Photographs

During a Semiotics course I took during my graduate work, I read an article about the relationship between photographs being a fetish and a symbol of death by Metz.   The article disturbed me at first because I love photography.  I’m not particularly good at it but I love to take pictures and see how they turn out. 

I was most intrigued with Metz’s correlation of death and the photograph.  The photograph is indexical as it refers to a specific point in time.  It is also an icon of the specific image and yet is also a symbol of what we were.  The photograph is like the tick on a clock.  We can’t go back.  We can try to recreate the photograph but we can’t.  We can never get that point in time back. 

Some cultures believe that by taking a photograph of someone, you are “stealing” their spirit.  This seems funny, but is it?  Maybe the spirit is in the photograph.  It is remembered for years to come, as long as someone sees the photograph.  In a sense, the photograph defies death, the symbol of the object being photographed lives on forever.  For instance, I grow roses.  When I see a perfect one, I will take a picture.  I know if I cut if and bring it inside, it will start to wither.  If I leave it on the plant, it will start to wither. If I run and get my family or neighbor to come and look at it, it won’t be the same rose that I saw minutes ago.  The sun and ultimately, time has effected it.  But, if I take a picture, I will forever have the rose the way it looked at that very moment.  The rose dies, but the picture continues to be a symbol to me that I cultivated a beautiful flower.

Do you have trouble throwing away photographs?  If so, why?  I have hundreds of old photos of people – my family and friends.  I have multiple copies, so when I’m cleaning out, I want to throw them out but I can’t do it.  Is it because the photograph is like having a piece of the person’s soul with you?  The photograph has captured the essence of the person and throwing it out is like tossing the person out.  I’ve asked other people about cleaning out photographs, they too see it as a taboo but don’t know exactly why.

So, maybe a photograph can become a fetish. The first definition of fetish is:  an inanimate object worshiped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit. (Mac desktop dictionary).  We take photographs to remember objects as they were.  We keep them in albums, on our computers, on our walls, our wallets, and ipods.  We keep the “spirit” with us, or at least the symbol of the spirit of the object with us.  A photograph keeps the spirit of the object alive and in a way defies death.

What is Text Without Context?

A word, or sign, cannot stand alone and have meaning.  It is defined by the context that surrounds it.  A sign, in text, only has meaning in context. Text is an organized system of metaphors and the intended meaning of a particular word, or sign, is determined by the other words surrounding it.  Hjelmslev states that “No sign has meaning if completely isolated; every sign-meaning arises in a context, since we here mean a situational context or an explicit context…”  (Johansen and Larsen 2002, pg. 115).
    I have been increasingly aware of this lately because my daughter, Addie is learning how to read.  Even before I read this chapter, this has been on my mind.  Addie is constantly asking me what a word means.  I’ll be working on a paper or reading and offer her an answer without thinking.  On more than one occasion, she has said, that doesn’t’ make any sense.  I stop and ask her to read the sentence.  After hearing the sentence, my definition almost always changes.  Why in the English language do we have so many meanings for one word?  It is amazing how changing the context can completely change the meaning of the same word.  The word is spelled the same way but it means something totally different.
    In writing this paper, I asked Addie for an example of a word like this.  She said, “left”.  She said you could say, turn left or I left the room.  I asked her if it still confused her.  She said no, “because it depends on the sentence”.  I was shocked when she said, “you have to read or listen to all the other words before you know which one to use”.  I think I stood there with my mouth wide open, because she asked, “what?” and added, everyone knows that.”  Even a seven year old understands what is meant by this theory.
    How many times have we tried to explain something to someone else and have had to change the metaphor repeatedly?  The context stays the same, but we change the word until we finally get our point across.  I have seen this a lot in teaching.  As teachers, we sometimes choose the wrong word in our explanations.  We know the material, so we often use a harder word.  When we notice the puzzled looks on our students’ faces, we back up and try it again with an easier word.  We have left the context the same but because we were able to break it down, our students have learned a new word.  They can connect the more complicated word to the same context.  The next time they hear that word, they will know what it means based on the context that the word is used.
    I now understand why good readers have better vocabulary.  In elementary school, we would have to look up and memorize vocabulary words.  The teachers usually would have us use the word in a sentence.  They did this so we could associate the word and a particular meaning.  Students that read all of the time will have a better understanding of the meanings of words because they have been exposed to so many different contexts for the words. 
    A word, or sign, cannot stand alone and have meaning.  It is defined by the context that surrounds it.  Therefore, if we want to be effective communicators, we must choose our words wisely or be very good at choosing the context with which we use them.

Amazed by Arkansas - an Overview

When I first accepted the position as communication director for the great state of Arkansas, I thought I knew a lot about the places and people of Arkansas.  I traveled a lot during my many years of living in Arkansas, but it was always destination based travel. 

January 29, 2009 marked my one-month anniversary on the job.  It was a whirlwind month and included trips to the Delta, Ozark, and River Valley areas of the state. During my trips to the Delta, I experienced Crowley’s Ridge and Village Creek State Park, Forest City, Wynne, Helena West Helena, visited the Delta Cultural Center where I felt the soul of the Delta through the blues music of Super Chikan, was moved by the bellowing voices of a Gospel choir at First Baptist Church in Helena, fed catfish and pork rinds by Grannie, and enjoyed a BBQ (hot, not mild) and a cold RC at Shaddin’s BBQ.

I was amazed by the towering bluffs of Crowley’s Ridge as they shaded the sun from the plantation homes of Helena West Helena and I wondered how could I have missed such a historically significant, rich in culture, and agriculturally significant city during all the years I lived in Arkansas?  I missed this city because I stayed on the convenient interstate highway as I traveled from point A to point B. 

My advise, if you want to truly learn about the land and the people of this great state, plan an extra day to your trips and experience the exits along the interstate.  Utilize arkansas.com and read about the towns and cities located in between point A and point B.  I have so much to tell about the areas I have traveled--and I’ve only made three trips in one month.  If you are interested in learning about my travels, stay tuned.  I’ve barely touched on the Delta, I haven’t even started on the river valley and Ozarks and next week, I travel to the Quachitas and Mt. Magazine!!  Oh, and in case you are wondering, you can find me in the office, at my desk...most of the time.  :)