Words and such

     In my opinion, speech #4 was my most effective. I had both positives and negatives in the outcome of my speech, but overall, I was satisfied with the result. The biggest improvement was in my planning phase; unlike speech 2, where I had to haphazardly gather an audience due to a technical fiasco, or speech 3, where I had to infiltrate my mother's work, I was able to knock out the speech during Thanksgiving at my grandma's house. Excluding me, there were eight of us (and my dog Gizmo, but alas, he does not count) so I was not as stressed attempting to find an audience.     Given that I was delivering the speech rather early, I made sure to have my notecards and sources ready to go, so I had everything pretty prepared beforehand and was far less stressed given that my audience was not a bunch of strangers. That may have been an easy way out, I know, but it was the best option for a live audience.     When it came to the delivery, there was good and ...

              Just as a reference for myself, I have my Johari window up top here. The 5 respondents were my parents, grandmother, and two friends (Fay and Alan, better known as The Ginger). I know it was ideal to get more variety, but I really only have the numbers for my close friends and family, and I don't have social media either. You aren't here to hear my excuses, though, so onto the analysis.     Of the 6 words I chose, I was fascinated to see how only half came up when my participants rated me. Nervous and shy were chosen by both friends and family, and witty was chosen by Fay and my mother. That much seems reasonable to me; after all, I am closer to Fay than I am The Ginger and really enjoy making stupid jokes on the spot, which is something they'd know better than him.     One thing that I found surprising was the facade spot. I can imagine nobody chosen relaxed since it seemed to contradict the nervous and shy descr...

    After a bit of pondering between two potential victims to use for this assignment, I decided on my childhood best friend, Melanie, since we've gone through essentially every stage and that gives me plenty of information to work with.     When it comes to the initiation stage, we were both very young, probably about 5 or 6, so we connected solely because our parents forced us into a playdate. So, since we were similar in age (Melanie was born in October 2006, and I February 2007) and both had the same average childhood interests like playing with dolls or stuffed animals, it was no surprise we connected. The experimentation stage began largely in this type of play as well. Melanie had a ton of stuffed animals, and we even had some of the same ones, so we'd make up little stories about them as children usually do.     As our friendship progressed further into the intensifying phase, I'd say that was about when we were 9 to 10 years old. Since we attended ...

      Allow me to begin by saying that although my speech was not perfect, at least I only needed one take to recite it and not three. The technical mishaps I had with my second speech were definitely absent from this one, which was delightful considering how stressful that was.     When it came to preparing my speech, I got all my resources and notecards together in a timely manner. I had my outline written out on time as opposed to the previous speech, so in terms of planning, there was an advantage to be had.       However, I do think my main issue is that I did not practice the speech just as much as I had wanted to. It is very apparent when you actually watch the speech just how lost in thought I was, so much so that I skipped a lot of the introduction, almost all of it. This was partially due to lack of practice and also due to the fact that I didn't add the introduction on my notecards, assuming I'd just have that part down. Clearly, I...

 The ad definitely aims to evoke a melancholic feeling during the opening shot of the Native American man alone on the pond. It feels as though we are witnessing the aftermath of a long, stressful journey. The instrumental sounds almost like a horror movie-esque Jaws type of theme with the foreboding tone, but it gradually becomes louder and harsh as the man approaches the shore, leaning into that idea. After the man reaches the shore (accompanies by some shots of pollution), the tone shifts slightly to make the audience feel disgust at pollution and the people who carelessly destroy the natural world. The deep-voiced narrator offers some transition into this idea, but the shot of the person throwing litter out of the window and the subsequent shot panning up the Indian man as it falls by his feet are intended to make us feel both spite and sadness.  The way in which this ad attempts to provoke empathy in viewers is by taking something universally known- a Native American man-...

        Although all three prompts interested me, I chose the first since I have less to say about it and I feel really terrible for subjecting you to last week's long chunk of text.  In terms of how I present myself physically, it definitely differs depending on who I am interacting with.  Normally, I'll wear black pants that are a tad too big, a plain shirt, and a sweatshirt, often also oversized. Even though I do not intend it as such, it implies to the people around me that I prioritize comfort over style and am not very particular about my clothing. I tend to re-wear outfits frequently, even in the same week, which does not help that assumption.     In reality, I am actually very particular when it comes to my clothes. I have certain combinations that I really enjoy, hence why I wear them frequently. My clothes are not oversized for comfort, but rather because I despise the feeling of skin-tight clothing. I always wear black pants because the...

 For this assignment, I chose the term "nerd" partially because I have been called one a number of times and secondly, because I feel I am not the most comfortable speaking and using a lot of the other reappropriated terms that came up in my searches. WARNING: lots of yapping ahead. This prompt really got me thinking, and when I think, I ramble. You might want to start putting maximums on these journals just for my sake, haha. According to an npr.org article, the exact origins of the word is unknown, but one of the most popular theories is that it began as either a nonsensical word from a children's book or evolved from a similar term, "nert", which was a synonym of fool. Eventually, the term came to be associated with people who were awkward but excelled academically. Pop culture referenced nerds, boosting the term's popularity and giving them the iconic thick-glasses andbook smart traits that we recognize as part of the archetype today.  "'Nerd...

 When it comes to listening, I'm a mixed bag. I wouldn't consider myself a super effective listener, but I'd also struggle to say I'm an insufficient listener. When speaking one-on-one with another person, I feel as though I actually listen less intently than if I were sitting down and writing notes for a presentation.  Listening to an instructor or presenter is easier for me because I am not "on the spot" as much as when I am talking with just one person. I feel a lot less pressure on me when sitting down and not actively engaging in a conversation, which makes it easier for me to pay attention to what someone is saying. There is less pressure to look enthused in what they are saying because they have such a large audience that one person makes no difference to them. On the other hand, when it comes to speaking with just one person and listening to what they are saying, I find that I focus less on what they are saying because I have a tendency to get stuck in...

     To put it lightly, my speech was a catastrophe.      I joined a Zoom call with some classmates as discussed in the audience-gathering discussion post, and we knocked out our speeches one by one. During my first attempt, I was about partway through until I realized I had forgot to hit screen record on my phone. Embarrassing, and it definitely made me feel a little extra anxiety, but I took a few breaths (and held my dog in my lap for a while) and I was prepared for my second attempt. I believe it went well, if not for a few hiccups and awkward pauses where I forgot what my next talking point was.     Flash forward to 10/1, the day in which I am writing this, and I realized I made another error: I recorded the speech, but I hit the "record media" button rather than "record microphone", meaning that you cannot hear me in that recording and I thus have to do it again. I will get it done, even though it will be last minute, but in terms of prepare...

 From my list, I have chosen a couple of examples from each of the 6 examples provided, which I shall now list out. Physically, I'd consider wearing glasses to be pretty distinct, as I've worn them since age 3, and for the second is my flexibility in general, which works as a great party trick. Social trait-wise, I am definitely awkward, and I have a tendency to mumble. When it comes to roles, I am not completely sure what that refers to, but I suppose I'm a decent listener? I have plenty of defining interests (dogs, my slightly unorthodox music taste, etc), and I am unsure of talents I possess. Memory, maybe? And, finally, as far as belief systems go, I don't subscribe to any religion. All of that being said, I have always perceived myself as fairly average, if not a bit on the introverted side. I am by no means fantastic at speaking, and when it comes to actually presenting or giving my thoughts, I usually stumble over my words and start shaking like my best friend...

     To be completely honest, I hardly know any celebrities or public speakers. I have never been engaged in that sort of thing (after all, isn't it a little odd how these peoples' lives are put on a pedestal just because they're super dramatic or controversial or entertaining, meanwhile normal people, many of whom are just as interesting, fade into obscurity 10 times as fast once they die? Maybe I'm just cynical, but it irks me).         That being said, I do know a lot of fantastic public speakers in real life, so I'll instead be showcasing them rather than some random celebrity. Namely, my high school Rhetoric teacher Mr. Adam Depew. What a legend, that fellow. Although the class was primarily for writing essays and analyzing literature, what times he did give a lecture were always so engaging.          Usually, he'd give lectures after an essay when introducing our next topic, or as we were reading The Sea-Wolf, our no...

After reading through the transcript of Dandelions: The Uncommon Weed, I can conclude that Hirsch's rhetorical purpose is to inform her public speaking class about the health benefits and cooking purposes of dandelions, likely as a way to persuade them into incorporating dandelions into their diets.  In an attempt to engage her audience immediately, Hirsch begins by asking questions regarding the plant's scientific name. After revealing that it is in fact the common dandelion, she uses a more grounded approach and acts her audience if they are familiar with the act of blowing the white fluff off of dandelions, to which they likely agreed. Although I do understand her method of starting with an overly complicated idea and then revealing that she will actually be referring to the most common weed, her example did feel a bit perplexing when she brought up the mention of "'Mama had a baby and its head popped off!'", as this is a phrase that holds no personal conne...

 This week's prompt led me to look for a speech that really stood out. I wanted to dive into a speech from a person whose name I did not recognize, and I also wanted to find a title that stood out. Thus, I ended up reading through Clarence Darrow's "A Plea for Mercy" speech, as the title came off as high stakes and exhilarating. After reading it, I can definitely understand its placement on the top 100 speeches. According to an Encyclopedia Britannica article about Leopold and Loeb, two men affiliated with the speech, Darrow was attorney representing the two at a murder trial following the death of 14-year-old Bobby Franks. The two men had killed Franks with no clear motive (they demanded a ransom; however, both boys were wealthy already and had no reason to request the money) aside from a curiosity of whether or not the deed was possible. The court was dead set on the death penalty for Leopold and Loeb despite the two being late teens, but Darrow prepared a defense t...

 I cannot say I was surprised when I took the PRCA-24 and was awarded a 108 out of 120 on the scale. Never in my life have I been fond of delivering speeches and presentations, and, if anything, my anxiety regarding this process has only grown as I have grown older. I can say this with certainly because I have the long-term memory of an elephant and vividly remember multiple instances in elementary and middle school where communicating proved difficult. In 3rd grade, I stumbled over the numeric value of how many miles the planet Venus was from Earth. In 5th grade, I forgot the pronunciation for the word "poverty" and felt like such a fool that I skipped over it during my presentation. In 6th grade, my legs were shaking so much as I gave my book report that a classmate afterwards announced that I had been "jiggling like Jell-O." In my sophomore year of high school, a classmate and I worked on a joint presentation, and all the while I was anxiously gripping my arm, le...

      Regardless of what direction my life may take in the future, communicating with other people is an inevitability. However, no two conversations are exactly alike, and the best plan of action during a conversation can change based on the recipient, environmental conditions, and body language. Reducing the rate in which miscommunications occur in my daily life is one of my major hopes in enrolling in this course. Although this class is online and may not always mimic real-life in that I am always communicating face-to-face with other people, I am interested in the difference between communicating online and offline and how effective my skills are depending on these factors.         Admittedly, an in-person communication class would undoubtedly have helped in overcoming some of my social anxiety, but I still see benefits in an online format and have already found differences in my communication style during this first week while speaking with my pee...