Week 17, Question 3: More Focus on Organizational Communication

The one concept that I feel needs further discussion is the Organizational Communication. There are so many corporations and organizations out there that us students are going to be involved with such as school and work. Therefore with organizations being so prevalent in our lives, it is important to focus on better understand its function and its communication methods. With better understanding organizations, we can be prepared when going into interviews or approaching our supervisors to solve a conflict. During that week's discussion, we talked about how the organizations is dependent and connected to its environment. But I feel we should also be talking about how we are dependent on them as well as how to effectively communicate with them to get what we need. After all, organizations are a big part of our lives.

Understand how to better manage organizational communication will help all of us students to get achieve higher positions in the organizations we are a part of. For an example, I could use what I learned about the information flow to my advantage my getting my publishing my work for my job. I could also use this concept to take advantage of the informal structures to learn more about the company and to get recognized by the company. This concept is really useful to me in terms of better understanding my organizations. Therefore, more focus should be on this concept of organizational communication.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 17, Question 2: Communication is interesting

Sarah Trenholm does a great job with explaining communication concepts through her book. She address the positive impacts and methods of communication as well as the negative impacts of miscommunication. Throughout this class, I found many concepts interesting such as the concept of listening, nonverbal communication, public communication etc.

But if I must choose one to talk about, I will discuss the nonverbal communication concept where your physical appearance does affect other people's impression of you and how they communicate with you. For an example, one of the physical appearance concept is how people prefer to communicate with people based on their body type. For an example, some people prefer to only talk to thin and frail people, also known as ectomorph. Also, the way you dress can affect the way people view and talk to you. Desmond Morris (as cited in Trenholm 2008) clothing or the way you dress serves 3 major function: comfort protection, modesty, and cultural display. I find this to be really true. People will dress to be comfortable and be modest with their body. Some may not dress that way because they are portraying a side of their culture. I watching the movie Mean Girls and found dress and body type truly does have an affect on other people's perception and communication with you, especially in grade school. Kids have a certain perception and favor towards what is "cool" therefore they choose to only hang out with other people who dress "cool" and ignore those who are not. Then those are not as "cool" become isolates or outcast in their own community. It's strange really. But then this gets me thinking, who defines what is "cool?" I believe that it is the mass media that defines what is cool and what is not through their television shows and their advertisements. Getting into that topic is another post, so I'll leave I'll leave it at that.


Signing out

Events Dreamer

Week 17 Question 1: Survey Research Method

The research method that I found interesting on Chapter 13's Table 13.3 is the survey research. Trenholm writes that the survey research method are used by researchers to survey groups of people through written questionnaires or face-to-face interviews. I like this method because it is direct and straightforward. With the survey research method, I can talk to people directly and be able to receive an honest answer.


Assuming that I am doing a study regarding deception, my main research question would be "What are the main causes of Deception?" To conduct this research question, I would use the survey research method to find out what the general public believe to be the cause of deception. This survey method will allow me come up with a series of questions (questionnaire) that will help me determine what the causes of deception are. These questions can range from multiple choices or even open-ended. Even though survey methods do not have extremely high response and accuracy rate, surveys are useful when researchers want to know the truth about how people fee about certain things. With surveys, researchers can make it convenient for the participants by allowing them to take it at home and turn it in at their earliest convenience.

Week 15, Question 3: Interactivity

The concept of interactivity is interesting to me because it is only recently that mass media have employed this way of communication. Sarah Trenholm defines interactivity as an opportunity where receivers get the chance to engage with the senders by responding to polls, posting comments, sending e-mails etc. Our communication class is actually participating in interactivity at this very moment. Every week each student publishes posts about the week's topic and each student must also respond to those posts. Well, the responses that we do describes interactivity. Because of interactivity, the traditional mass media is not a one-way channel of communication any more, it allows communication through mass media to be two-way where anyone can respond to an article or a television show. Another example of interactivity would be how viewers can respond to MTV shows. If you visit MTV.com, you can view full episodes of their shows and type or comments clip by clip. This is a neat thing because MTV producers get to read how their viewers are responding to their shows and make necessary changes to get better viewing ratings. Another example of interactivity that I see in today's society is Facebook. Facebook allows their users to pose updates about their daily life and viewers, such as friends, can respond to those posts.

Sarah Trenholm also mentions the concept of "wiki". Wiki is a type of website that allows users to add, remove, or edit and change all the content. Sites like Wikipedia, or Wikianswers are good examples of those sites. Before reading this chapter, I never understood why those sites have "Wiki" in the beginning, but now I understand the meaning of the word "wiki". Haha very interesting.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 15, Question 2: "Cool" and "Hot" are Subjective

I agree with Marshall McLuhan when he stated that, "the medium is the message." McLuhan believed the channel of delivery is just as important as the message and that the channel determines the content that will be delivered. I agree some channel or form of delivery is compatible with certain kinds of messages. For an example, newspapers can only deliver messages that can be reported in words, like world events, history, information about people etc. Newspapers can't really describe concerts very well. Those just have to be seen. But with television, there's so many messages that can be delivered, not just news. With television, we can see moving pictures, moving words, moving emotions etc. Everything on television is like as if we are right there experiencing those moments broadcasted. It's best to broadcast a concert rather than write about it.

McLuhan also refers to television as a "cool medium." When I think of "cool" and television, I think of those people who are on reality shows such as "Real World," "America's Next Top Model," etc. Those people are willing to broadcast their life is "cool." But the word "cool" is also very subjective. The meaning of cool is defined for the whole society by people who own television. So "cool" is not so much how society defines but rather how television makes society perceive "coolness". Over the years of watching television and the types of characters they portray, it seems like the "cool" are people who are out there in terms of being talkative, outspoken, partiers, wild cats, and every now and then they actually do have a character who is "goody-two-shoes." Shows like Gossip Girls or 90210 is a good example of how television define the word "cool." The characters on these shows are rich, beautiful, skinny, Caucasian etc. I feel that television broadcast certain people to guarantee good "drama" that people can enjoy and good television ratings. Sometimes, a "cool" television can refer to how people see the characters on TV. People can view those characters as how they want to be in real life but can't because their real life situations limit their ability to fully express themselves.

McLuhan also says that characters who are "hot" are more suitable for radio. When I first heard of "hot" and radio, I think of characters who create controversy or can say statements in such a way that arouses emotions of all kinds. I listen to the radio sometimes and mostly I just hear talk show hosts who can verbally express statements that gets people thinking or active about something.

The concept of "cool television" or "hot radio" is very new to me, but it makes sense in today's society.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 15, Question 1: Cyberspace friendships vs. Real Life Friends

I have been using the internet for more 9 years now for multiple occasions: e-mail, networking sites, and for school. I have made friendships that existed exclusively in cyberspace. For an example, San Jose State University has a website called Blackboard, made exclusively for students taking online classes. I am currently enrolled in 2 online classes so I am on Blackboard more than 4 times a week for my classes. Because I and other online students, are required to be on Blackboard, I have made friends with some of my classmates. These "friends" are more like acquaintances; we are there to support each other academically. I have never made "friends" with someone in cyberspace in such a way where I feel comfortable sharing my personal information with. The relationship that I do have with my classmates on Blackboard is a combination of professional and casual interactions. We are formal with one another when it comes to discussing class work, but we are informal when we are talking about school, life, future, etc. To be honest, I don't trust my classmates enough to truly share how I feel about our classes and other information.

The cyberspace relationship is really different in that we don't get to see the facial or physical reactions of the other person. All we see is the words typed and we can only feel the emotions of the words through the context of our conversation. Sometimes it is hard to tell if someone is being sarcastic of serious with their statements. I feel that face-to-face friendships are more valuable than cyberspace relationships. With face-to-face, it is more personal because you get to see, feel, touch, and smell the other person. They are real to you. Whereas with cyberspace, you never really know who you are talking to. Also with face-to-face relationship, there is also that immediate reaction that can seen right away. But with internet conversations, you can't tell how the other person received your message, you can only hope that they received it correctly.


I would much rather make friends in person than through cyberspace only because they are more tangible and plus I love face-to-face interactions. By the way, touch is my love language. I tend to touch people a lot because that is how I connect with people. So if I can't touch them or see them, the relationship is not connecting with me and it is not as valuable.

Signing Out,
Events Dreamer

Week 14 Question 3: Always so formal!

Reading through organizational communication was intriguing to me because we've all, at some point in our lives, have been a part of some kind of organizations. We've all contributed to the journal to reaching their missions and goals as well as been a part of the communication.

I used to work at a technology company and everything was so formal. To apply to this experienced, I was mainly interested in the formal and informal channels of communication within the organization.
The formal communication channels follow the organization structure or hierarchy. I have experienced this in my work experiences at several companies. To get things approved, an individual has to go through their supervisor, who has to report to their department manager, who then reports to the general manager etc. I understand that there needs to be structure but I feel that this sometimes can slow down the information flow -- the path information takes as it passes through the org. But in the over all picture, it is preferable to have a formal communication channel to prevent chaos.

When compared the information communication channels, the formal way is much more structured for success. The informal communication deviates from the planned communication structure when can cause gossip, clutter, and chaos. I still sometimes like a little bit of information to relieve the stress and the tension of always being so proper.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 14 Question 2: Long Post about Etiquettes

Sarah Trenholm provides a list of etiquettes, created by Letitia Baldridge, for the new era of technology and information.

Among the list are etiquettes for cellular phones. It states that people should not engage in a cellular phone conversation while in a restaurants, concert, movies, or at a church service. I agree with this rule and as a matter of fact, the movies now have short movie clips just to deliver the message of turning off your cell phones. I really like those short movie clips that shows how a cell phone can ruin a scene. I myself know not to be on the phone at a restaurant or if I happen to already be in a conversation prior to entering a Starbucks, I know not to laugh or talk really loud. I have experienced people who are fully pre-occupied with their cellular conversation that they forgot they're next in line and does not know what to order (which slows down the line even more). Things like that irritate me because there are occasions where I am in a hurry and it slows me down to have someone who is not fully paying attention to his/her surroundings.

Another etiquette refers to how people should not try to make jokes, play weird music, or be flip in recorded messages. It is also not good to have answering machines that does not leave room for long messages because it can be annoying to have to make repeat calls or messages. I do agree that people should leave professional recordings to make it easier on the person leaving the message. I will admit that I do have a song playing on my voicemail and I leave it there only because the song represents something sentimental. (it’s a recording of me playing the piano). I really like the recording so I leave it there for almost 4 years now. Over those years, I've gotten good and bad feedback. But overall, I know that it is unprofessional to have music playing during in the voicemail. It is definitely more professional to say the conventional message line. But I have been pranked by some of my friends who leave jokes as their message line. Sometimes it's funny but at most times, it's not. It's actually annoying and when people get fooled, they're left with not a good mood. When I'm fooled by those pranks messages, I feel embarrassed and it makes me not even want to leave a message or ever call back. So overall, I think music is fine dependent on what kind of music, but jokes is definitely out of the question for a message line.

In regards to call waiting, I actually think that it is one of the best thing ever created for phones because now I can be on the phone with one individual and not miss a call from someone else. Call waiting is so that you will not miss important calls. But I don't think it is right to put someone on hold for too long while you have a conversation on the other line. It is best to just tell the person you will call them back when you get the chance. For an example, it is important to talk directly to your boss and not make him wait while you talk to your boyfriend. That's why it is important to also have the ability to prioritize in life.

The third etiquette refers to how people should identify themselves before they speak during a conference call and to mute yourself or lower your voice when saying joking or sarcastic comments. I have been in several serious/business conference calls before and the one thing I always remember to do is mute myself. It is always embarrassing and not good business behavior to have loud background noise or to accidentally say something silly. To prevent it all from happening, I just mute myself and then unmute when I want to talk.

The fourth etiquette talks about how people should not fax long, unannounced or unwelcomed materials. And when we do fax, we should let the recipient know prior to sending it. I never dealt with situations where faxes were sent and it was long and unannounced. But every time I fax, I always let the person know that I'm faxing it, just to ensure its delivery.

The fifth etiquette suggest that we should time our communication by timing our calls and faxes so that we do not disturb our recipient at home or during a busy time at work. This is definitely important especially if the individual is trying to make an impression. When I call in for a job position, I always make sure I call in the morning or in the late evening when business is slow or die down. Or when I am calling a business colleague, I e-mail them first to make sure that calling at a specific time is good or not.

Finally, the sixth etiquette talks about how the screen names that we choose for any internet accounts or ring tones for our phone should be appropriate. When I was in high school, I would have ring tones if popular hip-hop or r&b songs that I listen to and that use to be cool. But in the business world, it is deemed as unprofessional and immature. Therefore as I got to college, I stopped using those ringtones and just assigned normal premade ring tones in my cell phone. Also now when I create new screen names for new e-mail addresses, I make sure that it is professional and doesn't look silly. Of course when we were all in high school or younger, we want to creative in a kiddish way, but now we need to be creative in a professional way.

I hope you enjoyed this reading.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 14 Question 1: Organizational Linkages

According to Sarah Trenholm, since organizations are like any other living systems, they are linked to their environments because they depend on their surroundings for resources and energy. Just like a school. A school would not be one if it there were no students or teachers or people to do the administrative tasks. And just like any living organisms, organizations cannot exist without a healthy environment to support it. My high school was able to have after school programs and strong athletic programs because it received tremendous support from the parents and faculty. The parents of students got together and fundraised during sports program to get money for next year's program. Certain fundraisers are selling candies, magazines, or even car washes. The parents target city residence who attend these sports game or residence who just happen to be in the area for a car wash. This is how we are all interdependent on one another for survival.

An organization like a high school or college have ethical obligations to use the fundraising money correctly by putting it into its intended use. For an example, the parents of students athletes at my high school fundraised specifically for their athletic programs, such as the soccer team. Once they've received enough money, they will give that money to the school athletic programs to spend on the soccer team. Now, the athletic programs are under ethical obligations to spend that money on items that is relevant to the soccer team and no where else. It would be morally wrong for the athlete board of directors to spend that money on the football team or the basketball team. I believe that all organizations need to give back to the community in anyway possible. Just like any organisms, the organization is using resources from its surrounding environment. To be fair and just, the organizations need to give back some of its earnings or benefits to the people in that environment. For an example, my high school gave back by donating any un-needed materials to local charities. Actually, I believe that we, as individuals, should always give back to our environment.

Signing Out,
Events Dreamer

Week 13 Question 3: Intimacy

The concept that I found most interesting was the relational development and the stages in intimate dyads. I am currently in a romantic relationship and it is really intriguing to relate the steps in the book to how we intimately grew closer to each other. In my romantic relationship, we did go through the experience the relational development stages of initiating stage, experimenting stage, the intensifying stage, the integrating stage, and finally the intimacy stage.

When we first met, we were in the initiating stage of carefully observing each other for cues preferable cues of personality, attitudes, etc. In the initiating stage we were both very careful with our filters to make sure that we want to get to know each other more. Then we went on to the experimenting stage where we got to know each other a little more through relaxing conversations. Because I enjoyed the information that was revealed about my boyfriend, and he seemed to like what I revealed about myself as well so we both moved on to the integrating stage. In this stage, we became an intimate couple. We care about each other, we enjoy each others company, we love each other, and we share belongings, friends, family, etc. In this stage, we find ourselves discussing really deep intimate things that we normally wouldn't talk about with other people. This is the stage where we really trust each other. I believe that we are moving on to a deeper level of committing that might be leading towards engagement. Even though we know each other pretty well, I believe that we will still be cautious and take it slow just to get to know other some more before taking a huge step into marriage.

Signing out,

Events Dreamer

Week 13 Question 2: Filtering System

According to Steve Duck (as cited in Sarah Trenholm) we use filters to judge how close to others we want to become. I can totally relate to this theory because throughout life, we meet a lot of people but over time, we learn which of these people will become our close intimate friends. I have many filters that I use to consider people as potential romantic partners and close friends. Just romantic partners alone, I judge the men based on their intellect and the ability to hold a sophisticated conversation. After that, I make sure that the individual is family and goal oriented. After that, it's based on a series of characteristics that I look for to consider taken it to the next step with them. Duck's filtering theory makes complete sense to me because we all do this in life as we meet new people. We test the waters to see if they are a good fit for us in life or not.

Steve Duck identifies 4 filters that he theorize people use; sociological or incidental cues, pre-interaction cues, interaction, and finally, the cognitive cues. I have used the sociological or incidental cues to consider my relationship with them. Sociological or incidental cues are the demographic or environmental factors that determine the probability of contact. I have decided not to continue a relationship with someone because they live so far away from. I felt that the relationship wouldn't be successful or beneficial, so I ended it. I also have filtered people using the pre-interaction cues which are the physical beauty, artifacts, and nonverbal behaviors. I must admit, the pre-interaction cues are sometimes shallow but I believe that you can't start a relationship with someone if you are not attracted to them. Finally the interaction cues are the initial contact and the cognitive cues, the values and attitudes and beliefs, have helped me filtered the many possibilities into one perfect person for my current romantic partner. I went through this filtering system without even knowing it.


Signing out,

EventsDreamer

Week 13 Question 1: Finding a Balance

I believe the most difficult to change is the rigid complementarity and the consequences of this pattern can be very damaging to a relationship. In a complementary pattern, one partner takes the one-up position and the other takes the one-down. This means that there's always the partner that makes the decision and control the relationship while the others submit and agrees.

This is hard to change because sometimes, the relationship develops this pattern because of the personality type of the individuals in the relationship and personalities are difficult to alter.

Imagine a romantic relationship where the girl is the dominant one in a romantic relationship and the guy is always the submissive one. He always agrees with what she wants to do and gives in his desires to follow her decisions. I feel that if this pattern lasts for a long time, he will soon resent the relationship from preventing him to do what he wants. Then even when he wants to change the pattern, the girl has already established that dominance and it will be hard for her to step down and let him take the lead. The girl in the relationship is so used to being the leader that it is going to be difficult for her to let go of control. I believe that there should always be a balance of who takes the one-up in a relationship. To fix prevent resentment, I believe it's best to take turn in having the one-up position in a complementary pattern.

I believe that the most damaging pattern to a relationship is the competitive symmetry. Since in this pattern, partners are constantly fighting for the lead, it will create resentment, jealously, animosity and a competitive atmosphere rather than a loving and friendly relationship.

In my opinion, the most potentially damaging pattern to the self-esteem is the submissive symmetry. The submissive symmetry is when both partners are gives up their desire for the other partner to take the lead. I know that if I always give up my desires and what I want for the other to take the lead, I eventually feel that I am not worthy enough to take the lead myself. This pattern is damaging to my self-esteem if I can't think highly of myself that rather I am always thinking that other people should take the lead. Sometimes being too submissive discredit and devalue an individual's potential.

To prevent all negative impact of these patterns, one must have balance.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 11 Question 3: Cultural Perception

The concept of how culture can hugely affect perception is interesting to me. According to Sarah Trenholm, we have to be aware of cultural conventions and familiarizing oneself with basic values and customs. As communicators we have to understand each other's cultures in order to effectively communicate our messages. I completely agree with Trenholm that now knowing the values of another country can result in embarrassment and loss of credibility. I feel that a good speaker is one that knows the background of their listeners and incorporate the culture information into their message; this helps the listener to relate to the speaker when they feel that their values are being understood. For an example, if a president candidate is giving a speech in New York City to woo them into voting for him, it would be best for him to gear his plans accordingly what they values they hold dearest. Being able to relate to the audience is helpful when you want them to understand your message. I am going to keep this in mind when I am trying to promote an idea and I want others to accept that idea.

Signing Out,
Events Dreamer

Week 11 Question 2: Rationality, Perfectibility, and Mutability Premises

I do believe in rationality, perfectibility, and mutability. According to Larry Samovar, Richard Porter, and Nemi Jain, the rationality premise is the belief that most people are capable of discovering the truth throgh logical analysis. In my opinion, I feel that education and the teachings of many parents encourage us to look at situations through the rationality premise. We should always be logical first and then emotions second. I was always told by many of my teachers that emotions can manipulate and logical is always wise. Even in society today, people are considered insane if they are too emotional and people are considered normal and mentally capable when they are rational. Even though sometimes I am told to follow my heart, I was also told that I need to think things through logically before making any decision.

The perfectibility premise believes that people are born in sin but are capable of achieving goodness through effort and control. I feel that the perfectibility premise is mostly practiced by Puritans, Christians, and mostly religious people who feel they need to work hard at being a good person. For an example, I know that many Christians go to church because they want to achieve that goodness, and they believe that going to church shows effort. Another example is a Buddhist monk who dedicates his whole life to being a Buddhist by giving up all earthly desires. They want to achieve goodness and nirvana though their dedication. When parents are religious, they may impose this beliefs unto their child. Then their child may feel that they always have to achieve perfection. Some people feel that to gain trust, they have to earn it and prove that they are trustworthy. This belief stems from the fact that all are capable of being hurtful. An example is that some women feel that they cannot trust men because they have been hurt by men before. So from then, in order for the man to gain the woman's trust, he has to show that he is a good person.

Finally the mutability premise believes that human behavior is shaped by environmental actors and the way to improve humans is to improve their physical and psychological circumstances. I do agree with the believe that human behavior is based on the physical circumstances like how their body looks. For an example, some people feel that their happiness depends on their appearance. This stems from the insecurities of their looks, so they attempt to change their body through dieting, exercising, or extremes like plastic surgery. This is when the human behavior is shaped by the physical circumstances. Human behaviors are also shaped by their physical surroundings and location. For an example, an individual may act outgoing and wild when they are at a night club, but may appear professional in an interview.

I completely agree with all three basic beliefs and it can apply to everyone at different stages of life.

Signing Out,
Events Dreamer

Week 11 Question 1: Breaking Cultural Habits, Beliefs, and Impossibilities

I do agree with anthropologist Ruth Benedict in that we are products of our culture; we inherit the habits, beliefs, and ways of living from the culture that we grew up in. I am Vietnamese, I was born in Vietnam and grew up in a Vietnamese household. My whole life ever since I left for college, I've been eating Vietnamese food and only learned how to cook Vietnamese food. So when I came to college and had my own kitchen, I only cooked Vietnamese food. My cooking habits was shown when I left my home and was independent from my family. I also saw other people's cultural cooking habits as I began to meet new people from around the world. I agree with Ruth Benedict that the impossibilities shaped by our culture are also attached to our lives. But I also feel that we can break through the limits of our culture simply by doing so. For an example, I brought with me to college the habit of cooking food the Vietnamese way until I met my boyfriend who is Caucasian. He taught me new ways of cooking food and ever since then, I broke through my habits and made my own style of cooking.

Ruth Benedict mentions that we also inherited our parents beliefs. One belief that I inherited from my parents is Buddhism. I grew up being a Buddhism, praying to Buddha, and participating in traditional cultural Vietnamese practices. So when I left my parents house, I was still looking at Buddha as my God and believed on the teachings of Buddhism. As I branched out, met my boyfriend, I was introduced to the teachings of Christ. I was intrigued and moved by his teachings and since then I broke my habits of believing in Buddhism. Of course, I can never truly turn against Buddhism because it was there for me when I grew up and it helped me through troubles. I will always have respect for my old cultural habits but I am not bound to it anymore.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 8 Question 3: Adaptorrs

From this week's reading on Encoding Messages: Nonverbal communication, I learned to become more aware of my nonverbal messages and to ensure that I am sending the right message across. Though it is very difficult to be completely aware of all nonverbal communication, I must try to control at least some; like my eye contact, my physical gestures and body movement.

One concept that I found most intriguing is the unconscious state of mind and what we do when we are stressed. Trenholm wrote about how adaptors are behaviors that people use to adapt to stresses and satisfy personal needs. If we learn how to analyze and interpret adaptors, we are given access to a good source of information about other people's emotions. But I believe that it is difficult to get an accurate interpretation about someone's emotions even if we are familiar with certain adaptors. For an example, Trenholm wrote that some adaptors are behaviors that satisfy immediate needs such as scratching and other adaptors helps us deals with stress. I find it interesting that you can gain access into why someone maybe cracking their fingers or chewing on their lip all the time, like me.

When I am stressed out, I tend to chew on my lip or almost all the time, I crack my fingers repeatedly. I am almost unaware that I am cracking my fingers, I just do it while I am thinking or reflecting about something. One time, my class mate had to tell me to stop because I was doing it nonstop and she was wondering if I was in a conscious state of mind. It was like I was day dreaming, but I was really thinking hard on the work that I have to do that day. I am one of those people that use self-adaptors. I touch my neck and play with my hair all the time in class when I don’t want to pay attention anymore and I just want to go off in my own world. It is not necessarily the fact that I am stress but more tired of concentrating so I am taking a break. Playing with my hair is kind of like a mindless thing to do. Sometimes, I touch my neck, rub myself when I am stressed out. As a matter of fact, I am stressed out right now and I found myself rubbing my back. This is really interesting to learn about because now I am more aware and conscious of my actions.

Signing out,
Evens Dreamer

Week 8 Question 2: Different meanings to Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal messages are both universal and cultural. They are universal in some areas but in others, they are culturally difference. I have encounter several cultural differences between America and Vietnam. I was born in Vietnam, lived there for 5 years and then moved to America when I was around 5 or 6.

I grew up America and picked up some of the nonverbal communication that teenagers learn to have with one another. An example of what I always do with my friends is hug. Everywhere I go, I hug people I know. Hugging is a form of greeting that leaves a nice and friendly feeling behind. In high school, I hug all of my friends when I first see them and I carried it on into college. When I was a Freshmen in college, I took a trip to Vietnam. At this age, I was a very touchy person; this was my love language. I touch because I want to connect with them physically. I touch when I want to make a point and I want them to understand me, and I hug during greetings. I find that in Vietnam, most people/adults do not like to hug. I tried hugging my aunts and older cousins and was left feeling awkward. It was just weird. It seemed like they do not want to be touched. Maybe teenagers in America hug because they want to feel closer to their friends. But the older generations, like business men, only shake hands and rarely ever get closer than that. I wonder if because people are feeling reserved and unsure of themselves. I know that in Vietnam, people hug only when they are super close with each other, but never on a first meeting basis. Maybe it was because my cousins did not really know me to hug me so they did not use that kind of nonverbal communication. I guess for me, hug and touch is a constant nonverbal communication and others do not share the same ideas.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 8 Question 1: Dangerous Assumption

Nonverbal communication can be very difficult to read and interpret especially when each individual is unique in their own ways. Nonverbal communication is both universal and cultural therefore when interpreting a person's act, we all must be mindful and careful; they are open to misinterpretation.

I will admit that I have been wrong about the meaning of someone's nonverbal message before. Actually I've been wrong a lot of times. I always assume that just because a guy and a girl is hanging out, hitting each other, and making eye contact, it means that they like each other. Sometimes they do like each other and sometimes they are really good friends with one another. Another example would be the time when I misinterpreted my boyfriends act of kindness for acts of flirting. I am not much of a jealous girl but I sometimes identified him being nice as him gesturing some kind of flirtatious moves towards another girl. But now that I've known him for a quite a long time, I don't feel that way anymore because I've been able to study his nonverbal communication and now I am able to interpret his actions with little errors.

To increase accuracy with our interpretation, we must do at least three things. First we must check the context of his nonverbal communication. For an example, if my boyfriend is being nice to a girl, I need to find out why and what was the circumstances to be able to interpret his acts of kindness. In this specific situation, the girl was having trouble with her family and it is affecting her schoolwork. So he decided to help her understand the lectures. Second, we must compare the behavior to baseline behavior. For an example, I have to make sure that kindness is a virtue in my boyfriend's personality. If it is, then he is just a nice person and he doesn't mean to send any messages of being flirtatious to the girl. But if he is not usually a nice person and then all the sudden he is nice to this girl, then we might have a problem. Because I have been with my boyfriend for a long, long time, I can see that he is a natural benevolent person and is always lending helping hand to others. Third, we must check our understanding by asking for verbal feedback. I always ask my boyfriend what his behavior means and if I am interpreting his actions correctly. If I am wrong or correct, either way it improves our communication and thus strengthen our relationship.

Other ways of improving accuracy of nonverbal communication is to get to know the person better find out why they do certain things. Sometimes there are nonverbal communication that are intentional and some that are unintentional; we must be able to distinguish between the two to be able to correctly interpret nonverbal communication.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 7 Question 3: Learning how to listen

This week's reading was very insightful into the way that I listen to others. I have always considered myself to be a very good listener because I pay attention to details and I ask a lot of questions. But being a good listener entails much more than that. In Chapter 3, Sarah Trenholm talks about the cognitive schemata that helps us identify and organize incoming information. There are three types of schemata; person prototypes, personal constructs, and scripts. Upon reading these schemata, I can apply it to myself and evaluate how I am as a listener and how attentive I can be. The schema that really applied to me is the scripts. The person prototypes and the personal constructs are schemata used to process information about other people. But the scripts schema helps us interpret the sequence of actions. Trenholm wrote that a script tells us what comes next in a sequence of actions. For an example; if we experience a situation repeatedly, we can identify the order that it's going to happen when it does happen again.

What I find really interesting within the script schema is the schematic default options. A good example is an everyday greeting of , "Hello, how are you?" and you would expect the person to say, "Oh, I'm fine thank you." Since it is so scripted and you've gone through that experience many times, it s usual for you to assume what's going to happen next. You end up being confident in yourself. But when the other person replies, "No, I'm doing terrible." Sometimes you won't even notice that they said that because you are stuck to your script. Then when you do notice that they are not doing well, you are thrown off and feel uncomfortable because you haven't encounter this situation. I notice that in everyday life, I do this all the time. I greet people with the same words again and again and nothing changes. I have noticed this before as I started to go over the script repeatedly. With recognition I was able to step away from the script and listen beyond it. Script can be good in situations like an interview. You are well prepared and confident to answer the expected questions. This will help you achieve your career. But scripts can have its downfall. If we rely too heavily on a script, we may see or hear what we expect rather than what actually occurs. This is so true in many occasions of greetings. I expect the, "I'm fine," that I don't even pay attention to what they are trying send. I really enjoyed chapter 3 because it helps me to be a better listener than I was before. I am also going to put effort in improving my interpretation. Interpreting the message correctly can help improve relationships and also help you understand what the speaker is really trying to send.

Week 7 Question 2: Men are not from Mars and Women are not from Venus

According to Sarah Trenholm, "throughout their lives, men and women learn to varying degrees, how to use language to display stereotypical gender identities." With this sentence, I believe that society and the media have publicize how men and women should act according to their gender roles. I am a female, therefore my gender identity that I've been taught to have is to be quiet, reserved, and respectful. With my brother, he's been taught to be an opinionated person who should have an opinion about everything because he should be educated enough to speak on any topic. My brother was also taught to deal with problems in an authoritative way. So because of how we are taught to be by our parents and by the media, we tend to tap into our stereotypical gender identities. I've noticed in junior high, boys will act out their superiority and toughness in school among each other after a night of watching the WWF, a wrestling television show. Also, in a Vietnamese tradition, the woman is the servant who cooks, clean, and takes care of the children, while the man is out doing hard work. So when he comes home, he uses that superior language to tell her what to do , while she uses the respectful and submissive language. In these situations is when men and women have different languages.

I do thing so some degree agree that men and women use language differently but it all depends on certain situations. For an example, in personal relationships, men and women use language differently. But in the professional and business world, men and women use the same professional language. I believe the types of language we use depend on the type of characteristic and role we put on. Meaning, everybody have different personalities that they put on for different situations and people. We have a professional and formal personality when we are trying to make a business deal. But when we are at home with our family and friends, we use the informal personality. Just like how we put on a professional and formal personality during a business meeting, we will use a business language. When we are at home and comfortable with your close ones, you use whatever informal language you like. Once again, I truly believe that type of language you use, all depends on the type of persona you have a given moment. In these circumstances is when men and women have the same language; situations where we have use different persona.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 7 Question 1: Can we ever stop with the judging?

At certain points in our life and with certain people we are able to perceive others without judging or categorizing them but this rarely happens because we as human beings have a lot of opinions and thoughts about many things. An example of this is when we receive information from a love one. We have no judgments about our love ones so therefore we freely receive any information and trust that it's good. Whether or not we judge or categorize the received information is something different. But I guess someone can argue that there is a judgment and categorization on our love ones; only the good ones. But I do have the ability to look at my friends and not have any category for them or any kind of judgment, they are just human beings trying to live out a good life like I am. I guess it's only the good thoughts that I have about them. Is that also a judgment even if it's good? If so, we my conclusion is that we can NEVER be able to perceive others w/o judging.

With a majority of people or media that we listen to, we almost always perceive it with judgment and categorization. For me, I must admit that I do tend to have immediate thoughts and opinions regarding new people I've met. Their first impressions always stick with me and from then on, I would remember them by how they presented themselves during our first meeting. I wouldn't really call it judging because I am not making a specific assumption about them, it's more like a feeling of dislike or like, comfort or discomfort that I may have with them. Most people tend to have judgments on topics based on how their past experiences and how they were raised. I do believe that people live through the eyes of their experiences and knowledge and they categorize things accordingly. I myself categorize the people in my life as close friends or just acquaintances. I also do this with certain topics as well. Since we cannot always perceive things without judgments, I think a fair way of perceiving things is with understanding and empathy. If we receive things with a conscious decision to try and understand the perspective, we can effectively receive the message. Without understanding and biasness, we would only make a fool out of ourselves and mistakenly have false knowledge. Once we can make a conscious decision of trying to understand and empathize with the topic, we can make a clear, educational, and knowledgeable opinion regarding the topic. I'm going to try and do this myself as well.


Signing out,

Events Dreamer

Week 5 Question 3: Something new and interesting

There are several concepts that I found interesting from Chapter 9. One the concepts I was intrigued by was the types of arguments that a speaker can use when appealing to an audience. Arguments can be based on authoritative, motivational, or substantive appeals which is also connected Aristotle's three ways of connecting to an audience; ethos, pathos, and logos.


I have been in several arguments with my father and end up submitting because he uses the authoritative argument of, "Because I said so," or because "I'm your father." He is my father therefore he has an authoritative warrant. I will probably end up using the same phrases to m children. Sometimes the authoritative voice causes me to be rebellious and maybe that is why many teens become stubborn and refuse to listen because they don't want to submit. For those teens that are stubborn and prideful, I would then use my motivational argument. Motivational argument tugs at the heart and makes them feel rather than think. Motivational type of arguments uses the ethos characteristics. To use the motivational argument towards my children, I would say, "You're making me sad by doing this," or "Grandmother really needs your help, you should go and help her instead of going out." I know a friend whose parents use motivational arguments to get him to do homework. They would promise to grant him a prize if he received high grades. And surely enough, he is motivated to do his best. On the other hand, some parents or speech makers uses the substantive argument that connects data and claim through logic and reasoning. I believe that the best way to appeal to an audience is through motivational and substantive. Motivational appeals to the audiences' feelings while the substantive connects the dots and makes them see the whole picture. Authoritative can be tricky because what if the speaker becomes too demanding and using too much power? That can really turn off an audience and make them rebellious. Therefore the careful and thoughtful approach would be motivational and substantive.

Week 5 Question 2: What is it about good speakers?

I believe that the President of United States Barack Obama is one of the world's best speakers. His strongest characteristics as a speaker would have to be credibility, attractiveness, and power. He's got everything going for him! Credibility refers to expertness and trustworthiness. Obama does not have so much of the expertness because he was not even in the Senate for more than two years. He's still very new and young to being a political leader let alone be the Presidents of the US. But Obama does have trustworthiness. People seem to have trust in Obama that he will do the right thing to the nation. Well at least I have trust in him. The reason being is that he has not done anything for me to not trust him. Obama was very transparent during his campaign and I know he understands my struggles because he was a common man just like everyone else. Because he has credibility, it is easier for me and many others to be influenced and educated by him. Obama may not know everything about politics but I can surely trust on him to be honest and real. Obama's speeches build up his credibility the more he gives them. The more that people hear him speak, the more people will see that Obama comes prepared and ready to deliver his message effectively. To be honest, I was a Hilary Clinton supporter and I really wanted to see her win. But once Obama won the primaries, I began to tune in to Obama a lot more and he grew on me with the way he spoke to the people. Because I was able to see him speak for a couple of times, he was able to build his credibility through his communication tactics.

Attractiveness is divided into four dimensions: familiarity, similarity, physical attractiveness, and liking.
Obama is also very attractive and young. It has been said that the more attractive a speaker is, the more effective he or she will be. I truly agree with that because I am more attracted to watching an attractive speaker. (Laughing right now). It's very shallow, I know. But let's be honest, people are considered attractive because they attract people's attention with their looks or personality. Well Obama attracts me with his look, age, and personality. His personality would actually be m ore of a liking dimension within attractiveness. Many news reporters call Obama, very likable. He's down to earth, relaxed, and very in tune with the young America. I think that's also why a lot of young adult love him. He can dance, he can play along, and he can joke.

Before taking the President position, Obama did not have much power or strong background of being a leader. He delivered good speeches because of his other skills f communication, but not power. He only recently gained power because he became the U.S. President. With such title, he has power to award people, to take away things, to have information, and to be a figure of authority. He has all of those power simply because he is the U.S. President. He doesn't have complete power though because he is balanced by the Senate and House of Representative. He still has power to influence and gain trust from the American people.

Week 5 Question1: Best Speaker & Worst Speaker

I, like many others, only remember speeches that are influential in my life or that have touched the audience in some way. The most recent famous speech I've heard was from our President Barack Obama. He is an amazing speaker and knows exactly how to deliver his message. I have only watch him speak several times on this campaign trail and was able to witness his inauguration speech. Obama really motivated me to be a citizen and to step up to my potential. During his speech, he mentioned struggles and triumphs of the past, the present, and future. First he really spoke about the true issues of American but he also gave solutions. The one thing that made his communication memorable was the setting of the speech. This was the inauguration of the nation's first African American president and so it gave everyone, including myself, chills that we are even watching America make history. To me, he's like the Martin Luther King, Jr. of my time. I trust in him as a President because he came from similar background as I did. I trust him because he shares the same beliefs as I do. He shared his core beliefs with the nation during his speech and that also appealed to many people. He speech was a reality check by confronting the issues, but he also gave inspiration, motivation, hope, and change to America.

As I mentioned earlier, I don't remember horrible speakers so it's hard for me to narrow down a bad speech. But since I am on the topic of American Presidents, I must say that our previous president, George W. Bush was a horrible and probably the worst President speaker in my time. I have only been able to seen some of his public speeches to America and I am appalled by his lack of communication skills. He rarely memorized his speech and most of the time having to look down at his paper. I am very impressed by how President Obama was able to remember a 30 minute speech that was address to the entire nation during his inauguration. I would be so nervous and stutter / stumble the whole way through. But President Obama did not even flinch! Anyways, Bush as a speaker was so horrible that they even created a "Bush-isms" with quotes of his ridiculous statements. I just remember that he was unable to connect to the audience because his message was about fantasy and what he believed is true. He never saw eye-to-eye with the American people and never spoke of reality.

Signing out,
Events Dreamer

Week 4 Question 3 An Interesting Concept

The one concept that I found useful from the reading is the concept of the pragmatic perspective. That perspective really hit home and opened my eyes to how selfish I've been. In my second post, I wrote about my former roommate and how we did not get along. The whole time I was blaming her and how she couldn't adapt to the changing environment. She grew up in a small town while I was a big town girl. She wanted alone time and I needed a roommate who wanted to be around me. Therefore I concluded that it must be a difference in personality. The pragmatic perspective is looking at communication as a game in which each person's move is dependent on the other. I finally realized that I must have done something offensive to her to have made her act defensively back and vice versa. This perspective made me reanalyze what I must have done to have hurt her.

As much as I enjoyed learning about the pragmatic perspective, I still believe that in a long-term and strong relationship, the involved players need to understand the intent and purpose of the other person's actions as well as desires and needs. Now I have an awesome roommate; we both get along and we both enjoy each other's company. But If I did not understand why my current roommate does what she does, I will never be able to get along with her because I won't have the ability to empathize with her. Sometimes, she leaves the house a mess but because I can understand that she is having a bad day, I do not have a grudge on her. Most of the times, having an understanding of other people can help you forgive their mistakes like how I am able to forgive my current roommate for not cleaning when she is not feeling good. She means me no offense, she is just not feeling happy herself. Before was unable to forgive my first roommate because I was not able to sympathize with her, but now I can see that she didn't have the same childhood as I did, therefore I cannot blame her for her actions. I factored in the circumstances that surrounded our game to happily accept the failure of our relationship. I've learned and now I am creating a stronger, better, and healthier relationship with my current roommate by taking into consideration her personality, culture, and surrounding circumstances.

Week 4 Queston 2: Communication as a Game

The pragmatic perspective suggests that communication is a system of interlocking, interdependent "moves", which become patterned over time. These systems of communication is similar to a game of chess where the moves are what matters because they affected future moves; the players and where the game is played is not put into consideration. The players in the games are partners interacting with one another which then leads to patterned moves and these moves become interdependent of each other.

I think that in some relationship it does make sense to apply the pragmatic perspective. The book gave a perfect example that I can truly relate to; roommate problems. I had a roommate that I did not get along with and unfortunately we had to separate. We were two different people with different preferences and personality. At the time, I had always asked myself, "What is wrong with this person? Why can't she understand me or why can't I understand her?" I figured that it was because our personality did not match. I grew up enjoying company and became a very outgoing person while my roommate grew up very shy and standoffish. She preferred to be alone while I preferred to live with someone who was active and outgoing; someone open and trustworthy. I can never relate to her because she didn't go through the same experiences or lifestyle that I did and I could not relate to her as well. Therefore, we parted because it was best for us to live with people that better matched our personality. Now looking at the situation from a pragmatic perspective, I can reanalyze the situation and admit that the unfortunately outcome of our relationship was a result of interdependent moves that each of us made in the beginning of the relationship. I must have acted in a certain way that made her uncomfortable and caused her to have her defense up. When her defense mechanism was up, I could sense the barriers in our relationship. I was offended that she had blocked me out of her life when I did not do anything to deserve that. The pragmatic perspective says that it doesn't matter that I didn't do anything; what matters was what I actually did to cause her walls to go up. Because I was offended by reactive actions, I interacted by having my walls up as well and began to act in a certain that pushed her away further. As a result, both of us got into a pattern of pushing each other away, doing things to offend another, and finally we both quit the game and decided to not live with each other anymore. Now that I saw the problem wasn't actually because we had different personalities, it was because we were both unaware of how our actions affected the rest of our later moves.

Sometimes, communication is different than a game because in many relationships, we do need to be considerate of different personalities. We need to have to ability to adapt and cater to some people in order for them to trust us and cooperate with you. The pragmatic perspective does not take into consideration the uniqueness of different people, the places where we interact ,or what happened outside of the relationship. These three that I just mentioned are very important factors that can influence a relationship greatly. I think that these factors should be focused on in more complex and serious relationships. The pragmatic perspective is more appropriate for relationships that are shallow and short-term. But it should not be applied to relationships that are heart-felt, true, and long-term.

Week 4 Question 1: How we "BUILD" worlds

According to the social constructionist perspective, we build worlds because as a social group, we create collective ideas of ourselves, of one another and then of the world. As a group of people, we live inside the world of communication because most of what we know and believe about the world comes to us through communication not direct experience. Well I guess that is true for most of us in still living in this world today. But not really true for those that lived thousands of years ago who had to experience stuff first hand to then be able to pass the knowledge down to us. But for most of us today, we learn from those that came before us; that is how we sometimes make our decision. We base our knowledge on what we learned from our parents and older friends. In a sense we build our own perspective on the world based on other people's take on the world. For an example, I was born in Vietnam and came over here when I was 5 years old. Some of my views on the world was different to kids who grew up in the United States. I had a culture shock when I came to America because I was introduced to so many new types of food and types of languages. It was also a big thing to go to America. America was considered the land where dreams come true; the land of the FREE. The communist side won in the Vietnam War and it was a huge downfall for my parents and for those that fought for democracy. So to be able to go to America and escape the oppression was a huge opportunity for only some fortunate few. Since my father was a soldier alongside the Americans, he was granted amnesty into America. Some who tried to escape by boat did not succeed and was put in jail. It was very hard times. My view on the American world was a beautiful land where people have vast pool of opportunities to reach their goals. This is true to other Vietnamese kids who also grew up in Vietnam. But for the children who did not have the same background as I did, did not have a special view on the land they live in. Also, I was taught that communism is a terrible form of government because it provides more opportunities for a government to become corrupt and to oppress the people. I always had a negative view on communism. When I reached high school, I learned more about communism and how it originated from Karl Marx. I was also taught on several examples of communism such as China and South Korea. Many Americans also disliked communism because the American government fought very hard against communism. The government had used propaganda and other factors to show the American people that communism is a bad thing. Based on the knowledge and experience that I've learned from my father, I've come to conclude a negative view on the world of communism. But others who grew up in a communist country may have some prideful beliefs on it. Because I was raised to believe that communism was a terrible form of government, I was able to understand the meaning behind the teachings on communism and why the United States government decided to engage on a war against communism. I was able to easily understand the lectures from my teachers and this helped me in writing my essays and succeeding in my midterms on communism.

Within this world of communication there are four cultural tools that we use to decipher and understand the communication. These cultural tools are symbolic codes, cognitive customs, the cultural traditions, and the sets of roles and rules. These tools can help us succeed in life and sometimes may hurt us because we cannot understand a certain view of the world. But if we have the ability to process the information and the ability adapt to new environment, we will have a higher chance of succeeding in life.

Week 3 Question 3: An Interesting Thought

After reading Chapter 1 regarding the communication tradition the history of rhetoric, I found it very useful to learn about Aristotle’s three communication method; ethos, pathos, and logos. Being educated about the communication methods allows me to strategically choose my words and position my arguments. I was also able to identify the communication methods that some public speakers use. I have always wondered how those public speakers relate to their audience or how they get the audience to cooperate. I believe that I will be somewhat of a better communicator from now on because I will definitely take advantage of the different communication methods to get my message across. I think that all of the three communication methods can useful so I won’t stick with just one. I also believe that a great speaker is someone who uses all of them in one speech! That would make the individual an extremely persuasive strong speaker.

The next information I found interesting is the canons of rhetoric created by Cicero. The canons of rhetoric describe the five major topic areas of communication. I look at it as steps to formulating speeches or messages. These canons will be very helpful to me in the future when I’d like to tell a story. The two steps of the canons that I will mostly take advantage of the memory and the delivery. I am always fascinated by how speakers like President Obama and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. remember their infamous oration. I remember taking COMM 20 and as an assignment, we had to deliver a 10 minute speech. It was very hard for me to memorize the whole speech. I had to improvise when I’d forget some parts and of course, that lowered the value of my speech. So therefore, instead of reading my speech aloud, sentence by sentence, over and over again, I’d like to learn how to correctly memorize my speech.

I would also like to learn how to deliver my speeches using gestures, emotions, and tone of voice. Dr. King was an amazing speaker because he would raise and lower his voice at the right point in his speeches and this directs the emotions of his excitement. I get excited every time President Obama raises his voice to emphasize a point and I feel serious when he speaks calmly and slowly on an issue. I would like to be able to utilize these skills in my communication with others.

Week 3 Question 2: An Orator must be morally good

According to the Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary, an oration is a formal public speech; one delivered on a special occasion. An orator is a public speaker; one who delivers an oration and is distinguished for his skill, eloquence, and power as a public speaker. Based on this definition of a orator, I completely agree with the Greeks that the individual must be morally good to be an orator.

An orator is someone with great influence, power, and skills over people. The orator has the ability to manipulate and influence the crowd into any beliefs and action. With this great power comes great responsibility and the orator must know how to correctly use these powerful abilities. If the individual is immoral, the audience is in great danger of false information and can be lured into a deathly trap. An example of this occurrence is, Adolf Hitler. He was once a great orator to the people of Germany. He knew he could affect people with pathos, ethos, and logos. He understood that his abilities of public speech can allow him to persuade Germany to do what he wants. Eventually, he was responsible for the killing of thousands of Jewish people and led Germany into a spiral downfall. The people of Germany at the time did not know any better; they trusted Hitler to be truthful and moral; Hitler took advantage of that and continued to sway Germany in the wrong direction. Following the example of Hitler, the orator must be an individual of pure and morally good so that the audience is influenced by a strongly ethical person. I consider an orator a public leader which means that the individual must have all the good characteristics of a leader.

There is a strong connection between goodness, truth, and public communication. Being good and truthful is a characteristic of good morals. The use of ethos is dependent on source credibility. Therefore, if a public speaker is depending on ethos, the individual must have goodness and truth in him other wise, the audience will not be influenced. There is the other argument that a good public speaker is someone who can influence and manipulate his audience with pathos even when the individual is lying. It is true that sometimes I fall for pathos speakers but eventually the truth always reveal itself, and once it does, I and other listeners will never ever believe that specific orator again. Therefore, to maintain credibility, I suggest to orators that they maintain goodness and truth in their words.

Week 3 Question 1: An Effective Communicator

The first person that pops into my mind when I think of a great speaker is my best friend/boyfriend Corneilious. I have known him for three years now and have always been intrigued by his ability to articulate his opinions, ideas, and stories. Friends of ours would always call him "Grandpa Neil" because he tells great stories that leave the audience captivated and amused. I am only beginning to learn his ways of communication. By the way, he is a communication major which makes him a stronger speaker than before. When I tell stories, I always leave my audience feeling confused and lost but with Corneilious, he strategically prepares his stories and punch lines carefully so that his audience can easily pay attention. I believe he is a natural at public speaking because it does not take long for him to formulate a plan on how to deliver the punch line when he is abruptly telling a story.

I believe that his power of persuasion encompasses all three of the rhetoric classification schemes. Corneilious as a person is a reliable source. Knowing his character, he would not exaggerate details or relay false information. Our friends fully trust his words and accept him as a credible source. Through his personal characteristics of natural leadership and charisma, he can easily fascinate his listeners. He can manipulate the ambiance around him through his ability to calm or raise his voice at the right moment in the story. With the ability of affecting the emotions and feelings of his listeners, he definitely falls under the pathos classification as well. Corneilious has I an uncanny ability to make a sad story funny, or a funny story serious. I can only embarrass myself while trying to relay a comical story to others but somehow, my humorous situation turns becomes confusion and silly when I verbally describe it. I know that he uses his pathos ability against me when we get into a heated argument or a serious debate. He some how woos me and softens my madness with his words. When we argue or when, he takes advantage of his ability to use logos by manipulating his wording and logic of the message. When making a statement or explaining a situation, Corneilious uses words that exactly describes his meaning. Sometimes there are stories that are logically sound in my head but when speaking it out loud, it can be hard for others to understand, but Corneilious has no problems making others understand his meaning.

My own personal qualities are not persuasive like Corneilious or other public speakers. I believe that there are some people can become leaders through education and training, but some are born leaders. I am a person who is learning to become a leader and how to better articulate my thoughts. I can be persuasive at time through the use of pathos when telling stories that needs requires sympathy for understanding. I definitely need to work on achieving the ethos and logos quality and I hope that this class will help me achieve it. Thinking outside of the Aristotle’s classification theme, I usually am a better persuasive speaker when I listen to my audience’s concerns first. I sometimes use my audiences’ words against them or to use it in favor of reaching a clear communication. Because I know what my audiences’ like to hear, I can use that to my advantage when trying to hold their attention.

Aristotle’s classification scheme only describes the main ways of communication but there many other methods that different people use to get effectively communication. Although, everyone is different and may be unique in their method communication, the speaker must learn how to use ethos, pathos, and logos as well.

Introduction: Events Dreamer

Hello Everyone,

I'd like to welcome you to my blog spot. This is my first time blogging so I am a little nervous about what I write and how I should approach my introduction. Let's start with the basics.

I am a student at San Jose State University majoring in Hospitality & Events Management. I will be graduating this Spring 2009 and am looking forward to entering the world of full responsibilities. I picked the name Events Dreamer because I am looking to be an event producer as a career choice. I love planning and organizing special events.

I have only taken 1 communication class at SJSU and that's COMM 20, everyone knows that this is a GE requirement. I very much enjoyed COMM 20 because the cirricculum consists of public speaking, debates, and how to effectively communicate with others. I am looking forward to learning more about communication in COMM 105.

In the future, I actually would like to get a masters in communication becuase I believe that the key to success in anybody's life is communication. I'd like to learn how to articulate my ideas and opinions in such a manner that captivate others to listen and follow me. Event planning & management involves delegation of committee members to effectively implement my plans for the events. COMM 105 will hopefully teach me what I need to effectively communicate with others. Therfore, I hope to learn how people communicate and how to adapt to the different methods of communication. I am hoping to use my knowledge for the future.

I am looking forward to the Spring 2009 semester.

-- Events Dreamer