The Fishbowl

Thinking About Metaphor
• “In the film we see how we hang onto our illusions and fight until death do us part.”
o Throughout the film, Scott was imbedded with the notion that he needed to win and was not allowed to use his own steps in the process. Towards the end of the film, he was broken free from those mental shackles and decided it was time to finally dance his dance with Fran.

• “There is a global revolution going on in how we think of ourselves and how we form ties and connections with others.”
o As times passes, there has been a notion established that our younger generation does not value themselves or friendships the same as older generations have. This fault falls on technology as it is a new way to isolate yourself from the rest of the world. I agree with this notion, but I believe we are not as bad as we are made out to be. I have worked on this in recent years and have seen a more openness in myself. The self-assessment part falls solely on attitude; you need a positive attitude to see yourself in a more positive light.

• “Scott was moving out of the machine metaphor and picking up new symbols from Grandma’s metaphor, where the rhythm, she explains, is in the heartbeat and not in perfectly rendered steps.”
• Scott was so used to living his life on a strict track. His parents would hammer it into his head that he needs to dance to perfection and not move off beat. When he met Fran’s Grandma, she taught him a whole new though process. From then on, he was able to free his mind and dance to his own rhythm.

• “We are confidently stepping into the unknown and creating a future together, word by word.”
• As we indulge into this semester, we are diving into the future, which is virtually unknown. No one knows what will happen in 5 minutes, 5 days or 5 months. We will take it one step at a time.

• “Thus far, we are learning how to re-deploy attention.”
• Throughout the semester, we will be turning our attention to numerous different subjects. We must train our brains to focus on one thing, then redeploy it to the next subject.

• “At the end of the day, you are following your own path of development.”
• At the beginning of the semester, we began the process of gaining the knowledge necessary for this class. Right now, we are in the middle of that developmental process.

• “We are knowledge-workers, looking to being involved in the process of knowledge construction in a knowledge economy.”
• In a sense, knowledge is the base of all intellectuality. In order to figure something out, you must possess the knowledge to complete that task. The knowledge economy is, and always will be, gargantuan.

• “Making that knowledge explicit offers the possibility for renewed discovery and development.”
• Gaining a broader knowledge will always bring forth new opportunities. Learning and growth will always expand your future horizons.

• “Ours is a magnificent meditation on the meaning of friendship.”
• This class has changed the way we approach our friendships. As we become older, we must learn how to grow with the people around us.

• “This creative action has a risk component: will it succeed?”
• Taking a risk on a new action is always going to be borderline. You will have to test the waters and see if it will be successful. You will not know until the tail end of your experiment.

• “On another matter, you have to be friendly and chummy with group members.”
• As the semester gained momentum, I started becoming more and more friendly with my group members. We would text one another and sometimes see one another at the bar. I am glad we made this progress with one another.

• “We are forming theory with anecdotal evidence.”
• Anecdotal evidence is the evidence we collect in a casual manner and rely on it for personal use. We are constantly collecting evidence in and out of class in order to use it in the outside world.