...Grace Paley’s short story “A Conversation with My Father” is more than a story about two characters telling stories, it is a depiction of two generations and the elements between them that differ. One of the underlying themes of the story is the concept of hope and how the two characters individually define it. While on one hand there is the father who is at the end of his life succumbing to heart disease who views the world from a perspective of no longer having hope and on the other there is the narrator, his daughter, who refuses to abandon hope and view things from this perspective. By examining the differing views these two characters have of this particular concept, the reader can see the how the generational gap differentiates them as well as gain an understanding of how individuals personally value hope....
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...essay Daughters, Fathers, and Dancing by John D. Larwy. I figured I would be able to relate to this essay more than the other being I am a daughter and I have a good relationship with my father. Larwy mentions that many fathers prefer to talk to their sons over their daughters. In my family that was not the case. My father and I have a lot more in common with me than my father and my brother, which leads to my father having more conversations with me as opposed to my brother. My father is the one who encouraged me to play sports. Not only would he take me to practices he would coach my teams. He would make me practice all the time, but he would come outside with me and help me. If you looked out the window and and saw us kicking the soccer ball around you would assume we were taking about random things, and sometimes we were, but I had a lot of important conversations with my dad when we...
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...For my Interpersonal Communication Course graded project, I was given instructions to engage in two separate conversations; both with people I know ;one with a person with whom, I enjoy spending time and the other person with whom I feel less comfortable with. The first conversation I had took place with my brother, Jesse, at his house at the dining room table for about 1 hour, who I am very comfortable with, as we grew up together, even though I am 7 years older. The main topic we discussed was his opinion on the Federal Government Affordable Care aka "Obamacare", our conversation was in response to a comment we heard on YouTube made by Dr. Ben Carson. The second conversation took place at my house with my son's father who I have known 22 years, but I am not comfortable with him at all. The conversation lasted 25 minutes ,the main topic was his assisting financially with our son's last year of college, he doesn't see a need for our son to receive a bachelor's degree when he already had 3 AA and 1 AS. During my conversation with my brother, I noticed that he became rather stressed and tense ,which became evident to me when the conversation began. I listened to what he had to say with direct eye contact, which conveyed that I was listening intently to what he was saying, I made a conscience effort not to exhibit any facial expressions that might convey my thoughts before he had completed his point of view and I didn't want him to think that I had become bored with...
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...Let’s Talk” Sherry Turklesept shows us how the use of cell phone divides our attention in a face to face conversation in this past few years. I believe this is an interesting essay because it is an issue that many experts are studying and many of us have experienced. Turklesept says that the use of cell phones not only affects our relationship with people but also in our lifestyle. In my opinion, she is totally right in every point she mentioned for several reasons. When Turklesept hints the anecdote about the 15 years old girl who she interviewed, instantly reminded me of what happened to me in my home a couple of years ago. I remember when I got my first cell phone with my own money at the age of 13, I was so addicted using the cell phone that I carried it to every part I was going. One day when we were having dinner and my father was talking, I took out my cell phone to answer a message from my friend. Suddenly my father got angry, took my cell...
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...around the story of her complicated relationship with her father, and the realization of her own homosexuality. It is complex, intelligent and insightful. The story develops through the interweaving of Bechdel's memories of her childhood and the realizations she is able to make in hindsight. Bechdel challenges the concepts of gender roles, sexual orientation, and most importantly fatherhood through her own stories so that they may take on a deeper meaning in the end. Ultimately the question she aims to answer is: why am I am who I am? Secondary to this inquiry are related questions: how does a closeted gay father affect his daughter’s future homosexuality? Growing up, Bechdel and her father both struggled with gender roles. Bechdel's refusal to grow her hair long and her reluctance to wear dresses, skirts, or jewelry were the opposite of her father's preference for the effeminate; gardening, decorating, wearing fine creams and colognes. On page 96 the author reveals that her older cousins called her “Butch”, a nickname that reflected her success at acting masculine. To her ‘Butch” was the “opposite of sissy… it was clear to me that my father was a big sissy” (page 97). As a child Bechdel was acutely aware of the breech in conventional gender roles that occurred between her and her father and she resented it, even stating on page 96 that "where he fell short [with masculine things], [she] stepped in". Bechdel’s father attempted to force her into the traditional female role...
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...about contact zones, they think about cultures clashing in their neighborhood, school campus, workplace, and etc. When I think about contact zones, my constant need of attention from people I care for comes to mind. Growing up, I was terrified of my father. Since I could remember he has always been this bulky, white man with these glazed-over eyes and bad temper. His wide pupils and attitude were a result of his excessive drug use and made it easy to tell when he was under the influence. When using, he would give me this heinous look that made me stutter when I asked for favors or replied to a question I was not sure how to answer. Intimidation was the way he started a conversation and being incarcerated countless times throughout his forty-five years, it became his forte. Drug abuse and gang affiliation was what always landed him in and out of the penitentiary since my toddler days and being incarcerated so many times, he was accustomed to demanding respect from everyone and his family was of no exception to the rules. Every time my father was released from prison I would get very anxious. Anxious because I didn’t know if he had finally changed the way he perceived us or if he was going to be the same detestable person we had known him to be. I had always hoped that when he would come home we would have a heart-to-heart conversation and he would...
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...When my father was growing up in a household with 6 brothers and sisters, to hear news and events going on in the world he had to huddle around a small radio in the living room with his siblings and parents and just listen. After explaining to him the direction of the interview, he said, “Well, it seems the general idea is that cell phones, and Facetime, and Skype are bad and they’re making us less social, right? All I have to say is if those things didn’t exist, I wouldn’t have a way of talking to any of my siblings, sons, daughters, or grandchildren.” The existence of cell phones have significantly influenced society in this aspect, referred to as media forms. What my father talked about specifically (even though he was unaware of the concept) was an idea called Place Without Space in which “the limitations of geography have been eliminated in many respects....
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...I'm going to write about two aspects of change I can forsee being beneficial to my current career change. My Mum is going to retire from their geophysical instrument business, leaving my Dad doing some part time technical moderation and repair to the equipment. Briefly, the sole trader business serves mainly the UK market, occasionally reaching European destinations. I would like to take over from Mum upgrading my career into a more marketing venture, trying to use my skills in Spanish to conquer Spanish market, with the view to taking over the administration and marketing side from my mother. I have noticed that the European trade is easy to acquire if you can show good communication relations and offer some kind of technical support. Especially, if there is a research element to the equipment order. Some clients are university clients and surveyors wanting to check the ground for which they are building on. I am good on computers and can already do administration. I can foresee myself taking on the marketing side and concerntrating on trying to see where the big projects are happening in Spain which will require the equipment. I will get hold of project managers and site addresses, sending a business card with a sheet of information about the equipment. This table compares foreign workers output compared to Germans. I speak good German from school and I have noticed a trend in more efficient workers means greater demand for equipment, because often finances are more...
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...our family have been inherited by our parents from the blending of the culture from my maternal grandparents and my fraternal grandparents. The cultural patterns Every Sunday, our father always prepares supper for the family and he makes sure that we eat together as one family. This tradition has been there in our family for a long period and helps us to bond together as a family unit. Every night on the eve of my birthday or that of my siblings, our parents usually sneaks into our bed room and fills it with balloons which are stuffed with money and toys. My father usually writes several bunches of poems and leaves the written poems on our table. When we wake up in the morning, our mother usually prepares for us a birthday morning cake which we enjoy together as a family as we read the bunch of poems. Different roles in upholding the traditions During our Sunday’s family dinner/supper, my parents dwells on teaching us on the way forward in regards to behaviour and especially the use of courteous words such as ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. They discourage talking when the mouth is full as well as placing of the elbows on the table. Also during this time, my parents taught us the developmental skills like literacy skills when story telling during family conversations. During these conversations, my parents would learn more on our attitudes and interests. From these meals, my parents gauge our moods and needs thus helping us solve our...
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...daughter and father is the best in the family. However, I have the best relationship with my mother. My father plays an important role in my family. He is very strict demands on himself. At the same time, he is also strict with me and my mom. In the house of clean and beautiful, he has high standard. In other words, we must achieve his standard in the house. If you couldn’t achieve it, he would be angry. I remember on one occasion, my desk were messy, then he was angry that sweep fall things which on the desk on the floor. And he commanded me clean these things. At last, I cried when I cleaned the room, because I not dare to quarrel. Though this course, I know that why I would follow my father’s thinking to do that he has a power that have ability to influence my behavior and thinking. My father has coercive power to make me follow him. If I don’t follow him, he would be punished me. And he has referent power, because I want to be like him to become an able person. Even in ordinary conversation, I only talk about philosophy with my father, such as the meaning of life. Because when I talk about some interesting things in my life to my father, he always displays the lack of interest. I remember on one occasion, I shared the interesting of my school life. But he talked silent and no emotion in his face. In this moment, I thought my father was not interested in my school life. Therefore, I stopped to talking and quietened down at last. After that, I no longer talked about my school...
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...Good Listener: 1. Me and my friend was chatting in one of the café in Lippo Plaza Medan It happened not long ago, maybe around 2 or 3 weeks ago. Me and my friend, Sheryl, were having lunch together in one of the café in Lippo Plaza before we watched a film in Cinemaxx. Actually, she just went back from Singapore. I started by asking how she did in Singapore. She just sighed and answered that it was tiring. And then, she asked me back the question that I asked earlier. I just answered that studying in Medan is easier than in Singapore. Because I’m a talkative person, I continued by telling her how I studied in UPH. When I was telling the story, she kept her eye contact with me and sat upright posture. From the way she sat and watching me, it made me know that she was listening to what I was saying. During that time, the food came late, which made me to tell more stories to her because I hadn’t met her for a year. She had not even checked her phone or looked at her watch which made me sure that she was really listening to me. She even gave me advices when I told her that I had problems with my group assignment members. When I told her my sad story, she also felt sad which clearly showed in her facial expression and when I told her some of the jokes, she also became happy and showed me a happy smile and laugh in her face. By giving advices, smile and laugh, it made me so happy that she was listening and understanding of what I said. She really is a good listener. 2. Chatting...
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...I am positively in love with books. I love the feeling that they were written for me, that my ideas about them matter, and the feeling that I am having a conversation with the author. One of my favorite books (by my favorite contemporary novelist) is Looking for Alaska by John Green it sparks those feelings every time I open it. The ambiguous nature of it allows me to discover something new all the time, like I am uncovering a new layer of a dear friend with the turn of a page. The novel is told from the perspective of Miles Halter (known in the story as Pudge) as he starts attending an out-of-state boarding school in search of a great, life-defining adventure. He finds his adventure in Alaska Young, a headstrong, impulsive, messed-up girl that is best friends...
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...process of expressing ideas and feelings or of giving peoples information. The successful communication include, basic four skills such as Listing, speaking Reading and writing. 2. As officers in security forces and police department, it is necessary to enhance abovementioned communication skills for betterment of our self and others. From the above mentioned skills conversation skills is important to work in any environment. There for learning of conversation skills very important as we communicate with each verbally and non-verbally. CONVERSATION 3. Conversation is the essence of interpersonal communication. In many scholarly views they are equivalent and among no scholars the words conversation and interpersonal communication often men the same thing. Conversation occurs when two or three people exchange messages, weather face to face, over the telephone, through apartment walls, or on internet. STAGES OF CONVERSATION PROCESS 4. There are five stages of conversation process Opening Feedback Feed...
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...through miles of isolation cannot believe their eyes when they arrive upon this amazing anomaly of life and fertility. Much like these inspiring creatures, my origins could be described by some as dismal, maybe even stifling. Being the daughter of a mother and father who grew up in poverty, I lost my father to H.I.V. and my mother and I overcame various obstacles throughout my life, including living with domestic violence, sexual abuse, unstable housing and other trials that made it difficult to look forward to a positive future. As a child, I was never sure where to turn to for inspiration and I struggled to meet expectations in school. Subsequently, I was diagnosed with a learning disability in reading and writing, and it became increasingly hard for me to believe in myself, without many personal successes to draw from. But even in the arid desert some flowers still survive, and through the encouragement of my grandparents and reading teacher, I pressed on, and by late elementary school I was able to overcome these challenges begin feeling my first life successes through school. I felt a great sense of accomplishment and pride through my achievements in school, and it seemed to be the only variable in my life that I could control. So I thrust my energies into achieving in education and ended up becoming the first on one side of my family to graduate from high school, (graduating early in just three years), and one of the first on both...
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...similarities and differences. They share common ground in that they both illustrate language difficulties yet they vary in regards to style and focus. Both of these articles depict the authors’ endeavors to bridge the language barriers they encountered. “Conversational Ballgames” reveals the author’s struggle to communicate in Japanese. Sakamoto states, “I began to notice that often, when I joined in [a conversation] the others would look startled and the conversation topic would come to a halt” (529). She goes on to say, “It became clear that I was doing something wrong, but for a long time I didn’t know what it was” (529). Likewise, “Private Language, Public Language,” shares a glimpse into the life of a Hispanic boy straddling two worlds: English speaking America in public, and Spanish speaking Mexico in his home. Rodriguez begins to relay this conflict with the statement, “In public, my father and mother spoke a hesitant, accented, not always grammatical English” (536). His portrayal continues when he says, “At five years of age, I knew just enough English for my mother to trust me on errands to stores one block away. No more” (536). Rodriguez reveals that he spoke English poorly, and that he did not know enough words to express a complete thought (536). Ultimately, both of these articles are good illustrations of language as a barrier rather than a bridge. In contrast, these articles are written in starkly different styles. Sakamoto approaches her point from an...
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