A Good Reader

      According to Nabokov, a good reader is a re-reader that has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and artistic sense. A good reader is all of those things and more. I believe that a good reader is also a person that has common sense, critically thinking skills and has an open mind.
      A good reader should read first to commit to memory. A good reader should reread with imagination and a dictionary, in order to be exposed to new content and define any words that may have been confusing to them the first time through. A good reader should also use their artistic sense and critical thinking skills to ask questions. A good reader should use their common sense be open minded enough to accept other people's opinions and evidence. Finally a good reader should be able to critically analyze the evidence to make their own conclusions with their own critical thinking.

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Technology

My life is no any different than anybody else. After fifteen weeks of reading, writing, blogging and research, I have found that technology can be helpful. I have always been a more hands on learner, attending classes to get all of my questions answered. Now thanks to the internet and its resources I can contact my professor thru email and have my questions answered. We are all busy with our home, work, social and school lives. It was necessary to combine my school life with my home life in order to complete this class and the other I am taking.
The technology that was most useful for me was the access to the school library online. I never realized that we had access to that technology. I used it for several of my assignments that I would not have been able to complete without it. As I continue my education whether online or in person. I believe that accessing the school data base will be the most helpful to me and every other student out there.
The technology that allowed me to do work from home at any time of the day was the greatest gift I could ask for. Though it has not been easy, as a working mom that was determined to finish her classes, it has been worth while. I believe that the biggest challenge I had was completing all of the assignments’ ahead of time. I always planned on getting started earlier in the week so that I could spend time with my family during the weekends. That really never worked out as planned. I would always end up spending my weekends in front of the computer. Both my children ages five and three would always asked me why I always had homework. “One day you will understand”, was my answer.



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Revision

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                                                        The ostrich brief blog post

              I'm supposed to review the writing process I took on this essay, well this essay took twice as long as the others did. I am not as happy as I usually am after completing an assignment. I put a lot of thought and effort into this project and it just felt blah to me.
              I titled this paper the ostrich brief because the whole thing took on a bit of a conspiracy theory feel to it, I thought calling it a brief would bring back memories of that conspiracy movie The Pelican Briefs. I named it Ostrich because first it is also a bird but mostly because when they get scared they bury there heads in the ground and I intended that to be a representation of buying into the hype or propaganda.
              The first few days of the week I photocopied articles I thought would work for my thesis. I highlighted then underlined passages I thought I could use. I rewrote the thesis with some minor changes. I had to change what I was saying a few times as evidence came about changing my the theories or discrediting them.
               I had to take several breaks as the material was dry and depressing in most cases. Postmodern writing is art but I don't think it's my kind of art. Topics were interesting but tedious much like this blog. My family life was interrupting constantly and pushing me a bit hard this time.  used three sources by DeLillo and three other sources as well.  I'm glad I read this book it has been a bit enlightening for me. I will probably never read a postmodern book again but I am glad for the experience. It was hard setting aside time to reread curtain parts as it was hard to follow the first time.
               Must have tools for this project included two iPhones, an iPad, an iMac desktop, and two POS laptops one still running vista yay. Most helpful app during this project is the dictionary and thesaurus app. The ability to define or substitute words on the fly was important, I could not have completed this task in the time I had otherwise.
                Revision is important because writing projects take on a life of there own and often lead you to places you never thought you would go. Stoping and reviewing and getting a fresh look always yields fruit. I was lucky enough to have my husband reread most of what I wrote as he had a fresh look at all the data.

Aloha from Hawaii.  I love online classes!

When Jack and Murray visit the "most photographed barn in America", Murray has the revelation that nobody has actually seen the barn.  They have been exposed to the propaganda and have become part of the mob mentality surrounding the barn. This is  the underlying topic of the novel.  Every other story Jack narrates within this novel related to this concept.  Mass propaganda is a distraction of reality used like smoke and mirrors in the illusionist tricks to obfuscate what is really going on.