Assignment 4: WPI Publication

So, we had this assignment for my Rhetoric of Visual Design class. We had to revisit one of our older assignments, rewrite, rethink, reanalyze, and present it in some digitially-enhanced format, if possible. I figure I might as well do it here, since this is my own sort of diary, just an extremely public one (well, not too, public I guess -- no one comes here, ha!).

Here are excerpts from the paper, along with some visual graphics...

Worcester Polytechnic Institute publishes several hundred different documents throughout the year, with items ranging from forms, catalogs, manuals, and reference materials. However, one of the few documents published somewhat regularly is the school newspaper, The Towers.

All final decisions are made at about 4 am every Monday morning when the two editors-in-chief are cramming to get the edition laid out and completed. Time is a huge factor for this publication, as the staff only has one week in which to collect, edit, layout, and print contributions.


This newspaper relies heavily on graphics, which accompany ever article. The graphics do not stand alone in this type of publication, as Gunther Kress and Leeuwen would contend in their book, Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. However, the graphics aid The Towers which disagrees with Barthas concept of dependent- graphics. The graphics add to the overall content of the paper, making them an invaluable part of the paper’s innerworkings.

The way graphics operate in this paper may vary from other publications. A newspaper is informative in nature, and needs to provide clear interpretations of data. If the paper were to plop down graphics without explanations or introductions, news would not be transferable. While one reader may look at the front page and remember the hypnotist’s show fondly, another may believe that a terrible accident occurred. The graphics, therefore, cannot act independently in an informative publication.

When “reading” The Towers, my school's paper, one discovers new information from articles, titles, subtitles, cartoons, and, more importantly, graphics. Although many of the graphics could not stand alone without the text, the paper would not be able to stand without the graphics. The graphics convey a realism and accountability. Reading an article about a hypnotist’s show is one thing, seeing photos of people falling over, dancing, and stripping is an entirely different matter.

The photo speaks for the text. This is not always true. Photo's can be misleading, not honest. Neither Kress nor Barthos are correct or wrong. They only have a different purpose in mind for the graphic. A particular graphic is generally not better or worse when affected by text, but different. This is true of the hypnotist’s photo, which interpreted without text can be confusing, yet exciting; however when interpreted with text it is clear, but exact.


The difference lies in the purpose of the graphic, the purpose of the reader, and the goal of the publication.



Girelli, A. Rhetoric of Visual Design: Lecture. Conducted April 8, 2008. Salisbury Laboratories at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Texiara, Andrew. Interview on The Towers. Conducted April 8, 2008. Student Journalism Association Office.

The Towers. Volume 98, Issue 20. Student Journalism Association. April 8, 2008. Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

The Literary Conformist - Excerpt

MDB (my darling biologist) told me that I should consider writing a book. To get started, I used an assignment from my class which concerned using memoir writing to teach a lesson about something in writing. I had to write this essay for my Peer Tudoring in Writing class, and in it I discussed the use/lessness of the Five-Paragraph essay format. Here's an excerpt:

When I trudged into Mr. Prytco’s 7th grade Language Arts class, this is what I saw marked on a poster hanging over the white board. It summed up what we had been repeatedly regurgitating for the past two weeks. Today we had a test on the five-paragraph essay form, something which Mr. Prytco guaranteed we’d be using for the rest of our god-given lives.

Mr. Prytco pushed his round, thick glasses up his huge honker, scratched his balding head, and ordered the class to get into their seats. We were, after all, a group of middle schoolers, capable of horrendous crimes and youthful violations. I staggered to my desk under the weight of my backpack and saw that the tests were already passed out, face-down. Mr. Prytco solemnly covered up the poster on the board and began the timer.

We had five minutes to fill in the blank spots on our test that correlated to the poster we’d all just seen, the poster that had been slowly carved – no, gouged – into our brains. I filled the blank lines quickly, although I accidentally spelled ‘clincher,’ ‘clicher’ and had to cross it out in pen and rewrite it. I wrote fast and finished before my classmates. I turned my head toward Sean Briggeman (the cute boy across the desk from me) and saw him scrawling away on his test, stopping every moment or two to look up into the air to think. Clearly, although cute, he lacked a brain. I put my head down on my desk and waited for everyone else.

I began to ponder this 5-Paragraph essay form. None of the novels I’d read had used this. Little Women, Redwall, Harry Potter… none of these had been so formulaic. I did not understand the value of this format. It was so restricting and confining. I began to wonder what would happen if I had more than three main ideas that I wanted to talk about. How could I put a blank spot in that holy construct? But before I could go about answering this question the timer pierced the air with several eardrum destroying rings.

Lifting my head, I saw Sean quickly scribble in the final blank line and glance up at Mr. Prytco, quite proud to have gotten away with it. Mr. Prytco paced through the islands of desks and collected the tests, uttering monotonously something concerning the value of the lesson we had hopefully just learned. He repeated confidently that the 5-Paragraph essay form was the most important thing we could learn in Language Arts, and that he would be looking for it in all of our future essays. I thought about asking where a fourth main idea, if it existed, would fall in the format but thought better of it. If asked, Mr. Prytco would go off on a tangent in his dreadful Ben Stein voice. So, I let my question plunge to the back of my mind and forgot about my concerns in the 5-Paragraph form

___________________________________________________________________

I got an A on this paper, a perfect score of 20/20. After this section I preceeded to explain what it was I learned from this experience (which was the assignment) and make some conclusions after observing both sides of the argument. I do feel that it was a deserved grade, and I really like my paper. Thus why I have included it here. You should see the horrendous draft I just turned in for our second paper, which concerns teaching students how to write biology lab reports. It is completely disorganized and I wouldn't show its pages to a drosophila, nevermind my friends and family.

My professor is a memoir writer and I think that's why we had this assignment. I like memoir writing and as I do it I feel as though I could one day be David Sedaris or Agusten Burroughs. Its a way of storytelling that invigorates the reader AND writer. It's neat.

Saussure and Structuralism

Ok, so lets get this straight. This is a car.

BUT, the word car does not actually mean car. Why is C-A-R different from C-A-T? That over there could just as easily be a C-A-T as it could be a C-A-R. This has been the topic of Professor Alan Girelli's Rhetoric of Visual Design for the past few weeks. It's exciting stuff and really makes you think about the meaning of language.

For example, remember that book, Frindle by Andrew Clemens? It's about this unruly boy who, as an act of teacher-student rebellion, decides to call what we say is a P-E-N a F-R-I-N-D-L-E. His teacher is defiant and as student by student joins him in referring to pens as frindles, he does worse in school and his teacher gets him in trouble with the school.

Then, at the end, there is a narrative of the teacher walking up to a house, carrying a dictionary, and knocking on the door. The grown up boy opens the door and sees his teacher. His old teacher gives him the new edition of the dictionary, which happens to have F-R-I-N-D-L-E in it. They hug, part ways, and you're left with a feeling that you can accomplish anything and that maybe you'll starts calling a L-A-M-P a M-I-N-D-A-M-I-N-G.

Was Clemens aware of Saussure? I certainly did not know anything about Saussure and the arbitrariness of language. Clemens got me thinking, though. Language is not constant. If it were, humans would all speak the same language and even when separated the same one would form. This isn't the case though. Languages form all the time from French to English, from Chinese to Gaelic. They aren't the same and some have completely different rules, syllables, and tonal qualities.

So, language must be arbitrary. It must be someone looks at a big, gray, roundish thing on the ground and says, "rock." Then, if he goes and points to it and shows it to his friend, saying "rock," then his friend will call it that. Then the whole tribe of humans will. But, the question is, why didn't he call the big, gray, roundish thing "peanut" or "book"? Why... how do languages develop?

I don't have the answer. I don't think anyone does. But I think understanding the devlopment of language can eventually lead to a better understanding of the evolution of humanity. Missing links are certinally something to be on the look for, but maybe filling in some of the other gaps is necessary, too.

Please, let me know any thoughts you have :-)

Happy Birthday Dad!

Just thought I'd let my Dad know that I was thinking of him today. I don't know how soon he'll check this, but I thought I'd write him a poem of sorts.

More than a whisperer or rules

More than a harbinger of hate

Lacking in the nurture

but full of the nature

and always late, late, late

A cynic, a pessimist

A romantic, a lover

A writer, a reader

A father, a brother

More than a man and less than a God

I hope to some day travel as he's trod.

Thanks Dad for being there. I was a Daddy's little girl when I was a kid and I'll never forget it. I love you, am always thinking of you, hoping for you, and would be willing to do anything for you.

Happy Birthday :-)

This is the first decent article I wrote for the local school paper, "The Towers." And if you can, I strongly suggest you meet Dr. David Adams. He is brilliant, interesting, and entertaining!

Biology Research at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Siobhan Barton

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is one of the top schools for science and technology research in the country. Although most well-known for its engineering focus, WPI has a well-developed life sciences program in which many students take part. In President Berkey’s Vision Statement, he concludes that there needs to be a greater effort to expand life science studies at WPI.

There is, however, already a large life science contingency on campus. The MQP and IQP experiences are a big part of undergraduate student research. Professor Michael Buckholt runs the Biology Project Lab in Salisbury Laboratories, which is where students work on their research. With the new edition of the Biomedical Engineering Sciences Building, Gateway Park, life sciences looks to be an expanding field at WPI. Faculty research is a big part of any university, and WPI is proud to have the work of several professors on display, most notably the research Professor David S. Adams.

Dr. Adams’ contribution to the study of Alzheimer’s disease has provided the springboard for all further attempts to understand this debilitating disease. On February 9th, 1995, Dr. Adams published as second author the cover story of Nature, sharing his research with the world.
Alzheimer’s disease is not fully understood. The general concept is that every person has on their brain cell membranes amyloid precursor protein, but, when cut incorrectly they form beta amyloid which is neurotoxic (poisonous to brain cells). The beta amyloid aggregates together and forms senile plaques. Although senile plaques are not directly linked to Alzheimer’s, they are present in almost all Alzheimer’s patients.

Dr. Adams hopes to reverse this process. There are already several drugs on the market which counteract the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, but the cause of the disease is still untreatable. Dr. Adams is working with neurotrophic (neuro=brain; trophic=growth) factors, which will hopefully increase the growth of nerve cells in the brain.

The only issue is that there is a protective layer surrounding the brain called the blood-brain barrier. Neurotrophic factors are unable to pass through this wall and are therefore incapable of encouraging the growth of new brain cells. The goal is to use mimetic neurotrophic factors, which have shorter amino acid sequences and are thus smaller, to get through the blood-brain barrier.
Looking ahead, Dr. Adams thinks the future is bright for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease. “I think the wave of the future is going to be combined therapies.” Elan Pharmaceuticals is currently using antibodies which can cross the blood-brain barrier and indirectly remove the neurotoxins from the brain. This however does not restore memories. Dr. Adams believes that a combination of antibodies and mimetic neurotrophic factors will one day soon work to regenerate the brain.

The goal of medicine is to make the world a better place to live. Research in biology and biotechnology at WPI is working to succeed in this field. The project mind-set means that students and faculty are continually involved in work that can change the world, making WPI an innovative leader in biological research.