Doctors Without Borders

I was having the most difficult time trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my final project in Public Speaking. Then, as if a give came down from the Heavens, I got a letter in the mail from an organization I donate to: Doctors Without Borders. When I attended Temple U, I was constantly preyed upon by people wanting my to donate to their cause. I was always resistant, but when a DWB representative asked, I couldn't say no. Not only was he convincing, but I couldn't turn down the offer to help such a great cause. Basically, the organization is a group of people who give relief efforts to countries all over the world who have hit a hard time. They also help in the US. When Hurricane Katrina hit, they were there. There are many problems they help with worldwide. They help with malnutrition, epidemics, armed conflict, natural disaster, etc.  For the amazing work they do, I feel more people should know about them. This is why I picked them to be the basis of my final presentation.

Dalton Sherman

Last week in Public Speaking, we watched a speech given by a fifth grader named Dalton Sherman at some type of school pep rally for school teachers and faculty. I was blown away. He spoke with more power and energy than anyone I have ever even seen. With such talent, he inspired his whole audience. His three main poins were do you believe in your colleagues, students, and yourself. His use of repetition took a firm grip on the audience. He said that some kids don't have anyone else to believe in them and just having their teachers believe in them can make an impact on their life. Just as important, they must believe in themselves, too. I personally believe this young boy has so much potentional. I have a lot of respect for him after seeing this. Plus I thought he was soo adorable. He made me and the whole class laugh the whole time.

Sordoni Art Gallery - Maslow Collection

Our next assignment in Public Speaking was to visit the Sordoni Art Gallery, during the Maslow Collection exhibit, in our school and blog about it. I was pretty pumped to go look at the gallery, seeing as I have never been to an art gallery before, even though it is small. I was pleased with some of the works...others, not so much. The piece that was my favorite [left corner] was a HUGE oil painting by James Biederman called Albanian Tango (1990). It wasn't a painting of any specific thing, but rather just a bunch of greens, oranges, and browns placed beautifully on the canvas (its hard to see the actual colors in the picture). I don't really understand my infatuation with this piece, but I wanted to take it with me. There was one piece that I wasn't fond of by any means. As an artist, I appreciate most works of art, or at least try to get a feel of what that artist is trying to express. This piece, Volterra (1990) by Melissa Meyer, just wasn't aesthetically pleasing at all. It was very dull colored and just....not good. There was also some flow chart that what printed and framed. I didn't really understand the point of that. Overall, though, there were more piece I did like than I didn't. I'm glad I got to walk through it.

Ben Glenn - The Chalkguy

At first, I had a hard time finding a public speaker to research about for Public Speaking. Every person I came across was supposedly "a fabulous speaker," yet they didn't even arouse my attention. Then, I found a biography on a guy named Ben Glenn (aka the Chalkguy).

Ben Glenn is an artist and a motivational/public speaker. He is also the president of Chalkguy Media International. What's really interesting about him is how he first got into art and how that led him to public speaking. In his younger years, Glenn had a learning disability. He struggled learning things that other people naturally understood. Later, as an adult, he was officially diagnosed with ADHD. This disability did not hinder him, however. Even though he couldn't write well, he was able to write a book called Simply Special; Learning to Love Your ADD. He also found a major love for art. Initially, he wasn't even that good at art, but he kept working at it and now he makes breath taking images with pieces of chalk. From here, he went on to share his story in front of audiences. In these presentations, he tries to motivate the audience to never give up and to step out of their shells (especially those who are like him). He isnt boring in doing this, either. He is actually very humorous and engages the audience. Also, at the end of these presentations, he creates beautiful pictures out of chalk paired with an amazing light show within minutes. I can only imagine how inspiring this is in person when I just watched a Youtube video (Ben Glenn "How I Got Started Chalkin") and felt motivated.

Thom Friedman - The World is Flat

Last Thursday in Public Speaking the class was assigned to watch and hour long speech by Thom Friedman (The World is Flat). I crawled into bed late the other night to listen to it while I did my typical facebook rounds. At first, I couldn't concentrate on just the speech, so I kept myself busy online with the speech playing in the background. Eventually, though, some of what Thom Friedman had to say drew me in.

Essentially, the video was about Thom Friedman discussing his book The World is Flat and the ideas he has come to find about advancements and whatnot in our world today. What really got my attention was his discussion about Airline Jet Blue. He called to get some information, pretending to be making reservations, and talked to this woman named Betty. Turns out, Betty was working from home in her bedroom slippers. I find it fascinating that we have come as far as sending people to work from home, especially in a big businness like AJB. I usually hear of people wanting to work from home to be close to family, but never of employers making it a priority for people to work in their own homes for this same reason. It just amazes me.

Other than that segement of the hour long video, nothing was really of interest to me. I will say, though, that Thom Friedman's presence and speaking skills were wonderful. He seemed so calm and was able to engage the audience, or else I would have fell asleep.