Taylor Swift- A Self Made Woman?

Taylor Swift is currently my favorite artist. I have been following her music since 2006, when I came across her song "Stay Beautiful" on iTunes. I have liked her long before she became popular, had songs on the radio and went "mainstream." I personally love all of her songs because they are unique, written by herself, and from the heart. Unlike many current popular artists who hire songwriters, Taylor writes all of her songs herself. I consider this to be a very self-made woman characteristic. It is much easier to hire a songwriter to do the work for you, but do the songs really have any meaning? I consider Taylor Swift's songs to be very meaningful, they are about real problems that teenagers experience and real life situations. She uses specific peoples names from her life, referencing a boy named Drew in "Teardrops on my Guitar," Corey in "Stay Beautiful" and Stephen in the song "Hey Stephen." Often, artists who use other peoples' lyrics have very vague and general songs, which I find hard to connect with because they dont mention any specifics.

Since I consider Taylor Swift to be such an inspiring artist through her songs alone, I did some research to find out if she truly was a self-made woman. I found a detailed biography of her life on her website. Taylor was brought up in a house with musical influence; her grandmother was a famous opera singer. Taylor started singing at the age of 10 for local karaoke contests, and sung at a basketball game at age 11. She started writing her own songs at age 12 with the guitar. She recalls "playing four hours today until my fingers were bleeding." Sincer her family was familiar with the music business, they took her to record labels all throughout Tenessee until she was signed.

So, is Taylor Swift a self made woman? I think she is. She genuinely loved composing music and singing when she was very young, it was not a dream forced upon her by anyone else. This is apparent in her music, especially seeing her play live. I saw her in concert this summer, and it was apparent that she loved being onstage and singing to the audience. Other artists I have seen in concert have a bored air while playing on stage. Taylor Swift was the complete opposite, she enjoyed performing, which was apparent in her smiling, dancing, and interacting with the audience. Writing all of her own songs and playing the guitar herself (instead of hiring another person to do it for her) shows that she is a self made artist. Even if she did not come from a poor background, like many of the self made men we talked about in class, she did have to work hard for success. Although her family's connections in the music business certainly helped Taylor's musical career, it was her dedication and passion for music that elevated her to the platinum-album sucess that she is today.

Listen to Taylor Swift's new song "Fearless" (the entire album was released just last week!)

Is Txting Bad 4 U?

It seems like every time I am texting in front of my parents, they are always telling me how bad it is. They say things like "Your going to get carpal tunnel from all that texting." and "your poor thumbs, how can you do that all the time?" I decided to research if texting really was bad for your hands. I came across a very well written article on a health website. It said that texting, along with video games, ipods/mp3 players, and portable game systems can cause injury to hands and arms if used repeatedly. "The small, definite, repetitive movements used to manoeuvre controls on these tiny handsets can begin to cause pain over time. The thumb, while good for gripping, is not a very dextrous digit and is particularly susceptible to injury", explained chartered physiotherapist, Bronwyn Clifford. The article also gave tips for people who do enjoy texting on how to still text while minimizing injury to your hands. Some of these tips which I found helpful were taking breaks during texting, using both hands, and massaging your arms if they are sore.

Personally, I find that my hands only hurt if I am texting continuously, which is not very often. I mostly use texting when I am in a place where I cannot talk on the phone, or when I need to send a short message to a group of people. I find video games to be more painful to my hands and fingers. The video games I play last about 5-10 minutes, wheras sending a text takes under a minute. Also, many video games are played aggresively, and I find I need to apply force to win them. I rarely play video games because I find my hands are too sore after them and it is not worth it. I appreciate the author offering tips to the texters and gamers of America to prevent them from experiencing perilous hand problems.

Uniting the Americans

When I watched John McCain's concession speech on Tuesday night, I immediately thought of our first unit in class: what does it mean to be an American? Looking back on my notes, I had written the question "do American values demonstrate individualism or community?" I believe that John McCain completely addressed the value that the community is greater than the individual. He did this in convincing his supporters that even if they disagree with some of his policies, they should still respect him because he is going to be our president, and the leader of the American community for the next four years. "These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the challenges we face. I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together." The words "come together" show that McCain is putting aside his personal loss of the election to embrace the value of community during the difficult (perilous) times.


"Tonight more than any night I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens. Whether they supported me or senator Obama, I wish godspeed to the man who is my former opponent and will be my president." At this point when watching the speech, I felt incredibly inspired by his words and started crying. Losing is never an easy thing, but McCain was able to not only lose graciously, but inspire all the Americans watching his speech to become united.