April 27, 2015 - 20:16
Froggie315 in “I just can’t get the poetry of the trees” separates being a part of a community from representing the world: “I’ve accepted that I can’t do it, and I’ve moved on to what I see as the most important kind of environmental work: being a part of a community” (froggies315 1). I think we must hold these two thoughts together: being part of a community and most fully and deeply representing the world.
Froggie 315 in “I just can’t get the poetry of the trees” explains the value of representation: “Our inability to explain things the way they actually are is not a deficit. That is what make our representations precious” (froggie 315 1).
I found it interesting that froggie315 found it challenging to be outside because the expectations were not as clear. She wrote that she was continuously “distracted.” I wish there was a more fluid way to incorporate changing surroundings and how people are feeling on a daily basis. I wish everything didn’t seem so stagnant and reinforced by systems.
Hirikismail in “Rheomode’ AKA Causality?” examines language and its different ways of uniting and neglecting people: “His book has been praised for telling the story in a way that local Nigerians would recognize, rather than in a ‘higher,’ ‘more formal’ whatever-you-call-it type English. That brings me back to the discussion we were having in class on Wednesday, where you @froggies315 asked why on earth anyone would want to write in an unclear manner” (hirakismail 1). Something we did not quite address the other day was why someone might right in a difficult or more complex way to address a particular audience, encourage and unite a specific group of people? What I mean is that language can be a way to carry messages of uprising, questioning injustice without the oppressors understanding what is being communicated. Language can also be a way to connect to a struggle, share traditions, race, common ideas, and experiences.
I think we too often forget that language is constantly evolving, words are lost, some are changed, and others are born. I think this is important when we talk about “proper” English, because though there are rules and guidelines, those are regarded or disregarded continuously. Therefore when someone says a person is not speaking “properly” the idea of what proper means is unclear, what is that person actually commenting on? In that sense, when someone introduces a more “rebellious” language or speech, is that person not in effect challenging unjust and irrational systems and possibly even adding some helpful words to describe ourselves, our surroundings, our interactions?
Also who decided the language is unclear? Possibly not the audience that was intended to read and understand the messages. Also I want to challenge this notion of “higher” English. I don’t know if the English that people in power use is necessarily more complex or more difficult to understand than what some would call “slang.”
Hirikismail in “Rheomode’ AKA Causality?” addresses the difficulty of perception and portrayal: “He’s attempting, very valiantly, to do what I was having a hard time with in my observation at Rhoads Pond: to portray the many different things that are going on simultaneously” (hirakismail 2). How do we portray different aspects of a setting equally? I think this is when collaboration in representation is so important. We need other perspectives, to embrace diversity and a variety of backgrounds to help us see what some are missing.
Hirikismal in “Rheomode’ AKA Causality?” describes how authors can play with time and manipulate time:
He takes his events out of the linear world and instead tries to surpass time. When I first started reading this book, I had a hard time understanding what was going on, because of this double emphasis on time, this effort to suspend the characters in time (hirikismail 2).
How can different representations of time help us see the urgency of climate change and the necessity to act? I think that too often we think about representations as a choice, an either or. Why don’t we embrace the multiplicity and depth of portrayal so we can reach the greatest amount of people?