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If you don't know who Rep. Steve King (R) is you might want to look him up, then again you might not want to look up a man with such a ferocious character and views that seems to point to xenophobia and hatred of linguistic diversity.

Recently, I came across the website ProEnglish amidst some research I was doing on Bilingual education. I was surprised to see some very objectionable content on this website especially about Puerto Rico, and at one point an article on the site even claimed that Puerto Ricans "lacked linguistic ability" I'm afraid I don't understand how any people can lack linguistic ability, simply because they can't speak English doesn't mean they lack any linguistic ability, at least no more than Rep. Steve King does, so let's be honest in that respect.

Subsequently, I came across a horrid video on the website where Rep. Steve King claims that English embodies freedom, and that because of this horrendously racist and ignorant claim that this should make English the official language in all of the USA. These claims are horrible. Terrible. Deplorable! Who would make such a claim! He speaks of the wonderful "free" nature of English, as if it somehow embodies freedom. Well, unfortunately for Steve it's how one uses the language that makes it embody good things, not the language itself. As is typical for a politician Rep. King is using the free nature of English to promote something quite less than freedom, and is promoting a world of hegemonic domination by the Western English speaking world, and one that would destroy many of the beautiful languages of the world for no other reason than ignorance and fear of languages other than English. It seems that my comments were also censored by the video owner on youtube, because someone couldn't take my comments. Apparently the person hosting the videos on their youtube account doesn't believe in  freedom of speech, and doesn't believe in the power of language to create community, to interact, and to create dialogue. I find the censorship of my comments abhorrent and unacceptable. If Steve King or anyone that is affiliated with him happens to be hosting the videos, then they ought to be ashamed for something so undemocratic. Although as luck would have it the videos have very few views, which I think is only becoming of something that preaches such intolerance and ignorance.

I would also like to take the time to remind Rep. King that English is not autochthnous to the Americas, and that as a result we should have respect for that fact. Everyone should learn Navajo, Cherokee, or just allow people to speak whatever language they like. Linguistic diversity presents its certain problems, but it has a richness of culture and thought that should never be forgotten. I suppose Rep. King has also forgotten the roots of English in French and the numerous loan words from Arabic that are part of the English language. All languages are official, and no language should dominate any other in the USA, because  no language has the right to oppress any other. 

I will include the first part of the video below for clarification purpose, and in the case that I have misquoted any of Steve's words the video below will clarify:
 

The story of Al-Asma'i. Long ago there was a tyrant of king in the Middle East with an exquisite memory, nearly an eidetic, he could remember anything recited to him after hearing it only once. He prized memory over many things and thus his servants were expected to be the same his attendants could memorize anything after hearing anything only twice and his maids after only three times. The king loved all literature and the prosody of poetry was his greatest joy, so thus he decided to hold a contest. He challenged the poets in the land to write an original poem that he had not heard, and if any of the poets succeeded, then he would grant the winner gold equal to the weight of the material the poem was written on. 

Many poets accepted the challenge and came to the royal court with the poetry in hand ready to win the prize, but after each poet recited their poem the king then his servants and maids would recite the poem, thus proving that the poetry was not new. As word quickly spread that the challenge was now more difficult a young and talented poet heard of the peculiar challenge. Al-Asma'i thought of a poem that would surely be too difficult to be memorized quickly. He spent days in the hills off of a marble quarry writing his poem. His work was difficult and not easy, but after he had successfully finished the work he himself had memorized the poem.

Al-Asma'i journeyed to the court. He had never seen the immensity of the palace and was astonished at the beautiful artwork and architecture that adorned every space that the eye could journey upon. Vaulted ceilings and high doors with gemetric symbols and cascades of light keeping no corner obscure. Soon he made his way to the royal chamber. The king duly surprised, but ready prepared his court the hear the poet recite his master work.

The poet confident although afraid of the power of the royal court stood quietly, until a servant signaled him to begin. The poet began, "I will recite the song of the nightingale" and he began in Arabic, "Sow too safee bulbulee, heyaa abqul al-thamalee ..." he continued on and the court listened patiently. Dust settled lightly in the silence that surrounded the poet as he recited his poem with rythmic excellence. When he had finished the king began to recite the poem, slowly, but soon his words faltered and he erred. He commanded his servants to recite the poem, they too began the recitation, but soon their worlds also faltered. The maids began for the third time, but their words too became lost in the immensity of the poem.

The king relented. He spoke, "You have been a worthy challenger. So I will thusly reward you gold equal to the weight of the paper the poem was written upon."

Al-Asma'i replied in eagerness, "Ah, yes, but I have not written my work upon paper."

Confused the king replied, "Then where have you written it?"

Al-Asma'i now almost modest in his reply said only, "On the marble in the marble quarry near my village."

The king was duly surprised, but without alternative he was left only to pay the noble poet with all the gold in the kingdom.
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The above is an adaptation of a common story told in the Middle East. It was recounted to me by my friend in Saudi Arabia and then my friend in Kuwait. I have adapted the story a bit, and it's just a rough sketch of what this great story could really be. Enjoy. 

The poem that Al-Asma'i wrote below: 

I have been feeling wonderful lately with only the help of a little coffee some music and the most excellent of all dreams. I feel bliss and temporary englightenment. This is how I feel but words cannot describe what I am feeling now. Dreams... 

In a recent article by Scientific American High Fructose corn syrup has been discovered to impair memory. The substance which is in many foods that are processed today is touted widely by corn growers and supporters as perfectly safe, and many ad campaigns in the US have also pointed to the very safe nature of the substance, which of course is dubious, especially when many of the products paired with High Fructose corn syrup also contain carcinogens and preservatives, which really should not be on the market is the FDA had an sense. It is becoming more and more advisable to avoid corn syrup whenever possible and opt out for the healthier choices. Finding products made from real cane sugar really makes sense, although the taste takes a little bit of time to adjust to.

In a related article from Science Daily caffeine has been discovered to reverse effects of memory impairment, and the equivalent of 5 cups a day has been found to help significantly with this impairment, which would mean a very effective treatment for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. In incredibly interesting thing to think about, which of course makes me even more fond of my morning coffee. Although it does make me wonder what the effects of soda are on the memory overall, does the caffeine and fructose boost help or hinder?

A really nice spoof of the High Fructose Corn Syrup Commercial 

I'm planning on learning Russian during the winter break, and then continuing during the summer through formal classes. I really don't know why, but I'm going to anyway. I also hope to continue with my Portuguese. I've learned quite a lot. Still so much to learn, but the university setting has really been very slow. Although I've been under a lot of stress lately despite it all. Nevertheless, there is still so much to learn, and especially for a language like Russian formal instruction is something I will benefit from.

Russian has a lot of interesting features. Of course, because the language still includes declension makes it quite a challenge, but one I'm ready for.

I've been very interested in the culture phenomena of the internet, particularly the community aspects that have been created through the web, and the implications it has for the world and people in general. Why it allows us to be have a degree of freedom unseen before in social expression, but also to remove social constraints of appearance, color, manner of speech, and even language and geographical barriers. It is the subject of so much development linking everyone with a computer to the digital revolution that has given us so much to look forward to.

I present a very interesting lecture from an anthropology professor and the work he has done. I was impressed with the video that he created before addressing digital text etc., and I'm quite happy to see that he had a whole lot more to say on the subject. It's such a fascinating subject. Do I see a video blog in my future? Probably not...

For the next few days I will be posting videos from the video site Vimeo. I'm far too busy to dedicate more than a few moments to the blog, quite unfortunately I am having a lot of writers block finding appropriate theses for my research papers. Anyways today I have a video about Spain included for your enjoyment.

This is a video I found recently thanks to one of my friends in Portugal a very touching video and something I had to share. The music illuminates each dimension of the painting both in a literal figurative manner. Demonstrating the complete horror of the the Civil War in Spain. All credit to lena gieske

You can watch this video at the link above. Unfortunately, it was too difficult to include right here on the blog.

What is glossolalia? Glossolalia is more commonly know as tongues. A phenomenon describing the production of speech from an unknown language, often ascribed to religious experiences, but most can produce glossolalia like sounds with ease. Some also believe that glossolalia can give the gift of tongues allowing a person to speak fluidly in a foreign language without having learned it, but unfortunately no actual proof of this has even been found. Most glossolalia consists of phonemes from the speakers native language and may additionally including phonemes from learned languages. It's a very interesting phenomenon but is nothing more than nonsense an obfuscation of language and sounds in the brain that comes out the mouth.

Additionally, I've included a TLC clip from Youtube before TLC sold out to reality television and actually ran interesting documentaries.

Although this isn't as much language related it was a great view that I found on the Wooster Collective a few days ago and wanted to share.