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dr.coreysparks

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A painting is not a picture of an experience, but is the experience.

Mark Rothko, born on this day in 1903 (via whitneymuseum)

[valarhalla]

Fun fact: Tenochtitlan fell in 1521. From 1603 onwards, large numbers of honest-to-god fricking Japanese Samurai came to Mexico from Japan to work as guardsmen and mercenaries. 

Ergo, it would be 100% historically accurate to write a story starring a quartet consisting of the child or grandchild of Aztec Noblemen, an escaped African slave, a Spanish Jew fleeing the Inquisition (which was relaxed in Mexico in 1606, for a time) and a Katana-wielding Samurai in Colonial Mexico.

[valarhalla]

Also a whole bunch of Chinese Characters BECAUSE MEXICO CITY HAD A CHINATOWN WITHIN TEN YEARS OF THE FALL OF THE AZTEC EMPIRE.

[medievalpoc]

I love how much this shakes up people’s worldviews, and the way it makes you realize how unnaturally we isolate historical events (and peoples).

For people looking to dig into some research:

Charles Mann, 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created [Knopf, 2011], page 324:

The Chinese in Mexico, Robert Chao Romero

The Spanish Expulsion (1492); Judaism in Mexico

“Denunciation of Faith and Family: Crypto-Jews and the Inquisition in Seventeenth-Century Mexico”, Rafaela Acevedo-Field 

**ETA just to make it clear I hate the title of the first book up there ^^ and the overall tone of it-I’m using it to verify information that’s true but the interpretation leaves quite a bit to be desired

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˙ʞɔɐq ʞɔɐɥ ʇɥƃıɯ sʞooq ʇɐǝɹƃ ʍoɥ ʇnoqɐ ʞuıɥʇ oʇ ǝɔuɐɥɔ ɐ sı ǝsɹnoɔ sıɥʇ 'sʇxǝʇ ǝsǝɥʇ ǝƃɐƃuǝ sn dןǝɥ ʇɥƃıɯ sǝıƃoןouɥɔǝʇ ɐıpǝɯ ʍǝu ʇɐɥʇ sʎɐʍ ǝɥʇ ǝɹoןdxǝ oʇ uɐǝɯ ǝsɹnoɔ sıɥʇ sǝop ʎןuo ʇou ˙sʇxǝʇ ʎɹɐɹǝʇıן uı ʎɹoʇsıɥ pǝıɹɐʌ 'ƃuoן ɐ ǝʌɐɥ—uoıʇdnɹsıp puɐ 'uoıʇɐʇdɐpɐ 'uoıʇɐǝɹɔ—”ƃuıʞɔɐɥ“ ɟo sʇdǝɔuoɔ ǝɹoɔ ǝɥʇ ʇɐɥʇ sı ʇı 'ɯıɐןɔ ןɐɹʇuǝɔ ɐ ǝʌɐɥ oʇ pıɐs ǝq uɐɔ ǝsɹnoɔ sıɥʇ ɟı ˙pɐǝɹ ǝʍ sʞooq ǝɥʇ ǝpısƃuoןɐ ʇɥƃıɹ ʇdnɹsıp puɐ 'ʇdɐpɐ 'ǝʇɐǝɹɔ oʇ ɐıpǝɯ ןɐʇıƃıp ʎɹɐɹodɯǝʇuoɔ ǝsn ןןıʍ ǝʍ ؛ƃuıʞɔɐɥ uʍo ɹno ɟo ǝɯos op osןɐ ןןıʍ ǝʍ 'ɯǝpuɐʇ uı ˙ɐıpǝɯ puɐ 'sǝɹuǝƃ 'spoıɹǝd ǝɯıʇ ɟo ǝƃuɐɹ ɐ ɯoɹɟ ǝɯoɔ ןןıʍ sʇxǝʇ ǝsǝɥʇ ˙uoıʇdnɹsıp ɹo/puɐ 'uoıʇɐʇdɐpɐ 'uoıʇɐǝɹɔ ɟo sǝnssı ǝqoɹd ʇɐɥʇ sʇxǝʇ ǝƃɐƃuǝ ןןıʍ ǝʍ 'suoıʇsǝnb ǝsǝɥʇ oʇuı ǝʌןǝp oʇ ¿ǝʞɐʇ ǝʍ ʇɥƃıɯ sɯɹoɟ ʍǝu ʇɐɥʍ ¿ǝʞɐʇ ”ʞooq“ ɐ ʇɥƃıɯ sɯɹoɟ ʍǝu ʇɐɥʍ ¿pǝʇɐǝɹɔ sʇǝƃ ʇɐɥʍ ¿pǝʞɔɐɥ ǝq oʇ sʇɔǝɾqo sɐ sʞooq ʇɐǝɹƃ ɹǝpısuoɔ oʇ uɐǝɯ ʇı sǝop ʇɐɥʍ :suoıʇsǝnb pǝʇɐןǝɹ ןɐɹǝʌǝs ƃuıʞsɐ ǝq ןןıʍ ǝʍ ǝsɹnoɔ sıɥʇ uı ˙sɹoʇɐǝɹɔ sɐ ɯǝɥʇ ǝʇɐɹqǝןǝɔ osןɐ ǝʍ ؛sןɐuıɯıɹɔ sɹǝʞɔɐɥ ןןɐɔ ǝʍ ˙ʍɐן ǝɥʇ ǝpısʇno ǝʇɐɹǝdo ʇɐɥʇ suoıʇɔɐ ןɐʇıƃıp ǝuıʇsǝpuɐןɔ sǝʞoʌǝ ʇı ؛uoıʇɐʌouuı ɟo puɐ ǝɔuǝןoıʌ ɟo sǝƃɐɯı dn sןןɐɔ ”ƃuıʞɔɐɥ“

using: http://textmechanic.com/Reverse-Text-Generator.html

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The latest Tweets from Walt Whitman (@TweetsOfGrass). 1855 Leaves of Grass, little by little, over and over. Under your boot-soles

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Robert Hass: On Whitman's 'Song Of Myself'

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description/ d i s r u p t e d

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Possible Secondary Texts

McKenzie Wark, "A Hacker Manifesto [version 4.0]."

"What is Liberal Education For?: A Conference at St. John's College on the 50th Anniversary of the Santa Fe Campus," October 16-18, 2014. Conference program & media coverage.

Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."

Geoffrey Nunberg, "The Places of Books in the Ages of Electronic Reproduction," Representations 24 (1993).

Douglas Davis, "The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction" (1995).

Stephen Ramsay, "Who's In and Who's Out?" (2011).

Mark Sample, "The digital humanities is not about building, it's about sharing" (2011).

Jesse Stommel, "The Digital Humanities is About Breaking Stuff" (2013).

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Primary Texts (not necessarily in this order)

The Book of Genesis, Illustrated by R. Crumb, R. Crumb. Metamorphoses, Book X, Ovid; w/ Sir Orfeo, Anonymous; w/ Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Paradise Lost (excerpts), John Milton; w/ Radi Os, Ronald Johnson. Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman; w/ @tweetsofgrass. "Blood Music," Greg Bear. (1983 short story) He, She and It, Marge Piercy.

"Digital Decay," Claire L. Evans, 2007.

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q u o t e s

“Whatever code we hack, be it programming language, poetic language, math or music, curves or colourings, we create the possibility of new things entering the world.”

-McKenzie Wark, a hacker manifesto [version 4.0]

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“A book is a device to ignite the imagination.”

-Alan Bennett, The Uncommon Reader

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“The fictions ‘master’ and ‘copy’ are now so entwined with each other that it is impossible to say where one begins and the other ends.”

-Douglas Davis, ”The Work of Art in the Age of Digital Reproduction”

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“Only a few hints - a few diffused, faint clues and indirections, I seek, for my own use, to trace out here.”

-Walt Whitman, “When I read the Book”

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“Orpheus looked at his instrument And he gave the wire a pluck He heard a sound so beautiful He gasped and said O my God O Mamma O Mamma.”

-Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, ”The Lyre of Orpheus”

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c o u r s e / d e s c r i p t i o n

“Hacking” calls up images of violence and of innovation; it evokes clandestine digital actions that operate outside the law. We call hackers criminals; we also celebrate them as creators. In this course we will be asking several related questions: What does it mean to consider great books as objects to be hacked? What gets created? What new forms might a “book” take? What new forms might we take? To delve into these questions, we will engage texts that probe issues of creation, adaptation, and/or disruption. These texts will come from a range of time periods, genres, and media. In tandem, we will also do some of our own hacking; we will use contemporary digital media to create, adapt, and disrupt right alongside the books we read. (Special computer or design skills are not required; we will hold workshops on all of the digital tools we will use during the semester.) Over the course of the semester you will hone a set of analytical skills and strategies for creating interpretations and making arguments.

This course fulfills a General Education requirement within the “Great Books and Ideas” pathway.