WHAT UH' READING: THE WORLD IS A TXT - CHAPTER 1

Maybe it’s just me, but was reading the introduction to The World is a Text as challenging for you as it was to me for some reason? I'm not sure if it was the television that was on or my sleepiness, but I had to read the chapter 5 or 6 times to get some understanding of what the chapter was about, and yet I still only partially know. I guess it's true what Silverman said, "Only by reading well can you write well," and I'm not that good of a writer (p.11). One concept that did stick out in my mind though was semiotic situations. According to Silverman, these are moments in which we try to make sense of our surroundings or interpret one aspect of our surroundings based on the signs or text of our situations. I do this all the time when I go somewhere foreign, or meet new people, especially when meeting boys, but I never knew the term for it until now. For instance, some of the signs I look for when I “read” people is their wardrobe. If there is a handsome boy, with a nice outfit on from the clothes on their back, to the shoes on their feet, but then they have on big fake chains, and earrings, and watches, I look for the nearest EXIT and head for it, because this tells me that they are trying to set forth an image of themselves that is not true to who they are. In other words, they are as fake as the jewelry they wear.
Another concept that stood out, of all the reading, was the section on font, and how font type can in some ways tell the reader something about the person who wrote it, or who you are as a person. I did not believe this at first until I “read” my own writing. I noticed that everything was neat and in order. All of my T’s were crossed and my I’s were dotted, and this is exactly how I am in life. I love to be neat and precise with everything I do, and I always strive for order in my life. Overall, one concept I know I will need to work on, is turning a “read” of the world into an argument, as in the example of Starbucks. Where I am an “O.K.” reader of my surroundings, I’m not great, so I am hoping with the help of Silverman, Rader, and The World is a Text, I become better at it…but only effort and time will tell...