Eric Horvath

[ericwh29-blog]

I am glad to say that we are finished with the Kafer reading, because I did think it was quite challenging at times. I enjoyed the part of this reading where it talked about medicine, and how medicine although made for the benefit of people, it is always political. I like this comparison of medicine being a cyborg like commodity, because I do believe everything is overtly political, like I stated in my previous trainer. The rockland mental hospital and klines treatment of patients was disturbing to read about. I think it is important to realize that the cyborg is not always going to be a good thing when we are talking about it.  I enjoyed Meaney’s article about the blue screen of death, and the clever name he chose, which made me think of  the saying sympathy for the devil. (I think he was going for, but I’m not sure). The blue screen of death can defiantly relate back to the cyborg discussion. It is simultaneously seen as a bad thing but in reality it is also saving your computer from further damages. I also had no idea that the history of indigo ran so deep. 

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I found the beginning of this chapter to be just as difficult as some of the others, but it seemed to ease up quite a bit. Reading through it, a few things caught my attention. For instance I really enjoyed the part where Kafer talks about how the same technology that is helping you walk is simultaneously being used in warfare. I really loved this juxtaposition brought up by Kafer and Kurzman because it is in one way beautiful that the technology can help someone walk or become able bodied again, but in another so depressing that humans use it in war. It is also an important point to remember that everything leads back to politics and nothing escapes this, really nothing. Another thing that stuck out was the organization against poster child's, it was just something I had never put into consideration before.   Watching the legend of korra brought back a lot of memories from my childhood because I used to watch Avatar the Last Airbender. I am unsure about how the there episodes are connected though, but I defiantly think as teachers we can use pop culture for lessons. Many people in pop culture are using their platforms to talk about violence and vulnerability, so why not put their work to use and share their views with students.

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In this section of the reading Kafer talks about how many scholars are tired of the cyborg manifesto and have moved on. She talks about how other disability studies have tried to talk about vampires and the grotesque instea, and even how Haraway herself has moved on from the cyborg manifesto. However Kafer believes that the cyborg is the best for talking about these problems. I think it is true that the cyborg had a very fluid meaning and therefor is more broad so it could have more reach when being discussed. Although Kafer has gone into depth about why the cyborg manifesto is problematic she still favors it to other forms of discussion. I think that in some ways having problems with he original manifesto is good for discussion because you can talk about why it is bad. Christine Sun Kim’s piece the game of skill 2.0 was unlike anything I had seen before. I enjoyed how interactive it was. In the interview she talks a lot about her work and how it involve sound. I like how in her work she found a topic she was interested in (sound) and really works on exploring it.

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I think the pressure to be in control comes from ourselves, I think there is something natural about wanting stability in your life. In this section of the reading Kafer really challenged some of Haraways writing. She went after how Haraway labeled people with disabilities as well as how Haraway addressed people as cyborgs. Haraway seems to make many large generalizations in her original manifesto when referring to labor workers in Asia. Haraway also doesn’t talk about what makes these people cyborg but goes into depth when explaining what makes spiral dancing in jail cyborgian. Haraway also seems to group the experiences of people with disabilities as universal when in reality no two experiences are the same. I think this is counterintuitive to the disabled community because it marginalizes peoples personal experiences and struggles making them feel less relevant. Haraway refers to people with disabilities as handicapped at times which Kafer believes is due to her trying push her cyborgian image of people with disabilities. The video was very relaxing and calm. I specifically really enjoyed the animation for the waves and the sound production.  

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This section of the reading made more sense to me than the others. I really liked many of the points brought up in it and was wanting to read more about it. It talked about how there are downsides to new technologies and this is often not brought up, especially with "cyborg” technology. I personally have never thought much about the negatives of these new products. The other point about how disabled people were the first to get these new advancements and then they will become available to the "ordinary public” was an interesting thought. It makes sense but I have never realized that this was the case. A lot of what people talk about in these articles is also out of the price range for the people the products are intended for. I also feel like many times when articles refer to people with these products it dehumanizes them in a way. Like the piece said they are often compared to science fiction characters or comic book characters. They should not be considered disabled people, but people with disabilities.

George RedHawks gifs were very attention grabbing and hypnotizing. I enjoy how they are looped as it adds to the hypnotic effect. Most of them appear to be still shots with movement added in after. The one that caught my eye was of the two people on their phones in the train. I specifically like this one because I believe people are sometimes too dependent on their phones, I am certainly guilty of this at times too. I think the gif does a good job of pointing this out without coming across like a public health ad. 

I looked for the app on the iOS app store but could not find it :(

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I struggled with this reading and had to re-read it a few times. I think the idea of a cyborg is interesting in the literal sense that many disabled people have cyborg qualities. However when i first read the piece I thought that it was more metaphorical than literal. I thought that the cyborg was representative of something deeper, I do think it is viewed as that sometimes. I was interested in the more metaphorical meaning of the cyborg as I think it is slightly more thought provoking, however you interpret the meaning of it. I am not really sure how I understand media performance to be different than other live performances. The dumb type performance was very well done and i can’t begin to imagine everything that has to be lined up to make something like that work. The transitions were flawless and very captivating. I never have really seen any performances like these before you showed them to us in class.

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I think Anthropy does a good job at drawing connections between video games and the problems we face in eduction. In video games for example almost all of the games are made by white males and generally have a specific audience in mind. In art education there is also a problem with representation of diverse artists. In art history we often only study white male artists, and even in lesson planning often times a diverse group of people is not consulted with before making the plan. It is certainly important to have different voices being heard in these areas. I enjoyed the game dys4ia because it was made by a trans artist and related to her real life struggles. I personally have never experienced or thought about such specific things problems trans people have to go through in everyday life and it was nice to gain this perspectives from a first hand source. I also really enjoyed the art style of the game and thought it was well polished.

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In the Anthropy reading, she talks about the media and general stereotypes people like to place on video games. One of them was about how video games make people violent. I know all about this myth because last year I wrote a research paper on it. Basically it is entirely a myth, video games have no correlation to actual violence in real life. However violent video games do cause more violent thoughts in people, in the same way that a depressing movie would cause people to have sad thoughts. In no way does that mean people will suddenly act on the violent thoughts though. I have always disliked how gamers are portrayed in the media as violent or as slackers. Just in the same way that some people will watch Netflix to relax, gamers will play a video game. Obviously you can waste you’re entire day playing video games but you can just as easily do the same thing watching your favorite show; So I have never understood the stereotype of gamers being lazy. She also talks about representation in video games, and I understand where she is coming from. But I also understand why there is such little variation in games and that is because it is a product they are trying to sell to a specific group of people. Game maker and other programs allow people to make their own games based on their own experiences though and I love how she compared this to the printing press. The hate the player article was interesting to read, as in many video games women are gendered and hyper feminized. I enjoyed the last line of the piece where she said, "Gamification is not as sexist as pick-up artists make it out to be. It can be turned in on itself to critique gendered modes of objectification that reduce other people to bosses to defeat or even princesses to rescue.” I related this back to the talks we had about glitches and how you can remix something to change the meaning completely.  

At one point the site was working but then it froze and I refreshed it and now it won’t load, I also tried it on safari but no difference.

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trainer 7

The two readings are similar because they were both made using the twine program. They are also both interactive articles and they change with every reading. They also require people to make decisions in order to read the rest of the article. It feels like an individualized experience every time you play since it is always different. For the reading it felt more like a reading that was made interesting however for Queers in love at the end of the world it felt more like an interactive game, especially because you didn’t have much time to actually read the questions. Learning through twine is much more involved experience than just reading an article. I felt like the twine program is fun for a one off type of reading however I don’t think it would work with everything. I feel like I grasp an article better by just reading it start to finish rather than doing an interactive reading. I feel like I am missing information when I do an interactive reading. The Queers in love at the end of the world piece was fun to play through, although I would have liked to read through each of the questions. I enjoyed seeing how each play through ended up. (my gifs will not post but I can show them to you in class tomorrow)

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I thought the reading was an interesting break from a normal article. For the most part however I usually found myself clicking on the “turn” button on the bottom. I did veer from the path a few time though. I believe that glitch art is a great way to disrupt social and cultural norms on the internet. It allows the artist to completely change the meaning of something and take control of an image that was previously out of their control. Glitch art seems especially prevalent in modern feminist art. A person is able to take an image objectifying women/fitting stereotypes and completely alter it as to “problematize” it. The writing pointed out how by trying to sell women something, even if it is trying to sell something empowering an advertisement is usually adding to the stereotype of thin and silent women. I had never thought about how almost every add does this. The video was enjoyable as I have watched Wisecrack before. I have also read Judith butler before. I thought it was a nice video but it didn’t bring anything up that I haven’t heard/thought about before. 

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After reading the last part of the Eisenhauer article I think for the most part I was able to understand the meaning. Through a language of bombardment we constantly reinforce negative dichotomies in the classroom. This is bad because it is limiting to students development when it comes to learning. By reinforcing these dichotomies unhealthy relationships between students and teachers are formed. Relationships that victimize students or give too much power to the teacher are problematic. You must constantly reflect on the pedagogy you are using as to not fall into the language of bombardment.  It is important to point out the language being used and to acknowledge that it is there so you are better able to create a healthy, productive pedagogy and space for your students. I am still not sure if my interpretation of the reading makes complete sense or if I missed the point entirely though.

For the street arcade I thought that it was interesting to see games made by teenagers especially ones that tackled sensitive topics. I enjoyed playing the wants vs needs on the most. However I liked the aesthetics of growing up black in Chicago the most.