[Julia Kinel]

I agree with both Grace and Melanie. Additionally, I’ve noticed lately that the younger generation has an inclination to side with anyone except for straight white men. And this becomes a problem on social media networks such as Twitter or Tumblr, where for example, one person might make a post about some actor doing some horrible thing to a waiter in a restaurant. It can be a completely false, made-up story, but often times it gets reblogged/retweeted with a plethora of comments about how horrible the guy is. It almost seems as if people are going along with information that they don’t know to be true because they want reasons to hate this certain group of people in order to seem more supportive of minorities.

[Julia Kinel]

I agree with Grace that the change that made the most impact on the meaning of the text is the change from ” <span class=”apparatus app-d0e232 clickable”><span class=”reading nicolay”>This we may, in all propriety do” to “It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this”. To me, this change is easier to understand. I’m gonna be completely honest with you, I had to reread that original statement a few times before I understand what was being said. For me and, I’m assuming, some others, “this we may, in all propriety do” doesn’t mean anything and I would likely ignore it if I heard it. More specifically, the difference between proper and propriety is what has the greatest affect here. The latest version that says “it is altogether fitting…” is easier to understand at first glance therefore the listeners will actually listen to it. </span></span>

As for the change that makes the most difference in the rhythm of the address, I’d like to point out the change in the final paragraph from “It would rather be us, the living, we here be dedicated…” to “It is rather for us to be here dedicated”. There are multiple other instances in the address where little word changes make a big difference. Removing “the living” makes a big difference in the fluidity of the sentence and also removes a couple commas which made the sentence choppy.

[Julia Kinel]

I agree with both Kasey and Darby – they both made great points. And I think this conversation fits well with the question of “who decides how we live our lives?” One could argue that there are two types of people in this world; the ones that fit into society and the ones that don’t. Just as Kasey said, those who divert from societal norms are often seen as outcasts and their actions are looked down on. However these are the type of people who decide for themselves how to live their lives. On the other hand are people who stick to society and the expectations society has for them despite the fact that they themselves may want to branch out. I’d say these are the people (for the most part) that let society decide how they should live their lives.

[Julia Kinel]

I agree with most of the comments made above. However, I wonder if Thoreau discourages the use of technology that improves upon or replaces other methods. For example, I think we can all agree that Thoreau would disapprove of the social networks we have today (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc). Is it because he wants to separate himself from society and believes that everyone else should do the same? Or is it because this way of communication replaces methods such as writing letters (which, as mentioned above, he wasn’t even fond of) or sitting down to a real one-on-one conversation? This is just something that popped into my head while I was reading through everyone else’s ideas.

[Julia Kinel]

First off, I’d argue that we today don’t have a drastically different method of observational learning. People still go out into the wilderness and learn through observation just like Thoreau did. However, we have additional forms of observational learning such as youtube, wikihow, etc. Because of these supplemental forms of learning, I’d say that our society is better off when it comes to observational education. We have the ability to google how-to videos for just about anything. Watching a video of a man fishing is the same as watching someone do it in person. The only difference is that we can do it from the comfort of our own homes and these videos can be viewed whenever we’d like.

[Julia Kinel]

I agree with Kasey. I also think that Thoreau believes in experiential learning as either a precursor to traditional institutional learning or as a supplement. It seems as if Thoreau believes that you are not a fully educated man if you do just one or the other. There are things which cannot be learned in a classroom yet if you never step foot in a classroom what separates you from a savage, uneducated man? And to delve further into that point I think that Thoreau has some really interesting beliefs when it comes to institutional learning. At some point in Walden he claims that an illiterate man is no worse than a man who cannot read the classics aka the most mentally challenging books. So not only does he believe in institutional learning; he believes in higher education and not just the basic form of education.

[Julia Kinel]

I agree completely with the comments above me. I believe you can “read” anything – people, places, things, texts, etc. We all know the common saying “Oh you’re difficult to read”. Additionally, when we teach young children to read, observing comes first. It’s often overlooked but it is a major step towards learning to read. It’s the simple act of seeing something, processing and then taking away some sort of meaning.

[Julia Kinel]

In my opinion, authorial intent has more influence on a work’s literary merit. Whether or not the book is meant to be read by an audience affects what the author chooses to write. A diary, for example, can be written in a way that is meant to be read by others. However, a diary is usually written for the author’s eyes only. If this is the case – like the example of The Diary of Anne Frank – then the author of the diary will feel more comfortable writing of personal/intimate experiences and less inclined to fluff up the stories and make them enjoyable to read.

Additionally, you can read anything and make it seem like literature. Think of a newspaper as if it’s a small collection of short stories – is it literature?

[Julia Kinel]

I agree with Melanie completely. These days there is a wide variety of non-traditional ways to “read a book”. Audiotapes, for example, can help readers “read” (aka listen to) a book while also doing other things such a driving, cooking, cleaning, etc. Additionally there are many websites such as sparknotes, enotes and gradesaver that can provide short and simple summaries of almost any book.  If a book is long or confusing it’s tempting to just Google it and find a brief summary. If reading a book is too time consuming, one can always just listen to it while they do their weekly yoga workout. These inventions are usually viewed in our society as helpful and they certainly can be. However, they can also be detrimental to our reading abilities. Obviously, when you read a summary of a text you’re not reading the full text. Similarly, if you’re multitasking then you’re not focusing wholly on the book itself and you may miss important details. Also, if we’re reliant on these alternative forms of reading, then it’s difficult to go back to traditional print reading.

[Julia Kinel]

Economy – Page 12

“The necessaries of life for man in this climate may, accurately enough, be distributed under the several heads of Food, Shelter, Clothing and Fuel; for not till we have secured these are we prepared to entertain the true problems of life with freedom and a prospect of success.”

[Julia Kinel]

In addition to the cover of the novel, we should also take into account the display of the book in the store that it’s being sold at. Walking through a bookstore you’ll encounter big, extravagant displays for the most recently released books and also the most popular books at that time. Older books are given less interesting and less eye-catching displays. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are worse books than those given extravagant displays. This certainly affects our perception of the book before we even look at the cover.

[Author]

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