Phantogram-Mouthful of Diamonds

Ok, so what can i say about Phantogram? A better question would be, what can't i say about them? I discovered this band this summer, and  I have to say that I am somewhat sad to let this song reach the masses. But, in the end I know that my efforts are for the greater good. So, Phantogram is an electronic rock duo from New York. In most music reviews, it's common for the reviewer to say that a certain musicians sound is unique, but in this case they really are. Their sound has many influences that include detroit hip-hop, acid jazz, and indie rock roots. The song that I'm reviewing "Mouthful of Diamonds" is one of there most popular songs and has a very easy listening feel to it. I feel that they have a great grasp on sampling and have an experimental edge to them that allows them room for improvement and the expectaion of something new. I have to say that i love this band and can't wait for them to drop another album. And by the way, their current album Eyelid Movies is definitely worth BUYING (oooohhh scary). Just trust in me that it will be one of those songs you can't stop listening to. Peace.

Jay and Nickk

So Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby, Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway, Nick Gatsby and Jay Carraway. To me personally I feel that their relationship provides each of them with something that the other can give. Mostly Jay provides Nick with a visual of things that he hates but, secretly wants at the same time. For Gatsby, Nick is the person that Gatsby secretly wants to be but, doesn't try to be because that isn't what is socially accepted. So, basically Nick and Gatsby's relationship is what every man of the 1920's should want to be. But, this is not all that the two men are using the relationship for. I feel that Nick is also using Gatsby as entertainment, something to provide Nick with something to do in his spare time. Ultimately Nick wishes to fully unravel the crumbled paper ball of a lie Gatsby has fed to people who ask. Throughout the story so far Nick points out numerous times where Gatsby's past comes into question which shows a sort of obsession for Nick to really understand Gatsby. Gatsby isn't only be used here, he is also using Nick to get to Daisy. This might sound selfish and shallow, but if you really think about it sort of makes sense. Gatsby is truely in love with Daisy and would do anything just to be close to her, such as buying a house and throwing massive parties in hopes of her one day stumbling into one one day. So, if he is willing to blow vast amounts of money on her, why wouldn't he be willing to risk a friendship?
Although Nick and Jay are really only using their relationship as a modem for them to get to something that they need, i do feel that they have to potential to become actual friends. Peace.

Winter Poem

So the winter has come, what a disappointment
Frigid winds blowing hard enough to cause disjointment
The season of influenza, be sure to make an appointment
With the doctor that is
The season where faces meet the north
And shovels and salt meet the porch
Waking in the morning trying to find a reason to push forth
Onward to my next destination
Every aspect is planned in the matters of my transportation
All formed around the idea of heat conservation
But none the less mother nature's ugly side is waiting
To capture me in her arctic choke hold
Bad enough to make me want to toke coal
In my back pack
Quick steps through the snow create tracks
So the brave souls who take on the streets behind can trace back
All the way to where it was once warm.
Church.

I am a Plow

plow:  A farm implement consisting of a heavy blade at the end of a beam, usually hitched to a draft team or motor vehicle and used for breaking up soil and cutting furrows in preparation for sowing.


 So, this is what they say a plow is in generic terms. But, I'm actually a plow and I don't think that this definitition doesn't accurately describe me.For starters plows are used to break up, batter, and pulvarize dirt. These words make it seem as though plows are cruel and brutal, but in my case i perform the same task but for the sake of fertilizing and bringing new life to the dirt.

As a plow I am owned by a former rock star turned vegan farmer, living and working a couple miles out of Seattle. Amazing right? I was painted gold and signed by friends family, and whoever comes by to see me. The signatures  reflect that the people that I come in contact with add to my character. 

Da First Quarter

Ok, so the first quarter is done and over with. This quarter gave me an idea of what the rest of this year is going to be like, so I guess there are a few adjustments I need to make. Well, for starters I have to say good job Mr.McCarthy not to suck up or anything. I feel that the pieces of literature we read were really interesting. I think that we should do less questions about what we read, and instead we should have more in depth discussions in class. I also like the opening journals that we have that provoke my thoughts and allow me to think abstractly. So, overall good first quarter, hopefully i will have a better second. Peace.

Freedom...

Modern day slavery. Does it really even exist still? Well that all comes down to what your definiition of slavery is. Well I know for a fact that young girls are kidnapped and sold as sex slaves in foreign countries, so I guess that qualifies. Well, let's take into account the poor sweatshop workers over seas, laboring away in a warehouse basement for almost no pay. Now, i guess those are both close enough to the enslavement of Africans in America less than 200 years ago. But, that doesn't cover the entire spectrum for me. Being the person that I am I want to take my definition outside the box, how about modern day mental slavery. Pharrell Williams once said, " You are only truely free once your mind no longer realizes boundaries."


At first when I heard this i casted it off as some cliche, primodonna hipster jibberish, but later I genuinely began to think about what he'd said. Let's really think about how much our minds hender us in our thought proccess of what we can and can't do. Let's take into account how many times the word "can't" getting in the way of what it is we want to do. Are we slaves to our distorted ideas of what we can make possible for ourselves. Well, I say YES! I feel that when we are born we have this hidden part in our minds that restricts us from reaching our full potential and trying to fulfill our dreams. Not matter how much you hear as a child from your parents that you can do whatever it is you set your mind to it doesn't actually register. I fell that the epiphany of the non-existance of artificial boundaries in our minds takes a journey in discovering ourselves to find. I find myself at times getting past boundaries of doing what I want to do, to just run into the even bigger boundary of how I can go about accomplishing it. I am a slave within my own mind of reaching accomplishing my personal goals. But, as history shows I will overcome, it will just take time and experience for my light to click on.  

The Hand of God

 OK, so a common theme that seems to be occuring for this part of American Lit. class is Puritanism. But, who are these people really. Puritans were a religious group from England who migrated to America and formed clonies to escape religious persecution. They mainly settled in the New England area, but some of the most famous and notable settlements were in Massachusetts. Probably the most notorious of those settlements was Salem, does that name ring any bells. Witches! It also happens to be the hometown of Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter. But, before Hawthorne was eve born he was already famous for his family's involvement in the Salem Witch Trials.


So, one of the core Puritan beliefs that struck me was the belief that God saves those only those who which he wishes and only a select few fall into that catergory. I think that this is still carried on into todays society, except that today God isn't the one who is picking and choosing it is the goverment. Think about it, the people who make the most money like corporate 500 bosses pay the least amount of taxes. But, the poor and working class pay the most. Another example is the amount of money that the goverment decides to use on the war as opposed to the money spent on sbuilding schools and other things. We live in a seriously confused world these days and things need to change. Peace. 

When I Knew That I Was An American...

 So this week's blog post is to explain the moment in which we knew that we were an American. Well, to answer this question fully you have to understand what an American is. In class this week we read the Declaration of Independence and the essay What It Means To Be An American. Those pieces of literature helped me form an idea of what exactly an American is. To me being an American means being able to exercise free will, and having the drive to make change for ourselves. America was founded on democracy, a goverment of the people and for the people. But, not just people, people who are willing to work for change. An American can't be defined by a specific ethinicity because we all derive from a different country.

But, I can't really say that there was a moment that I felt I was an American, because i have always felt like an American. My family isn't from another country, we are from Richmond, VA. Although I am a Muslim which is often associated with terrorism and being Anti-American I have never let that shake my beliefs and sense of patriotism.

It was all a dream...

For this weeks blog entry we are supposed to discuss a conflict where no compromise was made and it ultimately ended in death. Well, i have the perfect situation, although it does moderately depress me. The incident that im speaking of is the East vs. West rap war. This conflict, or beef as it is refered to in the rap community. It all started when Tupac Shakur was shot inside of a recording studio, and coincidentally Biggie Smalls a.k.a Notorious BIG was in that same recording studio at the time. Tempers flared, word were exchanged, an ultimately one thing led to another and the war had begun.


In the corner for the west coast was the record company Deathrow records which Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and a host of many other famous rappers belonged to. In opposition was Bad Boy records which was backed by Biggie Smalls, Craig Mack, Busta Rhymes, and others. The camps were headed by Suge Knight hailing from the westside and P.Diddy from the east, or was his Puff Daddy or something stupid like that back then. Never mind thats besides the point and so is a bunch of other stuff about the whole ordeal so I will just skip to the important stuff. So, while this was going on Biggie tried multiple times to get a chance to talk to Tupac to settle the mess, but he didn't want to hear it. When his efforts did not work BIG decided that if they weren't going to find a common ground then he might as well go all into the situation.


But now, here comes the depressing part. After about a year or so of the beef between the two coast having not been digested yet, on September 7, 1996 Tupac Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, Nevada in which he died a few days later. On March 9, 1997 the Notorious BIG was also shot and killed in Los Angeles, California. The rap world had lost two of the greatest of all time over something that couldn't be proven, and a simple case of stubborness. That trajic event definitely could have been avoided if only, one of could have been the bigger man.(No pun intended) So until next time peace.

John Proctor; Hero or Stooge?

In society many view heroes as the person who saves the damsel in distress, or die for what they believe in. Well, in John Proctors case i guess that you could say he is a hero, theorectically. In my mind I see John as as fool, or as Mr.McCarthy tells us to describe him as a stooge.


For starters, John Proctor feels that the entire trial is stupid and should just be forgotten about. He has nothing to do with the witch trials and should just stay away from the issue and let things run it's course. But, this is where John's "hero" instincts come into play and he decides to come and get involved in the situation in hopes of saving the town. But, in the end he just ends up dying trying to be a hero. Yea, real heroic Johnny boy. How about really stupid and a major FAIL. Wait, he's not finished here is his last chance at becoming a hero to save the damsel in distress Elizabeth his wife. He does actually save Elizabeth by sacrificing his life for his love blah blah blah. Hooray, but wait here's the catch. If he was really dying for what he believed in then  why would the thought of cheating on his wife ever come into play. Yea, gets you thinking right.


So, to sum all that up John dies for something that he thinks he believes in enough to maker the ultimate sacrifice, but in the end it just makes him look like a STOOGE.


Well, that's all for now so peace until next time.

Winners In The Hands Of An Angry God

   So "Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God", supposedly some ground breaking, mind changing, end all be all best sermon ever given kind of situation. Well for starters John Edwards is completely and utterly insane. Why would they even let that guy come anywhere an oppurtunity to influence the masses. But, really you can't blame the people for listening, they had no other choice. Mostly because John Edwards was one scary man, just doing his thing creating the most twisted and frightening pictures of god in their minds. This in itself was a good tacticto bring in followers because fear is an easy way to control people and he definitely had that part down. 

   But, as i got to thinking about the passage i came across the idea of what gives the heads of the Puritan society the right to decide who was a sinner or not. In an alternate universe, what if sinners were really winners? What if all the supposedly wrong things that we do were weaving a web telling the story of our lives and explaining who are true selves and intnetions were. What if, the people who wer the most peculiar and did exactly what they thought was right and they were the "holiest".  That would be interesting wouldn't it, it's scary where my mind travels sometims, but this isn't one of them. I, personally, would be fine with this alternate universe. I kind of see certain religions perception of earning your way into heaven or hell is how well or poorly you follow directions, and that's no fun :(.

   So, that's all i have to say about that passage, but on another note i have a really cool song i want to share. So play the the second song, but if you can't count it's the song Passion Pit Sleepyhead Dubstep Remix. So peep game, escpecially Mr.McCarthy. Until next time, peace.   

There Goes The Neighborhood

So I've been reviewing my other classmates blogs and a good amount of people seem to be tackling the subject of Europeans coming to America. Well I think I'll do something different. How about...the migration of Chinese people to America.



The year 1848 was the year of  the first large scale immigration of Chinese people to California. Many of them came in hopes to profit from the California Gold Rush ( that sounds kind of redundant, but let's roll with it). This was one of the biggest reasons that many Chinese people migrated here, but it's not the only one. Others came overseas because economic hardship had began to set in in their home country due to the growing influence of Britain, but thats another story for another time. A majority of the new immigrants took jobs as miners where they faced discrimination from the so called "natives" of the land. But, this isn't really suprising because as Americans we reject any signs of change. Chinese miners were forced to pay Foreign Miners Tax. Although, it was called the Foreign Miners it didn't apply to all foreigners such as the large amount of European immigrants in the mining industry. Some tried to refuse to pay the unfair tax, but were met with violence, even as far as murdered.



One of the biggest and most important contributions that the Chinese made in America was the construction of the The Transcontinental Railroad which ran from Sacramento to Nebraska. As many as 12,000 Chinese worked on this project and it has been said that as many as 1,000 people died on the job, tragic. After the railroad was built the Chinese faced even greater racial attacks and legislative discrimination. There were anti-Chinese riots, murders, and lynchings. Many justified their acts by saying that the Chinese wre now becoming an economic threat and that they had to be stopped. Isn't that a load of something that i can't write on this blog. Nowhere in my mind can I legitimize any reason why you shold treat anyone this way on the simple fact that they aren't from the same place as you. But, this is nothing new as I said before. This same type of situation occurs multiple times throughout history in aAmerica, and at this pattern and rate self destruction is eminent. Scary right. Well thats all i have to say for now so until next time, peace.



S.A.D

introductions

Hey. Well how do I start here, my name is Sadiq Nasir Al-Amin Dyer, yea i know its really long but thats because my last name is hyphenated. I'm afriCAN american and of the muslim faith. I have one brother who also attends whitney young as a junior. I live in the south shore area of chicago, shout out to the south side of course. I have many joys in life but the main ones are skateboarding, music(second best creation known to mankind),soccer, and art. i absolutely love skating but only when I'm in the mood, hey what can I say I have my phases. Music is definitely the glue that holds my world together. I can't really specify exactly what kind of music I like, but if I had to I would say good music(whoa that was corny). Some of my favorite artisrt are A Tribe Called Quest, The Shins, Modest Mouse, Steel Pulse, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, MF Doom, Arctic Monkeys, Gorillaz, The Black Keys a.k.a Blackroc, and all dubstep (google it fool). I guess that explains it all, so until next time, peace.


S.A.D.