wiki 5 20/20 - good post! There was more good than bad about today's talk... I think he mentions his wife's passing almost everytime he speaks which tells me it matters very much to him and has probably changed his spiritual perspective a great deal.

11/6/09

Mr. Schlusselmann (did my best with spelling close! Schlesselman) chapel speech

Was not bad. He gave a great message. The only thing that bugs me about his speeches is that he always seems to be reading them. He'll make some eye contact but he seems to spend most of his time reading his speech from notes or however he produces it. It wouldn't get to me if it didn't feel he did it all the time. Otherwise he's fine. His voice control is great. There are some times when he gets emotional about certain things but losing loved ones has that effect and it helps him get how he feels about his point across. I can honestly say that his speeches however deep they may be are not always the most entertaining. I still have great respect for the way he carries himself when he gives a speech because he goes up and is so confident and aside from emotional things never has a problem delivering a speech. He always has a great message. So good job overall. He didn't have anything other than occasional eye contact things. That's what I have noticed. Also just wanted to say again how much fun this public speaking section has been. I've really enjoyed it. It's fun gettin to see classmates go up and give a speech and see how they deliver it.

wiki 4 - 20/20 - good post! - also glad to hear you're enjoying the unit and learning from it.

10/30/09 

Mr. Flandermeyer's Chapel Speech

I thought it was pretty decent. He got his message through. Eye Contact may have been a little problem. I felt he read a little to much of it. I thought his posture was fine except that he was glued to the podium with with what seemed like a death grip. Thought was a little irritating. He did a good job of using the video then incorporating it into his speech. Also his use of people near the end and worked his way to everyone in the gym. His message fit into the chapel perffectly and the video was a great choice to use. The only thing that got to me was that he didn't seem to make a lot of eye contact that I noticed. It was a great speech overall and I thought that other than eye contact he did a wonderful job. I'd also like to say that as of now I am enjoying the public speaking we are doing in class. I thought your speech was great and all the speeches are very fun to listen to. I am having a great time listening to others speak and it is making me a better speaker.

 

Aside from my post I'd like to say I'm sorry I'm posting this late. I have no excuse. I'm just sorry that this is my second one in a row and I can promise it won't become a habit.

 

wiki 3 - 0/20 - no posting by 10/23

wiki 2 - 20/20 - good - he covered the tech glitch well, didn't he!

10/16/09

Mr. Stec's Chapel Speech

Again a great speech. He had it memorized which was great and very necessary as he had a malfunction with his powerpoint. He didn't stutter or stare off into space thinking of words to say. He was right on cue with everything he said and did and it was great. He even turned his powerpoint malfunction into a joke that was pretty funny and put him on level with his audience. He didn't make any unessecary movements or gestures. Everything was purposeful and he never looked uncomfortable like he didn't know what to do. He moved his eyes around to make contact with everybody and he came out from behind the podium so he couldn't read to us or be uncomfortable back there. His volume and rate of speech were perfect. Pretty much his entire speech was flawless. I can't think of any part that was terrible or bad in general. So overall it was a great speech. I'd alos like to say that I'm glad you are making us do this because I've been so intune and never payed so much attention to speakers and that's all changed. Thank you Mrs. Staude and great job Mr. Stec.

wiki 1  - 20/20 - great job.You made some sharp observations!

10/9/09

Joseph Feinesse: Speech Christian Aid

Overall this was a great speech. He nailed it pointing out the facts and his timing for eye contact and pausing was perfect enough to get his point across and for emotional effect to take place. He didn't talk too fast but fast enough so he could say everything he needed to say. His volume seemed a little loud but that could have been the mic pressed to his face. His quality and pronunciation and articulation was perfect. He talked normal but with emotion that portrayed how he felt about what he was talking about. He knew how to pronounce every word he used and used them well. He wasn't dressed to fancily, more of a casual speech as he read it more than memorized and said it. He was very relaxed while giving the speech. He had great facial expression and perfectly timed eye contact and almost no movement or gestures. While giving the speech he was very confident. I feel he connected very well with his listeners as he got his point across and everyone seemed to feel the emotion he put into his words. He didn't maintain eye contact really. He just read what was on his paper and made eye contact when it needed to be made. Overall great speech. 

Jason Purdy

Mrs. Staude

English Symposium

9/22/09

One Fine Day

            These last few days have given me time to reminisce about this summer. It sucked. I’ve never remembered a period of time that was so horrible. I got fired from my job for no good reason. I mean the managers, a couple of their friends, and my friend Phil and I were drinking one night. No big deal; it was just like most of the other weekends this summer. I’m guessing I drank a little more than usual and I might have said some things I shouldn’t have. No wait! I spilled a secret about the manager that he had entrusted to me. Yea, that was it. He fired me on the spot and kicked me out of the house. I guess there was a good reason, maybe. Then to top it all off my girlfriend broke up with me because I didn’t have any source of income among other things. Man, she loved blowing my money. Right now my life couldn’t possibly get any worse.

            Today was Thursday. The end of summer was coming up, only two weeks left, and I was at the point when school started looking really good but of course I wasn’t going to school. I had graduated this past year and my grades were so bad no college would even look at me much less accept me. Plus to top it all off I was jobless so this upcoming fall would seem like another summer. I was going to get bored fast. I felt like drinking a beer but I don’t drink alone and I didn’t feel like hanging with friends or partying either. I just wanted to sulk by myself at what I felt was the lowest point of my entire existence.

            I went outside and looked around. The street was empty. Aside from two adopted eight year olds that lived with an elderly couple a couple of houses down there were no kids on the street. I walked down to the curb and got into my 1984 Buick four-door which was an absolutely horrible looking car. The paint, which was fading off so much you could barely distinguish the color, was a light brown almost tanish color. The back driver side window was broken, shot out to be more exact, and all the tires were replacements, the originals either stolen or blown out. It was awful but I couldn’t afford a new car and it still ran which was all I needed. I drove on the main road through town finally stopping at the Jug & Stop gas station to fill up and by a pack of cigs. The minute I set foot inside it was bad news. I looked to my left and saw Dean Chauck walking towards me with a grin on his face.

            “D.J. Staut,” He said in a mocking tone. “Is that you? I’m surprised you’d show your face after your mess up with that manager and all the other hell you’ve been through.”

            Dean was the all-state athlete at the high school, the guy none of the girls could keep their hands off, and obviously the biggest pain in the butt I’ve ever met.

            “Shut up Dean.” I was getting angry and the statement came out more of a low growl. I wasn’t surprised he knew. Tipp Creek is a small town and news gets around quickly. It just got to me that he had to throw everything back in my face.

            “Calm down D.J.,” he said. “Look, I’m going to give you some advice or an invitation rather. Come to this kicking party in the backwoods over by the Kelsar warehouse down by the creek.”

            “Why the hell would I do anything with you. For all I know this could be an invitation for me to get jumped.

            “Look, I’m trying to help you out here. Take it or leave it. There’ll be some beer, great girls, and a great party. Who knows, you might meet someone if you know what I mean.”

            “Alright whatever, I’ll think about it.”

            “That’s all I needed to hear. Just show up if you want to come.” Then he turned and walked out the door.

            I was confused. What had just happened?  Ever since I knew Dean he had treated me like crap. What was up? I grabbed my cigs, paid for gas and left.

            The party was later that night. It was around three o’ clock now and I was undecided but leaning more towards going just because I was tired of sitting around sulking all week. I called up Phil to see what was going on. He told me about the party and how Dean how invited like every kid in town. I told him I might go and he agreed that we should. I hung up and went up to my room. I had to find something to wear. Even though I’ve graduated and am older than most everybody going I still worry about image and how I look. I don’t know why. I settled for some loose fitting baggy jeans with a couple holes in the knees and a green t-shirt that bore the logo of one of my favorite bands.

            At about seven o’ clock I headed over to the Kelsar warehouse. I saw a bunch of kids already walking behind the enormous gray building down to the creek. I started to have second thoughts. Maybe all this was a giant set up to give me hell about recent incident. I started walking down to the creek.

            As I arrived I saw Phil waving to me over by an old gray oak that stood a ways from the bonfire.

            “Typical high school kid party. This is lame,” he said as I approached him. “Wait a minute! Hey! Isn’t that Sandra?”

            I looked over towards where he was pointing. There she was, Sandra Felsky. I found her moderately attractive, not hot but she had this way that made her attractive but seem so innocent. I liked her but there was a problem. We come from two different worlds, very different. She’s straight A’s, extremely smart. I’m not. I got involved with drugs and drinking a couple years back and it stuck. Grades, school, neither of those meant much to me. A guy like me had no part in her life. Phil and I went to find the beer.

            By nine o’ clock Phil and I had put a few down but were still very much sober. Getting wasted wasn’t on the menu tonight. There too many possibilities of what could happen to us while were out of it. We were just sitting around the bonfire taking in the night and trying to enjoy ourselves while feeling out of place at the same time. I’d seen Sandra a couple more times but I’d lost sight of her again. I’d decided that tonight I was going to try and talk to her.

            I saw Sandra over by the coolers of drinks. As I approached her I had a million things running through my head. What would I say? What would she think? But as I came closer she turned, saw me, and gave me a little smile. Whoa, I hadn’t even said anything and this was already going better than I’d thought it would. I approached her giving her a little wave to acknowledge her smile.

            “Hi,” I said as smooth as I could. I was starting to feel nervous. I don’t know why because this never happened to me.

            “Hi,” she said back. As she came closer she took my hand.

            What the heck was going on? Whatever it was I liked it. I said what felt best at the time as I moved my arm around her waist. “You look nice tonight.” Simple but perhaps elegant. Who knows?

            “I like this,” she said. Then she turned to me and looked at me with her eyes which were like two deep blue ponds of heaven. “I saw you noticing me a while ago.”

            I felt kind of sheepish. So she had seen me. “I thought I was pretty secret.”

            “Guess not. Would you like to come and sit by the fire with me?” Her so very seductive and as we stared into each other’s eyes I moved in and she closed the distance and our lips met. It was a great sensation as all thought of anything wrong seemed to fade away. I had never felt better. It was beautiful. We pulled away and started over towards the bonfire arm in arm. I knew that this was one fine day.

 

 

wiki 5 - I am only seeing one entry here for week 5

Entry 9

 

9/18/09

 

 

Entry 8

 

9/18/09

 

So is it always true that "what goes around comes around"? Or is there a lot more than meets the eye in this interesting little tale?

 

I think that in some ways yes, what goes around comes around. It makes sense in this story just because of how he gets made fun of so he dishes it out when he gets the chance. But it's not just about that. I think it's obvious that this has happened to him a lot. So for him it's a way to get anger out and so that somebody else knows how he feels. Inside it makes him feel good because he's found someone lower than him so he just bashes on him. For him it's getting back and making fun of the kid is the best way he can do it.

Entry 7

 

9/10/09

 

How about the ending? Could it have REALISTICALLY ended any other way?

 

Honestly I don't think so. Obviously the soldiers couldn't take him with them. They do so much traveling and things of that nature that he couldn't have went with them plus they really wouldn't let the soldiers keep a kid they just found in the woods and thought the seargent was his papa. It was realistic enough the way it was and the ending was pretty good. The seargent promised he'd come back if he could and cried when he left the boy and then the boy pretty much showed Peter who was boss. It doesn't get much better than that. I think the way it ended was enough generally and realistically.

Entry 6

 

9/10/09

 

Discuss the power of the ending of the story.... esp. the part where Patsy keeps the identity of the horse to himself....

 

The end of this story is pretty powerful. He earns respect by winning the race and he earns enough money to get his mom a doctor. What he went through made this a great ending accomplishing what he did. Then the part at the end where he keeps the horse's identity secret. It was powerful because just the fact that he recognized the horse and rode it and it didn't kill him like his father was like a great ssense of pride and accomplishment. But I also think that the other reason he kept it to himself is that it may have shocked his mom and brought back memories.

 

Entry 5

Great job on wiki 3!

9/4/09

 

This story is set in Northern Ireland at the height of the violence between Protestants and Catholics. What did you think about the level of violence in this one? Did it contribute to the realism of the tale or hurt it?

 The level of violence was fine. I liked the story. The violence and the setting contributed to the realism of the tale. It portrayed the real dangers going in Ireland at the time. Also the fact that he killed his brother built it up and contributed. Right before he examined the body he said the sniper he killed might have been from one of the troops of republicans gone to the other side or however he said that. I found it very interesting and well done. It was very real. Your explanation of the setting of the story made the story easy to read and understand.

 

Entry 4

 

9/1/09

 

How did it make you feel when at the end you had rooted for an "anti-hero" (Stendahl, the murderer) to succeed? How was Bradbury able to make you want to see him succeed?

 

`The fact that I rooted for an anti-hero didn't bother me. As I realized what was happening, I rooted for him more and more. I wanted him to succeed. Bradbury was able to make the reader want him to win by building up all the bad things the Moral Climate people had done and what they had done to him. Then as the story unfolded you just couldn't help but want him to keep going and finish it. He did a good job and the fact that he reenacted Poe was cool. Overall it was a very interesting story. He kept my attention the whole way through.

 

Entry 3

Looks like you only did one entry this week.... 10/20

8/28/09

 

Who has the bigger problem? Charles or his mother?

 

I think that Charles mother has the bigger problem because she believes everything Charles has to say. She never suspects anything. Charles can say whatever he wants because he gets away with it. She never questions any further when he says Charles did this. She just accepts it and asks questions about Charles. It's normal for a little kid to fabricate things to get attention and she as a mother needs to realize what he's doing. I can't imagine her suprise when she finds out that Laurie is Charles. 

 

Entry 1

 

8/20/09

 

After you read part 2 of the story, comment on the story. I am particularly interested on what you think of Crane's style. Is he an entertaining author? I am also curious about how you feel this story compares in style to The Red Badge of Courage... any similarities or did Crane go in an entirely new direction?

 

Overall, I liked the story. He did a good job drawing it in parts and linking it together. The few things I didn't like were just how predictable things became. It got to a point in each part where I kinda felt like Hey! I know whats going to happen. And then also at the end of the story when the gunfight didn't come which we addressed in class. Not gona lie, that was pretty disappointing.

 

Also I enjoyed the activities that we did in class that day to explain the story. You do a very good job of keeping class interesting and making it fun. I look forward to coming to class.

 

Entry 2

 

8/20/09

 

Why is violence more often seen as the "easier" answer to a conflict situation? Is it really?

 

I think violence is seen as easier cause, 1) it's usually the first reaction that comes to mind and it's easier to be violent and 2) it's harder to solve a conflict through talking than it is by fighting. It really is but in most situations it only makes the situation worse and that's when people start regretting they fought. Sometimes it's easier to explain things with fists than words and sometimes it's the first thing that comes to mind when you can't find the words. Especially when the conflict with someone you absolutely despise. So yes it's seen as the "easier" answer but also the most regretable.

Good work on wk. 1 - I enjoyed reading your opinions... and also it's nice to know you find the class interesting. Hope I can continue not to disappoint you. :-)