The Result of Public Speaking

To some, public speaking is the most horrible thing a person could go through. It takes more out of a person to give a speech to a group of people than it does to run a marathon. Most people's hands start shaking, and their vocals begin getting destroyed by the fear in their fast paced heart beat. They cannot either remember what they had to say, or they can hardly read what is required of them to read. As for me, well, I have a sort of bi-polar reaction when it comes to public speaking. Half of the time I am perfectly fine talking to a group of people. When this happens, I can talk precisely, make eye contact properly and even add to whatever it is that I am trying to spit out. I cannot remember a specific moment where I have been in the boat of trembling public speaking, however, when I do become frail and incompatible to public speaking things go completely change for the worse. I can possibly have a change in my voice, my words become slurred and I can most definitely not fully convey what it is I am trying to say or read. Of course, when this happens, I become extremely nervous, and it becomes hard to think clearly due to all of the adrenaline I get from my nerves. If I am given someone to respond to, I have a high chance of not being able to reason correctly with that person. I definitely can be talking to someone and they can ask me a question I know the answer to, and I would not know it at that time just because of how nervous I am. There could be something I feel strongly about, and I have all the things in the world to say about it, and just as I am put in the situation where I break confidence, I don't have a thing to say about the subject. I can put all the money in the world on someone who is strong enough in persuasion to change my ideas on something I feel deeply about. Of course not on religion, or something of that matter, but of most things. It seems that when I am elapsed into the trance found in public speaking I loose some of my memory. All of the most important things just seem to vanish straight out of my memory bank. It's kind of funny because as soon as I'm done speaking or am comfortable I remember what it is that I wanted to say or should have said. What's even more funny is that I some how never have the chance to say what it is that I wanted to say. Something always happens, whether it be we change the subject, or other people just completely never give me another chance to speak (say in a classroom, and the teach is done listening to our papers/speeches). It is a funny thing in itself because we don't have much to fear, it is not like coming face to face with a lion, just people like you and me. I guess the fear of being judged is bigger than we know.

Respoding to Literature

As human being we are equipped with a set amount of emotion responses, that basically enable how we act, and react. I believe that how you think influences how you feel, and how you feel influences how you act. Obviously if your tired in the morning and you think that you cannot get up and get your day started, then your probably not going to get up and start your day. However, if you get up and regardless of how tired you are at that moment you say to yourself, "hey! I'm going to get up and enjoy my day right now!" Then your gonna want to get up, and your probably going to start your day. With this knowledge, and the combined responses we get from literature, we can virtually change how we live. Say you read a touching book that is about a mentally challenged person who didn't life bring him down, and didn't let anything stop him. If your emotional responses are right and hopefully not twisted, then you will think differently once your done with the book. This will then most likely change your actions. You might have a really long day after work or school, and you have a lot of things to do at home, and you really just don't want to do any of it. Because you read that book about the challenged person not letting life get him down, you might think, "well heck, if he can do it, then why am I complaining?!" If you never had a chance to get a hold of that literature and experience what it has to offer you, then nothing in your life would change. You see, this is what literature can do to you. It can influence you, change the way you think, change the way you feel...it can basically manipulate you into whatever form it wants you in. I mean, it obviously can't do it if it's not a good piece of literature or one that has a lot of grammatical and spelling errors. If you read a piece with errors in it, you might just laugh at it, or just stop reading it because, well, it's unreadable! If you have an open heart for the matter, and the literature is well written/made then chances are you will have your thoughts, actions, or ways of living life changed.
When we analyze literature, we are exploring a completely different world. I believe that literature can sometimes speak louder than a voice can. If enough heart is put into something, then other hearts will grab hold of it, and conform to it. Sometimes, the tone of a voice might be to harsh for us to grab a hold of. When we dissect literature then ideas are opened up and released into our current steam of thought. We can understand why someone wrote a piece, and if they meant to write it for a reason. We can learn from others mistakes, heart breaks, and wrong doings. If a book is not broken down, one might not get all that is intended to be received. This too, is another reason for dissecting literature. If I had anything to relate it too, I would relate it to why we teach history...and that is so we don't repeat it. This isn't meant literally to dissecting literature, but the idea is just when comparing why we analyze literature and study history.

The Voice of Literature

When I think of literature, I think of communication. I believe when you read something, or even look at something, you are communicating with the writer or creator. Why else would any kind of literature be constructed? Sure, one could say they are just simply trying to, "express," themselves, but even then, they are expressing themselves to others. We write to bleed out our ideas, and we read to absorb the blood of others. We don't pick up a book and tell ourselves, "gee I am going to read this just because!" No, we read for reasons, while the writer wrote for his or her reasons. We are put into a whole other dimension when we read or write. It is almost as if when we read or write, we create another form of communication. When i read, I feel I go to another place in my head, and escape the world for the time being. Then, as soon as I am done reading the literature at hand, I wonder why the author wrote about the subject, and what things influenced him to write it. When I write, I don't just write to write, even if it is an assignment. When I write, I always have the future reader in my head. They are huge influences on my papers. It is a mixture of what I want in the paper and what the reader is to expect. This also applies to when I read. When I read, I mix my experiences and emotions in with the book, piece, and/or author and find all the connections between them. When I do this, I am giving the literature a chance to have a louder voice. It allows me to be more open minded, have fun with the work, or just simply understand it better. When asked the questions, how does literature speak to you or how does it change you, and how might it inform you. I say, literature speaks to me, and informs me of something new, and has the power to change me.
I believe this class will alter my perceptions in many ways. One, because no ones perception stays the same. Two, because this class seems to contain many peer reviews and peer commentaries. This is going to enable me to read many different kinds literature and writings from many different people. Instead of just reading two books for the entire semester and pointlessly rambling on about what he meant in every darn sentence, I will be given a chance to explore many kinds of work, and many kinds of sentences. This will allow me to see the world differently because I won't be so close minded. This whole new blogging thing is going to open my eyes to what other people have to say. This will lead to other subject matter that might actually be interesting to me, and will actually be new outside of my current literature attractions. This class will give me opportunities to broaden my point of views and enhance them.