With everything going on around us now in days with all the active shootings and all the racism and hatred in this world I believe that High Schools should require a world religions curriculum in order to graduate. Not only because it would help tremendously in understanding each other as religion is the base of our culture but also because it is fundamentally important to believe in something or someone in order to stay sane. For my first example, now in days people are so divided amongst each other whether by social class, politically or simply because of the color of their skin. People fail to realize that we are all human despite all of us having a different language or belief system. I believe if High Schools were to enforce this curriculum, students would benefit from it as they would have a wider understanding of what other people around the world believe in and because of it learn to respect one another. Second, I believe that everyone at some point needs to believe in something in order to stay sane. Religion often comes with a set of rules on how to treat society and how to live and become a better person whether it is to achieve a right of passage or just be the better version you can be. In conclusion High Schools should require some form of a world religions class before graduation as not only would it benefit society as a whole and lower a bunch of problems we face today such as racism and hatred towards one another but it would also help us individually on how to become the better version of ourselves.
Annotated Bibliography
Crooke, A., & Travis, R. (2017). The Healing Power of Hip Hop. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-healing-power-of-hip-hop-81556
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This article goes on to start with a personal story of a cop and his relation and beliefs about hip hop. It went on to describe how many believe hip hop and rap go on to create a destructive environment for many that just end up in violence and other destructive behaviors. Then the article makes a twist by providing several points on how hip hop has impacted the world in a good way. By explaining through several music videos and research points made by Dr. Crooke and Dr. Travis, using their research to prove a point that hip hop and rap aren’t as bad as people believe it to be. That it is a culture that can help the young , the poor, people of all ages in coping with stress. It goes on to defend why they include the vulgar language they have as it is topics that they go through every day in their neighborhoods and they incorporate it in their music. They also go on to explain how captivating this genre of music can be as it can go from the origins of one city to being heard all over the world in many shapes and forms. In conclusion, this article points out all the negative connotations associated with hip hop and takes a positive lead to convince and inform the reader of how hip hop culture is more than what most “common” people believe it to be.
Annotated Bibliography
Jackson, N. (2018, December 18). What Influence and Effects Does Rap Music Have on Teens Today? Retrieved April 5, 2020, from https://howtoadult.com/what-influence-and-effects-does-rap-music-have-on-teens-today-9810841.html
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This article goes on to describe the influence and effects that rap music has on teens now in days. They go on to describe specific topics such as why does rap appeal to teens, does it influence behaviors such as violence and sexual behaviors, and could it be possible for it to positively influence the teeneager listening to the music. This article adds credibility to its points by providing Universities across the country that have done research on such topics and organizations such as Hip Hop Gives Back, a youth empowerment organization. They do not seem to be biased as it provides what the research has come up with and they do so on a matter where they end on positive terms as rap can and has also positively impacted teens such as 1hood Media Academy has proven so.
Annotated Bibliography
American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Policy Statement—Impact of Music, Music Lyrics, and Music Videos on Children and Youth. American Academy of Pediatrics, 124(5), 1488–1496. Retrieved from Policy Statement—Impact of Music, Music Lyrics, and Music Videos on Children and Youth
(I know there is supposed to be a hanging indention but WordPress does not allow me to do this for some reason)
This is an article written by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Theyre focus is on making the reader, aware of, in their case the parents and pediatricians of what is going on with their kid, the kind of music they listen to and what may happen because of it, followed by some recommendations to resolve this issue. They explain that the child has the option to listen to music on his/her own with the open availabilty of such content. They explain how some current music have crude language that touch base on sensible topics that could possibly change his/her behavior. They claim to have research on this to back up their points. Majorly try to convince the reader which in case the pediatrician and parent to get more involved in their child’s life and what goes on with it, to get more involved in the community and get media literate to know what is going on around.
First Paper Tips
For the first paper due for English 1323 was not much of a hassle but it does require a lot of previous planning. One main tip I would suggest is to keep track of your time and by this I mean actually have an outline ready to go. In that outline make sure you have the 4 points you are going to be talking about based on the research point you found on the subject. For me I chose the topic of the importance of rappers on doing good deeds for society. This topic is a bit broader then the rest therefore you are able to find a good amount of information you can write about and never run out of words. Another tip I would suggest is that you familiarize yourself with the actual research. Weather its where you get your research from or how you go about doing it. Research and citing your sources is really important for this and every paper you might write in the future. Familiarizing yourself with how to do this would help you out a lot in the long run.
Can’t stop, won’t stop.
Rap has been out for quite a while now. Evolving from one style to another and expanding all across the globe. With rap and hip hop emerging from the streets at such a rapid growth rate, it was only a matter of time before it was cought on by outsiders. This type of music is underrated, specially by the older population that believe it uses vulgar and destructive language to sort of make a bad image of people/black people to be specific. What they don’t see however, is that, it is music like any other kind written for a reason. They fail to see the actual message behind everything put into the actual lyrics. With such social and economical gaps being faced in America people are finding an outlet to express themselves, rap/ hip hop is a great way of expressing ones thoughts and ideas. It allows for social freedom to some extend along with the opportunity to show your creativity. However not everyone is in this boat, because some of the word play used in some lyrics, people found a way to judge this music genre. An article was written about hip hop and the evolving youth culture, stating “Hip Hop is a vast and varied collection of ideas and values that are continuously fueled by new truths as well as misinformation and lies, rhetoric, and ever changing ideology and concepts that are relayed in the varying forms of Hip Hop music.” (Taylor & Taylor, 2007, p.210). This goes on to describe how down upon hip hop an d rap are looked upon by some members of society that don’t really spend their time listening or getting to know this type of music. Rap is something that is enjoyed and practiced by all types of races and nationalities in all over the world. It is not something that can only be restricted to “black” people. As it continues to grow and gain popularity in other parts of the world we can expect this to only continue evolving and diversifying into different cultures, each adding their own special twist to it. It is something that can only get better as time goes by. We cannot stop this from evolving and we wont stop, everyone deserves to be heard.
Rap Battle
Recently we conducted a survey (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PMC5RJJ) about rap and it’s affects on society, and after analyzing the results we found a few interesting points that were drawn. For our first realization we found that most of our audience were teenagers with only 3% being over the age of 25. This made us realize that rap is for everyone but for some reason it appeals to a younger demographic. For our second realization we found out that the majority of the audience were female coming in with 77% and 23% being male. This was shocking as we were naïve enough to think that only guys listened to rap. These results proved that was certainly not the case. Rap not only is for people of all ages but it is also something the female demographic is well interested in. Another of our questions was if they believed topics in rap songs affected the mentality of teenagers. With 97% of our survey takers being the age of 24 and younger they mostly answered with them agreeing that indeed it has affected their mentality. This is interesting because it goes on to show that they believe that topics used in rap not only has it affected other teenagers but them as well. Our last major relazation was a question we ask, if they believed that rap was an outlet that served as a stress reliever and 85% of them believed so with the remaining 15% being undecided or disagreeing. This was interesting cause it meant that they used listening to rap as a way of relieving themselves from stress. This could be link with the previous question that dealt with rap having the capabilities of affecting ones mentality. This went on to show that it doesn’t necessarly have to be in a negative way but a positive as it is a stress reliever form. Altough these results are not a good representation of society as a whole with most of our demographics being teenage girls we found this to be convincing evidence that rap not only is it open to everyone to come listen to, but it has a deeper capability as people use it as a form to cope with stress.
Drop the mic.
Hip hop is something that is listened to by many people. It would be right to say that it’s listeners consist of a vast majority of teenagers or young adults. But if it’s listeners consist of this demographic majority then how come it is not brought up in the academia field. Hip hop, or its lyrics to be specific, are something that high school and college teachers rarely, if not, at all try to avoid touching base on. Why? The answer is simple. They simply don’t feel comfortable with doing so, and even if they did, the coarseload does not allow it.. There is this social theory that hip hop is something “bad” and should not be entertained by young listeners. The effects that hip hop artists have on society whether its because of their word choice or their music videos, people tend to perceive this genre of music as a glorification of sex, drugs and alcohol. Not everyone is okay with this, and in consequence, it turns into something that adults try to limit young kids to listen to, much less learn about. Even if a teacher were to be open to the theory of teaching kids the social events in society based on hip hop lyrics, they are discouraged based on their tight schedule and the drastic amounts of information they must jam into each student in order for them to be prepared. Not only this but they could possibly face consequences with the school board where they to present lyrics with such crude content without parental consent. To the teacher there is just too much at stake for it to be worth the risk so they try to stick with the required content the board has layed on top of them. This is a major loss as kids now in days only get thought about historical events from one point of view that could be potentially very bias from one side. If the lyrics were only brought up in class and examined at closely, the student then could expand his perception on the world allowing him to better understand it as a whole. But because of the social perception of hip hop to society, not only does the student get robbed of a better chance to understand his community and its surroundings, but the whole world as a whole gets robbed of an opportunity to be a better place, a place where people are mindful and open towards hearing both parts of the story.
The power of music.
Music is everywhere, from elevators to phone machines to the car and portable devices we use every day. We as human beings cannot live without music. We use it as a form of therapy and a way to pass time with friends and family. To back up my first point, we all use music when we are sad or feeling down, music helps calm these nerves allowing us to take a minute to actually fall deep into our emotions in order to be able to understand them. Artists successfully accomplish this by deeply connecting with us through their choosing of words and the way they portray them. Once we understand these emotions we are able to come to a solution that would naturally help our state of mind. Music allows us to calm down and just enjoy life. It not only can help as a therapeutic reliever from strong emotions, but also helps us enjoy life with those we love such as friends and family. Music is also listened to at many levels of social gatherings. We use it as a nice and enjoyable way of passing time and building stronger connections with those that share the same interest in the music style of your liking. Music also has the potential to give you that extra push to do something you’ve been meaning to do but have not gotten the chance to simply because you were not on the right mindset. That is why it is really important to understand how music affects society. Not only because we all use it to cope with our emotions but because it plays a major role in our lifestyle and everyone around us, as it has the potential to make us do things we never thought possible.
Entering a New Discourse Community
Cooking is a humongous discourse community well known around the world. I mean everyone has to eat to survive. And with different traditions and cultures all around the world has caused there to be many different kinds of food no matter where you are in the world. Food is a factor that culture heavily relies on. You get to know part of a different culture through food. For me a person that is involved in this discourse community and that I am very close with would have to be my mom. She is an amazing cook, anything she cooks comes out amazing. She started cooking ever since she was 12 years old.
Back then when she used to live with her parents, they used to have a little farm on the side of their house and they would do a lot of planting, they had tomatoes, oranges, avocados and even watermelons. She really had an interest for cooking, every time her mom cooked she would be by her side all the time. Helping her mom in the kitchen thought her many different techniques about cooking, as well as family traditions that will continue to get passed down for generations to come. For me my mom is Chef Ramsey, I don’t care where someone can go to school to learn how to cook or what television you may have. My mom will always be my number one cook.
Is there any VTO today? Dudeee his such a griefer!!!
Discourse communities…they are all around us. Its part of our character based on our surroundings. Incase you didn’t know discourse communities are simply a community or group of people that share the same language that others would not understand. For me I have many discourse communities whether its at school, work or at home. The 2 that imma be talking about though are work and a game I play at home. First off I love playing Grand Theft Auto 5 online. Sure it came out a long time ago but I’m still catching myself playing it quite often. The audience for this would be other gamers in the community. The game free roam based so there’s a lot of killing involved in it. Some players take it far and focus on “camping”
or staying still on a hidden spot waiting for their target to cross them. For this you would call them “griefers” as they don’t let you do much and intoxicate the lobby. The game allows you to send messages to each other but the system does not allow any vulgar language so rather then typing out the word normally we would do it in a discreet way that allows the other player to understand but not the system. For example “Snake” would turn into “$.n.@.Q.E” its almost as creating a new password every time you want to cuss someone out. I also work at amazon and some of the few phrases you almost always hear from an associate are “Is there any VTO?”, “What’s the volume like today?” and then the managers saying “Do you want to stay for Istations?” followed by the employee saying “Hell Nah”. VTO stands for Voluntary Time Off, for some reason everyone overnight is lazy or tired and they want to go home. VTO allows them to do so without suffering any penalties. When they ask for the volume its the amount of packages coming into the warehouse for that night which normally is about 50k to 100k. Then Istations are miss-sorted packages that the associates do, so they stay late if they want to help find these and scan them in. Most people say no as they just finished their 8 hour shift in a hot and fast paced warehouse and just want to go home, me being guilty of all of these. I have a lot more discourse communities but these are just 2 to name a few. Its what makes me partly who I am.
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