Monday, May 11, 2009

The Stress of College Life

To accomplish your dreams in life, sometimes it takes a lot of college classes and time. Time that you don’t have , or have to work in your schedule. That’s when college stress becomes a problem. College life is very stressful because of the time management, course load, motivation, and the failing of the grades.

Time management is a big deal, when you don’t have that much time to start with. For the past year, Artt has started his day’s at four in the morning. He starts his day off with work, and that was 10 hrs a day. He then drove from work straight to school, and from there, home, to get in his bed. This process went on for about four to five months, it wore him out. On day he found out about time management. This semesters he will go to school full time, and will have four classes to pass. So, he set-up a schedule for himself, the things he has time for and the things got doesn’t have time for. This way if he has an assignment due at a certain time, he will be able to look at his schedule, and mark something out or add something in. So, Artt’s course load won’t be as hard on him at he thought it would.

Artt’s courseload will take a lot out of him this semester. He will take four major classes biol, soci, math, engl, and also will have to maintain a part-time job. With this being his schedule, he will have to use his time wisely. Most of these classes he signed up for are reading and memorizing classes. So most of his time will be at home, trying to get caught up on is reading materials. The reason he is taking so many classes is because, if he keeps at this pace he will be finished with school within a year an a half.

His major doesn’t need that many years, but he has to know all his information before he can start any of his major classes. He loves the struggle that he will have to make to achevice his goal. Artt believes that he would appreicate it more. So, he will have to motivate himself, to accomplish everything.

Motivating himself, has to be the worse, or the most stressful thing to do. There is always someone around him, letting him know what he can and can not do. Sometimes it hurts to know that there is always someone looking over you hoping you will fail. However, to know this, it only make him stronger, and a smarter person. Artt trys his best to be all that he can, Negative only motivates him more. After, he looks at te whole situation, he noticed that in the end he only has himself. He knows that no one else will be there to help him, and that he will have to help himself and stay forces on what’s important. He knows that if he doesn’t stay focused, he will fail.

Failing is not a good category for him, because if he fails he has successed at anything. Artt has so many classes to worry about, that he has no time to fail. If he wants to be finished with school within a year, than he will have no time to slack at anything. With his new time amnagement schedule that he has set-up for himself, he should have enough time to study, or even get any homework done. Artt know’s the course load that he has taken on for himself. So with that in mind, he knows what he has to accomplish for himself.

Artt has so much to do, in so little time. With all the college stress, he has to be responsible. The time he used to spend on doing nothing, and sitting around, can actually pay off by studying . He can also learn how to become more responsible, with the course load that he has taken on each semester. Having more daily duties, will give him a chance to organize his time, and figure out the next step. His motivation has to be very high, and I should be able to tell himself that he can do it, with or with out anyone. After all the pressure, and motivation his goals can and will be accomplished. Failing is not an option, and will never be an option.

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Should Drugs be legalize or not?

Now days we have hear or seen debates on T.V. on whether the Government should or should not legalize drugs. Drugs have become part of a problem in society, but on the other hand drugs have been medicine to many people who have personal problem. Drugs can ruined your life if they are consume, but people with problem of drug can be treated. Drugs have their advantages and have its disadvantages, but should drugs be legalized or not?

Drugs shouldn’t be legalizing for many reasons; for example, they can be addictive and bad. A person can become addictive with drugs at times, and once you become addictive there isn’t much to do unless the person addictive to it is willing to do something about it. I’ve seen many cases where young people (teenagers) have die because of the overdose of cocaine, marihuana or any other drug. Drugs are dangerous and bad to our bodies, especially to the brain. Drugs are also destructive and not only to our bodies, but it can’t destruct our families and friends. If the government wants to legalize drugs and people agree with them would only be to destruct family values and young people’s life. Even if the government would legalize drugs another strong illegal drug is going to be released or drug dealers would be ruined, so that kind of thing is never going to be stop.

On the other hand drugs should be legalize because it can stop crime, and police would have less worries. We’ve seen on news that many innocent people have die because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and for some reason they were involve in a fight that had to deal with drugs and they didn’t have nothing do to with drugs. So if drugs would be legalize all of those crimes would stop and innocent people would stop paying for something they didn’t do.

Another reason, what is wrong to put into or do with our bodies, the United States is a free country or it isn’t? If someone wants to blow their brains out it’s their own business, as long they don’t do anything to you. Now days Tobacco is the most addictive drug in our society, which is also bad is just that it takes more time for a person to die than any other drugs, like marihuana or cocaine. The Government waste 40 billions of dollars trying to intercept drug shipments, instead on wasting all that money in drug shipments they should waste it in other things; for example, in homeless people, people with disabilities, schools, cities, etc. If drugs were legalized society would have fewer problems with crimes and police would have fewer worries.

This world has change a lot and there isn’t much that we can do to solve the problem. People die or kill for drugs and police can’t do nothing about it. The Government would have less worry if they legalize drugs, but a lot of young lives are going to die. While on the other hand not legalizing drugs would save peoples lives. Drugs are good and bad in their own way depending on how people use them.

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Friday, May 8, 2009

Music and Its Effects on Teenagers

Music, by definition, is “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity” (Webster 781). This particular form of art has transcended time, serving as a form of expression used by people of every cultural background in nearly every country in the world; most importantly, in that of American society. There aren’t many people in this free world who don’t listen to some form of it. Among those individuals stand the emerging species known as the youth of America. Music, itself, has undergone dramatic changes over time, as it continues to evolve along with its creators and listeners. It’s not so much the music alone, but the lyrics entwined in it, that has gained perhaps the most attention. Ever since the introduction of rock and roll music more than forty years ago, music lyrics have become a national issue of controversy and concern. During the past four decades, rock music lyrics have become increasingly explicit, involving references to sex, drugs, and violence. Now, as America enters into a new millennium, the core of youth culture is finding itself surrounded by this “pop rock” phenomenon, a sensation that is ever so increasingly serving as a strong impact on the lives and often the behavior of the young people in society. The evidence is clear and concise, that the influence this music has, particularly on children and teenagers, is becoming greater than ever; unfortunately, it is not always in a positive manner.

In order to allow for a greater understanding of pop music’s role in adolescent culture, one needs a better understanding of adolescence itself and how the particular stage in human development affects the brain. Many think of adolescence as the teenage years, but experts in child development tend to say that age ten marks the beginning of this time in life. It is also suggested that the easiest way to tell if a child has reached adolescence is to notice whether or not he or she has developed a passion for popular music. Once this “passion” occurs, the mind, mood, and overall emotional state of adolescents becomes increasingly affected (O’ Toole 1). “Music alters and intensifies their moods, furnishes much of their slang, dominates their conversations, and provide the ambiance at their social gatherings. Music styles define the crowds and cliques they run in. Music personalities provide models for how they act and dress” (O’Toole 2). Adolescents use music most to control mood and enhance emotional states. Music can make a bad mood better and allow teenagers to escape them; the same fact goes for people of all ages. However, teenage moods are more susceptible to becoming negatively enhanced. So it allows reason to believe that music lyrics about suicide and violence have occasionally led troubled youth to commit suicide or violent crimes, which proves that the music they are listening to, does effect their behavior (O’Toole 4). Dr. Norman Weinberger, a professor of neurobiology with the University of California, says several important findings show that "music can color our transactions with the world. Our thinking and behavior are colored by music, which seems to have direct and unconscious access to the brain. Furthermore, music does not necessarily create emotions but provides a trigger for the release of emotions already present” (O’Toole 4). This belief of possible behavioral effects has also been linked to educational performance. The relationship between school grades and the music a particular student listens to may or may not be closely related. Studies have indicated that early school achievement has an influence on musical taste later on, however, not the other way around. Believing otherwise, “only comes from common teenage stereotypes” (O'Toole 3-4).

Whether it involves a newborn baby listening to a nighttime lullaby, a middle-aged housewife humming the melody of a classic love ballad, or a teenage student bopping his head to the latest “gangsta rap joint,” music is a major part of the everyday lives of people all over the world. Today, this growing appeal for music is at its peak, and society’s fascination is greater than ever. Music, however, means so much more to teens than it does to anyone else. "Adolescents use music to gain information about the adult world, to withdraw from social contact, to facilitate friendships and social settings, or to help them create a personal identity” (O’Toole 5). Many factors contribute to this growing appeal. One factor that affects adolescent appeal is gender. Males and females differ greatly in how much they like various music genres. Females tend to show more attention to pop music and “black music,” including rap and hip-hop, and show a strong dislike for hard rock and heavy metal. Males generally are attracted to mainstream pop less than females. They commonly think of pop music as “hip and uncool.” Gender, however, plays only a minor role in the genre of music that appeals to teens. Race continues to be a factor in musical taste, especially in today’s world. African Americans stand as raps strongest fans, but this is often referred to as a stereotypical conclusion. It appears today that rap is at its highest point, and its appeal is forever growing. Rap music is now appealing to white Americans just as much as it does to African Americans. (Leeds 8). Another factor that contributes to music appeal, perhaps one of the strongest, is social background and environment. Where a child lives, how one was brought up, and the overall atmosphere that surrounds them does affect the kind of music one may listen to. Lastly, personality and a teen’s well-being plays a major role in music preferences and what kind of affect it has on them. Music is not usually a danger for a teenager whose life is happy and healthy. However, troubled or disturbed teens often turn to styles of music that may express the same kind of rage or emotions they are experiencing, and most of the time that kind of music offers violent and harmful solutions to problems they may be having (AACAP 1). Therefore, whether its gender, race, one’s well-being or background, factors of appeal when it comes to music fascination, vary with every teen, but without a doubt it proves just how much of an impact music has on adolescents.

Music, without a doubt, has played a vital role in American culture. Like the change in times, this form of entertainment and art has undergone dramatic changes. Since the introduction of rock and roll nearly forty years ago, music has been the subject of many controversies and stands as a growing concern for society. During the past four decades, music lyrics have become increasingly explicit, many containing reference to sex, drugs, and violence. Recently, heavy metal and rap music lyrics have brought forth the greatest concern. In some cases, lyrics communicate potentially harmful messages. For years, rappers like Snoop Dogg and Ice-T were put under the spotlight when it came to many of their lyrics, which usually involved references to sex, drugs, and violence. Some of Ice-T’s lyrics often became a subject of great controversy, especially when singing about the killing of cops, whom he’d express his great hatred towards. These lyrics in particular are of great concern in today’s world, one filled with unprecedented threats to adolescents. Pregnancy, drug use, sexually transmitted diseases, injuries, homicide, and suicide have all become part of “the landscape of everyday life for many American teens” (AAP 1). To date, no studies have proven that sexually explicit or violent lyrics cause adverse behavioral effects. It has been said that this lack of finding comes from the belief that teenagers often do not know the lyrics or fully understand their meaning. One study set out to prove this theory. In it, thirty percent of teenagers knew the lyrics to their favorite songs, and their comprehension varied greatly (Leeds 6). Most teens tend to interpret their favorite songs as “being about love, friendship, growing up, life’s struggles, having fun, cars, religion, and other topics that relate to their life” (Koehler 4).

With the creation of MTV, Music Television, in the 1980’s, the art of music videos was born. Music videos are a “powerful new force” in adolescent culture (O’Toole 3). Music video formats have become increasingly popular among children and adolescents. When music lyrics are illustrated through videos, their potential impact is magnified. For those teenagers who may not understand the lyrics to their favorite songs, they cannot avoid the, sometimes, disturbing images contained in many videos. Probably the most well known masters of producing images like these, is rocker, Marilyn Manson. Very rarely can one sit through a music video of his without seeing some scene of torture or gross innuendo. These videos are nothing but fancy computer images and cheap special effects. The fact remains these images are being seen by young people all over the world. Another chief example involves almost every single rap video ever made. Very rarely can one be seen without images of sex, drugs, or some kind of violent act, and nearly every kid in America has access to scenes of this nature. Studies show that 70 percent of American households get cable television and most teens have access to MTV and VH-1 and watch an average of a half hour to two hours of music videos daily. As with music lyrics, a teen’s ability to comprehend and interpret music videos varies widely and may be important to their potential impact (AAP 2).

As American further ventures into a new millennium, music lyrics and videos are becoming more and more of a national issue. The issue of music and its impact on society rests clearly on the shoulders of its creators, the ever-rising music industry. The many artists involved in making music are often the blame for the actions of society, teens in particular. Musicians do not want to be role models for kids, and they don’t necessarily write their music for a teen audience. However, everyday, children and teens are gaining access to all kinds of music, and the artists creating it are constantly being criticized and held responsible for their behavior. “These artists are using the language and images they feel are appropriate to describe the situations and ideas they sing about.” Marilyn Manson, for example, has been a major target when it comes to influencing negative teenage behavior. He thinks the world is in a state of moral and ethnic decline, full of “self-righteous hypocrites” (Wydra 2). His music is full of twisted images of decay and corruption. He has been attacked as a bad example for children, and someone who might turn “unsuspecting adolescents into devil worshipers” (Wydra 2). The same goes for the more recent issues surrounding Detroit rapper, Eminem, whose violent and hateful lyrics against homosexuals and women have all of America in a never-ending debate over the freedom of speech. There still remains no clear cut relationship between the lyrics sang by Manson and Eminem, and the actions of teens. However it is clear that these lyrics, intended or not, are influencing society (Wydra 2-3).
While there remains to be no real clear cause and effect relationship between the actions of adolescents and the music they listen to, studies have made important findings.

Unfortunately, the results of these studies vary dramatically, and it still remains a debatable mystery in American society. Music, which has evolved greatly in the last forty years, continues to be held responsible for teenage behavior, whether it be in a good or bad way. Artists and their lyrics are constantly surrounding the landscape of adolescent culture. In some way or another, what a child listens to does have some sort of influence on them. Their minds are being affected and in some cases, so is their behavior and actions. So, what is in store for the future? As the music industry continues to emerge, and a person’s right to free speech slowly expands with time, the lyrics of its artists and the images in their videos are becoming increasingly explicit. As time transcends, more and more of the adolescent population are finding themselves surrounded by music’s marvel appeal and the influential factors can only become greater in its seemingly never-ending impact on adolescent society in America.

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Modern Art

The term ‘Modern Art’ applies to the forward thinking architects, designers and artisans who from the 1880s onwards created new and diverse ideas, particularly to escape the oppression of stark representation. Artists became frustrated with the inability to convey emotion and real meaning. Modern artists saw that representationalism had all been done many times over. Perhaps the introduction of photography added to this mood, was there still a need for realism? Modernists broke with tradition and a progression of many new art movements was developed.

It began with Impressionism. Artists created works that depicted the effects that light has when it falls on objects. This gave a new found freedom to art. Soon after, the Expressionists became interested in the depiction of emotions and the types of responses those same emotions evoke. Artists worked with a freely expressive use of colour and form. A fine example of this is Gauguins ‘Woman with Flower’. Next a fascination with primitive art became very influential. We can see this influence in Cubism; a good example is Picassos ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’. Picasso deliberately moved away from realism as he realised that is was inadequate when it came to expressing emotion. Artists believed art was for art’s sake, a famous example of this was when Marcel DuChamp took a urinal and signed it R. Mutt. He believed that because he was an artist it was art. The freedom to express was evident. This period was known as Dada. In the 1920s-1940s the Bauhaus was introduced, applying some of the concepts of Cubism to architecture and art. During 1924-1930s dreamlike states made way for Surrealism as artists shared a fascination with the strange. Watches melted, apples replaced heads and fun was introduced to art. In the 1960s artists expressed images of popular culture. Pop Art brought art to the material realities of everyday life, to popular culture, in which ordinary people derived most of their visual pleasure from television, magazines, or comics. During the 1970s Minimalism was the way to go. Art was reduced to the simplest of elements and what you see is what you get.

Modern art may not need the hand eye co-ordination that realist art has, but it is still a result of a thoughtful and deliberate choice of the artist.

Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan, performance artist, folk singer or poet? Dylan’s response when asked replied ‘just a guitar player’ (Pennebaker’s. D.A, Video). Bob Dylan created music that purposely set out to challenge, provoke and create a response within society and his audience. Therefore I feel he can be classed, among other things, as a performance artist. Born Robert Zimmerman in the USA 1941 Dylan has been ‘on the road’ since the death of his hero Woody Guthrie who’s hobo folk music carrying news to poor folk across the USA proved inspirational to Dylan. Some say Dylan is the voice of the oppressed, the champion of the small man. His career started in the early nineteen sixties and he remains in the highest esteem of the cream of modern day musicians.

‘Protest singer’ was an early tag put on Dylan perhaps because of his arrival on the ‘scene’ coinciding with the underlying dis - ease in the USA with the intensity of the Vietnam war in which they were entrenched. During this period he spent three years supplying marching songs for the campus protests against the war, hypocrisy and discrimination. This created a reaction with the right wing press who Dylan referred to as ‘the idiot wind’. However Dylan has never been an artist to rest on his success and he has written and performed songs constantly over the past forty years. These include comments and insights into politics, life’s injustices, and rights of the poor man, social issues, love and its reflections and the liberation of the mind. This he has done successfully. Dylan’s artistic style challenges people to think about where they are and what they and others are up to in life. Many of Dylan’s song have the status of anthems such as Mr Tambourine Man, All along the Watch Tower, I Shall be Released, but arguably the man in the street will remember ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, a song to the human race asking when will they get there act together, featuring lines such as ’Yes,n how many ears must one man have Before he can hear people cry?’ (Cape.J 1987 Pg. 77)

As a performance Artist Dylan has been and continues to be a thought provoking inspiration throughout the world. However Dylan’s reaction to such labelling is ‘I am not a preacher or travelling salesman. I do what I do. There was a time I cared if anyone understood. Not anymore…(Shelton.R 1986 Pg. 329).

Vanessa Beecroft
Vanessa Beecroft was born in Genoa, Italy in 1969 and now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She studied architecture, painting and stage design and now concentrates on performance art. Her work features the installation of groups of young women creating performances about the union of high fashion and art history. She has become known for pieces involving up to twenty similar women wearing underwear, high heels (or trainers), maybe tights or wigs, and not much else. Her work is done with the professionalism of a commercial art – director. She uses make – up artists and lighting designers to achieve this standard.

The performances consist of the groups of women positioned for up to two hours in the same position with the occasional movement. Critics have said the work is ‘Fascist and incorrect’ others have said ‘it’s art, it's fashion. It's good, it's bad. It's sexist, it's not’. (Smith.R The New York Times, 1998). One of her performances titled "Show" featured twenty tall gorgeous women, mostly professional models, standing in a museum. Fifteen wore elegant red bikinis and matching four-inch spike heels; the others just wore the shoes. The wardrobe was designed by Tom Ford of Gucci and the makeup by Pat Mc Grath. It included light body-makeup and powdered hair that contributed to the walking-mannequin effect. The women stared into space, aloof and indifferent. Occasionally the models would stretch, crouched or walked slowly around. Vanessa said ‘ I want women on heels because that’s powerful, that’s not natural nudity or pureness,’ ‘When men see these woman standing on heels as if she were dressed, and facing the audience, well, if that’s what they like to see, then here it is, so what. I don’t know if that will create more respect or go somewhere beyond that. Maybe after they see it twenty times they’ll start not to think of it the same way, I’m not sure. It’s an experiment’

Vanessa Beecroft calls them an "army" that empowers women and refers to her instructions to them as "rules". She also claims an indifference to the presence of men in the audience. She said, ‘the true beauty of women has never been reflected in art or fashion’ (Smith.R The New York Times, 1998). I feel this statement is very untrue. She is implying that she aims for greater accuracy by presenting the real thing in this highly artificialized structured form. Is she not just exposing women? Does she have to use models to express the female form, is it not just a pretentious show of glamour and high fashion. Or is she relating to girl-power and feminism? When studying her work these are questions that come to my mind. But, she is after all a performance artist and is it not her job to shock and question our confusion within her subject and the way she exhibits?

So what is all the fuss surrounding good-looking female models taking off their clothes and standing around in galleries and museums? Of course people are going to want to have a look! Could it be that contemporary art is in such danger of becoming insignificant that any bit of scandal, which creates public interest, is desperately embraced?

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