Photo from http://www.enlight8.com/guide-to-mindful-meditation/

I have been reading a lot about mindfulness lately and it’s truly amazing! As I have discussed in previous posts, I have a tendency to worry a lot and to have a lot of anxiety about illogical ‘what if?’ type questions. As a result, I have been reading a lot about how our minds work and how intrapersonal communication (i.e., self-talk, talking to yourself, internal thoughts, etc.) has a dramatic effect on how every single individual human being sees and interacts with their world.

While I study Communication and, when compared to the discipline of Psychology, it is a lot more about the messages we send and receive than it is about the physiological workings of the brain, I have realized that it is impossible to talk about communication patterns without taking into account the psychological processes that we all go through. Last semester I was reading about intercultural communication and I came across the concept of mindfulness–this was very cool for me to see because I had mainly seen it in psychological texts about managing personal anxieties and not in a lot of communication literature.

Mindfulness

To me, mindfulness describes the process of taking an active role in what you think about by choosing to focus only on your immediate surroundings and on the present moment. And by focus I mean paying a ridiculously high amount of attention to every single detail…such as smells, sounds, textures, temperature, etc. While doing this, some people might also imagine a serene setting and speak only positive things to themselves. If this sounds like meditation, that’s because it pretty much is. Mindfulness when combined with diaphragmatic breathing works wonders for your nerves.  It’s no surprise that many of the great texts and ideas about mindfulness seem to come from Eastern cultures in Asia.

If you do any reading on this topic, you will be fascinated just how much of the thinking that we do on a daily basis, which defines how we see the world and how we interact with every single other human on earth, is automatic and habitual. So, for people like me, habitual negative and paranoid and worried thinking can greatly influence how I see the world. For more about how negative thinking can go wrong, read about depression, general anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc.

One of the remedies for these negative patterns is mindfulness. Even if you don’t suffer from unusually high anxiety, you probably need a break. In today’s fast paced world, we often choose not to focus on our minds and we think we are invincible. However, the mind is just as important as the body. Thus, you can be the healthiest eater on earth and work our 8 days a week and still be depressed because you have failed to focus on your internal self. Of course, eating healthy and working out are also essential to a healthy mind (the mind/body split is BS—they are one and influence each other greatly), but it’s only half of the game. You HAVE to get enough sleep. You also HAVE to TRAIN your mind to work well and to work peacefully.

If you forget your mind, you will lose yourself.

This topic excites me a lot, and I look forward to writing more about it as I learn more about it. I am not an expert, so don’t change your life habits based on this article. Instead, if what I write about here rings a bell, learn more about it, and really focus on your internal thought patterns and your intrapersonal communication with yourself. You will be shocked by how repetitive your daily thoughts are. Here are three sources that might help you get started:

1. Leo Babauta is a blogger who writes about some issues similar to what I discuss here.

2. I am about to read this book on the topic of mindfulness because it has been cited in published scholarly literature.

3. This man, Andy Puddicombe, gave a great and concise TED Talk about the topic as well (video below).

On The Road Again

The drive from St. Paul, Minnesota to Thunder Bay, Ontario is absolutely beautiful. While it’s not the shortest trip (340 miles, 7 hours with breaks), it is certainly worth it. This is one of those trips where it would be a loss to fly because of what you would miss along the way (though you can fly, Thunder Bay has an airport). The old cliché is very true…traveling is as much about the journey as it is about the destination. This was such a refreshing journey. For reference, here’s the route we took, via Google Maps.

St. Paul, MN to Thunder Bay, ON.

Pine Tree Forest.

For most people the fun would not start until you get to Duluth, Minnesota 150 miles into the trip (see below), but for us it started right away. You see, I have been driving a lot through Missouri and Iowa and Moana spent four years in Indiana, so we both have gotten used to seeing farms, farms, and more farms…with some trees here and there. However, this drive takes you through some amazing upper Midwest forests and eventually into the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province, which is filled with seemingly endless pine trees and is just so damn different from anything either one of us have seen in the southern states. It’s this difference that made it beautiful. Of course, there are pine trees in the south too, but there are so many of them up there, it’s awesome. After driving through these pine forests for about two and a half hours north on Interstate 35, you arrive to Duluth. 

Duluth, MN 

Duluth, MN.
Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimbrekke/319601037/

Duluth is the last major city you will see in the Untied States on this drive, and is one of those hidden treasure cities I never knew existed. Duluth does not get a lot of national attention (when I lived in Kentucky I heard of it a total of zero times), but it is truly a treasure. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, it’s located on the shores of Lake Superior and on the northern border of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The first impression of this city is that it is a blue-collar, workers’ town. You see a lot of industrial elements, such as factories and trains carrying only coal. However, as you drive into the center, Lake Superior appears in front of you and, after driving for hours with only forest in sight, it looks like a vast ocean. Downtown Duluth is nestled along a few hills which wind down to the shores of the lake. The first time we were in Duluth, we arrived at night and Moana said all the lights of the hills going towards the darkness of the water reminded her of Izmir, Turkey. While the city is definitely industrial in nature, it’s so much more than that.

Duluth, looking up at hills.

Once you get down to the water, there is a nice, albeit touristy, area with numerous restaurants, bars, and shops designed to make the visit to the lake even more fun. All of that is hardly necessary, however, because the beauty of the lake defines Duluth and causes you to stop in your steps and just take it all in. This city is not too big and not too small, it’s perfect in many ways–and I recommend that you visit it. After our break in Duluth, we started the most epic part of our journey towards Canada.

Minnesota/Ontario Highway 61

Highway 61. Image from: http://www.gunflint-trail.com/

Think of those car commercials you see on TV where the cars drive on beautiful winding roads that seem to be on cliffs along even more beautiful water. That’s pretty much Minnesota Highway 61, which turns into Ontario Highway 61 after you cross the border. If you look up at the route map, you’ll notice that more than a hundred miles of our trip was right on the north shore of Lake Superior. The fascinating beauty of this drive cannot be understated. It’s no wonder that it’s designated as a scenic highway, that there is a movie named after it, and that the one and only Bob Dylan, a native of Duluth, named one of his albums after it. Since this is not an interstate highway, you can easily stop wherever and enjoy the view.

View from Highway 61.

After driving on this beautiful road for a few hours, you will cross into Canada and will eventually end up in the first big city, Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Thunder Bay

Thunder Bay is also located on Lake Superior and is also very industrial, it is used as a major trading port due to its location on the lake. The city is very similar to size to Duluth…about 100,000 in population. Moana and I both had an itch to leave the country and this is why we chose to go to Thunder Bay. This trip was in March, and as you probably can tell from the photos, this part of the world in March is still very much in winter. It was very cold, so cold that the lake was frozen and there was a decent winter storm while we were there (3-5 inches in a few hours). The city was very nice, though it quickly became obvious to us that for tourists, it’s more of a late spring/summer destination. The cold was pretty unbearable…we spent most our time inside and even ended up seeking out the local greenhouse to see some green for a change. It was still worth it. Things in this part of Canada are the same in many ways, yet different in many other ways.

For example, even compared to Minnesota, the efficiency and speed with which they cleared the roads after the snow was amazing. Also, they LOVE doughnuts. There were doughnut shops everywhere. Thirdly, the people there were incredibly nice and helpful. During the snowstorm, we got lost and ended up going into a Tim Hortons to ask for directions back to our hostel, and the barista lady drew a map for us on a napkin. We still didn’t find our way back for a while, but that’s besides the point . We also went to a movie while there, and the interior of the cinema looked more like the inside of a fast food restaurant than it did like the cinemas I’m used to in the states, which usually have darker and less vibrant interiors.

We made it to Canada!

Frozen Lake Superior from Thunder Bay.

Thunder Bay cinema…colorful interior.

Thunder Bay Greenhouse–hiding from the cold.

Despite the bitter cold, going to Thunder Bay was still worth it. One of the best parts about our trip was where we stayed, the Thunder Bay International Hostel. This is the homiest hostel I have ever stayed in. The older gentleman who runs it (we never got his name) traveled the world with his wife (she passed away) and they always stayed in hostles  so he decided to open up a hostel in his native city as well. The most amazing thing about him is that he is still traveling…when we first arrived he showed us photos of his recent trip to Colombia. Also, he writes detailed reports of all his travels, prints them out, and places them in each of the hostel rooms for visitors to read. This man was truly and inspiration, and if you go to Thunder Bay, stay in his hostel! Just look at how homey it is. Just one note…if you are allergic to cats call him before to make sure you will be okay, when we stayed there two cats were also guests.

Thunder Bay International Hostel.

Thunder Bay International Hostel.

Thunder Bay International Hostel.

The Hostel owner writes about all his travels, and shares it with the guests.

People from all over the world have visited the hostel and left their mark by designing these boards.

This was an amazing Spring Break trip, and I hope this entry has inspired you to put it on your list. I recommend flying up to Minneapolis, renting a car, and going on this adventure (don’t forget your passport). All you need is three days. However, if you don’t want your car looking like my car did, and if you don’t want to be freezing the whole time, don’t go anytime between September-April. If you go during the warmer months, you can really appreciate the beauty of all the nature you will see.

Toyota Corolla vs. Winter Trip to Canada.

What is the difference between intracultural, intercultural, cross-cultural, and international communication?

They may all seem to be talking about the same thing, but when scheduling your classes, you might see one intercultural class, one cross-cultural class, and another international communication class. If you are already in a related class, you might be reading studies or chapters that use all of these terms.

From a communication perspective, these terms DO NOT represent the same thing. While they all might be underneath a similar roof, they describe entirely different rooms. The differences in the meanings have to do with the perspective researchers take when studying a certain phenomenon, and the type of research they decide to do. Also, the differences have to do with what factors are influencing the communication. Knowing the differences between these terms will help you in future class projects or in conversations with nerdy people such as this author (I’m blogging about definitions, can’t hide the nerdiness if I wanted to). At the very least, knowing these differences might help you at the local bar trivia night one day!

To answer this question, I turn to the textbook Intercultural Competence by Myron Lustig and Jolene Koester. They clearly define each term in Chapter Two of their text.

• Intracultural Communication 

For this term, note the ‘intra’ as compared to the ‘inter’ I will discuss below. Intracultural communication describes communication between at least two people who are from the same culture or have culturally similar backgrounds. So, a conversation between two American citizens who both grew up on the farms of Georgia would be intracultural because they will essentially have the same background and cultural orientations.

• Intercultural Communication 

Intercultural communication describes communication between at least two people who are different in significant ways culturally. For instance, a conversation between a man who grew up in Nepal and a woman who grew up in Micronesia would probably be an intercultural conversation because we could study how the different cultural backgrounds of the two people affect their communication strategies towards each other.

• Cross-Cultural

Cross-Cultural communication IS NOT the same thing as intercultural communication. While intercultural communication deals with the interaction between at least two people, cross-cultural communication describes the comparison of communication styles across cultures. For instance, a paper about what happens when a Moroccan man speaks with a Hawaiian woman would be intercultural, but a paper comparing the communication patterns of people from Morocco with the communication patterns of people from Hawaii would be cross-cultural.

• International Communication

This one is similar to intercultural communication because it also describes communication between at least two people who are from different cultures. However, topics concerning international communication don’t really look at how cultural differences affect specific interactions between two people because they are often focused on a larger picture. For instance, international communication might describe how government offices from the U.S. communicate with government offices from Turkey. Furthermore, they may describe communication between individuals who live in different cultures, but have similar experiences (e.g., email communication between friends who both studied together in the U.S. as exchange students but then went back to their own respective countries).

As with all things in the humanities, oftentimes concepts overlap with each other and change over time. For instance, one paper you write might easily talk about both intracultural and intercultural communication, or you may start a paper from the intercultural perspective and move up to a more general cross-cultural perspective. Also, as people change, the communication between them changes. Take the example of an intercultural friendship…it’s intercultural in the beginning because the two people might be from different cultures. However, if that friendship lasts for many years, they will learn enough about each others cultures to completely change the dynamic of the communication in their relationship and make it an interpersonal one instead.

Yes, I was busy often and worked many hours a week and yes, there were days during which I hated having endless amounts of homework and grading to do, but it all got done and it all got done fairly smoothly (I think the fact that I already have my MA helped to avoid the grad school culture shock, but that’s besides the point). The reason I have not blogged is not my graduate school work. It seemed that everybody last semester in my life was willing to excuse any laziness I was having due to ‘the PhD…”. Again, don’t get me wrong, it IS a lot of work…but I think too often us graduate students feel entitled and expect people to pity us for having homework and for having to grade papers. Many of us feel special somehow, like we are working way more than our peers who decided not to pursue graduate school. The reason I didn’t blog is not because of my PhD, not because of any actual time constraints but simply because I was lazy and didn’t HAVE to blog like I did when this website was a school project back in the day.

As a communication scholar (can I call myself that yet?), I know that how we talk about something will eventually influence how we think about it. Thus, if we are always complaining about all of the work we have to do as graduate students, we will eventually believe we have the biggest workload in the world. We need to realize that we are lucky, incredibly lucky, and that the work we do is not more stressful than the work others do.

My father, for instance, has worked at the same company for the last fifteen years. His primary job has been to ensure that huge pieces of sheet metal and pipes are loaded into semi-trucks for transport. They have to work outside in the elements (imagine the heat in the back of a semi-truck in the middle of the summer) and he has never gotten five weeks off (what I just had from my KU teaching job over winter break, after only working there four months). While I was a sophomore in high school, my job was to clean dishes at a restaurant that, at it’s busiest, had over a hundred guests. Imagine standing behind steaming water for at least eight hours everyday and having an endless stream of dishes thrown your way by servers…my hands have never been that wrinkly (because of all the water) in my life.

I’m not saying my dad’s job, or my former job, are harder than the gig I have today (aside from the obvious conclusion that they are both physically harder) or that my job today is harder than the jobs above…I’m just saying that as graduate students, especially the ones who have not really worked on anything for a few years besides school, we need to realize that our stress or our hard work is not special or unique, it’s just different. Of course, our job is not the best at times. But everyone experiences that. If jobs were always fun, there would be no reason for them to pay us to do them. Thus, I think the Twitter hashtag “#gradschoolproblems” could easily be applied to any profession/job out there. Why are grad school problems special? They’re not. This is one of the reasons that I have committed to doing stuff OTHER than my grad school work, whether it’s volunteering, working part-time jobs for a few hours a week, or working at summer camps in Turkey.

Don’t get me wrong, I think most graduate students realize this. But there are a few who seem to feel differently, who seem to feel that what they are doing is somehow harder than what others do, who seem to feel entitled and ‘special’. I would like to think I am not part of this group, but I admit that I’ve probably felt like it now and then, especially when things get inevitably horrible towards the end of every semester and when I feel like my workload is so much harder than anyone else’s.

This semester and for the rest of this academic career, however, I will make a conscious effort to remember that my job is not any harder than any other job and that I should not in any way feel like I work harder than those who decided not to do graduate school…it’s just a different type of work. It happens to be a type of work that I love very much, and I do hope that everybody can find something they love to do (even on the days when they hate it), but just because I am a ‘graduate student’ does not make me any more special or more hardworking than anyone else. This job works for me, while other jobs work for others. Of course, I’ll still complain. We all complain because we are human animals. But I won’t think that my complaints are any more warranted than anyone else’s complaints. And, seriously, graduate students complain about having to grade others’ work, and about having to READ and WRITE and (in the physical sciences) having to DO EXPERIMENTS and LEARN FORMULAS….all of these are privileges…our jobs when compared to other jobs are really not that bad.

Having said that, and this is the disclaimer I mentioned above, I know that my work will get harder than it was this past semester. The other day my office mate told me that every semester in graduate school has gotten harder for him and that the first one is the easiest. I am not blind to the reality of the workload that is approaching me, but I do believe that how I think about the work, how I frame it in my mind, will have a significant effect on how productive I am.

Homework used to be a chore. Today, along with teaching, it’s a job. And as long as I remember that, and as long as I don’t feel like my job is ‘better’ or ‘harder’ than other jobs, I think Spring 2013, no matter how many pages I have to read or write or grade, will be another smooth one. I will do my work this spring, just like all the dishwashers and semi-truck loaders of the world will do their work.

And now, for some humor (not complaints), I finish with this awesome video, thanks to The Simpsons.

Paul Loeb, from the Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP), shared some information on Friday with scholars of communication through our Communication, Research, and Theory (CRTNET) network. The folks from CEEP have developed an extremely simple voter’s guide highlighting the differences between President Obama’s and Governor Romney’s standpoints on several key policy issues. In his message, he (see below) encouraged us all to share this policy guide:

….So we’ve created this Presidential voter guide, adapting the resources of www.votesmart.org. So please forward, post, or otherwise distribute this guide as widely as you can.

So, without further ado, I present some information that might help you make the decision for who you will vote for. Of course, it’s oversimplified and a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ should not be all the information you need to decide your vote, but it might inspire you to do further research.

                    Campus Election Engagement Project: The Candidates on the Issues

I. BUDGET, SPENDING, AND TAXES:

Is balancing the budget an administrative priority?
Obama: Yes, but not a high priority.
Romney: Yes, a very high priority.
In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.
In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket?
Obama: Yes-raise taxes on income above $250,000 by allowing Bush tax cuts on that bracket to expire.
Romney: No-keep all Bush-era tax cuts.
In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing Medicaid spending?
Obama: No.
Romney: Yes.
In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing Medicare spending?
Obama: No.
Romney: Yes.

II. CAMPAIGN FINANCE:

Do you support the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions?
Obama: No.
Romney: Yes.
Do you support the DISCLOSE Act, which would require key funders of political ads to put their names on those ads?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No clear position, but most fellow Republicans oppose the bill.

III. ECONOMY: 

Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.
Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: Yes.
Do you support spending on infrastructure projects for the purposes of job creation?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: Yes, but less so than the President.
Do you support the Dodd-Frank financial regulation act, which established the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.

IV. EDUCATION: 

Do you support increased federal aid to college students to help with the cost of their education?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.
Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants?
Obama: Yes-states need firm standards.
Romney: No-cut back federal involvement in education.

V. ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY: 

Do you believe human activity is a major driving force in climate change?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: Position unclear-but the consensus in his party says no.
Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.
Do you favor government support for alternative energy?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.
Do you generally support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production?
Obama: No.
Romney: Yes.

VI. FOREIGN POLICY: 

Do you support the United States’ combat operations in Afghanistan?
Obama: Yes, with a timetable to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2014.
Romney: Yes, aiming to withdraw by the end of 2014 but with no deadline.
Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: Yes.

VII. GUNS: 

Do you generally support restrictions on the sale and possession of guns?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.

VIII. HEALTH CARE: 

Do you support the 2010 Affordable Care Act?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.
Should individuals be required to purchase health insurance, with assistance from government subsidies for small businesses and low-income individuals, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.
Should insurance companies be required to cover patients with pre-existing conditions, as mandated in the 2010 Affordable Care Act?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No.

IX. IMMIGRATION:

Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship?
Obama: No.
Romney: Yes.
Do you support the DREAM Act, which would allow children of illegal immigrants to stay in this country if they’ve graduated high school, have a clean legal record, and attend college or serve in the military?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No

X. SOCIAL ISSUES:

Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation?
Obama: Pro-choice.
Romney: Pro-life.
Do you support same-sex marriage?
Obama: Yes.
Romney: No-also no to civil unions.

XI. SOCIAL SECURITY: 

Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts?
Obama: No-this option seems too vulnerable to market volatility.
Romney: Yes-this would let retirees benefit more from strong markets.

I absolutely love good technology. I don’t understand how it works but I love what it does for humanity through its functionality and I appreciate its aesthetics (thus why I study Communication instead of Computer Science or Engineering). Being a devoted quasi-trekkie (I would never claim full trekkie status, out of respect for actual trekkies), I also love to think about how technology will continue to improve as humanity progresses towards the 22nd Century.

In the future, tablets will be as common place as cell phones today. http://www.corning.com

The video I showed last year was entitled ‘A Day Made of Glass’; a beautiful and potentially realistic depiction of how industrialized nations might incorporate glass-based digital technology in the next few decades. If you check out the post from last year, you’ll see I discussed modern-day examples of some of this technology that’s already on the market, potential research questions related to this growth in technology, how all of our media would converge as a result of it, and the implications of these advances for the global digital divide (not all countries have the technology we have in the industrialized world).

The purpose of this post is not to restate all of that information, but to show you a second video, appropriately entitled ‘A Day Made of Glass 2′, in which Corning again showcases some additional examples of how glass-based touch-screen technology could change our lives in the future. I am particularly intrigued by the healthcare examples in this second video—health communication could be vastly improved and lives could be saved. Of course, I am also intrigued by the educational examples.  If you question the realism of the video, Corning actually made a longer version of this second video in which some of the specific technical specifications are named and discussed, and they also have a Frequently Asked Questions site related to the content of the video.

And now, without further ado, I give you the ‘World of the iPhone 20′, part II.

Live long, and prosper.

Coffee. Just the word makes me feel happy.

If loving coffee is wrong, I don’t want to be right. If I was stranded on a deserted island, I’d want some coffee there along with best friends and family (also love them, I guess). If I had three wishes from a genie, one of them would be an unlimited Starbucks gift card; although they need to improve upon their weak fair-trade purchases (but they are trying, unlike most big coffee sellers). Below is a list of five of the reasons that I love coffee.

Coffee
(from http://www.modernantiaging.com/cardiologist/study-says-coffee-may-increase-longevity/.)

Five Reasons I Love Coffee

• It’s Communicative:
  • Coffee brings people together. I’ve met some of the closest people in my life through coffee, and I hang out with them by drinking coffee. Like the author of this coffee-themed Huffington Post article a few days ago, I love working and hanging out in cafés. I can’t stand the silence of my room (music helps in this case). I love the hustle and bustle of a café; the music, the conversations, the sounds of coffee being made. And the smells, oh the smells of coffee (see below). I love having conversations with people from the community and getting a feel for any community by visiting a popular local coffee shop when I first arrive. In fact, coffee shops have been used by communities as public spheres for a long time, and will continue to do so.

• It’s Family Tradition: 
  • While my family is not from the Scandinavia region of Europe, which is where they drink the most coffee in the world because they have long nights and cold winters, we are still from coffee-loving Europe. For as long as I can remember, my parents have hung out with their friends and shared coffee. This is a daily ritual. There’s breakfast, there’s lunch, there’s dinner, and then there’s ‘coffee time’. A few weeks ago my parents and some other family friends visited and brought their own coffee. That’s how serious it is. When Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian people give housewarming gifts or other big holiday gifts, coffee is often a staple. I have grown up with coffee and have adopted my family’s and my culture’s love for it. To me, coffee represents family and my heritage.

• It Tastes Good:
  • I love the taste of coffee. I love that there are countless varieties of flavors and ways to make it–there’s always adventure involved in tasting a new flavor. The fact that coffee beans come from natural plants guarantees that coffee made from different geographical regions will have different flavors. I also love the smell. I enjoy it so much that I’ve actually caught myself salivating in anticipation of coffee when I smell it, like other people might do when they are excited and can smell a great meal.

• It’s Relaxing:
  • I know this might sound like an oxymoron, a relaxing caffeine-filled stimulant? For me, yes. I don’t drink coffee primarily because I want to be more awake or aware. Of course, those are positive side effects of the drink. However, I enjoy it more for the ritual and the taste. I drink coffee like some people may drink wine. I love sitting down, grabbing a book, and brewing up a cup of coffee. To me coffee has always been more about relaxing than it has about waking up and getting more energy. I enjoy it slowly. Sometimes so slowly that I have to throw a cup back into the microwave because it get’s cold.

• It’s Good For Me
  • Despite what people may think, coffee does not have detrimental health effects. Actually, there are research findings suggesting that it seems to protect against type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver cancer, and cardiovascular disease. This information is coming from Dr. Rob van Dam, from the Harvard Department of Nutrition (see his comments related to coffee research here). I don’t know about you, but I’m okay with trusting research that comes out of Harvard University.

Writing this post over the last hour has made me crave another cup of coffee today. I cannot wait to enjoy it because in that cup, like in every cup for me, will be represented communication, family and cultural traditions, relaxation, health benefits, and excellent taste.

Cheers, my friends.

September 11th, 2001

As I did last year, to remember how we all felt that day and to contribute directly to the digital historical archives associated with it, below I share a letter I typed on September 11th, 2001 just before 11AM on that infamously fateful morning. I want to thank Mr. Wright (our eighth grade computer teacher) for making that letter a mandatory assignment. He knew how powerful it would be to look back upon in the future, and he was right. My short comments in the letter capture the utter terror and confusion of that morning; notice that I refer to a car bomb (because the media reported briefly one had gone off in D.C.) and to the fact that at that point, a few hours after the attack, it felt like perhaps it was just beginning and things would get much worse.

Written on the morning of September 11th, 2001

On Religious Pluralism 

The letter above is just one voice, one point of view, from a kid who was in Kentucky during the attacks. Imagine the first-person perspectives of people who were flying on any airplane that day, of people who were in NYC, in DC, in Pennsylvania, or of anybody who had family that was either traveling or in the above locations. It’s not an understatement to label that day as one of the most tragic and frightful in the relatively short history of the Untied States.

Could it have been prevented?

Yes.

While it could be argued that better intelligence and better domestic security measures could have prevented the attacks, it would be unrealistic of us to expect a perfect system that does not allow anyone to slip through the cracks due to the sheer size of our country. So how could this have been prevented? Not through an act of war, but through an act of faith. This is where Eboo Patel comes in.

Eboo Patel and ‘Acts of Faith’

Patel, a Rhodes scholar, a past member of President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and a graduate of the University of Illinois (undergraduate) and Oxford University (graduate), is the founder and director of the Interfaith Youth Core, an amazing Chicago-based organization that encourages young people around the world to respect each other’s religions and to work together on service projects. If you haven’t heart about this man yet, learn more about him, because I believe his work and the work he is inspiring will be truly influential in our time.

Acts of Faith is one of the most inspirational books I’ve read (I have to thank my girlfriend for recommending it to me). I will not write a full review or summary here, check out this link for a good review. In the book, Patel discusses the importance of youth movements, and makes the chilling and accurate assertion that terrorist and totalitarian leaders, such as Osama bin Laden and Hitler, served as excellent youth leaders. The main thrust of the book (note that this is a very harsh summary) is the idea that young people often have big passions and want to be a part of something important. However, when those young people have nowhere to turn to and nobody to acknowledge their passions, they are taken advantage of and brainwashed by people like Osama bin Laden, who gives them a purpose and a sense of belonging. In fact, even Osama bin Laden was influenced in his youth by people who took advantage of his intellect and strong passions (the book describes this history in detail).

The point Patel makes and brilliantly elaborates on is a simple one; to prevent many of the biggest problems in the world today we have to stop the creation of religious extremists, and to stop the creation of religious extremists we have to create alternatives for the youth who are usually prone to their tactics; thus keeping them away from religious fundamentalists. Throughout the book Patel gives a plethora of examples describing Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and Hindu extremists and how each of these faiths has been used by religious extremists to essentially brainwash youth into killing each other all across the world.

Movements like the Interfaith Youth Core that Patel started will ensure that a message of religious pluralism reaches the youth before a message of religious fundamentalism. Some religious people may fear that teaching our youth about religious pluralism would result in them having less faith in their own religions. Patel discusses this fear as well, and proves that the point of pluralism is not to lose our current faiths or belief systems, but to make them stronger by seeing how our religious values actually relate to the religious values of others. Also note, for those atheists out there, that Patel directly states he wants your voice to be a part of the pluralism conversation as well (after all, atheists and religious people often share the same fundamental values).

I hope it’s obvious why I thought today was a fitting day to bring up religious pluralism. How could the attacks of September 11th have been prevented? Those young people who blew themselves up that day could have been taught differently, they could have been taught about religious pluralism instead of religious fundamentalism. Had that been the case, they never would have been able to convince themselves that the American people were bad people just because they were not Muslim.

As we remember the tragedy of 9/11, we must realize the most fundamental cause of those attacks was not a failure of domestic or airport security, but a failure of humanity because someone, at some point, led those young Saudi Arabian boys astray, and they eventually ended up joining Al-Qaeda and boarding those planes on September 11th.

The answer is not more war, the answer is a commitment to teaching our youth to respect and acknowledge each other’s religions, not to hate them. In the Communication discipline, we recognize the importance of intercultural communication and the fact that it is a skill that must be learned (to overcome such hard obstacles as ethnocentrism); the Interfaith Youth Core is an organization that is successfully doing such work and helping these young adults to learn crucial intercultural, inter-religious, and interethnic communication skills for the rest of their lives.

P.S. Patel just released a brand new book. I already have it, and look forward to writing about it as well .

Below is my ‘live critiquing’ of the speech–I wrote the comments as I watched the speech unfold, so forgive any lack of clarity.

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I am sitting here in the middle of the continental United States (really, that point is in Kansas), under a blanket (I have a cold), drinking hot chocolate, and about to watch President Barack Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. Since I have to write a blog for this week anyway, and since I am a speech instructor, I figured I’d make my blog tonight an instant critique of the speech. Senator Dick Durbin is finishing up his introduction of Obama, and Obama is about to speak. What follows are the notes I took during the speech. The times are in Central Standard Time, since that’s where I’m at.

920PM: The video that is introducing Obama is beginning. Definitely something politicians these days can take advantage of because of the fact that media is everywhere. However, reminds me a bit of reality TV shows (maybe that’s what they want, to relate to Americans who love drama)–is this The Bachelor or an actual political election?

As the video continues (now five minutes into it) some big people have been interviewed (Bill Clinton, Michelle Obama, Barack Obama) and some of the things that have happened during his term have been highlighted (e.g. Bin Laden being assassinated). Still…it feels more like a movie preview than a real-world thing.

926pm: Michelle Obama introduces “the love of my life”. Nice job….he is family man. We get it. Obama comes out to entry music. What is it with the entry music? Both the Republicans and Democrats have used it—this is not wrestling! Oh well, here’s the speech:

928pm: Obama does his typical endless “Thank You” statements. Starts with a joke about school for his daughters in the morning–nice job to get the audience laughing. Humor is effective, makes the speaker seem more down to earth. And he accepts the nomination (huge surprise here).

931pm: He is talking about his original message of ‘hope’, and how things have tested that message. He previews the speech by stating that “You will face the clearest choice” once all the issues have been discussed.

• Just mentioned his grandfather and grandmother…establishing credibility as someone who understands the struggles of the American Middle Class (because his family worked hard and earned everything they got).

935pm: First reference to the Republican National Convention (RNC). Referred to them as ‘our friends’–said they had no solutions to offer. Contrasts the Republican tax plans to his own tax plans (of course making it sound like his are more preferable). Says “We have been there….we’re not going back…we are moving forward America.”

• Obama is also saying he will not pretend this path is easy or quick (alluding to the criticism he has received from Republicans that he did not solve the problems yet). This is a good strategy–addressing the opponents criticism and saying why he disagrees; this makes Obama appear fair minded.

939pm: Now he is getting into specific things he has done in relation to the economy; talking about job growth in the auto-industry and manufacturing job growth. He said, “You have a choice…” between exporting jobs and creating new jobs. The theme of the speech seems to be centered around a choice, and Obama will make it seem as if the Democratic choice is obviously better than the Republican choice. He is continuing to talk about positive things that have happened during his administration.

• He is using a lot of statistics and numbers–this is good for his credibility because he is using actual statistics instead of just sharing his opinions and being vague. Again, the theme continues, he is saying, “You can choose a future…” and using that as a transition to talk about education.

943pm: The transition being done, he is now talking about education after finishing talking about job growth and the economy. He is talking about improving education (both K-12 and colleges) and is throwing out a few numbers. He said, “You can choose that future for America..” The “clear choice” theme continues. 

946pm:  Transitioning from education, he is now talking about promises he has met (according to him–ending war in Iraq, almost ending war in Afghanistan, etc.). Now he is paying the mandatory tribute to American soldiers (this part means nothing–if he did not do it, it would mean something, but pretty much has to say this or he would get criticized). Continuing the international theme, he is now talking about foreign policy.

• He said, again, “Now we have a choice..”, and claimed that his opponents “…are new to foreign policy”. He is alluding to specific instances in which Mitt Romney angered international allies (such as Romey’s comments about Great Britain and the 2012 Olympics).

952pm: Back to the economy now and to one of the Democrats’ main points; that they will cut taxes for the Middle Class, not for the Upper Rich class. Obama is saying he will refuse to do anything that will hurt Middle Class Americans.

955pm: Contrasting the Democratic ‘big government’ stance versus the Republican ‘small government’ stance. Obama is echoing the theme from Bill Clinton’s speech last night, that “We’re all in this together” and that the government should not tell the people ‘Do it yourself”. He said, “We don’t think the government can solve all of our problems, but we don’t think the government is the source of our problems”. Again, he is referring to common Republican criticisms, and the fact that he is referring to them helps Obama to seem more fair (since he is telling the audience why he believes their argument is wrong).

10pm: ”Only you have the power to move forward….”. Again..the theme is the same..Obama is giving the audience a clear choice. He is saying the election in 2008 and the one now is not about him, but about them. Very audience-centered speech, which is another good tactic. He is now talking about ‘hope’, the theme he mentioned in the very beginning, a lot. To appear more credible, he is giving us many individual stories of people who have given him hope, despite the tough times we live in.

1005pm: He said that if the audience also believes in this hope, then he wants their vote. He is summarizing a lot of points from above (e.g. “If you believe in a country where everybody gets a fair shot”) and telling the audience that if they believe in what he has said, he needs their vote. He said he will not promise that this journey will be easy, but that if he gets their vote, we will be sure to succeed as a country.

1007pm: Que the “God Bless America” line, que the music, que an ending to yet another political speech.

How do I know it? There’s no set-in-stone system or time frame; I just notice that it’s too long for my personal tastes (yes, I have some) and try to ignore it as long as possible until one day it annoys me so much that I drop whatever I am doing and make the journey to the barbershop (or whatever you call it). I anticipate that day will come again at some point in the next two weeks. Along with it will come the tense few seconds at the beginning of the haircut that foreshadow how awkward (or how awesome) the experience will be for me.

Hair Cut Conversations

Here’s the thing…

Although I am a communication scholar and absolutely love everything about it, I do not like talking to my barber while they are cutting my hair. I don’t want to tell them about my job, my weekend plans, the weather, my favorite sports team, or anything else. I just want them to cut my hair in a fairly professional way (or whatever $10-15 gets these days) as fast as they possibly can. No offense barber, but it feels weird for me to talk to you while you are feeling my head in spots that very few people even touch.

Why do some barbers talk so much? This is a communicative question if there ever was one. Here I list three potential reasons that I just came up with in a very unscientific manner (guessing with little research):

1. Barbershops as Public Sphere

I wrote about the public sphere some time ago in this post. To make a long story short, a public sphere is any location in which people gather to discuss matters important to their communities. Public spheres include coffee shops, certain bars, and public squares in cities. Black barbershops, or those barbershops in the USA that serve primarily African-Americans,  are another example of a public sphere because they seem to play a special role in black communities by allowing community members to gather and discuss things they all care about. I imagine some of those community members know the barbers very well and also discuss issues with them while the hair-cutting deed is being done. This academic paper supports the idea of black barbershops as public spheres. Other types of barbershops can also serve as potential public spheres.  Certain hair saloons serving primarily women, for instance, probably have a public sphere-esque feel to them as well because they may encourage conversation between hair-cutter and hair-cutee (don’t check it, I made the last word up). A barbershop ran by a military veteran may result in other veterans coming in and talking about past experiences. I could go on and on, but you get the point–certain barbershops have certain demographics, which may encourage conversation.

2. Money Talks

A second reason that barbers may talk a lot is because they are trying to make us believe they care about us so that we give them a better tip once the haircut is over. I imagine this reason applies more to chain barbershops (such as Great Clips) rather than the smaller barbershops (which may be more public sphere orientated). Servers at restaurants and bartenders do the exact same thing; they attempt to make us think they care about our stories–but they really care about getting an extra $5 when the business transaction is completed.

3. They’re Just Talkative 

A third reason for the phenomenon of barbers talking to us while cutting our hair may simply be that they (and perhaps the person getting the haircut) just like to talk to everyone and enjoy doing it. Heck, they may think it’s awkward not to attempt to develop a personal connection with the person whose head they are playing with.

To Talk or Not to Talk…

As I said above, I prefer my barbers to be the silent type. If they say nothing after the obligatory “How do you want me to cut your hair?” question, I know they will say nothing during the whole process with the exception of giving me directions related to the hair cut (i.e. ‘move your head to the right’). However, if they ask me something such as, “so, what do you do”, I secretly cringe and know I am in for a pointless fifteen minute conversation with a person that I don’t want to be conversing with. I have nothing against hair dressers, I promise, it’s just a personal preference to not talk while getting a service I paid for. Another example for me is the dentist; don’t ask me about what I study in college while you are digging through my teeth with sharp objects. You don’t care, and I know you don’t care, so just work on my teeth.

In the end, I realize everybody has their own preferences when receiving (or giving) a haircut. While I prefer to be quiet, the person next to me may love to talk about their life. One preference is not better than the other, they are just different.

For those others out there who also don’t like to talk while getting a hair cut, I wish you the best of luck during those crucial few seconds in the beginning of the cut that will determine whether or not you feel awkward during the entire process or whether or not you get to enjoy a few minutes of solitude as the silent barber works. I hope you cross your fingers for me as well.