Communicating with Other Cultures

Before taking my last class on Diversity, I was guilty of a silly microagression.  Have you ever spoken to a person who does not speak English?  Have they ever not understood you?  And if so, what did you do?  I used to scream almost....then after watching a television show, or seeing this on the internet or something, I realized that talking louder does not make the person understand.  You are just speaking louder gibberish.

I changed the way I spoke after I realized how ridiculous I was.  Instead of yelling. I tried speaking slower and letting the person read my lips.  I also use gestures and work hard to make sure that my lips are forming the word correctly.  This has helped my communciation with other cultures 100 fold.
Spell...dont yell. :0

Muted Mutiny

So my daughter watches pretty much everything that Shonda Rhymes puts on television.  She watches a show called Grey's Anatomy, she says for the cute doctor.  Nonetheless, I decided to pull an episode up on on demand.....it was interesting.

I watched it on mute.  I thought that the husband and wife on the show were arguing about perhaps a procedure that had gone wrong in the hospital, or one of them had done something wrong and they were arguing about it.  I could not tell who had done the wrong thing in the hospital but during their fight, it seemed as though the husband was the one in the wrong.  It also seemed like the wife dropped an ultimatum at the end, like she was going to quit the hospital or something. 

I went back and watched the episode.  The couple was arguing, but not for the reason I thought.  They had differing believes on raising children.  One was a believer in God and the other was not.  The child that they were trying to save in the hospital needed an ear transplant that the parents did not want to approve the transplant for.  This lead to an argument about how to raise a child between the two doctors.  The female doctor did drop a bomb....though not that she was quitting or leaving the hospital, but that she was pregnant....DUH DUNH DUUUUUHHHHHH!!!

The communication needed the sound so that I could understand the reasons behind the frustration.  Without that background knowledge, I was making unfair assumptions and judgements for no reason, or at least the wrong reasons.  We do this for the wrong reasons, judge people, effective listening helps us to hear the whole unbiased argument and assess correctly.

Effective Communicator

I think that the president of the United States is an effective communicator.  He is cool under fire, calm under criticism, clear, and certain.  Whether or not we agree with his methods or his message, we all understand it. President Obama is charismatic and understanding in his approach yet unwavering and methodical.  He seems well informed on what ever it is that he is responding to or reacting to.  There are many difficult things that cross his desk and he is able to handle them all in such a  way that the American people are not worried and are willing, for the most part, to stand together as a country and face whatever the issue is.

     In addition, President Obama is abreast of any new communications that arise and is able to communicate on various social media platforms as well as the traditional methods of written and oral.  He also commits in very difficult times such as war, injury a, and distress.    Any person of any age that speaks English should understand our president with no problem.

President Obama and I are around the same age.  I think what is so amazing about him is his charm and cool.  I am no way able to keep my cool when things are in disarray or when there is someone who is around that is disrespectful on purpose,  I am ready and fearless to speak my mind but I do not think that I could keep my be as in control of my emotions as he is.  Evem if I cold manage to keep my emotions at bay, and my voice calm, my eyes or hands would more than likely give up what I am really thinking.  

Hopes and Goals

My hope is this:

mic.com/articles/87359/national-geographic-determined-what-americans-will-look-like-in-2050-and-it-s-beautiful
America is going to outgrow its intolerance for difference.  It has no choice.  We have seen this progression slowly but we are getting there.  If we are steady and supportive, our America can look like all of us.

My goal:

To become even more a part of the solution, to help one person at a time, through my conversations, through my teachings and through my teachings in my career.

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read my blog and left comments.  I thank all of you for your contributions to my understanding and my outlook.  Thank you and congratulations on the close of this quarter.

My Marvelous Moroccan Family

The country I choose is Morrocco.  The only thing I know about Morrocco is that it is in Africa, is said to be beautiful and that Mariah Carey named one of her children after the country.

1.  The first thing that I will do, obviously, is look into the language that is spoken in the region and at least learn to speak some formalities.

2.  The second thing that I plan to do is to research the culture, religion and customs of Morrocco so as to not, by accident, or through ignorance offend them or their native customs.

3.  I will research recipies to make the stay for them here in America as comfortable as possible.

4.  I will research any known Morrocon Immigrants or at least native inhabitants of somewhere close to line up a support group for their comfort and companionship

5.  I will make sure that they have access to religious necessities if needed, and that I am aware of any national celebrations, major events in the countries history that will aid me in making them feel comfortable, or aid me in conversations with this family.

I am excited to know that I wll have the opportunity to host a family from the fantastic country of Morroco.  In this country, I am African American and female.  In many ways my stay in this country has been electric, rewarding, amazing, and filled with all the wonder one can imagine.  And other times, I have felt a small and insignificant as one can imagine.  My goal in hosting this family, is to provide the comfort outside of home, and to show humanity, regardless of country or region and to show them the best of being human. 

My Experience With Unspoken Bias

I can remember never getting new books in school.  That feeling of opening a book and smelling the newness, of hearing the creases crack with unuse, and the pages being stuck together with freshness was never something that I got to partake in.  When I got my books, they were used, worn, and already had someone elses name in them already.  My name was never the first name to go in.  I can remember getting textbooks at the beginning of the year and every year hoping that my name would be the first to go in my book, and year after year it never was.

This was not a spoken microagression, in fact, it was quite the silent discrimination, yet it did not go unnoticed by me or anyone else around me.  We (Black students) knew that in the other schools with White kids got brand new books and we were shipped their old ones.

There are many movies that are coming out that are reminiscent of these times.  They seek to tell these stories and perhaps even marvel at the long way we have come to be equal in this country.  Yet sadly, when we turn on the news and see some of the travesties that befall Blacks, and Native American's as recent as a few days ago, we must sill realize that we have quite a long way to go before we recognize and heal the riff that has long separated us from understanding, cooperation, and love.

This class is great, but should be offered in school every year until graduation.  This would help sovle a lifteime of madness.

Microaggressions

The microaggression that I witnessed this weed, will actually,, the microagressions that I witnessed this week both took place at a local high school activity.  I was there at a ball game with my best friend.  Her daughter is a star on the team.  As we were watching the game, I noticed that I kept hearing, "ugh thats gay!"  It kept coming up in different pockets of the auditorium.  I would hear it over and over, "That's gay".

It was not until recently that I was told how this sentiment shouted by students was a dig, or an example of microaggressions.  The kids were insulting each other, though playfully, by calling each other gay, as it that were the ultimate insult.  Homosexuality has received a slanderous stigma and instead of the word gay being an adjective, something describe a person, or their sexual orientation at least, the word gay gets thrown around as if it is an insult.

Perhaps the kids never stopped to realize how hurtful that must be those around listening that my actually be gay.  In their laughter, another person may find pain.

The other microaggression was towards darker skinned minorities.  The kids were chanting, "team-light skinned".  This microaggression is a reflection of the attitudes placed on Blacks and some Hispanics through the years.  The other kids who were standing in rejection didn't seem to be bothered to badly, yet, this could be a case where students seem fine but cutting remarks could damage their self esteem in a large way.  My best friend simply thought kids were just being kids until we thought about the many kids are lying in graves because they failed to see the , "joke".

 Many of these jokes, are a way that adults bully each other, these microaggressions.  They turn into teenage taunts after the teen learns the behavior from adults.  Television and online media are is full of these such microaggressions.  Not to mention we are a society full of gossip blogs, magazines, and shows.  Our youth are picking up this habit with little to no effort.