tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3802336654038130862024-02-20T18:08:43.838-08:00Writing PortfolioAmandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-36834631611910048052011-05-19T14:21:00.001-07:002011-05-19T14:21:48.403-07:00A Well-Watered Garden<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">I am different from other people. And yet, I am so very much the same as well. I have nothing and everything in common with everyone else. And when I die, I will have added something to the universe, just by having existed and been me. The rest - the part that's missing, aching, itching and feeling the pains and pangs of imperfection and weakness and enmity...that has all been taken care of. Now my garden is well watered, and my life is the kingdom of heaven.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
<br />
Thank you.<br />
<br />
</div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-68717153434104136992011-05-19T14:14:00.000-07:002011-05-19T14:14:55.141-07:00Now You're in Bellingham<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px;"></span><br />
<div class="uiHeader uiHeaderBottomBorder mbm" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-bottom: 0.5em;"><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Let me tell you a little about Bellingham. I didn’t grow up in any place like this. The particulars of Bellingham are not what bring me reminders of my childhood. I feel Washington reminiscences every now and again, but not based on what Puget Sound has to offer. It has a lot to offer.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">I think I moved to the Sound not because I thought it would remind me of my childhood or be exactly like where I grew up. I knew the stark difference between the eastern and western half of Washington, even if I forget the particulars. But the sound is what I considered Paradise when I was a kid. Being here was living the dream. I remember visits to my family in Seattle, coming to the pier and feeding the seagulls. Seeing and feeling the mightiness of the ocean – letting it strike fear in me. Looking at the ocean life, barnacles clinging to the wood on the pier, jellyfish and seaweed washing up to the surface. There was a completely different world down there. What a terrifying and thrilling idea of exploring its depths and knowing it – encountering it. The thought brought shocks to my soul.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Bellingham is the best of Seattle without the worst of Seattle. We’re right on the water, which is beautiful. But the beauty that is here is somewhat untouched and uncommercialized. Which any good Northwestern Puget Sound Granolahead like me should think of as a good thing, right? (But I am also a Capitalist. I think it’s good for businesses to be on the water. I love shops and boutiques and cafes and restaurants and pubs. We all do. We can’t deny it. We live in those places – it’s our culture).</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">The reason the waterfront in Bellingham is not developed and pretty like other towns (such as White Rock, BC), I’m told, is actually geological. The land by the water is not deemed safe – the ground itself is from land that was brought in to create a sort of beach or shoreline where there really was nothing before. I’m not sure what the shoreline did consist of back then, perhaps just sheer cliffs of rock? I’d have to research this more to find out exactly. Anyways, the point is that there are only old, condemned buildings from closed down factories along large portions of the shore here. Which I think is sad, but I guess there is nothing anyone can do.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">There are some nice parks. The coffee shop I’m sitting in is located in a park that is basically a strip of a walking path along the water. The beaches in Washington are not “beachy” in that they are not long bars of sand that people lie on in their bathing suits and towels. This is just a place where the water meets the land along a sharp, cold edge. Rocks and shells and remnants of sea-life are mostly what you find there. And the water is cold. The weather is gray and damp most of the time. On beautiful days like today, where the sun is shining, you feel obligated – it is your natural duty to go out and soak it in.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">The people in Bellingham…how can I describe them? They all have reached a certain level of Cool. Everyone here is attractive. I haven't seen very many not-cool looking people. Only people who reach even higher levels of cool. They all know how to dress in a way that makes them look chic and sophisticated and high-class, yet at the same time like they could survive in the wilderness for months with only a stick and their jacket and some shoes that they bought at REI. The men look like they build log cabins in their spare time, with their burly beards and waves of thick, dark hair. Yet even with long hair they somehow embody a look that is clean-cut – this is the way they have groomed themselves. The tattoos are designed. The book under the arm is spiritual, or obscure, or a classic that takes weeks to read. The soup and the coffee are hot.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">The women do color in a quirky but coordinated sense. I sometimes wonder about the purple stockings, brown boots, yellow skirt and hunter green top look. I would see someone like this in Texas and immediately think that they have something to say. There is a reason – they are trying to look this way. Hipster, I would say. But here it’s like…everyone just woke up with those clothes already on, they didn’t even have to dress themselves. The girls are pretty. They wear their hair in ways that illuminate the curves of their faces. They wear makeup and jewelry. They have white, shining straight teeth, which usually form the shape of a smile. I feel intimidated but at the same time somehow comforted in their presence. I don’t seriously think of them as judging me. My intimidation probably springs more from the fact that I get the sense that they want to be my friend.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">I’m here and it’s a different culture, but in many ways it’s very similar to what I left in Austin. I feel like I am just closer to the tree where the fruit was picked – like these are the “originals.” There is so much embedded in that as a stereotype…too many shallow assumptions. But I’m okay with embracing it lightly because there is a bit of truth to it as well.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Bellingham, I'm not sure if I found you, or if you found me. Let's stick together for a while.</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="clearfix" style="display: block; zoom: 1;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><img class="img" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/184278_10150434150770424_767575423_17401456_1183442_n.jpg" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; width: 493px;" /></span></div></div><div class="mbl notesBlogText clearfix" style="display: block; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 20px; word-wrap: break-word; zoom: 1;"><div><div class="photo photo_none" style="clear: both; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div class="caption" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 11px; line-height: 12px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px; text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div></div></div></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-16799894648923960072011-05-19T14:01:00.000-07:002011-05-19T14:01:55.416-07:00Moroccan Solo Adventure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px;"></span><br />
What can I say? It's so awesome here.<br />
<br />
I went to a "cultural dinner" last night. It was this "Fantasia Folklore Etcetera-Whatever-Something-or-Other" thing, as titled by the tour company. (I signed up for a bunch of guided tours while I'm here, since I have no clue what else I would do by myself. Keep walking around the Medina bartering for souvenirs? Oh man. Five days of that and even "good price for you" gets too pricy).<br />
<br />
The dinner came with a show. It was in a restaurant that was like Morocco Las Vegas or something. It looked like this huge palace where you spend the first 15 minutes just walking through it, taking pictures and watching dancers and drummers move around. The dancers weren't, like, totally authentic looking to me...some of them looked like they really hated their jobs (they stood there picking their noses and swaying a little bit), which I thought was really funny.<br />
<br />
I ate at a table with two girls from England, a couple from Scotland and Ireland, and a French husband and wife. The French man was sitting at the end of the table where every 10 minutes or so a train of dancers would come through and pick on him to dance with them. It got ridiculously funny after a while (he was a good sport).<br />
<br />
The meal had four courses, starting with some kind of soup. I was so excited when they brought out a HUGE rack of lamb for dinner. The guy set it down and walked away, and we waited for about 5 minutes for him to come back and start cutting it (he didn't leave a knife for us to cut it ourselves). Then we realized that everyone else was starting to cut into theirs with their own utensils (butter knives and forks), which was a little gross for all of us Westerners, but...what else were we going to do? We also had to serve up the couscous with the spoons we had just eaten our soup with.<br />
<br />
I have never had couscous before. I knew that it was on the menu for the night but I didn't realize that was it when they set it down. So I made the mistake of asking the French lady next to me (who spoke English), "Do you know what this is called?" EVERYONE at the table looked up at me as if I had taken the dish and thrown it on the ground and stepped on it, then exclaimed in unison: "It's couscous!" I felt like such an uncultured American.<br />
<br />
The time came for the dinner show. Outside the restaurant was this big open area, sort of like rodeo-grounds, with stadium seating around it (this restaurant was seriously huge - it was like 15-20 restaurants linked together around this stadium thing). I hadn't the foggiest idea what to expect. I think that's the best position you can take in Morocco, though. I've decided the catch phrase or motto for this country should be, "Who the hell knows what's going on?" (<i>And who the hell really cares?</i>)<br />
<br />
First these riders came out and did a bunch of dangerous stunts on their ponies. Standing up in the saddle, hanging from the back, etc. One guy even ran alongside his horse, which I thought was quite impressive. The ponies (I think they were ponies) were very agile and beautiful. After a while I spotted something remarkable: they were actually stepping <i>in time</i> with the music. I didn't know it was possible to teach any animal to do that. Then, later on, they seriously were dancing to the music. I'm not kidding - the rider would pull their reins and they would, like, DANCE. Like humans! They danced better than I could.<br />
<br />
The whole show was a bunch of random stuff that didn't connect to form a cohesive story or have any logical explanation whatsoever (hence the country motto). There was one point where the lights went totally black and Star Wars music came on (the Darth Vader theme) and all the horsemen came back and started marching ominously down the field. I couldn't figure out why I was the only one trying not to die laughing.<br />
<br />
The only thing I didn't like was going back to my riad (that's what they call hostels here) by myself at night. I was hoping my taxi would pull right up to my derb (street), but apparently taxis can't drive through the Medina at night. So I walked through it by myself, which was actually cool and not too scary because there were still huge crowds of people partying, buying things, and watching snake charmers. Once you pass through the main square and into the more dark and narrow derbs where the hostels are, however, it gets pretty scary. There was a crowd of youngish-looking men loitering around by my corner, and as I walked down my narrow, walled-in derb I saw in the corner of my eye as they all turned their heads toward me (being a white female alone is something that definitely draws attention). I quickened my pace toward my hostel, hoping to God that it wouldn't take me very long to fiddle with the keys and get the door open (and freaking out in my head anytime I saw a person walking by or heard footsteps approaching). Right when I walked up to the door, the guy who runs the hostel was opening it to go out, giving me a clear entrance with no time to wait for the possibility of any creepy dudes I imagined were following me. Nice.<br />
<br />
</div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-37766057616088394172011-05-19T13:44:00.001-07:002011-05-19T13:44:25.617-07:00Dora Jordan Inside Jane Austen<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px;"></span><br />
A meek and delicate Dorothy Bland spoke the first lines of her acting debut in whispers, as told in the scene framed by Otis Skinner in Mad Folk of the Theater: Ten Studies in Temperament (177). No one in the audience would have known that this frail creature would go on to dominate the acting scene of her day, winning the affections of not just audiences but future kings. Yet as seen through the eyes of Jane Austen, herself a young theatre attendee and playwright, one might have been conscious of an early Jane Bennett, emerging quietly, timidly playing her part.<br />
Perhaps the pages of Austen’s manuscripts held more pictures of this fascinating woman. A young Mary Bennett might be recognized in the shadow of this industrious, devoted actress, who watched the performances of Mrs. Brown in “The Country Girl” and rigorously imitated her until she found her own talent to display (Skinner 182). This self-sacrificing diligence would be the vehicle to take her from acting in “third-rate plays” that barely kept her and her mother out of the poor house, to landing roles like Viola in The Twelfth Night with the Drury Lane Management Company (Skinner 182). The devoted Mary sitting at her piano forte might have felt similarly as she dreamed of what she also could become.<br />
One might also be able to recognize the shape of a Lydia Bennett protruding from Austen’s imagination, as she watched the progression of Dora’s relationship with Richard Ford, the Duke of Clarence and future King. Jordan was already no stranger to scandal, as she’d already had two illegitimate children, being taken in by the seductions of her first boss at the age of twenty (Thompsett). These naïve passions may have been what drove her to stay with Ford long enough to bear him several more children, despite his refusal to marry below his social status (Skinner 183). Watching from the audience, Austen might have visualized her own Mrs. Bennett, a mother whose outlandish behavior could have been blamed on the pressures of raising several children on the income of a middle-class working farm. No wonder she wanted to rush her daughters into marriage – she would have had one less daughter to house and feed.<br />
Yet, while the threat of poverty remained as a pressure for Mrs. Jordan, she could never quite resort to Mrs. Bennett’s manipulative tendencies. She wished for the dignity of a marriage proposal from the Duke, yet stayed faithful to him despite his refusals. The respectability of this devotion may have struck the young Austen as the inspiration of a true heroine. An Elizabeth Bennett could possibly be the result of such a production – one whose value of integrity was greater than the draw of wealth and the lure of a high social status. After Ford finally succumbed to his family’s pressure to dismiss Jordan (Denlinger 84), she continued to put her children first by returning to the stage despite her promise to the Duke to permanently give up acting – she needed the money to save a daughter from financial ruin (Jerrold 376). She died in poverty after the Duke discovered her secret and removed his financial support (Jerrold 377-379). Her life would remain in the hearts of fans that either loathed or adored her for the many different stages of her life and career, and in the imagination of a female novelist who saw a piece of her characters in every one.<br />
<br />
Works Cited:<br />
<br />
Denlinger, Elizabeth Campbell. Before Victoria: Extraordinary Women of the British Romantic Era. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. Print.<br />
<br />
Jerrold, Clare Armstrong Bridgman. The Story of Dorothy Jordan. New York: Brentano’s, 1914. Print.<br />
<br />
Skinner, Otis. Mad Folk of the Theatre. Indianapolis: Bobs Merrill Co., 1928. Print.<br />
<br />
Thompsett, Brian. Directory of Royal Genealogical Data. Hull: University of Hull, 1994- 2005.<br />
<br />
Web. 20 May 2010. < http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/cgi- bin/gedlkup/n=royal?royal5912><br />
</div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-54834533832385750192011-05-02T18:38:00.000-07:002011-05-02T18:39:50.779-07:00Copy-Editor Job Posting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="bchead"><a href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/email.friend?postingID=2332971760&token=U2FsdGVkX18xMjgzNzEyOATwwaUcmqNRty5OXcZIrgMIcieIv94nEDo2rgWL4roH4JwxbjYsfZFwdbscPsryAJCEziwf2hHt" id="ef">email this posting to a friend</a> <a href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/">bellingham craigslist</a> > <a href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/jjj/">jobs</a> > <a href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/wri/">writing/editing jobs</a> </div><div id="flags"><div id="flagMsg">please flag with care: <a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/flags_and_community_moderation">[?]</a> </div><div id="flagChooser"><br />
<a class="fl" href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/flag/?flagCode=16&postingID=2332971760" id="flag16" title="Wrong category, wrong site, discusses another post, or otherwise misplaced"> miscategorized</a> <br />
<a class="fl" href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/flag/?flagCode=28&postingID=2332971760" id="flag28" title="Violates craigslist Terms Of Use or other posted guidelines"> prohibited</a> <br />
<a class="fl" href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/flag/?flagCode=15&postingID=2332971760" id="flag15" title="Posted too frequently, in multiple cities/categories, or is too commercial"> spam/overpost</a> <br />
<a class="fl" href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/flag/?flagCode=9&postingID=2332971760" id="flag9" title="Should be considered for inclusion in the Best-Of-Craigslist"> best of craigslist</a> </div></div><div id="tsb"><i>Avoid scams and fraud by dealing locally!</i> Beware any deal involving Western Union, Moneygram, wire transfer, cashier check, money order, shipping, escrow, or any promise of transaction protection/certification/guarantee. <a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html">More info</a></div><h2>Copy Editor for Publications and Bible Study Magazine (Western WA)</h2><hr />Date: 2011-04-18, 1:31PM PDT<br />
Reply to: <sup>[<a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/replying_to_posts" target="_blank">Errors when replying to ads?</a>]</sup><br />
<hr /><br />
<div id="userbody">Copy Editor for Publications and Bible Study Magazine <br />
Reply To: <br />
<br />
****** Bible Software is seeking a Copy Editor to join our publications department. <br />
<br />
Ideal candidate <br />
- Loves grammar <br />
- Is succinct <br />
- Has stopped reading poorly edited books <br />
- Is professional when correcting someone else’s writing <br />
- Is a walking thesaurus <br />
- Prefers simple over complex writing <br />
- Enjoys editing something due in one hour <br />
- Finds writing style guides amusing <br />
- Has trouble putting Merriam-Webster’s Usage Dictionary down <br />
- Reads the Associated Press Stylebook for entertainment <br />
- Knows what’s new in the 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style <br />
- Is familiar with the Bible <br />
<br />
Job Duties <br />
- Serving as second proofer on **** Bible Software publications <br />
- Serving as third proofer on Bible Study Magazine <br />
- Copy editing for grammar, usage and style <br />
- Re-writing submitted work <br />
- Writing marketing copy and headlines <br />
<br />
****** Bible Software is a growing company located in Western Washington. Please visit our blog to learn about our corporate culture and the winner of our latest chili cook off. <br />
<br />
Apply <br />
<br />
Please submit a résumé, cover letter, and two 500-word-or-less writing samples to jobs@***.com. (In cover letter, note what optional grammatical element is in the previous sentence. What style guide requires it and which doesn’t?) You can also fax materials to (xxx)xxx -xxxx, or mail them to: <br />
<br />
-------<br />
<br />
*We are unable to consider applications for remote employment or telecommuting. <br />
<br />
<ul class="blurbs"><li> Location: Western WA </li>
<li> Compensation: TBA </li>
<li>Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster. </li>
<li>Please, no phone calls about this job! </li>
<li>Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.</li>
</ul><table summary="craigslist hosted images"><tbody>
<tr> <td align="center"><br />
</td> <td align="center"><br />
</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="center"><br />
</td> <td align="center"><br />
</td> </tr>
</tbody></table></div>PostingID: 2332971760<br />
<br />
<hr /><ul class="clfooter"><li>Copyright © 2011 craigslist, inc.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use.html">terms of use</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/privacy_policy">privacy policy</a></li>
<li><a href="http://bellingham.craigslist.org/forums/?forumID=8">feedback forum</a></li>
</ul></div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-69582778723868603232011-05-02T18:35:00.000-07:002011-05-02T18:35:49.047-07:00To Apply for the Copy-Editor Position<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><img src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png" style="background-color: #b2b2b2; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="ieooui" data-original-id="ieooui" /> <style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
</style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
</style> <![endif]--> <br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Amanda MacLean<br />
macleaney@gmail.com</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">January 17, 2011</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Dear Hiring Manager, <br />
<br />
One might be able to say that nearly all grammatical elements are optional. That person, however, would have to be unaware of the restricting effects of ambiguity in language. As a <i>frequent-user-of-compound-modifiers,</i> it is clear to me that the phenomenon of human communication can only occur when grammatical elements are carefully crafted by those with a strong command of a language’s embedded structure. My English professors would have allowed no work to fall short of this basic philosophy (though artistic deviation from form might have been considered on a <i>case-by-case</i> basis). </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">It would never have done, however, to try turning in a paper (or to present a cover letter) full of <i>over-the-counter</i> clichés, since having <i>just-the-right-words</i> can make all the difference in a piece of writing. And even though the rules of form are not broken by the use of complex and <i>lengthy-though-not-definitively-run-on</i> sentences (or by using conjunctions at the start of a sentence – depending on who you ask), it might be better for the writer to stop trying to impress a potential employer with her <i>exact-if-not-exhausting</i> use of <i>on-the-outskirts</i> grammatical elements like the compound modifier (or the phrasal adjective, as some call it). She might consider simply being a little more <i>to-the-point</i>. (To make the most of its <i>noun-modifying</i> powers, however, she might try consulting the <i>Chicago Manual of Style</i> as a reference for the phrasal adjective’s proper use).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">I have been correcting people since I first learned how to put words together. I take great pleasure in the use of words and correct people’s misuse of them in pedagogically constructive ways. Writing is the artistic expression of a language, and every great piece of art is produced through a painstaking process. Though most people find it tedious, editing is the <i>heart</i> of that process. It is therefore indispensable.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Working in customer service for over five years has given me extensive practice with verbal and written rhetoric. I have trained young people in sales and customer service in both large groups and one-on-one settings. My experience, training, attention to detail, incomparable work ethic and my ability to learn quickly make me an ideal candidate for this position. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Enclosed with my cover letter are two academic writing samples, and more of my less formal writing can be reviewed at www.amandamaclean.blogspot.com. Thank you for your time and consideration.<br />
<br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Sincerely, </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">Amanda MacLean</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">(exegesis for this cover-letter: the job posting) </span><br />
</div>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-28396045419590613642011-04-09T11:12:00.000-07:002011-04-09T11:13:14.617-07:00Till Gabriel Blows His Horn<p>She had to choose Texas, didn't she?</p> <p>Mary Jane LaRue was the mother of four and then some on a ranch in Billings. I don't know if I've ever been told (I've certainly never asked) the name of the ranch. (Burger Ranch? No - different childhood memory, stick to your main idea, MacLean, like you learned in your writing classes).</p> <p>The ranch was in Billings, Montana. But she was a Texas girl.</p> <p>She may have worn a "designer gown" similar to the one I wore on Saturday night, sitting beneath a tower exploding with fireworks to celebrate my completing the requirements to be a Bachelor of Arts in English. She just had to bring me to Texas, and to Austin, and to her Alma Mater. And if that wasn't enough, she had to usher me into Parlin and Calhoun Halls, where I might have sat in one of her old seats, where she worked towards her own degrees in French, Spanish and English (I dared not attempt to compete with that - one academic focus was good enough for me, thank you). I hadn't the faintest idea when I applied to UT (to major in film?) that I would glide through those same halls like her ghost incarnate. (Sounds like an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark? doesn't it?)</p> <p>Oblivia - such an appropriate superhero alter-ego name for a clueless grand daughter like me.</p> <p>She just had to pick Texas. And I just had to go. One does not argue with one's own dead grandmother's spirit.</p> <p>Well, it is nearly finished. I'm on the home stretch, huffing and puffing to actually finish the requirements I was affirmed as having already completed on Saturday (thank you UT for letting me experience the ceremonial glory before actually earning my triumph). I'm about to leave "the island" and see where my next flight will take me. England. Australia (that's not a LOST joke, I'm really going there). I'll become Jane, sit with Bill on The Globe's planks, and then...come back for an air-conditionless road trip to California just before heading across the world again for Vegemite, eucalyptus leaves and koalas (not bears - people...they are not bears).</p> <p>My experience as a university student has been one of the most invaluable treasures - priceless - without words - mere cliches - SHUT UP AMANDA there just ARE no WORDS why are you even WRITING about this?? I came to change the world, and my whole being was deconstructed. I came to be equipped to become what I was going to be when I grew up. Instead I lost all sense of time and age and being grown up and of usefulness and readiness and those words hardly mean anything to me anymore. I'm just here. I'm just alive. More than I ever hoped to be.</p> <p>Childhood was shortened by loss, abuse, and my own anxiousness to be anything but a child. Grandma, thanks for taking 2 years out of eternity to make sure one of your girls got some TLC and a few kicks in the pants to realize that the world is big, that life is lovely, and all of our fears are completely overrated.</p> <p>Till Oxford, I'll spend my days swimming in the pool, doing my math homework, sitting on the computer and not knowing who's going to call me on my phone and offer me another new surprise trip across the world. I'll be gardening in my bare feet learning that I can't argue with the ground if it refuses to germinate my carefully watered seeds. I'll be chopping tomatoes. Making my breakfast tacos. Listening to the resonant droning and drumming of Interstate 35. Yelling at the neighbors for their loud drunken partying. Eating dirt ice cream. And remembering the past.</p> <p>I'll just be a kid with a camera and an eye full of wonder again.</p> <p>"Till Gabriel blows his horn..."</p>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-49246621062821871492011-04-09T11:10:00.000-07:002011-04-09T11:11:45.770-07:0088 Miles Per Hour<p class="description"> </p> <p>A Liberal Arts Scholarship Application By Amanda MacLean</p> <p>Essay Prompt: <span style="font-style: italic;">If given the opportunity to take a time machine to the future, what time would you visit and why?</span></p> <p>When I was little, I was obsessed with Michael J. Fox’s classic movie, Back to the Future. At the age of three, before I could even pronounce the title, I would demand of my mother, “Back to Foochur, Back to Foochur!” and the tape would roll and roll. When I was twelve I revisited the film and became seriously fascinated with time machines and the concept of time travel in general. Metaphysical and philosophical questions flooded my head: What is time? Do all events occur simultaneously on one long, streaming world line? Could one possibly manipulate and navigate time? Could I experience another period of human existence? These thoughts consumed me as a seventh-grade researcher. I remember making visits to the library to peer through the works of Isaac Asimov and Stephen Hawking while daydreaming about other realms of the space-time continuum.</p> <p>I've never particularly wanted to visit the future. When I imagine the time line of the world, I see the past on the left – fuzzy images of events from my life and the history of humanity. On the right, I see blank squares of the units of time in white. It was frightening to think about what could be written there. Just imagining it brought me anxiety.</p> <p>Lately I’ve been writing narratives about my own personal experiences. I love writing about the past because it’s the only concrete thing I have. The present is almost illusory. It slips by so quickly that I never even realize that I have it, much less feel like I know what I ought to do with it. The future is altogether problematic. It is, in reality, completely uncertain, yet somehow I convince myself that I am capable of controlling it. I visualize, plan, and predict. When future moves to present, I wring my hands in helplessness and watch as it slips into the paralyzing ambiguity of "now."</p> <p>How can I determine what to do with "now" when I am so focused on all the possibilities of "then" - of tomorrow, some distant time and space? Now? What is Now?</p> <p>But then, as the moment - carefully dancing with and gripping all the other molecules surrounding it and qualifying its existence - slips into the past, it frees me from this worry. It is over. Its existence, quality, and validity do not depend on me or what I do with them. Conscious effort is no longer required; my only task is to remember. I can laugh. Sometimes it is better to cry.</p> <p>Linford Detweiler and Karen Bergquist said, “Every day is a one-act play…without an ending.” I don’t want to ask God or Mother Nature or a Time Machine what the future holds. I only wish to ask the pen in my hand as I write the story of my life, myself.</p>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-380233665403813086.post-85328535279539774992011-04-09T11:01:00.000-07:002011-04-09T11:05:43.701-07:00Response to Northrop Frye on Utopian Fiction<p class="description"> </p> <p>According to Northrop Frye, Thomas More’s Utopia is a work of fiction that “presents an imaginative vision.” He describes utopian fiction as a genre that focuses on engaging the reader by imagining possibilities of a society or culture where communal happiness is achieved. He supports his claim by comparing and contrasting several authors of utopian literature from the time of More and since, and he uses Plato’s The Republic comparatively in his analysis. However, Frye would do well to reconsider using Plato as an example of utopian fiction. According to his own description of the genre, The Republic cannot be considered a work of imaginative literature.</p> <p>While Frye’s article only mentions The Republic a few times, the context of these references clearly place Plato with More as a utopian fiction writer. He claims that most utopia-writers follow More or Plato in their descriptions of legal structure (Frye 206). He also calls Utopia a revival of The Republic, drawing a correlation between the Greek city-states and the city units of government that began to reappear during the Renaissance (Frye 206). He then divides utopian fiction into two categories based on the emergence of technology in the year 1850 and beyond. In comparing these two new categories, he references Plato, More and Bacon’s works together, saying, “The conception of an isolated utopia like that of More or Plato or Bacon gradually evaporates” (Frye 208). His other references to Plato and More often include Bacon, as if these three were the foundational trinity of the utopian genre he describes.</p> <p>While Plato presents his republic through the imagination of his predecessor, Socrates, one could not call it a “speculative myth” according to the way Frye uses the term. Frye claims that it serves to be a “vision for one’s social ideas, not to be a theory connecting social facts together” (205). Socrates, however, is clear about the purpose of his hypothetical state; its function is to provide an answer to a theoretical question, namely, “What is justice?” He tells Glaucon, “Suppose we imagine a state coming into being before our eyes. We might then be able to watch the growth of justice or of injustice within it. When that is done, we may hope it will be easier to find what we are looking for” (Republic 55). It is clear that Socrates and his companions have a concrete goal in mind, to which they stay committed throughout the discourse.</p> <p>Not only do the philosophers have a precise objective, but it appears from the language of the discussion that there is even a specific way to achieve it. There is a right way and a wrong way, as indicated by their occasional arguments over how their social experiment ought to be conducted. At one point Glaucon says, “That is just the sort of provender you would supply, Socrates, if you were founding a community of pigs” (Republic 60). At other points, Socrates expresses his frustration that his companions are not following the logic of his train of thought (Republic 104). With such precise language how can The Republic fall into the category of utopian fiction, which Frye describes as “descriptive rather than constructive” (211)? The Republic is, while hypothetical, a carefully constructed social experiment.</p> <p>Plato includes in the discourse how careful Socrates is to continually remind his fellows that the purpose of their imagined state is to define justice. He interrupts one of Glaucon’s inquiries, asking, “First, will the answer to that question help the purpose of our whole inquiry, which is to make out how justice and injustice grow up in a state?” (Republic 66). He also says, “The consideration of luxury may help us discover how justice and injustice take root in society” (Republic 60-61). This sets the tone of the work to be instructive and pedagogical, rather than creative or exploratory, as Frye would define utopian fiction. Whereas Frye describes utopian fiction as being less concerned with “achieving ends than with visualizing possibilities” (Frye 210), Socrates constantly warns the reader, as well as his fellow philosophers, not to forget that they have a definite end in mind, to characterize justice.</p> <p>The goal of Frye’s utopian fiction author is to create a space for satire as a literary device. He would say that More created his vision of Utopia as a projection of elements from his own society in 16th Century England in order to awaken English readers from the “unconsciousness or inconsistency in the social behavior” he would have seen in his day (Frye 207). However, one does not read The Republic and find a satire against the Greek political heads of state. Plato (along with other philosophers and historians, such as Thucydides) did feel that the government of Athens was too self-interested, and he was explicit in his criticisms of them (Dunkle). In his seventh epistle, he wrote, “all the cities of this time are all together badly administered…and I was of necessity driven to acknowledge, in praise of true philosophy, that through it only is it possible to come to fully conceive justice in public as well as private affairs” (VIIth letter, 324b-326b). The Republic’s aim is not carefully hidden in satire or other literary devices; it is a direct response to the philosopher’s concerns with the way his society was governed.</p> <p>Fiction is an element in Plato’s work, yet it is not used in the same manner as More’s. As Frye suggests, utopian literature uses fiction to make room for possibilities within the audience’s imagination, making the reader a participant in the work of seeing the author’s vision. In Plato, however, fiction is used to make the citizens of the state believe that they sprang forth from the earth. It is a tool in the creation of the state itself, not a literary device of Plato’s for the readers. Socrates calls these “convenient fictions,” and he justifies them by comparing them to what the poets have done (Republic 106). Yet, while even Socrates admits the story they’re telling the citizens is somewhat preposterous (Republic 106), Plato makes it clear that the purpose of the deception is to “have a good effect in making [the citizens] care more for the commonwealth and for one another” (Republic 107). Thus, even the use of imaginative language has the same instructional purpose throughout the work.</p> <p>Utopia includes several levels of narrative voice, which is consistent with how Frye describes utopian fiction. The reader has the task of differentiating between the character of Thomas More, the narrator of Raphael Hythloday, and the historical More who authored the work. More holds a level of ambiguity here which makes the reader’s job that much trickier. One can speculate the author’s intentions and make a case for any number of ideas as to whether the historical More actually believed his creation to be a model which societies should emulate. His life was full of differing vantage points– humanist, Catholic, statesman and religious ascetic. As Frederick L. Baumann writes in the Journal of Modern History, “The writer of the Utopia preaching religious toleration seems quite different from the later, bitter religious controversialist. It seems hardly possible that the successful Englishman enjoying to the full the good things of life is the same man who gloried in his hair shirt and the prospect of martyrdom” (Baumann 610). This involves the reader that much more in interpreting the philosophical implications of Utopia – where are we to find the author’s message in the midst of his seemingly counteracting personas?</p> <p>Plato’s biographical background offers readers a more lucid interpretation, one in which the reader is safe to assume that the philosophical implications of The Republic match the beliefs of its author. While one can trace slight variations or developments in Plato’s philosophical dissertations, scholars like Mary Margaret Mackenzie conclude that “throughout his life Plato is, in one way or another, committed to the Socratic dictum ‘virtue is knowledge’” (Mackenzie). In his essay “Genre Theory”, Brian C. Caraher proposes that Plato even wished to replace Greek poetic literature and drama with the genre of philosophic dialogue, using The Republic itself as one such work (29). One may conclude that Plato – philosopher, teacher and founder of an educational institution in Athens (Suzanne) – wished to use The Republic instructively.</p> <p>The character of Thomas More ends Utopia by confessing that “many things be in the Utopian weal public which in our cities I may rather wish for than hope after” (Utopia 217). The two verbs More chooses in this conclusion are intriguing. He leaves the reader asking what the difference is between a wish and a hope. By concluding with this perplexity, More creates the imaginative element that Frye identifies as the basis of utopian fiction as a genre of literature. This question can also be seen as a line drawing the contrast between More’s fiction and Plato’s philosophic discourse. One could argue that More may be dismissing the idea of conforming to Utopia’s ideals as a fanciful wish, and that Plato’s work is the business of hoping after an actual manifestation of justice through the perfection of the state. As Socrates says, “we are constructing, as we believe, the state which will be happy as a whole” (Republic 107), Plato’s purpose is unquestionably clear.</p> <p>Frye gives a thorough and engaging analysis of utopian literature and More’s special use of imaginative creativity and satire. It is apparent, however, that he errs in categorizing The Republic with More as a piece of utopian fiction. While Plato’s work may have been a prototype for authors like More to draw from, it is a piece of writing that explicitly communicates the ideals and values of Platonic philosophers, not a work of imaginative fiction meant to engage readers with creative possibilities. In following his own definition for utopian, Frye would be better off considering Utopia itself the original of its kind.</p> <p>Works Cited:</p> <p>Baumann, Frederick L. “Sir Thomas More.” Journal of Modern History, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Dec., 1932): 604-615. Caraher, Brian G. “Genre Theory: Cultural and Historical Motives Engendering Literary Genre.” Genre Matters. Ed. Garin Dowd, Lesley Stevenson, Jeremy Strong. Bristol: Intellect Books, 2006. 29-38. Dunkle, Roger. “Plato’s Republic.” The Classical Oigins of Western Culture. Classics Technology Center of Brooklyn College, New York, NY. 1986 <a href="http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots/republic.htm">http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots/republic.htm</a> Frye, Northrop. “Varieties of Literary Utopias.” Utopia. Ed. Robert M. Adams. New York: Norton, 1992. 205-211. Mackenzie, Mary Margaret. “Plato’s Moral Theory.” Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. 11, No. 2, (Jun., 1985): 88-91. More, Thomas. The Utopia of Sir Thomas More. Ed. William Dallam Armes, M.L. New York: Macmillan, 1912. Plato. Epistle Seven. Platonis Opera, Ed. John Burnet. Oxford University Press. 1903</p> <pre><code><http: edu="" hopper="" doc="Perseus%3Aabo%3Atlg%2C005" redirect="true"><br /></http:></code></pre> <p>Plato. The Republic of Plato. Trans. Francis MacDonald Cornford. London: Oxford University Press, 1945. Print. Suzanne, Bernard F. “Plato and His Dialogues.” Essays on Ancient Greece. University of Evansville, Exploring World Cultures Online Collection. 22August 1996 <a href="http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/suzanne.htm">http://eawc.evansville.edu/essays/suzanne.htm</a></p>Amandahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04185273671008084470noreply@blogger.com