Hip Hop?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/19/steele-gop-needs-hip-hop-makeover/

GOP Chair Michael Steele the other day suggested a makeover for the party: "We need messengers to really capture that region - young, Hispanic, black, a cross section ... We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings."

It was rather painful to watch him last night on DL Hughely as he struggled to explain his goal: to make the Republican party more popular in urban areas as well as with minorities. A respectable goal, but perhaps one better achieved without the use of "hip hop". What I think is so sad about this is that he's assuming that hip hop is the best way to make something urban, as if hip hop is the only thing that stands for all that is urban. It's like watching your grandmother use slang while texting in an attempt to be cool. Good try, but kind of depressing.

My Uneducated Generation

This year, I've been paying more attention to the news and becoming much more interested in politics. With last year's historic presidential election and our current economic state, it seems like a good time to start understanding politics and economics. After all, my generation is already screwed, as all of today's problems are so conveniently being dumped on us.(1)

I can't help but notice not only the apathy, but the ignorance of kids (or perhaps, young adults) of my age. My class will be graduating this year, going off to college, the military, or joining the work force; the males have to sign up for the draft; we have to learn to do taxes, to use credit, to buy cars. We're being forced into the real world and beginning to think that maybe we should try to get some sort of understanding on how these things work.

What I find really appalling is how little we are taught about government in school. We take "social studies" all our lives, which we are lead to believe is a mixture social sciences - geography, sociology, history, politics - when it's pretty much just history. Granted, it's easier to teach young kids historical events than the social trends and forces behind them. In high school, we take two years of Global History, two years of American History and Government, and finally Participation In Government (PIG) for half a year, and Economics for the other half of senior year.

PIG and Economics are horribly insulting classes. Reading the textbook takes me back to the days of NSYNC* and War Heads; it's literally written at a 5th grade level. Most of the quizzes I (and I believe a majority of my class) could probably ace with no preparation whatsoever. Earlier this week, we spent an ENTIRE PERIOD learning to organize a checkbook. I understand that it's a basic skill that is essential to life after graduation, but I feel like this time could have been made a little more worthwhile. We do bring up current events often, which I think is wonderful, because that's the only time when we actually learn about politics.

History is important, there is no denying that. We can learn from successes and failures of the past, and it so often influences our future actions. However, history is useless if we cannot apply it to current times and current problems. It's great to learn about trickle-down and pump-priming economics, but if you don't learn about how they are being used today as well, it does no good. It also bothers me that we spend so much time learning about political parties of the past - we spent weeks on the Progressive Era - yet today's political parties and their platforms remain an undiscussed blur until our senior year, when we speak about them for about a day. Our social studies courses seem to have a cut-off point, after which everything is assumed to be self-taught, things that we should "just know". And our teachers spend so much time and energy preparing us for our Regents Exam, that they don't exactly have extra time to discuss recent politics just for the sake of it. Afterall, the amount Obama's stimulus isn't going to be on our final. Why speak of it?

I believe that we are horribly uneducated in the area of politics, and the result is misinformed, even uninformed, single-issue voters (or, future voters), who are extremely influenced by peer pressure. We are never presented with the actual foundations and basic ideals of any political parties, so we only concern ourselves with the issues everyone knows about: abortion, gun control, the death penalty, the war in iraq. If we're Catholic outdoorsmen we figure we should be republican; if we are peace-loving hippies we should probably be democrats. We then proceed to support whatever our given party happens to be, without feeling any need for further explaination.

I think that our classes could definitely stay the way they are: world history, american history & gov't, but they need a stronger twist of government. Key concepts MUST be linked to today's current issues. While it's challenging to place such current events on a Regents exam, it could be in the form of a thematic essay question, perhaps asking a student to relate a given concept to a current event in American politics. However it's done, I think it's clear that my generation needs to be able to make their own political and economic decisions, because we're going to be faced with more problems than anyone before us.

(1) Rather ironic that the age group that may have won the election for Obama is the generation that will spend their lives paying off his stimulus bill.

The End of an Era

Goodbye, structured running. While I'm thrilled to be free from the confines of the high school hallways, of horrible speed workouts on bad days, of two hours of practice everyday... I'm also every so slightly sad to say goodbye to everything track (and xc) has given me.

Without track, I would not be friends with about 40% of those I hold dear... or maybe more. Jack and Jake have been there since I started, and the thought of never stretching out with them again, as miniscule as it sounds, is really hard for me to comprehend. When I started xc, I didn't even like running; I hated it. Obviously this has changed, and that chance I took back in 9th grade has grown into something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Coach L has taught me so much about running and health, but also about working hard and helping the team. I've spent practically every afternoon for the last four years with him, whether I wanted to or not. Simply put, I'll miss Coach and his life lessons.

This certainly isn't an end to running, though. As cliche as it sounds, this is the beginning. Track and XC have taught me how to run smart, while loving the sport for all it is. Now I get to run independently - on my own schedule and my own judgement. I'll still race - St. Paddy's Day race is coming up soon! - but definitely not too often and not very seriously. I've paid so much to this sport, and now I've graduated, and I get to enjoy all the great things about it. Never again will I be locked up in the high school halls. The world is my track.

Nevermind the Plunge

I didn't even get past the prologe.

I'm just going to watch the movies. Actually, why even watch the movies? I do not feel a real gap in my life without being a LOTR fan. I'm doing pretty well without it.

I do, however, need to find another novel to read. One that does not force me to refer to the extremely complex map in the beginning after every sentance.

Maybe MTV should be MADE

Conference Day equals no school equals wasting life and watching Psych all day long.
Psych did come to an end however, and my brother and I switched to MADE, an MTV reality show that takes teens who are unhappy with themselves and their lifestyles and magically transforms them into something more socially acceptable. Most kids wish to be made into rockstars, homecoming queens, skateboarders, class presidents, and the like. They are assigned strict, tyrant "coaches" who often force kids to give up their normal, healthy lifestyles, and devote all their time and energy into becoming something else.

This particular episode was about a very smart boy who wanted to become a break dancer. That's all fine and good, until it began to conflict with his schooling. One night, his coach demanded that he go see a dance-off from 8-11; the boy was hesitant, because he had the SATs the next morning. To my surprise, the coach didn't care at all about this and actually criticized the boy for not being dedicated or motivated. I was appauled when his father actually urged him to go to this dance-off, setting him up for failure on this extremely important test. It didn't even stop there; his coach informed him that he would be going on a trip out of state, leaving immediately - days before his final exams. The boy was overwhelmed, but couldn't do much to stop it; how do you say no to MTV?

Not only was this endeavor taking away from his studies. Another man was hired to come in and teach the kid "how to talk", in the style of most breakdancers. In other words, he was taught to use horrible grammar in order to be more "fly".

I began to wonder what would happen if MTV used its overwhelming power over the teens of America for good. What if someone wanted to be "MADE" into a good student, and score well on their final exams? Or perhaps "MADE" into a college student, and asked for help gaining acceptance? What if they had a reality show about applying to and paying for college, something that all teens could use a little help in? What if, during commercial breaks, they illustrated SAT words by using video or TV clips, improving their viewer's vocabulary in a casual, entertaining way?

Occasionally on MTV, I catch bits of their News breaks, which are usually about 30 seconds long - probably the amount of news the average teen is thought to be capable of absorbing at once. What if they had a daily news broadcast that was geared towards teens, in style but not in content: showing the important news in the world today, without watering it down? This could be somewhat like the Colbert Report or The Daily Show without the comedic bias. What if they aired teen-approved documentaries on social issues or the economy? With the right production and angle, any teen could get interested into these things.

MTV holds the same erroneous notion that the rest of the nation seems carry: that teens don't care. By telling us that what we should be concerned with is music videos, pop culture, and becoming rockstars, we might start to believe it, and start to think that real-world issues are not for us. MTV would not have to drastically change to make itself more intelligent; it could still air the brain-numbing shows like A Shot At Love or Next, and play the same music videos over and over each day. By adding small bursts of political awareness or helpful study hints, it could hugely help in making my generation - and those to come - less apathetic to the world we live in, and better prepared for the "Real World" (much unlike the one portrayed on the network).

Taking the Plunge

As an avid, arguably obsessive, Harry Potter fan, I often come into contact with fans of Lord of the Rings. For years I've been avoiding the movies, fearing that they would ruin the great experience of reading the novels, and I've been avoiding the novels, fearing that they would quickly take up my life.

People are often surprised when they find out I've never seen the movies (which should probably say something about how I am socially percieved). Apparently I seem like the type that would enjoy losing myself in middle-earth. This inference (maybe stereotype) probably has some truth to it, though, and I think I would really get into this series.

After reading Lady MacBeth at a personally impressive speed (350 pages over 6 days, which is gigantic for me), I'm feeling rather ambitious, and possibly cocky. I greatly fear that Tolkien's tendancy to describe everything in obnoxiously specific detail will defeat me in my endeavor (as it has about three times before). I believe I am more mature now, perhaps a more capable reader, and maybe I will actually finish it this time.

So I am off to middle earth, to run with Elijah Wood and whatever other creatures might dwell there. Let's hope that I don't become too obsessed with this, because my Harry Potter fandom has already cost me quite enough money with costumes and the like.

Historical Novel Heartbreak

Was it worth it?

The question I silently asked myself, over and over, late last night. Tears staining the copy of Lady MacBeth that I borrowed from Mr. Crowe, Celtic Women singing a sad Irish lullaby, my heart broke into a thousand pieces.
Were the joys, the romance, the adventure in this novel worth the tragic ending?
Was the bit of time I spent getting to know MacBeth, the wonderful man that he was, worth the agony of seeing his death, like a movie in my mind?
If I could do it over again, knowing that this book would break my heart... would I?
What's more, if Lady Graudh could do it again, would she fall in love with MacBeth, only to be widowed 18 years later?

Yes. A thousand times, yes.

Today, I read a piece by Arthur Miller, describing the appeal and greatness of the Tragedy. He argued that tragedies were not at all pessimistic, that they were actually quite optimistic. In a nutshell, he said a tragedy is when a character feels he is not in his rightful place in life, and struggles against society and it's rules, to gain his dignity. Only an individual with true passion and desire for a more meaningful life would choose this fatal path. In short, the passive live while the rebels die. Only a tragedy, with someone passionate enough to lose their life for their dignity, can be this powerful.