Blog #14

I think I am doing a great job achieving my annotation goals. I have definitely had an easier time understanding my readings this year, and I ow that to annotating carefully.

The surrounding context is what surrounds the original publication. This includes the when and where. For this essay, “Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education,” was released in January 2014 and was published on the World-Post, an online news and blog site created through a partnership between liberal news aggregator the Huffington Post and nonpartisan think tank the Berggruen Institute on Governance. Yo-Yo Ma wrote this essay, and I can tell from the author’s bio that he is a very successful musician, but he brings very compelling options and arguments to the table that he wants heard from a lot of people. These options include STEAM education, the role performing arts can play in society. As for circumstantial context, I was technically told to read this essay as an. assignment, but there are reasons why people would want to read this essay. The reason people would read this is to better understand the benefits that5 globalization has on this world. Instead of seeing it as a negative part of society in the changes of technology, it can be looked at as a positive thing in the creation and spread of cultures. It also gives great detail on what STEM and STEAM are, and how important arts and science are to this world. Not only does it teach innovation, but it also teaches people and empathy. This ties directly into the intentional context off the essay. So what? I believe Yo-Yo Ma was trying to show that people are so robotic in today’s world, that they struggle with the purpose of life, innovation, and empathy for others. He’s trying to show what the arts and sciences can do for people, and the positive impacts it can have a on the evolution of society. He even said himself how he wants school to be more enjoyable for children, and this starts with STEAM. Three words that I had a hard time understanding are cognitive, lemmings, and bandwidth. Cognitive is the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. Lemmings is a person who unthinkingly joins a mass movement, especially a headlong rush to destruction. Bandwidth is a person who unthinkingly joins a mass movement, especially a headlong rush to destruction. Defining these words helps me better understand the essay as I annotate it.