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A few weeks ago, I went to Midge Raymond’s interesting workshop on travel writing at the Ashland Public Library. Among other things, she pointed out the importance of dialogue and noted that people might skip over long descriptive passages in fiction but they never skip the dialogue.

I’ve been trying to draw some parallels between narrative writing and expository/argumentative writing, so her comment caused me to think about the role of quotes. I confessed to my Advanced Composition class that I sometimes skip long block quotes in scholarly books and academic articles, and I found that some of them did also.

We talked about how quotes and papers are different from dialogue and narrative, and one student, David Brown, came up with an observation that gets to the heart of the difference. Quotes in academic papers, he pointed out, take you outside of the voice of the writer, while dialogue in fiction drives the narrative forward by providing voice to characters. This makes a lot of sense I think, and the familiar “quote sandwich” format of academic writing usually provides plenty of information in the framing and contextualizing of the quote.

In the History of Publishing class, we were talking about the difference between magazine covers and book covers. It became apparent that the hardback book covers are generally less sensational and less busy than magazine covers. The busyness of magazine covers makes sense because they have a lot of varied content to highlight. But what about the sensationalism? Leroy Fulwiler pointed out that this may be because of the shorter shelf life of a magazine. Perhaps magazines have to compete harder for eyeballs because buying or even picking up a magazine is a less intentional action then buying the book or committing the time to read a book.

I need to learn more about how cover artist changed over time and the difference between paperback covers and hardcovers and the differences from genre to genre.

One last interesting tidbit from the Advanced Composition class. We were looking at the different things that happen in a paragraph – making claims, giving reasons, providing evidence, etc. It became clear that as you move from an academic style to a more journalistic style, interpretation of a sentence might change. In a more expansive and documented academic style, a particular paraphrase, summary, or quote might be seen as evidence for a larger claim. In a shorter and less documented journalistic style, that same paraphrased summary or quote might come across as a mere assertion or claim. This shift is something everyone should watch out for.

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Here are the pages I showed from the Electronic Literature Organization; the Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY Buffalo; Netpoetic, ‘a space, a net workshop’ curated by Jason Nelson and Davin Heckman; Writing Digital Media, a wiki hosted at Brown University; and our guest poet, the e-poetry of Ian Hatcher.

The eMDA degree program (minor in Emerging Media & Digital Arts) is here.

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I found Bobby Arellano’s visit to our classroom very interesting.  In particular, the new Emerging Media and Digital Arts minor has caught my attention.  This minor will allow me to expand my English degree to include a media component.  Also, having already taken Writing 327: Technical Writing, Writing 329: Grant Writing and Workplace Literacy, and Writing 455: History of Publishing, I only need to complete 16 additional credits to receive this minor (EMDA 201, 202, 203 and 350).

Also, the concept of a hypertext novel blends the skills of English and Digital Arts. I may create a hypertext novel as one of the projects I will be required to make in the Emerging Media and Digital Arts courses I will be taking in the new academic year.  The online poetry, created by Ian Hatcher, that Arellano used as an example of a way to blend poetry and a live-action story, much like the create-your-own-adventure books, is something I would like to try and reproduce.  I believe that this type of art has many possibilities and I look forward to exploring them.

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I really enjoyed the article ‘Textbook Affordability Act Passes First Term in Salem.’ For too long, people have just shrugged the shoulders and accepted the exploitation of the school bookstores that sell pamphlets for 100 bucks which are then not used in the course and which you are unable to sell back at the end of the term. I am a bitter, jaded person who refuses to support the school bookstore any more (although I did spend 17 dollars there the other day and it hurt so bad). I bought a 150 dollar book once which I was told I could get 15 dollars back for when I wanted to resell it. Now it sits in a box collecting dust. My 150 dollar French book is apparently not being accepted for resale anymore. The pain.

A few of the most interesting parts of this article:

“The most likely reason why college textbooks are so expensive is that the textbooks market itself is broken. In the textbooks market, the people who choose textbooks (faculty), are not the same people who must purchase textbooks (students). In addition, students are typically required to purchase textbooks as a course requirement, making them a captive consumer. This is an extraordinary dynamic. In his report to the U.S Department of Education, economist Dr. James Koch wrote that student demand for textbooks is “price inelastic”, meaning that unlike normal markets, demand for college textbooks changes very little even with significant price increases.”

With little inherent incentive to compete on the basis of price, publishers have instead historically chosen to compete around who can provide the book with the most “added value” regardless of cost. Publishers have raced to produce expensive “new” editions whether or not content has significantly changed and added additional instructional materials – both of which have helped drive up costs and undermine the used book market (which has long been the only respite for students looking for affordable books).”

It is true that expensive new editions of the books will go up but show almost no difference from the previous version (this is true of the philosophy book I am using right now). OSPIRG goes on to say:

“The intended effect of the price disclosure law is to re-insert price into the conversation between faculty and publishers. This alone is no guarantee that faculty will choose a cheaper option, or even that a cheaper option is available. However, the law could help prompt more faculty to search for less expensive options, opening up more space in the textbooks market and creating the kind of competition around price that the market needs.

There is certainly evidence that faculty are receptive to making price a criteria in textbooks selection, in spite of the market dynamics that run in the opposite direction. OSPIRG student chapters and many other PIRG chapters nationwide have been asking faculty to make a written commitment to consider switching to lower cost course materials, and over 2,500 faculty nationwide have agreed to do so.”

I agree that it is very good for the prices of the textbooks to be out in the open and not hidden in secret shame. This allows the student more time to search for cheaper editions, as is mentioned later in the article. I am also intrigued by what is written about students being able to access books for free online. That would be a true miracle and if SOU offered that option easily, I would certainly choose it over going out and buying books.

School is already expensive enough so I don’t see the reason why one should have to dip into their life savings or kiss their ideas of retirement goodbye every time they enter the bookstore. I support anything that lowers textbook prices to a reasonable amount.