Speech

The State of the Union address has just concluded and it "will always be strong." Obama didn't make this decision on the spot. It's taken many meticulous years for him and his cabinet to feel so confident for a bright future, but it's like we as US citizens knew it was coming all along. You can't take politics seriously anymore because of the headline nature of the media unless you actually watch and listen, attend and witness, tune in and experience the entirety of what's being said by the Man of our country because, I'll tell ya, it's a lot. 'Change' was so four years ago, but it's all changing now and it has nothing to do with this years impending election. Now, enough with politics!

What I'm more interested in here is the presidents' method of memorizing and delivering an hour long speech. I could've told you the state of our union is strong, but I couldn't have explained it quite as clearly in-depth or as nearly informative as Mr. President. For lengthy, important, and widely distributed expositions there are many issues which one with such power and influence may choose to address, and how does he elaborate on the issues with such detail while upholding the strength of his poise? He doesn't just speak or write; it's a combination of both, something Walter Ong might call rhetoric. As people we first learned to speak, then we discovered and developed writing, and there are those who furthermore use the innovative technique of rhetoric. If writing is a perfection of spoken word then rhetoric is a perfection of writing. Although he, the prez, might have stuttered from time to time but he doesn't forget where he's going, which is always forward. The president doesn't just get up there and ad lib (although he probably could in an more informal setting) because it's easy to lose your way. He walks through his creation, his vision, his memory theatre and expounds upon the imprint that he sees. People aren't flawless speakers, but on a political stage you better make your words count. Understanding ideas vividly needs imaginative ideas along with an accessible channel to illuminate and recreate these thoughts later to be articulated. Anytime you turn on the television to a random channel there's always a story happening or a point being made, from re-runs to soaps to movies to commercials. That's what memory theatre is, a vivid story conjured by the mind which thrives on nonsense and fantasy and hyperbole.

The Class Task: Create a speech which will correspond and recall one-hundred items.

We've been giving a running list of random things which will eventually accumulate to one-hundred.

My list thus far: Who (How many)

People in class (25?)

MWE p. 93 list (15)

Jacob's brothers and 'tribes' (12?)

Muses (9)

Ong Ch. 3 (9)

Sibling with epithet (1)

something useful (1) Rough running total (72)

Below will be a running, rough script for my final speech. It will be copied into further blogs:

For my memory palace I've chosen my old Anchorage house. I haven't decided loci-wise where to start the story and speech, but it will probably have to be in the front yard where Terpsichore is doing a touchdown dance after having scored a touchdown. Boom! Claudia Shiffer is cheering on the winner from the dug-out gravel pit which has been replaced a large bowl of cottage cheese. She's trying to tug at the winner's dancing feet. Also on the polar opposite yard is Melpomene who is showing signs of melancholy after that TD (Terpsichore Dance). It's tragic so her mother (Megan tMotM) comes down from the front stairs wrapping around the southside of the yellow house to console her tearful daughter and welcome me. I hear two dogs barking nonstop from the large second-story window before the elevated porch conceals them. I assume the dogs want the football until there's an abrupt silence then a faint whimper. Megan says, "Don't worry that was just Ashley. Now come on up, I'll introduce you to everyone."