I have always loved maps, ever since I was a little girl.  I would get the map out of my dad’s glovebox and sit for hours, “reading” the names of cities out loud that I had never been too, but wanted to visit.  I would even highlight the ones that sounded interesting.

When I started reading “21 steps” I had a similar feeling. Each bit of narrative connected to a place on the map, and at any given time, I had no idea where the next stop was.  I thought this was a very interesting way to tell a story- the idea of visually following the narrator to the specific places detailed in the story was very mysterious and exciting.

The story had a mysterious feel to it– the narrator was forced to go on an unknown mission, and the reader got to literally follow along.  From flying to rowing across unknown waters, I think that the use of the map really made the story even more interesting and mysterious.  Following the plane to Edinburgh was one of my favorite parts, as well as the detail at Heathrow airport.

I have never read a map story that was similar to this, but it reminded me of a story I would make up in my head as a kid when playing with maps (minus the guns and deaths of course)

If the story did not use the map, it would have been much less effective- the reader would have to picture going to each of the places in their head, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, but would make the experience much different.

Seeing how many blocks the narrator had to go, watching the plane “fly” to Edinburgh, and his boat row away from the police made for a rich experience.  Although this was my first experience with this type of story, it was pretty memorable.

Critical Response- Taroko Gorge

This form of poetry was really frustrating to me at the beginning.  I hate to feel like I’m not in control and the text goes by and disappears quickly.  If you don’t catch the words, you miss them and there is no going back.  Although it is slow enough to read, the realization that once the text “falls off” the screen, it won’t be coming back is a bit unsettling to me.

I felt like the poem had layers, and the content of the poem was actually really interesting once I got past the stress of words falling off the screen.  There seems to be a reoccurring pattern, although I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.  Words repeat themselves throughout the poem, specifically: hum, relax, flow, vein, and cool, among others.

It’s almost as if the same words are being used over and over, just rearranged.  If this is the case, it’s really a cool and creative idea.  The other factor that was different for me was the fact that the poem seemed to be never-ending.  This was also an issue for me, as I tend to like things to have a beginning and an end- a lack of being “complete” is also unsettling to me.  It reminded me of singing karaoke to a song you don’t really know, and once the words flash on the screen you can’t get them back.

The green background adds a calming effect to the stress I was feeling.  It goes along with the natural theme of the poem, and kept me hanging on.  I am a very visual person so small things such as color really matter when it comes to how I react (or don’t react) to something.  I let the poem “play” for about 20 minutes, and I can’t figure out if it is continuing, or just the same poem starting over.  This poem is an example of something unconventional that grabs your attention.  It was almost like a game to me- like how long will it take for me to keep reading until I surrender failure.

Critical Response

Lisa Gitelman, “Imagining Language Machines” from Scripts, Groves, and Writing Machines (Blackboard)

Lisa Gitelman discusses the invention of the phonograph, and the thoughts and visions associated with it.  The opening of the paper is full of interesting information about the phonograph.  It captures the thoughts of a population introduced to a new technology.  Upon the invention of the phonograph Edison boasted that “The dead would be able to speak, the blind to read.”

Gitelman discusses how during the next decade the phonograph would come to exist as a language machine.  Here I wondered was this really the first glimpse of a “paperless world” as the paper suggests?  Did people really had any clue what was to come in the future?

Later, Gitelman presents the thoughts of Edward Bellamy who was said to bring up the suggestion of a “paperless world.” Bellamy also felt that reading and listening to the phonograph are both processes of “absorption” but he felt that real reading makes the reader less responsive to the matter being absorbed.  This is an interesting observation that I never thought of.

There were many benefits of the phonograph listed by those who supported it.  Bellamy also observed that posture is better and eyesight improved when listening to a phonograph.  This reminded me of the start of the Books on tape/CD that we have today.  It is so simple to listen to a CD of a book, but it is such a different experience than actually reading a book.

Bellamy also thought that written English will become a dead language, and writing a lost art.  This highly bothers me, and I am glad that his prediction didn’t seem to have come true.

It is interesting that the phonograph was thought by many to make writing more problematic.  I can see a similar situation arising in the younger generations with all the new technologies out there.  It is particularly interesting to see people write things such as “Gr8” for great or “TTYL” instead of talk to you later.  While these new acronyms are handy, I can’t help but think that they hurt the writing skills of youth and future youth.  It seems that new technologies make things very convenient, but at the same time they have their downfalls.  The most interesting thing to me was to see the many similarities between the inventions of technologies of old and technologies of today.