Brendlefly - Web journal of Brendon O'Hanlon

I have missed a week, not because I haven't written anything, but because what I had, was not ready to go up. Here is the first of my assignments from Adrian Rifkin to go up. I could attach it but. I prefer just copying the text.

The brief was to document how I pay attention to something, to be written in the third person. This actually changed from lecture to lecture first it was "describe yourself in the third person", then it was "describe yourself paying attention to anything" , then it was "..paying attention to a piece of art". I distilled these many options into:

Brendon Paying Attention to Adrian Rifkin’s Lecture.

Brendon has an odd way of paying attention to anything. When he goes to Adrian’s lecture he doesn’t take notes, well not many, he might note down the list of Artist names that get reeled off, but he doesn’t take actual notes on the lecture. He listens, and takes in the information, tries to comprehend and question it.

Writing notes down, if Brendon could keep up, which is unlikely, some how stops the information going in. It’s as though the meaning of the words hits his face and slides off down his fingers.

During the first lecture as well as listening to him, he ran his eye over Adrian. Trying to get the measure of the man, appearance first, age, clothes, then style and manner. He then started taking in his words, assessing not just the immediate content but taking in the political and social direction of his talk, personal anecdotes were noted and a picture built up.

The process of profiling Adrian, while important to Brendon, distracts from the actual academic content, so during the lecture he decided he’d like to try recording it. The idea of recording appeals, because without notes from the lecture although he absorbs and understands it, there is the worry that he won’t recall the specifics of it. There is also the plus that he’s never tried recording lectures before, Brendon likes to try new things, it’s a way of feeling like you’re achieving without actually doing any work.

By the third lecture Brendon has got himself a digital camera with a built in microphone, so he starts recording. He considers full video, but settles on sound, it should be enough to trigger memory, probably better, because the lack of image will actually make him remember the visual image. The freedom of the recording allows him to relax and really listen and interact with the lecture.

For the first time since arriving at University he is confident enough to draw in a lecture, he hasn’t drawn in school or college lessons since he was 11 , when he used it to help him focus on listening comprehension. While drawing, Brendon realises he has wanted to draw Adrian since the first lecture. As well as fixing Adrian’s image in his head, drawing acts as a tool to focus Brendon’s attention on Adrian. He decides to try the technique in lectures generally

Near the end of the lecture, someone who has come late asks to borrow Brendon’s notes for the lecture, he laughs goes through his pad and offers the picture. Oddly they don’t take up the offer.