Truth in Memoirs

Truth in memoirs is topic that over time has become more and more talked about in our society. In the past 10 years we have heard of plenty of literary scandals that have unfolded, such as James Frey’s, “A Million Little Pieces” or Norma Khouri’s, “Forbidden Love;” but why is there such a rise in being untruthful and what can be done to stop this? Fern Kupfer, an English professor at Iowa State University wrote an essay called, Everything But The Truth,where she explains how there are three kind of “lies” that are not only acceptable, but also necessary in memoir writing.

She begins by explaining how although many of us would like to read good stories, we also don’t like to be lied too. Kupfer then goes on to tell a story about a student she once had in her nonfiction seminar class, Chris, who told an elaborate tale of his family, where his father deserted them and his mother was left alone with his siblings to survive. Chris eventually got an A in that class, and the following year Kupfer happened to have his girlfriend as a student. Through talking with her and hearing how she was going to visit Chris’ parent’s for the holidays, Kupfer became confused, because from Chris’ story, that didn’t seem to add up. As she began to dig deeper, she realized Chris’ has lied to her in his memoir, and his parents never separated to begin with. Kupfer felt betrayed, and seeing how you can accessorize the truth to make your story seem less dull, Chris in fact “did more than our creative judgments could have allowed…Chris had constructed exclusively from his imagination. Chris had lied” (292). Kupfer then moves on to explain how she get questions from her students all the time about how they feel they can’t mold their stories in a way they feel in which they aren’t lying. She then tell us how there are three kinds of lies that are acceptable, and how we “need to give memoir writers permission to lie, but only when the reconstructed version of the story doesn’t deceive the reader” (292).The first lie that is deemed acceptable is little “white lies” that you make up when you are unable to remember the minor details, such as the color of your coat, the dress you wore on your birthday, and so on. The second lie is one that “narrative structure often demands: composite characterization, compression of time, omission of unnecessary detail” (293). Where some details could take up too much time, or clog or overpopulate your story, it is better to compress characters or take out information that allow you to get straight to the point. The last lie is that called “the gift of perhaps.” She describes how you can imagine the “what if’s” of your story, to help you better understand characters feelings, thoughts, desires, etc. Your story is to be told from your perspective, and so shaping the truth without having the reconstructed version deceive the reader is an acceptable aspect of this type of writing.

With that being said, do you agree with her methods of acceptable lies? Do you think they are necessary when formulating your memoir? Is okay to use your imagination in writing and how much? How does one formulate boundaries when writing memoirs? Should any type of “lying” or shaping the truth be acceptable?

"When Patents Attack!"

     The web audio show This American Life, hosted by Ira Glass, features in the episode “When Patents Attack!” first hand interviews, research, and commentary by NPR correspondent Laura Sydell and This American Life producer Alex Blumberg. The focus, as the title of the episode suggest, is patents and their unintended use as springboards for countless lawsuits.

     The show begins with host Glass introducing the story of a man named Jeff Kelling. As a software developer, Kelling explains how he and his friends (also developers) started their own business creating a way for user to share photos over the Internet. After years of success with this business, Kelling receives a letter stating that his business was in violation of patents that another company was holding and therefore owed them money. The choices Kelling had were to either go to court which was too expensive for his business, or settle outside of court which he did.

     The reason this case is mentioned is to point out a key factor: the company that sent the letter bought the patents from someone else (the original inventors, even before Kelling) but wasn't using the patent to make products, instead filing lawsuits against others who did. This leads to the authors introducing a key term “patent troll” coined by Peter Detkin who at the time was a lawyer. The term refers to an analogy that Detkin makes with the fairytale Three Billy Goats Gruff, “cause the whole Billy Goats Gruff thing, it’s someone lying under a bridge they didn’t build, demanding payment from anyone who passed. I said, “How about a patent troll?”(Detkin).

     The majority of the show follows Sydell, and Blumberg as they investigate further into the issue of patent trolls. The commentators focus on the patent buying and usage company Intellectual Ventures. Examination of interviews containing dialog of people in relation to Intellectual Ventures or knowledge of patent law rights forms the authors' argument against patent trolls. The authors use this large company as an example of just how big an influence the patents can have on creativity and innovation. Even large corporations like Google, Apple, and Microsoft will spend billions of dollars to obtain patents to use as “protection” against lawsuits. Stated during an interview about thirty percent of patents (in the U.S.) cover roughly the same technologies and ideas which can really cause legal issues. This is suppose to be a system to protect inventor and allow them to profit from their ideas but the audio show suggest instead that they are now stifling innovation as inventors fear of being sued.

     I find the issue to have a lot less significance to our class than the closely related issue of copyrights but the issue itself seem to be very important to our economy here in the U.S. There should be a regulation to combat the role of patent trolls, decrease the chances that one company can control so much intellectual property becoming similar to a monopoly.

So what do you think about the patent troll strategy, an effective way to make money or a damaging practice to the industry of inventors?

The trolls use a strategy of threatening to take people to court knowing that they would lose but take advantage of the fact that small companies don't have enough money to pay for court fees. Do you believe that this is a flaw in our judicial system?

Culture and Self-Expression

“Culture and Self-Expression,” written by Heejung S. Kim is how speech and self-expression are correlated and how they are expressed differently through distinct two cultural contexts. Kim’s main concern is related to, in the “more collectivistic cultural contexts” such as in the East Asian society, how speech and self-expression are not considered to be important to the same degree as in the U.S. Kim explains that it is because these East Asian cultures more value the thoughtful and self-disciplined silence. In other words, what the writer wants to tell the readers is that these different cultural assumptions affect how people express their thoughts and feelings, and then, how ways of expression influence both psychological and biological results. To further explain this, the article focuses on two things which are “the influence of speech on thought and the use and effects of social support.” Two studies are conducted on two different cultural groups of participants to discover the influence of speech on thought. The first study, which examined cultural influences on cognitive problem solving, instructed the participants to solve problems from the Raven’s Progressive Matrices. The outcome of the study reveals that the speech works as a primary means to express and clarify one’s thoughts in the Western cultural context while it works as a significant distraction to thinking in the Asian cultural context. The second study is conducted using the participant’s saliva examples for cortisol analysis along with the first study. It turned out that remarkably higher cortisol levels, indicating a measure of biological stress responding to the task, were shown for Asian American participants than European American participants. Then the participants did surveys about how they had coped with recently experienced stressors. As a result, Asian Americans/Asians answered that they were less likely to seek social support for coping with stress than European Americans were because they concern that seeking social support would cause them to interrupt group harmony, cause them to be embarrassed, and receive criticism from others. As a conclusion, the writer warns that “high levels of stress and other problems may arise when institutional practices expect a particular cultural meaning of speech from people who do not share the same cultural meaning” since they are based on Western cultural assumptions in terms of education and health practices and the society would only favor the cultural majority.

Do you believe that the institutional practices, which expect a particular meaning of speech from people who do not share the same cultural meaning, that are based on Western cultural assumptions in terms of education and health practices would be solved somehow not to only favor the cultural majority in the United States? Then, which cultural context do you think should try to develop their cultural practices?

“A Critique of Politically Correct Language”

In Ben O’Neill’s article, “A Critique of Politically Correct Language,” he discusses the challenges of political correctness in society and how difficult it is to determine what is right and what isn’t.

           O’Neill’s most important assertion is that political correctness is determined by the connotation of a word. A word or phrase becomes politically incorrect once someone is offended, which in turn gives it a negative connotation. Words and phrases with negative connotation are automatically frowned upon by society, so if you were to use a politically incorrect term you would be looked down on and would be expected to change.

            Politically correct terms are always changing. O’Neill explains in his article that it is nearly impossible to please everyone at once, so there is always that one person or group of people that don’t like something that is said so they demand that a different term is used. He compares this process to a “euphemism treadmill” because it is never ending cycle. O’Neill explains the “euphemism treadmill” as starting with a polite expression (euphemism) that turns into neutral expression (orthophemism) that turns into a nasty expression (dyphemism). After this cycle, a new word is created and it starts all over again. O’Neill also discusses in his article that eventually words that were once seen as nasty expressions will be seen as polite expression due to that society is going to run out of new words and will have to recycle past words.

           O’Neill also suggests that political correctness is always changing because people focus on the connotation rather than the intent. He uses an example of a school yard bully who is calling another child a “retard.” Instead of people brushing it off, or explaining to the boy that it is not nice to call someone a mean name, they jump to the conclusion that he is directing his comments towards the mentally disabled. After jumping to conclusions, it is demanded that the term is to be changed. The intent of the bully wasn’t to degrade anyone except the other child. O’Neill believes that theoretically there are people that sit around all day looking for ways to make everything in society correct.

 

Do you like the idea of political correctness, why? Do you agree with O’Neill’s idea of the “euphemism treadmill?” Can you think of a situation that political correctness was taken to an extreme?

Accent Training for the Work Place

In today's corporate American business world finding and maintaining a job position can be both difficult and challenging, especially for those who are struggling with their grammar and communication skills.  Competitive jobs require employees to have strong speaking skills, this is so because if one cannot communicate well with others, it can lead to difficulties in business relationships.  For my chosen blog post I decided to examine not an article, but the web page of a company devoted to training employees in the area of speech and communication.  Capital Accent is a professional company which was started by owner Laurie Aurelia, an accent modification specialist.  Capitalaccent.net is an online service meant to provide employers and employees with the opportunity to strengthen a one's communication skills for the workplace.  The company's over all goal is to assist people with the proper tools and training needed to overcome language barriers that may arise in a business setting.  Services provided by the company include both personal and online courses dealing with accent training, grammar and speech analysis, and overall training in communication skills and techniques.  Aurelia started the company in response to her own personal experience with overcoming a language barrier.  Prior to the company's launch, Laurie had spent several years in Taiwan where she discovered first hand, how poor grammar and communication skills can present a variety of issues when trying to accomplish a simple task such as basic conversation.  By starting Capital Accent, Laurie was able to improve the lives of those experiencing the same difficulties she did.  Since today's business world is so competitive Laurie's services give people the chance to compete with other workers at a high level by training them to lose their accent and reach their fullest potential in communicating in business.  Her company and its mission relate to my topic for my paper because it highlights the importance of grammar skills in relation to one's success in the workplace.  Without proper grammar it can be difficult for a person to advance in the workplace since so much emphasis is placed on communication.

So for conversation, do you feel like a service like this is needed for success in a competitive company?  Should companies not hire a person based on their speaking and communication skills?  Would you use a service like this if you were struggling with a language barrier in the workplace? And should a service like this be offered to someone by a company that wants to help them advance and improve their skills for the workplace, or is that crossing the line?  Any additional comments or views on the topic are helpful.

Sports and Gender Relations, Michael A. Messner

   Michael A. Messner's essay Sports and Gender Relations explored the realm of sport and its effect on personality, identity, and perspective.  His first main idea is that sports are not a naturally occurring institution; that they were created by men and contribute to boys developing masculine identities.  Messner then moves on to examine the relational effects of participating in sports.  He is very critical of the effects, suggesting that athletes lose capacity for intimacy and view social order differently due to sport, along with physical debilitation.  Messner's last idea is that a young man's decision to enter sport is based on an assessment of the achievability of forming a masculine identity.

   Messner disagrees with the view that sports are a natural realm in which males establish masculine identity. Contrarily, he believes that sport is a social institution that was crated by men and for men (Messner 49) and operates on certain beliefs and perspectives shared by those within the institution.

   Commitment to athletics breeds attitudes of masculinity consistent with dominant values of the male gender.  Bonding within sport depends on homophobia and misogyny, forming a mentality of superiority over females and males perceived to be feminine.  Athletic success requires physical prowess in some form (speed, strength), and endurance of pain, leading men to view their bodies as "instruments of power and domination - and to see other peoples bodies as objects of their power and domination." (Messner 49)  Men lose the feeling of humanity and empathy for others, as well as themselves.

   This distorted view is a result of the sacrifices males make when they enter the institution of sport.  In order to achieve masculinity, men are raised accepting a warped view of social identity, losing capacity for intimate relationships, and pay a heavy price in terms of long-term health.

   Boys enter sport primarily to connect with other males, but at higher levels bonding gives way to desire for public success, so much so that among men Messner interviewed, their identities became linked to that success.  In that desire, other men became viewed as other machines to be defeated and women as objects to be sexually conquered.  This institution of achievement within competition lacked an intimate connection with other people.  At some point, men in sport lose their ability to achieve these connection due to their distorted perspective on society.  Furthermore, athletics exacerbate insecurities, leading to addtitional erosion of capacity for intimacy.

   Within combat sports, men are required to use their bodies as weapons and endure suffering to achieve success.  Needless to say, physical damage is unavoidable, however, "it is extremely unlikely that a public illumination of the relational and health costs paid by male athletes will lead to a widespread rejection of sport by young males." (Messner 50)  In other words, males view these costs as a necessary and reasonable exchange for temporary limelight.

   Messner states that the decision to enter into sport is based on a rational evaluation of available means to acquire a masculine identity.  The dynamics of this assessment include race, class, and sexual orientation.  Among lower class societies, the perspective of boys is that athletic ability will carry them further than pursuing opportunities in higher education or the workforce.

   Contrary to popular belief, Messner says, gay men are interested and involved in sport.  Gay athlete David Kopay offered some explanation, "Young gay males are often attracted to sport because they are just as concerned as heterosexual boys and young men with constructing masculine identities."  (Messner 53)  The attitude, he suggests, is more erotic due to homosexual desires differing from the normal homophobic culture.

May I Borrow Some Language?

A la carte: native to the French language, used by American English speakers quite often in restaurant settings. This phrase, along with many others, are examples of how non native words and phrases enter our language and become part of our everyday speaking and understanding of American English, so to say. Takako Tomoda explores this idea on Japanese in the article "The impact of loan-words on modern Japanese." Tomoda discusses not only the use of foreign words in general (called either "loan-words", or "gairaigo" in Japanese), but how it impacts understanding, changes and shapes culture (for better or worse), and is "used to fill the lexical gap." (241)

On the point of filling a lexical gap, Tomoda discusses how the use of loan-words, specifically from English, provide a clearer understanding of an idea or topic being discussed, even if there may happen to be a Japanese equivalent. For example, Tomoda provides a table in the text of gairaigo derived from English that are commonly used, one being the verb phrase, kyacchiappu suru (lit. "to catch up"). This phrase is, especially by younger people, preferred to the native Japanese equivalent, "oitsuku" (verb, lit. "to catch up", "to overtake") because it's easier to think of, and provides a more direct meaning or idea of "catching up" to someone or something, rather than also wondering about the additional meaning of overtaking something that comes with the native "oitsuku." (239) Now a days, though, it's just a lot trendier of a thing to say (girls go ga-ga over cute phrases like this one.) 

The counter argument to the use of loan-words, naturally, is from the older generation. Tomoda refers to some writings of other authors on this topic that state things like, "Their arguments tend to be based on the following notions: the rapid increase in gairaigo is placing the survival of the Japanese language in danger; the use of confusing and vague gairaigo is impeding communication and creating social division; the reliance on borrowing for expanding the language is impoverishing people's 'language life' (gengoseikatsu); the influx of English words is facilitating dominance by America; and the use of faddish gairaigo is leading to a shallow society." (233) The quote pretty much explains itself, I think. 

The other gripe older folks, as well as a variety of others in Japan, native or not, is that some loan-words don't really have a clear, understandable meaning. For example, the loan-word, "wanpisu" (one-piece) is in reference to a single dress, or a one piece skirt. "Wanpisu" literally would sound like "one piece" to the native English speaker's ear, but all that it does is make an English sound, rather than provide a meaning that makes sense. This idea is called "waseieigo", or Japanized English (an entire topic in itself, but I'll end here on it.)

How would you relate this to the way we speak English in the U.S. and the words we use? Is this kind of thing necessary in language or is it toxic?