So this was for my Comm. 101 class. The objective was to take 3 objects out of a paper bag one at a time and relate each one to our past, present, and future respectively. My objects were ears, eyes, and a mouth. Each one had velcro on the back and so as I explained them, I placed them on the bag until *presto* I have a Yoda bag.

For your enjoyment I will also post the speech here:

"*Blow up paper bag, go to pop it*
Nah, I wouldn't do that to you. But it would be a good visual, like they say, time flies. And that's what this bag is: time. In this simple paper bag of time are three things you see everyday, a pair of Dumbo wings from my past, a clear set of windows to the soul to represent my present and lastly, taking in chili dogs and issuing forth sonnets, ladies and gentlemen, the future will be my mouth.

Ears: (Pull out) I was born August 29th, 1980, just three months after the theatrical release of “The Empire Strikes Back.” My poor mother went through hell to keep and deliver me and when I finally made my entrance, I was sick with a kidney infection and my skin was as green as the Jedi master of Dagoba himself. And so my woozy, exhausted mother looked up through a haze of pain and drugs and called me Yoda. And that’s been my alias ever since. Folks- a child first knows the world through sounds. By the beginning of the 3rd trimester our ears are already perked and probing the outer world for loving words and comforting reminders of care. I would later hear the stern yet patient voices of my parents, the instructions of teachers and friends, and the call to serve by great leaders. My ears took in my past, I heeded Anne Sexton’s advice when she said “Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.”, and what I heard made me who I am today.

Eyes: (Pull out) I wasn’t lying when I said “It was a beautiful spring day and we gazed long into each other’s eyes.” And I wake up every morning still doing the same thing. When I look into my wife’s eyes I see ancient brown with gold Saturn rings. Arborists say that you can tell a tree’s age by the rings it has. If this were true for humans than I’d be certain that my wife had lived a thousand lives and every day I give thanks for being part of hers here and now. But my eyes do more than just look at pretty things. With them, I am studying art; high art, low art, martial arts and America’s Best Dance Crew. I am watching for the first time an election where I am not worried about who’s the better of two evils, where gender, race, and age are not barriers withholding change but are assets giving the candidates experience and perspective. I am reading works by Stephen King, Machiavelli, and the great Dr. Seuss. I do this because deep down I know I need these things. Deep down I have a voice and as Margaret Fuller stated “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” Better yet John Galsworthy said “One’s eyes are what one is, one’s mouth is what one becomes.”

(Pull out) And oh what a pleasure the mouth is. Many of my most exquisite experiences were born of it. But I am no longer a mere child content with nursing, cramming sweets, or shouting just to hear myself echo off playground walls. As a man of vision, my mouth will serve me in the future as an instrument. When I get to where I’m going, my mouth will be the one speaking, teaching, directing, creating, and changing everything around me. The ears of my past were receptive vessels (Stick them on). My eyes though they can speak volumes, (stick them on) will never be quoted from. My mouth is my future (stick on).

Peter Ustinov said that “Children are the only form of immortality that we can be sure of”, Ladies and Gentlemen through my children I plan on living forever. I plan to give them a legacy formed through ears of the past, eyes of the present and mouths of the future. As you can see it still isn’t much, but when it comes to giving children TIME any old bag will do."