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Fact Sheet
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Age:
35
Birthday:
March 11
Pet
Peeve: Mornings
If
I had $1 million I would: pay off all my debts,
buy a new home/car, and put 250,000 away for retirement.
With the remaining money, I’d set up a number
of on-going scholarships for college students interested
in the Arts.
Favorites:
Restaurant(s):
The Tea Station, Gunther Toody’s, Kaladi Bros.
Coffee
Band
or musical artist(s): the Start, Sleater-Kinney,
Siouxsie and The Banshees, Blondie, No Doubt
Actor(s):
Joseph Fiennes, John Cusack
Actress(s):
Winona Ryder, Drew Barrymore
Pastime(s):
Star Wars, comic books, live music, coffee, reading
Quote(s):
•
“Luke, you’re going to find that many
of the truths we cling to, depend greatly on our
own point of view.”
(Obi-Wan
Kenobi, Return of the Jedi)
•
“To change ourselves, we must change the world;
to change the world we must be willing to change,
ourselves.” (Starhawk, Truth or Dare)
•
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”
(George Weasley, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban)
Movie(s):
The Empire Strikes Back, Shakespeare in Love, The
Nightmare Before Christmas, Billy Elliot
Vacation
Spot(s): New York City, San Francisco,
Bed and Breakfasts in the Colorado Mountains
College
Course(s): Rhetoric of Social Movements,
Rhetorical Criticism, Constitutive Rhetoric (taken);
Communication and Popular Culture, Techniques of
Persuasion (taught)
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If you plan to take Techniques of Persuasion, Argumentation,
or Introduction to Journalism and Mass Media here at Metro
– and the first day you see someone standing at the
front of the class decked out in punk clothes – don’t
be alarmed. You’ve just entered Derek Sweet’s
class. You have the opportunity to meet a very articulate
and brilliant individual. Meet Derek Sweet.
Sweet, a professor of communication studies at Metro,
Denver University and Colorado State University, came to
Metro about two years ago. “I was looking for
teaching and I knew Denver needed professors,” Sweet
said. Sweet began by teaching public speaking, then
moved up to teach Techniques of Persuasion, Argumentation
and Intro to Journalism and Mass Media.
This is Sweet’s second full-year here at Metro, and
he has found his passion in teaching. “To me, it’s
my passion. It’s not like work,” Sweet
said.
No matter what type of day Derek is having, it seems as
if all his frustrations are overcome by his passion to teach.
“It all changes when I walk into the classroom,”
Sweet said.
Sweet grew up in Johnstown, a small town outside of Greeley,
where he was not exposed to any kind of subcultures.
“We were very sheltered up in Johnstown,” Derek
said.
Derek attended CSU after high school and he dreamed of
becoming the next Harry Caray for the Chicago Cubs.
However, it wasn’t until his junior year that Sweet
switched his emphasis from broadcasting to rhetoric.
“I realized that everything [in radio] was so competitive,”
Sweet said. “I’m not a competitive person.
Every DJ was always trying to be number one – and
I couldn’t stand that.”
After receiving his bachelor’s in Speech Communication
with an emphasis in rhetoric, Derek continued on to earn
his master’s at CSU. For Derek, education was
not an option – it was a priority: “I always
knew I would go to graduate school, I just didn’t
know when.”
Derek is currently in the process of finishing his dissertation
and earning his Ph.D. from the University of Denver.
He plans to be finished within the next year or so.
In 1998, while researching the rhetoric of sub-cultures,
his area of interest and area of emphasis in his dissertation,
Derek joined the Goth subculture. He remembers the single
moment he became intrigued by them. “I was sitting
in a coffee house and several Goths walked in. I was
fascinated with their style of dress. I noticed that
they were accepting, really cool people, and had a lot of
freedom,” Sweet said. “This is what Goth
is not supposed to be,” he added, pointing out that
Goth members are looked down upon in our society, but are
very accepting people.
Derek says that one of the most important things he has
learned from doing his dissertation is that identity is
not essence. “Our identity is constantly changing,”
Sweet said. “We perform our identity, watching
and reacting to how others respond to us,” he added.
For the future, Derek dreams of singing on stage with
a punk band – at least once.
In the meantime, Derek is busy with his dissertation and
teaching at DU, Metro, and CSU. Derek also plans to
be a full-time professor in communication studies after
receiving his doctorate.
‘I was sitting in a coffee house and several Goths
walked in. I was fascinated with their style of dress.
I noticed that they were accepting, really cool people,
and had a lot of freedom.’
-
Derek Sweet, Goth
and Metro professor
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