Those of you who were on Twitter Sunday night know that I had to give a presentation in my English class Monday. I was complaining about it quite a bit, I'll admit it. The presentation had to take up the class period and I was basically leading the discussion. My presentation went really well, but it got me thinking about the role of presentations in classes.
I personally don't feel like I learn that much from speeches or presentations done by students, so spending a whole semester on them seems kind of ridiculous to me. For example, this week in my class has been all presentations. Since everyone has different things they want to talk about and some people don't spend that much time on their presentations I feel like we're skipping over a lot of important things in the book. We're finishing the book this week too so this is really the only chance we have to discuss the book. So the downside to these presentations is that I don't feel like I'm learning the much.
The upside to these presentations is possibly that each student has to give a presentation which gives them experience? Yeah, notice the question mark. I know most classes don't spend an entire semester on presentations, rather people give short presentations and multiple people go each day. Have any of you been in a class that spent a lot of time on presentations? What were the upsides and downsides? Do you think it gives you any real world experience?
The Baroness Berridge, of the Vale of Catmose in association with Walk of Truth (WoT), Founder and cultural activist, Tasoula Hadjitofi held a presentation entitled: “Blood, Treasure and Islamic State: War, Extremism and the Looting of Culture” at the House of Lords on December 16, 2014. The Baroness spoke with sensitivity and passion and demonstrated insightful leadership by brining this subject and looted art in the House of Lords.
Invited guests, Archbishop of Thyateira Gregorios and Great Britain, Baroness Maddock, Lord Luce, and Lord Turnberg were among a few of the many guests welcomed by Baroness Berridge. Before a packed room she opened the presentation speaking about the link between religious freedoms and the destruction of cultural heritage.
Panagia. 12th century restored fresco from the Monastery of Aspinthiotissa [Credit: Walk of Truth]
Sponsor and co-coordinator Tasoula Hadjitofi presented two 12th century looted frescoes taken from the Monastery of Aspinthiotissa in the occupied area of Cyprus, Kyrenia which she repatriated on behalf of Walk of Truth. She spoke about the loss of freedom, identity and human indignity that occurs with war and destruction of cultural heritage.
12th century restored unknown fresco from Cyprus [Credit: Walk of Truth]
Mrs. Hadjitofi stressed the importance of engaging global citizens in lending their support to create a world of Peace. From refugee to protector of cultural heritage she engaged the audience on the importance of unity in combating the mass destruction of cultural heritage taking place in Syria, Iraq and Cyprus.
Prof. Dr. Willy Bruggeman, Chairman of the Belgian Federal Police Council, and former Deputy Director of Europol spoke of the need to make destruction of cultural heritage as a crime against humanity.12th century restored unknown fresco from Cyprus [Credit: Walk of Truth]
Baron Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said, “It is imperative for international criminal tribunals to include destruction of cultural and religious heritage into their overall investigative strategies.
Martyr. 12th century restored fresco from the Monastery of Aspinthiotissa [Credit: Walk of Truth]
Professor Norman Palmer, a barrister practicing at 3 Stone Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn, London and a visiting professor of law at King’s College, spoke for the need for a sound legal approach should be complemented with diplomatic and other initiatives that help us to restitute unlawfully removed cultural treasures.
The MP David Burrows, summarized the key points in a brilliant way and he and the Baroness will bring the findings to the House of Parliament and The House of Lords.
Author: Tasoula Hadjitofi | Source: Walk of Truth [December 17, 2014]
Have you I mentioned to you all that Jason is the best guy ever? He has gotten me two bookish gifts recently. Two things I've wanted for a very long time. For Valentine's Day he got me a reading pillow. I mentioned this on my first Best Gifts for English Majors post and I never got one. I was so excited to open it on Valentine's Day and I've already gotten a lot of use out of it.
This is perfect for reading in bed at night. I don't have to hold the book up so my arms don't get tired-- a major problem with reading in bed. I just put the pillow in my lap, hold the book open and read away. You can order these Peeramid Bookrests on Amazon if you're interested. They are hard to find.
He also got me a great t-shirt from the greatest store in world, Raygun. Raygun is a local thing, they make great t-shirts about towns in Iowa because those of us who love Iowa love to show our pride. Someone else really liked Iowa, especially the girls that live there...
Yeah, that's right, Jack Kerouac. I've wanted this shirt for a long time since On the Road is one of my all time favorite books. Sigh. I'm just so happy I have this shirt. If you're not from Des Moines you'll probably find it less exciting, so thanks for humoring me.
In other news, it's midterms which means I have way too much crap going on this week. I have several books to make, a paper to write, a presentation, and an exam. Blargh. I'm really looking forward to spring break, even if I'm only dog-sitting. Lots of time to read and relax. In my lifelong attempt to make you all read essays I posted a three sentence essay yesterday! You should all go read it! I even challenged you to write your own and so far one person has taken the challenge.
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Tif Talks Books has an amazingly beautiful layout and header. It looks like she recently got an award for her blog's presentation and I am not surprised.
In Spring It Is the Dawn obviously has a great blog title. She is in Japan (although she is Canadian) right now and a lot of her blog is Japanese inspired. I have never seen so much of Japan on one blog, it's definitely a good one to check out!
BiblioAddict's blog has snow! It just started snowing here in Iowa so that definitely got me in the cozy reading spirit.
25 Hour Books has an awesome post every Tuesday about literary tattoos. What a cool idea!
Sasha and the Silverfish has an adorable layout and I just love her blog. She has a good assortment of books. Be sure to take a look at her feed button, it has an octopus!
In the Polish city of Żory Nobel prize winner Otto Stern was born. What is known about this place? Now visitors of a city, tourists, investors, partners can find out it directly on entrance, in new pavilion under the bright name “FLAME”. The author of the project — OVO Grabczewscy Architekci.
Fire festival
The city name, Żory means fire, a flame. For city building, it was necessary to burn wood, therefore such name. Traditions remain; in the summer the annual Festival of Fire here is held, on a city logo the small flame is represented.
It is obvious, that the pavilion building should cause associations with fire. The building consists of three independent walls which are imposed against each other. Their composition and an external covering copper gives rise to set of reflexions. Inside concrete designs are left untouched, the floor is laid by a black stone.
In Pavilion two basic spaces. One — exhibition and the second — presentation. Under a glass floor the city breadboard model is located.
This week has been a week of changes at English Major's Junk Food. In case you haven't noticed already I have gone from http://englishmajorjunkfood.blogspot.com to http://www.englishmajorjunkfood.com. If you go to the old blogspot address you should get redirected here, but please update your bookmarks and blogrolls with the new address. It helps me out a lot! So far I haven't seen any unusual change in traffic due to the domain name change. I know a lot of people have questions about changing over and if you are one of those people please email me at englishmajorjunkfood AT yahoo DOT com.
Well the next few days are going to be insane for me so I probably won't get a whole lot of reading in. Tomorrow I have a midterm and a presentation and Tuesday I have a paper due plus I'm a discussion leader. It's probably a good thing I'll be busy this week though, because next week I have a job interview! I'm very excited about it and I hope I get it, although I think it will be awhile before I know for sure. I'm obviously stressed though, because just last night I noticed a lovely pimple forming right above my lip. Thank you very much.
This week I posted reviews of The Woman in White and The Secret History of the Pink Carnation. I posted a vlog where I showed you bunches of books for Children's Book Thursday and on Friday I let you know about some of my favorite lit podcasts. Go forth my friends, read, comment, enjoy! I also reached and surpassed 70 followers this week- less than thirty away from 100! I never thought I would have this many followers so I am thrilled to see that actually do have 70.
Copyright by H&M The H&M x VERSACE collection 2011 will be available in Germany next week (from November 17th 2011 ) ! Head over to H&M’s website for the full collection or go to VOGUE for a review of the presentation taken place yesterday in New York. H&M
"Celluloid is about dreams, movies are about fantasy, and motion picture are about things you couldn't possibly even imagine in your wildest dreams, brought vividly to life in front of your very eyes" (xv). This is how Emmett James' memoir Admit One: My Life in Film
begins, and based on that quote alone I had fairly high expectations for this book. Each chapter in the narrative begins with a movie, the very first is the Jungle Book, a quick synopsis of the movie and then moves into James' own story. The memoir is divided into two parts. The first, Coming Attractions, is about his life growing up in and outside of London as a child deeply obsessed with movies and everything that went along with him. The second half, Feature Presentation, is about his life as a struggling actor in Hollywood, trying to make a career out of his childhood passion.
I loved the way this book was set up, I just wish it would have been executed a little bit better. There were times in most of the chapters in the book where I had a hard time remembering what movie he started talking about. The first few chapters stayed with the movie alright, but the tangents kept getting more confusing as the book went on. It felt like a gimmick, because most of the movies really had nothing to do with the story he was telling. I got so caught up in trying to make a connection to the movie that I could enjoy the great storytelling and humor that was happening in the book. And let's be clear about that, this is a funny book. James is very funny, comparing his mother to the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz and talking about one of his first acting jobs dressing up as a woman. He pokes fun at others, but he also pokes fun at himself and that is a saving grace in this book.
But even though he is a good storyteller, and he can make me laugh so hard my abs get a good workout, I wish there was a little more substance to this story. Yeah it's interesting, but I think there were things James could have pushed a little harder. He begins to in a later chapter about working on the movie the Titanic; "The joy, excitement, and arrogance I had felt upon leaving Los Angeles had been quickly replaced by an overwhelming sense of guilt and sadness. It struck me as more than a little ironic that I was making my way to participate in a film surrounding the horrors of an unforgiving class system. Here, now, in front of me eyes, nearly one hundred years later, was the most blatant wealth and poverty line I had every physically experienced" (156). He begins to push here, into the falsity of movies, celebrities, and film making, but he pulls away too quickly. This is something that I really struggled with towards the end of the book. It seemed like the story got too stuck int he gimmick of the movies that it couldn't explore throughout the book what was finally found at the end. James says he didn't want to be a celebrity, but he wanted to be an actor. And there is a difference, one that I don't ever really think about. He talks about how his views have changed. The ending was the most interesting part of the memoir. I wanted to transplant some of that deep thinking into the first half of the book, which basically just felt like childhood stories that went nowhere.
This book got a C. I received the book from a publicist.
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