Primary Artifact 1: Susan Cain's TED Talk

I've narrowed down the specific sect of people that I would like to do my project on: introverts. I've found that people with a bent toward introversion fascinate me, despite my own tendencies toward introversion. What I've managed to find had nothing to do with my original suspicions; those being that introversion leads to loneliness and depression. Instead I found a delightful TED Talk called "The Power of Introverts". This roughly twenty minute speech delivered by Susan Cain, author of several books about introversion, brings the audience into her life and those of other introverted people. She describes the value of alone time and independent thought, and how introverts tend to thrive in these areas. Due to the fact that I will be trying to examine the introvert "community" I feel that this speech not only starts me off with a more positive outlook toward introversion. Furthermore it describes that there are never true introverts or extroverts, but more people that display tendencies that favor one or the other. This insight, I think, will be vital to understanding this community. On a slightly off topic note, a community of introverted individuals has sprung up around Susan Cain, they have created their own website that is purely designed for the purpose of assisting and encouraging each other. This source gives the personal testimony of an introvert, the very definition of a primary source. Below is the listed MLA citation along with the URL for the speech



Cain, Susan. "The Power of Introverts." TED. Long Beach, CA. Feb. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2015. 

       <http://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts?language=en>.

Community Proposal

When asked to write a proposal that would describe the community that I would be trying to represent I realized, I don't really belong to any community here at the University of Kentucky. Yes, I am involved in the engineering Living Learning Program, but that is less of a community and is more of a study group. I had planned on becoming involved in Christian Student Fellowship, but that also fell through. Sitting here wondering what community I should create a documentary about. I thought to myself, what if I documented those students that feel they don't belong to a community? What if there are other students, like myself, that feel as though they are alone here at UK? Now this group is not a community per say, but is more of an anti-community; the exact opposite. I would like to try and find out if people can truly thrive by being secluded from a sense of community, or if there is research that suggests that people need to have companions in order to succeed. As far as my relationship to this community goes, I tend to fit the mold pretty well, as far as not really being plugged into a community and acknowledging my own lonesomeness. I think that it is important to represent this group of people because I think that they could very easily feel alone and powerless. Without a support structure they might not be reaching their full potential, and I want to see if that is the case. Furthermore I think that it would be worthwhile to see if these students feel that they want to be a part of a community, or if they feel content to live and work in relative solitude. Perhaps this group has more to offer than meets the eye.

Getting to Know Me

I’m Jon Steinmeier, a first-semester freshman at the University of Kentucky. I was raised in Grand Rapids, MI and attend Grand River Preparatory High School where I graduated in the academic top ten of my class. Throughout middleschool I had a proclivity toward shyness and being, as my mother would say, “antisocial”. Upon reaching highschool I decided to discontinue this pattern of behavior and became more active socially; I did not become a socialite by any means, but I did begin to participate in clubs and other social events. In the second semester of my senior year I took on the role of stage manager for that semester’s play. In doing this I got to participate in an event in which most of my friends were involved while also getting to utilize those gifts that I possess, which do not include acting. On that note, I have terrible stage fright and hope to, while in this class, be able to alleviate some of it with the speech assignments that we have over the semester. Furthermore, I have a real difficulty with writing to the necessary page/length requirements that most assignment possess: I tend to say what I think needs to be said and hate embellishing my words any further. It is my sincere wish that I can come to terms with this issue in WRD 110. Most of the communities I belong to are about eight hours from here. The community that I most identify with is the youth ministry at my church that I attended as a middleschool and highschool student and volunteered in for the last three years. I am also a member of of the engineering LLP, where I am in the peer-mentor group headed by Rory Pope, an excellent guy that I look forward to learning from.