Wobble, Wobble

When most people think of the word wobble now days they do not think of the actual definition but of the popular dance. The definition however is slightly different...

WOBBLE: to move or proceed with an irregular rocking or staggering motion or unsteadily and clumsily from side to side

    Many times in this class I have felt just like that definition, unsteady about what we were suppose to do for an assignment or unsure of what I was going to write about. The first time I felt this way during this course was when we were given the assignment to make our own blog. I have used blogs in the past but never actually had my own blog and had to make my own posts. I "wobbled" when writing my first post. I had no idea what I was going to say, or even really what I was suppose to do. By the end of this course however I have been able to see a good bit of improvement in my blogs. Personally I think my writing has improved, and I guess that was a main point in this course and I feel as if I have reached that goal. I know that I am not an excellent writer, I now feel that I am at least a decent writer and I have got that way through this English 1101 course.

   While I do feel I have improved and become a better writer through this blog there are still many questions that I have. I wonder what, if anything I will do with this blog when this course is over? I wonder if I will have to create another blog for my next English course? Or will I ever have to work with blogs again? I wonder if my writing would have improved any if it had not been for this blog? I wonder if my writing even has improved of if it is just that I feel more comfortable with writing? I wonder what other writing I will do after this class? Finally, I wonder what other wobbles I will encounter in my future writing?


PS. I had a great experience in this class. I normally do not enjoy English classes, but I actually liked this one and I feel like I got a lot out of it. Thank you so much Lacy for being such a great teacher!

-Taylor

Ethnography Reflection

This project had it's major up's and down's. It was very easy for us to figure out what we were going to do our project on..sculptures. However it was not easy for us to figure out how we were going to put the project together.

The revison part of this project also seemed to be kind of difficult to overcome. The technologies that we used to make our video were not exactly user friendly and took a while for us to figure out what to do.

Our group seemed to work together very well. All memebers showed up to every meeting and did what had to be done in order to make our project work.

The untradiotional part of this project was very difficult. At first we did not understand what we were suppose to do at all, and we were very confused when we figured out what we were going to do. I personally would rather just write a paper or do a blog post.

Overall I think my group did very well on our project and I think we showed the ethnography of sculptures around UNCC's campus.

Improv Insight

       I started off doing this blog post tonight having no idea what so ever, I was going to write about. I was begining to think I had run out of things to say. So I sat on my bed, racking my brain for ideas on what to write...
 
      Then I recalled the improv we did last class, Unfortunately Story. We had done activities like this before in which we were all in a big circle and went around making up a story. However in this activity we had to change the story when it was our turn, we had to make it something it was not. For me this was much harder than the previous game we had played. It is so much easier to add to a story than it is to take away from our change it. This got me thinking about the Literacy Narratives we wrote and I began to see the connection between the two. The game was a challenge to get us thinking in new way, and how to change the story we already have into something different, something new. I felt the same challennge when trying to edit my narrative, it was hard to completely change the story, to really dig in and make something new, but I eventually got the hang of it. Before this improv I never really understood the point of all the activities like that, that we do. Now I get it, improv can actually be helpful.

Princess and the frog twist

Last class we read "Hazel Tells Laverne" by Kathryn Machan. I really liked the twist to the classic fairytail of the princess and the frog. The girl is given the oppurtinity to become a princess, but she does not want that for herself, she does not believe the frog. It makes me think she is not gullible and makes this poem seem very real to life.

Ethnograpgy Group Project

Today my group met to talk about the hidden literacy in sculptures around UNCC's campus. We decided that we would all pick an individual sculpture and find out a little bit more about it. Since I had already done the Cyrillic Projector I decided to continue with it. Our group choose to interview people to find out what their takes on the sculptures were..


It was pretty cold this morning and since it was during class time there were not a lot of people walking by. I interviewed two girls walking together and this is what was said...


Interview

Me: What statement do you think this piece is making?

Hallie: I think the piece is probably a metaphor for something.

Samantha: I don't really know? I don't think I've ever even noticed this

Me: Have you ever seen this peice lit up?

Hallie: No, it lights up?

Samantha: No

Me: What message is the artist trying to send?

Hallie: I think all the different letters are a representation of different cultures coming together

Samantha: With the different letters and symbols it might mean something more, maybe there's a hidden message he was trying to give?

I also asked myself the same questions and this is what I came up with..
I think the piece is making a sort-of incognito statement, when you see it during the day you would probably over look it and not think twice about what it is. When you see it at night it seems to "come alive" and you cant help but see it and wonder what it is. I would say that the theme of this piece is mystery, after all it is a secret code. This piece leaves me feeling curious and wondering more.

Cyrillic Projector

Located in the plaza between Fretwell and Friday is the Cyrillic Projector. The projector is a sculpture created by Jim Sanborn with a secret message encrypted on it.

 

I noticed the sculpture one night walking through campus. I had passed by the same exact spot many times before during the day and never really payed much attention to it, however at night it is almost impossible to miss. I was very intrested in it, it seemed to be in a odd language with weird symbols and letters. I went back to my dorm and decided to try and figure out what exactly this sculpture was all about, and this is what I found...

 

"The Cyrillic Projector is an encrypted sculpture at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, that was created by Washington DC artist Jim Sanborn in the early 1990s. It was inspired by the encrypted Kryptos sculpture that Sanborn created two years earlier for CIA Headquarters. The message on the Cyrillic Projector has turned out to be in two parts. The decrypted first part is a Russian text encouraging secret agents to psychologically control potential sources of information. The second part appears to be a partial quote from classified KGB correspondence about the Soviet dissident Sakharov, with concerns that his report to the Pugwash conference was being used by the Americans for an anti-Soviet agenda.
Sculptor Sanborn created two codes -- One for the CIA's Kryptos sculpture, and another lesser-known one related to KGB operations. The CIA's Kryptos sculpture attained international media attention in 1999 when it was announced that the first three sections of the Kryptos code had been solved independently by two different cryptographers. Part 4 of Kryptos remains uncracked to this day, and was what sparked the creation of the Kryptos Group in May 2003. The group currently has about 70 members from at least four different continents, and includes cryptographers, mathematicians, game developers, academics, and other interested hobbyists. Along with investigating the Kryptos code itself, the group is also closely examining other elements related to Kryptos, such as other sculptures created by artist Jim Sanborn, including the Cyrillic Projector." http://elonka.com/kryptos/CyrillicProjectorAnnouncement.html

I visted the sculpture at night when it was lit up so I could get another look at it now that I had a better idea of what it was. Since I was there at night I did not see many people walking by, there was not a lot of action, no real noise besides the common noises you would hear at night. To me the work itself speaks enough about literacy. The encoded message that took so long to be decrypted, and the secret message it holds. A secret message in a different language is literacy.

literacy narrative struggle

My literacy narrative is for sure not a "success story" now don't get me wrong I did the best I could but I wont be bragging on myself here...

When we were assigned this assignement I was not at all excited, I had no idea what I was going to write about. Luckly we did a lot of work in class preparing for this paper and that helped me alot. Through the activites we did in our daybook I got an idea of what I was going to write. However I did not think I would be able to write three to five pages about it. This was a hard assignment for me, I mean obviously I know im literate but I didnt at all know what to write about it..

first edition

second edition

third edition

The first draft of the paper that I wrote, I thought was pretty decent. I made the minimum length of three pages and I talked about being literate so I thought I was good. I was wrong. My paper was not what I would call bad but it was not quite good enough, it was not my best work. I was challenged in class to change my paper, to play around and switch things up. I tried that, but I didnt change things that much.

In my third "edition" of my paper I really tried to play around and "mix things up" based on Lacy's suggestions in my review. I switched up the order of my essay, added new things and changed/edited it as much as I could. I tried my best to come up with new ideas, I still am not one hundred percent confident with my revision but I tried my best and I think thats all that matters.