Farewell.

As I write this last blog, I feel a pinch of sadness overcoming me…another semester done…another farewell to classmates and wonderful teachers. Looking back at this semester I am definitely feeling some shock at the fact that I made it! We all made it! I remember the first week when I read the “Here’s What To Do” section and felt the anxiety building up in my chest…so much stuff!
From blogs to responses to EL Thinking work to discussions to group work to essays….and more. This has been one of the most challenging classes I have taken and I think a lot of it has to do with being online and being disciplined enough. It took a lot of energy for me to stay up to date with all the assignments. This has, however; also made this class one of the best I have taken. The communication skills I have learned, not just from thoroughly discussing and studying communication chapters in the book, but from actually communicating in different settings and different ways, has made my ability to communicate effectively so much stronger. I have gained a sense of appreciation for being able to communicate face-to-face, and also gained the skills needed when communication cannot take place face-to-face. We learned about the different means of communication: e-mail, blog, advertisements, cartoons, nonverbal, verbal, etc. and every new thing will stick with me in the future and better influence every situation (since communication is always being used everywhere).
The other very important thing that I have taken from this class is the skill of pure writing…not necessarily in a blog or a response or even a PDR, but the simple task of writing and expressing myself in what I write. The essays were not only the most challenging to me, but the most successful in building this skill for me. The extent to which I needed to stretch my abilities was exhausted after every essay. To express myself I had to carefully consider all aspects of what I was writing, how people would perceive it, and how I would want them to perceive it. The weekly responses we did on different topics in the discussion board were helpful in this sense. When I wrote something I was eager to see how other students would respond…would they understand what I was trying to convey? Would they get angry or sad or agree or disagree with my opinion? Would they consider my point of view and still give theirs? (Something I found difficult to do). Finally the essays called for PDR activities, which definitely scared me. I wasn’t too comfortable giving my opinion on someone else’s writing since my own was not something to brag about. I did, however; realize that it did not matter, because what these PDR’s allowed for others was the same as I was anticipating in the weekly responses. These PDR’s allowed others to see how their writing was impacting readers, how it was being perceived by different people with different backgrounds and different opinions, and finally something valuable…how they would take their life experiences and add to the writing to make it even better. I have learned to love those PDR’s!
These are only a few points that I have made on things that I will take away from this class. I enjoyed it (most of the time) and I am absolutely proud of every single student who made it through this class with me this semester! Thank you Jennifer for being such an amazing, easy-going, comfortable, and helpful professor. Good luck to everyone on your future educational and life adventures!

An almost-final word on writing:

One of the challenges that came with this class was the amount of writing that we did…not because it is an English class…but because it varied in the type of writing that was required. Blogging, group work, peer reviews, responding to blogs, discussion board, essays and more all came with this course.

Reflecting on this semester I would say that I have definitely gained in my ability to write. The blogging was definitely completely new for me. Setting up a blog on this site and following other bloggers is an experience that I have learned to like. A few weeks ago we worked on an assignment in which I discussed blogging and what it has become. I said in this assignment that I would probably not continue blogging after this class, but I am reconsidering. It is not a fact of having other people read this blog, or respond to anything I write, no…it is a way of venting (as we were able to do in last week’s blog) and the fact that it feels good! Blogging was the most fun writing I had this semester…mostly because it had more freedom in terms of how we decided to go about writing our assignments. A lot of my classmates took this freedom and went wild with it, something I do not have enough courage to do, and did beautifully. Another new and very challenging thing was the group work…online! I did not think this was possible but I had my fair share of online group work and it has helped me to be more aware of how I write…to maybe add some structure to my sentences and choose my words more wisely, instead of rambling on as I would do in a face-to-face group discussion.
The discussion board was very difficult to stay up to date with. Al though it seemed like two simple posts that we had to share, I found this writing to be challenging. Given the 200 words we had to write, it was hard for me to go to 200 words and not keep things too surface, but to go deeper took a lot for me to not go over 200 words too much. This assignment challenged me to pick my words well and stick with the point…no room for nonsense! As we went through the essay assignments I improved on my knowledge of MLA (didn’t think it would be as hard as it was) and explored a few different ways of going about an assignment as structured as an essay. Compared to the blog it has a more strict tone and way about it which caused me to work on my more serious, good writing. I would love to never talk about the research paper again but it must be done. This essay of six to seven pages has definitely kicked my butt. It was harder than I thought...not only to find sources, but to fill the pages with well though-out, well-written, and no nonsense paragraphs. The PDR’s were also challenging…but in a fun way. I imagined myself as the person reading the feedback I was giving and went about my criticism in a way that would be constructive. It also called for some critical reading, which is more than I would do if I had read these essays just for fun.

Overall the writing in this class has helped me to focus on different tones and ways of expressing myself and it is something that will stay with me until the day I stop communicating.

Venting!

Well, since this is my opportunity to vent (this was actually the assignment) let me start by saying that this semester has consisted, so far, of three different research papers...all more than seven pages. What is going on?
The day I looked at the prompt for this research paper, I felt a bit overwhelmed...reading another novel would take so much time! So I decided to go for option #2 where I get to pick a topic from a list, that has something to do with Iran. These included education, women's rights, nuclear programs and more...and I decided to go with nuclear programs in Iran. As of right now, I have completed five pages. I did all my research and mostly found things on Ebscohost, which is a bitter-sweet victory because of the one hand, Ebscohost is legitimate, while on the other hand some of the articles are written at doctorate level. This means I will spend at least two hours trying to figure out what the article is saying and whether or not it would be beneficial for me.
Well I got through the research part, and as part of the assignment I have to come up with an argument thesis. I decided to argue that Iran deserves to keep their nuclear programs active. This argument rises many contradicting points (which I have considered) and allows me to extensively discuss my argument and the counter arguments it presents.
I figured I was doing pretty well, until my sister proof read it. Her feed back was that the best argumentative paper is one that fully exposes the counter argument. The idea is to write the paper while anticipating what the reader may argue or ask. In this way, the reader will finish reading the paper convinced. This was some great constructive criticism and I am now in the process of editing what I have written so far in order to assure a great argument.
While this is going well, I am struggling with the in-text citations. Al though I follow the MLA style, I always feel like it is wrong, or I am missing something. It is very frustrating and mostly I just wonder why we have to waste our time on this, and why it counts so much. Maybe I am missing something, but I don't think the point of a paper is to cite perfectly, but instead to read and write about the topic at hand, which allows you to further your education. Citing correctly doesn't do that for me.
Anyway, it is what it is and I am excited to get this paper done! I am sure my classmates share this excitement and I hope you are all doing great!
Good luck!

E-mail!

E-mail is a phenomenon believed by many to be the revenge of pen and paper on the technology that I changing our world. Today e-mails are used in every setting, whether it be between family members who are many miles apart, bosses instructing their employees sitting two offices away, or businesses informing the general public of their deals and sales for the next month. Robert Kuttner, author of The Other Side of E-mail, states that “like all new media, e-mail has a dark side”. He argues that e-mail is a thief of time because now, on top of everything else we have to do, we also feel the overwhelming necessity of checking our e-mails and replying to every single one. The other big issue that Kuttner shares with many others about e-mail is the fact that it is affecting our communicative abilities. In her essay “Virtually Trustworthy”, Judith Donath explains that “we carry out social interactions with a large number of communicative behaviors that indicate our intensions, state of mind, communicative competency, and so on.” These nonverbal behaviors are completely eliminated when trying to communicate over e-mail. The reader has no chance to look at the writer’s facial expression, listen to their tone of voice, experience their body language, or make eye contact with them. These are all nonverbal cues that, as discussed in an earlier blog, are essential for us to have a successful communicative experience.
With nonverbal communication is that people do not realize how dependant they are on it. We take it for granted until one day, it does not match up with the verbal communication. In other words, if a person is telling you how happy they are about something, but their tone of voice is feeble and their arms are crossed with a frown on their face, we can easily interpret this as a sign that maybe they are trying to hide their true feelings. The issue with e-mail is that this ability, to look at them and see something different from what we hear, is taken away and we are now completely dependent on only words (not even verbal communication since we also cannot hear their tone or volume of their voice). Kuttner describes an instance in which he had a quarrel with a friend, merely because they were miscommunicating over e-mail. He states that “when talking to someone, you pay attention to tonality. And when you write a letter, you read it over a few times before sending it. But e-mail is tone-deaf and all too instant.”
The fact that e-mails forces this type of communication is problematic in that it will cause generations to change the way they communicate face-to-face. The convenience of typing a quick e-mail with no need to listen or stick around for the conversation that would normally follow what you send in an e-mail, will cause people to start walking away from face-to-face conversations without fully finishing the conversation. E-mails are also causing people to try and communicate without the essential tools of nonverbal and verbal communication. There is no way of substituting these tools for something else, and therefore, a future generation will not find an alternate way to still communicate effectively, but instead suffer and deal with many problems stemming from miscommunicating.

Creative Sting

Political cartoons are usually the first thing we see when we open the newspapers. They portray different opinions and ideas, and are so significant because of the immediate impact they make. Although they are images of someones bias view, or an idea that is currently being debated in our society, they can sometimes portray something that has more truth to it than we would like to admit. The cartoon above does exactly this.
Here, we see the caption "How to increase voter turnout" followed by an image that communicates the following:
1. Our younger people are uneducated when it comes to politics.
2. Our younger people are distracted and consumed by other things. Here specifically, it concentrates on American Idol which is a reality talent show.

These two points are not things that Americans should be proud of. Our younger generation is completely consumed by a materialistic world in which video games, media, reality TV, and music distract them completely from becoming well-informed citizens or more generally, responsible grown-ups. The cartoon above takes a stab at this issue by suggesting the idea that, if we included something of interest to these young people, like voting for their favorite idol instead of the president, they would actually care enough to show up and vote. The sting here is that, of course, that would be of no use to the government, meaning that our younger generation is useless to our society and the processes that make it better. What kind of future will this country have if this generation becomes the leader?

This cartoon, among many, portrays so many ideas of what our people are like and what is happening currently in our society. Of course, this is just someones opinion, but I find it hard to disagree with it, given the obvious truth. Political cartoons hold a power that no other news form does. It is able to convey many different ideas and definitely lives up to the saying "A picture is worth a thousand words".

Meaningful Advertisements

In researching some material for my blog this week, I stumbled across a news story on Fox News, reporting on a controversial ad in which a mother is painting her little boy’s toenails pink, with the caption “lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink.” This ad is supposed to be advertising the clothing both mom and son are wearing. According to the Fox News, however, this ad is “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children”.

During my reading on language and the media, “The Language of Media”, an essay written by Charles A. O’Neil, outlined the different factors that are involved in writing and making an advertisement. One of the factors, titled “Edited and Purposeful”, describes advertisements as “engineered messages” that “exist in the context of our society”. According to Fox, this is more than just a clothing advertisement; in fact it is propaganda for the homosexual community that has become so prevalent in society today. According to O’Neil, this advertisement was brilliantly written and produced to pertain to this community and all the controversy that comes with it. Another factor, “Demanding Attention”, also allows for some reasoning behind the choice of this advertisement. “Advertisers use many techniques to attract and hold the attention of the consumer audience” and the most common is sexuality. Not only is our society today a very sexually aggressive one, but there are many audiences who are at the defense for acceptance of their sexual orientation, and for this reason holds on to and exposes anything to do with it. This ad, if indeed it does support transgender or other sexuality, is an example of the response from our society to these people, a response of acceptance. This is the problem that Fox News has with it.

Another reason, stated under “Involving”, as to why Fox News and others might have such an issue with this advertisement, is that ads “exploit parts of our society, the young, insecure, or clueless.” They are about “the systematic, deliberate identification of our needs and wants, followed by the delivery of a carefully constructed promise that the product will satisfy them.” So if this is the case, then this fashion ad does no harm right? It is simply a mother and her son, well dressed, enjoying themselves. The problem is that “as soon as we see or hear an advertisement, our imagination is set in motion, and our individual fears and aspirations, quirks, and insecurities come out to play.” So for all of society that has issues with their sexuality, who does not feel accepted or who feels left out or lonely, they can all look at this ad and feel a sense of hope, a sense of joy that this mother and son feels, and a sense of acceptance that this mother has for her son who likes feminine things (which to many is the indication that he is gay).

Although some people may think that Fox News is completely overreacting, it is clear that advertisers have an ability to make us feel a certain way, and that they know exactly what is going on in society and how to use it to their benefit, and finally how to get people to make a fuss out of their product. In this case, there is so much controversy over this advertisement that it is almost impossible to think that what they were actually selling did not benefit.

Media Influence

It was around five pm and I was walking out of the school grounds, excited to go home. Today was an extra rough day, in terms of playing of course. You see, I was eleven years old and spent my afternoons at the afterschool program where I did homework and played for hours, until my dad picked me up on his way home from work. The concept at this young age of “overseas” was hard to grasp. More specifically, the image of America was one of great respect, of wonder and admiration at the power that this one place held across the world. I could not always understand everything related to this place, but I did know that this was the place where everyone wanted to go, and that my family would, at some point, go there too. I remember walking toward the car, confused as to why my dad wasn’t leaning against the car, ready to take my backpack and open the door as usual. Instead, he was sitting inside the car, his hand covering his mouth, looking at the dashboard. What is going on? I got in the car, expecting to start babbling about my day, but was silenced by the blaring radio. I couldn’t understand what it was saying, and decided it would be best to wait as my dad gestured a “hold on one minute” sign. I looked at the radio and remember the date displayed, 11 September 2001. The drive home did not commence for another half hour…within which the fear built in my heart as tears ran down my dad’s face. Why is he crying? What is happening? It took a few days to fully grasp why my dad was so upset. It was all over the TV, the radio, even at school. I cannot imagine how it was in America, but for us, in South Africa, it was like the world was ending. The strongest, most powerful country in the world, attacked.

Today, as I sit in a coffee shop in America, writing about this experience, it dawns on me how significant a role media plays in the entire world. Learning about the events on this tragic day, seeing the images and reaction of a broken nation, would have been impossible without the influence of media. People are dependent on many forms of media today in order to know what is happening, not only in their society, but in the rest of the world. It has become second nature for most of us to turn on the television or pick up a newspaper in order to get up to date with worldly events. Living in a society where these things are so conveniently available makes me wonder if there is ever a sense of question. It is clear that every news source has their position on issues, and we are educated enough to understand that news sources choose what they want to say and how they say it. Yes, this can become a problem, and it can lead to a wrongly informed society, a formation of bias views, or even action that is not in the best interest of people.
Since we are such a media-dependent world, it is important to be critical toward news sources. Know what their position is, know who provides the information and what their motivation is, and finally don’t limit yourself to one source, read and research many in order to stay well-rounded in what is going on. Knowing these things has helped me to be informed on issues and the different perspectives around them. Media is an influence that will grow in society as technology improves and it is a blessing to live in a time like this, when I can be in a different country and still be informed and experience a sense of what is happening somewhere else. I am grateful for this but with that I am cautious, always making the effort to look at different sources to get the facts right.