Soundtrack of my Life

Hey Mickey

Toni Basil’s one hit wonder song, “Hey Mickey,” everyone has obviously heard of. With the pixilated early eighties video, wacky hair, and tripped out outfits, definitely set the mood for this music video. The radical dance moves that they’re throwing out make the video very entertaining. For an early eighties cheerleader, these were probably run of the mill moves, the outfits the oversized pom-poms all signify the date of the video. I’m guessing that as a little girl Toni once aspired to be a high school cheerleader, and I’m sure that this dream had a great influence on this video. This video definitely takes me back to the days of playing dress up and my own dream of one day becoming a high school cheerleader. I am pretty sure that I played this very song on my cassette player over and over again while making cheers about Mickey Mouse, who just happened to be my favorite cartoon. As the cassette player blared my friend and I danced around my room in oversized cheerleader outfits wearing heart and star shaped sunglasses, using hairbrushes for microphones. Sometimes we would abandon the make-believe devices to make up our own unique cheers. We would rehearse these secretly and when they were done to perfection we would call our mothers in to watch our performance. Those days are now long gone, but the memory of those days come flooding back now and then.



If you're reading this

“If You’re Reading This,” by Tim McGraw definitely draws certain emotions from the audience, in lieu of a war the emotions range from deep sorrow to rage. Watching the video, you see all of the soldiers over in the Middle East, you are able to see their reactions as they work with all of the people that still live in that war torn country. The horrors of war are real and so are the emotions that go along with the war as well. This slide show just goes to show this fact. Watching this video, these images of the soldiers, make me think of my classmates and family members that are serving in the war or are training to go over there. I wonder what their feelings about this video are and if they have the same feelings but just don’t tell me what they are thinking. Every time I see images like this video of the war, it makes me think back to September 11th and how it doesn’t seem all that long ago that it happened, but then I realize that I was only ten when it happened. I remember when my older cousin was sent overseas, at the time I didn’t really understand the concept of not coming home from war, but now that I have cousins and friends that are my age overseas fighting, it makes everything seem that much more real. This video in turn has a huge effect on my emotions.



Friends Forever


Vitamin C sings “Friends Forever,” this song is also known as the Graduation Song. The video depicts a young woman going through her high school, the essence of high school drama is evident in the video, as is the implication that this young woman and her classmates are seniors and will be leaving school to start out on their own soon. The idea of being “friends forever,” is displayed in the video through the girl trying to talk to one of the guys in the video. Before my own graduation I remember that I tried to talk to all of my friends on a regular basis. Just the idea of this being the last year that we are all going to be together was a hard concept for some to deal with and it seemed like we all came together as a class through this similar fear of things not being the same. Much like in the video our class was ready to get out, but the fear of separation never left us. In the end it seemed like everyone in the class came together, people that had never talked to each other in the four years that we went to the same high school began to talk and our class seemed to have a sense of unity. I have often wondered if the singer of this particular song had the same feelings about her high school class. I also wonder if this is why she decided to write this particular song, and if not where the motivation to write a song geared towards graduation came from.





A Lifetime

Better than Ezra sings this song “A Lifetime,” in between the images of the band playing in a remote desert location, the video flicks to images of two people, a girl and a boy who appear to be taking a road trip. The other images in the video are those of friends hanging out in a almost sleep-over manner. The random road trips through the middle of nowhere remind me of my random road trips this past summer. Traveling into the great unknown through the barren lands of Nebraska, with no purpose other than the sense of discovery, much like that of Christopher Columbus. We were discovering a new world on the old winding trails that lead through corn fields and vacant pastures. The most important thing was not where we went, but more who we went with. The miles put on the car or the dollar amount of gas that was spent were fickle details that did nothing to hinder our sense of exploration. We traveled roads that our parents talked about driving on as kids and as young adults, probably just looking for that sense of adventure just like we were. The idea of being in a desert is such an awesome one, there is nothing out there and you really would be able to concentrate on what is really important to you. The important people in your life are all that really matter and so should be the focus of your life. The times with friends are irreplaceable and I discovered that, and this video does a great job of depicting that.



Semi Charmed Life

Almost everyone goes through the experience of moving day, even if you don’t experience moving day, everyone experiences change in some way shape or form. The music video for “Semi Charmed Life,” by Third Eye Blind, depicts these guys driving in a car, into what appears to be a city, as the song continues, it shows the main singer walking down the sidewalk, singing, as people bustle past him. This is reminiscent of someone moving to college from outside the city, much like I did. I can remember moving day at Wesleyan, it was so crowded, I remember driving into Lincoln, following my parents car, as they drove through the streets that were busy with other parents that were trying to move in their kids at the same time. Everyone seemed to be convinced that once we got everything unloaded that the insaneness would stop, however upon stepping out of the car, you discovered that it did not. My friends felt the same way as they like the things that they brought with them were jostled, pushed and prodded to their new room, welcome to college. The way the video is set up makes me wonder if these guys had similar experiences, did they feel like they were lost or out of place after moving to a new home, college, or town? It makes me think that maybe they did.



Weekend Warriors

A Change of Pace, in this video “Weekend Warriors,” depicts some common activities for college students. The video starts out showing the singer by himself, and then switches to an image of the band surrounded by people, who all look as if they were dropped in straight from a college party. As the band starts to play, the crowd of people gets pumped up and starts to dance, as the video shows various clips from the party that appears to have inspired the song. The images are somewhat graphic and disturbing but none the less realistic, and very much reminiscent of what a college party looks like, minus the cops partying with the kids. My weekends spent with my friends is what comes to mind when watching this video. Playing cards, minus the rather large man without a shirt, just standing around talking to people, waiting in line for the bathroom, and of course turning up the music and screaming out the lyrics that you know by heart, no matter how terrible your singing voice is, or how many people just happen to be standing by you at that particular time. With the lighting, and the images of people walking around, laughing, and holding red cups, it is made clear through visual devices that this is indeed a party, much like ones that probably everyone has attended. Everything in this video points to a good time, and that I believe is what the writers of the song, and the producers of the video were hoping to make the audience feel.



Who I Am

At this juncture in my paper, I feel that this is an appropriate song to place here, “Who I Am,” by Jessica Andrews feels like it would be the perfect song for this paper. The video starts off by showing Jessica in some home videos as a little girl, after showing her looking at some old pictures hanging in the hall it pictures her in the backyard of her house on the old wooden swing and walking through the flower garden. I remember making all of those home videos, I would always make sure to dress up in my cute pink leggings and little dresses. There was usually no point to the videos unless of course you were my parents, who thought it was cute to listen to me ramble on and on for hours on a recording, and of course most of these videos were used to black mail me later in life. The swing that she sits in during the video brings me back to the old tire swing that once hung in our backyard. On this swing my brother and I would waste hours playing make believe and hiding in and around the old tire. It was the counting place for when we would play hide and go seek, while one of us counted to twenty the other would scamper off into the trees to find the perfect hiding spot. After the wearing game we would lie in the grass next to Mom’s flower bed, our chests rising and falling, trying to catch our breaths. This rustic outdoorsy video makes me think that maybe Jessica had the same experiences as a child, and that is why the video is done in a more pastoral setting.

Final Blog Post

I feel that this class has improved my writing over the course of this semester. This is not to say that I felt that I was a bad writer before this class, it just opened up new ways of writing to me. I had never before thought about writing as molding content and form, I always thought of essays as a piece of literature that is just there to be written and read, not so much being an active, engaging piece of writing.

I feel like this class has made a significant impact on me as a writer, it has, as I stated above, changed the way I view writing, but has also made me think outside of the box. When I approach a writing assignment now I look at all of the different approaches that I could take on the assignment, whether it be a more observational or more reflective approach, I see writing as a more active task now, not just an assignment. I don’t see myself a as a writer that is just going to start writing down random thoughts when I have them, I will probably just stick to writing for assignments, but I do think that I have improved as a writer.

I realized that when I write a paper I don’t start out with the introduction and then work through the conclusion, rather I start out in the middle with my main points and then go back and write my introduction and conclusion. I find that it is easier for me to write reflectively because it is my own thoughts and feelings.

Doing peer reviews definitely helps to improve my writing. Sometimes after staring at the piece of writing that I have worked on for a long time it’s hard to find mistakes and flaws, until someone else points them out. Having suggestions for your writing help, because sometimes you have a writer’s block and those suggestions really help you out and get you back on track. Not only do the peer reviews help out tremendously, but so does meeting with my professor. Sometimes I am confused as to what exactly the parameters of my writing are, and meeting with my professor definitely helps to clarify this.

“Good writing,” to me is one that effectively translates the author’s point to the audience. It really depends on what the authors stand point is and what type of writing they are working with. I really do not like rhetorical writing, I still am a little confused on what it is, and therefore would not be a good judge of what good rhetorical writing is.

I actually have used my knowledge that I learned in class and applied them to other papers that I was assigned. I can easily recognize the different types of writing now. I think that this class really has made me a better writer overall and will help me in the future.

Graduation Gift

For my graduation I received lots of gifts, ranging from a vacuum cleaner to a miniature trash can, to the standard congratulations, we are so proud of you, card. Out of all these gifts, there was the one gift that I will forever keep with me, the gift that my Grandmother Rentschler gave me, my cozy quilt.

The quilt is pink with black forming the star pattern that makes up the quilt. In the center of the black stars is a white panel with words of wisdom on each block. The back of the quilt has a crazy pink and black material that keeps the plainness of the back interesting. On the bottom right hand corner, there is a very small label stitched that reads “Made with Love by Grandma.” The edge of the quilt is lined by two inches of black material with dainty white polka dots on it. The black material that makes the stars comes from various scraps of cloth, some of the black cloth was used to make a dress for my Mom when my Great-grandma died, and some was used to make the black undershirts that my uncles wore to their proms. The quilt is a mixture of old and new cloth that meshes together to create one blanket.

Looking at the quilt is always inspiring to me with the words of wisdom that are always useful in time of need. The blanket can warm me both physically and emotionally. Wrapping it around me I can almost feel the love that my Grandma put into making this gift for me. I will always be able to take this useful and sentimental gift with me no matter where I go in life.

Christmas Angel

Every year, two weeks before Christmas, it’s my family’s tradition to get together and put up our Christmas tree in the living room after supper. After haggling over the lights and various other ornaments that are placed on our tree that particular year, it’s time for the most important part of the tree, the angel topper.

My brother, Dad and I gather around my Mom as she carefully lifts the angel out of the box and gently unwraps it from the obscene amount of bubble wrap and tissue paper that protect the fragile angel. She gently hands it to me and I pass it to my brother who gives it to my Dad who stands on a chair and hoists the angel to the top of the tree where she will remain until after Christmas.

Our angel is very old and has been passed from my great-grandmother to my grandma and finally to my mom. The wings are white ceramic and very detailed. Through the years the angel has managed to somehow avoid major falls, and only has one small chip on the left wing right at the tip. On top of the ceramic wings there are downy, pure white feathers that add softness to the cold and hardness of the ceramic. Her face is a creamy ivory with a perfect little nose and rosy cheeks and lips. Her eyes are closed and her dainty hands held together in front of her body in a praying position. A slight smile plays about her lips almost giving her a look of hopefulness or waiting for something great to come. From her dress stream four lengths of sheer white fabric that trail down about six inches longer than the hem of her dress.

The angel forms a lovely aura over our adorned tree. Without this angel it just wouldn’t be Christmas. After we are finished decorating the tree and the angel has been placed at the top, we all stand back and observe our work. The angel is always what attracts my attention and every year it seems as if I notice some new detail about it that I had never before noticed. Without this angel, our tree just wouldn’t be complete.

The Pearl Ring

My pearl ring has survived for twenty-five years, through a natural disaster, years of games of little kids dress-up, and restoration. The ring is a silver band on the top there are two pearls situated diagonally from each other. Two diamond hearts sit next to the two pearls forming an alternating square of pearl, diamond, pearl, diamond. The silver band that the jewels perch on is worn from years of abuse and a great need for cleaning. The pearls themselves show signs of age and one is whiter than its twin. The place where the diamonds are set has traces of residue from being left on while the wearer was washing, working with, or putting lotion on their hands. In appearance the ring itself is not that fabulous, but the history of it is what makes the ring important.

Twenty-five years ago, the pearl ring was given to my Mother by my Dad. Three years after my Mom was given the pearl, it was replaced by a diamond wedding band and put in a jewelry box. Not too long after they were too busy chasing kids to even care about frivolous things like rings. Then one day something terrible happened, the house that we lived in was hit by a tornado. The house was completely destroyed along with most of our things. Neighbors came from everywhere to help pick up the debris, and somewhere in the midst of all of the rubble, one of the neighbors found the pearl ring. It was missing the pearls but everything else was in tact. When our new house was built, the ring went into the play room where I frequently used it during my hours and hours of dress-up games.

When my days of dress-up were over, the ring went back to my Mother’s jewelry box, and I forgot about it for a long time. Until one Christmas, there was a small box under the tree with my name on it. On Christmas Eve, when we opened presents, the small box was the last one that I opened. As I unwrapped a jewelry box I was somewhat confused why they had gotten me a ring. But when I took out the ring the days of dress-up came rushing back in my mind. The pearls had been replaced and the ring was shiny after its cleaning. I now have the ring that reminds me to always keep a little bit of the kid that I was with me at all times.