heterotopia

In Western Europe and in Christian countries generally there is this idea that a human being is made up of two parts: a body and a soul. The body is like a shell which dies, but the soul is something separate and eternal. In the East and in Buddhism, for instance, they think of these things as intertwined.

Part 1
Read about Christianity and Buddhism. Then think about your relationship to the soul. Do you think you have a soul? What do you think about the relationship between the body and the soul? Is there something spiritual with sports? If so, what? Explain what you think

Part 2
1. How would you explain Christianity to someone who hadn’t heard of it?
2. How would you explain Buddhism to someone who hadn’t heard of it?

Although we have lots of poems to read I can’t help myself but to publish two more. The most important one is by Robert Herrick. It’s called To the virgins, to make much of time. And also, as it is mentioned in the film clip… Oh captain, my captain, by Walt Whitman.

Professional communication (or business communication) encompasses written, oral, and visual communication within a workplace context. The concept signifies on the one hand all manner of business letters, memos and reports, and on the other hand various oral situations like the interview, the sales pitch, the negotiation, the presentation, etc. In this blog post I’m going to focus on the negotiation, since the other areas are covered elsewhere in the course.

To be able to negotiate well we need to be persuasive – to do that we need a mix of psychology, rhetoric and ethics. Regardless of whether we are trying to persuade people within our own organization or without, we must think about what the best strategies of affecting people’s opinions and decisions are. In negotiations we can see quite clearly how understanding of people’s needs and desires plays a role in successful communication (psychology); it is also evident in a negotiation that the way you frame your offer has impact on the final outcome (rhetoric). The ethics part is trickier – no clear cut rules – but we all have to ask ourselves: how far am I prepared to go to seal the deal?

The Ultimatum Game

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A very simplified situation like the Ultimatum game (which we played like this today) shows that humans aren’t always rational. People will for some reason take seemingly irrational decisions – for instance, not accepting a gift of money. This is mainly due to deeply rooted psychological needs. For instance, many of us wouldn’t accept if a stranger in the street gave us 10 euros, if we understood that we had just been mistaken for beggars. Or, we would demand a pay raise for an equally competent colleague, if we learnt that the colleague only got half the salary – because of skin color. These actions are not rational in a strict sense, although it surely seems like they could be described as psychologically or ethically valid.

People feel a need to be consistent in character and morality, they wouldn’t sell their mother for a million euros, or kill someone even if doing so could save the world. In psychology they speak of ontological security which is a human need of being consistent in both thinking and in actions. We must make sense to ourselves. The need for ontological security sometimes forces us to make decisions that are irrational from an economic standpoint. This teaches us that in any situation where we are trying to persuade we must first consider the people we are trying to influence – who are they, what are their needs? Deals are made between people, not in a cold, logical vacuum.

From the game we could perhaps also see that a negotiation is affected by issues like credibility, social relationships and the very words we use when arguing our case. Noone wants to buy “used clothes”, but everyone wants “vintage fashion”

Den här dagen och tiden tar vi klassens spexfoto!

Snobbtema

There is a name for every single muscle in the human body. Most of them have their names in Latin and no good name in English, and sometimes the English name is the same as the Latin one. Most people have no use for all the names of the muscles – except doctors I guess. However, if you are an athlete you should at least know the names of all major muscle groups. Please check this image. If you want to know more you can check this page because it has more info about the different muscle groups and how they are trained in bodybuilding.

In sports you exercise your muscles to make them grow. They can both increase in density and in size, but exercise can also lead to better stamina and endurance. This kind of exercise if often referred to as “cardio”. Cardio comes from the word cardiovascular, and it refers to the heart.

Assignment
1. What muscles are mainly involved in your sport?
2. Describe an exercise or two that you do to improve strength and/or endurance.
3. What’s important apart from muscles in your particular sport? Please explain what is important and why. If there are many things choose a couple of the most important things.

“Det är trendigt att vara sig själv står det i en veckotidning.” Är det så?

Låt oss utgå från att du har de rätta kontakterna och kan ställa upp som trendexpert. Vad gäller just nu? Vad blir trendigt om två år?

Presentera de trender som gäller för

• mat
• arbetsliv
• teknik
• fritid
• resor
• inredning
• musik

Diskussion
Varför uppstår trender?
Hur lanseras de?

Hand in your essay or reading journal on the Cuckoo’s Nest. It should be typewritten, stapled and with name on top of first page. Please place the paper in my mailbox by the reception. Notice that this is deadline as in DEADLINE.

First seminar on Cuckoo’s Nest.

This day we will have the second seminar on Cuckoo’s Nest.

Please notice that you should have read at least two thirds of the book and that you should bring three (3) carefully selected quotes and comments. Also I would like for you to hand in a list of all words that you have looked up while reading.

In our theme work we are supposed to talk about and learn more about “body and soul”. One current issue that relates to this is anorexia. Even the Crown Princess Victoria has suffered from this modern illness. When I looked around on the Internet I found a story (supposedly) written by a girl who has anorexia.

My story about Anorexia
Ninety pounds. Finishing the muffin I had for lunch, I sit in the corner of the couch with a blanket covering my body. My dad walks past to the kitchen without noticing me. This happens frequently; he just doesn’t see me. A cool wind blows past stuck with it a scent of emotion. My body cannot get comfortable on the seat, with my bones so cold and poking my skin. I’m lost, hidden in my own off-world. Everything is okay in my off-world; it is warm and comforting.

Dinner time. Again? I’m not hungry.

I lay in bed, trying to sleep. Tossing and turning, curling up into a fetal ball, I cannot get warm. My legs and arms fall asleep therefore I stretch myself out on my back. I lay there with my hands resting in the slope between my hips and stomach, my arms tight to my side. Each breath, and heartbeat, is slow and mucky. I quickly get up to run to the resort for the third time.

Breakfast. I can’t eat now, too nervous.

I step on the scale, naked and shivering. Eighty-nine pounds. Not too bad, still have that stomach though! Walking the long path to the building I pant and feel exhausted, wanting to sleep right there on the sidewalk, if only it were warm.

I glance in the three-way mirror. I can see my back, my ribs and spine all looking back at me. My butt sagging. I look close to the mirror, my skin translucent. There are purple circles around my eyes. I’ve lost more than half my hair. What’s happened?

I can’t eat without staring at the food. I pick it apart, and push it around my plate. I can’t keep up with all the rules I have for myself. I constantly break them anyway. I’m horrid even to myself. I did this, I deserve the punishment. It’s all my fault. How [the hell] will I tell my parents?

I sit on the cold hard metal medical bed with a sheet of paper covering it, rehearsing over and over what I’ll say to the doctor. A woman comes in to weigh me and take my blood pressure. One hundred pounds. “When was your last period?” She asked. “Eight months ago.” She proceeded to ask if I had been pregnant or sick. “God, you’re not throwing up are you?” Of course not, that never worked.

I sit and wait more for the doctor, rehearsing again what I’d tell her, feeling quite defeated by the comments of the previous woman. Finally she comes and tells me, yes, it’s Anorexia Nervosa.

Questions
1. Why do you think there is something like anorexia?
2. Why are girls more likely to get it?
3. What can we do as a society (and possibly as individuals) to cure this illness?
4. What new words did you find in the text? Give the word and its translation.

Part 2
You are a writer on a youth magazine. One day you get this letter for your column:

Help I think I have anorexia!

Hi, Im 14 years old and I think I might have anorexia. I don’t know, but I think so. I think I am really fat and all my friends say I’m almost the skinniest one in the class. I feel like I have a huge bubble in my stomach and it makes me want to throw up. When I told a friend she was really shocked, so I don’t dare talk to anybody else. I can’t talk to my mom because she’s always angry with me and were not that close nowadays. I don’t know what to do and I feel like I have nowhere to turn to.

Yours,

Lonely Girl

Please write a reply for your column in the youth magazine.