The other day DocOc mentioned the famous George Orwell quote "Who controls the past, controls the future, who controls the present, controls the past" from the book 1984. Besides having previously read this book, the quote seemed very familiar. I got into my car after school to get over to swim practice and turned on the radio as I always do and the song Testify by Rage Against The Machine and the lyrics of the bridge of this song is the same Orwell quote we talked about in class! I began to think of how literature influences music and the connection between the two. I then began to think of what songs I listened to on a regular basis had alluded to books and short stories I had read.
Mr. Raven- MC Lars
MC Lars graduated as an english major from Stanford University, so it makes sense his raps have a literary basis. This song is clearly based on the short story/poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe and uses its most famous lines such as "While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping" and the repetition of the phrase "Nevermore".(He has also written songs about Moby Dick and Hamlet, check out his discography, smart dude).
Dead Souls- Joy Division
Pioneers of "Emo", Joy Division, wrote many allusions to darker, off-beat literature in their songs, including this one based off of Nikolai Gogol's book Dead Souls.
The Battle of Evermore- Led Zeppelin
Besides the fact Led Zeppelin may be one of the best bands of all time, they wrote this song (off Led Zeppelin IV) about the book Lord Of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Literature is everywhere, just take a listen.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
My Meta-Blog
Hey Doc Oc and Mr. Bolos!
I would like you guys to assess my "Critical Viewing" blog entry.
My blogging has changed a lot since we first began. Back in the day (a whole 3 years ago), I actually was a frequent blogger on tumblr (before it completely exploded into some sort of weird obsession people have) and I had a very distinct style... by not having one at all. I pretty much just used it as an internet diary of things that interested me during the day or fun stories I just couldn't keep to myself. After being off the interwebs for a few years and coming back to the blogoshpere in a different context changed my writing style a bit, it threw me completely off kilter. In my first few posts, I wrote very mechanically and I kind of fumbled over making the transition between what we spoke about in class to a current event purely based on the fact I wasn't used to it. I ended with the question "So when we have all that we need, what can truly make us happy?" to incite a reader response, my post didn't just seem warrant a response from the body of the blog.
After a few more entries I got a little more comfortable with the forum but I'm still struggling with making my points concise. My last blog was a tad on the lengthy side... to the tune of about 2 pages on a word document. I just go onto tangent and keep talking about whatever comes to mind.
My posts are all over the place, I've gone from happiness, to women's place in the home, to domestic issues, to economic issues, to really anything that I wanted to talk about. I feel like I should continuing my posts like this because it keeps everything fresh for myself. It makes me want to blog because I know I have complete creative control over what I blog about.
I really enjoy having control over my own work. Blogging is a great outlet for me to write freely without a rigid structure like a paper. It is all about whatever I want to write about and I am in charge of what I'm writing, which is nice.
At the quarter, I'm feeling more confident in my blogging abilities and I'm enjoying it a lot more. It feels less like work and more like a personal, fun thing I can do in my free time.
I would like you guys to assess my "Critical Viewing" blog entry.
My blogging has changed a lot since we first began. Back in the day (a whole 3 years ago), I actually was a frequent blogger on tumblr (before it completely exploded into some sort of weird obsession people have) and I had a very distinct style... by not having one at all. I pretty much just used it as an internet diary of things that interested me during the day or fun stories I just couldn't keep to myself. After being off the interwebs for a few years and coming back to the blogoshpere in a different context changed my writing style a bit, it threw me completely off kilter. In my first few posts, I wrote very mechanically and I kind of fumbled over making the transition between what we spoke about in class to a current event purely based on the fact I wasn't used to it. I ended with the question "So when we have all that we need, what can truly make us happy?" to incite a reader response, my post didn't just seem warrant a response from the body of the blog.
After a few more entries I got a little more comfortable with the forum but I'm still struggling with making my points concise. My last blog was a tad on the lengthy side... to the tune of about 2 pages on a word document. I just go onto tangent and keep talking about whatever comes to mind.
My posts are all over the place, I've gone from happiness, to women's place in the home, to domestic issues, to economic issues, to really anything that I wanted to talk about. I feel like I should continuing my posts like this because it keeps everything fresh for myself. It makes me want to blog because I know I have complete creative control over what I blog about.
I really enjoy having control over my own work. Blogging is a great outlet for me to write freely without a rigid structure like a paper. It is all about whatever I want to write about and I am in charge of what I'm writing, which is nice.
At the quarter, I'm feeling more confident in my blogging abilities and I'm enjoying it a lot more. It feels less like work and more like a personal, fun thing I can do in my free time.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Who makes a house a home?
While I was growing up, I was lucky. I had time with both my parents and I could learn important lessons from both of them, but my encounters with them and how they decided what was best for my development was apparently a little different than the rest of my north shore classmates.
My dad worked nights at Dominick's while my mom taught early bird and through the day so they could both spend time with me. My dad got me ready in the morning and we watched ESPN together as he tried to convince me that going to preschool was, in fact, the best choice I would make all day. I would then go to preschool and socialize with my fellow "classmates". Then my dad would pick me up and I would sit in the back seat of our old volvo and eat whatever cookie my dad brought me for a snack as we drove home and talked about our day. Then we would have cross over time where I would be with both my parents and I would learn about social interactions between adults from theirs in that inbetween time before my dad left for work. He would make dinner before he left then my mom would take over. She would teach me letters and numbers, watch some sesame street with me, then I would put myself to bed at around 7.
I feel like all of these interactions has made me the person I am now and has defined my relationships not only with my parents, but with my peers as well. My dad and I still watch all sporting events together and we've always shared the entertainment side of my life together since that's what we did when he was home with me. My mom and I are more academic and we talk with each other about books and school more because that's how she spent her time with me when I was little. They also both gave me parts of their personalities that I really latched onto because I was with them individually for so long. My dad gave me his sarcasm and my mom gave me her ambition.
Thinking back on my childhood makes me think about how much people's lives are shaped by their relationships with their parents. According to a study on the effects of divorce on the parent child-relationship done by the Penn State College of Medicine, children of divorce can lose their relationship with their parents because of parental withdrawal. This can cause serious ramifications in their lives, such as violence, and having trust issues in relationships further down the road, and anxiety and guilt that can follow these children for the rest of their lives. It's interesting how parental relationships can effect someone's character.
My dad worked nights at Dominick's while my mom taught early bird and through the day so they could both spend time with me. My dad got me ready in the morning and we watched ESPN together as he tried to convince me that going to preschool was, in fact, the best choice I would make all day. I would then go to preschool and socialize with my fellow "classmates". Then my dad would pick me up and I would sit in the back seat of our old volvo and eat whatever cookie my dad brought me for a snack as we drove home and talked about our day. Then we would have cross over time where I would be with both my parents and I would learn about social interactions between adults from theirs in that inbetween time before my dad left for work. He would make dinner before he left then my mom would take over. She would teach me letters and numbers, watch some sesame street with me, then I would put myself to bed at around 7.
I feel like all of these interactions has made me the person I am now and has defined my relationships not only with my parents, but with my peers as well. My dad and I still watch all sporting events together and we've always shared the entertainment side of my life together since that's what we did when he was home with me. My mom and I are more academic and we talk with each other about books and school more because that's how she spent her time with me when I was little. They also both gave me parts of their personalities that I really latched onto because I was with them individually for so long. My dad gave me his sarcasm and my mom gave me her ambition.
Thinking back on my childhood makes me think about how much people's lives are shaped by their relationships with their parents. According to a study on the effects of divorce on the parent child-relationship done by the Penn State College of Medicine, children of divorce can lose their relationship with their parents because of parental withdrawal. This can cause serious ramifications in their lives, such as violence, and having trust issues in relationships further down the road, and anxiety and guilt that can follow these children for the rest of their lives. It's interesting how parental relationships can effect someone's character.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Critical Viewing
On Saturday, my friend surprised me with a drive to the Kenosha Drive-in movie theater. We were incredibly excited to finally go to a drive-in because we've been talking about it for months, but on the way something struck me. We took Sheridan Road all he way north because we don't particularly like the highway and we saw a lot of thing we are not used to. We drove by motor home parks, fast food restaurants, and advanced payday loan offices. What was most shocking was that while driving through areas like Waukegan and Winthrop Harbor, we passed no libraries, and only one grocery store.
In AIS for the past few weeks we've been talking about how your socio-economic level effects your health. While driving we saw 17 McDonald's only on Sheridan before we took Green Bay, and numerous chain restaurants such as Wendy's, Burger King, and Arby's. The only grocery store we saw was on the border of Wisconsin, it was an Aldi. Aldi is known for it's low-prices and also for its lowish quality food and is mostly found in low-income areas. It is so distressing to see so little real food being offered in these areas. Why do lower income areas not deserve low-quality foods? Can't good foods be brought into low-income areas at reasonable prices?
Places like Urban Organic bring organic foods at lower prices to New York City. On their website they also offer cheap, healthy recipes that people can create using healthy foods. Initiatives like this are steps in the right direction but for real change, many more of these urban organic ideas are going to need to be pushed through. It doesn't necessarily need to be organic food, in my opinion, but I think that creating a balanced diet with a lot of fruits and veggies and lean protein for lower-income families would help so many things.
According to the US Department of Health & Human Services, African-American men are 40% more likely to develop heart disease than their white counterparts. That, in conjunction with the fact that 24.7% of African-Americans live below the poverty line compared to 12% of Non-hispanic caucasians (Found HERE), shows a strong correlation between poverty and heart disease, which probably has to do with what I saw; a lack of nutrition in the urban poor life.
It was so alarming to see how much things could change in only a few miles from my house to these areas.
Places like Urban Organic bring organic foods at lower prices to New York City. On their website they also offer cheap, healthy recipes that people can create using healthy foods. Initiatives like this are steps in the right direction but for real change, many more of these urban organic ideas are going to need to be pushed through. It doesn't necessarily need to be organic food, in my opinion, but I think that creating a balanced diet with a lot of fruits and veggies and lean protein for lower-income families would help so many things.
According to the US Department of Health & Human Services, African-American men are 40% more likely to develop heart disease than their white counterparts. That, in conjunction with the fact that 24.7% of African-Americans live below the poverty line compared to 12% of Non-hispanic caucasians (Found HERE), shows a strong correlation between poverty and heart disease, which probably has to do with what I saw; a lack of nutrition in the urban poor life.
It was so alarming to see how much things could change in only a few miles from my house to these areas.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Remeet the Flintstones
This weekend, Boomerang had a 24 hour marathon of The Flintstones because this week was the 50th anniversary of the first episode. Since I watched the Flintstones as a kid I was supremely excited for this marathon, but something was a little weird for me. Since our discussion this week about race and sexism in America, I watched these episodes with a different eye. In one episode, Barney and Fred are attempting to watch football but Bam-Bam and Pebbles are making too much noise so they can't enjoy the game (which ended up not being on because the teenage american bandstand type shows were had taken over the TV channels) and they call over their wives Wilma and Betty to take the children. What really surprised me was the fact that these women don't snap back at their husbands like they do in shows now, Wilma just said "Betty, we'd better take care of them before they [meaning Barney and Fred] get unbearable". They just did what they were asked as if they were servants to their husbands. I find it intriguing that that was the social norm back then. That a cartoon could make such a statement about the woman's place in the home and no one would really think twice about it.
I also find it interesting how much the social landscape has changed in the past 50 years since the Flintstones first began. In TV shows now, woman have a stronger voice in the household. Gilmore Girls, a show based on the relationship between a mother and her daughter, was all about female empowerment and how they didn't need men to tell them what to do. It is very interesting to see how much everything has changed and how so many things went over my head as a child that I now understand.
That said, The Flintstones are still rockin' awesome (no pun intended).
I also find it interesting how much the social landscape has changed in the past 50 years since the Flintstones first began. In TV shows now, woman have a stronger voice in the household. Gilmore Girls, a show based on the relationship between a mother and her daughter, was all about female empowerment and how they didn't need men to tell them what to do. It is very interesting to see how much everything has changed and how so many things went over my head as a child that I now understand.
That said, The Flintstones are still rockin' awesome (no pun intended).
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