Extended definition so far...

Kara Dubay

Rachel Smydra

ENG 380

Extended Definition of Music-ROUGH Draft

            Growing up as the daughter of a drummer, music has been a major influence of mine my entire life. In addition to having a drummer as a father, my grandpa was also a drummer, and now my 13 year old brother is one as well. I always thought that music ran through my blood and hoped that one day I could learn to play an instrument or sing a tune. I wasn’t so lucky as to acquire either of these skills, but music has remained a constant interest of mine.

            The dictionary definition of the word music states that it is an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony and color. I find this definition to be true, however the meaning of music should not be limited to only this explanation. Music encompasses much more than simply pleasurable sounds that express an idea or emotion, rather music serves as a universal language that teaches people around the world about the culture from which it originates. Whether it is of the hip hop genre or rhythm and blues, every piece of music in some way represents a specific culture.

            The etymology of music traces back to the Greek mousikē which means art of the muses. A muse can be defined in a couple of different ways, either an inspiring goddess or power to an artist or the act of meditating in silence on some subject. Though music definitely doesn’t represent the silent part of the muse definition, there are still clear connections between the definitions of the former word and the meaning of the word we use now. Music serves as a form of meditation for the artist and also comes from an inspiration that the artist may have had, spiritual or not. 

A Brilliant Man...

Preceding Junot Diaz's appearance at O.U., I was very excited because I had never attended a lecture by a Pulitzer prize winning author, let alone the author of a book I have read and enjoyed. The lecture went above and beyond my expectations and I left with a feeling of great inspiration. Junot Diaz was one of the funniest, blunt, and down to earth public speakers I have ever heard. I thought that even words that he improved, were brilliant, he is a true poet. I could not contain my laughter as I listened and after a while I decided to write down quotes that Diaz was saying because I wanted to tell my friends and family about this hilarious speaker.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

-Home is not the roof over your head, but the person you feel at home with.

-It's very difficult not to be extraordinarily stupid.

-Most men divide women between people they can have sex with & people that can mom them.

-There is something wrong with our eye, always. (When talking about writing)

-Some of us work well with others, some are really fucking nuts and should be allowed to work alone.

-Mellville is the ill you gotta smoke up from "Hellville". (When speaking about favorite classical authors)

-You're a writer, you're kind of like a crack head, you owe so many people shit. 

Not only was Diaz hilarious, but very insightful as well. I enjoyed his lecture a lot and I think that some of the things that he said will stick for me a very long time. I am glad I had this opportunity.  

Reflection on Pt. 1 of "Oscar Wao"

I have been excited to read Junot Diaz's Pulitzer prize winning book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, since my English 112 professor, Bailey McDaniel, suggested it. This book has overcome my expectations and is quickly becoming one of my favorite books the more and more I read. Major strengths of the novel include Diaz's use of multiple viewpoints to depict the story. Dominican history, Oscar's life during his childhood, high school and college years, and also an account of Beli's years as a youth are just a few of the different perspectives Diaz takes in creating the novels. I find that this method adds character to the novel and also makes us understand ,a little more, where each character is coming from. Some of the weaknesses that I see so far in the novel is the usage of footnotes and foreign language. After attending Diaz's lecture I understand why he included both in the text but I think it adds an unnecessary feeling of stress to the reader when he or she thinks she must read all of the footnotes and understand the Spanish or translate it. To do that would take much longer than it would take to simply read the book. I realize Diaz did this as a sort of a game to play with the reader and him, but most people reading the book don't have time for games. A major theme that I see arising out of the first part of the text is the struggle to feel accepted in a foreign world. I see this with the struggles that Oscar goes through and also his mother. Not only is Oscar literally an immigrant, but he also feels foreign within his own skin because people don't understand him. I think that Beli struggles with these feelings of alienation as well. So far I have enjoyed the book and I am excited to read further & also to go back and reread if I have the time before I write my review.

"Either I'm nobody or I'm a nation"

The poem that is included in the beginning of Diaz's book, to me seemed very random at first. I didn't really understand how this poem about a "red nigger that loves the sea" pertains to the book. However on closer inspection I am starting to see how it relates to the life of Oscar and also his family. The character in the poem feels that they are living in a world where they must behave a certain way. I perceive this from the 4th & 5th line that says "If loving these islands must be my load, out of corruption my soul takes wings". This person feels that they are being forced to appreciate something that they do not, but they will rise above this corruption. They are not impressed by the people with the big houses and cars (conspicuous consumption), it "poisons their soul". I see that this relates to the character because he turns out to be sort of an outsider and does not share the views of most of the peers around him. I think that the end of the poem represents the feelings of an outsider as well when it states "either I'm  nobody, or I'm a nation" because one never knows if he is alone with his opinions or if other people share them as well. These feelings that Oscar and the person in the poem have are feelings that I think many of us grapple with as well. No one can ever be inside of each others' heads so we can never know if we are alone or not.

Evaluating my own work...

After reading through the comments on my memoir, and rereading the actual memoir itself, I was honestly pretty disappointed at what I saw. I realized that although I felt initially that my memoir was brilliant and deserving of a high "A" grade, it still had a lot of work that needed to be done to it in order to get it to the level I know it capable of. I think that the main two issues I have with my writing include my over use of words and repetitiveness and also my difficulty in choosing what is relevant and what is not to a work.
Throughout my memoir there was multiple times when I used too many words to explain one meaning. I think that I really need to work on being concise and short in the production of my ideas. I think that because I've been able to write in that way for so long and get away with it I felt that it was okay. However I do realize that when reading a text a reader wants to get to the point as quick as possible, so shortening over wordiness is very necessary.
Another thing that I saw as a problem was my extensive paragraphs. I need to learn how to choose the most relevant information to include in a paper. I'm still struggling with this in my editorial, but I'm hoping that on my later drafts I will be able to eliminate this problem.
I will be working on both of these components in my writing. I'm hoping that after this class I will feel more comfortable about my writing style.

Production of an Editorial: A Look at Local Cyber Bullying

A recent experience with the trashing of my boyfriends reputation on an anonymous site called collegeacb.com brought the negative outcome of the websites' harsh comments home for me. I have known about the site since it was produced last year and have repeatedly seen rude, and mostly untrue, things posted on it by anonymous writers. Not only do I think it is extremely disrespectful to the university to have Oakland posted on there, but also it is very immature to me that students in college participate in such a childish act. I think that cyber bullying is a fast growing problem in this country, whether it be through the use of social networking sites like facebook or myspace or through anonymous posting sites like collegeacb or the late juicy campus. I hate to know that the website exists and that people I care about are bashed on it. There is no way to find out who is posting so it just adds to my frustration of the usage of the site by students. I think if people have a problem with other students they should personally confront them rather than cowardly post something anonymously online for everyone to see which is essentially publishing this information. Internet posting, especially in this context, should not be taken lightly because it can greatly affect the people that it has targeted.

Useful tips from the "King" of advice

I found the second portion of Stephen King's memoir On Writing to be extremely influential and helpful to myself as a writer. Not only did I find his humorous style on writing refreshing and blunt but there was also specific writing tips that stuck out to me and that I will definitely use in writing and revising my memoir. I found the portion on description to be the especially helpful information because I tend to over describe things often. King advised that there was such a thing as over describing and under describing and each was equally detrimental to one's writing. There is a level to which you should describe a setting and people up to and after that you have to let your readers' imagination take over. Even if you as a writer remember all of the minor details of a place, the multiple smells, sounds, sights and maybe even tastes, you must evaluate which details are significant enough to your story to include. For instance if I was to talk about my sorority in my memoir (as I am) I would not need to go over every single relationship that I've made through it, or every detail in a single experience that I'm describing. If I were to keep reiterating the numerous details surrounding the bonfire that my memoir starts out describing, the smell of burning wood, hot chocolate and cold fall ear and the sounds of coyotes howling in the distance and silent tears of understanding from the girls listening to each other as the candle passed around, the reader would probably get bored and give up on reading. Likewise if I simply said there was a bonfire and didn't explain any details to why it is significant to the story the reader would wonder why I put it there. This portion on description in King's book really made me think about stories and what is necessary and what is not necessary to include in the telling of them.