that's what she said: a response to professor's prezi

I enjoyed viewing the electronic space of a prezi and am looking forward to creating one of my own. The program appears to be similar to PowerPoint, but more elaborate. Instead of being separate, distinct slides, as in PowerPoint, appearing to the viewer individually in a strict linear sequence, the Prezi is designed on a single, flat design board. The user can apply various colors and types of text, pictures, and videos as in PowerPoint, but the main difference is the motion the prezi possesses. It doesn’t simply change from one slide to the next, but glides across the plane, smoothly from one point to the next. This transition technique more closely mocks our own natural thought process: more scattered and uncertain, than linear. With PowerPoint the viewer knows where we are going next; to the next slide, but with a prezi you never quite know where the focus is going to stop. This presentation technique can make the thought process of those presenting visible to the audience. It better constitutes the lines of communication because of its more natural conversational flow, as opposed to a planned out, ordered feel of a PowerPoint. You literally flow along with the speaker, following from one thought to the next, and flying by small side statements to later return to.  It can show how points are related via their proximity and position in relation to each other. It can also show the paths between thoughts and how they twist and intermingle to ultimately form one solid argument.

writing without looking [storyteller]

Everyone in my familyis a story teller, but the best story teller of all is my grandma, Mam. She’ll even tell stories to people standing in front of her on the grocery store line, as well as me and my sisters. I lve her stories because she is always so animated when telling them and you can feel her e passion through her words. My favorite and most inspirational story of hers is about one of her first jobs. In the 70’s, it was not common for a woman ot be in the electronic or mathematical field. My grandma though chose to be a computer technitician as well and a mathematical computer teacher at a college. Beingg the only woman at her job, she faced much discrimination.One day, her boss called her into his office and asked her on a date. She politely declined and in a whirlwind of fury of being rejected, he fired her. She refused to give in and simply walked proudly out of his office head helfd high as her coworkers jeered at her. A few days later she went on to get an even better job and with bosses that actually appreciated her. Stories like these have taught me to stay strong and stick up for yourself.  It also taught me to maintain hope and not get down on yourself when you feel as if life has rejected you. She always tells me Everything happens for a reason, and when one door closes another always opens. My grandma continues to show me this through examples from her life everyday. I can only hope to be as strong and amazing as she is. She is my true inspiration.

my thoughts on sample u

Sample U is broken up into two parts. Though I agree with the first part that predictable images are helpful in leading the audience to understand an argument quicker, I disagree with the second part. I recognize that the order of how images in a visual presentation are presented is important, but I do not agree that their order is more important than that of a textual argument. Taking the example images in the writer of this sample's first part ("wedding picture, the soldier kneeling and shooting, the video of [the] little girl saluting at the funeral procession..."); these images all make the same argument and without order they still make sense and support the central claim. However, with textual arguments, by changing the order of sentences, and especially by rearranging words within in a sentence, the reader has a good chance completely befuddling the reader.

How does the form of the poem affect your apprehension and appreciation for it?

The poem "Like you know", by Taylor Mali is creative, entertaining, and well-written. It is also clever and with enough truth behind it to actually make the listener think. It was one of my favorite assigned "readings" so far of the semester. I enjoyed and followed the video of him performing the poem more than the textual representation. I found the text in the other video distracting, intimidating and it made me more apprehensive when first viewing it because of how rapidly it changed and rearranged. I also felt Mali's facial expressions and body language in the video of him reading the poem added to the humor and satirical nature of the piece.

oops, changed my mind...

The poem The Problem of Describing Trees begins with the speaker attempting to describe trees. He simply classifies tree's appearances  and movement with adjectives like "glitters" and "flutters". However, early in the poem the speaker begins to get confused and unsure of how to describe trees. He contradicts and second-guesses himself. When he first says "No." is when the poem really turns from talking about the certainty to the uncertainty. By the last line "Aspens doing something in the wind", Hass has completely given up his attempt to put trees into words.