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[Feb. 11th, 2015|05:10 pm]
E.G.
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In celebration news, i am very busy outside of work with Quaker-involved efforts in causes i care about. The Meeting approved adding our name to this statement on climate change, and as the presiding clerk when we did so, i feel bound to guide our meeting making a "meaningful commitment... to address climate change for our shared future, the Earth and all species, and the generations to come." This will be more or less challenging because there are some folks in Meeting laser focused on green house gas emissions and others focused on the large issue of "how to live sustainably and justly on this Earth."
Another issue is responding to the call for a vigil for Tamir Rice on Sunday 22 Feb. I was asked to come up with queries about "All Lives Matter," which meant a first step in addressing why that is problematic.
There's going through the minutes for the Meeting for worship and reports and decisions for the gathering this coming weekend. My personal inbox wasn't really ready for all the email this has produced and the many threads of discussion and meta-discussion.
Christine is presenting our poster to the first meeting of the Citizen Science Association this evening, which means she's been very busy. I've contributed a teeny bit of editing. I was giddy with joy when i saw her black and white draft on Monday night: she presents us in such a polished and clear way. I hope this evening is not triggering for her but a encouraging and warm welcome from a broader community.
Work is OK. Stress is lower. I've a little itty bit of resentment building with my New Manager that i am working to manage. He has an issue with my vocabulary (larger than his, apparently) and is creating a frame for others (most critically our product person) that "[Elaine's] communication is way over everyone's heads." While there is some important critique of my communication to which i need to respond, i'm also feeling a little like i'm being seen through someone else's projection.
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From:  mopalia
2015-02-12 04:39 pm (UTC)
youse uses big woids | (Link)
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Ah, sympathies for the vocabulary issue. I don't consider that I have a particularly large vocabulary (reading the New Yorker is a humbling experience), but I know that many people have trouble wit large words, so I consciously dumb down my speech - well, maybe not so consciously, since it's now become pretty automatic. I recognize the look ob blank incomprehension when I overstep (really, is ephemeral that challenging a word? Apparently so) and have become adept at adding a gloss in my next sentence.
But when I was working with American carpenters in India, I made doubly sure to limit the word choices and, to me, I sounded like q third grader all the time. A year later, one of the carpenter's wives told me that her husband really liked working with me, but it was hard to follow me because I used such big words.
It's hopeless - you can't reach everyone at a comfortable level. Curiously, my students - around whom I never tried to dumb things down - never complained. They either pretended comprehension, or were smart enough to ask for clarification. I'm not sure language was really that great of an evolutionary step. ;)
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