iListen to Protests

     The other night as I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed, the new Green Day song "21 Guns" came on the radio. I personally am a very big fan of this song. For some reason it just speaks to me, and that sounds really corny, but it's true. So as any teenager would do, alone in their room, half past midnight, I blasted the radio and started to air guitar. After the song was over, I started to think about what Billy Joe was actually saying. I liked the beat of the song so much, that I didn't really pay attention to the words. So I referenced good ol' lyrics.com and saw what he had to say. I interpreted it to be an anti-war song, because he says things like "Put down your arms" and "Give up the fight". After seeing the lyrics, I realized that Green Day is as much about their words as they are their music. And I also found a sort of pattern. All their songs seem to be protesting about something; war, America, etc. I mean, their 2004 album is even entitled "American Idiot". The song also called "American Idiot" is practically the epitome of protest music. The lead singer says things like "Don't want to be an American idiot", "Don't want a nation controlled by the media", and "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda". To put it simply, every line is a criticism of America. Despite the words, I still don't hesitate to rock out to it. But I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing.
     After this little epiphany of mine, I was reminded of my humanities class in seventh grade. The assignment was to bring in a protest song. I decided to bring Bob Dylan's "The Time's They Are A-Changin'". It was a very interesting assignment because people brought in everything from "War" and "Let My People Go" from the Disney movie The Prince of Egypt. This is very interesting to me because it shows that protest music has been around forever. I know the Disney movie was made in the 90's but I'm sure the Jews really had songs of their own that begged for freedom, and think about all the African American slave songs that spoke of freedom and justice. Music serves very many purposes, whether it's to get people to think in a different way or to get someone to do something. I remember that during the 2009 elections, my grandma sent me a song that a bunch of celebrities made to get people to vote for Obama. If you think about it, music is probably one of the smartest ways to get people to listen to you. The singer may not have anything intelligent to say at all, but if they're famous, people will listen. It's a very powerful way to express yourself and your opinions.
     But do people listen? Can one song really change a person? I don't necessarily agree with everything Green Day has to say, but that doesn't mean I can't air guitar every time "21 Guns" comes on the radio.

Minimum Wage: Is It Really Enough?

     This summer I got hired for my first real job. I work at a coffee shop and I earn minimum wage, which is $8.00. I wanted the job just to make a little extra cash. So the other day when I got my pay check, it got me thinking. I'm using this money just for some extra cash in my pocket. But what if I had to live on this? And some people do.
     I only work one day a week, so obviously the people who work full time 5 times a week earn more than I do. But I decided to calculate it out anyway. If you work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, earning minimum wage, that only adds up to $320 per week, $1,280 per month, or $15,360 per year. And let's not forget about income tax which is automatically deducted from your pay check. So you're not even getting all the money that you earn. I can't even imagine my family living off just $320 per week. Sometimes the grocery bill for one week adds up to $200 and that's already half of the $320 gone. And what about insurance? Rent? Social Security? Health care? Federal and state taxes? And even day to day stuff like doctor appointments and visits to the dentist? There is no possible way that someone earning minimum wage can pay for all this. I don't know how the government expects people to be able to live on such a small amount of money.
     In her book, Nickel and Dimed, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, works four low-paying jobs, to see if she can actually survive the way most Americans do. She concludes that housing costs are just way too high for people earning minimum wage and are literally killing them. Most people have to work two jobs in order to provide for their families. She also thought that the jobs she worked, and used to refer to as "unskilled" jobs, were actually physically and mentally exhausting for her.
     Many Americans have to live on minimum wage. But are they actually living, or simply working their lives away just to make ends meet?

Hannibal Reasoning

     Last year I forced myself to watch "Hannibal Rising," which is the prequel to "Silence of the Lambs". The only reason I wanted to watch it was because a really cute French actor, who I am obsessed with, was starring in the film as Hannibal. So on a Sunday night, I plopped myself down on the couch and started to watch it. I'm not really into horror movies, so whenever I thought a scary part was coming up, I would fast forward, see what happened, then rewind and watch it in real time. It's a lame way to watch a scary movie, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
     I have never seen any of the Hannibal movies. Like I said, I didn't actually want to see "Hannibal Rising," I just wanted to see the actor who plays Hannibal. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. It starts out in Hannibal's childhood and progresses through his teen years and then through his early twenties when he starts studying to be a doctor.
     I thought the movie was very interesting. The main event that happens to Hannibal as a child is this (spoiler alert!): his parents are killed during WWII and his little sister and him are living by themselves during a harsh winter. Some soldiers force themselves into their home, steal their food, and inform them that they will be staying there until the weather clears up. Eventually the food runs out and the soldiers make the decision to either starve to death, or commit the unthinkable, and they go with the latter. They take Hannibal's sister outside, kill her, and then resort to cannibalism. And Hannibal is a witness to this disturbing act. This scene actually made me a little sick. But, it gave me such an insight as to what in the world could possibly drive Hannibal to do such horrible things later in his life. It doesn't condone him, or make it any better, but it just explains why he became the man that he did. It made me realize that people always have a rationale for doing things, but it may not always be rational.

     I remember hearing people's accounts of "Silence of the Lambs" and "Man Hunter" and just thinking That's disgusting! And it still is, but after watching "Hannibal Rising" I now understand Hannibal's rationale. Any thoughts?

Seventeen Again

     Every month I recieve my issue of Seventeen. Now it's not the most intellectual magazine out there, but that's not really why I subscribe to it. I mostly just like to look at the clothes. I've been reading Seventeen for a couple of years now and at some point last year, after going through my latest issue, I finally realized the crap I've been allowing myself to read. Seventeen is the most hypocritical magazine I've ever known.
     The message I've always gotten from Seventeen is that they want you to be yourself. They're always promoting individuality and the fact that everyone is all different shapes, sizes, and colors. In the fashion section they always find clothes to fit every body type. As a young girl I always thought, "Wow! What a great magazine! They know teens so well!" Well not anymore. As I was going through the health section of this particular issue, I flipped through the pages that outlined the workout created by Beyonce's trainer, or something like that. There is a workout in every issue so I blew right past it as usual. I didn't know what was going to make this issue make me workout. Anyway, practically the page right after the workout there's some article about how this woman hated herself in high school and how she finally learned to love herself for who she is. And right after that are three pages telling the reader to write down everything they love about themselves and what inspires them. After seeing these pages all juxtaposed like that, I thought that something about the whole thing seemed a little off. And that's when I realized the other message that Seventeen was giving; the one that I had not seen before. In my eyes, Seventeen is saying "Hey! Be yourself! But why don't you do these workouts and stop eating fatty food while you're at it." The fact that they put these two articles right next to eachother makes me sick. This magazine is targeted to teenagers (hence the name Seventeen) Don't they know that teenagers are insecure, and girls especially are at a high risk of developing an eating disorder? They shouldn't have to feel pressured to be perfect by anyone, let alone a popular teen magazine. This is extrememly hypocritical of them and I'm surprised and angry at myself for not noticing it sooner. What has become of the media these days? Why is it that a magazine meant for teen readers as young as thirteen, are pressuring girls to workout? The need for perfection has become an obsession and has gotten completely out of control, thanks to the media. I still read Seventeen and that's probably hypocritical of me, but these days I just stick to the clothes and makeup. Oh yeah, and my subscription hasn't expired yet.

TI-nspires Me to Barf

-"Are these absolutely necessary?"
-"Yes they are"
-"Well what about last year's algebra 2 students? They seemed perfectly fine without them"
-"It's a new curriculum this year"
-"Oh."
That was the first conversation I had with my math teacher this year.

     So New Trier thought it would be a great idea to make every student buy a spankin' brand new calculator called the TI-nspire. Now it's a pretty catchy name, I'll admit, but New Trier left out one tiny detail: they're $160. When I heard this, I was outraged. $160 just for a calculator? I have a TI-83 that's in perfect condition and is only three years old. It works fine and I've never had any trouble with it in the entire three years.
       And what about families who have more than one child? I have a brother who is a sophomore so my parents ended up spending $300 dollars on just the calculators. We haven't even gotten to the textbook bill. Just because we live in the North Shore, it doesn't mean that we're all made of money and can just drop a couple hundred dollars on a calculator that we'll probably never use again after high school. Not to mention the fact that it hasn't even been approved for the ACT test yet, so I won't even get to use this fancy schmancy, uber expensive calculator on probably the most important test I'll ever take in my life. Furthermore, from my conversation with my math teacher, not only is the school requiring us to buy the calculator, but apparently if you don't buy the calculator, you can't adequately participate in the class because they've changed the curriculum!
     Now most people think I'm crazy and that I'm overreacting and just blowing the whole situation way out of proportion. And maybe I am. But personally, I think the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous, and just another example of how New Trier is pinching every last penny out of us. I often claim my dad is a penny pincher, but after this whole fiasco, maybe there's some truth to his anxiety. If you don't watch out, New Trier may get ya. They're sneaky.