Atticus

=Current event 1 2/7/2014 =

I think that in music and media word choice should not be restricted. Music in specific is all about self expression and if an artist feels an emotion strong enough you should be able to express it without having to censor yourself because you're afraid someone may be offended. Brother Ali says " cringing to hear hurtful slogans of oppression like fa***t be driven deeper into the collective consciousness." I feel as if as long as you aren't using homophobic or offensive words to directly call out a certain group and intentionally offend them there is no reason why you shouldn't. Louis CK said" Faggot didn’t mean gay, when I was a kid you called somebody Faggot cause they’re being a Faggot, you know. Someone’s just being a Faggot. *nneeee* shut up, Faggot! You’re not supposed to use those. SHUT UP, Faggot!" The way the word is used is not to offend gay people. I feel as if the people who get apparently offended by the use of controversial use of words are people the the derogatory form of the word doesn't affect. For example lets say a white straight person is offended by the use of Louis CK using the word faggot in his comedy while an actually homosexual person is laughing and enjoying the humor. Cursing and controversial words can be used in creative and humorous ways. Restricting creativity is not going to do any good for the world. People should learn the difference between a ignorant hick offending someone compared to an artist using it creatively or unoffensive.

=**CURRENT EVENT 2/21**=

Avengers tshirts have been made differently for each sex. For males they say "Be a Hero" while for girls they say "I Need a Hero". This essentially implies that only males can be heros and females are only in need of them. This give the idea that women are weaker and not as able to accomplish things compared to men. That is completely untrue but with society telling you that all over the place you may begin to believe. They should make one Avenger shirt universally for men and women so everyone is equal.

A mother is angered by the fact her daughter is wearing revealing clothing. In modern society it seems like the majority of females are wearing revealing clothing. We can blame the media for that one. Different forms of media flaunt the female body for advertising purposes. A seemingly boring commercial can catch the eye of many more people if there some cleavage showing. This media has convinced many people to wear revealing clothing because they are convinced its the norm. As a male I can't complain much but taking a stance from a female point of view I can see how its offensive along with depressing that you may not fit the build of some of the people you see on TV.

CURRENT EVENT 2/28

I feel as if the traits that should prise in society should be individuality/self expression, creativity, honesty, and niceness. I feel as if the common character traits such as strength, bravery, courage, exc. are admirable but not at the top of the charts. The ability to stand out from the crowd of 7 billion people is extremely honorable and amazing. Creativity goes hand in hand with that, the ability to create something unique and interesting is a great way to express yourself and give yourself happiness. Honesty and niceness are 2 selfless traits that can make people like you. Being nice and honest can improve someone else's day and life which is great to do because humans should care about eachothers well beings.

=FREE WRITE 3/14=

I like music. Music is cool. Ive been trying to work on an album for a long time. I can write music but when it come to lyrics I always get stuck. Ill write something that I like and then the next day I think its terrible. Ive been looking for inspiration and have gotten into a lot of bands with very interesting lyrics. Man Man is a great example, they use a lot of strange double entandras an paint a very strange picture in your head. Andrew Jackson Gihad seems do whatever they want when it comes to lyrics. They use words and phrases that you would never expect to hear in music. Modest Mouse uses a lot of near rhymes and analogies that really paint a vivid picture in your head. Im not sure what my point is. Buy my new album hitting the shelf next week at your local Wallmart.

=**Project Reflection**=

Last week we did a project where we were put into groups and had to use different propaganda techniques to advertise for a political candidate (which we were randomly assigned, ours was Olivia Hood) in attempt to have them elected as Mayor or whatever city they were a part of. We were given a vague location (30 mins outside of Raleigh), the racial demographics for the area, and a brief biography of our candidate and our opponents. We used many different propaganda and rhetorical techniques to attempt to get people to vote for our candidate. Our catchphrase was a pun, "Its all good in the Hood" is a play on the phrase "its all good in the hood" which originally is an abbreviation of neighborhood but in our case was the last name of our candidate. We used a celebrity as a propaganda technique, we had Uncle Phil put his official "Uncle Phil Seal o' Approval" on one of our hand outs. We also related with common people in our campaign, we talked about better schools and better support for the elderly (relating to parents, students, and the elderly). The most challenging part of the activity was standing out from the other candidates. A lot of the candidates had a very similar stance on a lot of the issues and we wanted to make sure our candidate would seem more appealing than the others. We used the few unique characteristics as strong points so we didn't blend in with everyone else, but it was very hard to do. Our political candidate shared a lot of political opinions with me personally so I found it much easier to write about the opinions she has. I think for future classes it would be very interesting to see more candidates students don't relate with well, this would challenge students to take advantage of the propaganda techniques to a more intense amount. I think this project has helped me with my ability to convince people into an opinion. I think that if we ever had to write an opinionated essay/paper I would have a better understanding of how to get people to be on my side of an argument. Outside of this class I can see myself using these techniques to convince people to allow me to do something or to do something for me. Outside school I can see myself being able to dissect peoples arguments and be able to sift through the techniques and get to the root of what a person in trying to convince me to agree with. It could also help me with job/collage applications and anything that involves me convincing people to do something for me.