Note: This is the academic paper I wrote for my Master's level writing class. Apologies for it being a bit dry -- the professor insisted certain things had to be taken out to make it sound more "academic." Riding The Human Wave Jonathan R. Lightfoot Gonzaga University Riding The Human Wave This … Continue reading Riding the Human Wave
Category: Gonzaga University
Keeping the Baby But Dumping the Bathwater
I am getting a lot of good reading from the varied books of my communications courses. But every so often something just pops out at me. I sit there bewildered, wondering if the writer really said that, did they really use that example, to mean what they intended, expecting everyone just to agree with it, … Continue reading Keeping the Baby But Dumping the Bathwater
My Personal Communication Philosophy: Creational and Relational
Note, this was the final paper assignment for my introductory communications class for the Master's Degree I am working on through Gonzaga University. Apologies if the language is boring -- it has to sound academic. Personal Communication Philosophy: Creational and Relational Jonathan R. Lightfoot Gonzaga University COML 508: Theorizing Communication Personal Communication Philosophy: Creational … Continue reading My Personal Communication Philosophy: Creational and Relational
Progress Revisited
Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who … Continue reading Progress Revisited
Two Turns of Phrase
Sometimes I come across a turn of phrase that makes me stop and think. Sometimes I am fascinated; others I am bewildered. Well, today I ran across two small things in my reading for my communications class. The first is: Put more simply, because modern society is hopelessly fragmented and indivisible, (emphasis mine) the sort … Continue reading Two Turns of Phrase
The Ever-Present Plurality
For my communications class, one of the projects was to watch Buying the War, a PBS feature where "Mainstream Media" reporters bemoaned how they let the government deceive them into supporting the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and then writing a commentary on it using a couple of communication theories from our theory book. Many … Continue reading The Ever-Present Plurality
Sources and Sources; Validation of Authority
Been spending a lot tie of last evening brainstorming and researching ideas for a project for my Communications Theory class. The current assignment is: In order to develop a "practical theory" you have to identify a social problem that exists today. Think broadly about what role does communication play in that problem? Please post your … Continue reading Sources and Sources; Validation of Authority
First Paper — editorial perspective
Huzzah! I just finished and turned in the first draft of my first paper for my Master's Degree in Communications and Leadership. It is the draft of my Personal Philosophy of Communication paper. Before starting the course I didn't know I needed a philosophy of communication. Wasn't hard for me. I'm always having a philosophy … Continue reading First Paper — editorial perspective
Tell Me a Story
Ever notice how no event, no fact, ever goes unadorned by a narrative? Anything you see you try to associate a story with it. In Chapter 3 Em Griffin introduces Ernest Bormann's Symbolic Convergence Theory, or "fantasy theme analysis". Basically it is a theory about how groups use stories. Fantasy doesn't mean that they share things … Continue reading Tell Me a Story
Objective vs. Subjective, or not vs.
At this stage I'm not sure whether I am taking a communications course or a philosophy course. Chapter two is talking about the Behavioral Scientist vs. the Rhetorician. Objective vs. Interpretive. Basically the historical Objective vs. Subjective debate. See a definition: Subjective information is one person's opinion. In a newspaper, the editorial section is the place … Continue reading Objective vs. Subjective, or not vs.
At The Rainbow 