Kaleb Campbell
Ryan Ireland
English 112
5/5/2013
Over the course of this semester I have become far more critical of the spaces that I pass through. Through the readings and discussions of the course, I have become more observant of the rhetorical propaganda thrown at us from every direction in our daily lives. I am more aware of the way that I affect space, and of the way that space affects me, both physically and emotionally. My unconscious mind has always been aware of this spatial rhetoric, as it must interpret the complex sensory cues it obtains in order to make a mental picture of our physical location in space. I realized that all that we know of this world is really just an interpretation by our brain, manifesting as our five senses that we know and love. For example, colors don't exist, our brain tries to help us distinguish between different materials by making certain wavelengths of light recognizable to our conscious mind, in the form of colors. Through the course, I have become consciously aware of some of theses realities, as well as the rhetorical constructs imposed on us by fellow human beings for persuasion purposes.
During the first Inquiry, I did a close reading of the movie clip "A Touch of Evil." I went through the clip and described, in detail, the spatial rhetoric that produced the themes of time and suspense. I became more aware of how camera tricks, color schemes, plot details, physical locations, and sounds can affect the viewer's experience of a movie. Everything in this clip had a specific purpose, from the most subtle of details. It makes me wonder if this idea of spatial purpose in movies can be extended to our daily lives. I began to wonder if our world was set up for us, like the viewers of a movie clip, and rhetorical propaganda was placed in all of the places that we move through, unconsciously forcing us to behave a certain way. This idea was discussed in class and was defined as "Actor Theory," where physical variables, like weather and time, alter the path of the play (our lives), by changing the set.
For inquiry two, I researched the paranormal mirror space that exists in Peabody Hall. I described both the physical and mental spaces that exists in the hall, and how the two can influence one another. This inquiry extended the ideas that I developed in the first inquiry, but included some of the ideas in Foucault's essay we read. For example, I mentioned that the paranormal space in Peabody Hall was like a "Mirror Space," or a mental manifestation of the real physical space of the hall. The ghosts didn't exist in the physical space of the hall, but in the minds of the hall's residence in the form of stories and myths. It is the combination of the physical and mental spaces that make Peabody hall the place that it is.
In Inquiry three, I, along with Carson, used a media presentation to show an audience how a renovation of Peabody Hall could alter the paranormal space of the hall. We described how a physical renovation of the space could affect the paranormal mirror space in ways that could change the way residents view the place that they live. This inquiry tied on to the ideas of the other inquiries, but required that we present our findings in both a paper and a presentation to the class. This media requirement forced us to make rhetorical choices similar to the ones that we have been studying, in order to pursued an audience that our renovation makes logistical sense.
Although this class may not have taught me to read and write, it did teach me to think, a skill overlooked in many college classes. Some classes focus on memorization and fact regurgitation, which isn't helpful to the creativity and logical thinking required in some of the most important jobs. I have developed a greater sense of skepticism for public space, because I know that it is set up for a purpose, almost always benefiting the owner of the space monetarily, such as store layouts that we discussed in class. With this newfound knowledge, I find myself disobeying some of the norms of public space, such as facing the wrong way in elevators or finding my items in stores in a backward fashion. I have always been a rebel of societal norms, but some of the readings in this class provided reasoning to back up my actions. Even though this class isn't particularly relavent to my other classes, mostly physics and mathematics, it does provide a more subjective theory of space. For example, physics can be used to describe the precise angles and volume of a physical space, but it doesn't describe the rhetorical purpose behind the objects. This class starts us off on a path to begin learning about this subjective, emotional aspect of space, wich could be further studied in greater detail in advanced courses like philosophy.
