Essay: Technology of Writing

1.Okay
2. Hard
3 Really freaking hard
4.Okay
5. Really hard
6. Impossible
7. Really easy
8. Really easy
9. No thanks
10. Easy
11. I don't get the joke, but easy
12. Hard

The purpose of this assignment was to analyze what punctuation, capitalization, and other writing elements are the most critical to my reading success. The first difficulty in reading arose whenever the words were written in ALL CAPS without spaces or punctuation. There was one joke written in this fashion that I actually made me surrender. I think the major factor in what made reading the ALL CAPS onslaught was that as a reader I was so used to reading one capital letter per sentence or so. I see lower case letters combined in long strings everyday, and so when the caps are combined it gets crazy.

I'll let you have a try: THISISRIDICULOUSHOWCANANYONEREADTHISIKNOWICOULDNTWHENEVERISTARTEDTHISASSIGNMENTIMSORRY THISWASMEANANDISHOULDNEVERHAVEWISHEDTHISTERRIBLEUPONTHELIKESOFYOU

This brings up my next point, which was the all lower case and punctuated properly, that all lower case is pretty easy to read, especially with normal spacing. I did notice, however, that when I read something in all lower case I read it with an inner voice much younger than mine currently. I have a couple of friends who only post in lower case whenever they are on Facebook because they save their capitalized writing for assignments and proper papers, not online (I'm sorry, friends, but it only makes me think you're a tad pretentious).

I thought it was amazing that the all lower case, bunched into clauses, but properly capitalized text was pretty easy to read. I did notice, however that I read the bunches of text like a stream of consciousness.

In conclusion, I found the parts of writing that most aided my reading were spacing and punctuation.

Storytelling Week 14

"I call to the stand-- Old Blacke"

The once virile calf was now an old bull, and although he once was known for having hair as black as collyrium, it was now peppered with gray patches. The bull's bones creaked all the way to the front of the room. He finally stopped and gave a loud "muff" sound that signaled he was prepared to speak.

The prosecutor began again, "Good morning Old Blacke. I have prepared a list of questions for you regarding the payment of a certain caravan owner on a scorching day years ago. As I understand, you were once shortchanged by this man, and demanded proper pay even though you were an animal working for a man. How do you rationalize asking for such pay? The work must not have been too tumultuous for a bull of your caliber?"

The bull bellowed out a low droning, "Fool, do you not know who I was taking care of at the time?" The bull cleared his throat once more, "At the time of this incidence, I was caring for a lady who once was the only one who would care for me. The late Miriam was one of the bestest women I have ever met in my brief life. She took me in as a personal burden to her, and I felt the only way I could ever repay her would be to make a bull's wage pulling carts."

The prosecutor interjected, "Aha! But why would you attempt to make a wage for her instead of working for her yourself?! Clearly there was another motive."

The bull scoffed, "The loving Miriam made sure I would never have to work for her, and she never wanted to sell me because of the happiness I brought to the children of the town. In fact, I see some of those children today in the jury."

The bull wiped his face, an amazing feat for any quadruped and continued, "I only agreed to work for a wage whenever that scoundrel caravan owner attempted to steal me for his own. I even made a proper negotiation agreement with him that he eventually broke. I can understand one's apprehension in paying an animal for its work, but I believe that once you enter negotiations with an animal, you cede over those beliefs and you therefore must maintain your agreement. Additionally, the carts he needed to move numbered in the hundreds, yet he barely had enough oxen to move ten. This caravan owner was not only sinister in his motives to not pay me a previously agreed sum, he was also negligent in possibly endangering the health of his own herd. It was only once I came along that we were able to move all of the carts, and it was afterward that he attempted to short-change me. Let me ask you: Who is the one who should be on trial here?"

...

The bailiff  called out, "The judge will now read the jury's verdict in this case."

The judge unwrapped the parcel and began to speak with a slight smirk on his face, "The jury has ruled that the defendant in this case, Mr. Blacke, is completely innocent. And just let me tell you, Mr. Prosecutor, I don't think I've ever met a human that seemed as noble as this great bull. This court is dismissed."

Author's note:
This story was in reference to the story from Jataka's Fairy Tales located here. I thought the weakest part of my story was why the case was happening so much later than the original incident. I would like the reader to assume this was likely because of the inherent flaws in expediency of the court in this world.

UnTextbook Reading Diary

Jataka's Tales Shedlock : Link

Note: I had a tough time narrowing down my selections, and although I read the whole unit, my favorites were all from the first half.

Tree spirit
First, I thought it was interesting that Buddha took form as a tree spirit instead of an animal like in Babbitt's tales.I wonder if people worshiping the Sal tree ever thought of the presence of Buddha possibly being there. I know that I would never worship a tree for certain, although the level of decoration around Christmas time at my house might lead you to believe otherwise :) What other deities might be present in all of the trees that mankind has shredded for its own consumption? The world may never know!

The Hare Don't Care!
I'm not sure how I feel about these creatures being in charge of keeping moral law. Two of them clearly stole someone else's catch. Now tell me, Otter. How do you think those fish got buried in the sand while being properly preserved? Last time I checked, fish use water as their mode of transport and not sand. It's cool that the hare was willing to give himself up like that as a test of his moral compass, but I think a smarter option in the future would be to try to catch something whenever grass isn't a viable offering.

The Man who Worked to Give Alms
Alms - giving oneself to another as an act of virtue, like providing someone education willfully,
I'm not sure why Sakka chose to teach him this lesson, or maybe he wasn't. The way I read the story was that the riches were taken by some greater power and then restored. But this man was clearly pure in his reason for alm-giving. I want to write about the man doing something unnecessarily in order to teach Sakka a stinkin' lesson.

The Bull that Proved his Gratitude
This is honestly one of the most beautiful super-short stories I've ever read. Something about seeing that cast iron Bodisat really made the ending great, too. Thought: If you are crazy enough to agree to pay an animal for its work, I don't think you should be attempting to short-change it, especially a bull. And the way that the caravan owner reacted, it sounded like he was literally just trying to test the bull's persistence. Caravan owners, man.

The Monkey that Saved the Hero
Shrek is a jerk in this tale, and he is also patriotic with his blue belly, white face, and red hands. What I found funny about this story was that the ogre was so nonchalant about inviting them down to the shore. It sounded like a nice sit down where he's just inviting them over for some warm stew. He even readily admits he plans to eat them and that they won't get away. It's all business for this relative of Shrek.

That Ripened Pachyderm
I had never heard leagues used as a measurement outside of nautical terms. Am I supposed to believe that this elephant can traverse the oceans and lakes? Because that sounds awesome. I'm pretty sure that this story is an allegory about how you should treat your elders, and was probably written by an old person! That's not to say I don't agree with it, but I think someone was looking out for themselves when it was contrived.

Step Up: Ravana's Time - Storytelling Wk. 7

Ravana stepped out onto the dance floor. He had millions of chains and bangles attached to each hand, elbow, and shoulder. Watching him sway to the beat of a distant drum was like peering out onto a vibrantly violent sea. The moon had perched itself on a nearby mountain for a better view of the strutting and spinning that was certain to occur.

From Flickr

Out of the edge of the clearing, Rama appeared. He wore what resembled a bright orange tracksuit, except this suit could never aid a runner; it included giant, billowing parachute pants. Rama's posse assisted him in putting on his dancing boots, which were sequined all the way to the top. The glimmer of these boots was so intense that it blinded Ravana as he swung, spun, and stepped rhythmically across the floor. He nearly crashed into a tree nearby before recovering into a full-on frolic of limbs in excitement.

He called out to Rama, "You silly people nearly ruined my groove!" Rama scoffed at this remark and replied, "Is that what you call a groove?" Ravana immediately stopped his dance, but that's not to say his jewelry and sweeping clothing did not continue his last few lines for him. Ravana then turned away and crossed his arms. Years passed before he shattered the silence, "I challenge you... TO A DANCE OFF!"

Rama looked down at his own feet purposefully and back up again,"Let's do it."

It was very obvious early on that Rama was outmatched by the incredible dancer that was Ravana. For every spin, flip, and bow that Ravana had to offer Rama, Rama managed to either trip himself or knock down a bystander at the floor's edge. The dance would have ended after only a few seconds if Rama hadn't lost his sparkling boots while attempting to click his heels together between his drunken stumbles. The boots were quite beautiful, but their maker had clearly mistaken Rama's feet for those of the great Vali because they merely dangled at the ends of his legs whenever he picked up his feet.

The music finally began to carry off, leaving Ravana to revel in the beauty of his victory. What Rama was doing could no longer be classified as dancing. He had fallen down so many times that every joint in his body began to ache, and so he had begun to resort to only bobbing his head up and down while appreciating Ravana's final jaunt across the floor. Rama then collapsed and was only able to escape the clearing once some of his crew carried him away in their arms. Just as Ravana thought he would never have to deal with the atrocious dancer ever again, he heard Rama yelp out in the distance, "I'm going to take you down with my own bow and arrow tomorrow!"

Ravana was taken aback by this comment. "Do people actually resort to violence to resolve their issues?" he asked himself. That thought lasted about as long as it took for the beat of the drum to make its way once again over the mountain, and Ravana's dazzling dance carried him off into the night.



Author's Note:
While Rama did not ever participate in a dance with Ravana, I thought it might be entertaining to let Ravana win something over him. I felt a bit of sympathy for him. While he was a very powerful king of the Rakshasas, he deserved to be really good at something he clearly enjoyed. I'm not sure if Buck ever alludes to Rama's dancing skill, but I'm going to have to give it up to Ravana on this one.

I quickly discovered while writing this that I had no clue how to describe dancing. I originally meant for this to be funny, and it was to some extent, but I ended up liking the Ravana vs. Rama reversal even more. The part at the end is supposed to be describing the lack of preparation of Ravana for the upcoming final battle.

Source:
Buck, William (1976). Ramayana: King Rama's Way.