Songs

So I was debating what to write about since I listen to alllllllllll types of music; and finally I narrowed it down to the two songs that I heard the most over the summer. Like literally every day; and I still hear them every day, because now my sisters sing them, along with one of my little brothers. You should see them dancing now. This may be what they call a “culture shock” for some, but whatever. Oh, and they’re Korean.


2NE1 - I am the Best


Knock Out - GD & TOP , apart of a group called BigBang
This song was banned because it made no sense...lmao if we were korean there would be nothing on the radio.


You should also watch this



I don't know why you watched that.

I don’t know if you could tell, but these two groups have similar styles. It’s because they’re from the same company: YG Entertainment. I have to say, they produce some interesting artists. The first thing guys usually say is: “They look gay.” Well…one, they’re jealous; and two, they’re not use to Korean pop culture in general. I can understand it, my dad said the same thing. Furthermore , it’s really funny to call it Korean pop culture since they get their style from R&B black artists. Oh dear the things I could show you. My mom keeps telling me to “just listen to black music, why don’t you listen to black music..blah blah blah.” The truth is I do, but a lot of it isn’t like this anymore, and has fallen to pieces. I could literally see it separating into ignorance and noise. Why can’t it be more like…




Do you hear those instruments? God.

But anyway, the reason why I probably like Korean music is because I have so many nice memories associated with it. Hanging out with close friends and all. Memories make even the lamest of music sound great, and the greatest sound like crap. Today I was asked if I was an oreo. Last Friday Night by Katy Perry was on. That songs sucks even more now. Anyway I really do listen to all kinds of music, classical, rock, hip-hop, techno-ish (no hard core stuff), traditional/modern Chinese, Japanese, Cuban, Puerto Rican, white people….everything.

Sorry if this wasn’t what you were looking for in a music review, but make the most of it. Regardless of what I say or try to convince you of, you’ll still walk away with your own opinion from your first impression of when you clicked the button, and watched the video. So do what you will.

Winter Poem

Alright. Alright. Here we go.

This is a tale, of how she killed summer; and how he let her.



*Killing Summer

Beg for me through salt water
I see them in your eyes

The taste, the anger, the harsh wind of all

The sugar rubbed off, to lend spring fall

Autumn cotton trees, sweet shrivel and shake
Is how ignorantly begot, the frozen lake

Streams and blood vessels
the lifting of relief

On pink leafs they preach
The science of grief

Painting the ground and sky
The brush soon sinks, piercing undeniably
To pure beaut-ti

With a color I’ve seen,
The soil changed.

And dyed itself again, to its silhouette
With balance, and beautiful-touchy elegance

Not knowing, she bowed to a cold scene
And left it to chill
Where the rain’s bow sings,

But losing the warmth, he drew the curtain
Over west, east, in all directions

The fog lost its touch
Lingering past the deceased

Over land supposedly unscathed
The mist had slaughtered peace

And found out they had lost
Tears un-present, and eyes dry
‘Cause summer’d taken them in
When it mournfully sighed

Holding the wind back in its spit sea

She ended it
While he stood by

“There was no controlling it”
Is what he decried

So coldly pretentious,
Teach him why,
And how they killed summer.
Remind the solid land
That its sky was blue ,
And the grass green, and life
A color I have never seen

Direction the Class Needs

Um… speaking in class is awkward, because it’s very silent afterwards. I personally don’t mind telling what’s on my mind –I place my opinion a lot in other classes, but I also find listening important. The thing is I don’t know if everyone is listening when they aren’t speaking; maybe they’re just spacing off. Part of the reason people may not be participating so much is due to having to take the risk of being mistaken. Because the class’s curriculum is analytically and critically thinking based more than anything, one might find their interpretation to be “wrong.” I enjoy that we do have discussions, and there are many who do speak when we drift a bit off topic, but when the teacher is looking for one straight answer, anyone would feel under pressure. Also, halve the children in the class I’ve never met, therefore first impressions will be made about the people you’ll have to spend the rest of your high school experience with.

Furthermore when it comes to vocabulary, as much as I don’t want to –or rather don’t have enough time to-, I believe we should enforce it more throughout our other work so that it actually sticks. Perhaps that’ll happen during finals, which I am worried about, but anyway to actually put the knowledge we gained from doing those worksheets into play would be really beneficial when it comes time for SAT, or generally throughout life. I think the book we do have is very good, and has helped me learn a lot, I am not sure if I recall it all accumulatively so far, but it was packed with info.

Lastly I think we should as a class try to comment on each other’s blogs more often, because I am sure everyone has ideas that they want share; that sometimes an opportunity isn’t presented during class.

Where Did Salinger Go?

do dooo dodooo dooo mhmmmhm mmmmhmmm hmmm I am singing right now.

Jerome David Salinger...was very odd. Is this what you want from me? What you want me to write about?





Well then.

"...Salinger's experience with post-traumatic stress disorder left him psychologically scarred, and that he was unable to deal with the traumatic nature of his war service." (1)

"...as a man immensely proud of his service record, maintaining his military haircut, service jacket, and moving about his compound (and town) in an old Jeep." (2)

"JD Salinger, meanwhile, was dabbling in Scientology and Christian Science and drinking his own urine. He spoke in tongues, sat in a `therapeutic' box and fasted." (3)

"Salinger shifted the entire focus of his life to the cabin in the woods, staying there for up to two weeks at a time, burning wood in his stove to heat up the cans of food or meals brought to him by Claire or their children." (He had two children) (4)

"During the Second World War , he was a counter-intelligence officer assigned to interrogate prisoners taken by the US Army." (5)


"At one time he arrested a young Nazi functionary named Sylvia and then married her. The marriage lasted only a short time and he later always referred to her as ``Saliva''." (6)



I feel annoyed peeping in on this man's life...what was his life anyway. Honestly, it's none of my business and I rather not be concerned with what he did in his spare time. He says he wrote for his own pleasure, but of all his work, the most popular one published (The Catcher and the Rye) seemed directly relatable to his own life. If he was writing for himself, he should keep it to himself. I am sure all of us who are literate can create a novel about really personal aspects of our life; that of course, most of the world would act staggered by, yet inwardly know that the vast majority all find it some way applicable to their own lives.

So, his daughter wrote a book, regarding/ exposing much of her father’s supposedly weird nature, and basically just throwing him out there to be a community spectacle. My question is why would anyone feel the need to do this; especially about their own father? The man’s whole life goal was avoiding breaking the barriers of his personal being; and yes -he did have a dire way of protecting it by writing a novel open to the general public- but the book she wrote (DreamCatcher) was clearly a stretch, passed the boundaries of privacy, and was overall inappropriate. J.D. Salinger did throw a lot out there for a secretive person, and although his claim didn’t match his intention, it should still be respected.

There are some really weird people out there that do some of the strangest crap you could imagine…in fact I know a few -but they aren’t writing novels. I am sure it would be interesting to look and see what’s going through their brain when they do…stuff, but I’d rather not be informed. Just because this man is popular, basically a celebrity, is the only reason why people are so intrigued. If it was some random homeless person on the street, suffering from loneness, or seeking enlightenment by abstaining from sex, then most likely he would be shunned from society. Incredibly shunned.

Holden

This is going to be short cause it’s 2 in the mornin’ and I have work tomorrow
d(^-^)b -_-

Holden has issues…clearly. What he longs for most is human interaction, but by all means, GOD BY ALL MEANS he avoids humans. For some reason he isn’t willing to look past the surface of someone’s skin to actually meet the very real person that they are. To be honest, everyone puts up an act in front of people they don’t know, or at least dilute their personality; in fact, it would be considered rude if you didn’t and were too comfortable. Getting close to anyone, and I am mean truly close, you’re bound to eventually figure them out and discard that “phony” image once seen before.

And although I really do like Holden either way, we can see that his judgment is not always accurate; he even said it himself. Whoever he falls for, that girl is suddenly intellectual, and when they’re through, he’s sitting there thinking what the hell I was thinkin’. Apparently lust blinds everyone, so maybe that’s not a good example. How about this then: Holden can come to the point of hating people with cheap suitcases. SUITCASES have nothing to DO with PERSONALITY. Just seeing the way he lays out a person’s whole background persona just from looking at them, and only being associated with them for like what…two months tops, shows all the thoughts going through his head aren’t going to be as deep as we wanted. Sorry guys.

What Holden is shooting down is not phony people, if that were true then so many people would be on the ground. What he’s aiming at is the general population who doesn’t connect with him instantly. If you look, Holden’s searching for people who could become close with him immediately. Fast friendship is what wants/needs, and he’s not willing to wait to getta know anyone step by step while breaking those barriers.

My Red Hunting Hat

The red hunting hat I believe represents the desire to be an individual amongst the many; but, since there is the desire to be unique, one must also have to cope with being looked at as different…which may also be why Holden (so far at least) only wears his in privacy. My red hunting hat is probably my whole existence, from my outward appearance, to the way I carry myself. Usually when I am talking on the phone or someone I know in another language, a random person comes up to me cause the curiosity is just killing them, and asks: What are you? I really don’t even feel like explaining it myself, so I just go, “I am a black person from Chicago.” But if they keep pressing on, I continue and say,

“My mother is African American, German, and Native American, and my dad is basically just African American. My mom grew up in a Muslim school full of Pakistanis, so she speaks Arabic, but also German since her father is African German. Of course they both speak English and are Muslim. Living in Chicago I am pretty talented at Spanish since my dad is fluent. I have Korean childhood friends, so I also learned conversational Korean, but now since I wanna go to Seoul to live, I decided to self study seriously. I am also studying Japanese at school seriously.”

I have too many different cultures playing in at once, so I guess in that way it makes me stand out. Also, my hijab and the clothes I wear. I am not too serious when it comes to dressing myself…more so the way I act. Honestly, whatever is clean will do. Sometimes the stuff I put on is nice, sometimes it’s not…oh well.

I am really serious when it comes to treating people with respect and being polite…for some reason my generation thinks it is funny to be mean. Being blunt, and being rude are two different things. My hijab (the scarf I wear on my head) makes people stare… I could honestly care less. In fact, I love it when people ask about “the helmet I am wearing on my head” because it’s my chance to tell them a bit about Islam.
To sum it all up, my red hunting hat is my culture…every single thing about me.