Success with Honor.!

Contrary to my last post, I am fortunate to say I have heard a speech that one could consider a rhetoric masterpiece, or close enough to it.

As I am sure most of the campus tuned into, today I watched the two and a half hour memorial in honor of our late football coach and legend, Joseph Paterno. Out of the around ten speakers, there was one I could label as outstanding. 

Yes, every individual who stood behind that podium had special memories to share and touching final words to Joe Pa, but Phil Knight separated himself from the others in a big way with his speech.

When Knight took the stage I had no idea who he was and therefore I did not know what to expect, unlike the former football players who I knew would reminisce of old days on the gridiron. Confidence and sincerity radiated from his poised stature, while he began describing how he met Paterno as the founder of Nike. He went on to say the unthinkable. Phil Knight actually acknowledged the elephant in the room! He spoke of the scandal that everyone else tried their hardest to dance around.

This speech was so moving because of the authenticity of Knight’s words. In a dignified way, he was able to implicitly express his opinion of the way Joe Paterno was villainized. He asked, “Who is the real trustee at Penn State University?”

http://oldstateclothing.com/PROD-223714900.html

The fact that Phil Knight was an outsider to the Penn State Community made this speech entirely more relatable for the rest of America. A standing ovation was indeed appropriate! I was more than pleased to see rhetoric at its best for a man who was a hero to so many.

Rhetoric in the Class Room.!

http://www.utc.edu/Academic/Womens-Studies/

Irrelevant, that was the opinion I formed of rhetoric just about as quickly as it had taken me to open the text book for the first time. I guess one could say I failed to see a connection between the material discussed in class and my personal every day life, until now.

I’m relieved to announce I finally get it! Today, sitting in my Women Studies class I began to turn my focus away from the lecture to anything else I could think of that would keep me from falling asleep. I looked down at my chipping nail polish and tried to decide what color I would paint them. I was even desperate enough to even plan out the course work I needed to complete tonight. 

Sitting back in my desk I asked myself, how can it be that I am bored?

Well I came to the conclusion that my professor unfortunately never had a lesson in the principle of rhetoric. Her lessons are far from cohesive and easy to follow. Though the subject matter can be dry at times, her lecturing technique is definitely what has most of the students very close to sleeping within 15 minutes of the start of class. Most importantly her presentations lacks charisma. I now understand the importance of connecting with ones audience when presenting a speech. Although the literature discussed concerns matters hundreds of years old, illustrating its relevance to college students of the 21st century would most definitely yield a better captivated audience.

From now on I can better appreciate gathering the skills to become a master at rhetoric.