Finals

Oh... boy do I hate finals week.

Anyway, for my final paper my outline didn't indicate that i am going to use a semi-informal voice and speak directly to the reader and their perception, hopefully drawing a more personal experience to my work. It will, i think, also help in an understanding of my argument.
I am about 4 pages into it... hopefully it will all fit! I think ill have to cut some stuff down, less introducing my idea and just getting into it.
o well..
Im off!

Full outline

Introduction
Iconography (ī'kŏnŏg'rəfē)
-When first used in the 18th century the term was confined to the study of engravings, which were then the standard mode of illustrating books on art and on antiquities in general. But it came shortly to be applied more specifically to the history and classification of Christian images and symbols of all sorts, in whatever medium they happened to be rendered originally or in whatever way they were reproduced for study.
-With the rise of the systematic investigation of art from prehistoric ages to modern times, it became apparent that each major phase or epoch in which figural representations occur had created and developed in varying degrees of richness and elaboration an iconography of its own. As used today, therefore, the term is unavoidably qualified to specify the field of iconographic period under discussion.

I. The importance of iconography briefly in history- how language is defined by it.
A. Cave paintings
-Found in Europe, Africa, Australia, and Southeast Asia. – Images unite. Images speak.
-Cave Paintings, everyone has heard of them, but just in case not, these are images dating to prehistoric times. The earliest known European cave paintings date to 32,000 years ago. The purpose of the cave paintings is not known, and may never be. The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas, since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. Also, they are often in areas of caves that are not easily accessed. Some theories hold that they may have been a way of transmitting information, while other theories ascribe them a religious or ceremonial purpose. Well, whatever the initial purpose of these paintings, today they certainly are a way to transmit information. These simple pictorials capture and explicate a long inaccessible historical moment.

B. Rosetta stone
-A 114.4 centimeters tall, 72.3 centimeters wide, and 27.9 centimeters thick, 1,676 pound stone entirely changed our understanding of an integral society in human history, how? Through images.
-One of the most famous iconographical discoveries was the discovery of the Rosetta stone.
- The Rosetta stone also offers another historical importance, a famous representative sample of language as images. It is often forgot that written language is just a series of images that have been imbued with significance. The letters on this page form and image, a word, and in its unique form it presents to you a message.


II. Language as an Icon in Watchmen (Blaringly explicit but overlooked often)

A. The language of the work itself

B. Newspapers and what it says (5-12) (3-24/25)

C. ---- Perhaps The internal comic

III. Icons as Language in Watchmen ( the unspoken)

A. Professor Manhattans Hydrogen atom finds meaning ( 4-12)

B. Costume icons representing Gender roles

C. Costumes as icons for internal refelction (6-8)

D. Images that unite.

IV. Real world relations to Watchmen ( images as a function of Cognitive estrangement)
A. The monster unites… like the atrocity of 9/11
B. ----
C. ----


Conclusion

-The very last picture on the list is the one I want to quote from. Relation to how images are all we have that defines humanity. Images define us. (expand on this topic).
- Perhaps a plug about then why does society, our cannon, resist illustrated literature so vehemently? (leave the reader with an idea to ponder)

Palistine

I think it is an interesting aspect of the novel that most of the narration is Sacco retelling stories told by the locals. I liked it. Also the artistry was perfect I think. It was not as realistic as say Watchmen or V for Vendetta but it was not TOO outlandish and abrasive like that of stuck rubber baby. It was full of almost stereotypical charictizations but to me it was not offensive as an outsider. I would like to read some of the reactions with in the country itself after reading the novel.
That is all for now... one week till finals... AH!

Final paper

Well.. I didn't manage to salvage my draft, so I will post a new rough draft here in a bit instead of re-typing the outline. Overall working on the paper i find it hard to think in a non linear fashion. My outline was easy to draw out and plan a route but It seems i want to write more about each topic to keep it quasi linear but I cant cover as much as i want on each topic because 1. i don't want to write that much and 2. i only have 8 pages. *sigh* and suggestions for dealing with this frustration? 

No?... no one ever post on here. Maybe because I never blogrolled any one. 

O well.

Ill keep this updated! 

Final Project

so.. here is my FULL outline with info.

Well it wont post because I did the thing at the FAR computer lab... and it sent my file as a DOC X and I cant open that ANYWHERE>.. so I am going to head back to FAR to see if i can open it on the computers there. IF not I will be retyping the whole thing.. and you will get it then. Stupid Word...

This is why I use a Mac.- compatible with most everything I need it to be and always reliable. Now eve PC's cant work with each other  because of the new software. Whatever Mac. haters... * this goes out to my friend Ryan* you can all just go play with windows vista in a corner. 

 :) 

Berlin

Boo.. I have 3 more exams BEFORE finals week. I have not finished Berlin yet, I will.. PLACE HOLDER POST!

Well good news, I did really well on my exam and I got and A ( with out the curve) . YAY whoohoo.. I will get an A in Orgo now. No small feat, and much thanks to the flexibility of this class and its wonderful instructor ;) 

ON now to Berlin. 

I thought our in class discussion of Berlin could have been more in depth but seeing as I  didnt have time to read it for each class I am very sure there were several others who could not. Overall though I enjoyed the novel, the historicity and the artwork of it caught my attention and the diverging and converging plot structure kept it. I think that the novel severs a great representation of the disassociation between humans existing in the laminal space of the urban landscape. The transition from person to person in the novel harkens back to Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, a distinctly modernist style that captures the horror and the chaos of the World War II. 

I think its a re-read worthy work. 

Final paper...

Hopeful outline..

General assessment of importance of iconography

examples in history of important iconogoraphy ( say the rosetta stone and others)

Language as a icons-language in watchmen

watchmen's icons
- costumes
- others like the H atom for Prof. Manhattan

How iconography defines gender roles

How images bind ( catastrophe)

How iconography defines real life ( 9/11)

Berlin

A book is a book.
However I am enjoying this one. I like the Historicity of it, not just fact but emotions of the moment. I think capturing the style of life during a historical moment is difficult for a historical text to do, but any art piece makes it more comprehendible. Berlin compiles two of the most complementary forms that allow for emotional expression, art and literature. I think the novel should be assigned in history classes that cover WWII instead of dry historical articles. It would be refreshing and educational for the class.

Random Post

Its beautiful out and I do not want to be studying or working right now, I bet everyone else feels the same in the class. I find it hard to work when spring is finally here and tests are starting to pile up again. Finals is going to be an atrocious time. One this is though at least  for this class I can go outside and type my posts or read the books. Many other classes, the homework and studying required is too difficult to maintain on the Quad, So I end up stuffed into a small little cubicle in Granger Library still as pale as I was mid December studying for some godforsaken Chemistry, Bio, or English class. We need more than a week off this semester... 

Thanks to this class though I have an excuse to get out of the library and have some kind of fun. 

Proposal

So I cannot make it to class today because of an exam mixup in my Bio. Class that had to be worked out. I was wondering if anyone could help me figure out what specific historical event that involved iconography i could focus on for my paper. I wanted to do a short walk through history discussing the importance of Images, but it would be too broad. Therefore I need a specific event or time period to work on. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great! 

Here are 2 of my main ideas. 

- the first written language- cuneiform ( argue then that our letters are infact just symbols) 

- the egyptian period/ rossetta stone 

Thanks in advance for your help~ 

Fun Home

So Fun Home. 

I kinda liked it. I felt that the novel could have expanded more in many places and the end though powerful was rather flat. I did enjoy the allusion to icarus though. I also question the validity of the story/plot. When we first started this class, I read blankets and assumed that it was an entirely fictional piece,  because thats what comics were to me, fictional cartoons. Not until the very end did i realize that the craig from the book was Craig Thompson the author. By reading the novel this way it made all the unbelievable aspects of the work more acceptable for me, because in my mind it was a work of fiction. After i had the realization that it was a memoir, it was too late for me to start questioning details because I had already finished. This was not true for Fun Home, i knew from the beginning that this was supposedly the true story of her life. I felt that it was believable for the most part, but some of the crucial details, such as the diary and the letters, made me question the reality of the work. I would like to know if those were real objects she wrote the story from, and if they were did her re-reading of those texts change her outlook on the story and alter the way she remembered her father and her childhood? Could things really have been as bad as she expressed at the beginning if at the end her father was "always" there to catch her? 

Some of these questions popped into my head as i was reading and it disturbed the flow of the plot for me. I think it is better, if you are looking to enjoy the work, to read it as a work of fiction or semi fiction in-order to accept the unreal. 

 Overall it was a controversial peaice becasue of the topic and the possible ramifications of the text to those still living and i think the book tried to tiptoe around that fact leaving out important ponts that could have enhanced the plot, but its understandable .

Thats my final take on Fun Home

Fun Home

Meh, I can take it or leave it. I would not recommend it to any of my Friends where as I have lent out both Watchmen  and Blankets already.

I am looking forward to talking about the Final project though, I hope it is open ended so we do not have to do an essay. I think this class is a rather creative way to form a writing class with both online writing and in class writing and many different styles. When I signed up for a class about writing I expected like 5 essays and 2 in class essay/exams. Dare I say, I was pleasantly flabbergasted, 1 because there was really no essay writing involved, and 2 we were doing things I had not imagined i would write in college, LIke this blog and a manifesto and a comic. How cool. Everyone who asks what my 300 class was, kicks themselves when i tell them because they took some normal dry English course that they barley remember. I on the other-hand will remember this class for a long time to come because it has expanded my range of writing abilities. 

Fun Home

I have enjoyed reading fun  home thus far. The artwork is my favorite out of all those we haver read, its not to complicated but not overly simplified.  The colors are especially interesting and bring much to the page with out being robust like the distracting colors of Watchmen. The black line art with a gray-green watercolorish wash is very unique, well unique to me as my field of knowledge when it comes to graphic novels/ comics is limited. I did a little research on the book because I have been enjoying it and I discovered that the author, Bechdel, both wrote and illustrated Fun Home over a series of seven years. She would take a photograph of her self dressed as the character she was about to draw and then draw from that photo. I think that is such an ingenuitive manner in which to find inspiration for the characters movement and look. 

As well while researching I found many different covers for the book. I think they are all interesting but the one we have fits the most I believe. 

Mini Comics

We looked at a few groups Mini comics today! I loved them all. The art and creativity that went into each one was impressive. I think overall it was a great project and I throughly enjoyed the results. Each incorporated an individual flare to the comic production just as the novels we are reading have their own artistic nuances( even if they are by the same authors). Each comic was well put together and emphasized the importance of cooperation and collaboration to the development of comics. Moreover the morals that each presented were creative and unique i think that requiring that "ah ha!" moment in the assignment was insightful because it made us as creators think outside the box more. 

I enjoyed the constructive critizim of our groups work and everyone else's, I think the class is respectful while remanning opinionated. I look forward to sharing more works in the class. 

I can't wait to see the rest of the grooups works! 

Mini Comic

So.. I hope everyone had a good spring break! I found myself studying a ton and working even more. I did find time though to finish up with the mini comic project. I found it to be very enlightening because I really never realized how much work went into the process and development of one. I thought proofreading an essay or manifesto :) was hard but working with both the artistic aspect of the comic and the wording of the comic was very tasking. If a concept changed in an picture, the text had to be altered and if a text edit was made possible artistic changes were made. The dialectic relationship between the art and the text always amazed me when reading a work, but I never really thought what it took to produce that workable and readable relationship. We only made a 11 page comic, i cant imagine having to edit and proofread a 100-200 page graphic novel.  Moreover the clarity of the text and images had to be managed because of the media type ( photocopy) we are using. This also posed a few complications. Overall I think it was a good learning experience but a pain over spring break.

Can't wait to see everyones! 

so.. I am blog illiterate

I need help figuring out how to put a list of the other blogs on my site, any help? 

Stuck Rubber Baby... Kinda

I like the book. I am enjoying the development of the characters even though the art is distracting.

Thats all I have really on that... but.. I must just write on something amazing I have just discovered. It is this site called Hulu.com 

It is a free site with full length films and tv episodes ... that is legal because it has minor commercials. You can also e-mail and imbed the shows and movies into your sites like this. 

How freaking awesome is that.. I was watching Master and Commander.. ( history person.. a reason I really enjoy the plot of Stuck Rubber Baby - see it relates to class kinda) and i can put the whole MOVE in here for people to watch.. now.. enjoy my blog and check out the site!!

(great quality huh)

Oh and soon they said they will make it so the movies and shows can be put on an MP3 player... I CANT WAIT!!!!

Hopefully next time i embed something it will be more class related.. 

Stuck Rubber Baby

So, my blogging has been sporadic as of late because my life has been. I have had a lot going on but I am getting head start on Stuck Rubber Baby. I read the first three chapters last night and absolutely loved them. I was disappointed in the last book because it was supposedly "historical", but to me it was more biographical- focusing on little known people.  Stuck Rubber Baby on the other hand incorporates important historical mile stones in an individualistic manner that is highly appealing to me. I remember the first time i read the story of Emit Till and saw the photographs. The open casket photos are extremely striking and I can see how as a young child it could be life altering. 

After Reading Through Chapter eleven I have come to greatly appreciate the intricacies of the framing in the work. The incorporation of the past and present scenes require a distinct talent that is very subtle in the work. I enjoy it greatly for it is seamless. One thing I found strange though about the artistry, and rather detracting was the way faces were drawn. Very round with large chins, it is very distinct, unlike what we have seen before, but still distracting from the characterizations because the faces start to blend after a while. 

Another thing I found interesting was to see what it was like to be raised in a racist/segregated world from the perception of a young white male. Often times you read and see cultural works specific to the African American struggle of the time, but this is unique, at least to my reading credentials. As well I enjoy the idea of a unique coming of age story with many facets. Blankets was more focused on Cragis social world, Stuck Rubber Baby focuses on the individual life but includes and encompasses the conflict of the world at large and discusses its affects on the individual. 

Portraits from Life

From the appearances of the cover I half expected the work itself to be in color and when i started to read I realized that the amount of detailing in each frame would have been overshadowed by the incorporation of color.  The text on the other-hand could use some enhancement. It is often to small for my liking and the chunks are to long to keep my attention. Another aspect of the work that is slightly disconcerting is the fact that there are no page numbers. I do not use a book mark or fold pages often so i just like to remember page numbers, quite a predicament no? Haha, i know its not that big of an issue but it is hard to refer back to a page in blog or after reading. I cannot wait to see how we handle this in class.  

Overall though I have enjoyed the first few stories and will look forward to the discussion in class. 

V for Vendetta

We had a discussion in class on Wednesday about how we have reacted to the three novels thus far and several good points were presented. I know there were several who were passionate about V for Vendetta, but I tend to side with the opposite view. It was dry and impersonal while simultaneously being overly obvious. Its a great story, but it is not told in a fashion that appeals to me. I am not avidly involved in the political world and I find some of the nuances in the book boring. Blankets to me was more interesting just because it incited emotions all throughout where as V only caused an emotional reaction when I read about his torture of Evey. This reaction was even dulled by the fact that due to the movie I knew the outcome.  Overall I believe that the book had great artistry even though some Evey was very abstract often, It added to her character, and a unique plot line but it is just not a novel i might pick up again to read. Even Watchmen I might read again just to find details i had missed, with V this is not needed and even if I have missed some details I am uninterested in figuring them out. 

I am very excited to read the next set of Historical Comics because I deeply enjoy history and have been unable to take any history classes as of late. I think I will enjoy this presentation of history even more so than the flat text with incorporated pictures. 

V for Vendetta - where to start.

In class we talked briefly about cognitive estrangement and its function and i understand the role of it in the novel entirely, but what i am not sure about is its success. Yes the novel makes me, as a reader, question the authority of the government and take that question into the realm of reality (IE: thinking about how we were all so able to compromise freedoms after 9/11 and what the consequences of that national action might be) but i do not come to these conclusions through an abstract epiphany but a direct connection. I think the novel is very blatant and if its goal was cognitive estrangement, it has faltered. I think the story would be closer related to a satire, pointing out the faults of the "other" only to eventually recognize it in ourselves. Seeing the faults in Evey's perception of the world through V's eyes lets the reader see ones own faults. This is not far removed and entirely scifi. It is just good writing. 

Another satirical aspect of the plot might be the repetition of " England Prevails" which is strikingly similar to "God Bless America". This expression of perceived invincibility inevitably  leads to a downfall, a quasi foreshadow into our societies future perhaps?  

Overall I liked the book, the artistry was a little sketchy and unclear at times which caused slight confusion but the writing was masterful. 

V- for Vendetta

Yes, we have all seen the movie. For me I didn't know that the movie was based on a comic book and if I had I probably would have been upset for the changes they made to allow the movie to be more "kosher", but since I saw the movie first and now have began to read the comic I find the subtle changes to be appropriate, especially for the success of the movie. Overall though i think so far in the comic the movie captured the feeling and movement, unlike most book to movie adaptations. 

Moreover I really enjoy the artistry of the comic. Its a nice blend of the Blankets style and that of Watchmen. I find it easier to read and more enjoyable than Watchmen because often the detail distracted me from the plot and development. Where as Blankets I flew through but believe I lost something in that quick reading. V For Vendetta is a blend of the two that draws me into the plot and allows for a clear connection between the art and text that functions well.

For example on pages 26-27 the description of the past and present was very fluid yet clear, in Watchmen this flashback might have been slightly more disoriented. 

Overall though I am excited to get on to the next two books. 

 One other thing I do have to say is that the priest looks like Muloc from Watchmen. The same sunken look that gives off an air of sinister death. I

The good advice you just didn't take...

Okay- to start this off, I am very upset that I did not take Spencer's advice and back up my blogs on my computer becuase my Monday's post lost over half of my entry. This would make sense considering my title was Reflexivity and there was absolutely nothing about that in the writing. So basically to sum up my 2 other paragraphs, i went on to talk about the incorporation of the text into the work and then went on to speak about the self reflexivity of text. How the text from the incorporated comic reflected on the central plot and how then that the images from that comic differed from the frame. As well i want on to speak of this reflexivity addressing the importance of comics in the Watchmen world and how that then applies to our reality. To end the section I addressed the intriguing idea of self reflexivity as a literary device and how this might indicate that then the Graphic Novel was a form of literature, although not in the American Cannon. 

Well I hope that sheds some light on the ideas i wanted to present last time. 

Now on to newer ideas. 

I have finished Watchmen and McCloud.  I don't have much to say about McCloud because well, it was just a repetition of what he has already tried to teach. A mere echo of the first chapters. I guess it could be seen as a good summary but, really not necessary. 

As for Watchmen,

Manhattan/ Jon just blew up Rorschach??? That caught me off guard and well it was rather unsettling. After the whole exposition of the plot, getting closer to understanding Rorschach and discovering his importance to society he is blown to bits BUT THEN! his journal will still end the peace the world has found presumably. Needless to say, the ending left me a little flat. I did enjoy though the interesting unsolved entanglement between The comedian and Laurie's mother, it addresses the complexity of life that Manhattan was attempting to understand. Overall I enjoyed the obscurity of the novel and the chaotic reality that it was written into but I believe I would have a better understand of its general meaning and more appreciation for the story as a whole if I was able to re-read it. 

Watchmen - reflexivity

In this blog, I have taken the liberty of expanding my horizons but today I think I shall fall back into old routines, old but still effective ( they would not be teaching us the skills if it didn't have some validity).  Working on the Wiki and within this Blog has provided me insight into the world of literary analysis where personal expression is no longer a negativism. 

As an English major I find my self analyzing text so often that the words begin to lose meaning at some point and turn into symbols on a page, art with out meaning. However running through the motions on a literary work of art simply does not do it justice. So as a break I find my self analyzing the abstract images and combination of images and text in the Graphic novel(s) we have read here in this blog, however now we are reading a book where the written word takes center stage in several ways. Blankets focused on Craig's art where as Watchmen focuses on 1. Rorshachs personal diary and 2. at the end of each chapter "Under the Hood" by Hollis- two forms of personal expression through literature with in a *Graphic*  novel. For me this incorporation of text was surprising at first as I read on through the book, however it became more clear to me why not only is the text appealing and interesting but an integral part of the work's implicit message. 

MCB 250 exam

well.. from my title you can tell that I have an MCB exam tomorrow and not a whole lot of time to write about Watchmen. I have been kind of at a loss for discussion topics any way so my next post will be very in-depth but right now all i have time for is a few quick words. I like the story so far and I am really into the Dr. Manhattan plot. The artistry is amazing and far different than Blankets and its true to comic form implores me to read closer and study the pictures far more than i did with Blankets. Simply I enjoy reading it slower. Here are a few clips i liked from the book. 

AND WHAT? Who knows anything about the movie coming out soon??

Superbowl SUNDAY!!! and Watchmen...

So this book intrigued me from the very start, and the start was confusing. In medias res was a clever way to begin the plot because being lost made the plot more inciting and required me to pay far closer attention to detail. The first words of the story said so much more than I realized initially and supplied me with so much insight into the character development. 

The introduction also appealed to me because of the artistic detail within the interwoven frames of present and past- the murdered and the detectives. The color scheme was especially impressive in the way the artist rendered the two detective in multi-color and the murder scene in deep red/pink/purple tones.  This attention to color then brought my attention to the color difference between the color of the Comedians skin tone and the murderer's skin tone. This is a very important distinction when considering how much work went into the color palate of the work. Another aspect of color that caught my attention was the progression of the Smile in the first chapter. I have always associated that face with Joe boxer  which is happy. 

why words?

Dialogue based - 

'Text  Based

Text Enghanced

Text free 

I have been talking about the semantics of Blankets  in my past three posts but this time I wan to talk about the activity we did in class where we made our own comic out of a series of pictures provided to us. This got me thinking about how the words interact with the pictures and how the language was placed in the work. So I gathered a few comics from Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes to compare. 

The Calvin and Hobbes clip exhibits how text can aid in the understanding of a picture. the conversation that develops throughout the frames is intensified by the lack of words in the 2nd to last frame. Each word enhances the meaning of the work and defines the characters in the piece. 

In the first Far Side image the words create the humor of the work however instead of dialogue there are only two signs that contain text.  These two signs indicate that the man is *gifted* but cannot seem to open a door- with out the signs there would be no understanding and the work would lose meaning. 

In the second Far Side image with the penguins, the words simply add to the humor, for the image could stand alone but the words intensify the image where as in the Calvin and Hobbes case the words allow the reader to understand the piece. 

In the third image there is not text at all and yet the comic still delivers its message. 

By comparing these 4 images one can see how different comics utilize different forms of text and relate it to .. you guessed it. Blankets. Each of these different styles are used in Blankets, dialogue based images, text based images, text enhanced images and text free images to create a mosaic within a story much like the blanket Raina sewed for Craig. 

Blankets 3 - More creative titles to come :)

well in class on Wednesday we talked about paper topics we might write on for Blankets and our group decided to talk about the broad range of visual framing. After we discussed this in the small group as I was reading chapters 6 and 7 I noticed the more subtle variations in framing more so than in the first few chapters. Specifically I took into account the fluidity of the frames that encompassed Craig and Raina, for example on pages 387 and 388. As time wears on in the scene and the situation becomes more emotional for the narrator, Craig, we can find  that the frames begin to blend and break down into a quasi visual representation of how Faulkner's stream of conciseness diction might appear. Moreover the Framing that includes Raina have skewed time lines as can be seen on pages 404-406. The interaction with Raina causes Craigs emotions to break free from space,  in the framing, and time, in the fluid transition into memory. 

These Ideas were talked about  in McCloud in chapter 4, page 103. He states " Time is no longer contained by the familiar icon of the CLOSED PANEL, but instead HEMORRHAGES and escapes into TIMELESS SPACE". This is exactly what is happening to the work when Craig and Raina every experience any emotional growth or trauma together.  

So I had two links to pictures up here.. but its not working... o well.. ill try later 

Blankets 2

Within  chapters 2-5 we meet Raina and her whole family. This opens an interesting dynamic in the book, for as readers we get a full description of her family where as we only sub-textually receive information about the true inner-workings of Craig's family. We encounter  mother/father issues, sibling relations, and many other relationships.  This I found very interesting because the narrator focuses more on the family of his friends  then his own which shows even on reflection he still feels separated from his own family. 

When thinking about the work as a whole i was wondering how the work would present itself if it had been published in color. I found a few comparative pictures online and have posted them here.

I find that the characters are some what lost in the color, although they are the focal point in both images, the black and white frame is more striking . While both pictures have a distracting backdrop the characters in the black and white frame are more intense and central because of the ambiguity of every-other shape. The color gives definition to the other objects in the frame thus distracting away from the central focus. The blanket which is also a central theme in each frame is more important in the black and white frame because it contrasts to the bodies where as the blanket in the color picture us more pushed aside even though it is more defined. 

well more to come later! 

Blankets 1

Well this is my first blog ever, I have never even written a note on Facebook and I do not have a Myspace so this is new to me.  I assume is an informal journal type writing style, here it goes. I am very excited for this class because of  Blankets. I picked it up yesterday to read the first chapter but I found that I could not put it down. The work was engaging and the artistry was never a distraction from the text as I previously thought it might be. On the contrary it complimented the text and made is more approachable and personable. When considering the text its self I think that it is a wonderful coming of age story that in the first chapter alone grabs the readers attention through a strong evocation of pathos for the children. The reader is immediately connected with Craig.  The words alone on the pages could be compiled into a text only narration and stand on their own, but when combined with the images the work is striking. Visualizing Phil being thrown into the "cubby hole" is intense as is, but physically viewing the act, seeing the expressions and thoughts depicted rather than described is very powerful. These images then support the remorseful feeling of Craig as he reflects upon his neglect of his brotherly "protective role". The flash backs in Craig's narration are subtle but make a very clear point and foreshadow what the reader is soon to encounter. One specific flashback/foreshadow on page 18 is very intense because it is an open ended image, but because of the texts it is understood that the older figure in the picture is dangerous which leads to natural negative assumptions.  Another aspect of the first chapter that I found appealing was the artists rendition of the aging process on pages 51 and 52. It intrigued me that instead of accent it was a falling action, this image is later then supported by Craig's religious beliefs supplied later in the book. The development of his beliefs is also a big point of interest for me because I was born a Christan and understand all of the teachings and love to see someones point of view and interpretation of the meanings. Well I think that is it for now before I get to much into the other chapters.