Liqwid Wurds

I like the title of this chapter, “liquid words.” It creates a very pretty and elegant mental picture. I imagine a Salvador Dali image of words leaking on a page as if they were ink being poured into a river. The concepts surrounding it, however, are much more difficult and not as easy for me to grasp. The idea of text as a concept outside of the common context is difficult for me to grasp. Once we began talking about it in class I became even more confused and frustrated. When we talked about text outside of it’s literal meaning and the concept of interpreting text in other mediums I really got lost. How can I describe text with clay or with another material for that matter like wood or steel?
Everything began to come together when I started thinking of how books bring letters and thoughts to life. We were talking about language and the idea of words getting their meaning in our brains outside of any letter or sound. In other words, it is not the letter but the meaning and sound associated with the letter that forms a meaning for us. When many seemingly abstract letters and words are formulated in a specific manner anything can be communicated. The thought of books coming to life and telling stories is beautiful, powerful and important for my understanding of this concept. It is not the letter that we are interpreting in an artistic piece but rather the whole idea of language that is being interpreted outside of its literal meaning.
I quickly went from frustration to excitement when the thoughts of how I was going to deal with this project jumped into my mind. We will see where things lead me but I’m excited to bring words to life and experience this in a new way. As for some of the other ideas brought to mind in the chapter, I’m working on it :)