good kid, m.A.A.d City

     Kendrick Lamar is a popular rapper who is vocal about his childhood in Compton, a gang infested neighborhood in Los Angeles.  Although he is similar to other hip-hop artists in origin, his lyricism and view of his life is much different.  It is common for rappers to almost brag about their violent tendencies and drug filled past; Lamar does not censor out this in his music, but rather looks backs with regret and pain.  By using the N-word and other powerful words, he provides a brutally honest look into the lives of poor intercity areas. In the song m.A.A.d City, a fast moving beat gives the song a pump-up type feel, with violent vulgar language to fuel the fire.  The powerful slave related connotations of the N-word help to prove his point that blacks are given no opportunity to succeed.  When he says "and its safe to say that the next generation maybe can sleep/with dreams of being a lawyer or doctor,"  he refers to his success and a chance for his children to live a real life, by luck of their father rather than luck of their race.  He also refers to his violent past of being "a boy with a chopper," (a chopper is a street name for an AK-47) without shame, as a matter of fact.  True to his brutally honest tone, the chorus repeats the N-word in a low angry manner.  Near the end of the song, Kendrick refers to the kids of Compton as "the Children of the Corn," alluding to the story from horror story of kids worshiping an imaginary being.  The kids from LA worship the idea of a life of violence and wealth--unrealistic and terrible.  

     Like Toni Morrison said about the harsh words in Huckleberry Finn, the amazing part of the language is "the argument it raises".  Using racist, terrible words should make the reader uncomfortable and address something that no one else wants to address. In no way am I saying that Huck Finn and m.A.A.d City are even close to being equal in importance, but that smaller pieces of art can in everyday life can cause a questioning society.  In the end Kendrick Lamar wants the listener to hear the murder he witnessed and feel horrified; he wants the audience to see the lased drugs he tried that led him to never using drugs again; he wants the listener to understand why he refers to himself as "Compton's human sacrifice", and, by making a violent, racist, vulgar song, he wants the audience to want to change this.

Explicit Link (Listen with caution)

Clean Link

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Opressed

America.  The country founded upon freedom*

(*for white landowning men)

It is interesting that when establishing a new nation, the founders did not want to save everyone from the lack of freedom they faced.  America was founded by white men, for white men.  It took individuals from every other group to stand and demand the rights that the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence did not declare for them.  Blacks had to fight for their own freedom; woman had to demand equal rights that their male counterparts already possessed; Native Americans had to regain land and respect in their own country; LGBT people had to rally and parade for their own marriage right.  Individuals had to speak until enough others listened and spoke with them.  Even 200 years after the founding of the United States, not everyone is truly free. Harriet Jacobs remembers her life as a slave in the South, and the sexual abuse she faced from her white male owner--the free abusing their freedom.  Jacobs was at the bottom of Americas social ladder as a black female, but by fighting for herself, escaped.  Knowing she was "[risking] everything on the throw of a die" (Jacobs) she continues, striving for the freedom that she was never guaranteed.  Similar to Fredrick Douglas, she becomes a catalyst for change in the social norm of oppression. These were two people who stood up and eventually convinced others, including non blacks, to stand with them. Freedom from oppression takes the bravery of few, with the following of many.

The two activists.

Rebelling Against a Society and the Lovely Carolyn Gearig

      

     There seems to come a point in everyone’s life where they have to make a decision: follow the socially normal path, or create a new one.  Carolyn, my beautiful sister, and Pearl Prynne both choose –or maybe ended up with—the latter.  Not listening to the Puritan Society, she lived a life individual to her; free and different from anyone else.  She connected to nature because she loved to be surrounded by the “forest gloom” (Hawthorne 204).  Carolyn was also determined to live her own life; using journalism as a trail, she made herself different from those around her. My sister immersed herself in writing and reading, trying to make her life more than just a cookie cutter of school and work.  Restarting the Troy High Newspaper, and ultimately earning an editing role in the University of Michigan Student Run School Paper (the Michigan Daily) made her stand out from every person I have ever met.  Attending journalism conferences in Nashville, Chicago, and maybe –if my parents will allow this—Israel this winter as well as travels across Europe, California, Alaska, and so many more amazing places demonstrate her amazing determination to live a life fulfilled.   Just like Pearl, her life may result in a way that is unimaginable: living a civil life married to a man of a social class that seems foreign.  In the end, both of these people have taught me that different isn’t worse; individuals have individual dreams. 

us <3 (notice the Michigan Daily sweatshirt)

Femanism

I am a feminist.  There: I said it.  Despite the negative connotations of the word, I still consider myself one.  In fact, I bet that if everyone knew the real definition then they would also realize that they are one.

The true meaning of feminism is about EQUALITY, not man-hating; this seems to be unknown by so many.  Too many associate this word with the idea that crazy power hungry woman are trying to make woman the dominant gender, and this is ignorant.  Language is not defined by its most extreme use just as all Christians are not the same as Westboro Baptist Church-goers.  Many sophisticated and well thought out arguments suddenly become personal attacks to men when they are the target, and maybe they--myself included-- need to learn that not every question towards social and gender norms is a crazy estrogen-fueled onslaught.  Just as Deborah Tannen did not want to be a "male-basher" (392), most feminists also do not want this. What also needs to be understood is that equality has gone a long way.  Although a true balance has not been achieved, the world is getting closer by the day, and maybe it is time to address the other part of equality: the man. In no way am I trying to say that men are worse off than woman, but simply because someone has it worse does not cancel out another problem.  Both sides of gender should be equal, just as the definition says.