Throughout the 13 weeks of so that have been building up to the 2500 word research paper have, to say the least, been overwhelming. The whole researching and compiling of ideas into a presentable final paper was extremely difficult, especially with the topic I chose. I thought it would be interesting to do something current, which it was, but the amount of new information and opinions coming out daily was just too much to keep up with. Ultimately I just settled on presenting facts that were laid out in March of 2010 and touched briefly on the more recent facts. I truly put my best effort into my work and am proud of the result but honestly 2500 words does not do the topic of healthcare any justice.  

Throughout the first eight weeks of English 102 I
find myself constantly making reminders for the upcoming weeks. Given that we only meet once a week it is a little more challenging to stay on top of everything needed to succeed in this class, the blog posts, the constant research, the review of the proper techniques for writing the daunting paper that we’ve been working so hard on in and outside of class. The paper I can handle, it’s been done before countless times in high school. It’s these blog
posts that are killing me. It’s a whole new concept and personally I’ve never
been big on social media nor do I intent to be after this class. And being as
technologically challenged as I am it’s has been difficult. It just took some
time to actually sit down and force myself to learn how to use the website and
work my way through it. But overall I have been fairly happy with my progression
through this class and as a writer in general and am ready to finish the second
half of the year off strong.  

Honestly reading through this actually helped me out a lot!
 Blog_Struggles.docx

In Bill Pennington’s article on Giants wide
receiver Victor Cruz, he shares with us the moving story of a young man who overcame a troubled background and much adversity to straighten his life out. Imagine your life consisting of a rough neighborhood, troubled academics, a
family member’s suicide, multiple failures and ultimately the drive to better his life that was and is Victor Cruz’s life. Let’s face it who doesn’t like a
feel good story, something to add a little motivation to your life. Imagine all the failures in your life, now imagine what can be done to learn from them and better yourself because of it, that is what Victor had to do. Pamela Marsh-Williams, the associate dean for undergraduate advising at the University of Massachusetts, had never met Victor Cruz and unfortunately the first time she did she had to kick him out of school. Three years later she was at home doing paper work half watching a preseason game with the New York football Giants and Victor was lighting it up. at first she didnt recoginze the name and it wasnt until his alma mater was mentioned that she realized that was the same young man she had to kick out of school. This is such an uplifting story and has become one of the biggest stories in the NFL. 

I’m not one to go out and buy cheaply made clothing at an unbelievably high price but this article definitely caught my attention. I doubt Kenneth Cole will lose many customers over this latest gossip topic. The first
thing David Sirota writes about is what exactly is an “underperforming teachers” is? His position on education is interesting, because it takes a trendy liberal position, but it sort of makes sense: if you pay to send your kids to private school, you probably resent the portion of taxes that goes to support public schools, and would just as soon see them shut down. Since Kenneth Cole makes clothing and clothing manufacturing is often the target of unions, it may be that Cole has a personal interest in weakening unions, rather than it being "fashionable". You can tell these corporate moguls have the best interest of the students at heart because they want to put every one of them into for-profit charter schools, which at best perform no better than public schools and often perform much worse.

"What type of music do you listen to?" What a typical "ice breaker" to ask someone whether your driving in your car or sitting in class on the first day wishing that the teacher would just skip the painful awkwardness that came with it. None the less, its a pretty effective way to get a conversation going and people can relate to what they like or dont like, unless its the first day of class then nobady cares. So whether you care or not I am a 90's kid. I grew up listening to the classic alternative, bands like the Foo Fighters or the Red Hot Chili Peppers. My fasination with that type of music led me to get into more current bands such as The Lumineers and Best Coast. Overall, I would say that this play list is a composition of some of the songs that stick out in my head and that many people recognize and listen to on a daily basis, some of my favorite songs and classics that will withstand the test of time, if you care to know.

No matter what type of music you are into just as long as you genuinely enjoy music I highly recommend checking out http://pitchfork.com/ for the latest and greatest in music updates!

    In an effort to promote the “smart meets sexy” campaign GoDaddy.com brings the heat. Who doesn’t like a raunchy commercial with an extremely attractive girl, it clearly appeals to every guys fantasy. Plus the fact the “Walter” is sharing a long and awkward
kiss with a super model just goes to show that maybe smarts are the key to a
girl’s heart. Now I’m not trying to say that’s what the commercial promotes
because honestly girls are the most confusing thing in the world and who knows
what they actually want BUT it clearly grabs your attention with some very well
thought out strategies.

    Oh, here we go with everyone’s feelings getting hurt. Yes, Bar’s
role in the GoDaddy commercial clearly objectifies women because they are sending the
message that someone as attractive as Bar can’t also be smart, they had to
bring in Walter for that. It’s also perpetuating the stereotype that smart people are unattractive nerds. Do you think Jesse Heiman who plays Walter is losing much sleep over the controversy of this ad? He probably did it for free. For her part, Bar probably got paid extra to make out with Walter. (Who knew she was such a good actress?)

So what exactly does this amazing awkwardly hilarious commercial mean when Go Daddy spokes girl Danica Patrick says “smart meets sexy”? Clearly Bar Rafaeli is meant to be the “sexy” part, while Walter is meant to be the “smart” and when the two are combined you get GoDaddy.com. But what do you get when you actually go and type this into your internet browser? You guessed it, more videos! All promoting the slogan “get your domain and website”. Huh, so that’s what all the hype is about, never would have guessed.

Not only is this advertisement affective because it grabs your attention with sexuality and a sense of humor but the only time you ever see them is on super bowl Sunday. With one of the largest TV viewings of the year it’s the best time to advertise your product. And with everyone guy in America watching this game of course something like this is going to grab their attention, I don’t care if your contemplate waiting to go to the bathroom at half time or if you should eat more or want to grab another drink, obviously it can wait when for this. With appeals all across the board this is clearly a marketing goldmine.

There not cheering for the game. In fact, once the games over they'll all probably go and check out the godaddy.com; its go time.  

The album, For Emma, Forever Ago, by the artist Bon Iver is what I believe to be one of the most influential albums to come out in recent history. The album was recorded from November 2006 to February 2007 and was released in the United States in 2008 due to mastering each of the songs on the album. The Genre of the album is a combination of folk rock, indie, and acoustic alternative. Bon Iver is made up of one man named Justin Vernon and the album was the solely the work of him with only a few microphones and some old recording equipment. The name Bon Iver comes from the French words meaning, good winter. These words alone echo in his music and relate closely. Having a folk, acoustic feel to the album, it is one of the few indie bands that can compete with modern music involving heavy technological inclusion. For Emma, Forever ago is one of the best albums to come out recently because of its success with music critics, the history behind
the album, and the content and style of the album.

While most indie artists and albums are considered failures by
critics, Bon Iver and For Emma, Forever Ago is widely well received by
critics. Receiving a score of 86 and the number nine album of the year by Albumoftheyear.org as well as an 8.1 by pitchfork, as well as three and a half stars by Rolling Stone, it is solidified as one of the top albums of 2008 and of the 2000’s. The lowest rating the album received was from Robert Christgau of who gave it a C+ rating. Christgau, who proclaimed himself the “Dean of American Rock Critics”, claimed that his lyrics fell
short and the albums, “solitary meditations...lose definition faster than an
angel's breath on a January morn”. However, Christgau is often renowned as one
of the hardest to impress critics of the generation. The album was generally
more accepted by the UK’s and Australia’s public than in the US. It was number one
in two of the UK’s music publications with another second place finish for top
album of the year while only placing 8 by Paste Magazine in the US. The single, Skinny Love, debuted in Australia and was the number 21 song of the year. The great reception the album received from critics is largely due to the writer/ performer Justin Vernon.

The inspiration behind the album came from Justin Vernon’s experiences with his band and girlfriend. His former band, DeYarmond Edison, and he moved to
North Carolina where they eventually broke up. At the same time, Vernon broke
up with his girlfriend and had mononucleosis as well. This led Vernon back to his
home state of Wisconsin where he secluded himself in a cabin in the woods for
three months. While in the cabin, Vernon had no intention of writing any music
at all, however, he took all of his emotions and said that they were released in the form of song. The location and situation of Vernon is the most important thing that led to the albums creation. Being that he was in a failed band, a failed relationship, and in ill health contributes to the majority of the lyrics in his writing. The isolation of a cabin in the vast Wisconsin forest also provided inspiration for his writing. He used this isolation as a
source of meditation and channeled his energy and emotions into his writing and
is easy to hear the inspiration within his music.

The content and style of the album is quite complex in writing but the
idea and source of it is simple. Armed with the simplest of equipment he
recorded the album. It is easy to hear the emotion that comes
from each of the nine songs on the album as well as the environment that he was
in. The acoustics in the cabin as well as the old equipment contribute to the style
of the music and helps express the emotion of the music. The use of acoustics
echoed singing, and different ambiances in the music contribute to the ability to
make the imagery of his music possible. Lyrically, Vernon writes about his
relationships with different people, alluding to his ex-girlfriend often. He
uses many metaphors in his music and often times many of his lyrics are
hard to comprehend. For example, in the song blindsided, “I crouch like a
crow/ Contrasting the snow/ For the agony, I'd rather know”. This being
one of the more obscure lines in the album, not knowing the reasoning behind
the lyrics but getting the main idea is a constant pattern. While some obscure
lines are within the music, lyrically the album is one of the best written albums I know of. 

When it comes to meaningful and well written music, Bon Iver’s
For Emma, Forever Ago, stands out as one of the best. Most music does
not have the inspiration that Vernon had while writing, nor does most music communicate the same ideas or emotions in it that he does. Even if someone isn’t a fan of indie, folk rock, the album is easy to listen to while still being enjoyable even though it is short of an hour as a whole album.

                     Dont beleive me? Check him out for yourself!