MARK THIS: The Importance of Communications

Before entering this class, my parents told me that I should pursue something with Communications. My whole life I was told that I should go to university and major in Communications. If I were to ask one what Communications is, I would get an unclear answer that I never understood. Unsatisfied, I decided to take initiative and search on the internet for a better understanding of what communications actually meant. I came across various websites that informed me of several definitions and explanations, along with information as to what one can pursue with a degree in Communications. After all my questions were answered I knew that my decision was already made for me, which was to major in Communications at McMaster University.

In Dr. Alex Sevigne’s note, Some advice for College and University students, I found this quote that got me excited just by reading it:
“A life in which every experience becomes a possibility for adventure, growth and love”

This quote brings back several memories, most being from high school when life seemed so frustrating, cluttered, and complicated. I remember the speech from my parents, “Honey, you will figure yourself out in University, whether it is your career or the love of your life”. My parents made me believe that when you get into university everything will seem to fall into place. They gave me this hope during high school that university will allow me to open my eyes to new possibilities and expectations.

The more I attend lectures, the greater my excitement is to someday pursue a career in public relations. Communications is truly a very interesting topic. You can extend your definition of Communications to the different ways we communicate each day, whether it includes conversation, body movements, choice of vocabulary or the medium we use to communicate to one another. Communications allows us to open our eyes to a world of possibilities. It does so because the more we become educated about our surroundings, and the type of listener we are, the more capable we become to survive this complicated and worried world.

Also mentioned in Dr. Sevigne’s note is: “Alex, I didn’t understand until maybe the middle of third year. I finally understood that education is about storytelling – the stories of art and science, society and engineering, health and commerce and how they all weave together into the grand story of our lives together.”

While reading this, it connected me back to one of Dr. Sevigne’s lectures when he mentioned that in order to be a good communicator, you must be good at story telling because it is the best way to get a point across. Education is like storytelling because all of what you learn is weaved together to create the story of your life, and storytelling for a communicator creates a confident and well posed image. Storytelling also makes the communicator’s point memorable.

In the media today, specifically music, there are several inspirational songs that talk about the journey of life, victory, happiness, sadness etc. In the following YouTube videos these songs are strong, encouraging and it is important to listen to lyrics very closely. Enjoy.
1. Hopeful By Twista ft. Faith Evans
2. The Climb By Miley Cyrus
3. One step at a time By Jordin sparks


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MARK THIS: Girls dont like boys, Girls like Cars and Money

In the article from the National Post, Low marks keeping Canadian boys out of University: Study it talks about the differences between boys and girls in high school. Boys are not as hard working when it comes to homework, assignments and preparation for tests as girls are. Also, girls are the ones who frequently attend university after high school rather than boys who either go to college or take on trades such as plumbing or electrician. We can clearly identify the differences between both sexes and that their choices differ from one another.

This identification of differences between sexes does not only exist in high school but in everyday communication from one person to another. We have learned in class that communication is not solely based on speaking but our body movements, our interactions to one another, our confrontation and finally our response. Men and women speak very differently. Women tend to talk about problems where as men tend to ignore them and avoid confrontation. Also, differences could include the way men speak to their male friends and how women speak to their female friends. When males talk to their male friends, they often talk about sports and celebrities where as women talk to their female friends about their love life, problems that may occur, and gossip. Furthermore, our selection of words varies between high or low context, for example, in some cultures it is very inappropriate for women to use vulgarity such as cursing. However, if men were to speak in such a way, it wouldn’t change a person’s view of him.

Another distinction between men and women is their body movements such as their walk, stance and physical expressions. Women have more of a feminine walk because they walk with their hips and have their back straight, where as men are slouched and walk more relaxed. A persons’ stance is quite important, if you were to go to Wal-Mart or a grocery store you would see that the majority of the men stand with their back slouched and their head facing downwards and the women have their chest up and their head held high. Physical expressions would be considered hand gestures, the movement of the body when talking in front of an audience or to a family member or a friend.

We could go on stating the differences between men and women, but one thing we should question is how women and men are perceived on television and in movies? If we look at all the television shows we enjoy watching, we can observe that most of the women have the same attributes, such as: fashionable with nice and well kept hair. Men are always wearing casual clothing and most of them look just like an average Joe but with some extra charm.
Men and women are diverse from each other and a great portrayal of this could be shown through media such as advertisements, television shows, movies and even music. One show in particular that significantly identifies the media’s perception of girls and boys can be viewed in the following clip from The Disney Channel, Life with Derek.

Derek and Casey clearly have different mentalities, interests and clothing styles. I feel that this clip depicts a very obvious way that girls and boys, especially teenagers, can be different from one another. The way Derek and Casey communicate with their body and their choice of words show various ways of communication and that there are multiple ways of addressing issues. This episode also shows that Casey works extra hard to earn her high grades where as Derek could care less about failing a test and how it is accepted from his father since he “ never tried hard in high school”.

This can relate back to the article how girls in high school work hard and aim to go to university where not all the boys work as hard, and don’t try to go to university.

Life with Derek: