Category: Perspectives

The tree stands about 20 yards away, in a little clearng next to the gazebo. I’ve spent the last 20 minutes
sitting quietly on the grassy lawn of the park and I’ve only just noticed it, blocking out all senses but the chirping of the birds. So when I finally crack open my eyes, I have to blink a bit to adjust to the afternoon sun. It’s a perfect cloudless day, but a chilly wind penetrates my double-layers, and I shiver. I look down at the notes I’ve jotted down so far:

• owl hooting (barn owl?)
• birds
• very green grass

The world is coming alive, as it always does after the harsh winter. I look around at the park, fixing my eyes on the tree once more. The tree’s vibrant pink flowers stand out against all the greens and blues. I stand up, stretch my legs, and begin to stroll towards the gazebo. When I reach the tree, I position myself directly beneath it and point my camera up. The branches unfurl out, allowing peaks of blue between the pink, until they disappear beyond the edges of the square frame. I take the shot, tuck my phone in a pocket, and sit down on the ground one more.

I’m happy to see about a half-dozen bees, buzzing around the flowers, pollinating. I’ve always liked bees. As a child, when all my friends would scatter in the presence of one, I would go completely still, letting the bee rest on my skin, trying to keep my breathing shallow, and my body relaxed. Every time, a few moments would pass, and the bee would float away again. I like to think they appreceiated my non-reactive approach, driven by fear though it was. I let the bees be and they let me be in return.

The tree itself is small, probably planted relatively recent. I feel slightly ashamed that I don’t know what it’s called, being the daughter of a forester with whom I went on countless walks in the woods growing up. As I gaze up, I observe the thinness of its branches, the smallness of its flowers. It seems rather fragile, bending easily in the slight breeze. Perhaps it’s the relative newness of spring that makes it seem so vulnerable, still fresh with the memory of a relentless cold. But the passing of the seasons guarantees many warm days ahead, those summer days when the winter is a distant memory. I imagine the tree growing sturdier as the days go by, until it stands strong and proud against the whipping wind of an August afternoon thunderstorm. It gives me hope, that I, too, can stand straight in the face of the seasons ahead.

I stay here a few minutes more, eyes and ears alert, waiting patiently for something else to observe. But it’s still early and the earth is waking up slowly, so I sit up, gather my things, and begin to walk away, making sure to brush the bark one last time.

As I headed outside of my house in an attempt to be with nature, it took a long walk to truly be without the buildings, powerlines, houses, etc. I headed out to see something beautiful which is exactly what I found. After walking about a mile and a half, past the chaos of Main Street, I finally found a place of solace with trees, plants, and open grass. The small park on the end of Main Street, although still somewhat close to the hustle and bustle of town life, was a small getaway in its own right.

As I sat down underneath a giant tree, I made an active effort to put my phone down and observe the things around me. The first thing I noticed was the sounds I was hearing. The spring has brought beautiful sounds of birds to life and when looking up at the sky, I saw birds soaring from tree to tree and robins looking for worms in the grass. The grass itself was cold and fresh, as it had rained the day before. The sky was blue and nearly cloudless as if everything bad had been cried out by the clouds the day before. The breeze was light, causing the leaves to sway in the wind and create a light whooshing sound. It was, by almost anyone’s definition, a perfect spring day.

I decided that to take a different approach to view the nature around me, I would lie down underneath the big tree to see what I would find. When studying the tree closely, I began to notice just how unique it was. Instead of leaves, the tree was composed of thousands of tiny white flowers that made up the mass of a huge tree. There were hundreds of little clusters of flowers, about six in each cluster that made up what would normally be leaves. The flowers were tiny and delicate, something I found surprising. I felt amazed that something so little could withstand the ruthlessness of nature. Wind, rain, storms, and blazing sun all seem like they could destroy the tiny flowers. After looking down at the ground underneath the trees, my feelings had proven to be correct, as there were tiny petals dusted across the grass. Although they are flowers, I was surprised by their lack of scent. They were simply a visual sight to enjoy.

After observing the tree for quite some time, I began to notice something else peeking through the sky. The moon was coming out for the night and although it was slight, since it was still early, it looked beautiful next to the white flower tree. In the shape of a waxing crescent, it was a typical moon, but not unable to be appreciated.

One of the final things I noticed since it was also in my view was a pine tree that seemed to be something out of a cartoon. Instead of sticking out, the branches drooped downward, as if the weight of the needles was too much for the branch to bear. The overall downward slope of the tree gave an ominous feel, much different than the delicate tree that stood beside it. It felt as though the trees came from two different worlds, one a more forgiving place than the other, however beautiful in their own ways. By stopping and looking more closely at nature through a different lens, there is much to observe that may have gone unnoticed otherwise.

My learning in this course so far as exposed me to the depths of english literature, books, novels, and how the digitalization of books has changed how I personally view literature. In the beginning of the semester, we read and discussed Broad Band by Claire L. Evans, which tells the untold stories of women who broke barriers and were early programming pioneers. Learning about their contributions to computing, programming, and the internet was knowledge I wasn’t fully aware of.

After our discussions about Broad Band, we started to experiment with GitBash and our Visual Studio Code. I was confused with where the course was going. It felt as though there was a shift in the course, and suddenly we were no longer talking about the women who created these programs, we were actually doing it ourselves. I struggled to understand what the connection was between the english discipline and something as complex as coding. This was a really big switch for me. Growing up I was someone who found a lot of comfort in my daily reading and writing. I never found coding or programming of any sort to be of any real interest. In my head at the time, there was no connection between the two, and I decided to keep it that way up until I attended college.

I was very disinterested in coding and programming because I didn’t really understand it. At one point, my parents enrolled me to take a coding class it felt like I was being pushed into a space I was not quite ready for, because I had no knowledge on how these skills related to what I wanted to do in the future. I found myself questioning the relationship between english and coding, how it would directly benefit my future as an english major and wondering why it mattered for someone like me to learn about this.

When we opened up our GitBash and started creating folders and files, I realized that this was not as complicated as I thought I was. I was being stubborn and unwilling to open my abilities to something new. By enrolling in this class, I realized that my skills are neither above nor below anyone else in the classroom. Realistically, we are all in the same boat!

This class helped me realize that there is a deeper meaning in what we are doing. The history goes back further than I could have imagined. I also realized that I am not alone in this process. 7 years ago, I was completely unaware on how serious the digital world was getting. I have so much more to learn about the connection between english and coding. Coding is a language within itself and requires a different level of writing to understand. There will be a lot of things I will struggle to understand, but these are just small bumps in the road.

Believe it or not, I figured out how to get one of these things open! All by myself too, sort of. I’ve been trouble-shooting for the last 30 or 40 minutes, pretty sure I was just using the wrong command for what I was trying to do, but we’re here, I got the file open, that’s what matters.

So, here we are, writing a blog post, getting all introspective and stuff. How have I changed in the last month or two? Well, I guess I will start off by saying that I have always had a lot of hobbies. I love trying new things and developing new skills, and I especially love learning. However, this has started to become a double edged sword as I’ve gotten older. I really don’t have the time anymore to engage in any of my hobbies frequently enough to dive any deeper, learn any more, or get any better. I love playing guitar, for example, but I’m lucky if I’ve got it in me I’ll pick it up and practice for maybe 20-30 minutes once a week. That is hardly enough for me to even mantain the skills I acquired when I had more time. I wish I could just do my hobbies full time, but I’m sure everybody wishes that.

My point is, Computer science and programming has always been a passive interest of mine. I’ve never really given it the time necessary to develop any skills, but it’s something I find incredibly interesting. The first time I got the oppurtunity to dive a little deeper was when I was taking a few online classes during the COVID lockdowns at a community college. Unfortunately the lockdown rocked my mental health pretty good, and so I didn’t retain much of anything. I don’t think I even passed the class. I did take a game design class which involved doing some work in Unity, which was super fun, but I didn’t get too much further in that one either.

So, until taking this class, my interest in computer science was only able to manifest itself in the odd youtube video I’d watch about making DOOM run on an array of lemons, or creating a semi-functional version of Microsoft Paint in Minecraft. All I’d learned from my brush with actually engaging in computer science was that I’d definitely need to dedicate more time than I had been able if I stood any chance of understanding and retaining any of it.

After the first few weeks of this class I was already hooked. Getting the command line open for the first time, making directories and all that, boy it felt neat! Unfortunately after missing several weeks of this semester due to illness, I found myself pretty behind, and I’m still playing catch up. Hell, this blog post is already gonna be at least 3 days late, assuming I manage to finish it today. I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing, but then again, I did manage to open this file. Pretty sure I even did it correctly, so I must be doing something right, right?

So, where am I going from here? Well for one, I’d love to catch up with the rest of the class. It feels like for every step I take forward, everyone else is taking two. I’m sure most of the class is struggling in their own way, this kind of material isn’t easy, but that two and a half weeks of class I missed certainly didn’t help me, that’s for sure.

One of the most important understandings that this course has brought to me so far is the fact that I am not inherently “bad with technology.” Throughout my years in secondary school, I thought of my lack of understanding or profieciency with computers was something I should just accept as a weakness of mine. Obviously I strived for improvement, but I always, to some degree, thought of it as an area in which I would perpetually be one step behind my peers.

This outlook has changed since beginning this class. I now know that I am capable of learning how to use technology to my advantage, instead of viewing it as some entirely foreign concept at best, and my enemy at worst. This was not an immediate transition. I ran into diffuclties quite early on in the course when I could not download the apps necessary to do the classwork on (such as this very program). Overcoming that obstacle, and learning more about my device during the process, allowed me to feel like I had more control over my computer, and more autonomy in my usage of it.

I would not go so far as to say that I understand computers perfectly; it is akin to learning a new language, a process which involves much time and practice. I do, however, believe that I have made more progress than I originally believed myself to be capable of before taking this class, and I know that my development will only continue as the semester continues.

In terms of material, I found the portion we have read so far of Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet particularly interesting. The perspective offered about women’s role in the development of computers so early on is one that was entirely new to me. I did not expect women to be so central to the history of the machines as we know them today because, oftentimes, we think of coding, math, and engenieering as male dominated fields. It was very interesting to learn that this was not always the case; women filled the role of a “computer” before the machines that term refers to today was introduced, and also were the main players in navigating how to use the intricate machines in a way that is helpful to humankind.

With every english class I take as a college student, I make an effort to connect myself to the content and find a way in which the material might contribute to my abilities as both a writer and a future educator. This class has challenged me in a lot of ways I’ve never experienced in a classoom before, and has adapted me with a new mindset and set of skills that I was hesistant to embrace at first. I’ve always viewed myself as someone who thrives with writing and reading on paper. I grew up fully immersed in books, using words on a page to express my happiness, sadness, and confusion as a young girl. I found myself invested in the characters and storylines I read about, and used literature as a way to find new perspectives, and ways to view the world around me. This made a class about books and computers completely foreign to me.

How could I take the concepts I was so familiar with on pen and paper and translate them virtually! My first few weeks learning about the terminal window and Visual Studio code was a tough transition, and faced me with an expected challenge. I had to work harder to understand the virtual aspect of literature and I truly believe the effort I put into understanding the code made a real difference in my connection to the course.

Learning skills like transcription and TEI taught me the importance and care that goes into decoding older works and the significance that technology can hold when gaining acess to an authors message/purpose. This question of technologys purpose in a world of literature resonated with me most deeply when taking this course. What qualities make something a book? How does online literature and creations like AI alter the world of literature?

Class discussions surrounding these questions led me to determine that the every changing nature of our world and the prevalence of technology within it give computers and the metaverse a well deserved spot within the realm of reading and writing. This is something I thought I’d never say!I feel that these reflective questions that guided class also allowed me to expand my ability to respectfully disagree with others, and have a productive conversation!

While I still connect and feel the ability to interact best with physical copies of text, I feel that this class has allowed me to establish a new relationship to my computer. This newfounded computer literacy has made it easier for me to read and annotate text online, and showed me how important it is to examine the history that exists online in the world of literature.

Following this idea of progressing communication skills, the comments we left on Walden showed me a new form of online annotation and classmate colloboration that I enjoyed! The world of online forums and their international ability to discuss varying works is such a priviledge! I feel lucky to have learned more about that through ENGL 340.

Overall this class has taught me a lot about communication, and the relationship between technology and literature that I am excited to dive deeper into.

While taking Literature and Literary Study in the Digital Age, I’ve learned a lot about my computer, and defining what objects are in the new digital age. I’ve never been interested much in technology; It always seemed too complicated and overwhelming to even start learning. While taking this class, I’ve learned a lot about my own personal device, and how to make command lines and codes. Growing up, I’ve always observed my brothers play on their fancy computers and do things I’ve never been able to do. Now that I’ve taken this class, I can finally understand the things they discuss and relate to them. When it comes to defining objects in the digital age, it’s difficult to make one definition with all these new resources coming to light. For example, we discussed in class “what is a book?” At first, I was adamant on saying a book is simply words on paper glued together with a cover. Now looking back, I can see how that would be incorrect. With the rise of technology -and its accessibility to people- books have adapted to this as well, and have started to become digital. Audio books, e-books and kindle readers have expanded this definition of what a book can be. Books don’t need to be paper and glue; As long as it shares a story to others, its all the same.

Before Starting this Class

I was markedly ‘anti-computer’ in my scholarship before. I would pay more for a physical copy of a book instead of a computer copy, I would take all of my notes by hand, and I would write out essays in a notebook before typing them up. I really thought that it was better – for learning, and also just personal preference. I was really comfortable in the aspect of my identity that said “I’m not good with computers.” And this wasn’t really for lack of trying – I tried to be tech-savvy and to be ‘modern’ in my use of technology, and it just didn’t really work for me – I always got tripped up and frustrated and would return to my comfort zone of paper and pen.

The Process

However, just through the first few weeks of this class, I have gained so much comfortability in using a computer in different ways than I ever had before. If you had told me last fall that I could use code to make my computer do things for me, I would not have believed you, and probably would have laughed. Even just understanding the file system of a computer was a huge step for me, let alone navigating it through GitBash. I was so surprised when my script to open up, name, and edit a markdown journal file actually worked – it just never seemed like something I’d be able to do. I think a lot of this had to do with how it was framed – I had always considered computers to be something like magic – something that is to be used as much as you can, but outside of my capacity for understanding. Understanding how computing in the modern sense came to be really helped, and so did a systematic breakdown and intuitive flow through information. This all made it seem possible to undersand, and much less mysterious and magical.

The Results

This increase in knowledge and skill in regards to computers has really changed the way I am living my day-to-day life. I had always used a bound paper planner – on that I used a ruler to draw, since no planners I could find worked for how I was using it. This took so much time and effort – and this isn’t to bash paper planners, because I still use it some and I still really love the process that went into it – but it was restrictive because of the time it took. Since starting this class, I have been really able and willing to transfer my planner organization onto a notion page and use it to keep track of deadlines and tasks and events, and it’s so much quicker and easier than copying things over by hand. I have also started – not only in this class, where it’s an assignment – to take notes on my laptop and actually be able to focus while doing so. I don’t lament having to read or write on my computer anymore – and I think that’s just a byproduct of actually understanding what’s happening when I’m using it.