Reflexive Blog 11/18- Where Good Ideas Come From

   For my reflexive blog post this week, I went all the way back to the writing into the day we did on October 4th, which was the "Where Good Ideas Come From" presentation by Steven Johnson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU

   At first, Steven Johnson explains that good ideas can take years to mature, and until then, they are "hunches". As these hunches grow, it's sometimes only when they are combined with another hunch that they complete these good ideas. A "hunch" lurking in someone else's mind is often what turns a person's hunch into a real breakthrough. There are many cases that someone can have half of a good idea.
   The reason I think this video is relevant is because we now have so many ways that we can reach out to connect to someone to find the missing piece of an idea. People can connect with each other easier than ever and that't whats important for the development of good ideas. This allows us to borrow and combine anybody's ideas easily. Looking at the advances happening in only the last fifteen years that allow this easier communication, it makes me wonder how much easier ideas will be able to spread with the technological advances in the next fifteen years.

Reflexive Blog 11/11- The Things They Carried

    I was looking through my daybook for a while trying to find something to write a blog post about when I saw the looping activity we did for The Things They Carried. I had to reread what I wrote in my daybook to remember exactly what the story was about.
    I remember in The Things They Carried, the author spent a lot of time literally describing the items that the soldiers carried with them during the Vietnam War. I saw that I made a note in my daybook about how the author then started talking about how the soldiers "carried the land itself- Vietnam, the place, the soil." I was trying to make sense of that when I remembered the writing into the day we did about the things we carried ourselves, and what they said about us.
    I then went to my entry from Nov 1, and saw that I just talked about how I usually am only carrying my phone, wallet, and keys, occasionally headphones, and whatever I need for school. The main point of the entry was to make sense of what the items you carry say about you, which I had some trouble doing. I felt like items you're carrying shouldn't really say anything about who you are, although I feel like I'm looking at the topic from a different point than the author of The Things They Carried.

Annotated Bibliography Mini Assignment- 11/2

1.

First Amendment Plaque, UNC Charlotte. 30 Oct. 2012. Personal photograph by Dillon Marr. JPEG file.

     This is a picture I took of the plaque on campus next to the bell tower. Written on it is the first amendment. I see many people in the area near the bell tower voicing their opinions on topics like politics, religion, and anything else. I thought this picture really represented the idea of public expression when thinking of what goes on in that area.

 2.

Literacy Map, UNC Charlotte. 30 Oct. 2012. Personal photograph by Dillon Marr. JPEG file.

    This is a picture I took of the map I drew for the Mapping UNCC Mini Assignment. We decided to expand where we were looking to create our map, and took a closer look around campus, mainly around the area of Friday, Denny, the Bell Tower, and Atkins Library. This is the map I drew to display each of the writings that we found in this area.




 3.

Belk Tower Graffiti, UNC Charlotte. 30 Oct. 2012. Personal photograph by Dillon Marr. JPEG file.

    This is a picture of a message that I found painted on the ground, near the Belk Tower and the plaque with the first amendment on it. It shows that positive messages can be spread with graffiti. Seeing this on the ground made me think of how the idea of public expression can show people's honest opinions, knowing that their message can be displayed without revealing who it's from.