"Baby I'm Just A Girl On A Mission..."

Taylor Swift Album Review

Taylor Swift, a 17 year old girl-next-door from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania is making quite a stir in the music industry these days. Her self-titled debut album (released in 2006) is pushing and shoving its way gracefully to the top of every chart of every radio station across the country. While her smash hit vocals and relate-able lyrics can be heard blaring from the ipod headphones and Karaoke machines of every girl below the age of 17, Taylor's own lyrics are making an impression on critics young and old. She is considered solely responsible for putting her independent record label, Big Machine Records, on the map. A reasonable claim after her debut album went double platinum within a year. Some of her #1 hits include "Teardrops on My Guitar" and "Our Song", however, her summer romance ballad "Tim McGraw" is and instant classic. Each song on the disc is touched with high school popularity, love, and memories, and drowned in Ms. Swifts personal style that is greedily welcomed after hearing the very first note of this memorable up-n-comer. Her 'every girl' lyrics, paired with her out of this world vocals earn this singer/songwriter a solid five out of five stars.

Why? :-)

The first song that I decided to talk about is Great Balls of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis. This is a very favorite song so that is mainly why I chose it to write about. That is a pattern I noticed with all the songs I chose. Either they were really popular songs, or a personal favorite that I had heard a lot. I think this is because as humans we naturally prefer the well known and normal. Because I was comfortable with these songs I was more willing to listen to them and discuss them. Anyway, Great Balls of Fire is a really upbeat song with an excited tempo. The way Jerry Lee sings certain words louder than others and with different tones effects what you remember the best. For example, the line 'Great Balls of Fire!' is sung with a high pitched voice that sticks to the memory. Overall, because the song is so upbeat it makes you feel good and makes you want to sing along.

The second song I chose was Respect by Aretha Franklin. Like the previous song, it was one that I have heard a lot before and like to listen to. This song is a very empowering song. The lyrics are written from a woman's perspective, for women. Even if you are a guy, the beat of the music kind of engulfs you and makes you want to start yelling the lyrics. This is achieved because of Aretha's clear passion for her music and the lyrics she is singing. Respect was one of her most famous hits. Unless you spent the last thirty years in a card-board box, it would be obvious that the lyrics are talking about female oppression and oppressive relationships. Any woman in a unsafe or undesirable living situation would be inspired by this song to leave and search for a better life. That is the effect I imagine it was intended to have on the community.


My third song was The Wind by Cat Stevens. This song is very different then the other two I picked. This song is very calming and makes you think about the lyrics. While the other two songs tell a story of some kind, and try to relay a message, this song is very expressive and emotional. Because it is sung in a slow tempo it is easy to understand what he is saying. It is also easier because there are not a lot of instruments in the background. Unlike the other songs, the listeners can focus on being calm instead of trying to hear what the singer is saying. The tempo of the music slows your heart rate and reduces emotional stress. I think if it was your first time hearing American music you would be surprised because American music is stereotyped as upbeat and a lot of times, inappropriate. This song is exactly the opposite, being self-reflective, religious, and relaxing.

i hate that i love... this book

One thing about the book that strikes me is the way the author is so suspenseful. At first I didn't even realize that is what she was doing. I just thought that the book was very frustrating. Now i realize that she was withholding information on purpose. Like a very subtle cliffhanger that keeps you reading. Some other themes besides suspense that are forming include:

1. brainwashing
2. conformity
3. procedure
4. religion
5. war
6. rebellion
7. secrecy
8. deceit
   
9. and corruption
   

wow, that was more than 3 or 4. Oh well, there are a lot of themes in this book. And most of those could be combined or condensed. Today in our literature circle groups we discussed a lot of different possible essay prompt questions One of the questions that we discussed was 'if you were Offred, what reasoning would you have for complying with this new way of life?'. I think this is a good question because everyone would have an answer because it deals with opinion. However, because it is an opinion, it might be difficult for two people to debate. A good debate question might be, what are the benefits of the Gilead society compared to our society, why? This would be better because there are more times when evidence could be used, making it a good debate topic. I think if I was offred, my only reason for compliance would be fear or a form of lying low. If I was planning some amazing escape or comeback I would comply and feign acceptance.
There is a section of the book that describes when they were being trained to be Handmaids. They have to tell stories of things that happened to them as a little kid. One of the girls is telling about how she was gang raped when she was 14. As if brainwashed all the girls listening had to chant "her fault, her fault, her fault" (pg. 72). This quote really proves the themes listed above. It is important to see this quote to help to get an understanding of the way this book is written. It is written with such a blunt outlook on life in this society. There is no sugar coating.

Lit Circle Responses #1

When I read The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margret Atwood, I picture a world very different from our own. I picture a world that thrives off solidarity and hostility. I don’t think that this is a strange view to have of the book. The way Atwood describes the world of Offred, Rita, Nick, and Cora is clearly an exaggeration of an already twisted view of our society. I say this, because when reading The Handmaid’s Tale, it is easy to see a lot of connections between the book’s setting, and the setting of our lives. One example of this is on pages 82-84. The whole household (with the exception of the commander) is watching the nightly news in the sitting room. As Offred watches the old man behind the anchor’s desk, she describes his cheerful features and his trustworthy aura.
She listens to him reassure her of her own safety and the safety of the country. “The anchorman comes on now. His manner is kindly, fatherly; he gazes out at us from the screen, looking, with his tan and his white hair and candid eyes, wise wrinkles around them, like everybody’s ideal grandfather. (Pg. 83)” Lets rewind a couple decades. Not much is different between the mass media of the 80’s, and the mass media of The Handmaid’s Tale. There are still sympathetic yet determined looking anchors peddling lies and false fronts to promote social comfort and prevent unrest.
So, is it just a coincidence that Margret Atwood’s book was published in 1986? Was it a coincidence that the two worlds are so similar? Or was she simply stretching and illuminating the scary world around us? What an interesting realization to have after a week of “isn’t this book freaky…” and “imagine if we had to live like this!”. Now I am starting to think that ‘freaky’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.

A Whole New World

Today in class we had work time 5th period to work on our project. My group and I split up jobs for everyone. Cammy worked on writing the interview, Kayley worked on the flash and I worked on the final revisions of the script. I also helped Julia with her final revisions. I was finally able to leave a message with Studio E, an architecture firm downtown. I think that today was a calming day for our group. With the new chart that Julia made, we were able to clearly see what we had accomplished and what more we have to do.
Part of all the stress we have is due to uncertainty. The uncertainty if we are missing something. The uncertainty if we are doing it incorrectly. The chart made everything a lot easier.
In 4th period we worked off of INFOTRACK. A search engine off of Spencer's DP. It had a lot of substantial information that would have been really hard to find off Google or Wikipedia. I am sure that I will use INFOTRACK for many of my future projects and reports. This is the URL:

http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/sand07018

Let Me Check My Schedule...

I'm not really sure if we are expected to have websites at this point of the project. I read some other classmates blogs and they don't so I am thinking I am safe. This weekend I am focusing on catching up from when I was out sick. Luckily, I think I did ok with Julia's notes for Spencer's test. That reminds me... I have to get someones notes for the water-usage test on Tuesday. Just thinking aloud. I am working on exeter, and adding cues into our script.

Oops

Oops. I forgot to give the post before a title. Um... we will call it... Article Critique.