The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2002/04/11/on-the-wire-21/)
By wpengine | April 11, 2002
Hypertext novels have formed a genre of literature that is rapidly attaining parity with the written novel. Like other forms of digital technology, the hypertext novel requires human interaction with the text as it appears on the computer screen. It requires the reader to, in essence, create his or her own ending by clicking on certain links that dictate the direction the story can take. These storylines may be composed in different sequences, and with different elements as their focus. While at times this can get confusing for the reader, it actually gives the reader authority over the novel, and allows the reader to form various storylines within the general premise.
As one of the more popular hypertext novels, Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl tells the story of a female Frankenstein monster who is pieced together in patches. Although this hypertext is used as a classroom vehicle by which students are introduced to the genre, this novel extends beyond instructional classroom purposes. Published by Eastgate Systems in 1995, this novel fuses together words and images to create a novel that truly exemplifies the genre of postmodernism.
What is interesting about both the text and its author is that nothing about the text or its components are entirely unique, except the concept of the text itself. The Patchwork Girl, as a character, is an amalgamation of different words and images — she is actually the personification of the hypertext form. Thus, by combining text and photography, Shelley forms a character that is distinctly "hypertext" — a fragmented body compiled of various people from the past assembled into one person with universal application. Shelley Jackson, also becomes fragmented in that she adopts the concepts of Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, into her own persona as the author.
Like the identity of the Patchwork Girl as a character, the entire text is compartmentalized. Although the text is composed in an ordered manner, it can be decomposed in a disorderly way. Focusing on the concepts of fragmentation, femininity, and the self, the novel explores these frames within the larger framework of the "patchwork." The text combines these frames, or themes, within each part of the text. Nevertheless, through the reader's choice of which links he or she wants to explore, the text can concentrate on one theme more than another.
Writing and sewing become interchangeable concepts throughout the text; the written word holds parts of the rather discursive narrative together, and sewing actually holds the body of the Patchwork Girl in form. Thus, the author puts herself into the text and interchanges her process of writing the work with the Patchwork Girl's process of trying to stay put together. Throughout the text, the Patchwork Girl constantly falls asunder, and must recombine her parts to become a unified being.
As a contemporary feminist work, Shelley leaves the Patchwork Girl's identity somewhat contradictory within itself. She is thus a woman, yet she is a hybrid character who is structured through various pieces of other beings. Through fragmentation and unconventionality, she rebels against the preconceived notions of femininity. While the form breaks down the elements of traditional linear narration, the text itself breaks down stereotypical notions until they disintegrate.
As the defining characteristic of hypertext works, the different parts of the text are linked together and can be interchanged with other parts to alter the storyline. Within the work itself, Jackson writes that "assembling these patched pieces in an electronic space, I feel half-blind, as if the entire text is within reach, but because of some myopic condition I am only familiar with from dreams, I can see only that part most immediately before me, and have no sense of how that part relates to the rest." In the same way that Jackson feels disoriented, at times the reader feels as though one part of the story may not relate to the previous one. Nevertheless, the reader can customize the storyline through choosing links he or she deems appropriate.
Although this hypertext is not necessarily the most recent work in the genre, it is a precursor for many other hypertexts in that both its form and content deal with the concept of putting things together from pieces. At the Web site, www.eastgate.com/catalog/PatchworkGirl.html, you can learn anything and everything about the hypertext genre, particularly how this text was created. In addition, Patchwork Girl can be ordered directly from the site, as can other texts in the fiction, nonfiction, critical, poetic, and theoretical categories. Thus, the hypertext novel offers the reader an interactive medium of entertainment that is both stimulating and allows for audience participation.
Likewise, in the hypertext form, technology, literature, and art create a narrative of postmodern structure with the concepts of deconstruction and reconstruction at its core. Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl is an easily traversed hypertext that has become a representation of the hypertext medium at its best. Perhaps because the Patchwork Girl is herself a hypertextualized amalgamation of various mediums, this novel exemplifies the characteristic elements of this literary genre. Imparting a sense of control over the narrative, the reader can create various pathways in which the novel can follow; thus, creating his or her own "patchwork" of text. Likewise, in the hypertext form, technology, literature, and art create a narrative of postmodern structure with the concepts of deconstruction and reconstruction at its core. Shelley Jackson's Patchwork Girl is an easily traversed hypertext that has become a representation of the hypertext medium at its best. Perhaps because the Patchwork Girl is herself a hypertextualized amalgamation of various mediums, this novel exemplifies the characteristic elements of this literary genre. Imparting a sense of control over the narrative, the reader can create various pathways in which the novel can follow; thus, creating his or her own "patchwork" of text.
Archived article by Barbara Seigel
Baseball Prepared for Second Ivy Weekend
By wpengine April 12, 2002
This weekend, the baseball team (9-14, 1-4 Ivy) will travel to Brown and Yale to play its second round of Ivy contests. Cornell's endurance was tested early this week as its Saturday doubleheader with Dartmouth was postponed until Monday for inclement weather. It was unsuccessful in a twinbill against Harvard, split the following day with the Green, and 24 hours later traveled to Binghamton and swept a pair of games 6-5 and 9-1. Head coach Tom Ford did not think, however, that the string of games took a toll on the team. "They are young guys and they know what they are doing," he said. "Hopefully they are in good enough shape to be able to do that." What the team does hope to get out of its wins over the Bearcats is momentum going into tomorrow's games. "That kind of thing always gets you going a little bit," senior centerfielder Andrew Luria commented. "We hope we can grab some momentum from [those games]. We played some pretty good baseball and played well defensively," Ford agreed. "So, hopefully we can build upon that, but each time you go out, you definitely have to do it again." The weekend's first challenge will come against Yale (6-14, 1-3). The Bulldogs are coming off a tough stretch. Last weekend, it lost two games to Columbia and split with Penn, then lost a single game to Iona College on Wednesday 8-2. Despite the losing record, six of the Bulldogs' defeats have come by only one run. Outfielder Chris Elkins is leading the team with a .372 average. He also has one home run on the year, a grand slam two weeks ago in the team's 14-2 win over New Haven. Second baseman Stephen Duke has a .333 average and is the only other player on the team hitting above .300. "They have been playing pretty good defense and are getting pretty good pitching and it seems like their bats are coming around a little bit lately too," Ford said. On Sunday, Cornell will then travel to Providence, R.I., to face Brown (11-13, 2-2). Winners of five of its past seven games, the Bears split two doubleheaders with Penn (6-18, 2-6) and Columbia (13-12, 3-1) last weekend. On Wednesday, Brown also split with the University of Rhode Island. In game one, John Cappello (1-1) threw a two-hit complete game shutout with two walks and six strikeouts for a 6-0 victory. The Bears dropped the nightcap 6-5 in extra innings. Offensively, catcher Greg Metzger is leading the team with a .352 average. In last weekend's league games, he was 9-for-13 with a home run, two doubles and six RBI. For his efforts, the catcher was named co-Ivy League player of the week. In the team's win against Rhode Island, Metzger was 2 for 4 with a double and two RBI and he enters the weekend riding an 11-game hitting streak. The Red will likely also face pitcher Jonathon Stern (4-2). He was the victor in the team's 2-1 win over Penn last weekend giving up the run on two hits with six strikeouts. He owns a 3.99 ERA with a team high 26 strikeouts. He was also named Ivy League Pitcher of the Week earlier this season. "Brown is an all-around good baseball team with good pitching, they have some good hitters and they like to run, so it will be a good challenge," Ford scouted. "We know they are a good team." For Cornell, senior Brendan McQuaid (2-2) will take the mound in the first game against Yale and freshman Conor Kelly (0-2) will pitch in the nightcap. On Sunday, senior Erik Rico (1-3) will pitch in the first contest and sophomore Dan Baysinger (1-2) will wrap up the weekend's play in the final game. "It has been good at times, and sometimes we have faltered a bit, but for the most part, the starters have done a good job keeping us in the game," Ford said of the starting pitchers' effort thus far in the season. "Two of our four starters are older guys (Rico and McQuaid) and have been starters for four years, so I think that helps a lot with their experience and leadership, and the younger guys have been following in their footsteps," Luria explained. "The pitchers have pitched pretty well, but we beat ourselves when we don't make good defensive plays and it costs us the game." The Red has struggled for consistent fielding this season, and will continue to work on that aspect of its game this weekend. "Of course defense, that's the thing that's going to get us the wins and it's what has killed us in the past," Luria said of the team's goals. "The offense has been there pretty much consistently through the season, so we can usually count on that. If everybody does his job, we will be successful." Contributing significantly to Cornell's success from the batter's box is Rico. Named both co-Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week and ECAC Player of the Week for his outstanding play against Penn and Dartmouth, the pitcher/right fielder dominated in all aspects of the game. Including the team's earlier loss to Penn State and the two double headers last weekend, Rico went 10-for-17 with two doubles, two triples, a home run and six RBI. He was also the winning pitcher in the 3-2 victory over Dartmouth, throwing six innings and striking out nine. "He is swinging the bat really well. It is nice to see because he works really hard at it," Ford said. The head coach and senior both took similar overall views of the weekend's matchups, encompassing the team's one-game-at-a-time mentality. "It's going to be like any other weekend. We just have to go out and play the way we know how to play," Luria concluded. "This league is pretty tough and everybody is evenly matched, so it's just a matter of how you execute on game day," Ford encapsulated. "It would be nice to get on a roll here."Archived article by Katherine Granish
Greeks Clean Up Collegetown
Members of the various fraternities and sororities under the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Panhellenic Association (Panhel) combined their efforts on Sunday, April 7 to clean up Collegetown. Close to 250 students participated in Collegetown Clean Up, an annual event in which members of the Greek system clean up the streets of Collegetown in the morning. The area cleaned ranged from Route 79 to Oak Street and from Stewart Avenue up to Elmwood. The volunteers collected over 100 bags of trash in the area. "Helping the community is nothing new for the Greek system, but it's never bad to do a little more, said Gabriel Slater '04," a member of Phi Psi fraternity. The City of Ithaca sponsored the event by providing trash bags, a trash compactor and a truck free of charge to take the garbage away from Collegetown. The Nines, a restaurant in Collegetown, provided space for the event as the central point where the students met to get their street assignments and receive free t-shirts as a reward for their participation efforts. This year, the fraternities that had the highest number of volunteers participating in the clean-up were Zeta Psi, Kappa Sigma and Sigma Epsilon Phi. The Delta Delta Delta and Delta Gamma sororities had the most participants for the sororities. "It was very beneficial and it was very well run. It did a lot for the community. It had a really good turn-out and the work wasn't hard. It was probably allocated to just enough people so it was simple to do," said Mario Rivera '04, vice president of the Zeta Psi fraternity. "This event is important because [we are] members of the Cornell community," said Paul El-Meouchy '03. "We all use Collegetown, we go out in Collegetown and we don't realize the mess that we leave this neighborhood in. I am really proud of the Greek community for showing their support for this event because the Greeks represent a fraction of the residents of Collegetown, yet they are the ones coming and cleaning up the neighborhood." "There were a few girls who participated from our house. I think it's a really great way for the members of the Greek system to positively influence the community. Also, it's a good way for us to meet members outside of our houses in the Greek system," said Michelle Sarlo '02, a sister of the Kappa Delta sorority. Some students disapproved of the way the event was constructed. "I fundamentally disagree with the concept of Collegetown Clean Up because it implies that people in frats an sororities are littering Collegetown," Katherine Klein '03 said. "I would have no problem cleaning up areas of North and West campus where frats and sororities hold parties, or if both non-Greek and Greek people jointly participated in Collegetown Clean Up. I think that the non-Greek people hold more house parties in Collegetown and should participate more in Collegetown clean up," she said. Archived article by Veronika Belenkaya