That horrible moment when my computer deletes everything that I wrote, and now I must retype it.
Oh Huckleberry Finn. The title of this book is familiar to me, but I had heard horrible rumors about actually reading it. All that I knew (which was very little) came from the movie Easy A. Olive Pendergast says how all books that she reads in literature some how connect to the life of a high school student- except for Huck Finn because she didn't know anyone who ran off with "a hulking black guy". By the end of the novel, I finally realized why Huck Finn is such a recognizable book in American Literature.
The characters of Huck and Jim are truly fascinating- and lovable- throughout the entire novel. I became engulfed with their compassion and caring nature for each other. At the beginning, I simply thought it was just another racist book (with Huck constantly calling Jim in the n-word). However, Mark Twain cleverly uses the dialect to portray is negative views of slavery and racism. He also uses satire to portray how much he despises alcoholism. Something bad always happens whenever alcohol is involved during this story-the most memorable being when the "King" sells Jim back into slavery in order to buy alcohol.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
TED Talk Review: "The Hidden Power of Smiling" by Ron Gutman
As I scrolled through the Ted Talk website, I could not find a true topic that interested me. I finally typed "Happiness" into the search box. Then, I came upon the video "The Hidden Power of Smiling" by Ron Gutman.
Gutman's main argument is how smiling affects lives both physically and mentally. He opens with a tangent about his childhood, striving to find superpowers and change the world with happiness. It was a very good hook that kept me interested in the speech. He relates this to his fascination in science and smiling. Throughout his speech, Gutman uses logos by referring to studies at universities and quoting infamous researchers, such as Charles Darwin , and noted historical figures like Mother Teresa. He also uses charts and scientific research in his speech. He takes the idea of boring research and makes fascinating and interesting information related to smiling. He enables the usage of pathos by making the audience laugh through jokes and his "Prezi" presentation in the background full of humorous pictures. He involves the audience by getting them to raise their hands and participate.
"Smiling is one of the most basic, biologically-uniform expressions of all humans." Gutman states that more than a third of people smile at least twenty times a day and that less than 14% of people smile less than five times a day. He also relates back to his original tangent by saying that children posses the greatest superpower by smiling 400 times a day. Gutman's main point is that smiling lengthens and brightens lives. I could not agree more, my friend.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling.html
Gutman's main argument is how smiling affects lives both physically and mentally. He opens with a tangent about his childhood, striving to find superpowers and change the world with happiness. It was a very good hook that kept me interested in the speech. He relates this to his fascination in science and smiling. Throughout his speech, Gutman uses logos by referring to studies at universities and quoting infamous researchers, such as Charles Darwin , and noted historical figures like Mother Teresa. He also uses charts and scientific research in his speech. He takes the idea of boring research and makes fascinating and interesting information related to smiling. He enables the usage of pathos by making the audience laugh through jokes and his "Prezi" presentation in the background full of humorous pictures. He involves the audience by getting them to raise their hands and participate.
"Smiling is one of the most basic, biologically-uniform expressions of all humans." Gutman states that more than a third of people smile at least twenty times a day and that less than 14% of people smile less than five times a day. He also relates back to his original tangent by saying that children posses the greatest superpower by smiling 400 times a day. Gutman's main point is that smiling lengthens and brightens lives. I could not agree more, my friend.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling.html
Thursday, January 12, 2012
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