For the sun will rise And the moon will set And learn how to settle For what you get. It will all go on if we're here or not So who cares? So what? So who cares? So what?
Mama Doesn't even have an inkling That I'm working in a Nightclub In a pair of Lacy pants. So please, sir. If you run into my Mama, Don't reveal my indiscretion,
What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a Cabaret, old chum, Come to the Cabaret
Come taste the wine, Come hear the band. Come blow your horn, Start celebrating; Right this way, Your table's waiting
Start by admitting From cradle to tomb Isn't that long a stay. Life is a Cabaret, old chum, Only a Cabaret, old chum, And I love a Cabaret!
The life of Edgar Allan Poe, a writer born in Boston on January 19, 1809 and died on October 7, 1849, was one of the most miserable ones I have ever heard of. Poe's father, David Poe Jr., left Edgar when he was not even one year old, and his mother, Eliza Poe, died from tuberculosis a year later. He then lived in the back of the curtain of prop room until he was informally adopted by the Allan family, from which he got his middle name. Edgar Allen Poe attended University of Virginia but soon he dropped out, just like so many poets, after getting involved in gambling and having debts.
Poe, at the age of 18, soon enlisted himself as a private in the United States Army. His stepfather supported Poe to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, but as soon as Poe was discharged from the Academy, Allan never accepted Poe as a stepson again. Because Poe got an award for his short novel, he could work at Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond from 1835 to 1837. Though he was close to an alcoholic, he wrote lots of creative works, which made the paper popular.
In 1835, 26-year-old Poe married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm. After experiencing a very poor living conditions during economic crisis in the US, Clemm fell sick; she suffered from tuberculosis and poverty for five years until she died in 1847. In the year Clemm died, Poe wrote a poem Annabel Lee:
It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven, Went envying her and me- Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we- Of many far wiser than we- And neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.
In the poem Edgar Allan Poe reflected his emotions when he had to let her wife die in poverty. Poe expressed his sadness not only in this poem but also in the Raven.
Poe could only live for two years after his wife's death; he suffered from depression and even tried a suicide with doses of opium. Although he had a couple lovers, with whom he planned to start a new life. On the morning of September 28, 1849, he appeared in a hospital in Baltimore, lingering on the verge of death. It is said that he disappeared without any treatment and on October 3, people in the street found him unconcious; in the hospital he suffered from insanity and in the morning of October 7 he died.
A fictional movie with Edgar Allan Poe is in the making and I am more than excited to watch how this man with the most miserable life will be depicted in the movie! Here is the trailer.
I was making my college list last week, and I thought I might as well look at colleges' libraries. So many prestigious colleges had beautiful libraries, and I ended up looking up beautiful college libraries. I wanted to introduce some of them.
Georgetown University's Riggs library blew my mind. Look at those gold bars and windows! This library was built in 1889 majorly to make space for 105,000 volumes of university archives and books.
This is University of Chicago's Harper library. It's interesting because not only its ceiling is gorgeous but also it is one of the largest university libraries.
This is Pratt Institute's library, the one I have actually been to. I liked it because its warm colors and round arches created comfortable atmosphere. Though it was not a gigantic library, I could find many intriguing and artsy archives, like culture magazines, lying everywhere in the library (probably because it's an art school library).
University of Pennsylvania's Fine Arts libary has a studious atmosphere -- if I were in that library I'd probably want to study.
This is Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. I love the modern interior and the fact that each block of the column in the middle of the picture is a bookshelf!
Uris library, Cornell's oldest library, is another library with great interior design built in the 19th century. This library is special because of another large, three-story room library called Andrew Dickson White library that is built within it.
I don't know what college and what library I'll end up going but one thing I'm sure that no libraries will give out gigantic chocolate chip cookies or have the sweetest library dog that would put his head on my lap and wait until I pet him.
Throughout the Poetry Class, I had great opportunities to learn as well as to write poems both inside and outside of the class. As a class, I was able to create my own poems even though I have never written one in my life. I not only learned about specific poets and poetry but also wrote creative poems, including "tomato" poem, "When I am 2%" poem, and blackout poem. I learned how to express my thoughts and imagination without any embarrassment to share my ideas though I felt nervous as I read my "Walgreen" poem but was able to accomplish due to the classmate's encouraging claps and cheer:).
Also I realized that having blog, personal writing space, to share my ideas and opinions was neat project to do. I always wanted to create a blog where I can introduce movies, musicals, music, or culture; share my opinions and critics on books; and talk about specific events. In my blog, I was able to share wide variety of topics- Great Depression to Super Junior. I also enjoyed promoting our blog- sharing blog posts with my friends and people whom I do not know and receiving helpful comments.
I, throughout the course, not only learned history or techniques of poetry but also received chance to become a poet myself. Poetry is unlimited: Poets can share and write their poems whatever their minds tell them to write!
I used to think that poetry was just a way for people to express themselves and let out anger and stress. From this blog project, I learned that poetry represents how the world was at the time it was written. The poetry can express how people felt about the government, global occurances, and even other people. The poets were basically documenting human history. Through this blog project, I realized that you don't have to look hard to relate poetry to real life and find connections to historical happenings of the time. I also realized that all poetry can have different meanings to different people. Poetry is subjective.
The fall musical at my school is Man of La Mancha. At first, I wasn't too excited about this show. I heard the story line and it sounded dry and boring. After this past week, I can honestly say that Man of La Mancha is the farthest thing from boring. I would compare the format of the story to something along the lines of Inception.
The opening scene shows prisoners in a dungeon during the Inquisition. Don Miguel de Cervantes and his manservant have been put in prison because, as a taxpayer, Cervantes, in favor of equality, foreclosed on a church. Don Miguel, a poet as well as a tax collector, is robbed of his properties and effects the second his is thrown into the prison. The Governor and the Duke, two other men in prison, hold a mock trial for the new inmate to decide on whether or not they should return the stolen items. The Duke charges Cervantes with being "an idealist, a bad poet, and an honest man." Miguel pleads guilty but would like to provide the jury, the other prisoners, with the opportunity to change their minds "in the form of a charade." He enlists the help of his manservant, the Governor, the Duke, and various other inmates to help him perform this story. Thus, the fabulous tale of La Mancha is formed.
Cervantes becomes Senor Quijana, a man who has "left the sane world" and become a knight-errant known as Don Quixote de La Mancha. His manservant becomes Quixote's trusty squire, Sancho, the Governor becomes the innkeeper in La Mancha, and the Duke becomes Quijana's niece's fiance and doctor, Dr. Carrasco. There are three story lines that the audience must keep straight throughout the play. The first layer, as I like to call it, is the prison scene where Cervante's main goal is to convince the to prisoners to return his property to him and get out of jail. The second layer, has Senor Quijana with his niece, doctor, house keeper and the local Padre, who are all trying to get him to once again become a sane person.
Throughout the show, the Padre and Dr. Carrasco are trying to get Quijana to remember who he really his and convince him that everything else is just a dream. The third layer, is the story of Don Quixote, who is trying to be dubbed a knight when he stumbles upon a castle. In this castle, he finds a most wonderful lady named Dulcinea and sets out to make her, his. The only problem with all this is that Quixote is really the only person who sees these things. His lady, Dulcinea, in layer two is really a kitchen maid and a prostitute. The castle in which he visits to gain his knighthood, is really just an inn. Throughout the show, Cervantes, Senor Quijana, and Don Quixote set out to "dream the impossible dream."
If you would like to see more, check out the movie but if you have the opportunity, I would suggest you see the play. You won't regret it.
This is a song that Don Quixote sings to Dulcinea.
Are you stressed about the exams? Do you feel that you are not quiet ready to take BIG, LONG tests? Though I had exams throughout middle school and three years of high school, I still feel burden when I am preparing for the exams. But studying for the exam can be easier if you know the "right way" to study.
1. Make Flashcards.
Careless which subject you are studying for, there are lots of information that you are expected to know. Before using flashcards, I thought I could memorize events, dates, and definitions right off from the notes or textbooks; however, when I actually set down to take the test, I could not remember everything that I was suppose to know because I "thought'" I knew the materials instead of actually "knowing" the materials.
The one of the reasons that I did not make flashcards is because I believed it took up too much time just making them. But thanks to technology, you can easily make flashcards online at http://quizlet.com. By using flashcards, it helps you actually memorize and know the terms and materials that are required for test.
2. Seek for Help.
When I first entered high school, I believed asking for help only showed the teachers that I was not ready for the tests. But after actually getting help from my teacher, I realized that seeking help was nothing to be ashamed of since I learned exactly "how" and "what" to study and prepare for the test. So do not be AFRAID of asking questions!
Also I found asking peers, who already took the course, were also helpful since they might have different explanations that you can understand better. So do not be shy or be shamed to ask! Asking for help is beneficial to you and your grades.
3. Turn off Electronics.
Do you tend to listen to music while you are studying? Or do you check your phone to "check the time"? You really should not have anything around you when you are studying since it is distraction!
For example, I use to use my computer when I studied for my exams since I had to ask my friend on Facebook. The next thing I realized is that I was "chatting" and "playing" instead of actually studying for the exam.
The time intervals do not have to be long. Take breaks between to refresh yourself and your brain so that you can learn, understand, and remember better.
4. Make Study Group.
Personally, meeting with study group is time when I get to organize my thoughts and facts. By talking and debating with peers, I learned where I struggled as well as where I do not fully understand. Also drafting study guide as a group will be helpful to you and people in the group so that when you are studying alone. I also think the topics brought up in conversation are the things that people can remember the best during the exam. So make sure people in the group are also dedicated to study so that you can actually learn from the study group.
5. Use Resources.
Like flashcards, use other resources that would help you remember the materials. For instance, timeline is great source when you are studying for the history test because it gives you "big picture" of history so that you can have wide interpretations when studying for the test. You can quickly make you timeline either for free or for feed.
The another great source is making connection between materials to pictures, drawings, or music. I made a random song when I had to memorize both states and capital cities of United States of America. Though it does not have to be professional, the song or picture will stick to your mind easily and quickly than just looking through worksheets or books.
6. REST and RELAX.
Though I personally believe that studying and looking through the notes are helpful, I also believe that relaxing is part of preparing for the test. If you lack sleep, it gets hard for you to concentrate on the test because you are tired from lack of sleep. Even though it may be a short sleep, make sure you get some rest before taking the exam!
Think about it. I can guarantee that at least once in your life you have plagiarized or thought about plagiarizing. How come people these days are fine with copy and pasting someone else's words but when it comes to music, you can't take a drumbeat without a huge lawsuit ensuing. I feel that the law is very inconsistent. I think stealing, whether it be someone's property or someone's words, should be treated the same. I know in some college's, plagiarism is dealt with immediate expulsion, but it's not the same everywhere. The same with sampling. Sampling is when one artist takes part of another artists work and uses it in their song. It can range anywhere from a 3 sec drum beat to the chorus of a very popular song. But if not cited correctly, the artists can easily get themselves into a huge, career-ending, lawsuit. MC Hammer samples Rick James' "Super Freak" in his song "U Can't Touch This." When you listen to either song, it is clear that one is based off of the other. If MC Hammer hadn't have cited his sample, he would easily get caught and prosecuted.
This is "Super Freak" by Rick James. Listen to both songs. It is clear that "U Can't Touch This" uses the beat from "Super Freak."
This is "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer.
Now think back to your high school paper, where you were short on time and it was easier to just copy and paste. When you think about it in the context of music, you wouldn't dare copy and paste. So why do it for school?
For this year's Halloween I'm dressing up as the Wicked Witch of the West from the book Wizard of Oz, my favorite book since my childhood. Since I could actually read books until I was in 6th grade, I was obsessed with Wizard of Oz and all of its series books. A kid's library in my church had an entire shelf full of Wizard of Oz books -- not just the original but all the sequels by other authors who expanded on the original later on.
Even though L. Frank Baum, the author of the original Wizard of Oz, never intended to write sequels, many young fans wrote and requested him to write more. Baum never wanted to write more but he eventually started to repond to the popular demand. From 1904, which is four years after Baum wrote his original Wizard of Oz, until his death in 1919, Baum wrote thirteen new books of the series.
After Baum died, the Wizard of Oz fans urged Ruth Plumly Thompson to write more. Thompson, who was a fanatic lover of Wizard of Oz, worked at Baum's publisher Reilly & Lee as a vice president. She wrote her 21 sequels between 1921 and 1939 mainly because she had to support her family. I remember storylines of every single book of Baum and Thompson; I remember that even though I certainly loved all of their books, the story became boring as the series went on. The stories were always about an American child with a talking animal traveling in the magical cities and meeting magical or enchanted creatures.
What makes Thompson still special is not the fact that people thought she was Baum's niece, or she wrote more sequels of Wizard of Oz than Baum. Thompson is special because her sequels of Wizard of Oz were beyond just novels. Thompson's Oz poems were collected and publihsed in 1992, two decades after she died. I didn't like this book, called the Cheerful Citizens of Oz, only because it was a 15 pages long pamphlet and I finished it in less than half an hour.
So many other artists and writers continued to produce sequels of Wizard of Oz that are not limited to paperbacks. There are so many films, comics, parodies, and most importantly, musicals such as Wicked, the life story of Wicked Witch of the West.
CHORUS
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire...
After doing this project, I realized that Billy Joel is probably the most creative genius in the entire world. He referenced SO MANY THINGS and got them all to rhyme and make sense. It must have took him so long to find things that represented conflict throughout the world. He chose controversial things that the everyday person would know, recognize, and understand. My hat goes off to the guy.
Happy Halloween! If you do not want to go Trick or Treating, nor if you do not want to watch any horror or thriller movies, how about watching one of episodes from Supernatural?
Supernatural, created by Eric Kripke, is famous on-going television series, starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Dean and Sam Winchester. Their journey first started off looking for their missing father; however, as their journey continues, two brothers constantly encounter with supernatural creatures, such as demons, vampires, werewolf, and spirits, and they even tangle themselves into the trouble that cannot be easily solved.
In fifth episode of season three, Dean and Sam hear about a psychotic killer, who killed two of three brothers by acting like a wolf, in Maple Springs, New York. They assume it was werewolf attack because the attack matched the lunar cycle, but soon Dan and Sam realizes that they are dealing with something different. Dean and Sam also find other victim, Ken, who was killed by old grandmother, who kindly offered pie when Ken and his wife were lost in the woods. When Dan and Sam research the case thoroughly, they match the two cases with two Grimm stories: "Three Little Pigs" and "Hansel and Gretel". Throughout the episodes, Sam and Dean are faced with other fairy tale stories, "Cinderella" and "Little Red Riding Hood", so that they could save the possible victim of the stories. Who is behind all the instances? Why did it had to be bedtime stories? To find out Dean and Sam's solution to deal with bedtime stories, watch season three episode three to figure it out for the Halloween night.
In other episodes of Supernatural, the other well-known creatures and myths that have been written in literature and poetry actually comes true to hunt people with reasons to be solved. Any creatures, that people believed to be only exist within myth or literature, exist in Supernatural.
Recently in poetry class we made poems by cutting words out of magazines and piecing them together like a ransom note. I've seen somewhere where the author does the opposite. Instead of cutting the words out and pasting them on another page, the author takes on page and blacks out the words that they don't want. The viewer reads the uncrossed words together as the poem. This style of poetry is known as blackout poetry.
This poem, author unknown, is a good example of a blackout poem. The author crossed out the other words to leave the words "I want to go back so I won't grow empty." I find this form of poetry more difficult to create than the ransom note poetry because the author is limited to the words on the page and the order that they are in. Some people chose to use newspaper articles and other choose book pages.
Some poets create their poem and put artwork around it. This poem to the left, author unknown, created a tree-esque design around the words and in the root area, the poem reads "Heart pounding, spiraling into the darkness." Austin Kleon wrote a book titled Newspaper Blackout in which he shows his various blackout poems. If you go to that website, he has his poems titled "October Horoscopes" displayed. I find this group of poems interesting because in each horoscope he creates poem. This must have been challenging because of the limited words, but he makes it work.
However, some people strongly oppose this type of poetry. Laura, from www.go-home-roger.tumblr.com, finds blackout poetry offensive to the author of the original work. She says "
I wish people would stop doing black out poems. Guess what? A person took the time to put their feelings on paper. To put thoughts, and ideas, and perspectives on a piece of paper so maybe someone else can understand where they’re coming from and feel like they can relate to someone. A person took their thoughts and wrote them down and shared them with the world despite all the vulnerability that comes with and you just stomped all over it. Their work inspires you? That’s fantastic. That’s exactly what they were hoping for. Write it down on a piece of paper instead of destroying something that means everything to someone else. It just like burning a book, or banning it. What gives you the right? The world is one giant canvas and you had to go and use one tiny spot in this giant world that someone else already has. You may be trying to make something beautiful, but you had to destroy something already beautiful to do it and that’s never okay."
I find her perpective very interesting. Who would think that poetry could be controversial in this way? She points out that to create your own work of art, you must destroy someone elses. It would be like someone going into the Sistine Chapel and painting over the ceiling because they were inspired by it. A lot of people would be angry if you did this. Coloring over someone elses work is pretty much the same thing.
While I find blackout poetry beautiful, I never thought about it in this way. I was thinking about making some of my own, but after this, maybe I won't.
Confessional poetry, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, directly reflected the poet's experiences. The poets who wrote in this style frankly poured all their personal stories into their works.Anne Sexton, in her poem For My Lover, Returning To His Wife, tells about her most personal story: adultery. I wanted to introduce a Korean writer who tells that her writings are "personal and confessional."
Wan suh Park, born in 1931 and passed away just a few months ago, mainly wrote about her experiences during the 50s and 60s, the times that confessional poetry was prevailing in the states. I first got to know Park because my mom was one of Park's most passionate fans; Park's books were always on the kitchen counter in my house. Park was definitely one of the most revered writer in her country South Korea. I remember an editorial that said that the only reason she never received Nobel Prize in Literature was that her language is so delicate complex that the translated works of hers can't convey the original emotion.
In 1950, when she was only 19 years old freshman in college, the war broke out. She lost her father when she was only three and she was separated from her mother by the North Korean army during the war. Park soon had to drop out of college when her brother, who went out to the front as militia, died from injury. The bereavement traumatized her, and writing was the only thing that comforted her. "I wonder if I would have started writing if it wasn't the war", Park says in one of her interviews. Later in 1988, Park's husband and only son (she still had four girls), and this loss kept her involved in writing.
In her autobiographical novel Who Ate Up All the Shinga?, Park tells about her childhood and tragic wartime experience. In the preface of this novel she says she doesn't know if she can call this kind of writing a novel - it was more like a diary that she wrote purely depending on her memories. She confesses that she "wanted to testify to the events in her life in a thoughtful and candid way." Park was for sure a confessional poet during contemporary period, just in a different country.
From Seoul, Korea Is there a standard age of learning how to write poem?The Poetry, the Korean Film, certainly tells us that anyone can write. Mija Yang, 66 years old, learns how to write poems, expressing her true feelings toward today's society. Throughout her poetry course, Mija learns and realizes not only beauty but also reality of today's society.
In the first part of film, Mija takes poetry class so that she can choose perfect words to express her true feelings. With her little note book, Mija describes everything that she sees: flowers, trees, and other wonders of nature. Though she receives partial grant from the government, she has to earn daily wage by helping elder male with cleaning and cooking to support herself as well as her grandson, Wook. One day, after her poetry class, she discovers that Wook and his group of friends had been constantly raping their peer, who recently committed suicide after writing the full story in her poetry. Mija, who develops Alzheimer Disease, is afraid of losing her memories as well as her grandson's future for what he has done. Through out the film, Mija learns and realizes the reality of th society by looking at the world with poet's view.
The Poetry certainly earned lots of awards not only in Korea but also around the world. The critics highlighted that the movie highlighted and reflected the reality of modern society through 66-years old grandmother.
During the end and ending credit, the poem of girl is read as form of song. The poem is actually created by Chang-Dong Lee, the director, which expressed and showed how the girl felt throughout the story. The poem, called Agnes Song, is translated as:
How is it over there? How lonely is it? Is it still glowing red at sunset? Are the birds still singing on the way to the forest? Can you receive the letter I dared not send? Can I convey… the confession I dared not make? Will time pass and roses fade? Now it's time to say goodbye Like the wind that lingers and then goes, just like shadows To promises that never came, to the love sealed till the end.
To the grass kissing my weary ankles And to the tiny footsteps following me It's time to say goodbye Now as darkness falls Will a candle be lit again? Here I pray… nobody shall cry… and for you to know… how deeply I loved you The long wait in the middle of a hot summer day An old path resembling my father's face Even the lonesome wild flower shyly turning away How deeply I loved How my heart fluttered at hearing faint song I bless you Before crossing the black river With my soul's last breath I am beginning to dream… a bright sunny morning… again I awake blinded by the light… and meet you… standing by me.
It's a clear fact that all songwriters are great poets. They write about what they value in their lives. Bob Dylan, who I think deserves to be named a poet, wrote a song to denounce a criminal and reveal his misdeeds. Through his song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll", Dylan tries to convey a clear message: It's not right for white male to consider black female inferior. By publishing this song, Bob Dylan make ignorant or indifferent people aware of the issue of the dominance over and violence on the minorities, so there would be no more victims.
Telling messages to the listners still goes with recent songs. Gabe Bondoc is one of these songwriters, or poets, who tell the messages. Gabe is an indie singer, guitarist, songwriter, and a producer whom I first got to know as a YouTube singer. He has been performing since 2003 at various events at colleges and festivals in his home state, California. This guy, a purely Filipino descent, started becoming famous through YouTube, MySpace, Blog TV and the word of mouth. After he had released two EPs titled "Gentlemen" and "Hi, my name is Gabe" and a full album titled the "Summertime LP," he has came to a nationwide fame.
This song that I'm playing over and over again these few weeks- "Gentlemen Don't" by Gabe Bondoc - is, in a way, similar to Bob Dylan's "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll." No, this song is nothing about racial issue or feminism issue. It's a love song about "things gentlemen don't do," Gabe says. To expand on what he says in the video, I say he is telling guys who don't know how to treat relationships about what they should do as gentlemen. Girls are neither victims nor minorities here in this song anymore, but Gabe Bondoc is conveying a message to all guys - to be sensitive and caring - so girls don't get hurt.
You run your fingers across my lips No I’ve never felt like this before, no, no I know I’m young but I know love And I’d know I know an angel if I saw one
But I know very well Gentlemen don’t kiss and tell And I promise I won’t tell the world If you say you want to be my girl In your words
I’m just a simple man, simple plans, Good work, take care of my fam, I’m sure you understand Because you’re heaven sent, independent, Do you think you need me? I think I need you girl, baby can’t you see?
But I know very well Gentlemen don’t kiss and tell And I promise I won’t tell the world If you say you want to be my girl In your words
Cards on the table Willing and able Stable, capable Of holding you down I’m just sayin
But I know very well Gentlemen don’t kiss and tell And I promise I won’t tell the world If you say you want to be my girl In your words I’m not complaining Your love is worth waiting for
But I know very well Gentlemen don’t kiss and tell And I promise I won’t tell the world If you say you want to be my girl
The Beat Movement, also known as Beat Generation, all started from Columbia University, where Kerouac, Ginsberg, Lucien Carr, Hal Chase and others held their first meeting. Beat Generation was led by group of post World War II writers and poets, who experienced with drugs, sexuality, and Buddhism. Also the writers denied ideas of materialism but idealized their beings and beliefs through their books or poems; however, Beat Generation was not interested in politics.
The word "beat" originally came from word “weary,” but later "beat" connoted with a musical sense. The Beat Movement was also influenced strongly by jazz poetry and Harlem Renaissance. Followers of Beat Movements centered in Bohemian artist community in New York City and California. The Beat Poets strongly believed that poem should and could be read by ordinary people, who did not receive full education. So poets shifted their poems from academia to "backstreet" because poets wanted more people to enjoy their poems.
Though there are many reasons that affected Beat Movement, followers of Beat Generation were not fan of uniformity and materialism that took place after the World War II. Due to Highway systems and available priced cars, White men, when they finally returned back to home, and their families moved to suburbs and lived in houses that were similar to one another. People tried to live ideal life: white picket fence, grass, and 2.5 children with beautiful white; however, Beats did not found the standard dull and ridiculous. So Beat came up with terms, such as "square" (loser) or go "cut the grass", to mock the people who decided to choose unrealistic life style.
Beat Generation surely changed the view of poetry and influenced other movements. Since Beats believed that poems came spontaneously as stream of consciousness, they decided to perform their works in front of audience. They also included swearing, drug references, and jazz elements to express what they believed in. The way Beats performed and shared thoughts influenced other movements. The original form of rap music, the popular modern music genre, as well as rock music were greatly affected by ideas, stories, and poets by the Beats. At the end of Beat Generation, Hippies, with similar ideas, influenced people from other generation. Also the ideas that Beat Poets believed are still used throughout the modern poems.
Though people may confuse between Beats and Hippies, Beat Movement is the intersection between Old and Modern Poetry since Beats were one of actual movements to change how people view and interpret ideas that flow around the nations. Beat Generation, even though it officially ended, would remain alive and active within people's mind through its new forms, such as in Rap music, Rock music, or modern poetry.
Later, US History classes will watch documentaries
About you. But you won’t ever get your justice.
They don’t care if you are smart or funny or
Like math and science. You are lower than them.
They don’t care that in Chicago, white people got
Soft and treat the colored people more nicely. They
Will put you back in your place. You aren’t equal.
And next thing you know, you’re at the bottom
Of a river attached to a mill fan and 50 years
Later, US History classes will watch documentaries
About you. But you won’t ever get your justice.
Emmett, women fainted at the sight on you in your
Coffin. Eyes gouged out and a hole in your head.
Your momma stood proud and fought for you in court.
But Mississippi didn’t think twice and Roy Bryant and JW
Milam were as free as the samples from the corner deli.
And next thing you know, you’re at the bottom
Of a river attached to a mill fan and 50 years
Later, US History classes will watch documentaries
About you. But you won’t ever get your justice.
Those men actually admitted to your murder after
The trial was over but thanks to Benjamin Franklin and
The rest of the constitution writers, double jeopardy
Prohibits them from being punished. They are dead now
But that girl you whistled at, she ain’t. She faces indictment.
And next thing you know, you’re a famous 14 year old.
Most of America knows your name and has seen your
Documentary. They know what happened wasn’t fair.
Emmett Till, we’re gonna make it right. We promise.
Because you’re American and you were created equal.
In our poetry class we studied political poems. I remember watching endless videos throughout my years in school on a boy named Emmett Till. He was a fourteen year old boy who whistled at a white girl in Mississippi during the days of racial discrimination. He was originally from Chicago, in the North, where blacks and white were more equal and it would have been okay to whistle at a white girl. But in the south, Roy Bryant and JW Milam did not approve of this.
Bryant and Milam, at night, went to Till's relative's house and shook the boy out of the bed he shared with his cousin. They threw him in the back of their car and he was never seen alive again. It was said that Till was taken to their barn, tortured, shot in the head, and thrown into the river. Before he was tossed carelessly into the Tallahatchie River, they attached a 70lb cotton gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire. It took three days to find his body and removed it from the river.
Emmett's body was returned to his hometown where his mother had an open casket funeral service so everyone could see what happened to her son. The condition of the body was so bad that several ladies actually passed out and had to have medical professionals check them out. Bryant and Milam were taken to court, but it was in the south, so big surprise, they went free. They actually admitted to the killing but due to double jeopardy, they could not be convicted for the same crime twice.
Now, on the 50th anniversary of his death, a new documentary was created so everyone can understand the whole truth. I hope that this documentary lets everyone understand that Emmett Till really was innocent in this situation.
We all know that homosexuals had to fight on until they were able to be treated as normally as they are today. Up until 1950s, gays and lesbians were overtly secluded from the society; in 1950, the reason for the dismissal of the majority of State Department employees was homosexuality. Conservative powers including Senator Joseph R. McCarthy accused the Truman government of not treating the homosexual government members severely enough. The national government's discrimination against homosexuals went on; Eisenhower, in his terms in the office, mandated the dismissal of all federal employees that were homosexual. In the years in 1950s, "Normal" people believed that they could cure lesbians and gays, just like Butter's father who mistakes Butters for gay and sends him to the treatment center in one of the episodes of South Park.
Groups fighting for gay and lesbian rights, such as Daughters of Bilitis and One, started to appear and form magazines that stood up for the voices of homosexuals. GLBT writers started to appear. Langston Hughes wrote a poem that criticizes a police raid on a gay establishment, speaking for the homosexuals. Allen Ginsberg, a gay poet who led Beat generation in the picture above, appeared in every single webpage that I opened to research for this blog. He was definitely the poet who discussed most openly about homosexuality. He was the poet who defined the homoerotic poetry. When the public still had the abstract fear and hatred of homosexuality, Ginsberg proudly wrote and narrated in his visual languages (and all those fruit metaphors!)
The voices of GLBT people forged until AIDS became such a societal issue. The society accused homosexuals of the spread of the disease. The few public figures like celebrities and politicians who came out shocked the public. Throughout the 80s, a very slow but desperate and constant movement for gay rights was in progress.
One writer and a movie star who was as well Out and Proud was Harvey Fierstein. In his most famous work Torch Song Trilogy, a life story of a gay drag queen named Arnold Beckoff, Fierstein develops relationships between characters and situations that seem to resemble his own. In the movie of the same name, Fierstein himself plays Arnold Beckoff, and most openly talks about the troubles and dilemmas of this character, rejected by the society and the family.
Hey all you die hard beliebers, girls (or boys) who proudly wear their Justin Bieber bracelets where ever you go, the ones who always are wearing some little bit of purple whether it be prized possession purple nail polish or lavender mascara. Hey to the closeted Bieber fans, who act like they don't know Justin but actually know all of the lyrics. I even say hi to the haters because no matter if you love Justin or hate him, you are still thinking about him. So Justin has something to tell everyone, "I say thank you to my fans, and thank you to my haters."
The reason I'm even talking about Justin besides the fact that I love him, is I was inspired by Whitman and Hughes, two famous poets, which I learned about in my poetry class. Whitman and Hughes both wrote poems expressing their love and loyalty to a place, Whitman about America in his poem "America" and Hughes about Chicago in his poem "Chicago." I was inspired to write a blog post about why I love Justin Bieber and also to create a site to send people who question your love for him too.
1. Justin Bieber came from the small town of Stratford, a city that is home to about 30,000 people. Justin has tweeted saying that he's given a concert to more people than the number than live in his hometown. I think its really cool that he came from a place that is really off the grid. I'm from a small town too so this really gives me hope that I can make a difference in the world too.
2. Justin earned his fame through YouTube. It would be very hard to find a person nowadays who has not seen a video on this site or heard of it. When Justin Bieber first put his videos online, he actually wasn't doing it to become famous. He uploaded them so his relatives could hear him sing. Then people, like Justin's manager Scooter Braun, happened on them by accident or through word-of-mouth. He wasn't given any special treatment like other celebrities. Anyone could become famous like he did.
3. Before Justin was famous, he was just an average kid His parents aren't together anymore and they were never married to begin with. He was raised by a single, young mother. Pattie Mallete, his mom, gave birth to Justin at the age of 18. Justin is very close to his grandparents too. Their house was his second home. Justin skateboards, plays videogames, and eats Hawaiian pizza. He hangs out with his friends regularly and just likes to have fun. He is more relatable than average celebrities because he knows what it's like to go to public school and to play a game of mini sticks with his friends in his basement.
4. Justin is the king of all pranksters. He likes to joke around and laugh all the time. On the set of CSI, he locked one of his costars in a closet. When ever people come to concerts to sing with him, he always plays some sort of prank on them.
5. Justin Bieber sings songs about the things that every girl wants to hear.
From "Favorite Girl"
"I always knew you were the best
The coolest girl I know
So prettier than all the rest
The star of my show
So many times I wished
You'd be the one for me
But never knew it'd get like this
Girl, what you do to me You're who I'm thinkin' of
Girl, you ain't my runner up
And no matter what
You're always number one"
I know that I a guy said this about me, I would be head-over-heels for him. His lyrics make me smile and can always make a bad day better.
6. And you know I can't leave out the fact that Justin Bieber is probably the most attractive person on the face of the planet.
His hair, his eyes, the way he smiles, I just love everything about him. He is flawlessly as close to perfect as a person can get.
7. Justin Bieber is a huge inspiration to people all over. His motto is "never say never." I learned to stand up for myself from Justin Bieber. I wear my Justin Bieber bracelet proudly every single day. My math teacher made a bet with me that I would be too embarassed to wear it and since then, I've worn it every single day. It's my good luck charm. It is said that every school around the country has a belieber in it. I guess that I'm my schools crazy Justin Bieber fan. People ask me all the time if I'm joking when I wear my bracelet. But I'm not. I'm not afraid to tell people how crazy I am about Justin Bieber.
Justin's new christmas album, Under the Mistletoe comes out on November 1st but as a special treat, he is releasing Mistletoe, a single, on October 17th. Many people doubt that he will be able to sell many copies of this album because there is still 1 1/2 months until Christmas. But I don't doubt the 40 million beliebers around the world. Justin is going for his first #1 single on iTunes and I know that he will get it.
So whether you call him Justin, JDB, the Biebz, kidrauhl, Derek Bieber, Shawty Mane, or Jason McCann, thank you. Hopefully now you understand why we love him. This is for the kids who can type his name with their eyes closed, who's Most Listened To on their iPods is all Justin, who can recite quote from Never Say Never, and who know what I'm talking about when I blame things on Nolan. This is for the kids who know who Kenny, Scooter, Ryan, Ryan, Chaz, Nolan, Pattie, Jeremy, Jazmyn, Jaxon, Scrappy, Allison, and Carin are, who can't cite their pictures and resources for projects on Justin because everything they write about is common knowledge for them, and who already have the Under The Mistletoe tracklist memorized. (If you don't, see below). Thanks for reading, and I hope you send people here when they ask why you love Justin Bieber.
Justin Bieber: Under the Mistletoe (Track List)
Only Thing I Ever Get For Christmas
Mistletoe
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) feat. Usher
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Fa La La feat. Boyz II Men
Christmas Love
All I Want For Christmas Is You Duet Mariah Carey
Drummer Boy feat. Busta Rhymes
All I Want Is You
Fa La La (acapella) feat. Boyz II Men (Deluxe Edition)
Christmas Eve
Home This Christmas feat. The Band Perry
Silent Night (Deluxe Edition)
Pray (Deluxe Edition)
Someday At Christmas (Deluxe Edition)
COUNTDOWN TO THE RELEASE OF MISTLETOE:
If you have anything you want to add to this list, hit me up at @emilybrecher on twitter.
Georgetown University's 
This is University of Chicago's 
