Sunday, March 19, 2017

Checkpoint Blog #1

My group members (Saba, Marwa, Florina, Daniel, and Anthony) and I chose teen pregnancy to be our topic. So far we've decided on what roles everyone is playing and an outline of how the skit is going to play out. We decided that our "solution" to teen pregnancy would be to have a popular franchise like Starbucks to team up with Planned Parenthood and but birth control in drinks ordered by teen. Dr. Daniel Bangsalot, young owner of a hip coffee spot The Empty Teste, owned by Starbucks, is the first to enforce this new company policy. Dr. Bangsalot is also responsible for coming up with this idea. He was inspired by his own experiences in impregnating three teens, and sisters no less, in his store. After finding out that they were pregnant the young doctor wanted to ensure that the next time he partook in such activities he wouldn't be caught blindsided. To advertise his idea  Dr. Daniel Bangsalot goes on the Late Night Show, hosted by Dr. Anthony. We've started writing the script and plan on finishing it sometime this week.

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Reflection on "Words that Work"

This week in class we read an excerpt from the book Words that Work by Frank Luntz, a political consultant, who instructs the reader on how to have effective communication. The purpose of the book was to inform people, specifically the spouses of politicians, how one should be mindful of the language they use when trying to address an audience for a presentation or successful pitch. The author employed a didactic tone as his aim was to instruct the audience. The piece began by Luntz stressing the point that sometimes what is not said is more important than what is actually said. According to Luntz, improper use of words and phrases can lead to the belittling of a presentation. For example, Luntz instructs the audience to never say "drilling for oil" and instead say "exploring for energy." His reasoning is that the former phrase has a negative connotation than the latter. Luntz sates that"exploring for energy" has a more positive connotation and is often associated with words like"'efficient'" and "'balance.'" The effect that word choice can have on a presentation is evident here as Luntz demonstrates how the phrase "exploring for energy" fends off the negative connotation that came with the other option.