PERSONAL ADVICE communications101 KNOWING Where We Came From From iPhones to Twitter, we’ve made some great strides in the evolution of communication, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to look a person in the eye ommunication, plain and simple, is an art form. Like any skill, it takes practice as well as patience. Whether verbal or nonverbal, we communicate our desire to be understood or a need to convey infor- mation. Communication is our ability to share in- formation and our feelings in a manner that others will understand. And no matter the form of communication, the man- ner in which we express ourselves abundantly speaks volumes in ad- dition to the spoken word. Many times, in the pages of Pageantry, we dedicate a great deal of space to the process of spoken communication. We reiterate the need for studious attention to cur- rent events, our platform or com- munity service dedication and how to best convey them to a judge or someone in a position of authority. When we do not suc- ceed in our goal of communicat- ing or feel misunderstood, it could be as simple as speaking the wrong language. Don’t rush out and take language courses for an international market, but use all the tools at your disposal to com- municate in a common language, using all of your senses such as verbal, listening and visual cues. C THE IDEA OF COMMUNICATION Likely our earliest attempts to express ourselves and commu- nicate with one another was confusing at best. Beating on objects to send an alarm (sound), to the caricature of sending smoke sig- 82 PAGEANTRY A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION… KIND OF 800,000 BC - Not much is known about the caveman’s way of communication, other than crude cave drawings, a lot of grunting and their keen awareness of cheap car insurance. 3200 BC - One of the world’s first and most remarkable early civilizations, Egyp- tians created a system of hieroglyphics to not only communicate with each other, but as a means of leaving behind legacies of rulers and religion, as well as giving The Bangles a hit 80s pop song. 2200 BC - Little is known about the an- cient Druidian culture and for what pur- pose they may have built Stonehenge. Originally, it was believed to be a calendar or some kind of temple. Surprisingly how- ever, historians have recently discovered that from above it reads: “LOL.” 1275 BC - The Achaeans showed that subtlety in nonverbal communication is sometimes hard to determine. When they offered a giant wood horse to Sparta as a sign of truce and honor, what they really meant was, “Ha ha, fooled you!”