Justin and Cassandra go out creeping

I decided to join Cassandra for one of her class.....where we decided to "stalk" three unsuspecting classmates...

Our first attempt at taking a picture failed as our flash accidentally went off; but I was able hide the camera before the class all turned around.

We then decided to use my video camera for a while .....after a while I went back to the camera

It was strange when the class got ready to leave, no one seemed to notice my cameras.....although hidden, I would think at least one person would say something....

Our stalkumentary continued with us following them into a parking lot all the way to another parking garage

In the class room, it was easier to document them without being noticed, because there are so many blind spots and other distractions. The general protocol of having to face forward and pay attention to what was being presented aided as well.

When we got to the parking lot, the space completely changed. We were now in an open area where they would be able to noticed the fact that one or two people were suspiciously following what they were doing. Quite often we had to hide behind cars, pretending that it was our vehicle. When it came to getting to our real car we did a quick jog as I quickly snapped another photo....one smiled

At the other parking garage, we sprang out and knowing this was the end of the trail as they all split, we boldly decided to just go ahead and snap photos openly

the whole time, no one noticed....everyone seemed to be consumed by their own routine.

A postmodern curiosity

So I'm sitting down at my own temporarily personal iMac at the good old College Ave Computer Lab at approximately 1:30 am, and I'm doing my usual routine of ten minutes work/2 minutes staring off into space/ 30 seconds eyeing up the other people working, when something surprises me. On the computer next to me, some guy has my image on his screen. No, I don't know him. He's contemplating a facebook picture from last week's multipurpose party on 94 Central. Neither of us know the other, we're just random bricks in the gigantic Rutgers wall of illusion. I would say something, and it's almost as if under different circumstances I would be compelled to, but I realize that my body has become so used to occupying this position that I cant break the spell.

It brings up a lot of interesting questions, such as "what the fuck are we doing?," and "How did I arrive at this state." It seems like 3 year olds have more face to face interaction than undergraduate students in a big urban college. I seem to have lost any feeling of relatedness to this choatic swarm of people around me. Some days, walking to the dining hall, I play the game where if someone crosses my path I'll pretend like I'm looking at my shoe or a tree. "Say, is that a lightpost? How interesting." Other times I get fed up with my act and I decide to face whoever is coming toward me eye to eye, chin to chin without flinching. But then I realize that they also are struct by some fascinating object just off to the left as they walk by. I wonder what primitive people used to do when a group of seed gatherers crossed paths with a group of rabbit slayers. Did they say "whats up" in their native tongue? Or give each other high fives. If out of every three people I passed on the sidewalk one gave me a highfive, I would be a lot more content with my life.

Answers to blog questions from readings

(Naeema)Space and Place: How is Feeling Intentional?
Feeling is intentional in the sense that an object is imbued with qualities that relate back to the person who is doing the feeling. If you are consumed with hatred toward dollar menu quarter pounders, the reason you assign hatred (say the mistreatment of cows in factory production) refers to the object and also back to you. So there must be a recipient of the emotion and a willing agent at the same time.


(Donna)"The Cyborg Self and the Network City": Do you think its possible to live in today's world with no technology?

Even in the remotest parts of the world where agricultural traditions are still embraced, or perhaps some hunter gatherer groups in the Sahara, they are still embedded in trade networks of some sort and the products they obtain go through processes of industrialized manufacturing in the richer parts of the world. So their seeming isolation is broken apart as soon as they get coffee from South America, or when tourists come via airplanes to buy their handicrafts, or when United Nations airlifts foodstuff to help with hunger crises. I think the question of being free form technology can only be to a relative extent, because the contact with the rest of the world is inevitable.

(Daniel) Why are heterotopias important?
Foucault spends time illuminating these contra-utopias because they connect a society to itself, like the cemetery holding members of every line of descent in the city and government. Heterotopias are places where deviants often reside, like the insane asylum or even a hospital where people who aren't currently productive citizens go to be healed. By setting aside these spots for the category of deviant, societal norms are reinforced and continually reinscribed, which serves the interests of those in the upper echelons.

Desperately Out of New Jersey

   

A documentary I made last semester for the creative writing department.  Eric Guadara, a local Rutgers poet, takes a road trip to San Francisco seeking bar culture and the remnants of sixties free love.  

C++

1)Does the possibility of constant surveillance in our society pose an insurmountable threat to human freedom?
2) When human bodies are fused 100% of the time in a global network via computer chips in clothing, will this constitute an additional convenience, or will it completely disintegrate our conception of private space?
3) How do our commonsense notions of one envelope of skin, one mind conflict with the idea of nodes strung together in an intelligent network?
4) What is the nature of human agency? Has it changed over time?
5) When information crosses the quantum boundary, how will our social institutions react and adapt?

Yi-Fu Tuan Space and Place

1) Is the difference between space and place more a matter of the perception one brings to the experience than inherent qualities of locations?
2) Do feelings have to be outwardly directed towards some object, or can they reflexively engage the self?
3)Why are human subjects not better than rats at navigating mazes?
4) If place is an object of value, and space is the network linkages relating these objects, are symbolic processes always involved in establishing meaning among these relations?
5) What level of conscious control can exert over our experience?

5 Questions on "Of Other Spaces"

1) What were the societal changes that occurred as a result of Galileo repositioning the Universe of an infinite plane?
2) Why does space supposedly cause more anxiety in our era than dealing with time?
3) How is a mirror involved in both virtual spaces and real places and what is the significance of this dual involvement?
4) Does a heterotopia usually designate an area outside the realm of normal activities in a society?
5) What is the link between prisons and boats, both considered heterotopias under the author's rubric?

The real person behind our collage

Working on a limited time frame, we had to act quickly to generate our interview. It seemed more difficult to randomly stop someone and start asking them questions about ethnic identity, so we took the more formal approach and requested someone at the center for Latina Cultural Studies on college ave. Samsara, a Dominican, fit the profile of most of what we guessed a latina Rutgers girl would be involved in, except for the Salsa club. She is part of the leadership of the Latina Student Council, a member of the Latina Sorority, and for the most part her daily activities revolve around her ties to this particular community. I found it interesting that her membership in the sorority lead to her entrance into the student council, showing how social networking builds on ties between related organizations. She mentioned partaking in the restaurants and bars along Easton, as well as the George St bus stop, which doesn't index anything about her ethnic identity, but speaks to her inclusion in the college community.

Reimagining Latina Identity

What I Carry With Me

I have a wallet, its really an easy item to lose, so I keep it pressed against my skin and not stashed anywhere that I might have to remember. Last semester, my red salmon skin leather wallet escaped my reaches on two occasions, now somewhere buried among the clutter of boxes and coupon offers in my dingy apartment on Guilden Street. One time I lost it on the street as I was dribbling a basketball down College Ave, weaving through the disassociated bus stop crowd, with my adored wallet foolishly stuffed in my shoe. Experimental substances had nothing to do with this misfortune.
Anything else jammed in my pocket has an equally good reason for being there. Essential winter wear like woolen gloves and hat, along with a bic pen, cellphone and that's it. Too much in your pocket can be confusing.