We talked this week about the function of stories. I think that stories reveal us to ourselves. Powers' novel is simply transparent about the manner in which the story acts a mirror for the readers. I find it interesting that several people in our group (ewashburn, klitrell) called Thassa a “Mary Sue” (a term for a character with no flaws) – when I don't think that's necessarily true. I think her flaws are difficult for us to see because we look through Stone's eyes, and he views Thassa as a marvelous being. Perhaps most obviously, one of her flaws is her happiness, since it proves to be her (maybe?) downfall.

 In class today we discussed where prose is heading in our digitized world of short attention spans. In a world where we read in 140 characters or less and in which we spend an average of five minutes reading the New York Times online, is Powers' novel foreshadowing the kind of abbreviated prose and fragments structure that will be seen more often in the coming years? Where is our beloved novel headed?

 Hi fellow Serendippers (or are we Serendippians...?), 

For our final project, ewashburn, rachelr, katlittrell and I are exploring medium by using a Facebook page as a place to explore the question, "What is the role of fiction in science?" If you all would like to participate or just watch, you can "like" our page. We'd really like this to be interactive and would appreciate your reactions!

-ckosarek

So, I said a plug for my project in class on Wednesday, but I'm posting it here so y'all can get more info. I am writing a short drama piece/ play for my second webpaper. The play will also function as a skit for the panels. If anyone is interested in developing the characters and/ or skit with me, it can count as a group webpaper. If you are interested in performing one of the characters, then that is cool as well (it just won't count as part of your webpaper).  The play outline is listed below.

"A GIST DISASTER"

CHARACTERS

From this book, I felt that Powers was exposing everyone's inherent desire to be happy.  We are not all like Thassa, constantly happy wandering through life seemingly untouched by the disasters surrounding us.  We are, I believe, individuals who are in a constant state of un-happiness.  Not sad or depressed or angry, simply not happy - the absence of happiness.  Therefore, we all seek those moments of happiness, regardless of how insignificant or important they may be to us and/or the world in general.  Those that choose to see happiness and joy in the most disastrous circumstances - as an example was shared in our group discussion - are more successful, I would say, in finding those 'moments' that we all strive to find. 

When Professor Tian showed us the earlier forms of music notation with the neums next to to the more modern form with five staffs, I was once again reminded of Haraway.  The modern version of notation was an abstraction of the earlier writing into different components. Rather than have all the markings around four staff lines the modern version had three sets of staff lines to indicate different information. It was much more compartmentalized for the sake of clarity. I wonder what Haraway would say about our more modern version of music notation that has created boundaries. Would she be more supportive of the earlier notations where all the information mixed together?

I found our class today with Tian fascinating because it connected to several other ideas. The John Cage piece, Tian sampled for us, 4’ 3”, reminded me  of our earlier class when we listened to a noise band and questioned the definition of information. Now, however, I question the definition of music. I love the idea that even silence has a sound (or that there is no such thing as silence…). If this is true, then silence can create music just as noise does. This train of thought reminded me of an article I read a few months ago on Sean Forbes (http://deafandloud.com/biography.html), a deaf rapper.

Notes for 23 March
Coursekeeping

By 5pm Friday, post the culture that you will be representing for the panel next week on the stickynote. (Note that this deadline is earlier than the midnight deadline for the regular posts.)

We will also be responding to the questions that were raised at the end of class on Monday by Apocalipsis and Tangerines.

(Apocalipsis: Why do we need to know the science behind Barad? Tangerines: Why is this important? Isn't this relevent to just particle physicists?)

"If I were to write the chapters of my book in a continuous form, each time exhausting the chosen subject, they would certainly be more complete, more comprehensive, of a nobler character. But I fear lengthy texts, and you, reader, are worthy and capable of grasping the whole by means of a few random details, and knowing the end by learning the beginning"  - Jahiz, The Book of Animals