Richard Gere

So, what are we to make of Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shefty in public? As you know, Richard Gere—one of the most responsible HIV/AIDS activists—was in India and, in a parody of his “Shall We Dance” movie—embraced and kissed actress Shilpa Shefty. Some Hindu groups were offended and claimed this was public obscenity which, in India, can result in up to three months in prison, a fine, or both. So, if Richard Gere—clearly as knowledgeable and as culturally sensitive as any celebrity can be—can violate a cultural norm, what hope is there for the rest of us? And it also made me wonder why we can’t just recognize that incidents like this happen—not because someone wants to be offensive or culturally incorrect—because cultures are different and as a result conflicts such as these are inevitable and nothing to get so upset about. And it made me wonder why the media have done so much with this story—they seem to love to harp on such cultural issues which only seems to make them worse than they really were and are.
But, this incident also made me think of how it could be used in a communication class or in several classes: If I were teaching PR, I’d ask the students to write a press release for Richard Gere. If I were teaching mass communication (perhaps comparative media systems), I’d ask the students to analyze the ways in which the media in the West and the East handled the situation. If I were teaching public speaking, I’d ask students to write a speech of apology (goodwill) for Gere to the people of India. If I were teaching intercultural communication, I’d ask students to write about cultural differences in public displays of affection. If I were teaching interviewing, I’d ask students to “interview” Gere on this issue. If I were teaching small group communication, I’d ask students to discuss the issue as a problem to be solved/resolved.

Better PowerPoint

Here is a great discussion of PowerPoint with lots and lots of hot links to useful sources for the public speaker.

Nikki Giovanni Speech

Here (http://www.vt.edu./tragedy/giovanni_transcript.php) you'll find a transcript of poet Nikki Giovanni's convocation speech at Virginia Tech.

Here is some useful advice for organizational communication from the point of view of engineers.

Nonverbal Communication @ Work

Here's some useful advice from Jack Griffin's How to Say It at Work on nonverbal communication--from making an effective entrance to giving a great handshake.

Resume

In most of the interviewing books I've read--including my own little Interviewing Guidebook--the suggestion--either explicit or in the examples--is to keep your employment resume to one page. But, according to today's USA Today snapshot two page resumes are increasing in popularity. For example, in 1996 73% said the preferred length was 1 page but in 2006 only 52% felt this way. And the percentage of those favoring 2 pages increased from 25% in 1996 to 44% in 2006. No distinction was made in this little graphic between hard copy and e-copies but it's obvious that online submissions are increasing and, it's likely, that length would matter a lot less with online resumes due, in part, I assume because the pages won't easily become detached (as they might in hard copy), the find feature would enable a personnel officer to locate crucial information, there is virtually no storage problem, etc.

Pelosi and Syria

The White House objection to Nancy Pelosi's visit to Syria is amazing. When did non-communication solve problems? Isn't it better to open a dialogue even with those with whom we disagree? Talking only to allies has not exactly been the greatest political strategy. How about trying real communication?