The Man, The Myth, The Legend (Not for Rhetoric Also)

     WHO?!?!

    Many people may know him, but if you don't.... I will HAPPILY make your lives a lot better. This man goes by the name of Stephen A. Smith, he is a sports analyst on the his very own show on ESPN called First Take. He is very well known in the world of basketball because of his rants and opinions that time to time can be very humorous. 

    Now I don't necessarily want to be a journalist, to be honest with you I don't even know what I want to do with my communications degree. When it comes to anybody I respect in the field of communications the only person I can think of is Stephen A. Smith. he doesn't necessarily make blog posts anymore since he has a podcast and a show to keep up with constantly; But when he started pursuing the dream of becoming a sports-caster, he made his name through blog posts and newspaper articles in Philadelphia.

What's the Point?!?

    Now enough with the back story, lets get to the whole reason on why you brought yourself here. When it came to Stephen A Smith's Blogs he connected with the audience on a personal level. When you read his text it seems as if you are sitting at a table across from him discussing last nights game. it really is captivating how he his choice of diction can transcend his charisma through the text. 

    The way he formatted his blog was very old school but hey, I mean the blog posts were published before 2010 which we can all agree was a very awkward time for style in general. here let me make a point, since we are talking about Stephen A. Smith here is an example in relation to basketball. 

    I know, I know, I got side tracked. But y'all forced my hand! I thought y'all wouldn't believe me on the style back then. Nevertheless, The formatting of his blog is very simple and easy to the eye. 

What does he even talk about?!?

When looking into the content of what he posts, he seems to consistently have a piece on a marquee matchup that he goes over when he talks about the NBA. These pieces would usually consist of big names that had big games. Following that piece he will then have another section that talks about any other sport at any given time, depending on which league has big news to talk about. Following that he then has a NBA notes section that always caps off his blog posts. this can contain trading rumors, interviews he had with coaches, etc... after the first three pieces he then goes and expands on other sports like football, olympic swimming, the list goes on.

What made his content special was how unfiltered he is when delivering it. I swear to you, if you go watch a random youtube video and watch some of his work on First Take, go back and read his blog... You can damn near hear his voice. its crazy to me how animated he can be with his writing. 

That's It?!? 

Im sorry guys but there is not much more to his blogs other then him discussing the games of the day with his audience. BUT WAIT! I can save you the trouble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrnrxJZ6SrQ

There, there, you can now enjoy some of Stephen A. Smith's funniest moments. Don't worry you can thank me later on the next blog! This is David and... We out!

- David Aguilera

APS Thesis Introduction and Career Analysis (this is not for rhetoric)

           Hello! 

 I'm back on here to re-introduce myself and my ideas for a pre-senior thesis. Or as I just found out, an analysis of a ceramics blog, which is what I want to do when i'm a sad 25 year old. You may be asking, why does Caroline, a literal communications major, want to go into ceramics?? Well I've found my passion, and i'm tired of pretending to be content avoiding anything that has to do with art in school.

 Communications is a great supporting system that should keep my future business afloat, and the connections that i'll be able to make with Communication Studies as a degree will be a helluva lot more beneficial than simply knowing how to make stuff with squishy dirt. As for someone I can look to with a blog in ceramics... I really don't want to use a famous ceramicist to base my writings on. I wish the local artists that I've found at ClayFest were bloggers... Found one! David Hendley is a local potter with a home built kiln. He has an extensive website and information on a plethora of his hand-made ceramic pieces, which I see fit to classify as an unkept blog.   

  

 His knowledge comes with age, and the philosophy of the information he wrote about his work is very deep and detailed. I appreciate the commitment and story-written method that he uses to walk a reader through his process, and its more encapsulating than people's blogs that are based in other careers such as marketing, graphic design, or being a communications professor. 

Old Farmhouse Pottery

 So, it seems that when I become a local ceramic artist, I'm going to have the best blog out of every other ceramicist, because I'll be the only one with a blog! And of course, I'll have invigorating knowledge from my experiences at TLU. I might even be a professional speaker (on top of my pottery career) who uses rhetorical analyses and has a really cool social media presence as well! 

Back to the "now". I'm developing my senior thesis based on food insecurity and how it can affect college students, and whether or not students even know they could be food insecure (and more). I have 2 scholarly articles as well as a website organization that I'm going to be using, each of which contrasts from the other so I don't end up recycling information. I plan to use a questionnaire around different campuses when my time comes so I can gather a lot of anonymous information that makes trends easier to determine. I need a lot of effort to develop this questionnaire, and structure it so that it gathers aspects of food insecurity like accessibility, income, and tuition; Otherwise, it wouldn't be detailed enough to gather significant data. This topic is well known, but not by its label. People go through food insecurity without even knowing what it is, and people witness it with the same lack of knowledge. Attaching a name to this issue and giving it the strength it needs to be impactful is a big jump, but at least I'd be broadcasting even if it's on a small scale.