FilmedA TED-talk-esque presentation for my first semester of a Rhetoric & Civic Life class.
My main issue with this speech, as you can easily see towards the end, was the time issue. In my preparations, my biggest fear is not having enough information to fill the time, so on my personal notes I added any detail that I thought would add significance to the point I was trying to make. In reality, not only did I have far more information than I needed to fill the 7 to 8 minute time slot, but the facts that I added were mostly specific notes on the history of the changing ways that the Western world has viewed the development of the Middle East. Though I was committed to the subject matter (and later worked with a group of classmates on a video for a similar subject, you can see me drawing the historical stick figures around the middle of the video), this presentation definitely could have gone smoother and more clearly presented the meaning behind the facts. The time constraints really caught me at the end, and when I let the anxiety get to me, the speech fell apart. I regret that I cannot revise it like an essay, but I can still count it as a learning experience.
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WrittenA sample of my writing, and a good example of how I blend the requirements of academia with my own inspiration.
This is an essay that I wrote for my 129H Shakespeare studies class, describing Horatio, a minor character from Hamlet, and the true significance that he bears for the story as a whole. Though Hamlet stands as my favorite work of Shakespeare to date, and Horatio as my favorite character, I never felt that I could do perfect justice to the monumental role that he fills in the course of the play. The version linked above is actually a revised copy, in my attempt to go back and make the various points of significance flow more effectively through the essay. While I still do not believe it is as good as it could be, that's in part due to the fact that the topic of this essay had me engaged far past the assignment alone. The topic of how intricately Shakespeare wove the story of Prince Hamlet and with so much significance towards the seemingly side-character of Horatio is one that I could continue to write about and study. I was able to put a lot of myself into this piece of writing, and though I knew that it could still be more polished and complete, part of that feeling is because of my personal connection to the subject matter. This was my favorite assignment of this class, and I am proud of what this essay is and still has the potential to become. |
RecordedA "This I Believe" speech for the second semester of a Rhetoric & Civic Life class.
The basic idea behind a "This I Believe" speech is to convey a personal approach to life or belief system, and usually for most people the way they discovered this belief or mantra is through an sudden event or change in their life. My basic approach to this project initially was that I have not experienced many singular events in my life that created an outstanding or unique way to look at the world. So I told the story of how I now appreciate the way that the many artistic aspects of the graphic novel medium can carry the symbolic weight of an art piece, a book, and a play combined. I am actually a huge advocate of the spoken word medium, as an art form and media outlet, so I was excited for this project and happy with the way it turned out. Through all of my acting experience I have learned how to keep my voice tone engaging and conversational even when reading off of a paper. It took me many tries to get it to the point that I was proud of, or at least knew that was as good as it would get. Overall, I believe that if I could change anything, I wish I had more time to come up with a more compelling way to express my love of the graphic novel form.
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Blogged
For my two Rhetoric & Civic Life classes, I was charged with maintaining an informational blog in which I detailed a common civic issue that the modern world faces. I chose to focus on the ways that various media facilities affect the way that modern society and youth culture functions.
The other blog was completely open ended for us students, and so my idea was to try to cultivate a small internet community around storytelling, with my published story concepts starting long creative conversations. Then at the end there would be a complete story, and that would be posted separately, with all of the contributors listed. Despite a bright beginning, no one really commented on my blog at all, or when there were comments, it was not constructing the rest of the story, but simple congratulations at the novelty of the idea behind it. Overall lacking inspiration and the drive to create stories every week for a nonexistent audience, my motivation towards my "passion blog" unfortunately fell by the wayside, and I did not update it as often as I should have. I regressed back into my old inaccurate take on recreational writing - that it can only be done right with inspiration. I did not realize that the act of starting to write at all can be the most inspiring part of my day, and my blog suffered for that ignorance.
The other blog was completely open ended for us students, and so my idea was to try to cultivate a small internet community around storytelling, with my published story concepts starting long creative conversations. Then at the end there would be a complete story, and that would be posted separately, with all of the contributors listed. Despite a bright beginning, no one really commented on my blog at all, or when there were comments, it was not constructing the rest of the story, but simple congratulations at the novelty of the idea behind it. Overall lacking inspiration and the drive to create stories every week for a nonexistent audience, my motivation towards my "passion blog" unfortunately fell by the wayside, and I did not update it as often as I should have. I regressed back into my old inaccurate take on recreational writing - that it can only be done right with inspiration. I did not realize that the act of starting to write at all can be the most inspiring part of my day, and my blog suffered for that ignorance.
Blog Links
One of my civic issues posts in particular, on the nature of video games and the theories that professionals have to decide if they are good or bad for modern youth culture, got a larger positive reaction from my classmates, and though it does not take a definite stance on whether video games are intrinsically bad or good for the development of society, I did my best to approach the issue from both sides and come to the conclusion that since it is such a modern medium, we simply do not know enough about it to make a claim either way.
Another civic issue blog entry that stood out was one wherein I discussed how modern social media changes the way that people view current politics. Essentially I covered how the political tactics that social media allows politicians to use are nothing new and are inevitable in any representative system of government. What makes social media more effective with these tactics, however, is that it can pose as a reliable source for political fact when it is really only supplying voters with the political fiction that they already believe.
On my passion blog, occasionally we would have to make a post pertaining to a theme that we were studying within the Rhetoric & Civic Life class itself. One such post was focusing on the convention of kairos, or timeliness, in rhetorical arguments, and the assignment was to analyze the kairos of a famous figure of rhetoric. As a student of history, I knew precisely who my post would focus upon, since the attitudes of the time in which he released his charismatic nationalism to his country was perfectly matched to his intentions. This post will give you a better idea of my understanding of the various elements of effective rhetoric.
More along the lines of the passion blog's purpose, one of my story ideas did get an enthusiastic response - tentatively titled "Unplugged", this post also shows off the format I was using to attempt to gain a response from my audience. The basic premise comes first, then the questions of details, facts of the situation, and possible directions that the plot could branch off through. The idea itself is not anything miraculously ingenious - "What if someone's soul/personality were transformed into a cloud of cellular signals or trapped as coded information within the internet?" While the idea has doubtless been explored and elaborated upon in the past, the details are where the unique aspects of the story could shine through.
Another civic issue blog entry that stood out was one wherein I discussed how modern social media changes the way that people view current politics. Essentially I covered how the political tactics that social media allows politicians to use are nothing new and are inevitable in any representative system of government. What makes social media more effective with these tactics, however, is that it can pose as a reliable source for political fact when it is really only supplying voters with the political fiction that they already believe.
On my passion blog, occasionally we would have to make a post pertaining to a theme that we were studying within the Rhetoric & Civic Life class itself. One such post was focusing on the convention of kairos, or timeliness, in rhetorical arguments, and the assignment was to analyze the kairos of a famous figure of rhetoric. As a student of history, I knew precisely who my post would focus upon, since the attitudes of the time in which he released his charismatic nationalism to his country was perfectly matched to his intentions. This post will give you a better idea of my understanding of the various elements of effective rhetoric.
More along the lines of the passion blog's purpose, one of my story ideas did get an enthusiastic response - tentatively titled "Unplugged", this post also shows off the format I was using to attempt to gain a response from my audience. The basic premise comes first, then the questions of details, facts of the situation, and possible directions that the plot could branch off through. The idea itself is not anything miraculously ingenious - "What if someone's soul/personality were transformed into a cloud of cellular signals or trapped as coded information within the internet?" While the idea has doubtless been explored and elaborated upon in the past, the details are where the unique aspects of the story could shine through.
Post Links
All images by Scott Wills, from Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars