BB "Letters"

This chapter, even though it's very short, will be really helpful when I'm revising my paper. Since our genealogy focuses primarily on our own personal stories, this chapter by Lamott really relates. I have to give more detail to most of my personal events, so using her method of writing to someone I know will work well I think. If I act as if I'm writing to someone personally, more of the story will come out truthfully and emotionally. It will allow me to better explain my story from my own perspective and what I truly felt during that event.

Nietzsche - Genealogy of Morals

Before I started, I thought that this would take me forever to get through and that it would be a very tough read. Luckily, I was quite wrong. I really liked reading this genealogy; I may actually finish the rest of it this weekend. I found it highly intriguing. Tracing the origins "good" and "evil" is a surprisingly interesting topic! After reading this six sections, I think that one of Nietzsche's main ideas is that historically "good" has always been tied to words that were associated with the nobility, aristocracy, and high-level people. Consequently, "bad" comes from the association with commonality, plainness, and vulgarity. It's so remarkable to see how our current language and prejudices have been defined and shaped by the past. It's absolutely fascinating in my opinion.

MS - Scott McCloud

I found this "essay" both interesting and entertaining. Before reading this, I had been stereotyping comics like most other people. I thought that they were just for kids and only dealt with superheroes and such. McCloud really opened my eyes on that big mistake. Before, I would have looked at a picture of a wall of heiroglyphics in my history book as just that, heiroglyphics; but now I'll see them as a sort of comic strip.

Although his eventual definition of comics is a bit lengthy, he seems to cover all the bases without making it too broad or too narrow. That's a bit tough to accomplish, but I think that we can apply it to our own definition of the term we've chosen for our essay. A precise definition isn't the main goal of our essay but I think it creating one will play some sort of role, at least in forming our ideas and structure within our drafts.

MS - Thomas Kuhn

This essay definitely made me look at all of my old science textbooks differently. I had never really questioned the information that science textbooks gave me; I always accepted the fact that so-and-so discovered whatever at this time and place. I'm a bit surprised that I had never been curious about those specific dates and places before. It makes sense after reading this essay that discovery doesn't just suddenly happen. There's not typically an "aha!" moment. It takes weeks, months, or years to fully understand what was "discovered." Whenever I hear or read something that claims that someone discovered some scientific idea or object I will think back to this essay and Kuhn's examples.

MS "The Loss of the Creature"

This was a bit difficult to get through at times but I did find it pretty interesting. Walker Percy's focus is what true and actual discovery really is. I could easily relate to his passage about trying to get "it" from a vacation. When I was in Yellowstone National Park I often felt the same way. It seemed like my experience was already laid out by the travel books and guides that my mom brought along. I tried to find "it" by travelling off the path by myself to discover what Yellowstone was supposed to really mean. I thought I was successful but after finishing this essay I'm not so sure I was. I never tried to find an "expert" so that they could say my experience was genuine and truly "it," but Percy's words make me think that I was still missing out on something. On a different note, I had never really viewed education as a "package." I think that's quite an intriguing way to look at things. It really makes you think and question.