Visual Explications
These three collages from the writing about literature class each interpret the poem and illustration by William Blake:
The Tyger.
Tyger Tyger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp:
When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Donna 
Now the real tricky part. Imagine zooming out fifty years from now and walking up to a larger picture framed and hanging on some museum wall. Now imagine what the image would be like if it were missing the lilies, or even the yellow flower. If, instead, there were merely a dull pond or an empty space. What seems like a small detail, a brief moment in zoom mode contributes to the entire image when we zoom back out. And so, I ask that you don’t doubt that what is happening today and what has just happened in your years with us will continue to color and shape you as you pencil in the bridges on your horizons and figures in your lives. And I ask that you remember your zoom tool works both ways. As you move forward, take some time now and then to zoom back in and remember these teachers, these moments, and these friends. We’re honored to be among the important details of your lives. Now go out and continue filling in your canvas. Congratulations.
With one of the few impulse buys made with our slim technology lab budget this year, we purchased the Blue Snowball microphone. In looking at the microphone, I'm struck by the power of design. Clearly, this is a microphone that has been put together to address a functional need. The easy switching between uni- and omni-directional mode and the usb output are spot on in addressing the needs of podcasting and other computer-based recording. 
The
fact that they were created for an advertising competition and
represent stylized versions of the American brand image on eighteen wheels stirs some discouragement. Still, I like looking at
the contrast between the American logo branding and the European ads as truck art. Here, where
car culture meets consumer culture, I fidget with terms like sophistication,
audience, engagement. Of course, I'm no longer just looking
at the wild images on the sides of the trucks. I have to ask about manipulation
(of art and habits) and the analysis that must be brought to bear to respond
to manipulation. 
A moment of synthesis prompted by listening to a 
I love that phrase, "physical pressure made by the utterance of the speaker."
We tend to translate movement wrought through discourse into abstract terms--changing
the views of listeners, prompting written response, shifting policy--intellectual
reactions to the linguistic core of the statement. The image and blockquote
suggest other possibilities.
I can only vouch for myself in saying that word writing (and reading), when
it's good, taps into the wave world in a physical way. But I can suppose that
sound writing offers a variation on the phenomenon, perhaps one less removed than silent text
from physical waves (primordial or other).
And, as a last digression, I'll argue
with this image--which 
This piece called 
Just couldn't resist tossing out some observations about this piece in the Washington Post: 
I'd like to say that the technical skills demonstrated by the digital wish list accompany a rhetorical savvy visible in the emotional appeal for a dog that anchors the presentation, but I worry that the way the presentation fully adopts the commercial style really just shows a young voice buying and selling through the latest persuasive mode. I wouldn't say that it is fair to expect a more critical stance from Katie, but need to point out that the claims for (and evidence of) high levels of technical skills among youth continue to call for us to promote an accompaning rhetorical and critical sophistication. Does the slide show merely demonstrate the technical prowess of young consumers, or does it reveal media, rhetorical, and compositional savvy?
