Thursday, August 2, 2007

Wednesday, August 1, 2007, Meeting


#1. Kazi Rahman, at the right in the above photo, is a Hip-Hop artist well-known in Bangladesh. Go to a Columbia University New Media Class website where you will see video interviews of Kazi when you click here:
http://www.columbianewmedia.com/video_projects/4/


#2. When you click on the URL below, listen to an audio interview completed July 23rd, 2007, on Kazi and his group, "Stoic Bliss:"
http://www.theworld.org/?q=node/11608


#3. The next two episodes of this blog will be podcasts of Kazi interviewing Professor Yearwood, the head of the mentoring program at Touro College shown in the photo above at the left.

#4. Last but not least, just wait till you see the photos of Antoinette Miller, at the middle of the photo above! She is shown with celebrities from all over New York City as she hosts the Danny Mixon Trio! Saturday evening, August 11, it will be a treat to see this fabulous jazz trio in concert again at the Lenox Lounge, in Harlem, as per the information at the bottom of this page. Watch the video made upon their return from Japan, at Touro College: Just click here for a Video of "The Sounds of Jazz at Touro" (Real Video)

OUR NEXT CLUB MEETING

IS THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 @ 2 pm!

At 23rd Street on the 3rd Floor. Bring a friend or two.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

First Activity

Let's come up with Communication Club activities!
Let us have your suggestions:

Join us on August 11, 2007, at 8:00 p.m.
At The Lenox Lounge with the Dany Mixon Trio
Malcolm X Boulevard · 124th & 125th · New York City


Visit the Website:
http://www.lenoxlounge.com/
Notes on Conversation #6
Thursday, October 18, 2007 @ 50 West 23rd St. Rm 602 – 2 pm
Frankly, I was excited in a way I never have been in the 10 years I’ve been at Touro. We had a splendid group of students and faculty willing to take on the demands of understanding political speech and beginning to comprehend the rigors of political debate. It was wonderful!!! The new people included Yolanda Diaz Escolastico, James Miller, Lisa Buckner, Milton Rivera, Karina Rivera, Vikram Jannoveddy, Walter Jean Pierre, Josephine Romillie and new Communication faculty member, David Nussbaum. The familiar faces included: Antoinette Miller, Jeremy Rosario, Lastyne Binner, Jake Grossman, Drani Grabu, History professor Steve Gradman and Communication faculty members Richard Green and Jason Carvell. I hope I spelled everyone’s name correctly. If not, please, puh-leez write more clearly. Now that we are in the early stages of the Presidential race, Democrats and Republicans are chasing the brass ring. There are so many of them that the casualties are starting to occur. Republican Sam Brownback and Democrat Mike Gravell have disappeared. More hopefuls will soon vanish as the race tightens and the rhetoric gets hotter. Rhetoric is what we are interested in. We use words all the time when we talk. But when Presidential candidates use words, everybody is watching and listening around the world. What candidates say is scrutinized "Six Ways from Sunday." In the 2004 election, John Kerry was torn apart for "flip-flopping." Whether this was either true or accurate, it was a minor perception that grew and grew until everybody believed it. It was one of the factors that laid the groundwork for his loss. Some people are trying to the same trick with Hillary Clinton with her statements on giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in NY State. It will be interesting to observe how she reacts. The lesson we can learn from political speech is that we had better watch what comes out of our mouths because someone might misinterpret what we say – by accident or on purpose. Because I am frequently misinterpreted by my family (and students), I came up with a new Communication axiom– Communication is not what is intended, but what is heard. I tried to convey some of this at the beginning of our conversation on October 18, with more to come. An argument begins when two people see something or someone differently. Debaters already know that people will disagree about everything at some point or another. They learn to anticipate that their opposition will find reasons to tear apart the other point of view. This is true in real life as well as in formal debate. Sooooo, to cut to the chase, we broke up into pairs with an observer. The pairs talked about anything and the observer reported what he/she saw. All this took 3 minutes plus the observer’s report. Then we switched partners and had a discussion about a specific topic, again with the observer reporting. Again, about 3-4 minutes total. The exercises were a warm-up for what was to follow, though nobody realized it. Next, we listed on the board all the possible controversial topics on we were interested in. The group finally chose "Contraception in Middle Schools." Those who were for and against the topic, in turn, raised their hands. Each side got together for about 5 minutes to discuss the possible issues. They were asked to identify three issues on both sides and be ready to argue their side while anticipating the other side’s arguments. I asked the instructors to be addressed by their first names so we wouldn’t get into protocol problems. Everyone was equal in the experience. Again we divided into partners - one "pro" and one "con." Some people had to leave so we didn’t have any observers. We went through a miniature debate format – as follows Affirmative ("pro") presentation – 1 minute Negative cross-examines Affirmative – 30 seconds Negative ("con") presentation – 1 minute Affirmative cross-examines Negative – 30 seconds.It went so fast that no one could get scared. It was just exciting for me to see an idea come to life for the very first time at Touro! Bravo! Bravissimo! And the discussion partners and practice debate took less than an hour! Then we talked about the experience. Everyone seemed to have a positive experience. All seemed eager to find out more. I tried to briefly outline some of the possibilities that we could do when we got these skills under our belts. Obviously, doing a formal debate is very complicated and detailed, but having every get a taste of the "intellectual combat" of debate seemed to get everyone willing to come back for more. For centuries, Competitive Debate is THE most admired and respected academic college activity in America and Europe, cutting across every discipline.. Debate is the most sophisticated Critical Thinking activity a person can learn. In a Competitive Debate, you are controlling your tongue with your mind, not your emotions. You learn to listen very, very carefully and choose your words exactly.. Debate is much more impressive on a resume than being on a sports team. When employers see "Debate team’ on a resume, they automatically sit up and notice the applicant. At the coming meeting, we will do more of the same but this time try to understand what people must be able to do under the pressure of a phony time limit. Bring your friends and we’ll throw them into the excitement! Hal WickeP.S. - Please tell you friends about us. Get to know our blog http://tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

Touro Communication Club

Notes on Conversation #5 – Thursday, September 20 @ 50 West 23rd, Rm 602, 2 pm

Maybe some of the people who said they were coming couldn’t find our new meeting location. It is diagonally across the street from the main Touro site at 27-33 West 23rd Street in a very attractive new setting.

Nevertheless, four new students joined Antoinette Miller, one of the original members of the club. They included Jeremy Rosario, Drani Gabu, Jake Grossman and Lastyne Binner. History Professor Steven Gradman joined Professors George Backinoff, Richard Green, Jason Carvell and Hal Wicke. Professor Michael Llorenz, Director of Retention and Graduation, stopped by briefly to listen to the discussion.

Once the discussion got going, there were was an excellent interchange with everyone sharing their ideas. Mr. Wicke passed out a handout of a list of questions and a beginning strategy for answering them.

Mr. Wicke opened with the front page of that day’s issue of THE DAILY NEWS. On it was a huge red circle with a line through it covering the face of the President of Iran who wanted to put a wreath at Ground Zero when he came to speak at the United Nations. He asked what the front page communicated, what was the message of the newspaper. Everyone responded in different ways, all getting the message that the newspaper did not the Iranian President to come. “Why does the newspaper do this?” Drani spoke up quickly, “To sell newspapers!”

The interchange at time was quite spirited. We covered so many topics including

* Why and how people introduce themselves in certain ways (“show respect”).
* The importance of eye gaze,
* The differences in communication between men and women, particularly on a date,
* Tow to guide a conversation through questions to get answers you want,
* Dishonesty in communication, (the NFL Patriots videoing signals scandal)
* Discovering different perceptions of things through questions.
* Having a sense of humor.

One of the most moving moments was when Antoinette shared with the group her new found comfort in meeting people as a result of her Communication courses and her work in the Communication Department. She spoke of attending Congressman Charles Rangel’s 71st birthday party last summer at The Tavern on the Green. She attended because her husband, Danny Mixon, a well-known jazz pianist, was the featured performer during the dinner. She said that she met and talked to a lot of celebrities and politicians, including Magic Johnson, Congressman Rangel, and Governor Spitzer. The Governor spent a few minutes asking Antoinette about herself and really seemed interested in what Antoinette was doing. She said that a year ago she wouldn’t have felt comfortable talking to these famous people. She feels her experience at the Tavern on the Green was a turning point in her life. Because of her Communication training and experience, she was for the first time totally comfortable talking with so many famous people.

With the Presidential elections coming up, we'll start to look at "Political Speech."

The group was quite upbeat as we left the meeting. We set the next meeting for Thursday, October 18 at 1:30 pm in the same place, Room 602, 50 West 23rd.

Please tell you friends about us. Get to know our blog

http://tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

See you next time! Bring a friend.

Hal Wicke


Notes on meeting #4, August 1, 2007

With a small group of dedicated students and faculty attending, Professor Wicke focused on “Language” and words. He wrote a long list of technical words on the blackboard to talk about. Kazi Rahman and Antoinette Miller were joined by Professors Carlisle Yearwood and Green. A new member of the Communications Department, Thomasina Tucker, contributed as well.

We started with the word “disrespect” which Grace Gibson had brought up in another meeting. We spent a little time exploring what “respect” and “disrespect” meant to different people.

The word “Flag” was mentioned and Kazi commented, “These colors don’t run,” referring to some people’s reaction to America’s presence in Iraq. Words like “flag” would belong to a category called “Semiotics,” the study of signs and signals. Professor Yearwood commented on symbols of his citizenship in Barbados. Kazi spoke about his passport symbolizing his country of Bangladesh.

We contrasted “dictionary” definitions with those meanings we associate with a particular word. (Denotative definitions vs. connotative definitions.)

Then we got into a spirited discussion of what is “music.” Is jazz music? Is hip-hop music? Both are important to Antoinette and Kazi. Antoinette’s husband is the well-known jazz pianist Danny Mixon performs at the Lenox Lounge and around the world.

Kazi has a Bengali Hip Hop group called Stoic Bliss (see his website on our blog).

Then we turned to copies of the Touro Student Evaluation of teachers. We slowly went through the questions students are asked about their teachers. One conclusion was that there is a lot of room for interpretation in each of the words.

One kind of language is “nonsense” – words that don’t mean anything. Professor Wicke read out loud one of the most famous pieces of nonsense literature, “Jabberwocky,” by Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice in Wonderland.”

There were many other topics that we touched on, too many to write about. We learned that there is a lot to learn about “Language.” Our discussion went nearly 2 hours because everyone got into the discussion. As we broke up, everyone felt we had a productive exchange, with much more to go.

See you on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 @ 2 pm! At 23rd Street on the 3rd Floor.
Bring a friend or two.

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Touro Communication Club

Department of Speech and Communication

OUR NEXT MEETING (#4) IS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2007 @ 2 PM, ROOM 314. BRING A FRIEND.

Professor Wicke will lead a discussion on “Language and how it shapes our reality.” He will start with Grace Gibson’s word, “disrespect” and we’ll go from there.

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Notes on Meeting #3 , July 16, 2007

We had the regular group of students show up – Kizzy, Grace, Antoinette and Kazi plus two new people Afroza and Nahar. Then, of course, the professor group – Backinoff, Carvell, Green, Wicke and Yearwood.

Professor Jason Carvell led an interesting session on culture. He explored different aspects of culture from those Professor Backinoff at the previous meeting.

He talked about the “push” and “pull” that affect people’s attitudes and feelings toward America. America is often called “a nation of immigrants.” Certain beliefs “push” people to emigrate to America. Other beliefs “pull” people to come to this country.

Some of the “push” factors include jobs, war, family safety. Some of the “pull” factors are the “American Dream” of a better life and more opportunity. Dreams play an important part of why people look to America.

Among the factors are the relative homogeneity (everyone looks and behaves the same) and heterogeneity (everyone looks and behaves differently) in a culture.

Personal stories are the most important part of these conversations. Kazi spoke about why he came to America from Bangladesh (He now has a rock band that is on tour in August.) Grace Gibson and Professor Yearwood spoke about their attraction to America from Barbados. Kizzy had already spoken about the influence her mother’s culture had their family.

Race was among other factors of culture that were discussed. Yearwood, Wicke and Backinoff spoke of their experiences with racial conflict.

FACTOID: Ethiopia is the only African nation that has not been colonized by Europeans.

NY TIMES – article on the difficulty Japanese are having with the imposition of a new American-style of jury system that is contrary to their culture.

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Touro Communication Club

Department of Speech and Communication

NEXT MEETING: MONDAY, JULY 16, 2007 @ 2 pm –
Room 314 – Midtown

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Notes on Meeting #2, Monday, July 2, 2007

1. We had a productive meeting for the several people who attended. I was glad to see several new faces as well as several “old timers.”

2. NEWS NOTE: Communication Professor Delores Albert will be singing 3 performances both Friday and Saturday evenings at the famous Lenox Lounge on 125th Street in Harlem. You have 3 times to catch her performing. 9:00 pm. 10:30 pm and 12 midnight.. Professor Albert is known professionally as “Dee Dee Michaels.” We first saw her talents at the Spring Jazz Concert and then again at the SGS Graduation. As they say, she sings “good.”

3. Before Professor George Backinoff began his presentation, Professor Hal Wicke asked those present for ideas for future programs. Role plays and interview techniques were mentioned. Grace Gibson mentioned “disrespect” as an example of how a person is mistreated. Professor Wicke thought that we could cover that very difficult topic in a general session of language and how it is used.

4. Professor Backinoff asked what things do you associate with the term, “culture.” A lot of ideas came out including dance, music and food. He asked a number of other questions, including “What is American culture?” Kizzy Green spoke about how she was raised which was very different from the Barbados culture in which her mother was raised. Grace spoke about the formality of her Haitian culture. Backinoff asked Grace if she had experienced “Culture shock” coming to America.” She said she still is shocked and can’t get used the lack of formality and respect in American culture.

Other aspects of culture that Backinoff pointed out included age, national heritage, nationality, gender, socio-economic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation, able bodiness, shared and different beliefs, attitudes and values and the behavior that these factors showed. Clearly there is so much to talk about culture, but this was a start.

In closing, Backinoff pointed out that most important about looking at culture was to lear to appreciate the differences within the many dimensions of diversity

By the way, this fall, Professor Michael Llorenz will be teaching the course on Intercultural Communication – GCA 305 –on Wednesday evening at Midtown. It’s part of our Business Communication minor and can be chosen as an elective.

5. NEXT TIME, PROFESSOR JASON CARVELL WILL LEAD THE DISCUSSION. He has been teaching at Touro for several years and just became our newest full-time member of the Communication department. He is thinking about two topics: “Media and Religion” and “Immigration and culture.” Both are very hot topics now and they need to be talked about. In the fall, Carvell is teaching the Introduction to Public Relations course on Tuesday evenings at Midtown.

To start the discussion, Brian Brown will repeat his prize-winning speech on “The Differences between the Shiites and the Sunnis in Iraq.” Brian won Honorable Mention in the last Spring’s Departmental Speech contest.

6. ANOTHER EVENT IS IN THE MAKING: A group of students were talking passionately this week in Dean Taylor’s Learning Center about the impact of the words of rap music on entertainment. Student Lonyell Tolbert, of the Learning Center staff, will be working with a student committee to organize the event. It will be a panel discussion of students and professional media people. The date is Wednesday, October 17 at 2 pm in Room 314. Professor Charles Mason is advising the project.

See ya on Monday, July 16 at 2 pm!

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Notes on Meeting #1, June 6, 2007.


The Communication Student group will meet a 2nd time on Wednesday, June 20 @ 2 pm in Room 314 @ Midtown. We hope you can join us. RSVP so I know who is coming.

We had a wonderful first meeting on June 6th of the

Communication students. Professors Green and Backinoff and me joined 4 students who really were interested in learning more about all kinds of communication. We worked on conversation skills and questioning techniques.

One student, Brian Brown who won Honorable Mention in the recent Speech contest, is a stock broker and he demonstrated how he does "cold calling" sales. Another wanted to know about careers in communication as well as other SGS courses in communication.

The question came up - "Was this a class?" ABSOLUTELY, NOT! We will talk about practically anything that relates to Communication - and practically everything does.

Every meeting will change dependent on who shows up. Remember, this group is for YOU - so you can sharpen your Communication skills - at school, at home, on a date, on the job.

Please feel free to bring your friends!

We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, June 20th @ 2 pm.


Hal Wicke


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Invitation to Join The Touro Communication Club:

You may wonder why you are receiving this email invitation. Your name was given to me in one of three ways:

* Your instructor identified you as one of the top students in your Communication class.
* You may have participated in one of the three Speech contests. Or,
* You had a conversation with a Communication instructor who thought you might be interested in doing more with your Communication skills.

I know it is extremely late in the school year to send invitation out, but I thought I might try to get a few of you together before the summer break to create a student Communication organization to hit the ground in the Fall.

As you might guess, we who teach Communication courses are biased about how valuable our courses are. We think the courses are courses are only the first step to learn about the dimensions of the Communication field. You might have already noticed that we cannot relate to one another except by some form of communication, at home, at work, in all business and political dealings.

So.......what I thought you might be interested in being part of a student organization which sharpened your Communication skills. Some topics we might explore include:

* How to talk to one another in a social situation more effectively
* How to speak in public
* How to debate a motor mouth
* How to read, listen and analyze the news or the upcoming political debates
* How to watch and analyze television shows and films
* How to question
* How to negotiate
* How to resolve conflicts without yelling, guns, knives or fists.
* How to be part of a team
* How different cultures communicate
* How to use role plays and videotaping to understand how we communicate
* Etc., etc., etc.

We could have guest speakers and special trips, too. We might even start a Communication Honorary Society which can give awards at graduation.

At our June 6 meeting, we'll try to figure out what exciting things will happen in the fall.