Certainly pictographs and heiroglyphs always have been legitimate writings, however the pomposity of the scholars studying these so-called primitive writings, disallowed them true understanding of the complexity of what they were viewing. How many times is there just not a word for a certain emotion or experience? Inversely, there is also ambiguity with the realm of the visual; is it a nose or a mountain? Threrefore, the use of letters and words is also necessary to the visual. The use of images can clarify, emphasize, and stir. Using a web-based interface does require a degree of visual esthetic and certainly makes it easy to do so.

“In a constant state of “nepantilism,” an Aztec word meaning “torn between ways,” la mestiza is a product of the transfer of the cultural and spiritual values of one group to another. Being tri-cultural, monolingual, bilingual, or multilingual, speaking a patois, and in a state of perpetual transition, the mestiza faces the dilemma of the mixed breed; which collectivity does the daughter of a darkskinned mother listen to?”

What is Anzaldua’s dilemma? What solutions does she propose?

Anzaldua’s dilemma is the constant state of flux that the mestiza occupies; the needing to change to fit into virtually all cultures because she is a home in none, the perpetual prodigal daughter. She asks how to deal with that, how to effortlessly and quietly fit into the many cultures one must interact with, without betraying who the really are. She is asking how to go from talking Aztec tongue and telling indigeneous tales with a grandmother to buying a clothes at Nordstroms and then going to visit with Chicana friends. She says you must juggle, the mestiza must create “a new consciousness,” one that could, she believes, “bring us to the end of rape, of violence, of war.” The New Mestiza sifts through her history, her people’s history, and reinterprets it, gleaning gems, and discarding pebbles. She must empower herself, show tenderness against the machismo, and teach how to do so to her brothers, who are all and any. She learns and she teaches whatever she can, and uses it to deconstruct and build herself anew, better, as a more cohesive whole, who is a proud and contributing member of the Human Race.

Look closer...

 Select an image of Guadalupe and write an aesthetic interpretation.

 Account for items such as: expressive of emotional significance, the specific character of lines, shapes, textures, values, colors, scale, space and volume; other sensory properties; elements that appear to be dominant, potential sense of unity, sense of symmetry or asymmetry.

 Rely on Azaldua’s use of Guadalupe in order to contextualize your interpretation.

 The picture I have found of La Virgen Guadalupe is an optical illusion; look closely and you can see her face is a church, her hair the curtains, her headdress is formed of angels, the divine rays around her head are the brick and mortar of the edifice, her eyes are the beards of pious men visiting the holy man (maybe an archbishop?) who comprises her neck, whilst sitting on her neckline, and cushioned, claw-foot stool, her nose is the hand of her left eye/man. If you focus only on the Holy Mother’s face, she looks serene, unworried and peaceful. She is looking down at an a disenfranchised, hungry, forgotten, unloved dog who stares into the detailed picture with opened mouth. Her lovely face takes up much of the usable space within the frame. Certainly the fact that there are two picture within one influences the color palette, but all the hues used are fairly neutral; brown, beige, tan, white, black. She is multifaceted, much like Anzaldua’s Guadalupe: she is La Llorana; the Coatlalopeuh, She Who Has Dominion Over Serpents; the Virgin Mary.

So, let’s get right down to business and pick it apart.

I like the homepage, immediately; clean without being boring, obvious menu in clear lettering, no retina-burning colors, interesting font, appropriate and discernable icons… all together, well put on annd very professional looking. The most important part of a digital dossier (so far as I can tell, I certainly no expert), is for it to be inviting. There’s nothing more heinous then a website where you can’t read the font that’s in a color that blends into the background, and you can’t find anything to navigate you away from the God-awful page, because the  overzealous web “designer” forgot to build a menu, or even worse, they did, but they’re all dead links! No one likes that, so Kathryn Houghton is one for one, right now.

The homepage also gives a brief synopsis of her as a person, without giving an uncomfortable amount of info. She includes plenty of links to learn more about her, if you really want to be a creeper, though. It’s nice that her bio doesn’t overwhelm the reader.

There are five seperate category links for her work; formal writing, creative writing, editing, visual design and web design, and like I said before, they were clearly labeled and had corresponding icons that fit the overall style of the webpage.

The first one I clicked on was “formal writing,” and was taken to a link page with a small picture of the written work next to a blurb stating what that particular piece of writing was about, as well as what publication it was done for and the genre. (By the way, check her writings, they’re pretty good!) I like the idea  of the picture of the writing, interesting stuff, but moreover, I loved that she had an explanatory blurb to go with it, instead of just trying to let writing stand on it’s own, which it, frankly, very well could’ve. The font was again, very easy to read, she kept the color scheme simple with black and white. Again, kudos.

When I clicked on “creative writing,” it was pretty much the same setup. I do particularly like that she only includes a few examples of her work, as opposed to inundating the websurfer with story after story.

Here’s where I don’t like it. Maybe it’s just me, Lord knows I’m not the most computer savvy girl, but when I went to the “editing” link, all it gave me was an explanatory blurb, but didn’t show my any examples! Bummer!

However, I do like her “web design” and “visual design” pages. Clean work, with the same setup as before; little picture with a little blurb, and you click on it and it takes you to that particular piece of work. Simple, which is how I like my webpages; so easy a monkey banging on the keyboard can navigate it!

All in all, I really, really like Ms. Houghton’s page. It doesn’t overwhelm you with words or picture or needless information or graphics of flash or other crap. There’s a few well-chosen examples of her work means less scrolling, too! (My developing carpal tunnel thanks you for that, Ms. H!) I suppose the only bone I have to pick is to make it easier to link to the “editing” page!

Gloria Anzaldua’s book, Borderlands/La Frontera; The New Mestiza is a series of anecdotes, poetry, and unfiltered thoughts. She is identified by one contemporary “…as an artist, as an activist, and as a political and social theorist.” Not only a Hispanic woman, but a Hispanic lesbian coming of age in the sometimes violent social upheaval of the 1960’s, Anzaldua’s work reflect the confusion and different influences she must have felt. She jumps from a poem (“El otro Mexico”), to a dissertation on the meaning of the word “border”. From there she gives us an anecdote about her brother. Her work is all of the above mentioned generes; certainly it is personal, autobiographical, a history lesson that has been conveniently left out of the Anglo history books. Her writing gives us a chance to jump into her brain and share her stream-of-consciousness, her memories, the stories that have touched her and shaped who she became. Unfortunately for all, Anzaldua died in 2003, and perhaps did not get to see the impact she had far and wide, as shown by the number and scope of people who’ve written her introduction. However, it goes without saying that what she’s created is her own type of literature that is unique and heartfelt, gut-wrenching and bold; Anzaldua’s brand is different from damn-near anything else out there.

My answer is: absolutely. These are the writings of a highly advanced ancient culture, and while they may not be “words,” they were written for a purpose and probably tell a story (sorry, I don’t speak Aztec-ian). Literature is the art of language, and I think the Codex Borgia certainly falls into that classification.

As for the third question, as to whether or not photographs are “literary”; I say it depends on the context. Going back to my definition of literature, language isn’t necessarily ONLY spoken or written. Language can be visual as well. Yes, pictographs are language and yes, that means that they can be literature.

So, our beginning-of-class assignment today is brought to you (whoever “you” are) by the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc.

If you have any interest whatsoever in Mesoamerican culture, or maybe just want to impress your friends with knowledge of ancient culture, I definitely recommend checking this site out.  It has ancient Aztec and Mayan poetry, which I thought was pretty darn cool, as well as well-done pictures of ancient codices and their pictographs.

Pretty sweet! So, there’s your sugar shock for the day!

Well, let’s go about this chronologically.

I remember growing up with a behemoth of an IBM on my fathers desk, the kind with a greenish screen and orange lettering; really primitive, but you could play “Frogger,” which I can proudly say, I was pretty awesome at.

After that, my next memory is of computer class in elementary school, and having to do the typing games and playing Oregon Trail (Was there anyone who didn’t love that game?!). Around the same time, my sister and I had an older Nintendo set, and were constantly trying to beat each other at “Donkey Kong,” so I certainly have many fond memories of that era, especially with the internet just starting up; AOL was the king and chat rooms were all the rage.

After that, I guess I fell off the techonological map, so to speak; I used the computer for homework, but money was tight, so we didn’t really have access to a whole lot of newer technology. I was left in the dust, what with a new computer, new software, new systems, new media, et cetera, coming along every other month.

I finally got my own laptop a few years back, and started exploring with all of  the wonders of the digital age. I’m absolutely still learning; I couldn’t tell you the first thing about how to create your own webpage, or what how to stop those error messages from popping up… I mean, I just barely learned how to use an ipod. Seriously.

So I guess, technology and I have a love-hate thing going on; I’m in awe of it, it’s ever-changing, always improving; constantly newer! Better! Faster! There seems to be a new technological gizmo or gadget that comes out every other day, for goodness sake!

But, I’m fairly sure I will never actually understand the inner working of it; it’s too vast and intricate, too detailed, and my attention span is like a fruit fly’s. I don’t really care to know what makes it work, so long as it works, right?

1.      Is information architecture an art form?

2.      Is inscription technology literary?

3.      Is there a detectible theory of computing aesthetics?

4.       How does the move to digital publishing change what counts as literature?

5.      What happens to literature when we are no longer limited by the aesthetic concerns of the literati?

6.      Do hieroglyphs and pictographs qualify as literature?