"Feels Like the First Time"

Having come from a private university, being here at MTSU is a completely new experience. And I feel like what I took for granted there, what I skimped on (and of course, hindsight being 20/20, if I had to do it all over again, I'd give it my all) is what I feel like I'm putting more effort into now.
Sewanee is where I attended last year and, it being a liberal arts college, there's an artistic or cultural flare to everything we did, everywhere we went. I think that allowed me the freedom of exploration (and here I'm talking specifically about my writing), whereas MTSU has forced me to focus on the realities of a situation, and put the effort in the first go round.
So perhaps, rather than picking up a skill, I feel as if I'm learning how to apply myself more studiously, and do what I have to, even if it's not necessarily what I want to be doing.

Joyful Noise or Religious Cacophony?

It seems (to me) that more and more television shows and movies are centered around religion and spirituality. I have to wonder, does this mean that America is making a swing back to religion after its vacation to "demoralization-ville?"


(Quotation provided by pastor I met in passing at work, Farmis Johns.)

Johnson v. Stevens

Case Briefing

Parties: Steven Johnson (Defendant), Dana Stevens (Plaintiff)

Facts of Case: Steven Johnson, the defendant, argues that modern television makes you smarter. Dana Stevens, plaintiff, argues that Johnson is wrong (that he may have a misguided point or two, but that he is wrong).

Procedural History: The Court of General Opinion, sitting with a jury of modern society's ideologies, awarded plaintiff a judgement for the strength of her argument, and hence this appeal by Steven Johnson.

Legal Issue: Various points are discussed in the briefs, but to us the dominant and conspicuous inquiry in the case is, was the defendant, during the period of this transaction, an author of scientific theory, correct concerning his unusual thesis?

Reasoning/Analysis: The testimony of Ms. Stevens makes it manifest through credible evidence and strong counterpoints that Johnson was the author of false scientific theory in the full extent identified within his work, “Watching TV Makes You Smarter,” of the New York Times, and that her position, upon well-settled grounds of her feelings and opinion, required her to attest to the fact that Johnson is wrong via written rebuttal.


The services she rendered, in this instance, must be presumed to have been rendered in pursuance of her will, and for its performance she was met with support from the public.

Rule of Law: Society has heretofore shun the idea that television could be educational, thinking of it instead (generally) as a privilege, reward, waste of time, medium of entertainment. 

Holding: The judgement therefore must be that Dana Stevens is correct.

Blog for 9/13

I completely agree with the final idea within this piece of advice: the paper and argument you wish to write will never be as great on paper as it is in your mind. It may be because we lose focus easily, or because we are too inarticulate and have the problem of making an argument fully believable, but no matter the reason, the outcome is the same.
And I would like to say that my writing style alters and changes to yield more well-written, well-argued papers, but the truth is that my style alters very little, and is hardly affected by advice or ideas such as this.

9/11 Class Blog

I feel as if the idea behind Anne Lammott's ideas regarding students' first draft are a bit freeing in theory, but I simply cannot accomplish them in reality. I end up getting too caught up in errors to simply allow myself to keep pushing through a draft. It may be a crutch, but I depend on keeping things as structured and grammar-friendly as possibly to help get me through the paper. As for the sample? While rough (given, as it is a draft), I feel like the author had the evidence they needed to support their thesis.

Pop Culture Blog 2

   I don't know about a "pop-culture" experience as for this week, but I've experienced the effects pop-culture can have on a small town. Red Boiljng Springs is a small, sleepy little town. Located in north eastern Tennessee, and claiming less than 400 residents, this charming community thrives upon tourism to survive. Tourism, you ask? Well, as I have discovered this week, this town is also a historical landmark. RBS use to be a huge tourist attraction, home to sulfer springs and a billion hotels (this is an extreme exaggeration), it was very popular up until 1959.
   Now RBS is a run down town, overrun with historical enthusiasts and a generation of wangster wannabes. I traveled there for a car show and discovered that the new generation carries slider phones and sports MTV endorsed clothing labels. In a city that seems to be living half a century in the past, the twelve year olds in gang gear mar the landscape even more definitely.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/24/magazine/24TV.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Hypothesis: Watching TV Makes You Smarter

     In his article, Watching TV Makes You Smater, Steven Johnson argues that instead of decreasing the brain function of its viewers, modern television is instead increasing cognitive brain function, thus making participants smarter. Mr. Johnson goes on to explain the Sleeper Curve theory to his audience. This hypothesized learning curve suggests that modern viewers demand more of television programs, and push to interact and involve themselves in the intricate movements of plot and theme within today's programs.
   Personally, I feel that Mr. Johnson, in his attempt to answer the question of whether or not humans are getting dumber, incorrectly identifies a pre-existing characteristic of the human learning and preservation process as a new method of learning and development.
   All species have come to understand that they must observe and adapt in order to preserve the continuation of their species. Learning to corretcly identify emotions and motives, and committing behavioral patterns to memory to formulate a pattern for predicting outcomes (or what Mr. Johnson is proposing modern television enables viewers to do) is a device humans have had for centuries. Modern television has simply become the newest classroom in which it can be observed and tested.
   In short, while I feel that Mr. Johnson has a good point (that modern television allows viewers to actively participate in the watching process), I feel that it is a well known one, not a revolutionary, scientific thought.

Oh Gosh! Just Now figuring all of this out...Pop Culture Encounter #1

I do apologize,
   I realize that it is now Tuesday morning, but I just recently (within the past hour) realized what all blogging assignments encompassed. I didn't quite understand what all we were suppose to have in and by which dates (but I now have them all in my google calendar, so maybe I can keep track...).
   My major pop-culture run-in of the week (ok, last week) occurred while watching Wall-E with my guy. It struck me that we are living in an age wherein it is plausible that two computers could manage a love match! In fact, developers were not only able to convince audience members to empathize with the robots' simulated emotions, but also completely ignore the fear of what might happen if robots were able to think and feel, and essentially outsmart the human race (now this is not to say that  can speak for all audience members, but one has to assume that, since there has been a large and positive response to the animation--).
   When I was a youngster, it was innovative to create a (Disney) world in which cats could sing and have adventures across Paris, even learning to play musical instruments and communicate with one another to plot revenge against (in my opinion) deserving humans.
   Does this mean our age is extending the grasp of our imaginations, or are we simply reapplying old techniques and thought processes to modern day relevancies?
   In short, is asking children to believe robots can feel more, less, or equally as far fetched as asking them to believe toys or singing cats can do the same?