Blog 1

Jax Zrubek
Blog 1

Between Speech and Silence: The reflections on Accountability

"It has been through my experiences of intentionally building relationships and alliances across “power lines” (Carillo Rowe, 2008), that I continue to build critical consciousness about how the praxis of speech and silence are intricately connected with the power systems we are working to dismantle and transform." (Russo 45) 
The reason I chose this quote was because after reading the whole piece, this statement popped out as a key part. Russo is explaining that the power of speech and silence are both so much different that each of them can be so powerful that it changes the way we think and connect in everyday life. The power of silence gives the world a certain curiosity of what a person is thinking, and once their mouth opens that curiosity is either diminished or it expands. From personal experience, the connections and choices I have made through communicating and being involved has been pretty out there. Going to school at Boise State University and being involved in a fraternity on campus gives me a certain type of advantage to be heard in a sense. My major being communications, creates a certain curiosity about these readings and class topics. The importance of this quote from this reading is fairly self explanitory, simply reading the quote itself gives a great idea of Russo's argument as a whole. The main argument is that over communication can be good, as well as bad. When some people have the idea of their knowledge being more powerful than others, it can be off-putting in many ways and can kill people's confidence as well as interest. As her statement discusses the praxis of speech and silence being intricately connected with the power systems we are working to dismantle and transform, it is addressing these factors that the whole entire reading talks about. Later the reading talks about dismantling these stereotypes or these histories that impact our society. She states we as people need to learn how to become un intrusive, unimportant, to not judge people and keep around these stereotypes that form our society, and be humbled in a sense to change the way we treat one and other and live in everyday as a society. The importance of this quote is that it leads in to all of the other statements and points Russo makes, and it changes the reader's mindset about the praxis of speech and silence. This quote was a key point for my eye, but it does not do the whole reading justice.