Post 3

The most interesting thing that I learned in this weeks reading was learning about the listening process. The listening process is complex because it describes how one rely's on their "mind ears and hearts" (Wood, P.144). There are six steps to the listening process. The first step to the listening process is being mindful. Mindfulness is being fully present in the moment. The next step in the listening process is physically receiving  messages. This means making sense of the messages people are physically trying to tell you while they are talking. The third step is selecting and organizing material. The forth step is interpreting communication. The fifth step is responding and the last step is remembering. All of these steps are crucial in listening to someone speak. The listening process allows us to remember important dates in our process and also important information people tell us. Without the six steps above, i believe you couldn't be a good listener.

Post 2

After reading Listening is a 10 part skill by Ralph Nichols i learned that the most important question to ask yourself while listening to someone is speaking is, what information can I use after listening to this person speak. The ten parts that Nichols discusses include the following: find an interest, judge content not delivery, hold your fire, listen for ideas,be flexible, work at listening, resit distractions, exercise your mind, keep your mind open, and capital speed. When finding an interest make sure you make a connection inside your personal thought of how this information will help in the future. When people are talking, do not emphasis how they speak. Think about the content their are discussing to the audience rather than the physical or verbal way one might speak. Hold your fire by not attempting to interfere someone while they are talking. Listen to the speaker for ideas and new ideas. Be flexible by taking various types of notes you take in class. Work on listening to your speaker by resisting distractions around the room. Exercise your mind, keep and open mind, and capital speed all discuss the subject of staying active in class and not disclosing any information that you think may not be important.

Post 1

The six forms of nonlistening include pseudo listening, monopolizing, selective listening, defensive listening, ambushing and literal listening. Psedolistening is one a person is pretending to listen. I find myself doing this a lot when i am in a class i do not enjoy. For example when i took introduction to hospitality. The lecture was so straight forward that it was easy for me to venture off and think of other things besides the lecture. Monopolizing is when someone is continuously shifting the conversation on themselves rather then listening to the other person. Selective listening is when you focus on some parts of the conversation. Defensive listening is when someone views something you said as an attack on them. Ambushing is listening carefully for the purpose of attacking a speaker. This is something that I try never to do. The last one literal listening is when someone is listening only for content and ignoring the relationship level of meaning. The method of nonlistening that i need to get over is psedolistening during class. I can get over this by actively taking notes, and participating in class.

Post 3

This week the most interesting thing that I learned was our ability to accept certain guidelines in our everyday in language. These guidelines that we accept are known as communication rules. Communication rules  are our "shared understandings of communication means and what kind of communication are appropriate in particular situation" (Wood, 95). These understandings include how to answer a telephone politely, how to interact with others in a library, and also how to politely listen to others points in a conversation without interrupting them. In the library you would not talk in your normal tone of voice, you would speak softer and quieter because you know the library is a very quiet place where people read and do homework. With these communication rules come two other types of rules as well, these include the following: regulative rules, and constitutional rules. Regulatory rules tell us where when and and with whom to talk about certain things. Constitutive rules specify how to interpret and perform different kinds of communication.

Post 2.

      After reading the hate speech website i learned that hate speech is " racist and anti-Semitic speech [and has] always been recognized as First Amendment-protected. " Hate speech is when one person talks down about another person due to a race, gender, color, sexual orientation, and any other characteristic. Hate speech can be can be engaged anytime, and any place. It only takes one sly comment to allow hate speech to occur in your daily life. I do believe that hate speech should be censored because it instigates violence. Everyone is always talking about keeping the world a better and safer place. With hate speech openly displayed  I believe there would be more violence around the world. By censoring hate speech you are limiting someones first amendment slightly to protect the views and beliefs of others.There are so many social media websites available to the public through which people can say hurtful tings to others.

Ch 4, Post 1

     I do not think that the American society should be referred to as a melting pot. The reverend Jesse Jackson refers to the United States as both a rainbow and a family quilt and i believe that his metaphor fit very well. The metaphor that I think works best for the American economy is a bowl of jelly beans. All of the jelly beans have a distinct flavor and color that make them so good all together in a bowl. Although each jelly bean is different each is important to try and experiences just like the many cultural values and practices of each race in America. Every person who lives in the United States should celebrate their own individuality and celebrate what makes them unique. With so many diverse people in the  United States speech communities, many people will learn how to communicate with those who may not be of the same race as them. I believe this is important to develop a new understanding of the sense of community.

3.

One subject that i thought was really interesting to read about this was the reading on sexual orientation. Sexually Orientation is a way to categorize people by who they are social attracted to. In many social perspectives the idea of a man and women relationship is very ideal and traditional. This type of relationship is religiously accepted where as a man-man relationship may not be. The idea of a same sex relationship is not ideal for everyone, but it is socially accepted in some places. The same sex marriage is not supported enough in most of the world, to have it legalized. There are places in California that socially accept the same sex relationship. One place that is really known for equality of the same sex marriage is the Castro district in San Francisco. The Castro district is a district in San Francisco where  you can openly see a same sex relationship out in the open. I honestly can say that i support love, and if it happens to be with a person who is of the same gender of you, than so be it. No one should be denied happiness or love in a relationship.

2.

      The book describes race as a primary aspect of personal identity. Race is also used to categorize people in society. In American history it has always been a white predominate country, and it is because of this that we have such racial gap in our society. Many white folk had better access to better schools that those of color. I do believe that many people use race to classify many different peopl in todays society. The reason for this is because of how different everybody looks visually. I believe that race is a very important thing in todays society because not only does it remind America of its past, but i believe that it brings a melting pot of people into the country. The Census Bureau should allow people to check multiple races to define themselves because i believe today, there are a lot of people that are more than one race.

1.

     So this week I talked to my Aunt Martha who is in her early forties. While discussing her time in her twenties, many funny stories came up about my mom and her getting into all of this trouble. She explained to me that when she was twenty she was expected to have a job, come home to her parents house and be respectful and courteous. She was to make sure her room was tidy, her shoes were never left in the living room and also she was very clear that her father was very strict on clothing. If my grandpa saw my aunt or my mom come out of their room in "short shorts" he would tell them to turn around and put more clothes on. Some of her goals were to move out of her parents house, get a good paying job, and get married. She got married at a young age to a man she thought she was going to spend the rest of her life with, but ultimately things did not work out as she was expecting. Her ex husband and her had 2 boys and a boy who are now e 17, 12, and 10 years of age. She now works two jobs as a gym instructor and is happy with her life.
     The second person I talked to this week was my Uncle Rich, who is in his early sixties. Uncle Rich is related to me on my moms side as well. He is the husband of my eldest Aunt Mandy. Uncle Rich explained to me that when he was in his twenties the war was the key thing that was talked about. Everyone was hung up on the idea of nationalism and the cold war. The goals he held for himself were to enroll in school and be a full time student. He attended the University of Southern California and graduated. I find him to be one of the most intelligent men i know. He depicted amazing stories of the Cold war on T.V and the news casts that followed. Attitudes were very nationalistic, if you weren't "Pro America" you were seen as the enemy.
    Things that i noticed that were different between my aunt and uncles stories is that in seems like when my aunt was 20 there was no force of war upon her, where as for my uncle times were a lot different. My aunt had mentioned the Cold war, but she was not as focused on it as much as it was in the 50's.  I find that while the generations grew older the thing that changed them was the Peace movement. This was a time of free spirited people and the introduction of many narcotics. The idea of peace from war spread like rapid fire and soon after that the 70-80s allowed the introduction of new music as well.

Week 1, post 3

     One thing that I thought was really interesting in this week's reading was the idea of meta-communication. For those of you who are unaware of what this is, meta-communication is a special form of communication in which one processes more communication and how verbal tones are taken. For example, while speaking with of your friends you realize how she is talking is hinting that she is about to cry so you ask, " Are you okay? You seem very depressed". By  listening to the verbal tones in a person's voice, you are able to analyze a form of communication that is verbal. Meta-communication can be nonverbal and verbal. Non verbal communication includes much of the body language that one uses while talking. For example many people often use their hands to give directions,emphasizing on key locations to make certain left and right turns. I think non verbal communication s more often in today's society. I often can tell by someones body language if they are stressed, sad happy etc.