school – Page 4 – J. Palmer

An Essay on Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark”

The following is one more little essay I wrote for one of my classes…

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Professor Mendel
ENGL200
June 28, 2012

Dear Prof. Mendel:

I must say that this essay took quite a bit of time to complete. I chose to use The Birth-Mark as the tale to place under attack, with the concepts of symbolism within the story as the focus of the essay. In reading the story it became clear to me that the topic of the story was that of perfection—or imperfection—and how man should find solace rather than aggravation with the slightest imperfections and disappointments—see beauty, balance and harmony in the chaos, instead of discontent—lest he suffer additional losses. An easy concept to write about, I thought; discuss how the mark on Georgiana’s cheek was the balance in her life—the balance in all of life—which made her beautiful to begin with. With an odd twist of irony, I stared blankly at my screen for hours trying to think of the “perfect” way to begin a writing in which I planned to speak downwardly about perfection.

To be frank, I am not that pleased with how this essay has turned out; it has not reached the expectations I had—more irony. Had I been able to think a bit more clearly—and if the assignment allowed for outside resources and influences—I would have tried to write a bit more about some of the psychological and religious aspects of the story, which are further symbolized in the relationship between Aylmer and Aminadab—I found a neat little piece online discussing the “bad anima”.

In spite of my limitations and my battle with writer’s block, I am very content with the fact that I did manage to have words spring forth from my fingers, tapped out here for you to read. I do know that my work will yield a better result than that of Aylmer’s, even though it is of a quality much less than what I had originally desired.

Once again, I would like to thank you for taking the time to review my work. I do hope that it has not been too hard to follow—though I wouldn’t be surprised if it is, considering the hours I’ve spent trying to untangle my thoughts. As always, do feel free to critique the work and offer up as much criticism—humorous or otherwise—crack if time allows.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Hall Palmer

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Professor Mendel
ENGL200
June 28, 2012

An Essay on Hawthorne’s “The Birth-Mark”

Nathaniel Hawthorne, perhaps most widely known for the Scarlett Letter, has been argued to be one of the most brilliant minds of American literature, especially with regard to some of the subjects he tackled in his varied shorts and novels. Hawthorne frequently tackled matters of psychology, though the evidence of these arguments were oft-times buried within symbolic elements in a matter akin to a moralistic fable, with the final reveal becoming clearer toward the end of the narrative; The Birth-Mark is one of Hawthorne’s works which employs such techniques. Though the battle of science and nature is an obvious conflict in the tale—something which is underlined heavily as the main argument for the story, within the first two paragraphs—it is the birth-mark which becomes the main symbolic element for the rest of the psychological conflict throughout the rest of the writing.

Aylmer was a man of science—knowledgeable and arrogant, with neuroses that may be described as narcissistic, perfectionist, and, perhaps, even a dash of a God-complex. This man who thought himself to be wise and worldly had fallen for a radiant beauty named Georgiana, that seemed perfect in every way, save one small blemish on her left cheek—a reddish birth-mark that had a shape favoring that of a tiny, miniscule hand. This imperfection became a point on which Aylmer obsessed—obsessed so much that in his own mind he began to see the mark symbolize nearly every negative in the world and in humanity; the pigmented skin became a “symbol of his wife’s liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and [die].” (Hawthorne, par. 8)

Aylmer’s obsession grew to a point where his distaste for the imperfection became subject of discussion between the two; eventually the hatred for the mark infected Georgiana, and drove her to desire it to be removed by some miracle of her husband’s science—even if death were a risk. Aylmer quickly jumped at the chance, proclaiming that he had been mentally concocting methods and formulae that would yield positive results in removing this fault of nature. Despite having had a dream that foreshadowed a negative outcome—a dream which sparked this discussion of the mark—Aylmer obliged Georgiana—and his ego, or id—to experiment with the mark’s removal.

Whilst in her husband’s laboratory, awaiting the procedure that was to remove the mark, Georgiana learns of Aylmer’s varied experiments; many of which having been failures, and a few successes being those that could potentially unravel life for one or many. Georgiana finds a journal of her husband’s, and finds how deeply depressed of a man he is—outlining failures as catastrophes and successes as failures, as nothing measured up to the high expectations he had set. Later, as Georgiana investigates more of her husband’s life in the laboratory, Aylmer confesses that he had already begun to experiment on the mark, long before her consent.

Eventually, Aylmer presents Georgiana with the elixir and watches her drift into a sleep. As he watches, he sees the mark slowly fade away. Finally, as the mark draws to a point where it has nearly vanished, Georgiana awakens, and announces to her husband that she is dying.

The birth-mark became yet another one of Aylmer’s obsessions—one of his experiments at creating something perfect, or modifying something existing in order to make it perfect. Aylmer’s haughtiness and belief in that he possessed—or could possess—the ability to change Nature’s design proved fateful time and again, and this time caused him to lose his wife. Symbolically, the birth-mark represented any possible ill-perceived problem seen in the world to which men of science wish to attempt to change. The birth-mark also stood as a symbolic representation of the paradoxical statement that within imperfection there is perfection—sometimes what we may see as wrong is right for certain purpose.

Aylmer, too, is a symbolic representation of certain sins and psychoses that are present in all of man, should we allow for these issues to take control of our lives. Aylmer desired much more out of his life than what was attainable—he desired to discover all the answers he could out of life without accepting that, at times, there simply isn’t an answer. Aylmer didn’t seem to possess the concepts of patience, acceptance, and serenity; had these elements been part of his psyche his character would have been quite different, and the poor Georgiana might still have life.

Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birth-Mark” ENGL200: Composition and Literature. American Public University System. 2011. McGraw-Hill. PDF/Web. Retrieved from: http://ebooks.apus.edu.ezproxy1.apus.edu/ENGL200/Perkins_2011_unit2.pdf

COLL300 — Analysis of Rhetorical Situation

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Prof. Myron
COLL 300
Analysis of Rhetorical Situation
June 24, 2012

Thesis Statement: Social media—with its ease of use and maintenance, viral potential, and the connections made with the public at large—is an important tool to harness for the emergency manager.

1. What is the goal in this paper? Social media has been growing over the past few years and has shown to be a viable tool for distribution of information amongst the public. Through the use of services such as Facebook and Twitter, people with a wide range of interests and class have the ability of connecting to differing circles to listen and speak to matters that they might find interesting or may be of great concern; best of all, these services are free to use and available to anyone that can have access to the Internet or a mobile device capable of SMS. Using such services would be a great advantage to any emergency organization in order to deliver to as well as receive reports and inquiries from the public.

2. What do I already know about my topic? Ever since my high-school days, I have had interest in emergency management and information technology; I first married these two interests in the mid- to late-90s with an “official” website for the local Emergency Management Agency—then Disaster and Emergency Services. Since that time I have continued to manage the online presence of the agency, and have made every effort to keep up with the “next big” Internet related fad, while also trying to stay just slightly ahead of the area agencies. My first big jump ahead came with Twitter.

While listening to one of my favorite technology podcasts—This Week in Tech—I had heard mention of the service again for what may have been the tenth time; this time, however, I heard the potential of the service from the mouth of a tech enthusiast—Robert Scoble, I believe it was. The gentleman had painted a vision of the then more personal service stretching beyond a “geek” circle and going main-stream, with government agencies and corporations jumping on board, turning the “micro-blogging” service into a rapid-fire way of delivering messages to the public. I began to wonder whether this would work—whether the site/service would catch on and be used for more than telling a group of friends where I was or what I was doing; I immediately registered the @HarrisonEMA handle and began to experiment, years before @FEMA and @KYEMPIO.

In a manner similar to my experience with Twitter, I had heard of Facebook moving to allow “pages” for products and services—and that these pages could be easily administered by an ordinary person; at around roughly the same time Facebook had created “groups”. I studied both options, but didn’t jump until I had heard rumor of “Facebook names”—customizable short-URL handlers—and that the names option would be available for pages in the future; I chose to create a page, and jumped to register “facebook.com/HarrisonEMA” as soon as names were released to pages—this proved to be a wise choice, as later groups disappeared, which created a problem for the community that KYEM had tried to create.

3. What do my readers already know? My “intended audience” of emergency managers would likely have a similar knowledge or experience as members of the general public; knowledge of services such as Facebook and Twitter, and perhaps a slight understanding of the concept of a “blog”. Knowledge beyond these general points will not be necessary, as the rest of this paper will deal with selling the concept of using the services for the delivery and retrieval of information.

4. What do my readers need to know to understand my point? Beyond the knowledge that I am expecting—that the Internet exists, and that there are “sites” that deal with social networking news—there isn’t much else that the audience must know in order to understand the point which I plan to deliver.

5. What information do I need to research and add to my paper? In order to write a successful argument for the use of social media in emergency situations, I believe that I would benefit in conducting research on the number of civilian users currently taking advantage of social media. Evidence of situations where the public has been notified or interacted with media and government agencies will also be beneficial. Additionally, I would like to give example of how some information has spread “virally” on social media before becoming a blurb on broadcast or network news—one example in mind is that of an earthquake incident that had been noted by the tech enthusiast that sparked my fascination in the concept of using social media for emergency management.

Further information will come from the various speeches and writings of FEMA Administrator, Craig Fugate–@CraigatFEMA–as well as posts that have been published by FEMA.

plaigiarism

The following is yet another response to a forum assignment:

Review the reading material on plagiarism and then examine one of your recent research papers. Identify the paper you examined and in a one to two paragraph posting, answer the following questions:

1. Did you follow the chapter’s guidelines?
2. Where do you need to improve?
Note: The focus on the forum posts is on quality content, not simply meeting a minimum word requirement.
Be sure to respond to at least two of your peers. Your initial posting is due no later than midnight Thursday and should be 250-300 words; your peer responses are due by Sunday midnight and must be at least 100 words in length and move the conversation forward.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a “true” research paper; I have, however, written several research driven responses during my schooling here—one of my favorites being about a military incident and possible cover-up.

For an EDMG230 forum response/assignment I had to seek out an example of a military incident and give a critique of how the situation had been handled. I managed to dig up a few articles on a “broken arrow”—damaged missile—incident that transpired at a Naval base in Washington in 2003. Since this assignment depended upon giving an opinion of the outcome I located a blogger that wrote of the incident in a conspiracy-like fashion; normally this sort of “trick” isn’t acceptable for college-level or “professional” writings—but, I believed that my audience would accept and enjoy the spin I had planned through the uses of a conspiracy perspective.

In my writing I sourced materials from the Associated Press and the blogger, making every effort to strike a balance in the story I was presenting until I reached the point where I was to critique the incident. I strayed from sourcing further material once my critique of the incident began—I did not want be accused of manipulating any “qualified” source material in order to support the odd perspective. In the midst of my critique I even placed a separate conspiracy-theory of my own. I chose to place the theory in brackets to designate that the thought was in fact separate and my own since I placed it well ahead of the conclusion—in an area which would have been seen as “inappropriate” by most scholars.

After reviewing that assignment I did find a mistake that could have been avoided if I had carefully proofread the text—an error in citation. In the fourth paragraph I placed a citation following the period of a sentence; I believe that this mistake was made due to the way I write—I “free-write” all of my work without citations first, and edit them in afterward.

Other than that mistake, I didn’t notice any other errors that could be interpreted as plagiarism—intentional or otherwise.

Form and Interpretation Affects Meaning

Response to–yep, you guessed it–an assignment!

My Papa’s Waltz seems to be an awesome poem to pick on, especially where potential exists for a reader to see more than what is written. The poem has a very even rhythm to it, with every other line matching perfectly in rhyme and being within one to two differences in length when counting syllables. This pace aids in setting the mood for the poem, depending upon whether a few keywords or phrases trigger a past emotional response in the reader.

On the face—which is where I sit in reading the poem—I see a hardworking father having come home after a hard days work and enjoying a silly little dance with his child after having supped and having a short drink to relax his weary muscles and aching bones. Unfortunately, Papa’s drink is rather strong and lingers on his breath; despite the revoltingly powerful smell, the child clings closely to the father—which makes the dancing all the more difficult.

Father and child dance quite a while, awkwardly moving about the room—likely having many near misses with the furniture—jostling the floor, sending vibrations up the walls, disturbing mother’s cookware. Though possibly enjoying the connection being shared between the father and child, mother still wasn’t all that pleased because of the unnecessary romping and messes being created by the raucous.

As time presses on the difficult movements of the pair become a bit more awkward as the father’s body tires—or the relaxing effects of the drink take hold. Clumsy, tired—and likely well-lubricated, by now—feet get in the way of themselves, and the poor kid—who assumedly stands roughly waist-high—scrapes their ear against the father’s belt buckle as they move about the room. Eventually, the dance comes to an end, as the father takes the child to bed.

Alternatively, one that might have an unpleasant childhood and relationship with alcohol could see further symbolism in this work. The first three lines of the poem suggest that “daddy is drinking again” and that the fearful child must “[hang] on like death”; the final line of that first stanza then suggests that the codeword for abuse in this situation is waltzing—dancing. From this point forward other keywords in the poem become symbolic code words: “We romped… hand that held my wrist… My right ear scraped a buckle… You beat [sic] my head…” Amongst these words, the mother frowning, becomes a fearful wife. The battered knuckle on the hand holding the child’s wrist becomes battered from striking the child, possibly from “beating” the child’s head instead of thrumming a rhythm as he held the child close.

All of those words and phrases along with the cadence—something which may also be present in an abusive situation (cadence, rhythm, pattern, order, control)—aid in changing the interpretation of the poem. This work shows a good example of the importance of all the elements of form discussed in this unit—and how they can sometimes twist the meaning depending upon the end reader’s influences in life.

…but, seriously, it’s a poem about a father and child goofing off after supper; I’ve done the same—though my breath doesn’t smell of a distillery, mine smells like an ashtray… (and the kids have pointed this out—a stink that one doesn’t necessarily appreciate, but will love and cling onto anyway, just because it means being close to dad.)

This post received the following responses:

Ashley Heenan:

I did this poem also. I must admit that poetry is not my strong suit and I don’t know much about it. I see most of it one-sided like it is written and have a hard time looking deeper. Until someone commented on my post talking about the child abuse, I wouldn’t have even considered it. Mainly because I couldn’t see how the mother would stand there and watch it. But after reading your post, I see now what the other person was talking about you, but your interpretation clearly defines what could be read deeper. Because of the meaning of the other interpretation, I do prefer to think of it as just the hardworking father dancing with his father instead of the father beating his so. That’s only because no one really likes to think about child abuse happening and having someone there watching it and not doing anything.

Patricia Stubbs:

I am mildly surprised that the people who tackled the inner meaning in this poem did not take it as a dark poem. However, that is only because this situational poem would have been too close to getting emotional for me to have handled its dissection well. I spent much of my childhood humoring a drunken parent. Life just went smoother when we went along with his plans, even if it is dancing through the kitchen like the little boy and his father in the poem. Thank you for spinning this into a more positive light. I think the father in the poem is a little too far gone on whiskey for this to be a good thing. If he was just playing around he would have noticed the little boy’s uneasiness. The last two lines show the unconditional love of a young child for their parent, as he still clings to his father to head to bed.

COLL300 Research Proposal

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
Prof. Myron
COLL300
Research Proposal
June 16, 2012

Social Media in Emergency Management

For several years, there has been a growing interest in the roles that social media can play during crises. In late 2010, FEMA began to pay attention to discussions surrounding the use of social media in emergency management. Since that time, more attention has been given to the concept on state and local levels. For this project, I would like to weigh in on the discussion and express the importance of social media for emergency management and disaster response.

Description:

Specifically, I would like to introduce examples of how social media outlets can benefit communications during response and recovery phases of any given event; making note of instances where the practice has worked successfully. Once I have established the importance of social media presence, I would like to tackle the issues related to maintaining a “social” presence, and allowing for the information to be passed along in a “viral” manner to ensure that the public is notified. Essentially, the statement that I wish to make is: “Social media—with it’s ease of use and maintenance, viral potential, and the connections made with the public at large—is an important tool to harness for the emergency manager.”

Plan:

My entire research will involve seeking out information from FEMA as well as varying professionals and pundits in emergency management and related fields. I suspect that there may be some personal experience included in my writing as well, as I maintain the local agency’s website and social media accounts.

In an effort to keep the project more “professional” with “scholarly” sources of information, I may have to expand my research into the realms of “brand-marketing”. The use of this seemingly unrelated topic runs parallel to the topic that I wish to discuss, and should aid in providing supportive argument. While this may seem a tad ridiculous, the use of marketing as an example is being used by emergency management professionals—and this University—to educate those in emergency management of the necessity.

I have briefly conducted some research into the topic and have found many potential sources of information. In addition to the sources listed below, I will seeking source material from the FEMA blog, as well as FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate’s Twitter stream. This is my (current) working bibliography:

Primary Sources

Aten, Jamie D.; Leavell, Kari; Gonzalez, Rose; Luke, Theresa; Defee, Justin; et al. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy3. 1 (Mar 2011): 16-20.
McGuire, Michael; Schneck, Debra. Public Administration Review, suppl. Special Issue on the Future of Public Administration in 202070 (Dec 2010): S201-S207.
Merchant, Raina M; Elmer, Stacy; Lurie, Nicole. The New England Journal of Medicine 365. 4 (Jul 28, 2011): 289-291.
Pechta, L. E., Brandenburg, D. C., & Seeger, M. W. (2010). Understanding the Dynamics of Emergency Communication: Propositions for a Four-Channel Model. Journal Of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, 7(1), 1-18.

Secondary Sources

Coleman, Timothy A; Knupp, Kevin R; Spann, James; Elliott, J B; Peters, Brian E. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society92. 5 (May 2011): 567-582.
FEMA To Use Social Media For Emergency Response. (January 19, 2011 Wednesday 4:00 PM GMT ). TECHWEB, Retrieved from
O’Keefe, Ed. (June 4, 2009 Thursday ). FEMA Encourages Public Participation. The Washington Post, Retrieved from
Winerman, Lea. Nature457. 7228 (Jan 22, 2009): 376-378.
With response to tornadoes, FEMA begins to rebuild its reputation. (May 6, 2011 Friday). The Christian Science Monitor, Retrieved from

Schedule:

I have not set a specific schedule for the completion of this project. I am, however aware of the dates listed for the class assignments surrounding the project.

Approval Request:

Dr. Myron, I hope that you may find this proposed topic to be one interesting and worthy enough of attention. Of course, any comments and criticisms are welcome.

a thesis this is…

The following is a response to a required forum posting…

You have two tasks to complete in this week’s discussion forum posting. First, post your working thesis statement. Remember, your thesis statement must propose an arguable solution to a problem related to your major. Secondly, cruise the databases and portals in the APUS library or the use the search engines linked in the Week One Lesson, and then in this forum name at least three databases, search engines, or portals that you explored. Indicate which one might be the most helpful to your research. Each subscription database is set up a bit differently, so if you can, share tips you have discovered in the past for making your searches more productive. Use this assignment to explore at least one search engine or database new to you.

Your initial posting is due no later than midnight Thursday and should be between 250 and 300 words; your peer responses are due by Sunday midnight and must be at least 100 words in length and move the conversation forward.

Use this format when posting your thesis statement:

Problem:
Solution:
Thesis Statement:

When you respond to your classmates’ postings, please critique their thesis statements for clarity and conciseness; ideally, thesis statements should be a single sentence. Be sure that the thesis statement identifies a problem and proposes a solution. You may also suggest an alternative solution for your classmates to consider as they develop their papers. If possible, share your experiences with the databases or offer suggestions to help your classmates.

Note: The focus on the forum posts is on quality content, not simply meeting a minimum word requirement.

First, the simple break-down:

Problem: Communication prior to, during, and after a disaster

Solution: Savvy use of social media by emergency management

Thesis Statement: Social media—with it’s ease of use, maintenance, viral potential and connections to the public at large—is an important tool to harness for the emergency manager.

Now, the long-winded explanation of what I’m thinking:

For several years there has been a growing interest in the roles that social media can play during crises. We’ve seen people post messages on varying services alerting their friends and the public to disaster and distress; federal, state, and local agencies are now taking advantage of these services as well. My thesis will [hopefully] focus on this topic, with the main idea being the aforementioned thesis statement.

With the use of social media outlets agencies have the ability to reach additional audiences and also overlap pre-existing ones. Once upon a time we could rely upon the idea that the majority of the citizens had either a radio or television; today, this isn’t necessarily the case. Radio is still widely available, but too many people are not tuning in–with the advent of iPods and satellite radio, many aren’t listening to local broadcasts. It may still be a safe assumption that the average household has two televisions, but are these TVs watching satellite or terrestrial broadcasts? Too many people are “cutting the cord” and losing their connection to local media–these cord-cutters aren’t limited to mid- and upper-classes either. (Mine is a perfect example of a lower-class family which primarily watches IPTV–of course, I am a computer geek.)

The growing numbers of people making use of other technologies for media consumption need attention. Emergency managers should adjust to this trend by making available methods for the public to connect for receiving emergency information.

Additionally, making use of social media allows for an easy two-way connection to the public. An agency can easily collect a large amount of data from the public–by posting that an event has taken place in a certain area, the agency has not only informed the public but opened a discussion where community members can ask for and give additional details in near real-time.

…problematic? It can be… Most of the problems that can be associated with social media–with an exception to bad PR–are issues that we already deal with. Technical issues are present and have been present with many of our solutions for years. EAS broadcasts, tornado warning sirens–these systems are supposed to be reliable, functional and fast; frequently they fail in some way, usually related to an error in communications protocol–a bad radio transmitter, power, etc. Social media’s big failure can happen in the same way–broken telephone, cable, ISDN line or lack of power.

The only problem that social media could invite is one that can be prevented if agencies become involved–bad PR. By establishing a presence, however, any negative relations can be at a minimum as the door is opened for friendly discussion and resolution…

[…does this make sense? ]

These are the issues that I really want to express, along with using examples of more recent events where social media has been used either intentionally or accidentally and how the use has aided in disaster response and recovery.

To wrap it all up, I want to say something like—“It’s frickin’ easy, we all need to do it!”—but, of course, in a more educated and professional manner.

This topic may end up proving to be a large one to tackle, with much time being spent on sorting out opinion from facts; making use of the research tools available in our virtual library should aid in making the chore easier.

After a bit of digging, I found to have a nice amount of luck using ProQuest and LexisNexis—the latter coming as a surprise. I believe I will also be making use of the iSeek engine for some supplemental “non-scholarly” information; I found the manner in which that service provides categories—similar to the way LexisNexis allows for the refinement of searches—to be quite helpful.

This post recieved the following comment:

Johnathon Austin:
Jeremiah,

Technology is always changing and evolving, and a big result of that is social media. The fingerprints of social media are everywhere, because everyone, and every business uses it. It allows for instant transmission of news and information. I do agree with you that this will be a large topic to tackle because of how far it reaches, but I do believe that with some good research you will be able to do a good job. I was really surprised also at the amount of energy I was able to get from LexisNexis. I think it just might be my favorite database to use. Good luck!

Character and Style in The Things They Carried

[…kind of a recycled response to a class assignment… you can flip through the archives to see the original…]

Character development and style can be very strong elements in engaging a reader of any story. In The Things They Carried, author Tim O’Brien presented an interesting tale of the Vietnam war, and did so primarily through the views of one centralized character, Lt. Cross. Amidst the descriptions in the tale of the men and their supplies, we bounce back and forth from seeing the men—and Lt. Cross, in particular—as being “standard issue” grunts to being human. The development of the characters as well as the style used in presenting the tale—the cyclic switching of fantasy and reality—bring about an interesting perspective on war and the human psyche in general.

Throughout the work we are given multiple examples of how the war and the men’s prior lives have helped shape them. Though the military has prescribed a specific list of things the men must carry, each man carries something different with them—though in many ways, they still carry the same things. Comic books, photographs, letters, various “charms”—each man carrying something special to them which keeps them connected to their individual worlds at home; each man carrying something which attempts to keep them connected to sanity.

In the end, our main character, Lt. Cross, feels that his attempts at keeping sane—through his random daydreams—have drawn his mind away from his duties and caused an undue loss of life. I question whether the Leuitenant’s self-assesment is fair. Cross may have been miles away in his mind, but was he truly responsible for Lavender’s death? Day-dreaming of a woman that may not truly have “feelings”, imagining, questioning whether this girl was pure of mind, body and spirit—were these things really responsible for Lavender’s demise?

Boom-down. Zapped while zipping.

Cross, just as any other man would, found fault in himself, fault in his emotions—fault in being human—and decided to blame that fault for Lavender’s death. A good Lieutenant may not have been preoccupied with thoughts and visions of college girls playing volleyball, sure; but a good Lieutenant may have had his nose buried so deep in maps and radio communiqués that any number of men could have had their heads blown off.

Is imagination, fantasy, day-dreaming, escaping reality for a single moment—is it dangerous? It can be. Cross saw it as an avoidable danger in the end.

Are these separations from reality positive and helpful? Undoubtedly. One could question whether the men would be sane or even human if they did not take these breaks from the horror that they were living. It is my belief that the main point being driven here is that these feelings and emotions are impossible to escape; that to fantasize is simply a part of being human, and that it can and does happen at any time and in any setting. Whether these fantasies can be controlling—how influential they may be—is entirely up to the individual; interesting points to ponder, that were given to us through the awesome use of character.

O’Brien delivers his message very well, amidst this tale of a seemingly small platoon in the Vietnam War. The main concept of the collection of stories is to deliver the experience of the war; what better way to do so, than to write it in such a way as to allow for the reader to connect on a more human—a more emotional—level? In order to accomplish this goal, O’Brien made use of the historical fiction genre, and drew upon the use of fantasy as the connecting element between the characters and the reader. Fantasy also serves as an interesting element in affecting the flow of the story, jerking the reader into and out of the fantasies as well.

Delivering a factual tale of a war can be less than entertaining; telling the reader of the various equipment used creates a sense that the writer simply copied the dry and sterile text of a military publication—an equipment list, a duty roster, or a technical manual on the assembly of some exotic weapon. These facts, as necessary as they may be, do not engage a reader; breaking away and dipping into the souls of the characters involved, however, is very engaging. This is why, I suspect, that O’Brien chose the tactic of drawing us into the character; introducing the “current” fantasy and then breaking away back to the more “mundane” details of the things they carried, cycling back to the other “things” they carried—repeating the cycle.

This method—or style of writing—worked quite well to establish an engaging tale and give the reader a truer feeling of how fantasy can creep upon us, draw us in and then boom—back to reality.

—

Rather than keeping with one element as the prompt asked us, I chose to speak on both character and style, as the two were very closely related and equally important in this story.

…just as a side note…

…a really nice reading of the short is available at: http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/10573078

Jeremiah Hall Palmer (Introduction for COLL300 – Spring Semester 2012)

The following is another homework related writing:

Hello, everyone, my name is Jeremiah, and I am lousy at introductions; even more so these days—we’ll get to that shortly. I’m an early thirty-something from Cynthiana, Kentucky that’s fairly reserved and relatively shy and quiet—my writing is about the only time that I speak at any length; most likely because I can do so without fear of embarrassment. My feelings and emotions are usually a great influence on my performance, especially with regard to writing—this will be very evident if we hit a subject or work that I feel passionate about.

I am married, but separated; I have no idea as to whether there will be any chance of reconciliation. I used to be able to write at great length about my family, which made introductions much easier; these days, however…

I had pledged my life to a wonderful woman just a few months my senior; we had been together for roughly nine years, married for eight, and had known each other since high school—I had first noticed her in my freshman year of high school when she stepped onto my bus for the first time (I believe we had even shared a seat on a couple of occasions). In 2003 our paths crossed once more with us finally declaring our love for another; in 2004 we were blessed with our first child, with two additional blessings coming later in 2006 and 2009. Our son—the first born—now resides with me in my parents’ finished attic; the girls are at home with her.

I still care for the kids when needs arise, primarily because the man that now shares her bed has no desire to be around children. I have no ill feelings about caring for the kids, other than it causes issue with attempting to locate employment, plus it is quite difficult to provide care when I am limited to the graces of my parents and am not allowed access to the girls’ primary home by order of the other man—except for alternating Saturdays and when he is left completely unaware.

I had attempted to take this course once before, but dropped off. It is difficult to keep motivated and focus on literature when my inspiration has left me, and keeps toying with my emotions—I would go further to explain this cat and mouse game she is playing with my heart, but now is not the time; I wouldn’t be surprised if I do leak a bit more on the topic in the writings that will come.

If you are curious to discover more about me you can search the Internet for “kg4vma” and find quite a bit…

Best of luck to everyone here, and don’t be surprised if I drop off—again—as my life is still in a whirlwind related to the separation.

To this posting, I received one response:

Jason Conley:

Wow. That is one heck of an introduction. It is unfortunate that you are going through so much. I have never understood how a woman can be with a man that does not accept her children. I am a stepfather of a great 16 year old. I have been raising her since she was four and love as if she were my own. I really hope the best for you. I cannot imagine what you are going through not being able to see your kids as much as you would like. My heart goes out to you and I hope you do not have to drop the class.

COLL300 – Introduction Letter

Jeremiah Hall Palmer
COLL300
June 10, 2012
Introduction

Dear Dr. Myron,

As you may have already figured out—through the title of this document, the name attached to the submission, and the very first line on this page—my name is Jeremiah. First, I would like to admit that I am partially recycling a letter that I wrote for a previous attempt at taking this course; without that admission I could easily be accused of plagiarizing myself—a notion which I’ve always found ridiculous. Secondly, I’d like to apologize for breaking away slightly from the model given for this assignment—the personal introduction will run for more than a single paragraph.

As mentioned, this is my second attempt at this course; the prior hadn’t faired well due to some changes which came about in my life—changes that still have an effect on my life today. In late February of this year my wife of eight years, partner of nine, had an affair with a coworker; the following day she informed me that our relationship was through. Over the course of the following month I remained at home with her so that I could continue to care for our children. This period was quite painful, and left me in a state of depression in which I had no desire to continue with my course-load. In mid-April I left my home and moved into my parent’s attic. We continued to talk and see each other regularly until the first week of May, when the other man moved in; two weeks later our son moved in with me because of the friction caused by this man which has no desire to be surrounded by children. Life has hung in some twisted state of limbo—best described as some sort of purgatory—in which she still begs me to hang on, to wait and see; she has discovered that living with a selfish boy eight years her junior isn’t what he had her to believe it would be. She has since requested we attend counseling to see if there is a chance to repair the damage, and to muster the strength of removing her dead-weight.

It is very possible that I will be faced with the same mental anguish that I faced a few months ago over the course of this class. Do not be surprised if my work suffers or I disappear altogether. I may allude to my current status online from time to time; therefore, if you are curious, I would like to invite you to Google my regular Internet handle, “kg4vma”. In doing so you may also find some of my previous writings and school assignments that I have posted on varying profiles and blogs.

With regard to prior assignments, I have had some experience in drafting reports, providing analyses and supplying opinionated/persuasive writings in response to varying assignments and prompts. I would have to say that most of these assignments have been quite enjoyable, as I do tend to have a preference for expressing myself in writing. I must admit, however, that I struggled in writing responses for a course I took that dealt with human sexuality. This course was quite troubling for me as I was taking the class while being separated from my wife—the separation had occurred, in part, due to issues of infidelity; yes, this is a recurring theme that has gone on for several years.

I cannot offer much on my thoughts or interpretations of academic writing as related by my prior educators. I do understand that there are certain “rules” to writing when the works are for a particular audience; unfortunately, I have issues with the rules from time to time, as I prefer to lay my thoughts out as they happen. Additionally, I hate revising my thoughts to fit the “acceptable” format; this usually becomes more evident in “forum” postings for class work. In forums I frequently break from the main topic and develop some form of sub-topic in order to better illustrate a point. These methods however would not necessarily “fly” in many professional or trade publications.

In order to analyze other writing styles, practices, audiences, etc., I frequently turn the text that I am reading into an internal conversation or dialogue. In my personal experience I have found that if I can assign “voices” to the text and create defined characters for the audience I can then become one of the speakers and members of the crowd; once I have achieved this, I can begin to host my own internal open- “hometown” forum.

The strongest skill or tactic that I have relied upon since seventh grade is “free-writing”. I discovered that if I simply try and let the words flow, no matter how ridiculous or unrelated, I will eventually discover the words needed to develop a proper response. Without the use of this technique I face a cold-start which often triggers “writer’s-block”. A downside, however, is that it can lead to a lengthy writing; the upside is that what I do cut out often makes good fodder for a personal journal entry.

I do not know what sort of tools I should hope to learn from this course, nor do I have any expectations thereof. In my high school days I discovered that if I paid less attention to the “black and white” of a course I would be able to see many more colorful elements; therefore I try not to pay too much attention to course descriptions and syllabi. In doing so, I’ve found that I absorb more of the information—thinking in abstract grabs my attention and grasps at my mind.

I hope this letter meets the requirements, and has helped introduce you to the trouble you’re about to face! (Something else I frequently do in my writing—make very poor jokes.) Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing what this course will bring.

Sincerely,
Jeremiah Hall Palmer

EDMG259 – Autobiographical Introduction

Hello, everyone, my name is Jeremiah, and I am lousy at introductions; even more so these days—we’ll get to that shortly. I’m an early thirty-something from a small town in Kentucky that’s fairly reserved and relatively shy and quiet; my writing is about the only time that I speak at any length; most likely because I can do so without fear of embarrassment. My feelings and emotions are usually a great influence on my performance, especially with regard to writing—this will be very evident if we hit a topic that I have a strong opinion on.

I have been “affiliated” with the local EM since 2001 in a voluntary status; our agency has only one paid position—director—which has been occupied by my father since 2003. I’ve not been able to carry a “deputy” status since 2004 due to difficulty in keeping up with training requirements—my life at home as the primary caregiver and homemaker kept me too busy to travel around the state to attend classes. My primary functions with the agency are the maintenance of online social media avenues and general “gopher” and clerical duties when the need arises.

I really haven’t any concrete expectations for this course, though my father joked that he hopes I will be able to file mitigation grant applications and write a few proposals, lessening his workload.

If you are curious to discover more about me or the local EM, you can search the Internet for “kg4vma” or “harrisonema” and find quite a bit about me and the agency.

Best of luck to everyone here, and—sadly—don’t be surprised if I drop off; my life is still in a whirlwind related to the separation.