Links
Archives
A little website about myself and some interesting web sites to check out.
Monday, May 03, 2004
yo I know that I already did my paper, so I do not really need to blog anymore, but I just wanted to thank you for a good year. I blogged everyday of my semester, you can check the archives. I also feel like we revised our speech enough and Brie did a lot better job at delivery. We were also the only group to finish anywhere near the 3 minute cutoff. I think that we definitely moved from a B to an A on that performance and revision. Anyway, Dave, you are going to be fine. I know that moving is exciting, but scary at the same time. Do not worry, you will be all right. There is a reason for everything and New York will treat you well. Hell, there are like 6 million single women. You have got to blog any good or funny stories. Anyways, talk to you soon and have a good summer.
Sunday, May 02, 2004
Given your experiences this semester, what advice would you give to someone who wanted to produce a policy (deliberative) speech for presentation before a live audience? You may draw from Silva Rhetoricae, as well as from other sources on the web, and from class notes, but your answer should come mostly from your personal experience co-producing your group's speech this semester. Your post should include four links, including at least one to a classmate's answer to this question.
Well there are numerous pieces of advice that I could give someone who wanted to produce a policy or deliberative speech. I feel like I have been through the planning, the writing, the revising, and the performing. The first thing that I would say to someone is that it takes a lot longer than you think. You need to be patient with the whole process. The first time I went in to see Dave to have him check my speech, he probably cut at least half of the three page single-spaced speech. I was devastated because I put so much effort into this speech and I wanted it to be all right. This is where I learned my first lesson. You must be patient with the procedure that this writing entails. You have to be able to face criticism. Dave at times would look at my speech and shake his head and say, "No, No, No. This is all wrong." If I took this in a bad way, then I would never learn or grow. I took his advice the way that he meant it. He was only trying to get us to be better speechwriters. This all starts from the beginning though.
The first part of the process deals with recognizing that this type of speech writing has been going on for hundreds of years. These types of speeches have Greek origins and are written to persuade the audience. When studying ways of starting a speech, keeping the ideas of ethos, pathos, and logos in mind is a great idea. Ethos deals more with when the person is presenting, which we will get to in a little bit. Ethos is the concept of having a good character and good credentials. Basically, this means how well do you appeal to the audience. Your approach is going to be different with what audience you are confronting. Take for example, talking to a kindergarten class as opposed to a senior citizens group. Pathos is the idea of appealing to the audience's emotions. Right after 911, the audience was emotional, so you would need to adapt to that situation. Logos is perhaps the hardest one to abide. In the early parts of our speech, we tried to use hard concrete facts to get our point across. The concept of logos is to use persuasive language instead of persuasive facts. This allows for the other two figures to be useful. These three should be used with some judgment. You do not have to implement all three at one speech. You must determine your audience and what topic you are addressing and then go from there. At the same time, all three of these techniques play very well off each other.
After this has been studied and reviewed, one must look over actual techniques to use in the speech. Each sentence in the speech that you are about to write is important. One sentence could break the beautifully crafted speech. This would be a good time to review the techniques at Silva Rhetoricae. These do not seem helpful at first, but if you go to past speeches and try to pick out some of the techniques, then you will see how important they are and how important they could be to your speech.
After all of this is prepared, you must pick a topic. In class, we learned that you must pick a topic that you like. There is no point in discussing something that you have no interest in. If you do that, it will be reflected in your actual speech, which would not be appetizing. This to some people is the hardest part of the speech. Picking a topic can be daunting due to the fact that it seems like each topic has so many ideas and opinions attached to it. This is where one would be able to use the social judgment theory. In this website, you see a situation about teacher salary. At both ends of the spectrum, you have the extremes. As you work your way into the middle, the ideas become somewhat more neutral and at times more appealing to the general public. This is a great way of narrowing down your topic and taking an actual stand on what you issue really is. It is important to understand something though when doing this. As mentioned in class, the Pro-Life campaign has drastically changed. They used to show pictures of dead babies and dead fetuses to try and scare people over to the side of being completely pro-life. They realized that this did not work. They looked towards a social judgment theory. They started moving people's ideas one bit at a time. They won a few cases and made some positive strides. They started form the middle and changed their whole platform. This is a great example of why you should use the social judgment theory.
Next, you have your topic, so you are ready to write the speech. I have always said that starting a paper, speech, whatever it may be is the hardest part. I find it best to start the speech with a little joke or something to settle the crowd down. This is god because it relaxes the audience and gets them more acquainted to you. If you go in and just start off with what you want to say, then people are going to look at you in a more robotic way rather than a fellow human being, someone they can sympathize with. Take for example Mardea's speech does a great job of starting out with a little joke or something to cool the crow down. In addition, being from Texas, she uses some of the local slang and drawl when she speaks which is a great idea. She says, "First of all, I would like to thank ya'll for hosting this dinner tonight. I am honored to be here tonight, back in Texas. Why ya'll must be crazy to want to listen to little ole me but I'm thankful you do! Now before you get back to enjoying that steak, I do have a few things that I would like to say to all of you, and I would like to begin with some famous words: 'Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last.' Martin Luther King spoke these monumental words on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, and approximately 40 years later, we still have to dream of freedom." This is great introduction. She talks about steak, which she knows is a key to everybody's heart down in Texas and then talks about Martin Luther King, someone everyone respects. After the introduction the rest of the writing has to be, in the words of Dave, homey. You have to use logos. You can't just spit out facts about the issue, you need to make people feel warm inside and get those old-fashioned American goose bumps about your issue. You need to use real life examples sort of like Kristen's Speech so you can draw the attention and the emotion of the crowd.
After you have done all that, revising it and cutting it down is the next step. This usually requires several times of rewriting and revising, but it will get there eventually. like I said earlier, you have to be patient. Great speeches don't come in a night. No one wants, especially in our class, to listen to a twelve-minute speech. If you go up there and say what you want to say with all of the techniques previously stated, then it will be successful. you just have to remember to not let it drag on. Do not repeat previous thoughts and ideas. This allows for people's attention spans to run wild. Keeping it short and concise is the way to go.
Finally, the delivery is very important. I feel like we did good preparation in our class with McGuffey's Reader in which we studied intonation and how to pronounce words and sentences. These techniques make you more confident and more appealing to the audience. This is extremely important. you could have a decent speech, but if you perform well up there, then it could make all the difference. the annoying thing about this whole thing is that you could work for months on a speech and if you go up there and do not implement any of the techniques, then your speech will be a waste. Remember to keep eye contact with the audience and in the case of Brie, you should smile the whole time. That is pretty much all that I have. Remember that it is not going to be perfect the first time. this is a technique or a craft that can be critiqued every single time, so keep that in mind. thanks a lot for a great semester Dave, and I hope that this helps out anyone who wants to write a speech like us.
Well there are numerous pieces of advice that I could give someone who wanted to produce a policy or deliberative speech. I feel like I have been through the planning, the writing, the revising, and the performing. The first thing that I would say to someone is that it takes a lot longer than you think. You need to be patient with the whole process. The first time I went in to see Dave to have him check my speech, he probably cut at least half of the three page single-spaced speech. I was devastated because I put so much effort into this speech and I wanted it to be all right. This is where I learned my first lesson. You must be patient with the procedure that this writing entails. You have to be able to face criticism. Dave at times would look at my speech and shake his head and say, "No, No, No. This is all wrong." If I took this in a bad way, then I would never learn or grow. I took his advice the way that he meant it. He was only trying to get us to be better speechwriters. This all starts from the beginning though.
The first part of the process deals with recognizing that this type of speech writing has been going on for hundreds of years. These types of speeches have Greek origins and are written to persuade the audience. When studying ways of starting a speech, keeping the ideas of ethos, pathos, and logos in mind is a great idea. Ethos deals more with when the person is presenting, which we will get to in a little bit. Ethos is the concept of having a good character and good credentials. Basically, this means how well do you appeal to the audience. Your approach is going to be different with what audience you are confronting. Take for example, talking to a kindergarten class as opposed to a senior citizens group. Pathos is the idea of appealing to the audience's emotions. Right after 911, the audience was emotional, so you would need to adapt to that situation. Logos is perhaps the hardest one to abide. In the early parts of our speech, we tried to use hard concrete facts to get our point across. The concept of logos is to use persuasive language instead of persuasive facts. This allows for the other two figures to be useful. These three should be used with some judgment. You do not have to implement all three at one speech. You must determine your audience and what topic you are addressing and then go from there. At the same time, all three of these techniques play very well off each other.
After this has been studied and reviewed, one must look over actual techniques to use in the speech. Each sentence in the speech that you are about to write is important. One sentence could break the beautifully crafted speech. This would be a good time to review the techniques at Silva Rhetoricae. These do not seem helpful at first, but if you go to past speeches and try to pick out some of the techniques, then you will see how important they are and how important they could be to your speech.
After all of this is prepared, you must pick a topic. In class, we learned that you must pick a topic that you like. There is no point in discussing something that you have no interest in. If you do that, it will be reflected in your actual speech, which would not be appetizing. This to some people is the hardest part of the speech. Picking a topic can be daunting due to the fact that it seems like each topic has so many ideas and opinions attached to it. This is where one would be able to use the social judgment theory. In this website, you see a situation about teacher salary. At both ends of the spectrum, you have the extremes. As you work your way into the middle, the ideas become somewhat more neutral and at times more appealing to the general public. This is a great way of narrowing down your topic and taking an actual stand on what you issue really is. It is important to understand something though when doing this. As mentioned in class, the Pro-Life campaign has drastically changed. They used to show pictures of dead babies and dead fetuses to try and scare people over to the side of being completely pro-life. They realized that this did not work. They looked towards a social judgment theory. They started moving people's ideas one bit at a time. They won a few cases and made some positive strides. They started form the middle and changed their whole platform. This is a great example of why you should use the social judgment theory.
Next, you have your topic, so you are ready to write the speech. I have always said that starting a paper, speech, whatever it may be is the hardest part. I find it best to start the speech with a little joke or something to settle the crowd down. This is god because it relaxes the audience and gets them more acquainted to you. If you go in and just start off with what you want to say, then people are going to look at you in a more robotic way rather than a fellow human being, someone they can sympathize with. Take for example Mardea's speech does a great job of starting out with a little joke or something to cool the crow down. In addition, being from Texas, she uses some of the local slang and drawl when she speaks which is a great idea. She says, "First of all, I would like to thank ya'll for hosting this dinner tonight. I am honored to be here tonight, back in Texas. Why ya'll must be crazy to want to listen to little ole me but I'm thankful you do! Now before you get back to enjoying that steak, I do have a few things that I would like to say to all of you, and I would like to begin with some famous words: 'Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we’re free at last.' Martin Luther King spoke these monumental words on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, and approximately 40 years later, we still have to dream of freedom." This is great introduction. She talks about steak, which she knows is a key to everybody's heart down in Texas and then talks about Martin Luther King, someone everyone respects. After the introduction the rest of the writing has to be, in the words of Dave, homey. You have to use logos. You can't just spit out facts about the issue, you need to make people feel warm inside and get those old-fashioned American goose bumps about your issue. You need to use real life examples sort of like Kristen's Speech so you can draw the attention and the emotion of the crowd.
After you have done all that, revising it and cutting it down is the next step. This usually requires several times of rewriting and revising, but it will get there eventually. like I said earlier, you have to be patient. Great speeches don't come in a night. No one wants, especially in our class, to listen to a twelve-minute speech. If you go up there and say what you want to say with all of the techniques previously stated, then it will be successful. you just have to remember to not let it drag on. Do not repeat previous thoughts and ideas. This allows for people's attention spans to run wild. Keeping it short and concise is the way to go.
Finally, the delivery is very important. I feel like we did good preparation in our class with McGuffey's Reader in which we studied intonation and how to pronounce words and sentences. These techniques make you more confident and more appealing to the audience. This is extremely important. you could have a decent speech, but if you perform well up there, then it could make all the difference. the annoying thing about this whole thing is that you could work for months on a speech and if you go up there and do not implement any of the techniques, then your speech will be a waste. Remember to keep eye contact with the audience and in the case of Brie, you should smile the whole time. That is pretty much all that I have. Remember that it is not going to be perfect the first time. this is a technique or a craft that can be critiqued every single time, so keep that in mind. thanks a lot for a great semester Dave, and I hope that this helps out anyone who wants to write a speech like us.
Friday, April 30, 2004
yo gilbie, if I get a B+ on this speech but I have blogged everyday and not missed over 4 classes, am I still going to get a B+. I do not want these speeches to be the only indicator of our grades. I blogged everyday and you can check to make sure. If you could e-mial me that would be great cause I feel like I have put in an A effort. Until then check out Blue Rodeo, this canadien country band that I got into a lot last year. this song rocks.
Later.
After the Rain
If I had my way
I would never go back
with my back to the wall
I just let myself fall
watch the daytimes turn black
but now and again I find
you cross my mind
If I was a train
I would never slow down
with my head in the sky
and the world going by
every nowhere town
as I write one more letter to you
I know I can't change the things that I do
one day
when you discover
just why I ran
ran away from you lover
I know I'm to blame
I feel so ashamed
call out your name
after the rain
what do you want me to do
I've thrown away everything for you
well I've wasted my dreams
each day it seems
I'm losing my way back to you
It's time for a change
what else can I do
the clock ticking time
I better make up my mind
is it me or is it you
yeah tonight as I'm losing control
I will drink to the queen of my soul
one day
when you discover
just why I ran
ran away from you lover
I know I'm to blame
I feel so ashamed
call out your name
after the rain...
Later.
After the Rain
If I had my way
I would never go back
with my back to the wall
I just let myself fall
watch the daytimes turn black
but now and again I find
you cross my mind
If I was a train
I would never slow down
with my head in the sky
and the world going by
every nowhere town
as I write one more letter to you
I know I can't change the things that I do
one day
when you discover
just why I ran
ran away from you lover
I know I'm to blame
I feel so ashamed
call out your name
after the rain
what do you want me to do
I've thrown away everything for you
well I've wasted my dreams
each day it seems
I'm losing my way back to you
It's time for a change
what else can I do
the clock ticking time
I better make up my mind
is it me or is it you
yeah tonight as I'm losing control
I will drink to the queen of my soul
one day
when you discover
just why I ran
ran away from you lover
I know I'm to blame
I feel so ashamed
call out your name
after the rain...
Thursday, April 29, 2004
So i have been thinking about DDay next year and I have decided that i really want to help out on the committee. It is a really cool event and I think that it could be really successful. The reason that i am saying this is because I really like the Counting Crows and I think that we could get them here and it would rock out with the cock out. Here is one of the songs that i reallly really like. I don't know. Quick announcement, the Roost is opened tonight at 9 and has one dollar drafts. It sounds like fun and two bands are going to play.
Mrs. Potter's Lullaby Lyrics
Well I woke up in mid afternoon cause that's when it all hurts the most
I dream I never know anyone at the party and I'm always the host
If dreams are like movies then memories are films about ghosts
You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast
Well I am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame
I am an acrobat swinging trapezes through circles of flame
If you've never stared off into the distance then your life is a shame
And though I'll never forget your face sometimes I can't remember my name
Hey, Mrs. Potter, don't cry
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I know why
But, hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me
Well there's a piece of Maria in every song that I sing
And the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings
And there is always one last light to turn out and one last bell to ring
And the last one out of the circus has to lock up everything
Or the elephants will get out and forget to remember what you said
Oh and the ghosts of the tilt-o-whirl will linger inside of your head
Oh and the Ferris wheel junkies will spin there forever instead
When I see you, a blanket of stars covers me in my bed
Hey, Mrs. Potter, don't go, I said
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I don't know, but
Hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me
Well all the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep
And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep
All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep
Hey, I can bleed as well as anyone but I need someone to help me sleep
So I throw my hand into the air and it swims in the beams
It's just a brief interruption of the swirling dust sparkle jet stream
Well I know I don't know you and you're probably not what you seem
Aw, but I'd sure like to find out
So why don't you climb down off that movie screen
Hey, Mrs. Potter, don't turn
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I burn for you
Hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me
When the last king of Hollywood shatters his glass on the floor
And orders another
Well, I wonder what he did that for
That's when I know that I have to get out cause I have been there before
So I gave up my seat at the bar and I head for the door. Yeah.
We drove out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars
We stand up in the Palace, like it's the last of the great pioneer town bars
Aw, we shout out these songs against the clang of electric guitars
Well, you can see a million miles tonight
But you can't get very far
Aw, you can see a million miles tonight
But you can't get very far
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I won't touch and
Hey, Mrs. Potter, it's not much but
Hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me [3X]
Mrs. Potter's Lullaby Lyrics
Well I woke up in mid afternoon cause that's when it all hurts the most
I dream I never know anyone at the party and I'm always the host
If dreams are like movies then memories are films about ghosts
You can never escape, you can only move south down the coast
Well I am an idiot walking a tightrope of fortune and fame
I am an acrobat swinging trapezes through circles of flame
If you've never stared off into the distance then your life is a shame
And though I'll never forget your face sometimes I can't remember my name
Hey, Mrs. Potter, don't cry
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I know why
But, hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me
Well there's a piece of Maria in every song that I sing
And the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings
And there is always one last light to turn out and one last bell to ring
And the last one out of the circus has to lock up everything
Or the elephants will get out and forget to remember what you said
Oh and the ghosts of the tilt-o-whirl will linger inside of your head
Oh and the Ferris wheel junkies will spin there forever instead
When I see you, a blanket of stars covers me in my bed
Hey, Mrs. Potter, don't go, I said
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I don't know, but
Hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me
Well all the blue light reflections that color my mind when I sleep
And the lovesick rejections that accompany the company I keep
All the razor perceptions that cut just a little too deep
Hey, I can bleed as well as anyone but I need someone to help me sleep
So I throw my hand into the air and it swims in the beams
It's just a brief interruption of the swirling dust sparkle jet stream
Well I know I don't know you and you're probably not what you seem
Aw, but I'd sure like to find out
So why don't you climb down off that movie screen
Hey, Mrs. Potter, don't turn
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I burn for you
Hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me
When the last king of Hollywood shatters his glass on the floor
And orders another
Well, I wonder what he did that for
That's when I know that I have to get out cause I have been there before
So I gave up my seat at the bar and I head for the door. Yeah.
We drove out to the desert just to lie down beneath this bowl of stars
We stand up in the Palace, like it's the last of the great pioneer town bars
Aw, we shout out these songs against the clang of electric guitars
Well, you can see a million miles tonight
But you can't get very far
Aw, you can see a million miles tonight
But you can't get very far
Hey, Mrs. Potter, I won't touch and
Hey, Mrs. Potter, it's not much but
Hey, Mrs. Potter, won't you talk to me [3X]
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
so today I accidently set my alarm for 730 at night and not in the morning. I am a complete idiot and I missed one of my most important classes. Today in Oragnic Chemistry, I had to take the ACS, which is a national chemistry exam. This grade could replace our lowest quiz grade which is what i needed. The grades on this exam were not going to be very high, but she would curve them to help us out. Anyways, I just wanted to say one more thing, why is everyone's speech so gosh darn long. It is only supposed to be 3 minutes at the most. Everyone thinks that our speech was short, but I timed it and it was 2 minutes and 26 seconds. That seems rather good. I timed the first speech of today and it was five inutes and 4 seconds. That seems rather long. When we went into meeting with Gilbert, he told us it needed to be way shorter. But until then check out Caroline's Blog because she is living in Nantucket this summer and i am very jealous. I think that i might visit her this summer which would rock.
