When I heard that we had to write an ignite speech, I thought that I would definitely write it on essential tremor (ET). After writing the “learning Identities” paper on essential tremor and then my statement of purpose for Sonoma State’s Masters in Education with concentration in special education, I thought that I might do a speech on special education. I went back and forth between doing a speech on special education and essential tremor for about a week before settling on the topic of essential tremor. I choose to do the speech on essential tremor because I knew that it would be a good opportunity for me to use this speech to raise awareness and educate my peers at UCSD and elsewhere about a movement disorder they probably had never before heard about. I did not want to write a speech that would be all facts and bore my classmates.

 

Instead, I decided to write a narrative on my life experiences and growing up with ET.  When writing the speech, I knew that a majority would be ethos based. Those parts included being diagnosed at 14, attending two (2) International Essential Tremor Foundation seminars, going to support group meetings, and most of the research that I have done since I was diagnosed with essential tremor. I also wanted to incorporate strategies from the article Barak Obama: A Master Class in Speaking.  In my speech I incorporated repetition by saying “When I was …” multiple times during the speech. I also tried to use transcendence throughout the piece by having the audience try to paint their own pictures in the form of an arch starting from when I was young until the present. I wanted people to see that I did not let ET stop me from going through school and achieving any past, present and future goals. It was important for me that my classmates be able to relate to my experiences. As such, I spoke about classes in which the teachers were most supportive and encouraging to help me to make my dreams come true and about internships. This way, my classmates could know with certainty that I not only relate to what they are personally also going through in school, their career goals and aspirations, but also see another example of how I do not let my movement disorder stop me from succeeding in all aspects of my life.

 

I used logos when I spoke about the statistic, that just 10 million people are affected worldwide with ET. The logos also was used by my usage of the IETF website to help assure my facts in my speech were accurate, my descriptions about my experiences at the IETF seminars in Los Angeles and at San Diego. Two other examples of logos were when I spoke about how I was bullied in music classes and going to a support group meeting in San Diego. There I had firsthand experience seeing what was involved in being what it would be like to be a support group leader. Final examples of logos are by being involved with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter with posts as well as the writings on my blog, Shake It Up, containing updated information. The pathos in my speech came from my performance where people could see my hands shaking when I was holding my note cards and reading the speech.  The pathos also comes from me being vulnerable to the class and talking about experiences in school, with music, and as a child growing up with ET into adulthood.