September 30, 1948
Hello editor my name is Kevin Small and I am corresponding with you in effort to give you my reaction to MS Sojourner Truth Speech the other night. As I sat there and listened to the speakers, I was somewhat bored with the same old rhetoric that was being put on display. I have attended many of these conventions in hopes being present when history happens. This particular convention was different because a significant figure such as Mrs. Truth was schedule to attend. As I said before I was pretty much bore with the lectures that came before Mrs. Truth, but all of the boredom went out the window when this large charismatic figure took the podium and started to engage the audience as she did. Mrs. Truth immediately let it be known where should stood when it came to women’s rights and the lack there of. Although she did not speak with the linguistic style that we as a society have come a custom to. Her delivery and presences made of for what she lacked in intellect. There were no dull moments within her speech. She kept us involved with very colorful response to those who think lesser of her since was a woman. She would also end each response with a question, she would as “Ain’t I a woman”?, in reference to the remarks made by speakers before her. As she spoke my skin began to shiver up as if she was saying something that might be referenced for years to come. The feeling was amazing, as I took time out to calm myself down; I also realized that Mrs. Truth was the only African American within the convention. This realization put me overboard with emotion. The abrupt silence of her voice and the ecstatic cheering of the crowd elongated the feeling I was experiencing. I began to clap and whistle filed with emotion.In my opinion, this speech although unorthodox was very inspiring. It takes a lot of courage to stand in front on thousands of people who really do not want to see you succeed. Mrs. Truth found a way to bridge the gap between conventional thinking and critical thinking. She forced the crowd to reevaluate their position and inspired the women in attendance to be more proud of the person god made them to be. Her presence alone at six feet was enough to take serious and she let it be known from the beginning of her speech that she was for real and her position on the rights of women would not take a back seat to anyone. Mr./ Mrs. I hope you have a feeling for my thoughts and opinion on miss sojourner speech I look forward to corresponding with you again until then good bye and good day.RespectfullySir Kevin Small
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Power Language
Language is diverse in its essence, and has many different complex components. The use of language by an individual is often determined by that person’s culture and where that individual grew up. Even with that being said language in its self is always changing and redefined its self in order to make room for those things that at one time were not socially accepted, or consider norms.
This is my first blog and the assignment is to write about a time when I felt the power of language. I am 25 years and 13 days old today and I have to say it took me 22 of my 25 years to realize how powerful you could be when you have the knowledge of another language. It had to have been my third semester at Antelope Valley College, which was fall 2007. This Semester I decided to register into elementary Spanish, now I have to tell you that I only took this class to satisfy my requirements in order to transfer. When the class began I had the same attitude as most students I know, which is usually I hope this class isn’t boring and hard. (L.O.L).The Professor came into class and was very vocal and her charisma was overwhelming. She spoke to us for about five minutes at the beginning of the class in complete Spanish. The vast majority of the class sat there in seats in awww trying to figure out what she was saying. For the few that did understand what she was saying it was fairly easy for them to keep up and follow along with the question that were presented to us. She finally spoke to us in English and explained to us the course objectives along with her expectations and school academic policies. The Professor did everything in her power to reassure us that by the end of the semester with effort, those who wanted to be fluent would be able to achieve that. Professor Shaheen was very persuasive.
The class progressed and I began to enjoy it more than I had imagined. Professor Shaheen made learning a new language fun. She had different ways of teaching the language to nonnative speakers because she herself was nonnative speaker of the language. I learned a lot during the class, and maintained a high c average during the semester and subsequently got a B. Anxiety struck when finals week came and the final assignment was to have a full conversation with the instructor in Spanish. I was going through it but at the same time I felt that I should know most of the question that would be presented to me within the conversation. When my day finally came I was so nervous, I walked in to her office and almost went blank. The questions started immediately, I was almost overwhelmed before I remembered to take a breath. The session went on for about fifteen minutes; afterward she tallied up a score sheet and congratulated me on passing her class. At that moment, I was elated to here that, and I had a big Kool-Aid smile on my face. I walked out the classroom and immediately tried communicating to the first person I thought spoke Spanish. It didn’t take long for me to find someone this is California, I greeted the person by saying “hola” they then responded and from there we shared about fifteen words. The person knew that I was a beginner and was patient with me. That conversation was so empowering I felt as if I could communicate with all those who could speak Spanish. The feeling of being able to cross the language barrier gave me a confidence that I did not have prior to taking this class. I was able to have basic communication with someone other than the usual people that I had been speaking with my whole life. I continued on to Professor Shaheen Spanish 102 where I got a further and broader understanding of the Spanish Language ass whole and the many different transition that it has gone through since its origins. Im glad I acquired this skill and I am fortunate to be able to share this experience with you all
This is my first blog and the assignment is to write about a time when I felt the power of language. I am 25 years and 13 days old today and I have to say it took me 22 of my 25 years to realize how powerful you could be when you have the knowledge of another language. It had to have been my third semester at Antelope Valley College, which was fall 2007. This Semester I decided to register into elementary Spanish, now I have to tell you that I only took this class to satisfy my requirements in order to transfer. When the class began I had the same attitude as most students I know, which is usually I hope this class isn’t boring and hard. (L.O.L).The Professor came into class and was very vocal and her charisma was overwhelming. She spoke to us for about five minutes at the beginning of the class in complete Spanish. The vast majority of the class sat there in seats in awww trying to figure out what she was saying. For the few that did understand what she was saying it was fairly easy for them to keep up and follow along with the question that were presented to us. She finally spoke to us in English and explained to us the course objectives along with her expectations and school academic policies. The Professor did everything in her power to reassure us that by the end of the semester with effort, those who wanted to be fluent would be able to achieve that. Professor Shaheen was very persuasive.
The class progressed and I began to enjoy it more than I had imagined. Professor Shaheen made learning a new language fun. She had different ways of teaching the language to nonnative speakers because she herself was nonnative speaker of the language. I learned a lot during the class, and maintained a high c average during the semester and subsequently got a B. Anxiety struck when finals week came and the final assignment was to have a full conversation with the instructor in Spanish. I was going through it but at the same time I felt that I should know most of the question that would be presented to me within the conversation. When my day finally came I was so nervous, I walked in to her office and almost went blank. The questions started immediately, I was almost overwhelmed before I remembered to take a breath. The session went on for about fifteen minutes; afterward she tallied up a score sheet and congratulated me on passing her class. At that moment, I was elated to here that, and I had a big Kool-Aid smile on my face. I walked out the classroom and immediately tried communicating to the first person I thought spoke Spanish. It didn’t take long for me to find someone this is California, I greeted the person by saying “hola” they then responded and from there we shared about fifteen words. The person knew that I was a beginner and was patient with me. That conversation was so empowering I felt as if I could communicate with all those who could speak Spanish. The feeling of being able to cross the language barrier gave me a confidence that I did not have prior to taking this class. I was able to have basic communication with someone other than the usual people that I had been speaking with my whole life. I continued on to Professor Shaheen Spanish 102 where I got a further and broader understanding of the Spanish Language ass whole and the many different transition that it has gone through since its origins. Im glad I acquired this skill and I am fortunate to be able to share this experience with you all
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
