Lean on me Inspirational speech

In this video Morgan Freeman gives a speech to a group of students at an inner city highschool who are at the risk of being taken over by the New Jersey state government unless their test scores improve. Freeman plays the newly appointed principal and gives this speech to inspire this group of misfits and juveniles to achieve a higher education. This in fact was a great speech because it incorporates all the necessary points to a great speech. He starts off giving the central idea and reason to listen which is that they will be taking a test to test the basic skills of the students and that everybody else doesnt beleives that they are inferior. He then goes on to his hook, which was what the everyone else thinks about the school and the students that go there. "They say you are inferior, You are just a bunch of niggers and spiks and poor white trash, and education is wasted on you". He tells the students what the government says about them in order to motivate the students to prove themselves worthy. He already obtained credibility because he is the principal of the high school and throughout the movie has done tremendous work to improve the school. After he goes into his body where he explains how the students are no different from each other no matter the race, as he makes all the caucasion students stand and says "They have no place to go, if they had they would have abandoned us a long time ago like everybody else did, but they couldnt, so here they are at east side high just like the rest of us".  He shows how they are all the same and are just as capable as anyone else. Freeman gives out many examples and helps the students understand that they can and should prove those that talk down on them wrong, as he states in his conclusion. In his conclusion he adds "you are not inferior", just reemphasizing the central idea. He goes on to his motivational point in his conclusion as he states "Your grades may be, your school, may have been but you can turn that around and make liars out of those bastards in exactly one hour".  As you can see he did a good job of motivating the audience by the reaction and applause. He comes to a closure telling the students to "concentrate and show everyone what east side high is all about"

Newspaper blog

Today I read a newspaper article written by Marilynn Marchione (an AP Medical Writer) called Healthy Living Can Prevent Alzheimer's. As you may have realized from the title this article was about changing your lifestyle to a healthy one which can possibly prevent the worldwide epidemic known as Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s for all of you who may not know is a form of dementia which is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases.  To really capture the readers’ attention she adds an expert testimony by the associations’ chief officer William Thies. Prevention is a particularly attractive option given the state of therapy. That's why there's so much interest in it,” She goes on to explain that it can be prevented by living healthier and curbing risk factors such as smoking, depression, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, lack of education and lack of exercise. To help the reader understand how all of these factors contribute to Alzheimer’s disease she begins to give an explanation for each. She goes in order classifying each factor by the impact it is causing and the amount of people that these factors pertain to. Finally as the article is coming to an end she puts a few more statistics, and compacted them to make sure what the readers are reading sticks in their head. "Reducing these seven risk factors by 25 percent could mean 3 million fewer cases of Alzheimer's worldwide, including half a million in the U.S., researchers estimated. Reducing risk factors by 10 percent would translate to 1.1 million fewer cases". There she ends on a literal analogy showing the difference it can make to live a healthier lifestyle.

Intercultural Scavanger hunt

Throughout this weekend I had eaten at a few different cultural restaurants. Each restaurant was unique and different in their own way showing different aspects of their culture. The indian restaurant opens their shop late as they normally do in India according to my parents (India typically begins their day later than Americans). There was no music and not very lively but the food was very strong smelling and extremely flavorful. The food was tasteful but was not presented well. It is a small restaurant with pictures of India on the walls and India's flag. I did not see anyone of another culture in the restaurant and everyone ate their meal using their right hands. I also visited a japanese restaurant where everything seemed so neat and organized from the utensils to the food. The food was served very neat and appealing to the eye and served in small portions. In the japanese restaurant they had mirors with coy fish and lily pads painted on them, giving a very calm soothing/relaxed feeling in the air.  At the spanish restaurant they played cultural spanish, almost dance music. The music made the place feel lively and like home, almost that it wasnt a sit down dinner but more of a friendly gathering like a home BBQ. At all of these different restaurants the people who prepared the food were generally of that culture. As I ordered my meal from each place they spoke in english to me, but to give the order to their co-workers, they began to speak in their native tongue almost not even realizing it. There are soo many different cultural foods all very close to each other. I never think about it but there are soo many different cultural restaurants that we have soo many options to choose from.

Food and Culture

Dear Frank,
        My friend David has invited us to his house for dinner and I would like to make a good impression on his parents so I have done a bit of research to help us understand their culture. Japanese culture is reflected in their diet. The farming and fishing communities, as well as government and urban life all influence Japanese cuisine. The Japanese culture places a lot of emphasis on the process of preparing and presentation of their food. Japanese cuisine is unique from the rest because unlike other cultures, is not based on ingredients, seasoning, or cooking techniques, but rather the appearance and presentation of the food. The dishes are designed to give pleasure to the eyes as well as the mouth. It is important to remember to say"hadaki-masu" before and "gochisou-sama" after the meal to express appreciation for the dinner. Three main dishes in a meal, which you should expect to, see are, rice, miso soup, and pickles. Japanese food is extremely healthy. They generally eat a lot of fish, seaweed, and soybean products, an example is sushi. At the table the meals are brought out together. Do not eat one dish at once; it is polite to eat rice, soup, and other dishes alternatively. Most of the foods are small; bite sized, and should be eaten with chopsticks. For sushi you may use your hands. Try not to make slurping noises while eating noodles. To eat your meal you should pick up your bowl/plate to eat. For side dishes there is no need to lift the bowl. If a large dish is brought out to be shared you should use the top clean end of your chopsticks to serve yourself. This is all information you should use when we go for the dinner, we want to make a good first impression. The dinner is tomorrow at 6pm at his house. See you there.

Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream"

Today I watched Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech. Dr. King started off his speech with "5 score years ago" an allusion to the Gettysburg Address given by Abraham Lincoln. (This speech was given in Washington D.C.  In front of the Lincoln memorial which helped aid this speech and get the message out). Then he begins to talk about the history of African Americans, and all the years of slavery that they faced.  It then goes into that present time and explains the hardships that African Americans were experiencing then and there. "America has given the negro a bad check with insufficient funds", which in turn means that black people were being denied human rights that they are promised. He keeps repeating the words "we cannot be satisfied" to get a clear message across that African Americans all over should not give up and not take anything less than they deserve. He goes on naming all the problems that black people were facing, segregation, denied rights, etc. "We cannot be satisfied when a negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a negro in New York has nothing of which to vote". Lastly he begins to talk about the future and what they should expect and fight for, as he repeats the phrase "I have a dream". He talks about the future and what he hopes for as he says "I have a dream that one day my children will love not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character". He hopes that he can end segregation so that white, and black people, can live together peacefully... One thing that must be noticed is the way he formatted his speech. Each topic flowed into the next one from the past to the present to what he wants the future to look like. Dr. King read most of this speech in a loud, confident but monotonous tone, and changed that tone when touching on key points or lines which I have quoted. "This will be the day that all of gods children can sing together.........let freedom reign".

Fast Food Restaurant Communication

Today I am blogging about my experience at the local fast food restaurant Subway. I realized at this restaurant how communication is inescapable and happens all the time even when we do not realize it. As I walked through the doors I noticed that my friends were already there at the table eating. Without thinking I nodded my head acknowledging their presence and almost saying "hi". It’s crazy how a simple little head nod can communicate for you. As I walked on line to order my food I turned to ask my friends "Is the burrito bowl good?", and immediately they all put their thumbs up, signaling to me that the burrito bowl was good. In a restaurant so packed and loud my friends were still able to convey a clear message without saying a word. It is astonishing how just sticking your thumb up is a universal gesture that can be understood by all no matter what language one may speak. Ordering the food was my experience with communication as action. In this scenario I acted as the speaker conveying a message to the man behind the desk who was preparing my meal. I began to say all the things I wanted added into my bowl, and somewhere in between I began to point before words came out of my mouth because it was very loud in the restaurant (the restaurant was the medium, the channel, from which all the noise from people having their own conversations came from). The man behind the counter, who was preparing my food, was adding food that I wanted before I was able to say it. I realized that even though I was not speaking to him he was able to read my hand gestures and pick up the message of what I wanted added to the food. It shows how communication is inescapable, and happens even when we may not realize it.

Shawshank Redemption communication

For this blog on communication I chose a scene from Shawshank Redemption. Human communication is the process of making sense out of the world and sharing that sense with others by creating meaning through the use of verbal and nonverbal messages, however there are different types of communication. This clip is an example of communication as interaction. In this interaction there is a speaker and there is a receiver. The speaker sends a message verbally or nonverbally to the receiver who sends feedback to the speaker. Morgan freeman who plays a convicted felon is the receiver in this scenario giving feedback to the parole board which acts as the speaker. As Morgan Freeman enters the room he keeps his hands crossed showing that he is being respectful. You may notice that as he enters the room the board of people is looking at their papers, showing that they do not even acknowledge his presence. The receiver then puts his hands to his side in an abrupt manner to convey the message that he will not respect those that don't give respect back.  As the man on the board asks Morgan Freeman if he thinks he is rehabilitated you see a faint frown which suggests that he looks down on the receiver, and feels superior to him. The receiver raises his eyebrows yet his eyes are not widened showing that he is not actually shocked though one may believe so. Morgan freeman looks at the floor expressing through his face that he is pondering the word "rehabilitated". The man on the boards does the same as he looks down in embarrassment when the receiver sends feedback ("I don’t have any idea what that means"). Throughout the rest of the speech Morgan Freemans face is almost expressionless, and with a low voice he sends a clear message that he does not care what the board believes as he says "because to tell you the truth.....I don’t give a shit". As you can tell the feedback was received by the blank, shocked expression on all the board members faces, and the silence in the room when it was all over.