Portfolio #3: Reflective Essay

Directory:
01. Informal Writing #1
02. Informal Writing #2
03. Blog Post #1
04. Blog Post #2
---Final Intervention Project---
05. Text Artifact #1: Website
06. Text Artifact #2: Infographic
07. Text Artifact #3: Map (below infographic)
08. Rationale
09. References

Reflective Essay

In this unit, and in this course as a whole, I learned about the different modes (linguistic, gestural, aural, visual, spatial) and how they can be effectively utilized. I experimented with creating text artifacts that conveyed information or narrative in each of the different modes, and became well versed in interpreting how other materials utilize the modes to create engaging methods of expressing information.

Overall, I used the linguistic, aural, and spatial modes the most when creating text artifacts for this class. For example, my very first composition, the webpage I made to represent the linguistic mode, also unknowingly utilized the visual and spatial modes. Although the phrases I selected were undoubtedly presented via the linguistic mode, they were also presented with the visual mode, as I placed careful consideration into how the text was presented visually. Each phrase was presented using different colors, fonts, and visual effects. Additionally, the spatial mode played a huge part in the creation of the page, as with any webpage, since special consideration has to be given to margins, padding, line breaks, and more, in order for the text and images to be displayed in an understandable and visually appealing manner.

What I learned from this class that will most likely help me the most in the future is not only how to utilize the different modes to express information, but how to use different types of media and technology to the same effect. For example, through the Media Literacy Workshops, I learned how to create an infographic using the website Canva, which ended up being extremely helpful when it came time to make the text artifacts for my final portfolio.

I also ended using this information for a project outside of class, where as part of the final project I had to include a graphic along with my research notebook and paper. I created an infographic via Canva to depict facts and figures regarding abuse in youth residential treatment centers, and while doing so, paid careful attention to how I was integrating the linguistic, visual, and spatial aspects of the information. I expect I’ll continue to use these concepts learned in this class in my future academic, professional, and recreational endeavors.

If there’s one thing I wish we had focused on more in this class, I think it would have to be the resources we have available to us as students on the University of Illinois campus. For example, I had no idea that the Makerspace existed, or the range of objects we could create there. I also wish I had known earlier about the 3D printing and VR technology available to us.

Additionally, for the purpose of creating text artifacts, I ended up having to search for resources available to me outside of class time. Since the computer I have is a Chromebook and can’t run any programs, in order to create the video I did for the aural mode composition, I had to go to the Undergraduate Library and ask if they had any computers available that had video editing software. I was redirected to an area called the Scholarly Commons on the third floor of the Main Library, which had a Mac computer that had the iMovie program. Using that, I was able to make and edit the movie.

There, I also discovered several computers that had access to other useful programs, such as Adobe Photoshop or GIMP. I also learned that I could rent tablets for digital drawing at the Undergraduate Library tech desk, and though I haven’t had time to try it out yet, I’m hoping that over the winter break I’ll be able to borrow a digital drawing tablet and hook it up to one of the computers that has Photoshop, so that I can learn how to use the program for digital artwork.

Unfortunately, I only learned this very recently, but it would have been very helpful information to have when working on earlier compositions or assignments. Therefore, I think it would have been useful if we spent more time on learning the resources available to us, such as the Scholarly Commons or the technologies available to rent from the Loanable Tech Desk.

Throughout this course, I learned a lot, not just about multimodal composing, but about how I can use skills such as media literacy and multimodal composing to create meaningful and interesting ways of expressing information, as well as my own personality. For example, at the very beginning of the course, our text artifacts were meant to be self-exploratory. Through that, I got to experiment with using different modes to express myself and concepts that were important to me, such as music, language, humor, and art.

This can be seen in my very first text artifact, which was purely a work of self-expression. As the course progressed, we began to integrate more professional and academic aspects to our compositions. However, since we still had that base of self-exploration, all the compositions (at least in my case, I can’t speak for others) ended up including expressions of our own personalities and artistic tastes in them, while still being academic endeavors.

For example, my aural composition very obviously included aspects of my interests, as it was a compilation of clips from musical performances by Japanese bands, and as seen from the very start, Japanese language learning and music are two extremely important interests of mine. Despite this, the aural composition, as can be seen from the rationale, was as much an academic endeavor as it was one of self-expression. I used the aforementioned video clips in order to explain the concept of multimodal listening as had been explained in the reading assigned to us.

In this way, I managed to combine crucial elements of my personality with an academic assignment, which is something I usually am not able to do in other classes and haven’t experimented with before, despite being in my fourth year of college. I continued combining my personality and academics in compositions going forward: for example, my final composition for this course, my website, is an expression of one of my main interests, which is website design, but adapted to an academic context.

In conclusion, through the course of this class, I learned not only how to use the linguistic, gestural, aural, visual, and spatial modes in creating multimodal compositions; but also how to fully utilize the media resources that are available to me; and to combine self-expression with academics. 

Portfolio #3: Blog Post #2: Theorizing with Transmedia Storytelling

Theorizing with Transmedia Storytelling

Transmedia storytelling is when a narrative is told using several different types of media, such as film, music, performance, prose, or more. An example of this would be Donald Glover/Childish Gambino’s work This is the Internet, according to Camden Ostrander. In This is the Internet, Glover used video, music, live performances, a specialized app, a website, and more to create a story about how the internet affects identity. Although I didn’t know about this project or the artist before going through Ostrander’s website, I was very impressed by the breadth of Glover’s project and the vast array of media utilized to create a transmedia narrative.

After reading about This is the Internet and Ostrander’s analysis of it, I started thinking about other forms of transmedia storytelling I may have encountered in my personal consumption of media. One related narrative that came to mind was the band Malice Mizer’s conceptual album, accompanying film, and art book Bara no Seidou (Cathedral of Roses). Although it doesn’t compare to This is the Internet in terms of breadth of media used, it also (presumably) had a significantly lower budget and was directed towards a more niche audience.

There wasn’t a linear storyline to Malice Mizer’s conceptual neoclassical darkwave/gothic metal album Bara no Seidou, as much of the songs didn’t have lyrics, and the album was instead meant to represent musically and artistically the themes of loss and despair; largely influenced by the recent sudden death of the band’s drummer. Instead of releasing the album as a CD, the band instead created a book with ten sections, each section corresponding to one of the ten songs in the album. Included in each section was the lyrics of the corresponding song (if there were any); one or more poems relating to despair, death, or loss; and an illustration or artistic photo that one was supposed to look at and reflect on while listening to the corresponding song.

The physical CD was in the back of the book. The band then did two performances of the album in which they utilized a scaled down replica of a cathedral as a stage prop and a choir of veiled nuns for assisting vocals. Finally, they then wrote, directed, and starred in a silent black and white horror film, using the music from the album as the film’s soundtrack.

Although one could argue that Bara no Seidou was not necessarily transmedia storytelling as there was no linear story being told, it was certainly an artistic work that utilized several different forms of media across all modes in order to convey emotion. The actual music of the album utilizes the aural mode; the lyrics and poems utilize the linguistic mode; the performances, film and stage setup use the gestural and spatial modes; and the art and photographs in the artbook used the visual mode. Additionally, Bara no Seidou can be consumed in the form of film, music, poetry, art, or theatre, making it a transmedia narrative.

My current final project for this course is to create a portfolio centered around a social issue that uses several compositions across different modes discussed in class. For this task, I am trying to raise awareness about the current lack of adequate mental health care in Illinois, and to find a way to take action and help others do the same. I am designing and creating a website that will host information about the topic, and I plan to also create an infographic and a short video directing viewers how to take action, although more research is required in order to find out exactly what one can do to help.

I also need to find a way to direct people to my website; I’m contemplating using the design lab to create stickers with a link and QR code that I can then give to people. In this way, although my project isn’t a narrative or form of storytelling, I believe it would still count as a transmedia enterprise, as I would be utilizing the aural, linguistic, and visual modes to convey information, as well as the spatial mode in terms of my website design.

Portfolio #3: Blog post #1 - Theorizing With Modality: Concepts of Normality and Neurodivergency

Theorizing With Modality: Concepts of Normality and Neurodivergency

In Leonard J. Davis’s essay titled “Disability, Normality, and Power,” the modern concept of the “norm” is dissected. Davis explains how the current concept of a normalized or ideal human body, ability, and intelligence came about in the late 19th and early 20th century due to the rise of eugenics. Along with these established rankings came a way of categorizing anyone who didn’t fall into the desired or “acceptable” societal, physial, and intellectual norms as “feebleminded, crippled, depraved,” thus lumping in mentally and physically handicapped individuals with “criminals” and “degenerates.”

This lead to a societal stigma against mentally and physically handicapped people, as well as the belief that for humans to progress as a society, mentally and physically handicapped people must not proliferate and so should be sterilized. Obvious results of this belief can be found in the forced sterilization of mentally and physically handicapped people, as well as those believed to be deviant in behavior, such as “habitual alcoholics,” and more famously, in Hitler’s mass murder of such individuals.

Additionally, due to the more recent historical narrative of handicapped people being outside the established “norm,” much of modern society is structured in a way that excludes such individuals. For example, most buildings were built without thought given to how those with physical handicaps might not be able to enter or move around in them. Only in recent decades have public structures added features such as ramps, elevators, and accessible bathrooms.

Even then, because these features were usually added long after the building was completed, they are not fully integrated into the architecture, and still make it difficult for handicapped individuals to access a structure in the same way someone without handicaps would. For example, a building could have four different entrances, but only one accessible entrance. A person in a wheelchair may have to wheel around three sides of the building in order to enter, while a person without a wheelchair could enter normally and without impediment.

Although Davis’s paper was focused mainly on those with physical handicaps, I would like to address the issue of those with mental handicaps/illnesses or certain mental features that affect their lives in ways those without such mental features wouldn’t ordinarily perceive.

For example, although Asperger’s syndrome (also referred to as high-functioning autism) isn’t usually thought of as a mental handicap or illness, it can significantly affect the lives of those who have it. Although the disorder affects different people in different ways, typical symptoms include having difficulty in reading social cues, hyperfocusing on certain topics, sound sensitivities, being unable to make or maintain eye contact, and fidgeting or repetitive movements.

In American society, some social “norms” of communication are to make eye contact while speaking, sit still, be able to switch conversational topics (rather than focusing on one certain topic for a prolonged period of time), etc. Because many individuals with Asperger’s are unable to do such things, they are often perceived as being untruthful, socially inept, annoying, or unintelligent. As a result, this can impact the lives of people with Asperger’s significantly. It can make it hard to make friends, to get hired for jobs, to establish romantic relationships, to communicate effectively in academic or workplace environments, and more.

Currently, at least in the case of those with Asperger’s syndrome, those who are lucky enough to get it diagnosed at a young age are sometimes able to take classes that teach them social cues and how to function “normally” in society. For example, a young person with Asperger’s could be taught or teach themselves that “when someone says x, the proper response is y.” This allows them to act according to society’s “norm” by constantly monitoring their interactions and adjusting their behavior thusly, which can be extremely exhausting.

In an ideal society, rather than people with Asperger’s having to constantly self-regulate, those who don’t have such mental features would be educated about the symptoms of Asperger’s and taught how to recognize individuals with the syndrome and communicate with them.

Additionally, workplaces and academic institutions would restructure in such ways that would be more accessible for those with Asperger’s syndrome. For example, many individuals with the syndrome have sound and light sensitivities or auditory processing issues. Being aware of this and providing subtitles when videos are shown in class or not assuming that an individual wasn’t listening when they ask for clarification or for an instructor to repeat something would be one such way in which academic institutions could become more accessible to those with neurodivergent features such as Asperger’s syndrome.

In American society, the established “norm” is built in such a way that it unintentionally excludes those with not only visible physical handicaps, but invisible mental handicaps, illnesses, and neurodivergent features. Although many buildings and institutions have retroactively put in features to make them more accessible to those with physical handicaps, many have yet to socially restructure themselves in ways that make them more accessible for those with mental handicaps, illnesses, and neurodivergent features.

Portfolio #3: Informal Writing 2

The following is the CSS code used for my website. This code provides the layout and basic color scheme of my website.

Portfolio #3: Informal Writing #1

The following notes are ones I took while doing research for my website and infographic. They have been edited somewhat for clarity.

Portfolio 2: Reflective Essay

Directory:

01. Informal Writing #1
02. Informal Writing #2
03. Theorizing with the Visual Mode
04. Composing with the Visual Mode + Rationale
05. Theorizing with the Aural Mode
06. Composing with the Aural Mode + Rationale 

For my first informal writing, I used my notes from class when we were first developing our themes for our second portfolio, based on a social issue we were interested in. Because it was something I had read about in the newspaper recently, I started thinking about the general lack of access to mental health treatment in Illinois and its effects on those who have mental illnesses. In these class notes, we were asked to use four different types of questions we had read about to start developing the sorts of questions we wanted to ask (and answer) in our portfolios. As can be seen from this informal writing sample, although I still needed to conduct more conclusive research, these questions became the basis for the main theme of my second portfolio and ongoing final project.

My second informal writing wasn't so much a writing as a rough sketch of what ended up becoming my "Composing with the Visual Mode" text artifact. For the connected "Theorizing with the Visual Mode," I had been thinking about how unrealistic depictions of female bodies in art and media leads to negative self-image in many women, and was trying to think about how I saw myself vs. how I wanted to be (based on media depictions of women). These thoughts led to this impromptu sketch on the back of a worksheet, which later ended up becoming the model for my finalized "Composing with the Visual Mode" text artifact.

In my "Theorizing with the Visual Mode" piece, I wrote about the chapter "Visible Guerillas" by Karen Springsteen which examined the subversive nature of both the work of the Guerilla Girls and Edouard Manet, particularly in the way they deconstruct prominent visualizations of the female form. I connected these theories to another prominent artist called Gustave Courbet, who, like Manet, subverted the 19th century French art world's beliefs on how female bodies should be presented.

Towards the end of the first draft I mentioned how modern-day depictions of female (and male) bodies are similarly warped to fit society's ideal, albeit in the context of technology in which Photoshop and Instagram filters have replaced oil paint as a method for smoothing over perceived imperfections. However, I did not manage to connect this to my main theme for this portfolio, which was mental illness, and so when I went back to write a second draft, I expanded upon this train of thought. I wrote about how, by having only a few body types portrayed as attractive or desirable in the media, many people end up developing poor self-image, disordered eating habits, body dysmorphia, and even eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia.

For my "Composing with the Visual Mode" text artifact, I continued along this train of thought and decided to use art as my medium to express my message, similar to Courbet or Manet. I chose to represent my actual self vs. my "ideal" self: thinner, with more piercings and better hair. Additionally, to connect to the theme of mental illness, I represented my own personal history of depression. In my "real" self-portrait, I depicted my head as opened at a hinge- unhinged- with colored flowers and bees flying out to represent happiness leaving. Then for my "ideal" self-portrait, I drew a normal brain inside my head, to represent the desire for having a brain that produces serotonin properly.

With my essay for "Theorizing with the Aural Mode," I reflected on the reading by Jennifer Stoever which explained the concept of the "sonic color line." Because I couldn't think of a way to connect the sonic color line to my own experiences as I am white and have not been racially profiled from my voice, I first wrote about what I called the "sonic gender line" and how some music is unnecessarily gendered, for example "harder" music is perceived as being masculine, whereas lighter, pop music is perceived as being feminine. In my revised version, I then wrote about how women aren't listened to and are seen as being shrill, overemotional or hysterical and how this can impede their access to mental health treatment.

Finally, for my "Composing with the Aural Mode" assignment, I created a short video featuring different songs with different "textures," as inspired by Steph Ceraso's paper "(Re)Educating the Senses: Multimodal Listening, Bodily Learning, and the Composition of Sonic Experiences." Ceraso wrote about multimodal listening, which can be defined as the experience of listening to sound with more than one sense. For example, when going to a concert, you not only hear the music, you see the musicians, feel the vibrations of the music in your body, smell the sweat and cigarette smoke of the crowd, etc. As an avid music fan myself, I noticed that some songs have specific textures, and wanted to portray that. Therefore, I created a short video that consisted of 5 different songs, each with a different "texture." Additionally, to tie it in with the theme of mental illness, each of the songs I picked were about mental illness.

Through completing this second portfolio, I put a heavier emphasis on making sure there was a consistent theme threading through each of the facets of my portfolio. While my first portfolio was more of a free-for-all, I wanted this one to be more concise and connected through the theme of mental illness. This was a new practice for me, because usually I don't have to worry about connecting individual assignments, I just write it, submit it, and forget about it. However, for this portfolio, I had to be conscious while working on each composition on how it would connect to the project as a whole.

Portfolio 2: Informal Writing #2

Portfolio 2: Informal Writing #1

Question type	Examples from text	Your question(s)	Your answer(s)
1. Focus Questions	What are you most concerned about in your community?	What are the main problems and obstacles faced by mentally ill people who are seeking treatment?	-money -needs more research -not enough facilities
2. Observation Questions	What do you see/hear? What have you heard/read about this situation? Which sources do you trust and why? What effects of this situation have you noticed in people, in the earth? What do you know for sure and what are you not certain about?	How has the lack of proper care for mentally ill people impacted them and their lives?	-homelessness -cant get medication -joblessness -outbursts (violence, self-harm, suicide)
3. Analysis Questions	What do you think about…? What are the reasons for…? What is the relationship of...to…?	What makes it so hard to get proper treatment for mental illness?	-money -location -lack of knowledge -lack of govt funding -lack of trained professionals/facilities
4. Feeling Questions	What sensations do you have in your body when you think or talk about this situation? How do you feel about the situation? How has the situation affected your own physical or emotional health?	What are the emotional and mental effects on mentally ill people of not having good access to treatment/having to search really hard and go the extra mile to get treatment?	-feeling helpless -isolation -loneliness -depression -fear of future -suicidal ideation

Portfolio 2: Composing with the Visual Mode + Rationale

For my visual mode composition, I wanted to relate it to what I wrote about in my Theorizing with the Visual Mode assignment. Towards the end of the paper, I wrote about how idealized representations of women in art and media contribute towards negative self body image for many women. I wanted to explore this further, so I drew two "self-portrait"s: one of my actual self, and one of my "ideal" self.

The real me is on the left, drawn in black and white, whereas the "ideal" me is on the right, colored in using copic markers. I chose to do this because I wanted the ideal representation to be more colorful and visually striking, with the real me being a bit more plain but realistic.
For the "ideal" version of me, I also included labels that detailed exactly what aspects of myself I wished were different, such as a smaller waist and cooler hair. This wasn't for any artistic reasons, just for the convenience of other viewers.

I started out with a rough sketch of the "real" me on the back of an old worksheet, and then worked from that by redrawing it with pencil on better art paper, adding the figure of the "ideal" me on the right, also in pencil. I then traced over the pencil with a 0.3mm ink pen. Once the ink was dry, I erased the pencil so that I had clean outlines. After that, I used a brush pen to fill in the parts that needed to be black with black ink. Finally, I used copic markers to color in the "ideal" me, and then added the labels.

Portfolio 2: Theorizing With the Aural Mode - Sonic Gender Line

In the introductory chapter of Jennifer Stoever’s book The Sonic Color Line: Race and the Cultural Politics of Listening, Stoever explains what she means by the “sonic color line” and provides several examples of ways it manifests in modern and historical history. Stoever uses the term “sonic color line” to describe the way in which race, specifically blackness, is perceived auditorily.

For example, black voices are often characterized as being loud or aggressive, even when they are speaking in the same volume and tone as a white voice. One particularly relevant example of this can be seen in the murder of Sandra Bland, a black woman who was pulled over by a white police officer. When she expressed annoyance verbally, which she was well within her right to do so, she was dragged from her car, threatened, and arrested for “non-compliance.” Three days later, she was found hanged in her jail cell. Were a white person to express annoyance in the exact same way as Sandra Bland, they would almost certainly not be subject to the same abhorrent treatment that befalls too many black individuals.

As can be expected, the sonic color line also impacts music and how it is perceived racially. Stoever cites an example of hip-hop music being perceived as “thug music,” “rap-crap,” and “ridiculously loud,” and details the murder of seventeen year-old Jordan Davis, who was shot for playing hip-hop music in his own car “too loud.”

As I am a white person, I am obviously not subject to the same aural racial profiling, so instead I’d like to talk about gender and how there are certain types of music that are often characterized as being listened to by males or females; similar to how there are types of music such as rap, hip-hop, or soul that are characterized as being listened to by black people.

I deeply enjoy metal music, a fact which for some reason tends to surprise people when I tell them so. In America, there seems to be this concept of gendered music, where males are stereotypically assumed to listen to “harder” music, such as hard rock or metal, and women are assumed to listen to “lighter” music, like pop or folk. When women do express interest in “harder” music, it’s assumed that they’re only interested in it either because they are attracted to the band members or because a male got them interested in the music.

I often go to metal concerts and I’ve experienced this belief firsthand. Earlier this year I went to a metal show by myself and was asked on more than one occasion, “are you here with your boyfriend?” Other times, men in the audience have, unprompted, told me facts about the band or music that I already knew, and would not listen to me when I said that I already knew such facts.

Even some bands themselves have promoted this stereotype that women don’t listen to metal music or don’t participate in the “culture.” For example, one band started holding special male-only concerts, stating that when there were women in the audience, men wouldn’t mosh or headbang because they were afraid of injuring the women. I’ve been to many shows where I can safely say that the male audience members present did not hold back in any way due to the presence of female audience members, and if they were indeed holding back, it was probably for the best.

It's frustrating that in this supposedly modern society, such arbitrary societal classifications have affected the one art form that has the ability to transcend barriers such as gender or race. Anyone can enjoy music, and to assume someone doesn't because of their race or gender is a supremely foolish notion.

The sonic gender line also affects women's access to adequate mental health treatment. Because women are perceived as overemotional, dramatic, or overreacting, doctors and psychiatrists often won't take women's complaints seriously. This seriously impedes women's access to vital treatment or medications.

Portfolio 2: Theorizing with the Visual Mode

The “visual mode” can be succinctly described as the images and characters that people see. For example, photography, paintings, pictograms, and other visual representations are all exemplary of the visual mode. In the chapter “Visible Guerillas” of Karen Springsteen’s book Composing (Media) = Composing (Embodiment), the topic of nude paintings of women contributing to the way in which women are seen as submissive, passive, emotional, irrational beings whose bodies belong more to males than for themselves is discussed.

Springsteen introduces a feminist art group, the Guerilla Girls, who don gorilla masks and use provocative imagery and typography to contort imagery traditionally associated with the subjugation of the female form. For example, a famous classical nude painting is transformed by replacing the head of the model with that of a gorilla, with the words “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?” next to it, so as to make it seem as though the gorilla-headed women is asking the question. Thus the image of a submissive, silent woman who is displaying her body for the pleasure of an assumed male viewer is given a voice, and she is transformed into a person rather than a body.

Springsteen then goes on to give the example of Edouard Manet’s controversial 1865 piece Olympia, which portrayed a nude prostitute reclining, a black cat at her feet, while a clothed black servant is handing her a bouquet of flowers from one of her admirers. The painting caused waves of controversy in the Paris art scene at the time due to the fact that the model, rather than having her head or body turned to the side or posing in a submissive manner, is confidently sitting, her legs crossed and arm slung over the back of the recliner, facing the viewer with an air of confidence and power. She has a ribbon on her neck and is wearing fine shoes, indicating that she is not fully naked for the pleasure of the viewer, but is nude because she desires to be. Because she is meeting and contesting with the viewer’s gaze, she forces the viewer to confront their own role as the viewer, and deconstructs the role of nude woman as a passive figure to be viewed.

In this way, Springsteen writes, Edouard Manet’s Olympia performs the same revision of nude women in art as the Guerilla Girls: transforms her from a passive object to an independent agent who has the ability to force the viewer to confront themselves and their role as the viewer. In this way the power of the visual mode can be seen: although this feat could be accomplished through other modes such as linguistic or aural modes, it is most striking and effective when done through the medium of art, in the visual mode.

Another artist of the same period who uses the visual mode to force viewers to confront the image they hold in their head of the female form is Gustave Courbet. Courbet was a painter who employed realism, especially in his depictions of female nudes. Prior to Courbet, depictions of female nudes and sexuality were only acceptable within certain constraints: mythological themes (such as Leda and the swan), and the female form appropriately smooth and curved, with no hair, wrinkles, fat rolls, etc. This provided a degree of separation between the viewer and the subject of the painting: because the painting was clearly not based in reality, the viewer could allow themselves to project their fantasies onto the female bodies presented with no modicum of guilt.



However, Courbet famously created numerous erotic paintings of realistic naked women, complete with body hair, cellulite, and fat in realistic landscapes and scenes. His paintings both celebrated the female form without being pornographic and forced the viewer to see and accept women’s bodies in their natural state. One of his most famous and controversial paintings, the 1866 L’Origine du Monde, meaning “The Origin of the World,” depicted a woman’s vulva and torso in never-before seen realism. Another painting, Young Bather, also from 1866, depicted a nude woman in a forest about to enter a river. Her body is displayed realistically, rather than smoothed over with no “imperfections:” underarm and pubic hair is visible, there is clear cellulite and fat deposits on her legs, buttocks, and stomach. Were it not for the impressionist way in which the background is painted, this painting could pass for a photograph.


In regards to my topic of mental health, the enormous toll taken on women and men around the world as a result of bodies being portrayed according to idealized fantasies that do not reflect reality is plainly visible. These images pervade the media we consume so much so that depicting more natural human bodies, with wrinkles, cellulite, body hair, etc, is considered subversive. When there is only one or a few certain body types that are portrayed positively in mainstream media, it can have a debilitating effect on the mental wellbeing of those who do not share the body type and physical characteristics of those portrayed as desirable in mainstream media. Negative body image, excessive dieting, and even eating disorders can largely be attributed to idealistic, unrealistic portrayals of human bodies in mainstream media.

Through painting women’s bodies realistically, rather than smoothed over, idealistic representations of the female form, Courbet forces the viewer to acknowledge and appreciate the beauty of the female form in its natural state. It forces the viewer to reconcile the superficial image of women in their head to the reality that female bodies possess hair, cellulite, and fat, and yet are still beautiful. Similar to how nowadays photographs of “natural” women with underarm hair, fat and cellulite are seen as subversive when contrasted with the popular Photoshopped models whose bodies are modified and smoothed over so as to be more appealing, Gustave Courbet’s paintings of nude women were subversive in the art world of the mid to late 19th century.

Portfolio 2: Composing with the Aural Mode + Rationale

In Steph Ceraso's paper "(Re)Educating the Senses: Multimodal Listening, Bodily Learning, and the Composition of Sonic Experiences," he discusses how multimodal listening is to experience sound with more than one sense- for example, feel the vibrations in the sound or move your body with the sound. Ceraso also included an example where they found they enjoyed a certain album more after experiencing it in a multimodal form at a live concert. In my own private life, I love music and actually had a conversation with a friend recently about how musical performances and songs can have textures. I wanted to express this sensation of "musical texture" for my project, but couldn't do it in words, so decided to use video as an aural and visual mode to demonstrate multimodal listening in terms of "musical texture".

I first created a playlist of live versions of songs I love, each that have a different "texture" and feel to them that makes them wonderful examples with which to practice multimodal listening. I then went back and downloaded an .mp4 file of each of the videos and edited them so that a small clip of each would be present in a shorter, ~3 minute long video. This way, they would be more palatable for musical and visual consumption. I also included a title slide before each clip introducing the song and saying what kind of texture I "hear" it as. I then created a "cover" and "tracklist" for the video using an online photo collage website.

In the video, I included clips from five different performances, each with a unique texture. For example, the first clip, a live performance of "Sadistic Desire" from 1989, features heavy rhythm guitar contrasted with rapid drum beats and high-pitched vocals. The contrast between the deep, throbbing rhythm guitar and frantic vocals, interspersed with the low whine of the lead guitar creates a sort of "aural dissonance" that I can only describe as crunchy.

Or, for another example, the live performance of "Requiem" includes not just the singer and musicians, but also an array of dancers, men in gold paint shooting arrows into the audience, a clown, crossdressers, some kind of box being set on fire, and more. In this way, the music is not just a sonic experience, it's very much integrated into a visual and kinetic multimodal experience as well. The warmth of the saxophone leading into guitar, backed with steady percussion combines with the visuals to create a full-figured, rounded, warm multimodal listening experience, conjuring the sensation of brass, or warm copper. To tie this composition in with previous works, I continued using the themes of music and foreign language learning. All the songs presented are in Japanese and are, to state the obvious, music. In addition, a task for this assignment was to incorporate our compositions with some sort of social cause we are passionate about.

I changed my mind several times on what social cause I wanted my project to reflect. At the time of making this composition, my main focus for the project would be on improper access to mental health care/treatment in the US. Therefore, all the songs in the video are about or deal with themes of mental illness. Sadistic Desire and Baroque are about homicidal impulses, The Final is about suicide/shooting oneself in the head, and Solitude and Requiem are about isolation, despair, loneliness, and death.

Portfolio 1: Reflective Essay

Directory

01. Informal Writing #1

02. Informal Writing #2

03. Theorizing With The Mode - Linguistic

04. Theorizing With The Mode - Gestural

05. Composing With The Mode - Rationale

06. Composing With The Mode - Text Artifact

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In the first unit of the course Writing Across Media, we explored the linguistic and gestural modes in class and on our own. We read and examined three sources to further our understanding of these modes; two of the three sources are further analyzed in this portfolio. 

This unit was tricky for me because I had to utilize modes and ways of writing/composition I had never used before for the assignments. As a college senior, I’m not used to this degree of freedom in completing assignments, and was rather lost when it became apparent that I would not simply be writing the usual 12-pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced paper I’m used to for other classes. However, I ended up having fun with the creative freedom afforded to me. 

A main theme that tied all my works together is foreign language learning. This theme can first be seen in my Theorizing With The Mode assignment for linguistic mode. I linked the Independent Black Institutions (IBIs) discussed in Maisha Fisher’s work “Toward A Theory Of Black Literate Lives” to my own experiences with Hebrew school growing up. Unsurprisingly, in Hebrew school I primarily engaged in foreign language learning, as well as important cultural and historical learning. I also examined the concept of literacy, and concluded that literacy can not be defined only as proficiency in reading and writing. 

For example, one could be highly intelligent and an excellent public speaker, but not know how to read or write, such as in the case of Sojourner Truth. Or in my own personal case, one could declare me literate in Hebrew, seeing as I can both read and write the language. However, I can not understand the meaning of what I read/write, and can not speak or communicate in Hebrew at all. 

According to the societal definition of “literate” (being able to read and write a language) I would be considered literate in Hebrew, but the times when I go to Israel I am hopelessly unable to understand anything. Therefore, I stated that literacy should not be relegated only to the mediums of text, and should include other forms of communication. 

The theme of foreign language learning is again brought up in my second Theorizing With The Mode assignment, in which I analyzed the gestural mode. I wrote about my experiences using gesture to both learn, communicate in, and teach foreign languages during my past year studying abroad in Japan. Multiple times I used gesture to try and convey a word or meaning I didn’t know the translation for; other times teachers or friends would do the same when they were trying to teach me a new word or concept. And when I was teaching English, I supplemented what I was saying by using gesture to communicate the meanings of my words, for example miming using chopsticks and chewing along with saying the word “eat” to illustrate the meaning of the word. 

For the linguistic mode “Composing With The Mode” assignment, I made a web page that utilized media to represent my identity. For the gestural mode assignment, I filmed myself dancing on the train tracks behind the dumpster behind Arby’s to three different songs (Sadistic Dream by Auto-Mod, Stab Me In The Back by X, and Merciless Cult by Dir en Grey). 

Two important things in my life that I define myself by are humor and music; thus I tried to combine them in both composition assignments, albeit in different ways. In the linguistic mode assignment, I represented song lyrics that are important to me in ways that could be interpreted as humorous - “BORN TO DIE” written in pink sparkly glitter, for example. And in the gestural mode assignment, I danced very badly in an overdramatic, humorous fashion to three different songs. 

I also made sure to include the theme of foreign language learning in both of my “Composing With The Mode” assignments. In the linguistic mode assignment, I added a song lyric (from the song Aku no Hana by Buck-Tick) in Japanese (the language I’m learning): 「凍える夜に叫び続ける」which translates to “screaming endlessly in the frozen night.” And in the gestural mode assignment, all the songs I danced to are in Japanese. 

In this unit, I learned about the linguistic and gestural modes, and created four works that analyze and interpret them. Through these activities, I was able to better understand how writing doesn’t simply have to be the usual 12-point text on paper, I can use it freely as a medium in a variety of ways to explore my identity. Writing doesn’t have to be used just to write analytical papers, I can use it as a facet of web design, like with my linguistic Composing With The Mode assignment. Additionally, being ‘literate’ doesn’t have to just mean being adept and reading and writing, it can mean being able to use language to communicate, study, explore, and influence others and oneself. 

I can use this knowledge when completing assignments for future units in this class and others, and also in my daily life. After learning about the ways I can use writing for self-exploration, one thing I started doing about two or three weeks ago is keeping a journal of sorts. It’s not a conventional journal, and I don’t write in it daily. Instead, whenever I’m feeling very anxious or depressed and am paralyzed by my own negative emotions, I open up the document and just write everything that I’m feeling. I don’t read through it or bother to keep proper grammar, punctuation, or other rules, and when I’m done I don’t edit it or correct my mistakes. I’ve found that funneling all my thoughts into words and putting them into this document helps to clear my mind somewhat. Even after this class is finished, I’ll probably continue to keep my rogue ‘journal’ and add to it. 

In conclusion, writing doesn’t have to be clean and polished to be “good writing.” That’s the biggest lesson I can take away from this unit. 

Portfolio 1: Informal Writing #2: Notes from Class

The following text is notes from class I took prior to writing my "Theorizing With the Linguistic Mode" paper. Through these notes, you can see how I interpreted the Fisher article to mean that writing is not the only valid form of literacy.

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Linguistic mode

• The linguistic mode refers to the use of language, which usually means written or spoken words

When we think about the ways the linguistic mode is used to make or understand meaning, we can consider:

• Word choice
• The delivery of text as spoken or written
• The organization or writing or speech into phrases, sentences, paragraphs, etc
• The development and coherence of individual words and ideas

How does Fisher help us understand…

• What is literacy for?
• Share literacy - communal
• Spread of information and ideas, helps to unite people
• Gateway to freedom and humanity
• “Using speech to challenge the traditional notion of writing”
• Why do educational institutions privilege the written word and what damage does that privileging do?
• It dehumanizes people
• Prevents them from building their own institutions
• Omission of african-american literature from the public sphere
• It eliminates a group as a people 
• Some forms of text are different when read and when spoken/performed
• Ex: play, poetry, song
• Conversations when written in books often aren’t how real people talk
• Interactions are simplified and changed from how they would be irl
• Obvi people are more articulate (no umms and uhhh) but also go on for long stretches without being distracted, use epithets (my friend, brother)
• Also in films, tv shows
• Good acting humanizes it but even then, people dont really use names so much
• “Mulder!” “scully!!!”

Portfolio 1: Informal Writing #1: Notes From Class

The following text is notes I took in class on September 5th, when we were given in-class time to brainstorm what to do for our Composition With the Mode project. From these notes, you can see the thought process that lead to me creating a website that utilized media to explore my identity. 

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My identity:

Middle class, ashkenazi jewish, half british, cat lover, little sister, absinthe connoisseur, mead-drinker, goth bar enthusiast, cant live without music, headbanger, needs that sweet 80s percussion, wannabe drummer, issay fan

Genre: song lyrics - connects to my love of music

Comedic sketch - love comedy, self-deprecation, have some pretty interesting stories

Comedic song lyrics--- now there we go budday

Born to die

World is a fuck

Skills/Risks

I’m funny, could probs write song lyrics

• No musical talent whatsoever though

Website design

• Graphic design is my passion
• sarcasm/humor is my forte but it might be too niche and odd

Question to explore:

What do i want to learn abt myself?

• Uhhhhhhh

What do i want someone to take away?

• Maybe understand me a bit more, not necessarily about the facets of identity/labels that define me, but from my design and style choices how i am as a person
• By the media i consume and produce, what sort of person am i
• Rather than list my identity off like a police procedural
• That shit’s private information babey!!! 

Portfolio 1: Theorizing With the Mode: Gesture in Foreign Language Learning Contexts

In Bodo Winters' chapter “Why Study Gesture?”, Winters details how gesture is important as it relates to linguistics, and outlines various ways in which gesture. According to Winters, gesture is not just used in communication, but is also crucial in public speaking; in cultural contexts, such as how Germans would sign for “three” differently than Americans; in musical contexts, where conductors use gesture to convey orders to their orchestra; for memory, and more. One very useful way in which gesture is used linguistically that Winters didn’t bring up, however, is in foreign language learning.

I spent the last academic year living and studying in Japan, and while I was in Japan gesture played a crucial role in my ability to converse and relay information. Although I already knew quite a bit of Japanese before going to Japan and was able to converse relatively freely, there would often be times when I wouldn’t know the proper word for something, and would have to use a combination of gesture and description to express what I was trying to talk about. 

For example, one time I was talking to my friend about how I had seen a lizard on a recent hike. I realized I didn’t know the word for lizard, and explained that I saw a reptile that was “this big” (using gesture to display how big it was) that is like a snake with legs and was green, and moves like “this” (again, using gesture). The friend realized that I was talking about a lizard, and told me the word for it in Japanese.

Gesture was also largely used in the classroom. For example, one time we were learning a certain word that doesn’t have an equivalent in English. The word describes the emotion of being kind of annoyed and mad, and pouting about it. To try and make us understand the meaning of the word, our teacher used gesture. She said “it means to be like this,” and then puffed out her cheeks, crossed her arms, and raised her head. These gestures combined lead to the image of pouting, and helped us to understand the word, even though there was no version of it in English.

I also used gesture when teaching foreign language. While in Japan, I had a part-time job as an English teacher, and often relied on gesture to explain words and concepts. I would pair words with gesture so that even if the student didn’t know what the word meant, they could understand the gesture, and infer the meaning of the word from that. For example, I might say, “today I ate yakisoba,” and then gesture as if I was holding chopsticks and bringing them to my mouth to indicate eating.

Through these examples, it can be seen that gesture features heavily in importance in language education. Conveying certain words, actions, and emotions across cultures and languages can be very difficult, but gesture is universal.

Portfolio 1: Theorizing With The Mode: Black Literacy

There were many concepts revolving around literacy discussed in the reading “Toward A Theory Of Black Literate Lives” by Maisha Fisher. The primary concepts included the concept of literacy as a gateway to freedom and humanity for oppressed peoples such as African Americans; literacy as a communal act; orality being respected less than the written word; and more. However, among these concepts, what stood out to me the most was the concept of institutions providing oppressed groups with a means to power and self-determination. 

According to the text, when subordinate groups build their own institutions and create social, cultural and intellectual activities; promote the welfare of their population; educate and socialize children of said group; honor their histories; and encourage cultural pride, they can be extremely powerful as a tool of resistance and self-actualization for an oppressed people, as was the case with African Americans. 

Although quite different from the Independent Black Institutions (IBI) discussed in Fisher’s text, I attended an educational and cultural institution for my local Jewish community that operated similar to the IBI’s mentioned above and it had a very positive impact on my growth.

I went to Hebrew school twice a week from when I was a preschooler until I was in seventh grade, and there I was taught not only Hebrew, but the history of the Jewish people; important parts of Jewish culture and religion such as traditional Jewish dance, cooking, art, and folk music; oral histories and storytelling; important prayers, holidays, rituals, and their meanings; the teachings of the Torah and Talmud, and more. 

Growing up in a small midwestern town where I was almost always the only Jew in my class and at times the only Jew in my entire school, going to Hebrew school provided a valuable experience where I could connect with other Jews my age, learn about and celebrate my culture/religion, and foster cultural pride. Hebrew school provided me with tools to not withdraw in sadness or strike back in anger when I was harassed or belittled by non-Jewish classmates in my daily life at school and beyond.

Connecting back to the concept of literacy as it is discussed in Fisher’s text, to declare that being learned or intelligent is equal to “literacy” in the context of reading and writing only excludes large populations and cultures of people to whom literacy is equivalent to more than the written word. 

After reading “Toward A Theory Of Black Literate Lives” and reflecting on my own culture’s important literate traditions that do not involve reading or writing, I believe that literacy should be defined more broadly as being adept in more than one mode of communication, rather than limiting literacy to only reading and writing.

In this paper, I described varying concepts of literacy as discussed by Maisha Fisher in the reading “Toward A Theory Of Black Literate Lives." I then connected the Independent Black Institutions (IBI's) described by Fisher to my own history of attending Hebrew school. Both institutions function to educate and socialize children of their respective groups, to foster cultural pride, to create social, intellectual, and cultural activities, and more. 

I realized that literacy is much more than just reading and the written word, and that oral traditions are just as important and valid intellectually, socially, and culturally. Therefore, I concluded that the definition of literacy should not be limited to the reading and writing, and should extend to mean ability in the linguistic mode.