A POETIC INQUIRY

Since my Big Question is mostly about serendipity (and not like, love or flowers or nature or other typical sonnet fodder), I wasn't sure how to find a sonnet related to it. After unsuccessfully scouring an online sonnet database (organized by author — not very helpful in my case), I tried again with a web search for "sonnet serendipity." I had to sift through what probably amounted to three standard Google search pages of results, and visited about six different websites until I found this huge page of sonnets. One in particular caught my eye, but I couldn't find any details about the title or the author. So, I went back to the search page and searched the first line of the poem. That got me to this page at PoemHunter, which revealed the poem as "Coincidence Coins Serendipity" by Johnathan Robin:

More than before she finds felicity
At hand, within, without, without a doubt.
Unfortunate conditions round about
Divert attention from her need to key
Emotions into opportunity,
Coaslescing energy to flout
Man made blocks, internal locks, whose rout
Appears essential for heart's harmony.
Unperturbed, frustration fought, she
Defeats dismay, demands free flight. Love's drought
Ends offering expansion, joy throughout.
Coincidence coins serendipity.
Meaning, which below horizon hid,
Comes clear: fears, tears, fade, open inner lid.

In this poem, I saw a lot of myself. Maybe a sugarcoated version of myself, but that can be dismissed by either (a) I see my situation as worse than it actually is, or (b) what else do you expect from a sonnet? Either way, I can still see a lot of parallels between this sonnet and my slow, halting recovery from my illness. For the first, I'm absolutely sure this isn't what the author meant, but the phrase "she finds felicity at hand" reminds me of my amulet bracelet that I've been wearing for months. It brings me calm, and in a way, happiness. Lines 3–5 ring especially true for me, as my illness has redirected so much of my time and energy towards necessities, and away from life's real opportunities that I would have taken in health. However, the rest of the poem is more disconnected from my story. The remainder speaks of joyful perserverence and a final victory, which (I struggle to phrase this; I don't know whether to say "...which I haven't achieved" or "...which God hasn't yet granted me", and I find myself getting emotional. I guess I'll just have to put it in the vaguest terms possible) is not true of my life. Still, for a girl two and a half years into waiting for a miracle, the title phrase "coincidence coins serendipity" offers the most precious commodity: Hope.

ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE SONNET

The dwellers of the cave all have no sight
With which to understand reality;
The shadows of the cave are all they see,
Forever isolated from the light.
As metal chains hold them all at the site,
None of them could ever decide to flee.
None of them even think of going free:
Too, shackles on their minds prevent their flight.
But if somehow by stroke of fortune fair
One of these prisoners is then released,
The world of which he had been unaware,
The water and the sunrise from the east
Would certainly reveal to him the truth,
And finally free him from his despair.

SONNET ANALYSIS #1

I was absent the day we learned about sonnets, so for this assignment I'll be posting what I've learned about sonnets from the interwebs (and of course the gratutitous xkcd comic of the day)

• sonnets usually compare two or more contrasting ideas, emotions, beliefs, actions, events, images, etc.
• usually in iambic pentameter
• there are three main types of sonnets:
• Petrarchan/Italian
• first 8 lines are called an octave, and have a rhyming scheme A B B A   A B B A
• next 6 lines are called a sestet and can have either 2 or 3 rhyming sounds, with much more freedom in how they can be arranged (like CDCDCD, CDECDE, CDDCEC, basically whatever! Even unpaired lines are okay [sometimes])
• however, they usually don't end in a couplet (as in, last two lines can't rhyme)
• often, the transition from the octave to the sestet signals a change of subject (called a "volta," or "turn")
• Spenserian
• invented by Edmund Spenseras
• pattern A B A B   B C B C   C D C D   E E
• 14 lines: 3 quatrains and a couplet
• like the Petrarchan sonnet, the different divisions usually talk about distinct ideas
• volta often goes at the beginning of the final couplet
• Shakespearian/English
• pattern A B A B   C D C D   E F E F   G G
• 14 lines: 3 quatrains and a couplet (like Spenserian, but without the overlapping rhymes)
• most flexible of all the sonnet structures because each line only has one rhyme, and there aren't strict rules about the placement of the volta (Shakespeare usually puts it after the first two quatrains, like the Petrarchan structure, or at the beginning of the final couplet, like the Spenserian structure)
• source: Sonnets.org

Furthermore, as promised:

THE BEST SONNET REMIX EVER

(Shakespeare's original here)

UPDATE: check out my Allegory of the Cave sonnet. Can you guess which rhyme scheme I used?

THE PERFORMATIVE UTTERANCE IN HAMLET

As I was reading "The Performative Utterance in Hamlet," I noticed that since it's a 20-page essay, there are more levels than just intro paragraph > topic sentences > rest of paragraph, which is what we're used to with our standard 5-paragraph essays. Instead, there are actually like, sub-intro paragraphs (I'm sure there's probably a word for that which sounds SO much smarter) which introduce the next 3-4 paragraphs on the same topic. So, I took notes by outlining all the paragraphs in a hierarchy.

• Intro (thesis: "For much of the play Hamlet is able to speak but not do.")
• Austin's theory of performativity
1. self-overhearing in Hamlet
1. qualification of self-overhearing
2. scene w/ the ghost
3. problem w/ scene w/ ghost
2. drama/playacting
1. "hollow performativity" & its implications
2. emotional contexts of utterances
3. "perceived legitimacy of the emotional context of utterances"
4. what Hamlet considers good acting, based on his speech
3. pretending
1. Hamlet's madness & Polonius
2. Polonius's gullibility
3. Hamlet's madness—allows him to free himself of his restricted place in society
4. …and also recognizes that his own identity is also fake in a way
4. if Polonius pre-modern, & Hamlet modern, Claudius in between (esp. w/ his failed prayer)
1. rules for successful utterances & why Claudius failed
2. Claudius's failed prayer vs. Hamlet's conversation w/ Horatio
• Hamlet & Laertes both get their revenge, but because of Laertes, not Hamlet; ∴ Hamlet's performative utterance is not toward revenge, but "realization of the self"

TOOLS THAT CHANGE THE WAY WE THINK

From Dr. Preston's post, "tools that change the way we think":

Answer this not-so-simple question: How does use of the Internet, media, and/or technology change the way you think? Focus on your memory, your ability to concentrate, your sense of time and priorities, and the subjects/topics that interest you most. If you find "thinking about your thinking" difficult to assess, try the following strategies: compare yourself with older people who did most of their formal learning before smart phones and 2.0 existed; compare yourself with contemporaries who don't use those tools much today; read up on what education leaders and thinkers have to say about generational differences in thinking (and remember to cite your sources).

First off, I'm going to link to the XKCD strip Extended Mind because it's relevant but mostly because I just like linking to XKCD



...anyway, I know that for myself personally, the Internet has given me almost a sort of disdain for unevidenced "conventional wisdom" and faith in facts and statistics instead, all of which are readily available to me within a few clicks. At the moment I'm under some rather severe dietary restrictions for my health, and I'm never satisfied with reasoning like, "Well this is a vegetable, it must be ok for me to eat." Before eating anything I always look up the nutrition facts, glycemic load, how it's made if it's a processed food (ex. I can't eat anything fermented, so turns out I can't eat chocolate. Did you know chocolate is fermented? I didn't. Thanks Wikipedia), etc. Such immediate access to facts makes me question statements with the imperative "Prove it."

However, I know that the Internet has probably also shortened my attention span, because I'm ALWAYS tab surfing. Even when I'm doing homework, at any given moment I probably have Listube, Pandora, my email, XKCD or Dinosaur Comics or something, and a Google search of whatever I just thought of 10 seconds ago open in other tabs. The Internet has made it so whenever you think of something (ex. "Hey, I wonder if I have any new emails since I checked it an hour ago?") you can and probably will search/check/access it, regardless of the task at hand. Given the ubiquity of computers, as desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, smart glasses, and according to a commercial I saw last month, smart watches (!), the status quo really isn't that much different than the hypothetical Google search in your brain mentioned in the passage.

(Also, I just have to say this. When the article mentioned "computers that pay attention to what's going on around them and suggest useful information" I was like, "OH GOD. NAVI." Otakus in the house will get it.)

FILTER BUBBLES

a) What new information did you learn from the video?

This video IMMEDIATELY reminded me of XKCD's Umwelt (by Mr. Munroe's definition, "Umwelt is the idea that because their senses pick up on different things, different animals in the same ecosystem actually live in very different worlds. Everything about you shapes the world you inhabit--from your ideology to your glasses prescription to your web browser.") The page I linked to actually displays one of about 40 comic strips; the one shown to you is determined by your computer model, your OS, your browser, your window size, your location, even how you navigated to the site. I thought it was a pretty cool novelty... until I watched the "Filter Bubbles" video and realized, "OHMYGAHD. IT'S UMWELT. Except it's real and it's EVIL."

b) How does this information make you think differently about what you see online?

This makes me feel like I can't trust the Internet anymore, especially since I use Chrome... that means Google can see EVERYTHING I DO, not just my Google searches... oh god >.<

c) What questions does this video raise about the Internet in general?

I was aware that services like Adsense were collecting information about me based on the sites I visit, given the obvious evidence of whenever I visit a shopping website (for example, my favorite clothing brand Express) I get ads for that brand (and sometimes related brands) for a few weeks. However, I was convinced that Adsense was doing a pretty crappy job of it. For example: I go to Express.com, therefore I am an 18-24 year old female who likes Express in particular and fashion in general, therefore I get ads for Express clothing and a few other clothing brands. I visit a lot of anime websites, therefore I am an 18-24 year old heterosexual male who likes Asia, therefore I get ads for Asian women from ChinaLoveDate.com. Everything is really direct and isolated from everything else. It seems to me like it wouldn't be that hard for Adsense to put 2 and 2 together, and conclude from my browsing activity at BOTH websites that I am an 18-24 year old female who likes Asia, and therefore give me ads for Asian men, not women. Even better, I like fashion and Asia, so why not show me ads for Asian clothing companies? C'mon Adsense, I'm not clicking on the Asian women! Haven't you figured it out yet? Aren't you trying to make money off of me?

However, I realize that Adsense is only what I can see; this video raises the question of how my online experience is altered in ways I CAN'T see. The problem is that I don't know what I don't know, and that bothers me. Especially since I've used Google countless times for some EXTREMELY IMPORTANT searches, given that none of my doctors have been able to cure me (obviously, I'm still hiccupping) and I've basically resorted to doing my own research and trying to figure it out myself in my spare time. If there's something that I've missed because it's been "filtered out," I would be really really really mad, let's put it that way.

d) How can you improve the effectiveness of your searches?

I can... install the DuckDuckGo extension for Chrome! Hey look! I just did :D

Blogger Hacks #2: creating pseudo-separate blog feeds

Even as I was asking other students about if other classes would benefit from a Random Absence Mentoring blog feed, I was thinking to myself, "Crap, how am I actually going to do that?" I knew that if we had six classes all on the same blog page, it'd be an unusable mess. Luckily, there are TONS AND TONS of articles about Blogger hacks on the Internet, so I figured out how to make it work. This is going to be a pretty long, detailed post (for Dr. Preston's benefit, since the course blog could use some dropdown menus too *cough*) so I'll put the rest after the jump.