Rewired-12th Century Edition

As you may have guessed, yes, I shall be working on improving my Crusades paper. Personally, and not to toot my own horn here, I thought it a masterful piece of work, but that's just me. I am taking advice from the dreaded comment section (see: YouTube ) and am going to work on improving my support as well as my organization overall. My citations also apparently had some glaring problems as well, although I'm not sure if I should include this in my general categories of improvement. Whatever the case, the organization may need a little tweaking as well as some additional info I shall include per my associate's requests. A visit to the Writing Center seems in the undeniable future.


The paper itself, although I think it was well written, it felt that I was leaving out details, that I was missing some key aspects of my paper. Another thing I'll be sure to correct is tweaking my research question to really fit with my paper, as I seemed to have drifted from the original purpose. Whatever the case, I shall work diligently on fixing my technical errors in the bibliographies and some of my citations. I wonder if the Writing Center will be of any help...

~Charles

Jane Goodall-Does it Really Matter?

Jane Goodall, beloved of the chimps of Africa, has been accused of plagiarism. Now, this really isn't a big deal, the only real repercussion being Goodall's loss of credibility and a couple hundred thousand bucks, but we'll examine it closely anyway. Goodall has been accused of copying and using un-cited sources in her new book, "Seeds of Hope". One possible reason for her use of this information is that while the majority of the book is her opinions and her interpretations of plants, when she comes to the history and technical aspects she is at a complete loss. Her specialty being chimps, she never really learned botany and as such was forced to go to these sources for more in-depth explanations and statistics.

Jane Goodall and her co-author (who may have been responsible for some of this plagiarism), should certainly take some steps to correct these errors. Errors which could spell the end for their book, and even as a writers of future novels.The solution to correct these errors should perhaps be accompanied by a public admittance of error and guilt. Proper citations should be accredited to each and every source she has not cited yet in her book. This was not a real serious offense and her image will probably help her to bounce back.

~Charles


Reading Times-
 Today (Monday)
Comments- 15 mins.
Jane Goodall Article- 25 mins
Sunday
Cage of Eden- 2hrs
Total Time- 2 hrs 40 mins
Total Pages Read- About 200

Nervous Conditions- What You've All Been Waiting For

(Before I forget, Reading deets- B Layer:around an hour, Saturday
A Layer: ~1.5 hrs, Sunday
 Total-2.5hrs, maybe a little more

This book brings to light many, perhaps unpleasant, subjects, especially things related to culture and identity, as addressed in our question for the year. The book to me performs reasonably well when paired with our goal of answering our year-long quandary. The book performs strongly in the "identity" and "culture" categories, although personally I found it be both despicable and quite frankly, irritating.

Identity in NC is of nearly vital importance, almost every character going through an identity crisis at one point or another. The "who we are" part of our year-long search for an answer is illustrated magnificently in this book, Tambu and company change themselves frequently based on their environment, and many of their changes are not for the better (ex.-Nyasha's anorexia and bulimia) Tambu finds herself in the midst of a roiling mind and is constantly torn between duty or friends, work or family. The book really is all about her development into the person she is today, so the "identity" portion of our guiding question has been established firmly by this book.

Culture is another massive factor in Nervous Conditions. The sheer quantity of Shona culture is almost overwhelming, which isn't always a pro but still includes many different instances of culture impacting lives. Singing and dancing were both fun and required in Shona culture, a staple in family get-together s and special occasions. When Tambu goes off to live on the mission, the singing and dancing stops as she enters a more dignified world of biscuits and cream, as well as forks and knives and balls and galas.

This book, while not being an enjoyable read, would certainly answer our guiding question for the year adequetely enough to complete the course. I have clearly showed the book's strong suits of identity and culture, both of which are huge pieces of the year-long question. The book was not terribly well written, nor very interesting, so I have a sneaking suspicion their will be dissent and some even outright hatred of this novel next year (this year was no different). The book, I grudgingly concede, should be included in the syllabus next year because it helps answer the year-long question, and for no other reason than that. Adieu,
~Charles

Nervous Conditions- Chapter 7

In Chapter 7, we see mostly Lucia's rebellion, but also get a little bit into Maiguru's as well. Lucia makes her vicous arguements and terrifies Takesure once again, and makes up her mind to leave, but not without her sister, Tambu's mother. In the end Tambu's mother does not go, and so Lucia stays to help her take care of her and her child. Lucia is also seen helping Tambu's mother get motivated by placing her son in the middle of the river and Tambu's mom must go and get him. With this "therapy" of sorts, Tambu's mother soon recovers enough to function in their society again. Lucia becomes a real, worthwhile person while Tambu's mother seems to be more and more worthless.

Meanwhile, there is an important meeting amongst the men (and Lucia), and tensions mount then finally break when Jeremiah and Lucia's acts are laid bare for the group to attack and criticize. Jeremiah is called lazy and essentially worthless and Babamakuru has to once again act as head of the family and tell him off. Tambu and the other young women overhear all of this, and giggling erupts. Takesure and Jeremiah go through a period of ridicule, in which neither actually does anything productive, and soon it's back to drinking and the like.

~Charles

Current Obsession- Fallout 3

This weekend, and much of today, I spent playing a the third installment of the Fallout franchise, Fallout 3. This game is made by Bethesda studios (best known for their work on Fallout and the Elder Scroll series). The story centers around "Project Purity", a project to clean the water supplies of the current post-apocalyptic wasteland and to try to make it more habitable again. The story follows the son (or daughter, your choice) of the head of Project Purity, your father. He escapes from Vault 101, your holding vault in which people withstood the nuclear blasts. The game from there is up to you, and man is it just ridiculously fun. I run around, choosing uncouth dialogue to treat other characters to, and journey through bogs and deserts filled with irradiated monsters. Rules are practically thrown out the window, as weapons such as alien disintegrates, Gauss cannons, and even hand-held mini-nuke launchers (beware the FatMan) are at your disposal as you romp throughout the Capitol Wasteland. One of the best thing about this game, in true Bethesda fashion, is the fact that your dialogue and choices permanently impact your game and your future to give you a more unique and in-depth experience. The Game of the Year Edition for Xbox 360 costs only $20 on Amazon (Game of the Year Edition means it comes with all the extra content and is a steal). I highly recommend purchasing it and seeing what your future will hold in the windswept plains of the Capitol Wasteland.
~Charles

Identity-Coexistent Planes

Well, as my fancy schmancy title suggests, I change on the environment, my change usually being in social order and how I conduct myself. At school in class, for example, I would not lounge about as I do at home, or spill drinks, or sleep. At school it is a different environment with different requirements and expectations, so that I end up being a totally different person when I'm at home relaxing. This applies to virtual reality and real life as well. In real life it is unlikely I would play "head soccer" (those that know me and my love of Dead Space will remember this) in real life, but in that other world there are fewer and much different rules, a totally different world and environment. I speak differently, both in matter and in demeanor when I play games, and both of these can change rapidly depending on the game. Enviroment mainly affects me in the rules and physics that make up that enviroment, so according to that theory: no one is truly themself unless we live in a world of no rules whatsoever-a world of anarchy. I salute you, Joker.

Reading Details-
3 hrs. Sunday- Nervous Conditions, chapters 7-10
Total Pages~96pgs

Nervous Conditions Chapter 6

Chapter 6 brings a lot to the table. We get a look at Nyasha's defiance and discover that Babamakuru is really not all the "good guy" he seems. He not only beats his daughter, but also verbally traumitizes her by disowning her and calling her a whore. She becomes withdrawn, completely isolated and severs all ties with Tambu and her family. Tambu is in a tough situation, as she wants to respect Babamakuru and the opinions of her elders, but at the same time she feels connected to Nyasha as a friend and disagrees with Babamakuru on this point. She feels cut off from her family and like her new family isn't really connected to her and barely values her. Nyasha strikes her father back, proving her sense of justice but at the same time, she is promoting disobedience in the household. Her mother, Maiguru, is torn by all of this, almost as much as Tambu. She wants to obey and care for Babamakuru, but her "lovey dovey" is now beating one of her children. The whole household is soon split, and everyone has their world in which to live.

Persona- Nyasha

Well, assuming any of these characters can type and had the equipment to do so, this is what would've been the perspective of Nyasha when she is beaten and called a whore-

(The following exchange is entirely fictional and takes place inside Nyasha's mind)

Father father father, it's always been between us, hasn't it? No one else has ever been truly my opponent, not Tambu nor Mother nor even the Whites- it has always been you. When you struck me, I finally understood. I finally understood that we are going to do this forever, that we will be locked in combat for an eternity. Now that you have stopped responding to me, taken me as the disgrace and disappointment I am and leaving me to rot, I have had time to think. I now know that I don't want anyone anymore- I don't want you, or Mother, or Tambu. I want them to leave me alone, in the darkness where I belong, where I can finally rest. I don't belong here Daddy; and now I finally know.

C Layer 1 Reflection

Seeing as I'm expecting to do these reflections for every layer, stands to reason I might want to try to learn how to do them right...
Reading Details-
2 hrs.- Nervous Conditions: Thursday
1 hr.- Nervous Conditions: Friday

On Thursday I annotated about 45 pages or so (Chapters 5 and 6)
On Friday I annotated about 20 or so pages (part of Chapter 7)

 I think, moving forward, I should work more on getting my annotations done earlier, although realistically that is impossible. There is simply too many other things to do and too little time, so annotations can get put off to the side, and I need to work on managing time and staying focused a lot more. The blogs I find to often be the most thought-provoking, the reading guides less so.