Exercise on Binaries

What is the "Exercise on Binaries" that we have to do by tomorrow?

This seems kind of late to ask, I thought that it would be in the chapter of writing analytically, which I just got my copy today, but I can't tell.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

question about quotes and idioms

hey ben quick question when were using quotes from stevens and freud, do we need to reference lines and page numbers? and also if were using idioms in our essays, just quotation marks? i didn't want the chance for it to be misinterpreted as coming from freud or stevens. I'm using the idiom "removing of a veil" so should i keep it in quotation marks or notate it in a different way

What's with turbans?

So, this happens to be my first main post to the blog, and I had a question that I hope others can help me with that relates to my paper.

I happen to be doing a close reading of Wallace Stevens's poem "The Plain Sense of Things" and I can't come up with any reason why Stevens would choose to use the word turban in the line "No turban walks across the lessened floors," in the second stanza, last line. I was talking it over with some friends and none of us could come up with a reason for that "strange" word choice there. It appears to be a specific choice the author made and there should be a reason for that decision (I mean the guy was from CT USA in the early 20th century, how often could he have thought of turbans at random?).

Any ideas?

Tom Magrino

Some thoughts on the papers

Hey everybody,

A few things came up in office hours today that I'd like to clear up. So...

1) A number of you were worried that if you decided to write on one of the poems, you might "get it wrong," since your interpretation or reading of the poem wouldn't be the same one Claudia or I might come up with. As far as we're concerned, there is no right or wrong way to read a poem (or the Nietzsche or Freud, for that matter). Lots of people have come up with different interpretations of everything we've read in class up to this point, some of which are quite different from the ones we've been laying out. You are more than welcome, if not outright encouraged, to do some digging and figure out what you think any of the poems or essays mean. Be creative. Be bold. Be original. We don't care if your readings accord with ours - in fact, we'd be thrilled to learn something new.

What you do want to do, however, is be smart. And that means you need to back up your reading with evidence from the poems. That is to say, a less convincing reading isn't necessarily one that disagrees with either of our interpretations (even the ones we've been working through in class), but one that isn't supported by the poems themselves. There are no right or wrong answers here, but there are more or less convincing readings - your job is not get things "right" but to be persuasive. By all means disagree with me (or Claudia!), but make sure that when you do you support your argument with actual evidence.

2) If you're going to choose option #3, you should feel free to use almost any of the poems we've given out. I say "almost" because I've decided to not let people write about Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken." Despite all I said above about there being no right or wrong readings, to my mind the quite common interpretation of the poem - that the poem celebrates choosing the less conventional option - is absolutely incorrect. By which I mean that it's not supported at all by the poem itself (for what it's worth, Frost himself called that poem "a wolf in sheep's clothing"). Since we didn't discuss that poem in class, I'd be very worried that this common interpretation would be the one you worked with. Which would be a problem. So choose any poem (how about "The Innocence"?) but that one.

Good luck!

WRITING ANALYTICALLY Exercise 2.4. shazzam!

1a) Fewer Americans walk through neighborhoods.

1b) Perhaps more American homeowners just don't want people walking in front of their property.

1c) Form over function: sidewalks don't enhance curb appeal.

2a) Families value togetherness.

2b) House designers cater to this trend by incorporaing kitchens, living rooms, and family rooms into blueprints.

2c) Family members want to spend time not only with each other but also with guests. Living rooms by front doors provide an ideal space for entertaining.

3a) When it comes to coexistence, privacy begets harmony.

3b) Robert Frost valued privacy.

3c) The frustration that the ladies of Room 205 experience when I barge in unannounced is reflected in Frost’s remark.

4a) An anatomical reason explains why men have trouble expressing their feelings: compared to women, men have fewer connections between the part of the brain that is responsible for emotions and the part that is responsible for communication.

4b) Women can verbalize emotions and reasoning more readily than men can.

4c) If this trait is based on gender, and, if gender has a genetic basis, then this trait must also have a genetic basis.

5a) More and more American courts are applying the lens used to evaluate crimes committed by mature adults to crimes committed by maturing juveniles.

5b) A young defendant’s age and inexperience cannot preclude her conviction.

5c) More adults serve sentences for crimes they committed as juveniles because, supposedly, the actions of juveniles are directly comparable to the actions of adults.

6a) Most juveniles have underdeveloped capacities for judgment and impulse control.

6b) American courts should consider this limitation when resolving the fate of a juvenile defendant.

6c) It may also be implied that, once a person’s frontal cortex is fully developed, that person is responsible for all her actions.

7a) Women tend to make their commands appear less aggressive by voicing commands as they voice questions.

7b) Younger men have begun to speak like women, and the line that distinguishes stereotypically male and female traits has been blurred.

7c) As these younger men age, the demographic of men who exhibit this stereotypically female tendency will extend to older men.

8a) It’s easy for shoppers to lose track of time.

8b) Store managers want customers to ignore time, shop for longer periods, and make more unplanned purchases.

8c) Since stores rarely have clocks, employees must use other timepieces—watches and cell phones, for instance—to keep track of time.

<3

-- ok, it's not letting me copy-and-paste so now I have to re-type all of mine in this blog! ah

1) Disappearing could mean that having sidewalks is valuable. It could also mean something that is uncontrollably being lost. Slipping away. Implies that only the developer has the decisions to make the sidewalks. Are the mass majority of people therefore losing the ability to make this kind of decision? Is the ability to having a walking space being taken away? Also implies more cars will be on the roads, less people walking, less people exercising, which could lead to obesity. Could also lead to more gas spending. (Would the government want to do this on purpose?). Also more car driving and less sidewalk walking is less interaction with people, which means we won't get to know as many people, less contact with people, which could lead to depression.

2) If kitchen is not separated from the rest of house could imply that food needs to be closer to other living habitations. Could contribute to Americans watching TV more and more and want to be able to eat and watch TV at same time. If watching more TV, taking away from family time and if spend less family quality time, the family support system will not be very strong and could lead to children being less efficient in growing up because of lack of support and family community. Also if closer to other rooms, that means a person doesn't have to walk that far to food which means two things: there not walking as much to get to the food and they made be eating more food because it is more readily available. This can also lead to obesity!

3) Could imply you have a responsible, good-minded neighbor if they take the initiative to put up a good fence or take care of their fence. You would also be suggesting that the way a person handles their things represents who they are as a person. Could also suggest that a good fence means that it is one that keeps neighbors out of your space, meaning that "good neighbors" are ones who don't bother you. Therefore the fence would act as a barrier....not sure where else to go with  this

4) First thing I want to say is how does this person know this? If it's scientific information, than it implies that females are more able to express their emotions than males. And if true, males have and excuse to be disabled of expressing their emotions. If men have an excuse for this, then maybe they won't even try to talk out their emotions and if men do that, women will go crazy!

5) Could be saying that culture is getting more violent and therefore younger people have the ability and capability to commit "adult" crimes. Could also be suggesting that TV culture is affecting reality. A lot of teens watch TV now a days and there's a lot of violence on TV. TV could be affecting how we act in society (this is actually proven!) Also could be saying courts want to convict people of more crimes. Are they suggesting that children can commit adult crimes when their brain isn't even fully developed?

6)Haha what I just said! Can someone really be tried of a crime when they don't have a brain of an adult yet? If more kids are getting convicted, then more kids are in jail. Jail becomes more of a reality for a kid. Kids will experience the unpleasantness of jail that could affect them for the rest of their lives. This could make them even more violent than before. They will not get taught proper coping skills and will not be properly enforced in jail while their brain is still developing. Therefore what ever they get taught in jail could permanently affect them for the rest of their lives.

7)Giving a question sound to a statement implies the person isn't really confident in the statement they're saying. Implies lack of trust to whomever the person is directing statement to. Also statement the statement said if said by a women sound a lot like a mom talking to her child. So if men are saying more statements like that, then maybe they're are beginning to stay at home more often now than constantly having to work all the time and therefore participatin more in the family which will build stronger families which will make people happier! maybe more dads are becoming stay-at-home dads (yayee!)

8)Shopping malls and grocery stores don't want you to leave! They want you to stay longer so you will buy more things, if you buy more things, you're not only reinforcing the store but also buying things that you possibly don't need that you could be spending on things you really do need or if you have extra money you could give it to someone who really is in need! Though having no clocks in stores could have a backfiring affect in the sense if people get too tired and dehydrated while shopping because they lose track of time they could not want to go to stores anymore because of this occurance. 

Exercise 2.4

I forgot to post my answers on the blog-- hope this isn't too late.

Exercise 2.4

1. New housing development don’t see sidewalks as a priority.
Sidewalks are no longer seen as a necessity.
Sidewalks may now be considered obsolete: people may start driving more and walking less.
2.Because of an increase in their design, living rooms and family rooms seem to be popular among home buyers.
Families may prefer eating together in the family room, which is closer to the kitchen, than the living room, which is closer to the front door.
Guests may use the living room because it is close to the front door.
3. People relish the privacy of their homes.
Robert Frost valued fences highly, perhaps for its ability to prevent intrusion.
Robert Frost had fences.
4.Females are better fit to express emotions verbally than men are.
When talking, females tend to connect emotions to words more so than men do.
Men may be less inclined to emote in a conversation.
5. Minors may be committing crimes severe enough to warrant adult sentences.
The American judicial system may be flawed on the account that minors, who are by definition, not adults, are increasingly tried and convicted as adults.
The magnitude of the crime takes precedence over age.
6. Minors should not be sentenced as adults because until the age of twenty-one, the part of the brain which is responsible for judgement and impulse control is not yet fully developed.
The American judicial system may be flawed on the account that minors, who have brains which are physically more prone to committing crime than adult’s brains, are increasingly tried and convicted as adults.
There is also another flaw in the fact that those who are 18 and 19 years of age are also considered adults.
7. Many women may not identify well with authoritative positions.
The similarity in speech may indicate a newfound familiarity among men and women.
Men under the age of 30 may be in environments where declarative statements and command forms are not prevalent.
8. Shopping malls and grocery stores don’t feel the need to tell their customers the time while they shop.
Shopping malls and grocery stores want to keep their customers occupied with shopping; knowing the time may threaten or shorten that.
Shopping malls and grocery stores want your money and are greedy.

-Bryan h

PDF Writing Analytically

Here you will find a link to a pdf file of some pages of writing analytically. See you tomorrow. Claudia

A copy of the hw assignment, scanned.

Apparently some people don't have the fourth edition so I thought I would scan it.