The Bus
(This is one of the articles I wrote for my writing class at BYUH back in 2005, it’s a commentary)
I don’t want to ride on The Bus; but living here in Laie, and especially being an I.W.E.S student, I don’t have a choice. It’s the only public transportation on the island.
I won’t forget my first ride with The Bus. The smell was haunting. Initially, I covered my mouth and nose with my sweater. I tried to endure the stink smell by attempting to sit back, relax and uncover my nose and mouth. To my realization, as I inhale, gradually it just makes me dizzy.
Frankly, I eventually ended up vomiting. The agony of being lightheaded did not end there. The nastiest was the part of actually throwing up. It was the worst ride I ever had — my head’s gone upside down, my intestines’ gone inside out. It’s so hard to bring out things from your stomach, forcibly. Especially when it’s empty. In exaggeration, on the other hand, I always say that every time I hop in the yellow bus, I put my life at stake, for it really felt like I am. I feel like dying when I vomit.
I had couple of instances when I really tried to endure the smell and within the long hours of traveling, the only thing I thought of was the hope and plea to get where I wanted to go as fast as possible, fly out of the bus and throw up. It happened to me several times. I have tried so hard, physically and psychologically, to patiently wait until I hop out the bus. And there I perform the hardest scene.
I know myself; I don’t usually get motion sickness; and I could tolerate motion imbalance when riding a certain vehicle. My throwing up is triggered by the inexplicable smell inside the bus. Ironically, I have an explanation close to reality of how it smells – a burnt rubber or worse.
From then on, I bring with me a bottle of water and oranges. It’s the old Filipino way; and not to forget my plastic bag, like that of Foodland’s. It’s always nice to be prepared. Yes it’s nasty to carry a bag full of, who knows what. But it’s nastier to go around having puke all over your clothes, or worse on your friend’s, or on a stranger’s. I have this experience of having no choice of throwing up on the sweater I was using to cover my nose and mouth with. Nasty, but I can’t tell the bus operator to stop, and I didn’t have a plastic bag with me that time. There was also a time where the bus floor was not spared. I really had no choice. But so far I haven’t puked on someone else, yet. And I’m not anticipating that shameful day.
Some BYU-Hawaii students also have similar horrible experiences traveling with The Bus. Freshman, Joan Diray, a biology student, recently had a nauseating experience going to Kaneohe with approximately an hour of travel.
“I covered my nose and my mouth,” she related. “The smell of the bus is really awful!”
Unfortunately, she was not as prepared as I did before, she gradually felt dizzy and abruptly threw up exactly on the things she bought from Kaneohe, which she laid in between her feet. She threw away some of her new-bought stuffs.
“I haven’t experienced throwing up [before],” she stressed.
Pointing to the fact that she too has no choice but to take The Bus, she added, “Maybe next time I will prepare myself of vomiting. I need to chew something like candy or gum.”
One friend said, “Just the thought of riding the bus, makes me feel like throwing up.” She related, that even before she steps up the bus, the most unwanted thing to happen is already happening in her mind. She’ll have this actual sound of throwing up, with eyes already watery.
Valerie Mejia, a BYUH alumnus said she threw up in the bus many times. “It’s a good thing I carry a plastic bag with me,” she related. “I rarely travel because I really don’t like the air freshener of The Bus.” That is, if you call that air freshener. It’s not freshening at all.
The Bus should sanitize and clean the entirety of the vehicles. Various kinds of people are riding it everyday. People straight from the beaches ride it. Different odors of different people who had different activities are all locked up in the vehicle.
It’s a good thing they took off all the carpets from their bus floors, for as I observed it, it was the main thing that causes the awful smell. I don’t know if they vacuum the carpets; and if they did, it never smelled like it was.
Some people tell me: “you’re just not used to it.” I don’t think this is a matter of not being used to riding The Bus. It’s the smell, the bad odor, and I’ll emphasize that many times. I have been here for almost three years. I still can’t stand it. A more reliable example: one of aunties has been here and riding The Bus for 15 years and she never “got used” with it. She’s blessed to have a car of her own now.
I have families in Waipahu and it’s a two-hour bus travel from Laie. I transfer to one bus to the other. In total, I ride three buses to get to my grandma’s place. If I get more unfortunate, considering the waiting periods for buses to come along, at times it’ll take me three hours to end a considered journey. I visit my family at least once or twice a month. But with this misfortunes and hardships, I limit my visits to once in two months or every after three months sometimes.
Since I basically don’t have a choice but to catch the bus, I have found out a way not to be dizzy while traveling and end up vomiting. Few yards before I hop in the bus, I immediately cover my mouth and nose with a sweater, the most important object to bring. It’s no longer the plastic bag. Traveling from Laie to Waipahu, I consistently cover my nose and mouth. I don’t care if I get stiff neck, cramped hands and shoulders by having one position within that two-hour ride. I don’t care if I don’t have smooth blood flow through my folded arms and neck. I don’t care if people stare at me. Though at times I feel conscious for I know it’s unethical to cover your nose and mouth with people around you, especially with strangers. And people really get uncomfortable and at times offended. I have been questioned few times by some people including the bus operator. But I care less. Their buses stink. All I care for is not to inhale the funk smell of the bus. With that, I won’t get dizzy, I won’t throw up. I really have no choice. I have to ride The Bus.
Later, I’m going to ride The Bus again; let’s see what happens.
Categories: CHIT-chats Tags: BYUH, dizziness, English, English speaking, feature writing, good grammar, Journalism, learning, motion sickness, writing skills
Ironically Ironic: On Communication
It’s pretty ironic how easier and more frequent for people to utter words of gratitude, extend compliments, appreciation, and express love or apologies to each other through a medium like short message system (SMS or texting), electronic mail, online chatting, or through snail mailed letters, than in a face-to-face communication.
In my Critical Thinking Class back in college at BYUH, I was very reserved, refusing to participate in class discussion. I barely even talked to my professor; Bro. Compton, who was at the same time my dean.
One time I needed to take a make-up exam from his class so I sent him an email, asking for permission and explaining why I failed to take his exam within the allotted days. My email consisted of about two short paragraphs.
Later in class, he shared an in-depth thought. He wondered why some people could more freely express their thoughts using a certain medium, like a computer, than with a natural person-to-person conversation. I was struck by his statement sensing that it was me he was referring to. Then my thoughts flowed along with his. Recalling my 150-word email compared to some or none when I’m in his class, indeed he had a profound point.
Bro. Compton even added another irony with people working in school offices who pick up the phone the moment it rings – perhaps on the second or even on the very first ring, at time rushing to do so. Even if there’s someone physically present who actually made effort to be at the office, the one over the phone is given more attention, importance, and priority. The person present waits while they accommodate the other one on the line.
Upon hearing this critical thought, I landed into a bright idea of exercising my fingers instead of my feet whenever I needed information from the university’s respective offices.
On the other hand, I once had this telephone conversation with my friend Michelle from the same institution. For the record, it took us more than three hours just chit-chatting on subjects we would never dare talk about in person. We felt more comfortable and more yielding to open up our deep thoughts, feelings, and secrets – secrets never uttered when we’re physically together. To make the irony worse, she just lived next door, that time in our dormitory! Obviously, the media we made use of is unnecessary!
Likewise in chatting or in texting, two persons could go on and on unaware of the passing of time – not to mention the topics of their communication; most of which are on things they don’t normally talk about in person.
I think this irony in communication has something to do with a physical barrier between two people eliminating some possible discomforts of personal chatting – eye contact, facial expression, and body language. It also spares the two parties from rejection, disgust, awkwardness and even shame. The device between them, be it a computer, cellphone, or telephone, also camouflages deficiencies in communication skills; and if one is self-conscious, it is a total physical facade. Sometimes time and distance are not an obstacle; it’s just that it’s usually more comfortable to speak to someone using a medium. Communication using a medium when unneeded offers convenience for escape. It is way easier to say “gtg” when you really have to log off, (or when you just want to cut short the conversation, or you have some invalid reasons), or “brb” (but never returned).
Knowing our culture as Filipinos makes me think of another possible root for this ironic communication. We are very reserved when it comes to our deep feelings; compared to more liberated races as the Americans who are so extrovert. Our being conservative also augments this phenomenon. How often do say good words to our families and friends personally? Maybe it’s not that often compared to uttering kind words through the phone, cellphone, computer, or even through hand-written letters and notes.
This paradoxical communication, I sense, is more prone to misunderstanding since it eliminates one vital component of good and effective communication—voice tone. It also deteriorates the natural way of communication, the one without any gadget in between. Bottom line is: ”Thank you,” “I am sorry,” “I love your skirt,” “You look beautiful today,” “I appreciate you,” “I miss you,” “Good luck,” and “I love you” are sweeter when said and heard in person; coupled with a good tone of voice, sincere communicating eyes, plus a soft stroke on the back or a good tap on the shoulder.
Categories: CHIT-chats Tags: communication, English, English speaking, feature writing, good grammar, irony, Journalism, knowledge, learning, media, medium, writing skills
Enhancement of Oral Communication Skills
Excerpts from a lecture by Dr. Lourdes D. Servito
(Resource speaker during the faculty development workshop at Mother Lourdes Learning School, Calasiao, Pangasinan last June 4, 2009)
WHY SPEAK GOOD ENGLISH?
Why is there a need for teachers to speak good English?
Global language; language of the elite
Legal language; language of literature, art, philosophy, ICT, world history, etc.
Official language; language of instruction for most subjects
English as a useful tool
FIRST IMPRESSIONS NEVER LAST
THE WAY WE SPEAK IS PART OF OUR PERSONALITY
GOOD SPEECH EXUDES CONFIDENCE
TEACHERS SPEAK MOST OF THE TIME WHILE TEACHING
TEACHING IS COMMUNICATING, USING THE LANGUAGE PROPERLY & EFFECTIVELY
Brain Research shows that:
We Learn and Retain:
IO PERCENT – FROM READING
20 PERCENT – FROM HEARING/LISTENING
30 PERCENT –FROM SEEING
70 PERCENT-FROM SAYING/DOING
SO, WE REMEMBER ONLY 10% FROM WHAT WE READ, 20% FROM WHAT WE HEAR, 30% FROM WHAT WE SEE, AND 70% FROM WHAT WE SAY AND DO.
This module deals specifically with the aural channel – VOICE and
DICTION.
It is important to remember that first impressions are largely based on non-verbal factors such as vocal attributes, pronunciation and speech patterns.
VOICE:
Voice is the vehicle by which people share/ transmit ideas. It is the conduit that serves as the channel that connects the speaker and listener – the teacher and the student. It is important to remember that, aside from the words we choose to utter, meaning is also conveyed by the voice: the loudness level, the rate of speech, or how rapidly or slowly one speaks, the way silence is used, the range of vocal pitches and the vocal quality of the speaker. This is called PARALANGUAGE.
Elements of Voice
VOLUME- the intensity, the loudness or softness of the speaker’s voice. Adequate volume is important for intelligibility and clarity. Some speakers don’t talk loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room or let their voice fade out at the end of a thought. Projection of voice is often a problem, especially if there is no microphone. Those who do not project their voices to reach the last person in the last row in the room lose their audience. Much of what that person says is irretrievably lost on the audience, who cannot always continually ask the speaker to speak up.
Projection problems are usually caused by a person’s inability to produce and sustain the proper breathing or failure to monitor his own voice. Projection should fir the content, listeners and environment.
RATE- the speed at which the speaker speaks, to be adjusted to the topic or subject being discussed. A serious subject deserves a slower and more deliberate rate; less serious subject matter can be delivered a bit faster. Experienced speakers also vary their rate based on the mood they want to create. For example, talking faster creates a sense of excitement.
PITCH- the highness or lowness of the speaking voice. If the speaker uses a narrow, unchanging pitch range, it may result in a droning sound that may become boring. By varying one’s pitch, the speaker can keep the listener’s attention and emphasize important points. Experienced speakers determine an optimal pitch and vary it with control.
VOCAL VARIETY- is needed to heighten and maintain attention and interest of the listeners. Variety and contrast will introduce dynamism, an essential aspect of credibility plus enthusiasm, energy and life to sustain interest. This will also add expressiveness to the voice. Variety and flexibility of volume, rate and pitch will help avoid monotony and will aid in underscoring ideas.
DICTION: A competent speaker should articulate speech sounds clearly and pronounce words correctly.
ARTICULATION: forming individual speech sounds correctly with your mouth, so they combine to produce an understandable word.
PRONUNCIATION: stressing and accenting the right syllables in a word.
In many cases, however, diction, articulation, enunciation and pronunciation are used interchangeably to mean saying words correctly and accurately, with crispness and precision. Failure to have correct diction can have negative results:
Listeners may not understand what you are saying, if you mispronounce a word.
Ex. I saw the tree (three).
An error calls attention to itself and distracts the listeners.
Errors in speech damage the credibility of the speaker.
RHYTHM OF ENGLISH
1. WORD STRESS – in words of more than one syllable (polysyllabic words), one syllable will receive more stress that the others to give it more importance. The stressed syllable is given: more force, higher pitch and larger duration. Ex: teacher, comfortable, testimony
2. SENTENCE STRESS: content words, or words that have meaning in themselves are stressed. These are nouns, verbs (except linking and auxiliary verbs), adjectives and adverbs. Two others are given stress: demonstratives (this, that) and interrogatives (Who, Why, What, etc.). Function words, like articles, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and linking or helping verbs are not stressed.
3. PHRASING AND PAUSING: Normally, all but the shortest sentences are divided into two or more parts or thoughts groups. Generally, pauses are made after a group of words which has an idea, such as phrase or a clause.
Example: Phrasing / depends upon the meaning / of what you say./
No pauses should be made to separate articles or adjectives and the nouns they modify auxiliary and main verbs, prepositions and objects, adverbs and verbs they modify, etc.
Pausing is necessary in a sentence for the following reasons:
To separate ideas and set them apart as units of thought, to make the meaning clear.
Example: He rose awkwardly / looked about nervously / clutched his throat / shifted his weight once or twice / and finally began to speak.
To point up an important idea to be expressed.
Example: The most dangerous force operating today is / apathy of the people.
To enable the speaker to catch his breath in a long sentence.
To allow the speaker some time to organize his thoughts.
To allow the audience to digest the words previously said.
To serve as verbal punctuation marks in a sentence, esp. when there are commas, colons, semi-colons in the printed page.
To signal change of ideas or change of mood.
4. BLENDING- another characteristic of the English language that the Filipino learner should know is blending.
Within a thought group, words and syllables are not pronounced as separate units. They should flow along smoothly, w/o jerkiness and one seems to lend unto the next. There should be an interrupted flow of breath within the thought group. / lamateacher / from the college of liberal arts /.
5. INTONATION: Intonation is the tune of what we say. It is the melody pattern of a syllable, word, phrase or sentence. In English, correct intonation is most necessary at the end of a sentence.
Reading-Writing Connection
An Excerpts from a lecture by Dr. Lourdes D. Servito
Lord Acton says: “Learn as much writing as by reading.”
Lord Acton
“No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chose ignorance.”
–Atwood Townsend
“Reading furnishes the mind only with the materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”
– John Locke
In 1909, Ellen Thompson said, “My home is where my books are.”
This was affirmed by Marcus Cicero who says: “A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
Henri David Thoreau counsels, “Read the best books first, or you may not have the chance to read them at all.”
What are the best books for you? Do you read the bible, the greatest book?
Mortimer Adler says, “Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life.”
(To become a good Christian, read the bible; to become a good writer, read literature and journalism books; to learn how to cook, read a cook book, etc.)
“It is well to read everything of something, and something of everything.”
- Lord Henry Brougham
“The true university of these days is a collection of books.”
- Thomas Carlyle
“By elevating your reading, you will improve your writing or at least tickle your thinking.”
- William Safire
“Only a generation of readers will span a generation of writers.”
- Steven Spielberg
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”
– Mark Twain
Mark Twain
1. Read what is written. (We can only read what has been written.)
2. Write in order to be read. (We write something that has to be read.) If no one reads it, there
must be something wrong.
Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? (reading or writing?) The “Ten Commandments” was written by the hand of God on the stone tablets, read by Moses to the people.
“Reading maketh a full man; Conference a ready man; and Writing an exact man.”
–Francis Bacon
VITAL TO ALL STUDENTS:
The connection between reading and writing is vital to all students at all ages. In Sydney, Australia, teachers employ the reading-writing connection even in the first grade. In fact, their primary reading program is a whole language program that emphasizes the reading-writing connection.
Connection with the “Real World”
The connection between reading and writing is a start to help students make connections with the “real world” experiences. When children are allowed to tie personal experiences with classroom activities,
they are more attentive and have a reason to learn the material.
Using Reading to teach Writing:
Reading and writing became curricularly linked at the turn of the century, when Harvard and other universities decide that reading literature was essential to learning to write.
Why should reading be linked to writing?
Reasons:
1. Reading inspires students, introducing them to great ideas and improving their ability to think critically and analytically.
2. Reading centers class discussion, giving students something to talk about beyond their own personal experiences.
3. Reading gives students something to write about especially when they lack the experience to come up with sophisticated subjects for their essays, reading can provide these ideas for them.
4. Reading illustrates models of truly excellent writing.
5. There are certain elements of good writing that can be taught only through reading literature (the workings of metaphor, for example).
History of Connection and Separation of Reading-Writing
Nancy Nelson’s article on “The Reading-Writing Connection Viewed Historically”, chronicles the history of the relationship of reading and writing. She points out that this relationship is an old and complex one. By the beginning of the 20th Century, higher learning was heavily influenced by the scientific method. The scientific emphasis in education advocates divisions with disciplines and specialization for research and researchers.
The consequence of this for English studies was the separation and quantification of reading. Reading was a subject thought to be easily quantified, and could be researched with the hope of discovering better ways in which to teach it. But because English Studies was scrambling for aspects of its discipline which could be quantified, the methods with which to teach it did not get that much attention. So at the middle of the century, there were some movements such as progressivism and peer response collaboration which had some effect in bringing the subjects of reading and writing together. With the advent of theories such as the cognitive theory, reader response, the process method, and discourse communities, the connection between reading and writing has been re-addressed.
COGNITIVE THEORY
The cognitive theory, described reading as a process of building mental meanings from textual clues. Seen in this way, reading became very similar to the act of writing, where the reader actively constructs a meaning out of what she has read, instead of just passively absorbing the writer’s meaning.
Writing was always seen as an act that sprang from the writer’s “theory of the world”, and thus the meaning made would be influenced by that theory, but now reading was viewed in similar ways. According to Nelson, this led to more expressive writing and journal keeping within the writing classroom to reflect the importance of the relationship the reader had with the text and the world.
PROCESS METHOD
The writing process method was another theory that helped establish the connection between reading and writing. The most important aspect of which involved the idea that writing was recursive. As a writer writes, he continually revisits parts of his paper that have already been finished to help him with what is to come. This idea made educators realize that writers were constantly reading as they composed, and gave light on the intimate connection between reading and writing. The process method has a great influence on the writing program at Harvard State University today
THE THEORY OF DISCOURSE COMMUNITIES
The theory of Discourse Communities involves the making and sharing of meanings within a community of writers and readers. This theory recognizes that reading and writing are methods of making meaning, that reading can be subjective, but emphasizes that this meaning making does not exist wholly within the individual, but instead within and between members of a community. The connection between reading and writing was strengthened by the importance placed upon sharing writings and interpretations of these writings within a community of writers, as in a classroom.
Categories: Speech Writing Tags: books, English, good grammar, Henri David Thoreau, John Locke, Journalism, Marcus Cicero, Mark Twain, Mortimer Adler, reading, reading-writing connection, speech improvement, writing
Question Marks
There are a number of things I at times query about, simple, perhaps nonsensible, or complicated things; most are unanswered.
I have always wondered why streets and highways get immediately and heavily congested when rain falls. Is it because of the slippery-when-wet phenomenon that’s why motorists decelerate causing heavy traffic? Is it the jeepney drivers almost fully making a complete halt in the middle of the road looking for a good catch?
Why do acquainted, casual, or even formal friends when they come across each other along the street or at the alley have this awkward feeling and look? It seems they are having this who-says-hi-first, who-sees-who-first kind of thoughts? Uncomfortably, they look for the right timing in uttering their greetings then walk away, maybe after a few chit-chats. Is it because their friendships are not closely attached? One wouldn’t behave like so with a close pal, I believe.
Every time I am off the road bound to a place for the first time, passing through an unfamiliar route, I always have this feeling of longer hours returning home compared to the time I spend travelling towards my destination; when in fact I pass through same the hi-way! I have no single idea why.
The tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon, I am certain most people experience such. This, I have a sensible answer. When one frantically pushes hard to remember one thing, as a person’s name, the brain is stressed out disallowing smooth blood flow, resulting to less optimum brain cell performance. Ironically, when one no longer thinks of that specific thing, then comes the name popping out abruptly. This is because the brain at that time is relaxed. One secret of good information retrieval is relaxation; obviously opposite to the traditional student way of remembering information –- with colliding of eyebrows, chinking of the eyes, biting of lips, and at times, gnashing of teeth. If one is desperate enough, there will also be pulling of the hair, and hitting of the head! Relaxation would never thrive with these habits.
I have experienced a couple of times this scene of entering the house or a room to get or do something when suddenly, with no clear reason, I basically forget why I’m there in the first place! But amazingly, with a few, slow-motion back steps, I remember! It’s like my brain is rewinding into an unknown dimension just to catch the information I need. Is it some kind of short-term memory? I supposed so; but the moving backwards, that I wonder why and how it happens.
The renowned dejavu, mysterious and intriguing, some say it has a connection with our pre-earth life; that we have already gone through all of these experiences before, during our existence unknown to some, and in an inexplicable occurrence, we say “I think I have been here before, I think we have met before somewhere, I think this happened to me before.” Dejavu literally means “already seen,” but is it really possible that we do know; we may just perhaps have gone through something which erases our memory?
Indeed there are many things in this mortal life that are beyond our capacity to comprehend; be it plain or complex. This is one of the reasons why we are here, to convert question marks to exclamation points; to find out mysteries, gain wisdom for our growth and learning.
Categories: CHIT-chats Tags: English, English speaking, feature writing, good grammar, Journalism, learning, question marks, speech improvement