In his article "The Confident Gaze" Shekar Deshpandes main focus is on National Geographic magazine, "India: Turning fifty" edition. In his article he talks about how National Geographics photography influences it's readers and helps sell the magazine while also helps to support the articles in the magazine. Deshpande goes into detail with the front cover of the magazine, which features the face of a small boy who is painted all red. His facial expression doesn't show happiness and excitement for the celebration of 50 years for his country, but instead shows an intense look. Deshpande talks about how we make human suffering worth a good image. We take something that is not pleasent and transform it into something that is technically perfect through a photograph. We're drawn into the images of different cultures and countries, because it's something we're not used to. it's different and intriguing.
Deshpande claims, "[W]hile it covers or represents such issues or situations, it can sanitize and even beautify the blood and the gore of the conflict." We take an unfortunate situation from other countries and make it more appealing that the actual situation so that the readers are more intrigued by it. We pay for images of beauty and good pictures.
Deshpande also claims, "From the worn out bricks to the tobacco stains on the teeth, the photographs are rich in their content, but entirely dishonest in their relationship to the environment or the context." The photographs show the content well but fail to show the true realtionship to the rest of the environment. The rest of the world almost needs to be posed in the appropriate way for the western observer.
Welcome!
Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Conversations Beyond the Classroom”! The title of this blog refers to the community of active readers & collaborative learners we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with each other + a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! We encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later…).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. We hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it! I am really excited see how far we can take this together!
--Mary Hammerbeck, Instructor of Eng 100
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