Musical Preference

Like some borders, my musical preference has gone through drastic changes throughout my life time. I have always listened to many different types of music, but I tend to go through phases where I listen to one genre of music a little bit more than another. For example, a few years ago I listened to rap music and rock music, but in the car I found that I listened to rap stations a little more than the rock stations. Towards the beginning of junior year, my preference started to change, and I found that I listened to rock more and more.

I still listen to rock more than I do rap, but it feels that my current musical preference will be more permanent. I still listen to older rap music on my Ipod, but I found that there isn't a lot of new rap that I like to listen to. At the same time, it seems that there are tons of older and newer rock bands that are producing music that I enjoy, and it also seems like I find out about new bands constantly. In the last two years, I had a drastic change in favorite artists. Sophomore year, my favorite artist was 50 cent, but I found that I got tired of listening to his music all the time. For awhile I didn't really have a favorite band, until the middle of junior year when I started listening to Avenged Sevenfold.

After listening to one of their CD's for awhile, their song "Bat Country" became my favorite song, and still is today. There are many reasons why it has become my favorite song. One reason is that there are several points in the song where the song changes and it almost sounds like a completely different song, but it still seems to fit the rest. Another reason why I like the song so much is that the lyrics to the song match how the song sounds at that certain point which really emphasizes the meaning of the song.

Just last week, I went to a concert at Eastern Michigan University that featured Avenged Sevenfold so I was able to see the borders that their music created. I was surprised to see that not all of the people who were there wore all black and had multiple piercings, but many seemed to be the average kids, or even parents from the neighborhood just enjoying a concert. Most of my friends do not listen to Avenged Sevenfold, so I began to think there was a definite border created by their music, but after attending the concert I realized that all different types of people enjoy their music.

Veteran's Day

In the CNN article "WW II vet held in Nazi slave camp breaks silence: 'Let it be known'", Anthony Acevedo, a World War II medic who was captured by Nazis, talks about experience as a POW. Anthony Acevedo's story is an example of speaking the unspeakable in a couple of ways. After he and the other soldiers were rescued, they signed a document saying they would never talk about their experience in the camps and after years of silence, Anthony decided to talk about it. The events were also unspeakable because many of the things that happened in the camps were so terrible that no one wanted to talk about them.

Genocide

Especially since we in the U.S. have just elected an African American president it seems that racism no longer exists, or at least on the level it used to. Outside of the U.S. however, racism still exists, and there are even several acts of genocide that receive little coverage. In Chechnya, Russian military attacked Chechens in response to bombings that the Russians believed were carried out by Chechen militias. The Russians first entered Chechnya on September 30, 1999 and began bombing and attacking Chechen cities leaving much of Chechnya devastated. After the Russians assassinated the most feared leader of the Chechen militia, disapearences were reduced, but torture continued.

Definition of Art

After reading "Maus", I still believe in the same definition of art. Art is something that has to be attractive to those who view it, but it also has to send a message out at the same time.

Theo Jansen

Theo Jansen is a Dutch artist who is especially known for his kinetic sculptures that resemble animals, and also have the ability to walk. His creations are very interesting, and are fun to watch. They use wind for power, and some even have the ability to store the wind for when the wind stops blowing. Another one of his creatures has the ability to carry up to 3 tons. His creations are not only interesting in function, but they look very interesting as well which I believe is the main purpose of art. Art has to have a meaning that is interesting and engages people who observe, but it also has to be aesthetically pleasing at the same time.

I feel that the results of the election say a lot about how far our country has come. The civil rights movement occurred somewhat recently compared to our history, and now an African American man has been elected president. Now that Obama has been elected, there will be a few challenges he must face. While a majority of the country voted for Obama, there are still backwards thinking people in this country who will judge him by his race and there will be a lot that he will have to put up with. Another challenge for Obama would have to be dealing with the responsibilities of being president with the current amount of experience he has.