The Cyborg Manifesto and Hypertext Essays by Abby Tran

    In “A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s,” Donna Haraway mentions that the cyborg may change the way people view gender. This is particularly interesting because, if you look at current technology, a gender is often given to it. I don’t really disagree with Haraway entirely, but I think that we might have a harder time completely leaving the idea of gender than she assumes. (Then again, I didn’t get to finish the reading, so she might have talked about this more and I missed it.) My reading of Michael Joyce’s afternoon, a story was interesting in that I could start to pick up on the plot, however fragmentary it seemed. From what I gather, the story is about a man who saw his ex-wife and son die in a car crash, after having learned that his ex-wife was sleeping with a friend of his. What was most compelling to me was the almost violent nature of this friend, who pretends to hit animals while driving and insinuates that he has slept with the narrator’s wife. His role seems to be to disrupt the narrator’s normal life and to make him question what he previously may have taken for granted, which makes the reader consider why said narrator still hangs out with him. As for My Body a Wunderkammer by Shelley Jackson, I agree with what was said in class that it is extremely personal to read and, I am assuming, to create. It must have taken a lot of self-awareness in order to create such a powerful piece, and Jackson’s honesty about her experiences encourages readers to examine their own relationships with their bodies.

    Entre Ville by J. R. Carpenter was also something I really enjoyed reading. She seems to take an almost documentary or autobiographical approach to her surroundings, especially in the short videos she includes in the piece. At the same time, it isn’t documentary or autobiographical entirely; Entre Ville also seems to be about getting the reader to experience this apartment and neighborhood and understanding what it’s like to live there. By drawing attention to details such as graffiti and the aural atmosphere of the apartment, Carpenter provides access to an immersive experience and encourages the reader to explore it. She puts you right there in her piece, and by doing so I also feel that she is emphasizing the unique aspects of any space in general. For me it is like sonder, except it is for the environment and the memories attached to places instead of strangers.