back to the yoke

It’s funny how I see life here in Holyoke. I thought I would be returning back to something I lost or something I needed. But as I look around this “great city” I realize just how much this city really looks like shit. I see the city council requested that certain buildings be repainted and remodeled. That there is a trash disposal canister on every corner so that way the streets would be cleaner. The side walks look straighter. In all great attempts to make this city look like something it isn’t. This city still leads in polls for teen pregnancy rate. The same bums that I have seen running my corners with their filth and drugs still reside in those very corners. The same niggas that jumped me and broke my jaw are running around free with no fear of anything that could happen to them. The women still like hoodrats and the men haven’t done shit with their lives but more shit. I go to college to get away from this. I am ashamed of where I live. I am ashamed of my hometown.

the righteous and the triad

“There is snake’s in the garden. Tell the gardener to cut the grass.” (an old roommate)
The world is full of interesting characters and some of themselves one of the “Righteous.” It’s funny how a grown man carries himself with such swagger and such masculinity yet can still have his life influenced by those who I’ve previously called DEVIOUS CHARACTERS. The listening ear has always played in influence on the perception of the human mind. The ear unintentionally seeks information about things not previously heard before from the main source (the good friend). That’s when the Devious Character takes advantage and twists and miss informs the so called Righteous. Now the Righteous tends to start adding up bad things from the start of the relationship with the good friend until the day an event happens that the friends spills one dislike to the Devious Character, the righteous knows.

The Triad

November 17, 2008
1st day of observation:

As I walked through the lanes of this great college I’ve noticed many things. One observation I’ve made happens to be that people are great actors towards one another. This isn’t anything you haven’t heard before but it’s still very interesting. Most people in this campus have what I call the case of the Alter Ego. This disease seems to be dormant in the human mindset and goes in and out of dormancy when the situation occurs that one must pretend to be in reasonable agreement or friendly acquaintance with another while in direct contact with them. Behind closed doors, the dormant Alter Ego becomes what I call the “Devious Character.”
The Devious Character whispers or boasts his or her evil to others who share the same devious characteristics. There is usually a triad that occurs within this “organization.” The grunt is the lowest of the triad which loves to gossip. They also love to listen to gossip and then give an attitude when confronted about their slander. The Wing is the middle man or woman who loves to exaggerate the truth therefore creating the gossip that gets passed around by the grunt. The head shitter is the lead reason why fights tend to be the resolution. They love to talk shit to the face of the victim. Love to become involved in the relationships of others then create stories that slander the couple. They love to cause a scene loves to be noticed. The reason they talk is because she knows that people listen.
To be continued

Hip-Hop: Defense and Prosecution

I am a huge supporter of the Hip Hop Culture. Not the culture of the so called "Gangsta Rappers" or the booty I can easily catch on my television. I am a supporter of the true Hip Hop Movement. I am a fan of the true essence which consists of Dj-ing, B-Boy, MC-ing, and Graffiti. These four elements are the foundation to the true culture that first provided an alternative to the life of gang violence, of the degradation of women, and of oppression for all people considered minority. Hip Hop is a culture that should bring people together into a global family unit, only now it's being twisted in order to advertise adult entertainment and crude behavior within the community of the youth. When Hip Hop was born around the late 70's early 80's, it was embraced as something positive and also used as a culture of rebellion against the harsh living conditions of the streets which were infected with violence and poverty. It started with the Dj (disc jockey), who played the hottest tunes people loved and related to. Secondly, there came the B-boy which is short for break boy. When the disc jockey played a tune that went into a break down, mostly consisting of instrumental funk and pop jazz music, b-boys would dance on these breaks and along with the beat.The next two aspects of Hip Hop came separately. Mc-ing was born when an individual made a rhyme to a mixed tune the Dj created. It was called spittin, flowing, or rapping. The MC element became important because the people needed their voice to be heard and the MC could get a message across through rhythm and words. Graffiti is the last element that allowed for the message of the people to be heard through truly artistic measures. Murals would be spray painted on the wall with images that resembled what the people felt or of the tag name of the individual who tagged it. Knowing this information is crucial to when one compares the Hip Hop of today to the Hip Hop of yesterday. Two articles were written about the current affects of the Hip Hop Culture. The first article, “In Defence of Hip Hop,” written by Cathleen Rountree, supports Hip Hop and gives valid points on why the culture is falsely accused of being the cause of the many negative aspects of society. “…hip-hop music frequently assumes the central role of scapegoat when violent words and deeds erupt among the young—and sometimes the old, as we saw with the Don Imus escapade in April.”(Rountree 245). Rountree used this example to show the audience of recent events that relate to her argument. By doing this she creates the first argument that could be refuted by the opposition.
The opposition takes place within the second article. “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women,” written by Jennifer McLune, figuratively beats the entire culture to a pulp while explaining how Hip-Hop degrades women and exploits the sexist and homophobic tensions of the men involved in the life-style. McLune wasn’t afraid to state that hip hop is the main reason why society as a whole still has not embraced the idea of a successful black woman.
Rountree’s article defends hip hop and shows that it should not be used as a scapegoat for the behavior of a community, while McLune’s article emotionally claims that Hip Hop should be crucified and exposed for its sexist content. What both articles failed to do was give me facts or statistics. I felt that both articles were running off of emotion and their personal studies just happened to contradict each other. My own personal involvement allows me to disagree with both articles on what the intent of Hip Hop really is. As stated before, Hip Hop was an alternative to an oppressive lifestyle. It valued the creativity and experience of both men and women equally. It also wasn’t created to try to please anyone who repelled against it.
What is worse, the content or the person who chooses to listen to the content? The Don Imus incident is brought to the table. In my opinion, hip hop is still a young art form and Don Imus is just too old to be including himself in it. The excuse that “Hip Hop made me do it,” is not acceptable. The man’s radio talk show is known to have some vulgar material in it. Rountree believes there is no excuse when one spills out a racial slur on national radio; he should blame it on hip hop.
Mclune on the other hand refutes this argument and shows the audience what problems hip hop has caused. When speaking about female hip hop artist Eve and her involvement in a video titled “Pigeons,” she states,”Her appearance displays her unity not with the women branded “pigeons,” but with the men who label them.”(McLune 249). She later explains how in hip hop, female artist familiarize themselves as masculine figures so they can further degrade other women.
I clearly believe that neither author truly knows what the intent of Hip Hop was. Both articles were written to prove that hip hop is either innocent or guilty of the accusations placed on it by society, but they never pinpoint what hip hop used to be or what it is now. In fact, this debate is almost pointless. I am sorry I couldn’t write an article based on this topic because if I did I would have made a complete comparison between the Hip Hop of today and of yesterday.

to be continued..

The Emcee vs The Rapper: The Fight for Existence

I am a huge supporter of the Hip Hop Culture. Not the culture of the so called "Gangsta Rappers"or the booty I can easily catch on my television. I am a supporter of the true Hip Hop Movement. I am a follower in Hip Hop who practises the four elements of the culture. The true essence. Dj-ing, B-Boy, MC-ing, and Graffitti. The four elements are the foundation to the true culture that first provided an alternative life from gang violence, degradation of women and oppression of all people considered minority. It was a culture that brought people together into a global family unit. Now it's being twisted in order to advertise adult entertainment and crude behavior within the community of the youth.
When Hip Hop was born around the late 70's early 80's, it was embraced as something positive and also used as a culture of rebellion against the harsh living conditions of the streets which were infected with violence and poverty. It started with the Dj (disc jockey), played the hottest tunes that he knew the people could love and relate to. Secondly came the B-boy which is short for break boy. When the disc jockey played a tune that went into a break down, mostly consisting of instrumental fuck and pop jazz music, b-boys would dance on these breaks and along with the beat.
The next to aspects of Hip Hop came seperatly. Mc-ing was born when an individual flowed a rhyme to a mixed tune the dj would make. They called it spittin, flowing or rapping. The mc elemnt became important because the people needed their voice to be heard and the mc could do just that while getting the message across through rhythm and words. Graffitti is that last element that allowed for the message of the people to be heard through truly artistic measures. Murals would be spray painted on the wall with images that resembled what the people felt or of the tag name of the individual or tagged it.
Although, Hip Hop Started as a positive cultural experience, it quickly became a mainstream culture showing up all over the nation. And with any new culture or way of life, it evolves. Look at what Hip Hop has evolved to after the "Hip Hop" was put into the hands of business who viewed another way to make money. They created the gangsta rapper. With the already harsh conditions people were livin, if you give any oppressed indivdual some money to spit about poppin dudes and smackin bitches, you have one less broke dude on the street. Instead he in hollywood spreading his filth.


to be continued...

Tannen Technique's

In her article “We Need a Higher Quality Outrage,” Deborah Tannen stresses the importance of genuine opposition. Throughout the article Tannen utilizes important writing techniques to help prove valid points and make suggestions in relation to developing proper opposition. In doing so, she expresses some of her own ideas in the article. She believed citizens of America should create logical questions, investigate the motives of politicians, include their voice on important issues, ignore any outside mass media influence, and form valid arguments towards their government. She organizes these topics well making the article easier to read. In other terms, the article flowed
Most writers who write a formal article, essay, or research paper usually tend to write their thesis statement somewhere in the middle of their introductory paragraph. You may even find it somewhere later when the persuasive arguments are being made. Tannen chose to write her thesis in the first sentence of the article. “We need to ratchet up the level of opposition in our public and private discourse.” (Tannen 55). This helps the set her argument by firmly stating her position and allowing for no immediate questions to be asked. This idea of this sentence will be referred to back and forth to emphasize the argument, making it a straight forward statement to rely on and to help her remember her position.
Tannen displays another persuasive technique that the class learned in chapter four. She acknowledges the opposition. She previously wrote a book called The Argument Culture which she recognizes could’ve been used as material by the opposition to refute the current argument she presents in this article. In using this technique and then supporting her change with facts, she successfully defends her position and further displays the authority in which she has. This was a crucial move in her efforts to persuade the audience.
Throughout the first three paragraphs of the article, Tannen is constantly defining the term “agonism.” This is important because she gives the audience different definitions and examples to show how the term will be used throughout her article. She first gives her own definition, then the general definition, and finally the definition as used by journalist. She plays with the example of a street brawl in order to define agonism in a way that the audience can relate to. By doing so she allows a better understanding of where she stands in her argument and starts to build an intangible bind between herself and the reader.
In the body of the article, Tannen makes her persuasive arguments. She uses current events that most people are familiar with to help state her case. This is great for grasping the attention of the reader. “One can argue that the president is using the Sept. 11 attacks to bolster his public profile without going so far as to claim (as does a message circulating on the internet) that he played a role in authorizing the attacks.” (Tannen 55). By tracking back to this thought, she shows the reader how arguments can be organized to show relation between two ideas without falling back to creating wild assumptions. She firmly solidifies her position and reaches deeper with the audience.
Tannen wrote this article strictly for the educated public and lower level politicians. She uses strong vocabulary that she assumes the audience would recognize, but defines vocabulary that is vital to her argument. One would need a dictionary by his/her side to read this article. She plays with certain words and ends up appearing sarcastic with her writing in terms of the context. In defining agonism, she states, “…ritualized opposition, a knee-jerk, automatic use of warlike formats.” (Tannen 55). Not only does Tannen utilize some hard-core vocabulary, but she also keeps the article straight-forward. With each new paragraph in which she introduces a new idea, she keeps to her format and gets to the point, making the task of reading her article an easier burden to deal with.
All in all, this article was well written and touched on the points in which it set out to do. It kept a consistent tone and allowed the reader to enjoy it. Tannen used the best writing techniques set for a persuasive argument which shows that she clearly knows what she is doing. She defined the term important for her article, used current events to help the audience relate to what she is writing, stated her position very early to negate any immediate opposition, acknowledged her opposition and allowed her own opinions and suggestions to enter into the article. Deborah Tannen seems to be a great writer and would be even better in debates.


Works Cited
1. Tannen, Deborah. “We Need a Higher Quality Outrage.” Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Reading Across the Disciplines. 5th ed. Katherine Anne Ackley, ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2009. 55-57
This article can also be found in the Christian Science Monitor October 20, 2004 issue.

Egotistical my Ass

Matter of fact this is exactly how I'm feeling right now when it comes to dance here @ MCLA. I know that there are a lot of good dancers and i know that if I want to reach my personal goal, I have to be better than good, i have to be the best. People view this type of mentality as "being troublesome for no reason," taking arrogance to another level or so and so. If that's so, then Mo'tivated's Blog Real vs Real, just proves that I can have that mentality. Why not try to be better than the rest and show it. Is this world so stuck on "we are all the same" that a simple dancer can't even fathom the thought of being the greatest there ever was. Babe Ruth was considered the greatest there ever was. Muhammud Ali was considered the greatest their ever was and he was a shit talker. But now with new talent and competition always emerging from every part of the globe, I always have to be one step ahead of the best. I want to make a name for myself and stop being told to "dumb it down" with the ego. If I'm egotistical then it's for a good reason. If you can't reach for the stars, become one.

Women are the Perfect Art.

Women are often portrayed as the Beauty of God in Bliblical mentionings and religious ceremonial rituals. The Like-ness of man but not of man. In ancient Greece, Aphrodite was infact a women, a symbol of compassion, love, and deepest desire. Davinci's greatest materpiece, The Mona Lisa, was his defined portrayal of the perfect art. The planet itself is called "Mother Earth," because the belief that life sprung from the womb of nothingness. Every aspect of life is in some relation with women, whether it be Human, materialistic. The truth is nothing we do can be possible without a "Women's Touch."
dedicated to Monique Symes..it's not perfect but whatever
love ya
peace

Metaphysics: One essence to Ayn Rand's Objectivism

1. Metaphysics: "Reality, the external world, exist independent of man's consciousness, independent of any observer's knowledge, beliefs, feelings, desires and fears. This means that A is A, facts are facts, that things are what they are-- and that the task of man's consciousness is to percieve reality, not to create or invent it." Thus Objectuvism rejects any belief in the supernatural-- and any claim that individuals or groups create their own reality.

2.Esthetics: " Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments." The purpose of art is to concretizethe artist's fundamental view of existence. Ayn Rand described her own approach to art as "Romantic Realism"; "I am Realistic in the sense that I place them here and now and on earth." The goal of Ayn Rand's novels is not didactic but artistic: the projection of an ideal man: "My purpose, first cause and prime mover is the portrayal of Howard or John Galt or Hank Reardan or Francisco d'Ancomia as an end in himself--not as a means to any further end."

I have no Influence

I bet that the title is a little misleading. I am influenced by everything around me. It's part of my constant need to fit into a world that degrades the Human Ego. The world only values the ideas of those who created them when the world was in search and need of art and expression. Not to be influenced by those around you is hard. People are always to trying to impress someone or get approval from someone superior so they use traditional methods and just tend to modify it. They never try to create their own works of art based on how they see fit not by how others around them see fit.



The idea to work for oneself is the idea that you choose what you do for work, how you do it and not allowing any outside opinions, habits, traditions or influences to determine how you view your work. To truly love the work you do you must love the earth in which you mold your piece, mankind and the capabililties in which they possess, the very fabric in which you choose to use as your canvus, the tools that allow you to continue through the functions of your work and you must love yourself.



Society views the "Ego" as the negative aspect of human behavior. What they fail ito realize is that the "Ego," there fore the individual is the most important in a society that uses mob mentality. We live in a world that bases itself off of traditions and religion and the beliefs and opinions that only reflect a group. But if an "Ego" does appear, the world doesn't know how to deal with him. They reject his work. They plot against it.

to be continued