[Anthony Bettina]

“Nature” is too broad of an entity to truly be able to value its worth. I believe that for people who see its beauty and peacefulness that there is a type of healing power within it. Forests, and the sounds of nature have a way of bringing one’s mind to peace, which may in turn lead to a happier disposition. Personally, I am not sure that anyone is in the position to state on a general scale whether nature or technology is more important in today’s society. I hold the belief that each of these two entities greatly benefit people, but in different ways. Without any form of nature, we would not be able to harness the materials in order to develop our technology. Without technology, it would be much more difficult for us to research how to properly utilize the nature around us. These two entities go hand in hand, and it is therefore difficult to firmly state which one is more important.

[Anthony Bettina]

Whether we like to admit it or not, we all develop pre-connotations to a book when we see its cover. Much like Jenny has stated, it is in our human nature. We are more attracted to items with vivid colors, and are therefore more inclined to read a book that is aesthetically pleasing. A cover may also give us insight into the type of book that we are about to read. Scholarly pieces of work typically do not have elaborate color schemes in order to preserve their maturity. On the other hand, books such as “Oh the places you’ll go” by Doctor Seuss have more vibrant color schemes in order to draw in a younger audience. One should not make a final judgement call on whether or not to read a book based off of the cover, but we must succumb to the reality that the cover of a book is one of the first things we analyze when we see it on the shelves.

[Anthony Bettina]

The world and the people within it have never been as interconnected as they are today. The burgeoning success of social media has aided accessible efficient contact between people. Due to this success, authors now have the ability to easily promote or denounce paratext through their social media page. Their fans now have instant insight in to how their favorite author is thinking. This increased level of accessibility also allows authors to have weekly blogs, so this way their fans can get an updated look on how their favorite author’s views/thoughts change over time.

[Anthony Bettina]

I also find myself avoiding the majority of paratext within a novel, but being more analytical when it comes to a memoir. When I am reading a novel, I am mainly just interested in the plot, and general story line. If I find myself particularly interested in the novel by the end, I will read the epilogue, but essentially nothing more. When it comes to a novel, I read for enjoyment; I am not interested, nor am I easily sidetracked by footnotes while reading for pleasure. When reading a memoir, I become more deeply entrenched in the analytical side of the work, and thus am more inclined to read the preface and the footnotes. I want to take in as much information as possible when reading a memoir, which leads me to focusing more on the paratext than when reading a novel.

[Anthony Bettina]

I have been using a program called Apache OpenOffice since February 2013. It is a free alternative to Microsoft Word, and I use it on OS X. It utilizes word recognition, and auto-correct. OpenOffice comes free with a version of Word for text documents, Excel for spreadsheets, PowerPoint for presentations, files for drawing documents, and brochure templates.

The application has all of the capabilities of Word, and it has not crashed on me since I have owned it.

[Anthony Bettina]

I am also inclined to agree with Jess on this point. Thoreau preaches the idea of learning through experience, but in reality he only believes this if it falls under the confines of what he believes the correct experiences to be. This idea goes even deeper than simply the Baker farm. Thoreau goes on to contradict this point again in The Pond in Winter. In paragraph three Thoreau chooses to observe the fisherman and their tactics as opposed to actually fishing himself. This goes against his ideology of placing a strong emphasis on experiential learning. In The Pond in Winter, Thoreau himself learns through watching others in their pursuits of experiential learning.

[Anthony Bettina]

“Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body.”- Richard Steele, Irish writer, 1672-1729. No matter what exercise one chooses to do, or to whatever intensity level they so choose to do it, it is still exercising. No matter how much one chooses to read, or whatever level one chooses to read at, they are still reading, and reading increases one’s vocabulary as well as it aids to expanding one’s mind. The internet was introduced to the main stream in China in 1987. Since 1990, adult literacy (15 and older) rates in China have increased from 77.8% to 94.3% (2010) in accordance to UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization). This can be attributed in part to the burgeoning success of the internet.

http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/UIS-literacy-statistics-1990-2015-en.pdf

[Anthony Bettina]

Photography is one of the most pure forms of art due to its openness to interpretation. Art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill or imagination.” The lack of words, and therefore structure in photography leads people to be able to interpret it in whatever manner they so please. This type of open ended interpretation that photography allows is what makes photos and paintings such strong symbols of change. This can be displayed in “Crossing of the Delaware” by Emanuel Leutze. Although the picture in itself is somewhat plain, it evokes a sense of patriotism in the American public, and becomes a catalyst for change in the nation.

[Anthony Bettina]

One of the more meaningful changes that I saw in the address was in sentence 5. Nicolay, 1863 goes on to state “This we may, in all propriety do.” Whereas Bancroft, Bliss, Hay, and Everett all state “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.” This development in the Gettysburg Address had great impact due to its change in syntax. The change from “may” to “should” in terms of what they should do in relation to the civil war makes Lincoln seem more stout in his beliefs. The word “may” evokes a sense of “being able to” whereas “should” makes it seem as if it is their obligation to act. As far as the largest stylistic/rhythmic change, I noticed the omission of “to stand here” in sentence 10, which is only in the Nicolay version. The revised sentence stating: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us” reads more fluidly than “It is rather for us to stand here dedicated to the great task remaining before us.”

[Anthony Bettina]

I would not go as far as to say that the accessibility of information devalues the quest for knowledge. I would however say that the enhanced availability of information has significantly changed the way that we learn as a society. In the post-internet era we have a broader spectrum of what we know, however there are fewer areas where we obtain expertise. The burgeoning success of the internet has gifted us the opportunity to jump from subject to subject with relative ease; we have the world’s information at our fingertips. This research style has given us an extensive variance of what we know, but little that we may actually know in depth. The pre-internet era forced one to focus thoroughly on one topic, due to the amount of time that needed to be expended on research. This caused society as a whole to have a more narrow sense of knowledge, albeit with a much greater understanding of the topics that they did research. In more simplistic terms, imagine all of the knowledge in the world as the ocean, the internet as a speedboat, and books & scholarly articles as scuba diving gear. In the post-internet era we tend to speed across the entire ocean, and cover every square foot of it’s surface. In the pre-internet era we would dive into a small section of the ocean, and discover every intricacy within that area.

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