It has been said that today’s book is very conservative. That is to say, as Professor Sample put it, “we pick up a book and expect certain things;†consecutive page numbers, for example. In dealing with hypertext, specifically the assigned links and especially “Hegirascope,” we experience the complete opposite. The reader – or viewer in this case – still has his or her expectations but they are not met. Not only are they not met but that are, in many ways, challenged. Nothing seems to flow in a way that one would expect, words flash too quickly for one to take in, there is no specific direction. In spending time with each of these sites, one question remained a constant in my mind: What. Do. I. Do? One feeling remained a constant: frustration. What I find interesting, however, is that, despite my frustrations, I kept returning to the site; I was determined to figure it out. As if there were something to figure out.
           In his 2005 Fall For The Book lecture, author Tim O’Brien discussed the purpose of reading a story. He claimed that it seemed as though everyone was so busy trying to find a deeper message in the story that the reader missed a crucial aspect: enjoyment. Sometimes the purpose of a story is simply to entertain, not to teach a lesson or impart a set of morals. I feel that this could also be the case for the hypertext as well. In my relentless returns to the site to “figure it out†I was missing out on the enjoyment factor, missing out on just being able to read what someone had taken the time to put before me.
           After Professor Sample’s lecture tonight (and, consequently, after learning how to work a few of the sites, “The Bomar Gene†to be exact) I went back to a few of the sites. I went back initially to see if I could find that deeper meaning. Then I gave up. That’s when it hit me. These sites should be enjoyed; they should be taken for what they are worth. In some of them, the message is obvious and I let that be enough. (As I write this blog I’m sitting here listening to an old Red Hot Chili Peppers cd and I’m making a weird connection. If you ever read the songs, half of them make no sense whatsoever. But you listen and you enjoy, the music is still pleasing to your ear. If you like the band, that is.) Finally, after letting myself just enjoy the text, I do not feel frustrated anymore. I still do not completely understand the meaning behind it, but perhaps there is no meaning other than what is right in front of us…
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