For this week’s response I have chosen Walter Ong’s Orality and Literacy for my blog post. At the beginning of his work, Ong mentions that sound and time have a special relationship with each other. He explains this by saying “Sound exists only when it is going out of existence. It is not simply perishable but essentially evanescent, and it is sensed as evanescent. When I pronounce the word “permance,” by the time i get to the “-nence,” the “perma-” is gone, and has to be gone”(Ong, 65). The word “evanescent” means “soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence”. Therefore in the context that Ong is talking about, he is saying that with every sound we hear, it will eventually go away. Sounds are not always permanent and go out of our existence or memory. Ong also mentions that one can not stop and hold sound. He writes “If I stop the movement of sound, I have nothing- only silence, no sound at all. All sensation takes place in time, but no other sensory field totally resists a holding action, stabilization, in quite this way”(Ong, 65). Here Ong is saying that unlike the other human sensations, sound is the one we cannot put a hold on. We just have to let it come and go as freely as it can be. Overall, sound is important but it is only a privilege.
Michael Farias Blog 1 for 9/4/18
The writing that I chose for this blog was Orality and Literacy by Walter Ong. In his writing, Ong talks about life in a primary oral culture meaning a culture that only relies on speaking for communication. This means that things such as texting, email, or event writing letters do not exist. There is no knowledge of writing (Ong, 64). One part of Ong’s writing that really stood out to me was in the beginning where he says “a culture where no one has even “looked up” anything” (Ong, 64). For me this crazy to think about because when I need to learn something, the easiest way is to look it up on the Internet or in a textbook or through notes that I wrote down. This leads to second thing that stood out to me on page 66. Ong talks about being able to produce the same thoughts without being able to write them down. In an oral society, it is all based on memory and nothing more. He says that it is nearly impossible to have exactly the same thoughts without writing (Ong, 66). If someone were trying to solve a complicated math problem it would be impossible because you can’t write anything down. Also you wouldn’t even be able to see the problem because that would require writing. Overall I don’t think I would like to live in an oral culture. I definitely need to be able to write.
Blog Report Week 1
The article with which I decided to write my blog report on is “The Almanac of the Dead” by Leslie Marmon Silko. This excerpt resonated with me a definite substantial amount more than the other assigned readings because it seems more relatable in a way. To be honest, Book one of the novel already shows the darkness of a different world then we are accustomed to; almost creepy I can say. But it’s relatable because life isn’t all roses and daisies. Life is made up of ups and downs, lefts and rights, making it into a complete and utter roller coaster of experiences, with some definitely not being positive, upbeat experiences. In fact, they can be quite the opposite, such as sad, or fearful, or disturbing or whatever else. Silko herself sort of hints how the concepts in her book are so layered because their isn’t one story or one angle to tell. When she writes about the various different concepts and theories, stories, and dreams, and ideas, there is so much to unload. This excerpt resonated with me because life has plenty for us as humans to load and unload, the way we handle and communicate it all is the key.
Welcome!
Welcome to the ENGL 3196/COMM 3000 Orality, Literacy, Computer Technology, Fall 2018 on the CUNY Academic Commons. We will be using this website as a resource for sharing our writing, audio, and video projects, and for commenting on each other’s work.
Using the WordPress dashboard may be unfamiliar. Your main task on the blog will be to add Posts ( by clicking the + sign in the top menu bar of the dashboard). A few things to keep in mind — we will be tagging our posts, and I encourage you to tag freely and create new labels.
Stay tuned for more information!
