Ted Talk Reflection

I must say, this speech was way harder than the rhetorical analysis one. I think it is because I was introduced to rhetorical analysis in high school, so I already knew how to look at an artifact and analyze it. Also, with the speech, since it was analyzing a picture, I could easily remember what I had to say because every time I looked at the picture I knew what I wanted to say. For this speech, not only was the style out of my comfort zone and not something I am accustomed to, it heavily relied on research. I needed to not only memorize history I just learned about, but make it fun and entertaining for the viewers, while also keeping it under the time limit! I think this speech recording took me 4 hours to do and honestly I still feel like I could have done better. However, I guess that is one of the drawbacks with recording something rather than presenting it in person (although I still prefer recording it in advance over live presenting it… oops?). Anyways, trying to stay positive, I think I memorized the speech pretty well and looked pretty confident in what I was saying. I also think my slides were visually appealing. I tried to throw in some jokes and keep it entertaining to the best of my ability. I know I definitely need to work on timing as well as staying on topic. I am not sure if the audience could tell I was talking about a paradigm shift which would be a huge issue considering that is what the purpose of it was. Overall, I think I did the best that I could and that’s all that matters!

Public Controversy Ideas

I am still a little confused on what the difference between a controversy, scandal, or just bad things, but here are some ideas

• Greenwashing. How much are companies responsible for being environmentally freidnly? How much responsibility lies in the consumers to research what they are buying instead of blindly following? If a company is greenwashing, is it still a good thing because it raises awareness?
• Fast Fashion. Similar questions to the last one. It makes clothes cheaper for people to buy, but at what cost?
• Me Too Movement. What happens to those that are wrongly accused? What action is being taken? (I know there are instances where a man was accused and his life was ruined and he was found to be innocent or that the accusor was actually the abusive one potentially). Is this fine due to the years of oppression women have faced?
• College admissions. Asking about ethnicity and race on applications. Does this hinder or help students? There was a lot of talk about the rich buying their kids in too or if they are legacy children. There seems to be a lot of unfairness in an industry that makes billions of dollars off young students who basically have to go to college or else it will be hard to find a job.
• Standardized Testing. Yes it tries to make it more fair, but students learn in all different ways. Students are learning how to study for a test rather than learning the material. They need to reform the education system.