I believe in freedom. The freedom to do what you want, without being negatively judged. You should be able to act, live, and be how you want. You should be able to walk down the street dressed how you want and not be judged in a negative way for it. You should be able to speak how you want and not be thought of as stupid or something because of your lack of education or learning ability. You shouldn’t be labeled as poor because of the way you live or where you buy your things. You should be able to get a job somewhere or go do something without being discriminated about your race or religion. In a perfect world you would be able to go to school, and not just our school, but any school anywhere and not be thought of as stupid, poor, or be discriminated against. Our world is not perfect, so these things happen all the time each and every day. It’s not just dressing and acting how you want that I am for, but actually doing what you want as long as it is not something ridiculous. I believe that you should be able to chuckle at things that you think are humorous that are within reason without being accused of laughing at things that are supposedly “wrong” to the other person.
People should be able to freely express themselves without having to worry about being made fun of. Just like Martin Luther King Jr., he wanted people of different races to come together without breaking out into brawls or huge protests. But because of ignorance he was assassinated and still to this day people are discriminated against. I think if everyone would have taken the time to listen to people like Martin Luther King Jr. the world wouldn’t be so discriminating. Just like different races, people with disabilities should be able to do what they want and freely express themselves without being made fun of.
People with disabilities are also discriminated against. A few months back my best friend, his cousin, and I were in a drug store and a person with a disability was in there. We came around a corner and he was there and my friend’s cousin started to chuckle at the person and it made me upset that somebody would be that ignorant. People are ignorant like that because they were taught that way, because sometimes people don’t teach others the quality of freedom and the responsibility of respecting others that express themselves freely like them, but in a different way or the people who can’t help the way they are. I don’t believe it is right when people are expressing themselves and they get picked on or are given a hard time for it. I believe in freedom.

kyle.mp3

Nothing

nothing.mp3

“I have nothing to do; there is nothing to write about; there is nothing I enjoy; nothing.”
We have all heard it, the word nothing. But what exactly is nothing? One thing seems to be clear; the word nothing, just should not exist. I had a free write for a class, and I sat there thinking. But to my misfortune, I once again, had “nothing” to write about.

What an interesting word nothing is; a concept that never seems to exist. How many times a day do you think you use the word nothing? A friend usually comes up and asks you, “What’s up?” Generally, you will reply with a simple, “Nothing much.” But exactly what is nothing? What do they mean nothing? How can there be nothing? Something must have happened in your day. Something simple like you got a bad test grade, you stared at the clouds, you did well on a project, you said hello to an old friend, you typed a long paper, you drew a picture, or you fell flat on your face. There is always something in my eyes. My definition of “nothing” is just a word used too frequently when it is not needed, and that most people will use nothing as an excuse when they can’t think of something that interests them enough to talk about, write about, or just like in general.

People always seem too lazy these days, trying to get out of assignments because they have “nothing”. People even try to get away with normal activities because of the word nothing, and sometimes people will mope around because there may be “nothing”. Now I am not trying to be mean but, say that your house burns down and there is “nothing” left to that house. But there is something still there, right? Yes everything may be “gone” because of that fire but those ashes are something of that house. Those ashes are the remains of what once was. Then you realize that, that house held memories, and memories are something you can’t get rid of easily. From the ashes to the memories, there is still something. You can’t say there is nothing left to that house, the things may no longer be whole but they still exist. If people would try harder, they would realize that there is everything and that “nothing” just doesn’t exist. I try my hardest to not use the word nothing. “Nothing” always seems to be something, well at least the thought of it. So that day I found something to write about, the thought of nothing. It opened my eyes to a whole new perspective because now there is everything. I believe that there is no such thing as nothing, that nothing is here to confuse us, and that the word nothing is a waste of time.

Recording your own audio

• Record voice in MP3 format
  • Download audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Be sure to download the LAME MP3 encoder too.
• Mr. Sloan’s screencast on using Audacity a tutorial on using Audacity.
• Work with your MP3 file in audacity. Remember to save often!

Using music in your podcast

• Be sure to consider permissions and copyright when podcasting. Here is a good site to find music. Check it out:
  • http://music.podshow.com
• Be sure to give credit to the artist in your podcast.
• Bumpers are segments of music that go in between and silently as part of your narration.
• Most often instrumentals are effective for podcasts.

Upload your MP3 file

You can upload your file into your edublog to post it online!

Podcast (definition from Wikipedia)

A podcast is a digital media file, or a related collection of such files, which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term, like “radio“, can refer either to the content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster. Though podcasters’ web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.
An audio file with RSS feed. Essentially, a podcast is a file that is cast out in digital space and it can be caught by RSS feeds.

• In 2005, podcasters were projected by iMedia to “balloon in number by 2010” growing from .8 million Americans using podcasts in 2004 to 56.8 million Americans using podcast in 2010.
• Moreover, use of technology is growing substantially, as Independent North American research company Ipsos suggests “one in five Americans aged 12 and older owns a portable MP3 Player”.

I understand, now, that podcasting isn’t just to record boring speeches for students to listen to and write essays about. It can be purely fun, educational, or a way to communicate important information to people. I noticed that the technology is pretty good. It felt like the people giving the speech were actually talking right next to me, and the clarity was surprising. I listened to two “This I Believe” essays. They were “Teaching a New Dog Old Tricks” and “Living in the Here and Now.” I decided to listen to these because for one thing, I like dogs, and for another, I have a problem with thinking too much. About what I did, what to do, etc, without actually living in the present. What stood out to me was how important the speakers were. One was a lawyer and another a CEO. In other words, not crusty old college professors. The things I thought were memorable were how in both cases, the person had their life changed. What was most effective about the speeches was how the speeches were almost always meant to teach you something, without actually saying it to you.

Before today I was previously aware of podcasting and I believe I have used it once. I use them daily when I listen to my favorite college radio station on the Grand Valley campus actually. Because you cannot get the radio signal here, I have to go online and listen to past shows and I download them. I have noticed the sounds of podcasts are very clear and are not hideously recorded. I think podcasts will transform the world and will make it transform.
The first essay I listened to was “The Universe Is Conspiring to Help Us” by Kevin Kelly. I decided to listen to this because it stood out to me. The title caught my eye and I was glad I listened to it. What stood out to me about the speech was his use of words and his stories. It made it appealing and I felt completely engaged in simply that. I think the part that was most memorable was his story of how he would go to every house he could and he would say “I’d like to pitch my tent tonight where I have permission. I’ve just eaten dinner, and I’ll be gone first thing in the morning,” and how no one rejected him, not even once. That takes a lot of courage to travel the country on a bike and get the respect he did. What was most effective was the way he approached the essay.
The next essay I listened to was “A Positive Outlook Is Overrated” by Barbara Held. I chose this one to read also because the title not only caught my eye but the title was also something I agreed with. What stood out to me was how she supports her own beliefs. She used her own personal story about an issue with herself and not another friend. Using her own personal experience that made her realized what she believed made me really enjoy what she had to say. What was most memorable was how she expressed herself and how she carried herself through out the podcast. I really enjoyed the NPR podcasts.
I noticed that the introductions were “I believe” said over in other voices and they introduced the person. I thought the voices of every podcasts were very interesting and it gave the speeches character. The author’s own introduction, not NPR’s, tend to explain what their speech was about without actually saying, “Today I am going to tell about…” and I really enjoyed that.

a. Now I understand how podcasting is used. I didn’t know before that there are people that want to tell their experiences and their thought, and many of them are not really important. Podcasting allows them to do this, since everybody can share their views. The sounds were clean, so that people could understand, and there were no background noises. This puts the listener more in direct contact with the speaker and takes away any possible distraction

b. I listened to “The Strange Blessing that brought me Home”, which attracted me because in this period I always think about my home, and I found it personal, and “Living with Integrity”. In the first one what really impressed me was the sense of freedom that the girl was describing, her being positive, despite the fact that she was talking about hurricane Katrina, and she really brought into her speech with her voice, that sometimes sounded like she was crying. In “Living with Integrity”, I’ve been impressed by the integrity of the man, of course. He explained really well his thought and made me understand things that I ignored.

c. The introduction speech was helpful, because you start getting to know the speaker. It’s like the difference between knowing someone and his name or knowing someone and not knowing his name. In the second case, it’s much more like a stranger. With a little bit of information, then you get really closer to the speaker.

Dear Readers,

Thanks again for being our audience. Several speech students have been reading, commenting, and sharing our blog with others over their spring break. We’ve also had several readers who have left comments to the speeches; thank you! I hope that you will also consider leaving a comment for them. To leave a comment, select the comment link at the top of their post and respond in the “leave a reply” box provided. Once I review the message it’ll be posted on our blog. It could take up to a day for your comment to appear, but oftentimes it’ll be posted faster than that.

Also, please remember to scroll to other pages, as we have several pages of student podcasts. To find a specific student podcast, you can select a category (or name) on the right side of the blog.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us today.

Students, I hope you’ll reply to those that left you a comment. The students from NYC have linked their names to their own pages on Youth Voices, where you can leave them a comment on their page.

With appreciation,

Mrs. Reed

Thank you for being our audience in this project!  This site will continue to be online (and a few more podcasts will be posted) so we hope you’ll visit it again and listen to more speeches.  Today is Friday, March 30 and it’s our official last day of speech class.  While we won’t be meeting as a class, many of our contributors plan to read and respond to comments after the class.  Some may not have as many opportunities to respond, so we appreciate your patience with replies.

Many people have also asked for a place to leave general responses to our project.  Please feel free to comment to this post to do so.  We’re thrilled by the support of our readers and we’d like to hear more of what you think about our beliefs, podcasting in speech and our whole project.

With appreciation,

Mrs. Dawn Reed

Lisa’s “This I Believe” podcast

Laughter

Everyone has laughed at one point or another. Laughter is something that comes naturally and is hard to fake. Laughter can make the worst moment seem significantly less severe. It can make you give up all anger and resentment for a moment and release all happy emotion. Everyone has a different laugh but the feeling is always the same. Glee I would say. It is simply an immense feeling of happiness. Laughter is a beautiful thing and without laughter my world would be a dark place.

My humor at times can come across as unsympathetic or unkind but it is all sincerely in jest. My childhood shadows many of the thoughts I have today and not always in a positive way. Years of being ridiculed and scolded has hardened my humor to a cold state of reasoning. I was raised on a dotted line of military bases that trail through Virginia, North Carolina and Michigan. In that atmosphere, humor was not always encouraged and in some cases it was punished. Despite my environment, humor was the seed of my entire personality which eventually developed into the free spirited, fun-loving person that I am every day. I have always had a good sense of humor despite the circumstances. Often times when I was younger I would laugh because it was the only thing to keep me from crying.

I love to tell jokes because it helps me meet people and feel more comfortable. Even if I don’t know someone personally, I know that everyone likes to laugh. I laugh every chance I get. I laugh because it helps me deal with life’s everyday problems. I laugh because of it reminds me of the good times. I laugh because of the good times soon to come. I laugh because there is nothing more powerful and contagious than laughter.

About Me.

My name is Lisa and i am a senior at Charlotte High School. I am attending EMU in the fall to study art. I traveled a lot as a child but for the last six years I have found myself comfortable in my first civilian house. This is the first podcast I have ever done and I think that it was pretty good for my first try.

~lisa