Language,Cultural Expression and Teachable Moments

Lately, I have been more aware of how I communicate with others. EvC has taught me a lot about communication. (Through all of you and your choices of verbal expression and your intentions.)That being said, I wanted to share a great poet with all of you and ask for your opinions about the importance of being able to communicate. Communication is more than knowledge. It is more than infotainment. It is, in my opinion, the sharing of love from ourselves towards humanity.Edited by Phat, : added subtitle

More than anything, though, communication is an exchange between more than one person.

Def Poetry is an expressive cultural medium that I am exploring for use in relationship and encouragement with the G.R.A.S.P. kids that I am mentoring. We have a forum...12-15 youth and 2-5 leaders....and the forum is ran by the youth. Basically, one of them is appointed to be the leader that day and he/she asks the others simple questions, such as "How was your week" or "Did you help anyone last week" or "Did you have any problems at school" etc etc. The idea, of course, is to get them to open up and vent their feelings, but, more often than not, they find that they are unable to express themselves to any degree at all...in a formal setting, at least. Out on the town with their friends or the gang, they often express the emotions/passions/frustrations of life in unhealthy and socially dangerous ways...thus, the goal of GRASP is to reverse this tendency.Lemon Anderson is one of the better ones. This is him on TED:This is the perfect medium to reach the vocabulary of an inner city gang member. Obviously we want to teach better English and more appropriate ways to communicate.