Show and Tell

Media constantly tries to attempt to capture the beauty of the world. Replicas and photographs of every piece of art has been taken. However, these picture or replicas will never be able to capture the true beauty and uniqueness that the original holds. Because of media, the need for travel to see certain wonders has been eliminated. Our generation has grown up with the internet. Anything we wanted to see was just a few clicks away. For me and my family, this simply increased our desire to travel. Something can be seen on the internet or in a book, and that raises the need to see it in person in order to fully experience its magnificence. If it was not for that desire to see the full brilliance of things and experience them in person, then the internet and books would suffice, and any tourism would become obsolete.    

I was homeschooled up until high school. My mom taught me art through books. I learned about many different artists, their lives and their work. Because of my mom’s desire to see these wonderful things in person we found ourselves in France at the Louvre. I was nine years old, and had already been dragged through boring museums that I was too young to appreciate. All I wanted to do at the Louvre was walk through it as fast as possible, and only stop to look at paintings I recognized from my mom’s books. My aunt, an art historian, and my uncle, an artist, would talk to my parents about many of the pieces. My aunt would be able to tell the story of the painting, while my uncle would tell about the techniques used to paint it. Meanwhile, my sister and I would look a little in each room, and then sit down and wait until my parents were ready to move on. My parents had the curiosity while my aunt and uncle had personal connections with the pieces. As I have gotten older, I have taken more time to appreciate the wonders my parents have taken me to see. Now, I would love to go back to the Louvre and do the same thing my parents did because I now have a deeper appreciation for the art. Seeing things in person also made learning about them all the more fascinating because I could relate to that place.

We finally made it to the room that the Mona Lisa was in, and we were immediately surprised to see how small it really was. The pictures of it had made it seem large. The way everyone talked about it and admired it made it seem large. While it was smaller than we had expected, it was also much more incredible. You could see so many more details in the background as well as more of a 3D image instead of 2D. Works by Monet had a similar impact. He put so much paint on his paintings that they really came off the canvas. Many of the famous paintings take the light away from the less famous ones simply because they are better known. The Mona Lisa was not Leonardo de Vinci’s most famous work, but because it had a story and a name, it overshadowed much larger, more impressive works by both Leonardo de Vinci and other artists. Actually being in the room with all these famous paintings is so much more intimate than simply looking at a picture of them.

A similar experience occurred on the Great Wall of China my junior year of high school. I had grown up seeing pictures of the Great Wall, but actually standing on one of the wonders of the world is such a surreal experience. In the moment, you cannot believe you actually are where you are. Afterwards it seems like a dream. Simple pictures cannot capture the beauty of the landscape or the steepness of the steps or the pollution in the air. There are so many incredible landscapes around the world that you have to just stop, and take a moment to really be in that moment because that moment will never happen again. The beauty of seeing these things in person is just too grand for any picture or virtual reality application to portray.

What We Blog About When We Blog About Blogging

First of all, there are very few rules for how you should write your blog entries for this class. The main thing is that you "think out loud" about something pertinent to what we read, watch or talk about in Honors 200 and that you develop your ideas enough so that you have around 500 words worth for each entry. You can go a little under the word count and a little further over, but 500 is the sweet spot, because that's just long enough to get beyond the "Hey, check this out!" stage and into something with enough substance to promote analysis.

When you are writing your show-and-tell blog entry, you will have to provide a concrete example of it -- a quote, a clip etc. -- in order to remind your classmates and me what you chose and why. But I'd prefer it if you focus on specifics in your other four blog entries as well. It's always easier to think about a topic when you can concentrate on details rather than having to tackle it all at once. And the kind of analysis I expect you to perform on Part II of the midterm and final exams and, above all else, on your final project demands  that you do so.

So even if you just want to write about a personal experience with technology or other matters related to our course content, try to provide both a context and a concrete example of what you are discussing. It will make for stronger, more interesting writing. And it will also ensure that what you post here on the course weblog will be more readily adapted for you final project, which will save you considerable time at the end of the semester.

What else? You need to be respectful of your classmates and me. While I take it for granted that you will have to deal with "grown-up" content at some point in this course, there are common-sense limits to what should be shared. We can watch David Letterman interview Jennifer Ringley -- read more about her here -- and enjoy their banter about the potential viewing of intimate moments, but it would be crossing the line to show footage from a webcam that might feature such moments. If you aren't sure about what might be inappropriate to share with the class, please check with me first.

It is also important to be aware that you might know things that other students do not. Sometimes you will need to provide context to help them understand, such as a hard-core gamer might need to before talking about why a particular experience is interesting for our course. But sometimes you will have to try not to reveal too much, as when discussing a television program where spoilers are possible. Again, if you have any questions, ask me.

If you choose to comment on someone else's post, you should also observe the same decorum you would be expected to display in the classroom. Disagreement is good; rudeness is not. I realize that we live in an era when much of our public life is dominated by a failure to show respect, but I believe that we can achieve a higher standard.