WRD Reflection

• What was your biggest struggle during this project?

The time commitment and group organization 

• What aspect of the documentary makes you most proud?

Honestly, that we finished it. 

• What aspect of the documentary would you have changed?

The fighter we covered.

• What aspects of the project were you personally responsible for? Please be specific as possible.

Interview coordinating and partial editing

• We can all agree that group is frustrating. What did you do to try to promote a healthy group atmosphere? What more do you wish you had done to help the group?  Do you feel like you contributed a fair amount to the overall project?

I tried to stay out of the drama. 

• This course is designed to help you hone your critical thinking skills. Did any of our readings or

• Another goal of this course is to challenge you with new technologies and communication techniques. How did your public speaking ability change this semester? Did you enjoy learning about how different styles of communication function, or would you have preferred writing 4 essays?

Still a nervous public speaker, but I play with my hair less so yay. I would've preferred writing, but thats because I love writing. 

• My goal as an instructor is to help draw out the abilities you already possess, and focus them into new applications. Was my style helpful? Would you have preferred more lectures? More discussion? More homework?

Yes, but lectures could be a little more upbeat and interesting. 

• What can I do in the future to make this class better?

Have a little more enthusiasm—if you seem apathetic so are the students. 

• If you could change one thing about this course, what would it be?

The time, but obviously you cant hep that. 

Bibliography for The Main Event

"The Main Event | UKNow." The Main Event | UKNow. University of Kentucky, n.d. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

This is a general information page about The Main Event. This page has the date, location, contact information, and a general summary about the event. We will be using this page as a reference and for contact information to acquire more information about the event. 

Sanders, Chase. "The Main Event Presents a Cause for Fighting." The Kentucky Kernel. Word Press, 10 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.

This is an article from 2011 about The Main Event, focusing on specific fighters. It documents their training process, which we will use to guide our interview questions, and compare the differences in training. This website also has a photograph which we will use. 

Sanders, Jacob. "The Main Event." Interview by Taylor S. Hamilton. n.d.: n. pag. Print.

Jacob is the fighter we are following. We plan to interview him about his training, time management, and the event itself. 

Maddox, Hannah. "The Main Event." Interview by Taylor S. Hamilton. n.d.: n. pag. Print.

Hannah is the coordinator of The Main Event. We plan to interview her about scheduling the event, finding sponsors, and overall organization of the event. 

Death Penalty Meals

The presentations of both blogs are different and unique. No Seconds, I felt, was the better presentation. The use of physical photographs along with a description really helped me personally get a good idea of a last meal. 

While The Last Meal Project was uniquely presented, I found myself easily distracted and vaguely bored while reading it. 

While the font is similar, if not identical, using red font in The Last Meal Project caught my eye more so than the black used in No Seconds. That being said, the use of black font in No Seconds made more sense because the pictures were the main focus. The Last Meal Project’s main focus was clearly the words themselves, which in truth were a little boring, so they needed a little jazz. 

No Seconds spacing also helped create a more organized and appealing look. I While reading I felt like I had room for my sight to settle on the sentence I was reading, instead of having hyperactive, red font distracting me form what I was reading.

Also, in No Seconds, the use of individual slides with examples made the point clearer. Taking the time to click between each slide that contained specifics really stayed in my head, versus just a plain, red, paragraph. 

In No Seconds the final slide has several lines of writing laced with sarcasm and wit made reading vastly more enjoyable versus twenty-two lines of Charlie Brown adults talking. The Last Meal Project made me her the ‘wah wah wah’ in my head, which consequently went in one ear, and right out the other. 

Presentation is everything, in anything you do. Whats interesting on the outside draws more of a following, and is more likely to be paid attention to, thus forcing an impact. When one presents themselves, or a work in a boring and plain way it tends to attract the minimal amount of viewers, which equal a lack of voice. 

     The first TED Talk I watched was How To Live Passionately—No Matter Your Age. The speaker was a 71 year old spanish woman, which made me a little skeptical at first, but the moment she had the floor she made a joke about her old age, and the impact it has had on her body (wrinkles, sagging, etc.). She made a lot of hand gestures and had fluency eye contact. However, her voice was a little softer, which made me feel like she wasn't living quite as passionately as she says she is. 

     The next TED Talk I watched was from a female, Australian singer with a stutter, entitled Why I Live In Mortal Dread Of Public Speaking. She talked about how her stutter made her hate speaking, and some of the treatment she has undergone as a child to aid her stutter. However, she read her speech mostly off her iPhone, which forced a lake of eye contact. Also her body language screamed ‘guarded’ and ‘closed’ because her arms were tucked in at her sides, her shoulders shrugged, and she swayed nearly the entire speech. 

     The last TED Talk I watched was How Movies Teach Manhood, which was presented by a middle-aged man with two children: a daughter and son. He was more or less the best of the three speakers because he spoke loudly and clearly, his hand gestures were very natural and fluid, and he had good posture. His point was clearly understood because I wasn't so focused on criticizing what his body and voice were doing, so I could really focus on what he was saying.

Scandal or Sex Crime?

The central point the author, Scott Mendelson, is making is women are blamed for falling victim to sexual crime, while the men who commit these crimes are being less than punished because ‘boys will be boys’. Mendelson makes his point quite clear when he states “[women] have not been scandalized, but rather victimized” and “[society] emphasize how women can prevent being assaulted instead of telling the men…not to assault women in the first place,” that the listed female celebrities are a clear example of how backwards societies views of sex crimes are.  
Personally I agree wholeheartedly with Mendelson’s article. Depicting women as ‘vindictive’ or a ‘classic bitch’ has become the norm in today’s society. For example, women how speak their minds about equality or women’s rights are written off as liberal feminists with a negative connotation. These celebrities have been victimized at the core of the word, and shouldn't be blamed for having personal content of their person devices. Hacking into someone’s personal accounts and devices is theft, which it totally illegal. 

However, I loved the writing style of this piece. Mendleson does a fantastic job of being direct and firm without sounding preachy or pushy. The writing embodies the perfect mix of a condescending tone while still evoking a sense of passion and desire for change in the reader. Overall I enjoyed this article immensely. The topic is current, relatable, and the ideal example for demonstrating the need for change in our mind set and outlook on the way men and women interact.

Hi! 

My name is Taylor Hamilton! I'm a freshman at UK and currently live in Blanding Tower. I live in Lexington, but attended a boarding school in Chattanooga, TN called Baylor (Don't worry, I wasn't a bad kid that was sent away! Think Zoey 101). I decided on UK because I had kind of already done the whole 'going away to school' thing, and wanted to be closer to home and my family. I recently rushed and am now a member of Alpha Phi, which I am very excited about. (: 

The album that would best describe my 2014 so far is Luke Bryan's Crash My Party album. This concert was the first concert I was permitted to attend without adult supervision, and was on my 18th birthday; so for me it is reminiscent of my first moments as a young adult.