Facebook; one new word for technology networking online

Just recently having joined Facebook a few months ago when I had to rsvp a baby shower invitation, I guess I am definitely behind the times in the newer technological networking programs that are out there in cyberspace, nor have I tweeted on Twitter yet. Looking up some of my storytelling colleagues, friends, and professors, I have seen that it is a great tool to advertise who you are and what you do, and of course it's there to connect people. I have looked up several professional and famous storytellers on Facebook. I see that some people even have pics of their homes posted, which I would never do. I think that while some of these networking technology tools are great online, we have to use wisdom just like not giving out our credit card, or any other personal information online. It could be dangerous, as there are many internet predators out there. As far as the storytelling community and world, it's great to be able to connect to and network with so many of these people right at your fingertips. Google is fabulous as well. As the saying goes, "you can google anything." And you can now a days. Any kind of story information, storytellers, authors, terms, word etymologies, anything, literally anything. The information highway has increased our knowledge potential light years. Where will it all lead, I wonder? Fast paced, facebook, story trek? I've enjoyed Linguistics so much. David has been a gifted and fabulous teacher, and we had the best class mates ever! What a wonderful experience that I will take with me, use and grow in more of the terminology and language of story, and grow as a teller to come.

Thanks Bonnie, Chris, Marci, and Jessica for making the class so special, and thanks to you David for being such an exceptional teacher and helping us all to grow! Goodnight everybody!

Kimono

The kimono (着物) is a Japanese traditional garment worn by women, men and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" (ki "wear" and mono "thing"), has come to denote these full-length robes. The standard plural of the word kimono in English is kimonos, but the unmarked Japanese plural kimono is also sometimes used. Kimono are T-shaped, straight-lined robes worn so that the hem falls to the ankle, with attached collars and long, wide sleeves. Kimono are wrapped around the body, always with the left side over the right (except when dressing the dead for burial), and secured by a sash called an obi, which is tied at the back. Kimono are generally worn with traditional footwear (especially zōri or geta) and split-toe socks (tabi).Today, kimono are most often worn by women, and on special occasions. Traditionally, unmarried women wore a style of kimono called furisode, with almost floor-length sleeves, on special occasions. A few older women and even fewer men still wear the kimono on a daily basis. Men wear the kimono most often at weddings, tea ceremonies, and other very special or very formal occasions. Professional sumo wrestlers are often seen in the kimono because they are required to wear traditional Japanese dress whenever appearing in public.

Taiko drums

Taiko (太鼓?) means "drum" in Japanese (etymologically "great" or "wide drum"). Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums (和太鼓, "wa-daiko", "Japanese drum", in Japanese) and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming (sometimes called more specifically, "kumi-daiko" (組太鼓)). The performances can last between 5 and 25 minutes and typically follow a jo-ha-kyū (beginning, middle, end/rapid, sudden, urgent, and emergency) structure, which means the performance will speed up significantly towards the grand finale.

Obi

Obi (帯, おび , literally "sash"?) is a sash for traditional Japanese dress, keikogi worn for Japanese martial arts, and a part of kimono outfits.
The obi for men's kimono is rather narrow, 10 centimetres (3.9 in) wide at most, but a woman's formal obi can be 30 centimetres (12 in) wide and more than 4 metres (13 ft) long. Nowadays, a woman's wide and decorative obi does not keep the kimono closed: this is done by different undersashes and ribbons worn underneath the obi. The obi itself also requires the use of stiffeners and ribbons.
There are many types of obi, and most of them are for women: wide obis made of brocade and narrower, simpler obis for everyday wear. The fanciest and most colourful obis are for young unmarried women. The contemporary women's obi is a very conspicuous accessory, sometimes even more so than the kimono robe itself. A fine formal obi might cost more than the rest of the entire outfit.
Obis are categorised by their design, formality, material, and use. Informal obis are narrower and shorter.

Sumo wrestling

Sumo (相撲 sumō?) is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler (rikishi) attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring (dohyō) or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. It is generally considered to be a gendai budō (a modern Japanese martial art), though this definition is incorrect as the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from the days when sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Life as a rikishi is highly regimented, with rules laid down by the Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal "sumo training stables" known in Japanese as heya where all aspects of their daily lives—from meals to their manner of dress—are dictated by strict tradition.

Confellon

During our Linguistics class in July this summer, we came up with a new word pertaining to the conversational discourse in the story world. We had talked about the word perfellon, which has to do with the performance/performing of the story, and a class mate (I can't remember who it was now) popped up and said, and the conversational piece to that would be "confellon;" We also said it could be "converperfellon." Who knows? It was a Dr. Seuss day in Linguistics class and we had made up a new word pertaining to the art form of story and the conversational discourse that goes on between the storyteller and their audience; the sociolinguistic parallel to perfellon in the world of story.

Stroking

I learned a new meaning of the work stroking pertaining to the storytelling experience and in communication discourse among and between people while in Linguistics this summer. Stroking, I learned, in discourse and storytelling is a kind of conversational grooming which goes on during dialogue to build rapport and disarm listeners so that engagement between those in verbal discourse is positive, effective, and a relationship building strategy. It is also an involvement strategy as well. Figurative stroking is getting somebody's attention and in verbal linguistics to verbally touch or stroke somebody as opposed to a physical stroking or touch. The two are parallel but have similar meanings in context of physical versus linguistic use. They both can have emotional side effects, good, tender, and should add gentleness and have a disarming affect on the physical, as in therapy, and the mental and emotional when used linguistically to build rapport, easiness, comfort in a conversational/story setting. A good example of stroking in conversational use would have been my agreeing with Jessica, the lady that I interviewed in a conversational story setting, during our conversation. Continual positive feedback, verbally agreeing, complementing during the conversation, all helped to make Jessica more comfortable and feel more safe with me in talking freely and telling her story. Professional colleagues do this when in their writing, they credit other colleagues which is a stroking device to build rapport with other professionals in their realm and gain more credibility in their writing and reporting.