Citations:

1. Frost, Robert. "The Road Not Taken." Unbelievably Written. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.unbelievablywritten.com/?p=232>.



2. "Be Inspired to Do Great Things | Reading For Your Success." Reading for Your Success : Discovering Your Own Path to Personal Freedom. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.readingforyoursuccess.com/about/inspiration>.




3. "The Road Not Taken by ~Anachronist84 on DeviantART." Anachronist84 on DeviantART. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://anachronist84.deviantart.com/art/The-Road-Not-Taken-50928248?offset=10>.




4. "Homepage." The CMU Contributed Homepage. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~mgallowa/>.




5. "Fall Pictures: For Autumn Splendor Year Round." Squidoo : Welcome to Squidoo. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. <http://www.squidoo.com/fall-pictures>.


6. MUSIC - Hans Zimmer - "Cry"

Multi-Modal Poem: The Road Not Taken

I decided to do Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken."

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

 

 The Road Not Taken, is a poem that consists of four stanzas, five lines each and has a rhyming scheme of ABAAB. Most people have read this poem in school in an English class, or have seen it on a hallmark card, but never really find the real meaning of this poem. Robert Frost says in the poem, "Though as for that, the passing there had worn them really about the same." Speaking about both of the roads that he stands before, he sees that they are "worn the same," therefore, neither road is really less traveled. The decisions that we make in life are ultimately the "roads" we travel down. Later in the poem, he states how he will look back on this moment and he sighs. He realizes that at some point in his life, he may regret his decision of the road he took, or at least think about the other road and what that road may have taken him too. The last two lines of this poem leave a hopeful and inspiring feel for the reader; however, the poem is called, "The Road Not Taken," not, "The Road Less Traveled." This is a significant part of the meaning behind this poem. This suggest a theme of "Carpe Diem," or, seize the day. There is no RIGHT path but rather in that moment of having to decide, just the one you choose to take, and the one you don't.

 

 Murray states, "...students must learn how the imagination is required for logical, reasoned, claim-based argument; how the emotions are not only omnipresent but integral to image and textual production;" I believe that this poem is great for what Murray says. There are many descriptive sentences, and hidden themes that can make a students' imagination run wild. There is a lot of interpretation that can be taken away from, "The Road Not Taken," and with those interpretations, creativeness will happen. To further back up this theory, Murray also states, "All symbolization, including traditional notions of language, is based in image because our brains function through image." This means that when reading words, we immediately start picturing things in our head that we think the words are portraying. Overall, this written text can be made into an amazing multi-modal piece that can help students really get the true meaning of the poem.

 

Chapter 4 Question (Murray) :

According to Murray and his views on Writing/Invention Theory, what is symbolization?

A.  It is based around discursive meaning
B.  Symbolization are examples given in the text to describe a meaning
C.  It defines imagination
D.  Symbolization is based in image; it constructs reality for individuals

EPIC BEARD MAN: knowyourmeme.com

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/episodes?page=4

EVALUATION OF EPIC BEARD MAN knowyourmeme VIDEO:
Meg Moore

PERSPECTIVE: 18points

     In this particular meme video, it tells the story of the EPIC BEARD MAN on a city bus, and the brawl he gets in with an African American man. The overall presentation of the 'scientist' and how he tells the story is told in a serious tone, although the story can be found comical. The camera angles are pretty basic throughout the entire video and its a straight forward shot on the speaker the whole time, but I think it fits for how they want to tell the story, and the tone in which they want to tell the story. The scientist stands a little towards the right of the screen and in the backround on the left is a man at a computer. Everytime the camera comes back on the narrator, the man at the computer is doing something different, or wearing a mask or something. Although it make you think, "What is going on....why is he doing that?" and it may make you laugh, it's distracting from the narrator. After I watched the video a few times, I found myself hearing new things that the narrator was saying, that I missed before because I was distracted by the man at the computer. This is why I took 2points off of the perspective piece.

JUXTAPOSTION: 20points

     The juxtapostion piece of this video was great, in my opinion. They first show the video, and then they take snapshots, or freeze frames, from the actual video and add a 'picture-taking' sound when they add it in. They also posted response videos and clipped them in and also related it to other videos that have been posted of similar situations. One part I thought was great actually related to the tenso video we saw in class. There was a girl on the bus who had on headphones and seemed un-phased by the whole fight happening in front of her. Someone took a freeze frame shot of her face and put it onto a video playing Plain White T's song, "Hey There Delilah," and other people have made parodies off it. This was a great commical add in, and also a great little sidenote that the average watcher wouldn't have even noticed if it wasn't pointed out. Furthermore, they had great backround music which also added a commical overall tone.

LAYERING: 20points

     The layering in this video was just enough. There wasn't too many extra videos, clips, or pictures. Furthermore, it all flowed together and there weren't random things popping up ... (minus the scientist at the computer). The music, extra videos that related, and even the clip of the girl who was unphased by the fight were all put together well and it was an easy video to watch and understand. Also when going back to watch again, there were things I found that I hadn't noticed before, like the girl who also was yelling racial comments in the original video, and who went on youtube to make a public apology for getting involved.

UNITY: 18points

     I would give unity an overall 18points. Everything definitely tied together and related back to the overall main point. The videos, music, pictures and parody videos that were posted in all related to the overall main point of the story. However, I would take away 2points because of the random guy at the computer throughout the video. As stated before, he kind of took the attention away from the narrator and he wasn't even doing anything that related to the bus video or what the narrator scientist was talking about. Maybe if the man at the computer, throughout the whole video, was trying to figure out how to grow AN EPIC BEARD, that would be funnier and make more sense as to why he was even in the shot...other then that, it was just random and unrelated.

SELF-ASSESSMENT: 19points

     All the written information for this video was good. It was easy to read, written correctly with no errors, and there was a lot to refer back too. Everything that was in the video was covered in the written part. The only part I didn't think was appropriate was the written dialogue. Foul language was exchanged between the two men in the video and it was written out on the website when it would have been starred off (A**), for example.

Autobiography

Name: Megan

Age: 20

Current Location: West Chester, PA

I was born on August 19th, 1990 and when I was three I moved to Norwood, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, went to school, and, when I'm not at my house here at school, I live today. I grew up in a pretty  basic household: Dad, Mom, Brother - Ryan, and when I was nine, my Nanny and Uncle Harold, who has special needs, moved in.

Growing up was pretty normal:

    School Monday - Friday

    Sports, like DANCE (my favorite), lacrosse, basketball or softball every night

    Play with friends

    Go places on the weekends

    Church on Sunday

    Repeat

I graduated from Interboro High School, which isn't a well-known High School, but I love it all the same. I was in Student Council, Class Congress and a bunch of other activities but lacrosse and dance team were my favorites things in High School.

After I graduated High School, I knew exactly where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do, and I couldn't have been more excited to finally come to West Chester University, where I've been since Fall 2008.

I love to talk and get to know people and I love to work with children. I've always wanted to work with children, but recently haven't been able to decide in which direction to take my dream. I am going to school to become an English teacher - but I want to get certified K-12. I also would love to pursue a career in becoming a child-life specialist. A child-life specialist is basically someone who works with kids with cancer in children's hospitals and you make cancer less scary for them. You also get to talk to and be involved with the family and help them through the rough times that are happening to them.

My dad is a cancer survivor, and within the past couple years I've lost some very close people to me to the fight against cancer. Therefore, I would love to be able to help others cope with that.

THON is a massive fundraiser that Penn State University does every year. They work with a foundation called 'The Diamond Fund' and this fund helps children and their families with getting through the fight and also being able to pay for things. Throughout the year, especially around this time, you may notice kids from PSU walking around major roads with cans asking for donations -- The Diamond Fund is where this money goes. PSU holds a 48hour dance-a-thon each year where the students of PSU, while attending classes and maintaining good grades, contribute all of there time to making THON a major success. Last year THON raised over 6million dollars for The Diamond Fund. THON is an amazing weekend where you get to see children who have survived cancer, you get to dance for them and also you get to hear amazing stories from the families. THON is probably the best thing that I have ever attended in my life and someday I would love to be apart of the nobel, major operation that The Diamond Fund does everyday.

I love all kinds of music. I love to drive and to take road trips. I love to dance and laugh and just enjoy life.

Random Fact: I would love to be a race car driver at some point in my life just for the fun of it.

I would love to study abroad in Australia and to also travel.

I could tell you much more about myself  but this blog is already long enough.