Archives for the Month of September 2007 on Andrew's collection of thoughts
blog: tattoos
Tattoos are a way of signifying the importance of the massage conveyed. People don’t carelessly put permanent markings on their skin just for kicks. All and any tattoos a person might have are there for a specific reason, and was well thought-out before any ink touched skin.
I have a dozen or so friends with tattoos, and over the time that I got to know them I learned about the tattoos that they had gotten. One tattoo that struck me as unique was a friend who got the date he became a Christian tattooed in roman numbers on his arm. He got that tattoo to remind himself of his dedication to his belief, a very brave and noble thing to do, in my mind. His whole body is covered in tattoos, though not all of them meant to be seen. In fact, he has his body covered to the point that some people will stare, and likely don’t approve of his choice to do that. But he is a great person, tattoos can’t be used as a judge of character, though it does unfortunately happen. Each and every one of his tattoos has a story that is meaningful and and important every day to him, and that is why he has them, regardless of what anyone else might think.
Another good tattoo story that comes to mind is a friend who has the outline of Ohio on his side-midriff. He got that tattoo because he loves Ohio, and because of his goofiness, no doubt. All of his tattoos are made to be visible and easily explained. Its not that tattoos are insignificant to him, but that they are a part of his character and tattoos help facilitate his notion of self.
Third, my very close friend from high-school wants to get his army draft number inked onto his calf, possibly along with his blood type, as an ironic gesture to show how much he feels significant to the government. His tattoo would be to show his sarcastic and pessimistic view of the world. So obviously his would also be meant to be visible and seen.
I too will probably get a tattoo someday, but not until I find something that I feel truly represents me and I could stand to live with it for the rest of my life. I want a tattoo that will be a constant reminder of what I care and stand for, so that every morning when I get up and look in the mirror I’ll see it and know. Anyways that’s the plan, and I suppose its much the same with everyone else I mentioned above. Having a tattoo is not suppost to mean you’re a badass, but that you stand for something, and you want to make sure that you remember.
blog 3
Case Western is a university full of writing in many forms, in many places. The places where writing manifests itself has large effects on what the writing is about. First, there is physical university, with fliers, sidewalk chalk, and posters. Second, there is the virtual online space, made of blogs, websites, and storage space. While those are some examples of writing found in those domains there is another applicable division between the two universities. That the physically existing writing deals with future events, and that the virtual one deals with the past.
The relationship between the two universities can be seen as following, that the physical university writing is mostly about events to happen or otherwise to be read before an event. And that the virtual writing is a response to or the description of a past event. For example, a professor well pass out an assignment or a syllabus of assignments with the description of work to be completed by certain dates. Students will then supposedly complete these assignments by said date and post them online. Mostly this becomes a nice working relationship, although students will sometimes forget to turn in assignments online, because there is no hassle from needing to print out and physically turn in said assignments.
Another example of the above relationship is mediavision, wherein classes are recorded and the videos are posted online so that missed classes can still be watched, although that isn’t really a demonstration of writing. Similar to that however is filer.case.edu, wherein students, professors, and organizations can store files online. Many use this not as an active database but more as an archive of old files, which is what I do.
Not all the writing at CWRU has that same relationship though. Offical policy is now that all comunication occurs via email. A policy I begrudge on the grounds that I assign more importance to a notice received in paper format as opposed to reading it on a screen, compounded by the fact that I still don’t check my email everyday. There is also the program “solar” used for class registration, which is now wholly online, thereby dissallowing me to actually talk face-to-face with an individual advisor which is something that I would also prefer.
The trend nowadays is toward moving communication and writing into the virtual university, a move that is not entirely without its merits but still leaves much to be desired in my mind.
quik notes.
Walking around a residence hall an anthropologist might assume from the writing that two different species live there. On the one hand, there is the clear intelligent writing of posters and signs warning and inviting students to various events, activities, and clubs. Alongside there are the barely intelligible scribbles of some actual students consisting of inside jokes and snide comments. These forms show and define the two different "species" of student life here at the university.
First, there are the formal postings, exemplifying university sponsored and controlled events, such as dances, classes, study sessions, clubs, etc. These activities are run usually by officials at the university and have rules and protocols, which need to be followed. While the activities can be social events such as dances, they are usually meetings and clubs, things that might look good on a resume, but only mildly entertaining. Writing is more for than by this species, made to remind and inform. Printed onto clean pretty colored paper, it attracts attention not with its content, but for its content, because the information it tells is not exciting, but merely important. An example would be SEX, a two-hour class that all the resident halls had on sex education. The poster clearly explained what it was about, and it got a rather important topic in university life covered in an official and professional matter.
The other "species" of university students is the one exemplified by random notes on walls and such. This species is the fun side of student life, wherein notes are for hook-ups, parties, and reminders of fun times past. Notes written by this side of student life exist on marker boards, sidewalk chalk, and bathroom stalls. Such writing is usually not very exciting to look at from a distance, but from experience students know that it is likely to be gossip, a funny joke, or otherwise entertaining. An example would be a dubious drawing and the words "BIG + VEINY + TRIUMPHANT", an obvious throwback to a popular movie that nearly the entire student population has seen. In that case, the writing was for a good quick laugh and was a reference towards the private life that students have off-campus.