PROJECT #4, ENGLISH 212
CHLOE STEFFKE
FOUNDED IN 1890, BEAL CITY IS A SMALL VILLAGE OF 4 SQUARE MILES LOCATED IN ISABELLA COUNTY IN THE CENTER OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.
Beal City is the small town in which I was born and raised, and is where I spent the first 18 years of my life. Being part of such a close-knit community and always having the support of friends and family near has been something that I have fallen in love with. This is the place that I have met all of my best friends and have had so many unforgettable experiences. This tiny farm town has played an important role in making me the person I am and is something that will forever be within me, no matter where I might travel to.
Located on the eastern coast of England, Liverpool is a city that just so happened to be the birthplace of four particular individuals. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Richard Starkey, (later known as Ringo Starr), all grew up in this town and we destined to cross the paths of one another. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison all met in the late 1950's in Liverpool due to their common musical love and talent. Later, in 1962, Starr was introduced to the group, and The Beatles were born.
Above anything else, Liverpool has gained the majority of its fame from being the hometown of all four of the members of the most influential band of all time. The group is responsible for 27 number one hits along with many, many more popular and inspiring songs. Just about every band or artist after The Beatles saw them as legendary in their songwriting and musical ways. Selling 1.6 billion records in the U.S., spending 1,278 weeks at number one on Billboard charts, having 13 albums go certified platinum, and winning 7 Grammy awards, it is easy to say that The Beatles give fame a whole new meaning.
BEAL CITY, THE BEATLES, & EVERYTHING INBETWEEEN.
LIVERPOOL IS A TOWN IN ENGLAND WITH A RICH HISTORICAL BACKGROUND, DATING BACK TO AS EARLY AS 1190.
SIMILARITIES & CONNECTIONS
While Beal City is not nearly as famous as Liverpool, the tiny, faded dot in the center of the map of Michigan holds a lot more than what might be assumed at first glance. Nothing can quite reach the level of fame that The Beatles are on, but Beal City, Michigan has it's own kind of stardom. Beal City is renown across the state for its athletics, and above all, football. With 32 playoff appearances since 1980, the Beal City football program holds the state record. The tradition of Beal City football is also something well kept by my family. Starting in 1983, my dad was on the Aggie's roster, followed by three of my cousins in the early 2000's. My brother was a part of the varsity team begining in 2009, and I have a cousin playing in the current postseason as well. Not only has my family participated in the customs of Beal City football, but I have as well. For all for years of high school, I was on the sidelines cheering the Aggie Football team on to two state runner-up titles.
MUSICAL RELATIONS
PENNY LANE
IN MY LIFE
HEY JUDE
I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
"In My Life" is one of those songs that brings back memories and makes me think about my past whenever I hear it, meaning that the song has punctum. Punctum is the feeling one gets from something like a song, picture, or video that brings about a wound, or pain based on one's past experiences with that same piece of media or with something similar to it. Written by Lennon and McCartney and performed by all four Beatles, "In My Life" reminds me of all the important people and places that have been a part of the first 18 years of my life, and it always makes me think of how quickly time flies and to never let go of those special people and places. This song really hits me hard because it was in the slideshows made for both mine and my older sister's graduation slide shows, which included pictures of our lives going by with "In My Life" playing in the background. This song is one of my favorites from The Beatles also because I see it as one of the few songs that tells of reminscing and never forgetting who you are and where you came from. Making a puncept from the song title, "In My Life" reminds me of my own life, which relates it right back tho the name of the song.
LET IT BE
The first time that I can remember hearing the song "Hey Jude" was when I was around 10 years old. My dad was teaching himself how to play guitar at the time, and "Hey Jude" was one of the beginner songs in his book. Whenever I hear this song today I can just picture him playing his guitar with a foot up on the piano bench, whistling or singing along to the tune. This song also resonates in my life today due to the fact that I now have a cousin named Jude, which of course causes the song to be sung to him more than a few times at every family gathering.
Ever since my finding of The Beatles album, One, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" has always been my very favorite love song by the group. It has such an upbeat, catchy tune to it, and I always find it stuck in my head. Opon hearing "I Want to Hold Your Hand" today, I am reminded of last Valentine's Day, when the choir from my boyfriend's high school found me in class and sung their version of the song to me.
"Let It Be" has been my favorite song by the band ever since I found that first CD. I find it deeper and more meaningful than any other Beatles song and it is one song by the group that just about anyone could name. My infatuation with The Beatles has lead to a minor obsession with John Lennon as well. His musical talents intrigue me, along with his hippie-like lifestyle he adopted in the later sixties. Also, within the next few years, I plan on getting the "Let It Be" tattoo shown above, which is written in Lennon's handwriting.
Beginnning their performing days in the UK, it was not until early 1964 that The Beatles made their way across the Atlantic and onto American soil for the very first time. Wild with anticipation to see the band live, more than 50,000 people requested to view the Ed Sullivan show in person on that very day, but with just 700 seats in the auditorium, many were turned away. Along with this performance being the first of the group's in the U.S., it would also be the first time that The Beatles would appear on live television across the nation. At 8 o'clock, the show aired and an astonishing 73 million people gathered around their televisions to watch the young sensations make history. It is this power of the digital word that made the fame of The Beatles so substantial, even in the year 1964.
It is this idea of the digital apparatus that gives the abilty to entertain while making a deep connection with the viewer is known as electracy. As Gregory Ulmer, the creator of the term electracy, says, "Electracy is to digital media what literacy is to alphbetic writing: an apparatus, or social machine, partly technological, partly institutional." By this, Ulmer means that the concept of electracy is necessary for this new era of technology. It is a word that can be used to describe what is gained via the internet and television, like knowledge and entertainment. Electracy might seem like something that is difficult to grasp at first, which is because it is unlike anything else.
It involves creates feelings in viewers that bring back specific, personal memories, which is called punctum. This idea of punctum is a factor that makes digital media so successful. It is punctum that wounds the mind of the viewer. In "The Dancing Floor", a video by Sarah Arroyo, punctum is spoken of as something that "comes by way of a detail and its sting cannot be articulated by something that can be defined. The punctum of recognition emerges from and provides access to knowledge residing in the body." It leaves a lasting impression and gives such strong emotional reactions that are only experienced through video. The power of technology, especially video, has the ability to hit people differently than just words on a page. It gives an entirely new sense to media and is what makes digital media so relatable.
ELECTRACY
Electracy also gives rise to the term "puncept," which was also coined by Gregory Ulmer. A puncept is the idea of a new concept coming from, or being named from a pun on real terms. A puncept can also be thought of as a blend of the terms pun and concept. Puncepts can be created to link Beal City to The Beatles in many ways, just by looking at the language used and the literal and figurative meanings of words, and will be created throughout this website.
In the song "Penny Lane," The Beatles describe what it is like walking down a street in their hometown, which reminds me of the sights and sounds that one experiences in my own hometown, Beal City. The Beatles sing of a barber shop similar to the one set up in Beal City just a few years ago, called Tim's Barber Shop. As far as puncepts go, the "penny" in Penny Lane can respresent a small, fractal unit of money. Similarly, Beal City, being such a faded little map dot of a town, sybolizes what a small piece of the world it really is even though it has been all I have known for the majority of my life.
Because the idea of electracy is relatively new, most of the articles about it online are directly based on Ulmer and his views, with few other interpretations or additional ideas. In the article “Playing to the Tune of Electracy: From Post-Process to a Pedagogy Otherwise”, Sarah Arroyo tells of electracy as something that “electracy might hastily be associated with electronic literacy; however, and as Ulmer was quick to point out, electracy has less to do with literacy (a concept-no matter how many time is has been redefined-fundamentally tied to print and values inherent in print) and more to do with a combination of the concepts of "electricity" and "trace." Both of these concepts can begin to take us out of the apparatus of print and work to describe the logic and metaphors we use in a culture built upon images.” By this, Arroyo means that electracy is so much more than just obtaining information with the help of technology. As she points out in her article derived from Ulmer’s ideas, Arroyo explains that electracy is created from the two words “electricity” and “trace”, and reveals that electracy revolves around the ideas of creativity and invention.
In another article called “What is Electracy?” which focused on Ulmer’s concept of electracy, Kathryn Barrett takes a simpler route in explaining the matter: “The term “electracy” relates to the idea of being literate in a digitally mediated world. If one is “electrate” that means that they have the knowledge of multimedia, hypermedia, social software and virtual words in which they communicate through a form of reading, writing, and research.” Barrett’s interpretation of electracy refers back to Ulmer’s need for the word due to changing times and new technologies.
