And the first music I bought with my own money was: Beyoncé's self-titled album was the first album I bought of my own accord, without parent's money/through their account. While I had other music from various artists in my library (gained through other means...), I had starting working a summer job this previous summer, and with this new money, I decided this would be one of the best purchases for it. Honestly, I am blessed to say this piece of art was the first music I purchased on my own, as this album is fire, and set the standard for what I would buy in the future. The story behind getting it is simple. I heard it was amazing; it wasn't on Spotify or other music service; it was produced by Beyoncé; I wanted the visual album; I had money. This perfect storm allowed me to purchase this world-stopping album, and the coinciding visual album this previous summer. While I had other artists music in my library, it was either free, bought by my parents, or... Anyway, I am truly blessed to be able to say this was my first album. It features amazing, artistically powerful songs, sung by Beyoncé, and I am not at all miffed that it did not win Album of the Year (no disrespect to Beck). From the flawless ***Flawless feat. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (and it's remix feat. Nicki Minaj) to Blue, the album explores a variety of concepts largely unseen in mainstream music, and it sold extremely well, especially considering there was no previous promotion for the album. As for myself, I have listened to every song it has to offer countless times, and still am amazed by the succulent artistry depicted throughout the album. While my parents may not approve of Beyoncé, through their own ignorance, I certainly do, and hope to continue to do so. Since then, I have bought other music of similar artistry, and all so far have been musically pleasing, covering a variety of themes and concepts, from Nicki Minaj's The Pinkprint, to Azealia Banks Broke with Expensive Taste, and most recently, Angel Haze's Dirty Gold. I have greatly enjoyed listening to each of these albums, and would recommend any of them for someone looking for music in the Hip-Hop/Rap genre, or any listener in general. Other music I have in my library, such as Hozier's self-titled album also depict music excellency, however, I neglected to buy it with my own money, so it was excluded from this list, but is highly recommended. |
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I commented on these three wonderful blog posts:
https://temporarilythoughtful.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/wealth-in-reality/ https://smilesandkittens.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/response-oklahoma-seeks-to-ban-ap-united-states-history https://notanothercatblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/16/the-american-dream-why-its-actually-just-a-dream The above video shockingly displays the wealth disparity within the US. The video largely depends on logic for the direct argument. The video has nuanced opinions displayed throughout, but nothing too direct. Statistics provide nearly the whole basis for the video, and for it's argument that wealth disparity in the US must be addressed, and that we live in a very different place than what we think. The video calls upon several graphs to help institute it's points, playing to the logic of the audience. There is some appeal to emotion as well, and authority. The fact that this a study conducted by Harvard business professor eases claims to legitimacy, while the slow, cacophonous piano playing in the background creates a sense of impending doom.
Just how far away wealth is from perceived reality. I had seen this video a few years ago, so I knew what was coming, but still, the fact that the graph had to be extended to account for the wealth of the top 1% was shocking. On opposite sides, The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath reveal wealth disparity in the US 1920's and 1930's, respectively. In Gatsby, the side of the disillusioned wealthy is presented, and the party vibe from that era, covering the pain and poverty from both that and the previous era, was only available to the rich, who all seem to have gained their wealth illegally, or with the help of the class they were born into. The American Dream is mentioned in the video as the acquisition of wealth, but even that did not gain Gatsby, or his fellow rich happiness, but certainly to the poor of the era, the rich would have hoped the American Dream could calm the masses just as the saying "money can't buy happiness" does today. In Grapes, we are presented the opposite side of the isle. The extremely poor scrape by, crossing the nation in hopes of a new life, this American Dream. They too are disappointed, but for highly legitimate reasons. Conditions are awful, and migrants continue to arrive. The banks that took away their homes, however, are taking what little money they may have had, and are virtually unstoppable. This week I read T S Eliot's "The Hollow Men" and overall it was a very interesting poem, and several things stood out to me.
The imagery of the hollow men, stuffed, and head filled with straw stood out to me. This concept of an empty man and pointless people repeats itself, as well as objects usually filled with vitality being dead. This stood out to me specifically not only because, not only is it central to the poem (It is titled "The Hollow Men"), but it connects to many high school students. At least with myself and many of my friends, we often don't try to learn to gain lessons, and while we love learning, we often find ourselves trying to find the easiest path to get an A, even if it means having our minds filled with data that would otherwise be pointless to us, the straw of which Eliot speaks, and will burn out of existence when we no longer need it. The Hollow Men speaks to several aspects of myself and others, and the idea of stuffing gives into the idea of stuffing yourself with food, but more broadly, fleeting pleasures to escape any voids in our lives. The idea that our dried voices are meaningless is relatable. If you chose a conversation at random between me and my friends, there would be a pretty good chance that we would be talking about school-related tests, quizzes, whatever, which we will probably have forgotten a few days after it is over that we ever took. While many of our conversations do delve into meaningful topics, almost all have at least have some sort of filler about school or some test. Also, small talk in a way goes into this. People will stand around talking about topics they do not care about since it is social convention, and while it can be a good way to get a conversation going, Like Mia in Pulp Fiction said, "That's when you know you've found somebody special. When you can just shut the f*** up for a minute and comfortably enjoy the silence." Great Gatsby comes to mind, particularly the filling of the hollow shell. Alcohol was dominant in the 1920s and often people would fill themselves to forget the pain, often from WWI. Gatsby himself fills this shell with the desire for Daisy, which was his alcoholic substitute. The dead wasteland is reminiscent of not only the lost souls of this era, but the no-man's-land in WWI. I was really feeling inspired tonight, and I desired to write a poem. Enjoy.
The Lure King by M. Russo Lo! The trumpet blasts, and the line moves on through the great parade. The private chariots roll throughout the streets, screeching that lively chorus, crying out ‘do as your told, and do not do as you are told’ The signs have been sold, so that the shines may be sold. The Signs beckon the chariot’s Eye, “take and ravish us!!!” The sirens wail, calming that heavenly chorus, but the habits of old, die only for the NEW. Look to the sky, the New Age cries, something they cannot take. They say “Seize it.” Blinded by the light of the bright, I cannot. Yet look ahead, see how that one leaves hers. As we all do. But only to satiate the desire, to read the Signs, to know the Signs. Just now she signals, and now she has left. But inside, And the war goes on. “Change!!! Keep it!!!” The war bellow cries out once more, and the other serf smiles. “Desire, Desire, Desire and if not Fire!!!” The angel glances down, with the weight of 100s of kilos, the Signs have entered them too. A great symbiosis. And that orgasmic Xperience, so central to it. But look to the battles, deadly in both manners, and wonder. But what is wonder, but a desire? “Desire, Desire, Desire and if not Fire!!!” The spell is cast, they know you. Better than anyone, they own you. Desire, on his throne, the Lure King. His palace of impossible beauty, unobtainable, or perhaps not? Evil belongs to the Lure King, and he shall never give it up, or shall he? It takes nothing for the Lure King to seize the sky, even blinded by love, as long as he sees it. “Believe, and do not grow wary, the end is near” The Signs call out. “No death to the end” The Signs call out. Where am? The Signs will tell you. Who am I? The Signs will tell you. What am I? The Signs will tell you. Why am I? The Signs will tell you. Who am I? but a desire. I am good? but a desire. What am I to do? but a desire. The Lure King does nothing but owns all evil How? but a desire. Why the brightness? but a desire Why the pain? but a desire Why? but a desire. I am happy. But a desire. How can I think? but a desire. How can I think? but a desire. How can I… Lo! The trumpet blasts, and the line moves on through the great parade. Earlier this week, Obama gave his State of the Union speech, explaining where the country is, what it has accomplished, and where it is headed. For this weeks blog post, I viewed his speech, and am commenting on several interesting points in the speech.
So, to start, you cannot ignore the sass war that happened. After stating that he had no more campaigns to run, applause from the Republican side echoed around the hall. However, Obama's response was what made this notable. He responded by stating, "I know because I won both of them." Applause crossed the hall, and some even stood up. It was a pretty funny moment during the speech, so I thought I'd mention. Early in his speech, Obama begs the question of whether we want the US to be a land of opportunity, where anyone can advance, whatever circumstances they come from. He mentions the story of Rebekah, and how her family struggled, but managed to survive and are now in a good place. He later calls for a "greater link between hard work and opportunity for every American." As our first black president, Obama has the unique position of talking about opportunity and race politics. He connects this talk of opportunity to the workplace, both in concern of equal pay for women, maternal and sick leave, and minimum wage. Many of the ideas of his speech seemed to be focused on the idea of working Americans and their rights, and rightly so. He speaks of most of his issues, whether it's child healthcare, education, free community college, and many other current and future issues for Congress. For the most part, he plays to the middle in concern to his rhetoric. He addresses climate change bluntly: "No threat, no threat poses a greater challenge than climate change." Countless scientists, including Bill Nye, have been saying and repeating this point for years, with no avail. However, for years, Congress has refused to pass laws in concern to climate change, and this perhaps was his most partisan proposal, at least from viewing the way applause sounded, and Congress's history. While that last part was a bit off topic, I found it interesting. The speech overall, seemed to beg a non-partisan tone, not only in Obama's constant use of we, but of how he presented each issue as beneficial towards all of us. I found this on Zen Pencils (which is really cool and I suggest you check it out as whole) and it really struck a chord with me.
This past month my English class has been focusing on The Great Gatsby, and for this blog post I have looked into the history.
One point we had discussed in class and that I saw repeated in many of the articles I read is that the book did initially did not sell well when it was released in 1925. It was not until later that people could accept critique of the era. In a way, those reading in 1945 when the book received initial popularity might have received the criticism down in a way that made them accept the past that they may have been a part of. However, looking today, there is a detachment from the era, that for some, creates an ironic effect. Rather than accept the flaws of the past and move against the stream of modern consumerism, some view the book and it's criticism as means of a springboard for means of saying "I'm glad we aren't in that era anymore." Gatsby's words in response to "You can't repeat the past" echo: "Of course you can." The critique of the era the book was borne in was most likely the reason the book initially did not have popularity and was deemed as a "dud". However, I find this notable because today, similar criticism of today's modern society often meets opposition. Also, the similarities between modern consumerism and the American dream presented in Gatsby have many similarities, which makes Gatsby's recognition that you can repeat the past all too real (also if you have ever taken a world history course you know this). BTW here is an interesting site I found: http://literarystarbucks.com/ Some of it's analysis/characterization are debateable, but it's interesting and has made me fidn books that I will add to my list to read in the future. Look here: http://zenpencils.com/comic/152-on-the-shoulders-of-giants-the-science-all-stars-poster/
Looking upon this list of people, I chose to write about a person from early in the list: Hypatia. Hypatia was a Greek philosopher in Alexandria and the daughter of Theon. She lived in the mid-300s (historians often debate her exact birth year). Theon was considered to be one of the most educated men in Alexandria, and he taught his daughter about mathematics and astronomy, which would become the philosopher's primary field of study. Hypatia is most famous for her work on On the Conics of Apollonius, in which she helped clarify and improve the text. Her work provided the concepts including hyperbolas, parabolas, and ellipses. One of her students and contemporaries, Synesius, credited her with the invention of the astrolabe, but historians debate this point as some place the device being present about a century before. Either way, she taught and used such devices. Hypatia's life was cut short when a mob killed her and dragged her body through the streets, and the tensions between the many religions and ethnicities in Alexandria came to a height. Hypatia's work was vital for countless scientists, including people such as Isaac Newton, to find their own discoveries. She left a mark on the world and continues to be an inspiration. This semester has been an adventure, and I have gained a deeper understanding of the universe around us, and our own world. AP English III has been a particularly enlightening class, albeit my gains in this class are less quantifiable than others such as physics or chemistry. The many discussions we have had in the class have provided ground for thought and expression on a variety of issues, ranging from puritanism to racism, and overarching revelations about society and human nature that can be seen in our own lives. I have found these discussions enlightening, and while we get off topic (at least my group) all too often, the discussions often find themselves revealing something meaningful (even if it is not necessarily directly from the literature we are discussing).
Timed writings are a pain, but I got them down pretty quickly, and have been performing well in that regard (although the most recent one felt a bit sub-par). I can't really say why I've done so well in regard to those, but nonetheless, I have apparently. While I don't know the real life applications of timed writings, this apparent skill should prove beneficial when taking the timed writing on the AP English III test, which is one of the classes goals. I am glad to say that timed writings and preparation for the exam is only a part of English III AP, and we do much more than test preparation. I have gained lessons and thoughts from English III, and these blog posts, which have helped me shape and clarify my own beliefs. However, not all of English III was fun; most roses have thorns. English challenged me in some ways. Read-by dates always were problematic. Id usually start reading in the week it was assigned, and mosey my way through the first third of the book, and then be swamped with homework from other classes, and then wait until the day (maybe two days) before it was due, and cram it in. Thankfully, I was sick the day before The Scarlet Letter reading was due, so I managed to get that done without losing a lot of sleep. On the flip side, we were having discussions over our extended definition essays, and I had to miss out on that. Needless to say, my original rough draft was scrapped (along most of it's ideas). I ended up outlining the night before, and writing it that morning, along with my APUSH folder project. I did a pretty good job outlining, so even though it was rushed, it had sincere ideas within it, although the writing may have become either BS-y or poor at times. This was kind of repeated with the formal rhetorical analysis paper, although to a much lesser degree, as I had it written, albeit poorly, the night before (having a headache did not help). I did not feel well, most likely a combination of both sickness and anxiety about the 5 major grades which I felt in no way prepared for the next day. I decided to call upon a sick day, although physically I only had a headache (which was almost a daily occurrence, albeit not often when I woke up) and a turbulent stomach (and I had come to school with much worse symptoms before), and spent the time completing the various school related projects, and even wrote a little (yay!). Overall, it felt like I had too many ideas in my essay when I had finished, but it read fine, so it became my final copy. Anyway, taking my sick days strategically did not feel like I was cheating the system; I was genuinely not feeling well on either of these days, but since these were occasions where taking a sick day rather than not was more beneficial academically (which is pretty rare), it did aid in my ultimate decision to not go to school. I hope in the second semester I'll read the books more fervently, but I'm sure by the end of the semester, my motivation will be in the same state it is now, which is pretty much non-existent. |