You’ve roller-skated before, right? Almost everyone has roller-skated at one point in time. Well, have you ever wondered how somebody came up with the idea of roller-skating? After taking a visit to the National, yes I said national, Museum of Roller Skating, I discovered a multitude of information about roller-skating.
It actually all began with a frustrated ice skater, named Hans Brinker, in the early 1700’s. Thinking it would be easier to skate on pavement, rather than on ice, he produced a wheeled skate with several wooden spools in a line. Then over a century later on November 12, 1819, Monsieur Petitbled received the very first patent for roller skates. The wheels were made of wood, metal, or “deluxe” ivory; however, they could only go on straight path. Fortunately, in 1863, James Leonard Plimpton patented his four-wheeled turning roller skate, which quickly revolutionized the roller skate industry. After his improvements people in America, as well as abroad, embraced the art of roller-skating as a fun and social activity. Eventually, during the 1870’s to mid-1890’s, skating at local roller rinks was one of the most popular social events. Then its popularity started to wan in the early 1890’s because many roller rinks gained a bad reputation due to irresponsible management. In order to rebuild the roller rinks popularity, seventeen rink operators formed the Roller Skating Rink Operators Association in 1937.
Today, after all the redesigning and revolutionizing of roller-skates the activity has grown immensely. Now, not only can you skate, but you can also play roller derby, roller hockey, or roller polo. You can also in-line skate, roller figure skate, or dance skate. The opportunities are endless. And to think, it all began with a guy, named Brinker, who just couldn’t figure out the finesse in ice-skating, thank goodness for his clumsiness.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Monday, September 3, 2007
Post I: Discourse Surrounding the Essay
“In reading an essay, I want to feel that I’m communing with a real person, and a person who cares about what he or she’s writing about. The words sound sentimental and trite, but the qualities are rare. For me, the ideal essay is not an assignment, to be dispatched efficiently and intelligently, but an exploration, a questioning, an introspection. I want to see a piece of the essayist. I want to see a mind at work, imagining, spinning, struggling to understand. If the essayist has all the answers about something, you continually grapple with it, because it is alive in you. It thrashes and moves, like all living things.
When I’m reading a good essay, I feel that I’m going on a journey. The essayist is searching for something and taking me along. That something could be a particular idea, an unraveling of identity, a meaning in the wallow of observations and facts. The facts are important but never enough. An essay, for me, must go past the facts, an essay must travel and move. Even the facts of the essayist’s own history, the personal memoir, are insufficient alone. The facts of personal history provide anchor, but the essayist then swings in a wide arc on his anchor line, testing and pulling hard.
~Alan Lightman in “The Ideal Essay.”
I was very intrigued in Lightman’s views on an “ideal” essay. Before reading his quote, I never thought of an essay in such a light. My view was that an essay was just a boring assignment written on material that nobody really cared about. However, after reading Lightman’s take on an essay, I feel that essays can be much more exciting and innovative than ever before.
In this quote, Lightman personifies the essay, saying, “an essay must travel and move.” I definitely agree with this, because if an essay doesn’t grasp your attention and make your mind wander with it, then there is no point or desire to continue reading it. As Lightman said, “If the essayist has all the answers, then he isn’t struggling to grasp, and I won’t either.” People don’t want to read an essay that is supposedly full of all the answers, if that’s what they wanted they could turn to a collegiate textbook on a certain subject. Reading an essay should be different. It should let you see the author’s mind at work about a subject that takes the reader on a journey.
I believe that all the points made by Lightman are very valid and that essayists should take his ideas into consideration when writing and just let their thoughts shine in their writing. I really like how his views take you away from the stereotypical outlook on an essay and spotlight the fact that essays should be more of an excursion into your mind trying to grasp something that is very real to you and that you want to translate from your mind into words for others to see. I agree with Lightman that an essay needs to be on a topic that you care about so you can really let the reader see your knowledge and opinions on the subject.
An essay is like a journey through the labyrinth of tunnels in your mind and I believe that Lightman’s quote exemplified this statement. I also can tell that he truly believes this because, just by reading his quote, you could see a piece of his mind at work.
When I’m reading a good essay, I feel that I’m going on a journey. The essayist is searching for something and taking me along. That something could be a particular idea, an unraveling of identity, a meaning in the wallow of observations and facts. The facts are important but never enough. An essay, for me, must go past the facts, an essay must travel and move. Even the facts of the essayist’s own history, the personal memoir, are insufficient alone. The facts of personal history provide anchor, but the essayist then swings in a wide arc on his anchor line, testing and pulling hard.
~Alan Lightman in “The Ideal Essay.”
I was very intrigued in Lightman’s views on an “ideal” essay. Before reading his quote, I never thought of an essay in such a light. My view was that an essay was just a boring assignment written on material that nobody really cared about. However, after reading Lightman’s take on an essay, I feel that essays can be much more exciting and innovative than ever before.
In this quote, Lightman personifies the essay, saying, “an essay must travel and move.” I definitely agree with this, because if an essay doesn’t grasp your attention and make your mind wander with it, then there is no point or desire to continue reading it. As Lightman said, “If the essayist has all the answers, then he isn’t struggling to grasp, and I won’t either.” People don’t want to read an essay that is supposedly full of all the answers, if that’s what they wanted they could turn to a collegiate textbook on a certain subject. Reading an essay should be different. It should let you see the author’s mind at work about a subject that takes the reader on a journey.
I believe that all the points made by Lightman are very valid and that essayists should take his ideas into consideration when writing and just let their thoughts shine in their writing. I really like how his views take you away from the stereotypical outlook on an essay and spotlight the fact that essays should be more of an excursion into your mind trying to grasp something that is very real to you and that you want to translate from your mind into words for others to see. I agree with Lightman that an essay needs to be on a topic that you care about so you can really let the reader see your knowledge and opinions on the subject.
An essay is like a journey through the labyrinth of tunnels in your mind and I believe that Lightman’s quote exemplified this statement. I also can tell that he truly believes this because, just by reading his quote, you could see a piece of his mind at work.
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