Speech

“He gave the term “complete” a new meaning. He made the word “superstar” seem inadequate. He had about him the touch of royalty. ” This was a quote stated by former commissioner of Major League Baseball, Bowie Kuhn while speaking during Roberto Clemente’s eulogy. When baseball season came around in seventh grade, my coach of the Lakeland Copper Beech Middle School team, Fabrizo Morejon, explained that he wore the number 21 in honor of his Roberto Clemente. He seemed such an advocate of this man that it gave me a strong motive to research and to find out who this man really was.

When I began to read all about him, I found that his career was not just filled with spectacular baseball achievements, but even more so was all about humanitarianism, and about Clemente’s drive to help others and be a source of pride for his native country. This is something that you don’t see to often today. In a day where baseball players today make tens of million dollars annually and are virtually superstars wherever they go many players cannot be bothered with the well being of others. This instantly became a favorite hero of mine.

This speech will take you through the early life and beginning struggles of his career, through his success in the major leagues, ending with his tragic death and legacy left on the world. So lets go way back, back to the 1930’s in Puerto Rico where Roberto was born. I. Early life, Getting drafted, Struggles in the majors A. From the beginning always close to his family 1. Formally Roberto Walker Clemente was born on August 18th, 1934 CLICK in a small town located in Carolina in the north east portion of Puerto Rico 2.

Roberto was the youngest of seven children born to Luisa Walker and Melchor Clemente 3. His family was very poor growing up so Roberto happily spent his childhood working part time jobs pitching into the family well being B. Growing up 1. Roberto was a natural athlete from the time he emerged on the scene in his high school years a. Was a four sport varsity athlete playing football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball and track and field in the spring b. Because Roberto was so good at track and field they let him just ome to the matches because practices interfered with his baseball schedule, which always came first 2. Coming directly from Roberto’s journal from high school “I loved the game (baseball that being) so much that even though our playing field was muddy and we had many trees on it, I used to play many hours every day”, this showed how much Roberto truly loved playing the game C. It wasn’t long before Roberto’s exceptional and “superstarish” play wasn’t noticed 1. In 1954 Roberto was signed by the Pittsburg Pirates for 4,000 dollars 2.

was a major culture shock and change for Roberto a. Racial tensions existed between he and his teammates as well as between he and the local media and this really frustrated Roberto and made it tough to concentrate on baseball b. Clemente responded to the racism he faced by declaring this postgame response “I don’t believe in color…I always respect everyone and thanks to God, my mother and my father taught me never to hate, never to dislike someone because of their color”, this really shows his true care and respect for the nature of people in general c.

Teammate Joe Black was the most import to his assimilation into American society, being the only other player to speak Spanish D. His career had a really rough beginning 1. His first season was cut short because he got into a drunk driving accident hurting his back, hitting a measly . 225 even when healthy 2. After the shaky start to his career Roberto decided to go through marine camp and become a reserve in order to get into a stronger better condition as a player Going into the marines and committing himself to baseball once again took his career for a turn for the better II. Successes

A. Roberto Clemente made a strong comeback after his abysmal start to his career in his first season 1. CLICK By the start of his second season, Roberto was hitting leadoff for the Pirates playing the entire season, hitting . 314, a very respectable average 2. Helped the Pirates win a world series vs. the New York Yankees (I know it hurts to say) 3. He went to his first all star game that same season B. During the middle of his career, Roberto got married 1. On November 14th, 1964 Roberto Clemente got married to Vera Zabala back in his hometown of Carolina, of course in Puerto Rico 2.

He had three children with Vera Zabala named Roberto Jr. , Luis Roberto, and Enrique Roberto C. From the time that Roberto turned his around his career he was a very consistent and productive player 1. After 1961, which was his breakout season talked about earlier, Clemente went on to win a Gold Glove and was an all star team starter, every season for the next decade, VERY CONSISTANT 2. In 1966 he won the most prestigious award in the MLB, which is the Most Valuable Player award 3.

Ended his career with exactly 3000 career hits, being only the tenth player ever to do that at the time a. Many of you know this man CLICK who just got 3000 hits CLICK and was king of New York for a few days b. However, Clemente got to this feat playing in fewer games than Derek Jeter However, sometimes in life it seems that bad things just happen to the good people III. Death and Legacy A. Roberto’s life came to a tragic end, in a truly charitable way, just the way that I’m sure he would have wanted it to happen 1.

When the city of Managua in Nicaragua was hit with a massive earthquake, Roberto, not even a native of that country was the first to step up and help 2. Because there were numerous rumors that the relief effort materials were being diverted by government officials, Roberto wanted to fly there himself and make sure they got the materials themselves 3. New years eve, 1972, Roberto got in a plane in attempt to personally deliver the relief materials himself, CLICK however the plane crashed just after take off killing Roberto and everyone else on board

B. Today Roberto is still remembered in many different ways 1. In Pittsburgh, the major bridge leading near the stadium is named after him CLICK, along with the right field wall in the new stadium is 21 feet high CLICK and nobody is allowed to wear the number 21 in a pirates uniform in honor of Clemente 2. The MLB made an award in his name, which is an annual award given to the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team” CLICK

So even though Roberto has been gone for over 35 years the Major Leagues remember him every year for his qualities not just on the field but off as well, not something that can be said by to many players I hope that through this presentation, going from the beginnings of Roberto’s life through the ups and the downs of his career and finally ending with his heroic death and legacy, everyone got a real feel for who this man really is. I did not want to stand up here and you guys think that I was just talking about some baseball player who had really good stats and hit a lot of homeruns.

Because that’s not the case with this man, at all. The life of Roberto Clemente is one consisting of outrageous baseball statistics CLICK, a profound love of the game, and a desire to help others. With all of his charity work and accomplishments Roberto Clemente’s legend lives on and he continues to inspire not only Latinos, but people all over the world. To leave you all with one quote from Roberto that truly just exemplified his personality, “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth. CLICK

Uchendu’s Speech: Saving Ourselves My friends and fellow Ibo, I come to tell you the evils of the abomination called Christianity. To see what I have seen in my homeland Mbanta, I cannot look upon these people with respect and camaraderie. They have stolen our brothers and sisters, angered our gods, and assaulted our age old culture. As a member of this tribe, I cannot stand by and watch the destruction of our people’s traditions. My son-in-law, Okonkwo, was known throughout his fatherland and all neighboring villages as one of the greatest men of his time.

His achievements were famous, and he had always hoped his son would carry on his legacy. His oldest son, Nwoye, had betrayed Okonkwo by converting to the new religion. You may ask how one can ignore the lessons of his father and the examples of hard work, dedication, and loyalty to our customs. But the even the protective mother lion can lose her young cub who runs after a little bug. Nwoye was intrigued by the new people, and unfortunately he had been tainted; he did not want to return to us.

I understand the Christians say they teach our people civil behavior, but to take a young boy away from his own father is just inhumane. We must raise our children right and protect our sons and daughters from being taken by the Christians. They tear families apart. They have soiled our tribe, our traditions, and our hopes. If this continues, Mbanta, Umuofia, and Mbaino will be no more unless we stick to our customs. If our sons and daughters convert to the new religion, any hopes of preserving our history will be ruined.

Format for the Celebration Speech Introduction: I. Attention GetterAn attention grabbing statement to get the audience interested in learning about your process II. Connection to the AudienceTell them why they should listen to you (i. e. how does learning this process benefit them personally) III. Central Idea/ Thesis StatementA one sentence summary and preview of the entire speech, i. e. What are you teaching them? Body: * Transition Statement * I. Body Area Main IdeaA one sentence summary of the first body area

A. Supporting MaterialInformation that confirms, illustrates, explains, etc. the main idea for the body area B. Supporting MaterialInformation that confirms, illustrates, explains, etc. the main idea for the body area * Transition Statement* II. Body Area Main IdeaA one sentence summary of the second body area A. Supporting MaterialInformation that confirms, illustrates, explains, etc. the main idea for the body area B. Supporting MaterialInformation that confirms, illustrates, explains, etc. he main idea for the body area * Transition Statement* III. Body Area Main IdeaA one sentence summary of the third body area A. Supporting MaterialInformation that confirms, illustrates, explains, etc. the main idea for the body area B. Supporting MaterialInformation that confirms, illustrates, explains, etc. the main idea for the body area * Transition Statement* Conclusion: I. Central IdeaRestate the central idea to review the main point of the speech II. Reconnect the Attention GetterReiterate your attention getter. This makes your speech feel “complete”) Note: You have some leeway with how to format the body areas for this speech. A Celebration speech or an is organized depending upon the information you are sharing about your topic. You should focus on interesting facts, uses, etc. about your topic and should NOT do a recounting of the chronological information about the topic. Audiences quickly become bored with this approach.

Love is known to be one of the most important human values. Everyone wants to love and to be loved! Virtually everyone is capable of this wonderful feeling. Love is of multifaceted nature. Sometimes because of it we may think that our beloved people have qualities they really do not have. At the same time, this feeling helps reveal all the positive features of the person we love. Only true love is able to change people for the better. It makes us forgive and find happiness in the happiness of a beloved man or a woman.

Therefore, love is the most complex and the most deep human feeling. Sometimes love makes people do heroic things. Love can make life full of joy, fun and laughter. This feeling is able to give us a brand new life, help us gain new strengths and creative forces… At the same time, love is a very complex feeling since it is associated not only with tenderness and joy, but also with pain and tears. Everything is not as simple as it may seem. That is why many writers compare love with falling into the abyss. We are all different and we all express our love in different ways.

The very notion of “love” has a completely different meaning to different people. But we all love and want to be loved, and we are all united by this desire. This is the…greatest miracle. Those who don’t know what love is… Speech on Dreams Have you ever wondered how dreams come about… whether the BFG really existed? That this huge giant would stalk around at night catching dreams to trap them into jars and blowing them into your ears to determine what sort of dreams you would have that night? Well, you will find out very soon. Good morning to one and all.

Today, I will be delivering a speech on the topic ‘dreams’. I’m sure many of u here might find this topic strange. A speech? On dreams? You must be joking! Some of u might scoff. But perhaps, after listening, you might realize it is actually quite interesting. Did you know it is possible that you can get rid of your fear of something in your dreams, and that’s because the things we are afraid of during the daytime often turn up again in our nightmares. We can make good use of this, however. It appears that some people deal with their daytime fears in their dreams.

This was the case in the following example: A woman was awfully afraid of spiders. In a dream a big spider was approaching her. The hairy crawler came nearer and nearer, until it touched her. But she felt quiet, and not afraid. Afterwards she noticed that by day she was no longer afraid of spiders either. Sounds amazing? Well, this is not at all as mysterious as it sounds. ‘Overcoming your fear’ in this way is also possible in your dream. Nightmares can be caused by some physical problem (a well known example is someone who dreams about fire and wakes up with a fever).

Speech Friendship Friendship is when they push when you need it, but never too hard and stand back when the time is right but never too far and the true test of friendship is if you’re willing to do it all back in a heartbeat. It’s when your life is so much better because your know them and they bring out the best that lies within. Good morning fellow classmates and Mr. Hampton. Today I will be talking to you about friendship and the important role that it plays in our lives. People today, in all this new world technology and thinking have lost sight of what a true friendship is.

No way do friends have to be exactly the same, I mean come on friends do have similarities but they also have their differences. The key to opening up the world of friendship is not just to focus on the similarities but to accept each others faults because true friends do not judge each other. Friends love unconditionally. They do have their little angry moments from time to time but at the end of the day all is forgiven and forgotten. Why let something that happened in the past ruin what great friendship you could have together in the

Haemon’s Speech Analysis Pride and stubbornness can be harmful things, and Haemon touches upon this within his speech to Creon as he attempts to dissuade his father from taking Antigone’s life. Using rhetorical devices such as tone, ethical, emotional, logical appeal, and metaphor, Haemon manages to make an impact on Creon’s eventual decision as he speaks in Antigone’s defense.

Starting at the beginning of his speech, Haemon ventures to convince Creon to change his mind about his harsh ruling against Antigone, not by raising his voice or attempting to beat his “earnest” views into his father, but by using great tact and endeavoring to find a common ground with Creon, possibly trying to understanding his father’s position on the matter at hand. First, Haemon alleges that reason is “God’s crowning gift to man”, and that his father is “right” to “warn [him]” against losing that reason.

He even keenly asserts that he never wants to say that “[Creon] has reasoned badly”, continuing on to make other mindful concessions. However, when this thoughtful mode of speaking doesn’t take any immediate effect, Haemon starts to become more candid with his words, implying (although not directly) that Creon’s actions are unjust and stubborn, taking care to adopt a point of view that is constructively criticizing as opposed to being completely insulting. He rationally cautions his father against the mindset of him having all of “the power”, noting that if Creon continues upon that path he will eventually “turn out” an “empty” man.

He states that even people like his father must be able to stop, listen, and learn from others—not be completely fixed and “unchangeable”, because no man in the world is completely infallible. A few lines later in the speech, in addition to his amiable tone, Haemon also begins to use some emotional appeal, acknowledging his love and respect for his father, affirming that “nothing [is] closer to [him] than [his father’s] happiness”, and that he “values his father’s fortune” as much as his own.

Haemon also logically recognizes his youthfulness and lack of wisdom as well, although he astutely uses what the people of Thebes have been “muttering and whispering” to support his argument, using aspects of ethical appeal to attest that Antigone’s innocence is what the people of his father’s city would want, realizing that while Creon would like first and foremost to be a good ruler, e also wishes to be well-liked by his people. Then coming to closing lines of his speech, Haemon begins to weave in clever metaphors here and there, first comparing a “stubborn tree” being “torn up” and then a “fast” and “never-slackened sail” going “head over heels and under” the water to his father, indicating that this is the type of thing what will happen if Creon thinks that he alone “can be right”.

And in the very end, Haemon leaves his father with some loaded words, advising that Creon listen to him, because while “men should be right by instinct”, “[they] are all too likely to” be led astray, and that the smartest thing would be to learn from those who can are willing to teach them how to stay, or even make their own paths, in life.

It is interesting to note that contrary to popular belief, more often than not different pronunciations are the result of different contexts – variances in social settings, the use of formal and informal pronunciations, etc. Unfortunately, Americans have long labored under the misguided assumption, especially where language is concerned, that there is one right way to do something, and all other ways are wrong (Callary 118). Sounds used in language are produced by the human vocal apparatus, thus the term ‘Articulatory phonetics’ to refer to sounds described by the ‘articulations’ (actions) of the vocal tract.

We produce speech sounds by modifying a stream of air as we push it by the lungs through the trachea and ultimately out of the oral or nasal cavities, or both (Callary 119). Stated this way the production of speech sounds seems trivial, obvious, and incredibly easy. But the facts of articulation prove otherwise, with the production of even the simplest sound the result of an amazingly complex activity involving coordination of muscles all working in precise timing.

Studying language scientifically is quite a challenging and difficult undertaking (as the assigned reading pages illustrate, with all the allophones, phonemes, morphemes, etc.), though people might generally take the nuances of language for granted. Aside from the technical aspects of language, one needs to also consider its other socio-linguistic components – origin, cultural factors, and regional variations, among others.

“A History of the Spanish Language” by Ralph Penny

Considering that it is already a ‘dead’ language, it is still pretty amazing that Latin is the ancestor of Spanish (and, by definition, of all other Romance languages), spread by soldiers, traders and farmers of the Western Roman Empire two thousand years ago to the present population of the Spanish-speaking world. Interestingly, Romance languages do not descend from Classical (i.e. literary) Latin, but non-literary varieties, often referred to collectively as ‘Vulgar Latin (Penny 5). ‘Vulgar’ Latin differs only in the sense that is spoken by the Latin-speaking population with little or no school education.

In the contemporary scene, there is a significant Spanish-speaking populace within the United States of America with the waves of human migration from Spanish-speaking countries, e.g. Mexico. To a certain extent, Spanish has influenced the development of the English language as it is being spoken in the USA, notably in states with notable Latino populations.

“The African Heritage of American English” by Joseph E. Holloway and Winifred K. Vass

In a similar vein to the Spanish-American experience is African-Americanism. Considering that at least 70 percent of the ancestors of Americans of African descent came from the Mande (West Aftican) and Bantu (Central African) ethnic groups (Holloway and Vass xix), it is not surprising that these two cultures contribute substantially to the diverse North American ethnic stock. This is evident in jazz closely associated with black musicians, whose history and origins can be traced to the Old Congo Square of New Orleans. Yet available dictionaries and related works on African-American culture, language and history do not provide comprehensive documentation of linguistic Americanisms, except perhaps for Turner’s Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect (Holloway and Vass xix).

Moreover, it would appear that the controversial debate over the survival of linguistic Africanisms in North American is still raging, led by the factions of E. Franklin Frazier and Herskovits. For Frazier, the institution of slavery completely destroyed any surviving African culture and consequently, African-American culture developed without any African antecedents. In this way he emphasized African discontinuity, advocating a deculturalization hypothesis. Herskovits on the other hand argued that African cultural influences survived in the New World, retained by process of acculturation and adaptation by the African slaves brought to the Americas (African continuum and continuity in African-American language).

List of Works Cited:

Callary, Edward. “Phonetics.” Eds. Clark, Virginia, Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa. Language: Introductory Readings. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985. 113-133.

Penny, Ralph. A History of the Spanish Language. 2nd Ed. London: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Holloway, Joseph and Winifred Vass. The African Heritage of American English. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997.

It was a cold January evening in Las Vegas, Nevada. I was just fourteen with my eighteen year old brother and parents on vacation and celebrating the New Year. My father decided to surprise the family with tickets to a wonderful acrobatic show that was based around the legendary band The Beatles. The show was mesmerizing and absolutely stunning, it in captured my heart and changed me forever. This show was called Love (CHANGE SLIDE) and was run by Cirque du Soleil. Cirque du Soleil is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a “dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, (CHANGE SLIDE) and located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Gaspe, in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberte and Gilles Ste-Croix. Initially named Les Echassiers, (CHANGE SLIDE) they toured Quebec in 1980 as a performing troupe and encountered financial hardship. Their financial troubles were relieved by a grant from their government as part of the 450th anniversary celebrations of Jacques Cartier’s discovery of Canada. CHANGE SLIDE) “Le Grand Tour du Cirque du Soleil” was a success, and after securing a second year of funding, Laliberte hired Guy Caron from the National Circus School to re-create it as a “proper circus”. Its theatrical, character-driven approach and the absence of performing animals helped define Cirque du Soleil as the contemporary circus that it remains to be today. Cirque du Soleil traveled throughout Quebec in 1984, appearing in ten cities and playing to audiences of 800 at each performance.

The following year, the troupe took its first steps outside its home province and began performing in neighboring Ontario. The audience’s feedback was so positive that it gave Cirque du Soleil even more reason to begin expanding. By 1986, the seating capacity of Cirque du Soleil’s big top tent had been expanded to 1,500, and Cirque du Soleil began to receive national and international attention. The company performed at Vancouver, British Columbia’s Children’s Festival and at Expo ’86, the World’s Fair hosted by Vancouver.

Internationally, Cirque du Soleil earned nominations and awards at several competitions and festivals held By the end of 1986, Cirque du Soleil officials were convinced of the concept’s broad-based appeal. Two years after its birth in the small town of Gaspe, Cirque du Soleil’s unique expression of entertainment was ready to make it large. Cirque expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, going from one show to 19 shows in over 271 cities on every continent except Antarctica. Some of these shows include(CHANGE SLIDE) “The O” in Las Vegas, (CHANGE SLIDE) “La Nouba” in Orlando, Florida and, of course, (CHANGE SLIDE) Las Vegas’s “LOVE”. CHANGE SLIDE) Cirque du Soleil employs approximately 4,000 people from over 40 countries and receives estimated annual revenue of more than 810 million dollars. The multiple permanent Las Vegas shows alone play to more than 9,000 people a night, 5% of the city’s visitors, adding to the 90 million people who have experienced Cirque worldwide. In 2000, Laliberte bought out Gauthier, and with 95% ownership, has continued to expand the brand. In 2008, Laliberte split 20% of his share equally between two investment groups in Dubai.

In partnership with these two groups, Cirque planned to build a residency show in the United Arab Emirates by 2012. However, since Dubai’s financial problems in 2008’s global recession, it has been stated by Laliberte it may be looking for another financial partner to continue the company’s future plans. Several more shows are in development around the world, along with a television deal, women’s clothing line and the possible venture into other mediums such as spas, restaurants and nightclubs. Aside from Cirque du Soleil’s a success story, Cirque du Soleil is far from an easy job. CHANGE SLIDE) Although, the halls are BURSTING with art and colors that the performers create on the side, it takes a lot of time and dedication to be a performer or set technician. A day in the life of a typical Cirque du Soleil performer is a 2-hour rehearsal, 2-hours of doing make up, on your self and than 2 performances. These talented performers will do 8-12 shows 6 days a week. It gets quite repetitive but imagine how exciting it would be to perform for such a large audience every day! If you are under the age 16, you have the same schedule as the other performers but you are also privately tutored in school.

The non-performers live a similarly difficult schedule. Long hours of breaking down, setting up and readjusting props six times a week. The shoes are hand crafted and due to so much wear have to constantly be remade. The wigs are designed to fit each performers head perfectly and are fit on to molds of each of them. There is a lot of behind the scenes work that makes each second of the “magic” in a Cirque du Soleil performance. (CHANGE SLIDE) I hope that I have educated you about Cirque du Soleil, thank you.