TOW #13: Charles Kennedy Speech - A Drink Problem

http://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-short-speeches/charles-kennedy-speech-a-drink-problem.htm

Charles Peter Kennedy was a British Liberal Democrat politician, who was Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006 and a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2015.

Kennedy acknowledges his co workers and the people he feels he has hurt because of his drinking problem. He admits that he “ should have been willing to talk about it more openly before” but just could not involve others until he figured out the problem himself. Grieving in this way, he says thank you to the people that have stuck with him and supported him through his journey as well as the public, people who deserve to know what has been going on in the life of the politician who helps make such big decisions. Speaking to his audience in such a way is an attempt to persuade his audience to forgive him because he had admit how wrong he was in his actions and not being more public about the issue sooner.

Although he know he has had a problem, he is smart and acknowledges his current state and says he is capable of leading the party. To prove he cares for the party he extends the decision to the rest of the members of the party to decide if he is worthy of continuing his position. Doing so, he shows he cares for the audience trying to show he is a good, worthy leader and should continue his position. He does not go on a tangent about how great he is and all he has done for his people. It would defeat his purpose. Kennedy keeps his speech brief to show he is not trying to sway his audience one way or the other and he genuinely wants what is best for his people.

TOW #12: Live Your Legacy Now by Barbara Greenspan Shaiman

Live Your Legacy Now by Barbara Greenspan Shaiman is a book about the author’s life about how she survived the holocaust and realized she wants to strive to make meaning in her life and inspire others to do the same. Not only that, but she wants to guide people in improving their own life as well as the life of others.

Speaking in first person, Shaiman is able to write the book as the speaker and explain to the readers her point of view to inspire the readers on a more personal level. Her goal is to provide the readers with tools and strategies to help them create significant and meaningful change in other people’s lives and their own. In her memoir, she is able to become vulnerable in her approach to making her audience feel motivated to create meaning to life.

She structures her ten step system within sections. She splits it up this way to make the topic sentences bold so the readers can either skip steps to find one’s they need to look over again or draw attention to the main ideas of each step. The process analysis mode is used to help direct her audience so they have a step by step understanding to her process and how she plans to help people achieve her mission. Some steps listed include: “Identify your core values, interests, and skills, Reflect on how you can use these assets to create meaningful projects that make a difference locally or globally, Share these experiences with family, colleagues, and friends to create cultures of caring at home, at work, and in your community.” Her step by step system is written in this way to guide the reader in a quick and easy fashion so make her process simplistic and not hard to follow.

Her step by step system appeals to a large audience making her purpose achievable in every socioeconomic background possible. This way, she is able to see her system applied amongst all backgrounds allowing everyone a chance to try and make a positive change in their life and the lives of others.

TOW #11: Chief Seattle's “Oration of 1854”

Chief Seattle was a native man who was wise and led his people with great soul. Governor Stevens came to his land and said that he was now in charge of the Indian affairs. He gave a speech describing his plan for the Indians and Chief Seattle gave this speech in response.

In his speech, he mainly uses compare and contrast to emphasize the differences between the white man and the natives as well as to educate the Governor about his people and their lifestyle. He says in the beginning how there are “hostilities between the red man and his pale-face brothers” to create labels for them based on race (6). All of the contrasts said after stem from their race. Not only are white men more populated but have a God that “cannot love his red children” (9). The Chief continuously argues that their God hates his people and only loves his white children. Therefore, they “are two distinct races and must remain so” (10). The paragraphs full of contrast show not only how many differences there are but show that the native people are not going to be so simply accepting of the proposal presented to them by the white man.

Chief Seattle also continues to educate the white man about his people and religion so they have a better understanding of who they are before they agree to give up land. The native people’s land is sacred to them and they value every inch of it unlike the white man. He says, “The ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their final resting place is hallowed ground, while you wander away from the tombs of your father’s seemingly without regret” (10). Chief Seattle believes that their lives are very different and wants the white man to understand how they live, approach religion, and how they worship and treat the dead because they are values and concepts not adopted by the white man. Chief Seattle makes remarks about their culture and way of life so the white man can do with the land as the original owners (the natives) wanted and intended the land to be like. Their values are strong and they hold true to them.

At the end of the speech he makes a final remark about the potential result of agreeing to the proposition. He says that the natives want the white man to understand that the “white man will never be alone” (20). Chief Seattle makes it clear that they take pride in their ancestors and they stay with them in their burial ground. The white man cannot remove what was already left their by the natives and no matter what they cannot change that.

TOW #10: Drop Stop

Shark Tank: Drop Stop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VroUci_e-c

Mark and Jeffrey present their product Drop stop with humor to try and attract the shark to invest in their product. They begin their pitch with rhetorical questions in an attempt to get their audience thinking about the problems they are having so Mark and Jeffrey can present a way to fix them to make their product more appealing. By beginning with rhetorical questions, they already start by attracting the audience making their product seem better in the moment to help them get an investment in the end.

After utilizing rhetorical question, Mark and Jeffrey use humor to make the sharks and them seem almost equal. They make their presentation not only entertaining, but they make the sharks relate to them with humor. By relating themselves in this way, the sharks feel that they can relate more to Mark and Jeffrey and more of a friendly atmosphere. The friendly atmosphere enables the audience and the speaker to have a better interaction and a healthy, happy type interaction.

Along with humor, the speakers emphasize how a lot of people have the problem so their audience isn’t alone. Not only that, but they make sure to point out that they, too, have this problem. Showing the vulnerability and weakness, makes the audience feel as if they too can admit their problem and make them more willing to buy the product and see its benefits.

Mark and Jeffrey also use tone to effectively present their product with confidence. Being confident, they seem like they know what they’re talking about and they have a product worth listening to.

IRB Intro 2

Author: Barbara Greenspan Shaiman

Title: Live Your Legacy Now!

Brief summary/description: Barbara Shaiman is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and is the founder of Champions of Caring. Her foundation was an effort to inspire people to become social activists. She later created Embrace Your Legacy to inspire people to live their legacy by performing services to a community. In her effort to make a social change, she writes her book Live Your Legacy Now to guide her readers of how to make a change in their life and the lives of other people.

TOW #9: Thingloss

Shark tank: Thingloss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV1hYfuwl-E

April Morris invented a lip gloss that is meant to help women lose weight. In a press for time, she uses an anecdote to explain how the product has helped her personally lose about 30 pounds. Her anecdote provided the sharks with a personal example of how the product has benefitted her to better persuade them to help her spread her company and bring in more money. The sharks could see first hand from an expert of the product of the lip gloss’ benefit. Morris also gave the sharks each a lip gloss to try and smell to show them the product for themselves so they can see the product rather than play mind games with themselves.

In an attempt to target women who want to lose weight, Morris provides posters of how body weight has decreased using before and after visuals of different women. Using the visual helps her show evidence appealing to logos as well as making her woman audience feel as though they can lose weight with this easy step.

Morris also does something really important when giving a persuasive speech: portrays confidence. During her small lecture, she is standing tall, speaking loudly, and shows no fear when interrogated about her product. She came prepared with all the answers to the questions which made the sharks trust she knew what she was talking about, as well as really had motivation to push for her product to succeed more than it was already.

The purpose of her product is to help women lose weight in an easy practical way. She addresses how she herself uses the product and raised children on her own and it became hard to worry about her own body and not her children’s. Using the lip gloss, she is able to provide for her kids health and help herself with her own without trying as hard.

TOW #8: Street Kid by Judy Westwater

Judy Westwater’s Street Kid is a story about a little girl who grew up with an abusive father, his cruel girlfriend, and a mother who did not want her. She had to learn to grow on her own and learn things for herself. By the age of 8, Judy Westwater got abandoned by her mother, almost died from her father’s girlfriend’s abuse, and almost escaped from home multiple times. Even at a young age, she learned to have the will to survive even though bad days. She was able to find strength as a child that most adults don’t have on their own. Through her story, Westwater shows us that even though there are obstacles there are also ways to move past them.

Through her narrative, she switches tone to exaggerate her purpose. She makes her audience feel badly for her as she gets beaten and scolded at then switches to an inspirational tone and says, “You can beat the outside of me all you like but you’re not going to get the inside of me. You’re not going to see me cry” (84). Her inspirational tone enables herself to appeal to the audience’s emotions by making them feel sympathy for the author and/or relate to her situation.

She wrote this book not only as a means to inspire people but to remind people that the world isn’t perfect. People blind themselves with rainbow glasses making the world seem better than it is because they don’t to admit it to themselves that the world is not as good as we make it seem 24/7. We are human. Judy Westwater was just trying to tell the audience that it’s okay you just have to pull through the hard times and motivate yourself to move forward in life.

TOW #7: Henry David Thoreau's “Civil Disobedience"

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” was written at a time of slavery- something Thoreau had many problems with. He not only did not like the idea of slavery but he attempted to inspire people to make it come to an end. Thoreau speaks to people who want to rebel against the government and are too scared too, and people who are sitting back waiting for people to make a change so they don’t have to.

Thoreau believes the government should stop being immoral and wants to open the eyes of his audience. Wanting to improve the government, he discusses how they use logic over morals and argues that American citizens (at least in his current era) should prioritize the beliefs of their conscience when dealing with legal or political matters. Prioritizing their conscience, he may motivate his audience to make a change and stand up to be able to change how the government rules us.

In his essay, he includes an anecdote of when he went to jail because he pay the tax. Using the anecdote he is able to give credibility showing his audience how he personally has rebelled and went against the government to not only prove a point but become one step closer to making a difference.He also uses metaphors and describes generals as ‘wooden men’ and explains that, “Such command no more respect than men of straw, or a lump of dirt.” This comparison between soldiers and straw men/dirt is meant to outline how Thoreau views morality, as well as the lack thereof within the United States. He views soldiers as beings who have had their individuality and free will stripped from them, making them seem dull and morally lifeless just like dirt or straw. He argues this is because these soldiers have too much respect for the law and not enough obligation or thought to do what is right.

TOW #6: Grinds

Shark tank: Grinds Coffee Pouches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee_ZOl8VYnY

Pat and Matt are two young entrepreneurs who invented Grinds which is a company that produces an energy booster with coffee packets that provides a healthy alternative to tobacco, has healthy nutrients, and better for you than coffee. They went on Shark Tank with hopes of getting money to help them distribute their product more quickly and efficiently.

Because their audience was the Sharks, they had to come prepared and have a confident tone. Though a confident tone can make one seem cocky, they withheld from such an impression and even proved what they were saying was true by giving the Sharks a test of their product. Giving them a first hand example gave them credibility because the Sharks could see their product worse ultimately boosting the audience trust in the entrepreneurs. They also appealed to the Shark’s logic utilizing the idea of logos and brought facts and numbers to the table. In a scenario like this, they have to use more logos than any other appeal because the Sharks are basing their deals off of the numbers and both Pat and Matt used statistics to attempt to persuade the Sharks to make a deal with them. In the end, the impression they made worked because they got two deals to choose from from the Sharks.

I believe appealing to ethos and logos as well as having a confident tone, the entrepreneurs were able to prove their product to be successful and get a deal with the Sharks with potential ease. They proved examples of when their product would be used hoping to relate to their audience and even though one Shark was out because she couldn’t relate the other Sharks could. I think they proved their point and achieved their goal well.

TOW #5: Everyday Use by Alice Walker

Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” is a short story about a family during the civil rights movement at a time of racism. The mom grew up in a different cultural environment and the black culture has changed through the generations. We see how the mom grew up in an environment where “colored asked fewer questions” (3). The context helps with the message of don’t take anything for granted, everything is important. The civil-rights issues during the time period focused on ethnic pride and heritage. In this story, Dee doesn’t have that much ethnic pride. Her lack of pride is illustrated when the narrator describes how ‘she used to read us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice’ (2). Dee tells stories about other people and their lives because she doesn’t want to live her own. She’s ashamed to live the way her family does which is why she tried so hard to get out of it.

The story teaches her audience not to take anything for granted and to hold onto your heritage. We see the purpose come to light with the eldest daughter’s actions. Dee shows up to her mother’s house and seems proper and too herself and she makes her family feel as if they’re not good enough. The readers have already learned how she had a specific image for her family at the bottom of page 2. She waltzes in with a “dress down to the ground…” showing how she has moved up in the world and her family has not (4). Her mother shows that is not important by denying Dee the quilt at the end of the story and gives Maggie the quilt instead. Dee wanted to hang it on a wall but her mother said she missed the point and Maggie would use it and embrace it rather than hang it at a wall like a museum. Maggie is seen as more hated than Dee but finally becomes more superior making the point more powerful.

TOW #4: Street Kid by Judy Westwater

So far, her potential purpose could be to show everyone how you can move on from the negative events and obstacles in your life. After getting beaten consistently for years, getting taken from her mother, and almost dying, Judy Westwater was able to move onto her adulthood and write her book. She enabled herself to demonstrate how she moved on and can share her story with the world.

Westwater is able to achieve her purpose appealing to pathos. She uses phrases like "where I was eating ashes" and "I could have died" to make her audience feel desperately sympathetic towards the author and her situation (2, 29). Her hard hitting diction attacks your heart until tears swell in your eyes- her story is inspiring. She describes her childhood and how she never lived the "normal" life a child should live. She was beaten senselessly by her father’s girlfriend and almost died due to her unnecessary force and wounding whips. After the police did some investigating, she could leave but had to go to an orphanage where she was able to demonstrate how alienated she felt amongst other children. Westwater was scolded for not understanding how to eat properly and not wanting to play with the kids.

Judy Westwater proves she was able to develop independence and worry for herself. She shows us the power of looking after yourself when she describes how she never knew what it meant to play and she only knew how to sulk and hide. She had to worry for herself more than be a true kid and have fun.

TOW #3: Ronald Reagan’s State of the Union Address

The Challenger space shuttle, meant to carry a schoolteacher to space, had exploded and killed seven of its passengers. President Ronald Reagan had to tell the country what had happened and throughout his speech he spoke directly to many different people. He addresses the public, families of the victims, children, and the NASA employees. He tells the families that the country is thinking about them very much and feel terribly. He addresses the public and tells them what happened to the shuttle. He speaks to the children and tells them sometimes painful things happen. Finally, he says to NASA that their work has always impressed him and the country.

Overall, Reagan’s speech was written to explain to the country that we all face challenges but that doesn’t mean we should stop exploring and we should never falter at the face of hardship. Exploration and discovery are very important and we honor those who go out and do those things for the nation.

Reagan uses a lot of pathos in his speech. He uses terms such as “us”, “we”, “we’re”, and “we’ve” to bring us closer together as a nation during this time of loss. Using such diction, he is able to evoke certain emotions. Reagan expresses his sadness in the very beginning of his speech when he says he is “pained to the core” because of the tragedy that struck America (1). Using diction, he is also able to rally us and give us hope. He says, “ Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue,” to emphasize how we can move forward and our endeavors can never end because there is a major or minor bump in the road (9).

Reagan is able to achieve his purpose by appealing to his audience’s emotions. He is able to connect to the people and make them believe what he says.

TOW #2: The Marcellus Effect

Mark Wilson’s The Marcellus Effect is a visual describing the water we intake every day.
The hydro fracking container is when sand and chemicals mix with water from a gas well. It is meant to form fractures in rock with the help of tiny fractures already present in the rock to allow for better gas flow, but instead it contaminates drinking water wells. Wilson’s picture demonstrates the water being contaminated and takes it a step further by presenting a man who has accepted the water to drink.

Wilson demonstrates to the public how we are too quick to accept the water we drink and attempts to open the eyes of the public in hopes to change their perspective. Using a bottle marked with a skull and crossbones immediately shows his audience how powerful and harmful the chemicals can be. The man drinking the water is dressed nicely and looks like a stereotypical intelligent man. He is wearing a tie, dressed nicely, and has glasses allowing the author to imply he is knowledgeable. Even still the man is willing to drink the water proving to the audience that the water we drink even though very much contaminated is “drinkable” in our minds.

Ultimately, the author wants to change our perspective and open our eyes. To do so, he shows us how it is completely normal and reasonable to believe our water is fine and will not harm us too bad. Wilson allows us to realize that the water we drink can be very harmful from the skull and crossbones and simply painting a picture for us. When people look at the water they drink, all they see is the water. People do not see the chemicals or the sand and therefore are fine and do not normally second guess what they are ingesting. Wilson provides his audience with perspective.

Wilson, Mark. The Marcellus Effect. N.d. EmpireWire, n.p.

TOW #1: Mark Twain's Corn-pone Opinions

Mark Twain, the “father of literature”, addresses the idea of adjusting the socially acceptable norm in his essay Corn-pone Opinions. He writes about how other people influence our opinion of the norm. He says, “The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders, and accepting their verdicts,” (3). Demonstrating that it is part of human nature, Twain is able to achieve his purpose: a corn-pone opinion is about self-approval. The essay was written to help everyone understand that the opinion of a potential social norm becomes greatly altered during a ‘chain reaction’. The chain reaction of people slowly but surely following the trend making a new socially acceptable norm.

To illustrate his meaning, he uses many examples along with an anecdote to help the audience’s understanding of what a corn-pone opinion is. He begins his essay with an anecdote of a black slave he knew when he was young. Twain describes how the slave had wonderful speech and he loved to listen to him. The quote he remembers most is, “You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is,” (1). The quote not only introduces the topic but acts as a driving force for the rest of the essay. It means everyone’s opinion comes from someone or something else.

Twain also uses examples of where corn pone has already affected our lives. The idea of a piece of clothing, his example: the hoopskirt, starts out ugly but as more and more people begin to buy it, it becomes popular. The popularity enables the hatred for the skirt disintegrate. Twain describes the disintegration in his prose: “a rule of our self-approval has its source... - the approval of other people,” (2). Twain enables his audience to understand how self-approval not only relates to corn pone opinions but how it takes a part in our lives.

IRB Intro MP1

Author: Judy Westwater

Title: Street Kid

Street Kid is a true story about the author’s life. She was cared for by her awful father and beaten by nuns. She ended up living alone on the streets and persevered through the obstacles. One of my close friends recommended the novel for me because she said I would love it. I enjoy reading inspiring novels about the hardships people went through. I learn about how other people get over obstacles and I gain perspective on my own life. Learning new things about the main character allows me to learn new things about myself. I am able to discover more about who I want to be and how I want to approach situations. Reading novels like Street Kid allows me to open my eyes.

Photo Citation: 9780007222018. N.d. Waterstones, n.p.

Insert Flap "A" and Throw Away

S. J. Perelman is an American writer known for his many humorous short stories. Insert Flap “A” and Throw Away is one about a father who is gradually becoming
more and more obsessive over the construction of his children’s toy. After much
hard work he turns to complete insanity before he can finish the job.

The short story teaches everyone about the importance of understanding the faults of gender roles. The father in the story cannot break away from the role he believes he has in his house. Being the “man of the house” he feels he has to prove to his kids he can complete any task. The readers get insight to his thoughts when the author writes, “I was determined to show them who was the master,” (189). With the mindset that a father should be “the master” he drives himself crazy trying to complete a task his wife earlier described as “simple,” (187).

Perelman uses diction to achieve his purpose by describing how the task was taking control of him. The readers find the father saying he “was on his hands and knees, bunting the infernal thing,” making the object being constructed a figure of hell for the man (189). At the end, the author writes, “as merciful blackness closed in,” implying that the father was more powerful and dark than black. The readers can see how much the father is affected by the role he believes he must play in his house.

The male gender role plays a huge part in Perelman’s short story Insert Flap “A” and Throw Away. There is a set of attitudes and behaviors a male is “supposed” to have. A man is stereotypically able to work all the science and math in every situation, do the construction and mechanics, and are in charge. In the story, the father believes that the societal norm is almost mandatory and the fact he can’t follow through with the appropriate role makes him go mad.

The stereotypical contrast between the female and male genders

Photo: Tumblr_nkapt2MT0m1uoe2hgo1_500. 2015. Tumblr, n.p.

No Name Woman

Maxine Hong Kingston is a Chinese-American author and professor at University of California. Her essay No Name Woman is a story of a Chinese woman who disobeyed the culture or her people. The woman, whether she wanted to or not, had to give herself to an anonymous lover and now she can never be spoken of. She became a sinner and ended up drowning herself in her sins to her inevitable death.

From the author’s aunt’s story, Kingston’s audience learns a two valuable lessons. First, we learn about Chinese culture and how serious the punishments can be. Not only the causes and effects, but how hard it is to be a Chinese woman because of how much physical appearance matters. Secondly, we learn to think before we act and to beware of the consequences. In her story, the mother tells the daughter to not be like her aunt because she does not want the same to happen to their family. Kingston makes the point for the benefit of everyone. Everyone has something to take away from the story.

Kingston uses color to demonstrate the severity of the consequences of disobeying the customs of culture. She writes, “men and woman we knew well wore white masks… some had tied white bands around their foreheads, arms, and legs,” using white as a symbol of purity (384). The purity of the people contrasts from the vulgar actions of the aunt. The white color emphasizes the awful actions and the effect actions can have when you do not think your actions through.

Her purpose was achieved by her color metaphor and tone. She quotes her mother, “Don’t humiliate us. You wouldn’t like to be forgotten as if you’ve never been born,” (385). Her audience can begin to understand the seriousness of the rules of culture and the effect it can have. Chinese marriage customs are strict and the decision is made by a matchmaker. Marriage is not decided by love but rather decided by the parents. Her aunt seemed to go against custom and was brutally judged for it.

A Chinese couple expressing their gratitude to their parents expressing the importance of their parents and customs in their culture

Photo:  Lim, Louisa. 10_wedding-9e4b0c9e0b69c73b3f87852b03bb017c47c918b2. N.d. Ncpr, n.p.

How It Feels To Be Colored Me

Zora Neale Hurston’s How It Feels To Be Colored Me, is a narrative about how she is labeled depending on her location. The contrast of complexions and her family history plays a great deal to her identity to everyone in her area except her. Her labels do not hurt the author but rather open her eyes.

Her audience develops an understanding for what labels mean. She shows African American people that they should never accept or get depressed over any label they are given, while informing other races that they are not different nor superior to her race and no race should be labeled such. She writes, “No, I do not weep at the world- I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife,” showing her audience that their is no point in weeping about other people's opinions of you on a subject that should have no negative meaning (115). Everyone can benefit from her purpose.

Using a metaphor, she explains her purpose quite well. She uses the idea of colored bags with similar contents to show her audience that all races are the same on the inside. In her conclusion, she further illustrates how they are all similar: “that all might be dumped in a single heap and the bags refilled without altering the content of any greatly,” (117). She succeeds in showing her audience how people of different races have a lot in common.

In 1928 when the essay was published, there were still racial tensions as rights were being given to African Americans. The second Ku Klux Klan was well developed at this time. Hurston, living in Florida, lived in a place of racial bias and segregation. She lived independent from white people and wrote her story with the description of this kind of life. She made us think, connect, and wonder about the purpose behind the idea of a label knowing the author was known as herself in one place and a colored girl in another. Hurston paints a picture using ethos, pathos, and metaphors so her audience can feel the meaning behind her words just like she did the music of the orchestra.

African American man making a statement in a dangerous public area to demonstrate the importance and his passion

Photo: Joshua. Big_18ad7fd21c. 2014. GettyImages, Missouri.