This is the End, Beautiful Friend

Well, the quarter is over and I'm getting all teary-eyed. I really learned a lot from my 'Writing in the Public Sphere' class and I am so glad to have met so many interesting and fun people, including Professor Rhodes. We might not be in class together anymore, but we can still make the public sphere worth wild! I know I got a big mouth and like to use it any chance I get. I'll miss getting let out of class early and meeting up at the pub only to end up drunk and ditching the next class :) As for my position regarding the public sphere, I am proud to announce that I am looking at the world through a postmodern perspective until otherwise noted.

Complicated Intersections

I have decided to expand on the last paper and discuss the "complicated intersections" that evolve when trying to decipher "irrational/logical" explanations in the public sphere. We need to consider logical and ethical values and still consider those who may be trying to 'dummy' us 'down'. How many genres can we accept in the public sphere without it becoming disfunctional? Gays, women, and blacks were not considered an appropriate part of the public sphere until after a vote could establish them as a nation. Habermas' ideal public sphere only considered white, educated males as a logical part of the public sphere therefore; their voices dominate all others nations. This is where these intersections come into play when dealing with genre in the public sphere to determine the most logical and rational decisions for a nation. Do you think I said 'public sphere' enough?

Critical Response

When looking for a logical explanation in the public sphere, there are multiple layers of genre that present questions of truth and rationality. Portillo's film, El Diablo Nunca Duerme, presents a portrayal of some of the different types of genre that are interwoven when trying to decipher the 'truth' behind the death of Uncle Oscar. Portillo explores genres such as religios aspects, actual evidence, verbal claims and cultural representation to try and unearth the truth, only to be left with as many questions as she started out with. Each narrative or individual account veils the truth behind different perspectives which makes a rational approach hard to come by. "Complicated intersections" in genre prove difficult through the past or dealing with issues in the present.

Public Space on Campus

The CSUSB campus is wide and full of potential for the public sphere and yet it seems to lack this aspect. The open spaces of grass offer an enormous amount of room for socializing but it is bare of seats or benches and the trees only shade small areas. The area in front of the library would be a great place to permit local bands to play or amateur theater performances to take place. The only things that take up this space presently however, are the soroity cliques and small shops where people from off campus sell their wares. Spectacle could play a tremendous role in making the campus a public sphere. It is a found space for actors and a great place to bring people together if there was more involvment of students and what they find enjoyable.

Second Response

Question #1:"Complicated intersections" sounds a lot like 'truth' when dealing with Portillo's movie El DiabloNunca Duerme. Who do we trust for answers? How much should we consider to make a logical assumptions?...More to come.

Put Yourself in Somebody Else's Shoes

Throughout Portillo's documentary regarding the murders of women in Juarez, there is constant symbolism containing white crosses marking gravesites, pink crosses marking telephone poles, an empty ditch in the desert, and an empty pair of shoes among other symbols. The shoes may symbolize a variety of different things. If they are empty, possibly it is to symbolize how these shoes belonged to somebody at one point, but they are now gone. There is nobody left to fill these shoes. Maybe Portillo is suggesting that the audience should try to put themselves in one of these women's shoes trying to imagine what they went through or possibly the pain that the family endures. The shoes are empty just like the answers to solve this mystery. The visual I presented was found on the website: www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/senoritaextraviada/update.html
This graphic picture suggests a contrast to the empty shoes in Portillo's documentary. This picture depicts the torture that theses children and women have gone through extensively with no justice or closure given to their families. The empty shoes hanging from a rear view mirror, possibly from a car or bus could suggest that the killers could be anyone. Or perhaps the family will never forget. Whatever the symbol suggests, it is one of emptiness and Portillo has hit this on the head with these images.

Black Spectacle: An Important Part of the Public Sphere

Spectacle is an important factor when considering potential prospects for the public sphere. Spectacle has been accused of losing its "rational, logical, literate debate" and "encourag[ing] passivity in spectators" (McKee 105, 108). An example in the public sphere of spectacle is rap music. The chapter has a great amount of discussion on the idea of rap music being either a rational or emotional approach for the public sphere , the argument being that one is more reasonable, and therefore better. A 'modernist' would cancel out the emotional response because it is considered irrational thinking. However, a 'postmodernist' would argue that emotion plays a resourceful characteristic of rationality. In my personal opinion, rap music has been a great influence to my life opening up a culture that is not known to me except through literature. One reason I feel that rap music should be considered part of the public sphere is similar to McKee's point that blacks have developed an oral rather than literary approach to communicating throughout history. It is different from Habermas' ideal public society in that it is not, for the most part, literary. Oral tradition has multiple patterns of commentary on politics and other parts of life such as "praise singers", "narrative poems", and "verbal jousting" (McKee 110). These have all played necessary roles in African American culture and have earned their way into the public sphere through cultural roots. If this belief is enforced, then it makes sense to take a 'postmodern' approach and consider all types of information to make a rational decision in the end. This would include spectacle in the public sphere which some argue "distract from the workings of the mental process" (from Habermas, found in McKee 107). I think that an emotional response should be considered when observing all conditions as rational. It may not be the correct response for the situation but it sparks emotion for a certain reason.