I had a lot of rough ideas for my
Fireside Chat. I was originally going to do something more serious and
personal, discussing my believe in overcoming hardships and trials despite circumstance.
I was going to give a speech, while audio simulating what auditory
hallucinations are like. My speech would coincide with the audio - during the
more intense parts my speech would also increase in intensity, etc. But, I
scrapped this idea because I didn't really want to do a "Woe-is-me"
approach to this. I mean, this was the last impression I could make on the
class and I had the potential to create a reputation for myself.
So,
with that in mind I took a new approach to the assignment. I started thinking
about the impression I wanted to leave behind, I started thinking about what I
wanted to be known for as a result of
this project. Did I want to be known as the scary kid whole mentions their
mental disorder at any given chance? Did I want to be known as the kid who
talks about one thing and only one thing? No, not really. So I thought about
things I liked: sweaters, doing nothing, sleep, being around people, ghosts,
aliens, scary movies, spooks and cooks and scares. Basically, just weird, dorky
paranormal garbage.
And
then it clicked, the thing I wanted to be known for. The impression I wanted to
leave behind: I would be the guy who went on a tirade about ghosts. I would be
the guy who made the audience play with a Ouija board so we could all be scared
and all have fun together. It wasn't very serious, but I still think it was the
best thing I could have done.
Watching
other people present, I found it interesting the different approaches people
took. Approaches far different from what I had done, with varying
interpretations of the simple prom "What I Believe In" and I think
that's amazing. A simple thing can be taken in so many ways by people, and we
can get presentations ranging from privilege to Lego, from make-up to dance,
from Jesus to ghosts. But, I found myself applying my own approach to all of
the presentations. I kept asking "Is this
what this person wants to be known for? Is this the impression they want to
leave behind?" But, that's not a fair question to ask, because they didn't
prepare with that idea in mind.
