In case of emergency, please call Shindo. This is the number to call, even though you’ve blown off countless voicemail messages from him.
communication styles
17
Jul 10
Sincerely, My Dear
The awful catchphrase “I wish you well” got me thinking about some other not-so-sincere wordings in the English language. I didn’t have to look too much further from what’s used in letter writing. First, we often salute the intended reader as “Dear,” whether we feel that way about the person or not. Those close to us, such as family members or significant others, really are “Dear” to us. However, this salutation is also used to address strangers and acquaintances, such as professors, administrators, editors, and managers who have our resumés/CV’s in their hands. I may totally hate the person I’m writing to, but it’s culturally appropriate to begin the letter with “Dear ———.” With writing to various dignitaries, such as the Queen of England or the British Ambassador to the United States, I could use a salutation without “Dear,” but the likelihood of writing such letters for me are extremely slim. For the most part, I must pretend to really like the people I must write letters to.
7
Jul 10
Throw the Cobble-Sized Rock
This post is a follow up to “Drive into the Tree.”
I suppose I should be over the awful nightmares with my bitch of an ex-boss Linda, right? Continue reading →
7
Jul 10
Drive into the Tree
As much as I’d like to say I’ve put this behind me, an incident involving the worst boss I’ve ever had still haunts me.
17
Feb 10
He’s certainly got Cloutier
For some odd reason yesterday, I found myself in the business section of NY Time‘s website when I came across this interview with George Cloutier, an entrepreneur who gets small businesses out of the holes they dig themselves into. He was full of all kinds of glib, but hard-won business wisdom such as “Fire Your Relatives. Scare Your Employees. And Stop Whining.” He also had a tough style of speaking, which fascinated me. Then I realized who he reminded me of: Gordon Ramsay. Clearly, Ramsay and/or his producers must have been aware of Cloutier’s business and his approach to rescuing businesses and realized they could make good TV out of it. With Gordon’s speech resembling a heart monitor and doing the fixer-uppers for ailing restaurants, he had channeled Cloutier without giving props to the man.
5
Sep 09
Privilege for $200
It’s been a while since I’ve reflected on my experiences in my MFA program. One very significant figure, whom I’ve discussed in previous posts, was Professor Joseph K, who served as my early mentor, friend, boss, and later silent tormentor. This post is Part 21 of If You Want To Go To Grad School.
We’re at a party early on for the University’s MFA program and I mention working with Professor Joseph K. You ask me what he’s like and I’ll try to give you a sound byte answer. After all, this is a party, and the conversation’s not supposed to be too deep. So, here’s what I say: Joe’s a good guy and I work very well with him. I also enjoy his workshops a lot.
My answer would change much later, as I was only one year into my academic and professional relationship with Professor K. Being his secretary didn’t pay much, but I liked it better than working in the supermarket. There, I was paid better and I had benefits, but with Joe, I had keys to the mail room and his office, and I had a code for the English Department copier. I had a place to hang my coat, to read, to study, and even to write. I even had my own desk so I wouldn’t use his. What I had lost in practical terms, I gained in privilege. Which is essentially the case with anyone who goes into something arts or humanities related. I also harbored great hopes that my association with Joe would benefit me in the future. Perhaps I would become an editor or a professor, or even an editor-professor like Joe.
11
Jul 09
The Grammar Police
It is my job to know grammar. I teach college-level English and I studied writing throughout my college and grad school careers. I even have a few books on grammar as it is necessary to know style and punctuation as a writer. However, I’m not the grammar police.
It has recently occurred to me that most people obsessed with grammar care less about saying something well than they do catching someone in a violation of the English language. They are superior little snots. Also, they are the type of people who would fastidiously avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. Their sentence are clunky because they have correct grammar, concision be damned. Then again, these are the people who obviously suck at math and take out their insecurities on others. Subscribing to a language dogma somehow makes them feel better about themselves as they are incapable of adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, and solving equations. That would take real mind work and knowledge.
One important thing to note is the grammar-obsessed rarely teach English or writing. They’re often not even linguists, who actually take classes on this type of stuff. They are often rank amateurs who often don’t know what they’re talking about. They may even have a dangling modifier in their sentence and might not even know it.
Self-appointed grammarians, leave this stuff to the professionals. Thanks.
General advice: DO NOT ENGAGE. They are the type of people to put up a fight, especially if they’re wrong, because, the burden of proof’s on you. It always is. Christian Lander has some further advice in his post about grammar.
23
Jun 09
Speaking from a Script
I hate speaking off the cuff, especially in front of a group of people. I even hate doing it at times in conversations with someone. I often feel like I’m writing my sentences in my mind before they come out of my mouth, and sometimes the process is choppy. It’s worse if I have to speak in front of a class, because I’m caught up with processing what I have to say in front of everyone, including all my ums, dead end thoughts, and trailing off, which is the sonic equivalent of the ellipses.
I’ve been guilty of speaking off the cuff a lot to classrooms over the past few years. Obviously, preparation is the solution, but it was a matter of time, or that I was too busy, etc. It’s easy to do when there are several classes. However, lack of preparation makes for a trainwreck. And bad communication.
Last week, I made a script for my second day of class for the summer. I made notes on the reading assignment, wrote down what the students essentially needed to know about the text, and even threw in my talking points. Even if it took several hours of my time to prepare, I had a much smoother class session. It was much better than if I took it for granted that I read the story a few times and tried to get class participation out of them. Even if last week’s lesson wasn’t perfect, I was communicating and the students were. Also, I didn’t feel as drained as I would on unprepared classroom sessions.
I wish I could just talk without the pre-written stuff. I envy the people who can really hold their own without the notes and who don’t have to mentally write their sentences. Then again, I can spell and I know my punctuation. I can apply this type of approach of writing before I speak to other things, especially if I am speaking before any kind of audience. For video or podcast, I can write. All I need to do if fine tune it so it doesn’t take so much time to do. For notes I make now, I can always re-use and revise, but creating new stuff is where the challenge is.
