A New Breed of English

Up until this class, I felt as if I didn’t have any freedom to write. It always seemed as if I was writing along a guideline of what the teachers wanted to hear and what they expected us to write. It always felt as if my teachers wanted one specific answer and didn’t really look into what the students had to say. I was honestly expecting another one of these teachers this semester, and I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if that were the way it turned out. This English composition class was completely different. In this class, I felt like Professor Torgerson wasn’t really looking for something in general, but instead wanted to hear what I had to say. I felt like he gave me a lot of freedom to write about what I wanted to say, not what he wanted to hear. He was very open-minded and it always seemed like he wanted to learn new things through what I was writing. Not only was this a great approach for an English class for me, it also made me feel great about myself because it felt like I was teaching other people new things.

Through this class, I could say that I learned a few things about reading and writing. First of all, I learned that a lot of people are actually interested in what you have to say. For example, in my first paper, I received a few comments of people who seemed to genuinely care for what I had to say. I never really shared my work with other people, but I learned that by actually letting other people see it, they learn more about myself and what I’m discussing and I learn a lot from what they have to say in response. Through this, I made a lot of revisions in my papers. All these revisions made my papers more personal. For example, in my first paper, my revisions helped people know more about my history in writing while revisions in my second paper helped people see more about my love for hip-hop. I made these revisions because I wanted to people to know more about myself. I also learned that you should never doubt your skills in writing. Most people are better writers than they believe, and just like myself, need a bit more confidence in their writing. Besides reading and writing, I learned a lot about the world. For example, I learned a lot about the culture of hip-hop. I that hip-hop is a culture, while rap is a genre of music. I learned that hip-hop can be expressed through dancing and graffiti art.

Honestly, I didn’t really struggle too much in this class. Since it was an online class, remembering assignments were due were a little more difficult in the beginning. Assignments were also completed on WordPress, a website I’ve never used before, so that took a bit of learning. Also, since I wasn’t too familiar with using the online libraries and databases, I had a hard time finding articles. I eventually got used to all of these factors as time went on, so it really wasn’t too big of a deal, and was actually beneficial to me in the end. On the other hand, I believe that I had a lot of successes. My first paper about my English history helped me gain confidence in my writing. Many peers, a writing consultant, and my professor reviewed it; all who said it was a pretty good paper. I always believed that I wasn’t a great writer, but those comments helped me think otherwise. My second paper about hip-hop helped me rediscover a liking for writing. That paper let me write about something I truly loved and showed me just how fun writing can be if you actually enjoy what you’re writing about.

Overall, I could say that this was my favorite English class. It was a big turnaround from all the other English classes that I had because I felt as if Professor Torgerson gave us topics that we could actually enjoy. When I have a topic that I like writing about, I tend to put my heart in it and try much harder. This class was not only enjoyable, it also helped me learn how to research more efficiently and manage my time, while also giving me confidence in my work. I can confidently say that this class was a great experience.

Blogging: My Favorite English Teacher

            To be completely honest, English was never my favorite subject growing up. Whether it was reading or writing, I just couldn’t stand it. My vocabulary was never as extensive as all the better writers in my class, who used such vivid words in their writing. I could never extend my papers to great lengths like they did. People who I thought were amazing in English always surrounded me. I never really got high grades like them and it discouraged me. Also, I always had difficult teachers growing up. They would expect the whole class to write at a certain level that I never could attain and I never met their standards. All throughout middle school and high school, all of these situations would arise. No matter what I did, I could never see myself as being a remarkable writer.

It wasn’t until recently when I discovered how fascinating reading and writing could be. I give all the credit of my newfound interest in reading and writing to the Internet. I was never really the type to open a book and read the whole novel. However, I always loved reading interesting articles on the Internet. I also enjoyed looking up random facts, and posted blogs about my days, even when I was younger. As the author Nicholas Carr said in The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, “For some people, the very idea of reading a book has come to seem old-fashioned, maybe even a little silly–like sewing your own shirts or butchering your own meat,” (8). This was the exact mindset that I had growing up. I believed that flipping through 200-300 pages of a book was something that an adult or a nerd would do. Being on the computer was “cool”, not looking through a book. Playing games, watching videos, and listening to music were fun. Spending time with stacks of paper was not.

During my junior or senior year of high school, I was introduced to a blogging website named Tumblr. This website allows you to “follow” other people’s blogs and read what they have to say. I believe that blogs are one of the best ways to start enjoying reading and writing. In the article written by Lara Ducate and Lara Lomicka, Adventures in the Blogosphere: From Blog Readers to Blog Writers, they say that through blogging, “students can develop camaraderie or even a sense of belonging to a community of readers or writers,” (11). I now feel more confident in writing what I enjoy, which is poetry. After listening to hip-hop growing up and watching spoken word artists such as Rudy Francisco, Shihan, and Gemineye, I started to give spoken word poetry a shot. The thing about Tumblr is that I feel people actually enjoy what I write. When thinking about how Tumblr has affected the way I thought about reading and writing, I can definitely say that having a blog really makes you feel like you have an audience that enjoys what you write. This is completely the opposite of being judged and criticized for your work on how well you know the English language, or how accurate your grammar is. Blogging makes it feel like you belong to a group who enjoys the content of work, not the technicalities of it.

I can say that spending time on a blog helped my writing significantly. “Improving your writing is necessarily gradual and erratic,” (Elbow, 108). This was absolutely correct in my case. When I first started trying poetry, I just rhymed like I was writing a 4^th grade writing assignment. I had no originality, no flow, and no ideas to really write about. Today, I can look back and confidently say that I have improved a whole lot. I’m not the greatest poet in the world, nor do I say that I’m even close, but I can say that I am much better at forming poems better today than I was a year ago. As you keep writing, you grow in creativity and skill.

When I start writing, I don’t know exactly what I want to write about right away. “Writers should not build a form and then pour concrete into it, but write and then see what develops” (Murray, 14). I’ve noticed that this is exactly what happens when I write some of my best work. I don’t start with an outline of every point I want to cover. I start with an idea and build upon it. I was taught to write outlines before, and it only made me struggle more to make sure I cover each and every point I wanted. If I build upon my ideas, I feel a sense of freedom to cover whatever I want without being restricted to what I outlined before I started.

Blogging hasn’t taught me only about how to write. It also helped my capabilities as a reader. “When these students, partly because they have gotten such good grades, try to become writers, they discover that short is better than long.” (Murray, 15) These are one of the main things that I learned by blogging. There are many long posts that people on Tumblr post that are empty and meaningless and filled with many long, extravagant words. However, there are one or two line quotes that can be so much more powerful by using small, simple words. For example, I saw a quote from Albert Einstein that said, “Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.” This is much more inspirational than some of these long, empty posts that I usually see that are ignorant and unintelligent. As the old saying goes, “It’s all about quality, not quantity.” I stick by that saying one hundred percent. It really doesn’t matter about how much you can say, or what kind of words you say. It’s about what you say. It’s about the message.

“If someone reports something that seems crazy, listen to him openly. Try to have his experience” (Elbow, 94). I found this to be a useful piece of advice while reading blogs. It’s interesting to hear what people have to say, regardless of how ridiculous it sounds. There’s some things that I may have never known before, new details I would have never known until reading somebody else’s blog. It’s always interesting hearing about a side of a story that you never knew before. For example, a few days ago, I heard a story about the Ugandan group leader, Joseph Kony and how an organization is trying its hardest to gather a large group of people in order to stop him. Moved by this organization’s story, I donated in hopes of helping the cause. However, a few moments after, I read about how the organization is actually not trustworthy and how my money is isn’t fully supporting the cause. If I wasn’t more open-minded and didn’t acknowledge the fact that this organization that I fully had faith in couldn’t be trusted as much as I believed, I would have never known that side of the organization’s story. Being open-minded to certain writings is something that everybody should always do.

“Blogs can also help people to become more thoughtful and critical observers of the world around them (Blood, 2002) and, due to their simplicity technically speaking, offer an attractive medium for promoting literacy skills,” (Ducate, Lomicka, 10). I can say that blogging has helped me become more observant about the world I live in, more interested in the things around me. It helped me discover English skills that I never knew I even owned. Back in high school, I possessed none of these qualities. I’m glad that I came across this world of blogging because not only has it made me a better writer and a reader, but a more intelligent person as well. I guess I can say that blogging has to be my favorite English teacher thus far.

Hip-Hop: The Voice of the People

It was some time during elementary school; fourth grade to be exact. This movie was coming out and its lead actor was this rapper that I saw on MTV, Eminem. 8 Mile was what it was called. It was about a young, struggling rapper trying to make it big. A few months later, the hit album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was released by 50 Cent. I was absorbing all of it. I was memorizing rap verses. “Palms are sweaty. Knees weak, arms are heavy. There’s vomit on the sweater already, mom’s spaghetti.” I still remember those lines from Lose Yourself by Eminem today. I was discovering new artists, playing their music loud in my room, and everything else a young kid does when he discovers music he likes. Like any kid growing up, it made me feel rebellious. They talked about getting tons of money, getting tons of women, driving expensive cars, and everything a young kid could only dream about. Of course I wanted to be like them. I dressed like them, wearing baggy clothes, white sneakers, big chains, and all of that. I might have even uttered my first curse word at this point in my life. This was the kind of culture I enjoyed and the kind of music I was listening to growing up, but as I started maturing and seeing things a little differently, I got sick of the whole rap scene.

As Jeff Chang said in his article, IT’s a Hip-Hop World, “To the uninitiated, hip-hop hardly looks or sounds like a brave, new art form. It’s more like a sonic jackhammer, a visual eyesore, and a conceptual nuisance. Critics often call hip-hop materialistic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, vulgar, and violent. It’s a hot mess, the roar of total chaos” (59). I guess this is what I was discovering as I was growing up and getting sick of the music. It was starting to all seem ignorant to me and I started to venture out and look for music that had more meaning. I started listening to rock, jazz, R&B, and almost every other genre you could think of instead of. I didn’t know that this meaningful music that I was looking for was right under my nose. It was back with the genre of rap.

Many years later, just when I thought that I was just about done with rap music, I stumbled upon this rapper named Blu, who is actually my favorite rapper today. After listening to jazz during my brief rap hiatus, I immediately fell in love with his sound, which sampled jazz records. For example, in his song, In Remembrance of Me, you can hear melodies sampled from the song How Time Flies by The O’Jays. Another rapper, KRS-One, said this about the technique of sampling jazz: ”Rap and jazz,” he said, “are ultimately saying that if they combine it means a consciousness of one generation to another has combined and some sort of revolutionary standpoint can come out of that” (Perchard, 292). Sampling jazz isn’t just a way to create a beautiful sound, but a way to bring the older generations of jazz and today’s generation of rap together. And it’s not only jazz that influenced the sound of hip-hop. In the documentary, Rhyme & Reason, KRS-One says, “When you discuss the history of hip-hop, you gotta understand that hip-hop has many starts. Hip-hop had a start in gospel, had a start in jazz, it had a start in blues, and rock and roll, disco – hip-hop.” Hip-hop brought together many different sounds.

Aside from the beautiful music I was hearing in the background, it was Blu’s lyrics that touched me even more. In his song, Show Me the Good Life, he raps, “Fuck jewels, I think my soul glows bright enough. Fuck whips, I learn more when I ride the bus. Fuck gold, it’s bad enough that we fight for bucks. And fuck hoes, because in the end, I need a wife to love.” These lyrics weren’t about expensive jewelry, fancy cars, a plethora of women, and millions of dollars. In fact, these lyrics were against all of these things. These lyrics promoted having a good soul, being intellectual, caring about more than just money, and finding true love. I realized that rap truly had great meaning.

From that point on, I fell in love with the genre of rap all over again. “Rap, which began as a fierce and proudly insular music of the American black underclass, is now possibly the most successful American export this side of the microchip, permeating, virtually dominating, worldwide youth culture” (Cocks, McCluskey). I was discovering that rap wasn’t only found here in America, but all around the world. Nujabes, one of my favorite hip-hop producers, was born and raised in Japan. In the song Amelie by Mr. J. Medeiros, the French rap group, Hocus Pocus, is featured and a whole verse is actually rapped in French. No matter where you go, rap is going to be present. As Chang says in his article, “Today, the message of hip-hop is even transcending borders…hip-hop is a lingua franca that binds young people all around the world, all while giving them the chance to alter it with their own national flavor” (60).

Whether you’re here in America or somewhere overseas, you can find many young people who are in love with this culture that is hip-hop. Growing up, I always thought hip-hop and rap were synonymous and were just used to describe rap music. However, I discovered that rap is the music that we hear and hip-hop is the culture it comes from. “According to many Hip Hop aficionados, Hip Hop culture consists of at least four fundamental elements: Disc jockeying (DJing), break dancing, graffiti art, and rapping (emceeing)” (Alridge, Stewart, 190). DJing and emceeing go hand-in-hand so I always classified those two under the category of hip-hop. I just never really knew that hip-hop was so much more than the music.

Looking back, I guess I could say that I’ve always been a fan of the whole culture. When I sat in the backseat of the car when I was little, I always noticed the graffiti art on the walls of certain places. I was never exposed to the world of hip-hop until it went mainstream, so this whole culture was all new to me. Though my parents always looked down on graffiti and saw it as vandalism, I always noticed the skill it had to take in order to create those pieces and that it was actually art. I realized that these paintings on the walls of building were like murals and that they had meaning behind them as well. In Rhyme & Reason, the graffiti artist Andre Charles says, “Graffiti art means getting out what a lot of people can’t get out. It’s like expressing beauty, color, excitement, drama. It’s everything like music.” Though it can sometimes be vandalism, I always saw it as an expression and just a way for graffiti artists to have people see their art and hear their message, just like any rap song. Not only have I appreciated graffiti, but I also appreciated the art of breakdancing. I have many friends who dance hip-hop and some that even breakdance. It’s a way for these dancers to express themselves, just like graffiti or music. Lil’ Caesar, a breakdancer said in Rhyme & Reason, “They say breaking is not hip-hop. If breaking wasn’t hip-hop, then they don’t know the history. Breaking means to me that, it’s a way of expressing myself, getting my anger out there instead of going out there and smoking or fighting. I go to my own little world and I just express myself through breaking. I dance and get creative.”

Though it’s been a while since my 50 Cent and Eminem days, I am still a huge fan of rap. I still consider it one of my favorite genres. The problem is that when people look at hip-hop and rap today, a lot of them see it as noise, rebellion, and other negative things. The media today can give a bad image of hip-hop to the public, as most mainstream artists say and do a lot of ignorant things. It’s these things, however, “which has distributed Hip Hop to the masses in ways that reinforce historical stereotypes about African Americans by highlighting sexist, misogynistic, and nihilistic lyrics and images” (Alridge, Stewart, 193). People need to see that hip-hop can be positive and has meaningful messages. For example, the song War of the World by the rapper Spectac addresses topics such as presidential elections, drug abuse, the environment, and peace. “Hip-hop matters, quite simply, because it is the voice of the streets. And that remains true today, regardless of whether it’s the poor youth in the suburbs of Paris or indigenous people fighting for their dignity in Colombia. Hip-hop has connected with the powerless in a way that no one could have predicted or, now, can control” (Watkins, 63). That’s the beautiful thing about hip-hop. It’s not limited to just these flashy rappers you hear on the radio and see on the television. Though I could never say that I’ll be a rapper, rap music definitely influences the way I write. I write as if I’m rapping and focus of having a nice flow, as if I was actually rapping. Anybody could be part of hip-hop. Hip-hop connects with the kid who has problems at home and lets out his anger through dance. Hip-hop connects with the man who wants to have his voice heard through his poetry. Hip-hop connects with the struggling artist who can’t find a canvas. Everybody has a voice in hip-hop.

About Me

Hello, everybody! If you’re on this page, you probably want to know a little more about me. Well, if you didn’t already know, my name is Vince Molina. I was born in raised in Piscataway, a town in central New Jersey, famously known as the home of Rutgers University. Though I’m an only child, I am close with my family, including my extended family. I have a smaller circle of friends, but keep myself close to all of them. I’m in a relationship with my girlfriend, Melissa, and have been since April of 2011. I am of Filipino nationality and I like to keep in touch with my culture. For example, I am part of St. John’s Filipino organization, PARE, which helps us learn about the culture and history of the Philippines.

Before I moved in to my dorm at St. John’s, I’ve lived in Piscataway for all eighteen of my years. Moving into New York was a big step for me, but also an exciting one. Growing up, I’ve always been a huge fan of New York City and the opportunity to learn in a city that I love was basically a dream come true. Currently at St. John’s, I am a freshman as a pharmacy major. I’ve always wanted to work in the medical field and my interest in chemistry makes me a great fit for this major.

When I’m not immersed in the work of the pharmacy program, I have a few interests and hobbies I do to pass time. I am a big fan of music and I spend a lot of time looking up new artists. Also, I play the guitar, piano, and try my hardest to sing. I am a big fan of basketball and am a big Chicago Bulls fan.

I love discovering new things. Learning new and interesting things excites me. One thing that interests me is the human person, especially the mind. The complexity of the brain is remarkably intriguing, whether it has to pertain to psychology, personality, or philosophy. Besides the human person, another exciting aspect of the world is how vast it is. There’s so much that one can see in this country alone and to imagine what the whole planet Earth holds is just overwhelming. It is my dream to travel when I am older and explore parts of the world. It’s fascinating how much the universe has to offer us and how much we could possibly learn.

Works Cited

Alridge, Derrick P., and James B. Stewart. “Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future.” Journal of African American History 90.3 (2005): 190-95. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains. 1st. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010.

Chang, Jeff, and S. Craig Watkins. ”IT’S A Hip-Hop World.” Foreign Policy 163 (2007): 58-65. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Cocks, Jay, and Ian McCluskey. “Rap Around the Globe.” Time 19 Oct. 1992: 70-71. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Ducate, Lara C., and Lara L. Lomicka. “Adventures in the Blogosphere: From Blog Readers to Blog Writers.” Computer Assisted Language Learning 21.1 (2008): 9-28. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Elbow, Peter. Writing Without Teachers. 2. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, USA, 2000. Print.

Murray, Donald M. Write to Learn. Eighth. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005. Web.

Perchard, Tom. “Hip Hop Samples Jazz: Dynamics of Cultural Memory and Musical Tradition in the African American 1990s.” American Music 29.3 (2011): 277-307. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Rhyme & Reason. Dir. Peter Spirer. Miramax, 1997. Film. YouTube. 20 Nov. 2011. Web.

Hip-Hop: The Voice of the People (Revised)

It was some time during elementary school; fourth grade to be exact. This movie was coming out and its lead actor was this rapper that I saw on MTV, Eminem. 8 Mile was what it was called. It was about a young, struggling rapper trying to make it big. A few months later, the hit album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was released by 50 Cent. I was absorbing all of it. I was memorizing rap verses. “Palms are sweaty. Knees weak, arms are heavy. There’s vomit on the sweater already, mom’s spaghetti.” I still remember those lines from Lose Yourself by Eminem today. I was discovering new artists, playing their music loud in my room, and everything else a young kid does when he discovers music he likes. Like any kid growing up, it made me feel rebellious. They talked about getting tons of money, getting tons of women, driving expensive cars, and everything a young kid could only dream about. Of course I wanted to be like them. I dressed like them, wearing baggy clothes, white sneakers, big chains, and all of that. I might have even uttered my first curse word at this point in my life. This was the kind of culture I enjoyed and the kind of music I was listening to growing up, but as I started maturing and seeing things a little differently, I got sick of the whole rap scene.

As Jeff Chang said in his article, IT’s a Hip-Hop World, “To the uninitiated, hip-hop hardly looks or sounds like a brave, new art form. It’s more like a sonic jackhammer, a visual eyesore, and a conceptual nuisance. Critics often call hip-hop materialistic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, vulgar, and violent. It’s a hot mess, the roar of total chaos” (59). I guess this is what I was discovering as I was growing up and getting sick of the music. It was starting to all seem ignorant to me and I started to venture out and look for music that had more meaning. I started listening to rock, jazz, R&B, and almost every other genre you could think of instead of. I didn’t know that this meaningful music that I was looking for was right under my nose. It was back with the genre of rap.

Many years later, just when I thought that I was just about done with rap music, I stumbled upon this rapper named Blu, who is actually my favorite rapper today. After listening to jazz during my brief rap hiatus, I immediately fell in love with his sound, which sampled jazz records. For example, in his song, In Remembrance of Me, you can hear melodies sampled from the song How Time Flies by The O’Jays. Another rapper, KRS-One, said this about the technique of sampling jazz: ”Rap and jazz,” he said, “are ultimately saying that if they combine it means a consciousness of one generation to another has combined and some sort of revolutionary standpoint can come out of that” (Perchard, 292). Sampling jazz isn’t just a way to create a beautiful sound, but a way to bring the older generations of jazz and today’s generation of rap together. And it’s not only jazz that influenced the sound of hip-hop. In the documentary, Rhyme & Reason, KRS-One says, “When you discuss the history of hip-hop, you gotta understand that hip-hop has many starts. Hip-hop had a start in gospel, had a start in jazz, it had a start in blues, and rock and roll, disco – hip-hop.” Hip-hop brought together many different sounds.

Aside from the beautiful music I was hearing in the background, it was Blu’s lyrics that touched me even more. In his song, Show Me the Good Life, he raps, “Fuck jewels, I think my soul glows bright enough. Fuck whips, I learn more when I ride the bus. Fuck gold, it’s bad enough that we fight for bucks. And fuck hoes, because in the end, I need a wife to love.” These lyrics weren’t about expensive jewelry, fancy cars, a plethora of women, and millions of dollars. In fact, these lyrics were against all of these things. These lyrics promoted having a good soul, being intellectual, caring about more than just money, and finding true love. I realized that rap truly had great meaning.

From that point on, I fell in love with the genre of rap all over again. “Rap, which began as a fierce and proudly insular music of the American black underclass, is now possibly the most successful American export this side of the microchip, permeating, virtually dominating, worldwide youth culture” (Cocks, McCluskey). I was discovering that rap wasn’t only found here in America, but all around the world. Nujabes, one of my favorite hip-hop producers, was born and raised in Japan. In the song Amelie by Mr. J. Medeiros, the French rap group, Hocus Pocus, is featured and a whole verse is actually rapped in French. No matter where you go, rap is going to be present. As Chang says in his article, “Today, the message of hip-hop is even transcending borders…hip-hop is a lingua franca that binds young people all around the world, all while giving them the chance to alter it with their own national flavor” (60).

Whether you’re here in America or somewhere overseas, you can find many young people who are in love with this culture that is hip-hop. Growing up, I always thought hip-hop and rap were synonymous and were just used to describe rap music. However, I discovered that rap is the music that we hear and hip-hop is the culture it comes from. “According to many Hip Hop aficionados, Hip Hop culture consists of at least four fundamental elements: Disc jockeying (DJing), break dancing, graffiti art, and rapping (emceeing)” (Alridge, Stewart, 190). DJing and emceeing go hand-in-hand so I always classified those two under the category of hip-hop. I just never really knew that hip-hop was so much more than the music.

Looking back, I guess I could say that I’ve always been a fan of the whole culture. When I sat in the backseat of the car when I was little, I always noticed the graffiti art on the walls of certain places. I was never exposed to the world of hip-hop until it went mainstream, so this whole culture was all new to me. Though my parents always looked down on graffiti and saw it as vandalism, I always noticed the skill it had to take in order to create those pieces and that it was actually art. I realized that these paintings on the walls of building were like murals and that they had meaning behind them as well. In Rhyme & Reason, the graffiti artist Andre Charles says, “Graffiti art means getting out what a lot of people can’t get out. It’s like expressing beauty, color, excitement, drama. It’s everything like music.” Though it can sometimes be vandalism, I always saw it as an expression and just a way for graffiti artists to have people see their art and hear their message, just like any rap song. Not only have I appreciated graffiti, but I also appreciated the art of breakdancing. I have many friends who dance hip-hop and some that even breakdance. It’s a way for these dancers to express themselves, just like graffiti or music. Lil’ Caesar, a breakdancer said in Rhyme & Reason, “They say breaking is not hip-hop. If breaking wasn’t hip-hop, then they don’t know the history. Breaking means to me that, it’s a way of expressing myself, getting my anger out there instead of going out there and smoking or fighting. I go to my own little world and I just express myself through breaking. I dance and get creative.”

Though it’s been a while since my 50 Cent and Eminem days, I am still a huge fan of rap. I still consider it one of my favorite genres. The problem is that when people look at hip-hop and rap today, a lot of them see it as noise, rebellion, and other negative things. The media today can give a bad image of hip-hop to the public, as most mainstream artists say and do a lot of ignorant things. It’s these things, however, “which has distributed Hip Hop to the masses in ways that reinforce historical stereotypes about African Americans by highlighting sexist, misogynistic, and nihilistic lyrics and images” (Alridge, Stewart, 193). People need to see that hip-hop can be positive and has meaningful messages. For example, the song War of the World by the rapper Spectac addresses topics such as presidential elections, drug abuse, the environment, and peace. “Hip-hop matters, quite simply, because it is the voice of the streets. And that remains true today, regardless of whether it’s the poor youth in the suburbs of Paris or indigenous people fighting for their dignity in Colombia. Hip-hop has connected with the powerless in a way that no one could have predicted or, now, can control” (Watkins, 63). That’s the beautiful thing about hip-hop. It’s not limited to just these flashy rappers you hear on the radio and see on the television. Though I could never say that I’ll be a rapper, rap music definitely influences the way I write. I write as if I’m rapping and focus of having a nice flow, as if I was actually rapping. Anybody could be part of hip-hop. Hip-hop connects with the kid who has problems at home and lets out his anger through dance. Hip-hop connects with the man who wants to have his voice heard through his poetry. Hip-hop connects with the struggling artist who can’t find a canvas. Everybody has a voice in hip-hop.

 

Works Cited

Alridge, Derrick P., and James B. Stewart. “Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future.” Journal of African American History 90.3 (2005): 190-95. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Chang, Jeff, and S. Craig Watkins. ”IT’S A Hip-Hop World.” Foreign Policy 163 (2007): 58-65. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Cocks, Jay, and Ian McCluskey. “Rap Around the Globe.” Time 19 Oct. 1992: 70-71. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Perchard, Tom. “Hip Hop Samples Jazz: Dynamics of Cultural Memory and Musical Tradition in the African American 1990s.” American Music 29.3 (2011): 277-307. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Rhyme & Reason. Dir. Peter Spirer. Miramax, 1997. Film. YouTube. 20 Nov. 2011. Web.

 

Draft of Introduction to the Final Porfolio

Up until this class, I felt as if I didn’t have any freedom to write. It always seemed as if I was writing along a guideline of what the teachers wanted to hear and what they expected us to write. It always felt as if my teachers wanted one specific answer and didn’t really look into what the students had to say. I was honestly expecting another one of these teachers this semester, and I honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if that was the way it turned out. This English composition class was completely different. In this class, I felt like Professor Torgerson wasn’t really looking for something in general, but instead wanted to hear what I had to say. I felt like he gave me a lot of freedom to write about what I wanted to say, not what he wanted to hear. He was very open-minded and it always seemed like he wanted to learn new things through what I was writing. Not only was this a great approach for an English class for me, it also made me feel great about myself because it felt like I was teaching other people new things.

Through this class, I could say that I learned a few things about reading and writing. First of all, I learned that a lot of people are actually interested in what you have to say. For example, in my first paper, I received a few comments of people who seemed to genuinely care for what I had to say. I never really shared my work with other people, but I learned that by actually letting other people see it, they learn more about myself and what I’m discussing and I learn a lot from what they have to say in response. I also learned that you should never doubt your skills in writing. Most people are better writers than they believe, and just like myself, need a bit more confidence in their writing.

Honestly, I didn’t really struggle too much in this class. Since it was an online class, remembering assignments were due were a little more difficult in the beginning. Assignments were also completed on WordPress, a website I’ve never used before, so that took a bit of learning. Also, since I wasn’t too familiar with using the online libraries and databases, I had a hard time finding articles. I eventually got used to all of these factors as time went on, so it really wasn’t too big of a deal, and was actually beneficial to me in the end. On the other hand, I believe that I had a lot of successes. My first paper about my English history helped me gain confidence in my writing. Many peers, a writing consultant, and my professor reviewed it; all who said it was a pretty good paper. I always believed that I wasn’t a great writer, but those comments helped me think otherwise. My second paper about hip-hop helped me rediscover a liking for writing. That paper let me write about something I truly loved and showed me just how fun writing can be if you actually enjoy what you’re writing about.

Overall, I could say that this was my favorite English class. It was a big turnaround from all the other English classes that I had because I felt as if Professor Torgerson gave us topics that we could actually enjoy. When I have a topic that I like writing about, I tend to put my heart in it and try much harder. This class was not only enjoyable, it also helped me learn how to research more efficiently and manage my time, while also giving me confidence in my work. I can confidently say that this class was a great experience.

Hip-Hop: The Voice of the People (SPN)

It was some time during elementary school; fourth grade to be exact. This movie was coming out and its lead actor was this rapper that I saw on MTV, Eminem. 8 Mile was what it was called. It was about a young, struggling rapper trying to make it big. A few months later, the hit album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ was released by 50 Cent. I was absorbing all of it. I was memorizing rap verses, discovering new artists, playing their music loud in my room, and everything else a young kid does when he discovers music he likes. Like any kid growing up, it made me feel rebellious. They talked about getting tons of money, getting tons of women, driving expensive cars, and everything a young kid could only dream about. This was the kind of music I was listening to growing up, but as I started maturing and seeing things a little differently, I got sick of the whole rap scene.

As Jeff Chang said in his article, IT’s a Hip-Hop World, “To the uninitiated, hip-hop hardly looks or sounds like a brave, new art form. It’s more like a sonic jackhammer, a visual eyesore, and a conceptual nuisance. Critics often call hip-hop materialistic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, vulgar, and violent. It’s a hot mess, the roar of total chaos” (59). I guess this is what I was discovering as I was growing up and getting sick of the music. It was starting to all seem ignorant to me and I started to venture out and look for music that had more meaning. I started listening to rock, jazz, R&B, and almost every other genre you could think of instead of. Little did I know that the music with meaning that I was looking for was right under my nose. It was back with the genre of rap.

Many years later, just when I thought that I was just about done with rap music, I stumbled upon this rapper named Blu, who is actually my favorite rapper today. After listening to jazz during my brief rap hiatus, I immediately fell in love with his sound, which sampled jazz records. For example, in his song, In Remembrance of Me, you can hear melodies sampled from the song How Time Flies by The O’Jays. Another rapper, KRS-One, said this about the technique of sampling jazz: ”Rap and jazz,” he said, “are ultimately saying that if they combine it means a consciousness of one generation to another has combined and some sort of revolutionary standpoint can come out of that” (Perchard, 292). Sampling jazz isn’t just a way to create a beautiful sound, but a way to bring the older generations of jazz and today’s generation of rap together. And it’s not only jazz that influenced the sound of hip-hop. In the documentary, Rhyme & Reason, KRS-One says, “When you discuss the history of hip-hop, you gotta understand that hip-hop has many starts. Hip-hop had a start in gospel, had a start in jazz, it had a start in blues, and rock and roll, disco – hip-hop.” Hip-hop brought together many different sounds.

Aside from the beautiful music I was hearing in the background, it was Blu’s lyrics that touched me even more. In his song, Show Me the Good Life, he raps, “Fuck jewels, I think my soul glows bright enough. Fuck whips, I learn more when I ride the bus. Fuck gold, it’s bad enough that we fight for bucks. And fuck hoes, because in the end, I need a wife to love.” These words were basically the exact opposite of what I heard when I used to listen to rap back in the fourth grade. These lyrics weren’t about expensive jewelry, fancy cars, a plethora of women, and millions of dollars. In fact, these lyrics were against all of these things. These lyrics promoted having a good soul, being intellectual, caring about more than just money, and finding true love. I realized that rap truly had great meaning.

From that point on, I fell in love with the genre of rap all over again. “Rap, which began as a fierce and proudly insular music of the American black underclass, is now possibly the most successful American export this side of the microchip, permeating, virtually dominating, worldwide youth culture” (Cocks, McCluskey). I was discovering that rap wasn’t only found here in America, but all around the world. Nujabes, one of my favorite hip-hop producers, was born and raised in Japan. In the song Amelie by Mr. J. Medeiros, the French rap group, Hocus Pocus, is featured and a whole verse is actually rapped in French. No matter where you go, rap is going to be present. As Chang says in his article, “Today, the message of hip-hop is even transcending borders…hip-hop is a lingua franca that binds young people all around the world, all while giving them the chance to alter it with their own national flavor” (60).

Whether you’re here in America or somewhere overseas, you can find many young people who are in love with this culture that is hip-hop. Growing up, I always thought hip-hop and rap were synonymous and were just used to describe rap music. However, I discovered that rap is the music that we hear and hip-hop is the culture it comes from. “According to many Hip Hop aficionados, Hip Hop culture consists of at least four fundamental elements: Disc jockeying (DJing), break dancing, graffiti art, and rapping (emceeing)” (Alridge, Stewart, 190). DJing and emceeing go hand-in-hand, so I always classified those two under the category of hip-hop. I just never really knew that hip-hop was so much more than the music.

Looking back, I guess I could say that I’ve always been a fan of the whole culture. When I sat in the backseat of the car when I was little, I always noticed the graffiti art on the walls of certain places. Though my parents always looked down on graffiti and saw it as vandalism, I always noticed the skill it had to take in order to create those pieces and that it was actually art. I realized that these paintings on the walls of building were like murals and that they had meaning behind them as well. In Rhyme & Reason, the graffiti artist Andre Charles says, “Graffiti art means getting out what a lot of people can’t get out. It’s like expressing beauty, color, excitement, drama. It’s everything like music.” Though it can sometimes be vandalism, I always saw it as an expression and just a way for graffiti artists to have people see their art and hear their message, just like any rap song. Not only have I appreciated graffiti, but I also appreciated the art of breakdancing. I have many friends who dance hip-hop and some that even breakdance. It’s a way for these dancers to express themselves, just like graffiti or music. Lil’ Caesar, a breakdancer said in Rhyme & Reason, “They say breaking is not hip-hop. If breaking wasn’t hip-hop, then they don’t know the history. Breaking means to me that, it’s a way of expressing myself, getting my anger out there instead of going out there and smoking or fighting. I go to my own little world and I just express myself through breaking. I dance and get creative.”

When people look at hip-hop and rap today, a lot of them see it as noise, rebellion, and other negative things. The media today can give a bad image of hip-hop to the public, as most mainstream artists say and do a lot of ignorant things. It’s these things, however, “which has distributed Hip Hop to the masses in ways that reinforce historical stereotypes about African Americans by highlighting sexist, misogynistic, and nihilistic lyrics and images” (Alridge, Stewart, 193). People need to see that hip-hop can be positive and has meaningful messages. For example, the song War of the World by the rapper Spectac addresses topics such as presidential elections, drug abuse, the environment, and peace. “Hip-hop matters, quite simply, because it is the voice of the streets. And that remains true today, regardless of whether it’s the poor youth in the suburbs of Paris or indigenous people fighting for their dignity in Colombia. Hip-hop has connected with the powerless in a way that no one could have predicted or, now, can control” (Watkins, 63). That’s the beautiful thing about hip-hop. It’s not limited to just these flashy rappers you hear on the radio and see on the television. Hip-hop connects with the kid who has problems at home and lets out his anger through dance. Hip-hop connects with the man who wants to have his voice heard through his poetry. Hip-hop connects with the struggling artist who can’t find a canvas. Everybody has a voice in hip-hop.

Works Cited

Alridge, Derrick P., and James B. Stewart. “Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future.” Journal of African American History 90.3 (2005): 190-95. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Chang, Jeff, and S. Craig Watkins. ”IT’S A Hip-Hop World.” Foreign Policy 163 (2007): 58-65. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Cocks, Jay, and Ian McCluskey. “Rap Around the Globe.” Time 19 Oct. 1992: 70-71. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Perchard, Tom. “Hip Hop Samples Jazz: Dynamics of Cultural Memory and Musical Tradition in the African American 1990s.” American Music 29.3 (2011): 277-307. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Rhyme & Reason. Dir. Peter Spirer. Miramax, 1997. Film. YouTube. 20 Nov. 2011. Web.

Alternate Source Notes

When you discuss the history of hip-hop, you gotta understand that hip-hop has many starts. Hip-hop had a start in gospel, had a start in jazz, it had a start in blues, and rock and roll, disco – hip-hop. (KRS-One)

This shows how diverse the genre is. Hip-hop wasn’t just started by a bunch of hooligans that were trying to rebel and be ignorant. It has roots in many of the genres that older generations listened to before and are respected today. It’s a collaboration of many different genres.

Hip-hop is a culture, the mother of four or five different elements like rap, scratching, breakdancing, and graffiti. (Kurtis Blow)

After doing all this research on hip-hop. I realized that hip-hop isn’t just a genre. Rap is a genre. I realized that hip-hop is a whole culture.

They say breaking is not hip-hop. If breaking wasn’t hip-hop, then they don’t know the history. Breaking means to me that, it’s a way of expressing myself, getting my anger out there instead of going out there and smoking or fighting. I go to my own little world and I just express myself through breaking. I dance and get creative… (Lil’ Caesar)

Many people believe assume that the only that that hip-hop produces is violence and hate. According to a breakdancer himself, it’s the exact opposite. Hip-hop helps Lil’ Caesar stay away from hate and violence. Hip-hop can promote creativity instead of all the bad things that it’s known for.

Graffiti art means getting out what a lot of people can’t get out. It’s like expressing beauty, color, excitement, drama. It’s everything like music. (Andre Charles)

Many people see graffiti as stupid vandalism that kids do to be rebellious. Though I can agree it can sometimes be vandalism, depending on the spot they tag, I don’t find it stupid. Just like a lot of the other art that we see today, it’s an art. It’s a way for these graffiti artists to express themselves to the public. Graffiti actually has meaning, contrary to the popular opinion.

Back at that time, in the pioneering days, it wasn’t about money, nobody came out to get paid…It was a lot of hard work…We just did it for the love of hip-hop, just to play music. (Grandmaster Caz)

Though this isn’t seen today, I believe that hip-hop should have this kind of view. Rappers today seem to have this mindset that it’s all about the money and the material things. I believe that hip-hop should be about the message.

Rhyme & Reason. Dir. Peter Spirer. Miramax, 1997. Film. YouTube. 20 Nov. 2011. Web.

Research Diary Entry #4

In Italy, one singer calls it “rediscovering the tribal rhythms of our ancestors.” In Brazil, another calls it “the ideological music of the street.” In Russia, yet another performer says it is simply “a new feeling, a new experience.” In France, they say le rap. In any language, it is a certifiable, global rhythm revolution.

It’s crazy knowing that a movement that started here, in our very own New York, has become such a worldwide revolution. What once was just the music of the African Americans of New York is now a genre popular within almost every continent. I’ve heard rappers from Japan, China, and even France producing some of the greatest pieces of rap I’ve heard.

Rap, which began as a fierce and proudly insular music of the American black underclass, is now possibly the most successful American export this side of the microchip, permeating, virtually dominating, worldwide youth culture.

Though this article was written in 1992, this message still stands true, and even more so today. Almost every kid, teenager, and even adult listens to rap music. If you were to turn on the radio, most hit music stations play rap music due to its popularity within the culture.

Kobayashi can pick up on the latest sounds and steps, but learning attitude is a little trickier. Keichiro Suzuki is already a master. Says the truck driver, 20, who sports a snowy pair of Air Jordans: “I like black people and their music because they’re cool.”

I don’t agree with this way of thinking about rap music. Many people associate rap and hip-hop with this idea of wearing Jordans, expensive jewelry, and baggy jeans that expose their boxers. In my opinion, these are the kinds of stereotypes that give hip-hop and rap a bad name. Rap isn’t about how expensive your chain is or how clean your sneakers are. It’s about your message and your influence on the people.

In Italy rap is more strongly rooted in ideology. Rappers use local dialects in their music and form free-flowing social groups called posses. Forte Prenestino, a former military installation outside Rome, has become a flourishing social center where audiences and performers can mix.

This really shows how universal the genre has become. Rappers all around the world are using their own languages, not just the English that it started with in America.

It is the beat that prevails in Russia too, and the beat that unites. “Even if you don’t understand the lyrics, you feel the energy,” says Ivan Salmaxov…

I can totally agree with this. Sometimes, I’ll even download instrumental tracks to songs in order to just listen to the beat. I listen to many genres of music, including indie rock, electronic, and folk. There’s just something, however, about hip-hop and its vibe that gives me a whole different feeling. Even if I’m just listening to the beat, I really can feel the energy and just get lost in the music.

Cocks, Jay, and Ian McCluskey. “Rap Around the Globe.” Time 19 Oct. 1992: 70-71. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Research Diary Entry #3

To the uninitiated, hip-hop hardly looks or sounds like a brave, new art form. It’s more like a sonic jackhammer, a visual eyesore, and a conceptual nuisance. Critics often call hip-hop materialistic, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, vulgar, and violent. It’s a hot mess, the roar of total chaos. (59)

If you were to talk to people who haven’t really explored the genre of hip-hop and looked at just the face on it through the television or the radio, this is exactly what you would hear from them. To be honest, if I was to judge hip-hop from their viewpoint, I would probably feel the same way. However, when you look deeper into it, and actually what’s going on behind the scenes, hip-hop can actually be influential, poetic, intelligent, and creative.

The best artists share a desire to break down boundaries between “high” and “low” art-to make urgent, truth-telling work that reflects the lives, loves, histories, hopes, and fears of their generation. (60)

Hip-hop isn’t all about money, strippers, and cars. Sometimes hip-hop explores real life situations. If you listen to the radio, you’d probably hear about expensive cars and getting millions of dollars. Some of the less popular songs actually explore topics that we can actually relate to.

Today, the message of hip-hop is even transcending borders. From xi ha in China to “hip-life” in Ghana, hip-hop is a lingua franca that binds young people all around the world, all while giving them the chance to alter it with their own national flavor. (60)

Hip-hop is universal. It isn’t limited to only the ghettos or big cities of America. Actually, Japan is a country widely known for their love of hip-hop and how they blend jazz in their production. It really does ‘bind young people all around the world.’

Bambaataa saw such visits as a key way to expand Universal Zulu Nation and to espouse what he considered the core values of hiphop: peace, unity, love, and having fun. Everywhere he went, he planted the seeds for the hip-hop movement in Europe, Africa, and Asia. (62)

There are many common stereotypes when it comes to hip-hop. Some of these include violence, killing, and hatred. Actually, however, when you look at it, hip-hop was actually meant to promote the exact opposite.

Hip-hop matters, quite simply, because it is the voice of the streets. And that remains true today, regardless of whether it’s the poor youth in the suburbs of Paris or indigenous people fighting for their dignity in Colombia. Hip-hop has connected with the powerless in a way that no one could have predicted or, now, can control. (63, Watkins)

This is the best part about hip-hop in my opinion. Everybody has a voice in it. Famous rappers today come from the voice of rich, ignorant celebrities that nobody can relate to. However, by exploring, you can see that hip-hop has many voices that can represent almost everybody out there.

Chang, Jeff, and S. Craig Watkins. “IT’S A Hip-Hop World.” Foreign Policy 163 (2007): 58-65. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Research Diary Entry #2

Schloss identifies among hip hop producers a shared interest not in “the history of a community . . . but the history of sound recordings,” and Pete Rock may have to an extent concurred. But that producer’s “reincarnation” of old records—made in distinction to a commercially conceived “up-to-date” rap—worked together with his rapper partner CL Smooth’s themes of reminiscence to produce work that seemed determined to face a shared social past as much as a musical present. (279)

Sampling old records in hip hop music not only creates a beautiful sound for the audience to hear, but lets listeners hear pieces of music that the current generation may have never heard in their life times. These songs consist of samples of many types of records, including jazz, blues, and sometimes even rock. It’s a great way for the past and the present to blend together and make beautiful music.

But ideas of tradition as something consciously and critically constructed—in the present, but from the materials of the past—loom just as large; the African American cultural experience has, after all, been substantially marked and shaped by loss and reparative bricolage. (281)

Though I never thought about it in this way, sampling old records is a great way to pass down tradition and even history. For example, by sampling jazz records, the particular song can represent the whole jazz era. This could remind the listener of that particular part of time, the culture, and have listeners, especially older ones, reminisce about those times.

Indeed, standard histories of jazz have tended to describe the music’s progress in two stages: the first, a period of developing common practice, driven by African American musicians and audiences, and lasting until the 1960s; (285)

Hip hop and jazz are both linked to the African American culture. Since they share this common factor, ‘jazz hop’ is a great way for the whole African American culture—past and present—to come together as one.  It may be because of this connection that the two genres blend so well. Both of the genres together can make amazing music.

KRS-One offered (or improvised) a similar response…”Rap and jazz,” he said, “are ultimately saying that if they combine it means a consciousness of one generation to another has combined and some sort of revolutionary standpoint can come out of that.” (292)

Jazz hop is a great way to bring not only African Americans, but young and old generations as well. It can bring together the older generations who listened to jazz and the new ones who embraced hip hop. It’s proof that music can bring people together.

Perchard, Tom. “Hip Hop Samples Jazz: Dynamics of Cultural Memory and Musical Tradition in the African American 1990s.” American Music 29.3 (2011): 277-307. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Research Diary Entry #1

Instead, Hip Hop must be taken seriously as a cultural, political, economic, and intellectual phenomenon deserving of scholarly study, similar to previous African American artistic and cultural movements such as the Blues, Jazz, the New Negro Renaissance, and the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Arts Movements. (190)

I agree that Hip Hop is more than just a fad. Though some people see it as just a genre of music that can be annoying and ignorant, it actually can be seen as art, even as a way to get important messages out. Hip-Hop can address current affairs such as racism, equality, and other important issues in the world.

According to many Hip Hop aficionados, Hip Hop culture consists of at least four fundamental elements: Disc jockeying (DJing), break dancing, graffiti art, and rapping (emceeing). (190)

I never knew that there were four specific elements to the culture of hip hop. However, I enjoy listening to rap music and hearing the production of many DJs within the hip hop genre. In addition to that, I do see the beauty in graffiti art and find break dancing quite entertaining. I guess I can say that I’m a fan of the hip hop culture as a whole.

Since its emergence in the South Bronx and throughout the northeast during the early and mid-1970s. Hip Hop has encompassed not just a musical genre, but also a style of dress, dialect and language, way of looking at the world, and an aesthetic that reflects the sensibilities of a large population of youth born between 1965 and 1984. (190)

It’s amazing to know that this genre of music that I love had its beginnings not too far from where I live now. I believe that hip hop reflects the youth today, not just the youth between 1965 and 1984. As long as there are important issues to discuss and topics that need to be addressed, there will always be hip hop artists that will express their views through hip hop and an audience, young or old, that will see and hear.

…which has distributed Hip Hop to the masses in ways that reinforce historical stereotypes about African Americans by highlighting sexist, misogynistic, and nihilistic lyrics and images. (193)

I can’t deny that in some rap songs today, there are instances of  “highlighting sexist, misogynistic, and nihilistic lyrics.” However, though a lot of people see hip hop in this light, there is a ‘realer’ side to hip hop that actually talks about the important things in life, real issues, important events in the past, and other educated topics. Not all rap music contains these negative themes. It’s just that what we usually see and hear in the mainstream contains these themes.

Alridge, Derrick P., and James B. Stewart. “Introduction: Hip Hop in History: Past, Present, and Future.” Journal of African American History 90.3 (2005): 190-95. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Blogging: My Favorite English Teacher (Revision)

To be completely honest, English was never my favorite subject growing up. Whether it was reading or writing, I just couldn’t stand it. My vocabulary was never as extensive as all the better writers in my class, who used such vivid words in their writing. I could never extend my papers to great lengths like they did. People who I thought were amazing in English always surrounded me. I never really got high grades like them and it discouraged me. Also, I always had difficult teachers growing up. They would expect the whole class to write at a certain level that I never could attain and I never met their standards. All throughout middle school and high school, all of these situations would arise. No matter what I did, I could never see myself as being a remarkable writer.

It wasn’t until recently when I discovered how fascinating reading and writing could be. I give all the credit of my newfound interest in reading and writing to the Internet. I was never really the type to open a book and read the whole novel. However, I always loved reading interesting articles on the Internet. I also enjoyed looking up random facts, and posted blogs about my days, even when I was younger. As the author Nicholas Carr said in The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, “For some people, the very idea of reading a book has come to seem old-fashioned, maybe even a little silly–like sewing your own shirts or butchering your own meat,” (8). This was the exact mindset that I had growing up. I believed that flipping through 200-300 pages of a book was something that an adult or a nerd would do. Being on the computer was “cool”, not looking through a book. Playing games, watching videos, and listening to music were fun. Spending time with stacks of paper was not.

During my junior or senior year of high school, I was introduced to a blogging website named Tumblr. This website allows you to “follow” other people’s blogs and read what they have to say. I believe that blogs are one of the best ways to start enjoying reading and writing. In the article written by Lara Ducate and Lara Lomicka, Adventures in the Blogosphere: From Blog Readers to Blog Writers, they say that through blogging, “students can develop camaraderie or even a sense of belonging to a community of readers or writers,” (11). I now feel more confident in writing what I enjoy, which is poetry. After listening to hip-hop growing up and watching spoken word artists such as Rudy Francisco, Shihan, and Gemineye, I started to give spoken word poetry a shot. The thing about Tumblr is that I feel people actually enjoy what I write. When thinking about how Tumblr has affected the way I thought about reading and writing, I can definitely say that having a blog really makes you feel like you have an audience that enjoys what you write. This is completely the opposite of being judged and criticized for your work on how well you know the English language, or how accurate your grammar is. Blogging makes it feel like you belong to a group who enjoys the content of work, not the technicalities of it.

I can say that spending time on a blog helped my writing significantly. “Improving your writing is necessarily gradual and erratic,” (Elbow, 108). This was absolutely correct in my case. When I first started trying poetry, I just rhymed like I was writing a 4^th grade writing assignment. I had no originality, no flow, and no ideas to really write about. Today, I can look back and confidently say that I have improved a whole lot. I’m not the greatest poet in the world, nor do I say that I’m even close, but I can say that I am much better at forming poems better today than I was a year ago. As you keep writing, you grow in creativity and skill.

When I start writing, I don’t know exactly what I want to write about right away. “Writers should not build a form and then pour concrete into it, but write and then see what develops” (Murray, 14). I’ve noticed that this is exactly what happens when I write some of my best work. I don’t start with an outline of every point I want to cover. I start with an idea and build upon it. I was taught to write outlines before, and it only made me struggle more to make sure I cover each and every point I wanted. If I build upon my ideas, I feel a sense of freedom to cover whatever I want without being restricted to what I outlined before I started.

Blogging hasn’t taught me only about how to write. It also helped my capabilities as a reader. “When these students, partly because they have gotten such good grades, try to become writers, they discover that short is better than long.” (Murray, 15) These are one of the main things that I learned by blogging. There are many long posts that people on Tumblr post that are empty and meaningless and filled with many long, extravagant words. However, there are one or two line quotes that can be so much more powerful by using small, simple words. For example, I saw a quote from Albert Einstein that said, “Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.” This is much more inspirational than some of these long, empty posts that I usually see that are ignorant and unintelligent. As the old saying goes, “It’s all about quality, not quantity.” I stick by that saying one hundred percent. It really doesn’t matter about how much you can say, or what kind of words you say. It’s about what you say. It’s about the message.

“If someone reports something that seems crazy, listen to him openly. Try to have his experience” (Elbow, 94). I found this to be a useful piece of advice while reading blogs. It’s interesting to hear what people have to say, regardless of how ridiculous it sounds. There’s some things that I may have never known before, new details I would have never known until reading somebody else’s blog. It’s always interesting hearing about a side of a story that you never knew before. For example, a few days ago, I heard a story about the Ugandan group leader, Joseph Kony and how an organization is trying its hardest to gather a large group of people in order to stop him. Moved by this organization’s story, I donated in hopes of helping the cause. However, a few moments after, I read about how the organization is actually not trustworthy and how my money is isn’t fully supporting the cause. If I wasn’t more open-minded and didn’t acknowledge the fact that this organization that I fully had faith in couldn’t be trusted as much as I believed, I would have never known that side of the organization’s story. Being open-minded to certain writings is something that everybody should always do.

“Blogs can also help people to become more thoughtful and critical observers of the world around them (Blood, 2002) and, due to their simplicity technically speaking, offer an attractive medium for promoting literacy skills,” (Ducate, Lomicka, 10). I can say that blogging has helped me become more observant about the world I live in, more interested in the things around me. It helped me discover English skills that I never knew I even owned. Back in high school, I possessed none of these qualities. I’m glad that I came across this world of blogging because not only has it made me a better writer and a reader, but a more intelligent person as well. I guess I can say that blogging has to be my favorite English teacher thus far.

Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas G. The Shallows, What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains. 1st. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010.

Ducate, Lara C., and Lara L. Lomicka. “Adventures in the Blogosphere: From Blog Readers to Blog Writers.” Computer Assisted Language Learning 21.1 (2008): 9-28. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Elbow, Peter. Writing Without Teachers. 2. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, USA, 2000. Print.

Murray, Donald M. Write to Learn. Eighth. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2005. Web.