My Body to My Body.. and beyond...
Well here I go. I'd like to make it known that this is my first blog ever, so take it easy on me. I've enjoyed reading all of your blogs however, and if i don't live up to your expectations... well then I'm sorry. ha ha.
When i first began reading, i would click on a body part and read the section, then hit the back button and click on another. Pretty stupid of me is probably what you were all thinking. But i guess let me start from the beginning. One thing about me is that athletics use to define my life. I am a transfer here from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. At Lafayette i was on a football scholarship and playing Division 1-AA football my freshman year and getting what was a $50,000 dollar education for free!! I know, why would i ever leave that you are probably asking. Actually it was because of my body.
Not my body in the sense of this reading, but my body in the sense of my being pretty much turning against me. At Lafayette i suffered a sever shoulder injury that was going to cost me 2 years of my career, several surgeries, what i was told "almost unbearable pain", and inevitably, my scholarship. So i guess my body is why i am here, and 'My Body - a wunderkammer' is why you are all reading this.
Where to even begin when talking about 'My Body'. My expectations were, well lets just say i thought i would go into this with an open mind. But after beginning to navigate my way throughout this work my mind instantly flashed back to the reading we did in class 'The end of books - or books without an end' and the idea of "interactive" or "participartoy" text because i feel like My Body was a shinning example of this. (Hannah i loved/still love those goosebump books)
So naturally i began with the shoulder and learned that any expectations or thoughts that i had in my mind about these body parts should immediately be thrown out the window, because this was not your usually anatomy lesson. The style of writing was intruiging, offsetting, thought-provoking, appaling, and sometimes just flat out wierd. But you feel a desire to read on and after i began using the intext hyperlinks the reading experience completely changed. If i was sitting there with a book i would read the title to my new chapter and have a least a good chance of guessing what i would be reading. But in this work you have no shot to use context clues to imagine what part of the body you could be headed to next. Examples that stuck out to me were:
Also, the length of these links or "chapter titles" i guess you could say varried in length. At times they would be one word, and at other times i ran across one that was three lines long! And last but not least to finish my rant on these blue-text, underlined mysteries, is that different links would lead you back to the same place. So even if you thought you were going to get something new because you've never clicked on a particular hyperlink before, you didn't even have that guarentee.
But the part i think i enjoyed most about this work was when i ran across a certain section i was lead to that talked about the body as a "cabinet of wonders" or "cabinet or currosities". And how each drawer has school reports, pictures, experiments, tips to go to other drawers unlabelled keys, and drawers that had drawers. Because you never really know what you could find in a persons "drawer". Everyone is different and unique, and thats what makes everyone fascinating. As Will said, when you look at the title "My Body - a Wunderkammer" i think it means exactly what he said "My Body - A cabinet of Wonders or Currosities". My german is no where like your's Will so thanks. Ha ha.
But i think the Quote that appealed most to me was not only referring to the body as a cabinet of wonder, but also to a way i have found to approach life. "I have found every drawer to be both bottomless and intricately connected to every other drawer, such that there can be no final unpacking. But you don't approach a cabinet of wonders with an inventory in hand. You open drawers at random." Thoughout this piece there are connections that seem complicated and made possible by this digital interactive piece. If i was reading a book and i read "for Triginometry (go to page 112)" i would never go to that page because i hate trig. But the interactive text allows you to explore and to experience the reading in a way that the author wants and makes the piece work as a whole.
But i begin to feel like i am rambling and am all over the place. So ill wrap this up by applying this quote to life as well. In life i feel like everything is connected (six degrees of seperation and all that jazz). But some connections are easy, some are complicated, and some may never be discovered. But in every aspect of life there are endless possiblities with every decision, ever move you make, every person you meet, every class you take, literally everything, that it is impossible to make a plan that will take you through life. The best way to live life is without an inventory, to take chances, maybe open a drawer you usually wouldn't, and see where it leads.
Pitt Basketball is Number 1... and the Steelers are Stellar
When i first began reading, i would click on a body part and read the section, then hit the back button and click on another. Pretty stupid of me is probably what you were all thinking. But i guess let me start from the beginning. One thing about me is that athletics use to define my life. I am a transfer here from Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. At Lafayette i was on a football scholarship and playing Division 1-AA football my freshman year and getting what was a $50,000 dollar education for free!! I know, why would i ever leave that you are probably asking. Actually it was because of my body.
Not my body in the sense of this reading, but my body in the sense of my being pretty much turning against me. At Lafayette i suffered a sever shoulder injury that was going to cost me 2 years of my career, several surgeries, what i was told "almost unbearable pain", and inevitably, my scholarship. So i guess my body is why i am here, and 'My Body - a wunderkammer' is why you are all reading this.
Where to even begin when talking about 'My Body'. My expectations were, well lets just say i thought i would go into this with an open mind. But after beginning to navigate my way throughout this work my mind instantly flashed back to the reading we did in class 'The end of books - or books without an end' and the idea of "interactive" or "participartoy" text because i feel like My Body was a shinning example of this. (Hannah i loved/still love those goosebump books)
So naturally i began with the shoulder and learned that any expectations or thoughts that i had in my mind about these body parts should immediately be thrown out the window, because this was not your usually anatomy lesson. The style of writing was intruiging, offsetting, thought-provoking, appaling, and sometimes just flat out wierd. But you feel a desire to read on and after i began using the intext hyperlinks the reading experience completely changed. If i was sitting there with a book i would read the title to my new chapter and have a least a good chance of guessing what i would be reading. But in this work you have no shot to use context clues to imagine what part of the body you could be headed to next. Examples that stuck out to me were:
- "Trigonometry" led to 'Leg Hair'
- "School Report" led to 'Hips'
- "A Trunk" led to 'Toes'
Also, the length of these links or "chapter titles" i guess you could say varried in length. At times they would be one word, and at other times i ran across one that was three lines long! And last but not least to finish my rant on these blue-text, underlined mysteries, is that different links would lead you back to the same place. So even if you thought you were going to get something new because you've never clicked on a particular hyperlink before, you didn't even have that guarentee.
But the part i think i enjoyed most about this work was when i ran across a certain section i was lead to that talked about the body as a "cabinet of wonders" or "cabinet or currosities". And how each drawer has school reports, pictures, experiments, tips to go to other drawers unlabelled keys, and drawers that had drawers. Because you never really know what you could find in a persons "drawer". Everyone is different and unique, and thats what makes everyone fascinating. As Will said, when you look at the title "My Body - a Wunderkammer" i think it means exactly what he said "My Body - A cabinet of Wonders or Currosities". My german is no where like your's Will so thanks. Ha ha.
But i think the Quote that appealed most to me was not only referring to the body as a cabinet of wonder, but also to a way i have found to approach life. "I have found every drawer to be both bottomless and intricately connected to every other drawer, such that there can be no final unpacking. But you don't approach a cabinet of wonders with an inventory in hand. You open drawers at random." Thoughout this piece there are connections that seem complicated and made possible by this digital interactive piece. If i was reading a book and i read "for Triginometry (go to page 112)" i would never go to that page because i hate trig. But the interactive text allows you to explore and to experience the reading in a way that the author wants and makes the piece work as a whole.
But i begin to feel like i am rambling and am all over the place. So ill wrap this up by applying this quote to life as well. In life i feel like everything is connected (six degrees of seperation and all that jazz). But some connections are easy, some are complicated, and some may never be discovered. But in every aspect of life there are endless possiblities with every decision, ever move you make, every person you meet, every class you take, literally everything, that it is impossible to make a plan that will take you through life. The best way to live life is without an inventory, to take chances, maybe open a drawer you usually wouldn't, and see where it leads.
Pitt Basketball is Number 1... and the Steelers are Stellar
posted by NickN at
2:58 PM
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