Shipka's Forum Prompt:
Lost and Found
Use this space to discuss your collections of found texts. At this point, you want to talk about what you are finding, how these texts might be read and/or work together.
As usual, posts are due by 5:00 Wednesday.
P.C. Paul's Response · C. Gatton's Response · Y. Martin's Response · E. Woodward's First Response · E. Berman's Response · A. Campbell's Response
N. Barsky's Response · R. Desai's Response · S. Norfolk's Response · M.J. Bowen's Response · A. Reed's Response · K. Bailey's Response
K. Bailey's Response · A. Sheikh's Response · B. Bauhaus' Response · K. Zajdel's Response · E. Jones' Response · E. Woodward's Second Response
S. Miller's Response · B. Mechairia's Response · N. Horstman's Response · M. Purcell's Response
Topic One
Sorry Shipka this is not meant to creep you out and this will probably be the first of the ideas to get dumped. Something to the effect of "Footnotes and Notes for the Foot." This came about from the card in my wallet for foot massage. In the UMBC there are two handouts for MLA and APA style guides. We all know there are many various style guides out there:
These I found with little digging on the web. These are all authorless text.
As far as Notes for the Foot a brief look showed me I could find all kinds of authorless text about feet, foot health, foot problems, and other useful knowledge. I am really not clear as how these types of text weave and categorize together other than by a play on words and that the bottom of the page in publishing is a footer.
Topic Two
The next thought is no less bizarre than the first. I wrote a narrative last summer about myself and the twists and turns I went though in my education from one field to the next but all had some kind of connection to each other. I thought I was writing something interesting. Maggie in 407 heard me talk about this in Shipka’s office and thought this would have been an interesting tale for a history, obviously a small glimpse of my own personal history and that this tale had something t offer to more youthful peers. I wasn’t thrilled with this because I am not really comfortable with talking about myself as a topic or focus. I prefer artifacts or things versus people especially personal stuff. I was trying to get published and many of the journals are calling for this memoir stuff which was why I wrote the essay. Shipka in 407 Tuesday informed us that when students were asked to write abut their college experience, out of hundreds read only three types actually existed. Shipka called them the "Rocky" essay (against all odds), "Before Eve" (I can’t think of what this is now, so I have to ask Shipka to clarify), and "Amazing Grace (Shipka didn’t clarify this one either but I am thinking "Lost" but "Found"). When I think of the essay I now think my essay that I thought said something falls into the category of "Amazing Grace" though it could be "Rocky." I thought of it more are the ending music of the Jetsons where he gets trapped on the conveyor belt. "Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!
My focus because I now have to travel by bus everywhere because I can’t afford a car and pay tuition I would collect bus schedules. Then it occurred to me Monty Python did a skit spoofing Masterpiece Theater and it was something like Murder on the 5:38 to Brighton. Everything the actors said in the skit revolved around departure times and arrival times to various places. I then decided why limit myself to say the UMBC bus line and the MTA after all this stuff is on the web. I could dig into Howard County, my old home town of Westbury N.Y. and the Nassau County bus line, Philadelphia, and Lancaster PA. Why stop there? Bring in train schedules like the commuter lines from Baltimore to DC, the Amtrak, and LIRR (Long Island Railroad). I could also bring in trolleys because Baltimore has them, Philadelphia has them and why not subway trains. Then expand to airplanes and airports because I had been in enough those too. I was thinking of waving my twisted educational tale with the twisted scheduling of trying from one place to the next which is what my entire life has felt like and calling it "You Can’t Get There From Here." When it comes to mass transit the saying really is true. You end up from taxi, to bus, to subway, to train, to ferry, to ocean liner, to airplane and back again and don’t forget that most of the journey is also on foot.
Topic Three
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Okay put on your weirdness hat again. When I wrote for the Retriever somehow all the articles on food that semester were being fielded to me. I became the "Food Man" on campus. If it dealt with food it seemed to have my name on the article. The Authorless text seems to be heading in that direction once again. Being the "Food Man" or writing about food was NEVER something I EVER considered. I consider myself a picky eater but maybe I’m not as picky as I think. At some point in time when I lived in N.Y. we developed this oddity of running to a restaurant at the drop of a hat. But not just any restaurant, it all depended upon what someone said they were hungry for. If someone said they wanted a cheeseburger we would run down to Virginia to a special place. If someone said Chinese in an hour we were crossing the Manhattan Bridge to enter Chinatown and would eat only at Wo Hops, 17 Mott Ave., and specifically in the basement. If one dumps the search term “Wo Hop” into the search engine one receives dozens of hits all saying the same thing. Click here to see some reviews posted at
http://www.menupages.com/
If someone said, "souvlaki," back in the cars off to Bayville on the North Shore of Long Island. If someone said Mexican food we were on a plane to Bloomington, Ill. Chicken in a Black Bean sauce we’d scurry over to Hicksville, N.Y. We starting mapping out the entire continental US with our stomachs. Then we did it because we could. Now the fascination may exist because I don’t have enough money to buy food and I’m hungry all the time. I started to think of all the take-out restaurants around me here in my travels in Arbutus and Catonsville and there are a lot. I went out and collected take-out menus. I have no idea why but again Monty Python came into my head and it was the skit of the three Bruce’s. At the same time I thought of the image of Kilroy who was from the WWII era and painted everywhere. He always looks like he is peering over the edge of a fence. I did a search on him and found variations of his image. I thought maybe I could use him to hold the menus. Why not weave a text of the Three Kilroy’s who attended UMBC and became the experts in Catonsville/Arbutus Take-out. I might be able to weave scenes of them in one restaurant bugging the restaurant owner for extra cat or dog in their Chinese take-out or how two of the Kilroy’s admonish the third and banish him form the dining table because what he chose looks awful and stinks literally but he loves to eat it there because he says that it’s made the best.
Topic Four
This topic in my mind is the most boring but maybe does the most work as far as categorization. The authorless text would be business cards. First, this text is probably one of the most overdone types of text in this class. If I consider the work business cards do in goals and choices I am a little nervous because this authorless text may not provide a great deal to write about. I have a small binder I have maintained over the years not for collecting purposes as one of my brother-in-law’s has done over the years but this was a "working portfolio" with several categories within the collection. Some categories might fall short of six so those may have to be negated but this would also end up in goals and choices as what was trimmed out and why. Various categories would be Automotive Suppliers, Dealers, Software Sales, Computer Sales, Doctors, Dentists, Chiropractors, Therapists, Record Stores, Antique Glass Dealers, Universities, Veterinarians, Pet Stores, and there are probably still more all of which are from different states. I think some of the cards would have their own stories and some would mark out phases of interest of things also.
Delivery
As far as how to display the project this project regardless of which I choose I believe will work nicely for a web site within my own web site or several pages broken up into various categories. I think this one may lend itself to scanning and digitizing.
I’ve also collected some other items throughout this weekend at different venues that I’ve been to like a restaurant/bar napkin, a menu, a fortune cookie, a flyer, a credit card receipt, a Starbucks cup, a matchbook, a magazine, and coaster. Since it was my birthday this Saturday, I received a picture frame with authorless text engraved onto the surface, some greeting cards, wrapping paper, gift bags, gift certificates, and a cake with text on it.
At home, I’ve collected even more items, mostly ones that I usually throw out or throw into my filing organizer (which isn’t much organized) to be looked over later and judged on its importance on whether to file and save it or not. Some items that I’ve found right in my own space are paintings with text on them, DVD covers, Portia’s leash (my dog has her name on her collar made out of gem letters), food labels, clothing labels and t-shirt logos, hazard labels, receipts, wedding programs, shopping bags, jewelry boxes, shampoo/conditioner labels, candy wrappers, a balloon that reads “21” on its surface, purse labels, shipping labels, a calendar, movie tickets, brochures, social security card, birth certificate, bank statements, utility bills, W-2 forms, to-do lists, rental agreements, etc. Some are memorable items, others are business related items. The point is the list goes on. I realize we don’t generally keep these items because of who wrote them but how we put value into them. Business Items such as tax forms contain significance not in personal value, but for financial proof and safekeeping. Otherwise, we wouldn’t keep these items on hand. Other items like movie tickets and greeting cards and wedding programs are important not in so much the material value but the intrinsic value it’s brought between people or other types of interaction. These items are also part of our memories.
Back to the blackboard post—as far as the texts I’ve found, all can be contextualized into some sort of narrative. I’ve decided to either use authorless texts from the home that have been collected over time to create a narrative around Christmas time. My thought is to produce an article for some interior decorating magazine such as House Beautiful. It would be an edition around Christmas time where it will introduce the latest fashion of decorating the Christmas tree. The goal would be to use items from the house—found authorless texts and place them on the Christmas tree as decoration. These texts could either symbolize intrinsic value or monetary value. Lesser valued items would be placed on the lower end of the tree and higher values items would be placed higher on the tree. The most valued item would be placed on the tip of the tree, where the angel or star would typically be located. This new way of decorating will bring families together because everyone will want to know the story behind each item and the format of the tree. Because we are living in a materialistic world today, for my article I will use a tiffany labeled box to use as an example. The box could represent strictly the material value of the item inside the box, or the design value (exterior value) or the box, or the intrinsic value where the mother received the box with earrings contained inside for her first anniversary gift from her husband. Either way, not only will these authorless texts be in the light so to speak figuratively and literally, but will also bring back the Christmas tree which is also being overlooked as years go on.
My other idea was to take some of the texts such as a bar/restaurant napkin, a business card, an itinerary, a store/gift receipt, a phone message, a pen with text on its surface, and a jewelry box and create a story where a man/woman is having an affair on his husband/wife. I think I would create some sort of narrative where the husband/wife has found these items and it putting a narrative together by these items she has found in her husband’s pants pocket, briefcase, car, etc. How will I present this narrative? Maybe through a phone conversation where the person suspected of being cheated on is confiding in a friend over the phone, or a written diary entry of his/her suspicions, or a note or voicemail over his/her suspicions to the infidel husband/wife. I haven’t quite decided how I will depict this narrative.
"Lost, Found, Lost Again Text" a response to C. Gatton's "The Christmas Tree Redefined and Texts That Lead to Infidelity" by P.C. Paul
C. Gatton said, “As far as finding authorless texts, they can be found everywhere, but it’s something we often overlook…or at least I do.” We all do because we select things that are meaningful for us at the moment in time and negate the rest because otherwise we would be so over-stimulated we would probably suffer from nervous breakdowns. We perform filtering on information. Authorless text is invisible. While I was searching for one category I ended up negating another. This was time lost in productivity because the authorless text I will probably work with is the opposite of what I searched for.
C. Gatton also Said, “For instance, while at work I’ve managed to collect a business card, which gives credit to the person distributing the card but nowhere in the space of the card does it identify the author/producer of the text.” Yes, business cards. This was the text I neglected in my week of gathering. I have a collection but these are “meaningful and useful for me.” What I would have collected would have been meaningless (doing no work for me other than the assignment) and would be thrown out afterwards. There is only so much clutter I can hold onto. Hmmmm, that in itself sounds like a narrative or a literacy (what to keep/what to discard and why? Here I mean anything and everything that is an object, i.e. purposeful filtering.)
”At home, I’ve collected even more items, mostly ones that I usually throw out or throw into my filing organizer (which isn’t very organized) to be looked over later and judged on its importance on whether to file and save it or not. Some items that I’ve found right in my own space are paintings with text on them, [Really, that is interesting, would you be willing to share more on this?] DVD covers, Portia’s leash (my dog has her name on her collar made out of gem letters), food labels, clothing labels and t-shirt logos, hazard labels, receipts, wedding programs, shopping bags, jewelry boxes, shampoo/conditioner labels, candy wrappers, a balloon that reads “21” on its surface, purse labels, shipping labels, a calendar, movie tickets, brochures, social security card, birth certificate, bank statements, utility bills, W-2 forms, to-do lists, rental agreements, etc. Some are memorable items, others are business related items. The point is the list goes on,” said Gatton. Yes I understand. During the semester I maintain what I will call “a catch all.” This is a file box that I throw anything that has to be read and not immediately acted upon. This is a Ph.D. technique. When one is moving so fast, one decides does this need my immediate attention… if not it goes into “catch all.” When the mad rush of the semester is over, one goes through the box of text to determine what might be of interest or is hamster bedding (paper to be shredded.) I don’t have a hamster but a hamster would find this paper very useful.
“I realize we don’t generally keep these items because of who wrote them but how we put value into them. Business Items such as tax forms contain significance not in personal value, but for financial proof and safekeeping. Otherwise, we wouldn’t keep these items on hand. Other items like movie tickets and greeting cards and wedding programs are important not in so much the material value but the intrinsic value it’s brought between people or other types of interaction. These items are also part of our memories,” said Gatton. Sentimental Value/Markers of our own personal history. Articles which cause us to reflect on a moment in time long past. I think without these artifacts or markers for people remembering becomes more difficult unless the event was truly significant.
“Back to the blackboard post—as far as the texts I’ve found, all can be contextualized into some sort of narrative. I’ve decided to either use authorless texts from the home that have been collected over time to create a narrative around Christmas time. My thought is to produce an article for some interior decorating magazine such as House Beautiful. It would be an edition around Christmas time where it will introduce the latest fashion of decorating the Christmas tree. The goal would be to use items from the house—found authorless texts and place them on the Christmas tree as decoration. These texts could either symbolize intrinsic value or monetary value. Lesser valued items would be placed on the lower end of the tree and higher values items would be placed higher on the tree. The most valued item would be placed on the tip of the tree, where the angel or star would typically be located.” A very interesting argument that sounds quite innovative. Are you thinking of making this a three dimensional object/argument? I would hope so. This idea is also really hot and one I would like to do. The problem is I don't have a Christmas Tree around that could be sacrificed and I KNOW it will be hard to find one in a store now other than an All-year-round Christmas specialty shop.
Gatton continued, “This new way of decorating will bring families together because everyone will want to know the story behind each item and the format of the tree. Because we are living in a materialistic world today, for my article I will use a tiffany labeled box to use as an example. The box could represent strictly the material value of the item inside the box, or the design value (exterior value) or the box, or the intrinsic value where the mother received the box with earrings contained inside for her first anniversary gift from her husband. Either way, not only will these authorless texts be in the light so to speak figuratively and literally, but will also bring back the Christmas tree which is also being overlooked as years go on.” Really? The tree is being overlooked? Mine becomes more complex year after year. There is no end to the building until you reach a ripe old age where the tree becomes too much work. I am busy all year. You never know what you will find or where.
“My other idea was to take some of the texts such as a bar/restaurant napkin, a business card, an itinerary, a store/gift receipt, a phone message, a pen with text on its surface, and a jewelry box and create a story where a man/woman is having an affair on his husband/wife. I think I would create some sort of narrative where the husband/wife has found these items and it putting a narrative together by these items she has found in her husband’s pants pocket, briefcase, car, etc. How will I present this narrative? Maybe through a phone conversation where the person suspected of being cheated on is confiding in a friend over the phone, or a written diary entry of his/her suspicions, or a note or voicemail over his/her suspicions to the infidel husband/wife. I haven’t quite decided how I will depict this narrative,” Gatton said. This also sounds like a fascinating idea. I may decide to borrow this one. I love doing the voice-over stuff. (Will probably hesitate because I already did one in 407 and would like to show my versatility I would think the audiotape of a telephone conversation and a transcript might work well. Voicemail might work well. There are no traces even though one person is burdening another with information that they really should not withhold: the art of deception. The diary I think, well okay that would work as hard evidence showing the progress of the tracing of the suspicion. The diary is maintained by the spouse that suspects, not the adulterer. I think the phone is the best or even an in person dialog transcribed over cake and tea, beer, whatever. The reason I think this is because this would be more believable and we tend to use oral dialog in cases like this so there IS no trail. The diary acts as a hard document log which is also likely. Phone conversation we believe is same as oral person to person but we have no idea whether the conversation is being recorded. But then again we should not fool ourselves for while I researched audio recorders as a technology, digital recorders in normal looking office pens is now possible at $150 which in some ways is quite affordable. Hence, anyone could be recording any conversation we have at any time.
Gatton, If you decide you want to do an audio or something to that effect and need a male role let me know. I love doing voice-overs. Ask S. Miller.
A response to P.C. Paul's post by C. Gatton
Thanks Chris for being so willing to help! I will def. keep you in mind if I decide to do a recording of a phone conversation!
A response to C. Gatton's post by P.C. Paul
Okie Dokie. We're Shipkaites. No one else knows what we're talking about and it will take eight weeks to bring them up to speed.
I had decided to do a narrative of a con artist by using the diary as an added plus. In doing this I have decided to make my character a woman because I began finding random female items that would intertwine with my character. A feather, a receipt, matchbook cover etc. I don't want to go into too much detail yet about my ideas because the need to be discussed in class further.
I did want to add a twist to my story with a few of my findings and since I am using the con women as the basis for my narrative this will play very well. I have had so many ideas told to me from various friends and family of what they think I should do to in terms of different narratives that I still have many options if this one is a bust or I am not going far with this idea. I have made the decision to have my main character of my ideas be a female because of the various nameless and authorless text I have found.
I really never thought that the task would be so complex and so I am hoping that I can pull this off. I wonder how many other students are having the same feelings.
Response to Y. Martin 's "The Findings" by P.C. Paul
[Pulling it off, Okay. Yolanda, I think the problem you might be having is focusing on the end product. My problem is choosing a goal and negotiating through its path. I will poke the clay and the clay is going to poke back. (I’m using this because you’re an artist.) OR what I will give to the material and what the material will give to me. The design becomes a play, like a 3 or 5 scene play. Don’t worry about the end product. What we are working on is the “Goals and Choices” made in choosing a direction. How wide, broad, and large in scope it the project and how does one have to reign the project in to fit cost, time, and scope. Everything that is lopped off as not being able to do for whatever reason goes into the catch all category “Goals and Choices.” I chose to do this but had to lopp off that. I decided I would, but found that cost too much. I thought of sending… but found it wouldn’t dry in time. Bla bla bla. What is necessary is to choose something that will produce the largest number of decisions. More decisions, more to write about. That’s why the business cards get interesting. How many ways can one categorize them. Which reminds me, another two ways to catalog is by color and non-color.
Response to E. Wodward's "Thanks a Mill!" by P.C. Paul
Are you kidding???? Borrow anything you'd like. No matter what one person does a second author will choose to include and negate different things producing a completely different narrative showing the viewpoint they choose to show to do different work. Again it's about what you write in Goals and Choices, not the end product.
My “story-line” is that of a guy and a girl dealing with their long distance relationship. The inspiration behind this comes from the stigma that long distance relationships don’t work, and my roommate. Her and her now-fiancé lived a plane-ride away for almost a year while they were dating. Now they are engaged and happier then ever, but while he lived in Chicago, they would have a journal that they each wrote in and would mail it to each other with various artifacts or poems or whatever that they had written. Sometimes she would have a really hard week with school and just would write these depressing, “I miss you” types of things to him, or if they were going to be together soon, she would write up-beat things. Something along those lines is how I plan on presenting my author-less texts.
I have a ticket stub to an Oriole’s game and/or concerts which could be their first date, so it could go through an entire relationship or it could just be this whole memory book of these two people who love each other just waiting until their jobs/lives allow them to live in the same vicinity to each other. I have a receipt from a fast-food restaurant; where I could act as the guy and say, “I bought lunch for myself, wish I had bought it for two.” Or something cheesy like that. I have a card from a flower shop as well, where something could occur along the same lines. I don’t know. I could use a phone bill or information from a long-distance company as to say, “I can’t wait until I don’t have to pay to talk to you, when you will be here.”
Any comments or more ideas are greatly welcomed with open arms! Thanks in advance.
P.C. Paul's response to E. Berman's "The Long-Distance Relationship"
E. Berman said, "I have many different texts, from one of those tear-away day calendars (mine has Mr. Rogers quotes on them) to credit card receipts (which seem popular), and greeting cards and a toll receipt. Business cards is a really good idea (thanks Crystal!). No, you can thank Christopher on the business cards. Credit where credit is due. See my post. Also as I said elsewhere feel free to run with it because are card collections will undoubtedly be different which will generate different categories.
Berman continued, "My “story-line” is that of a guy and a girl dealing with their long distance relationship. The inspiration behind this comes from the stigma that long distance relationships don’t work, and my roommate. Her and her now-fiancé lived a plane-ride away for almost a year while they were dating. Now they are engaged and happier then ever, but while he lived in Chicago, they would have a journal that they each wrote in and would mail it to each other with various artifacts or poems or whatever that they had written. Sometimes she would have a really hard week with school and just would write these depressing, “I miss you” types of things to him, or if they were going to be together soon, she would write up-beat things. Something along those lines is how I plan on presenting my author-less texts." Yes the stigma. Mmmm, many cases they do work. They didn’t work for me but that might not have been due to distance either. For others they have worked and successfully. But that is not the point of what you are doing anyway. The long-distance relationship is a theme or an entertainment.
"I have a ticket stub to an Oriole’s game and/or concerts which could be their first date, so it could go through an entire relationship or it could just be this whole memory book of these two people who love each other just waiting until their jobs/lives allow them to live in the same vicinity to each other," said Berman. That is very likely, sort of like a scrap book.
"I have a receipt from a fast-food restaurant; where I could act as the guy and say, “I bought lunch for myself, wish I had bought it for two.” Or something cheesy like that," Berman said. Really Limburger if you ask me.
Berman continued, "I have a card from a flower shop as well, where something could occur along the same lines. I don’t know. I could use a phone bill or information from a long-distance company as to say, “I can’t wait until I don’t have to pay to talk to you, when you will be here.” You don’t happen to have any plane boarding passes lying around do you? You could even use train or bus schedules or several. Floral cards would work and any receipts from the florist. An old hotel bill would work. Long distance phone bills would work. Old greeting cards like “Thinking of You, Miss You, bla bla bla.” Wait a MINUTE!!!!! Here it is. Emails and IM’s. Create two new email addresses and send email letters back and forth using screen names. Open a new IM account and someone in class could help you to weave a text that you could copy. In long distance the phone, email, and IM’ing were important. You might even work in there how power blackouts and ISP blackouts area real bummer. Maybe highway toll receipts, bridge receipts, hmmm, even gasoline credit card receipts. I don’t know if this is possible but as you mentioned restaurant or coffee shop receipts from various parts of the country as part of the trip in commuting long-distance. What about road maps?
I was able to gather all kinds of texts from both my roommate and other people that had what they considered "junk". Some things I was able to gather were a USPS receipt, pay-stub, train schedule, car part receipt, post-it note, gas receipt, and some other things. While gathering these texts I noticed that they could all successfully be used to tell a story.
Therefore, I decided that since I am a journalism minor, I would take a journalistic approach to this assignment. The idea I have come up with is to sort of use all these texts as clues or a lead for a newspaper story. This way, I can basically use all the texts to help solve a story that will run in a newspaper.
I'm still contemplating exactly what kind of aim I am going to take, but so far I figure using my journalism skills will probably be the best way to use the texts in a way that they weren't originally intended for. I would really like to write a story involving some kind of criminal or possibly a famous celebrity that has been caught doing something illegal. This way, I can use the texts as a way to find more information that I need to solve or write a great story.
Any input anyone has would be very helpful. I can't seem to come up with a good story pitch, so ideas would be great!
A response to A. Campbell's "Newspaper Story" by P.C. Paul
What about a murder mystery and these widgets of paper are all the clues that led back to the suspect. How about a good old fashioned love triangle. A good healthy dose of smut. Best to pick out a public figure too because it makes the story more sensational. In other words, by snooping and picking these widgets out of trash and various places along the way say Detective Perrot works his way back in time and space, determines who pulled the trigger and why? It’s really old hat but I would think this would be rather fun because you will have to visualize the events in order to convey the imagery to a general public. I think murder is one of the best because the victim usually knows the assailant and there is usually a crime of passion involved plus it gives you freedom to write some real dirt. For me this would be something that one could let their imagination go ramped. Maybe even a confession story may be possible.
The pitch at least for me would come from seeing the various text in one place. You may find that there may be a necessity to find specific pieces to add to shove characters from place to place in time. This sounds like it could become really fascinating to do. Without seeing the widgets of text this is difficult especially the “and other things.”
When I hear the word “authorless text,” the first thing that springs to mind is famous literature without a known author, like Beowulf. I was talking to Chris Paul about this before. Of course, there are works where the question of whether they are authorless depends on point of view. Examples include the Bible (which turns on religious beliefs) and Shakespeare’s plays (where there are those who doubt Shakespeare wrote them). Then there is Grimm’s fairy tales, a collection of tales that the Grimm Brothers themselves never took credit for inventing. If they had, could they have gotten away with it? I suspect they could have. In modern times, copyright laws prohibit people from taking credit for another writer’s work, but in practice writers regularly recycle ideas from works not their own. All these considerations reveal that the question of who is the true “author” of a work of literature is quite hazy. If my project is about narrative literature, it might be appropriate to present it in the form of a story, though how exactly I would go about it, I’m not sure yet.
A response to N. Barsky's "Authorless Literature and Other Ideas" by P.C. Paul
N. Barsky said, "I have a lot of ideas coming out, but I'm not quite sure how to integrate them into something useful yet. When I hear the word "authorless text," the first thing that springs to mind is famous literature without a known author, like Beowulf." I read Beowulf a long (raise that to the power of 26.7, I think dinosaurs were just evolving into birds at the time.) time ago but I have no idea what to do with that text as far as re-contextualising.
Barsky continued, "I was talking to Chris Paul about this before. Of course, there are works where the question of whether they are authorless depends on point of view. Examples include the Bible (which turns on religious beliefs) and Shakespeare’s plays (where there are those who doubt Shakespeare wrote them)." I’m not clear as to what to do with these either.
"Then there is Grimm’s fairy tales, a collection of tales that the Grimm Brothers themselves never took credit for inventing. If they had, could they have gotten away with it?" said Barsky. I agree with you. The Grimm brothers probably didn’t want to admit to writing these texts because of repercussions.
"I suspect they could have. In modern times, copyright laws prohibit people from taking credit for another writer’s work, but in practice, writers regularly recycle ideas from works not their own," Barsky said. Artists "steal" from each other on a regular basis. The theft is hidden under the guise of "one work inspires another." The other saying is, "The great artist learns how to steal without getting caught. I great deal of the so called "stealing comes about the same way we are working here. Many of the ideas we throw out right now most of these will not be pursued. We are having an intellectual discussion tossing out raw meat to see what the dogs do with it. Anything that gets chewed up and spit out will most likely be something we will not pursue. Other ideas will undoubtedly turn up in someone else’s work. I think this can’t be help because we are small group of authors brainstorming. We have a great deal of similarities because we are in the same place in space and time but we all bring different life experiences to the table which will change the way any one particular idea is designed. One person’s vision is not going to be the same. I don’t think of it as "stealing" but as creative stimulation or a spark. As I said to Crystal I like the Christmas tree idea. There was a time when I began working on Christmas layout stuff in June because it would take that long to get a new object ready for the holiday and ever year I wanted to pursue a new add on to the collection. It was a hobby and a way of maintaining the spirit of the holiday beyond the day the tree went to the dump.
"All these considerations reveal that the question of who is the true "author" of a work of literature is quite hazy. If my project is about narrative literature, it might be appropriate to present it in the form of a story, though how exactly I would go about it, I’m not sure yet." A way I wound see it would be the same way we weave citations into our own research papers for support. Another way may be taking sentences and weaving them across texts with original work creating a new work similar to what we did when Sarah cut up our texts, placed them in envelopes, and gave us the task of re-contextualizing the words into a new text. After speaking with Matt about his experience, we found we had shared experiences with the task like moving a little too fast and having most of the words go flying, working for a solid five hours creating a text that made sense, and then towards the end in an attempt to use the few words left ending up with nonsense combination of words.
"My original idea had to do with money and trade. There are lots of possible "texts" that have to do with money--the writing on a dollar bill, a coin, a check, or a credit card, among others. But integrating such objects is perhaps too easy." I’m not sure how easy that really is. What if you were to bring in financial statements, banking transactions and while we’re at it, who says it has to be in American currency. You could extend into other currencies also.
"I need to find a larger selection of things, and I could look more deeply into the idea of "trade." For example, baseball cards, Beanie Babies, and other things that people have collected for accumulating value (successfully or not)." Hmmm, I wonder if this is for trade or "Hunting and Collecting." If you turn slightly to "Hunting and Collecting" things could get really interesting but you may not have access to these things. What about the trading cards people collect that are sold in many of the comic book shops? I had a friend who was gaga over this but I do not know what they were called. Maybe Steve does. They were cards in the Japanese Amine art genre and as with everything in that genre I think they were collecting these trading cards for their artistic value amongst other things. These cards always had text on them because I think they were designed to be used for card playing games like Pokimon (Pika Pika). I’m still wracking my brain for ideas in this sector.
"For all I know, a branded cow might constitute an authorless "text" that pertains to trade. (Maybe that will be an entirely new area I could explore, if I merge it with humans getting tattoos.)" Interesting. A branding would be a symbol indicating to other ranchers that the steer was owned by a particular ranch. Brands are symbols and we are the symbol making creatures plus branding would fall into semiotics. The tattoos are also symbols that the wearer has decided that this symbols has some type of meaning and the wearer chooses to deliver that message to the rest of us with the tattoo. It is interesting how you drew that parallel between a steer being branded and a person getting a tattoo. More interesting is the steer has no choice in receiving the "steer tattoo" but humans do have a choice. Personally, I don’t like tattoos at all, on anyone so for me a tattoo carries a great deal of negative connotations. I have read a few academic papers in semiotics and some collections but I have never seen anything comparing and contrasting tattoos and branding. That may also I wasn’t looking for it because of my own negative mindset of tattoos in general.
"I'm also considering looking at anonymously authored web sites like Wikipedia, the Internet Movie Database, and others where users continually update information." That could be a possibility also but now my mind is getting tired and I am not sure what I would see as a sense making activity within this text. That may be because one would have to hunt for various types and see where they may point. This is quite typical for artists. An artist may have a sense of creativity on a particular day but not see in their mind exactly what the object is. As an example these two courses have pushed me into the art supply stores, the office supplies, and the craft supplies stores not necessarily knowing what I am looking for and looking at combinations of raw materials to leap off the shelf and tell me how I should use them to make something. I know walking through the isles for an artist is like for us like walking through the book stacks. Ideas leap out at you when you least expect them. So with these particular sites it may be a more of a matter of browsing through the sites to see what leaps out. This can get quite painful as some of us here had this experience searching for words in the OED to re-contextualize.
I plan on using two more found texts, but have not yet decided what they will be. As I mentioned earlier, I am considering several different settings:
An interesting re-contextualization would be if I used items that reflected things a parent bequeaths to a child. Obviously, I would have to use different objects to make such a theme work.
I think the best contextualization I have so far is #1 (items taped on a fridge.) Most of my items can indeed be found on a fridge, with the exception of a Dixie cup and candle (though a candle could be found sitting on top of a fridge.) I think I could also apply the objects as pieces of evidence, but would need to think of an interesting case in which these objects could realistically serve a purpose. Or, I could use them as clues in a board game (i.e. the board game "Clue" uses different objects to give players clues that players can then use to solve the murder.) Ultimately, I will either apply the objects to the board game idea or to setting #1. While setting #1 is more realistic, it is not very creative (as is the board game idea.)
A response to R. Desai's "Communicative Objective #2" by P.C. Paul
"1. Items taped on to a fridge - of course, objects #4 and #5 probably would not work in this setting." Finding a Dixie cup and a tea light taped to the refrigerator would seem rather odd unless you lived with a PhD. She was always in a rush. She would grab an object (a figurine) and place it on top of a bill at the front door. The mail was sorted at the door as she was going out. She grabbed any available object and placed it on top of the bill to remind her to take care of that bill when she returned. The more I observed this the less there was an observable pattern or relation between the objects.
"2. Pieces of evidence used in a court of law - I would have to make an interesting case to utilize these rather random objects." I think I can weave a continuous thread with these objects found in various places but what you need here is something like a golf iron, a heavy based lamp, an iron, something good and heavy for a murder weapon. The photo happens to be the woman or the man the husband is running around with, oh a real fair haired boy…haha.
"3. Things found in a child's playroom." This seems to be a stretch. Would you find these things in a child’s playroom especially the tea light? I think you will have to be convincing and you can’t convince me that I would find a tea light in a child’s room.
"An interesting re-contextualization would be if I used items that reflected things a parent bequeaths to a child. Obviously, I would have to use different objects to make such a theme work." How about bad genes, allergies, mental disorders, physical disorders, premature balding, …. I mean where else would you get “these” things.
"I think the best contextualization I have so far is #1 (items taped on a fridge.) Most of my items can indeed be found on a fridge, with the exception of a Dixie cup and candle (though a candle could be found sitting on top of a fridge.)"
"I think I could also apply the objects as pieces of evidence, but would need to think of an interesting case in which these objects could realistically serve a purpose." I like this one best because then you can write some real roll in the mud type of stuff.
"Or, I could use them as clues in a board game (i.e. the board game "Clue" uses different objects to give players clues that players can then use to solve the murder.)" That could work too.
"Ultimately, I will either apply the objects to the board game idea or to setting #1. While setting #1 is more realistic, it is not innovative (as is the board game idea.)I think the best contextualization I have so far is #1 (items taped on a fridge.)" I still like #2 and think that could become very innovative.
Admittedly this is not the most profound project in the world. However, I have been collecting action figures my entire life and I saw an alternative use for all of those old file cards. As a result I am kind of an expert on action figures and their texts. I just thought that it would be fun to use the information out of its original context.
A response to S. Norfolk's "The File Card Idea" by P.C. Paul
"Most of the stuff that I have collected is the file cards from old action figures. If some of you aren't familiar with the term, a file card is a card that gives a realistic history to a fictional character. I am not sure that the convention idea will pan out and was thinking about focusing on why people feel the need to give a history to fictional characters. I was thinking as an application of this, using the file cards to make up want ads for the out of work members of the GI-Joe team, Transformers etc. What do you guys think?
"Admittedly this is not the most profound project in the world. However, I have been collecting action figures my entire life and I saw an alternative use for all of those old file cards. As a result I am kind of an expert on action figures and their texts. I just thought that it would be fun to use the information out of its original context."
If I remember correctly I think you said that you did not know how to make a web page. I would think the cards would led themselves to be presented on a web site and that web site or page could be weaved around the creation of a convention maybe where “these" particular action figures would appear in person? Maybe that isn’t out far enough.
As far as to why people/fans feel compelled to generate bios and personal histories for these fictitious characters I have an academic article that analyses the phenomenon applied to gaming characters. The focus was Laura Croft because she never had a history but the fans created one for her. In this article the author mentions two previous games where they developed elaborate bios for the characters and in doing so the game became a flop. I think they mention “The Kiss Girls,” as one particular group. This might help direct you through the phenomenon. I’ll pull the research and give it to you Thursday. Make a copy because I seem to get a lot of mileage in unexpected ways for this article. The article explains why this failed with a detailed bio and why Laura exceeded the game designer’s wildest dreams without the bio.
Want Ads designed for these out of work Action Figures is quite funny actually especially if you think of Super Hero’s. FYI there is also an odd humorist academic article out there somewhere about the sexual dysfunction’s of the Super Hero’s such as one guy who can turn himself into flame? This was a satire but made a little too much sense. The want ads could be very funny.
I wouldn’t second-guess yourself as to the profoundness of the project for maybe the work you intend on this text doing is not meant to be profound but entertaining. A satirical look as to what it’s like to be an action hero out of work. This seems to come from a commercial or even Bicycle Repair Man. There is nothing wrong with re-contextualizing something from someone else, doing it differently, and calling it your own. Plus you said this is something you are familiar with and have readily. I think this frees your mind to concentrate on other aspects of the project.
A response to P.C. Paul's post by S. Norfolk
Thanks for not thinking the idea was a total load of crap. I had thought about doing like a whole classifieds /personals section of a newspaper around these examples:
For a want ad
Out of work tractor trailer with military experience seeking employment to haul heavy loads, several hundreds of years experience in management position and, no driver needed can transform into giant robot and unload weight exceeding 10 ten tons, no security needed (I am well versed in several types of combat and have a giant laser rifle), if interested in my services contact Mr. Optimus Prime (I may be registered in some regions as Convoy).
For a personal ad
Single White Female w/ black hair and green eyes seeking Single White Male:
interests include : world domination, romance, espionage, weapons, wealth, power (I expect to be treated like a real "Baroness") and snakes
contact Ms. Anastasia Cobray
Tell me what you think?
A response to S. Norfolk's post by P.C. Paul
I think this would be quite comic. Most of this will not be funny to me or others because we don’t understand action heroes but that is not to say that you shouldn’t do this because I know this stuff is HUGE and has a huge following. Those in the know if you can make the end result look like newsprint would do a double take.
What you are working with is what is allowing you to go in this direction you know. From most of the found text everyone else is working with this is impossible. Let me know if you find that academic paper I mentioned on action heroes, I would like to see it.
First, I was thinking of collecting a bunch of found and authorless texts, in a fairly random fashion, and then I wanted to sort them into related groups. The next part of it would be for the observer to try and figure out what each group represents. For instance, I could have a bunch of business cards and some money and receipts, etceteras, which could possibly be the contents of a wallet. There would be sort of a quiz to determine what each group of texts represents. I would put the correct answers into a sealed envelope, only to be opened after the quiz is completed. Another variation of this would be to actually collect the contents of a wallet and the contents of several other things and then do the same thing with that, but I think it would be better for me to create the context and then claim that to be the correct response I’m looking for. If the person taking the test gets the representations correct, then I would feel as if the idea worked, but I would hope that they wouldn’t all be correct-it would nice for the test to be challenging.
Another idea I was toying with would be to collect authorless texts from men and women and keep them separated by gender and then come up with some sort of context where the object would be to decide whether the text came from a man or a woman. This would be able to look at misconceptions about genders and biases. I’m not completely sure how I would end up doing this, but if I can come up with something really good, I think I’d do this idea for the assignment. I’m open to suggestions.
Response to M.J. Bowen's "Ideas for the Second Assignment" by P.C. Paul
M.J. Bowen said, "For this assignment, I have been playing around with several ideas, and today’s workshop gave me some more insight and a few more ideas. I think that some of the ideas I heard today were absolutely marvelous and I really don’t feel that any of my ideas meet those standards, but here’s what I’m thinking about as of now.
"First, I was thinking of collecting a bunch of found and authorless texts, in a fairly random fashion, and then I wanted to sort them into related groups. The next part of it would be for the observer to try and figure out what each group represents," said Bowen.
I follow you, we would have to determine what is the common thread between all the items. What is the missing link?
"For instance, I could have a bunch of business cards, some money, and receipts, etcetera, which could possibly be the contents of a wallet. There would be sort of a quiz to determine what each group of texts represents. I would put the correct answers into a sealed envelope, only to be opened after the quiz is completed," Bowen said.
Bowen continued, "Another variation of this would be to actually collect the contents of a wallet and the contents of several other things and then do the same thing with that, but I think it would be better for me to create the context and then claim that to be the correct response I’m looking for. If the person taking the test gets the representations correct, then I would feel as if the idea worked, but I would hope that they wouldn’t all be correct-it would nice for the test to be challenging.
This you may want to test with a few participants to see how easy or difficult it is to solve.
Bowen said, "Another idea I was toying with would be to collect authorless texts from men and women and keep them separated by gender and then come up with some sort of context where the object would be to decide whether the text came from a man or a woman. This would be able to look at misconceptions about genders and biases. I’m not completely sure how I would end up doing this, but if I can come up with something really good, I think I’d do this idea for the assignment. I’m open to suggestions.
I thought about this and I have a different view. Ask 16 people for some authorless text from their wallet and pocketbook. Eight men and eight women. Then lay the text out, Men on one side and women on the other. Play matchmaker by the content they give you. You could write a text around the matchmaking.
So far I have found a number of found authorless texts. I have found ticket stubs, receipts, bills, pay stubs, order forms, candy wrappers, food wrappers and containers, banners, cards, etc.
It took me a while to think of any type of idea whatsoever that I could develop and make into something that wasn’t cheesy or just flat out stupid. And after hours of deliberation I think I found something that might be all right. While this might not end up being what I go with (hopefully a brilliant idea will come to me in a dream) it seems okay enough to share.
What I am thinking about doing with my found texts is creating a guide booklet. The booklet will be for teenagers and will deal with issues that they may encounter (such as peer pressure, sex, debt, etc). This may cause me to have to go out and buy a few items… For example: anything dealing with peer pressure. I could go out and buy a carton of cigarettes or take off the wrapping of liquor bottle. And perhaps for sexual problems/concerns, I could use pamphlets, which I could get from clinics.
I am just playing with a few ideas right now and I’m not sure if this is what I actually want to do yet. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be glad to hear them…I could use all the help I can get.
A response to A. Reed's "Brochure for Your Life" by P.C. Paul
"After reading the assignment over and over and over again, I think I finally understand what this project requires of me. (If I’m not on the right track, someone please let me know before I get in too deep)."
The authorless text can be approached from three points of view:
Keep in mind Shipka keeps reminding us that its not the “End Result/Artifact/Object” created in the end that is important.
The object is how many design decisions do you have to make in order to produce the “End Result”
Ex: I did this because… I didn’t do this because...
"So far I have found a number of found authorless texts. I have found ticket stubs, receipts, bills, pay stubs, order forms, candy wrappers, food wrappers and containers, banners, cards, etc."
"It took me a while to think of any type of idea whatsoever that I could develop and make into something that wasn’t cheesy or just flat out stupid."
I think what you REALLY have to worry about here is whatever you do can’t be so simple that you have only a few design decisions. You won’t have anything to write about.
"And after hours of deliberation I think I found something that might be alright. While this might not end up being what I go with (hopefully a brilliant idea will come to me in a dream) it seems okay enough to share."
"What I am thinking about doing with my found texts is creating a guide booklet. The booklet will be for teenagers and will deal with issues that they may encounter (such as peer pressure, sex, debt, etc). This may cause me to have to go out and buy a few items… For example: anything dealing with peer pressure. I could go out and buy a carton of cigarettes or take off the wrapping of liquor bottle. And perhaps for sexual problems/concerns, I could use pamphlets which I could get from clinics."
Okay that is the artifact. How many choices do you have to make in creating this artifact? That will determine what path is best to pursue. The power in S. Miller’s concept is not only the size of the concept and the argument but that Miller is going to have so many things going on that she will generate a huge list of decisions and paths. Every path chosen creates two decisions. Think of this as a tree."
"I am just playing with a few ideas right now and I’m not sure if this is what I actually want to do yet."
Write out the ideas formally. They count as what you decided not to do which you show in Goals and Choices.
If anyone has any suggestions, I’d be glad to hear them…I could use all the help I can get.
I could really use a few suggestions on this idea. I think it will be fun to do, seeing as I love children's books, but I am having a little bit of trouble when it comes to involving the text to make a good story!
A response to K. Bailey's "Children's Book" by P.C. Paul
Bailey said, "Well, this has not been an easy assignment. I have collected many different texts and looked at them a million different ways. One idea that I have come up with is to write a children's book out of what I have collected. I would have to pick certain texts to make this work." Yes, you pick certain texts to create the children’s book. The stuff you don’t use you put in another box and indicate in Goals and Choices why you decided to leave the text out. You intend to account for text you used so account for text you chose not to use.
"They would have to be things I could make a children's story out of. Some of my collected items so far have been a cereal box, a receipt of things I could buy that go along with my story, stuffed animal tags, box a cookies, and brochure for an art museum. What I still have to really think about is what I want my story to be about. I want it to be a fun story. I was also thinking that I could use the items not only in the text of the story, but cut them up to be in the illustrations," said Bailey. As far as the “end product” I was thinking the same thing. Use the articles as repurposed items within the book. The word “receipt” could be one of the words the child is to learn and on the opposite page would be the physical receipt.
Bailey continued, "I could cut a receipt into a shirt that one of my characters can wear. I could make a tree cutting out a cereal box." Okay, that sounds like more fun.
"I may have to change some of the words to make it fit into my story," Baliey said. We were given permission to do this.
"A story about animals may be a good idea." A story about animals is always good. Children like animals.
"There are many texts that talk about some sort of animal whether it be a cartoon or ingredients in something."
"I could really use a few suggestions on this idea. I think it will be fun to do, seeing as I love children's books, but I am having a little bit of trouble when it comes to involving the text to make a good story!"
One, I would bring the text to class and pass it around, maybe we can see something you might not. I would also look at or take out few children’s books out of the library glance at a few to get ideas for narratives. Many cases there will be a moral to the story. Is there maybe a problem with the authorless text being dry and lifeless? Maybe you could use only portions of the text. I would think passing the text around might help.
Another idea which I think I am leaning on more is that I wanted to get a dozen or so magazine subscription form. These are subscription to all different kinds of interest. Now a days there are so many different kinds of magazines, there for all ages and interest I think I can find a lot of forms. I want to give it to a few people from maybe a few different ages and use it on male and females. To see what kind of magazines they would order if they could. For that trial I would give a maybe a little description of the magazines to the people I am testing this on so they have an idea what that magazine is about. With the results I get I would then make up a personality of those people or even kind of do a little horoscope of those people of what the future lies ahead. I am not sure where to go with it yet butt those are the ideas I am going through right now. I want to do all the same kinds of things I find (like all receipts or all forms) because I want to see if it is possible to get the person’s identity out of it.
A response to A. Sheikh's "Receipts or Magazine Subscription Forms" by P.C. Paul
Why wouldn’t this work. Do the receipts have the name of the purchaser on them? Even if they had a person’s name on them, we are free to alter what we want to do the work we want the artifact to do. Naphtali just mentioned in some ways these lost texts are like a trail of someone’s travels. The artifacts are bits and pieces of someone who was wandered through.
Yes, yes, yes. That is really good. You would be categorizing people by the magazines they chose and then categorizing them into astrological signs based on what types of reading holds their interest.
I follow, this is not about the artifacts, this is about the person who had the artifact. The artifacts will be of the same genre so that is your control variable. The random variable is when you attempt to categorize the people into personality types.
I shall entitle my first idea "coming home." I think this is a topic of which everyone, at some point in their lives, can relate to. A plane ticket, a stop sign, a song on the radio, a letter, a phone call, any of these "authorless texts" can be used in a 'coming home' narrative.
I’m also toying with the idea of "leaving home." again, all of the same authorless texts mentioned for the "coming home" process can also be used as texts to account for the action of leaving home. As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, I could use these same texts to represent and juxtapose both ideas of coming aaaand leaving home. That’d be most marvelous I think.
Now, how would I represent this? Good question. Right now I’m thinking something along the lines of a diary/journal type notebook or maybe through a menu of a favorite restaurant or scrapbook of some sort or even through a photo album. Is this making sense to anyone? Please let me know what you think if ya have a sec or two. Word.
A response to B. Bauhaus' "Am I Coming or Going?" by P.C. Paul
"I shall entitle my first idea 'coming home.' I think this is a topic of which everyone, at some point in their lives, can relate to. a plane ticket, a stop sign, a song on the radio, a letter, a phone call, any of these "authorless texts" can be used in a 'coming home' narrative." I don’t have much to add to this. There are some that never leave in a big way but this really doesn’t matter because there are enough paper that can relate, Random items tied together through a unified theme.
"I’m also toying with the idea of 'leaving home.' again, all of the same authorless texts mentioned for the "coming home" process can also be used as texts to account for the action of leaving home. As a matter of fact, now that I think about it, I could use these same texts to represent and juxtapose both ideas of coming aaaand leaving home. That’d be most marvelous I think." Yes you could do both.
"Now, how would I represent this? Good question. Right now I’m thinking something along the lines of a diary/journal type notebook or maybe through a menu of a favorite restaurant or scrapbook of some sort or even through a photo album. Is this making sense to anyone? Please let me know what you think if ya have a sec or two. Word." A diary could be used to tie the idea together. Menu of a favorite restaurant you would have to kick me underneath the table so to speak, I’m not following that. Scrapbook I can see. Photo album I can see. Can you do this as a web page? Wait that’s a badly worded question, can you do web pages? How about PowerPoint. The end product for me comes down to what I have done so far and what I haven’t done, plus will the concept lend itself to being displayed in a particular format. I know you already did PowerPoint in 407 so that might be why you would steer clear of this medium.
A response to K. Zajdel's "Don't Judge a Person by Her Receipts" by P.C. Paul
"In our consumer-driven society, it seems that everyone is defined by their
material possessions, at least partially." Philosophy loves this because the argument is that we have no other way of defining ourselves to the external world other than through the objects we surround ourselves with. For English majors this comes close to home. We all have book collections, I have a library. Someone can look at my shelves and determine whether we share anything in common by the various topics I tend to gravitate towards. For some of us we can point to a book and say, “I agree with what is written in this book, do you agree with this book?” We can look at another person’s bookshelf to determine similarities and differences. This has to do with materiality.
"By judging someone on their purchases and what is in his/her wallet, would you really get the true picture of the person?" Not a “true” picture but a somewhat limited view of the person definitely. I have nothing in my wallet but lint but that also tells you something: I am a poor hungry student. When I had money there were a great deal of business cards from aftermarket auto suppliers, restaurant receipts 9 from entertaining, golf course receipts (entertaining Japanese aftermarket auto parts vendors) a picture of my ex-wife when she was a wife (loyalty), club passes, (likes music), Music store receipts (like music), mathematical symbols on the receipts (mathematician and likes to think), College bookstore receipts (ambitious)...
"For instance, if you found a receipt for a computer book, would you think I'm a computer nut, or just bought it for a class?" I would think that you borrowed the receipt because you were trying to throw us off the trail.
"I'm interested in exploring this concept using receipts, business cards, credit cards, etc. I have plenty of materials, but the issue I'm having is how to present everything. I was thinking of using either a private investigator or a stalker, who has collected all these items and is trying to construct an image of the person they belong to." A private investigator or maybe a secret agent. You suspect someone of something and you are trying to develop a profile on the person, their habits, routines, and likes.
"In the end, their assessments could be totally true or totally false. Maybe I could use both and show how one is correct and the other is completely wrong." Doing both would give you more to write about in Goals and Choices because you would have to make more decisions.
"I'm not sure how to represent their findings and ideas. Maybe a diary or log? A diary could be used to tie the idea together. Scrapbook I can see. Photo album I can see. Let me explain the photo album. There are those with the plastic sheets that you pull back, place the paper in, close the plastic sheet. I used these as scrap books because I could keep photos in them, celebrity signatures, newspaper articles, concert tickets, Mass cards… if it was paper I could throw it in without damaging the original artifact. Can you do this as a web page? Wait that’s a badly worded question, can you do web pages to begin with? How about PowerPoint? The end product for me comes down to what I have done so far and what I haven’t done, plus will the concept lend itself to being displayed in a particular format.
A response to K. Zajdel's "Don't Judge a Person by Her Receipts"" by S. Miller
I think this is a good idea. At this age everyone loves a good road trip but it is hard being away for the first time from all that is familiar.
A response to S. Miller's post by P.C. Paul
I concur. Quite hard. Especially when they speak a foreign language.
This is also known as the Doppler Effect. One cannot distinguish from the sound of a motor vehicle whether it is coming or going because it sounds the same. The old joke in Physics was Dr. Dobbler didn't know if he was coming or going. In Comp Sci it would be a change of states (0 to 1, 1 to 0) known as a "Flip-Flop." I can honestly say that I have flip-flopped between two states, Catatonic and Euphoric so many times I don't know which "state" I know live in.
So far, I’ve come up with one idea. When I was in high school, my friends and I saved all our letters, cards, progress reports, report cards, pictures, prescription information and other sorts in a memory box. I am not sure if a letter is considered an authorless, but I will mention it in work shopping. Anyway…after looking over the documents that I saved, I think I could put together a melodramatic soap opera script. The script will consist off myself and my two best friends that are a part of my memory box. I actually have many documents to work with, but I don’t know where to move on from here. I also thought about making a confession book, but I think another person in class was working with that so to follow there project. My last option was making a mini movie from the script.
I will definitely need more text to use for this project. I want to gather receipts, clothing tags, and maybe some college applications or documents. I am not sure how I am going to move on from there at the moment. This assignment to me is very complex, one minute I know what I am doing, and then I am lost. Honestly after listening to what some of the class came up with, I am a bit intimidated. I am not sure if my idea is good at all.
A response to E. Jones' "Soap Opera--I guess?" by P.C. Paul
"After gathering more information about this project, I think I had a slight idea of what I want to do. I’m really trying think 'outside the box' for this project, but I am at a loss to come up with something unique.
Something unique appears that it will be dictated by the type of authorless text you have. I read everyone’s posts. Our ideas are not that unique from each other because we are being expected to collect authorless text in a moments notice and because of this much of it is very common. When you say unique you are referring to the new artifact. There are really only three methods within this objective. Steven Norfolk’s case the artifact (end result) unique because this is something he has been collecting as a hobby. Sarah’s is unique because this is the way her mind works, its perspective or philosophy. Crystal’s is unique (somewhat) because either she has a good memory or, or what? Shipka eight weeks ago mentioned that one of her U of I students once brought in an argument that was attached to a tree. Most important point of the argument at the top and ordering downward in importance until the weakest points were on the bottom of the tree. 25 students per class x four projects = 100 projects. 3 classes per semester x 100 projects = 300 projects. 300 projects x two semesters = 600 projects. 600 projects per year for eight years = 4800 projects. What is the probability that a project is going to be unique when many of us are picking up similar text because it’s so readily available? It is highly unlikely to be unique. The goal is not the artifact or the end product but how many decisions one makes in creating the final end product. That’s why thinking of more than two possible routes creates more to write about in Goals and Choices. The more ideas the more choices that have to be made because many of these projects will not be unique.
"So far, I’ve come up with one idea. When I was in high school, my friends and I saved all our letters, cards, progress reports, report cards, pictures, prescription information and other sorts in a memory box. I am not sure if a letter is considered an authorless," Does the letter say who it was from, if it does it is not authorless, if you know who wrote it but the writer did not sign off, then its authorless text. I used to write a great deal of authorless text and did sign off with my name but the sign off was “Doc” and not for “Doctor” but for “Document.” Everyone on the inside knew who wrote it and knew who to see if there were problems but no one outside the organization knew who created the text.
"But I will mention it in work-shopping. Anyways…after looking over the documents that I saved, I think I could put together a melodramatic soap opera script. The script will consist off myself and my two best friends that are a part of my memory box. I actually have many documents to work with, but I don’t know where to move on from here." What do you mean by move on. This is not enough inspiration to create an artifact?
"I also thought about making a confession book, but I think another person in class was working with that so to follow their project. My last option was making a mini movie from the script." Personally I would follow all three and see where each one steps off so to speak without creating the artifact. The length of the Goals and Choices will indicate which path to pursue.
"I will definitely need more text to use for this project. I want to gather receipts, clothing tags, and maybe some college applications or documents. I am not sure how I am going to move on from there at the moment. This assignment to me is very complex, one minute I know what I am doing, and then I am lost." The reason you are getting lost is because you are trying to maintain three projects in your head at the same time. I am currently managing four. The key word here is “managing.” You are a designer and project manager. You have to set up three different projects at the same time and dump thoughts into them as they come. You will have thoughts on one project for 20/30 minutes and the thoughts will exhaust themselves. Later, either thoughts on another project will crop in or the original will start up again. What I suggest is drawing thoughts and dumping thoughts in Goals and Choices immediately. With three paths, maintain three Goals and Choices. When one path completely takes over, you copy and paste the other two into the final choice and say I didn’t do all of this stuff because…
"Honestly after listening to what some of the class came up with, I am a bit intimidated. I am not sure if my idea is good at all." Forget about the end product. How many choices do you have to make, what’s your goal, what’s your point, what are you trying to say, what’s your argument, why should we care?
I didn’t trash the clippings, but I started over. Next, I examined all the text on my make-up and skin care products. Oddly enough, as I did this, I came up with an idea for a narrative. I was reading a package of Neosporin while the words “temporarily protects minor: -cuts -scraps -burns” caught my eye. If I had stopped reading upon reaching the colon, I would have a very different understanding of the text. I would assume the product would protect minors. (The way the text was positioned on the tube my first reaction was to stop reading at the colon.) The word “minor” triggered me to think of the word child, which then caused me to think about my original clippings of food packages that proclaimed to create a healthy and happy family. The idea of a narrative came to my mind.
I thought about a mother, who bought all the right things, fed her kids all the “right” things, but was so lost in the world of goods, and their directions on the packaging, that she forgot the human “goods” that her family needed. This came to mind because every package warns against this… tells you must do that… says you’ll have a good family if… If one took such claims seriously they would be overcome /drowned by the conflicting and demanding nature of the text on products.
If the text doesn’t refer to the good of the family, doesn’t suppose that you (most often the woman) are the one who must rescue the family from a life of bad habits, it is directed at “you” alone. “Be true to you”, “The protection you need to get things done”- It is only cereal and saran wrap- but you wouldn’t know it based on the language used. I sure wouldn’t guess those claims to be on cereal and saran-wrap. (Too bad this assignment wasn’t before my history. I could have done my history on advertising language and give my classmates phrases from products and guess the product, and/or create a story/ context for the words. That would have been cool.) Taken off the packaging, the words have a whole other meaning. Most of us don’t pay attention to the text on packaging, at least not consciously. (I tend to think we interpret the packaging/ picture itself and not the words.) But what if someone did pay attention, what if some parent, or professional, read every single word and tried to do what the words told them to do? What if someone truly believed they could fix their life or their family’s lives by just buying that box of cereal? What if a woman/man interpreted the message on the saran wrap to mean the product would actually protect her/him while he/she got work done? We are bombarded by messages everyday, what if we had some sort of obsession that forced us to read and apply all the rules and claims of advertisers? It could make for a pretty crazy life/world.With this in mind, I want to make my main character one of those people--lost in text, and out of touch with humanity. Though it is an extreme premise, it is a question that has been asked. Is technology hindering or helping personal relationships? Does it take attention away from things the matter/mattered? Is all of this advertising and directive killing free thought? What if someone did believe everything they read?
I want to do a sketch of one of those people- give a story/narrative to the very questions/ fears we have about technology. Do we become the authors of authorless texts by enacting or interpreting the text?
A response to E. Woodward's "My Idea" by P.C. Paul
"Most of the authorless texts I gathered were from labels on food packaging. After cutting my first two clippings off of a cereal box, I realized how often food products claim to be “good for you and great for your family.” It seemed no matter the food item, if the packaging had text on it, the text made some reference to the importance of family and how, if you eat their product/feed your family their product, your family will be happy and healthy. I had no idea what to do with that observation and decided to start over."
"Next, I examined all the text on my make-up and skin care products. Oddly enough, as I did this, I came up with an idea for a narrative. I was reading a package of Neosporin while the words “temporarily protects minor: -cuts -scraps -burns” caught my eye. If I had stopped reading upon reaching the colon, I would have a very different understanding of the text. I would assume the product would protect minors. (The way the text was positioned on the tube my first reaction was to stop reading at the colon.) The word “minor” triggered me to think of the word child, which then caused me to think about my original clippings of food packages that proclaimed to create a healthy and happy family. The idea of a narrative came to my mind."
"I thought about a mother, who bought all the right things, fed her kids all the “right” things, but was so lost in the world of goods, and their directions on the packaging, that she forgot the human “goods” that her family needed. This came to mind because every package warns against this… tells you must do that… says you’ll have a good family if.... If one took such claims seriously they would be overcome /drowned by the conflicting and demanding nature of the text on products."
"If the text doesn’t refer to the good of the family, doesn’t suppose that you (most often the woman) are the one who must rescue the family from a life of bad habits, it is directed at “you” alone. “Be true to you”, “The protection you need to get things done”- It is only cereal and saran wrap- but you wouldn’t know it based on the language used. I sure wouldn’t guess those claims to be on cereal and saran-wrap."
"(Too bad this assignment wasn’t before my history. I could have done my history on advertising language and give my classmates phrases from products and guess the product, and/or create a story/ context for the words. That would have been cool.)"
"Taken off the packaging, the words have a whole other meaning. Most of us don’t pay attention to the text on packaging, at least not consciously. (I tend to think we interpret the packaging/ picture itself and not the words.) But what if someone did pay attention, what if some parent, or professional, read every single word and tried to do what the words told them to do? What if someone truly believed they could fix their life or their family’s lives by just buying that box of cereal? What if a woman/man interpreted the message on the saran wrap to mean the product would actually protect her/him while he/she got work done? We are bombarded by messages everyday, what if we had some sort of obsession that forced us to read and apply all the rules and claims of advertisers? It could make for a pretty crazy life/world."
"With this in mind, I want to make my main character one of those people- lost in text, and out of touch with humanity. Though it is an extreme premise, it is a question that has been asked. Is technology hindering or helping personal relationships?"
Okay this is not unique either. Hate to bust your bubble. In the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy there is a character that decides the entire world has gone mad and turns his entire life inside out. What I mean is he takes all the possessions in his home and sticks them outside of the house. He tears up all the trees, shrubbery, grass and dirt and brings it into his house. (Of course everyone who does not ask him why he has done this thinks he has gone mad.) His reason for doing this is he reads an “authorless text” which provides directions on how to use a toothpick safely. When he reads this he decides that because safety warnings are now being dispensed with toothpicks that it is time to resign from the human race and that he is the sole living being who has not gone completely insane.
"Does it take attention away from things the matter/mattered? Is all of this advertising and directive killing free thought? What if someone did believe everything they read?" What you do have is an argument and that is one of the three possibilities with this task.
I want to do a sketch of one of those people- give a story/narrative to the very questions/ fears we have about technology. Do we become the authors of authorless texts by enacting or interpreting the text?" We clearly become agents of the text. Authors? Yes, if as in any narrative we choose to add, modify, and delete from the original text in order to satisfy our own aims, objectives, and goals. Why? We are re-contextualizing the authorless text to suit our own purposes.
There are other texts that I am going to include but I would rather discuss how I am going to represent this material because that is the direction I may need the most guidance. I like the idea of two different baby photo album/ scrapbooks, one for each representation. One could have an aged feel invoking the history of the old testament…I could use it in the context of prophesy? The other I would like to give a trash feel so maybe I can evoke the “feel” with other objects accompanying the “core” objects. I think I will also analyze the material by giving little labels and captions to the materials, like so many people often do in scrapping.
A response to S. Miller's "Contextualizing the Virgin" by P.C. Paul
"I know exactly the message I want my dual representations of my found authorless text to express but now I have to focus on how my objects are [going] to do the work I am intending to do. I have my idea of the pregnant teen/ Contemporary Virgin Mary images I want to evoke [Okay] but I need my objects to do the exact work I intend for them to do. I do not want my work doing work outside of my hands
[Meaning that you do not want there to be any “space” for interpretation. In other words, my argument says this and does not say that, every step of the way.] Shipka gave good advice I have been considering regarding giving the texts to an objective observer/ interpreter to them blindly [and] give [assign] meaning to the [collection of] objects.
"How I am going to represent this material?"
"I like the idea of two different baby photo album/ scrapbooks, one for each representation. [That would be the best way to juxtapose the two parallel lives in two different times.] One could have an aged feel invoking the history of the old testament… [Would it be possible to make a scroll out of the first? I am thinking that it would still be scrapbookish, cut and paste and age the material unless you can find something already aged in an art material supplier. Or if they sell a chemical process stuff that will make some paper materials “look” aged. Mmmm, maybe. Then again, maybe sketch in baby images? (no cameras, etc so what else would you have except artist’s renderings?)] "I could use it in the context of prophesy?" [I don’t know, I am now lost. What do you mean by prophesy? Or maybe that is not the right word? I seem to need further elaboration.] "The other [Virgin Mary 2’s baby book] I would like to give a trash feel [Stop right there. Could Virgin Mary 2’s artifact be slightly water damaged, worn cover, binder broken, coffee stains, food stains, dirty looking cover, I think you follow my drift. A terribly neglected book, evidence of a tough life. A book like this is usually well cared for, placed in a special box to protect it and many other safeties.] so maybe I can evoke the “feel” with other objects accompanying the “core” objects" [See previous note. With objects accompanying the core objects, maybe for Virgin Mary 2 a “crack house” environment or objects? Now my imagination is really taking off if we really want this trash atmosphere. Needles, syringes (ones that look well used not brand new out of the plastic), a crappy plate full of wax and a half burnt candle (for heating heroin or crack) a dingy spoon, maybe a photo of a trashed room with something that looks like a baby improperly cared for… I don’t know how far you can go, I know my imagination can go a lot farther but there becomes the problem of fleshing it out into the light so to speak… a filthy baby bottle, broken toys… oh wait maybe not broken toys but inappropriate objects re-appropriated as toys for Jesus 2. Objects that were never intended to be child’s toys but because they are so poor that anything not nailed down is a toy.], I think I will also analyze the material by giving little labels and captions to the materials, like so many people often do in scrapping [Yes, dates, little phrases that are supposed to act as memory triggers. That would help to authenticate the baby books.] Wait a second… who’s project is this anyway???? Hahaha.
A response to S. Miller's "Contextualizing the Virgin" by S. Norfolk
I thought your idea was both brilliant and controversial. It is also seasonally appropriate. You thought outside of the accepted societal norms and have come up with something very profound. I wish my project was too, but it isn't. You showed a great deal of organizational skills and forward thinking. I can't praise you enough. I tip my hat to you senorita Sarah.
A. Biblical HTML:
My first topic of interest involves the interpretation and re-presentation of both html and The Bible. The actual content of the html is still undecided. The core of my idea urges the viewer to view the Bible as an interpretative text. As such, I plan to reorganize my found html to perform the same function and visual appeal of a Bible. The html will serve to provide the viewer a parallel form of moral guidance. The majority of my symbolic decisions will be made to reflect the Bible as an encrypted piece of literature- much like html.
This idea spawned from my interest in the Bible as an authorless text. I want to explore the Bible versus other texts in modern times in order to dissect some significant changes in the way authorless texts are presented. And perhaps resurface some controversy on the Bible as a historically accurate document.
B. Spiritual Propaganda:
The second topic of interest deals with exploring the function of literature in propaganda-specifically visually aided. These commercials come in many different media but I will most likely focus on print. This idea here is to reorganize and re-contextualize modern propaganda into biblical and/or moral reasoning. The idea behind this is to discredit both propaganda and religious text.
Once again, the majority of my interest stems from exploring religious text against found modern authorless texts. I am still searching, but hope to establish a relevant message about the credibility of the Bible.
A response to B. Mechairia's "" by P.C. Paul
I am having a hard time deciding on a single set of found authorless texts. I have found numerous authorless texts that function to serve my first purpose. Yet, I do not have a solid thesis or plan of action with my collection. Overall, I am still re-considering my idea and hope to gain some insight after our workshop session.
[Here’s why: Do you have to approach this from the standpoint of an argument?
Here’s the 3 approaches again:
A. Biblical HTML:
My first topic of interest involves the interpretation and re-presentation of both html and The Bible. The actual content of the html is still undecided. [Okay what you are saying is that the Bible is written in code and we all know what computer code is. Cryptic code. Does it have to just HTML? You know when you go out looking for source code or even just hit random web pages and place the mouse somewhere on the page, right click with the mouse a menu comes up. You select VIEW SOURCE and the code will be revealed. You may find XML, HTML, JAVA, JavaScript, Perl or any combination of these. You could probably could collect source code in various languages such as C, C++, Ada and all kinds of language names I can’t even think of at the moment.]
The core of my idea urges the viewer to view the Bible as an interpretative text. As such, I plan to reorganize my found html to perform the same function and visual appeal of a Bible. The html will serve to provide the viewer a parallel form of moral guidance. The majority of my symbolic decisions will be made to reflect the Bible as an encrypted piece of literature- much like html.
This idea spawned from my interest in the Bible as an authorless text. I want to explore the Bible versus other texts in modern times in order to dissect some significant changes in the way authorless texts are presented. And perhaps resurface some controversy on the Bible as a historically accurate document. [Is any historical document really accurate or did the author add and delete with a purpose in mind. Every author does this in their narrative.]
B. Spiritual Propaganda:
The second topic of interest deals with exploring the function of literature in propaganda-specifically visually aided. [Take a look at this link for visual propaganda. I do not know if you are aware of it already but the artist has taken WWII era propaganda posters and re-contextualized them with 21st century messages. This I found to be a fascinating place to look for analyzing images.]
These commercials come in many different media but I will most likely focus on print. This idea here is to reorganize and re-contextualize modern propaganda into biblical and/or moral reasoning. The idea behind this is to discredit both propaganda and religious text.
Once again, the majority of my interest stems from exploring religious text against found modern authorless texts. I am still searching, but hope to establish a relevant message about the credibility of the Bible [or lack thereof].
A response to P.C. Paul's post by B. Mechairia
Thanks a lot for that link Paul. It has helped form interesting ideas about re-contectualizing propaganda.
I was thinking now, since I am so enthralled by this concept. Of creating a comic book of sorts. A collection of hilarious propaganda. I will title it something like, "Its Okay... You’re Supposed to Laugh." Thanks again!
A response to B. Mechairia 's post by P.C. Paul
You’re welcome. A peer in ENGL 488 Visual Literacy showed me the site and you said propaganda so that’s what came to mind.
- Talking to Bilal about his project idea, with the Bible interpretation, made he think about how government agencies seem to pick and choose unrelated pieces of evidence and somehow come up with the conclusion that other countries are out “to get us” or are developing programs that could “threaten the American way of life.” Case in point, the cause against Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction. I thought of maybe taking a bunch of stuff, like receipts for building materials and plane ticket stubs and compiling a report or newspaper article declaring the country was under attack based of irrefutable “evidence.”
- My other idea came about because I love to scrapbook and wanted to think of a way to incorporate that into my project. I have a friend/sister that’s on a study abroad program from Wales, and at lunch yesterday she mentioned that she often saves scraps and receipts from her trips to cities in America, as momento’s for when she returns home at the end of the school year. My idea was to take all of these scraps that people usually throw away, and document them as souvenirs from an exchange student’s trip to America. I’m not quite sure how to do this without involving pictures though, since that’s mostly what goes into my scrapbooks. Maybe I could pick up some postcards somewhere.
So now my main goal will be to find enough texts to go along with either of these ideas and to put them together in a logical and meaningful way.
A response to N. Horstman 's "Greetings from Abroad" by P.C. Paul
I think the problem I’m having isn’t figuring out what to do, [that is always the problem provided so much space. Where to begin.] but finding authorless texts that go along with my “vision,” what there is of it at least. Before the discussion/workshop on Tuesday I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do, and the only connection I could find between my authorless texts was that most of them were from the mall, around campus, or various ATM machines. However, after hearing what other people in the class were planning on and helping them put together their ideas I managed to come up with a few of my own.
- Talking to Bilal about his project idea, with the Bible interpretation, made he think about how government agencies seem to pick and choose unrelated pieces of evidence and somehow come up with the conclusion that other countries are out “to get us” or are developing programs that could “threaten the American way of life.” Case in point, the cause against Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction. I thought of maybe taking a bunch of stuff, like receipts for building materials and plane ticket stubs and compiling a report or newspaper article declaring the country was under attack based of irrefutable “evidence.”
- My other idea came about because I love to scrapbook and wanted to think of a way to incorporate that into my project. I have a friend/sister that’s on a study abroad program from Wales, and at lunch yesterday she mentioned that she often saves scraps and receipts from her trips to cities in America, as momento’s for when she returns home at the end of the school year. My idea was to take all of these scraps that people usually throw away, and document them as souvenirs from an exchange student’s trip to America. I’m not quite sure how to do this without involving pictures though, since that’s mostly what goes into my scrapbooks.
[Well that may mean we function differently. I mentioned in a post to someone else I use photo albums so not only photos go in but concert tickets, receipts, signatures, newspaper articles, all kinds of paper articles an scraps because the plastic sheets that are meant to hold the photos stationary do not damage the original artifact.] Maybe I could pick up some postcards somewhere.
So now my main goal will be to find enough texts to go along with either of these ideas and to put them together in a logical and meaningful way.
The reason that I wanted to work this idea was because Baltimore is one of the nation’s leading areas for crime. I would have loved to make a strong statement against violence but I did not think I had the time to make this project as big as I wanted it to be. That is why I did not choose to pursue this idea.
Idea 2
Use MadLibs to make the statement against violence.
I thought that this would be an amazing way to grab people’s attention about the violence issue in the Baltimore area. The reason that I did not choose this idea is that I could not develop it any further. I could not think of a way to tie childish MadLibs into a statement about violence. When I took the idea to the workshop, I really did not get much help, so I decided to move on.
Idea 3
Use MadLibs to decipher a person’s personality.
One day I was talking with Emily Berman in another class that we have together and I told her the problems that I was having with the project. The reason that I decided to confide in her was that she really seems to think things through and always comes up with good ideas. I told her that I wanted to do something with MadLibs, but I didn’t know what to do. She suggested that I have them to random people and ask that they fill them out then analyze the differences. I liked the thought but I wanted to take it further. The next thought that came to me was “What do MadLibs show about people’s personality.” I decided that I wanted to pursue this idea because I have always been fascinated with people and I would be interesting to see what aspects of a person’s personality shows through in the MadLibs.
Developed Topic
The topic chose to pursue was seeing what aspects of a person’s personality comes through in MadLibs. What I decided to do was pick four different MadLibs for nine different people to fill out. The choice of four MadLibs was decided because it was an even number and it was more then enough to fill out so I people had time constraints they could choose to only do three. Then I decided that I would have the people write a short description of their personalities to help me in finding the similarities. I also decided to give the MadLibs to people that I knew fairly well. I did this because it makes it easier for me to see the connection to their personalities and the MadLibs.
A response to M. Purcell's "Lost and Found" by N. Barsky
Gee, this class still exists? Is anyone still checking the posts? Are you still checking the posts? Betcha didn't expect anyone to respond! After all, I'm now pretty much graduated.
The project I did had some similarities to Mad Libs. To rewrite the target text (Dr. Seuss) using household objects, there were words I could use because they were available, like and and the and to. But then there were a number of gaps, and filling in those gaps was rather like Mad Libs. The only difference was that I knew what the text was supposed to say, and I was trying to look for words that fit best: where the Lorax in the original gets "lifted and taken away," in my version he gets "locked and packaged away"--because that was the best I could do. Still, I came up with the idea for this project after the workshop, and it is possible your mentioning the Mad Libs idea influenced me, at least on a subconscious level. The immediate inspiration for my idea was another kind of game, where you compose a story by going around the room and having each person contribute one sentence, and the end result usually sounds wacky, due to the lack of advance planning.
I do agree that Mad Libs says something about one's personality. For example, let's say you're asked for a number. Some people will give a standard low number like 6 or 4 or 9, but a certain breed of people will give something abnormally high (like a million), or a negative number, or a fraction, or a mathematical constant like pi. And there are those people who try to outguess Mad Libs by picking words that are likely to be ridiculous in most contexts, like "elephant" or "disembowel." Probably the game would work better if the person being asked doesn't know he's playing Mad Libs.