Touro Communication Club Notes #56

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Have a great holiday!. See you in the New Year!

Put on Your 2009 Calendar:

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

2 pm – Room 223 – Midtown

SPAR Debate: Debating Silly Topics with a Serious Purpose

We are returning to the SPAR Debate Event to get our minds in gear for 2^nd semester which begins February 1^st. There are several values to SPAR Debates:

· They don’t require any preparation. Just show up with your mind turned on.

· They use topics which require no prior knowledge.

· There is no consequence to winning or losing – just practice for the future.

· They are short – 6½ minutes or less - so the “pain” is brief.

· They give you practice in thinking on your feet.

· They get you used to the pressure of forming clear responses that are responsive to questions.

· They ask you to organize your thoughts in a very limited amount of time.

· They ask you to listen very carefully to the thread of your opponent’s arguments.

· Plus many other values you will discover on your own.

Communication lessons from current events:

Snow arrived this week as we pause for the Winter Solstice which occurs during the Jewish and Christian holidays along with the African-American Kwanzaa celebration.

But life around us continues to unfold. The “life” menu – as is typical – is not particularly upbeat. We continue to brace for even worse financial meltdown, the downward struggles of the auto industry which the Bush White House offered a temporary reprieve, Russia is talking to NATO again after being “ex-communicated” from the organization for invading Georgia, Zimbabwe continues its leadership struggles as does the Congo & Rwanda. Plus many more too numerous to note here.

But questions of ethics and its impact on communication became a national topic with the Illinois Governor’s alleged claim to sell President-elect Obama’s Senate seat and with the $50 billion Ponzi scheme that has been operating for over 20 years.

Governor Blagojevitch and Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff seems to have several ethical issues in common. Both have presented themselves as honorable men. Both made promises that people believed. In short, although using different styles (Blagojevitch is combative and Madoff is smooth as silk), both spoke well and communicated persuasively – at least for the short term.

In this unusually tumultuous social and political environment in which we live where speed is very important, we often don’t make the time to consider the implications of what people say to us. We judge by first impressions. (Malcolm Gladwell has written a best-selling book, “Blink” on snap-judgments we make by what he calls “thin slicing.”)

If we are not careful, our snap-judgments come back to haunt us – in our personal lives as well as in our school lives. The Golden Rule (“Do under others as you would have them do unto you.”) becomes perversions as “Do under others before they do unto you” and “He who has the gold rules.”

Being alert to the messages people communicate can sharpen your “crap detector” (from Ernest Hemingway) to discover the integrity of the messages you send out and those you receive.

An endless topic – like most Communication topics – to be revisited from time to time.

Our upcoming schedule is:

Wednesday, January 7, 2008 - 2 pm - Room 223 - Midtown– SPAR Debate – After the holidays, we need to tune up our brains to prepare for finals and the new semester. For those who’ve never participated, SPAR debate stands for SPontaneous Argumentation. We learn to think on our feet, developing a line of reasoning about a silly topic. Practice in learning how to think on your feet defending such topics as “Greed is good” or “A rolling stone gathers no moss.”

Wednesday, January 14, 2008– 2 pm – Room 223 – Midtown –

Club Discussion on “How Power Affects Communication.” What is Power? Do I have Power? Do others have Power? How does Power And/or the lack of it affect Communication? We’ll share stories and try to come up with some conclusions about Power.

What happened on Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at the Holiday Potluck Gathering Theatre?

James Millner was the first to arrive with a kosher pizza after Hal Wicke had set up the room. A couple of students and faculty poked their noses in the room but were embarrassed to enter. Communication instructor Diana Thompson stopped by, partaking of a pizza slice. Marty Vasas, a math instructor, wandered by, having smelled the pizza and took a slice. Another couple of students came by and also smelled the pizza, taking. Political Science instructor, Jose Dunker, joined the group, taking his slice of pizza. He shared some of the travails of the trip he is planning to visit Birmingham, Alabama, during 2^nd semester.

Along about 3:30, Lorinda Moore blew in with three trays of chicken – broiled, baked and fried –with lots of “fixings” and overwhelmed the group with a feast she had prepared and brought with her from her Bronx home. With the pizza gone, the gourmands took over. As the group was packing up before the next class, George Backinoff was seen enjoying a plate of Lorinda’s homemade chicken. Lorinda packed up the large amount of remaining chicken and carried it over to the homeless shelter on 23^rd Street off 6^th Avenue.

Our first Holiday potluck party was over. The experiment was complete. Three people brought food. Some 10 people broke bread together. So many Communication lessons abounded during the event which might be worth exploring at some far distance time in the future.

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

Hal Wicke