Oral Topic

Note: Some comments to posts had been disappearing. I didn't even think to check my spam filter, but I did today, and lo and behold there they were. They have been released from their spam prison.

Back to my topic: Once again, one of my professors likes to have their students give speeches. Last semester I chose to speak about Jin Ping Mei, which is, for all intents and purposes, a pornographic book. My topic was something along the lines of "What can we learn about Chinese society through its treatment of taboo subjects such as sexuality?" I'm sure I phrased that more prettily, but I am not rifling through my papers from last semester to find out precisely what I had written. In case you were wondering, the speech was well received. The only detractor was that I hadn't included pictures.

This semester I don't think a subject like that would fly well. My Jin Ping Mei talk was given to a room full of Honor students, who had been working in close quarters with each other. My European class, however, is a regular class and is held in a huge, drafty classroom. It just won't work.

So I think I'm going to talk about Belgium during WWII. My father was born there, my grandparents lived through WWII while living there, so it has nice congruity for me. I probably won't mention why I chose the topic, as this class is taught by the professor who called my attempt to personalize an essay "Irrelevant" with a huge red slash mark. I'm getting over it. Really, I am. I have found the bright side and I will review all of his comments and see if I can learn anything from them.

And that's how far I've gotten in my thinking/research. I emailed my dad, as he is a military history fan and might know of some good resources. I'll start my research soonish. At least the professor has made this easy and prohibited any use of electronics during our speeches. No power points, which is disappointing because I just learned how to make them. If you had any doubts about my professed ineptness with computers, I'm sure that information just banished them. And yes, this professor it that person who doesn't like technology. I don't agree with his stance but it's his classroom.

So there you go. I have yet to decide if I will focus on the military side of things or the civilian. Maybe both? I have to talk for ten minutes. Which wouldn't seem so daunting if this professor was more likable. I really don't want to be standing in front of a bunch of people freaking out that what I'm saying is "Irrelevant!" But then, I will have the floor, and it will be mine for ten whole minutes. Any comments but mine would be irrelevant. I guess I haven't truly gotten over that comment yet.

Irrelevant indeed.