Texting has no personality. No tone of voice. This is how one of my biggest miscommunications occurred. I began having a conversation with one of my friends via text message. She had said "hey dude." and my reply was "Whatever." It may seem that this wasn't the nicest reply on my part but, it had been sent to her on accident. We all know how that goes...sending a text to one person when it was meant for someone else. Once this happened she was all upset that I didn't want to talk to her and how rude it was. Then before I got the chance to text her what had happened my phone had died. It wasn't until I had finally seen her at the UC did I get to tell her what had happened. Improving future actions while texting can only happen if you're careful who you're sending your texts to.

*Have you ever been misunderstood while texting?

Le Huitième.

My percieved self and presenting self do have similarities and differences. I percieve myself as rather funny and outgoing and I like to present myself as such. Another perception I have of myself is that I care a lot about those closest to me. I know for a fact that this shows when I present myself. The only difference there is between my percieved and presenting self is that I percieve myself as someone who cares a lot about life and succeeding, but I think that I don't always present myself as such.
It is very important to be the same person no matter where you happen to be. When think about how I am in public I actually do act a bit differently. It all depends on who I am with when I am in public. I act differently when I'm with my friends compared to if I'm helping my Grandma grocery shop.

Do you think its important to act the same wherever you happen to be at the moment?

Le Septième

When looking at a person for the first time everyone has a perception of what they think they may or may not be like. A person has many things that can make them different. Physical qualities, interests, clothing, and even how they carry themselves. The perceptions that people make of others are usually not correct. When looking at myself I see a ballerina that has been dancing for 16 years. Usually when I'm just meeting a person they ask if I'm in hockey or softball just because I'm not how people assume that a ballerina would look like. (You know, like a twig. Haha.) I think if everyone just stopped to talk to people once in awhile they would learn extraordinary things about them.
There are a few things inhibiting this change such as the media and our peers. I know plenty of people that I would have never talked to while I was a closed minded high schooler. I am glad that once I got to River Falls I realized that there are people outside of my small city and there are amazing things to learn from everyone. The people that I probably wouldn't have given the time of day to a few years ago if they would have came into contact with me are actually very good friends. I gained new friends all because I didn't let me perceptions get in the way of what a person is really like on the inside.

Have you ever became friends with someone that you never thought you would?

Le Sixième

The most important thing that a speaker brings to their speech is credibility. If a speaker seems as if they don't know what they're talking about then there is no way the audience will listen to their message. The speakers I have encountered in the past have either captured my attention and made me really think about their message or they have made it seem like they didn't really care about the topic and seemed like they were just scripted. The speakers who I can remember having the biggest impact were very enthuastic and natural. They also used facts along with personal knowledge to make their appeal.
The speaker who made the best emotional appeal to me was my own Mom. She just had a way of digging deep down and making me think about what she was trying to get through my head. The speaker who made the most moving logical appeal was when our high school police officer gave a speech to our school about the laws around our town. She made it very easy to understand and used a lot of evidence and facts about crime and why we all needed to avoid that lifestyle. The speaker who made the best need based appeal was when I went into downtown St.Paul while the Republican National Convention was here. While I was hippying it out with awesome people I stumbed upon an older lady talking about our basic needs and how the government was supressing them. I'm not a hardcore hippy or anything like that but she was so passionate and made appeals that made sense that it was hard not to think like she was.
Embodying my Mother, a Police Officer, and a hippy in my speeches may seem like an odd combination, but really they all have something that can be learned. From my Mom I can learn how to dig in emotionally. I can learn how to deliver facts and logic to an audience from the cop. And from the old hippy woman I can learn how to use peoples basic needs to gain more support for what I am pursuading the audience to believe.

If you had the choice would you rather listen to a speech given by a Mom, a police officer, or a hippy? Who's do you think would be the most effective when trying to persuade their audience? Why?

Le Cinquième

Groups can only function correctly if every member does their part. The worst group I've had to work with is hard to choose. So, I'm just going to generalize and say that every single group I
had to be a part of in high school was terrible. Half of the people in the group didn't care and just wanted to sleep or do whatever slackers like to do. The other half was a bunch of bossy kids who were ignorant of everyone's ideas but their own. Most of the time I just ended up either parting ways with the group and doing my own thing or laying down the law because I didn't want a terrible grade because of some slacker/ignorant teenager. By the time I was a junior I had given up on the fact that a bunch of high school kids grouped together for an hour and then left alone in the library for an hour with no supervision could ever produce a quality group project.
The best group I have ever been a part of was my dance line my senior year. By the time I was a senior I had been in dance for 15 years. So, after 15 years I had gone through dancing along side a lot of different girls. Since I can remember there had always been drama, jelousy, and competing to be better than everyone else in order to get put in front of the dances, and not stuck in the back. That all changed my senior year. The girls on my line all worked so well together. I was the captain that year and was the one who had to deal with the cattyness which I wasn't excited for that coming year. To my surprise the year went smoothly. We all encouraged each other to try harder and better ourselves, not to compete with each other but to grow as dancers. That is for sure one of the best groups I have ever been able to be a part of.

Le Quatrième.

A feeling that is hard to describe in words is love. True love is something that isn't found by everyone, only those lucky enough. People throw around the word love loosely and forget that it is an actual feeling. According to the dictionary love is "A profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." although this may be an accurate definition it lacks the true feeling behind the word. Love is something that bonds people in trust and dependence. Love is one of the easiest nonverbal forms of communication to spot. One way to spot this feeling is seeing a couple holding hands. Another way to show the feeling of love is to have a conversation with the signifcant other. Not just a regular conversation, but a deep and meaningful one that passer bys can readily see in the facial expressions and eyes that the meaning behind the conversation is love. A final way to nonverbally express love is to do something nice for a person. You don't have to be in love with someone or even know the person that you would be doing something nice for. Something like holding the door or helping a person with something they're struggling with shows that you have a love for all people and are caring enough to spread the love.
Whoever it is that holds the power to control information hold the power to control whatever they are holing power over. A prime example of this is Hitler's Germany. Adolf strolled into Germany with strong convictions and an even stronger speaking ability. Soon he was given the power to control what information was given to the German society. With this power he used more propaganda than fact to control his society. We all know how the rest of the story goes after he had Germany on his side...
Speakers need to be aware of this power because all over the world people are taking advantage of the fact that people are more interested in appearance and a strong voice, and not listening to the words that the person is speaking. It applies to us because we need to be able to decide for ourself if the person is someone worth giving this power to.

Do you think that strong speakers can influence the way that an entire country thinks?

ps. I just thought it was funny that the first part of my blog was about love, and the second half was about Hitler. hahaha.

Le troisieme.

My Mom is infamous for time to time giving off the impression that she isn't listening. The most recent situation that occured was during the Superbowl. I stood in our hallway while my Mom was on the couch with the rest of my family watching the Superbowl. While I was standing in said hallway I was trying to have a last conversation before leaving to come back to school after that weekend. I asked her "Do you want me to drive to school or would you like to take me?" I literally stood there for 5 minutes waiting for an answer. I waved my arms and used outrageous body language to try to get her to finally pay attention to me and not the stupid Superbowl commercials. Finally I blurted out a very loud, "MOM" and that got her to finally after 5 long minutes of staring at her from the hallway she answered me with, "Whatever you want." Really?? Really Mom? Those commercials were so important that you made me stand there to wait for a 3 word answer. It made me feel ignored and brushed aside. It was quite obvious that the listening barrier was the stupid Superbowl commercials. (which I don't even understand why if they were that important she just didn't use the DVR and pause the TV...come on.) I can take something from this, that being that a TV commercial which you're supposed to HATE when viewing regular TV can make even the best listener not able to listen properly. So, in other words, limit distractions when speaking.
An preparing and delivering and unorganized speech is a recipe for disaster. The one time I can recall sitting through an unorganized speech was in 12th grade speech class. It was clearly obvious that the student had whipped up the speech during class. Nothing about the speech made it so the audience could retain the information that was being sloppily given. The only advice that I could have given that speaker was to actually prepare for a speech and practice, practice, practice!!!!

Le deuxieme.

I have always enjoyed listening to people speak. Excellent speakers can make such an impression on their audience that it can even get a them elected president...*cough*JFK*cough* But when the speaker isn't connected with the audience then there really is no point to delivering the speech at all. I experienced this when I was doing an internship at an elementary school. I was a "high school helper" everyday in a 5th grade classroom. One afternoon we had a lyceum to go to about Amelia Earhart where an actress comes in, portrays Amelia and tells Amelia's biography. Everyone was pretty excited and I had pretty high hopes that I could enjoy it along with the kids. Once we had finally gotten all seated and "Amelia" started speaking I realized right away this was not going to be anything like I had imagined. The actress clearly had forgotten that she was in an elementary school. She was using huge words that I didn't even know and she had no excitement in her voice. Even though I wasn't one of the kids I felt very disconnected with the story she was trying to tell us. It seemed as if she was just trying to get through the story rather then take the time to entertain her audience. Generally when I have to deliver a speech or speak publically, audience is the first thing I think about. When I am first putting together a speech I think of who I am delivering it to and tweak it to fit. I change things from tone of voice to certain interests.
The beauty of writing a speech is freedom. As a speaker there is freedom to choose what needs to be said and what kinds of support can be used to keep interest in a presentation. To me statistics and factual illustrations are the most helpful to use while speaking. One must be cautious when using these, though, because it can go horribly wrong if done incorrectly. The speaker must keep these simple and easy to understand to make them work well. I think that these help me because it gives one something to build off of and does the same for an audience.

Le premier.

Inside my lunchbox: Pb&j, grapes, and a juicebox.


"The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred." Or so says George Bernard Shaw, and he is completely correct. Communication is one of the most important things that humans ever developed. From grunting cave men to texting on the way to class, communication is all around us. This being said it is only obvious as to why colleges and universities require their students to be well versed in conversing. Colleges are put in place to prepare people for what will be required of them in their degree. Every single degree that is to be earned at a university requires some degree of communication, whether it is becoming a scientist and discussing ideas with fellow scholars or teaching a 5th grader how to do long division. To be successful in life one must be able to communicate thoughts, feelings, ideas, knowledge, and problems. Colleges realize that success is achieved through proper communication skills and require that their students will be able to communicate no matter what stage in life they are at. Personally I use communication all day, everyday. Whether I'm talking to a friend, sitting in class, texting or talking on the phone, using body language to get my point across, or simply just making small talk with whoever is around, I am communicating all day. I would say that I use interpersonal communication. Most of the day I am communicating with someone. The goals I have for improving my communication are to be able to stand still while I am speaking. I've always had a problem with having to sway or move around while speaking in front of a class.

My most embarassing moment isn't something that I can take lightly. When you ask someone about their most embarassing moment you would most likely hear about someone falling down in front of a bunch of people or smacking their head on a locker in front of their high school crush. My embarassing moment is almost the complete opposite and has a back story that even Dr. Phil would have difficulty understanding. The incident in question happened this past Thanksgiving. First, I'm going to fill in the back story. Mom and Dad are divorced, Dad is crazy jealous of Mom's new life, Dad takes it out on me. Got it? Good. So, I decided that this past Thanksgiving I would be nice and go to Thanksgiving on my Dads side. That was my first fatal mistake. I arrived at dinner and the whole family was there, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins. Basically your normal Thanksgiving dinner. The night was going surprising smooth until the pumpkin pie. I was sitting there minding my own dessert when my Grandparents came up. (they're snowbirds and go to Arizona in the winter) So my Dad and Aunts started talking about my Grandpa's heart problems and one of my Aunts simply asked "What started all of his heart problems?" That questioned was answered by my Dad's finger pointing right at me. He thought I didn't see, but I did. I sat there with tears in my eyes and my face turning red realizing that my own Father blamed his own Daughter for his Fathers heart problems just because his life isn't what he wants it to be. He blamed me. Me. I'm going to school, I have a job, and a great life (when I'm with my Mom) I haven't done anything that would give anyone heart problems. Its ridiculous. Honestly, if anyone in the family has given anyone heart problems it would be my dead beat Father. Hes unemployed, a drunk, crazy, and selfish. I felt betrayed, hurt, and embarassed. It seems pretty obvious why this would be my most embarassing moment, I was singled out in front of my entire family and blamed for the medical problems of the person who is at the head of the family. I know that my Aunts and Uncles and Cousins know that what my Dad "gestured" couldn't be further from the truth.

When it comes to speaking in front of an audience I am cool as a cucumber. I have no problem getting up and speaking. When you think about it no one is going to hate you for your speech and no one is going to make fun of you just because you stumbled over a word. My embarassing moment has helped me deal with whatever speech anxiety I may have because if you have been put through an embarassing moment in front of family then you can easily deal with being embarassed in front of people who probably don't even know your name.