Propaganda 2011

I'm not entirely sure what to write for this,  I don't know if an example is necessary, I hope not because I can't find one so...

Whenever I hear the word propaganda I think of two distinctive images, the “I want you!” and the “We can do it!” posters, I'm sure you're very familiar with both. I think we'd all love to believe that propaganda is no longer prevalent in our society, but considering the title of this post is 'Propaganda 2011' I think it definitely is, and no, McCarthy isn't just sending us on a wild goose chase.

However, I don't think it's the same. Today it's more in campaign advertisements, or political cartoons, or art, not so much posters on every street corner. This is a difficult blog to write without contradicting myself. I'd love to say it isn't as in your face as it once was and that it's more subtle, but by being more subtle, it's even more in your face. And I'd love to say it's not nearly as creative, but some of the best examples are the most creative in art.

I suppose I should just leave this simply by saying it exists.

I'd love to leave a modern day example, but I think any example could be up for interpretation. I'd love to say this is a well done post, but I think that'd be a lie.

Beat Street

I’m not going to lie, when McCarthy put on Beat Street however many weeks ago, I honestly laughed. What this had to do with anything, I still don’t even know, but between the outfits and the lingo, I just had to laugh. Since then Beat Street still makes me laugh, but I’m really enjoying it.

My favorite part of the movie is probably the fact that it’s entirely filmed in New York City, which if you know me well; you know that I absolutely love that city. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always be a Chicagoan at heart, but there’s just something about that city that I love, other than the fact that my sister lives there, so being able to see all of the city and subway is spectacular.

I also like that all the of cast are trying to fulfill something different of early hip-hop culture, DJs, MCs, break dancers, dancers, graffiti artists, producers, the movie’s got it all. Beat Street has a love story, Kenny and Tracy, a young teenager, Lee, and a soon-to-be family man, Ramo, and it also has some kick-___ dance battles and rhymes thrown in.

I still laugh at Beat Street, like the Santa’s Rap (that I just found on YouTube), and mainly the lovely track suits, but I’m really liking the movie. After all, it’s like a heartbeat, Beat Street!

Hungry for Attention?

Is Richard alone in his cravings? I’d vote no, everybody wants attention and some go to extreme lengths to get it. Using Richard as an example, he killed a cat and accidentally set his house on fire, and looking back on it he says he was just a little boy looking for attention. Of course his thoughts were subconscious; he didn’t light the curtains on fire thinking “now mom and dad will really pay attention to me!” he lit them on fire to see them burn; it’s almost as if he’s justifying his actions now. But then there are those who consciously do things for attention, like that one friend that we all have on Facebook that has a new profile picture of just themselves every other day, the one who posts a million statuses, the one who randomly IMs you and says “cmnt the pix! lolz, xox<3*!”, gag. They want the attention in the form of a wallpost or comment or even just a ‘Like’, they want it consciously.

Although attention fuels most of our actions, I think it’s important to differentiate between actions that are truly subconsciously attention driven and those that are using the need for attention as a cop out. But there isn’t a set formula for setting the two apart, it definitely depends on the person and situation. Personally, I think you can’t say that “oh, I acted out as a child because my parents were divorced”, or “because my sister got all the attention” or something of that sort, because when there are a million reasons telling you to do something wrong, there is still that one, simple reason telling you not to.

I think I overcomplicated this, shocker, but to put it simply, everyone needs attention, and if you’re not getting the right kind of attention you may go searching for the wrong kind.

Short Stories

Throughout the beginning of the story, I was often confused, as to how one could recall the day they found out that they were colored, or why she was paid to sing and dance, or as to who Zora really was. I wasn’t really a fan of the story, but then it just clicked.

I absolutely love her perspective of the past of her people and the future ahead. Hurston accepts what has happened to her people, and even her grandparents, but also realizes that because since they endured this they paved the way for a better life for her, and she certainly won’t let that get away from her. She says that no one has a greater chance for glory, and she is at the center of a national stage and she will conquer all (figuratively of course, not the world and its entire people.) Even though she says that the man is “so pale with his whiteness”, which I can absolutely relate to, that’s not quite what I love about this story.

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can they deny themselves the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.” That, right there, is why, I love this. Not only does it confront the ugly truth, that there will always be discrimination, but Hurston puts a comedic light on it and realizes that it is not her fault. Basically she says “I’m absolutely wonderful, and if you don’t see that, well, that sucks for you.” It just makes sense.

After that, it just made sense and turned into one of my favorite short stories. I think it stretches far beyond your basic discrimination based upon race, but any discrimination or even simple disliking. It could be because you’re colored, or a woman, or fat, or because so and so told me that you said you thought my hair was ugly. How can you deny yourself the pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.

King Still King?

Martin Luther King Jr., born a king, died a king, still a king. However I do believe we have strayed off of his ‘king-ness’ just a little bit.

He was probably the most known civil rights activist, between the Montgomery bus boycott, his campaign in Birmingham and his assassination, MLK never stopped fighting (peacefully of course). He’s a role model to many, and a very important person in history… which is why we get a day off of school.

All throughout grade school, around every MLK day we would always read books and essays and articles, look at pictures and movies, we knew exactly why we had a day off of school. It was almost as if they were trying to get us to appreciate him and his work for more than just the day off. But now, as bad as it may seem, it truly has turned into just a day off school, but I suppose it’s the same for all holidays. Think about it- on President’s Day, Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Veterans’ Day, do you really think why you’re not sitting in a class? Probably not, I know I don’t. It’s horrible that all these days, dedicated for a reason, are just an excuse not to have school. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ll take a day off of school whenever you give it to me, I’m not trying to say that, it’s just that I think maybe we should at least think about why we have it off in the first place.

True, come Monday I probably won’t even remember writing this blog because I’ll be suffocated by homework and Mr. C’s 57 day long Spanish final and I doubt MLK will be on my mind, but I’d like to think that he will be, because he really is still a king and has made so many things possible for us today.

So maybe I’ll stick a Post-It note saying “MLK day, woo!” somewhere in my room and hope that I find it Monday, that way I’ll think about why I have a day off of school, which is fantastic.

Short Stories

We have read six short stories about what it means to be an American, written by five different authors from seemingly five different walks of life. I like them all for different reasons, and since I really have no idea what to write about, I'll write about why I like a few of 'em.

Children of the Sea - It was probably the connection between the two that drew me in, the idea that they would always write so it would seem as if no time had passed was... remarkable. I really don't even have words for it. It sounds completely corny though, but really, what else can you say about that?

We Are Ugly, But We Are Here - Although it was extremely sad and reminded me of what's happening in the Congo, it really made me think, you never really do hear anything about the women on the news, it's always the men being represented. Any 60 Minutes, or NBC Primetime about Iraq, or Haiti, or anywhere there's trouble, or rebellion, all you see is the men. You never hear about what's being done to the women, maybe because it's absolutely despicably wretched, and by maybe, I mean most likely.

This Sacred Soil - You could hardly call me a fan of this poem, however I deeply enjoyed his last two sentences, only thirteen words; "Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds." I love the idea of this. I hate the thought of death, the idea of death, everything related to it. I hate losing people to it, but I always convince myself that they're not gone. It's similar to the idea brought up in WAUBWAH, that no one ever dies if you remember.

Six stories down, eleven to go, woooooo!

Music Review

Oooh music reviews, what to pick, what to pick? Honestly, right at this moment, I still have no clue what song I’m going to pick. There are so many good songs, that the field is much too wide. I’m not one of those people that only listen to one type of music, on my Top 25 most played in iTunes; I have Kanye West, Taylor Swift, The Script, some random DJ, A Day to Remember, Four Year Strong, Brand New, Death Cab for Cutie and Miley Cyrus’s (ew. p.s. her bong video? hilarious!) Party in the U.S.A. I like so-called “undiscovered” stuff just as much as I like mainstream stuff. Whether the song is decades old by artists such as Cat Stevens or Frank Sinatra or released a few months ago, like Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" or Sugarland's "Stuck Like Glue". And the whole time I’m writing this I have been YouTube-ing songs that I don’t have in my iTunes, like the cover of “Creep” from The Social Network, my song is still undecided.

I think part of my indecision is that when I don’t have a specific taste that the song won’t be reflective of all of it, just a small piece. But if you read the first paragraph then you’d get it.

"Pop changes week to week, month to month. But great music is like literature."
- Ravi Shankar

So I’m going to pick an old but classic, ”Cat’s in the Cradle” written and sung by Harry Chapin from the album Verities & Balderdash. It’s the essence of folk music, it tells a story, granted not a happy one. It is about a son who wants to grow up to be just like his dad, but his dad blows him off so many times that the roles switch, and it’s the dad who is asking to spend time with the son who has grown used to not having his dad around. It often gets stuck in my head, and my brother sings it all the time, which is okay because it’s a great song.

So technically reviewing this song, I don’t find anything wrong with it. I don’t expect everyone to love it, but I do, and really that’s all that counts.

This review has gotten me YouTube-ing not only Harry Chapin, but Cat Stevens and Frank Sinatra, all great artists. YouTube them.

Harry Chapin - Cats in the Cradle
Cat Stevens - Wild World
Frank Sinatra - That's Life
Antoine Dodson - Bed Intruder
Kanye West - Power


^On repeat while writing this blog. The two groups combined is interesting... but good... but very interesting together.