MULTIMEDIA CHOICE ASSIGNMENT

Following is an example of how VoiceThread, a cloud based multimedia platform, may be utilized to mount questions or topics for discussion to the web for interactive learning experiences. I set up different accounts, each of which responded to the initial inquiry about accents posted by cz11e. I had to set my thread to be public, and then send a link to each participant. The materials and support available through the application encourage the use of VT in education, and it's an easy app to learn!


I'd be happy to send an invitation to anyone who'd like to try VoiceThread on for size. Just let me know by posting a comment here. Thanks for reading my blog!

more contrasts today

My Facebook FSU image for today is a picture I also took in color, here.

Thoughts?

Speaking of which, our guide to the Bodleian (yes, I was IN the BODLEIAN library today-shiver) pointed out the myriad details which librarians have considered in the conservation of that library‘s precious works. (SOMEONE actually came up with the idea to shelve volumes vertically, to save space.) The books had been chained at one point, but as a matter of practicality, in order to maintain a fully functioning, circulating (gulp) collection for students and scholars, the chains were removed…VERY carefully. Apparently, at least one was not professionally done. I completely blanched when I saw that it was a copy of the First Folio – can you imagine?!?

I saw another copy of the FF, opened to the Shakespeare play I am going to see next Friday, Macbeth. I don’t use that title in some circumstances, and as this display was part of a special exhibit about Magical Books by the Bodleian I felt sufficiently superstitious to ask others not to do so either. 

I am always taken aback when people protest. Sometimes these small personally held beliefs…quirks even…are enough to spark deeply felt resentments. I believe that there is magick in theatre, and I try to respect precedents which are established in any given circumstance. It’s that simple. I believe in magic. Some people don’t. THAT IS FINE! And that’s all that happened today, because I am among peers who                        are both intelligent and sensitive. 

It got me thinking, though, that it is precisely the type of small-mindedness of some people who go out of their way to deliberately provoke someone by NOT respecting a simple request that so easily translates into full scale war. I am not religious. However, I do not denigrate others’ religious affiliations. I’m not a fan of organized religion, but that needn’t interfere with my relationship with the Pope himself . . . UNLESS I intentionally project that discord between us. I choose not to; when asked to please be silent in the Sistine Chapel (or in Hogwarts), I do so, because I was asked to.

What terrifies me is the realization that this kind of insignificant difference of opinion can spread so rapidly and cause such great suffering and discontent. I follow the Golden Rule, although I am not religious: Do unto others . . . .

I think the world would be a lot less complicated if more of us chose to keep to this precept. 

CANALS, CAMDEN, CONTRASTS AND CONFLICT

Spoiler alert: I’m rather dispirited today. Sometimes things happen that just stun you.

Anyway, we had a schedule change today, so we also changed our photo focus. I was (and am) really tired. Our first week here really took it out of me, and I have the blister to prove it, not to mention the laundry here at the centre. I spent almost four hours down there!

                   

We took the Regent’s Canal Boat Trip to get to our destination, which was kind of cool. Our focus was to look for contrasts, and the trip along the canal was filled with some heartbreaking ones. We passed a couple of magnificent canal-side estates which must be unspeakably expensive. Then there were stretches with just trees and boats. Our boat moved very leisurely, and it was tempting to close one’s eyes and just enjoy the tranquility. In fact, it occurred to me that the people manning the tour have kind of an awesome job. Then we came across a homeless person, sleeping on one of the benches lining the route. The class system in England is apparently rather rigid, and clearly demarcated. It’s likely that the wealthy residents are none too pleased with their less fortunate neighbors. The boats, which line the canal endlessly, are actually homes to their owners, who thrive on the community and culture they have nourished. But most of the boats were clearly old, and some were fairly run down. The Olympics last year forced the relocation of some, so there is an ongoing struggle to maintain this type of residency.

I VERY MUCH enjoyed our destination – Camden Town. Granted, it’s basically a tourist trap of epic proportion, but with great rock and roll and funky stuff. I could have stayed and wandered for hours. I’m planning to take my sister there, via the canal, when she comes to join me.

I want you to think about all of the GOOD, PLEASANT, absolutely ordinary inter-racial, inter-ethnic, and inter-gender occasions you experience every day. Extend that awareness out to others, and try not to ‘react’ to people whose opinions are different than yours. Just try.

MUSIC OF THE NIGHT

Heard this last night . . . .

Podcast Powered By Podbean
This recording of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the Rolling Stones was made by Carolyn Zaput on her Samsung Galaxy Note II on July 13, 2013, live in Hyde Park, London.

It doesn't matter....

I am living my dream – going to school…in LONDON! I find myself in tears at least once a day, for having been given this opportunity by FSU. This weekend, we were to visit the British Museum on our own. I managed to focus on … well, our focus, and stuck to looking for nine objets d’art within the same color scheme. If you know me, you know I chose black. There was plenty of stuff that had blackened with time, but I had to include two items because they spoke to me—make that screamed at me: “Carolyn, you must use that object.”

I don’t have time or space here to elaborate on each image; I would if I could. If there’s one you’re particularly interested in, post a comment here and I’ll get back to you with details. Here are a few notes….

In Eqypt I sat down opposite four statues of the goddess Sakhmet (middle top row). I had to laugh out loud when my camera protested that it detected a “blink” - please, stop helping me!

The third row holds my favourites. I adore the ‘Brunhilde’ helmet! If I sang opera…. The middle middle is what made me cry. I have always felt an affinity towards Thalia, the muse of comedy. Coming upon her by chance on the top floor took my breath away.  I firmly believe there are no coincidences, so she took center stage

And finally, may I have the envelope, please? The . . . Rosetta . . . Stone…. The stone inscribed in demotic  (which was the common tongue), Greek, and hieroglyphs, the last undecipherable until the discovery of this stone. Thanks to this slab of rock, Eqyptologists were finally able to deconstruct hieroglyphics.

The chance to have these experiences is what sustains me here. While the work is exhilarating, it’s a HUGE responsibility, with two to three assignments of work due every day. If I run into a technical issue, it doesn’t matter how hard I’ve been applying myself. My laptop just stopped working. I’m in tears as I write this, down in the computer lab, where I hope I will be able to piecemeal together everything I’ve worked so hard to accomplish. I feel lonely and frightened and frustrated, but I’m trying hard to have faith that if I just keep putting one foot in front of the other, there are more invaluable experiences…and challenges…yet ahead of me.

THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD

Today we went 1st to Regent's Park, and it was . . . regal, really. It's...um...large. 
Map of Regent's Park
We entered at the southeast end and basically crossed to the northwest (no, not THAT North West), playing with every dog we saw, and then climbed up Primrose Hill, where we picnicked and then actually all did our best to fly kites. The view was spectacular, the breeze was breezey (we could have used a windier day) and we were off to Abbey Road, walking again. It was indeed a long and winding road - but you should be able to see us doing the infamous walk across the street in the zebra crossing at approximately 2:25:23 up til about 2:27. Go to Abbey Road Live Webcam, then in the right menu click on Archives. This pops up the hours during the day today (make sure you're on Friday, July 12th), choose the 2-3 PM hour, and drag the scrollbar under the pic to about 2:25, and you'll see us. Here's a sneak preview...

Pretty cool, huh?

However, our focus was to shoot close-ups of flowers in the gardens, and let me tell you, I was losing my mind! Queen Mary's Garden is like 60,000 varieties of just ROSES! Some had exotic names I can't remember, but even without touching them up, they look surreal. You see what I mean, I trust? 


I posted a different image on our Facebook page, an eXtReMe closeup. Check out my group's photos on our Facebook page. You won't be disappointed . . . although we will, if you don't like and comment. 

The thing that I adore about roses is their simplicity...the geometric principles of Fibonacci at work in nature restore and sustain me. Somehow their order and determination, despite their frailty  give me a sense of inner peace -- a feeling, gazing at this pure, natural beauty, that some things will after all be all right with the world. 

POLLOCK?

I now have a British Library Reader's Card, and had some books called up for me in one of the reading rooms! I felt so official and important; it was a truly validating librarian experience. It pales, however, beside the thrill of the Treasure Room, aka the Sir John Ritblat Gallery. I literally wept over the First Folio, which I discovered is actually titled something like "Comedies, Tragedies and Histories of William Shakespeare." I asked a docent about it, and he said the book that was thus titled IS one of the copies of the FF. I realize now how silly it is to think that Heminges and Condell would call it the FF! DOH! Yet my associates said that it IS called the FF. But that's absurd! Only in retrospect could it be thus named. What's even weirder is that I did a (quick) search for the quote unquote title, and only found it referenced as The FF. 

Anyway, I spoke with my flatmate about how incredibly moved I was (I'm getting fuhklempt now, even) to look at an original instance of this priceless collection. It didn't HAVE to happen; no one else put it together. How much poorer we would be without it! Imagine - it might not have come into existence - but it DID, and in retrospect, this possibly spontaneous decision has irrevocably altered our world. I am so indebted and grateful to Mr. Herminges and Condell, and to FSU for bringing me here to weep in its presence. 

We were to think about photos differently today...which is kind of where I'm going with this retrospective thing. ALL of the items in the Treasure Room really only matter if you really think about what they are and what they MEAN. The Magna Carta? BIG deal, IF you take the time to fully appreciate how it has altered the course of history. Illustrated manuscripts, original scores by Purcell, and Handel's Messiah! Wow. Amazing, priceless holdings - thank you, BL. The British DO look at things differently than Americans, and I have to say I appreciate their point of view much more.

I posted my 'different' take on some street graffiti on my group's Facebook page, and referred readers here. 

Out of context, it looks like a Pollock or something. But I took another picture of it, here.

The most amazing thing is that it wasn't until I was sharing it with my flatmates that one of them pointed out that it's a Dalek saying No! Again, I didn't see it because I was thinking differently than I do ordinarily. Useful and enlightening thing to do every so often.