Friday, May 29, 2015

Saturday, May 23, 2015

The River and Me

          Everyone, I've got a special friend...


Say hello to my little friend.
Copyright Autumn Bennett 2015 

Ashley River, Charleston SC
Copyright Autumn Bennett 2014









Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Week One Discussion Question


Week One Discussion Question:


In Part 1 of this module, you viewed a video of the late Steve Jobs telling three personal stories at a commencement in 2005. Please use your blog to discuss what makes his stories memorable. What makes them powerful? You may find reading the transcript of his speech to be useful in thinking about these questions. When you have completed your blog posting, please provide the link to us and the topic selected within this thread.

          During his Stanford University commencement speech Steve Jobs told three stories spanning the course of his lifetime and the lessons learned from each.  There is a common theme of “connecting the dots” that continued throughout all three stories:  his early years as an adolescent, his adult years and being faced with death.  

          There was wisdom imparted among each story.  The first being to trust and follow your curiosity.  The second, that success in your career comes with doing work that you love.  The third is to not be confined within what others think of you because your own intuition is something that can and must be trusted.  The theme of “connecting the dots” is clear within the first story, but came together by the end of Job’s speech.  Looking back over his entire life presented in these three stories, Jobs and the audience were able to see how each dot connected to bring him to where he was that day while standing on stage at Stanford University’s graduation.  Wisdom makes a good storyteller because it is something that the audience can take away with them while always remembering who that wisdom came from and how it relates to their own lives.  Wisdom is both comforting and inspirational.  We do not have to reinvent the wheel as many have lived before us and survived the trials of life.  We can, however, take it in whatever direction we want.  

          Jobs was a memorable storyteller because he was honest and divulged personal parts of his life.  He was not afraid or ashamed.  After the commencement speech was made public, people listened in around the world.  Even during Apple Keynotes audiences hung onto his every word because he was a storyteller even while discussing business.  While the unveiling of new Apple products are exciting on their own, it is noticeable that these presentations are just not the same without Jobs.  In the stories during the commencement speech he admitted rejection, fear, difficulty and failure.  He was a powerful storyteller because these were topics that most of his audience also had on their minds as they were about to enter the world after graduation.  He therefore knew his audience.  He encouraged them to never lose sight of what they love and to live each day to the fullest because he knew what it was like to be staring death in the face.  

          Steve Jobs was an exceptional storyteller because he was unafraid, relatable, inspirational and had such charisma that it was difficult to not imagine yourself as part of his story.  And when the stories ended, they lived on in the lives of many who continue to carry his stories with them.