Blog Post #9

“44 Things that will happen when you become Miss USA”

http://www.buzzfeed.com/amyodell/44-things-that-will-happen-when-you-become-miss-usa

         As I am an insider of the pageant world, I began to search for memes that related to pageants in some way. I then came across one that had 44 things that will happen to you when you become Miss USA. As this meme is poking fun of pageantry, they forgot to show a more serious part on what Miss USA is really about. The writer does a really good job explaining the fun things the winners of pageants get to do like dressing up in dresses that are loaned to you from designers as it says in reason number 34. Being Miss USA is about wearing the crown the right way, but not in a sense of wearing it on your head. You have to be a role model with a crown on your head and be a woman of encouragement to younger girls. As this meme just talks about sighing when wearing the crown is number 27.  As I looked over this meme I realized that a lot of the pictures that they used for this could have been used a lot differently and in a better way. The meme was overall funny and interesting, although the meme should have been a little more serious with what they were saying, but in a more funny way. Instead of the meme talking about getting hit on by many guys and showing pictures of the winners with celebrities and random guys, the writer should have said something funny, but along with all the young children looking at the winner and being in awe of her.

Blog #8

Throughout my ethnography draft, I used a lot of the same ideas using my interview paper. Although the interview paper has good information, my ethnography paper needs to be more fact based than what I have. Instead of having an interview section for every point I make about the social classes, I need to include secondary sources. In my ethnography draft I didn’t use any secondary sources because I didn’t know where to look. With the help of my classmates and my professor as well I was able to get good feedback on what to expect when searching for the secondary sources within Keeneland. I also had my ethnography draft poorly organized. My paragraphs were made into huge sections of my three main points and weren’t going with the paper. I often put random things in the paragraphs that went with the topic, but never fully discussed why the fact had any importance to the paper or topic I was talking about. I also forgot to put in text citations or make a works cited page at all. Having this will help me organize my thoughts and get everything constructed better than what it was before. The better my paper is organized, the easier it will be for the reader to understand my points. If I break down what it is that I’m talking about into very easy understanding concepts of the social classes and how they compete against one another, it will also allow the reader to be more interested in what I’m saying rather than just reading it because they have to. These points will overall help my paper and allow me to reach the grade that I am wanting. My main problem with my draft would have to be the organization I have put forth with it and by adding the secondary sources will help a lot.

Blog Post #8

The secondary source that I have found for Keeneland is an article on how the 2013 race season was the biggest turn out that they have ever had. This can help me with my paper in many ways. The tradition is staying alive and the event continues to grow through population and wealth. It gives many statistics on the population and the money that flows through Keeneland for each race. The statistics continue to rise, letting me know that the social classes will continue to get even more competitive with more people wanting to go to the races.  This also lets me know that Keeneland is not going to die out and that proves my point in my paper that the tradition is going to continue through dress code and the events that occur at Keeneland with the classes. The author of this article is Blood-Horse Staff.

Blood Horse Staff, . "Keeneland Sets Record in Attendance ." Bloohorse.com. Bloodhorse, 28 Oct 
          2013. Web. 3 Nov 2013. <http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/81623/keeneland-   
          sets-records-in-attendance-handle>.

Blog Post #6

I find this recording very interesting. I had no idea that there was a tunnel underneath the city of Las Vegas and what went on down there. The fact that kids would live down there with their drug addict parents stuck out to me the most. Knowing that Las Vegas is full of sin anyway, its very disturbing that even worse goes on below. I wasn’t expecting this to occur below the Hardrock Hotel. I’ve been to Las Vegas multiple times and have stayed at the Hard Rock and Bellagio. To think that there was lots of drug usage underneath me while I thought it was a nice hotel is disturbing to think about. Most people go to Las Vegas and think that it is “Sin City” and lots of bad behavior goes on there, but it is very interesting and touring the different hotels that are along the strip and looking at all the neat things that Las Vegas has to offer like the shows and fine dining make it less sinful. Las Vegas has a very wow factor look to it and now I have an even different “wow” feel about the place. There is a lot of poverty in Las Vegas with the overpopulated city, but no child deserves to be left in a tunnel while their parents are doing drugs. It disturbs me that people know about the activity that goes on, and nothing is being done about it to help the children out. The children don’t deserve to live a life like that and the drugs that go on with their family life should not affect their own life. Having said this, I am in a disgusted state of mind by listening to this recording and something should happen to help the children out. 

Blog Post #5

As I watched myself give my speech I noticed multiple things that I could have done better or things that I just completely messed up on. I tend to say the word “um” a lot whenever I get nervous and act jittery. I talked extremely fast and mumbled my words. Whenever I talked, I didn’t talk in a very enthusiastic way. I was monotone and didn’t really engage with my audience. I smiled a lot to the audience and made good eye contact throughout the presentation. Everyone could tell that I was nervous because of how I was moving around and holding the flashcards. I relied on those cards for most of the speech. In the middle of the presentation I forgot to change my PowerPoint presentation slides and that made me even more nervous than I already was. I was scared that my grade was going to be deflected off of that mistake pretty badly. As I finished my presentation I realized I did more good than bad. I gave the audience adequate information in the time limit that was given. I didn’t quite reach four minutes, but it was more than three minutes and every one seemed impressed with the information I was giving them. I was able to answer the questions that they were asking me after the presentation too. I prepared myself for most of the questions that they asked. I found out that I did better with improvising my answers with the questions that they asked me rather than trying to memorize my whole speech. 

Blog Post #4

As I have chose to do my speech proposal on Keeneland, I will use ethos, logos, and pathos in a way to persuade the audience to allow them to think it is a good idea for me to do so. I will inform the audience a background culture on Keeneland and get them involved by asking rhetorical questions or simply they could raise their hand. I will show an emotional appeal by telling them about the social classes and how they interact with one another and get them to think about how they see one self at Keeneland or at a race track. I want to allow the audience to not just think about Keeneland as a racetrack, but to broaden their view and to go more in depth with what goes on at Keeneland. Keeneland is more than just a racetrack, but a competition on social classes as well.

Research Memo

The source that I have found would be one that is the Keeneland website itself. The website shows the race events and when they are planned, and it shows ticketing and where you are able to dine. It also has a link that says "Discover Keeneland" which gives information about Keeneland and how it started. I found out many different things about Keeneland, such as when the races are and how Keeneland was founded and who it was founded by and why it was founded. I found out you can take a tour of Keeneland and find out behind the scenes secrets of the racecourse. Looking at the website about Keeneland has made me change my way on how I am going to go about the subjects on what I am going to talk about. Keeneland is such a large area to cover and has so many options to choose from. I am going to go more in depth on some of the things Keeneland has to offer. I wouldn't necessarily use a direct quote from this website, although I would refer to it quite a lot hence the information that it gives about Keeneland.


"Discover Keeneland." Keeneland. Keeneland Association, Inc., n.d. Web. 18 Sep 2013. <http://www.keeneland.com/discover>.