wiki 5 - 0/20 no post for 11/6

wiki 4 - 20/20 - good choice to watch. You also made a number of great observations!

Wiki 4- 10/29/09- Ronald Reagan "Tear Down this Wall" Speech

Ronald Reagan was a very powerful speaker.  The words he used sent very clear, powerful, and moving messages.  His speech was over a very serious topic, and he therefore did a great job of keeping it very professional and sounding very serious the whole time but not powered.  He did a great job putting emphasis on the words or quick phrases that he really wanted people to hear and understand.  His contact was pretty good, however at times you could almost predict when he was going to look down again and look at his speech notes.  His gestures were not evident at all, but due to the serious nature of the speech, I think it was fine so as not to take away from the serious nature with random hand movements.  He made emphasis not with hand gestures but with word emphasis and a serious and powerful tone of voice throughout his speech.  "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall," has lived in the minds of many Americans for years as a declaration of power and the pursuit of freedom, proving that this indeed was a great speech.

wiki 3 - 20/20 - Good posting!

Wiki 3- 10/20/09- Vicar Mizel is a solid public speaker.  He did a good job of making eye contact because he memorized his message.  He was loud enough throughout his message, but the only thing I noticed was sometimes his voice went a little out of pitch almost.  He did a good job of using gestures as well.  His message was easy to follow and he connected well with his audience.  He did a good job of getting his message across using his written speech, but he also seemingly had the ability to modify what he was saying to match his audience's response.  He gets the attetntion of his audience by moving around while he is speaking while not moving around too much too distract you from his message.  His voice inflection matched the tone of the point he was trying to make at the time.  But as I said, the only thing I noticed was that sometimes his voice got a little bit out of pitch and he was more high pitched.  Other than that, Vical Mizel is also a very effective public speaker.

wiki 2 - 20/20 - good job! Excellent range of observations!

Wiki 2- 10/16/09- Mr. Kuhlmann is a very good public speaker.  He does a good job of keeping the audiences attention by using good change in his voice, volume, and inflection.  He also uses gestures very well.  His message is usually easy to follow, but it also does a good job of making a valid point.  He usually uses students to help him out either by reading or using them in a skit.  By using students in a message directed towards students, he captures his audience better because the students may pay more attention to their peers rather than a teacher just speaking the whole time.  He makes good eye contact with his audience because his messages, while not completely memerized word-for-word, are memorized in terms of the ideas he wants to portray, so  he can  stick to his basic outline of speech ideas but is also able to make changes to his message based on the audiences reactions.  He does a good job of maintaining his enthusiasm throughout the speech, sounding positive throughout the whole speech or message but also using a more "gloomy" voice when the time calls for it.  In summary, Mr. Kuhlmann does a good job of switching his tone of voice when it is called for, making good eye contact, connecting with his audience through simple yet valid messages, and using good gestures.

wiki 1  - 20/20 - great job.Liked all the details you caught!

10/9/09- Pastor Clausing is a very effective public speaker.  He does a good job of making good eye contact and relating to his audiences through analogies and easy to follow messages.  He uses gestures very well, because he doesn't overdo them or use them too little.  His gestures are not over the top extravagant, but he uses hand gestures very well when it comes to making a point and getting his point across.  He also has very good posture, as he has his hands comfortably at his sides when he speaks, and if he wants to use a gesture to make a point, he does very well at keeping one hand at his side while his other hand makes the gesture.  He speaks very clear and does not mumble or speak too soft, too loud, or too fast.  He also does a good job maintaining his enthusiasm and is always well prepared.  He just looks and sounds very professional when he speaks.  His voice is very consistent and he also does a good job of pausing when the time calls for it.  His voice isn't all over the place; he is just very consistent.  I may not always like going to chapel everyday and listening to him all the time, but I can not deny that he is a very good public speaker who is very effective at using good gestures, using a good and consistent voice, and making good eye contact.  Pastor Clausing is simply a very solid public speaker.

Short Story- Eagle Pass

Eagle Pass

            Eagle Pass, Texas was on the rise.  On the banks of the Rio Grande, this still small town was no longer just a field of Dixie prairie grass.  I had lived there my whole life; it would always be my home.  It grew up with me, and by the time I got my first job as a salesman in an Eagle Pass office, small businesses and business parks had sprawled out from the wispy country grass.  Eagle Pass has the feel of a small town with the opportunities of a big one.  This may have been the appeal of my once anonymous city.

            There was a trade-off, however, for the positive effects of urbanization.  Although it had yet to be invaded by the illicit Mexican salesmen (at least to the knowledge of the general public and to the Eagle Pass police department), the threat of Mexican drug violence spilling over into Eagle Pass had never been more of a threat.  Due to urbanization, we became a bigger target market for the illegal Mexican drug trade.

            But that had yet to happen.  Thank the good Lord for border patrol.

            My alarm sounded.  I reluctantly got out of bed, out of my comfortable pajamas, and into the shower and off to work.  I worked at a local business that sold office supplies, with the emphasis being on ink pens.  How exciting, I know.  My boss was, as many people tend to feel about their bosses, an incompetent moron who didn’t really know what he was doing, but I digress.  I was one of a handful of sales workers, and we all came to know each other pretty well in our little part of the office.  Except for Jim- Jim remained a mystery.

            Jim was the recluse of the salesmen (salespeople to be politically correct), your average quiet person.  He came to work each day with a cup of coffee in one hand, briefcase in the other, and ate at the same table everyday for lunch.  Whether or not someone sat with him, he always sat at the same table.  And yet somehow, he was the top salesman in the office, year after year, month after month.  That must have been the reason he always wore fashionable suits to work.  He never said anything that resembled gloating, and he never said anything bad about anyone; in fact, he rarely said anything at all.  Unless he was talking to a client or answering someone’s question, Jim Rodriguez had little to say.

            Jim missed a few days in a row that month; I assumed they were personal days.  And when he came back, he was still the same guy except for the tired look of bags under his eyes and a fancy new car parked in the front.  As a fellow salesman, I couldn’t help but realize that, no matter what his commission, he couldn’t reasonably afford such a beautiful car.  But it was rude to ask how he got it; maybe he had rich parents, for Jim was a single man.  Maybe he was just a free spender.  I didn’t know, so I just smiled as he walked by and said, “Hey Jimmy, nice car!  When you get it?”

            “Thanks…” 

            Jim kept walking.  That was all the response I got.  He sat down just a few feet away and got to work.  ‘I guess his answering would have taken too much time,’ I thought sarcastically.  I didn’t give it much second thought after that.  I just assumed it was just Jim being Jim, the office recluse.

            All hell broke loose right on the Eagle Pass border that night.  Rival Mexican drug cartels and their salesmen and enforcers of the streets had apparently run into each other unexpectedly.  A battle for territory, drug routes, and domination broke out.  The sound of gun shots rang through the air, the smell of gunpowder infested the atmosphere.  Dealers shot at dealers, border patrol officers shot at dealers, and dealers shot at patrol men.  People near the border in their cars made a mad dash for home where they could lock their doors and pray, and people who lived nearest to the border made an exodus out of the area to anywhere that seemed safer.  Cop cars from nearby towns began making their way into Eagle Pass to help hold down the fort.  The fight itself began in Mexico but was getting increasingly closer to the Eagle Pass border.  Eagle Pass was caught on the outside looking in.  It had once declared itself the “best way to Mexico.”  But for this brief point in time, Eagle Pass was seen as the “best way to America” for narcotics dealers in Mexico.  I could only pray, hope, and wish that the violence would cease at the border.

            My wish came true, my prayer and hope was answered, and the fight for border control ended before the violence could really spill into Eagle Pass.  Two days after the “battle,” I returned to work and another question entered my mind.

            Where’s Jim?

            That was the thought on everybody’s mind.  Not even the boss knew.  Jim Rodriguez was nowhere to be found in our office, and nobody knew why.  We had all taken the day off after the outburst of violence to regroup; we all needed to make sure all our loved ones had not been injured, harmed or killed.  Only one local border patrol man was killed in the crossfire, a local man named Juan Rodrigo.  Maybe he was somehow related to Jim, maybe that was why Jim was gone.  No one knew, and everyone hoped for the best for Jim and then simply went back to work.  As least we didn’t live in Mexico, where at least nine dealers were killed right there near the border and a few others were on life support in Mexican hospitals, where there chances of survival were not good.

            Weeks went by, and Jim didn’t come back.  We put his things, the little that he had at his desk, in a lost and found box just for him.  I’d say the chances of him coming back at this point were slim to none.  Jim was gone, drug violence had ceased and not returned to the Eagle Pass border, and life moved on.  I was now on my way to becoming the top salesman in the office because of Jim’s sudden departure, so my commission would go up and my ego would probably go with it.

            I went home late one night.  Tired after a long day of sales and inventory, my least favorite thing, I just wanted to head home, sit down on my leather couch, enjoy a cold beer or two, and watch some television.  Monday Night Football was on, so I planned just to watch the Cowboys whip up on those Redskins that I despised so much.

            Naturally the game ended and I was sound asleep.  I finally woke up around 11:30 and began flipping to the local news channel to maybe see the final outcome.  As I flipped through the channels, something caught my eye.  Something quickly caught my attention.

            Jim Rodriguez’s face was plastered on my television.

            I immediately turned the volume up, and listened intently on the story that seemed to be about Jim.

            “…In a breaking news story, local Eagle Pass salesman Jim Rodriguez was found shot to death earlier this evening two miles from the Mexican border.  Police found his body with eighteen close range bullet wounds to the chest and head area.  Police say that he was also beaten and robbed of all his money and possessions, and that the only thing found next to him was a small bag of cocaine in his coat pocket.  Police have no leads as to who the suspects could be, but they do suspect that the murder was a drug deal gone wrong or a message from another drug gang.  Mr. Rodriguez had never been charged with any type of drug crime, including possession or intent to sell, but police are virtually certain that the motives behind this killing were drug related.  Jim Rodriguez was just thirty-two years old.”

            My mind went blank.  I didn’t know what to think or how to feel.  It’s not like Jim was a friend of mine.  But the fact that I worked right next to him for years and never knew, never had any clue, blew my mind.  The next day at work was awkward in a way I didn’t expect it to be.  Nobody had heard the news yet.  Nobody read the morning paper (or perhaps it was too late to add the story to the paper) or watched late night news like I had the previous night; that had to be a first.  Nobody said anything about it.  Jim was dead, and either nobody knew or nobody cared, or everyone knew and everyone was disgusted by it they didn’t want to talk about it.  He was after all, the recluse of the office.  Maybe that was all part of the disguise that made him this shy, quiet salesman.  Even in his death, nobody knew anything about Jim Rodriguez.  There was no sorrowful atmosphere in the office, and no leads from the police that would answer my, or our, questions about who Jim Rodriguez really was.

            One mystery, at the very least, had been solved.  I solved the mystery to how Jim could afford such a fine new car.  Side projects paid off those payments.  I bet he paid in cash, too.

Week Five

wiki 5 - Great job on your posts both this week and last. You have a lot of interesting ideas and I enjoy hearing them. 

Entry Two- 9/17/09

For my project due September 23, I am writing a short story.  My short story chronicles a person, who acts as the narrator, who lives in a small Texas town right on the Mexican border.  It is a real town called Eagle Pass, Texas, but whether or not my information about it being a small town on the rise is something I am not completely sure of.  The story is from the point-of-view of a salesman who works with another man named Jim Rodriguez who is a very quiet person and his coworkers know little about Jim.  He wears nice clothes and drives a nice car and nobody knows how he affords those things on the salary they know he has.  What they don't know about Jim is that he is an "entrepreneur," another type of salesman where he earns cold hard cash as he takes advantage of the nearby Mexican border.  Jim sells other things on the side of working at his office supply company, but nobody knows about it.  I began this project a while back, but I really got off and running with it early last week.  His coworkers have no idea that not only is Jim a salesman, but he is also a "street pharmacist," if you catch my drift.

Entry One- 9/16/09- One Friday Morning

Hughes writes in a way that makes the prejudice to Nancy Lee very obvious.  She didn't win an art scholarship she rightfully deserved, simply because of her race.  However, the irony is that by losing, Nancy Lee may have learned a more valuable lesson.  She intends to grow up and help to prevent this kind of racial prejudice from happening again.  She intends to put this behind her and not let it bother her, but also to remember what that felt like to be cheated like that to keep her motivation to improve the lives of others.  The weird thing is that even though the prejudice she encountered kept her from winning a prestigious art scholarship, she may win in the long run because it is going to make her a stronger person and it is just a sign of weakness and cowardice in the people who are doing the prejudging.  Nancy Lee is going to grow from this experience and do things to stop it from happening again, so it is her who actually may benefit from this prejudice the most.

Week Four

Entry Two- 9/10/0- Can a 14 year old school dropout reasonably expect success much less the respect of those around him?

A 14-year-old middle school dropout can personally expect success and respect.  However, being a 14-year-old dropout, he is not on the right track to become successful.  Also, if his reputation as a young dropout precedes him, he well probably not be very respected, whether he likes it or not or expects it at all.  Respect is something you must earn, so a young school-dropout cannot expect to be immediately respected.  He can however, build up his level or respectability by being a good person and doing good things.  If he gives respect, he/she will most likely get respect.  Respected is earned, not given freely.  And as for success, anyone can expect success for themselves, but others may not share the same opinion if you are a 14-year-old middle school dropout.

Entry One- 9/10/09- Many "experts" claim that education is the secret recipe for success... then how do we explain people who get college degrees but still live in their parent's basement?  Or people who have advanced degrees but FAIL in life?  What are the other factors that must be present for success? (Also how do we explain a guy like Bill Gates who dropped out of college to "tinker" with computers?)

Education is a very key part of success.  However, it is not the most important part.  In order to be successful, you need more than just a good education.  You need to be driven and motivated to succeed.  If you have no motivation to do anything, you can have a Ph.D. from Harvard but that still won't guarantee success.  If you have no drive, ambition, or will-power to do something, or you do not believe in yourself that you will succeed, then you will not succeed.  Success primarily comes from what is inside you, not from what is inside a book or packet of information.  Success is based on a person's ambition, not a person's education.  Also, there are different ideas of success.  Some people consider success to be making lots of money.  Others consider success doing something you love.  You don't need a great education in order to achieve success.  Success comes from a person's drive and ambition.

Week Three

Great job on wiki 3!

Entry Two 9/4/09-What did you find yourself thinking about while you read this story?

I honestly thought that the ending would be him finding out that he had killed someone near to him.  The context of the story, the way it was written, it just made me think that in the end of the story, he was gioing to kill someone he knew very well; and I was right in my thinking, as the Sniper killed his brother.  I also thought about how clever he was to fake his own death to set himself up for more of an easy, uncontested shot.  This guy was very smart and clever.  He knew what he was doing.  It made me think of what  I might do in the same situatation.  I don't know if I personally could have came up with what he had done to kill his "enemy."  Unfortunately, his "enemy" was his own brother.

Entry One-9/3/09-I found "Found Poetry" to be completely different from anything else I have ever done when working with poetry.  It was somewhat difficult just trying to pull out phrases that were not my own and then write a poem about a specific subject.  It was hard not being able to put in some of my own words to help make the poem more cohesive.  I could only use small words such as "a", "an", and "the" (among a few others) to help bring the poem together.  Not being able to set my own tone and use my own vocabulary was a different experience I had never done before with poetry.

Week Two

GREAT work on wiki 2!

Entry Two 8/26/09- Would you consider what Mike did an act of deception? Is he lying or not?

I do think that Mike is lying.  However, I think that there is a difference between lying and deceiving.  If he was deceiving her, he would be doing it on purpose to either hurt her or because he did not care.  He lied to her in a "loving" way.  The only reason he didn't tell her the truth is because she is trying to find inner peace as she falls deeper and deeper into senility.  He is only lying to her to make her feel better.  He lied in a way that made her feel at peace.  Therefore, although he is technically lying to her, he is not deceiving her.  He is lying to her to make her feel better as her age starts to get the best of her.  Therefore, it is not deception but a just a lie.

Entry One 8/26/09- Who has the bigger problem?  Charles or his mother?

I think that Charles' mother has the bigger problem.  His father realized that Charles was not real and that it was actually Laurie who was the big troublemaker.  She was blind to the fact that she was leading her on and lying to her the whole time.  Now she realizes that Laurie, aka Charles, is a compulsive liar of a child.  She has to find a way to root out these lies before he leads her around forever.  His mother clearly had no idea that it was her son that was the troublemaker, and even though she finally figured it out, it is too late and could prove to be a big problem.

Week One

Entry Two 8/20/09-

Does defending someone to someone else only "matter" or "count" if the person you defend appreciates it or knows you did it?

Although it is nice to be appreciated by a person that you defend, it is not like it doesn''t count simply because they don't acknowledge you after.  You can feel good on the inside by knowing you did a good thing, regardless of the fact that they didn't appreciate you directly.  You can pretty much assume that they appreciate your act of defendance whether or not they let you know or not.  Defending someone should not be something you do just to gain appreciation.  It should be something you do because you feel that someone needs someone to stand up for them if they can't seem to do it themselves.  You should feel an internal satisfaction even if the person you defend does not personally thank or appreciate what you did.

Entry One 8/20/09- Why is violence more often seen as the "easier" answer to a conflict situation? Is it really? Violence is often seen as the easier answer to a conflict for a few reasons.  It is much easier in a conflict to just let your emotions out and don't try to calm yourself down.  It is much easier just to let your anger out and express it in physical ways.  Violence isn't always the best answer, but it is often a person's first answer, or at least the first thing that pops into their minds.  Also, you don't have to be smart  or calm to fight. You just fight.  However, is it really the easier answer to conflict?  No, because usually violence just leads to more violence and more anger.  Conflicts left remain unsolved.  But it doesn't mean that laying into someone doesn't sound like fun sometimes. 

Good work on wk. 1 - you have many excellent ideas in here! I enjoyed seeing such detailed thought!