NME Online claims that Mumford and Sons newest album, ‘Babel,’
is set to have the biggest first week sales stateside since AC/DC’s 2008 album,
'Black Ice.’ I suppose this really shouldn’t surprise any of us, I mean almost
everyone likes Mumford and Sons’ in some way or another. It’s impossible not
to. But if you haven’t bought/downloaded this CD yet, I highly recommend doing so.
Mumford
and Son is so different from any other band that’s popular right now which is
why I think so many people have latched on to them; I know that’s why I did.
Their almost rustic sound combined with unique beats and meaningful lyrics
create a band that is so well rounded anyone of any age could enjoy listening
to their music.
We all saw last week the final play of the game that cost the game for the Green Bay Packers against the Seattle Seahawks. Most of us more times than we wanted to, and yes we know the refs clearly made and awful call, twice, but seriously why must ESPN play it over and over again?
I saw stations talking about it on Wednesday! I can't believe I'm saying this, being a Bears fan myself, but poor Packers fans. Not only having to watch their team lose the game on an unfair play but then having to watch it 20 more times before the next game is a little much. I know it was a bad call but come on, the wildcard race in the American League is getting crazy with only a couple weeks left in the season; talk about that. Stop replaying it so the Packers' fans can move on and so can all the other sports fans
I like to think of myself as a fairly open minded, non judgemental person. But living the majority of my life in a post 9/11 world I have a confession to make; When I see a Islamic man somewhere, I react. I become conscious of where my phone, money, camera, iPod, debit card is and I make sure it is in a safe spot. If I am alone, I move to where I am near someone or to a more crowed area.
Isn't that terrible?
I feel like such an awful person for being this way. Deep down I know that the Islamic man to the right of me is just as potentially dangerous as the Caucasian man to the left, but I think this mindset came from seeing pictures of Sadam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden on TV for the majority of my life. It is so unfair of me to feel this way. I know that it was not their entire country that hijacked those plans, it was only a select few. So why do we act this way toward them?
Because it's easier.
It's easier for us as a society to group all Islamic people together instead of just singling out the ones that actually committed the crime. We have all seen the images of Islamic men on TV portraying them as evil people but now we have a society that is either fearful or hateful of an entire race. now although I may be a react a little strongly when I see someone of this race, I would never ever treat someone differently because of this, but unfortunately I know people who would and so do you.
While
browsing Facebook last Tuesday, I was scrolling through my news feed, occasionally
stopping to see what selected people had to say. After reading several posts I
realized today’s date; September 11th. How could I have forgotten one
of the most historical events of my lifetime? As I continued to scroll, I noticed a post
made by my 7th grade social studies teacher. It was a link to a YouTube
video titled “102 Minutes That Changed America.” It was only 10:30 and I didn’t
have another class till 11:30, so I clicked on the video.
We all
know exactly where we were and what we were doing on September 11th,
2001. It’s something that we will never forget. I
remember sitting in my second grade class, listening to Mrs. Blick read
Charlotte’s Web when Mrs. Helms, the other second grade teacher, knocked on the
door. When Mrs. Blick got to the door we all got quiet, trying to listen for
any little word that might give us the edge over our other classmates. Although
none of us could hear anything being said we all knew its significance by the
overwhelming gasp from Mrs. Blick as she placed her hand over her heart.
Seemingly distracted, Mrs. Blick closed the door and went back to the front of
the room. The always smiling Mrs. Blick was now facing a room full of alarmed
second graders, eager to know what had happened. But instead she forced a smile
and then continued to read the book. Now that I am older, I realize how hard it
must have been for Mrs. Blick to return to her class of naïve second graders
and try to pretend nothing had happened.
Some of
you may have similar recollections to me, while others may be more significant.
But the most important ones that we should hear are the ones documented in
these 102 minutes. None of us will ever be able to fully comprehend what these
people went through on that early Tuesday morning, but it is important for us
to be reminded on this day of the lives that were taken and how it truly
changed America forever.
When wrapping up a tour in Florida,
President Barack Obama stopped at a local Pizza place in Florida and got a
little wrapped up himself. The owner of the Pizza place, Scott Van Duzer, is a
huge Obama supporter and couldn’t help but show a little excitement when the
president walked through the doors of his restaurant. Before Obama was hoisted into the air, he
playfully teased Duzer about his size and strength and if eating his pizza
would make himself look like Duzer. The owner the replied “Of course!” while giving
Obama a hug a lifting him in the air.
Just like the guy in the right corner of this picture, I’m
sure most people in the restaurant had similar reactions,I know I would of.
But I think it’s really nice to see something like this in the news. I know that we have to focus on the important issues ecpecially dues to the state that our economy is in, but I just thought it was really refreshing to see something with Obama's name in a head line without a negative connotation to it.
So far I have only been at Webster for three weeks and I
absolutely love it. I have met some great people, joined some really fun clubs,
and am taking some really interesting classes.
BUT, I do have one complaint. Since coming here on August 16th,
I have only been able to watch 3 Cardinals games live. What the heck is up with
that? I was able to watch more games on TV in my hometown back in Illinois than
I have here in St. Louis. Other than the game I went to and the two that I
caught on TV at Weber’s, I have been watching a screen that shows balls and
strikes on my laptop while trying to write papers.
To say I am frustrated is an understatement.
I LIVE in the same city where the baseball team is playing over half of their
games and I still can’t watch them. When I left home, I remember my friends
were all kind of jealous because they said I would never have to worry about
not being able to watch the game, but now I’m the one that’s jealous of them. I
have to rely on twitter updates from friends back home to know how the game is
going. I could honestly care less about the NBA and due to the Bears lack of
success the last couple of seasons I really don’t watch anything else except my
beloved Cardinals. So hopefully when the Cardinals make it to the playoffs this
year, their games will be on a channel the Gorlok TV has and my roommate will
stop having to hear me yell at my computer screen for it slow updates.
As most of you know, or probably watched, MTV’s annual Video
Music Awards were this past week. Now I am not usually the person that
anxiously waits for the start of the award show and then sits through the
entire show, in fact I have never actually sat and watched an entire awards
show. But living in West Hall, it was all anyone could talk about so I decided this
year I would watch it from start to finish. Now I know I have definitely not
been missing anything all these years.
Besides the fact that undeserving
artists win awards simply because teen-angst 13 years-old girls vote for them,
the performances are sub-par at best. To me the VMA’s just prove how much less talented
musicians have become. The performers’ music was so loud that you could barely
even hear the singer, which in most cases was better anyway. Most of them
didn’t sing over half the song, only occasionally sang a few notes while heavily
relying on their prerecorded track. But not all of the performances were
terrible. Despite the shaking beginning, Frank Ocean’s performance was unique
and well done. The simplicity of the setup of the stage went along perfectly
with the purity of his voice. Although I’m not sure I agree with all of the
awards they received, I was pleasantly surprised by One Directions performance.
Simply relying on their voices and their crazed fans, they didn’t wear crazy
outfits or have silly dance moves; they just went on stage and sang. I think
when it comes to VMA performances, less is definitely more.
With the upcoming election vastly
approaching, I figured I would take this time to do my annual rant on politics.
Now maybe this is just the opinion of an uninformed 18 year-old who thinks she
knows more than she does, so take it for what it’s worth.
Politicians disgust me. They lie,
cheat, and go behind each other’s backs and possess all of the lovely qualities
that the Plastics did in Mean Girls. Now, I know that they weren’t always like
this. I’m sure that when Barack Obama and Mitt Romney first started out, they
were great people, but in this day in age, there is no room for good people in
politics. In order to make it, you have to have been corrupted somewhere along
the way. But the problem with this is that the two parties are so ignorant of
each other that there is no room for compromise. People are either republican
or democrat and very few of the people we have in office are willing to vote in
favor of the opposite side. Have you ever wondered what might
happen if the two parties used their ideas and worked together to solve our
problems. It’s no secret that our country is in a scary position right now, and
there is no one person that can fix that. It’s going to take our entire system,
and our entire country to repair the economy. Some people are going to have to
give things up, some will have to work a little harder, some will have to spend
more money where others will have to spend less. I’m not saying I have the
answers to fix all of the country’s problems, because I don’t. But I do know
one thing and that is that we are never going to get better until the two sides
can learn to compromise. We are all on one team.
So if this is the case, then how do
we choose a candidate? Do we base our decision on the promises they make in
their speeches yet never keep? Do we base it on the type of person their campaign
managers paint them to be? I haven’t quite made up mind yet who I will be
voting for this November but I do know one thing; I will not vote for someone
simply just because of the party they are representing, I will vote for the
person that seems most likely to consider every possible solution there is to
get our country out of this mess.
