Extra Credit

Last Thursday I went to improv.  It was the extra long Christmas themed one.  Many of the actors wore ugly sweaters and one even wore a tomato costume just because it was red and green.  Many of the audience members also wore ugly Christmas sweaters.  I really enjoyed the show.  I especially liked the game they played were all of the participating actors were given a word and every time during the scene they either had to get on or off the stage making up an excuse each time. 
Not just at this improv but at all the ones I have been to this semester I noticed how they mention a lot of popular things or current events.  And those things definitely get more laughs.  The improvers also often invite people from the audience on stage to give them a chance to participate which I think definitely makes a big difference for some audience members.  They also ask for ideas from the audience each time for various things like what relationship the improvers should have or where they are going, etc.

Debate

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I.          Introduction: Mr. Speaker, let me begin with a story.  She looks down at the magazine, the picture of the beautiful model. Perfect she thinks, she's perfect.  She then looks up at herself in the mirror and realizes she isn't as tall and isn't as skinny as the model.  She thinks maybe if I lose some weight I would be popular like this model.  And that's just how it starts she starts skipping meals and when she doesn't see a change she feels like a failure. She feels fat and so this time she skips more meals and finally sees the result she wants.  She gets more attention at school and continues but pound after pound and she thinks maybe if I just lose one more I could be even prettier.  She is 13 years old.

                  A.        As Prime Minister of the Government, I would like to introduce you to our motion: that the American media demeans women and should be recognized and dealt with.

1.         My partner and I believe that one way to do this is to raise awareness of the effect that the media has as well as monitor what is being put out.

2.         I will talk about two things: First I will talk about the impossible beauty standards that the media has allowed to become normal in American society and then I will talk about eating disorders that many people go through to get to that unattainable standard.  Later my partner will talk about how the media sexualizes women. 

3.         But before I get started let me define media.  Dictionary.com defines media as the means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely. 

B.            First, The beauty standard.  Thanks to the media, we have become accustomed to extremely rigid and uniform standards of beauty.  Women are expected to be tall and thin and gorgeous while still looking “natural.”

1.         TV, billboards, magazines etc mean that we see 'beautiful people' all the time, sometimes more often than members of our own family, making exceptional good looks seem real, normal and attainable.  The average model is 5 foot 11 inches 115lbs while the average women is on 5 foot 4 inches and 140lbs.

2.         Standards of beauty have in fact become harder and harder to attain, particularly for women. The current media ideal of thinness for women is achievable by less than 5% of the female population.

3.         And don’t forget about photo shop and lighting and all the other things photographers do to make their models look perfect in print.

4.         Now let me give you some statistics.  The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders found that 47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.  69% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported that magazine pictures influenced their idea of a perfect body shape.  An ideal that for most is unattainable.

Now that I have explained the beauty standard let me move on to what that beauty standard drives some people to.

                C.            My second point: Eating disorders.  Many people who try to attain the beauty standard set by the media fall into or resort to eating disorders to attain the weight or look that the media has told them is correct because they can’t get to it in a healthy way.

                                1.            Did you know that one in every 200 American women suffers from Anorexia or that two to three in every 100 American women suffers from Bulimia.  And that 95 percent of those are between the ages of 12, 12! and 25. 

                                2.            50 percent of girls between 11 and 13 see themselves as fat.  While children should be playing they’re worried about not being slim enough.  60 percent of teenage American girls believe they are overweight while in reality only about 15 percent of them actually are.   And I wonder how they came to that conclusion.

American media is telling girls to reach a goal that is unhealthy and dangerous. 

III.           Conclusion:  Today I have told you of the ways that American media changes the way a women or girl may look at herself.

1.       I have told you about the unattainable beauty standard that is set by American media.

2.       I have also told you of serious eating disorders that may arise if they give in to this beauty standard.

3.       And later my partner will tell you how media sexualizes women.

Works Cited

"ANAD." Eating Disorders Statistics « « National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/>.

"ANRED: Eating Disorders Statistics." ANRED: Eating Disorders Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.anred.com/stats.html>.

"Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising." Center for Media Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising>.

"Beauty...and the Beast of Advertising." Center for Media Literacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.medialit.org/reading-room/beautyand-beast-advertising>.

"Body and Beauty Standards." The Body Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://thebodyproject.bradley.edu/standards/index.shtml>.

"Eating Disorder Statistics & Research." Eating Disorder Hope RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/statistics-studies>.

"Media." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/media?s=t>.

"Mirror, MirrorA Summary of Research Findings on Body Image." Mirror, Mirror. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.sirc.org/publik/mirror.html>.

"South Carolina Department of Mental Health." Eating Disorder Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://www.state.sc.us/dmh/anorexia/statistics.htm>.

US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. <http://health.usnews.com/health-conditions/mental-health/eating-disorders>.

Links for Debate

http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/statistics-studies#Anorexia-Nervosa-Statistics

http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/

http://thebodyproject.bradley.edu/standards/index.shtml

The Always Optimistic Man

The Always Optimistic Man

Stanley S. Berman

A speech by Jennifer M. Nelson

Helen Keller once said “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.”  This quote sums up my grandpa Stan’s life and outlook on it.  My grandpa grew up poor but with optimism and faith that he could be something more became quite successful in life.  Three things my grandpa has taught me are to be a hard worker, to always be optimistic, and to seek adventure.

My grandfather has had to work hard his whole life.  He grew up in Brooklyn, New York during the great depression knowing life wouldn’t be easy. His parents worked constantly and he helped out as much as he could with his family’s candy luncheonette store.  When he graduated from high school at the age of seventeen he knew he wanted to get away from the New York atmosphere, to some place less competitive and with less concrete. He craved a more rural environment, leading him to move to Forest Grove, Oregon, where he entered Pacific University with the ambition to become an optometrist.  It took five and a half years and a lot of work, but with a lot of hard work he got through it himself, tuition and all. He was the spitting image of the American Dream, pulling himself into success by his own bootstraps.  He also did a lot of other ambitious things with his life.  After he started his own practice and had some money saved he invested in a lot of property, usually apartments and again with a lot of hard work made them successful and came out with more than he started with.  Today he still owns a lot of properties, they are mainly mini storages.  He has always worked hard for what he wants and a phrase he has often told me through my life and that reflects his life is that “anything worthwhile is hard.”

Something else I admire in my grandfather, shown through his actions and words, is his ability to always have a positive attitude.  I have never heard him say one negative thing.  He always sees the glass as half full and he has told me that it has always been that way.  He has also told me that for some reason once he made up his mind to do something he never had any doubts that he wouldn’t achieve it.  In his last year of college he had no money for food or tuition but he got up the guts to go in front of the administration and ask for a loan which wasn’t very common then.  They agreed to it.  He still had to borrow money from his uncle and one of his roommates to get through that year but succeeded in finishing college and as soon as he could, paid them back.  He always knew there would be hard work and obstacles in life and that life isn’t always easy, yet he possessed the ability to look past the difficulties to the positive impact that he would have on the world around him.

My grandfather is the most adventurous and active person I know.  He has been all over the world and he is also very athletic which has allowed him keep traveling throughout the years.  In the last sixty years he has been to six continents and over 30 countries as well as to every state in America and every province in Canada.  He is an avid outdoors man.  He loves to hike, swim, ski, fish, bike, sail, and much more.  He is still in great shape despite a knee and hip replacement as well as seventy-nine soon to be eighty years of life.  Every day he isn’t on an adventure he works out and he is stronger than most the boys I know my age.  He seeks to live a full life; to experience all there is to see, witness, feel, taste, hear, and know in this world.

My grandpa is truly my greatest inspiration and encourager and I am so grateful for him and proud to be his granddaughter.  He has taught me about the importance of hard work, optimism, and adventure.  He is a man that counts himself very lucky for everything in his life and knows that he has earned it.  Helen Keller once said “Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” 

1. I feel my speech went well although I needed some more eye contact.

2. I could have improved my speech by  adding more stories to make it more relate-able and give it more feeling.

3. I really liked Marlene and Jonathon's speeches. They either left me crying or on the brink of it.  I also enjoyed Madison and Madelyn's speeches.

4. Once again I could do better at delivery but this time also content.

5. I need to stop looking down when I get nervous.

6. I practiced saying it to a lot of my friends and looked in the book when I got stuck.