PART A:
In Cynthia L. Selfe's text "Lest We Think the revolution is a Revolution" many valid points come out. Selfe brings out things like how powerful the internet and technology is really becoming and how it is affecting our everyday lives. She points out how much sex appeal comes into play with the media and how we tend to react to it.
In the section that my group and I had she mainly focused on gender and how to get rid of gender discrimination. My initial reaction was very confused; I didn’t know what to think because I had never looked at it from her perspective. Selfe states that anybody can use a computer regardless of gender but it appeals more to men and portrays more things significant to males. I believe it similar to cars or other things like when people get a new car they mostly refer to it as a “her.” For example on television I’ll see some movies and when men will get a new car they will say something like “She’s a (certain type of model) isn’t she beautiful?” They automatically give it a gender label. Andrea Dworkins says we analyze images that give us false impressions of gender and computers, it’s almost a social norm for men to figure out and be more intrigued by computers than females and we seem to unconsciously follow that lead.
Another good point she comes out with is that although an un-gendered utopia may be ideal and is something that appeals to us it is very hard to achieve. Most of all Americans are not willing to give up what they already have. To look back at what we had and what we have reached we are almost being selfish and greedy just wanting it all.
PART B:
The quote I chose from Selfe’s book is “We hope computers can help us make the world a better place in which to live (Page 293).” I think what she’s trying to explain here is that were kind of stuck in this one phase were we think computers and technology are somehow going to make the world a much better place, much safer and much easier too. We do not know this for a fact but in a way we are almost relying on them like they have human traits and can magically conjure up a bunch of happily-ever after’s.
I believe though that we cannot depend upon computers to do this, this is completely up to us and the way that WE use computers. All we can do is change the way that we work on them. But many of us would rather not change the values that society has already put on them. As one of my classmates said “Technology is like a blank canvas and we just paint over it,” It really is up to us to make the changes we would like to see.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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