Shaun Tan's "The Arrival" and Seeing

I was so excited when we were asked to read excerpts from Shaun Tan's "The Arrival." I was first introduced to his storytelling in middle school, and have been a huge fan ever since. Although we did not have a chance to discuss the reading in class, I think it is relevant to our class theme of "reading and seeing." In many of his works, but most notably in "The Arrival," Tan perfectly depicts what it is like to be in a foreign environment: he illustrates not only the oddities of the new land the main character finds himself in, but also his feelings of astonishment, bewilderment, isolation, and dozens of other emotions someone experiences when in a radically new place. Although there are no words in the entire book, I feel as if I understand exactly what the main character is thinking and why he acts as he does. Just as Annie Dillard paints a picture with words, Shaun Tan fills my head with words through pictures.
If given the time, I would really like to discuss the passage we read and see what others think about it. I am always mesmerized by Tan's work, and I think discussing it would further open my eyes to the capabilities of visual storytelling. I believe everyone should read "The Arrival," especially in this class!

Graffiti and Vandalism

Along with many of my classmates, I agree that there is a difference between graffiti and vandalism. I see graffiti as well-illustrated street art that conveys a message or theme and rightfully represents the community it is in. And of course, I believe vandalism is the abuse of that right to express art. Vandalism consists of hateful words or unsettling images that do not add anything to a community but fear and/or disgust. And unfortunately, it is these gang tags on buildings and hateful messages in alleyways that give the term "graffiti" such a bad reputation.

To me, freedom of expression, at least in the Constitution, seems pretty straight forward. Yet, society has separated expression into good and bad. What defines good expression and bad expression? Who knows. It's all opinionated. But, most artists who paint large pieces of art on the sides of two-story buildings are not looking to lessen the beauty of their city. It is rather the opposite. There's a difference between the murals of iconic figures in Detroit and the obscenely-graphic images on trains that appear as though they were drawn in under a minute. Graffiti is art, as long as it does not cross a certain line. That is when it becomes vandalism; that is when the right to freedom of expression becomes abused.

The Work of Graffiti

Spray paints replace colored pencils, the warehouse opposite Eastern Market turns into an open canvas, and the kids that you normally would not pay attention to become artists... or at least for a few minutes before police sirens signal their time to go.

During our class discussion, graffiti, and whether or not it should be considered a legal art form instead of a illegal damaging of property, was discussed among classmates.  This is brought on as graffiti is becoming more commonly seen and appreciated for either its skill and craftsmanship, or because of its often vulgar and thought-provoking messages, especially in cities such as Detroit.  Regardless, the debate remains as to whether the artists should be punished for their tagging as potential damage of property or if their tagging should be allowed on certain buildings.  Of course, tagging should not be allowed on the side of an open business or house, but then the question of if it's allowed on abandoned buildings, freeway overpasses, or trains, should be deemed fair.  As I think of this, I do agree that permission is often needed, but then I wonder, what if the point of graffiti is for it to be illegal in the first place, and by it being illegal, it questions the purpose of certain laws and restrictions?

The Alt Right Movement

As we all know and have talked about in class, racial tension is on the rise again, and it is beginning to hit our campus with force. With the election just around the corner and members of online communities such as Reddit, Tumblr, and 4chan taking the opportunity to assert their own agendas over others, the entire nation has been feeling the effects of the far left and far right ideologies and their darker sides. As a response to the far left points of view most commonly associated with Tumblr, 4chan's members have formed their own movement of sorts, though theirs is driven more so by hate rather than a vision of equality. They are similar to the normal far-right conservative group, though they take a different approach and denounce passive behavior in their actions concerning the spread of their messages. The alt-right movement started by 4chan idolizes Trump and takes much of what he says very literally. As a result, a lot of the racist rhetoric that Trump spews on Twitter and in his campaigning is amplified by his followers, most of all on 4chan where posting is anonymous and people don't feel the need to filter what they say due to lack of consequence. The alt-right has just seen its birth over the past few years, fully coagulating from the soup of its former self. Whether Trump wins the election or not, the alt-right is here to stay. As we have seen over the past few months, the alt-right has been "worshipping" new people that come along that share a similar opinion, such as Milo Yiannopoulos. As time continues, the far left and alt-right will continue to clash.

I think that in order to fix the problems that have been developing over the past few years, a new approach must be used. People need to learn to be more objective and accepting; I don't just mean the people who associate themselves with the alt-right, I mean people from all ideologies and backgrounds. The far left exerts its opinions too strongly over people just as the far right (alt-right mostly) does. The tension created by the pushing of opinions is what causes things to boil over and leads to people becoming very hateful. Groups such as Black Lives Matter have been spawned out of this tension, looking to fight back on both sides to end the inequality that is plaguing our nation once again. If we want a better world in which everyone is equal, we all must be willing to be objective in all situations and accept people of all varieties.

What is Graffiti?

I used to view graffiti with disgust. I remember once in middle school I noticed that someone had spray-painted things all over part of a sidewalk near my school. I remember reading the words “the world is my sketchpad” spray-painted on the concrete and thinking about how the person who wrote that should be reprimanded for their vandalism. But recently I have gotten a much more open mind about graffiti, seeing it as art. The clearest and most recent example of this in my head is from this summer, when my family took a vacation to Ecuador. In the city of Quito, and a small city we visited in the Galapagos islands, there were a lot of walls along the streets, and many of them had been graffitied on. Some of it was typical graffiti, tagging and such, but some of it was beautiful art, and I began to wish that people would decorate whole cities with street art like that. Spontaneous, creative self-expression littering the streets. Of course I know that all graffiti isn’t like that, and that what one person may think is beautiful and expressive, another might view as an eyesore.

I cannot say that my views on graffiti are fully formed. I acknowledge that I have little experience with graffiti, especially after hearing what other people had to say during our class discussion. I think that there are some types of graffiti that are inappropriate, such as tagging someone else’s house, or writing racial slurs somewhere, but I also think it can be very hard to draw the line between vandalism and art. I don’t think there is one clear definition of art, but I do feel that art, as a form of self-expression cannot be “illegal.” It certainly shouldn’t be illegal to create art, but perhaps the spaces where it is displayed should be regulated? Can all graffiti be classified as art? I have many unanswered, and possibly unanswerable, questions about graffiti and art. Nevertheless, I am excited to further explore my view on graffiti during our field trip next week.

Blog Post #2

The question "Is graffiti art?" calls to attention a very controversial subject. In my opinion, I think graffiti can be art, but even when it is art, it is still vandalism. By definition, graffiti is committed on another person's property without permission, an act with the purpose of creating a sense of entitlement and ownership. Therefore, even if graffiti is created for aesthetic pleasing, it is still an act committed on another person's property without consent. With that in mind, some graffiti, which is still vandalism, is definitely art. For example, in New York City, there are many interesting graffiti walls in Soho painted by famous artists, beautiful works of art that attract many viewers. Forms of graffiti like this, which contain intricate images as opposed to words, are most definitely art. Their striking images not only evoke meaning but are also pleasing to the eye. Yet, no matter how amazing these canvasses are, they are still vandalism. On the other hand, most graffiti containing only words or symbols are often gang tags and therefore not works of art. This form of graffiti is not only invasive like all other vandalism, but it also creates conflict with other gangs and serves to become a threat to the communities inhabiting the gangs. Tagging creates a lack of a security and a sense of fear for the people who are surrounded by gang tagging. Overall, all graffiti is vandalism, but not all graffiti is art.

Blog Post # 2

I found the past week of our classes to be particularly interesting due to various reasons, the most prominent being that our conversations took a more intimate form, which fostered both understanding as well as a keen awareness of the variety of opinions that developed in the process. Beginning with the class on social identities, I found that I myself, did not know which aspect of my identity was most important to me until I assigned a number to it during the activity. I have never been in a situation where I have had to discuss or even think about my social identity until now, so that class was an unusual but oddly satisfying experience. Though we were not able to touch upon Tan's 'The Arrival' during class, I found myself going over it a couple times, and nodding along in my head as I completely associated with the disorientation that overwhelms a newcomer when he/she arrives to another country or rather any place which is very unlike their home.  

I am extremely thankful for these classes because I feel that these conversations, however awkward or uncomfortable, are important to have. Coming from a country which is devoid of racism but big on stark religious and/or communal differences, discussions on racism are new to me, having only discussed them in an academic context during high school history or thinking about them as a result of watching a news report or hearing about an incident. 

Although I was aware of the incident regarding the posters, I was more or less detached from the whole issue because I had not been part of an active conversation regarding it. Now that I have done so, I realize the proximity of these issues in the environment around me. Rather than them being some vague ideas in theory, for me, these issues have finally taken form as I realize that they are real and they are happening around me. 

I like how everything we have been talking about recently, be it social and personal identities, the legality of graffiti, racism or even the presidential debate are all inter-related with each other in either really subtle or very obvious ways. Their permeability keeps the conversations rolling, and I cannot wait enough for more of them to follow! 

Blog Post 2

I want to talk a little bit about today's glass. Not only did I learn new issues happening around the university, I got to hear from different viewpoints that without this class I would not have gotten. Being able to digress from the usual agenda and use current events to tie into what we have been focusing on in class is amazing. After our discussion, I was left wondering about race related issues and, more so, censorship at the university. At my high school censorship was a big issue. People were very focused on being politically correct, which is a good thing I think. However, when community members were always on the attack and always assumed people had bad intentions, voices were silenced.  Being new to Michigan, I am curious to know what censorship is like on campus. The most recent example: the posters including extreme racism, in my opinion, needed to be taken down. They were beyond offensive, scary, and dangerous. However, it made me wonder if there was a less extreme example and the university went back and fourth about whether they should censor what ever was being displayed.  How did the university go about their decision? I truly hope to have more conversations like these in class. We almost started to talk about the presidential debate and I wished we got to it. I feel like there would be a wide range of options that would spark an amazing conversation.  I hope we get to it next class!

Blog Post 2

            During today’s class, we talked about the hangings of various offensive posters here at the University of Michigan. The posters included one that contained “scientific” evidence as to why white people are “smarter” than black people. Putting the actual event aside, I am extremely pleased that I have a class in which these events can be discussed. Postponing planned class material in order to discuss current events is something that my high school teachers emphasized greatly but have found elusive thus far here at Michigan. I am almost relieved that one of my classes is small enough to have real, intimate discussions despite straying from our planned material. Also, today’s discussion was particularly interesting for me because I had the privilege of hearing from perspectives of very different backgrounds to myself. My high school was composed of people of extremely similar backgrounds, so, while we had many captivating discussions, there was usually one governing perspective and, more often than not, a consensus.

            As we discussed in class today, around a week ago, a similar event happened at Eastern Michigan University. Someone did graffiti, which was a racial slur, on a brick wall. It is interesting that just this week we discussed graffiti in class. We discussed graffiti as social commentary, but where does one draw the line between social commentary and blatant vandalism? I am excited to explore graffiti even more in the coming weeks and to see its powers of criticism and, in this case, destruction.

Blog Post 2

Today's class was particularly interesting to me, as in no other classes have I discussed the climate on campus and the ongoing effects of the racist posters put up.  It's heartbreaking and frustrating to think about how minorities are targeted specifically to make them feel hurt and unwelcome. When I first heard about the posters, I was surprised but didn't think much of it. In my mind, dumb people remain dumb and do dumb things, which surface into our daily lives from time to time. But after today's talk, I realised something else- when it is hateful propaganda or speech directed toward me, my frustration is more obvious. For instance, last year I heard about anti-Muslim slurs chalked on the diag and elsewhere on campus, and although I'm not particularly religious, it still did scare me. It hurts a lot of people, but not in the same way and to the same extent. By discussing these matters with people who are both targeted and not targeted, we can understand better and be made more aware of the things we can do to create a positive and welcoming environment for all of us. Our humanity and logic is what should prevail, and I hope it always will.

Blog post 2 - Emma Yergin

I think graffiti is art. Except when it's not. Like most of my classmates, I fall in the middle of the spectrum when it comes to the debate on graffiti's status. We believe that graffiti can be beautiful and artistic, but when it is created illegally, it is vandalism, which is a crime. Nonetheless, it can still be beautiful. I don't know if they have a name, although they might be called letterists, but I really appreciate the work of artists that make beauty out of words and letters. I halfway think of myself as one of them. I think it's fascinating because these artists have the ability to take something so ordinary like a letter and transform it into something magnificent. Graffiti artists do this too in a few different ways. First off, most graffiti artists that I have seen are incredible letterists. They can shape letters into such unique forms; it's really astounding and befuddling. Additionally, they transform the surfaces that they paint on. Whether it be a highway overpass, train car, building side, or house (some of which, are, in fact, quite illegal), the masterpiece of a graffiti artist revolutionizes an ugly wall into a contemporary canvas. The most abstract way that graffiti artists transform something plain into something amazing is through the actual artwork that they create. Many times, the artists are standing up against political or social issues and creating beauty out of the problems that they see in society. They draw or design stunning images that also show their opinion or make a point about society, which is peculiarly wonderful. It is important to keep in mind, though, that putting paint, whether it's beautiful or not, on a building or structure without permission is definitely a punishable crime. That's really just a matter of having good morals.

Post Number One: Annie Dillard's Essay "Seeing"

Annie Dillard's essay "Seeing" is very effective at using symbolism and imagery to describe what it means to truly see something through an analytical lens. Throughout her essay, she describes the different ways of seeing among people as well as things that humans generally don't think about or see. On page four, third paragraph, Dillard describes the things she feels and doesn't feel after visiting a waterfront location. As she lays in bed, she describes feeling herself in a "whirling darkness," though she's not entirely sure why. She goes on to say that it could be because she is travelling at incredibly large speeds as the Earth spins and orbits the sun, but she cannot really feel the intense 64,800 miles per hour acting on her; she is aware that she cannot feel the force of the orbit on her while she is on Earth, and that raises the questions: what else can humans feel and not feel in everyday life, and what can humans see and not see in the same context? She can feel the force of gravity on her from the Earth, though not from the various planets pulling on her in the "unhinged merry-go-round" that is the solar system. To understand any of this, Dillard proposes that humans must think with an open and imaginative mind in order to interpret the invisible forces and objects of the universe. When she opens her eyes she sees the flatness that is reality through her noninterpretive eyes; when she closes them, she sees the universe unfold before her, seeing "...stars, deep stars giving way to deeper stars, deeper stars bowing to deepest stars at the crown of an infinite cone." There's quite a lot of beauty in Dillard's proposition of truly seeing: though she is in action blinding herself, she opens her mind to think of the things she knows exist but she will never see. If she were to look to the sky with her eyes, she would see a landscape of stars sprawled out across the sky. If she were to close her eyes and think of the sky, she could go far beyond the limitations of the Earth. She could imagine the galaxies that litter the universe throughout its emptiness, the planets that fill such galaxies, and the stars and star clusters that fill the empty space of the ever expanding universe. If we truly desire to see what we cannot normally, we need to temporarily displace ourselves from reality as Dillard did. The only way to see and feel what is invisible or otherwise unseeable is to cut off our two-dimensional way of seeing and enter the realm of possibility that is in our minds.

Blog Post #1

While there were many examples in Dillard's "Seeing" that used exemplary examples of descriptive writing to describe perception and viewing of others, the one segment that really resonated with me was in regards to the healing of those with cataracts.  As displayed on page seven,  Dillard quotes:

"Some do learn to see, especially the young ones. But it changes their lives. One doctor comments 
on 'the rapid and complete loss of that striking and wonderful serenity which is characteristic only 
of those who have never yet seen.' A blind man who learns to see is ashamed of his old habits. He 
dresses up, grooms himself, and tries to make a good impression. While he was blind he was indifferent 
to objects unless they were edible; now, 'a sifting of values sets in… his thoughts and wishes are 
mightily stirred and some few of the patients are thereby led into dissimulation, envy, theft and fraud.'"

As humans, we have developed a culture where's one's looks are of high importance, and determine 
factors such as status or wealth.  Over the course of history, looks have dictated how we clothe ourselves, 
how we portray ourselves, and how we even view ourselves.  As Dillard examines, this line of judgment 
that we have all learned to develop depends solely on our ability to see.  With someone with a vision 
impairment such as cataracts, how one appears is not a factor in how they may view someone.  
Subsequently, the appearance of themselves also does not matter, as they cannot judge what they cannot 
see.

Once the man gains vision, we see how his opinions shift to where he cares about his appearance more, 
where before he had only cared about food.  Dillard uses this example to exemplify how over the course 
of our lives, we as humans learn new ideas and gain new perspectives or "sight" that change how we 
perceive ourselves and others; however, instead of enlightenment, this literal example of finding sight
shows that the man has only gained negative emotions about himself; shame, envy, and an urge to impress
others.

First Blog Post

Annie Dillard’s essay “Seeing” is a beautiful piece of writing. Dillard’s descriptions of the imagery were amazingly relatable and interesting, without being complicated.

I particularly liked the paragraph:

“At last I stared upstream where only the deepest violet remained of the cloud, a cloud so high its underbelly still glowed feeble color reflected from a hidden sky lighted in turn by a sun halfway to China. And out of that violet, a sudden enormous black body arced over the water. I saw only a cylindrical sleekness. Head and tail, if there was a head and tail, were both submerged in cloud. I saw one ebony fling, a headlong dive to darkness; then the waters closed, and the lights went out.”

I found the imagery of this paragraph intriguing. Based off of my own experience of being outside at night, as I read this, I can imagine the intense darkness surrounding Dillard as she looks at the last light reflected off of the cloud. The line “a cloud so high its underbelly still glowed feeble color reflected from a hidden sky lighted in turn by a sun halfway to China” struck me; I had never even considered the idea before that a cloud could still have color because it was so high up that it was reflecting sunlight from the other side of the world.

The next line, “a sudden enormous black body arced over the water” provides a vivid image of some unknown creature emerging from the water, which gives me a chilling feeling when I read it. Saying “a sudden enormous black body” is much more effective than saying something like “suddenly a huge, dark fish emerged from the water” - an “enormous black body” adds the element of the unknown that the author is experiencing. I also think that making the black body sudden, rather than saying “suddenly a black body arced,” adds something that makes the writing more engaging, possibly because it eliminates an adverb. This part of the paragraph is also particularly striking because the creature (I think it’s a fish) comes out of the violet of the cloud’s reflection in the water. The juxtaposition of the calmness of the cloud floating high enough in the sky to reflect light from China with a dark creature breaking the surface of the water communicates an element of surprise to the reader.

This paragraph also employs some very nice “active verbs” like we talked about in class - particularly the words “glowed,” “arced,” “fling,” and “dive.” The underbelly of the violet cloud “glowing” creates a calm, warm image, which contrasts with the eerie darkness of the rest of the paragraph. “Arced” is very descriptive on its own, and I can’t think of another way to portray such an image. “Fling” was interesting because even though Dillard doesn’t explicitly describe what was flung, it still creates a relatable image for the reader - I imagine a fish doing that thing fish do when they jump out of the water. I guess “fling” is the only good way to describe it. “Dive” suggests a deliberate action, in contrast to a fall.

It’s not easy to figure out how she does it, but somehow Annie Dillard can describe her experiences by expertly constructing a scene for the reader to participate in, rather than just telling the reader what she saw and did.

First Blog Post

Annie Dillard’s essay “Seeing” is a beautiful piece of writing. Dillard’s descriptions of the imagery were amazingly relatable and interesting, without being complicated.

I particularly liked the paragraph:

“At last I stared upstream where only the deepest violet remained of the cloud, a cloud so high its underbelly still glowed feeble color reflected from a hidden sky lighted in turn by a sun halfway to China. And out of that violet, a sudden enormous black body arced over the water. I saw only a cylindrical sleekness. Head and tail, if there was a head and tail, were both submerged in cloud. I saw one ebony fling, a headlong dive to darkness; then the waters closed, and the lights went out.”

I found the imagery of this paragraph intriguing. Based off of my own experience of being outside at night, as I read this, I can imagine the intense darkness surrounding Dillard as she looks at the last light reflected off of the cloud. The line “a cloud so high its underbelly still glowed feeble color reflected from a hidden sky lighted in turn by a sun halfway to China” struck me; I had never even considered the idea before that a cloud could still have color because it was so high up that it was reflecting sunlight from the other side of the world.

The next line, “a sudden enormous black body arced over the water” provides a vivid image of some unknown creature emerging from the water, which gives me a chilling feeling when I read it. Saying “a sudden enormous black body” is much more effective than saying something like “suddenly a huge, dark fish emerged from the water” - an “enormous black body” adds the element of the unknown that the author is experiencing. I also think that making the black body sudden, rather than saying “suddenly a black body arced,” adds something that makes the writing more engaging, possibly because it eliminates an adverb. This part of the paragraph is also particularly striking because the creature (I think it’s a fish) comes out of the violet of the cloud’s reflection in the water. The juxtaposition of the calmness of the cloud floating high enough in the sky to reflect light from China with a dark creature breaking the surface of the water communicates an element of surprise to the reader.

This paragraph also employs some very nice “active verbs” like we talked about in class - particularly the words “glowed,” “arced,” “fling,” and “dive.” The underbelly of the violet cloud “glowing” creates a calm, warm image, which contrasts with the eerie darkness of the rest of the paragraph. “Arced” is very descriptive on its own, and I can’t think of another way to portray such an image. “Fling” was interesting because even though Dillard doesn’t explicitly describe what was flung, it still creates a relatable image for the reader - I imagine a fish doing that thing fish do when they jump out of the water. I guess “fling” is the only good way to describe it. “Dive” suggests a deliberate action, in contrast to a fall.

It’s not easy to figure out how she does it, but somehow Annie Dillard can describe her experiences by expertly constructing a scene for the reader to participate in, rather than just telling the reader what she saw and did.

Annie Dillard's "Seeing"

I think we can all agree that Annie Dillard's "Seeing" took our class discussion, on noticing the hidden gifts of life, to a whole new level. Her descriptive wording and comforting details truly engaged us in the reading and made us see ordinary things from completely new perspectives. We immediately recognize how Dillard sees the world just based on the way she speaks to us through her writing. The way she describes how she can see the earth turning, rather than the stars, if she sits still in the night long enough, or how she goes into detail about the birds that seem to "materialize" out of the specifically Osage orange trees as if they weren't even hiding behind the leaves - examples like these spark our imagination and allow us to see things, once again, from completely new perspectives. That is entirely what "Seeing" focuses on; we can see anything and everything from different perspectives as long as we allow ourselves to.

The way she begins this piece, not only serves as a good hook, but sticks out as one of the most prominent examples in the entire text. She describes how, at a young age, she would take pennies and hide them for others to find. Dillard tells us that she would even draw arrows and write hints with chalk that said, "SURPRISE AHEAD" or "MONEY THIS WAY." Through this anecdote, the audience learns that the value of the penny is almost irrelevant. The value in finding the penny is not finding the penny itself, rather it is the curiosity and excitement of searching for such a treasure that is fulfilling. By including this short story in the introduction of the text, Dillard immediately gives the audience a taste of the happiness one can experience if he/she stops to notice the little things in life - the small opportunities people most likely pass by everyday because they are simply not looking for them.

What I can appreciate most about Dillard's "Seeing" is how she makes us realize what we often are missing in life without coming right out and saying it. Through the many details she includes in her examples, the audience can accept the near subliminal message that Dillard is trying to provide - do not pass up the opportunity to see nature from other perspectives and truly see the finer components of the life that surrounds us on a daily basis.

"Seeing" paragraph response

While reading "Seeing" by Annie Dillard, it's easy to be seduced by her captivating use of language and dazzling imagery. Her words paint a mental picture so vivid, the reader is tempted to simply sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. However, she also creates plenty of moments that provoke deep thought and self-evaluation. One of these lies near the bottom of her essay's eighth page, reading: "Seeing is of course very much a matter of verbalization. Unless I call my attention to what passes before my eyes, I simply won't see it." That one arguably obvious statement forced me to take a step back from the text and reconsider what it really means to see. So many things pass before our eyes every day, but we notice little of it because our mind's air-tight filter leaves little room for frivolous observations. The handful of images that stick is quickly analyzed, categorized, and verbalized by the brain. If an image does not correspond with a memory or cannot be named, it is soon discarded as if it were never seen at all. This is the rigid process Dillard attempts to loosen in her exploration: by treating everything she sees with equal importance, she can learn more about her surroundings and increase the wonder in her life.
Still, she understands that this is not only a matter of observing more but of thinking more, too: "It's not that I'm observant; it's just that I talk too much." Her method of seeing involves thinking about every blade of grass she steps on (has it been trimmed by a field mouse?) and every tree she encounters (what birds are hiding up there?). Dillard expresses this journey artfully throughout her entire piece, but the aforementioned paragraph contains a rare glimpse at the complexities of seeing.

Blog Post #1

When Alice Fulton wrote that “nothing will unfold for us unless we move toward what looks to us like nothing” in her poem entitled ‘Cascade Experiment’ she summed up the overall theme of the first two weeks of our class. Personally, as I read each assignment — both in and outside of class — this quote seemed applicable because every piece of writing was about seeing beyond the surface of everyday events by first accepting that we are always in the unknown. For example, Jammal May makes an argument against stereotypical assumptions about Detroit as a dangerous urban jungle in ‘There Are Birds Here’ and instead affirms that there is beauty in the city that most people fail to see due to closed-mindedness. Again, Taras Grescoe opens her article ‘Subterranean Gulag Baroque’ powerfully when she says “(she’d) come to Moscow not only to see the hell emerging on its streets but also to see the paradise beneath them.” She is acknowledging that Moscow — similarly to Detroit — has developed a negative stigma but she came to find the beauty in what most people couldn’t. May, Grescoe, and Fulton encourage their audiences to search for what is hidden in plain sight and see the world through an alternative, more hopeful lens. As egocentric as it may sound, this theme encompasses what artists of all mediums attempt to do with their art — to show those who can’t see an alternative perspective on the world what they are missing. 

Seeing by Annie Dillard

Dillard’s writing is brimming with overwhelmingly imaginative and evocative descriptions, one of which is exemplified by the fifth last paragraph. The paragraph could almost be part of a poem. Dillard packs it with musical alliterations, such as ‘skittery schools’ and ‘flesh-flake, feather, bone’. She describes her sights and thoughts while sitting on a sycamore bridge during sunset. We can vividly imagine the silvery flashes of fish by her description, "one fish, then another, turned for a split second across the current and flash!’". The tone is of excitement and marvel, which in turn energizes the reader and makes the read that much more interesting. Her comparisons are quite extraordinary and unconventional. She compares the creek life to a ‘new world’. Images of the milky way spring to mind when she compares the ‘linear flashes’ to ‘stars being born at random down a rolling scroll of time.’

A lot of what she says is indirect- instead of using the word itself, she describes it by a comparison of it to something else. Then she uses that comparison and links it to another vivid image. It’s all very meta, and the way she structured it is ingenious. The use of verbs instead of adjectives to describe the scenes breathes life into the writing. She then goes on to describe herself as a part of the nature, as the ‘‘lip of a fountain the creek filled forever, the leaf in the zephyr”. She and nature are one, and we realize what she was trying to say in her previous paragraph, where she mentions a ‘kind of seeing that involves letting go’- leaving her ‘transfixed and emptied’. She is emptied of her own soul and has merged into her surroundings.

Annie Dillard's 'Seeing'

While reading Annie Dillard’s Seeing, I experienced countless moments when I would have to just pause, and process the sheer amount of imagery that rushed past my mind’s eye. Dillard successfully touches upon what we see, what we don’t see, how we see and even how those who can’t see, see. Though numerous instances from her piece gripped my imagination, the part that stood out to me the most was when she talks about blindness through various tidbits from a variety of people.  She writes about the newly-sighted, “It oppresses them to realize, if they ever do at all, the tremendous size of the world, which they had previously conceived of as something touchingly manageable.” Her description of the world as “something touchingly manageable” from the perspective of the newly-sighted people made me really wonder about how vastly strange must it be for these people to see. The world’s size seems unfathomable enough to people who can see, so how supremely overwhelming must it be for them, given their entirely different expectations of “the world”? Dillard continues, “It oppresses them to realize that they have been visible to people all along, perhaps unattractively so, without their knowledge or consent.” Again, this got me thinking about how we fret about our outward appearances and worry about how others see us. On the other hand, the newly sighted had not even been provided with that opportunity until now to begin with. During our discussions in class, we noticed how Annie Dillard deftly uses action verbs, gets her point across without any lavish adjectives, and yet takes the reader on a surreal imagery roller-coaster, without having to resort to clichés. Funnily, the sentences that I picked, contain quite a few adverbs and describing words. This is an example of a rare instance wherein Dillard makes use of just the appropriate number of literary tools with adverbs like “touchingly” and “unattractively”, capturing the very essence of her point. The repetition of the phrase “It oppresses them to realize” in both the sentences enables the reader to completely focus on the true, miserable discomfort that the newly-sighted experience. Dillard truly has a brilliant way of transporting the reader to her world, a world where she paints exactly what she wants the reader to see.

Annie Dillard’s Seeing is a written work that really makes me think about the way that I view the world around me. Dillard makes numerous points about the importance of seeing using intense imagery, scientific explanations, and vivid descriptions. Dillard writes, “It’s all a matter of keeping my eyes open.” She discusses the necessity of noticing the minutiae in life and nature. I think that her beliefs surrounding observation are eye-opening...Pun intended. How often is it that we really look at what is around us? We often walk with our heads down (or even worse- looking at our cell phones), on a mission, with our only goal being to reach our destination. Unless I take the time for myself to be still, meditative and focused, it is rare that I ever actually admire the ants on the ground or the cut stems of the grass. Dillard quotes Stewart Edward White when discussing the importance of minute observations, “I have always maintained that if you looked closely enough you could see the wind—the dim, hardly-made-out, fine debris fleeing high in the air.” Can I really see the wind if I look hard enough? I guess I’ll have to try that.
But even when we see, are we really seeing everything? Dillard doesn’t think so, and turns to science to back up her thoughts, “Peeping through my keyhole I see within the range of only about thirty percent of the light that comes from the sun; the rest is infrared and some little ultraviolet, perfectly apparent to many animals, but invisible to me.” What a weird thing to think about. Not only is what I see different from what someone else sees, but what humans see is different from what many animals see. Dillard’s essay Seeing really pushed me to think about how I notice what is around me. It makes me want to go outside and really observe what I normally let pass me by without a second thought. 

Blog #1: Annie Dillard Passage Insight

In Annie Dillard’s Seeing, I am drawn to the passage, "Unfortunately, nature is very much a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't affair. A fish flashes, then dissolves in the water before my eyes like so much salt. Deer apparently ascend bodily into heaven; the brightest oriole fades into leaves." By providing three different examples of fleeting subjects, specifically three diverse animals, Dillard allows the reader to clearly visualize nature's ephemeral quality. In fact, utilizing action verbs, like flashing, dissolving, ascending, and fading brings the actions of these animals to life. The animals become living creatures as opposed to stationary beings. Further, the insertion of a simile about the dissolving of the fish provides deeper vivid imagery to support what Dillard is trying to convey. She is advancing one step further in an attempt to captivate the exact nature of the fish. In fact, Dillard also incorporates alliteration, providing rhythm to her language, as well as adverbs, like bodily, and adjectives, like brightest, creating richer descriptions. Lastly, Dillard interestingly begins her entire statement with the word, “unfortunately,” followed by a comma. This tactic serves to add some personal insight, linking the text specifically back to Dillard’s own personality and own opinion. Also, this pause, which creates a rest for the reader, strategically sets up the tone of the statement about to be stated. Overall, Dillard captures the transitory essence of nature through vivid imagery, action verbs, and poetic literary devices.