class schedule, scuba, and capitalization
two required programs:
monday:
8:45 am-12 pm: the view from australia/ indigenous history and culture
3-5:50 pm: photography II
tuesday:
6-8 pm: video production
wednesday:
1 pm; the gathering (chapel)
4-5:50 pm: arts and culture
thursday:
9-11 (am): multimedia II
3-4:30 pm: bellydancing*
friday:
all day**: the view from australia/ indigenous history and culture
*a friend of mine convinced me to take this with her. don't misunderstand me. i'm excited about it, but if it seems out of character, that's why.
**classes won't typically go all day. some fridays will be used to get a head start on weekend travelling, others will dismiss at half-day.
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thoughts on scuba.
i have never gone scuba diving, so much of this will be speculation. but it works for the metaphor.
i feel like i'm culturally scuba diving. i've been plunged into a different world. everything is new and slightly surreal. the water is slightly foggy. the ways to go and options are still yet to be realized, and breathing normally is a challenge. but breathing normally is possible: the surroundings will become commonplace, the bus and train systems will be as familiar as the backroads at home, i will develop favorite shops and restaurants and church, and i will stop feeling like a sore thumb with my accent.
speaking of accents, i've visted two english-speaking countries with different accents in the past six months. both times, i feel that we, the travelers, brought more attention to ourselves by being self-conscious of our american accent than the accent itself. there is something about the way we think our nation is percieved that makes us (me) so aware and nervous to be that american: stupid, fat, loud, obnoxious. in reality, i only know a few americans actually like that, certainly not enough to stereotype the entire country. i/we would do well to just be ourselves, human, instead of worried of where we come from. (although i talked to an young lady today who spoke for all of australia: "we think bush is an idiot." to which all i could answer was, "yeah, a lot of people in the states think that too. but it's interesting how split the nation is--there are people who can't stand him, and people who stand behind him." personally (as if you asked), i'd say i don't know enough to say either way for sure. i do think that the nation has been ready--nay, looking--for a new president since 2005. there are other more educated reasons, i'm sure, to explain why the race has started so early, but that's my two cents.
sorry to get political.
... ... ...
a note on capitalization:
the pretentious explanation: capitalization gives respect. i like to give that respect to the God's Three Persons, and a few other case-sensitive (oh, forgive that pun) situations. that's about it.
the practical explanation: when i was first learning how to type, it was tough for me to coordinate several fingers to push two buttons at once. i got in the habit of typing without caps, and grew to like the way it looked. i do it now as a personal style, even though I Can Coordinate My Fingers Better Now. sorry if it's hard to read.
4 comments:
meredith i type without punctuation and capitalization too. glad we have that in common. i think it makes it easier to read, and less formal if you ask me. so i agree. i am so excited fo ryou to learn all your history! don't forget it- you have to tell me all about it i know zero australian history. :)
Although I admire your subtle allusion to the poet, e. e. cummings, (whether intentional or not) in your reasons for ignoring the rules of capitalization, I find the lack of grammatical order in adherence to the overarching net culture to put you in a very conformist position. While before, ignoring capitalization was a way to express the defiance of arbitrary rules and write differently, now since the internet culture has overrun and invented new rules of language, it is actually more defiant to follow traditional rules of grammar in regards to internet activity rather than to casually break them to adhere to the standards of the norm. In short, following the rules of grammar is the new counter-culture.
Now that I've made you read through that dribble, I just think that refusal to capitalize makes you seem just a little less intelligent. Which, is obviously not the case, as I read your splendid scuba metaphor. I do, however, appreciate your usage of punctuation. Otherwise I would be forced to read your paragraphs as if in one breath at a time at break-neck speed, a most undesirable way to read. So, while I would prefer to see some capitalization in your posts, I'm grateful that it seems to be the only major grammatical guideline you ignore.
Anyway, your classes sound fun. Be sure to post about Video Production and Multimedia II at some point in your blog. I'm interested to find out what those involve.
Cheers
Well, Dana says you get an A+ in his book. Except you totally had me excited by your title, I've always wanted to learn SCUBA! Love the video, by the way; send more/much/many.
Oh, and thanks Blade. I've never thought of myself as countercultural, just a holdout from days of yore. (Cummings?)
Take luck
Sir Dana, the Wolfslayer
If I remember correctly, e. e. cummings wrote everything in lowercase letters except in reference to members of the trinity. He even wrote his own name without any capitals (which is why I don't put his name in capitals). He also used punctuation quite unconventionally. Brilliant man, I should read more of his work.
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