I really enjoyed this guys style of writing, specifically when he curses. Whenever someone curses in their writing, it adds more voice into it; it's more natural. Seeing someone trying not to swear-and it's easy to see when they try not to but want to put in their voice- just looks like they have to conform for societies sake.
Gabriel Campos
10/31/2013 10:15:06 am
I agree with Mack that cursing adds voice and shows his style of talking
Joseph DiGeronimo
10/31/2013 11:41:05 am
I too agree that it shows his style of talking.
Brandon Alexander
10/31/2013 12:44:27 pm
Cursing I think at points can pose a good argument, but when used in a speech like this I think its more than slightly unnecessary.
Adrian Santillan
10/31/2013 12:48:18 pm
Well when you are trying to get a point across to a large crowd you would want to get their attention and cursing seems to be an effective way. but I can also see where you are coming from Brandon. there are certain times where its unnecessary to curse.
Mae Sandhu
10/31/2013 12:53:20 pm
Then again these are young people.. maybe he is trying to interest them or it could just be his natural way as people are saying
Savanna Guertin
10/31/2013 02:45:02 pm
Brandon, I think I disagree with you because I feel in this kind of speech it is perfectly fine to curse because students are graduating and so adding a little bit of that umph can make it more interesting to them.
Megan Moxley
10/31/2013 03:04:36 pm
I agree with Savanna because the students graduating are adults and probably hear cursing everywhere anyway, but i guess he could of avoided it and i do not think it was "more than slightly unnecessary."
Rachael Schock
10/31/2013 11:22:56 pm
I think it was perfectly okay to curse and fit into his speech quite well. If I were a student it would make me pay more attention and make me feel that he could relate to us more.
Jenna Hunter
10/31/2013 11:53:47 pm
I think the swearing is necessary. It makes it feel like he is having a personal conversation with somebody. It doesn't make the speaker sound so distant. People can understand what he is saying
Jason Evans
11/1/2013 01:02:55 am
I agree with Brandon because in a speech like this, meant to be given infringing of a lot of people, cursing can give the audience the wrong idea.
Madi Faulk
10/31/2013 03:02:39 pm
I agree with Mack that the article had strong voice and the cursing made it more powerful.
Megan Moxley
10/31/2013 03:07:25 pm
I also agree that voice was established and that the cursing had made it more natural in a way. Commencement speeches aren't supposed to be extremely formal.
Alexis Diaz
10/31/2013 11:33:21 pm
I agree with mack that cursing could add a sense of voice; however I do not believe that a commencement speech is the time nor place, as these speeches are given to honor graduates not ridicule commencement speeches.
Elyas Chopan
11/3/2013 11:59:30 am
You make a really good point Mack. In my opinion I like speeches with more voice in it. So when this guy curses his speech has more voice. He is trying to keep the crowd of graduates interested and paying attention. Some of my fellow class mates argue that cursing is unnecessary sometimes. I agree with both sides of the agreement due to the point of view you look at it.
Mack Rhine
10/31/2013 09:49:47 am
Also, Wallace committed suicide by hanging himself, not shooting his gun. I don't see how this was ironic in any way.
Darby McMahon
10/31/2013 01:08:53 pm
I also dont find this ironic. I dont even know why it was brought up in class.
Brandon Alexander
10/31/2013 01:30:00 pm
I personally do not think it is ironic, but I can see why people think it is. He is telling people to go on with their lives and to try to not let anything bring them down, but he may have not followed his own advice.
Rachael Schock
10/31/2013 11:33:44 pm
I agree, Darby. It was an unnecessary comment in class. After all, he was telling people to not follow his example and to actually think things through like they learned to do. He was not so much giving advice as much as setting an example of what not to do.
Jenna Hunter
10/31/2013 11:59:46 pm
I dont think it is ironic. He was giving good advice and he could have been following his advice at the time. He didn't die until 2008, three years later. A lot can change in three years. Why do we have to portray him as a hypocrite. We don't know any thing about him other than he maybe has a liberal arts degree.
I also think this is not ironic, he did not shoot himself with a gun, so I do not even understand why anyone brought up the fact that he shot himself.
Joseph DiGeronimo
10/31/2013 02:17:45 pm
I too do not find this ironic. Something I also would like to add was that he hung himself on September 12, 2008.
Megan Moxley
10/31/2013 03:00:54 pm
I agree that is was ironic and that he didn't take his own advice, but he also stated to not be like him.
Alexis Diaz
10/31/2013 11:36:06 pm
The fact that he committed suicide was ironic in such a way that he was guvibg advice on life and he takes his own life instead...it questuons whether or not his advice may be best.
Ian Balogh
10/31/2013 12:05:52 pm
I found it very interesting he started off with a story about two fish. I think this means that people do not learn to value the obviuos but, and this whart liberal arts teaches us to do.
Darby McMahon
10/31/2013 02:11:27 pm
I also think that the fish story is interesting. It is kind of like saying how people think before they get a liberal arts degree.
Joseph DiGeronimo
10/31/2013 02:13:55 pm
I agree Ian. I too believe it was an interesting way to start.
Savanna Guertin
10/31/2013 02:41:13 pm
Ian, that story also got me thinking when that one fish asks, "Hows the water?" And the others do not even know what water is. I feel that can relate when Mrs. Stewart would say how naive Bruno was and how naive even we can be. The story can relate to that.
Adrian Santillan
10/31/2013 12:27:55 pm
I liked how the author brought up the fact that even if we don't think about it, we are technically the center of the universe. I found it interesting because he is actually right, everything we see and do is because of ourselves and we see things through things we own. so even if we don't think about it or don't want to think about, we are the center of the universe.
Mae Sandhu
10/31/2013 01:01:58 pm
Well Adrian, do you mean that we are the center of OUR universe? Because being the center of the universe and our universe is actually two whole different things.
Darby McMahon
10/31/2013 01:12:20 pm
I agree with Mae. I can see how people think they are the center of their universe but obviously they are not the center of the whole universe
Adrian Santillan
10/31/2013 01:14:35 pm
I meant OUR universe. but some people may think otherwise. David Wallace also said that we find it socially repulsive but it is still the "default setting."
Madi Faulk
10/31/2013 03:07:02 pm
I agree with Adrian I liked how he brought up that we are technically the center of the universe. I believe we are the center of the universe because everything revolves around what we do and say.
Brandon Alexander
10/31/2013 12:40:28 pm
I never really thought before how everything we see revolves around us, so it seems like the world does too, maybe learning to think is to think about other people.
Darby McMahon
10/31/2013 01:16:00 pm
I think when he says that we think everything revolves around us means that we think about how something could affect us before we think how it could affect other people. I dont really know how to word that
Mae Sandhu
10/31/2013 12:50:49 pm
I really like how David Wallace points out something that happened to him.. That one of his beliefs have been wrong. These examples kind of make Wallace more connected to his audience.
Savanna Guertin
10/31/2013 02:51:54 pm
Mae, I also agree with you how when he brings up stories that were not meant to show people what to do but kind of his mistakes in a way. It can show the audience that even those people trying to inspire and help others may not be the perfect role models, but they know what is right.
Elyas Chopan
11/3/2013 12:04:02 pm
Mae, you make a really good point. The author uses stories about himself so it is easier for the audience to relate to.
Megan Moxley
10/31/2013 03:08:42 pm
I think that him saying a mistake is showing that he believes life isn't perfect.
Nathaniel Nun3z
10/31/2013 02:18:56 pm
Mae, I agree with you because when David Wallace writes about personal experiences, it can relate and incline the audience in what he is talking about.
Savanna Guertin
10/31/2013 02:36:31 pm
When the author explain how the education is really about teaching the students how to think. I find that quite interesting and I remember at the beginning of this school year Ms. Holmes said how she is going to teach us how to use our brains and think.
Isaiah Adams
10/31/2013 02:49:04 pm
I also remember that savanna. It is weird to think that some of these articles are strong into some of our lives.
Savanna Guertin
10/31/2013 02:49:05 pm
I have heard when just discussing throughout us students that some thought that the beginning of this speech was too slow and that he did not get to his point fast enough. However I liked the beginning because the author really wanted to make sure the audience realized that the speech was going to be a good one. And I really liked this speech.
Isaiah Adams
10/31/2013 02:50:05 pm
I also liked the article and how he managed to use very good examples.
Elyas Chopan
11/3/2013 12:06:33 pm
I agree with you Isaiah. The author uses very good examples to make his points. The author uses examples that the audience can relate to. This will make it easier for the audience to understand what point Wallace is trying to make.
Mack Rhine
10/31/2013 03:45:09 pm
I personally found it a little true, except I enjoyed the beginning even if it was slow. It really took off, however, when he started talking about shooting the terrible master. That was pretty deep...
Mack Rhine
10/31/2013 03:48:15 pm
I also have to agree that I liked this speech. I really liked it. This is probably my favorite article. It's a shame he killed himself. I really want to read more of him
Rachael Schock
10/31/2013 11:28:11 pm
I completely agree with both of your comments Mack! The article definitely made the slow beginning worth it.
Alexis Diaz
10/31/2013 11:43:44 pm
Yes, I also found it interesting that apparently you're dead even before you are shot in the head
Isaiah Adams
10/31/2013 02:51:53 pm
Once I first started reading the article I was quite surprised by the words used but I found it made the article better as it made it more personal
Madi Faulk
10/31/2013 03:04:14 pm
I like the story about the fish because it sort of talks about how you get a liberal arts degree.
Paolo De Los Santos
10/31/2013 03:58:27 pm
(I know this is a very late response) when i was reading through the comments i think that Mack's made a lot of sense to me. I totally agree with the point of using curse words because it is more natural and grabs the readers attention.
Rachael Schock
10/31/2013 11:30:18 pm
I really enjoyed this speech. It was a great way to send off his students; he gave advice, an interesting story, some parts were funny, and some parts were deep. It could not have peaked my interest more. Speeches are definitely my favorite articles in class.
Elyas Chopan
11/3/2013 11:49:13 am
I really enjoyed this speech as well. Speeches are my favorite articles in class. I think that we like speeches more because speeches have more voice, and when speeches have voice the speech does not get boring. The Kenyon Commencement speech did give good advice, although some might argue that we should not listen to his advice because he killed himself. Some parts were funny but some parts made no sense at all.
Alexis Diaz
10/31/2013 11:41:09 pm
I found the speech to be like no other and in terms as a speech itself, it was excellent. However in terms of a commencement speech my opiniom differs as it does not display the honor the graduates should receive.
Jenna Hunter
11/1/2013 12:04:42 am
I really like all the stories in the speech. Its not the boring, you need to be careful in the world speech. It makes you believe he really understands what the Liberal Arts degree teaches. My favorite part was when at the end he states, "Your education really is a job of a lifetime." I agree.
I did not mean that I agree with mack, I meant that I agree with Brandon, but I also think that maybe his words were to catch the audiences attention when he was talking, like so maybe they really would not think that they were listening to just a normal commencement speech.
Going with what Darby said earlier, I also think this is not ironic, he did not shoot himself with a gun, so I do not even understand why anyone brought up the fact that he shot himself.
He used very good examples in his speech that really related with what graduates will experience later after they leave college, especially the one about when you go grocery shopping.
He used very good examples in his speech that really related with what graduates will experience later after they leave college, especially the one about when you go grocery shopping.
This section of the website will be used to have our weekly Thursday discussions in a new way. Students should be able to reference the website when writing essays to remember the discussion.