The END. A Reflection.

A blog is nothing more or less than emotions and opinions. I have loved being able to expand on whatever issue or opinion is one my mind. While I did enjoy voicing my opinions and processing various things through the blog, it was also a lot more difficult then I expected it to be. This blog was hard for me because of my schedule. The way that I had to write up my assignments for a majority of the time was in chunks. As I would go through my week I would only get a couple nights off and those were my homework nights. That being said, there were several nights that I would start typing up a blog post after my ten+ hour work day, and wouldn't be able to finish it because of my extreme tiredness. I loved the freedom that I was able to exhibit while writing, but the hard part for me was the consistency. Being able to set aside time during the day to write up a blog post was a challenge, that I feel I lost track of a couple times throughout the class' session. I enjoyed the blog, and I am understanding how helpful it can be in everyday life. I am excited to start writing down what I am thinking, however I do not think I am ready to share all of my thoughts with the world. At this point I think I will go back to a journal, but I have loved being able to share with everyone in the class. Thank you all for listening to my rants about various issues, and sympathizing with my large amounts of "interesting" stories. I can only hope that you all have at least considered living a life full of kindness, because I know that I sure am trying...and trying...and trying.

Practice makes perfect...or does it?

Practice, practice, sleep. and more practice. That is the life of a music major summed up in six words.

The need to practice always seems come up at a time that it is the last thing you want to do. To every single musician it is a necessary evil. Growing up my mother always said that the success of a musician is based ten percent on talent, and ninety percent on practice. Practicing is something that can be so hard to do, but needed in order to get the results that are required to be a successful musician. When I was younger I used to dread my practice sessions. Having been through a year as a music major, the practice rooms have become my go to place on campus. Instead of being dreadful and boring, practice has become my time of absolute freedom. I have spent periods of time laying on the floor, jumping up and down, and creating stories that are wrapped around specific songs. While I love both my voice teacher, coach, I have found that not having the structure that they place on my vocalization, has allowed me to truly blossom as an artist. 

Being diligent in my practicing is something that I am still working on becoming. I am realizing that the consistency  I have found is starting to flood into other areas of my life. The lessons and principles I have learned as a music major, are not strictly aimed at music. This realization has taught me to start looking for lessons that could be learned from all of my studies. I hope that as time goes on my passion for music will continue to grow, and that my hate of practicing will continue to diminish. Then I will truly be able to embrace the freedom that practicing provides, and also have learned the lessons I needed to learn. 

Assignment 7.3

Eng101 Topic Exploration Research Question Name: Charissa Paschke

Research Question -How is the value of nonverbal communication within music weighed against the value of verbal?

Answer each question carefully using complete sentences (grammar counts).  Be specific in your reasoning and explanations.

1. Does the question deal with a topic or issue that interests me enough to spark my own thoughts and opinions? Explain. Yes it does. Music is my passion. It is the most important thing I have the ability to produce, and at this point in my life I can honestly say that without music I wouldn't be the same person I am today. 
2. Is the question easily and fully researchable? Back up your answer. 
• Yes I believe the question is easy to understand and very easy to research. Once a general knowledge base has been built, the ability to identify the various types of verbal and nonverbal communication will become easier. 
3. What type of information do I need to answer the research question?
• The definition of both verbal and nonverbal communication.
• A general knowledge of both music and communications. 
• The opinions and knowledge of the performing arts
4. Is the scope of this information reasonable? (e.g., can I really research 30 on-line writing programs developed over a span of 10 years?) Explain.
• Yes you can research music and the amount of verbal and nonverbal communication within. By researching the topic, I believe that the answer becomes very clear.
5. Given the type and scope of the information that I need, is my question too broad, too narrow, or okay? Explain.
• I believe that it is a bit too broad. There are several different types of music that I could be talking about. I needed to specify instrumental or vocal. Because when you are dealing with instrumental the amount of verbal communication plummets
6. What sources will have the type of information that I need to answer the research question (journals, books, internet resources, government documents, people, rock concerts, ethnography)? Be specific.
• Academic Journals will be the best way to find information that is supported and not just an opinion. There are several music and communication opinion based websites but those once again those are all going to be based on opinions, and in order to get credible material, it has to be supported by someone.
7. Can I access these sources? Explain.
• Yes you can access these sources. As an OTC student you thane the ability to access all of the academic journals you could ever need access to on the Otc Library page.
8. Given my answers to the above questions, do I have a good quality research question that I actually will be able to answer by doing research? Explain why you think this way.
• Yes I do believe that I have a good question because it is a bit broad but still allows for creativity in the interpretation of the question. I have shown ways that the question can be answered and various ways to find the research.

Sarcastic in Nature

This week I have really been struggling with something that is so very common in society, and even recently has been directed at me.This thing causes people to question people’s motives, wonder what is really meant by their words, and even has gone as far as to ruin relationships. Sarcasm has been causing unneeded strife for century’s. While in past years it might have been directly categorized as snark or straight up rude. It is no longer considered culturally unacceptable. This type of speech has infiltrated every area of our speech. It is used in the social world as excessively as saturated fat in a KFC meal. Sarcasm plainly put is a facade for an insecure person to hide behind. While it might enable a person to get out what they have been meaning to say in a “joking” way, it also causes the object of the joke to wonder the sincerity of what was said.
 When I was younger I would often makes statements that were painfully true, and follow them with a jokingly put,”Just kidding.” It wasn't until my mother confronted me after a simply put joke, that I realized what I was doing would cause people to not want to be around me. She always said, “There is a little bit of truth in everything you say.” From that point on her words finally stuck to me and have been with me since that day. 
Already being a sophomore in college, it has been interesting to see just how similar college kids are to high school kids, in their lack of sincerity and excessive use of sarcasm. Last night I had a couple jokes aimed thoughtlessly at me, and while I know they might not have meant to hurt me, in the end the remarks caused me to reconsider the way I conduct myself. This can be a bad thing, and while my friends would say they were “just joking” and tell me not think anything of it, i cant help but remember something I was confronted on a couple years ago. When they stated their jokes, while all in good fun, they didn't realize that I have been struggling with that specific quality for years. While sarcasm (most of the time) is meant as a joke, it can reflect what someone truly means. 

Delegation is KEY.

As I grow older and work with more people, I am realizing just how much of an impact my years in Student Council had on me. If there was one thing I learned from the time I spent in Student Council it would have to be the development of my delegation abilities. As the head of the decorations committee for three years in high school, it was very difficult to delegate those responsibilities to the younger students. 
Wanting everything to be perfect and set up correctly is something that comes naturally to me. I learned the first year that I cannot take control and watch every little thing be done(because I physically get overwhelmed). While I did get better at this as time went on, it wasn't until my Senior year that I had learned why delegation was so important. While it is important to delegate for your own(the leaders) sanity, it is also am opportunity to pass on what you know to others below you. If I hadn't been delegated to during my freshman, I wouldn't ever have gained the experience and confidence I needed. As a leader I had learned the importance of delegation for my own sanity's sake, I really feel like it was an awesome gift to be able to give the younger less-experienced students the opportunity to lead. 
While I had to accept that I couldn't do everything on my own, I also needed the people below me to be trained by the time I left the council so the excellence level wouldn't fade. In order to accept that you can’t handle everything on your own, it asking the leader to admit that they can not do everything on their own. If the leaders of a specific group do not allow  anyone else to try and have a go at leading, younger members will become uninterested and in the end this will result in the club’s demise. 

An Ethical Point of View

Ethics are an important thing to me and as I continue to write out my struggles I am learning that I do have strong opinions. Since I have always been a follower of Christ and held to the truth that is in the bible and the rules stated, I think that there is absolute truth. And I know that in my own life, while I may not always do the right thing, I know what the right thing is, or can figure out what it is. Because of this I have never thought that morals change, or that someone can change their opinion on morals. Like I have said before, I am always interested to hear about everyone and their varying opinions on specific issues.
Throughout my life I have been able to talk to people about their personal beliefs and thoughts on various topics. It is interesting to hear all of the varying thoughts and opinions that people have.  There have been times where I feel like I am being singled out on my beliefs because I hold so strongly to what I believe. 
That being said, while I am firm on what I believe, that doesn't mean that I am not willing to take something from what other people say. Some of the best conversations I have ever had have been with people who are completely opposite of me. One thing that I have found as I meet and have conversations with people of different backgrounds, and belief systems, is that people can be very closed minded to another way of thinking that is not their own. There is such a hostility over beliefs and how “right or wrong” other people’s opinions are. It is okay to have a different opinion because through those varying opinions we are able to talk out why we believe certain things. It is however very sad to realize how rare it is becoming to find people who have just thought and spent time figuring out and questioning what they believe. I know that when I was younger I went through a period of questioning my own beliefs and figured out why I believe what I believe. People often say and judge me because of what I believe and I get the opportunity to break the stereotype that is so commonly placed on Christians. By shutting down other people because they don’t hold the beliefs that I do, I am not only hurting them, I am not hurting the ability I have to represent Christ’s love to them. Getting the opportunity to speak up about my beliefs on Thursday was awesome, and even though I stuck out a bit, it was nice to be able to state my opinions. I cannot live in fear to state my opinions or beliefs, but I also have to make sure to not be judgmental when people do not hold to my standards of living. 

Sass.

People are an interesting bunch.  While sometimes we would like to think that the most disgusting person we know isn't related or connected to us in any way, they are. While you may vary in many ways, we all as humans have one verity specific thing in common; The fact that we are all humans. When I picked up the job that I work now, I wasn't expecting to deal with sassy people, but little did I know, I do...all the time. As I sit here and type this up, I am still in my business clothes, trying to not get worked by thinking about the sass that I encountered while on shift. Looking back on the day, it wasn't necessarily the amount of sassy or rude people I encountered, rather the severity of the few. 

It blows me away when I think about the disrespect that I and others have encountered, but then I think back to my own actions. 

When I was younger, all the way through my teenage years, my mother would constantly be reminding me to "watch my attitude." To this day I have a tendency to get worked up about various mistakes, or things that I could have done better. I am a perfectionist, and with that perfection comes a whole lot of stress. The moments when I am stressed, I am distracted by the stress, and do not realize just how sassy I am being. Sometimes I like to give everyone else the benefit of the doubt that maybe they are just stressed out as well. It is a sad realization when the person you hoped was just stressed, is in fact just an incredibly rude person. 

Taking this class, on top of having two jobs, was one of the most challenging things I have done in  a long time. While there hasn't been an unbearable work load, it has caused a bit of stress. When I am stressed, I am learning that it is an okay thing to feel, but not a valid reason to treat others like they are any less important then they are. We are all humans, we all live on this earth, so I say let's stop treating each other like we are the most important and start extending grace.