Touro Communication Club Notes #45

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The Club’s film series begins next week with “The Candidate” (1973) with Robert Redford.(see below for details). George Backinoff will moderate the post-film discussion.

Although the Vice-Presidential debate and the financial crisis and Congressional bailout votes have dominated the news cycle for the past week (Will it pass? Won’t it pass? Will Governor Palin be able to perform well? Will Senator Biden control his mouth?), there were a few thousand news stories which have been put on the inside pages of the media.

• Have you heard about the pirates off Somali capturing a ship carrying $30 million worth of tanks, ammunition and grenade launchers?
• The $40 trillion-to-1 inflation in Zimbabwe?
• The election of a woman as prime minister of Israel?
• The disintegration of turmoil into war in Pakistan?
• The emergence of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez as a world power broker?
• The two Alaskan legal trials (Palin’s ‘Troupergate” and Senator Stephen’s corruption trial)?
• Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to run for a 3^rd term, requiring a change in the 2-term law?
• A bailout for California as a result from the financial disaster? Will there be other states to follow?
• The controversy over the new novel, “The Jewel of Medina,” the story of first wife of Islam’s prophet Mohammed and attack on the author?

But you probably DO know about:

• Rosie O’Donnell returning to TV
• “Rap City” will end its run.
• The political visitors on “The View” and “Oprah.”
• Movies like “The Dark Knight,” “The Righteous Kill,” or “Beverly Hills Chihuahua”

If I insulted you, I apologize. Do I have a bias in the above lists ? You bet. What you notice in the world is ALWAYS your choice. But for me, choice need never be either/or. For me, it is always BOTH/AND. We bring more to the table with wider awareness and knowledge.

No one can successfully FORCE you to respond to anyone or anything. Even in a totalitarian country, you have control over your thoughts – if you are aware and willing to endure great physical duress.

Because of the Jewish holidays, here's an extended list of our upcoming Club events:

Tuesday, October 7, 2008 – 2 pm – Room 226 The film “The Candidate” (1973) with Robert Redford. This Oscar winning script takes a biting look at the nature of politics.

After the film, we’ll discuss the many aspects of Robert Redford’s experience running for office, the “handling” of the candidate, the opposing messages and the impact of Redford’s “pretty boy” looks toward stacking the outcome. Most importantly, the final scene make strong editorial comment about what a candidate is going to do once elected.

Thursday, October 16, 2008 – 2 pm Room 226 – The film “Recount” (2008) with Kevin Spacey. This Emmy-winning dramatization of the highly controversial 2000 Presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush which was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 2 pm - Room 610 – Debate – Mock Presidential Debate. Members of the club will undertake the challenging task of impersonating the positions of Senators McCain and Obama. The debaters are studying the issues that face the nation and, by a coin toss, be assigned either the Democratic or Republican positions. The format will follow generally that of the first Presidential debate. A list of foreign and domestic issues will be provided in advance to the debaters (listed below). A total of six questions will be selected the list of issues below. Each team will make an opening statement. Then each debater will have 90 seconds to respond to a question, followed by a cross-examination by th e opposite side. Final statements from each team will close the debate. Judges from the audience will decide on which team won the debate.

Foreign issues Iraq war Afganistan war Credibility of the U.S. abroad The U.S. role in the Middle East The Bush “Doctrine” Covert foreign operations

Domestic issues Financial crisis Housing crisis Homeland Security Energy Global warming Education Social issues (abortion, same sex marriage, creationism, stem cell research)

Wednesday, October 29, 2008 – 2 pm – The film “The Great Debaters” (2008) with Denzel Washington. A dramatization of the true story of the unlikely 1935 journey of a debate team from the historically black college, Wiley College, which challenges powerhouse Harvard College.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008 – ELECTION DAY – PLEASE VOTE! Lorinda Moore and Olushile Akintade have been conducting a voter registration drive at Midtown and Taino. Over 100 new voters have been registered from Touro. More to come!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008 – Back to normal:. Discussion of the Election

What happened on October 2, 2008 – Theatre exploration

The session started slowly with Catherine Gaffigan, one of the Communication department’s instructors, and James Millner examining a sheet of theatre topics prepared by Hal Wicke. Then Drani Gabu arrived followed by Olushile Akintade and Lorinda Moore. Steve Gradman and Marcus Vayndorf joined the group near the end of the session.

The group chose to focus on some aspect of acting. Catherine asked why James and Drani were attracted to acting. James felt it provided gratification, a kind of self-help to improve memory “by enhancing the pathways of the brain.” It also helped with communication, he said. Catherine paraphrased his comments by adding, “For you, i t’s like waking up the skills we all have.”

James was interested in the play, “Fences,” by the late Pulitzer-prize winning playwright August Wilson, which he found very interesting. Catherine suggested he might look at the plays of Athol Fugard, the white South African playwright. James thought the group might put on a production of the Wilson play. He liked the idea of getting into a character.

Drani felt that he would gain greater communication skills by studying acting, particularly with working on his English articulation. Catherine commented that Drani seemed “hungry” to learn more.

As Shile and Lorinda arrived, Catherine began working with the group on their breathing skills. She demonstrated how to do “diaphragmatic breathing” with the solar plexus. Each of the four practiced their individual breathing exercises.

Shile shared that he sang in a church choir and his choir director was constantly saying, “Sing from your diaphragm!” He didn’t know what it meant. But he felt he felt more aware and at peace as he was doing the breathing exercises.

Lorinda commented that she was exhausted from running around putting flyers for the film series and found the breathing allowed her to become centered and focused. She called it a “blood pressure exercise.” “When you breathe deeply, you find out who you are,” Lorinda said. Since she was having a quiz in her 6 o’clock class, she would do some deep breathing to calm down.

Drani felt lighter after the breathing exercise. James thought that deep breathing would be useful in daily life.

A second standing exercise was the clenching of the right fist, then the left fist, then both fists and inhaling and exhaling on a count of 1 to 6,

Throughout, Catherine noted that “The body remembers before the brain remembers.” “A body knows how to breathe, but we forget as adults.” “So many things take us away from ourselves.” “Through breathing we get to our essential self.”

A third exercise was the moving of the tongue from the bottom teeth to top teeth as quickly as possible while looking into a hand mirror to watch the movement.

For the next time the theatre group met – after the election 9 3 Catherine suggested that each would bring in some text to work on.

• James will bring in a scene from “A Soldier’s Play” by August Wilson.
• Shile will bring in a selection from his newly published novel, “Wings of the Wind.”
• Lorinda will bring in two of her poems.
• Drani will bring in a selection from his autobiography he is working on.

The group discussed how new people who arrive in the future will be integrated into the quartet who have already had some experience. Catherine felt integrating newcomers into the group would not be a problem. Hal suggested that we begin all our future Communication club sessions with some deep breathing.

These sessions are always open for everyone to attend. Bring a friend and join in the excitement. See you next time.

Hal Wicke