign up for international travel? Traveling is always a good idea, but I can't assume I have a writing career like that without building up something else first..
As for fiction writing, when I wrote short stories in my Introduction to Fiction class, I wrote a story about a young Russian girl, I wrote about two Japanese girls - and I got good feedback for those. I read a story by Jhumpa Lahiri and felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu - I felt distinctly that she wrote to an American audience about Indian immigrants - and that I was somewhere in between. My friends were Indian, and none of her exotic references surprised me. Could I craft stories about foreign cultures? Or at least cultural interaction?
But for nonfiction, how could I possibly do anything without advanced study in politics or without years of living abroad? Where would I need to go to be a foreign correspondent? I simply don't have the experiences. But I mentioned that I wasn't ready for graduate school.. And I feel some social ties to people in the United States I don't want to sever..
What would it take to write for an online publication like Sampsonia Way? I still feel like I am a very disappointing intern at Sampsonia Way - and what could be cooler than Sampsonia Way? Then again, they don't pay me there, for one.
What if I were to write thoughtful essays - does that even make any sense? There's no inherent value in it.
Or what if I didn't write for a living, and simply tried to reach out without expecting results, and find a different way of life? Do I write because I have nothing else, because that MIGHT be my one marketable skill, because I DO have the ability? I should write because I should write. There are plenty of things that should be written about, and what if I could transcribe that for myself or for someone else?
Perhaps I can write. Perhaps I can research and write summary articles. Perhaps I can learn to interview appropriately and sensitively. Perhaps I can edit other people's stories, or at least give advice, feedback, and encouragement. Perhaps I can intern somewhere else - for pay!?
What if I could be a journalist? I would need experience, and more training. I've never "gone out in search of a story" I've never held any kind of investigation or inquiry. I've never amassed so much research for a published project. Does one start with a contract for writing articles? Books? Or do you work your way up from the bottom as an intern?
The thing is, I don't think I'm ready for graduate school. I feel such disillusionment towards school that I feel incompetent while still an undergraduate. I don't think I could study for graduate tests - I'm not sure enough what I want- except that logically it really should involve writing - right?
The other thing is, I don't see myself as writing local news about a community - I'm an out of state student - I don't feel savvy about Pittsburgh, and I was never tied in a communal sense to my own hometown. I don't have a sense of "neighborhood" or "local" I don't feel ties to the University of Pittsburgh as a community either. I worked part-time jobs off campus, I lived off campus. I don't know what a fraternity is like, I don't know what events there are on a Friday night. I didn't think I had any qualification to write for The Pitt News, much less apply as an intern at local news media..
But I do have some sense of being foreign and alien in my writing and in my life. I came to Pittsburgh to study English and foreign language - specifically Japanese, which I later failed, miserably.. And since coming to Pittsburgh, I've made friends with quite a few foreigners, especially through my part-time jobs. I began to tutor English as a second language to women from Korea, Japan, and Turkey. Now I intern at Sampsonia Way, which writes about writers and journalists around the world persecuted for freedom of expression. I know a little bit about what it's like to study language, I know very much what it's like to fail language, I know a little bit of what it's like to be foreign, I know a little bit of what the global world is like, and I know a little bit of what it's like to feel intensely personally isolated.
Disclaimer: But I'm an expert in nothing. I've scarcely been outside the United States, and I've never successfully learned a foreign language. Do I really need to sign up for international travel? Traveling is always a good idea, but I can't assume I have a writing career like that without building up something else first..
As for fiction writing, when I wrote short stories in my Introduction to Fiction class, I wrote a story about a young Russian girl, I wrote about two Japanese girls - and I got good feedback for those. I read a story by Jhumpa Lahiri and felt an overwhelming sense of deja vu - I felt distinctly that she wrote to an American audience about Indian immigrants - and that I was somewhere in between. My friends were Indian, and none of her exotic references surprised me. Could I craft stories about foreign cultures? Or at least cultural interaction?
But for nonfiction, how could I possibly do anything without advanced study in politics or without years of living abroad? Where would I need to go to be a foreign correspondent? I simply don't have the experiences. But I mentioned that I wasn't ready for graduate school.. And I feel some social ties to people in the United States I don't want to sever..
What would it take to write for an online publication like Sampsonia Way? I still feel like I am a very disappointing intern at Sampsonia Way - and what could be cooler than Sampsonia Way? Then again, they don't pay me there, for one.
What if I were to write thoughtful essays - does that even make any sense? There's no inherent value in it.
Or what if I didn't write for a living, and simply tried to reach out without expecting results, and find a different way of life? Do I write because I have nothing else, because that MIGHT be my one marketable skill, because I DO have the ability? I should write because I should write. There are plenty of things that should be written about, and what if I could transcribe that for myself or for someone else?
Writing Doubts (it's a pun!)
I'm going to graduate as an English major, inshallah (Arabic: God willing). What does that mean?
Does that mean I can get a writing job?
What's a "writing job"? - surely it's an independent quest - no one hires amateurs to write thoughtful essays. One writes thoughtful essays and tries furiously to get them published somewhere - right? What if I can't write thoughtful essays? What if I don't want to write thoughtful essays?
What's a "writing job"? - surely it's an independent quest - no one hires amateurs to write thoughtful essays. One writes thoughtful essays and tries furiously to get them published somewhere - right? What if I can't write thoughtful essays? What if I don't want to write thoughtful essays?
Do I have some unrealized potential to write thoughtful essays in the first place? Or an essay that's marketable? Do I not?
What if I graduate as an English major and don't write? What was lost? Surely nothing was lost if nothing was attempted.. except opportunity.
-
What happens next? Do I apply to publishing companies? Do I get a regular job (what's a regular job?) or continue as a phone operator at my Chinese restaurant - and other side work while committing to thoughtful essay writing? Write a novel? Maintain a blog?
At my internship I realize how little I can do - I write so slowly and poorly and my editor crosses out so much. And I feel so self-conscious when I tell family and strangers "I study English Writing" Naturally, no one knows how to respond to that. I CAN say that I AM published - through my internship, even despite all that editing. But I've won no awards, no high school essay contests, I never studied poetry, my poems were rambling rhymes at best, my short stories in classes were mediocre at best, I never worked for a school newspaper... I continued studying English because I got positive feedback from teachers when I was someone who especially needed positive feedback. And people think I'm thoughtful and angsty. But just because one is thoughtful and angsty does not make one a writer. And I haven't shown nearly enough ambition. Maybe I'm not a writer? At all?
What's the difference between rambling and writing? That editing!
The English Writing major - is it straightforward at all? Should I feel these doubts, this sense of misdirection? What am I missing? Or am I just missing too much?
Do I write? Or do I simply stay confined to journals? Why should I write? Should I write because I have nothing else? I think that's what F. Scott Fitzgerald said in "The Crack-Up":
"So, since I could no longer fulfill the obligations that life had set for me or that I had set for myself, why not slay the empty shell who had been posturing at it for four years? I must continue to be a writer because that was my only way of life, but I would cease any attempts to be a person -- to be kind, just, or generous. There were plenty of counterfeit coins around that would pass instead of these and I knew where I could get them at a nickel on the dollar."
This is from a very very intimately human essay.. about feeling dehumanized.. That paradox is also the point of Interview with the Vampire come to think of it.
Anyway, I'm not so far gone (and still not quite among the undead...).
I have to believe it's ok to have these doubts - and it's even better to think: it's possible.
What happens next? Do I apply to publishing companies? Do I get a regular job (what's a regular job?) or continue as a phone operator at my Chinese restaurant - and other side work while committing to thoughtful essay writing? Write a novel? Maintain a blog?
At my internship I realize how little I can do - I write so slowly and poorly and my editor crosses out so much. And I feel so self-conscious when I tell family and strangers "I study English Writing" Naturally, no one knows how to respond to that. I CAN say that I AM published - through my internship, even despite all that editing. But I've won no awards, no high school essay contests, I never studied poetry, my poems were rambling rhymes at best, my short stories in classes were mediocre at best, I never worked for a school newspaper... I continued studying English because I got positive feedback from teachers when I was someone who especially needed positive feedback. And people think I'm thoughtful and angsty. But just because one is thoughtful and angsty does not make one a writer. And I haven't shown nearly enough ambition. Maybe I'm not a writer? At all?
What's the difference between rambling and writing? That editing!
The English Writing major - is it straightforward at all? Should I feel these doubts, this sense of misdirection? What am I missing? Or am I just missing too much?
Do I write? Or do I simply stay confined to journals? Why should I write? Should I write because I have nothing else? I think that's what F. Scott Fitzgerald said in "The Crack-Up":
"So, since I could no longer fulfill the obligations that life had set for me or that I had set for myself, why not slay the empty shell who had been posturing at it for four years? I must continue to be a writer because that was my only way of life, but I would cease any attempts to be a person -- to be kind, just, or generous. There were plenty of counterfeit coins around that would pass instead of these and I knew where I could get them at a nickel on the dollar."
This is from a very very intimately human essay.. about feeling dehumanized.. That paradox is also the point of Interview with the Vampire come to think of it.
Anyway, I'm not so far gone (and still not quite among the undead...).
I have to believe it's ok to have these doubts - and it's even better to think: it's possible.
Laura VanVliet is in a Relationship with Facebook and It's Complicated
I am one of the unhip who is still disenchanted with the new layout of Facebook, which was another blow to an already fading flame. Perhaps I appreciated Facebook as a place of personal writing, and not as a place of publishing and marketing, which was, after all, the inevitable path of anything successful on this Internet game.
I am convinced it was easier on older versions of Facebook to stalk your friends. With the newest version, I honestly feel that my status posts become insignificant tweets on the fine print of that right ticker - I am normally shy of posting, and now I feel even more hesitant to accept the more obvious fact that my Facebook statuses don't matter (imagine that!). But I feel the same way for the reverse case. Other authors have cried social overload. I don't think Facebook perfectly distinguishes what would be relevant news to me, and I more often realize that I neglected friends who I wished I paid more attention to -
Wait, isn't that the experience of real life anyway?
Perhaps. But I think the personal social networking site has become a place of networking life farther and farther outside one's social circles, which Facebook now tries to draw for you, by creating optional lists of "Close Friends" and a list for the job you named. I can't sit down and make that address book in such good conscience. I do categorize my "Pittsburgh Friends" and "Michigan Friends" etc., but I don't rank categories or like to give them so explicit a label. I'm too old to name my "best best friend" or my very favorite singer. Or, wait, maybe we DO do that anyway.
But now Facebook will try to network users with fan pages of their favorite singers. authors, companies, etc.. I think it is still the case that Facebook fan pages are usually filled with material copy/pasted from Wikipedia, which seems a strange standard somehow. But an idea has evolved. Rather than listing personal favorites for your friends to read for their benefit, listing personal favorites is a marketing opportunity for everyone involved - for you, for your idol, and especially for Facebook. "Like" on Facebook has become a decision and a verb rather than an affected condition and a noun (as it is literally in other languages like Spanish, Hindi, and a Japanese).
And yet I'm still on Facebook all the time anyway. I still stalk my friends. And I'm subscribing to more fan pages. They got me. I have a friend who left Facebook and he admits feeling isolated. In any case, it is true that more of our social interaction takes place over screen and text than we were first comfortable admitting. I feel that I would go blind without it. But perhaps there are other opportunities available that he's missing. As friends come and go (or linger on my Friends List), and my interests change, what will I become involved with? Will I subscribe to a company or community that will directly affect my life? Professionals check potential employee pages, and more powerful professionals might use or endorse Facebook more for promotion and less for personal interaction. Facebook is still supposed to be a social networking tool - But watch how our social networks evolve and how our marketing networks evolve through Facebook. It's more advertising and it's more than advertising.
I am convinced it was easier on older versions of Facebook to stalk your friends. With the newest version, I honestly feel that my status posts become insignificant tweets on the fine print of that right ticker - I am normally shy of posting, and now I feel even more hesitant to accept the more obvious fact that my Facebook statuses don't matter (imagine that!). But I feel the same way for the reverse case. Other authors have cried social overload. I don't think Facebook perfectly distinguishes what would be relevant news to me, and I more often realize that I neglected friends who I wished I paid more attention to -
Wait, isn't that the experience of real life anyway?
Perhaps. But I think the personal social networking site has become a place of networking life farther and farther outside one's social circles, which Facebook now tries to draw for you, by creating optional lists of "Close Friends" and a list for the job you named. I can't sit down and make that address book in such good conscience. I do categorize my "Pittsburgh Friends" and "Michigan Friends" etc., but I don't rank categories or like to give them so explicit a label. I'm too old to name my "best best friend" or my very favorite singer. Or, wait, maybe we DO do that anyway.
But now Facebook will try to network users with fan pages of their favorite singers. authors, companies, etc.. I think it is still the case that Facebook fan pages are usually filled with material copy/pasted from Wikipedia, which seems a strange standard somehow. But an idea has evolved. Rather than listing personal favorites for your friends to read for their benefit, listing personal favorites is a marketing opportunity for everyone involved - for you, for your idol, and especially for Facebook. "Like" on Facebook has become a decision and a verb rather than an affected condition and a noun (as it is literally in other languages like Spanish, Hindi, and a Japanese).
And yet I'm still on Facebook all the time anyway. I still stalk my friends. And I'm subscribing to more fan pages. They got me. I have a friend who left Facebook and he admits feeling isolated. In any case, it is true that more of our social interaction takes place over screen and text than we were first comfortable admitting. I feel that I would go blind without it. But perhaps there are other opportunities available that he's missing. As friends come and go (or linger on my Friends List), and my interests change, what will I become involved with? Will I subscribe to a company or community that will directly affect my life? Professionals check potential employee pages, and more powerful professionals might use or endorse Facebook more for promotion and less for personal interaction. Facebook is still supposed to be a social networking tool - But watch how our social networks evolve and how our marketing networks evolve through Facebook. It's more advertising and it's more than advertising.
Sampsonia Way Magazine
I am currently an intern at Sampsonia Way Magazine: "a Pittsburgh-based non-profit online magazine that writes to support persecuted writers around the world and to celebrate literary freedom of expression, sponsored by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, a program for giving residency to writers in exile from other countries."
(Photo: Sampsonia Way)
This is the house I enter every day of my internship. I don't know what is written on the walls except that it is a "House Poem" by Huang Xiang, a Chinese poet and first residence of the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh project.I don't think I could do the magazine justice just by explaining it as I can. But I'll try.
City of Asylum is a residence program for writers in exile from their own countries for about 2 years, which has included Chinese poet Huang Xiang, Salvadoran writer Horacio Castellanos Moya, and Burmese writer Khet Mar who I sometimes see.The program also supports reading events by many, many international writers. The Sampsonia Way magazine thus aims to further the promotion of free speech by reporting on its persecution everywhere around the world. It's important to give voice to those who are forcibly silenced. Besides Sampsonia's Way full issues, it also features a section called "Literary Voices", which involve interviews with or poetry from writers all over the world. Finally, Sampsonia Way also publishes Daily Posts, which has often been the assignment for us interns.
For a Daily Post, I usually have to read news articles from human rights and press freedom supporting organizations such as Reporters Without Borders (based in Paris as Reporters Sans Frontieres), Index on Censorship, Committee to Protect Journalists, or Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Then I may either request permission to re-post an article, write a summary article, or request an interview via email. Of course, anything I do becomes very, very, very thoroughly edited, and the articles with my name attached belong to me very scarcely. However, I do take advantage with Twitter and post links to them anyway (Which you can read on this blog).
For a Daily Post, I usually have to read news articles from human rights and press freedom supporting organizations such as Reporters Without Borders (based in Paris as Reporters Sans Frontieres), Index on Censorship, Committee to Protect Journalists, or Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Then I may either request permission to re-post an article, write a summary article, or request an interview via email. Of course, anything I do becomes very, very, very thoroughly edited, and the articles with my name attached belong to me very scarcely. However, I do take advantage with Twitter and post links to them anyway (Which you can read on this blog).
I have also been assigned to transcribe interviews, which is very interesting at Sampsonia Way, because we often feature international writers. Because I spent hours transcribing an interview with the very lovely and very verbose Palestinian poet and filmmaker Hind Shoufani, I now know how to spell in English Jahili, Umayyad, and Abbasid - genres of Arabic poetry.
It's been a fantastic experience being an intern there. In fact, it's probably been too fantastic. I have felt that Sampsonia Way is so interesting and ambitious that I have been appropriately humbled and, inappropriately on my part, inadequate. How dare I feel nervous about writing a few paragraphs about authors who have received death threats!? How could I ever be any kind of journalist, thinking of champions of human rights and freedom of expression? How come I can't write a few sentences without seeing red, crossed out lines from the editor. Why am I procrastinating? How could I ever work at someplace like this full-time - or anywhere as a writer full-time?
I can't even succeed much as an intern - the editors have definitely seen me fail. I have my doubts.
But I love Sampsonia Way for the exact same reason I applied - I am fascinated in learning about different places around the world. This interest in geography was given to me by my father, and has grown exponentially since moving to Pittsburgh, whose ethnic diversity continues to astound me, diversity which I have encountered mostly through part-time work. Because of all my work at Sampsonia Way, I can chatter more about journalism in Tibet, Palestine, Colombia, Vietnam, Turkmenistan, Bahrain, and Sri Lanka. More importantly, I have learned more about how dangerous journalism is around the world, and how much more courage is shown by those writers who stand up to those dangers. I will always admire Sampsonia Way for promoting that courage.
Check out the website! More than you did at first glance! http://www.sampsoniaway.org
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Ongoing Tumblr Account for Joan Didion
http://doodlingdidion.tumblr.com/
An artistic blogging medium like Tumblr deservese a little extra of my own art:
An artistic blogging medium like Tumblr deservese a little extra of my own art:
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Who I am Following on ByLiner and Why
And now I have an account on ByLiner. Currently I follow eight authors, especially including these three:
Joan Didion - my muse of angst. What I have read from her ("Slouching Through Bethlehem essay collection through a Non-Fiction class, and most recently "Good-bye to All That") has touched me for her intimate confessions of insecurity. It's as though my own constant "nervous irritation," to borrow from Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, is something she very well explains - and if she survives with it, becomes successful despite it, then maybe I can too. Maybe my anxiety can be my strength too - too much thinking at least makes one thoughtful. I need to read from her to study how she uses it and ignores it when writing, how she does it really.
Lorrie Moore - We were instructed to follow dissimilar writers, and I remembered that Lorrie Moore was much more lighthearted, with wicked humor. "How to Become a Writer" was an amazing read. I think my own writing lacks humor, because of my greater desire to appear "sensitive," but the humor I found in her writing seems liberating.
Paul Theroux - I looked up "Travel" writing on ByLiner, and thus found his name. I became intensely intrigued by the summaries of his articles, including one of Turkmenistan, which I had recently investigated for my internship. Furthermore, it seems he writes about other countries throughout Asia, which must have sprung from his experiences with the Peace Corps.. I still need to investigate him further. But I'm always curious of other cultures. And then it seems he has an essay on "love" of all things.. Also, I realized my two dissimilar writers were female, and I needed to find a male candidate.. But to find an author that has actually traveled the world and written about it very much intrigues me.
Other Writers I decided to follow include:
-Haruki Murakami - an author I learned about through Japanese classes. I read his translated fiction novel "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" which was very confusing, but thoughtful, regarding a passive man and a few confusing women. He also wrote about the saran gas attack in 1995 in Tokyo, to raise the voices of those who endured it. I read a Japanese essay by him, in class, and I liked his sense of humor.
-Colson Whitehead - an author I learned about through Nonfiction class! I like his humor also, and the angst, as I encountered in his poker piece.
-Ted Conover - the investigative journalist who inspired me in high school.
-Thomas Friedman - the investigative journalist who inspired my father as he began studying about the Middle East as a kind of intellectual hobby, within his general love of geography. I also have a good friend who is Syrian, and I should learn more about the region.
And here's my "Read it Later" list: http://readitlaterlist.com/unread, which includes:
-"Why I Hate 3-D" by Roger Ebert - I know he is very famous, and I came to realize that he's not a critic who is overly snide, as I feared, but good-humored, actually - even when he's snide.
-"On Change in India" by Siddartha Deb - I need to learn more about India, the land of my best friends, the land of Hindi, which I've been studying with increasing enthusiasm.
-"Twilight of the Vampires" by Teah Obreht - I need to learn more about vampires, with which I've been intrigued since high school, for the layers of mythos and pathos. Monsters are manifestations of our fears, and I think vampires are manifestations of our fears of ourselves.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
10/26 Lab Assignment
Prompt: Think of three different ways—other than print—to tell a story. (We’ll assume that your piece has a print component.) Give a descriptive one-paragraph summary for each. Post idea by the end of class.
Three different ways of telling what story?? How can you tell a story in an atypical way? I ended up thinking of stories in my life that loaned themselves to different mediums of expression in the first place. Phone conversation, prayer, chat/email.
Phone-based
1) My friend from Kazakhstan was arrested in May for an expired visa, and it took her international friends - an Indian, a Syrian, a Russian, and I, the American, a month to find her and get her out. I can consider it a story because it was a confusing situation, with a lot of quirky detail in spite of the seriousness, and it has elements to it that lend themselves to narrative. There was a strict chronology of things: the day of arrest, the day of release, the day I learned where she was, the days I met her in prison, the days I met the lawyer, the day we finally paid the bail bond amount, etc.
What strikes me most about that story is that most of the affair was directed by phone calls. The day she was arrested, I couldn't reach her by phone, and a few days later, another friend confirmed she wasn't answering her phone - since the past week.
-I called her employers (one revealed to me that he learned she was arrested)
-I called local prisons
-I called immigration lawyers, to whom I yelled, hysterically, because they couldn't tell me where she was
-I called an immigration service line (the proper name escapes me at the moment)
-I called the prison phone lines again and again to learn that she was there, the visiting hours, etc.
-I needed to purchase an account with a service that would enable me to receive calls from my friend - installments of $25, to receive precious few minutes of her telling me important information like her registered alien number.
-I called the lawyers
-I called her friends,
It became necessary for me to contact a Russian friend of a friend, because my detained friend's family in Kazakhstan began messaging me through Facebook out of concern, and they couldn't be satisfied with my adjusted English. I asked this Russian girl to interpret between us.
But if it were to be told in an atypical format, I would definitely make use of the phone numbers. The prison phone numbers, the immigration service hotline - those are definitely public. Unfortunately and obviously, I don't have exact transcripts, except for perhaps the Facebook messages in Russian and English. As a non-fiction writer, could I reimagine the phone conversations, if, theoretically, I could get the right people to approve? As time goes by, I'm starting to forget details.
Nevertheless, would I tell the story like a series of phone transcripts, like the recordings of police transcripts? Could I reinvent those conversations by recording audio? Even with spoken Russian.
BUT
I don't usually tell this story, it's kind of personal, it's not a conversation that's easily introduced or told. And it's not something that should be so dramatic. There was no hero, we all just had to work together to get her out, and painfully, we made her wait for us to figure it out. And I don't think it's something I could or should sell in any sense.
Prayer-based
2) I could definitely arrange a diary of different stories. When I was younger, I used to be a zealous Christian, and I wrote in a prayer journal, as some Christian institutions encourage - desperate prayers that were always miserable. I suppose a story could be told as a series of prayers that tell the story of someone's struggle with faith, even if it ends in atheism (how would one illustrate that?? Prayers getting progressively shorter, or angrier). I still have zealous Christian friends who could make their own project of it. And on the subject of prayer as a story, there are all the archaic visuals of prayer beads, stained glass, statues, pews, Latin chanting/singing, ringing bells. Such a story could be audible.. But I suppose that this route of a story has already been done to death - visit a Christian bookstore. But if there's the right level of skepticism, doubt, and denial, that might be more compelling, I think, at least in my own worldview. Besides this, prayer is done differently in different countries.
Chat/Email-based
3) I know full well that most of my communication is definitely text based. I know there are other published works that are arranged as chat transcripts and emails. To build on this, perhaps one would have to really make a collage of various things.
Can you narrate a relationship with a person as more than chat conversations - the emails someone couldn't send because it was too personal how they felt, letters you scribbled in a notebook, pictures you saved on a computer, pictures of social network account profiles. I suppose this has all been done before.
No, this is unoriginal. And dumb.
I guess what this exercise encouraged most was for me to consider the idea of portraying correspondence, with others and or with oneself. Perhaps that's also the nature of social media world: People go back and forth between each other so quickly while so far apart. This is not a new idea. But, it's probably good I considered it for a lab.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
What Organizations I am Following on Facebook and Why
This is a late assignment..
Because of this class, I am now learning how to use Facebook as a business and news tool rather than as low level intelligence gathering about (stalking) personal friends. And that's definitely the more forward-thinking way of using it.
At first, I became rather upset by my disenchantment with Facebook. But I've also realized that Facebook has even more opportunities for me. Instead of using it as a personal microphone - I no longer feel the urge to share personal pictures and status messages into an impersonal feed which resembles Twitter - I'm learning how to use Facebook as a personal device for collecting information that extends beyond my immediate communities.
This is especially true if I'm putting myself into communities of writers'.
Here's the list of Nonfiction-related "Likes" I've made on Facebook:
-I previously expressed an appreciation for the magazine as something I grew up with, and how famous it is for publishing articles on science and world cultures. I'm particularly impressed with how National Geographic uses Facebook to throw out hooks for readers by posting links to their articles within the website.
-I was told explicitly to subscribe to this account. However it has become interesting and valuable as a tool to discover literary events in the writing communities at my college and in Pittsburgh. I'll have to make better use of it somehow.
3) PostSecret
-This was Frank Warren's project to collect anonymous postcards of personal secrets and compile them into books (see www.postsecret.com). It's sickeningly intimate and interesting.
I used to follow the website religiously, like a Christian too, considering that it updates every Sunday. But now I can better access their upcoming events and activities through Facebook.
-I subscribed to this because I was trying to look for a basic tool and basic collective of people trying to promote writers and writing. It boasts of a reputation for networking writers, and I'll try to pay attention to their feed of suggestions, if I might find some good ones.
5) Tin House
-A literary journal I read for a non-fiction class at Pitt. I particularly recall how Tin House was famed for organizing writing workshops and presenting new writers and poets in their magazine. Perhaps this would be a good literary journal to follow for a student like me.
-This is a nonprofit online magazine sponsored by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, a nonprofit organization that gives refuge to certain exiled writers. I also intern there. Honestly, though, I don't actually read the magazine as much as I should, although this Facebook account will make it more convenient to do so.
As with Twitter, I need to build my account with more sources like these..
I ought to continue finding and subscribing to more pages..
In Class Lab: 48 Hour Magazine, with class group
Made with Zachary, Quinn, Sam., and I :
Our 48-hour Magazine
What I've Learned
Cover:
It will be styled to look like a notebook with handwritten font.
Content:
Some smaller articles to begin coupled with essays about a wide range of topics dealing with lessons learned (ex: 'What I Learned in College').
Classrooms
Teaching
Personal stories
Talents
Family/Traditions/Crafts
Feature Article (sponsored?) - in-depth piece on the educational climate in Homewood Neighborhood, Pittsburgh, PA.
Commentary on schools in Pittsburgh ('Did you know: Barack Obama Elementary School')
Art: for an article such as the Homewood piece, it would be more aesthetically pleasing to have graphics of the neighborhood (gritty, raw photography). And for the lighter articles a mixture of cartoons, photography, and assorted quotes about what they have learned.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Studying Social Media: Slate Magazine, Grantland.com
Task: Find as many social-media pages for Slate Magazine and Grantland.com as you can find.
This assignment was definitely a bit of a learning experience for the definition and uses of "social media." For me the assignment became less straight-forward as I went. I realize that there are so many ways of transmitting and sharing information besides broadcasting through industrial media, a term I learned just recently.
And every time I go down this rabbit hole and however familiar I might come to be with Internet Wonderland (that metaphor was a little forced, and a little cliche wasn't it?) it's still overwhelming.
I suppose there's also an interesting contradiction between the immediacy of accessing and posting information, and the long term interests of identity, intimacy, and relationships that people seek through sharing comments and making profiles. Perhaps that is what is tiring. Trust is something developed, you don't express it with
Or perhaps I lack the proper perspective.
It helps to think that social media is not a new phenomenon, just a new way of doing old phenomenon - communication. Nikola Tesla predicted the advent of cell phones (My new habit - because of this class and my internship - is to look for a citation, but I won't. If you haven't heard the fact before, you're just going to have to trust me.) I respect the integrity value of journalists, but do we really have to cite everything? Where do reporters or bloggers draw that line? I suppose it's to do with common sense.
Enough rambling.
Honestly, professor, I'm trying to find a balance between writing out my thoughts, and being obnoxious, which is actually something I strive not to be. "Language is a stream that is sure to smack of a mingled soil." ~ George Eliot
THE ASSIGNMENT
For the assignment, I first visited the main pages of the websites, and the definition of "social media" on Wikipedia. And here are the lists:
SLATE MAGAZINE
-Official Website: www.slate.com
-Official Twitter: twitter.com/#!/Slate
-Official Facebook: www.facebook.com/slate
Now that we've covered the basics:
Social media for audio:
-www.slate.com/podcasts.html
-www.lastfm/music/Slate+Magazine
-www.podbean.com/provider?id=37
Social media for video:
-www.slatetv.com
-www.youtube.com/user/slatester
-www.slate.com/articles/video.html
Social media for mobile devices:
Slate can be available through iTunes, Kindle, Blackberry, iPad, and iPhone:
Links to all of these can be taken through here, under "Get Slate":
http://www.slate.com/id/85223
Social media for home subscription:
RSS feed:
-feeds.slate.com/slate
(and through this assignment I learned what an RSS is..)
-Newsletter signup:
-synd.slategrouptech.com/signup/
-http://mobile.slate.com
GRANTLAND.COM
-Official Website: www.grantland.com
-Official Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/Grantland33
-Official Facebook: www.facebook.com/grantland33
Now that we've covered the basics:
-Social media for audio:
-www.grandland.com/podcasts
-www.last.fm/music/Grantland+Network
-Social media for video:
-I found a video advertisement here:
Intimidating, isn't it?
-Social media for mobile devices:
-I wasn't able to find any direct mention.. I don't own any Apple products either..
-Social media for home subscription:
-www.grantland.com/feed
-www.mcsweeneys.net/grantland
This assignment was definitely a bit of a learning experience for the definition and uses of "social media." For me the assignment became less straight-forward as I went. I realize that there are so many ways of transmitting and sharing information besides broadcasting through industrial media, a term I learned just recently.
And every time I go down this rabbit hole and however familiar I might come to be with Internet Wonderland (that metaphor was a little forced, and a little cliche wasn't it?) it's still overwhelming.
I suppose there's also an interesting contradiction between the immediacy of accessing and posting information, and the long term interests of identity, intimacy, and relationships that people seek through sharing comments and making profiles. Perhaps that is what is tiring. Trust is something developed, you don't express it with
Or perhaps I lack the proper perspective.
It helps to think that social media is not a new phenomenon, just a new way of doing old phenomenon - communication. Nikola Tesla predicted the advent of cell phones (My new habit - because of this class and my internship - is to look for a citation, but I won't. If you haven't heard the fact before, you're just going to have to trust me.) I respect the integrity value of journalists, but do we really have to cite everything? Where do reporters or bloggers draw that line? I suppose it's to do with common sense.
Enough rambling.
Honestly, professor, I'm trying to find a balance between writing out my thoughts, and being obnoxious, which is actually something I strive not to be. "Language is a stream that is sure to smack of a mingled soil." ~ George Eliot
THE ASSIGNMENT
For the assignment, I first visited the main pages of the websites, and the definition of "social media" on Wikipedia. And here are the lists:
SLATE MAGAZINE
-Official Website: www.slate.com
-Official Twitter: twitter.com/#!/Slate-Official Facebook: www.facebook.com/slate
Now that we've covered the basics:
Social media for audio:
-www.slate.com/podcasts.html
-www.lastfm/music/Slate+Magazine
-www.podbean.com/provider?id=37
Social media for video:
-www.slatetv.com
-www.youtube.com/user/slatester
-www.slate.com/articles/video.html
Social media for mobile devices:
Slate can be available through iTunes, Kindle, Blackberry, iPad, and iPhone:
Links to all of these can be taken through here, under "Get Slate":
http://www.slate.com/id/85223
Social media for home subscription:
RSS feed:
-feeds.slate.com/slate
(and through this assignment I learned what an RSS is..)
-Newsletter signup:
-synd.slategrouptech.com/signup/
-http://mobile.slate.com
GRANTLAND.COM
-Official Website: www.grantland.com
-Official Twitter: www.twitter.com/#!/Grantland33
-Official Facebook: www.facebook.com/grantland33
Now that we've covered the basics:
-Social media for audio:
-www.grandland.com/podcasts
-www.last.fm/music/Grantland+Network
-Social media for video:
-I found a video advertisement here:
Intimidating, isn't it?
-Social media for mobile devices:
-I wasn't able to find any direct mention.. I don't own any Apple products either..
-Social media for home subscription:
-www.grantland.com/feed
-www.mcsweeneys.net/grantland
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Who I Am Following on Twitter and Why
I realized in class that I had neglected to make a post about my following list on Twitter, and that I still have more people and organizations to add. I thought I must make this kind of post.
Currently I am following 20 accounts.
1. NYTimesThomasFriedman -Thomas L. Friedman
A New York Times columnist and three time Pulitzer prize winning author, Thomas Friedman
specializes in foreign correspondence, especially regarding the Middle East. My father read his
work extensively and once loaned me his book From Beirut to Jerusalem, the story of his time
as a journalist in both cities in the 90s. I subscribe to him because he is so reputable and
because I was interested in his work of foreign correspondence. I am not so ambitious, but
I would like to know once in a while of what he might inform me.
2. RSF_RWB - Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières)
An NGO dedicated to preserving freedom of the press by reporting on journalists who have
been threatened, imprisoned, or even killed because of their work in countries all over the
world. I was told to subscribe to this organization because of my internship for Sampsonia
Way, an online magazine which exists for the same purpose (www.sampsoniaway.org).
3. Ramy Raoof
Apparently he's the editor for the Egyptian Blog for Human Rights, and as such tweets about
human rights violations, particularly regarding the Middle East, and other related topics.
Again, I was told to subscribe to him by of my internship.
4. PittWriters
A Twitter account made for the writers and writing programs from the University of
Pittsburgh, which I attend, and which I was told to subscribe to by my English class.
5. lolrebear - Reba
Former classmate, current housemate, distant friend.
6. Colson Whitehead
Nonfiction author who wrote an article that my English class read. I liked the article very
much and he's amusing to follow anyway.
7. NDTV - New Delhi Television Limited
I have a few Indian friends, and I sometimes think I should hear the Indian news.
I really have not paid any attention at all, but I still keep the subscriptions nearby..
8. The Daily Beast
A news reporting organization that seems determined to post on what's hot, interesting, and
amusing. I found this source through my professor's account and have since enjoyed my
subscription to it.
9. deviantArt
An online community of professional and amateur artists posting their work. I have an
account there too, although to my discredit I haven't posted anything in a long while.
10. dailyzen
Basically, I wanted to subscribe to pithy quotes on which to "meditate." Zen Buddhism
is interesting, but I'm not sure how many actual monastic Zen Buddhists have actual Twitter
accounts.
11. lacuna_coil
Lacuna Coil is one my favorite metal bands.
12. cnnbrk - CNN Breaking News
CNN is my first go-to news source. Funny story: Although I was encouraged to keep up with
the news as a good habit, particularly for writing, I made CNN.com my homepage because
a personal contact made me feel guilty. He works as a pizza delivery driver who listens to
NPR on the radio, and then he used to lecture me for not keeping up with the media.
I'll show him!
13. NatGeo - National Geographic Society
The famous non-profit educational institution that publishes primarily on science and world
cultures. Honestly, I haven't been someone who loyally reads the magazine, but my father
had a subscription to it for as long as I remember, so I was used to flipping through it,
at least, and found it fascinating.
14. GPLC - Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council
A non-profit agency for adult and young-adult education in Pittsburgh. Since March 2011,
I have been volunteering as a tutor of English as a second language. Unfortunately, I don't
work as hard as I should, and I am not involved with the GPLC community, but I should
keep trying.
15. AdeliaMohan
Classmate. I don't know her very well, but she's cool.
16. pen_int - International PEN
An international association of writers (Poets, Essayists, and Novelists, originally) that aims
to promote literature, freedom of expression, and Wikipedia says that it's the world's oldest
human rights organization and literary organization, which I might believe to an extent.
At any rate, I learned of this organization because of my internship at Sampsonia Way,
speaking of which -
17. Sampsonia_Way
An online magazine dedicated to the protection and promotion of persecuted writers around
the world, sponsored by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, an exiled writer-residency program.
I am an intern for the magazine, and I'm very impressed with their work and aims, but I
need to improve very much in my tasks there.
18. DAVIDDRAMAN
Lead singer and frontman of Disturbed, another favorite metal band.
19. miss_batgirl - Randi Alu
Classmate. I don't know her very well, but she's cool.
20. williams_page
My current English Writing professor!
Currently I am following 20 accounts.
1. NYTimesThomasFriedman -Thomas L. Friedman
A New York Times columnist and three time Pulitzer prize winning author, Thomas Friedman
specializes in foreign correspondence, especially regarding the Middle East. My father read his
work extensively and once loaned me his book From Beirut to Jerusalem, the story of his time
as a journalist in both cities in the 90s. I subscribe to him because he is so reputable and
because I was interested in his work of foreign correspondence. I am not so ambitious, but
I would like to know once in a while of what he might inform me.
2. RSF_RWB - Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières)
An NGO dedicated to preserving freedom of the press by reporting on journalists who have
been threatened, imprisoned, or even killed because of their work in countries all over the
world. I was told to subscribe to this organization because of my internship for Sampsonia
Way, an online magazine which exists for the same purpose (www.sampsoniaway.org).
3. Ramy Raoof
Apparently he's the editor for the Egyptian Blog for Human Rights, and as such tweets about
human rights violations, particularly regarding the Middle East, and other related topics.
Again, I was told to subscribe to him by of my internship.
4. PittWriters
A Twitter account made for the writers and writing programs from the University of
Pittsburgh, which I attend, and which I was told to subscribe to by my English class.
5. lolrebear - Reba
Former classmate, current housemate, distant friend.
6. Colson Whitehead
Nonfiction author who wrote an article that my English class read. I liked the article very
much and he's amusing to follow anyway.
7. NDTV - New Delhi Television Limited
I have a few Indian friends, and I sometimes think I should hear the Indian news.
I really have not paid any attention at all, but I still keep the subscriptions nearby..
8. The Daily Beast
A news reporting organization that seems determined to post on what's hot, interesting, and
amusing. I found this source through my professor's account and have since enjoyed my
subscription to it.
9. deviantArt
An online community of professional and amateur artists posting their work. I have an
account there too, although to my discredit I haven't posted anything in a long while.
10. dailyzen
Basically, I wanted to subscribe to pithy quotes on which to "meditate." Zen Buddhism
is interesting, but I'm not sure how many actual monastic Zen Buddhists have actual Twitter
accounts.
11. lacuna_coil
Lacuna Coil is one my favorite metal bands.
12. cnnbrk - CNN Breaking News
CNN is my first go-to news source. Funny story: Although I was encouraged to keep up with
the news as a good habit, particularly for writing, I made CNN.com my homepage because
a personal contact made me feel guilty. He works as a pizza delivery driver who listens to
NPR on the radio, and then he used to lecture me for not keeping up with the media.
I'll show him!
13. NatGeo - National Geographic Society
The famous non-profit educational institution that publishes primarily on science and world
cultures. Honestly, I haven't been someone who loyally reads the magazine, but my father
had a subscription to it for as long as I remember, so I was used to flipping through it,
at least, and found it fascinating.
14. GPLC - Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council
A non-profit agency for adult and young-adult education in Pittsburgh. Since March 2011,
I have been volunteering as a tutor of English as a second language. Unfortunately, I don't
work as hard as I should, and I am not involved with the GPLC community, but I should
keep trying.
15. AdeliaMohan
Classmate. I don't know her very well, but she's cool.
16. pen_int - International PEN
An international association of writers (Poets, Essayists, and Novelists, originally) that aims
to promote literature, freedom of expression, and Wikipedia says that it's the world's oldest
human rights organization and literary organization, which I might believe to an extent.
At any rate, I learned of this organization because of my internship at Sampsonia Way,
speaking of which -
17. Sampsonia_Way
An online magazine dedicated to the protection and promotion of persecuted writers around
the world, sponsored by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, an exiled writer-residency program.
I am an intern for the magazine, and I'm very impressed with their work and aims, but I
need to improve very much in my tasks there.
18. DAVIDDRAMAN
Lead singer and frontman of Disturbed, another favorite metal band.
19. miss_batgirl - Randi Alu
Classmate. I don't know her very well, but she's cool.
20. williams_page
My current English Writing professor!
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
October 5 Lab Assignments, pt. 3 of 3
Lab 2:
Find Facebook pages and Twitter streams for one credible nonfiction site and one credible nonfiction writer of your choice. How do the publications/writers interact with readers? Does it work? Why or why not? How much is too much? What is effective and what is noise? Write a short post.
Credible NonFiction Site: National Geographic
Facebook: National Geographic's Facebook page works quite well. There is a photo album of
some of the famed photography, and then on the Wall are posts referring to articles
with a eye-catching thumbnail picture. It works like a magazine, actually. You can
choose articles to read just by scrolling rather than skimming. It also neatly posts its mission statement on the Info section, which I think becomes lost in the serial
publication. As a serial, one infers what National Geographic is about, but on Facebook
there is another opportunity for NatGeo to identify itself.
http://www.facebook.com/natgeo
Twitter: I think National Geographic uses Twitter quite cleverly for the vision of its enterprise.
There is a steady stream of photograph links which sends the reader to the National
Geographic website rather than just an isolated image. This not only highlights the
prestigious photography of National Geographic, but it also encourages the reader to
check out the website and learn something besides gaze at the pretty picture.
National Geographic's Twitter feed also sends multiple messages regarding a single
study or featured article.
http://twitter.com/#!/NatGeo
Credible NonFiction Author: Thomas Friedman, NYTimes correspondent, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, specializes in foreign affairs, especially the Middle East.
My father read from him extensively and loaned me "From Beirut to Jerusalem" of which I am halfway through, and I have been halfway through for months.. >_<; It is very interesting, and very dense.
Facebook: The Info section is little more than a brief introduction to what he does and what
he has written. There are a few nice photographs of him at speaking events.
The Wall is used to post his published articles and speaking events, which would be
very convenient for his fans. There are also audio and video files linked there.
It seems this page is maintained quite nicely, although I'm not sure if Friedman
maintains it himself or not.
http://www.facebook.com/thomaslfriedman
Twitter: Thomas Friedman's Twitter feed is a simple stream of his contributions to
The New York Times. I suppose this is a useful tool for his regular subscribers and fans.
I suppose that here Twitter is used simply as a list for collecting and keeping up with the author. There's no time or reason for personal glitter here.
http://twitter.com/#!/NYTimesFriedman
I conclude that Twitter and Facebook are more useful for larger media franchises because they attract readers with smaller, bite-sized hooks. For authors, it seems that someone would have to already be a fan to have interest, at least in the case of Thomas Friedman, I think. Although these tools do a good job giving an order to the author's works and events, it's interesting how impersonal these social media sites might be for the professional.
Find Facebook pages and Twitter streams for one credible nonfiction site and one credible nonfiction writer of your choice. How do the publications/writers interact with readers? Does it work? Why or why not? How much is too much? What is effective and what is noise? Write a short post.
Credible NonFiction Site: National Geographic
Facebook: National Geographic's Facebook page works quite well. There is a photo album of
some of the famed photography, and then on the Wall are posts referring to articles
with a eye-catching thumbnail picture. It works like a magazine, actually. You can
choose articles to read just by scrolling rather than skimming. It also neatly posts its mission statement on the Info section, which I think becomes lost in the serial
publication. As a serial, one infers what National Geographic is about, but on Facebook
there is another opportunity for NatGeo to identify itself.
http://www.facebook.com/natgeo
Twitter: I think National Geographic uses Twitter quite cleverly for the vision of its enterprise.
There is a steady stream of photograph links which sends the reader to the National
Geographic website rather than just an isolated image. This not only highlights the
prestigious photography of National Geographic, but it also encourages the reader to
check out the website and learn something besides gaze at the pretty picture.
National Geographic's Twitter feed also sends multiple messages regarding a single
study or featured article.
http://twitter.com/#!/NatGeo
Credible NonFiction Author: Thomas Friedman, NYTimes correspondent, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, specializes in foreign affairs, especially the Middle East.
My father read from him extensively and loaned me "From Beirut to Jerusalem" of which I am halfway through, and I have been halfway through for months.. >_<; It is very interesting, and very dense.
Facebook: The Info section is little more than a brief introduction to what he does and what
he has written. There are a few nice photographs of him at speaking events.
The Wall is used to post his published articles and speaking events, which would be
very convenient for his fans. There are also audio and video files linked there.
It seems this page is maintained quite nicely, although I'm not sure if Friedman
maintains it himself or not.
http://www.facebook.com/thomaslfriedman
Twitter: Thomas Friedman's Twitter feed is a simple stream of his contributions to
The New York Times. I suppose this is a useful tool for his regular subscribers and fans.
I suppose that here Twitter is used simply as a list for collecting and keeping up with the author. There's no time or reason for personal glitter here.
http://twitter.com/#!/NYTimesFriedman
I conclude that Twitter and Facebook are more useful for larger media franchises because they attract readers with smaller, bite-sized hooks. For authors, it seems that someone would have to already be a fan to have interest, at least in the case of Thomas Friedman, I think. Although these tools do a good job giving an order to the author's works and events, it's interesting how impersonal these social media sites might be for the professional.
October 5 Lab Assignments, pt. 2 of 3
LATER THAT NIGHT:
3. Where and when did the five deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history occur?
According to the chart on http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0778120.html, which I doublechecked/verified here,
and was in too much of a hurry to copy from anywhere else, so I copied this by hand.
1. Galveston TX / Year 1900 / Category 4 / 8,000 (possibly 10-12,000) deaths
2. Lake Okeechobee, FL / Year 1928 / Category 4/ 2,500 deaths
3. Katrina (LA/Miss.) / Year 2005 / Category 3 / 1, 800 deaths
4. Florida Keys/S. Texas / 1919 / Category 4 / 500 lost at sea, total est. 600-900 deaths
5. New England 1938 / 1938 / Category 3 / 600 deaths
4. A blueprint for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.
Taken from here, icollector.com, which seems to be an auctions website. The blueprints were priced at $15,000, apparently
sold Oct. 13, 2006. I had my initial doubts, but this picture kept appearing as I browsed through Google..
5. Ernest Hemingway’s 1923 passport photograph. Make five factual observations about the document.
I was running out of MB space, so I am simply going to include the link
Taken from National Archives website, which presents the photo with extensive citation and a short summary of information regarding the photograph and its housing at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.
5 Observations:
1. His signature is over the picture in black ink, which makes it kind of hard to read, but kind of aesthetically pleasing.
2. The picture has been stamped with a stamp declaring that the picture has been impressed.
3. The picture has been impressed twice with the seal of the Department of State. The caption stated that Hemingway used this picture on his return to Europe. Could it be that it was impressed at each crossing?
4. Perhaps the identifying information is elsewhere on the passport, but I still find it strange that such information is not right beside the picture as it is nowadays.
5. The picture has not been placed straightly on the outlined box (labled "Photograph of (illegible)". It was arranged by hand, not by machine.
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