Let it Stick

Stickiness is a concept’s ability to be retained and remembered by an audience. The concepts don’t necessarily have to be in the form of a story or joke, but most are. If a piece of information is sticky, it means that it is easy for people to understand right away, allowing one to retell the information with ease, which populates the idea. Stickiness also includes the methods used to remember something, such as the mnemonic devise.

I definitely agree with Heaths’ 6 steps. In every example he listed and that I know of, I can see how the sticky stories have a profound statement and get the reader/listener captivated within the story itself. I will always remember the kidney story because of Heaths’ proposed steps 2 and 5 where I was curious to find out why the man was in a tub of cold water, and then mentally distraught and frightened by the fact that he had a tube and a kidney removed. Heaths’ steps are seen in every case and embody the entertainment in which the public wants to hear and enjoy.

Shelley Jackson... What a Character

Stitch Bitch was definitely not my favorite piece of literature that I read in this class. I was at a complete loss from the start. Trying to figure out the first couple of paragraphs and what the writer was trying to say seemed like an impossible task. Used to written work that is composed in an ordered, chronological way, Stitch Bitch seemed like an alienated puzzle to me. At first the concept of disorganized work seemed overwhelming, but as I kept reading, it started to make a little more sense. I was able to understand that Shelley Jackson was portraying the actual thinking methods every writer goes through.

A written piece of work is rarely ever made from beginning to end, right from scratch. The composer, author, or artist works on pieces here and there. At the end, everything is molded together and presented as one fluid, and unique piece. Shelley Jackson also expresses the idea that you may have a particular thought to end with while writing, but in reality, you have no clue. “You won't get where you think you're going,” and you end up somewhere else, explaining something you never even imagined writing about in the first place. She also presents the idea that you can be whoever you want to be by writing. You don’t have to actually live out west to use a southern accent in your writing, nor would you have had to live during Shakespeare’s time to write in his language. So through all her confusing statements, Shelley Jackson does make an extremely useful point; that writers can be whoever they want to be and write however they want to write.

When finishing Shelley Jackson’s piece of literature, I still was unable to grasp all the concepts she had addressed because they were extremely metaphoric and I just couldn’t understand all her analogies and structure of literature. And in reading the last paragraph, I found a quote that I could argue against. “But I’m not sure closure is what we should be working toward, any more than a life well lived is one that hurtles without interruption toward a resounding death.” Although I do agree that life is full of setbacks and conflicts, I strongly believe that our impactful deaths should allow us to die with closure, allowing ourselves and others to know that we had lived a good life. Thus, our life story ends, in a strong ending, and someone else can either repeat our life story with the same concluding ending, or start where our lives ended. Having closure is a way to justify our good lives. And that is how the ending to a piece of writing should be; justifying the great depths in which the story ventured through in order to come out with a strong, impactful ending.

The Stalking Project Helps!

The stalking project helps writers become more observant so they can focus on the tiny little details. It is a useful exercise that makes the writer see what may not be observed at a quick first glance. It also makes the writer analyze a subject more thoroughly. These excercized techniques allow a writer to draw other applicable concepts, symbols, and descriptions to the object that they would not have associated with it before. They strengthen the writer’s ability to draw comparisons between two objects so the writer can write more drastically. Instead of just explaining the object in terms that everyone uses, this process helps writers discover a new and exciting way to express the details of an object. This exercise was made to help writers develop a more descriptive way of writing about one simple object.

The metaphors that writers had to develop in this project helped strengthen their ability to relate the objects they are describing to others. This method not only allows a writer to be more descriptive, but also engages them in developing a more meaningful passage that the reader is more likely to understand. Using relative terms or relative objects when describing the primary object allows a reader to develop a stronger understanding of what the primary object appears to be like, even if he/she has not seen it before. Methaphors pose as a strong way to help the reader relate to your work, because if they are unable to understand what the primary object is that you are describing in detail, they may be more likely to understand it when metaphors are used to describe it.

Let Me Tell You About My Subject...

Curiously waiting to begin our project, I sat in an armchair which faced the entire library room. I have to admit that I felt a little uneasy as I began seeking out my victim amongst the crowd of people congregated in the small, but comfortable lair. Although it was tempting to choose one of the energetic movie producers as my main subject of interest, my instincts lead me to focus on a lonely man slouching in an armchair on the opposite end of the room. Interestingly enough, one of our classmates had voluntarily sat in the armchair next to me, and who was just as uneasy about this project as I was, selected the same man to inspect and analyze during our 55 minute class period. While observing my prey carefully, my first presumptions lead me to believe he, along with the couple on the couch placed near the adjacent wall, were aware of the project we WSC1 students were involved in. But after discussing the project’s atmosphere and subjects involved, Professor Lay explained that no one, other than the student filming crew, had any prior knowledge of the project before coming to the library. Surprised by this fact, I realized that my analysis of my subject’s intentions for his actions would have to be altered.

I carefully watched him, trying to capture every detail about him that was needed for this project. I was a lion, stalking my prey in the middle of the grassland field, ready to pounce on my paper and record his every move. My subject on the other hand had a careless attitude regarding the situation. Seemingly naïve to the distractions around him, my subject just stared at his paper. But even this action was not even worth doing because his enthusiasm was that of a sloth. His guppy-like eyes gazed at the paper, settled in on one spot. He wasn’t actually reading the paper, but just seeing it, maintaining a dissociative mindset with his thoughts obviously somewhere else. Every move was painfully slow. Lifelessly looking up from his stack of papers he clasped in his hands, he would settle on the chaos taking place in front of him. Then, when he decided that his interest could only last so long on the energetic film producers, he returned to rest his eyes once again on the oh-so-intriguing paper held in his grasp. Watching my subject for about 25 minutes, I could recognize a distinct pattern. When he thought that he was worthy of taking a small break from his ruthlessly boring stack of papers, he would ease his eyes off, scan the room for about a minute and then regretfully return to the same paper he had been staring at all along. He would do this multiple times, never shifting his body, other than swiveling his head when he periodically swayed his eyes off the paper, shifting his vision around the room.

Initially, I had thought that the man I was observing knew about the stalking project. His moves were gracefully slow and his eyes held a dissatisfied look as he peered at his paper. His repetitive actions made me assume that he knew he was being watched because every move he made was in a conscious effort. His pose was that of a walking monk; his head bowed, shoulders comfortable, but sturdy and back slouched over. His position gave off the impression that his motives for being at the library were undesirable. So, I came to the conclusion that he forced himself to go, although he would rather have not been there at all. To my surprise, after the project was completed, Professor Lay informed me that no one in the library, other than the movie producers, knew about the projects in advance; not even my subject. This new knowledge altered my reactions to my subject completely. Instead of putting on a show, this man was just going about his normal business. I was so profoundly amazed with this fact because this concluded that his action of simply staring at one piece of paper for at least twenty minutes was his decision. Either he is really is not motivated to do anything, he didn’t get enough sleep the night before, or he just couldn’t focus on the piece of paper in form of him because of all the distractions. I know the last possible conclusion could not be true, because he was not intrigued at all by the commotion he saw. If anyone else were in his situation, I believe they would at least react a little when seeing two film producers in front of him/her debate about the filming angles. This realization led me to conclude that he must be both tired and contain a personality that is unmotivationally subdued and the rusting car in the junk yard that I was staring at needed a wake-up call so that he can perk up and get more involved in life.

Plagiarism; It Affects Us All

Plagiarism is defined as the act of either using the direct ideas, or ones that are similar to another person’s work. Lethem argues that plagiarism cannot be accounted for in all circumstances. For example, artists could never possibly accuse all those who plagiarize their work in some way. The salespeople who take pictures of the work and recreate it in a tabloid or flyer would be considered plagiarizers. But if this marketing process was not used, how many consumers would be willing to buy a painting that they were unable to see beforehand. Lethem stated his concerns by stating, “Artists and their surrogates who fall into the trap of seeking recompense for every possible second use end up attacking their own best audience members for the crime of exalting and enshrining their work.” Lethem explains that consumers are undeniable criminals of plagiarism. They hang another artist’s work on their wall when it truly isn’t theirs. Lethem also goes on to express the fact that famous authors would be accusers of plagiarism when they sign the copies of their books. So overall, if plagiarism were to be taken seriously, artists would not be able to compose a lot of material because the styles and techniques of artists before them are still used today. There are still artists who paint a massive picture of a woman without eye-brows, similar to that of the Mona Lisa, and artists who create sculpture of the famous philosopher Plato, as other sculptures have done before. Plagiarism would hinder artists as they would be unable to expose their work, or receive inspiration from other works to compose their own.

Lethem concludes that the public is the population of people who are affected by the plagiarism situation the most. They have to conform to the ruling that is made about the process. Their ability to buy certain products, or incorporate certain ideas into anything they can possibly produce will all be determined by whether plagiarism will be enforced or not. The public is the one who buys artist’s paintings, read author’s published books, and buy the music that is produced. And at the same time, the public will be the ones who will suffer. If plagiarism is enforced, will the public be at liberty to express their admiration and inspiration of a favorite song, or recreate their favorite artist’s painting? Most likely not.

The Dog Sees it, So Why Can't Humans?

Dogs and humans are extremely social creatures. Humans need the comfort and acceptance of other humans, while interestingly; dogs need and desire the acceptance of humans. Dogs look to be appreciated by humans. They always try to fulfill human expectations and possibly even exceed them. Through their keen senses of sight and smell, dogs are able to judge a person thoroughly, understanding that person’s nature. The type of body language a person expresses in front of a dog is extremely telling in what kind of personality they contain. As expressed in the article, “A dog cares, deeply, which way your body is leaning. Forward or backward? Forward can be seen as aggressive; backward—even a quarter of an inch—means nonthreatening.” Dogs can read their owners and other people who they encounter very well. Just a shift in a person’s body can send a signal to a dog, giving off an impression of either being aggressive, or passive. Dogs will act accordingly, corresponding to the attitude suggested by a person’s body. The interaction that dogs and people engage in begins with the posture of the human being. Since humans do not have such an easy time distinguishing the personality of another human being, the actions of a dog can help other humans determine what kind of personality trait he/she possesses.

Exercise is the act of practicing a routine until it becomes habit. Discipline is the act of correcting, or establishing a punishment if the action performed by a human or creature is wrong. Affection is the act of caring and loving toward another creature or human being. Owners must be aware of all three qualities because if all are not used to establish a desired behavior out of his dog, the owner will not be able to successfully train his dog. Throughout this essay, Gladwell focused on the interaction between dogs and humans using these three qualities, but he also provided an underlying message. Exercise, discipline, and affection are all qualities that an owner must seek to establish with their dog, but also with their family and the people around them. Our society becomes too involved with handling other creatures that we tend to forget how to act with other human beings. I am sad to say this, but some dog owners do not associate the triad qualities in their lives. They do not exercise the type of behavior that is necessary to be a strong, core part of a family. Nor do they discipline themselves in order to learn from past experiences so that they can find and sustain true love and happiness within the family. And as affection goes, some dog owners only show affection for their dog and forget about their family. The last case that Gladwell writes about expresses this very problem. After seeing how a mother would defend her dog even though his actions were causing harm to her own son, Ceaser became instantly frustrated and exclaimed, “The hardest part for me is that the father or mother chooses the dog instead of the son. That's hard for me. I love dogs…But I would never choose a dog over my son." Humans have a tendency to lack affection when it is needed most. Ceaser became so distraught with this experience because he knew, from experience, that nothing is greater than a human-human interaction and bond; not even one that includes humans and dogs.

Answering Peter's Questions to Stitch Bitch

How can the body be fully paralleled to writing?

A writing composition is similar to a body. It has a main, underlying message beneath all the details, just as a human body has a heart and soul held deep within the human body, not visible to anyone else. Like a body's extremities such as the arms and legs, any compositional work of writing strays a little from the main point that needs to be expressed in order to fully explain the central, underlying idea. The human body contains arms and legs which are controlled by the body's soul. The soul only includes the knowledge, personality, and beliefs of the human being. Since this is true, if it were not for these extremities, a human being's soul would not be able to express itself among others. It needs to engage in physical activities because the soul cannot represent itself in mind power alone, but needs to perform actions as well. This enables other readers to understand that person's soul more fully. Just like the soul conducting the very moves of its physical body, the underlying message of a writing piece controls the details that are expressed throughout. The formation of details is essential to completely explain the central idea, or "soul" of the compositional work.

Does the creator of "Stitch Bitch" ultimately find himself/herself by the end of the text?

I believe that the creator will never truly "find" herself. Throughout her writing, she expresses the fact that a writer can produce anything she wants, in any form she desires. It was easy to see that she believed this because she composed a piece of work unlike any other piece of literature I have ever seen before, where none of her thoughts are represented in chronological order, but are placed in sections randomly. In the beginning of the hypertext, Shelley Jackson compares herself to a monster, ending her introduction with the sentence: "Whoever Shelley Jackson may be, if she wants me to mouth her words, she can expect them to come out a little changed. I'm not who she says I am." By this, the author implies that she has multiple mind-sets that come out in her writing. She has the potential to change her thoughts and feelings day-to-day. She never really knows what type of mood she will be in the next day, thus at any given point, she could create a piece of writing that she doesn't agree with during the course of a year. Thus, Shelley Jackson will never be able to truly find herself; never ever.

My Stitch Bitch Questions...

1. What is a hypertext?

2. As a standard in society, readers have become accustomed to literature that is organized in a sequential manner. Would this type of writing be accepted in society?

3. How many people decided to neglect reading the rest of the paper after reading, "Writing hypertext, you've got to accept the possibility your reader will just stop reading. Why not? The choice to go do something else might be the best outcome of a text. Who wants a numb reader/reader-by-numbers anyway?"

4. What intrigued or motivated the author to write in this style and structure?

5. Were the author's intentions to write for a particular audience, or for her own pleasure?

6. Does the author imply that hypertext is bad literature? If so, why does the author create this type of writing and enforce it?

Answering Stephanie's Questions

1. Billy Collins’ intentions for writing the poem were to mock all love poems. He finally got so fed up with the repetition, that he decided to create a poem which defied all meanings of love as we as readers and writers know it.

2. The “original poem” in which Billy Collins stole the first lines of his poem are from Jacques Crickillon, a Belgian poet.

3. I think Collins respected the original poem, but became bored with the repetitive nature of love poems. This led him into composing a poem of mockery because for him, love poems are not as true as they seem. In respects to the thought of love that Crickillon conveys in his poem, I believe that Billy Collins thought the poem was good. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen it to incorporate into his own poem. But in terms of content, I believe Collins was annoyed at the overuse of metaphoric love in poetry.

4. To prove that metaphoric love poems are biased and misleading, Billy Collins sates what the beloved is not. He believes that love poems only convey one side of the relationship. He wants to show all perspectives of a relationship, which includes times of distress and frustration. This is why he chooses to express his thoughts on true love.

5. The people in the audience are respectful fans of Billy Collins and since they have heard the poem once before, they understand its meaning. When Billy Collins presents the poem, he does so in a nonchalant way that proves his dislike of metaphoric love poems even further. The audience responds to this with laughter because they perceive the situation in the same light as Billy Collins does and agrees with him.

6. This poem is not truly a love poem in the way our standard society would describe one. Instead of expressing his admiration and confounded wonder of a magnificent woman, Billy Collins suggests otherwise of his own beloved. He degrades her while comparing her to only some things, and not to others.

Questioning Litany by Billy Collins

1. Why did Billy Collins choose to convey the narrator as having a boastful personality in the poem when he describes who he is metaphorically?

2. Is Billy Collins' poem based on his sarcastic view of love poems in general, or does it truly portray how he really feels about his beloved?

3. Should the reader be concerned with the difference between the metaphors used to relate to the beloved in the beginning of the poem and the metaphors chosen to criticize the beloved?

4. Are the methaphors significant in any way, or is Billy Collins just using any metaphor for the sake of comparing himself and his beloved to them?

5. Why did Billy Collins specifically steal the first two love lines from Jacques Crickillon?

6. Who is his beloved and why does he convey mixed feelings about her?

2. I believe that the love poem was both written to mock other love poems and portray what true love actually is. To Billy Collins, love poems have been around forever and none of them have ever expressed the true love relationships that most couples go through. Although it would be nice, it is almost impossible to create a strong and FLAWLESS relationship with someone who you love. At times, you would feel like tearing eachother apart becasue you are so fed up with eachother. At other times, you are so in love with the other person, that you feel as though you were meant to be together all along. This is the emotional rollercoaster Billy Collins tries to express in his "love" poem.

Mark Twain's Quotes That Last More Than a Lifetime

I find Mark Twain’s statement, “An author values a compliment even when it comes from a source of doubtful competency” to be very true to writer’s blogging experiences today. When a writer publishes her work on her blog, her intentions are not only to express her thoughts and ideas to her viewers, but to have the readers comment on what she has to say as well. Writers post pieces of writing to get their point across and other writers blog to get feedback from other writers so they can gain information to use in the future. By using the comments of the responders, they can improve their writing and understand how a reader interprets their writing. But most importantly, the writer feels a sense of achievement when he reads a response that includes a compliment for the writer. Each and every writer writes to be heard, but also writes to show their talent and hard work. And everyone likes to be complimented every once in a while.

Jonothan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence"

In considering “The Ecstasy of Influence”, Jonathan Lethem argues that although stating someone else’s lines, words, or texts as your own is plagiarism, it is very common and essential. Authors of books, creators of movies, and song-writers use phrases that they have heard before all the time. Although it may seem like it was once original, it more likely than not came from another source. Lethem also shines light on the fact that many of the shows in which we love today would not be as entertaining if they did were not allowed to have some form of plagiarism in them. He bluntly states, “If nostalgic cartoonists had never borrowed from Fritz the Cat, there would be no Ren & Stimpy Show; without the Rankin/Bass and Charlie Brown Christmas specials, there would be no South Park; and without The Flintstones— more or less The Honeymooners in cartoon loincloths—The Simpsons would cease to exist.” Plagiarism is all around us and to criticize and scrutinize it is to be naïve of the fact that nothing is completely, absolutely original. All the examples of plagiarized material at the end of Lethem’s work should be evidence enough of this. Even if a piece of work does not contain a single line used by another author, the main idea and concept was most likely inspired from another source.

Analyzing the A&T Commercial

The AT&T commercial was produced to attract the attention of people from all ages. I believe it was the creator’s intent to include the Hansel and Grettle story so that adults could recognize it and appreciate the fact that it is being retold. The creator also chose to express the commercial in the format of this fairytale because when children see Hansel and Grettle, they find themselves relating to the two characters. This grabs the children’s fascination right away as they see other people just like them. Not to mention, the whole contrast of two old fashioned fairytale characters skipping around in such an overpopulated city as New York is in itself an attention-getter. This marketing plan of fish-baiting the audience was deemed advantageous because it lures in consumers who will enjoy the commercial, and connect their satisfaction to the phone product itself. Such an extremely connecting commercial remains in the citizen’s minds, creating a desire within them to buy the product. In choosing to retell the original story in such an advanced place, the creator wanted to also portray a feeling of ease and comfort within the busy city. Neither Hansel nor Grettle were harmed or frowned upon while skipping happily throughout the day. Even the store clerk who was closing up shop seemed to accept them even though they were extremely out of place. In portraying such a comfortable, loveable and quickly recognizable story in their commercial, the AT&T commercial creators really knew how to sell and advertise their product effectively.

My Confession

So here I am at Hofstra, and I am blogging. Writing online makes me feel extremely exposed, but creates a sense of adventure for me at the same time. Throughout my entire life, I have been very self-conscious about my writing. It has never come easy to me and that may be one of the main reasons why I would like to shield my writing rather than to express it openly. Believeing that I am not a great writer, I would not be the first to create an online website driven by my words and sentences. But since I am creating a blog, I find writing online to be somewhat exciting. It forces me to open up and allow people to enter my thoughts and interpretations through reading my written work. I think it will be very interesting to see what people have to say about my postings. I hope others will be interested in my blog so that they can not only allow me to see different outlooks, but also help me become a better writer.