A COOL PAUSE I SUPPOSE

I CALL IT CREATIVITY

A LUO MAN RESPONDING TO AN INTIMIDATION!!

I really abhor a prevaricated rhetorician who is ever inebriated with the exuberance of his own verbiage, and gifted with an egotistical imagination that at all times command an interminable and an inconsistent series of arguments to malevolent an opponent and glorify himself. I will always support someone whose cogitation is concisely skewed to development.

LISTENING AND ALL THE COMPONENTS SURROUNDING IT.

Definition

It is an active, complex process that includes being mindful, physically receiving messages, selecting and organizing information, interpreting communication, responding and remembering.

A person may receive and understand instruction but choose not to comply with it. This is said to have listened even though the result is not what the speaker expected.

Semiotican Roland Barthes distinct it: hearing is a physiological phenomenon that occurs when sound waves hit our ear drums. Hearing is passive; we don’t have to invest any energy to hear. On the other hand, listening is an active psychological act.

IMPORTANCE OF LISTENING

McCutchen and Schatter(1994) puts it that there are plentiful importance that even go beyond just acquiring information. Good listeners encourage speakers to do their best. Good listeners also enhances their own ability to speak by improving their concentration – best of all, they learn to think better. Good listening skills are especially important in a society that grants freedom of speech to all people whether their views or causes. Listening will rarely get you in trouble.

EFFECTIVE LISTENING STRATEGIES       

-          Take the advantage that you will provide the energy and make the effort to become a better listener.

-          Adopt the right posture for listening: face the speaker and establish eye contact, lean forward and nod occasionally.

-          Good listening requires all of our senses and plenty of mental energy.

                LEVELS OF LISTENING

(a)Alerting

This level does nothing to distinguish human from animal. One merely picks up certain environment sounds cues. Barthes mentions the idea of territory being demarcated by sounds.

(b)Deciphering

This is basically the ‘digestion’ or interpretation of sound heard. e.g. a car starting may signify that one’s parent is leaving home. Sound cues are used to predict result. A knock at the door may mean there is a visitor.

(c)Understanding

This shows how what one says will affect another. This sort of listening is import in psychoanalysis. Barthes states that the psychoanalyst must turn off their judgement while listening to the analysis in order to communicate with their patient’s unconscious in unbiased fashion.

These listening levels however, function within the same plane, sometimes all at once especially the second and third levels which constantly overlap as obtaining, understanding and deriving meaning are part of the same process. Listening is a skill of language learnt.

MESSAGE RECEIVED

MESSAGE SENT

NOISE

Listening is usually intensive or extensive. In intensive listening, listeners attempt to listen with maximum accuracy for a relatively brief sequence of speech and this is very effective in developing specific aspects of listening ability. However, in extensive listening one may listen to lengthy passages for general comprehension and is very effective in building fluency and maintaining learner motivation.

 

FORMS OF NON-LISTENING 

According to Wood Juliat(2006), the following are the forms of non-listening:

(1)   Pseudo listening

This is pretending to listen. When we pseudo listen, we appear to be active, but really our minds are elsewhere. For instance, whenever we are bored by a conversation but we have to appear interested.

(2)   Monopolizing.

Monopolizing involves focussing information on ourselves instead of on the person talking. There are two tactics involved in monopolizing:

(i)                 Conversational re-routing. The person shifts the topics of talk to himself/herself. This takes a person away from the speaker.

(ii)               Diversionary interrupting. Involves interrupting in ways that disrupts the speaker, such that a person interrupts then directs the conversation to a new topic.

(3)   Selective listening

This focuses only on particular parts of messages. We listen selectively when we screen out parts of a message that makes us uncomfortable, not interested or conflict with our views. We also listen carefully when we isolate for attention the parts of the communication that particularly interests us or with which we agree.

(4)   Defensive listening

It involves perceiving personal attacks, criticisms, or hostile undertones in communication when no offense is intended. We read unkind motives into whatever others say.

(5)   Ambushing

It involves listening carefully for the purpose of attacking. It involves very careful listening, but it isn’t motivated by interest in another. Instead, ambushers listen intently to gather ammunition, which they then use to attack the speaker. For instance, political candidates and organizations with competitive cultures feel that one must do the other.

(6)   Literal listening

It involves listening to only the content level of the meaning and ignoring relationship level of the meaning. All communications includes both content and literal meaning and relational meanings that pertains to the power, responsiveness, and liking between people.

When we listen literally, we attend only to the content meaning and overlook what’s being communicated about the other person or our relationship with that person.

MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

1)      It’s difficult to learn how to listen

The first misconception about listening is that the skills involved are difficult to learn. We all learn to listen from an early stage and spend a lot of our time listening and all this depends on the circumstances of communication and our motivation to listen and our personality. Skills needed for effective listening are not difficult to learn provided that one practices and consistently applies good listening skills.

2)      I’m a good listener

Generally people overestimate their own listening abilities and underestimate the listening abilities of others. This means that other people tend to think that they are better listeners than others. Effective listening can only be measured by the understanding that one gains. This inevitably varies for different situations and for different people.

3)      Intelligent people are better listeners

There is no link between traditional measures of cognitive ability, intelligence (IQ), and how well we listen. Although being bright and having good vocabulary may make it easier to process information and gain understanding, these qualities do not necessarily make clever people better listeners. People with higher emotional intelligence (IQ), on the other hand, are more likely to be better listeners. Emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to access, identify and manage their emotions and the emotions of others. Emotional intelligence is the measure of a person’s likelihood to consider the emotional needs of others. Assessment of such needs often comes about through good listening.

4)      Hearing is the same as listening

Having good hearing does not make you a good listener. It is perfectly possible to have good hearing but poor listening. Good hearing enables you to hear and interpret sound, but listening is a lot more than simply hearing. Effective listening means focussing on the meaning of the words that you hear putting them into context to gain an understanding. Good listeners also read the non – verbal signals sent from the speaker. Their tone of voice, gestures, and general body language. Effective listening is not wholly dependent on our ability to hear, but includes other senses together with the cognitive process.

5)      We listen better as we get older.

People  do not automatically become better listeners as they get older – without practise and consciously thinking about listening there is no reason why listening will improve, it may actually get worse. As we go through life, gaining experience and understanding of the world around us our capacity for listening is likely to improve. Whether we utilise this capacity and actually listen more effectively depends on our personalities, the particular situation and avoiding any bad habits we may have picked up on the way.

6)      Gender effects listening ability.

Generally, and without trying to stereotype men and women value communication differently. Women tend to place a high value on connection, cooperation and emotional messages whereas men are generally more concerned with facts and maybe uncomfortable talking about and listening to personal or emotional subjects. This doesn’t mean that women are better listeners than men, or vice versa, but that there may be differences in the way in which messages are interpreted.

                                  Types of listening

Although we spend most of the time we are communicating listening to what others are saying, the type of listening that is required of us depends on the situation. One must therefore consider his/ her purpose of listening. Scholars ( Wolving & Coakley 1996) have  identified five types of listening based on purpose.

(i)                 Appreciative Listening

In this situation, your goal is to simply enjoy the thoughts and experiences of others by listening to what they are saying. With appreciative listening, you do not have to focus closely or as careful on more specifics as you do in other listening situations. Most people listen to music in this way or even during a casual conversation as you watch a ball game.

(ii)               Discriminative listening.

In this situation your goal is to accurately understand the speaker’s meaning. At times, this involves listening ‘between the lines’. This situation requires to pay attention not only to the words but also to non - verbal cues such as rate, pitch, inflection, volume, quality and gestures. This can be applied in a doctor – patient situation. When a doctor is explaining a result of a test, a patient not only listens carefully to what the doctor is saying but also pays attention to the non – verbal cues that indicate whether these results are troubling or routine.

(iii)             Comprehensive listening.

In this situation, your goals is not only to understand the speaker’s message but also to learn, remember and be able to recall what has been said. We listen comprehensively to professors lecturing about key concepts, speakers at training seminars, and broadcast news reports that provide timely information about traffic conditions. I’m giving this presentation and you’re listening.

(iv)             Empathic listening.

When the situation calls for us to try and understand how someone else is feeling about what they have experienced, or are talking about, we use empathetic listening. Therapists, counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists engage in empathetic listening with their clients as do those who answer telephone hotlines. Customer care

(v)               Critical listening.

In this situation, your ultimate goal is to evaluate the worth of a message. Because you need to hear, understand, evaluate and assign meaning to the message. It is the most demanding since it requires that you understand and remember both the verbal and non-verbal message, assess the speaker’s credibility, and effectively analyse the truthfulness of the message. When being solicited for a donation, one needs to apply critical listening.

GUIDELINES TO EFFECTIVE LISTENING

(1)   Positive reinforcement

Although some positive words of encouragement may be beneficial to the speaker, the listener should use them sparingly so as not to distract from what is being said or place unnecessary emphasis on parts of the message. One should elaborate and explain why they agree with a certain point.

(2)   Remembering

Remembering key points or even just the name of the speaker can help to reinforce that the message sent has been received and understood. Remembering details, ideas and concepts from previous conversations proves the attention was kept and is likely to encourage the speaker to continue.

(3)   Note – taking

During longer exchanges it may be appropriate to make very brief notes to act as a memory jog when questioning or clarifying later.

(4)   Questioning

The listener can demonstrate that they’ve been paying attention by asking relevant questions and/or making statements that build or help to clarify what the speaker has said. This also reinforces the speaker and demonstrates understanding.

(5)   Clarification

It involves asking questions of the speaker to ensure that the correct message has been received. Open questions are used to enable the speaker expand on certain points as necessary.

(6)   Summarisation

Repeating a summary of whatever has been said back to the speaker is a technique used by listeners to repeat what has been said in their own words..

                    OBSTACLES TO MINDFUL LISTENING

(i)                 Noise levels – one is not able to listen effectively when they are near noise sources.

(ii)               Information overload – one gets overloaded when a lot of information is pumped into them in a short while and they may get distracted.

(iii)             Improper dressing – one’s dressing may distract the audience. If one is not properly dressed, their audience may fail to fully comprehend whatever is being relayed.

(iv)             Negative feedback.

This may demoralize the speaker as well as the audience as murmuring maybe experienced and with the noise levels, listening is barred.

TYPES OF CAMERA LENSES USED IN PHOTOJOURNALISM

Telephoto lens

 A telephoto lens is a type of camera lens designed for taking photographs of objects at moderate to far differences. Also known as a ‘tele lens’, they are a type of long – focus lens which use a specific internal construction to give them a focal length much longer than the length of the length itself. This makes them smaller, lighter and easier to handle, while still giving excellent long range capabilities.

They are commonly used while photographing sports events, wildlife and in any other circumstances where the photographer can’t get close to the object. They are also popular in portrait and macro photography as they produce a pleasing natural perspective, free from the distortion caused by using a wide angle lens.

They come in both ‘prime ‘(fixed focal length) and zoom varieties. Those with fixed focal length tend to be of higher quality, although the zoom lenses offer the obvious advantage of greater flexibility.

Focal length typically starts at around 85mm and extend up to 800mm and beyond. Longer focal length is able to capture more distant details, but is also more expensive, bigger and heavier.

Because of the variation in focal length, they can be classified into three types;

                                           

        i.            Short telephoto lenses

These are ideal for shooting portrait and candid shots i.e. (weddings) where you are quite close to the object but don’t want to intrude too much.

They are compact and light weight, and can be hand held for fast shooting.

      ii.            Medium telephoto lenses

These are popular with sports and action photographers who can get quite close to the action. For this type, aperture is critical in minimizing blur, particularly when photographing fast moving objects.

    iii.            Super telephoto lenses

These are a popular choice for professional wildlife and nature photographers, as well as sports photographers who can’t get close to the action.

The longest lenses have telescope – like magnification making them great for astrophotography.

They are extremely expensive.

                                                                          Zoom lens

This is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens.

The lens has a variety of focal lenses.

A zoom lens maintains focus when its focal length changes.

Zoom lenses are often described by the ratio of their longest to shortest focal lengths i.e. a zoom lens with focal lengths ranging from 100mm to 400mm may be described as a 4:1 or “4x” zoom

Super zoom is used to describe photographic zoom lenses with very large focal lengths factors, typically more than 5x and ranging up to 18x in SLR and 50x in amateur digital cameras. This ratio can be as high as 300 times in professional television cameras.

                                          Standard lenses

This is also known as normal lens.

A standard lens is one which produces an image which roughly matches what the human eye sees, and which looks natural to the viewer. It sits between the telephoto lens and the wide angle lens, which produce unnaturally zoomed - in and zoomed - out images respectively. They have an angle of view of about 50 – 55 degrees diagonally. This is roughly the same as the angle that the human eye can comfortably view.

They make great general purpose lenses and can be used to photograph everything from close up portraits to landscapes. They have wide aperture making them great for indoor and low light photography. They usually have a focal length of 50mm.

                                    Wide angle lens.

Referrers to a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows more of the scene to be included in the photograph which is useful in architectural, interior and landscape photography where the photographer may not be able to move further from the scene to photograph it.

It can also be used where a photographer wishes to emphasize the difference in size or distance between objects in the foreground and background; nearby objects appear very large and objects at a moderate distance appear small and far away.

Wide angle lens also projects a substantially larger image circle than would be typical for a standard design lens of the same focal length. This large image circle enables either large tilt or shift movements with the view camera, of with field of view.

Have a focal length of 35mm and below.

Examples,

i.                    Fisheye lenses

These are ultra wide angle lenses that do not produce a rectilinear image.

Have a focal length of 6 – 8 mm

ii.                   Ultra wide angle lenses

Have focal lengths of less than 24mm

CAMPUS LIFE

In first year you’re innocent and tender,

Nonetheless you fear both gender,

Your presence in campus is a great splendor,

Campus life what a life to live!

In second year you like anything better,

Within the institution you are a genius go – getter,

Once offended you highly become bitter,

The campus life what a life to live!

In third year you’re cool and always curious,

A little intimidation makes you feel very furious,

The havoc you cause is not very serious,

The campus life what a life to live!

In fourth year you’re careful and easy to evaluate,

You are one among those ready to graduate,

The campus rumor of course you rarely propagate,

The campus life what a life to live!

  By: Otieno Lawrence

                    ©2015

THE BAD, THE WORSE AND THE WORST SIDE OF THE NET

When John started using the internet earlier in the year 2008, he didn’t know that he could be another item in the statistics of unfairness.

Adding to the fact that he had just sat for his KCSE exams in the previous year and was now in preparation to join a higher learning institution, he opted to use the internet as the platform where he could find a prestigious, and not only that, a world class institution of higher learning from where he could sharpen his skills in business management.

It is barely seven years now and meet John walking along the streets of Kisumu city, a face of “nothing is good about the world” is the display on the face of a young energetic man that once was. He had his large share and taste about the internet and at long last, he became a statistical item! What of you?

The internet, though has the ability to rename the world from the ‘Globe’ to ‘the global village’ must be handled with a lot of sobriety. Usually composed of materials that one can use in spending time, from games to chat rooms and different sites for meeting new friends, the internet as a program designed by a human brain can never be smarter than the human being. As photojournalists say “the camera can never be smarter than the photographer”.

Twitter, a communication site which is currently highly populated and a site that only allows for expression of the users view in just a maximum of one hundred and forty characters is the talk of the day and has even taken over as the platform for obtaining news quickly. Though it has advantages, the harm it causes is irreversible. Just ask me where I learnt LMAO, LOL and many other acronyms and believe me, the answer I know just as I knew how to suck my mamas breasts.

“The internet is just the disability that limits our ability”               

Being diagnosed of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome had never been parts of the dreams of he who was once a flamboyant young man – John, but the milk is spilt and all he has to do is to re organize the pieces of what life has left for him. Dry eyes, strained vision is all John can do. Not that he is myopic, but that’s all the pay he’s got from the internet addiction.

Most youths engage in cybersex addiction, also known as internet pornography and this basically leads to negative real – life intimate relationships. The excessive use of face book and different platforms for making new friends obviously leads to information overload whereby one is subjected to less social interaction with family and friends. The internet is not only associated with cybersex but a variety of negative impacts on the human health.

Anxiety, a condition that can compel one to expel his/her patience is also a driving force to high internet consumption with greater impact on the excessive email checking and compulsive internet use. Anxiety also makes one take too much time on the internet and this may lead to depression and even turn things from worse to worst.

Back aches, neck aches and severe headaches are some of the associate effects of high consumption of the internet. Being the platform where celebrity endorsements are currently prevalent, many people who largely consume the internet find it very difficult to complete tasks at work.

I came to realize that most of the affected persons are those who realize that they are less socially active than they were before. This makes them to be isolated from family and friends and they then try to find compensation from the internet.

Though many may see the internet as the only item that makes the world a village, but I must never be a victim of circumstances just as John was. Browsing the net isn’t a crime but being a slave to the net is. The internet is just the disability that limits our ability.

ARE KENYAN FOOTBALLERS LEADING THE BEST LIFESTYLE?

Having a balanced diet is the basic thing one must consider, as scientists do say that, for anyone to be successful in whatever he/she is talented in doing, he/she must always eat a well balanced diet.

In the world of football, we have seen many circumstances whereby a player becomes too fat to successfully keep a moving ball in position. Who are we to blame for the excessive weight gain, is it the player or the coach?

Arsenal manager, Prof. Arsene Wenger once said that, “food is like kerosene, if you put the wrong one in your car, it is not as quick as it should be”.

Analyzing the best diet a footballer should consume instilled some fear in me. A report, detailed by thefa.com on the best diet for a footballer, containing simple carbohydrates, i.e. cakes, complex carbohydrates, i.e. pasta, saturated fats found in butter and cheese just to name a few.

For the European clubs, yes it can work but for the African clubs? Did I hear that GorMahia, atop ranked club in Kenya is bankrupt and are asking their fans to “panda mbegu!”  This almost killed me with laughter. If a club can ask fans to contribute for the salary of the coach and players, then what about the players eating cheese before a match? That’s out of logics.

A Kenyan child learnt how to eat ugali the very day he/she was born! So why should a Kenyan footballer eat cheese, cake, sunflower oil and all those expensive stuff while his precious high energy giving food is ugali and not only that, githeri and porridge can comfortably substitute cheese?

Football was made in Europe, scientists do say that. But why do they also say that Africa is the cradle of mankind? If only science spoke the same language as the bible, then Africa was absolutely the garden of Eden and Adam could be basically, physically and psychologically an African. But who knows…

Our stadiums are no better than the grazing fields, try celebrating with passion and tell me whether you won’t spend the last moments of your life on a wheel chair.

Football comes with celebrity in it, talk of Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and even ask the old men about Ronaldo, they will tell you about him. They are all whites and we celebrate them. What of Otieno? Even me I can’t remember his first name!

Decency is one of the factors associated with celebrity, and fashion is like its twin brother. Spot a Kenyan footballer on the streets of Kenyan towns and you’ll not be able to differentiate between a celebrity and a commoner. The regalia may even be worse and display the outfit similar to that worn by my grandfather moments before the independence.

I myself I’m a football fanatic, a I’m a patriot but when you talk of us celebrating our footballers, the query I often ask myself is that are our footballers doing enough to be appreciated, from their diet, their regalia, their lifestyle to everything they engage in?

LET’S HANDLE PROSTITUTION ISSUE WITH SOBRIETY

 The recent rise in the level of prostitution within the suburbs of the Kenyan towns and the countryside is a great menace that is currently affecting countries creating debates hence should not be looked at myopically, instead should be addressed with the technicality and all the weight it possesses.

According to the recent research by the Spectrum Network International, where many Kenyans are advocating for the legalization of the prostitution act, the main reason given is that, it will aid in cubing the spread of HIV/AIDS. This will automatically be possible as the sex workers will be following the code of conduct in their work based on safe sex practices.

Due to the increased rate of unemployment in Kenya, many youths and middle aged people prefer prostitution as a source of employment, and they are already engaging in it even though it is illegal. This therefore raises an alarm especially when it comes to human health now that HIV/AIDS is prevalent among the sex workers and the citizens at large.

Even though the commercial sex workers agree to pay tax to boost the economy, the government will spend too much in catering for the victims buying their drugs, ARVs. Even though the issue of tax payment is good, but it is of no benefit and cannot substitute the loss of life through sexually transmitted diseases. Although the sex workers can be supplied with anti – emergency pills (mainly made for rape cases). The pills cease to work after continuous use as the body gets immune to them. In research, Senegal and Ethiopia are some of the countries where prostitution is legalized and the workers are not taxed still. Questions must therefore be raised why they are not taxed yet tax is always for the good of the nation.

The society too should view the earliest trade in the society with a sober attitude. The trade itself has a negative connotation to those who dare practice it. One is viewed an outcast not mentioning the names that those who practice it are called, and the stigma involved in it.

The law regarding the thorny topic of prostitution in Kenya is to be found under section 154 of the penal code, cap 63 of the laws of Kenya. It states that every woman knowingly living wholly or in part of the earnings of prostitution or is proved to have, for the purpose of gain, exercised control, direction or influence over movements of a prostitute in such a manner showing that she is aiding, a betting or compelling her prostitution with any person or generally, is guilty of misdemeanor.

In contrary, the law does not state that it is a crime for one to engage in prostitution, the section also only touches on the women’s involvement in the act. And a woman can only be found guilty if she knowingly lives wholly of partly on the earnings of prostitution

Though both the constitution of Kenya and all the cultures of the 42 tribes in Kenya are not in support of prostitution, and most of the ethnic code of conducts suggests that prostitution is a barbaric act and should be fought tooth and nail. However, it is always said that hit the iron while still red hot. Let’s not give a deaf ear to the discussions and the protests aimed at promoting prostitution but instead engage in the discussions fully in order to come up with the correct remedy to the situation.

AFRICA MY MOTHERLAND

I am an African youthful and very bold,

Our struggle for freedom the tales I’ve been told,

The African culture to me is like gold,

Africa my motherland you are my pride.

In the hands of the white man we suffered a lot,

Through determination our fore fathers fought,

Through thick and thin our freedom we got,

Africa my motherland you are my pride.

The vegetation around the glamour you can feel,

Glossy and beautiful is the topography down the hill,

Oh my goodness the white man was just a pill,

Africa my motherland you are my pride,

Kenya my country my hands I’ll never fold,

Like those without hope suffering in the cold,

I’ll always stand for freedom and fight till I get old,

Africa my motherland you are my pride.

  By: Otieno Lawrence

                 ©2015

WHEN MUMMY COMES HOME

My mamma is a qualified teacher,

Instilling discipline and good morals into students,

Always shouting good words like a preacher,

Giving knowledge to all including presidents,

When mummy comes home she’ll beat the mediocrity out of me.

My mamma is a qualified doctor,

Treating patients and giving injection,

Always at service and alert as a waiter,

Her main bit revolves around digestion,

When mummy comes home she’ll kick the virus out of me.

My mamma is a qualified engineer,

Machinery arrangement is all her ability,

She is a genius who never rely on questionnaire,

When mummy comes home she’ll teach me how to make a toy car.

My mamma is a talented shopkeeper,

Selling milk expensively than ever,

While papa is a veteran gatekeeper,

Getting a bob from him is a great favor,

When mummy comes home she’ll bring me slices of bread.

My mamma is a peasant farmer,

Growing onions on our little piece of land,

All the same she’s hopeful to be a comer,

With plenty produce with which she can lend,

When mummy comes home she’ll bring nothing but smiles.

 By: Otieno Lawrence

     ©2015