Friday, April 1, 2016

Peters Lecture Review



Okay wow. My brain is kind of fried after that, but I think I liked it? I think I did. Starting off will a monologue about clouds definitely struck me to think of this man as crazy. But how could that be if he is so smart? Peters said that our goal as communication scholars is to find out what we take for granted. I really liked that and to that point, clouds were the perfect thing to talk about.
It amazed me how just the clouds you see in your front yard can carry a meaning you never thought of. Peters mentioned this when he talked about the cross-over of airplane exhaust visible at his Iowa home. I also liked the symbolism with miss atomic bomb and the idea that clouds are sexy if we make them. That they represent our power but also our struggle to stay within moral boundaries. Kairos in the context of weather was the last main point I took away from this lecture. The idea of the right place at the right time is essential to weather. Especially when it comes to reading it and capturing it. Whether that be in a painting like back in the old days.
While I enjoyed the majority of Peter’s lecture, it became a bit redundant for me after a while. After all, we decided to ignore clouds in the first place to shut up people rambling on about how to predict things from them. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the material I mentioned above and it was surreal being in the presence of someone that learned in communication studies.

1 comment:

  1. Richard Conway
    04/14/16
    Rhetoric and Civic Life Media 250

    Peter’s Lecture Reflection – Clouds


    I gathered a lot of information about clouds on Peter’s lecture, believe it or not. Clouds can be meaningful or not meaningful depending on the kairos of what’s going on in the economy and how we perceive things. Clouds can look like a bunny, a fish, a poodle; its really about how we as individuals perceived them. A few main points that stuck out to me in Peter’s lecture was how clouds are ubiquitous and have a representation for being untrustworthy, I believe its because they’re always changing form and color depending on mother nature.
    Peter showed a numerous amount of vintage pictures of different clouds explaining what he thought the clouds meant in the background of each. I loved the atomic bomb cloud with the lady who looked like Marilyn Monroe; the pictured displayed how clouds cannot only be dangerous, but a beautiful art as well. I learned that clouds are the first ever to present abstraction. It was also pretty interesting how clouds can be powerful such as breaking glass windows! Considering that clouds is a non-symbolic system that means that clouds are no longer cultural.
    Peter discussed how Aristophanes made fun of Socrates for worrying about the things in the sky; the same way today a person would make fun of anyone who is worrying too much about the things in the sky. However, we should question what we take for granted everyday and question where do clouds come from to make more meaning of them. A couple questions I asked Peter at the end of the lecture was did humans create clouds? Did God create clouds? Or did Mother Nature create clouds? It’s a question that has yet to be answered, but Peter’s lecture definitely opened my eyes on clouds. Clouds can be so simple if we disregard them and complex the more we study/research clouds purpose or if clouds have a purpose at all.

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