Week 16-Final Week

Well, I have finished all three of my poetry montages and they seem to be working all right. Today is the day that we do a dry run in class so hopefully I will be able to present them. I have other ideas for poetry montages that I might try to get together during the break if I get a chance to do some more filming.

Week 15-Slaughterhouse

I was able to go to get permission to film in a slaughter house this week. I tried to go film the butcher at Brookshires but it was a no go. There was too much bureaucratic red tape to get through so I gave up on that. But I called a local slaughterhouse near my hometown and told them that I was doing a school project and they were okay with it. In fact I had a guy show me the ropes by boning a few sides of hog right in front of me, plus show the killing floor to me. They were very nice and informative in showing me this art which is rapidly dying in America today. I plan to go back for another poem which I plan to write call "The Killing Floor" sometime after finals week. They said they could show me killing a beef to go with my poem. However I am not sure at this point if I want to go through with it since I think the point of the poem would be lost in the graphic nature of the content.

Week 14-New Ideas

I have an idea for what I am going to submit for the Celebration of Writing that will happen on May 14, 2009. I also think that I will submit to the Minnesota convention that will be happening in July. It ought to be a lot of fun, plus I can get my poetry out there. My third and final project is going to be my poem "The Butcher". I decided on it just right now in class, and I believe I will get the filming done at Brookshires because they have a butcher shop on the premises. I called them today, and I am going to meet with them tomorrow. The assistant manager who is the butcher seemed to be all right with it. Sylvester is helping me with my audio so that should be up and running with my film as early as next week. I think things are really starting to come together and I could definitely envisioning myself doing a series of poem montages over the working class experience.

Week 13-Technical Difficulties

I got a lot of filming done this weekend at Bowles' station. Got a lot of good shots of the station and the people who work there as well. However I am still having problems putting everything together, technical difficulties if you will. Everytime I think I have it saved it does not show up on my drive and I cannot add them to the material that I already have. I don't why this always happens every week but it screws up my work and I can never get anything completed to form that I like. It is very frustrating. No, strike that. It really pisses me off!

Week 12-Problems with Audio

I am having problems with the audio for my poem montage. For some reason I cannot download from my audio recorder the poem I read aloud. I still have it on my recorder(as I have just checked a moment ago), yet I still could not find it when I was working with audacity last night. That seems to be a big problem with my work; finding the work after I have saved it. I am not sure why it is so hard to find my work, but it has caused me the most problems thus far. And update on my final project, I am going to get some more video for it this weekend while I am home. I have gotten some new ideas and will fill you in on them later. Until then, sayonara!

Week 11-Poem Montage

I finished filming for my montage poem entitled "Grandfather's Shotgun", along with the audio narration of the poem. Now I just have to put the audio with the film and should be set. However, the film is longer than the poem so I might have to cut some of the film in order for them to go together. I am not sure how to do this, but hopefully next week I will have an idea. By the next class period I should have a finished product. It will be kind of rough but I believe it will get my point across.

Week 9-Spring Break

I did not get to do much research during Spring Break, but I got plenty of ideas on how I might try to work my ethnography. One of the things that I think I need to do is get interviews with people who go to the gas station and get their point of view, why that is Bowles gas station is a fixture in our community. Then I can take footage of him and his sons working at the station, along with an exploration of the station itself. Another idea that I came up was to do a montage of my hometown, of the past memories and experiences that I had along with a poem for narration. This would be a creative piece and I think it would be easier in the long run. I just need some feedback on which one I should go for.

Week 8-Discussion Over Readings and Project

The thing that stood out to me about the readings this week were the fact that they all discussed in some detail the interconnectivity that happens when one works on a multimedia project. Because it is multimedia there usually has to be some kind of multitasking with other people on how to get all the different mediums to work. And that is the beauty of such an undertaking. When you reach out and get help from other people you involve them not only in your project, but with your life as well. And by doing so individuals from across the spectrum of disciplines can meet and relate with each other, thus enriching their perspectives from each others skills and experiences. I mean, look at me for instance. I am working on a project that involves people who have never used a computer, to those who can make their own movie videos. I lay between the two drastic opposites, but I know I will succeed by working with each side equally. That is, I will get my research information with those who are low-tech , while composing my piece through the lens of people who know what they are doing with technology, much more so than I. And by working together people will be that more comfortable working with others as well as sharing memories and ideas.

My project has been taken on by a lot of ideas on my part. I was at one time thinking of doing a creative piece about my hometown, set with images of memory that involve my childhood, ambient music, and a creative narration, a sort of poem that relates it all. But I am still interested in doing my project over the gas station, except I will discuss the impact it has had on our town and its people, along with interviews with those who come by to fill up and gossip. These are just a few of my ideas right now and I am not sure which way I am going to go with them. I am going to do more research during Spring Break since I will be home in Oklahoma and that will give me some time to look at it all and think on the premises.

Week 7-Catch Up

I am trying to catch up where I left off last week. I think I will try to add music to my audio and try to work with it some tomorrow when I have time. I will probably do the second interview during Spring Break and get an idea of how to mold the material into the right composition. Dr. Carter talked about us pairing up for the final project and I think that will be a good idea. If I can get somebody to help with the technological aspects while I d0 the research and interviews I can probably pull of a good piece.

Week ^-In the Land of Enchantment

Hi you all, this is my second day in Albuquerque and I am enjoying the hell out of it. The weather is great, right in the high sixties or seventies, and everything is very awesome. This city really gets to you, enchants you even, because of the beauty of the city itself along with the geography that surrounds it. If I could get a professorship here after I graduate I would be in heaven. This is, possibly, my favorite town to hang around at. It is just too bad that I only get to come once a year. But, eh, I am going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Week 5-First Interview completed

I finished my first interview this Saturday morning at Mr. Bowles gas station. It really went well for a first time, but I did not have many questions for him. I need to do research on conducting interviews so that next time I can better direct the flow of information. The interview that I did on Saturday ran for forty minutes, so I am going to try to work with the material that I have on audacity sometime this week. But what I got out of the interview was very good and hopefully I can shape it into a composition where a point is made. I think that will be the real challenge.

Week 4-The Usual

I just back to school today after being sick all last week with the flu. Trying to get everything back in order and so far so good. I really don't have much to say at the moment since my mind is blank. Perhaps after I catch up with my work I will at least have a statement. Sorry.

Week 3-Thoughts of Empowerment Through Capture

I have been reading a book called Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts for another class and I came across a term that really stood out for me: empowerment. A lot of the time people go through this world without society hearing their voice, hearing their opinion. But looking at this class, this week we are doing audio recordings, I thought about how empowering it is to capture your thoughts, either on print, audio, visual, etc. Once you create a product, something which you have made with your own two hands, you can get your voice across, let the whole world hear what you have to say. I think youtube does that in a way. Though I don't watch any videos with people talking I do watch MMA highlight reels that have been crafted with a message: to highlight a fighter who should be considered, who is worthy to be watched and thought of. Anyways, that is all I have to say right now. Maybe you got a piece of information from this posting. I know I sure did.

Week 1

I have been studying the first chapter in Multimodal Composition and listened to the NPR radio article. It seems that a lot of what we will be covering this semester might intertwine with my other classes as well, along with some side research that I am doing on propaganda and how that works in today's society. Learning how new media works, I think, will be a good thing for me to learn because by doing so I can learn how the rhetoric that is fabricated via the new technology works on the human brain. As propaganda is basically the manufacture of human consent, to keep the masses busy and off balance so to speak, the new technology that is coming along will aid in keeping people separated, keep them from unifying against the oppression of the institutions that govern our world. By knowing how that propaganda works and being able to manufacture my own form of message that can spread through the crowds like a wildfire, perhaps I, too, can help the world, even just a little bit, by showing that human experience, especially suffering, is universal, and that by helping each other we can overcome any obstacle with the will of the human heart.

January 22, 2008-The Beginning

Not much to say at the moment, just getting this thing started. Hopefully everything will work out all right.