Assignment 20: Sofi Tzouanakis

I speak a lot in front of groups of people, whether they be small board room meetings or large-scale conference rooms in hotels, so I feel like I have a decent grasp of the concept of public speaking (for my age). So today, I'd like to tell you how to be a passable public speaker!

You're a teenager; adults like anything that comes out of your mouth. Literally, sometimes I feel like I could say the absolute most obscene thing while speaking, and adults will still come back up to me afterward and fawn over it. I think it's because adults expect teenagers to just be hooligans and do stupid things, so they set their expectations for teenagers really low. When a teen actually does something halfway decent with their time, they're already impressed. So really, just think: if you make what you say at least mediocre, they're going to LOVE you.

Speak loudly. I've never had a problem with this (lol), but I know a lot of kids have trouble speaking up while others are watching. A tip I give for kids like this is look at the person the farthest away from you in the room and pretend you're speaking to them. That's how loud your voice needs to be, the whole time. Also, if you have to turn away from your audience and can't possibly talk any louder than you're already talking, just wait until you've turned back to speak. I've seen a lot of kids just keep talking when their mouth is turned the other way. We can't hear you!!!!

Don't script it. Trust me, remembering every line is much harder than just knowing the information and going with the flow (except if you're presenting a speech). It will also sound forced and terrible and like you were just staying up all night trying to memorize every "the" and "a" in your presentation... and that's because you probably were. When something goes awry, it's much easier to hop back if you haven't itinerized your whole time on stage.

That's about all! Now you might go from "slide-reader" to "slide-checker"! Just kidding (sort of).

Assignment 19: Sofi Tzouanakis

A lot of advice is given to youth, and whether it be for the benefit of the teller or the recipient of said information is not always clear. Nonetheless, advice is always something to look for, whether it's good or bad. Something (sometimes even more) can be gained from terrible advice. But today I'll share some advice which was, in my opinion, great. A lot of the time, advice isn't just what it says; much of the time, it's who says it. Somebody who I know who has been through a lot said a line to me very similar to the Plato quote, "Be kind, for everyone is fighting a hard battle." It wasn't a word-by-word reading of the quote, but I'm using it for reference because I can't remember exactly what he said, and the Plato quote is nicely articulated. I had heard things of this nature, but I never took it to heart until this person told it to me. For someone who had been through so much crap in their life, I could not believe they could see past all of the foggy resentment they could hold and say something so enlightening. My life isn't even close to as hard as theirs, so the least I could do was to keep these words in my heart and practice them.

Assignment 18: Sofi Tzouanakis

1.) The one thing on my bucket list to accomplish before high school ends is to actually survive high school! Truly, I think simply accomplishing this is truly a feat which is difficult enough on it's own. So much else goes on in my life that high school is the ultimate balancing act of extracurriculars, school and social life (lol). Hopefully I'll get my diploma and will be able to give that achievement one big fat check.
2.) I think I'd like to be more well-traveled before I finish college. This is an interesting goal, since I will be in college with no time to travel, but I think I mean that I wish to do a lot of study abroad and philanthropy trips in coordination to the school I go to. I absolutely love learning about cultures and the way other people work in different parts of the world, so what better way to figure that out than to travel and integrate myself into that culture?
3.) Before I finish living? I hope there's a lot of time between now and then, so my decision now will probably not my conducive to my future self, but that's alright. I guess I'd really like to live in a big city for awhile, whether that be NYC, or Paris, or possibly even Munich. I've always wanted to live in a place where everything is happening at one and a world of opportunity is at your doorstep. First, I need to consider the astronomical cost of living though...

Assignment 22 Ryan Collins

If i could be any character, I would have to go with Percy Jackson, from the Percy Jackson and the olympians series. Ever since I was young, i have been fascinated with Greek mythology. From tales of the gods intervening with mortals, or heroes heroically fighting terrifying beats, I have always enjoyed learning about them. Being Percy Jackson would be great for many reasons: 1, I would be the son of Poseidon, and therefore be able to control water which is pretty BA if you ask me. 2: I would go to camp halfblood, a camp with all the other demigods around the US to train, learn about our culture and just enjoy ourselves, in between monster attacks that is, which brings me to the last reason. 3: As a demigod i would embark on dangerous quests to combat the forces of evil and defend the mortal realm, so there would never be a dull moment. though it may be frightening at times, it would be a dream to see how greek mythology fits in with modern culture, one of the things i loved most about the books.

Assignment 22 Wes Grigsby

If I could be any fictional character, which fictional character would I be and why would I be that character? I think that that the character, more so the fictional character that I would be and the reason I would be that character would ultimately stem from the fictional character's abilities and/or position, and not so much from the fictional character's background. The fictional character that I would be would probably be Spider Man. The only reason I would be that nerd is because of his abilities, I mean who wouldn't want that shit. You get webs, you can climb stuff, jump farther, you get a cool suit, that would be. His position would suck though, college and you got to worry about fighting bad guys, that would be pretty bad. He does have the perfect amount of super stuff though. Superman has too much, its annoying how much crap he has. But with Spider Man you still retain a bit of normal stuff and humanness.

Assignment 23: the perfect playlist

A Blast From the Past

"High Fidelity" (2000) was a film that was remarkably ahead of its time. The film tells the story of Rob Gordon, a washed-up music junkie (played by the fantastic John Cusack) who spends his days creating perfect 5 song playlists. There's his playlist for his worst break up ever, his playlist of the top 5 soul tracks released between 1955 and 1965, and his playlist for his ex-girlfriend's dad's funeral.

Today, thanks to Limewire, iTunes, the "genius" Itunes feature, and Pandora, creating a "perfect" playlist has never been easier.

On the other hand, Rob probably would be appalled by the slapdash way some of us throw together any group of songs above a certain tempo before we head to the gym, or take all those below a certain tempo and thoughtlessly label it “chillaxxx.” As Rob forewarned, “The making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do’s and don’ts. You’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.”

So for this blog assignment, create a "perfect" playlist for something. It could be your perfect playlist to listen to at the gym (boring!), perfect playlist for a rainy day, perfect playlist for anything. . . be as creative as you can. Once you have chosen a topic, select 5 tracks for this playlist, noting the song and artist, and write a few sentences explaining why you chose this song, what this song adds to your playlist, why you put it where you did, and how it works with the other songs you selected to create a cohesive perfect playlist.

If you want link it to a spotify playlist and share a link.

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, April 13th at 11:59 pm

(Last day to turn in make up assignments 21-23)

entry courtesy John Cowgill

Assignment 22: Fictional Character, Fictional Life

Out of all of the books, all of the movies, and all of the television shows you have watched, consider your favorite characters. Then, answer the following:

If you could be any fictional character, who would you be and why?

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, March 23th at 11:59 pm

At This Moment...

Found in an abandoned journal…

I. Hate. Texas. More specifically, I hate the town of Pecos, Reeves County, west Texas. Every day the dry wind whips off the Chihuahuan Desert and through town. The only discernable feature in the landscape is the mighty Pecos River, a glorified creek that winds through the red dirt hills. Oh, the hills! They stretch out into the flat horizon in every direction, giving the land a kind of suffocating infinity. The big gray sky presses down imperially from above.

I have to get out.

Ever since I was little, I knew I had to get out of Pecos. So I saved up my money, waited until I could buy an old junker from the used car lot—and made a plan. And today is the day, my friends. At long, painful last, I am headed Out! The open plains, the snowcapped Rockies, and the deepest gorges are beckoning to me.

As I abandon the torpid pace in Pecos to search for my own manifest destiny, I leave you with this, dear reader:

““It should not be denied that being footloose has always exhilarated us. It is associated in our minds with escape from history and oppression and law and irksome obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led West.” 
― Wallace Stegner

Assignment 21 - Angela Tseng

At this moment in time, somewhere in the universe...
Someone is probably writing a blog post, just like I am right now. In fact, there are probably multiple people doing this exact act. Sure, while they're probably not writing about the same thing that I am, with the number of people in the world and also the number of those that probably run a blog, the chance that there's at least one person writing or simply working on their blog right now isn't unlikely at all. Someone could be writing simply about their day, while another is writing about a specific prompt like me, or if it's someone on a site such as Tumblr simply reblogging photos from other people. So when you think about it, knowing that you're not the only person being a hermit in the coziness of your own room typing out your thoughts instead of actually going outside to talk to people makes you feel a little bit better about it.