Eng 1020 Thoughts

I felt i have come a long way in my writings since the beginning of this class. I would have classified myself as an average writer before this class. Now I have seen growth in my works, i feel that writing in this blog has also helped out. It lets me express myself, and gives me an outlet to let lots of people hear my voice through print. Before this class if someone had asked me to write a blog about a topic with 250 words, I probably would have struggled with it not caring about what I said but just trying to meet the word quota. Now this feels like second nature and not overbearing at all. Because of this class I have a better clue of what an analysis paper is about. I now know to analyze means to go under the surface to find things that are not so easy to find. This class taught me how to be an active viewer, reader, and listener over my work. The research papers I thought would be difficult, since I haven't fared that well with them in my previous experiences, but to my surprise I actually did pretty well on them. I wondered how hard it must be to come up with enough thoughts and research to fill 5-7 pages, but after I have done them three times now, I feel confident that I could do a 10 page research paper if needed. This class has prepared me for future classes because now I have the self-confidence to accomplish any tasks when it comes to writing.

Response to Reading

I agree with McGowan response to the media's has become a "big propaganda organ of the state". I believe the media has gotten way out of hand with its coverage. It's seems every time you cut on television there is always somebody on the news telling you what you should and shouldn't do. Whether or not you should eat this or this way is the healthiest way to lose weight. It seems as the media doesn't want people to think for themselves anymore. I believe the government also tries its hardest at these tactics too. They used the media to tell us indirectly that people from the middle east are dangerous and should be watched with a close eye. When in my opinion that couldn't be further from the truth, they are normal people just like the rest of us trying to live the American dream the best way possible. They also try to shape are views on other countries abroad, when all actuality we are only getting a very biased side of the story. From what the media tells us about Iraq, we are to believe that it is a country out of control burning and blowing up everything in sight with a strong distaste for America. We never get to hear the Iraqi people's point of view so we can gather our own opinions on the subject. I also agreed with McGowan on the way the media displays the high school shootings, it can have a negative effect on teens. They see it take over the airways and some may think that is the best way to garner attention towards themselves. Some may also believe they too want to cause mass panic and hysteria throughout their schools.

Media Outlets

I tend to watch the news on a fairly regular basis. I watch news channels at least three or four times a week. The news channels I watch are ABC News and CNN. I tend to watch "American Morning" on CNN when I wake up to get all the happenings of the world. I tune in to see if something possibly happened while I was sleeping and I can stay up to date with it. CNN tends to be more straight forward and down the middle with their media coverage than most other cable news stations. Although I was dissapointed with CNN with their "Entertainment Tonight" style coverage over Anna Nicole Smith's death. ABC News is my source of news in the evening and primetime of the day. I believe they do very in-depth reporting and investigating of their stories. I liked how they were the only news network to come to Detroit and get first hand reports of the decline in the American auto industry. They went and spoke with a high ranking official of all the big three companies, that I believe is what is missing with today's news coverage.
I usually dont tune in to local news stations a lot. In fact most of the time I only watch to get the weather and hear about sports then I turn the channel. I feel they glorify and give local crime to much airplay. Thats not to say we don't need to hear about a serial killer that might be on the loose, but do we have to hear about it every single day all day. Then the news that is not bad they report usually is not news at all. Come on do we really care about the latest scandal to hit American Idol or that Brittney Spears or Lindsay Lohan has went back to rehab for the thirteenth time come on give me a break. There are too many stories of things like that and too few stories of people in our own backyard who are making a difference in the community. Lets get it together local news and maybe I'll tune in more.

How to Revive Hip-Hop

Hip-hop is a very diverse genre of music. In essence it has evolved from a type of music to a culture. Hip-hop is the way someone walks, talks, and express onesself. It is also how someone dresses, fix-up their car, or plays sports. It varies from smooth,soulful, and sexy to rough, rugged, and raw. Hip-hop's impact can be felt in neighborhoods all around the world from Los Angeles, California to Tokyo, Japan. Hip-Hop appears to be doing well, but one hip-hop legend doesn't think so. Nas has made a current hit single titled "Hip Hop is Dead"(Nas), and it brings to question. has the genre of hip-hop really died out? This blog will try to come to a conclusion on this question.

This is a song that has sparked a lot of debate throughout the hip-hop community. There are some artists that agree with Nas. They believe that some artist have stole the essence of hip-hop at its truest form. They feel hip-hop is a voice of a community, the poor impovered african-american community which doesn't have a say in major politics of today. This is why in the song Nas states "that any hood can tell you that Nas help grow 'em up"(ohhla). So some people use hip-hop as a way to get their voices heard. These same people feel that there are artists who have dummed down their lyrics and used very heavy bass lines in order to make songs trendy. In return the Nas supporters feel that the music makes african-americans look silly, and uninformed about today's political climate. He is also supported by the fact that hip- hop record sales have steadily declined since 2003(XXL). Now opposers to Nas's belief feel that this is due to increased piracy and bootlegging of records and introduction of new technology such as I-tunes and Mp3's.

The song has a very unique beat as far as hip hop songs go. It begins with an accordian playing before it gets to the main beat. He also has a guitar riff playing in the background throughout the song. The first time you hear nas on the track he sounds real angry and agressive, he raps this way throughout the whole song. His voice tends to give off the notion that he is upset that the music that has made him famous and that he loves very deeply is dying in front of his eyes on his watch. He makes it known how much hip hop means to him by stating that, "If Hip-hop should die we die together, bodies in the mourge we lie togehter"(ohhla). He gives off the notion that he would go to any length to bring hip hop back to where it was and off its figuritive life support.

In conclusion wheter you feel that hip-hop is dead or not one thing is for sure this song has brought this issue to the forfront of hip-hop listeners. Maybe hip-hop hasn't died but just evolved into a different phase that is now excepeted by its current consumers. this may be a question that is debated for quite some time now.

Works Cited

Nas. "Hip Hop is Dead". Hip hop is Dead. Def Jam Records, 2006.

"Hip Hop is Dead lyrics". Original Hip Hop Lyrics Archive. 2 Feb 2007www.ohhla.com/anonymous/nas/hip_hop/hhisdead.nas.txt>

Gilmore, Bonsu. "Hip-Hop's Desciple." XXL. Dec. 2006: 111-116.

S.I. Overview

The item I have to analyze is a Sports Illustrated magazine. By the look of the cover, you can assume that Sports Illustrated is geared towards your casual sports fan. The title of the magazine is very creatively hidden due to the photo of the cover man Drew Brees. Sports Illustrated is very creative when it comes to covers. Depending on the team or player that is on the cover, Sports Illustrated puts the team colors in the title and around the borders of the magazine. They also do a good job with the photography for the cover page. They blur the background or leave it out of focus so they can focus in on the main subject. Also on the cover there are two very small pictures dealing with side stories in the magazine. The front of the magazine has photographs of the different games in the NFL playoffs at the various sights. They are sort of the same as the cover photo, focusing in on the players and not the blurred out fans in the crowd. Most of the ads in the magazine are geared towards adults. They range from allergy medicine, cars, to different television shows and movies. Sports Illustrated often tries to tell about athletes away from the field to give readers the impression that they are not different from the everyday person. The Magazine also does features on people in the sports world who are not famous but have done incredible feats. This also helps in my mind to keep the readers in touch with people in the magazine to which they might feel as if they live next door to people in the magazine. SI deals with a lot of sports but in this particular issue the main focus of most of the articles deal with the NFL playoffs. These articles take up at least three-fourths of the magazine, which leaves very little space to cover the other sports. Depending on the time of year dictates which sports are going to be the focus of the magazine such as, in October it will be baseball; In June the NBA; March college basketball;etc. This pretty much covers my analyzing of this edition of Sports Illustrated.

I expect this English class to be exciting. I like how we spend a lot of time discussing and reading instead of always writing which was the case in most of my previous English classes. We tend to analyze a lot of literary items in this class so far, such as movies, books, speeches. I love the fact that we have discussions about politics, fashion, sports music or any topics that may come up. As far as my goals for the class I want to try and come out of the class with a passing grade. I would be surprised and disappointed if I left out of this class with something lower than a "B". I know that i can achieve this reachable goal if I keep my mind to it. There seems to be a lot of reading from the text book, but in the same token It doesn't appear to be overwhelming. I feel that the way the instructor teaches benefits me. It seems as if she is trying to ease us into her class for the first couple of weeks then increase the work load gradually. She seems easy going and has a silly side. So far we haven't really done much class work, which is a big plus. I expect that to continue out the entire semester. The toughest part of the course to me will be writing the 5-7 page research papers. Well, these are some of the things that I will expect this semester.

All About me

Hi I am troy. I am a twenty year old student in southeast Michigan. This is the first blog i have ever composed. My major in school is sports medicine. Some of my interest include sports , music and current affairs. My favorite sports are basketball, baseball and football. My favorite music genres are hip-hop, R&B, gospel, and jazz. Although these are my favorite types of music to listen to i am very open to listening to any type of music. My favorite television shows are Around the Horn, Sportscenter, The Wire, and 24. A perfect blend of sports, drama, and action. I spend most of my days in school, sleeping and working. I have a very interesting job as a master control operator for a television network. I know some of you are thinking what is that. Don't worry I get that question a lot from people. The basic premises of my job is to sit in front of a huge circuit board and cut in and out of television shows to go to commercial breaks. A fairly simple task that carries a very complex job title. I like to hang out with my friends, go to parties and different restaurants in my spare time. My favorite restaurant is Champp's. This is one of my favorite restaurants because it is a combination of two of the most significant interest in my life sports and food. There setup is rather unique in which they have numerous TV's with sports on every one of them. English classes usually are not that appealing to me but i am interested to see what this class is going to bring to the table. Thank you for reading my first enry into my blog. Hopefully there will be more interesting writings to come.