By Keisha McDuffie/ne news editor
NE students had the opportunity to watch three of their classmates perform their best speeches at the April 6 speech night.
Jessica Christopher, Carlos Pinero and Chris Oldenburg each performed two 10-minute speeches; each speech was a different subject and a different type of formal speech.
Christopher’s first performance was an example of a speech to entertain. Although its purpose is to provoke laughter, the speaker must have organized material.
Christopher chose a serious subject yet kept the pace upbeat and the audience laughing. Her topic was how wearing an ill-fitted bra, or as Christopher referred to it “boob bondage,” can be hazardous to a woman’s health.
“ An estimated 85 percent of women do not wear the proper bra size,” she said. “This can cause serious, permanent damage.”
She also told the history of the bra, its inventor and the changes and developments in the production of the bra over the decades.
Christopher’s persuasive speech, which is intended to change beliefs or actions, focused on the need for research funding for epidermolysis bullosa. People with this disease do not have the elements that hold the layers of skin together. Therefore, any rubbing or pressure can produce a sore similar to a second-degree burn.
Oldenburg performed an informative speech on the virtual autopsy or virtopsy, the latest breakthrough in autopsy technology. Oldenburg’s purpose was simply to provide information about a virtopsy, not attempt to change anyone’s beliefs or actions about it.
“ The virtual autopsy, or virtopsy, which is just combining virtual and autopsy, is a new approach to performing an autopsy,” he said. “There is a non-destructive method and non-invasive way to determine the cause of someone’s death.”
He noted sources, with names and dates to support his information. In addition to sources, he also provided the audience with color prints, modeling (3-D printouts) of a human skull like that used in a visual autopsy.
Oldenburg said present traditional autopsy and forensic medical findings are limited to 2-D photography, 2-D conventional radiographs and sketches.
“ The aim of the virtopsy is to use radiological scanning to push low-tech documentation and autopsy procedures in a world of high-tech medicine,” he said, “in order to improve scientific value and increase the significance and quality in the forensic field.”
This procedure has not been approved in the United States and has been performed only in Switzerland, Oldenburg said.
Later in the evening, Oldenburg presented a prose interpretation speech that examines a communication event by using a recognized theory or model.
He spoke about Caroll Spinney, who never really knew what he wanted to do in life. When Spinney was asked to partake in a new children’s television show called Sesame Street, he never imagined he would end up living out his life in a yellow bird suit. However, that is exactly what he is doing. He became Big Bird, and Big Bird became him.
Pinero’s speech, the power of negative thinking, was an example of a prose interpretation. According to www.uil.utexas.edu, the purpose of a prose interpretation is to encourage speaker to understand, experience and share prose works through the art of oral communication.
Pinero’s goal was to enhance the audience’s appreciation of literature through his interpretation of How to Make Yourself Miserable for the Next Decade by Dan Greenburg and The Struggle with Faulty Praise by Rebecca Vargas.
Pinero provided formulas for rejection, ideas for formulating a reject voice, instructions for creating a negative posture and the rejection hot line number … 1-800-URE-JECT.
“ Have you ever had a date give you the wrong number?” he said. “When you call, the other end answers, ‘You’ve just been rejected,’” he said mockingly.
Pinero visual aids were demotivational posters: “If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style,” and “Dreams are like rainbows; only idiots chase them.”
“ Lawyers practice negativity,” he said. “Or when on a flight, the flight attendant says, ‘There will be a brief delay due to the weather,’ what she really means is ‘The right wing is about to fall off, and our crew has to Scotch tape it back on,’” he said.
Pinero’s speech included a list of how to think negatively and how to lose friends, referring to examples from his sources.
The second speech Pinero performed that evening was a programmed oral interpretation. He chose the viewpoints of immigrants who come to the United States to provide for their families in Mexico.
