From Pasadena to San Fran

For my S4 speech, like most my speeches I had no idea what to speak about until I had my meeting with Professor Hunt and he gave me the idea to present on the Electoral College because he knew that I was intrigued by the government and the way it works.  We were both unsure of the issue so I figured it would a great topic to research and present on.  For this presentation, I felt unsure about my content on the day of my speech and even sitting in class right before I presented.  I knew my information but unfortunately I always forget something and then I get off track with my notecards as well.  Towards the end of my speech, I’m not sure if it was evident but I lost my train of thought and when I looked to my cards for help I realized I was several cards behind but I did not have time to find where I was on the cards.  Because of this I rushed into my conclusion and forgot to include more facts and clarifications about the Electoral College that I planned to share with the class.  Even though this mistake made me feel like I messed my presentation up, thinking back I still think it went very well and for the most part I think the class was interested even though taking about government can be a very dry topic.

On Tuesday, the day of my speech, I went to the speaking center right after my morning class.  I was unfortunately 5 minutes late to my morning class because I was trying to print out my speech for my trip to the speaking center but there was a long line fore the printer.  When I arrived during drop in hours because unfortunately I did not think to make an appointment, there were many people in the speaking center so the girl working made me an appointment for an hour and a half later.  I was scared that this would not give me enough time to film my last rehearsal video that I wanted to post after I went to the speaking center and got some tips on how to end my speech.  The girl at the speaking center was so kind and even offered to film me reading my speech so I could use it for my second rehearsal video.  After I read through my speech she gave me some pointers on how edit the conclusion which were super helpful because I always have trouble ending my speeches.  After that I left the speaking center very please that I took the opportunity to go because it is helpful to get someone else’s opinion on my speech before I presented it in class  

For this practice video I tried not to read off my paper but for some parts I do not know my speech very well and get my words mixed up.  Even though this is my last practice video I am going to keep practicing and running through my speech

For this practice video I went to the speaking center where a coach helped me with my intro and conclusion.  She also offered to record me saying my speech to use as my 2nd practice video.  When I was talking to her I was speaking very fast and again reading off my paper so I want to make note cards so I can get away from just reading my speech

In my first practice I had just written my write out so i was not comfortable with my speech yet so I am just reading off the paper.   I think that for next time I should try to run through my speech without my paper using it only for reference when I need help

The Electoral College.  When you hear those two very specific words what comes to mind? Maybe the recent presidential election or maybe a system which you do not know very much about.  Well welcome to The Electoral College: Crash Course.  In the next five minutes, I am going to tell you everything you need to know about the mysterious and always somewhat troubling system that is used every four years.

The Electoral College is a somewhat confusing system.  It was established by the founding fathers when they drafted the Constitution because as many of you know the founding fathers were a group of old rich white men who were entitled and believed that they knew what was best for the emerging country.  They did not trust the American people to be informed about the candidates in the Presidential election and believed the people could be easily swayed.  Because of this they created a system in which the people of the US are not allowed to vote directly for the President.  In recent years, the direct election of Senators by the people was guaranteed by the 17^th Amendment ratified in 1913.  In light with this recent legislation it only seems appropriate that the Electoral College be changed or abolished to include the direct election of the President.

For those of you who are not familiar with specifically how the Electoral College works here is a basic break down of the system. It consists of 538 electors where a candidate must get 270 electoral votes to become the president of the US.  Each candidate running has their own set of electors and the number corresponds with how many electoral votes one state is allocated.  The number of electoral votes is determined by population.  One electoral vote is given for every House Member a state has and then each state gets two electoral votes for the states Senators.  For example, California has 53 House of Representative members plus 2 for the Senators.  This means that California has 55 electoral votes and is currently the most populated state in the US and therefore currently has the most electoral votes followed by Texas which only has 38.

When you vote for a candidate you are actually voting for their electors which are usually nominated by the party of the candidate.  During December, the electors of the winning candidate in your state cast their votes for President and Vice President which are counted when Congress is called back into session on January 6^th.

The real problem with the Electoral College is not the system but the way in which it is applied.  By this I mean if a specific candidate wins the popular vote then rightfully they should therefore also win the Presidency but this is not always the case.  The system was designed to give the small states a say in the election but this argument is flawed.  If the election was a direct election where the popular vote determines the winner then it would not matter if a state is big or small all the votes would be combined to create the total and therefore determine the winner.  This is not an advocating for the change of the Electoral College in light of the resent election.  The election brought up the issue and yes I voted and have my own political ideologies but they are irrelevant.  I am advocating for the changing of a system that is long outdated to create a more fair America.  If a candidate wins the popular vote that means that the majority of the people in the US want that specific candidate to be the President and to me it seems unfair to deny the majority of the people who voted their winner because of a flawed system. In changing the Electoral College the people can finally be given their right to directly vote for the commander and chief the United States.

In the Ted Talk by Chris Anderson he expresses his ideas that a presentation should transmit one main idea which is the formulation of many ideas.  I think that for a successful presentation this should be the formula.  Thinking about my own S4 presentation I was thinking I would do something having to do with government because that is what I am most interested in.  Personally I think that informing members of the community on a topic they might not know very much about is helpful and ultimately will help create change at the government level.  In light of the resent election there has been much debate on the usefulness and even purpose of the electoral college.  By learning more about this topic I would be able to advocate for or against the changing or even eradication of that system.  I think that most people do not really understand why the electoral college was just into place and what its real purpose is so by explaining these aspects to people we as a country could make changes that help everyone and create a more fair system.

When we visited the SFMTA meeting to discuss the plan for the creation of a bike path on the Embarcedero I thought it was going to be a forum where members of the community were going to come to talk about the project and their ideas or concerns.  I was surprised to find that it was just room with posters explaining the project.  I thought this was more helpful and really gave me a better idea about what the project would look like and the effect that project would have on San Francisco and especially the tourist industry.  Also I think it was very helpful that people were posted at each board able to answer any questions or clarify things that were unclear.  Personally I think that the best plan would be to have one side of bike lanes where the lane is larger and bikers going both south and north would use that bike lane.  I think that the plan with a bike lane on each side of the Embarcadero is a good idea but some obvious cons make me lean toward the other design.  For example the bikers riding on the side further away from the water would have to worry about crossing the cross street and this could eventually create a more expensive project because better suitable stop lights would have to be formulated to account for these bikers.  Over all I voted for the design with one bike lane because I believe it would be a better option for San Francisco.

In the video of Matt Damon it is unclear to me what type of setting his is giving his speech about civil disobedience in because an introduction is never given.  I think that his speech shares a true insight of the freedom of speech which is without action words do very little.  He explains that civil disobedience is not the problem but the solution.  To me I feel like his speech could have been more successful if he did not rely so heavily on reading off his paper and if he did not maintain a monotoned voice throughout almost the entire speech.  He is using his first amendment freedom to speak about a political phenomenon but to me it does not feel like he is actually advocating for change because he does not seem very excited or enthusiastic about the topic.  When speaking about a political issue one should be very engaging to the audience to get them railed up and influence they to take action.  In Matt Damon’s speech I do not feel like he would have this effect on the audience and therefore I believe his speech was not as successful as it could be.

When I watched the Crash Course video of freedom of speech I realized that I had already seen this video last year in high school as I was preparing for my AP government exam.  This video was forgotten from my mind but when I rewatched it all the information I knew about freedom of speech came back.  I believe that freedom of speech is an important part of American society and I also believe that a lot of the political changes that have been made in the last 200 years would not have been made reality without Americans standing up for what they believe is right.  I think that people should be allowed to speak out about how their government is not doing what they want or believe is right.  I think that in light of the current protests revolving around the election of Donald Trump as the president elect freedom of speech is essential in these protests because without it protesters would be arrested just because of the fact that they are speaking out.  America and other countries that allow freedom of speech give their citizens another opportunity to share with the government what they think should be changed and this creates a more democratic and over all better society that is able to help and please more people.