Laurie McNeill dazzles us once again in this weeks readings. I've seriously got an essay crush on her. It has been developing for a while, well since week 4 anyhow. Her essay from week 4 was dense and intense, but the content and insights got my motor runnin' yo. She was all up in dat chit mang! But in this week's, week 6, she all cool and loose, flowin' like a clear mountain stream. A couple of lines near the start and I was gone, a fanboy in the Fandom of McNeill. Check it:
"The politics of naming remain fraught, with those firmly in the blog-is-not-a-diary camp remaining particularly vehement about generic distinctiveness. I suggest this generic wagon-circling testifies to the aura of newness that surrounded the Internet, especially in the nascence of the World Wide Web, when the possibilities for social change and community seemed ripe." (McNeill, 2011, p.315).
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| Neckbeards; passionate bloggers.
That language, those words, instantly evoked strong images of pioneers under attack. After reading the original definition of web log, (the filter-style blog used by the original programmers and creators of the net), those hardy pilgrims I'd imagined became a band of stoic neckbeards under siege from barbarians. "You shall not pass!" (Tolkein, 1954), they seemed to cry to the collective Balrog of diarists menacing their precious genre. They were doomed to fall of course. Anything in common use is prone to change. Genre is a fluid thing, changing when required but retaining it's essence (McNeill, 2011, p.323).
Even in the most personal of outpourings a diarist is subconsciously speaking to an audience. The medium of the diary is in effect, a sympathetic ear. Diarists externalise thoughts and feelings through text. When a diary becomes public, the imagined audience is made manifest, therefore, naturally, diaries beg to be read. Writers share in different ways, for example in the Facebook group Very Democratic Socialism the contributors predominantly communicate to each other, and the world, not by direct dialogue, but by offering up already published work. The notion of socialism is expanded by the accretion of articles. It is a shared diary of accumulated thoughts networked across the globe in virtuality. The power of dialectics in cyber-space.
Reference List
McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0?: A genre moves from page to screen. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1219816-dt-content-rid-920521_1/courses/13-BA1002-TSV-EXT-SP2/McNeill.pdf
McNeill, L. (2012). There is no "I" in Network: Social Networking Sites and Posthuman Auto/Biography. Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au/bbcswebdav/pid-1219805-dt-content-rid-920522_1/courses/13-BA1002-TSV-EXT-SP2/McNeill
network.pdf
Rate My Professors (2013) Laurie McNeill. Retrieved from http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=551368
Tolkien, J.R.R. (1954) The Fellowship of the Ring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Urban Dictionary. (2013). Neckbeards. Retrieved from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=neckbeard
Very Democratic Socialism (2013). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/groups/verydemocraticsocialism/
Youtube. (2009) Red Fang, Prehistoric Dog. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRKRFjm-HA
Image Credits
Wideshanks (2013). The Badass Neckbeard [Image]. Retrieved from http://wideshanks.deviantart.com/art/The-Badass-Neckbeard-151907183
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Hi Trevor, I have decided to take on the challenge of responding to your post this week, hoping to crack the code :)
ReplyDeleteMany people assume that being a mature-aged student is an advantage, as interpreting new information and applying it to specific life experiences gives context to new concepts. Reading your posts however, leave me often feeling quite in the dark and lost amidst the generation gap. You remind me of how subjective and exclusive language can be. As stated by McNeill “the speaker/writer has the power to let readers in, or keep them out, based on what information can be presumed to be shared” (2011, p. 320) and I have found that it can be confronting and isolating reading a passage you’re aware does not invite you in.
When considering all posts here on our BA1002 group 2 blog, and that public places are made and sustained by language (Tuan, 1991, p. 694), this site is now a dramatic narration in its own right, able to create and sustain place (Tuan, 1991, p. 690) and it is very obvious that your modern style of writing has added to the rich literature and personality (Tuan, 1991, p. 690) of the group.
I appreciate how you are providing a fresh, lighthearted and contemporary review of what could be a stuffy political subject and I have interpreted your post as a perfect display of the re-evolution of the Diary (2.0) that McNeill speaks of (1991). Thank you for challenging this old lady through your charming prose!
References
Tuan, Y-F. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive Approach
McNeill, L. (2011). Diary 2.0? A Genre Moves from Page to Screen in Language and New Media, Linguistic, Cultural and Technological Evolutions, Hampton Press: New Jersey.
"this site is now a dramatic narration in its own right, able to create and sustain place" - I couldn't agree more, it's really quite amazing what you guys have created here :)
DeleteThe ‘street-cred of Trevor Ramsay’ is evident in the language you use. Like Nicola, I find your posts inviting and alienating at once: still struggling to understand “She was all up in dat chit mang!” In many ways, your posts actively engage me as questions echo in my mind (Di Yanni, 2005, p. 9). It’s interesting to see you draw on a breadth of genres to substantiate your meaning and arguments (classic literature, essays, an urban dictionary, blogs and comment pages). One aspect of your writing that stands out for me is the imagery of your phrases, ‘flowin’ like a clear mountain stream’. My mind swims with visuals.
ReplyDeleteReference
Di Yanni, R. (Ed.). (2005). Twenty-Five Great Essays (2nd ed.). New York: Pearson Longman.
Thank you for your critique Nicola, it has highlighted shortcomings I may not have realised otherwise. It's difficult to capture academic concepts in only three hundred words. Also, as has been mentioned, when one is writing one may lose perspective. An idea may be clear to author but opaque to reader.
ReplyDeleteThank you Davina, I cut loose in week 6 to try and demonstrate an understanding of the subject matter effectively. A blog/diary entry with presuppositions and informal language to start, to personal essay style, to formal essay style. The intro was very street. "She was all up in dat chit mang" or "she was all up in that shit man" or "Dr Mcneill delved deeply into her subject matter and extolled effectively the principles of her thesis random citizen" is borrowed from Cuban-American street jargon made popular in films such as Scarface. "She all cool and loose, flowin' like a clear mountain stream" again borrows from the street, in this instance from African-American culture. And yes, I was attempting to evoke strong visuals, as Dr McNeill had for me. I am glad I succeeded. :)
I follow closely the current trends of youth culture online. Believe it or not it does actually borrow heavily from the past while fabricating new styles. Grammatical, spelling and lingual text errors are big at the now. And cats. I love it, it's very funny while being self-deprecating and has a social conscience. This is the next generation coming through. Faith in humanity restored.