Neighbors of 321

Well now, this is my first blog of the semester due to the fact that I usually don't pay much attention to class work until later on Sundays. This semester has been fairly interesting as far as small group conflicts go. In com 320 I haven't had any problems with my group, but this is not what this blog is about. My main concern lies with our neighbors and ourselves with our poor communication skills in solving conflicts as a whole. In our house we have 5 people that take residence in the manor, and the neighbors consist of two people. Usually two Fridays a month we host a small party for friends and our designated smoking area is the front porch. The neighbor's house is about 4 feet away and their window is on the side of their house where our porch is. This creates problems with noise and our neighbors' needs for sleep. Instead of communicating the problem at a convenient time for both houses, they tend to wait until the problem occurs. We have taken actions to reduce noise problems and yet the conflict remains unchanged. Now instead of loud music being the problem, normal conversation upsets them during parties and throughout the week. We are now planning to take matters in our own hands to resolve this problem, and concepts from COM 320 will provide some of the bases for civilized negotiations between the two houses in conflict.

James Costner