President Trump (with Vice President Pence present, unspeaking) opens his border wall discussion with Majority Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi by praising the job that the border patrol and military are doing in handling the situation there. As the first person to speak, he sets the tone of the rest of the conversation. Pelosi responds by placing an emphasis on what the American people want, which, as far as she is concerned, is not a shutdown of the border. Trump interrupts her in a typically self-aggrandizing fashion less than a minute into her response. If he had not done this right off the bat, she may have been more compliant to his demands. On the other hand, Trump historically seems to respond most compliantly to aggression. So, their mannerisms make a compromise between them difficult. Schumer, for a major part of the discussion, fails to contribute much at all until telling Trump about his dishonest framing of this national conversation. He states firmly to Trump that he feels there is a way to come to an agreement without shutting down the government. Trump is rigid, unwilling to come to a compromise, which is a bad way to resolve a conflict. He goes on to say that the border patrol is very effective and that it is ineffective without a wall. He ignores Pelosi and Schumer when they point this out. He introduces non-sequitur into the discussion, bragging about what he feels he has accomplished as president while Pelosi and Schumer fail miserably to keep him on point. Both sides decided to stubbornly stick to their talking points instead of letting the conversation flow organically, and that is why they were unable to reach a consensus.
A few years ago, if you had to send documents, contracts or any written form of communication, you had to send it by mail. This required an envelope, filled with sender and receiver addresses, stamps, a typed and printed document copy for each receiver. Finally, the sender would take the mail to the post office and wait a few days for a reply. At that time, there was a smaller chance of making a mistake.
With all the technology we have today, computers, internet, and emails, all make our lives easier, save us time, and form better professional relationships. However, they can also put our jobs at risk when the topic is business emails. Many things can happen after you click the send button, and there is no way to undo your action.
Such mishaps can send
confidential salary information to the whole company, or maybe someone makes a bad
comment about a supervisor and sends it to the supervisor by mistake. Or, you
can open your mailbox in the morning and find out you got more than 50 “thanks”
in response to an e-mail. This is not a good way to start a day. It is just a
business routine, when a co-worker loves to respond to all.
Emails are the most used form
of communication in the business world. Here are some simple tips that can prevent
the most common mistakes:
Bad grammar/spelling: Proofread your
emails at least once.
Wrong recipient: Check the recipients one
by one before you click send.
Abuse of BCC: In the company’s own work environment
it is not necessary to use hidden copy.
Reply to all: Unless the information is
relevant to all users put in copy, you should not abuse this option.
Silence: Avoid a negative feeling in someone
who is waiting for an answer.
To whom it corresponds: this expression creates
less credibility.
The subject line: We focus on the body of
the email and forget to change the subject line.
Long emails: Keep it clear and concise.
Late night emails: It is not a good idea
to answer emails in a hurry or when you are tired. Answer them first thing in
the morning.
Emotional emailing: never send an email when
you are angry or upset. Take your time, read it again later, and reflect on the
tone used.
Spending a few minutes to double check an email before clicking the irreversible “send” button may save you time and prevent any misunderstanding or conflict in the future.
One word can change your whole mood.
They can make you go from happy to sad, mad, or grumpy. Words are very
powerful! Words are the thoughts in our brain that come out. Words are used to
help describe our emotions, and also play a huge part in our behavior. They can
affect both positive and negative. Knowing what to say at the right time. Our
brain is involved a lot with our words. It helps us process the information we
are trying to say into words. Words are all around us and are huge impact on
why we act the way we do sometimes.
One way that words affect behavior is
the way we speak. Have you ever heard it’s not what you said it’s how you said
it? It’s the tone from your voice. Tone is one reason a lot of our behavior is
affected. The way you say sometimes play a role in the way people react to it.
Many times, you don’t mean to use tone it just comes out like that. Another
thing is using the right words. Ever been in a situation when you say the right
words are the wrong time? Those are the worst times. We need to stop and think
before we start talking. We need to choose words wisely and think how our words
might affect someone. We need to learn to think before you speak and watch they
tone you talk in.
One word that may affect my behavior
more than yours is the “R-word” (retarded). That word will NEVER be in my vocabulary.
I have a brother who has down syndrome, so that would to be is calling him a
name. It is offensive to those who have a disability. When I hear that word, I
get defensive, mad/angry, and try to ask the person that said it to us another
word. However, for someone else it might just be another word to them it might
not bother them like it does me. That word is part of people’s language, and
the probably don’t even notice when they say it. Most of them don’t mean for it
to be insult, but it still shouldn’t be a word they used. Next time try to use
a better word.
There are positive and negative words.
Try to throw-out the negative ones. Words like can’t, disappointed, or won’t.
These words make us unhappy and bring us down. If you use them, you start to
believe you can’t do things. Another thing that down is complaining all the
time. Areas that cause people to get in uproars is religion, gender, age, or
even gun control. These things affect our behavior tremendously. Try to look at
think that are more positive. Change
them for worlds like can, will, accomplished, or even incredible. Words that will
make you happier. You are believing in yourself, changing your vocab, and striving
to do better will make you happier. Try
to start each day with something positive rather than negative.
Words are all around us and they can affect us. Learn to think before you speak and think about how your words affect other people. Not everyone is affected by the same word, so don’t be surprised if people act out differently than others. Try to get the negative words out of vocab. Words are powerful, don’t forget that!
When we think of “spoken word performance” we often think of dusty brew houses and beret-adorned hipsters reciting their supposedly avant-garde poetry. On the surface, it can seem like an art form long dead.
That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
In fact, spoken word performance is thriving. Though it might be hard to recognize it as such, spoken word lives on in perhaps one of the most popular genres to date: Rap music. I’m not really a fan of rap/hip-hop myself, but I have composed and studied various forms of poetry, rhyme, etc. for years. Before I get too far ahead of myself, it’s a decent idea to ask what spoken word performance is. It’s essentially any work of poetry that is specifically made to be recited aloud or performed as opposed to read. The line between typical “Musical style” performance and spoken word lies in the fact that traditional music vocals tend to center themselves around creating a melody, a sound pleasant to the ear. It is a performance that puts your needs first. Spoken word, quite frankly, doesn’t give a damn.
Bonus points if you get the reference
Spoken word oftentimes had no accompanying music, and if it did, the music was centered around the words, not the other way around. And most rap music tracks are written like that. In fact, “freestyling” typically involves no accompanying music, possibly excepting a percussion beat to help keep the emcee in rhythm.
I have, thus far spoken about rap as a nebulous concept that relates to spoken word. It is worth noting that some things you might consider “rap” wouldn’t fall under this category, as again, they’re centered around creating a melody pleasing to the ear, not on rhyme, wordplay, and meter. The vast majority of rap music, especially older stuff, is firmly in the spoken word category.
To understand the relationship between rap and spoken word, we would need to go back to the 1920’s. Specifically, back to Harlem. Around this time, the African-American community experienced a revival of art, music, philosophy, and all manner of things that helped shape the creative identity of African American culture, the effects even rippling to this day. Spoken word poetry, of course, being a popular form of expression at the time. These Black Poets would rhyme about all manner of things, but frustration and struggle were recurring themes for many of them. Specifically, the struggles they faced as an oppressed racial minority mostly consigned to poverty. Around this sense of shared struggle, in fact, is where much of the cultural cohesion of the Harlem Renaissance took place. However, this was still “conventional” oral poetry in practice. The beginnings of what we know as “rap” wouldn’t emerge until the seventies. The rest, is history.
A video of the most famous creative to come out of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes, reading one of his most iconic poems.
Obviously, some rappers utilize spoken word more than others, but perhaps one of the most subtly poetic emcees is also one of the most vulgar.
Stefan Burnett, better known as MC Ride, is the lyrical front-man of the experimental rap trio Death Grips, and perhaps one of the most influential spoken word artists of our generation. It could be argued some of his tracks are so post-modernist as to defy the medium of spoken word altogether, but I would disagree. His vocals are the obvious center of the performance, oftentimes being discordant with the actual music. I could talk at length about his style, and how it really is spoken form in almost pure form, but perhaps showing you would do better:
Keep in mind, the first minute or so is an audio clip taken from an interview with Charles Manson.
What’s the point of this blog post? To, hopefully, convince you that spoken word performance is far from an aging, irrelevant, “hipster” medium, but is alive and well. Even if it’s far from those dusty brew houses and their accursed poetry slams.
Last week I was sitting in the auditorium of the War Memorial in Indy for the citizenship oath ceremony. All around me were excited faces from countries all over the world. I was wondering why so many people would be so excited to give up their citizenship of their country and then I realized that many of these faces had families that were living here or had spouses that they could only meet for a couple of months every year. Even though I understood their happiness and excitement, I was very confused about how I was feeling. On one hand I was happy that I would finally be able to vote, but on the other hand I was sad to be giving up my Indian citizenship. India. A country that I lived in for the first 10 years of my life. It was and will always be my home.
While sitting in that auditorium, I had a flashback to the day when my family moved to the United States. I was only 10 years old at that time and was so excited that I was moving to America. Growing up I had always heard so many wonderful things about America and how it is better than India. However, I think I was most excited that I would be in the same country as Disneyland (I was/still am a weird person who loves anything Disney). Looking back at that day though, I do not think I understood completely what it meant to move to the United States. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to see my cousins, my uncles or my aunts. I didn’t realize I wouldn’t be able to hang out with my friends or have my favorite kind of street food or ride on two-wheelers. I never understood the emotional toll it would take on my parents to move away from their home and make a home in a completely different country.
11 years later, I am now a United States Citizen. I am actually grateful for the move to the United States. I am got to spend my teenage years growing up in a different culture. It made me realize the importance of being open minded to not only new experiences but also to new people. I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to experience two very different cultures. I have now become a bridge of these two cultures in my family. This move also made me realize who I wanted to be as a person. Having experienced the close mindedness of Indians and also the individuality of Americans, I have learned to be open minded but also have my family be a very important part of my life.
This move also made me realize what I wanted to do as a career. Being in touch with different kinds of people, I realized during high school that I wanted to do something that helps people live a better life. During the second year of my college career, I knew that I want to go into some kind of a therapy to help people deal with their emotions in a positive way.
Looking back at the short 22 years that I have been on this planet, I have learned so much from the American culture as well as the Indian culture. I am so thankful that my parents taught me at an early age how to quickly adapt to changes because of which I am where I am today and I think how I think today. During the first year after the move there was always a battle going on in my mind between America and India. However, throughout these years I have learned to bridge that gap and get the best of both worlds.
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