Being a part of today’s generation, I can confirm that technology, cellphones in particular, is an important factor in our daily lives. I honestly do not know someone who doesn’t have a smartphone of some kind. It is so easy to contact someone thru a text message or with a post on social media. What surprises me is the reluctance that people have when they have to make a phone call. Personally, I have always preferred making a call rather than texting multiple times to contact someone. In his article, Don’t Hate the Phone Call, Hate the Phone, Ian Bogost explains why people are so afraid to pick up their phone and make a call as easily as they can text, and it is not because people are anxious or lazy.

Bogost argues that the reason why people hesitate to make a phone call is not because we are lazy or anxious, but rather that it is an inconvenience to us. The phone that was once primarily used for communication is now used for a multitude of other things to a point where it’s not even good enough as a phone anymore. He writes, “When asked, people with a distaste for phone calls argue that they are presumptuous and intrusive, especially given alternative methods of contact that don’t make unbidden demands for someone’s undivided attention.”, telling us that a phone call is merely an interruption, causing people to drop whatever it is they are doing to pick up their phone. Rather than addressing the phone call and partaking in a conversation, people prefer any other means of communication that won’t require them to talk. It is much simpler to just connect through text message or email because it gives the person more time to reply back, and sometimes to just not reply at all.

Another reason why Bogost thinks that the concept of the phone has deteriorated is because of the fact that as we have moved away from using landlines to cellphones, the quality of the call has diminished. The design change in phones from the round shape to the flat rectangular boxes we have now have resulted in less noise being able to pass through either microphones or speakers on the telephone, and as a result, it’s harder to hear people as well as be heard. Privacy is also an issue. Before, landlines were installed into homes for a means of private communication. Calls were much clearer and precise. Phone calls brought people together; they relayed warmth and intimacy, and kept relationships well maintained. Nowadays, the settings and circumstances where people answer their phones now are usually louder than they have ever been due to the fact that people don’t typically “step out to take a call” anymore, because they  are in public areas for the most of their day. There is also a disdain for having actual phone conversations in the fear that you will make a mistake in speaking or be misunderstood.

It is agreed that smartphones are indeed convenient in today’s time and age. I personally will always prefer phone calls over a text or email, but it is understandable why some people may not think the same way. Rather than letting it become a hindrance and making us socially awkward, we should strive to communicate wholly, starting with a phone call.

     In America’s streamlined culture of 2017, the idea of specialty catered to the individual has long been lost.  Ian Bogost touches upon this idea in his article, Egg McNothin’, where he discusses the distinctive nature of the Egg McMuffin, offered as a breakfast by the fast-food chain McDonalds. He argues that there were many losses suffered once the chain began offering this breakfast as an all-day option in 2015. With this offer came a lack of anticipation, creating a generally impersonal nature about it, and in turn, the misplacement of luxury. As a department head at Urban Outfitters, one of the world’s highly recognized fast-fashion retailers, I find truth in this argument of the losses found in mass-produced specialties, and argue that the true failure in this is the clash with human nature.

     Bogost begins his article with a definition of luxury, which is essential to the crux of his argument. He states, “The greatest luxury is the one we cannot have – or at least the one we cannot have very often… a decadence limited…” This rings true in my own exploration of human nature, where one major rule is that we want what we cannot have. For me, it is a private villa in Cancun: something I cannot have, but I can imagine and aspire to, and maybe even sample for a week in January in one opulent moment. This is key to Bogost’s following arguments against McDonald’s introduction of all-day breakfast, including the famed Egg McMuffin. He claims that the glory in the specialty of breakfast, meant just for the morning, is now lost, and the sheer anticipation of the egg McMuffin can no longer exist as it is available all day. Just like my villa, Bogost presents “The Egg McMuffin as an idea rather than a reality.” He works with the idea that while the McMuffin in itself is not necessarily something to rave over, it was the limitation of access that made it unique, and therefore sought after. Its distinction was the fact that the McMuffin symbolized “an indulgence meant mostly to be missed rather than savored.” Americans might not have made it in time for the 10:30 McMuffin deadline, but they could try. Even if they missed it, it was the hunt that mattered and the chase they could pursue yet again the next day.

     It is most apropos when Bogost quotes Adam Chandler, author for The Atlantic, who argues  that with the all-day breakfast, “‘America is reverting to its adolescence.’” The impulsivity in indulging in one’s wants, generally associated with teenagers, has instantly been granted to all Americans, as the structure of breakfast found strictly in the morning has been replaced with all day gratification. The McMuffin has become all the more impersonal with its increasing mass-production. As Bogost says, “The surest way to spoil an extravagance is to destroy the suspense that animates it.” Just like so many other mass-produced items in American culture, the suspense is robbed from consumers, and companies cut a loss from it. Bogost notes that even with the introduction of the all-day breakfast, McDonalds still closed more stores than it opened in 2015. So the issue clearly lies in the fact that, as human nature dictates, we want what we cannot have. It   is the chase as opposed to the result that makes a product special.

     Having worked at Urban Outfitters for a few years now, Bogost’s argument strongly resonates with me. The company carries clothing defined as “fast-fashion,” referring to  the quick transition from runway to retailer, to capture the moment’s trends at an easily accessible price point for fleeting moments followed by replacement on-trend items. I began my career there with wide eyes that were fascinated with the individuality the company proposed, and I wondered why managers discussed the company’s dipping numbers during our team meetings. As I made my way through the ranks and landed myself a position as a women’s department head, I found that the dwindling numbers speak for themselves. The issue lies, yet again, in the fact that humans want what they cannot have. Take, for example, the embroidered mesh shirt. High-end designers showcased this style during global fashion weeks presenting Spring 2017’s anticipated trends. The moment I turned my head, Urban Outfitters began allocating this style to my small-volume store, but in copious amounts. Hundreds of units of different styles of embroidered mesh shirts hit the floor, in varying degrees: short-sleeve, long-sleeve, sleeveless, cropped, long, and every other variation one could even dream of, leaving nothing left to imagine anymore. Now this special style that seemed to be of limited quantity and available to only those with $900 to spend on a single piece of their wardrobe, became available to everyone, using  mass-produced labels stamped with the impersonal sizing of small, medium, and large all for the reasonable price of $59. The chase is gone, as the shirt has been practically handed out to the masses. The specialty of the item once considered a “luxury good” and looked at as unattainable by young ladies flipping through Vogue magazine has now lost its anticipation as it hit various retailers in overwhelming amounts. The idea of “humans want what they cannot have” simply became “humans want and therefore they can have.” And so the sales of this mesh shirt have decreased with each coming week, and the specialty in the suspense and anticipation found consume culture has been lost to the regularity in the fastness and accessibility that replaced it. America has slowed down to the all-day Egg McMuffins of the times, and has forgotten what it is to truly chase what they want.

What is verbal art? How can the study of verbal art (poetics) inform the science of language? How can the study of language (linguistics) elucidate the field of verbal art? In “Linguistics and Poetics,” Roman Jakobson attempts to tackle these difficult questions. For Jakobson, “poetics may be regarded as an integral part of linguistics” (1145). Hence, the field of linguistics is incomplete without poetics, and poetics is void of context when studied without linguistics.

Before establishing the poetic function of language, Jakobson first lays out a general framework of the various factors present in any form of verbal communication. In its most basic form, an event of verbal communication is made up of an ADDRESSER (the one who is speaking, writing, etc.), who sends a MESSAGE (the content of the verbal communication) to an ADDRESSEE (the one who listens, reads, etc.). The thing to which a message refers to is called the CONTEXT. The transfer of the message relies upon an agreed upon CODE, or system of communication (such as the English language), as well as a CONTACT, which is the actual mode by which the communication happens (speaking/listening, writing/reading, etc.).

With the factors of language established, Jakobson then lays out its various functions. However, he prefaces this by saying: “The diversity lies not in a monopoly of some one of these several functions but in a different hierarchal order of functions. The verbal structure of a message depends primarily on the predominant function” (1148). In other words, every function of language combines various linguistic factors in different ways, yet each of these functions employs every factor, albeit in varying degrees. After this disclaimer, Jakobson lays out the six different functions of language, in correspondence with their predominant factors. The functions are: REFERENTIAL (context), EMOTIVE (addresser), CONATIVE (addressee), PHATIC (contact), METALINGUAL (code), and POETIC (message).

By placing poetics within the matrix of all verbal functions, Jakobson provides reasoning for why poetics is an essential field of study for linguists, and vice versa. “The poetic function is not the sole function of verbal art but only its dominant, determining function, whereas in all other verbal activities it acts as a subsidiary, accessory constituent” (1150). If one is to better understand the functioning of language, they must understand poetics, as it is active in all verbal communication, if only as an “accessory.” Also, if one is to better understand verbal art, they must understand the other functions of language as well, for they are all active within verbal art.

With all of the groundwork laid out, Jakobson attempts to define the distinctive characteristic that designates a work of verbal art as such. To do so, he considers how poetics interacts with the two “modes of arrangement” (1151) used in verbal communication: selection and combination. Using the vernacular of Saussure, these are equivalent to the syntagmatic and associative qualities of language, respectively. Selection is primarily concerned with similarities Whereas equivalence is usually a quality of selection (e.g. choosing between the terms ‘woman,’ ‘girl,’ ‘dame,’ or ‘lady’), while combination is concerned with continuity (i.e. creating a logical sequence). Jakobson uses these ideas to define the poetic function as such:  “The poetic function projects the principle of equivalence from the axis of selection into the axis of combination” (1152). Whereas equivalence is usually a quality of selection, poetics applies it to the verbal combination as well. Hence, “Equivalence is promoted to the constitutive device of the sequence” (1152).

In an attempt to better grasp the implications of this assertion, and the functions of language in general, I will apply Jakobson’s ideas to a poem by the masterful Shel Silverstein.

                Turkey?

I only ate one drumstick
At the picnic dance this summer,
Just one little drumstick–
They say I couldn’t be dumber.
One tough and skinny drumstick,
Why was that such a bummer?
But everybody’s mad at me,
Especially the drummer.

In this poem, we see the poetic function at play, with a “focus on the message for its own sake,” (1150). The poem, as a whole, serves no other function than to exist as a message, and to be enjoyed as such. Delving into a closer analysis, we can see some of the other functions of language throughout the poem. Most of the sentences are primarily referential, as the narrator tells the tale of the drumstick he ate, describing the “context”, or referent, as “one little drumstick,” or “tough and skinny drumstick.” We see the emotive function as the narrator betrays his belief that he did nothing wrong. This can be seen in the use of “only” in the first line, “just one little” in the third line, and “Why was the such a bummer?” in the sixth line. Though there are many other functions at work, they are all serving the greater purpose of the poetic function, by crafting a message whose value lies in itself.

If we look at the poem in view of Jakobson’s claim about the principle of equivalence, we see that equivalence was clearly the determining factor in forming this particular combination of words. The first, third, and fifth lines all end with the word “drumstick.” Also, the last words of the second, fourth, sixth and eighth lines all rhyme. None of these words could have been changed without dramatically altering the message. In a broader sense, the essence of the poem is derived from the non-equivalence of the last line. While the whole poem had been structured as if the referent (drumstick) were a piece of poultry, the non-equivalence of the last line makes us realize that the referent was actually part of an instrument, and gives a retrospective meaning the whole verbal construction. So, thank goodness, Shel Silverstein passes Jakobson’s test, and can be counted among the ranks of verbal artists.

In 2017, smartphones are the lifeline for many individuals who use them for work, entertainment, food, and social media. Amongst the millennial generation, phone calls are becoming a thing of the past. It is an ironic concept that phones are used the least for actual phone calls. This is primarily due to the increasing usage of the simple text message as an easier and quicker form of communication. There are various text messaging and chat apps that make for an easier form of communication and an often less intimate form of communicating with others. Bogost suggests that people are when people talk on the phone with one another there is often an intrusive nature included with it. I believe that this is true because the younger generation of today has a relatively short attention span. It is easier to text someone rather than call someone because the call requires undivided attention that most millennial find hard to give. It is easier to shoot a text message to someone because you can continue with whatever else you may be doing like watching a video, listen to music, all of which could be done on the very smartphone you are using.

Bogost suggests that there is a “telephinobia” among the younger generation which is when even the simplest phone calls, like ordering Chinese food, causes an anxiety with the caller. This is because there is an improvisational nature that can cause stress or a burden on the caller. When calling someone, you have to think quickly about how you want to convey a message to the recipient. There is a certain awkwardness when you are on the phone with someone and you feel vulnerable to anything that the recipient might say that you are not prepared for.

To me, this idea of “telephinobia” identifies with the average millennial New Yorker. There is never a time,whether you are on the streets of New York, the subway, or even the classes at Hunter College where a kid is not on their phone. New York City has a fast “move and go” pace that encourages productivity. Our smartphones help us keep up with our daily lives and it is all at our fingertips. There is no need to actually call someone anymore unless it is for a business purpose which is usually a quick and productive call. Millennials can check their bank account, school and work schedule, and even grab an Uber all at their fingertips. This type of lifestyle requires a quicker pace and there is really no time to stop and call someone.

I am a big proponent of keeping up with the times. The smartphone allows for much more than a simple phone call and the times of just calling someone for the sake of calling someone could be a thing of the past for millennials. Being the generation that falls right in the forefront of this technological revolution is giving us the resources to do more at our fingertips than any other generation. Despite this, hopefully we don’t take a step backwards in human interaction and be comfortable with interacting with people without the anxiety that a phone call may give us.

My father was gunna name me Joaquin. Luckily, my mother shot that quasi-spiritual name down, which ironically my dad, was nothing of the sorts (he missed that Woodstock ’69 bus). My mom named me after her favorite living boxer, Nicaraguan hero Alexis Argüello. Biblically, Alexis means “God’s Helper”, and it comes from the Greek root Ἀλέξανδρος translated to Aléxandros.

Aléxandros, being the quasi-Nietzsche origin, that all other suffixes of “AL” derive from, despite an etymologist who can illustrate how Alexis became Alexis, I can confidently guess how it’s root name came about. Before I illustrate this, I will point out a general concept to the genesis of a word (specifically a name), where Saussure states—and as I input an example between parenthesis & brackets—

(pg.861) “…the linguistic signifier (sound-image of Alexis [Ah-lex-cis]), which is not phonic but incorporeal—constituted not by its material substance (concept of Alexis [God’s defender]), but by the differences that separates its sound-image from all others (Aléxandros; Alexandra; Alexo; Alex).

My argument, for today’s blog, occurs same page paragraph above, where Saussure downgrades the non-Saussure value of the sound, or phonetics, in being an equal, or possibly greater contributor to the creation of a Saussure sign.

To begin, lets consider how the Greek name Aléxandros came to be: generally speaking, the purpose of “naming” a human was to “identify” tribe members within. When humans began to “symbolize” objects/things—for example, (The Religion Book, pg. 22) the primal beliefs of the Sub-Saharan /Xam San, where they viewed the deity of the sky name /Kaggen, also know as Mantis (who could morph into a praying mantis) as the overseer of the earthly realm—the nomenclature of a given group would symbolize first names, by moral meaning (signified) first, and name (signifier) second: like in Aléxandros: The Defender, The Warder, etc.

My hypothesis is that: phonetics assisted by the moral meaning, was way more important than Saussure systemically believed. Staying with the name Aléxandros for the remainder of the essay, the name had to sound like its moral meaning. Specifically, it had to sound strong, grounded, higher purpose. So, how in the world do you create a name that represents these loosely based virtues? In the book, “Euphonic” by John Mitchell, firstly, to answer who became that nomenclature, JM states Greek philosopher Socrates reasoned “someone skilled in the art, having talent for making verbal imitations of things.” Continuing with Socrates (389D) “…must know how to embody in sounds and syllables the name of each object which is naturally appropriate to it.”

Now the fun part begins: I will break down the respective letters of “A-léx-an-dros”, illustrate its meaning given by JM, and decipher the eight separate meanings, by grouping the four syllabic vowels that are phonetically stressed. For note, I give deciding weight to the vowels, because it’s the sound utterance that the nomenclature intended to drive the syntax of the individual word; like in an opera, where the brass is the overtone, and the woodwinds are the undertones.

Eight Letter Meanings

1^st Syllabic Set

A – [vowel] characterize of uplift, whether in body or spirit

(ex. Audacious avian arise! Ascend aloft to azure skies.)

2^nd Syllabic Set

L – light and clarity

E – [vowel] short e too common to have individual character

X – paradox, suggestive, teasing

3^rd Syllabic Set

A – [vowel] refer above

N – inwardly denying

(ex. No, nay, non)

4^th Syllabic Set

D – implies loss or lessening, demotion, dismissal, diminution or degradation

R – rapidity and hardness

O – [vowel] noble, rolling, resounding, over-aweing

(ex. [Odysseus] Ocean, the source and origin of the gods.)

S – sibilant, amiable or hostile

Four Syllabic Meanings

1^st Syllabic Set

“A” being the only letter, thus:

Characteristic of uplift, whether in body or spirit

2^nd Syllabic Set

Sonically, light L quickly gives way to modest E, which extends toward a sustained sound for suggestive X, thus:

A paradox between light modesty and strong suggestiveness

3^rd Syllabic Set

Uplifting A greets negating N, thus:

Grounded

4^th Syllabic Set

Dismissal D, rapid R, and noble O sonically share equal weight, while sibilant S has extended aftertaste. Thus:

A rapid crescendo from underworld to the sky, and gradually curves down.

Conclusion:

Sonically, Aléxandros begins body/spirit lifted in air, finds itself modest, yet carnally suggestive, where it descends upon the firm earth, temporarily driving itself underground, where it springs out the earth, and returns to the sky, where it finally tapers off. In short, it is dynamically well aware of the three portions of earth, and has an inclination to return, hence the tapering toward the ground, to be friendly or hostile.

Returning back from poetry land, there are obvious holes in my argument, where (1) one could counter the entire phonetic alphabet and my conclusion, saying it’s not grounded by objectivity. Or let’s say you agree with my breakdown and agreement, with the moral meaning and root name, you could argue (2) other name-meaning pairs may not work, let alone in other languages. To you I say, [1] because there is no extensive research in a poetically phonetic alphabet, does not negate that there is an alphabet, which insinuates that sound has a greater play in sign-creating than Saussure believed; and [2] since no one has given a whack at proof-correlating root first names with moral meaning, again, doesn’t negate my attempt, and relative-impartiality to my argument.

Finally, the strongest case for phonetics is how relevant it is in U.S. entry-level job market. The unfortunate importance of first names, outweigh any biblically meaning, for it is undeservingly given association, by employers, to racial stereotypes relative to other (“white”) names. Evermore unfortunate, due to me already exceeding the word count, I can’t outline this argument concretely, but I will provide one National Bureau of Economic Research link in the bottom.

Thank you for your time.

http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html

In “The Eiffel Tower” Barthes argues that while being the universal symbol for Paris, visited by thousands of tourists each year and seen by every Parisian every day, the Tower is, in fact, nothing.  It is a signifier, something which humans appoint their own meaning to, derived from their own experiences and knowledge.  For some, the Tower might signify love and romance, for others, the glamor and high fashion of the city, and still for others it might be a symbol of the rise of modern innovation.  Each individual’s experiences and values shape the way the Tower speaks to them.  Barthes continues to say that “The Tower is an object which sees, a glance which is seen; it is a complete verb, both active and passive” (4).

How can the Tower see?  It isn’t the Tower itself that sees, but the visitors who make the climb to the top and look out.  What was unique about the Eiffel Tower (that isn’t so much anymore) is that the view to been seen from the top is a city.  A man-made nature.  Whereas one might have climbed a mountain for a view of the landscape, or the top of a ship’s mast to see the horizon, a climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower gives the viewer “a new nature, that of human space […] an immediate consumption of humanity made natural by that glance which transforms it into space.” (8).  

What is to be seen when you reach the top?  A panoramic, bird’s-eye view of Paris.  According to Barthes, the “marvelous mitigation of altitude the panoramic vision added an incomparable power of intellection” (9).  When we see the world from above, it gives us the feeling of understanding and intelligence, it “permits us to transcend sensation and to see things in their structure.” (9).  I don’t think it actually makes us smarter, but it’s nice to feel that way.  When we see our familiar city beneath us, we begin to unconsciously discern where we are in relation to familiar points.  The Eiffel Tower offers visitors the opportunity to reconstruct the city from above.  

In addition to the need felt to decipher the topography of Paris while in the Tower, there is the inevitability of imagining the growth of the city’s history, from small sections of land covered by water to what it is today, a modern city.  This is exactly what is done in the elevator of the Freedom Tower in Manhattan.  As you rise higher, the landscape transforms from a forest to farmland, then settlements, and a city, expanding to include buildings, piers, and bridges.   It makes you fathom the history of a place, and see it juxtaposed with the modernity before you.  This is even more so true with Paris, a city that is thousands of years older than New York.

The commercialization of the Tower was inevitable, with the installation of shops, restaurants, and vendors.  It is now a place where someone can have the complete experience of modern comfort; sights, sounds, food, and fun.  It is an open structure, yet encloses it’s own world, where “one can feel oneself cut off from the world and yet the owner of a world.” (17).

I hate phone calls. I especially loathe making calls. The thought of calling anyone fills me with an almost ridiculous amount of dread. However, I wouldn’t call it a phobia because there is no fear involved— I simply just don’t want to do it. Phone calls are annoying and unpleasant.

In this article Bogost begins by explaining that Millennials not only have a distaste for phone calls, but actually have a kind of “telephoniphobia”. Bogost states, “When asked, people with a distaste for phone calls argue that they are presumptuous and intrusive, especially given alternative methods of contact that don’t make unbidden demands for someone’s undivided attention.” I partially agree with this statement because speaking on the phone is intrusive and when one speaks on the phone there is this pressure to avoid awkward silences unlike texting where there is no such thing as awkward silences. You don’t have to have a whole conversation at once, if you decide to finish it at all. You don’t have to reply right away and you are not even expected to carry on a conversation in real time. You can reply to a text, carry on with your activities for as long as you like (be it minutes or hours) and simply pick up the phone, compose a text and continue the conversation when you want to. It’s a beautiful thing.

Bogost goes on to talk about the technical aspect of the telephone, thinking that perhaps the unreliability of wireless networks is to blame for the declining interest in phone calls among young people. He says: “On the infrastructural level, mobile phones operate on cellular networks, which route calls between transceivers distributed across a service area. These networks are wireless, obviously, which means that signal strength, traffic, and interference can make calls difficult or impossible.” I agree, my cell service is not the best sometimes but that isn’t a true reason why I prefer not to make phone calls. I think that what Bogost and older folks fail to realize is that texting is simply just a better option. Texting is asynchronous, low bandwidth (full attention not needed; answer when ready) and convenient in almost any situation— not to mention it is quiet and confidential. Calling is synchronous (both parties must be present at once), high bandwidth (full attention needed) and almost always inconvenient for one party (phone calls can be loud and not private). They also consume relatively long periods of time and in this day and age nobody has an extra hour and a half to spare on a conversation with their aunt about what wacky thing the cat did the other day.

Bogost concludes the article by saying: “It’s not the phone call we should hate, or the phone. Technology isn’t the true culprit of making us less intimate, it’s a lack of effort in each person to make it more personal. It’s the lack of time we make to fit another person into our busy, bustling lives”. I may sound brash by saying this but who cares? Perhaps I am bias because I am an introvert but I fail to see why the “decline of face to face social interaction” is such a big deal. I feel that these types of articles have a certain judgmental tone to them and I don’t understand why that is. Yes, we are social creatures by nature and so I understand that we need the company of other humans but what is so wrong with seeking that company digitally? We are still communicating with each other, we are just doing so in a way that is more convenient for us in this day and age. I think what most older folks fail to realize is that the world and its people are just NOT the way they were 20 or 30 years ago— people are too busy. The cost of living is ridiculously high and therefore people don’t have the luxury of meeting up for lunch or staring into each other’s eyes for an hour in order to satisfy that necessity for social interaction. Texting is just fine. Avoiding phone calls isn’t laziness or a phobia; texting is just a better option. If the technology is there and readily available why NOT use it? Make a phone call or send a text— who cares? We’re still talking aren’t we?

In 2017, phone calls are special. They’ve acquired a new intimacy, at least for myself, because of their rarity. I only ever call my family, my favorite take out places, or occasionally, a small handful of friends when they want to relay an important life update that’s too long to explicate over text. Bogost’s ‘Don’t Hate the Phone Call, Hate The Phone’ is a nuanced take on how the 21st century’s loss of interest in phone calls and its unique pecularities can be attributed to loss of quality, design failure, and a host of reasonable points. Yet, at times Bogost seems to veer dangerously close into ‘millennials have killed x’ territory; the thinkpiece sinkhole that has entrapped many an op-ed writer. It’s true that our world has been attempting to phase out the phone call bit by bit, but that doesn’t invalidate the new ways in which we connect with one another via technology, some of which do help us ‘reach out and touch someone’.

Bogost makes some salient points when he discusses how the auditory quality of phone calls have dwindled in this day and age. Part of this is the unreliability of the wireless networks that cell phone reception is now dependent on, coupled with the fact that phone calls are now only associated with emergencies and a sense of immediacy; meaning, a dropped call feels more dire than ever. The physical space that encompasses a phone call has changed as well. Telephony has always been relegated to static areas of privacy where one can hear and be heard more clearly as they talk inside a phone booth, or into a stationary landline phone at home, at the office, etc. But, the portability of smartphones has brought phone calls out into the public sphere where the person on the other line battles with a cacophony of city sounds.

Design is also an important factor in the shrinking aural, as well as tactile, qualities of telephone calls. Bogost particularly lauds the design of the Western Electric 500 telephone, the classic and easily recognizable mid century model. What made the Western Electric 500 different, and arguably better for speaking on the phone, is the weighty receiver that covers the entire ear and speaker that lays close to the mouth. It’s a fair point that smartphones are more concerned about hiding speakers as much as possible, flattening and hiding the technology so deep into the phone that it equally flattens and conceals the sounds of the phone call. However, Bogost is particularly hung up (pun intended) on the loss of sensory involvement and closeness in phone calls.”…the 500 handset’s ultimate victory was one of intimacy. The handset made telephone calls an undeniably carnal art, one in which a foreign apparatus came into close contact with one’s face, ear, and lips.” The evenly distributed weight of a Western Electric 500 phone in hand, the finality of pressing the phone down when hanging up, being able to twirl the cord around one’s finger in anxiety or anticipation of what’s to be said on the other line; these are all ways the telephone call and all that it meant physically extended into the speaker/listener. “The handset made telephony a tactile activity as much as an auditory one.”

Yet, it is unfair to suggest that this experience has been eliminated entirely. Even Bogost himself admits that he is not ignorant of the ability of our touch screens to connect us to one another, only that he laments that the innovation of objects like the Western Electric 500 isn’t present in the oversaturated, app obsessed world. I counter that apps like Facetime have become a new form of telephony that still involves tangibility but in different and unique ways. When opening a Facetime “call”, it rings as you wait for the other person to pick up. You’re met with a satisfying whirr when the face of your loved one pops up on the screen. You are able to simultaneously hear the other’s person voice and see their facial expressions and body language, which helps further contextualize what is being said and what the other person means. Not to mention, there is a smaller square of yourself in the corner where you can catch glimpses of your own unconscious reactions. You hold your phone in your hand and can adjust the angle of the camera in a variety of ways, depending on what you’re trying to show the other person.  Just as the “handset grew warmth with use”, heat emanates from your iPhone when you’ve been talking for hours, as if the phone matches the warmth and closeness you feel with a person with whom conversation seems endless. Some of these telephony-like sensations still persist through this new mode of communication.

Ultimately, time goes by, Western Electrics fall out of use, and sound and image is combined in the 21st century as a new way to call each other, for better or worse. But, the unceasing human desire to create new ways to connect with one another continues to evolve and millennials be damned or not, that’s still something worth celebrating.

Roland Barthes’s “The Eiffel Tower”, is an essay commenting on the duality of meaning behind the famed landmark. This universal symbol of Paris and travel, he states, is in actuality quite useless; it is a structure comprised of beams and metal, giving off an essence of exteriority. Although he agrees that there was a stated “purpose”, almost an excuse, for building the tower, which is its scientific usage and significance, he states that ultimately, “the Tower is nothing, it achieves a kind of zero degree of the monument; it participates in no rite, no cult, not even in Art; you cannot visit the Tower as a museum: there is nothing to see inside the Tower”(7). In fact, it is true; when we enter the Tower, we see everything in Paris but itself, because the landmark becomes the point from which we observe.

His argument about its duality comes later in the essay, in which he conceives this supposedly meaningless monument as a sign representing a multitude of conflicting ideals. While most signs, as in Saussure’s philosophy, function in the sense that “Dog” refers us to an image of a furry creature which pants and barks, the Tower, in Barthes’s mind, does something completely different. The writer considers the landmark “a pure signifier, of a form in which men unceasingly put meaning[…]without this meaning thereby ever being finite and fixed”(5). Signs are usually defined by a specific, narrow signified, and the vastness of what that signified is not. The Tower is a sign in the sense that it signifies something, but because it signifies a great deal of ideas, it does not function in the way that signs typically do.

Barthes’s idea of what the tower allows us to do contributes to its duality. When we go to the top, we enter into an experience where we can see everything. We are so far away from Paris, and yet have a better understanding of it as a whole because the entirety of its landscape is laid out for us. This distance also affects our understanding of humanity as well. We can see the residential areas, the commercial areas, the business areas: all aspects of human life. Yet, the height functions as a barrier, keeping us from it. The landscape of Paris also evokes a sense of history and modernity at the same time. Being up high in this metal structure, which represents the modern experience, allows us to think about how Paris must have changed over the years. We can see its historic buildings, for example the Notre-Dame and the Pantheon. However, we also can consider the modern Paris, with the Radio-Television building or the UNESCO building.

The author says that “the Tower can live on itself: one can dream there, eat there, observe there, understand there, marvel there, shop there[…]one can feel oneself cut off from the world and yet the owner of the world”(17). While I agree that our commercialization of and familiarization with the tower allows us to make ourselves comfortable with it, I think that the landmark’s transformation into what I’d like to call a “super-sign”, does not allow us to “own” it. The Tower, as Barthes describes, is full of duality. It contains and represents history and modernity, connection and disconnection, humanity and lack thereof. If signs are supposed to allow us to define and categorize, the Tower’s lack of specificity in meaning makes it indefinable. The monument therefore shows us that experience is not rigid, that meaning is fluid and comes at us from unexpected places. The fact that it means so many things to us gives it a kind of ambiguity; the Tower is not controllable, just like the human experience itself.