Oral Traditions

Last Memory Feats

2005-04-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

Good job everyone on their last memory feats!! There were some very intersting "Top 50" picks, and everyone did a great job ( my nerves prevented me from reciting my list as well as I would have liked too......) I also think that MSU should have been at least in the top 5...

Text Based Communications

2005-04-21T19:36:00.000-07:00

For my Final Thesis paper I decided to write about how text based communications and the internet have changed the way that society views orality. I went on to explain that the technology based world that we live in today has changed the delivery of information to the individual. The internet allows "surfers" to view the information on a quick, colorful, to the point web page. Many of these pages though are mainly opinion based, and not completely factual. It seems as though this type of orality is more self conscious and deliberate than the great epic storytellers of the past. These were my basic thoughts on this subject, which I was able to use (as well as the Finnegans article) for my final paper.

Top 50 Colleges in the U.S.

2005-04-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

I think MSU should be #1...

1.Harvard
2.Princeton
3.Yale
4.University of Penn
5.Duke
6.Massachusets Institute of Tech
7.Stanford
8.California Institute of Tech
9.Columbia
10.Dartmouth
11.Northwestern University
12.Washington University
13.Brown
14.Cornell
15.Johns Hopkins
16.Univerity of Chicago
17.Rice
18.Notre Dame
19.Vanderbilt
20.Emory
21.University of California-Berkley
22.Carnagie Mellon
23.University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
24.Virginia
25.Georgetown
26.University of California-L.A.
27.Wake Forest
28.Tufts University
29.Univeristy of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
30.University of Southern California
31.College of William and Mary
32.Brandies University
33.New York University
34.University of Wisconson
35.Case Western Reserve
36.University of California-San Diego
37.Boston
38.Lehigh
39.University of Illinois
40.University of Rochester
41.Georgia Institute of Tech.
42.University of California-Davis
43.Tulane
44.University of California-Irvine
45.University of California-Santa Barbra
46.Rensselar Polytechnical Institute
47.University of Texas
48.University of Washington (Go Huskies!!)
49.Yeshiva
50.Penn State

Group Presentations 4-6

2005-04-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

Another interesting day of group presentations by our classmates. I find that these presentations influence me the most, being that not only is it your perspective and thoughts on the chapters in Kane, but basically the whole class is able to interpret the chapters. Group 4 was able to act out a skit, which was both hilarious and informative...and for some reason right now I cannot recall the name of that Kane chapter...Group 5 used blindfolds to help stimulate everyone's imagination. This was interesting to me...but at some points hard to follow because of the noise. The group did a very good job of stimulating the audience without using images. Group 6 was my favorite, using a puppet show to explain their interpretation of the chapter. I liked the idea that they were able to use icons from 3 different eras to help explain the chapter. Overall, I was impressed with the group presentations.

Group Presentations 1-3

2005-04-12T19:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, I now have a new way of looking at group presentations... Group 1 ( Maps) gave the class some interesting information on this chapter, and a suspicious map to a hidden bottle of wine. Group 2 (Boundries) I was unable to see, because our group was having some trouble getting situated. The Group 3 (dreams) went, and if I may say so myself, put on a well interpreted skit of the Irish myth in the chapter. I thought that we were able to set the mood well with candles, Celtic music, and Brian's crazy samurai suit. Good job everyone!

I Sing of Dustin...

2005-03-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

I sing about our neighbor Dustin, who is absent again today
He is just one man
His enemies say that he is on their land
They have him outnumbered, a million to one
He had no place to hide, no place to run.

This neighborhood bully, just lives to survive
He is criticized and condemned, for being alive
He is not supposed to fight back, because he is too thin
He is supposed to sit back and watch, when his door is kicked in
He is your neighbor Dustin.

This neighborhood gypsy has been driven out of every land
He has wandered the earth, and exiled man
He has seen his family scattered, his friends hounded and torn
He's always on the run, just for being born
He is your neighborhood gypsy.

His teachers are against him and the odds are slim
But he survives by the rules the world makes for him
Once he ruined a sermon, no one was glad
The curses were for him, he was supposed to feel bad.

Every empire that has enslaved him is now gone
But he spends his time moving right along
He has made a garden of paradise, in this mountainous land
And he lives his life under no ones command.

I sing of Dustin, who is not here today
We hope he will get better
It really is a shame though
That he had to miss my epic poem.

Mad Grandma

2005-03-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

I thought that this was a great ( and very effective) mnemonic to remember the 7 Liberal Arts..
GGRAMAD

Grammar
Geometry
Rhetoric
arithmetic
Music
Astronomy
Dialect

These mnemonic, once they are ingrained in one's memory theatre, are impossible to forget. I remember one, from 8th grade algebra, Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, PEMDAS. This is the order of operations when solving equations, which stands for

Parenthesis
Exponents
Multiplication
division
Addition
Subtraction
And I wonder why I can remember these things and not my grandmothers birthday........

Online Journals

2005-02-18T16:13:00.000-08:00

Allison
http://oraltraditions.blogspot.com
Brian J.
http://rememory.blogspot.com/
Cara
http://www.dineenc.blogspot.com
Cindy
http://spaditions.blogspot.com/
Courtney
http://www.livejournal.com/users/wilsoncourt/
Debbie
http://oraltraditionsdeb.blogspot.com/
Ed
http://trex2.oscs.montana.edu/~eshanley/index2.html
Jennie
http://buttersickle-la-la.blogspot.com/ http://oraltraditionsnotes.blogspot.com/ (notes)
Jennifer
http://jst-oraltraditions.blogspot.com/
Jeremy
http://www.adamlamb.com/webPages/Oral%20Traditions%201/Feats%20of%20Memory
Josh
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jgerdes/
Juliet
http://julietno.blogspot.com/
Justin
http://oraltraditionsengl337.blogspot.com/
Kelly
http://galacticgerbil.blogspot.com
Kristi
http://www.saffiatu.blogspot.com
Opai
http://www.geocities.com/apabritabasu/
Samantha
http://www.originaldrivel.blogspot.com
Shauna
http://ideasandramblings.blog.com/
Sophie
http://oraltradsophie.blogspot.com/
Stephanie
http://stephurban.blogspot.com/
Valerie
http://www.thefirebird2005.blogspot.com
Wayne
http://www.wayne.blog-city.com
Wes
http://www.livejournal.com/users/wesleyfriske

My World Before Words

2005-02-10T19:07:00.000-08:00

Although there is no one word, besides Dad, Mom, etc., which stands out randomly from the rest when I was a child. But I do remember one instance when I was learning to read, which my parents still talk about to this day. When I was a young kid, I would refuse to go to sleep without having a story told to me, reading, or something to try and "trick" my parents into letting me stay up later. Well one Christmas, my mom and I read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" ritually every night before bed, for the better part of the month of December. Then this ritual carried over into January, then February, well past the "Grinch" season. This book, by Seuss , soon became my absolute favorite. Then I started reading along with my mom, and reciting the rhymes in the book, on the next page. Soon I had the entire book memorized, and would quote it with my parents at the dinner table, on the playground and anywhere I could get away with it. Every Christmas I still here about "Memorizing the Grinch", and it has become a tradition in my family to watch the movie during the holiday season. Interesting how I was so young, and somehow I understood the importance of the oral tradition, while not even understanding what I was doing!!!

Blogs

2005-02-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

I think it will take me a while to get used to writing these online journals, as this is my first ever. I have had classes which you post on a messege board everyday, answers to your homework, questions, comments, etc. But this is different. It's kind of like writing an email to yourself. I think every once in a while I will have to write random thoughts like this....

Hello

2005-01-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

This is my first journal.......