Speech Reflection

There are a few things about my speech that I am both happy and not happy about. What I first liked about my speech is that I engaged the audience. I asked them questions and I was able to relate parts of my speech to our every day college lives. Secondly I liked that I moved around and used my hands in an appropriate manner. I didn't overly walk around or with every word I spoke my hands moved with them. On the other hand, no pun intended, I do wish that I would have slowed down when speaking. I can get carried away during my speeches and when that happens I tend to speak faster; especially when I am enthusiastic about my topic. Also if I were allowed to re-do my speech, I wouldn’t have brought up that the people who participate in paintball could or are so called nerds. I could have expressed that idea in a nicer way and could have caste them in a different light. With that being said I did like how I spun that idea into an excuse as to why people should join my club. Since we don’t know the kind of people who play paintball that should give us an incentive to get to know them. But I do see the point of what I said could carry a negative connotation with it. Overall I believe I dressed well for the speech, came practiced and prepared, and really interested the audience in my project idea.

Questions I hate answering

There are a few questions that I can't stand to answer. The first one is when people find out that i am from Michigan I instantly get two questions:
1. So do you like love snow?
Answer: No. Not at all. I actually can't stand snow to be honest. I am awful at skiing, I can't snow board worth my life, and sledding has never ended well for me. Literally it's as if God has made it his mission for me to hate snow with each passing cold, bitter, snowy day. When I look out my window and see snow I know for a fact that that day would be bad. Here are the positives of snow....it's pretty. There ya go! That is the only nice thing I will ever say about snow.
Second question: So if you're from Michigan you obviously love the University of Michigan right?
Answer: HA! No. Nice try though. I am 100%, fully-hearted, from the ti-p of my head down to my toes rooting for The Ohio State University. I'm sorry but I like football teams that win. My mom even graduated with honors from U of M but that doesn't mean I was born a Wolverine. I'd rather be a nut than a cross between a bear and a raccoon any day. And also I went to high school with the Kevin and Kelvin Grady, those of you who don't know the Grady's, they played Wide Receiver and running back for U of M. They weren't the nicest people in the world. They were spoiled, cocky, jocks who only passed high school because the teachers wanted to see them play in college; probably not true but I am allowed to speculate.
Next set of questions involve when people hear who my father is. My dad is Richard Holmes of Holmes and Wiseley law firm, the top law firm in Michigan. He is now practicing here in Kentucky and just won one of the largest settlements in U.S. history.
1. So you're like totally rich huh?
Answer: So very false. I am actually extraordinarily poor. I have a solid $23 in my account currently and pray everyday that my mom loves me enough to throw me $50 bucks for gas and groceries. My parents have always made it clear, their money is not my money nor will it ever be. That if I want money to spend I have to work for it. So that began my 35-40 hours working as a hostess and bartender my junior and senior year back home in Michigan. I finally began to feel the pain of working hard plus balancing A.P. classes. I would not recommend it. But the feeling of having your own pay check and your own money is pretty amazing. And I could spend it on anything that I wanted instead of only getting money for gas.
Second question: So do you want to be a lawyer when you go up?
Answer: Another no here. Shocking I know. I grew up with not only my dad being an Attorney, but my mom as well. And I hated it. They were always busy with depositions or having to be in court for their new case. They missed sports games, birthdays, and girl scout meetings. And now as I grow older I know it was for the greater good because they could pay bills and such but as I kid I loathed the words court, case, and lawyer. So no the last thing I want to be when I grow up is a lawyer. I actually want to throw a curve ball to the world and go to med school! I want to be an art psychiatrist working primarily with kids and teens. With this job I will always be able to drop my kids off at school, pick them up, and cook dinner together. My appointments with clients work at my preference and I wouldn't want it any other way. I never want to hear my kids say, "No my mom can't make it she has a client to see." I want to make sure I can be in every part of my kid lives as they want me to be. I will never put work before family.

TED talks liars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_6vDLq64gE

I watched a video on TED talks that discussed lying. It is said that we are lied to from 10 to 200 times a day. That's insane to me. Pamela Meyer is the speaker of this video and I loved her way of speaking. She is constantly looking around, moving around, and she never seemed anxious at all. Her slide pictures always correlated with whatever topic of her speech she was on and it helped me follow her thought processes more easily as well.Also her way of speaking was easy to listen and understand. Her tone was light, comical, and easy going. I felt like I was listening to my Aunt talk, not some straner.

I think it's very interesting that Pamela pointed out that a lie cannot exist without the help of other people. If people ignore a lie, it will die. But if they believe the lie has the ability to grow, change, and create more damage than anyone ever expected. A lie is a very powerful tool and so many important people use it daily. From Bill Clinton to KoKo the gorilla, everyone lies. KoKo the gorilla actually blamed here kitten for ripping a sink out of a wall. Now obviously a kitten couldn't do that but it shows how even in evolution, all creatures of this world have the ability to lie.

Finally, Pamela explains to the audience how to spot a liar. And no she didn’t go into detail about how slightly an eyebrow moves or if a person quiver her lip. She simply explained what duping delight means. Duping delight is when the liar is smiling and seeming confidant about getting away with their lies. OJ Simpson did this in the notorious picture of him smiling in court. Our world is full of liars. However Pamela made a great point about how we should stop trying to look for liars and start looking for the truth.

Detroit vs. Everybody

This article really hit home to me for two reasons: A I am from Michigan and only two hours away from Detroit and B I have been to Detroit more than twenty times. I truly respect Rembert so much for writing this article. There is such a dark connotation to the city of Detroit and yes in some cases it has earned it. But there are also so many beautiful, amazing aspects of Detroit that frankly people are too afraid of to go see. Detroit has a dark history and even today is dangerous but in all honesty what city doesn't have its bad days? I have been to a multitude of basketball, football, baseball, and music concerts there and I have never been robbed or hurt. I love the pizza and hot dogs places and the music that fills the air at night. I have also been to the Belle Isle Park and played soccer with my friends. No one got hurt and everyone had fun.
However I do respect Rembert for noting the bad sides of Detroit as well. No established writer  can say that it is okay to only give one side of a situation. In order to make a well rounded opinion on something you have to look at both sides. The graffiti, as shown in the abandoned shelter is prevalent throughout Detroit. But on the positive side if you look at the pictures of the Hart Plaza amphitheater, you are able to see the beautiful paintings of jazz players and abstract ideals. Art is art no matter what anyone says.
Anyone who travels to Detroit will have mixed feelings. I agree with Rembert when he says the first three statement anyone says about going to Detroit are why? Be careful and take pictures. Detroit can be a scary beautiful place. Everyone is going to afraid of what they don't know. If all anyone ever said was that if you went to Detroit you would be shot and killed no one would go. But if people like Rembert showed the amazing, positive sides of Detroit maybe more people would be willing to help this handicapped city. The Heidelberg project is a beautiful example of this. The people in this city, even through nasty rumors, hard economic times, and more are trying to thrive and hold on to the amazing city Detroit once was. They work together each and everyday to better their city and I applaud them for that. More people should for their own homes. Detroit was once an amazing city. It shouldn't crumble over a few flipped cars and nasty rumors should it?

Wesley Morris Bodies of the Year article

Wesley Morris's article is finally what our society needed to read. We as a culture are enamored with the beliefs that having perfect bodies will create perfect lives. Sadly that's just not possible. And I do agree with Morris on the fact that 2013 has been a year full of scandalous videos and pictures by the famous people we have come to known. From Kim Kardashians booty-licious pic to Matthew McConaughey's gone grossly skinny, this year has seen it all. And that’s not always a good thing. Teen and young girls today are seriously having a mental meltdown. No one knows what body type is right and what body type is wrong. And honestly I would rather have that than to feel forced to be super skinny.

I did however enjoy his counterargument within his piece involving Katy Perry. We all remember Katy Perry's first hit single I kissed a girl and it wasn't exactly prude. However lately she has been focusing more on good-ole-fashion beauty instead of getting naked for the cameras. She is a prime example that people don't have to have perfect bodies in order to have perfect lives. However this is more difficult for our generation to understand than others. If these artists continue to show their bodies in immodest fashions than younger and younger girls are going to begin hating their bodies even more; and that can obviously lead to eating disorders, distorted thoughts and more. And that’s the last thing Katy Perry and other healthy actresses want. Girls these days have no idea what body type they "should have anymore". Which is almost a good thing. Before they had to be super skinny but now thanks to so many new actresses, looking normal is kind of cool. And kind of cool is enough for a 12 year old.

            Society needs people who are confident and proud of the bodies they have been given. In Morris's example of Pain and Gain, he describes the movie as a satirical view on today size focused society. Which is completely true. People need to stop obsessing over their weight and start obsessing over their present. We can change our weight whenever we want but we can’t change our pasts. So if we live our lives obsessing over body types, are we really living at all?