Digital Voices

Listen to Steven’s speech 

I believe in self-reliance. I think you should be able to help yourself most of the time before you go and ask someone else for help.

A lot of the time I see people asking other people to completely do things for them, like turn in papers, get them something, or sharpen a pencil. I think that people should just do things like that and anything they can themselves, it is not something that is difficult, it only requires us to not be lazy which is something that I think is is becoming far too common.

People are missing out on the opportunity to feel good about themselves. Think of the great feeling you get when you accomplish something that you did not think you could do. Whether it is just cleaning a room or fixing a computer. That single experience will motivate and drive you forward toward another goal.

When people become too dependant on others, they will have trouble later in life when they do not have others to fall back on. It could lead to them into getting in trouble or into debt. I have seen people fail because they depend on others so much. Eventually it becomes like the old Mother Goose story about the boy who cried wolf. Eventually people will not come to your assistance because they don’t truly think you need it anymore and when you actually do, you might not have them to help you.

Self-reliance is a good attribute to have. By learning self-reliance, we will be able to help ourselves in times of need. Our level of independence in our teen years can determine how successful we are in adult life. It is not too early to start helping yourself. Do yourself a favor; learn to become independent in all areas in which you can possibly be independent.

We need to appreciate each other and the help we do get when we need it. For instance, when your parents pay for your vehicle or give you money for gas, you need to learn to appreciate this and give them the appreciation they deserve. While you can accept some assistance and appreciate it, you should strive for self-reliance.

I believe in Learning from Past Mistakes

Kassie’s speech
“The one who makes no mistakes in life, usually gains nothing in life” this is a quote that stood out to me by William Magee. I believe that the best teacher in life can often be yourself. You make decisions, whether they are good or bad you make them, and in the end will endure the consequences, and hopefully learn from them. If anything, maybe you can be a teacher to someone else who sees what you go through, and learn from it.

I grew up in an environment where I had to be an adult sooner than most kids. My mom was out all the time working two jobs – the life that most single mothers live and I had to become the head of the household while she was working. When I was about 10 years old, my uncle moved in with us, fresh out of rehab. He had just lost everything – his wife, kids, job – literally everything. When he moved in, my mom had set very strict rules for him and me. He was to stay at the house with my sister, brother and I, and help us with homework and housework until he could get a job – but I was supposed to baby-sit him? He had a drug problem and had relapsed before. At first it went great. It was so nice not having to be the parent for once, but as time went on, money started coming up missing, and he started leaving as soon as I would get home from school, and always told me not to tell my mom. My mom expected me to baby-sit him, but how was I, barely ten years old supposed to stop a full grown drug addict from getting a fix? Not knowing how I was supposed to stop him, and not wanting to start a fight between my mom and her brother, I didn’t say anything. Eventually one day, he left and didn’t come home. When my mom got home later that night she asked where my Uncle was, so I told her about all of his little outings he would take. She, like I had anticipated was not very happy. At about three in the morning I heard a loud noise and went out into the living room to warn my uncle about what my mom knew. At first I didn’t see him, it was really dark. I turned on the lamp next to the couch where he slept, when I looked over the back of the couch I screamed. There was my uncle, half on the couch and half on the floor shaking uncontrollably, a yellow foamy matter coming out of his mouth. I just stood there shaking myself, standing for what felt like forever, just staring at my uncle’s trembling body. My mom came running out of her bedroom, and yelled at me to call 911. A lot of the night has become a blur, but the next thing I remember was my mom crying as the back doors of the ambulance shut, and then I was in the waiting room of the hospital with my pajamas and winter coat on just staring at the doors that the doctors kept coming in and out of, the same one my mom was pacing in front of.

He had overdosed from crack-cocaine. Now my uncle has been clean for almost nine years – the night of his near-death experience changed his life. He never used again. I know that I would never do anything to abandon or hurt my family – especially the ones that went out of their way to help and protect me. My thing is that I experienced my uncle’s mistake and know that I will never follow in his foot-steps. I did learn from his mistakes, although he paid for the consequences I learned that night that I would never use. To me, experiencing my uncle’s struggle with drugs taught me more than any D.A.R.E. or health class ever has – because I witnessed first-hand the devastation tied to it. I believe people who make mistakes can change. Always give people a second chance because they way I see it they’re still learning. I believe in learning form past mistakes.

I understand the reasoning behind the pod casting now. It adds more heart to some of the speeches, or it adds another element to the speeches. The technology is obviously advanced to be able to record something on the internet that is being read to you while you are reading it. The sounds and the voices add much more to the speech.

I read a speech called It is time to help, by a girl from Miami, FL. I read it because it was the first one I found. The essay was so much better because you could feel the way she felt about the hungry people. What was memorable about this piece was the first time hearing and reading the essay at the same time.

-Mitch

What I understand about pod casting now is that you can do it on line. You don’t have the worry about others looking at you all the time even though they are looking at you. Some things that I noticed about the sounds, is that you can hear who is talking on them. You and others will be able to listen to the speeches more clearly.
I listened to the Leaving Work to Gaze at Sunsets essay. I selected this piece because I thought that I would understand what she was talking about. What stood out to me about this essay is that she is a hard worker and at the same time she doesn’t want to run herself into the ground all the time just for her job because she wants to spend time at home with her family. The fact that she is like her dad in so many ways and that I am also like my dad in so many ways is memorable to me.

I listened to “Dancing the Dance as long as I can” an “Be Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude”. Both of these podcasts were meaningful in different ways. The first was about living life until the very end, and the second was about being kind. I liked how two people I would have never even known existed managed to touch my soul through the internet. I like podcasts because you can hear the essay the way they feel it should be heard.

a. I understand that podcasting is very popular is the speech world and in technology. I understand that in order to write something that will be powerful and everyone will see that we need to make a podcast. The sound is good and loud.
b. I listened to “I believe in ghost and something about emotion.” Nothing really stood out. Nothing was that effective or memorable. I really don’t even remember the one that I can’t name.
c. I liked the introduction speech; I noticed it was a good way to start off the year in getting to know people.

Questions

A) Well what I understood about pod casting was that it basted upon having a MP3 Player and trans forming it to something you must know what you are doing before doing what you have to do.
B) I listened to Dan Tani I selected him because he was the only one on there but it was ok because I liked listing to what he has to say.
C) When Dan Tani started his speech he had a clear voice but there was static in the back ground.

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.

Podcasting is when you post an audio file on the internet of yourself saying a speech, an essay, or just plain saying something. I listened to the essay Returning to What’s Natural by Amelia Baxter-Stoltzfus. I chose this piece because I thought it sounded interesting and a fun topic. The fact that she took something like temporary hair dye and could compare it to changing yourself stood out to me. She said that when we change our hair color we still have that plain old boring brown to come back to after 20 to 26 washes. That to me is like saying we can change the way we act and the friends we surround ourselves with but we’ll always those friends we’ve had since grade school or those comic books we’ve collected since we could read. No matter how much we change ourselves we always have the old to fall back on. The message was so clear and so well spoken that it was effective. I understand what she was trying to say. The introduction caught my attention because she said, “I believe in semi-permanent hair dye.” That’s not something you hear someone say everyday, and I’m proud to say I believe in it too.

a. I understand how podcasting works now. I noticed how much technology we have now in the classroom to be able to take our speeches and put them online and they are also available to download to iPods and what not.
b. I listened to Dan Tani’s essay. I selected that one because I couldn’t figure out the website and that was on the home page. The fact that he tied in his own personal life was pretty effective.
c. I noticed the introduction was another person and that was pretty interesting.