Reflections on Speaking

Despite being a generally quiet person,  I've never really felt that intimidated by public speaking.  I credit this to my background as a Girl Scout, which had me pushing cookies on complete strangers from a very young age.  This initial introduction to public speaking grew to sharing projects in front of my troop, asking for donations before our local congregation, and ultimately spread into my school life as well.

Besides one oral report and a few powerpoint presentations, I never really had to engage in any practice public speaking as part of my high school curriculum.  In my senior year, however, I suddenly found myself engaging in extracurriculars like Envirothon and Mock Trial that had me presenting a hypothetical park plan to actual local government officials and reciting a closing argument to an actual judge.  I thoroughly enjoyed these pursuits, and my even dare to say I felt comfortable speaking in front of others.

But in all of these past experiences, I had one crucial safety net: I had a script.  

When I know exactly what to say and when and how to say it, I usually do fine. The prospect of 'speaking extemporaneously' is terrifying to me.  So, when it came time to compose my civic artifact speech, I scripted the whole thing, promised myself I would memorize it completely, promptly ran out of time to do so, and subsequently panicked and brought the entire script to the front of the room with me.

You all saw my speech, and everyone who peer-reviewed me commented on my lack of eye-contact, as I (wary of skipping a single word) continuously glanced back at my paper to make sure I was hitting every syllable as I had planned.  Suffice it to say that it was not my shining moment.

But, it was educational.  I've realized that I won't always be able to recite my words, and I need to trust myself to find the right words in the moment. In the future, I will probably use notecards in order to allow myself to do this.

Wanderlust Abounds

"Not all those who wander are lost..."

                                          -J.R.R. Tolkien

So as it turns out, I won't be writing about mealtime in America or religion in France.  After further thought and extensive weighing of pros and cons, I've decided to write about the rise of "wanderlust" in United States' young adult culture.
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Thesis:  In the last 20 years, the rise of individuality and social media have lead young Americans to question the conditions of the "American Dream", leading to a sharp increase in the cultural epidemic that can only be described as "wanderlust".

The Path:

First, I'll describe how, in the past, the domestic American Dream was to settle down at a young age with a stable job, a nice suburban home, and maybe a dog.

Now, many 20-somethings are rejecting this idea, turning down monetary wealth to become "nomadic"- often times taking up small jobs and volunteering to cover their modest travelling costs.  Often, they are recent college graduates who opt to spend a year cleaning toilets in Thailand instead of starting a career.

Following the explanation of the shift, I'll pose this question: How did wanderlust take over the collective frame of mind of America's youth?

...And explore these factors:  

The emergence of social media has allowed Americans to experience other cultures through vivid images, and has made it 'cool' to be a worldly person.  It has also lead to a heavy emphasis being placed on individuality and uniqueness.  Instead of seeking normalcy, recent college graduates are seeking 'authenticity' in the form of new and exciting places.  

And finally, the millions of inspiring quotes layered over fanciful photographs on Pinterest and Tumblr instill in us the importance of "finding oneself" and "doing what you love".  In the past, there was a stronger emphasis on the collective: working an honest job for the good of your family/community was more important than finding your true self.  The more idealistic ideas that have surfaced recently stress the growth of the individual, making pursuits like extended travel and nomadic lifestyles much more desirable.

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Sources:
I don't have specific links to share, but I plan on using statistics showing the increase of young adults travelling after college, the increase in travel websites, etc. to illustrate the shift.

A Tale of Two Paradigms: France and Food

As a French major, I love France (duh), but on a larger scale part of the reason I'm a language major is because I love studying the evolution of culture in different societies.  As such, I'm fairly excited about this paradigm project.

Paradigm Shift #1: Religion in France
The first paradigm I'd like to discuss is the shift in French society from having a vast majority of its citizens identify as Catholic, to the majority identify as atheists in just the past century.  This idea was actually brought up by a classmate in one of my other classes.  I had studied the Catholic heritage of France, and knew that the French government was extremely secular, but until said classmate mentioned it, I had never made the connection.

I think this secular shift is vastly interesting, and while I don't know much about its cause, I'm intent on studying the connection between the governmental policies of secularism and the societal perception of religion.  In the United States, we practice separation of church and state, but it is still understood that our leaders (at least at the highest levels) are Christians guided by Christian principles.  We still identify mainly as a Christian society, where the French government has made a much stronger effort to cleanse itself of that label.

Another possible factor may be the demographic breakdown of France.  Because of its generally relaxed immigration policies and close proximity to Africa (namely Morocco), France has garnered much higher percentages of Muslim, Jewish, and other non-Christian religious citizens than what we experience here in the United States.  This has a profound effect on French culture, and leads to diversifying and questioning of previously non-contended  beliefs.

Paradigm Shift #2: Mealtime in America
Growing up, I almost always ate dinner at the table with my parents.  However, I realize this was not the case for many kids in my age group.  My second paradigm of interest is the shift from what we consider the "classic" setting for meals- the dining room table, to eating on the go or in front of the TV.  I love the culture and social aspect associated with food- the idea of "breaking bread" with someone, sharing a meal that everyone contributed to.  In the past, I think Americans appreciated food as more than just a combination of protein, fat, carbs, etc.  Somewhere in the increasing busyness of the American household, we lost some of the social benefits of sharing a meal, and I think families have suffered as a result.  I'm very interested in exploring the origins and ramifications of this paradigm shift, or possibly another paradigm shift dealing with the culture of food.

The Role of Self in Rhetoric & Civic Life

Opinions, stories, personal interests:  These are three things that every person has, but at the same time are perhaps the most difficult to express in today's society.  In these first few weeks of class, the concepts that have most impacted me and led me to question my values are those concerning the role of self in civics and rhetoric.

First and foremost I have begun to wonder: when did society stop seeing a person as a wealth of information, and start seeing him/her only as a vehicle to further a particular argument?  In other words, when did facts become more important than opinions? It has become commonplace to assert that opinions are subjective while facts are objective and therefore free from bias.  Thus, the general consensus is typically that facts are ultimately the more credible source of knowledge.

A few months ago I too subscribed to this belief; however, I've since come to agree with the RCL authors' stance that opinions and the "rhetorical reasoning" they incite are just as valid as a means of thoughtful communication as are facts.  People relish in the opportunity to gloat that their argument is based solely on the "cold, hard facts", as if crafting their claims to be as removed from human emotions and characteristics as possible is some sort of Herculean feat.

Similarly, people often feel unqualified to share their personal convictions or stories unless they feel they are representative of a larger community. You don't need to represent an entire community to have a voice, and we need only to look to literature, film, and music, in order to experience the power of personal stories firsthand.

Black Lives Matter campaign protest

In terms of civic life, I have been most impacted by the account of how we are moving towards a more "collective" based society.  Indeed, we are always encouraged to think about others before ourselves, to always be thinking about what we can be doing to help others, rather than further our own interests.  However, as seen through the personal-interest driven history of civil rights, these two things don't have to be mutually exclusive.  The value of 'thinking of others first' had become so ingrained into my conscience that it was actually staggering to think that "democracy has been enlarged in our lifetime when individuals have been driven not by a desire to serve but by an effort to overcome indignities they themselves have suffered" (Rhetoric and Civic Life).  Today, the "Black Lives Matter" campaign and new wave feminist movements are current examples of how fighting for your own rights results in gains for millions of people.

While the rise of social media and the concept of individuality has resulted in no shortage of shared opinions or campaigns based on personal interests, society as a whole has come to discredit and undervalue these facets of human consciousness as valid means of argument or action.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution: all we have to do is listen.

To Joel or Not to Joel? There Is No Question.

Application essays.  We've all written them, agonized over them, and written them again.  And anyone who has applied to college is familiar with what I consider to be the quintessential college application question: "What are you passionate about?" 

When faced with such a question, I frequently talked about my interest in languages and culture, in history, and wrote extensively on my desire to help people and the environment.  

I must now confess that this response was in fact only half true, for my one true passion in life is the music of none other than the Piano Man himself, the one-and-only Billy Joel.

1970s-era Billy Joel

Now if you're questioning how dedicated I truly am to my idol, you should know that  I saw him in concert over the summer and cried on at least five different occasions; I consider that day to be the defining moment in my life thus far.

So naturally, I see the opportunity to create a "passion blog" as a way to fulfill my calling by spreading the gospel of the Piano Man to my peers and the world at large.  But that being said, I am not content to merely analyze songs and apply them to my life and the world around me, for my other passion (and the more application essay-acceptable of the two) is history- particularly the history of 1970s America.

Since I'm always eager to have my cake and eat it too, I've been contemplating combining the two topics into one overarching blog: a look back on the people, places, and things of the 1970s with a mini-series dedicated to the life and times of Billy Joel.  There is, however one problem: only half of Joel's albums were released during the 1970s; the rest hit the charts in the 80s and 90s.

So, where does this leave me? I like my idea too much to abandon it completely- one solution I've pondered is to only cover Billy Joel songs that were released in the 70s, as he has more than enough material to discuss from this time period alone.  

Basically, I'm still unsure of how this blog will unfold- I suppose I will have to get creative like Rocky and think critically like Michael Corleone to make this happen.  I guess it's just "a matter of trust" after all.

See? This could work.