Tell Tale Heart

 The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe was in all meanings of the word a "sketchy" story. The story is about a man who's exact position is not expressed, but I believe he is a caretaker, who lives with a half blind old man with a a crazy "vulture eye. The main character feels that the old man's eye is evil and that he must put an end to it, which in turn requires him to kill the old man in the process. After much planning he suffocates the old man with his own bed, and dismembers the body in the bathtub, hiding his parts in the floorboards of the house. That same police officers come to the house to respond to a complaint from the neighbors. They search the house for signs of distress, but their efforts are to no avail. Everything goes smoothily until the man starts to hear the heart of the poor old man still beating, which drives him insane and leads to him confessing to his murder. The big question being asked is whether the man is crazy or not. For starters I absolutely believe he is insane, because he somehow has the neccessity to murder an old man just because of his stale "vulture" eye. Anyone who sees that as enough motive to kill an old man has to be a bit loopy. I also feel that the main character has problems with handling guilt and pressure, which is the basis to why he starts hearing the heart beating. I feel the story was well written and somewhat ambiguous in its meaning. The true meaning of the story can only be deciphered by drawing together literary evidence and connecting the dots.

Itzsoweezee-De La Soul

Great all-dedication
Mos def affiliation
Adequate representation
This is the phat presentation
De la dedication
Common sense collaborations
Peace to all of you haitians
Check it out
Chorus: repeat 2x
If money makes a man strange -- we gots to rearrange
So what makes the world go round
If love is against the law -- listen I don't know
Gotta change how it's goin down
The structure of this song is interesting because it begins with a chorus rather than a verse. The uniqueness of De La Soul is one of the many that makes them my favorite hip hop group.  The theme of the song is well summarized in the chorus, and the fact that the song starts with the chorus and it is repeated multiple times helps stress the importance of  their message and insures that it won't be forgotten or lost in the phenomenal flows of the De La Soul. The theme of the song is that a change must occur in society's perception of the importance and other monetary things.
Fell in love with this fish who got caught in my mesh
But yo she burned my scene up like david koresh
I guess a diamond ain't nothing but a rock with a name
I guess love ain't nuttin but emotion and game
It's a lesson well learned so praise is well due
I'm sendin off from big i, to kenny calhoun
And add a reservation for the resident crew
And yo get your bowl cuz we cookin up stew
See them cubans don't care what y'all niggaz do
Colombians ain't never ran with your crew
Why you acting all spicy and sheisty
The only italians you knew was icees, niggaz price me
I'm keepin it clean, like a washing machine
And yo, get your locomotion run into full steam
I'm sending out a greeting to my man daseem
I got a child so I gotsta get the green, right rightIn this verse the illusion of money and other nice things is explained that they're all just fronts for much more simpler things, like " I guess a diamond ain't nothing but a rock with a name". The verse also touches on the black community's subservience to other races such as Colombians and Italians, and the black community's wish to be more like those other races. I think Dove, the speaker, wishes that blacks would just go off and do for self, but still keep in mind that wealth is not the most important thing in life. In the beginning of the verse a love affair of some sort occurs," I fell in love with this fish who got caught in my mesh". I found two interpretations of what the fish could symbolize. It could represent a women who he fell in love with but was only in the relationship for his money, and things fell apart when it was time for them to get married. The fish could also represent money and the pursuit of it, and his love for money "burned his scene up" which led to his incarceration,"...sending out a greeting to my man daseem". Itzsoweezee, it;s gettin hot this year
Itzsoweezee, it's gettin hot
(repeat 4x)
Verse two: dove

I own the deeds to some acres in the west, indeed
Where my pops is building residence to house my seed
Now here's the lead, y'all niggaz pray to hot rods and not god
While versace play you niggaz like yahtzee
Crackin jokes like you patzi
(when's the last time you had happy days? )
Blazin up your herb to escape the maze, but the problem stays
Think big get it big is my motto
You can go and play your lotto, I'll be singin like baby won't you be mine
You'll be pressin rewind, you can never see mine
Keep your eyes focused, you can't touch this or quote this
Style is crazy bogus so you can't try to approach this
Stomp you out like roaches, pullin on my coattail
Like some horses pullin coaches, whoa your roller coasters
It's hotter than the temperature that's cookin in your toasters
While the heat'll put you deep into hypnosis
Chorus 2x
Itsoweezee, enoli's in the area
Itsoweezee, timbo king's in the area
Itsoweezee, maseo's in the area
Itsoweezee, ninety-six in your area
Itsoweezee, lawd lawd lawd!
Itsoweezee, lawd lawd lawd lawd
Itsoweezee, lawd lawd, for y'all peace

Itsoweezee  The second verse is my favorite part of the song, because it is very dynamic, lyrical, and overall just ill. There is a lot of imagery in this verse, such as in the beginning of the verse where Dove describes some of his riche$, but this might be completely contradictory to the theme of  the song except the riche$ he speaks of have a purpose. Their purpose is to "house his seed" which puts him in means of the message of the song, which is to not worship money and to live a much simpler and easier life. Dove continues in the verse where he directly addresses the people he wishes to change in his message, explaining that they should stop holding monetary things at such a high standard. He then goes on to somewhat scold the same audience with a couple bars on how they cannot achieve they same status as him. 

Overall just a great song with a message that i see no end in sight of its relevance.

On The Reservation

 This weeks blog is related to the book that we are currently reading in class entitled Montana 1948. In the book a boy living in a town close to a Native American reservation, learns that his doctor uncle takes advantage of his Native American patients. The book also touches on the subtle racism and prejudice that exist between the white town people and Native Americans. There is common feeling amongst the white town people that the Native Americans live a far too simple life and will not survive the change brought about by the twentieth century. I find it a bit hypocritical for them to believe this, considering that they live in a town with only one sheriff. I do feel that Native Americans don't live the most technological and civilized lives, but they way they do live is simple and in a pure form. I was watching an interview of a favorite artist of mine named Mike Giant. In the interview he explained his philosophy on how life actually moves at the speed of clouds, but people sometimes don't see that they do move because they move so slow. But, animals can see how fast the clouds move right away, and in that respect they understand that life doesn't have to  be move at the new overzealous way being introduced by the twentieth century. The Native Americans living on the reservation have a deep respect and connection with nature that allows them to also understand the way life should be.  

Propaganda

I would start off this blog by giving the definition of propaganda, but it looks like everyone else has so that is taken care of. I've noticed through all the varying definitions, one thing for sure that seems to be getting pushed is the deliberateness of propaganda. One of the key mechanisms of successful propaganda is to be bold and deliberate, whether this is in the overall message being pushed or the presentation. So as long as the message is extreme and the flyers are short and powerful, then it is guaranteed to alter some minds.
When I think about propaganda I think huge cargo planes showering a village with pieces of paper promoting something. Another key element in successful propaganda is repetition, which helps in brainwashing and sneaking into the subconscious of the masses whatever message that is being pushed. In todays society propaganda does not come in the form of flyers and brochures, now it is in the form of annoying commercials that saturate television. Propaganda does still exist, but the message isn't the same. Some of the messages being fed to masses these days include support for the military, voting for a particular mayoral candidate, living above the influence, and which car insurance to buy. As long as there is competition, which i'm not saying is a bad thing, there will be someone who wishes to influence the public to support them and turn against there opponent. 


You can't fool all the people all of the time,
But if you fool the right one, the rest will fall behind...-Dead Prez

Black Boy...

 The book black boy is an autobiography written by Richard Wright chronicling his life as an African American child growing up in the south. In his life Wright experiences the lost of his mother and father which rather than weakens him strengthens him, and helps to mature and take on more responsibilty. It seems to me that growing in maturity and responsiblitiy is a reoccurring theme throughout this story. At first Wright is a very mischievious and rebellious child who has no sense of accountablility. But, as the story progresses he becomes more mature and learns to take responsibility for his own actions.

Richard Wright is a very curious child with alot of questions about the world around which he is at times still very naive to. His questions are often met with violence both physically and verbally. I feel since Wright's questions are never answered with a straight response, the fire of his rebellion is just further fueled. Richard Wright is just a boy, whose curiousity and intelligence is superior to other boys his age. In the world that he lives in questioning the way things are is very estranged, and usually met with consequences. Wright's enviroment doesn't really cater to someone like him, so i feel that the best thing for him to do at this stage is to move north, to a more liberal society so he can progress.

How It Feels To Be Colored Me...

 The short story How It Feels To Be Colored Me was really interesting to me, and I found a lot of instances throughout the story that I could connect with. For starters, the story is based in Eatonville,Florida which is the first African American incorporated town. In those type of towns strictly African Americans lived in them, but on occassion white people would pass through. Living in a world like this would be hard for me because I can always remember having white people around. But, I also remember that a lot of the people that i went to grammar school with had never had an actual conversation with a white person until 3rd grade. Also, in the story the narrator mentioned that white people could not feel jazz music the same way that blacks could. In my case it was quite the opposite because growing up I was sometimes outcast by the people in my class because I was of a lighter complexion than almost all of the others in my class. At first I would get really upset by their remarks, but as they became more common I just learned to let them go and think that there is nothing I can change about myself so they could just learn to except it. The narrator says in the story, "At certain times I have no race, I am me." I feel that this quote is extremely true and important and should be taught to people throughout the world, because sometimes a persons race can be an excuse for them to act a certain way. But, in the end all they should really do is be themselves.

King, Still }((King??

Martin Luther King Jr. is probably the most recognizable and influential person involved in the civil rights movement, and the fact that each year he is celebrated each year on his own day is testament to this. He earned the right of having his own day of celebration through his non-violent efforts to gain equal rights for people of all colors. All of his efforts definitely earned him the right as King of the civil rights movement, suitable to his last name. But,  I feel that as time progresses and the gap in time between then and now his signifigance seems to becoming not as important, Now a days I see it as the youth ( including me at times) are seeing MLK as just another reason to get a day off of school. But, it's not that what he did isn't being seen as important, because it seems that MLK is the only person that is brought up when talking about the civil rights movement. So, he is definitely not being forgotten but times are changing so that space can be made for the leaders our generation to claim the throne as a King. in my eyes and the eyes of many others King is definitely still King, but an heir to the throne is coming.