Touro Communication Club Notes #37

tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

In China, the number “8” is a lucky number. It is not surprising that they chose 8.08.08 as the opening day for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But we could not have predicted that the Russians would choose today to invade Georgia, a former satellite of the U.S.S.R and now an independent country since 1989. One might have thought the invasion date was strategically chosen so the media focus on the Olympics would minimize the importance of the invasion. That the invasion was begun on Friday, a typical down day in the world news cycle, seems quite conscious.

That Friday was also chosen by ex-Senator John Edwards to reveal his illicit affair during his Presidential certain was very conscious. Despite Edwards’s attempt to hide the event, the media is blasting away with this tragic ethical incident. It seems the cable and broadcast media are becoming more like People Magazine and the National Inquirer. Oddly, the National Inquirer, noted for inventing sleaze about everyone, may have gained a nanosecond of respectability in pushing this Edwards story.

With another war in the headlines, with another indiscretion by public figure and with our personal difficulties frequently dominating our lives daily, we can face a constant challenge to keep a positive attitude on the present and future. I am always concerned about how we view the events in our lives. Our perceptions can affect how we think and behave. Somehow, long ago, I acquired the habit of viewing life as a glass half-full of water. But I can certainly see how people can acquire a negative view of life.- as a glass half-empty.

It’s hard for someone to view life positively if most of our lives having only known negative experiences. Yet, as with Pandora’s box, there is always a thin sliver of hope remains at bottom after all the sins of the world have escaped. This perception of the world as very imperfect, yet worth working on, is, I think, a chosen view.....I’ll stop here, lest I climb on another of my soapboxes.

I do know that the Communication Club is a totally positive and productive experience – almost a balm against the negativity in the world.

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – Persuasion II continues in Room 615. Who knows where it will lead? But, without question, it will be fascinating. A highlight on the agenda: Olushile Atkintade, our novelist, will present his “sales pitch” he is going to present to his church about the book.

Wednesday, August 29, 2008 – 1 pm - Debate –More SPAR Instant debates – and who knows what else we’ll talk about. It’s pretty safe that we will have another exciting exchange. Maybe we’ll even decide on a debate topic! Follow the room signs.

What happened on Wednesday, August 6, 2008 – 1 pm – Debate – SPAR

Today’s session was split between an inevitable discussion about the marketing of the Communication Club and an exciting SPAR debate. Lorinda Moore, James Millner and Kazi Faltah engaged in a spirited exchange with Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke. Carlisle Yearwood joined us again and added immeasurably to the discussion. He is our literary muse “in residence.”

For nearly an hour, the group exchanged ideas on how to build the Communication Club. Lorinda spoke about working with James and Shile and Dean Taylor to develop an expanded Student Orientation. They feel that Orientation should not be a one-time event, but rather a permanent on-going series of events which promote student participation at Touro. It was clear that members of the Communication Club are taking a leadership role in these planning sessions and will have a platform for promoting the activities of the Club.

Questions were raised as to thinking about Club recruitment as a business thinks about marketing. Our “product” is “Communication” and all the skills that we learn and the enormous benefits we will have when we leave Touro. We should do a specific “features and benefits” list. that we all use the same language when we talk to students.

During the open-ended discussion, words such as “Byzantine,” W,.B. Yeats’ poem “Byzantium,” Franz Kafka and his novel “Metamorphosis” and other literary references floated into our conversation Carlisle, Richard and David made excellent contributions. It is always exciting when so many literary and cultural references can be brought to the surface and discussed in the20normal course of our communication. It is almost that “Communication” is a touchstone, a Rosetta stone, to understanding civilization.

The cliché, “A bird in hand is worth more than 2 in the bush,” was debated by Lorinda (Affirmative) and James (Negative). Lorinda won the debate 4 votes to none. Then the “judges” offered their comments, mostly positive, about the debaters’ performances. The debate session ended with both Lorinda and James critiquing their own performances.

The debaters are getting used to the very restrictive time limit, forcing each debater to think quickly on their feet. It is extremely difficult, but once learned, the skill.becomes permanently imbedded in our DNA. David made an excellent analogy to studying for the SAT without a time limit and then facing the pressure of the exam with a time limit. Terrible nerves.

As we departed, Lorinda recited a heartfelt poem she had written, to the applause of the group. That led to the idea of a student “poetry slam,” one of so many Communication related program ideas we could sponsor.

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke

Touro Communication Club Notes #36

tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

BREAKING NEWS!
Communication Club member Olushile Akintade has published his first novel, “Wings of the Wind.” He has been working on it since he left Nigeria and the novel was published just this week. He shared copies of the work with the members of the club this week. The novel, the first of a trilogy, is set in 70AD during the Meroitic Kingdom of Nubia (now Sudan, located south of Egypt in Africa) and tells the story of Samuel who is “torn from his family, sold into slavery and begins a tumultuous journey to find strength enough to return home.” Shile graduated summa cum laude from Touro in June and collected several awards at the ceremony. We congratulate Shile on his literary efforts which contrasts his expertise in computers. He sets a continuing and shining example for all of us at Touro and in the Communication Club.

The news of the week had a number of surprises. On the scientific side, the Red planet of Mars is confirmed to have water, creating speculation that life could have existed there. On the ethical side, Exxon-Mobil, the world’s largest oil company, posted $11.6 billion in profits for just the second quarter. Amazingly, their stock price went down on the market because speculators thought Exxon would post higher profits. (Now, ain’t that sad?) Another Republican senator, Ted Stevens from Alaska, the longest serving Republican, was indicted on several corruption charges. Is it corruption as usual?

And Senators McCain and Obama continued to trade accusations, often interpreting each other’s statements in the worst possible light. Their TV commercials get much more free air time than what they pay for because they are replayed incessantly on the broadcast and cable news organizations.

A category of voters, called “low information voters,” has been getting more attention recently. These are the potential voters who don’t pay much attention to the news and the issues. They vote their emotions. The term is virtually a euphemism for ignorance. Yet, in a democracy, everyone – according to legend – has a right to vote.

For any political campaign, the challenge is to get these “low information voters” to vote for your candidate with little or knowledge. In 2004, “wedge issues,” like abortion, same-sex marriage and stem cell research, were successful in distracting these voters from voting for candidates who espoused basic political realities, like the economy. T his successful strategy affected these voters by using “bumper sticker” statements reducing complex issues to several words or “sound bites.”

Great persuasion device! Advertisers use it all the time! Didn’t Josef Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda chief, invent the tactic? I think it was called, “The Big Lie.” The strategy: Repeat a falsehood or twisted statement often enough and people will believe it.

In our Communication Club, we are working to become more aware of how certain persuasion strategies affect the outcome a decision.
Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 – 1 pm Debate –SPAR Instant debates continue – and maybe we’ll choose a new topic if we don’t get distracted. Follow the room signs

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – Persuasion II continues. Who knows where it will lead? But, without question, it will be fascinating.
What happened on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 – 1 pm – Club – Persuasion I

From the moment we asked for definitions of “persuasion,” we began to see nuances between the approaches. Using a personal experience, Kazi Faltah described his attempt to persuade his fellow Bangladeshis about how wonderful his experience at Touro has been. When confronted with a negative comment, Kazi used an analogy of opening a bag of rice. Inevitably, in every bag of rice, there are a few black grains. He counseled his friends that you don’t throw out the entire bag of rice for a few black grains. What you do, Kazi suggested, is to just throw out the black grains and cook all the good rice. The same is true for any experience, he felt; in every good experience, there is some not-so-good parts, but you don’t throw everything out because of a few negative experiences.

Hal Wicke pointed out that what Kazi was doing was “overcoming objections,” a necessary part of the persuasion process. Every one has objections to another point of view. Just as in debate, you have to prepare for the other side of an argument.

Newcomer Winsom Wong separated the definitions of persuasion and sales. He felt that “sales” was for products and services while “persuasion” was for abstract ideas. The group batted that idea around for several minutes. Richard Green reminded the group that Hal had said that “everything is sales.” He felt the statement was too blatant and not representative of what actually goes on. David Nussbaum extended the discussion of definitions by suggesting perhaps sales is part of persuasion and its use depends on the situation.

Lorinda Moore spoke of her experience as an artist’s representative and event producer where she had to use her persuasive skills to get both the artist and event sponsor to find common ground. And, mind you, all of her efforts currently are for free, but she hopes to get paid for them in the future.

Somewhere during the session, Jetante Morris joined the group with her four grandchildren. Jetante was one of the finalists in the 5^th Speech Contest this past spring. Olushile Atkintade, a Club regular, and English Professor Carlisle Yearwood joined the group as well. Because there were several new faces, we went around introducing ourselves.

The discussion moved toward persuasion in the classroom. Carlisle commented that he had written a haiku and an English sonnet in reaction to Jesse Jackson’s less than elegant statement about Senator Obama’s attitude toward minorities. He explained that the structures of haiku and sonnet forms demand highly reductive use of language to capture a thought.

Talk moved toward how students view their professors. Shile argued that all students “audition” their professors. On the first day and until the drop/add day, students get a sense of how difficult the course and professor will be and, if they feel they can’t get a good grade (an “A” or at least a0B”), they drop the course or change sections. Other students in the group agreed in general to Shile’s concept.

Someone commented that the students were then, in fact, consumers. If they didn’t like the product, they would “return.” Education, for students, is a commodity – a thing, an product – to be bought and sold on the open market.

The Greek myth of Pygmalion was mentioned and explained in connection with the palpable power that instructors hold over their classes. More later.

Unfortunately, the session came to an end, just as this controversial point of view was beginning to gain traction. We would continue the discussion in two weeks.

Hal remembered to ask the group at least one of what we’ll now call Lorinda’s questions. How did i feel about the session? Everyone was extremely excited about the exchange and was looking forward to the next time. Exploration of the other questions was swallowed up in the hubbub of the departure.

As people were leaving, Shile shyly brought out his newly published novel which consumed everyone’s attention.

• These are “Lorinda’s Questions”:

1. How did I feel about the discussion?

2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?

3. Was there something that did not change the discussi on?

4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke

Touro Communication Club Notes #35

tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

NEWS ABOUT TOURO COMMUNICATORS:

The winner of the 4^th Speech Contest, Simone Weber, was valedictorian of her class at Touro Berlin.

The winner of the 5^th Speech Contest, Lara Koerfer, is now in Japan on an internship with Volkswagen.

If you have any information about your own latest accomplishments, please email it to Hal Wicke and he will include it on the blog.

The announcements are really exciting news!. They indicate that our students who have been part of the Touro Communication Club are their Communication skills in a wide variety of situations. As those who come to our sessions regularly, there are so many situations, personal and professional, that Communication skills are used 24/7.

The Presidential campaign gets closer to the nominating conventions. With less that 100 days to the elections, both Senators McCain and Obama are ramping up their activities. McCain has increased his attack advertising on Obama’s lack of experience while Obama was greeted like a rock star in his whirlwind tour of the Middle East and Europe. McCain’s camp complained that Obama really didn’t say anything consequential in his Berlin speech before only 200,000 people. Obama is aware that, as a Presidential candidate, he cannot saying substantive about polic y before he is elected.

We are now entering the dog days of summer, alternating between sweltering heat and humidity and flash thunderstorms. These are days to relax and go to the beach or enjoy an outdoor concert. Our brains go to seed only to be braced by the jolt of post-Labor Day school. Enjoy while you can!

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – “Persuasion” an open-ended discussion about a volatile Communication activity. Hal makes the statement that “Everyone is always selling something.” Let the arguments begin. Follow the room signs.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 – 1 pm Debate –SPAR Instant debates continue – and maybe we’ll choose a new topic if we don’t get distracted. Follow the room signs.

What happened on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – 1 pm – Debate

We had such a rip-roaring session with the SPAR debate format that we forgot to talk about our next debate topic. James Millner, Kazi Faltah and Lorinda Moore took turns debating. Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke were joined by Carlisle Yearwood (English) and Steven Gradman (Political Science) in adjudicating the debates and offering their comments.

The first topic was “Honesty is the best policy” with Kazi taking the affirmative position and using Biblical references as his main support while James took the negative and offered alternative evidence to Kazi’s stance. The judges voted that the Negative case won the debate. All manner of comment followed the decision.

The second topic was “The grass is greener on the other side.” Lorinda took the Affirmative position while James took the Negative. Lorinda said she was “blindsided” by the unexpected argument that James presented by taking the cliche literally with all the weeds that are among the grass. His logic was humorous as well unexpectedly switching from the metaphorical intention of the cliché.=2 0

These SPAR debates are wonderful training tools for our debaters. They require no extensive preparation, but demand close listening and the development of thought structures that prepare for an argument as well as surprise responses.

At the last minute, Hal remembered Lorinda’s earlier suggestion of questions to put perspective on the session. Everyone thought the session was exciting, fun and very useful in the future. Some thought we needed to work on how to use the short preparation time more effectively. Most people are not used to thinking in an organized fashion under pressure. We’ll work on this next time.

• These are Lorinda’s questions;

1. How did I feel about the discussion?

2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?

3. Was there something that did not change the discussion?

4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke

Touro Communication Club Notes #34

tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

The summer heat is up. The surrogate misstatements (Phil Gramm for Senator McCain; Jesse Jackson for Senator Obama) continue. They continue to cloud the substance of both campaigns. How to maintain control of the candidates' message is extremely difficult for people who are used acting like Lone Rangers. Obama’s trip to Afghanistan and Iraq pursued by the 3 network news anchors and 300 of his closest aides seems to ratchet up the importance of his visit, particularly when McCain traveled with virtually no news people. Bias? Prejudice? Who is to say?

The economy (housing, gasoline, food) continues to capture our attention. Pocketbook issues are major campaign issues, while we struggle to make ends meet. We can always be distracted from bread-and-butter issues by celebrity happenings– Brangelina’s twins among them. What’s happened to Britany. lately? Don’t you miss your nightly Britany fix?

By the way, Hal is reading an interesting new book by Howard Fineman called, “The Thirteen American Arguments.” Fineman is Senior Washington correspondent for Newsweek magazine and frequently appears on MSNBC. His thesis is that because we have a form of democracy that Americans must have always argued about everything – Who is a person? What do we know? What do we believe? Etc.

If Fineman’s thesis is true, I would say that Americans should know how to argue, not just shoot off their mouths, if we are a country in which basic premises are always
being argued. The recent 5-4 landmark Supreme Court decision on gun control is a case in point. A fascinating thesis for those interested in Communication.

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – 1 pm Debate – Continue discussion about what we learned, a new topic and SPAR Instant debates

Because of Graduate Education classes meeting in Room 610, we are meeting in Room 615 near the Department office. Follow the posted signs.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – “Persuasion” an open-ended discussion about a volatile Communication activity. Hal makes the statement that “Everyone is always selling something.” Let the arguments begin.

What happened on Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – 1 pm – Club

Again we met in Room 615 because the Graduate School of Education has taken over our usual room 610 for summer classes. Olushile Akintade, James Millner and Kazi Faltah and Lorinda Moore joined faculty members Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke in a rousing discussion. Although our topic was “Cultural Rituals – Do They Work?” the energy was drawn to the controversy of the week – the New Yorker cover cartoon of Barack and Michelle Obama dressed as Muslim terrorists.

Immediately, the question of freedom of speech – First Amendment rights came up. Opinions flew back and forth. Everyone agreed the cartoon was not a positive portrayal of the Obamas. Although satirical, no one thought the cartoon was funny. Some said the magazine should be stopped from publishing derogatory cartoons (censored). Others said the Bill of Rights allows this in America.

Shile and Kazi both said such cartoons would be dangerous in their countries of Nigeria and Bangladesh respectively. Shile commented that he found it “shocking” that people would make fun of their elders. Kazi agreed that some of this American “freedom of speech’ was sometime difficult to understand.

The incident of Danish cartoons making fun of Muslims and Mohammed causing riotsand a death in Europe was recalled. Someone remembered the statement of the 18^th century philosopher, Voltaire, “I may disagree with your statements, but I will defend to the death your right to say them.”

What then are the limits of free speech? We agreed that if someone yelled “fire” in a theater was one limit to free speech. Free speech seemed to allow anyone to say anything at any time. We couldn’t agree on what other limits should there be. In the 1970s the Nazi march in Skokie, Illinois, a Jewish community outside of Chicago, tested severely the limits of free speech. David clarified the details of the incident.

The discussion moved toward persuasion as a natural outgrowth of free speech. Then the free-wheeling discussion moved to advertising as persuasion. One person stated categorically that advertising was “the lowest form of persuasion” especially when it is used to sell harmful products. Other people felt that the tools of persuasion, like guns or hammers, are neutral, but became dangerous weapons in the hands of certain people.

There were lots of disagreements about the purpose of advertising and its relation to free speech. Questions of ethics came up as advertisers want to change the habits of potential consumers so that they buy these products.

Issues flying by were too numerous to capture in these notes. It was clear that we had much to explore about the topic of persuasion. So persuasion will be the topic of the next club meeting.

Once again, I forgot to ask the following questions that Lorinda suggested at a recent meeting. These are:

1. How did I feel about the discussion?

2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?

3. Was there something that did not change the discussion?

4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?

Shile, Lorinda and Hal remained after everyone left to talk about taking some action. Shile shared his experience in the Computer department trying to start a Computer Club without success. Lorinda suggested that the Communication Club could sponsor a Freshman “Meet and Greet.” Both agreed that they would contact Dean Taylor about attaching such an event to the Freshman Orientation in the fall. We’ll report next time.

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke

Touro Communication Club Notes #33

tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

We’re back in session. The store is open again.

A note to readers: The Club will continue to meet regularly on Wednesdays at 1 pm during the summer, unless there is an Act of God. Please don’t believe people who say the Club is not meeting. Just because

Despite the two week “vacation” from the Club activities, “Life” continues. Our own personal lives with our special variables, our school life is suspended animation while life across America is filled with a number of challenges. The summer heat in NYC, the fires in California and the floods in the Midwest are Mother Nature’s “gifts” to her family. The Supreme Court 5-4 decisions will have great influence on lives in the future. The President’s bill on more invasion of privacy in the name of national security raises concerns.

Of interest to us Communicators are the number of verbal gaffes (faux pas or mistakes) that surrogates for both Presidential candidates are making. On the McCain side, former Senator Phil Gramm called Americans “whiners” about the economy. On the Obama side, Jesse Jackson said on a microphone that was still live that he would like to “cut his (Obama’s) nuts off” for making remarks that seem to look down on blacks. Or, the blooper that Michelle Obama said that the $400 federal rebate was not worth anything: “You can just buy a couple of earrings with it.” And there are more

Clearly, word choice by public figures in a public situation is examined with great scrutiny. Regardless of when it is used, careless word choice creates very difficult situations for everyone, including the user. The Chinese have a saying, “A sword kills once; the tongue can kill thousands of times.” But these gaffes are not intentional attempts to hurt. They are casual, thoughtless, out-of-touch statements which can indicate the tone and sincerity of the people who surround both candidates.

Here’s the upcoming schedule;

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – “Do Cultural Rituals work?” - a continuation of our discussion on Cultural Rituals

Because of Graduate Education classes meeting in Room 610, we are meeting in Room 615 near the Department office. Follow the posted signs.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 – 1 pm Debate – Continue discussion about what we learned, a new topic and SPAR Instant debates

What happened on Wednesday, July 9, 2008 – 1 pm – Debate

After chasing around for a new room and posting signs, the group meet down the hall from the department’s office in Room 615. Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke discussed the communication difficulties Richard is having in his summer public speaking class. Everyone interrupts, they don’t listen, they talk over each other, they deny each other’s view. Richard commented that the students don’t allow a discussion of how there is a logical progression to an idea. David made an observation that some people have a closed mindset that is difficult to open. Hal commented that the “my-way or the highway” mindset comes in all shapes and colors. Having a closed mind makes everything simpler. You only have to consider two options –right and wrong – to know where you stand. Dealing with shades of gray are much harder.

We tossed around ideas when Drani Gabu and Olushile Akintade arrived. Richard explained his situation again and both offered suggestions. Both Drani and Shile commented that when they were growing up in their respective countries, Sudan and Nigeria, there was ingrained tradition of respect for elders. This showed up as a hierarchy of authority among their siblings where the oldest was responsible for the youngest. Both commented that the oldest would get “beaten” if a younger sibling did not behave.

At some point, as Lorinda Moore joined the discussion, Shile summarized the discussion to date. Lorinda’s energy changed the dynamic in the discussion – a female with five males. That energy change is something that we should explore in the future.

It would be up to be a court stenographer to capture the range of topics that followed – the Dred Scott decision, more strategies for handling Richard’s rowdy class, the range of communication issues, etc. Hal brought up the famous Stanley Milgram experiment at Yale on “Obedience.” Everyone commented on how the discussion was so interesting and “marvelous.”

Drani will be in Oregon until late August. We have to make sure that everyone is aware of the club’s weekly meeting time and topics.

We got so involved with the discussion that we never even got to the planned topics of finishing the debate video, choosing a new topic and the SPAR debates. We’ll do them at the next debate meeting.

I forgot to ask the following questions that Lorinda suggested at the last meeting. There are:

1. How did I feel about the discussion?

2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?

3. Was there something that20did not change the discussion?

4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke

Touro Communication Club Notes #32

tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

With finals and graduation, the past week was a blur. However, life goes in the rest of the world. Catastrophe dominates the news. Terrible floods in the Midwest. Forest fires on the West Coast. Gas prices are soaring, Food is getting more expensive.

And the Presidential campaign is certainly heating up. Factcheck.org (from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania) has been posting its observations about how both the Obama and McCain campaigns have been stretching their facts. The wives of the candidates, Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama, are becoming targets of political attacks, a new wrinkle in Presidential politics. Scott McClellan, President Bush’s former press secretary, appeared on Capital Hill to explain his statements on deception in the White House that he discussed in his new book, “What Happened.” The televised memorial for NBC commentator, Tim Russert, who died suddenly last week, was very moving.

We are on “vacation” for two weeks

Wednesday, June 25

Wednesday. July 2

Of course, our Communication skills never go on vacation! We have the opportunity to reflect on what we’ve discussed in the past several months.

When we return, here’s the upcoming schedule of the Communication Club is

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 1 pm– Debate –Finish our Gun Control debate video - SPAR Instant debates

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – 1 pm– Club – “Do Cultural Rituals work?” - a continuation of

What happened on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 – 1 pm –“Cultural Rituals”

Ten people participated in this fascinating discussion.. Olushile Akintade, James Millner, Theresa Wright, Kazi Fathah and Lorinda Moore participated enthusiastically in the exchange. Faculty members Richard Green, David Nussbaum and Hal Wicke were joined by an old friend Carlisle Yearwood, English instructor and Freshman Coordinator and a new friend, Max Kopelman of the Education Department.

Since Touro’s graduation ceremony was last Sunday and Shile graduated with summa cum laude honors and a couple of individual awards, we began to examine the elements of the Cultural ritual and rite of passage called graduation. We looked at the purpose of this ritual (recognition and acknowledgement for accomplishment and the tassel flip), the ceremonials aspects (the speeches of Dr. Lander and Congressman Rangel and the two student speeches) and the celebratory aspects (the gowns, the procession, the recognition awards, the awarding of the diplomas, the photography) Of course, having the graduation at Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center, one of the premier music halls in America, raised the bar of expectations for the graduation.

We also identified other “Cultural Rituals” such as weddings, funerals, birthday parties. All these rituals have a central highlight – the diplomas at graduation, the rings at wedding, the birthday cake at birthday parties, the eulogies at funerals.

Why do these cultural rituals exist? People need formal rites of passage to demonstrate acknowledgement of accomplishment. These public events of recognition show respect to particular individual with a coming together of a community. Shile spoke about certain rituals in his native Nigeria as did Kazi of his native Bangladesh. David spoke about the Jewish ceremony of the bris and the bar and bas mitzvah as important religious rites of passage. Even getting a driver’s license, .Sweet 16 parties and being able to vote and drink are cultural rites of passage

Lorinda brought up the concept on “honoring elders” as an important function of a culture. She was concerned that, because of the impact of slavery, there has been a loss of connection to ancient traditions in the African American community. Shile commented on the impact of the end of British colonialism in Nigeria, creating a new sense of African pride. Carlisle commented on his experience growing up in post-colonial Barbados and competing with Jamaica to become the most correctly “British” without being British.

As the session drew to a close, Lorinda suggested that we try to summarize what our individual impressions were to the discussion. She suggested we ask ourselves several questions:

1. How did I feel about the discussion?

2. What part of the discussion influenced me the most?

3. Was there something that did not change the discussion?

4. What will I definitely do after this discussion?

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke

Touro Communication Club Notes #31

tourocommunicationclub.blogspot.com

The week’s events were punctuated by the sudden death of Tim Russert, the long-time moderator of NBC’s“Meet The Press.” The loss of Russert will be unfathomable in the current political campaign. A model for incisive questioning technique, he used his extensive preparation for every show to develop questions which both illuminated an issue and often highlighted his guest’s contradictory statements. Everyone interested in Communication could look to Russert to learn how capture the heart of every issue. We have lost a valuable teacher.

This week’s New York Times featured an extensive front-page article on perceived gender bias in the reporting of Hillary Clinton’s Presidential bid. Two volatile communication filters, misogyny and race, are important factors for us to explore further in our discussions.

Sunday’s graduation ceremonies at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, was a first at this premier location. With Dr. Lander introducing Congressman Charles Rangel coupled with the chewing gum and cell phones during the event , the graduation provides a rich opportunity to identify the elements of communication that operate during such experiences.

We’ll continue to watch. We hope you will too!

Here’s the upcoming schedule of the Communication Club is

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 – 1 pm - Club meeting –“Cultural Rituals” led by Lorinda Moore

After the discussion on Awareness and Memory, we thought about several topics, but chose broad subject of “Cultural Rituals.” This is a milestone for the club to have a student lead the discussion. First, we have to define our terms. What is culture? What is a ritual? Once these are clarified we can then turn to various cultures and their rituals. I’m sure we will develop an enormous list of rituals in different cultures. Then we can begin a discussion of how these cultural rituals impact the communication of the people within the culture. Sounds very promising! Let’s come out to support Lorinda’s leadership!

Wednesdays, June 25 }

Wednesday. July 2, } Let’s take a two week vacation to put our heads together.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 – Debate – SPAR debates – finish debate video

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 – Club – topic to be decided

What happened on Wednesday, June 11– Analysis of Video of the Final Debate

With Richard Green operating his laptop, the group watched a high school debate on school uniforms followed by part of the Debate Team’s final debate on gun control. The debaters, Drani Gabu, James Millner, Olushile Akintade and Theresa Wright watched fascinated. Both Richard and David Nussbaum contributed while Hal Wicke led the analysis of the school uniform debate.

Theresa is working nearby and comes to the debate meetings during her lunch period. Now that’s a sacrifice! She shouldn’t get indigestion, however!

The video on the school uniform debate was helpful because it was divided into segments – constructive, cross-examination, rebuttal – each with general instructions as to the purpose of each. At many points, Hal asked Richard to stop the video to highlight what the debaters were trying to do. Uncertain pauses, choice of words, repetitive use of only one source, inefficient questioning, a lack of clarity in one position were among the many items that were identified.

In the video of the team’s own debate on gun control, Hal asked each debater what were the strengths and weaknesses of their presentations. This kind of detailed analysis is very stressful. Rach debater quickly learns to be objective about how their presentation appears. We’ll continue to work on these skills on our new topic and the improvisatory “SPAR” debate. Here’s part of the handout:

SPAR Debate (SPontaneous ARgumentation)

This is a classic introductory debate exercise.

Format

Affirmative (Pro side) opening speech 90 seconds

Cross-Examination by Negative (Con side) 60 seconds

Negative opening speech 90 seconds

Cross-Examination by Affirmative side 60 seconds

Rebuttal - Affirmative closing speech 45 seconds

Rebuttal - Negative closing speech 45 seconds

6.5 minutes

Procedure

Debaters step to the front of the room in pairs. One debater calls a coin flip. The winner may either choose the topic (from a list posted on the board) or the side they will defend. After two minutes of preparation time, the debate begins. There should be an on-deck pair of debaters preparing their arguments.

Possible topics

Honesty is always the best policy.

True love really does exist.

The male should always take the lead in the dating game.

All Americans should perform 2 years of public service.

There is life after death.

And many more unusual topics......

Join us as we try to promote more light than heat! See you next time. Bring a friend!

Hal Wicke