Blog Post 8

Tyree Swann

I love watching movies in my spare time it's something I do to relax. My favorite movie of all time would have to be Forest Gump starring Tom Hanks. I am aware that to those from outside of Alabama think that we love this film. It's a stereotype but for me it's true. The film is an emotional rollercoaster that keeps you so interested no matter how many times you'll watch it. From laughter to tears and many other emotions will be let out during the film. Tom Hanks is one of my all time favorite actors. He is able to capture of his roles so perfectly it seems his been preparing for them for his entire life. Whenever I watch a film with so many emotions I will often compare them to Forest Gump. This is a great example of a film that will go down in history as one of the greats. I'm hoping one day I could watch it with my children.

Blog Post 5: Ad Analysis

Tyree Swann

Today its common knowledge that cigarettes and other tobacco can have very serious and even fatal effects on your body. We even know hat smoking around other people, children, and even animals can have those same effects on them as well. When ever you're watching TV during every break there is at least one commercial that will warn you about the effects of tobacco. But years ago, maybe in the 1940's smoking was ok and even recommended. People would see these fat shaming ads telling you that instead of eating candy you should smoke a cigarette instead. Ads like these really tricked and shamed people into slowly killing themselves by smoking. Doctors would even indorse cigarettes and encourage their patience into smoking. The tobacco companies knew about the side effects of smoking but they would pay off doctors to keep quiet about the effects. Thankfully now a days we are getting a lot better at condemning the use of tobacco products and talking to our communities youth about the dangers of smoking.

Blog Post 4: Movie Speech

Tom Hanks, in my opinion is one of the greatest actors of all time. My favorite performance of his is his role as Captain Miller in the movie, Saving Private Ryan. In that movie he gave a speech about his mission. His mission was to put the lives of not only himself but multiple men on the line to only save one. While watching this movie you begin to wonder why would he do such a thing, risk the lives of the many to save the few, when really it should be the other way around. But, when his men begin to realize this and when all hope seems lost he says to them, "If that earns me the right to get back to my wife then that's my mission". What took away from was that if though the things we are asked to do may seem pointless, or insignificant. If it can get you closer to your goal or your mission, then it's worth your time and it has meaning. In college we are given some much work from multiple professors that may be due on the same day or within days of each other. Therefore, when we're given something that seems just a waste of time, we as students must realize that it's for our on good and we must take everything as seriously as possible. Even if one assignment may be worth 40% of your grade but you're also given 50 math problem that aren't being graded by your professor. I must realize that they are both worth my time, because are worth doing and will eventually help me to achieving my long and short term goals during my college career.

Tyree's Blog 3: Poetry festival

My senior year of high school I was on the verge of making a C in English. In order to get some extra credit to boost my grade up to a B, I volunteered to recite a poem in front of all the 1st period English classes. I wanted to choice a poem that was short enough to remember but long enough so that I would get the entire extra credit. So for the next two weeks leading up to the poetry festival, I looked for the perfect poem to recite. I also need to check with my teacher in order to get her approval to perform the poem. I remember in the days leading up to the presentation I wasn't very nervous. Although I hate public speaking and would prefer not to do so, I have no problem doing it if it's for a grade especially for bonus points. I decided to recite to poem, "And did Those Feet", by William Blake. Which also happens to be my mothers favorite poem. Surprisingly the whole experience was pretty fun, even though the extra credit I received wasn't enough to push me up to a B.

Blog 2: Discourse Communities

Tyree Swann

My dream ever since I was a kid was to attend Auburn University. But due to my low ACT score and grades my admission my denied. So I decided to come to AUM and then I was invited into a program called Auburn Guarantee. All members of the program live together on the 8th floor of North Commons. We also share the same class and hopefully in a year we will be attending Auburn University. Back in high school everyone for the most part was involved in sport, club, or group. I decided to join the cross country team. There was only a small number of us and most of the other student didn't even know what cross country was or just weren't interested. The one thing a lot of the guys complained about was the fact that the entire school seemed to care at all about the team and the football players all ways got the attention. I never became so emotionally invested in the sport to really care, I just wanted the season to be over. I am vey interested in politic and our economy. I was so excited when I registered to vote. I consider myself to be an independent. These days people seem to think they only have two choice; democrat or republican. It's very rare for an independent to gain any sort of attention in the news. Its interesting to be an independent because you get to see things from both sides point of view. It's not as limiting and becoming an independent has made me feel more open minded.

Tyree Swann


During my sophomore year of high school we had a class reading of the book "Animal Book" by George Orwell. Which is a novel that reflects the events that eventually caused the Russian Revolution in 1917. It also reflects the time in history when Joseph Stalin was in power of the Soviet Union. Today it is one of my favorite books that I have read multiple time. For most high school students, being given a class reading seems terrible.  "Animal Farm" really taught me more about how small group of individuals can influence entire community. After reading this book George Orwell became one of my favorite authors. I went on to read his books "1984" and "Coming Up for Air".