The Public Enemy 

Throughout my high school career I was always regarded as an elite public speaker. However, like everyone there are definitely strengths and weaknesses to my public speaking ability.

My strengths consist of making good eye contact, connecting with the audience, and using an effective tone. Often when giving a speech I will memorize the material in order to ensure that I will always be making eye contact with the audience instead of looking down at note cards. This plays into my next strength which is my ability to connect to the audience. I have the ability to make everyone in the audience feel like I am speaking directly to them. Additionally, my effective tones plays into this as well. By using various tones I can keep the audience interested while at the same time make each audience member feel like I am speaking directly to them.

Nevertheless, even great public speakers like the President has his flaws. One of mine is the repeated use of hand gestures. I often use the same signals over and over again, which can be effective at times, but not in all situations. Another weakness that I possess is a rigid body. Although this is not so drastic that the audience notices, I feel like I would benefit from becoming more fluid in my overall movement. I believe that having the ability to walk across the stage would be beneficial. Often I focus so much on remembering the information that I lose this ability.

Both of these weaknesses can only be fixed by repeated practice. I am now aware of them, which is the first step. Now I must make an active effort to improve these areas when preparing to deliver a speech.

Overall, I love giving public speeches. This is due to the fact that I generally deliver them well and in turn receive great praise for my ability. However, each speech is still its own little challenge. There is always room for improvement in every aspect of my life including public speaking. 

Social Media and Sports Paradigm 

For my paradigm shift essay I will be analyzing the rising influence of social media in professional and college sports. It will first begin with an overall description of the beginning of the “social media era” and in specific how Twitter came to be a large social platform. After explaining this origin, I will delve deeper into several events that affected various sports stars in regard to social media. Using examples like Larry Johnson and Cardale Jones, I will show how these various events caused athletes to have a changing image. Then, I will explain how Twitter has influenced brand recognition and the economic status of athletes. All these variables taken into account will show how social media has contributed to the over confident and cocky attitude of various sports stars. Previously players portrayed themselves as idols. Now with social media, athletes are often viewed negatively and they couple this with an overconfident attitude. Overall, I will explain how all of these factors have affected the perception of the common athlete in today’s society and how this has affected athletes all the way down to the high school level.

My tentative thesis will state:

“Social media has come to play a large role in the modern day perception of an athlete by exposing various aspects of their life and thus changing their public image, while at the same time being used as a tool for brand recognition and bolstering economic status.”

As of now I will be using the following sources. However, additions may be made in order to enforce the details of my essay.

Rovell, Darren. "LeBron James-sponsored Tweets Valued at $140K, Or $1K per Character." Espn.com. ESPN, 20 Aug. 2015. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Ortiz, Maria. "Twitter Gaffes Begat Punishment for Athletes." Espn.com. ESPN, 27 July 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Markazi, Arash. "Social Media Is a Double-edged Sword in Sports World." Espn.com. ESPN, 21 July 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Nelson, Amy. "Fan, Friends Connected with Ochocinco." Espn.com. ESPN, 31 Jan. 2010. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

Quinton, Sean. "Top 10 Dumbest and Most Regrettable Athlete Tweets Ever." TheRichest. TheRichest.com, 7 June 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. 

A New Way of Thinking

Paradigm shifts at their base definition are simply a new way of thinking in various situations or on various subjects. Basically, it can be seen as a new trend that some people have generally accepted. Two large and effective paradigm shifts have occurred on the topics of gay marriage and vaccines.

Recently, the United States Supreme Court has declared gay marriage legal. This shift in thought has been building over the past decade. Formerly, there was a Defense of Marriage Act that protected against gay marriage. Additionally, it was not seen as socially acceptable to express homosexuality publicly. However, due to liberal movements and the increase in the social acceptability of the act it has now been deemed a part of our culture. The democrats threw their support behind gay marriage which helped to bolster the movement. Additionally, movies such as "I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry" made a push to be accepting of same sex marriage. Nevertheless, there are several more reasons and examples, these are just a few.

Another topic that has experienced a paradigm shift is vaccines. This is largely due to recent studies that have possibly shown a link between autism and vaccines. This study, coupled with religious beliefs that condemn vaccines, have encouraged people against having their children vaccinated. In doing this they are relying on both natural immunization and the fact that most other children will be vaccinated. However, sometimes this is not the case, which could explain the recent measles outbreak in some areas of the United States. Nevertheless, some Americans are still against vaccines. They have taken part in a paradigm shift. They are part of a new way of thinking.

Overall, whenever a paradigm shift occurs it affects all of society. It introduces a new trend that people must either accept or reject.

The Opportunity Awaits

At its base definition kairos can be defined as simply an opportunity. An opportunity to act in whatever time an opportunity presents itself in a certain situation. All throughout history kairos has come into play. Nearly any political movement, war, or other major event contained some element of kairos. That is why kairos is so crucially important. It is impossible to analyze history correctly without considering the kairos of it.

One important event that clearly contained kairos is the recent allowance of same sex marriage in our society. If this same argument were presented twenty years earlier or really anytime in the past, it would have been written off as a joke. However, with a liberal President in office and a Supreme Court with 4 Democratic members, it was made possible. This is the kairos of the situation. The opportunity was there to present the argument that same sex couples should be able to marry. This is why kairos is so important. Some issues only ever get one chance to be made public. If that chance is not at the right time then it is doomed to fail.

However, I believe that kairos also affects matters in our everyday lives as well. Whenever we make a lot of our decisions we contemplate whether or not the time is right. For example, whenever we decide to do our homework is an example of kairos. We as students have to take into account when we have the correct energy and motivation to produce our best work. If not then we will get an average to below average grade. The opportunity of enough motivation and energy in a quiet setting must present itself in order for the homework to be most readily completed.

Overall, kairos has been and will always be an important factor. Most of the time people consider it subconsciously and do not truly regard it as a factor. Nevertheless, it is there, and it will always be shaping the molds of history.

The Boys of Fall

As the weather starts to get colder and the leaves start to form their beautiful brown, red, and yellow colors, it seems as if this can mean only one thing for the majority of Americans, FOOTBALL IS BACK!

That's right, the boys of fall are staged to make their entrance back onto the gridiron once again to shed blood, sweat, and perhaps even tears. As this wonderful time approaches it seems only fitting that my passion blog should refer to this glorious sport. However, football is an extremely large sport. By posting merely a single blog a week, I could never do justice for it. Therefore, for my passion blog I have most likely decided to concentrate on my hometown football team, the Pittsburgh Steelers! Each week I will be bringing the latest and greatest analysis of seemingly all aspects of the Pittsburgh Steelers. This will include everything from player of the week, to an in depth analysis of last week's performance, and even the players to watch for next week. This blog is going to be aimed at those die hard black and gold fans such as myself.

However, I have taken into account the fact that not everyone is a Steeler fan, even though they should be. This factor makes me consider a second slightly different alternative. This alternative would rather look at the NFL as a whole rather than just the Steelers. Basically, I could choose one stand out team on a weekly basis and write about their record, upcoming opponents, star players, etc. This would be rather similar to the Steelers blog, but instead create a broader scope. As of this moment I am clearly leaning towards my home town Steelers. This however comes with an extreme level of bias. If the appeal lies rather with the second option then I could possibly reconsider. Nevertheless, my mind as of now appears to be pretty set.

With all of this said, the only undeniable fact is that football is back. This truth is accompanied by only one question. Are you ready for some football?!

Practice Post

I am learning how to blog.




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