Kaleidoscopy (9/20/7)

Scanning the room to give you the global picture - the Language Arts Lab, class of many courses:

Literary Magazine
Summarizing a review of previous Wolfmoons and other similar publications, the Block 6 team concluded:
Wolfmoon, Volume 1
Hand-drawn, casual doodle-like illustrations are a plus
Loosey-goosey, zany layout is a plus
Tactfully falling letters let tact fall freely

Home-copied print and paper not a plus
Organization is lacking, index inadequate
Proofreading imperfect

Wolfmoon, Volume 2
Slick paper looks classy, especially on cover
Index and table of contents improved
Advertising spots do not detract and produce cash
Themed pages work when possible

Lines idea too limiting
Too much formal structure in layout
Proofreading imperfect

Contrapuntal
Editorial commentary and section introductions are interesting
Lots of quality content, none too long
Student art cover works well

Horrid haiku(s)

Wolfmoon, Volume 3
Should be carefully proofread before publication
Should include more informal illustrations and highlights
Should have a freer layout
Should give attention to overall organization of pages and pieces

Communication Applications
Summarizing a comparison of important features of oral and written communication:

The Duh Difference - Oral communication is oral, using the speaking voice and the hearing ear; written communication uses the written word and the reading eye.

Different tools - OC uses vocal sound (tone, volume, rate, enunciation, etc.) whereas WC uses diction and syntax and literary techniques. Overlap: OC, especially when formally prepared, uses many of the tools of WC, and WC may use sound devices and other similar tools of OC. OC may also use body language, gesture, facial expressions, and other physical tools that, as far as we can see for now, have no parallel in WC.

The matter of time - OC also makes use of pauses and rhythm. And rhyme, of course. There is, of course, rhythm to the written word, thousands of so-called sound devices in writing, and pauses are at least implied. (Poets even have a word for a pause- caesura- but don't let anyone tell you to put a comma where there should be a pause. Wrong, wrong, wrong!) It's not so much that WC doesn't have these tools to use; rather it's that the reader doesn't physically hear them.

This delicate distinction is perhaps made more clear by recognizing the way OC exists in time. In OC, the pauses and rhythm, for instance, occur in real time. This can lead to awkward silences on the one hand and unintelligibly rapid speech on the other, and one person's awkward silence may be another's dramatic pause. It leads to silence-filling catch phrases like "like"and "you know" and "um." With WC, time is not the master. Writers have more time to think about what to say and how to say it, to perfect their language, including the way it would sound if it were read aloud. Readers, likewise, have time to re-read, to leave the communication and return, to consult resources, and many other options the time-ly nature of OC does not allow.

Another element of the operation of OC in time is that there is no white-out in OC. OC is instantaneous, and once your words are out there, they're out there. You can correct them or explain them, excuse them or expand them, repeat them or regret them, but you can't erase them. This feature of OC intimidates many beginning communicators and makes public speaking a frightening experience for some.

This instantaneous, no-whiteout quality combines with another feature of OC to tangle and tie the tongues of the timid and seal the lips of the reluctant. OC is inevitably more personal communication than WC, for just as surely as there is no white-out, there is also no anonymity. This factor allows the speaker to make use of his or her personal qualities, including appearance, movement, and all of those vocal and physical tools the writer has no access to. A writer may more easily disguise himself or herself than a speaker and can establish a certain distance from her or his words, but a speaker is there in time and space, making the words that make the meaning. The advantage is clear, but the discomfort of this inescapable personal connection is the source of the frequently heard safety valve phrase, "Well, I'm just sayin'..."

Formality - Where OC can be as formal as WC at times, WC tends to be more formal because it is free from the pressures of existing only in present time. Without silence fillers, awkward silences, mispronunciations, or verbal blunders, WC is certainly more fixed and also likely to be more formal.

Feedback - Among the most important tools of OC, used to great effect by the best speakers and unavailable to writers, is the presence of instantaneous feedback. A speaker is continually informed by her or his audience about their collective and individual response to what is being said. Furrowed brows, glimpses at one's wristwatch, heads nodding or shaking, and a thousand other indicators offer a speaker the opportunity to edit and revise his or her communication. The poor writer, on the other hand, does not even have control over what audience he or she is addressing. Anyone can go the the library and choose any book. The writer must assume and identify an audiences, address them as effectively as possible, and make choices to that end. But if her or his choices are not working, it will not be known until far too late to fix.

Burther flurring - With the advent of text messaging, IM, and other new communication media, there is an interesting blurring of the lines between oral and written communication that will bear further inquiry.

Anthropology anyone? - At another level, the differences between a culture with an oral tradition and one with a written tradition suggest additional valuable insights. With the development of a written tradition comes a change of emphasis from story to history. A culture of story values more the truth in a narrative than the truth of it. The wisdom of an oral tradition lies in ever-changing and adapting narratives rather than a single, fixed account or in formulated conclusions, laws, or beliefs. Oral wisdom, therefore, lives in the present and in the relationship of teller and told, speaker and hearer. Oral tradition makes wisdom an element of a community, not the possession of a particular formal statement. In a written tradition, the accuracy of certain words themselves is invested with high value, but in an oral tradition value is invested in interaction and adaptability.

Mystery and Suspense
Having read mysteries featuring the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, this group explored some of the techniques that make these works so appealing to young readers:
1. They start in the middle of some extreme action. English teachers call this technique of beginning in medias res.
2. Something scary or dangerous always happens to the investigators themselves in the course of the books.
3. The settings and events are purely fictional, not occurring in relationship to any particular place or time in history. Thus, they exist in every place and every time.

More to come.







Creative Writing
The "personal responses" of these readers of an essay turn out to read like reviews or summaries or evaluations of the essay. The essay is their focal point rather than the response of the writer to the essay. Thus, for now anyway, the editor is electing not to publish them because the teacher apparently did not make his instructions clear and because there are plenty of evaluative reviews already published here.