twenty fifth issue
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| Issue 25 June 2014
The Dangerous Side of Hashtagging
Precious Ismail
8.
The Ten Commandments of Public Speaking (Part II) Jonathan Adzokpe
16. Music and Travel 24. Lonely in the world Ioana-Alexandra Tache
of connection
Almustafa M. Khalid
26.
Travel
Denisa Nanushaj
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# The Dangerous Side of
Precious Ismail
The Dangerous Side of Hashtagging | Precious Ismail
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he kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian girls from their school on April 14th 2014 by the Boko Haram group in Nigeria recently made headlines and took the international world by storm. Boko Haram is a terrorist organization that claims Islamic affiliation in northeast Nigeria. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram were flooded with posts supporting the families of the kidnapped girls and urging the Nigerian Government to #Bringbackourgirls. The #Bringbackourgirls campaign started out as a trending hashtag, but became a full-blown foreignpolicy crisis. It is safe to say that the international attention brought on by the campaign played an intergral role in the mobilization of both Nigerian and U.S forces to take action on the issue. The trending campaign became a way
for people from every corner of the earth to show their support for the grieving parents of the girls- Global unity for a nation’s strife. Indeed the international campaign was a success on many fronts as the Boko Haram group had previously been responsible for numerous kidnappings and the government had never gotten involved. However one cannot deny the fact that the amount of attention a digital campaign brings does come with its negative effects. For example, the Boko Haram group is one that thrives on notoriety and the hashtag campaign was the catalyst that the group needed. A few days after the campaign became successful, the group released various videos including footage of one of the girls being buried alive. The message to the world was clear- “You Have No Power Here”.
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Above all, there is a danger that people become desensitized to the actual issue and hop on the social media bandwagon of hashtag activism. The Sport’s illustrated model Irina Shayk’s picture (see left) on instagram illustrates the danger of an important issues becoming a social media spectacle, one that runs the risk of becoming something similar to KONY2012, devoid of nuance and contextualized information. The picture is an example of almost everything that could go wrong with hashtag activism. Firstly it comes across as nothing more than a desperate cry for attention. The fact that the kidnapped girls run the risk of being sold into sexual slavery should instantly remove any desire of global supporters to sexualize the issue. Here the hashtag does not stand for anything, but is
The Dangerous Side of Hashtagging | Precious Ismail
paraded in an attempt to gain social approval in a frivolous manner. When this happens, it is easy to see how context, both global and local, can be obscured. One must be able to gorge on the horror of the kidnapping of the 200+ girls, but at the same time appreciate the context and get aware of underlying issues around us. These issues include terrorism, the fear of educated women, and the fact that women are not viewed as autonomous individuals worthy of full human rights worldwide. If we want to truly #Bringbackourgirls, we must both appreciate the “#� key, and be able to look beyond it.
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The Ten of
In our last article on The Ten Commandments
of Public Speaking, we were introduced to various ways of delivering a phenomenal speaking experience. In that article, we discovered that a whopping 75% of people would rather die than speak in public. Now, that’s scary. Why the fear of standing before a group of people to speak? The answers might be so diverse that it would be a challenge putting a finger on one or two. In this second part of our series on public speaking, we will take a closer look at how to overcome the fears of public speaking; which is known as glossophobia. Here we go‌
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The Ten Commandments of Public Speaking (Part II)
| Jonathan Adzokpe
Commandments
Public Speaking (Part II)
Jonathan Adzokpe
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| Issue 25 June 2014
Your audience want to see you succeed There is no one who would come to listen to you wishing for your failure. Come to think of it, if they knew you would fail at delivering the relevant message, they would rather utilize the time attending to other more pressing issues. The very fact that people leave all that they could be doing to come and sit and listen is enough to make you know that they recognize there’s something positive you’re bringing to the table, that they are ready for. Never think your audiences wish you failure. On the contrary, they want to see you succeed.
The Ten Commandments of Public Speaking (Part II) | Jonathan Adzokpe
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Manage your stage fright I have been on radio for close to two years now. I have also spoken to many students’ groups and in my local church. Now, the amazing thing is, despite my doing all these for years now, I still feel that initial fright that goes with my being called to the stage to begin my speech. It is natural with everyone. One of the least people I ever expected to make a similar assertion was the founder of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Dr. Mensa Otabil. Doc, as he is affectionately called, began ministry some thirty years ago. And so you will imagine that he has all the experiences in public speaking. Yet upon listening to him recently, he asserted that he also feels that natural fright when he goes on stage. It is a natural feeling, and you’re not alone. The most experienced speakers feel it, too. The key is to manage your stage fright. Don’t allow stage fright to cost you what could have otherwise turned out into a phenomenal speaking experience. Be yourself. Take deep breaths regularly, and you’re sure to have the best presentation.
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Practise is key to performance In our first part of the series, I drummed home the point on practise and I can’t do it anymore. If you fail to practise, you can’t deliver a good speech. On some occasions, I feel too tired to practise my materials before going on air. And guess what? I don’t perform as I expect. And the interesting twist to a lack of practise is that you feel unprepared. That feeling of unpreparedness is the cause of fear. If you really want to succeed in your speaking career, practise should be your watch word. Make it a goal never to stage a presentation until you’ve practiced well enough.
The Ten Commandments of Public Speaking (Part II)
| Jonathan Adzokpe
speak on topics 9 Only you’re comfortable with We all have subjects that resonate well with us. A friend of mine is so thrilled on issues regarding technology that he could lecture you all day without getting exhausted. Interestingly, technology isn’t something I am thrilled about. If you asked me to speak at a technology expo on a technologically related topic, I am sorry, I will turn your invite down. If I dare prove to be good at it, I might get the worst speaking experience of my life. Unfortunately, many up and coming speakers have found themselves in this trap. For a desperation for speaking engagements, they accept every speaking invitation without due diligence of what comes natural to them. Expectedly, they perform abysmally. Don’t go with the grind because everyone is accepting every topic. Be yourself. Get to know what you’re so passionate about; and be a master on that subject.
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Get support If all the above don’t help, then it is a good time to get support from friends and organisations that are vested in public speaking training. Toastmasters in one of such organisations purposely founded to train people in public speaking. They have chapters in most countries. You can check their venue in your locality and you can take some public speaking training courses to make you the best public speaker ever. I hope to see you at the very top of your public speaking career.
Jonathan Adzokpe
Music and Travel
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Ioana-Alexandra Tache
Music & Travel
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” – Bob Marley
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ave you ever tried to recap all the music genres that you have liked throughout time? Well, I have and I have discovered that my music taste changed a lot in the past 10 years, let’s say. So, let’s then imagine this situation: at this point in your life, would you say that your music taste is the same as 10 years ago? I have already answered this question, and my answer is no; I am 22 years old, and at this point I would not generally listen to my favourite songs from when I was 12 – or maybe I would, but just for fun and to bring back memories from childhood. And what would be the reasons that I would not do it? Now, thinking about it made me realise that there might be two main reasons why this happened: first, it had to do with growing up and secondly, it had to do with the different places I have been to. Today, I am going to share some personal thoughts, and some collectively gathered ones about music, people and places.
Music and Travel
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Ioana-Alexandra Tache
Music & Travel
Ioana-Alexandra Tache
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Music and Travel
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Ioana-Alexandra Tache
As I was saying, one of the reasons why my music taste changed throughout time would be growing up. To be honest, as a child I did not particularly listen to THE music, but rather I was trying to remember the lyrics, so that I look cool when me and the other kids were having our little concerts. But with time that turned out to be different. I was always a big fan of music, especially since I started playing the piano. I got to experience music through simply the sound of it, not necessarily through the lyrics that I was learning by heart and sometimes did not even comprehend. And growing up and getting to be part of different environments and different groups made me understand that it is important to be able to accept and explore the whole range of music that the world has to offer. Then was when I realised that music has to do with the different places I have been to.
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Through travel, you get to visit a place and get acquainted with its culture. Music is a big part of culture, so whenever I am in a new place I get to remember the music and play it again when I am not there anymore in order to ‘revisit’ the particular place. Changing places quite often myself, I got over the idea that I had when I was a kid about having A favourite genre. Now, whenever people ask me what my favourite type of music is, I often answer with ‘Almost all music has something to offer’. And this is because wherever I go, I am being introduced to all kinds of music and I get to discover different characteristics both of the places I am in and of the people sharing the music. They say that a song can remind you of particular people, moments or situations. Well, I have discovered that music can also remind me of different places and I have managed to come up with a categorisation of the types of music I like to listen to in different situations. Next, I would like to share with you bits of my favourite music, following my top 5 categories.
Music and Travel
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Ioana-Alexandra Tache
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1. ‘Me-music’ – that would refer to the musi when I am alone, either studying, writing or just proc studying I would go with classical music because it h centrate and makes me feel smarter – haha. For th choose non-vocal songs, either chillout, lounge or sm give an example, my background music right now is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s34zjI77_TQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tpMhl1W9-o
4. ‘Outside the city’ – and by this I generally r beach or the mountains. For this I would always choos sic that would let me just ‘become one with nature’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhsUMdeEpLQ
Music and Travel
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Ioana-Alexandra Tache
ic I listen to crastinating. For helps me conhe rest, I would mooth jazz. To … 2. ‘Hanging out with friends’ – I would probably go with jazz music, but I am really open to any kind of music that others might want to listen to: from German Rap to Metal and then Russian Pop (YES! This has happened to me and it was amusing; interesting, so to say, but amusing).
3. ‘Family time’ – this is the time when the whole family gathers around and we play ‘oldies but goldies’. It makes the older feel younger, and the young feel more mature, I guess.
refer to the se chillout mu’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rEsVp5tiDQ 5. ‘Travel music’ – that would be just a playlist of all my favourite songs and other songs that remind me of people and places. So, did you ever think of music this way? I most certainly did, and even if my music taste changed a lot through the years, I tend to believe that travel had something to do with it. Until next time, open your eyes and your ears to what the world has to tell you!
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Lonely in the world of connection Almustafa M. Khalid
Lonely in the world of connection | Almustafa M. Khalid
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study claims that one of her interviewees said “I’d e live in an age where rather text than talk”. technology just can’t develop any faster, in fact it is I believe that we do have a developing so fast that even problem of the over use of us “The Young” are not device, and the over paracatching up as we would noia that parents get if their have 5 years ago. children won’t pick up the This development, is also afphone. But, I personally think fecting the ways in which we that the statement above is communicate with each othexaggerative of the situation er… And, we can all agree in the time being. that sometimes the devices we use to communicate had Turkle mentions in her TED caused a disturbance in one talk that, ‘feeling alone is way or another. a problem that needs to be soleved’ is an issue our It is argued that, the medigeneration is facing, and that ums of communication such is why we turn to our mobile as mobile devices and sodevices to not feel alone. cial networks have made us I on the other hand, comlonely humans, not seeking pletely disagree… All those the “real interraction” with who broke up with partners people. Sherry Turkle who before mobile devices, felt is a specialist in this field of lonely. Many of those who
moved out of their parents place felt lonley and many other situations that create loneliness still exist. There is no point to blame it all on technology. I believe that all this technology, devices and social networks are just tools… they don’t make the decision to make us happy or make us lonely. They are simply tools that we use to the positive or to the negative. Now that it is clear, I believe that people are using these new ways of technology in a negative fashion by “overdosing” on technology… And that can be easily solved when we limit the times we use this type of technology, to stick to reality and the beauty of real conversations.
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TraveL Denisa Nanushaj
| Issue 25 June 2014
Travel | Denisa Nanushaj
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ravelling has always been a real spiritual nourishment about me. I like travelling alone and discovering new places that are not advertised in every magazine`s first page as the best destinations for one to go to. I like to find my road myself and to get lost for a while in hidden paradises. I have travelled a lot of places so far and the preparation about them had been the same. I am an example of a good manager about trips. I have always bought the tickets in advance and for a very cheap price and I have always searched about cheap, hospitable and characteristic hostels to stay in. My biggest companion for any travel is a tremendous .comfortable bag where I put only the most important stuff. One of my trips that has changed my life was the trip I had to Serbia. As an Albanian girl I had a lot of prejudices before going to Serbia about Serbians. I thought they all were racists, killers and people who hated my native country and wanted to destroy it.
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Travel | Denisa Nanushaj
Before taking the decision I wanted to go to Serbia I was full of skepticism and fear, but I did not give up from my plan. I went in Belgrade on 3 March 2014. When I was in Nikola Tesla `s Airport I felt so alone at first. I asked myself what I was doing there alone in a place where I could not understand any single word of what they were telling. I followed the other passengers about finding the bus service. When I arrived at the center of the city, it was 13:00 pm. It was really difficult to find the Big Hostel where I had decided to stay in, but I succeeded in finding it and felt relieved after leaving my luggage there. After that my real adventure started. I did not have a clear idea where to go, but I just walked and stopped at the places I liked. I visited so many places that were not so famous, but that helped me see the Serbian people ` spirit and the light there was in Belgrade. I ate “pjeskjavica�,the most famous food of Serbians in a small restaurant near Danube.
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Travel | Denisa Nanushaj
I talked with a lot of Serbian youngsters and I felt a lot of gratitude to the Serbians while walking on the streets, as they were ready to describe the road to me apart from speaking English or not. I stayed one week in Belgrade and I really felt while leaving it , that my mind and my spirit had grown up that week. I had broke the prejudice about Serbians and I had proved that one does not need a lot of money or a lot of friends to visit a new country and have known .It needs just a bit of courage and love.
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