UNDER: YOU, ME, AND THE WORLD (AND SPEECH COMMUNICATION)
4. Me, the World and Speech Communication
RE: Introducing Myself; untitled prose
From how I see the world in an abstract and meaningful way, it is full of symbols and full of parallels that people like me derive deep meanings from. You may or may not have guessed that I’m a person who is not good at communicating, despite making proses and poetry. Maybe it’s because I just like keeping these words to myself, or maybe I was conditioned to—I don’t know. But I do know that loving and making use of art, literature and music is a way of for me to express and communicate myself to those willing to listen. Communication, according to Wood (2009), is a systemic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols to create and interpret meanings. This was a definition she gave for her transactional model and is one of my favorite definitions of communication because it offers how there is a lot of different ways people could communicate and understand each other. It says that communication is symbolic in nature and these symbols create meaning. Just as how I see me, being communicative in a literary way, is something that would say a lot about my personality.
I think this is also why I am currently taking speech communication. What I learned about speech communication is that it takes studying about communication in a different level. It studies theories and structure. It studies small nuances that could affect how people would think about one’s speech or way of communication. It analyzes not only the words that come out of a person’s mouth, but also how one stands and confidently strides in, how fidgety one gets and how much one uses unnecessary words and moves, and etc. It studies how people deliver themselves and what meaning could it possibly produce to the audience they have. These are the things that I find interesting about speech communication. I do not necessarily have to be the one standing and doing the talking to understand how we derive meanings. Speech communication is analyzation while making use of our creative skills. It is technical, but is also artful, psychological and philosophical.
And now that I have been studying speech communication, there are many realizations that I have about myself, especially the me during the times of pandemic. I was already aware of how I sucked at communicating, but something in me shifted with the way I see relationships and how I could keep touch of these relationships during the pandemic. You see, I rarely talked or chatted with my friends when I can still see them face to face. It’s not that I never interacted with them, but it was minimal and I was always on the side of listening and receiving and not really talking. But now, I realized that little by little, I started learn how to keep the conversation going. I thought of myself as “makulit” because of this and started to joke around how annoyingly chatty I was. I learned to rant to my friends and think of things to reply when they were the one doing so. In short, I became slightly good at communicating to and with people I hold deeply in my heart. I guess even if my realizations and doings aren’t anything big or anything that could highly benefit the society in times of pandemic, I was unconsciously making use of what I learned in speech communication to better and further my communication skills in my life affairs.
—Patricia Minimo
References:
Wood, Julia. 2009. Communication In Our Lives. 5th ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Publishing.
Holba, Annette. 2007. Philosophical Leisure: Recuperative Practice For Human Communication. Ebook. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press. https://classroom.google.com/u/0/w/MjgzNTE5MjMwMTc0/t/all.
UNDER: YOU, ME, AND THE WORLD (AND SPEECH COMMUNICATION)
2. Introducing Myself
Ever since I was a child, my parents told me that it is normal to fail, but never been enough reason to stop. My father died when I was in Grade 10, basically, four (4) years ago. But it didn’t stop me from chasing my dream, to pass UPCAT and be an Iskolar ng Bayan like my mother. I grew up working hard to get what I want. While my peers are playing on their Nintendos or PSPs, I was the one watching them and wishing someday I could play it too. I grew up in a middle class family, wherein food and provision of needs has no assurance. But I also grew up being victorious. I became National Champion in DaMath for two (2) consecutive years [2018-2019; entirely the Philippines] and National Champion in Impromptu Speaking English 2019.
“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery and today is a gift, that’s why it is called Present” - Master Oogway (Kung Fu Panda)
I took this photo after my dad died. I really love this photo. The sunset reminds me of the pain and suffering I’ve been to. But it also symbolizes that after the tiring day, all we need is rest and take a break because tomorrow is another battle and as the sun rises in the east again, another sign of hope will rise again.
UNDER: YOU, ME, AND THE WORLD (AND SPEECH COMMUNICATION)
3. Me, the World and Speech Communication
Hello! Due to CoVid-19 Pandemic, life has never been easy. But I took this time to develop my skills and talents especially those that are related to Speech Communication. Watch the video below for more details.
Skills at work during the world's current situation
Last October, San Nicolas Mobile Legends Community, conducted a ML Tournament For A Cause and I was one of the spearheads of the said event. As a Communication student, I used my skills in casting and hosting for the entertainment of the live stream. Our page started with only just 13 viewers but as time passes by we are able to reach 1.3k views and 3k followers. The tournament lasted for two (2) months and we were able to gather, at most, Php 50,000 and was given out to our three (3) beneficiaries.
This pandemic devastated a lot of dreams and even families. But as an Iskolar ng Bayan, we should do something. By using our ability to influence other people and extend our skills and talents to ease their situation, we were able to develop ourselves at the same time and be able to relate to society. As they always say, learning is not limited to the four corners of the room, but there are a lot of information and experience outside, so make a move and change your angle, the reality of life is not limited to a single lens.
