Words that come to life

You’re on your phone and suddenly you get a text from your friend. You read the text, but the tone of the message seems sarcastic. Therefore, you get annoyed, and a whole argument arises based on that one simple text message. Once you finally talk to that person, face to face, they tell you that they were not being sarcastic. Meaning that you happened to just perceive the text message wrong, and as a result, a whole argument started based on a wrong perception. Almost everyone that I know has gone through a situation like this, and I have dealt with this numerous times. Maybe you happened to have a bad day, and your mood was reflected in the message, or you perceived the text based on your mood. This is called selective perception since your perception is influenced by your wants, needs, attitudes, and other factors. In the text, The Role of Perception in Communication it states how perception plays a huge role in our daily lives. Everyone is different and has had different experiences, therefore, as a result, our perception of subjects tend to be different. Berelstein and Steiner stated the exact definition of perception, “complex process by which people select, organize, and interpret sensory stimulation into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world” (p.88). There is not one correct answer for ways things should be properly be perceived due to many different factors. Past experiences, cultural expectations, gender, class, beliefs, etc… all go into play when it comes to perception.

Culture plays an important role in perception, and I found it really fascinating. A study was done where subjects wore binoculars with a picture in each eye, and the subjects were white and Mexican. The pictures were bullfighting and baseball, and the subjects were higher to see the picture that corresponded with their culture. For example, Mexicans saw the bullfighting picture more than Caucasians did. I feel like this small study helps explain certain aspects of our life, and it shows how important culture is. Meaning that we are drawn to things that we can relate to, and culture plays an important role in that. At the same time, it also shows how we could be ignorant to other’s cultures since in the experiment the other picture was completely disregarded. I personally believe that this helps to show how people, especially Americans can be ignorant to other cultures or other beliefs since they are so focused on their own.

Another experiment was done where the subjects viewed an image and discussed what that image meant to them. However, the image was shown at different moods, as a result, the image’s meaning changed due to the subject’s mood. This was a fascinating subject that I touched on in The Ways Of Seeing Blog post about mood changing our perception. I completely agree with what the text says since we can view an image of the sun and it would make us feel happy. However, if we were mad then we would change the image’s meaning so it can fit into our mood. As a result, that image may have completely different meanings for people. Our mind is so powerful that it can make us believe what we want to believe. It can also make us believe that we are right even if we might be wrong.

Due to different perceptions, many advertisements tend to have trouble when it comes to targeting their audience. One person might understand the ad while another person might get a completely different message from that same ad. Going off of that same idea, many television shows tend to be misperceived. In the text, it mentions antiprejudice cartoons that used satire. In the cartoon, there was an exagerrated prejudice person . The goal was to make prejudice seem ridiculous, however, due to perception this goal was not entirely met. People who agreed with prejudice took this as “what they were doing was right”, and in a way helped motivate them. On the other hand, more open-minded people were able to understand the joke of it and get the intended message. Therefore, this didn’t help the cartoon get their message across due to perception.

In the text, it states, “selective exposure is the tendency for individuals to expose themselves to those communications that are in agreement with their existing attitudes and to avoid those communications that are not ” ( p. 81). I believe that this is an important process that we go through, and that it is important for us to understand it. Many times when arguments occur we tend to ignore what points the other person is making, and we just hear what we want to hear. As a result, miscommunication occurs, and the argument does not go well. A bystander of this argument might also see how both people in the argument tend to talk about nonsense, and only repeat certain points. Therefore, selective exposure is the whole process of “hearing what we want to hear”, and it is important to getting past that and viewing the entire picture.

No matter how hard someone might try to get everyone to view something the same, it will never happen because of perception. I believe that perception makes things seem unique because if everyone viewed something the same it would be kind of bland. At the same time, perception causes many arguments especially due to technology, specifically our phones. As mentioned earlier, we could perceive a text message the wrong way, or even on social media, a message could be misinterpreted. Therefore, it is important to understand that there will be people who will not think the same as you and to think before you speak as well. I believe that perception will always remain a controversial topic, especially for many businesses.

Wig (noun)- a covering for the head made of real or artificial hair. This is the exact definition of the term wig, however, teenagers use this word as a part of slang. Thanks to a certain app called Twitter, “wig” gained its popularity in 2018. Now you may ask why would you use “wig”? Wig is what you would say if you were shocked by something. For example, if you met your favorite celebrity one might say “Omg wig I just met …”.

As Ricky Dillion said, “wig” is something that you say when something was so shocking/ crazy that it made your wig fly off. “Wig” was originally, “wig snatched” meaning the same thing, however, Twitter just shortened it. If something is incredibly shocking then you might add actions after the word. For example, you might say “wig flew”, “wigless”, “wig incinerated”, “wig gone”, etc…

“Wig” is still around, it’s not as popular when it first came out (it was all over Twitter), however, it is still commonly used. Normally when someone says the word “wig” the other person says it back. For example, “Omg wiggggg Mariah Carey looked amazing” and the other person will respond “Yes wig!” Mariah Carey is actually a huge icon on Twitter and people go wild for her on there, but that is a whole other topic. Looking from an outside point of view the term might sound a bit obnoxious and annoying, but luckily people tend to not overuse the term in real life. However, on Twitter “wig” is all over. Many YouTubers use the term including James Charles, Jeffree Star, and more.

It isn’t that hard to misuse this term, sometimes people may use it sarcastically. For example, if something is a bit boring someone might say “wig…”. However, make sure that you do not use the term way too much because then it becomes annoying. It’s not exactly sure how “wig” originated, but it definitely came from Twitter. In my opinion, I feel like this term brings people together and the connotation of it is positive. I think that because if you say that to someone in public and they understand you then it almost creates a bit of a bond. Just from that information, they know that you’re in on Twitter and updated with the latest trends. Stan Twitter really is a crazy place and is capable of making things go viral.

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I commonly use the term “wig”, and I honestly think that it is hilarious. I’m always on Twitter, and I feel like it is a whole new world on there. Twitter is the place to find the latest memes or jokes, and it is always a blast going on there. It is amazing how many terms have grown thanks to Twitter, and how quickly things go viral.

Writing is something that I hold very dear to me, however, this took me a while to figure out. I’ve struggled with finding out who I am, and for a big part of my life, I always felt like I was lost. Writing has played an immense role in the journey of figuring out who I am. Until recently I never knew what I wanted to do as a career, I had felt like most people knew what they wanted ever since they were a child. Therefore, I thought about my childhood and certain things that I would do that could help me choose a career. Then it hit me, in elementary school I had a journal where I would write stories for fun. I remember that I would love to write because I felt like I would go into a new world. Children have peculiar yet innocent minds, therefore, when I wrote random stories I would feel as if I were in the story.

Once I was in middle school, I did not care as much for writing. At this point, I considered writing “lame” or just a school activity. However, once eighth grade rolled around, my mental state changed. I was much older and I started dealing with stronger feelings than I ever had before. As a result, I made a bullet journal. This bullet journal was more for fun and aesthetic use. My bullet journal is filled with random yet carefully picked items ranging from photos to dried flowers. It also holds my feelings and days that I do not want to forget.

Starting high school was a bit tough for me, I went to a different school that almost no one from my middle school went to. I felt alone, so I decided to focus more on school. My favorite class soon became English because I started to love writing essays. I spent numerous amount of time working on it, and it paid off since I would get the highest grade in the whole class. As time passed, I made creative friends who inspired me daily. I used this inspiration in my bullet journal and in my everyday life. One of these friends actually gifted me a journal where I hold my sacred and deepest feelings. It was around this time where I started going through a tough time, but for some reason, I was never able to talk to anyone about it. It wasn’t that I had no one to talk, but rather, I did not know how to say my feelings to other people. I have trouble talking about personal subjects or strong emotions because I feel like I’m not saying everything I really want to say. Rather than holding all these emotions in, I overflow my pages with them. I turned these raw feelings into poetry or a story. Instead of simply writing “I’m sad because…” I would use figurative language and other useful writing techniques to transform my words and feelings into a beautiful masterpiece. After writing, I felt like the weight was lifted off my chest. All of this I would write in the journal that my friend gifted to me. However, before I would write it in the journal I would first figure out what exactly I was wanted to say in the notes on my phone, or I would just retain the information in my head. After that, I decided to assign my piece of writing a color that suited it. For example, if I was hoping for better times I would write it in green because to me green stands for hope. Personally, I feel like writing should fit with its font and color. Finally, I would transfer all of that into my journal. I hold this journal close to my heart for no one to see.

To this day, I still use both my bullet journal and my sacred emotion-filled journal. I never really paid attention to how much writing means to me until recently. I’ve discovered that I want to have a career that deals with writing, whether it’s journalism or something else I’m still not exactly sure. However, I know that through time I will figure it out because writing has helped me learn more about myself. When I write I just drain my emotions on the page and sometimes I discover emotions that I never knew I had. Writing has helped me get through the toughest of times and has also recorded my happiest of times. I like to go through old pieces of writing and see how much I have changed since then and how my feelings have evolved. There definitely are times that I share my writing to the world, however, I still hold many pieces of writing to just myself. It’s therapeutic to me and I’m not exactly sure what I would do without it.

They Say- In the textbook, “They Say, I Say” authors Graff and Birkenstein open up the chapter with a short story. The story is how they attended a press conference and a speaker spoke about a sociologist. This speaker was clearly extremely educated, however, by the end of the speech there was a wave of confusion. What the speaker failed to mention was what other people thought about the sociologist that he was rambling about. Due to this mistake, it seemed unclear why the speaker was going on so much about this sociologist since he only stated his opinion. Therefore, Graff and Birkenstein get at the point that “they say” should always be included in writing. More specifically, the order of where to put the “larger conversation” is crucial. What “others are saying” should be one of the first things mentioned then introduce your own point. However, it is important to go back to what “they say” throughout the writing. At the same time, it is important not to get too detailed on what exactly everyone has to say on the topic. What “they say” should help illustrate the writer’s thesis. In other words, what other people have to say should help provide further information on the topic. The authors provide a helpful example of “they say” throughout the text and even end with one.

Reflection: I learned the importance of what others say in a piece of writing or even in just a speech. Before this, I never really seemed to pay that much attention or notice the value of “they say”.

Her Point Is- Summaries come with many complications, and are easy to mess up. As a result, many try to avoid summarizing all together because the text that they are trying to summarize may be difficult to understand. They also think that it may distract the reader from their own ideas. On the other hand, there are many people who summarize too much. This causes them to seem unoriginal and shows that they lack confidence. What a proper summary should be is a perfect balance between the original author’s main idea and the writer’s own focus. A summary changes the original work based on how the writer sees the work. Therefore, it is crucial that one’s own bias does not play into the summary. The author provides several examples to demonstrate this idea including an excerpt from Zinczenko. However, one’s view does not have to be completely diminished since it should still mention what you have to say, but it should not change the original meaning of the work. Once again, a balance should be created between one’s own idea and maintaining the original work. Another difficulty that comes with summaries is “list summaries” which list the author’s main points, but do not connect them to a larger claim. Making sure that the original author’s meaning is kept seems to be the hardest part about a summary. Therefore, when quoting the author instead of saying “she says”, the verb should change to fit the exact situation. The word “says” can change to “illustrate” or any other detailed verb to fully show the author’s point.

Reflection- I sometimes struggle with avoiding “list summaries”, and I feel like this helped me find ways not to fall into that trap. I learned about other easy mistakes that are made when summarizing and how to avoid them.

“As He Himself Puts It”- Quotations are an excellent form of evidence for one’s text, however, many mistakes are made when quoting. Some writers barely use quotations, while others use them way too much. The problems that occur when using too much is that your text is too short and the writer tends to not explain the quotation. Not explaining the quotation is the main problem that occurs because even if it seems simple to the writer the reader may not think the same. Whenever quotes are used, it should fit right into the text and throughout it. At the same time, it is important to present the quote to the reader. After sharing the quote, the writer should explain what that quote may mean, and why they included it in their text. A common mistake is “dangling” quotations where they do not explain the quote at all. This leaves the reader confused and makes the quotation seem random. Therefore, when including a quote make sure to think about if it actually fits in the text, how to introduce it, and how to explain it.

Reflection- I learned that it is easy to make mistakes when using quotations, therefore, quotations should be given much more thought. They should not be thrown in there, but rather, carefully picked to frame the text.

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We are constantly seeing whether it is looking at things as a whole or looking at a tiny detail. From the day we were born, we have been able to see before being able to speak. However, as we have gotten older we have been able to apply the use of language and knowledge in order to help complete what we see. John Berger, author of “Ways Of Seeing” explains how knowledge never seems to fit what we see. For example, we see a sunset, and “we know that the Earth is turning away from it” (Berger, page 7). I understand what Berger is trying to say with how knowledge does not fit the picture, however, knowledge is supposed to provide deeper insight on what exactly is happening. Knowledge helps explain things that we cannot see like the Earth turning away from the sun because we are on the Earth. What we do see is the result or at least a part of it, which in this case is the sunset. Therefore, at times knowledge is not supposed to fit the illustration, instead help us further understand the illustration.

John Berger also goes on to explain the issue with replicating paintings since every time it is replicated it loses its value. “The camera isolated momentary appearances and in doing so destroyed that idea that images were timeless” (Berger, page 18). I do not completely agree with this because images are still timeless since it captured a particular moment. Many years from now people can go and figure out what exactly was happening in that picture. However, a part of me also kind of understands what Berger is saying since people will never know the entire story of that photo since they were not there. Being in that moment and being able to see everything rather than a specific part changes the moment and the perspective.

Perspective is something that I personally believe plays one of the biggest roles in seeing. Uncovering the meaning of a piece of art or a photograph depends on one’s experiences, prior knowledge, and context. For example, if someone is going through a difficult time, and they see a painting that is supposed to be happy, that person will mentally adjust that painting so that it fits their emotions. In other words, they will see the happy painting as sad since they are sad. This is what Berger fears, “As a result its meaning changes” (Berger, page 19). His argument was that paintings were replicated so much that it is no longer unique, and that the meaning has been drained. I do not agree with this because I believe that the replication has helped to do the opposite. Thanks to cameras the painting was able to grow and be shown worldwide, therefore, making it even more famous. When someone sees a picture of a popular painting they will be motivated to go. For example, I have always loved the painting of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, and I actually saw it in The Louvre. Seeing the original painting is breathtaking even though I had already seen numerous amounts of replicates. The settings where the original painting also plays a big role in it as well. “The uniqueness of every painting was once part of the uniqueness of the uniqueness of the place where it resided” (Berger, 19). I completely agree with this because in a way it is almost as if the painting is a part of the architecture. Not only that, but I believe that letting others have their own perspective or own personal meaning on the artwork just makes the painting even more unique. Therefore, everyone will have their personal opinion on it rather than all following the original meaning which makes it feel personal to the viewer. No matter how replicated an image is the original will always be unique.

Everyone views things differently due to their difference in perspective. However, I think that we can all agree on the idea that seeing is a universal language. Heavy emotions are beautifully placed in paintings, and it is up to that viewer to uncover that emotion. At the same time, the viewer might put their own emotions into the meaning of that certain painting. We can also view only certain parts of the painting and find a whole new meaning rather than viewing it as a whole. There is an enormous amount of feelings and meanings that a single painting conveys. However, no matter what context we might add to paintings it will never take away what we exactly see. “It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but words can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it” (Berger, page 7). Words will never reach the power of seeing. Art illustrates feelings that we are not able to say, even if it is only a replicate.

Hi everyone, my name is Carmen Landinger and I am a student in the CSN High School program. For my freshman and sophomore year, I attended Foothill High School. Things that make me who I am is traveling, dogs, concerts/festivals, my culture, and spending time with those who I love. Over the summer I had the amazing opportunity to visit Italy where I spent two weeks. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I am beyond grateful for it. I love writing and I hope to major in journalism. I’m excited about this class, and I’m ready to work hard for it.