After reading and listening to a few sample “This I Believe” speeches and bouncing some ideas around the room for Civic Issue Blogs, I believe I have figured out what I want to discuss in my blog and my speech. Considering I am not very politically involved, it wasn’t easy trying to figure out what I wanted to write about. Most of my beliefs don’t fall far from the middle of the spectrum, as I continuously find myself agreeing with both ends of the political spectrum or, at the very least, seeing where the opposition might be getting their beliefs. Therefore, for both projects I have decided to discuss something more abstract rather than physical and concrete.
For my Civic Issues blog, I was thinking of doing something along the lines of the misconception surrounding the term, “American Dream.” Millions of immigrants come to this country with the hopes of having a better life and living what is called the “American Dream.” I would like to analyze the connotation of the term “American Dream” and what it means to an immigrant when they hear this term. I know this isn’t exactly an “issue” per se, but I also know it has the potential to be a quite compelling topic. Some constructive criticism in the comment section below would be much appreciated. I would love to cover a topic like this, but if I cannot tweak it to have the “issue” aspect which it requires, my backup idea is to discuss Trump’s Wall, and more specifically, the potential effects of it. I’ll be covering questions such as: What kind of message is being sent by the border wall? How does that make the United States look as a country? Isn’t the wall against what the founding fathers intended this country to be?
For my “This I Believe” speech, I have only thought of one idea and I’m positive it is what I want to cover. I was inspired by the example speech “There Is No God” to counter the presented claim. Throughout my whole life, I have been raised understanding that there is life after death and that there is an all-knowing, almighty, and all-powerful entity that is responsible for our life here on earth. I was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church, and the lessons I have learned in church have guided me through life. I have very strong religious beliefs and I have decided that I am going to write my “This I Believe” speech, “There is a God.”
I fell into the same issue as you did with the civic life blog as I do not consider myself to be extremely politically involved either. I find that your choice of discussing “The American Dream” is a fantastic idea that has so much potential for some really cool discussions. As you mentioned, with all the immigration issues we are having as a country, trying to take a step back and look at some of the larger picture ideas around immigration such as the pushes and pulls to immigrate can allow the audience to see things in a way they have never seen before. This is a very important idea for our future as well as it puts the United States’ “brand” on the line for how they truly want to represent themselves to the rest of the world. In regards to your “This I Believe” speech, I was also raised in a Catholic household and brought up with a very strong religious culture. I would be extremely interested to hear why God is real to you and how your experiences have shaped this belief.
First of all, I love your idea for a civic issue blog. As the son of two immigrants, I have several ideas of what it means to achieve or chase after the American Dream. As for your question as to how to formulate an issue from this idea, I have some ideas:
>Is the American Dream justified, or is it simply an illusion of freedom that is deceiving immigrants around the world? If so, how did this come to be? Was it more justified and realistic in the past?
>How does the American Dream influence American culture? Can this popular, abstract idea of success impact society in negative ways aside from its positive message? If so, how?
Your podcast idea is great. The belief is personal and not universally held, making it interesting. One thing it lacks at this point is a specific event as a narrative. Currently, the belief appears to result from “throughout [your] whole life.” In order to make the podcast more compelling (and conforming to the requirements of this assignment), I would recommend narrowing down your life experience to a more specific event or time where you believe this belief was formed, or at least reinforced to become “your own.”
These are both great ideas for these assignments. Regarding your Civic Issues Blog, I think you may be thinking too specifically. For these blog posts, they have to be 500-600 words, and there should be 5 posts by the end of the semester. While I agree that the concept of the “American Dream” and what that means to immigrants (and how that view may be changing with our current administration and general commonplaces regarding immigration) is incredibly interesting, you need to make sure that if you stick with it, you can maintain the topic for the entire blogging period. Otherwise, I think it’s brilliant.
For your “This I Believe” speech, I am insanely intrigued by your topic. While I was also baptized and confirmed with the Catholic church, my family is not incredibly religious. The idea of a counter-speech to “There is No God” is very clever and while I know that I would not be able to, I would really love to hear “There is a God”. Hearing the other side is always interesting, and I think that this idea is an amazing one.