I've decided that since I really don't use this blog for much besides Media Aesthetics and some other English related classes, I'm going to use this blog to keep a record of notes on my observed child at the CDC for Child Developement (also known as PY 225, Infant Child and Adolescent Developement and Psychology). I don't think there will be a major problem with that, since I'm only going to do day-to-day observations in this that deal more with my child's behavior than with anything else. Trust me, there will be long, lovely blogs on media aesthetics, but I figures this will give me more overall blog time.
My child, whom I'll call Pod, is four. So far, I've been casually observing his behavior. I mostly see him at Show and Tell, Snack Time, and Free Play, which gives me a very interesting span of activity, to say the least. Pod is generally very good at taking commands, and is for the most part, quiet and well behanved (God, what an awful statement). He can, however, be a little jumpy, like most kids his age. He likes gross motor play the best, sticking to the jungle gym and the gross motor area, which includes things like giant bouncy balls. He also likes the water table. He is slightly introverted, but has a good confidence level.
Today I observed a very interesting behavior. He and two other children, one male and one female, played an interesting game of make believe on the jungle gym. It seemed to be a cross between pretending to be monkeys and playing house. For some reason, the two playfellows wanted him to crawl into the bottom of the jungle gym, a place they had dubbed "the Cage", and stay there. Pod would crawl in, but almost immediately would escape. The other two children would then chase him and try to get him into the cage again. They often had to be reminded to use indoor voices and walking feet. They were, however, good about giving up their jungle gym when the time came for other students to use it. They then adjourned to the water table, where it seemed the object was to fling as much water aroud as possible using eye droppers.
I'm just so very glad I'm teaching adolescents.
Have you ever noticed that English majors make the strangest jokes? For instance...
Chaucercon! For all the Chaucer fans, your very own convention, complete with cos-play!
^_^ This came from Lit Crit, not Advanced Lit Study, but a majority of people in both classes will probably get the reference. Anyway, I was scanning some of the Prologue, when I realized that not only was I reading the Middle English version (note: Old English = Beowulf, Middle English = Chaucer), but I heard Dr. Wendland's voice in my head. O_o;; I dearly miss Major British Writers.
Quick question: On the syllabus, for Jan 26 it says:
Preview Wednesday's blogging assignment
Blog (Due Wednesday) On your own, investigate further some issue relating aesthetics to some aspect of English studies we have already touched on, and write a richly-linked blog entry (including reference to assigned course materials, peer blogging, and your own online or offline research) that teaches your readers about one thing you learned. (Avoid anything that even hints of "Here's what I'm supposed to write" -- that will kill you reader's interest right away.)
Is this due before or after class?
One of the positurae developed around the eighth century on the continent (i.e. Europe mainland). The punctus elevatis looked roughly like an inverted semicolon and acted as a modern colon or semicolon. There are two other main positurae; the punctus versus, which looked like a semicolon and acted roughly as a period, and the punctus interrogativus, which looked like a modern question mark and acted like a modern exclamation mark. For an image of the punctus elevatis, go here.
After reading "Cathedral" and Plato's "Allegory of the Cave", my mind didn't immediately go to the blind reference, but to another text. In Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time, there is a very similar situation to "Cathedral". The main characters have come to a planet with an opaque atmosphere, where there is no distinct difference between day and night except in temperature and the shades of gray.
What caught my attention was a dialogue between Meg, the main character, and one of the planet's population, whom she has affectionately dubbed "Aunt Beast". Aunt Beast and all of her kind do not see. They have no need for it. And so, Meg tries to describe light to her, but cannot do it. She tries to describe sight, which doesn't go over well either. Aunt Beast says, (roughly) "What a sad world, where you have to rely so heavily on something you do not understand."
The reason I bring this up is because I see a connection, beyond the idea of sight and blindness, in "Cathedral" and "Allegory". In "Cathedral", we see the stumbling attempts of a seeing man to describe a cathedral to a blind man. Automatically, he uses references to things that he sees. He cannot get around the mental block placed by having sight. The same is true in "Allegory". The men in the cave only know what the "see", what is presented to them. Each gets caught up in the act of "seeing" and cannot get beyond their sight. The same is true with Meg and Aunt Beast.
In an attempt to help the struggling Meg, Aunt Beast suggests thinking about what she means. Meg does, but still words like "light" and "seeing" get thrown in. Aunt Beast cannot understand what Meg means because she can't get around the mental block. In "Cathedral", however, the Blind Man thinks of a way. By drawing a cathedral together, he can "feel" what a cathedral looks like. It is very successful, and they go a step farther, having the speaker close his eyes and continue drawing the cathedral.
What happens is that the man with sight begins to understand how a blind man views the world. It isn't through "sight", but a vision beyond sight. The speaker has to get beyond his sight to actually "see" a cathedral. When he describes the cathedral to the blind man, he describes it's features; buttrasses, stone, and stained glass. But he doesn't actually "see" the cathedral, he sees it's parts. It isn't until he closes his eyes and simply draws the cathedral that he actually "sees" what it really is.
In "Allegory", Plato says, "To them (the men in the cave), the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images." The men in the cave rely on their sight to try and see the world arround them, but they go no farther than what is presented to them. It is only when one of them breaks away and goes beyond what is presented that he actually sees the true world.
The lesson? Very simply, we have to go farther than just sight to actually "see" what is in the world arround us. We can't just say "It's a cathedral" whithout knowing what a cathedral is, beyond what we see. The same is true in life. We can simply rely on our sight, but then the world is nothing but the "shadows" of the truth. Truth is beyond sight. And we have to try to see beyond sight to find it.
The major art form for literature has for centuries been the book. In ancient times, written language was displayed on scrolls of papyrus, a type of paper made from the papyrus plant. It wasn't until the Medieval Era that books became a popular way of displaying literature. Once books became popular, they stayed popular, surviving and changing throughout the centuries as technology expanded and tastes changed. Today's books, for instance, are vastly different from the books of the Medieval Age. In this presentation, I'll look at how books are designed and bound, both in the modern day and in the Medieval Era.
Design
Medieval books were written on vellum or parchment. Both are specially treated animal skins that were stretched taut and trimmed into the proper shape. Here is an example of a modern recreation of vellum. The vellum was ruled, sometimes with colored inks, so that the text would be level and straight.The text itself was written by hand with a quill, or a feather from a goose or a swan. The quill's nib, or the sharpened point, created the shape of the text. This often varied, depending on the shape and angle of the nib.
This is vastly different from modern day printing. Modern books are printed using a mechanical press onto paper made from pulped wood. The paper is cut mechanically.
Illumination and Illustration
Illumination is a technique used in Medieval illustrations. Medieval books were generally filled with illustrations in the margins and the body of the text. These illustrations were often illuminated by using silver and gold leaf. The background of these illustrations is usually solid gold or silver leaf, while the foreground and content of the illustrations were made of pigments mixed with egg whites to form a kind of tempera paint.
Modern books often aren't illustrated. Children's books and some young adult books are illustrated, usually with photo-printed paper or reproductions of paintings. Some books have dividers on chapter pages, usually a small graphic that doesn't take up much of the page. For the most part, modern books remain unillustrated, with the exception of cover art. Modern books pride themselves on their cover art, which is usually bright and eye-catching to attract a buyer. I'll go into this again in Binding.
Binding
In Medieval binding, the parchment were folded and nested into sections called "gatherings". These were sewn together with leather thongs and then attatched to wooden boards that formed the front and back covers of the book. The covers were then covered with dyed fabric or leather, and decorated with metalwork on the corners of the covers and on the center of the front cover.
Archiving
Medieval books were archived only in the houses or manors of the very wealthy or in the monasteries where they were created. In monasteries, books were kept in Scriptoriums, where they could be copied by hand and distributed to other churches or patrons.
Modern books are archived in libraries, such as the Library of Congress in the United States, or smaller libraries that spend many years expanding their collections. These books are often on public display and can be borrowed for reading from a public library. Some libraries do not lend their books to the public, but do allow the public to view them.
Here is a more in-depth look at the creation of a Medieval text.
Here are some examples of modern bindings and cover art.
I'm currently taking PY 225, or Infant, Child and Adolescent Developement. One of the things we have to do for this class in work for an hour a week down at the CDC and shadow one of the children, then write a case study on that child. I have found my child. We met when I stuck my tongue out at him and he did the same to me. Yes... it was beautiful. ^_^
I've been thinking about "Media Aesthetics", mostly stemming from the fact that I've been watching the extras on the extended "Lord of the Rings" DVD. It's interesting, the kind of care and work that's put into the design of the entire movie. I loved the way they utilised natural forms in all of the elf sets. And that each of the specific cultures had a specific and different design, so that all you had to do was look at a building/cloak/dress/weapon and you would know it came from a specific culture. In the same way, I've been looking at other things. For instance, my blog.
For some reason, it strangely resembles my livejournal (which I won't be giving out, ladies and gents. Too many secrets, don't ya know?). So, my own style is symple, but... pretty? Dunno. Too much to think about at the moment.
The whole concept of aesthetics is relatively new to me. I just go by what "Feels right" when I'm designing something. If it clicks for me, then I go with it. If not, I chuck it. The whole idea that there's philosophy behind it rather boggled my mind. It'll take a few more classes for me to work that into my rants.
Odd. I seem to have acquired an Brittish accent in this blog. Huh. Isn't that interesting?
Yeesssss, prrrecioussss.... ^_^
Welcome! Je m'appelle Rachel Crump! I welcome you to... my weblog... um...
rather boring, isn't it? But that shall change! as soon as I have a bit of time... ^_^;; Hopefully, there will be some color changes and a bit more things to make this at least a little more aesthetically pleasing. ^__^