AwoMEN!

“Why Mom and Dad? Why do you say ‘Amen’ at the end of the prayer?”

The question came from 8-year-old Isaac Romer of Lorena early this spring.

In response to Isaac’s question, Dad (the Telegram’s Paul Romer Jr.) offered this explanation: “It’s what you say when you agree with what was said in the prayer.”

But Isaac wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to know what people said when they disagreed.

His parents couldn’t answer. There was an awkward silence, Mrs. Romer said, until one of the other three children changed the subject.

Silent for the remainder of the evening, Isaac’s brain was still pondering the subject. The conclusion he came to was this: “Awomen.”

“To him, it made perfect sense,” Mrs. Romer said. “The opposite of men is women.”

Isaac clearly remembers when and why he started asking questions about “Amen.”

“My sister prayed that I would start liking Barbies,” Isaac said. “And I don’t.”

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Come Sept. 21, Isaac’s “Awomen” solution will be the subject of a Pickles comic strip.

How that came to be is the result of some coincidence, a blog and Granddad.

The blog belongs to Romer Jr., a lover of words and professional writer. He logs his family’s accomplishments, discusses his views on religion and life and shares funny stories and memories.

The coincidence is that Granddad (Paul Romer Sr. of California) is a childhood friend of Brian Crane of Nevada, the creator of the nationally syndicated Pickles comic series. (Romer Sr. was unavailable to comment because he’s on vacation.)

“We lost track of each other,” Crane said. “But we knew each other from kindergarten to middle school.”

The comic strip artist sought to re-enter Romer Sr.’s life after stumbling across Romer Jr.’s blog.

“I do routine Internet searches on my name and Pickles to determine if there’s been any illegal use,” Crane said. “I found that my name mentioned in (Romer Jr.’s blog).”

In one of the entries, Romer Jr. had shared a story about how the senior Romer and Crane “used to make hand shadows on the wall when they were kids.”

“That made me want to call (Romer Sr.),” Crane said. “So I emailed (Romer Jr.) and asked him for his dad’s current contact information.”

During Crane’s attempt to get in touch with Romer Sr., he became a semi-regular reader of the junior Romer’s blog, which is where, of course, a full account of the “Awomen” conversation is located.

“I asked the family for permission to use it as an idea for my comic strip, and they agreed,” Crane said. “With 365 strips a year, I’m always looking for ideas. You name it, and I look there. The Internet, conversations, sidewalks - they’re all places for ideas.”

(http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/09/14/52277/)

This is a perfect example of how technology has contributed significantly to, and enlarged the means of communication, as well as broken the molds of traditional two person face to face interaction.

Thanks to the internet, people can now not only communicate across borders but at the comfort of their homes. Old friends can now get in touch with each other at such convenience. The amount of information available on the internet is limitless and effortless-just a few clicks a way.

Isn't it just amazing how through sheer coincidence one can get inspired?

I never cease to be enlightened and pleasantly surprised by the things/ information I learn from the internet.

For instance, from the article, it struck me how at such a young age children are already wary of gender differences, the different feelings, likes and dislikes that are associated with people of the opposite gender.

“The opposite of men is women.” Although it seems innocent enough, I find that it is a strong statement coming from an 8 year old!

Why is it that we have such preconceived, one sided views? Are we conditioned to think this was by our parents?Friends?Society?

Is it wrong to have such a perception?Because in reality, the gender imbalance is present whether we like it or not.

Recently, we were given an article to read for English class title "Gender Blur" by Deborah Blum. In her article, she raised many interesting points of discussion as well as facts that really intrigued me.

Firstly, the fact that early differences in childhood shape the adults that we become. The writer's parents gave her both a Barbie doll as well as a softball to offer her different opportunities to develop.

Some parents recognize the importance of not shortchanging his/her child and stereotyping his/her child's playing habits, likes and dislikes just to fit the social norm and what is conceived as "correct" and "normal".

But how about the other majority of parents?

Beneath our physical exteriors are we really that different from the opposite gender?

Does nurture play a bigger role than nature?Are we just "programmed" by society and the media to have such mental sets?

In the article, research was carried out on 3 year olds about friendships. After interviews with 3 year olds, it was found that about half of their friendships are with the opposite sex. However, by the age of 5, thats drops to 20%. By age 7, almost no boys or girls have, or will admit to having best friends of the opposite sex.

Hence, as Blum suggests, is there some interesting science that suggests that the space between boys and girls is a normal part of development; there are periods during which children may thrive and learn from hanging out with peers of the same sex?Do parents, society or culture at large reinforce such separations?

Do you agree that it is nurture that brings about this ideology or the fact that physical appearance affects our relational formation and development as it is a fact that physical appearance has its biggest impact in the early stages of a relationship but its impact diminishes with time?
Do men and women communicate differently due to stimulus generalisation( communications and action based on how the person is similar to others)?

Mamma mia! mania!

I caught Mamma mia! at the theatre today and it really struck me how music as a medium is so effective in portraying emotions and ideas across.

Personally, I feel that Abba's music especially has a timeless quality and of a genre that can strike a chord with people both young and old. In addition i came across an article in the Straits Times whereby local composer Dick Lee was interviewed and he said that Abba's music is "excellently crafted pop- sophisticated yet deceptively simple".

I agree with him that this is one of the main reasons and still continues to live on and impacted the world is through their lyrics(vehicle through which they transmit, send their messages and ideas about life or basically anything under the sun) are extremely successful as their lyrics are catchy, simple and easy to sing. Moreover, as DJ Joe Ng so aptly puts, Abba had an "incredible grasp for pop arrangement...They really knew how to construct good tunes that get under your skin and there by having smart grooves, rifts and lines". Thus, making their music appeal to a wider audience.

This is done ingeniously as the more successful music/bands tend to be the ones that a wider audience can relate to.

But what really amazes me is the fact that throughout the entire movie there was really a song for every possible emotion and feeling! So much so that the Mama mia! movie producers/ scriptwriters managed to use and find a song to fit in practically all of the scenes! Be it reminiscing about one's daughter growing up and getting married, ( Slipping through my fingers) , finding a vision/ facing struggles in life (I Have A Dream) , relationship problems (The Winner Takes It All/S.O.S etc) you name it Abba has it. Their songs are so universal because the subject matter(s) of the lyrics all pertain to our lives and are what most people face at some point of time in our lives.



For instance, the song " The Winner takes it all" is performed in the Mama Mia! musical by the character of Donna (played by Meryl Streep) In the context of the musical, the song is used when Donna professes how much she loves Sam, but she cannot forgive him entirely as he was engaged and had to leave her to get married to his fiance.From this one can more or less infer the emotional hurt that Donna feels due to Sam leaving her to get married to someone else.

She also, believing him still married, says "the rules must be obeyed" meaning she couldn't be with a married man. Through the lyrics, one can try to guess what she feels.

From, " The gods may throw a dice /Their minds as cold as ice " and

"The loser has to fall/It's simple and it's plain/Why should I complain".

We can infer how she blames cruel gods for her misfortune and suffering and that she has no choice but to surrender to fate and stop complaining.

The aforementioned scene really struck me as i felt Meryl Streep's delivery was very powerful and I could completely relate with her feelings of melancholy just through the song.

Similarly, from the scene above, one can comprehend and relate to Donna's surprise, sadness but also the joy of her daughter growing up and getting married.

From both the scenes, we can see a number of things that contributed to the success of the poignant portrayal of emotions. Firstly, the lyrics(nuggets of information) so the audience understand the background situations/ feelings of the character(s), secondly the fact that the actors/ actresses have strong vocals to stir audience's hearts as well as non-verbal communication such as hand gestures/ actions which help express thought or to emphasize speech.

Hence, I felt that Abba's songs integrated with the good quality singing voices of the actors and the movie plot have helped developed " Mama mia!" better, making the delivery complete and successful.

Doesn't it just blow your mind how a humble tune can not only provoke deep emotions and feelings( be it positive or negative) but can also be a source of strength to spur one on during trials and tribulations? I sure do. How about you? (:

Amaze-ing corn job

-The Straits Times 12 September 2008

Please go to:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1463340938/bctid1786874697 to see the clip of their emotional reactions!


Talk about extreme extravagant gifts.

Contrary to the saying "It's the the thought that counts" I find that people tend to focus on the price or the size of the gift and often forget the excruciating effort and thought process the giver has to go through in order to prepare the "perfect gift" for their loved ones.

I have to admit that when I was a kid and what I looked out for when opening my birthday presents, was the size of the gift. Like most kids, I had the preconceived misconception that "bigger is better". However, on my 8th birthday, I became wiser.

When my aunt pressed this small box into my hands, you can only imagine my dismay! I wanted a big box! As big boxes usually translated to large objects like a bicycle or roller blades for example. But lo and behold when I unwrapped the package, I found to my surprise, a really pretty necklace. Etched on the pendant, was a little bear reading a book. I was extremely delighted and gave my aunt my little version of a bear hug. She kept in mind that I was(still am) a bookworm and went to the trouble to find something that she thought I would love.

After that incident, my perception has completely changed and now, I am a firm believer that good things come in small packages!

Through my personal experience, I have shown an example of how easy it is for messages to be interpreted wrongly as well as the various tricky interpretations due to our individual characteristics and past experiences (for instance, I interpreted big presents to things of large physical value to be more expensive and thus better) .

You see, I feel that although what Glen Fritzler did for his parents was indeed creative and no less extravagant, I believe his parents were touched not just due to the fact that their faces grace their corn maze, but the message of his love and appreciation for his parents communicated through his act of going to the trouble and effort to make his love shown-literally.

By first having to do research on professional maze designers, choosing an appropriate one, planning the time, coming up with a hefty sum to having to keep the lid on his surprise by not telling his sister must have taken much self control. If it were me, I think i would have to try extremely hard to contain my excitement and not burst telling everyone!

Hence, this is yet another form of successful non-verbal communication.

"They sure did pull the wool over their folk's eyes, what a corn job".

What do you think? (:

Shark Attack!

Protestor hooked on her protest against shark cruelty

(http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Shark_protestor_hangs_own_skin_on_hooks&in_article_id=292341&in_page_id=34&expand=true)

Alice Newstead suspends herself to the ceiling using shark hooks

-The scars of her protest

" LONDON (AFP) - A woman was suspended from the ceiling of a London shop by hooks put through her skin, in protest Wednesday against the practice of slicing fins from sharks and throwing them back into the ocean alive. " (Wednesday, September 3 2008) http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080903/wl_uk_afp/britainanimaldemooffbeat
This article caught my eye because it looks so insanely painful and I salute her (Alice Newstead) for her high pain threshold just to stand up(in this case hooked up haa) for what she believes in.

Her unorthodox method of attracting attention to portray her beliefs is indeed encoded in a clear, obvious manner , just short of screaming "LOOK AT ME!"(keeping in mind the fact that her method is a form of non-verbal communication). Some may find her form of protest too extreme and even offensive but I find that it is successful to a certain extent, as it did cause some furor and might have caused some people to think twice before buying/consuming shark meat related products.

Her use of her body as a vehicle/canvas to tell the world what she believes in, is very personal and proves that this issue is something close to her heart and that she is extremely serious about. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words and sometimes, more often then not, people need wake up calls pertaining to matters which they are usually indifferent about.

By literally portraying how sharks are caught- (they are usually pulled from the water, their fins are sliced off, and they are kicked back into the ocean, so they sink to the bottom and suffer a slow death) I feel that she has managed to convey the severity of the issue, create an impact and educate the public to an extent that shark killing is extremely cruel and a stop should be put to this.

However, as people have different mental sets like beliefs, values attitudes and feelings for instance, messages are decoded/interpreted uniquely by each individual and sometimes what we want to portray is perceived differently and communication in this sense fails. For example, Asians may not perceive consuming shark's fin is wrong/cruel as shark's fin is considered a delicacy and shark cartilage has medicinal properties that they believe strongly in. Therefore, some Asians might be offended as it is in their culture to value such beliefs. Similarly, parents of children who happened to walk pass her display may be outraged as such an extreme, very visual display can cause trauma to young children.

Hence, from a social constructive perspective, she should have considered these factors beforehand to improve communication and to bring her point across better as she might have to take responsibility and face the repercussions of her actions(a lawsuit maybe?)Furthermore, I do not doubt that people will become more aware due to her radical display, but will this really stop people from consuming shark's fin soup per se? I know for certain in Asia and Singapore especially, shark's fin soup will stay on our menus for a long time as its the norm to have for wedding dinners and most people really like it!

That being said, I have to admit that Alice's radical display is interesting as it's not often that you can find someone who goes to such great lengths just to defend his/her beliefs!:)

What do you think?How do you feel about her protest?Is it an effective way of communication?