Semantic noise and jargon

 My husband is an astrophotographer, and one of his favorite photographers to follow on social media took my hubby's dream shot: the Milky Way behind a lighthouse on Lake Superior. When my hubby gets excited about photography, he talks pretty quickly and starts spouting out numbers referencing his different lenses and apertures and things. I nod my head and ask for clarification on some of the things, but most of it doesn't make sense to me. I just don't understand what he is saying. These words represent a photography culture but also semantic noise for me. 

Link to image: https://www.nklokphoto.com/Minnesotas-North-Shore/i-9cxbM39/A?fbclid=IwAR1MpnXBk_yt4zqdEjEff8kN6Xo_LGMwuE2MsOyYOWNiMBWMsXfr192lhGE

Psychological noise

 I am very easily distracted by sounds in a silent room. If there is a pen being tapped or even a clock ticking, my focus will zoom in on the distracting noise, and I won't be able to focus mentally on much else. To help with that, I often have music playing in my room. For example, today during the Chapter 1 Test, I had music playing to help me focus on getting other work done and to also help students focus on the task in front of them. 

Bluey Culture

 I am a part of MANY cultures, but my excitement over this recent discovery clearly proves my membership in the Bluey culture. Bluey is a children's show that takes place in Australia. This show brought my family together during the early COVID lockdown because it was something we all enjoyed. It has even changed some of the words we use as a family as well as the games we play. There are things we reference from the show that may not mean anything to another family, but because of Bluey, it means something to us. An email I received today shared an Airbnb in Australia that brings Bluey's house to life!

Bluey's House

I even wrote a blog post about this culture for Rochester Mom here. 

source: https://m.facebook.com/OfficialBlueyTV/photos/a.324963251651139/1024143151733142/?type=3

Reading body language

 While working on research for one of my classes for my Master's, I came across this article. It lists 10 examples of body language the author uses to assess the feelings of his program users. As I was reading the list, I realized these are many of the examples of body language I use to assess how students are doing with new content/knowledge. You can check out the article here: Full article

Or read the list I am referencing below: 

1. Frowning. If a user is frowning, it can be a sign of a necessity to concentrate, displeasure, or of perceived lack of clarity

2. Brow Raising. When users raise their brows, it can be a sign of uncertainty, disbelief, surprise, and exasperation. While surprise isn’t always negative, we don’t necessarily want our users to be surprised or uncertain of the experience on our platform

3. Gazing Away. When a user gazes away from the screen, they may feel deceived, ashamed, or confused. They could also very possibly be bored with what is on the screen in front of them

4. Smiling. A smile is a sign of satisfaction in which the user may have encountered something satisfying or joyful

5. Compressing the Lip. Seeing a user compress their lips is a sign of frustration and confusion. I see this a lot when a user intends to do something, but it does not work, causing frustration and anxiety

6. Moving the Mouth. If the user is speaking to themselves, trying to understand or complete a task, this indicates them feeling confused or lost in the experience

7. Expressing Vocally. Vocal expressions such as sighs, gasps, coughs, as well as the volume of the expression, the tone or quality of the expression may be signs of frustration or deception.

8. Hand Touching the Face. If a user is touching their face during the interview, they could be tired, lost, or confused. This can also indicate a high level of concentration and frustration with a task.

9. Leaning Back on the Chair. When a user (or anyone, really) leans back in a chair, it is an indication they are having a negative emotion and would like to remove themselves from the situation. This generally shows a fairly high level of frustration

10. Forward Leaning the Trunk. Leaning forward and showing a sunken chest may be a sign of difficulty and frustration with the task at hand. At this point, the user may be close to giving up on a task or experience.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

 Today is National Holocaust Remembrance Day. As fewer and fewer survivors of the Holocaust exist, it becomes more and more important to remember this historical event. Ever since I first read The Diary of Anne Frank in middle school, I have been fascinated with the stories of those who experienced the Holocaust from all perspectives. To this day, some of my favorite things to read are memoirs from the time period or historical fiction from the time period. I bring this up because the Holocaust represents many cultures. There were those who were taken and killed because of the cultures they represented: Jewish, Gypsy, Homosexual, Disabled, Jehovah's Witnesses, Blacks, and more. It's important to remember and respect these cultures and what they experienced just because of the cultures they identified with. 

Masculine, Feminine, or Both?

 Today in class we were discussing feminine and masculine cultures. We started by analyzing The Giving Tree and how it represented these cultures in 1973. We then brainstormed on what these cultures/labels mean today. I couldn't help but think of two of my favorite fictional characters and how they each walk the line of being both masculine and feminine equally. 

source: https://mindlifetv.com/movies/disney-didnt-want-luisa-to-be-muscular-in-encanto/

The first character I thought of was Luisa, from Disney's Encanto. She is incredibly strong and expected to do lots of physical labor, which is often representative of masculine culture. She often tries to hide her emotions, which is also seen as masculine. When the pressures pile up on her, she becomes incredibly emotional and breaks down often, which is seen as more of a feminine characteristic. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_(Marvel_Cinematic_Universe)

The second character I thought of was Thor from the Marvel Universe. He, like Lusia, looks quite masculine. He's strong and eager to fight, but when it comes to relationships, taking care of those he loves is what is most important to him, even when those people continue to trick and hurt him (Loki). He might look masculine and his aggressions in battle would be considered masculine, but when interacting with Jane, his father, his mother, or his friends, it is relationships that matter most, which is a feminine trait. 

If I keep allowing myself to slip down this mental rabbit hole, I'm sure I could think of other fictional characters that walk the line between these two cultures. What are some you can think of? 

Amish Culture

 I was just reading a student blog post on Amish culture, and it reminded me of a Yes Theory episode where the guys live with an Amish family for a couple of days. It was incredibly eye-opening for me! Here it is for you if you are interested in learning more about Amish culture:

Stories and their power on self-concept and perception

 As children, we were all highly impressionable. Our world and our perspective mirrored what was around us, whether that be the influence of our families, the influence of our friends, the influence of school, or the influence of media through books and screens. In this TedTalk, the speaker shares our children's books influenced her as a young writer and beyond. Her self-concept was altered by the books she read as were the stories that she wrote 

Culture and Perspective

 

I recently read an incredibly haunting book, This Is Where It Ends. The book takes place over 54 minutes during a high school shooting. This book has been recommended to me by students for a few years, and I was grateful to make time to read it for my Young Adult Materials class I'm taking through Mankato to get my Master's. As I was reading the book, this video came to mind. In it, we can see a couple of things from class illustrated. One, I think it gives a pretty realistic portrayal of high school culture in America. Also, it offers a great lesson in perspective. Watching the last part of the video shows us all the things we most likely didn't notice the first time. Have you seen this video before? What did you think of it? 

Lesson on Culture during Super Bowl Halftime Show

I always look forward to Super Bowl Sunday. It's a fun reason to get family and friends together, to place silly bets, and critique the year's commercials. Since I love concerts and live musical performances, I always look forward to the halftime show, too. This year had me very curious and interested since I've always enjoyed Shakira's music. As I watched the halftime show with a big spectrum of ages, from my own parents to my own kiddos, I found myself curious about the clothing and prop choices. My dad kept asking questions and commenting on how offensive or strange the show was, especially with its lack of English (ethnocentrism in action!) and American pride. I tried to remind him this was Miami, home to a strong Latino culture. The next morning, I stumbled upon this Social Media post by

Brianne Schneckenberger is with Brook Elise Steppe:

The comments and memes about last night's half-time show just reminds me how white-centric the American mind is. There were so many cultural references in last night's show and I'd say probably very few white Americans recognized them.

The Superbowl was hosted in Miami this year - a city nicknamed the "Capital of Latin America".

Some of the costumes in J-Lo's performance showed a tribute to Selena, one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of all time (who J-Lo played in the 1997 biographical film.)

J-Lo, who is of Puerto Rican descent, donned a reversible cape showing the Puerto Rican and American Flags on either side. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory which is still recovering from devastating damage from a hurricane and subsequent earthquakes. J-Lo has notably donated at least $1 million towards aid for Puerto Rico. Her daughter singing "Born in the USA" was a reminder that Puerto Ricans are Americans too.

I know some people said "Let's have more of the kids singing! It should be family friendly!" While that was happening, other children were shown in cage-like structures to represent a subtle nod to the children (mostly of Latino descent) we have kept in detention over the past several administrations.

And Shakira. Thanks to my sister's obsession I grew up knowing a LOT about Shakira! Her father's parents were Lebanese immigrants who emigrated to New York City where her father was born and then subsequently immigrated to Barranquilla, Colombia - where waves of Middle Eastern immigrants came after WW1 and WW2.

The "weird tongue thing" she did? That's called a zaghrouta which is used to express joy in Arabic culture. Shakira is very proud of her Lebanese roots and has been belly dancing since the age of 4.

The "stomping dance" she did? Champeta! A tribute to Afro-Colombian culture.

In fact almost all the dancing in the half-time show was a nod to Latin or Afro-Latin culture including mapalé and salsa.

So maybe you thought it was "nasty" or "not family-friendly" but I saw it as pride, a celebration of culture, and one of the most honoring things these two women could have done for Latin Americans. 🤷‍♀️

New perspective of "Worry"

This TEDtalk was a real eye-opener for me! As one who has struggled with anxiety for years, worry is a feeling I'm pretty familiar with, but after listening to this TEDtalk, I have a new perspective. My perception of "worry is different" as well as my connotation, which we will discuss in Chapter 5.

How Movies Teach the Masculine Culture

While looking up the Blue Eyes Brow Eyes experiment video for class, I stumbled upon this interested TEDTalk that looks at how movies can influence masculine and feminine culture! Check it out here:

Dancing to Our Own Beat

Rather than write my own blog post this week, I would like to share the one I contributed to Rochester City Moms Blog! I'm pretty proud of this one. Once a month, I write a blog for them to publish. It's a fun hobby!

https://rochestermn.citymomsblog.com/family/dancing-to-our-own-beat/?fbclid=IwAR1wLs8vBjioShyUt4xeOxAP-EODHCfIaqdp82VdPurjfU4udUqO-RHppuI

Earplugs

Last night my hubby and I went to a concert at the Armory in Minneapolis. We were there for The Devil Makes Three and one of our favorites, Flogging Molly. We've been to this venue before, but for some reason, it was exceptionally loud last night. So much so that the venue was giving out earplugs, which we gratefully accepted. We'be both been to dozens of concerts together, but this one was one of the loudest. Once the earplugs were in, we had an obstacle. Those earplugs caused us even more physical noise than the music did; there was no way to hear each other with earplugs in. We came up with a quick solution, though. Although we probably looked a little silly, we texted out messages and showed them to each other rather than send them. It worked really well!

Oh no she didn't!

My daughter used some common body movements on me this morning, and it caught me by surprise. While talking to my son a little loudly (since he was downstairs), my two-year-old daughter looked at me and said, "Shhhhh! Mommy quiet!" Then she held up her finger to her lips, a very clear example of both an emblem and regulator. I have to admit, I was a little shocked!

Nonverbal communication of PJ Day

During Snow Week and Homecoming, I often forget that the majority of people I interact with outside of school aren't celebrating the dress up days. For example, when I was picking up my kiddos at daycare on Monday, I got some funny looks being in sweatpants and a sweatshirt on a school day. Then today while walking in the building, proudly sporting my Hogwarts PJ pants, a mom dropping off her son looked at me really funny. These outfits did not send the professional, put-together nonverbal message my clothing usually sends on a school day. I am usually less focused on these days as a teacher, too. Self-fulfilling prophecy?

Psychological noise today

I'm dealing with a little bit of psychological noise today; my mind keeps getting stuck. You see, my brother in law went into unexpected emergency surgery last night and then again today. I keep waiting for updates to see how he's doing, hoping and praying for the best. While I'm supposed to be teaching today, my thoughts are on him. I'm hoping it hasn't shown too much, though.

Speech Culture

One culture that I've been a part of since 1995 is Speech Team culture.  Within that culture, there are beliefs in supporting your teammates, having a mascot, practicing to do your best, taking judges' critiques as guidance, and giving it your best effort every round. We dress up for meets, and duos might even try to match each other. There are nicknames for the different categories or traditions like wall-talking that are specific to this group of people. There's even a "speech clap," similar to the KoMet clap.  I'm proud to be a part of this culture. I've met many life-long friends because of it and was even able to get to know my hubby, then my boyfriend, much better because of it.

Zootopia and culture

The movie Zootopia offers examples from a variety of cultures. Each area of Zootopia has its own expected dress, language, rules, and tradition. This can especially be seen with the police force, and Judy needs to quickly learn this new language. She has a specific dress. She has goals she needs to achieve on her shift as well as personal goals. There is even a hierarchy to the animals in Zootopia.

Got Any Grapes?

I don't know what it is, but whenever someone mentions a duck, my mind immediately follow with "Got any Grapes?" or "Waddle Waddle." Then the song gets stuck in my head, causing some extreme psychological noise. My family has been witness to this earworm as well as many others.  And now for your viewing pleasure: