assignment 2.1

After reading the story “Separate Kingdoms” by Valerie Laken, a family struggles to understand each other after the Colt, the father loses his thumbs to a machine. Laken’s story was arranged in a two column format. Each column represents a viewpoint, which showed separation in their family between a father and son. Ultimately how a lack of human connection can prevent the suffering of others. I believe the purpose of Laken using two separate columns was to show the different point of views from the son and father perspectives on their life with or without more money.
The first column of “Separate Kingdoms” was mainly Colt perspective. It seemed as if Colt had a lot of anger in him because he was always mean to everyone. The only thing he would do is watch television or play with the dogs every since his thumb accident, he couldn’t go back to work. He would always argue with the wife, Cheri about taking the money his job was offering his for the damage of his fingers. In the story Cheri says. “Why wouldn’t you want to make them pay you (10)”. I think Colt will not accept the money from his job because of what happened to his figures it won’t change anything. It still will not bring his fingers back or it will not get his job back because he still can’t work without fingers. Colt sated, “A million dollars isn’t going to fix this (10)”. Colt was talking about his thumbs situation can’t be fixed or replaced with or without the money. The money won’t change Colt life style it might change Cheri and their son’s Jack. Colt will still have missing fingers at the end of the day. Its seems as if Cheri and Jack don’t understand what it’s like to have missing fingers in obviously they don’t because it’s not their fingers that is missing.
The second column of “Separate Kingdoms” was Jack’s perspective on his life and his father thumb situation. Jack was always playing the xbox game or playing his drums. Colt states about the drums, “the boys obsession is everybody else misery (6)”. Colt hated when Jack played the drums it was miserable and annoying to him, but that was something that Jack loved to do just like working was something Colt loved to do but now he can’t because his fingers are gone. Jack also thought his father should take the settlement of money from the job. “If he got that money we could do all those things maybe more. It seems like such an easy plan to explain (16)” is what Jack stated. Jack feels the same way as his mom does about using the money. But yet they really don’t realize that it still going to change the life of Colt and the way he does things. Colt is still going to have to deal with missing fingers which isn’t going to make a difference if they moved to a better place or not. “Yesterday I tried to do everything all day without my thumbs (17)”, Jack say’s. Jack tries to understand what his dad is going through but it still won’t work because he kept using his fingers anyway.
The purpose of Laken’s separating the story on two different sides was to show Colt’s point of view in the lost of his fingers, also to show the point of view of Jack and his mom. Jack and Cheri didn’t understand what is was like to live without fingers so they thought if Colt accepted the settlement it would make it better for Colt life style. Colt was trying to say that having money won’t make a difference or change anything about Colt’s life because his fingers will still be gone with or without the money. “Alex Schooper has money and he’s still a total asshole (17)”, is what Cheri said. What this meant was that the money didn’t change Alex Schooper because he’s still an asshole, just like the money wouldn’t change Colt because his fingers are still going to be missing.
If Laken’s would have wrote the story without separating the columns then their wouldn’t have been two different perspectives Colt and Jack. The story would have been like a fairy tale, of a man that got his fingers cut off while working. The separation showed why Colt didn’t take the money and it was reasons for that which Colt wanted Jack and Cheri to understand that reason. The same with Jack, he thought his dad should have taken the money for all the better reasons. His perspective was that they could live a better life.

Assignment 1.3

OLD INTTRO
Shame and forgetting In the information Age was a piece written by Charles Baxter. I interpreted the purpose of the piece was to inform readers that forgetting is a thing that everyone do no matter what it is or what it may be. When it comes to certain things people should not forget them. Now days with technology being so powerful people are definitely bound to forget things. Being shameful of what we forget is sometimes necessary, but on another note we shouldn’t be shameful of our forgetfulness, depending on our data we take in or experiences.

NEW INTRO
Shame and Forgetting In the Information Age by Charles Baxter was a piece written to everyone who is living in the information age as of now. I believe the purpose of this piece was to say that forgetting is shameful by only when it come to certain things you should be shameful of forgetting them. Everyone does forget things periodically at times, but at the same time we shouldn't let technology be our way of remembrance all the time either. We as humans shouldn't depend on technology so much, such as things like computers for our memory and use our own memory more often. It seems as if our experiences are longer lasting and memorable than much of the other information we take in. Although we take in more information from the things that we are “suppose” to know it causes us to lose memory from our own data/ the things we experienced, which can both bring shamefulness to us.

#1.2

Shame and forgetting In the information Age was a piece written by Charles Baxter. I interpreted the purpose of the piece was to inform readers that forgetting is a thing that everyone do no matter what it is or what it may be. When it comes to certain things people should not forget them. Now days with technology being so powerful people are definitely bound to forget things. Being shameful of what we forget is sometimes necessary, but on another note we shouldn’t be shameful of our forgetfulness, depending on our data we take in or experiences.

The piece Shame and Forgetting In Information Age was divided into five different pieces. The first part talked about Baxter’s brother and how he couldn’t remember anything but the stories people told and their faces. That was the only thing Tom could remember. His house was full of books and papers that had information on things that he used that helped him. Two sections of the piece talked about the Presidents for example, Clinton and his remembrance “remembering huge quantities of data but also seems to slip large sections of the past into the trash icon” (148). Another section of the piece talked about Walter Benjamin stories of Ms. Bartleby…….. A statement was made “In information age our representive figure Ms. Bartleby is rich in information and poor in experience” (150). The last two sections were just about memoirs and forgetting.

In the first beginning of the piece Baxter talked about his brother house, “The apartment was stuffed with written material, all the paper work of a lifetime……… because he couldn’t hold it in his head he kept it around and had to learn to live with it” (144). What this meant was that Tom couldn’t remember lots of book stuff so he kept lots of materials which helped him remember the things that he needed to remember. At that time Tom didn’t have any computer or technology devices around that could help him like now days that’s what everyone use is computers. So Tom learned to live with the sources he had and which helped him deal with his memory problem. Although one thing he did remember was people faces and the stories they told. He enjoyed listening to stories that people told which was an experience he enjoyed. That was Tom data that he had experienced on his own. So should he have been ashamed of not remembering data from books or paper work? I don’t think so and that didn’t make him dumb or anything different people just remember different things because of who they are.

Another statement in the story said, “How much memory have you got” (144). They weren’t talking about brain memory they were talking about computer memory. Meaning they depended on computer memory instead of the own brain memory. In this situation a person should be ashamed of depending on technology for memory and remembering things. What if this technology thing came to an end and we didn’t have any technology any more. A lot of people may end up like Tom and only remembering the things he experienced. They would have to go back to looking at paper work and books all the time if they rely on computers so much. That would be shameful for some if that’s the only memory they have is a computer. That’s why I said it depends on what type of memory you take in and how you use it can be shameful or what not.

That takes us to the quote “Remembering data and remembering an experience are two very different activities. It is possible that the quantity of data we are supposed to remember has reduced our capacity to remember or even to have experiences” (146). What this means is that remembering data and experiences are similar but different at the same time. When we as humans experience things it makes history for our memory and it is often hard to forget those experiences of memories we had because we took part of the experience. When we have to remember data or information from a book we forget that faster because those are easier to forget and we can easily go back to them.

“There is more information all the time. No one can absorb all the information” (146). What this says is that there is so much information in the world that no one take in all of it into their own one brain. When it comes to experiences they are different from other information sources because when you experience something you can only share that experience, not a book. That story can only be told by the one who experienced it. “What you remember is the key to who you are” (151). That statement is so true because Tom was who he was because of the things he knew and remembered. Everyone still loved him because of who he was. It didn’t make him a bad or dumb person because of what he remembered, it made him who he was!

With all being said my interpretation of the piece written by Baxter is still the same. Forgetting is shameful only when you forget certain things. We shouldn’t let technology be our way of remembrance all the time we should use our own memory stick that was given to us. Experiences maybe our only memory at times!!

Assingnment #1.1 examples

-"Reading the writing often defeated him and they sobefore the culture had begun to employ the phrase "learning disability" and before this socitey had become dependent on computers"(141)

-"The apartment was stuffed with written materials, all paperwork of a life time................. Because he couldnt hold it in his head he kept it around and he learned to live with it"(144)

-"Their lives and authority depend upon their ablity to remember and to remember their subjects in public"(144)

-"You don't know? the first one asked " You dont know how much memory you have" "
"Of course they weren't talking about their own mind"(145)

-" "your memory" can now in casual conversation refer to your computer's memory rather than your own"

-"our memories are memories of our experiences in narrative form........... Data by contrast the proliferating facts and figures can easily be stored"(145)

-"Information on a screen is subtly different from imformation gleaned from books"(146)

-" A proliferation of imformation causes imformation inflation"(146)

-"yesterday's gone"(149)

- "Wht you remember is the key to who you are"(151)

Assingnment #1.1 Intro

Reading the piece Shame and Forgetting in the Informantion Age I came to an conclusion as to what the purpose of the text was. Charles Baxter wrote the piece to say that everyone memory is different. We all forget things sometimes but we shouldnt be shameful of forgetting when it comes to learning new things from books and other printed sources its so much information that can be taken in. No one can remember every piece of imformation they take in or given to them. When you experience something your memory often remembers that tbecause you are apart of the experience most of the time. Now that we have this new tecnology around getting information is more easier. Having all this technology requires less work for us humans and dont require us to remember much because we can easily go back and look up info on the computer. Instead of going to find an answer for ourselves technology does it for us.

Assingnment #1

After reading the article Shame and Forgetting in Informatiom age I somewhat found the purpose of the text of what Baxter was trying to address. I think what Baxter was trying to say is that all the information that you take in doesn't have to come from a computer or something you read. Thats not the only source of information that can be helpful. You don't have to always remember every thing that come from the book or computer websites.

I think Baxter was trying to say just because a person can not remember written texts well all the time doesn't mean they have a learning disability. Now days we have computers and new technology to help us remember things. As he mentioned in the text, "Proliferation of information causes information inflation" (146). Meaning every piece of information you are given or have gotten from somewhere or something is not always memorable. We as humans sometimes forget. That doesn't mean we should be ashamed of ourselves or have some type of disability. "No one can absorb all the information" (146). Thats means that every piece of information that you are given can't be remembered forever you can't store it all no matter who you are. Memory was mentioned in every sectin of the text.

The reason why i think the text was broken up into five different pieces is because each section have it's own meaning of the purpose memory and forgetting. Every section connects to the meaning of memory.

I think Shame and Forgetting in the information Age connects to the text by forgetting information that you've taken in, in some type of way. Sometimes it may be shameful for a person to forget something that they thought should have stuck with them in their MEMORY.

A Little Bit About Myself

Hello, my name is Fierra Love and I am going into my second year at the University of Wisconsin. My intended major is nursing and I am apart of the AOC program for thoses of you that do not know it stands for Academic Opportunity Center. I work at the VA hospital, and during my spare time i like to shop and hang out with my friends. This is my 2nd time taking english 101, the 1st time i got a C- so i didn't pass the course. This time I am going to pass because i refuse to take this course again its not an exciting course at all. Besides that i do like attending UWM I think its an ok institution.