"Lose yourself"

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity

To seize everything you ever wanted. one moment

Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Yo

His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy

There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti

He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs,

But he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down,

The whole crowd goes so loud

He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out

He's choking how, everybody's joking now

The clock's run out, time's up, over, bloah!

Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity

Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked

He's so mad, but he won't give up that easy.

Speeches and Spoken Word (Blog)

In this week in public speaking we talked about a lot of things. We talked about monologues and speeches. We had to memorize a speech or monologue, and we had to present it to the class. This was actually pretty difficult for me because I am not very strong at memorization. I have terrible memorization skills. So because of that, I had trouble doing this assignment. We had a couple days to memorize the speech and I really had to work. At first I chose to do MLK’s “I have a dream” speech. That was probably one of his most famous speech he performed. But then after, I changed my mind and decided to do a speech by nelson Mandela. The speech goes like this: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

 This speech was much easier for me to memorize and recite because I already knew some of it and I had heard it a million times. When I got up to recite it I still had trouble memorizing some parts and so it took me a while to finally get it, but I did. We talked about how to project your voice and how to use the right emotion when reciting a speech by someone that was powerful. Your audience needs to be able to feel that power through your speech. I think I did a pretty good job of doing that during my presentation. I was always pretty confident and sure of myself when speaking in front of a group of people so I didn’t need too much help in fixing some of my weaknesses.

The new topic we are discussing is a type of poem or speech called “spoken word”. It’s kind of like rap and a poem. It’s very powerful if done right. I looked up a religious spoken word video called “Jesus>Religion” and it basically talked about the difference with just blindly following your religion and following the rules instead of focusing on the main point, Jesus Christ. The video that I found was very relatable to me because I am very religious and my entire family is as well, so it is a big part of my life. Spoken word seems like it could be the hardest type of speech to give, but like I said, if given right, could be very powerful.

http://youtu.be/1IAhDGYlpqY

Our deepest fear..

http://youtu.be/ahGJJDayChk

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

What Ive Learned. Blog 2

In class, we have been talking about how to strengthen your speaking skills, and just to be mindful of how you talk in front of a group of people or audience. We talked about how you cant talk the same way to everyone, you need to know who your audience is. For example, you cant talk to a group of elderly people the same way you would talk to a group of young kids or youth. Its all about being able to connect with your audience and also about respect. We also talked about diction and pronunciation and speed. When you are talking to a group of people whether it be to try and get your point across you have to know how to talk at a steady speed and how to pronounce the words fluidly and sharp. We talked about how to act when you're up talking to a big crowd. You cant have your hands in your pockets or keep pacing back and forth on the stage or wherever you're standing because it is going to be very distracting to your audience, and you cant have your audience distracted because you want them focused on what you're saying so they can grasp it. We also talked about how you have to limit your hand movements when you are on stage talking to people because it also distracts them. One of the most important thing is being able to connect with your audience. If you arent able to connect with your audience it will be harder for you reach them or persuade them on whatever you are talking about. We also talked about looking at your audience in their eyes. It is critical to make eye contact to your audience so that you don't look nervous or awkward and also to have  a connection. One of the many things that i need to work on is my volume and projection. We talked about how you have to be loud and be articulate when talking to your audience so they dont have a hard time on trying to hear what you are saying. At times i would start off loud but then slowly dim down my voice, that is something that i need to work on. Another thing i need to work on is the upcoming monologue that we have to say. I am doing a monologue by a powerful and influential man so i have to display that same type of power in my voice whilst i am saying my monologue. I also have to work on having the same speed or pace throughout the entire speech im presenting

goals

One of the things i want to work on is increasing my vocabulary so i can enhance my conversations with people.

Another thing i want to work on is being able to fight the urge to procrastinate my homework.

Last thing i want to work on is participation. i want to participate in class because i feel like thats the best way to learn.

3 songs

"Lose yourself" by Eminem

This song talks about losing yourself in the moment. I interpret it as losing your mind in what you do in a sense that you're giving it one hundred percent. This song speaks to me cause i like to relate it to basketball. i listen to this song a lot when i train or when i play because it pumps me up and it keeps me motivated.

"lean on me" Bill withers

This song talks about being there for someone when they are in need. "Lean on me, when youre not strong, and ill be your friend..." That lyric just right there alone is powerful. You have to be able to be there for someone regardless of if you know that person or not because when you need someone to lean on, you would like for someone to be there for you as well.

"Ill be there" Jackson 5

This song is somewhat similar to the last song i wrote about in a sense that you have to be there for people or anyone in their time of need. You need to be there to comfort them when they are feeling distraught and when they are feeling depressed. If everyone took heed to this song, i feel like the world would be a better place.

Quote

"Champions aren't made in the gym. Champions are made from something hey have deep inside them  - a desire, a dream, a vision"