Aimee, the Opposite of a Man

After listening to some of Aimee Mann's songs, and NOT looking at her lyrics, I got a very depressing feeling. It didn't seem as though she wants to write in an uplifting tone. I might be wrong for I only listened to two songs, and I read the lyrics of one. I listened to, "save me," and "wise up." I then read the lyrics of the song called, "angels never call." The initial tones are very pessimistic. She says a lot of, "it's not gonna stop," in her, "wise up," song. Just the title of her song, "angels never call," gives me an off kind of feeling. She says in the song that angels never help, because they always fall. I don't understand where this is coming from. It seems she has a common theme of talking about certain people's depressing situations. Now, I know that I am being very quick to generalizing how she writes, but this is the immediate feeling I get from listening and reading her lyrics. I also read, "backfire." This particular song actually begins with a pretty happy tone to it. Although, it ends up talking about how she became unhinged and her situation became weird.
I also took a glance at the titles of a lot of her other songs, and what I found didn't surprise me. I found such songs as, Deathly, David Denies, Calling it Quits, and Don't Watch Me Bleed. Just off an educated guess, I do believe that these songs aren't about happy people doing happy things. She has a certain sad tone to the way she writes, and to what she talks about.
I entitled this blog, Aimmee, the Opposite of a Mann, because her lyrics seem to be very emotional. I believe that what society says about women, which is that they tend to be more on the emotional side, then tough, is my basis to this title. She writes with very sad emotions, which wouldn't be found most of the time in male lyric writing.
I believe Aimee Mann to be a sort of modern day blues writer/singer. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. This is just her style. I particularly didn't like her music or lyrics. I am more of an optimistic kind of person. I like to listen to songs that bring me up and keep my mind off of the bad in life. I don't want my focus to be on those certain things that will bring me down, or keep me from doing what I want to do in life. I also believe that life is a horrible, excuse me, bitch, that we all need to tame, and fight with equal or greater values. This kind of music would put my focus on the wrong things, and I currently don't need this. I don't believe that most people need this, but that is just me.

The Truth Behind the Similarities

I would first like to start off by saying that I love this subject. I love looking at all the different points of views that people have on my strongest belief. I feel that it teaches us that we cannot rely completely on what we are readily taught by our parents, teachers, and any kind of other educators we might have throughout life. I believe that it is very true that not a lot of people take a glance at the bigger picture and think about how this planet was created, along with those whom dwell in it. It doesn't do much towards my beliefs, but that is another subject. The question is what does studying and comparing teach us about ourselves. So, I will give you my answer. I think that because of the many different stories obviously very similar, we obviously like to make our own points of views on things. Also, because of the similarities, we find a truth somewhere inside of what we are telling. An example might be in our current populated belief of Adam and Eve, and the beliefs Egyptians had of the great thing creating two people who were the sky and the land. It is something that comes out of deep thought and curiosity, but as you have seen, comes out very similar in the end. I personally believe that we all, over time have come up with similar views, because a lot of it is true...somewhere. Obviously all of the stories aren't correct. If they were then we'd have to believe in 20 different things. The fact of the matter that I'm trying to convey to you is that we have a lot of stories that sound almost exactly the same, and with this, we can make the assumption that somewhere out there there is a place where all of this popular belief has come from. It didn't just pop out of no where, and people haven't just agreed with it for over 2000 years for no reason. You have to THINK. If you just become ignorant and say, "well they are all similar, but very different...and obviously people just want to make up there own stories, so none of it's true," then you will be out of a truth. If you critically think about how all of this came about, I'm sure you won't come up with an answer, but there will be the questions as to why this is in such popular demand. It is more than a bunch of stories relating to each other. We as people need to learn more than what we are learning today. By comparing different myths and what not, I can see that we all as a whole need to do some more reading up to do. I can also see that we all agree on something...and that something isn't put into words, and peoples hearts yet. I can't really explain exactly what I mean...but all I know is, that I believe in something far greater than myself, and I think that not a lot of people have come to this conclusion yet. I think that by comparing these myths and what not, I see that people obviously haven't found that, "faith," yet. I do understand though. It takes a lot to believe in something that isn't rationally explained, or physically seen. If more people had faith in something greater than themselves and figured out what I tried explaining early, then this whole, "Great Myth," thing would never had been thought of. Which also means that by comparing these myths, I see that there is a wide range of people who haven't found faith in something huge yet. Interesting.

Dr. Terrence Roberts

Today I went to a speaking thinking that I was going to be lost in the ceiling designs or the many different faces that were going to arrive with me. It turns out that my focus was placed solely on one, very respectable, and great man.
Dr. Terrence Roberts was one of the, “Little Rock 9,” and came to speak at AVC. He had a very subtle look to him, but when he spoke, oh man were you listening. I rarely see a man who is so highly educated and experience as this man was. Every sentence that came out of this man’s mouth blew me away in the fact that his words were so well planned and articulate. He talked of his experience in Little Rock with relaying that at first he thought that, “white people are stone crazy.” He also talks of how life itself is, “weird,” pointing out that we are all the same in the sense that we are from a woman. He tells that when he was born he was placed in a world that the color that was right, was white. When he gets to talking of when he went to school with the other eight students, he says that he did what he did because it was the right thing to do. It is obvious that in 99.9% of all cases this is what you should do. This man is very admirable in my eyes because this man put his life on the line, for what was right. If more Americans actually did this, instead of just talking about change, then we probably wouldn’t have some of the problems that we have today. Regardless, this man had been through a life risking situation. His fear was irrelevant in the situation when he went to the school with the other students. He said that at first there were a lot of volunteers to do what they did, and they almost were going to be able to call them, “the little rock one hundred and fifty.” He told us that most people tell him that it was amazing that people were threatening him. Dr. Roberts said that he is confused why the people would say this, because it was common for him to get threatened and hurt from white, “folk.”
Dr. Roberts placed emphasis on the fact that we should educate ourselves. He said that from here on out we should read a book a week. As I heard this I glanced down the aisle at Professor Gross and saw her laugh and hold up a book she had with her-which added to this man’s obvious humorous tone. The Doctor also talked of how a student at UCLA came to him and told him that he had a racist professor. Through this, he teaches us that this is a reality, and it isn’t going to be avoided. He said our problems are not this, but that our problems are that we don’t usually know our reality. Roberts then began to talk of how he was mad at the people who are responsible for the student not knowing harsh realities.
I believe that he reinforced a lot of how I feel, but I did learn more from him that knowledge is power. The way that this man spoke blew my mind away. At one point he corrected a man who was asking him a question on his over-use of the word, “like.” The man who he corrected was a man who could obviously over power Dr. Roberts physically, but because of the education and knowledge conveyed in the Dr.’s words-his stature was irrelevant. I could tell that Roberts could tame a nation with his words, which is scary, but very impressive. If I take away anything from his speech, it will be that knowledge has unknown power to it, and to do what is right. He did what was right when he confronted that man, and he did it through his large knowledge base. Thesis and proof with evidence.
Thank you Dr. Terrence Roberts for coming to educate Antelope Valley College. If any of you want to know more about him, check out AVC’s newspaper or just Google him. I highly advise you listen to what this man has to say, and go to any speaking events that he is at.

Lily and Racism

I believe that Lily isn't to sure why many people are racist in her society. I think that her entire family issues (her mother being dead and her not being able to connect with her father) keep her from why most people believe in racism. Now, she is practically raised by a black maid called Rosaleen, who basically is like the mother she never had. I think that because she was so shielded against why people thought that way, along with the fact that her foster mother was black, created an overall sense that racism is wrong. She clearly was not placed around people who were ignorant and were teaching kids to hate based on skin color. She was also not raised to think this because she was basically raised by a black woman. Why would a black woman teach her that hating black people is bad, when she is black herself? The two work perfectly in Lily's case. It is a God send that she has an opportunity to be shielded from racism, and shown that people of color aren't bad people at all.
If she had a white caretaker then obviously things might be different. She might never know that black people can be nice, so she would never have a chance to dub black people humans of the same kind. She is confused by why most people believe so strongly in hatred towards African Americans because she lives with one and she treats her like she's her daughter. If no one was there to teach you how to play basketball, then you obviously wouldn't know how. If you didn't learn how to play basketball, and 95% of the population was saying that basketball for the devil, then you would probably think that it was for the devil and you wouldn't play it. However, if you were given the opportunity to learn how to play basketball while 95% of the population said it was for the devil-because you learned that it wasn't, then you wouldn't think that it is for the devil. This is how you must look at Lily's situation, and why she grows to be against or not fully understand why people believe in racism.
Lily is placed with a very loving and great, black nanny who wants the best for her. She doesn't see the world in the eyes of others because she is not in the same situation as the world. Due to this, she is shut away from the hatred, and instead shown the love away from racism. It makes complete sense to me that Lily grows from being confused about racism to understanding why it is wrong.

An Angry Cheetah, Yea

It was the second lap of a three and three-quarter race, and this kid, this annoying, tall idiotic kid jumps in front of me.
It was the beginning of the third lap of the same race, and the same idiot grabs my arm when we are our of sight, and pulls me behind him.
It was the last 200 meters of the race, and I was enraged and chased after this moron. All of my thoughts and desires were set on beating him. I was fine at first, it was only a race. It became more than that, and I became something more with it. Everything that was going on seemed to just vanish. My instincts all focused on the moron. I felt as though this man had murdered my entire family. I felt very deeply during this fight of a race, and this is one of the only things I could think of that relates me to an animal.
In this case, I believe I might have been a cheetah, or lion of some sort. It's almost as if someone had messed with my cubs, or a wild antelope had galloped passed me and my animal instincts flooded me. I became something incredibly different. My emotions were that of an angry tiger. Just as the man in the short story, "Sloth," related the slowness of the sloth to his sadness-I was enraged as a mother would be to an intruder on her young.
I might be able to relate to another animal in such ways as a puppy who is significantly reliant and perked by an owner, and me attracted to a woman. They relate because just as when the puppy see's its owner, that's all the puppy is focused on and goes after. When I am around a beautiful woman, I am entranced with her beauty and she is my focus. It's because of my male hormones, and it is because of the dogs love for it's owner.
I found it very interesting that the writer chose to have the person relate to a sloth. I mean, how original is that? I could understand why this story is published in a book. I never think of relating my feelings to an animal. I guess it is just because that isn't my human instinct to do that kind of thing. That is why it is so interesting for this author to do such a thing. I might try to relate myself with animals a little more, but for fun. I think that a lot of my friends, and even yours might think it is funny. I could relate having to use the restroom very bad and doing the poddy dance to a dog who shakes when it has to use the restroom! Very funny and interesting. I still leave this note with the very honest truth that during that race I became like a lion of some sort. It may seem funny, but I think we can all relate to becoming something other than ourselves once in a while whether it be a nervous spell, or an act we put on.