Recent Posts Across the Commons

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  Jeanette Rojas wrote a new post on the site Jeanette's Digital Diary 11 hours, 8 minutes ago

  Oprah Winfrey, No Contact Parent-Child Relationships, and MyselfWhen reading about how relational dialectics manifest in our personal relationships, I learned that awareness about relation dialectics, which are a set of needs for every person in a relationship that must be negotiated by those involved, is only a small part of navigating interpersonal relationships. According to L.A. Baxter, there are four ways people can manage dialectical tensions in their interpersonal relationships. For this post, I want to focus on Baxter’s fourth option for handling dialectical tension between people in a relationship, the option to reframe the dialectical tension, utilizing Oprah Winfrey’s podcast episode interviewing adult children who have initiated no-contact relationships with their parent(s). I write about this podcast episode to apply Baxter’s option of reframing dialectical tensions because in this episode, a few of the interviewed children discuss their no-contact boundary with their parent(s) as a necessary measure of protection for themselves and their own children. These testimonials reveal how a child’s reframing of their no-contact measure clarifies that no-contact does not contradict or oppose that child’s love for their parent(s). As someone who has established a no-contact boundary with my parent, I realize that I also engage in reframing my strategy for managing the dialectical tension between myself and my parent, like the testimonials do in Oprah’s podcast. I also reframe the no-contact boundary as ultimately supporting my relationship with my parent because no communication is never contradicting or […] “Oprah Winfrey, No Contact Parent-Child Relationships, and Myself”

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  Naima Jean-louis (She/Her) wrote a new post on the site Exploring the Art of Communications 12 hours, 5 minutes ago

  Lost in Translation Across Cultures Editorial Cartoon Analysis Key Term: Language and Culture Subheading: Language and Intercultural Communication This cartoon relates to […]

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  Naima Jean-louis (She/Her) wrote a new post on the site Exploring the Art of Communications 12 hours, 12 minutes ago

  The Balance of Self-Disclosure Editorial Cartoon Analysis Key Term: Self-Disclosure Subheading: Developing and Maintaining Relationships This cartoon relates to Chapter […]

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  Naima Jean-louis (She/Her) wrote a new post on the site Exploring the Art of Communications 12 hours, 39 minutes ago

  What Your Body Is Saying Editorial Cartoon Analysis Key Term: Kinesics (Body Movement) Subheading: Types of Nonverbal Communication This cartoon relates to […]

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  Naima Jean-louis (She/Her) wrote a new post on the site Exploring the Art of Communications 12 hours, 56 minutes ago

  When Words Mean Different Things Editorial Cartoon Analysis Key Term: Ambiguous Symbols This cartoon relates to Chapter 2 because it demonstrates the concept of ambiguous […]

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  Ryan Seslow edited the blog post Building the Tesseract: What Happens When an Archive Learns to Read Itself? Part 1 in the group Net-Art: 16 hours, 14 minutes ago

  Building the Tesseract: What Happens When an Archive Learns to Read Itself? Part 1 Building the Tesseract: What Happens When an Archive Learns to Read Itself? Part 1 6/10/26 Over the past week I’ve been working on […]

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  Anthony Picciano wrote a new post on the site Tony's Thoughts 17 hours, 41 minutes ago

  New Book: “Fluke” by Brian Klaas Dear Commons Community, Last month, I posted  on a book entitled, Beyond Belief:  What evidence shows what really works by Helen P […]

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  Anthony Picciano wrote a new post on the site Tony's Thoughts 18 hours, 26 minutes ago

  Susan Collins and Graham Platner will go head-to-head in the Maine Senate race. Left: Senator Susan Collins . Right: Graham Platner.  Courtesy of Newsweek Dear Commons Community, Yesterday was primary day for […]

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  Jeanette Rojas wrote a new post on the site Jeanette's Digital Diary 22 hours, 52 minutes ago

  Kendrick Lamar's Nonverbal Communication & Accepting Awards To demonstrate the concept of nonverbal cues complementing verbal communication, I chose this photograph of Kendrick Lamar’s acceptance of the Pulitzer Prize for Music from 2018. More specifically, I utilize this image to note how Lamar’s nonverbal cues, expressed through his facial expression, direct eye contact, and handshake, complements his verbally communicated acceptance remark. In this photograph, Kendrick Lamar grins widely and maintains direct eye contact when accepting his award from Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, who reciprocates Lamar’s smile and eye contact while embracing Lamar with a two-handed handshake. (Photo: Eileen Barroso/Columbia University) Importantly, nonverbal cues which compliment verbal communication mean that nonverbal cues interpreted in isolation from their corresponding verbal message will render the nonverbal interpretation more ambiguous. In this image, Kendrick Lamar’s nonverbal cues do not clearly or independently communicate that Lamar is accepting an award; in fact, his verbal acceptance remark complements the photographed nonverbal cues to communicate his acceptance of the award. I clearly remember that during the moment I accepted the award and posed for a photo with my award and the person who awarded me, I felt uncomfortably self-aware of how I was holding my smile, my eye-line, and my right hand. After reflecting on this image and its relation to discussion of nonverbal cues complementing verbal communication, I can better understand that when nonverbal cues supplement a verbal acceptance, the cues inherently do not tell the complete message, so fretting over whether I can communicate gratitude, glee, or pride completely through isolated […] “Kendrick Lamar’s Nonverbal Communication & Accepting Awards”

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  Jane Marcus-Delgado (She/her) wrote a new post on the site Cusco Summer 2026 1 day, 9 hours ago

  Welcome to Latin American Culture, Society and Politics!

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