“it is our task to bring about a state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against facism” (Ulmer, quoting Benjamin 59) This seems to imply that recognizing a sense of emergency (or an exigency) is imperative for something to justfy memorialization. That being said, creating a memorial (peripheral or otherwise) brings the issue to the consciousness of the people and can then allow action to happen. This is an important idea as it is also the reason for having a MEmorial in the first place.
The urgency for this is no accident. It is mirrored in the name EmerAgency. “merge, emerge, emergence, urgency, urge” all of these terms are part of the portmanteau. This notion of Pun is something I am trying to work into our MEmorial as it serves many purposes. The pun reminds the user that there are multiple concepts coming together and I think that in a very large way it reminds the user that words (like thoughts and ideas) are malleable.
This malleability seems to be a a key point in the notion of electracy. Ulmer argues that critical reason is based on a fallacy. And this, is precisely the point where electracy can step out. Reasoneon is the perfect blend of this importance. While other literacies strive for clarity, electracy seeks to capture the aura of something. This is precisely the neon glow that attracts attention. Ulmer captures Benjamin's idea so clearly when they discuss the notion of the sizzle selling the steak and not the steak itself.
Im fascinated by this idea that the Agency casts a shadow. Ulmer steps outside of the box (again) in describing the caligraphy of the phrase EmerAgency. There is one key idea that I think he misses. The idea that a memorial can cast a shadow over other things. I have come to calling this something that is DeMemorialized. When one thing is memorialized, something else is not. Not everything can be memorialized and have all of the attention called to it. However, I do quite agree that finding the things “aura” can be a very elusive thing and that very few will attempt to do this (though many of them are featured prominently in the readings).
Ulmer almost gets to discussing the idea of DeMemorialization when he touches on “compassion fatigue”, but I don’t think he quite gets there. However, the idea that he presents is important. This idea that people are “tired” of being compassionate, and that they know more about more “situations” now, than ever before, but yet, they do not have the capacity to be compassionate towards them because they are just another caught in the flow.
As I move through this book I am consumed with the idea that there “is more to this, than there is to this”. As that line is mentioned in Mel Brooks the producers a conservative, inside-the-box thinker and being encouraged by a broadway producer (and scam artist) to try new things. The producer is encouraging the fellow that he is a “fountain” and that there is “more” to him “than there is to him”. I think it is clear that Ulmer is openly inviting people to build upon his work. Where others seem to shroud their ideas in secrecy and preventative langugae, Ulmer’s work begs to played with.
In forming the EmerAgency he is giving Egents Agency. The notion of the MEmorial is but a frame work. In fact in many ways the notion of electracy ( I think) is still being realized. It is up to those who do the scholarship to frame where the scholarship is going.
That being said, for the MEmorial I am working on creating we are actively trying to make it evocative. Ulmer says that we should not try to literally re-create the experience, but that we should convey the idea. This is where I suspect many might get stumbled. I think traditional monuments do this quite well. For instance the Oklahoma bombing site does not literally translate what happened; so why should a MEmorial? The symbolism is quite important. The key is capturing the instance and transforming it into that neon glow.
A MEmorial begins as a respose to news (65), I suppose in many ways all things are news and that our understandings of things are rhetorical. In my case, the MEmorial is very much based on the news but I am not sure that this is, necessarily, the starting point from which a MEmorial must begin. In many ways I find myself resistant to setting up too many ground rules (which Ulmer is continuously and somewhat slowly unfolding) with regards to making a MEmorial. I’m hoping to incorporate a number of different elements into capturing the “Aura”. These, seem to be important ideas as far as the MEmorial and electracy as a whole go.
Wrapping up I think Ulmer does an awesome job presenting a variety of different mediums that serve as MEmorial. Any ciriticism I might have is largely put into check by the approachable nature of the work and the creativity that it inspires. In that respect I am very anxious to meet with my group tonight and continue working on our project.
The urgency for this is no accident. It is mirrored in the name EmerAgency. “merge, emerge, emergence, urgency, urge” all of these terms are part of the portmanteau. This notion of Pun is something I am trying to work into our MEmorial as it serves many purposes. The pun reminds the user that there are multiple concepts coming together and I think that in a very large way it reminds the user that words (like thoughts and ideas) are malleable.
This malleability seems to be a a key point in the notion of electracy. Ulmer argues that critical reason is based on a fallacy. And this, is precisely the point where electracy can step out. Reasoneon is the perfect blend of this importance. While other literacies strive for clarity, electracy seeks to capture the aura of something. This is precisely the neon glow that attracts attention. Ulmer captures Benjamin's idea so clearly when they discuss the notion of the sizzle selling the steak and not the steak itself.
Im fascinated by this idea that the Agency casts a shadow. Ulmer steps outside of the box (again) in describing the caligraphy of the phrase EmerAgency. There is one key idea that I think he misses. The idea that a memorial can cast a shadow over other things. I have come to calling this something that is DeMemorialized. When one thing is memorialized, something else is not. Not everything can be memorialized and have all of the attention called to it. However, I do quite agree that finding the things “aura” can be a very elusive thing and that very few will attempt to do this (though many of them are featured prominently in the readings).
Ulmer almost gets to discussing the idea of DeMemorialization when he touches on “compassion fatigue”, but I don’t think he quite gets there. However, the idea that he presents is important. This idea that people are “tired” of being compassionate, and that they know more about more “situations” now, than ever before, but yet, they do not have the capacity to be compassionate towards them because they are just another caught in the flow.
As I move through this book I am consumed with the idea that there “is more to this, than there is to this”. As that line is mentioned in Mel Brooks the producers a conservative, inside-the-box thinker and being encouraged by a broadway producer (and scam artist) to try new things. The producer is encouraging the fellow that he is a “fountain” and that there is “more” to him “than there is to him”. I think it is clear that Ulmer is openly inviting people to build upon his work. Where others seem to shroud their ideas in secrecy and preventative langugae, Ulmer’s work begs to played with.
In forming the EmerAgency he is giving Egents Agency. The notion of the MEmorial is but a frame work. In fact in many ways the notion of electracy ( I think) is still being realized. It is up to those who do the scholarship to frame where the scholarship is going.
That being said, for the MEmorial I am working on creating we are actively trying to make it evocative. Ulmer says that we should not try to literally re-create the experience, but that we should convey the idea. This is where I suspect many might get stumbled. I think traditional monuments do this quite well. For instance the Oklahoma bombing site does not literally translate what happened; so why should a MEmorial? The symbolism is quite important. The key is capturing the instance and transforming it into that neon glow.
A MEmorial begins as a respose to news (65), I suppose in many ways all things are news and that our understandings of things are rhetorical. In my case, the MEmorial is very much based on the news but I am not sure that this is, necessarily, the starting point from which a MEmorial must begin. In many ways I find myself resistant to setting up too many ground rules (which Ulmer is continuously and somewhat slowly unfolding) with regards to making a MEmorial. I’m hoping to incorporate a number of different elements into capturing the “Aura”. These, seem to be important ideas as far as the MEmorial and electracy as a whole go.
Wrapping up I think Ulmer does an awesome job presenting a variety of different mediums that serve as MEmorial. Any ciriticism I might have is largely put into check by the approachable nature of the work and the creativity that it inspires. In that respect I am very anxious to meet with my group tonight and continue working on our project.
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