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.

Integrated Global Studies School: A Dream or a Reality?

Yesterday in advisory, a teacher named Mr. Vargas gave us a presentation about the new Integrated Global Studies school. The idea sounded very intriguing to me, because I loved taking EH freshman year and AS junior year (both classes that integrate English and History). Since I loved these classes so much, I thought that IGSS would be a good choice for me. In addition, the IGSS focuses on global studies and the environment, which is similar to Geoscience. I am taking Geoscience this year and it has been my favorite science course at New Trier so far.

After introducing the idea, Mr. Vargas gave us a few things to consider with scheduling. For starters, it would take place periods 5-8. My senior year I was hoping to take Design as an art elective, a class that only meets sixth period. The reality is that I have wanted to take this class for a long time, and if I did IGSS I would have to give it up, something that I didn't want to do. In addition, IGSS counts for English, History, and Science, which means I could not take other English, History, or Science courses. Ever since Freshman year, I have planned to take AP Psych and AP Creative Writing Senior Year. Not only do these courses look good on college appliations, but they also interest me greatly. After listening to Mr. Vargas speak, I realized that the dream, (or idea) was that I could take another integrated class, something I loved. The reality was that I would have to give up other courses that I have wanted to take for a long time. Another reality which we addressed in class is that colleges prefer to see standard courses rather than new, somewhat experimental ones. After talking to some friends in advisory, I learned that others, like myself are intrigued by an integrated course, but are hesitant to deviate from their four-year plan they created freshman year.

A Pragmatic Approach to Lying

I came across this article, titled "Why kids lie: How to teach children truthfulness and respond to lies helpfully." The article was directed at parents, but I was immediately intersted because my two little siblings often lie about even the smallest things. The article has many practical tips for helping kids to stop lying. "Teaching truthfulness repetitively, not only after children already have lied," was one of these tips. Another one was "Not punishing truth telling. The consequences for coming clean should never be so severe that it's worth it to the child to take the risk and lie." The second tip is extremely practical, because I feel that many children choose to lie because they know the truth will get them in trouble. If a parent makes it clear that the child will not get a severe punishment for telling the truth, they will be less afraid of telling the truth. "Reassuring children that we won't be as angry if they tell the truth." was another one of these tips.

This article is very practical in explaining that parents need to set a good role model for their children by not telling lies themselves, because young children "soak things up like a sponge." I appreciate that Jody Johnston Pawel (the author) knows that there is no hard-and-fast rule for getting children to stop lying, which is why she is practical in offering many different solutions. Pawel also realizes that no matter how many times the parent tells a child "lying is bad--dont do it!" the child still may not listen and continue to lie, which is why a parent needs to be patient.
When dealing with problems involving children, I think it is best to take a pragmatic approach because parents will become easily frustrated if their expectations are overly idealistic and the child does not meet them.

Idealistically Enchanted

This weekend I watched the movie "Enchanted" while babysitting two little girls. For those who havent seen the movie, Enchanted is a Disney fairytale movie about a princess named Giselle who lives in a perfect animated world. Just as she is about to marry her prince, the evil witch throws her into a black hole and she is transported to New York city (and is no longer animated). She meets Robert, a very pragmatic man with a cynical outlook on life. After meeting Robert, Giselle begins to change her overly idealistic views on life and love. Robert learns from Giselle that while being practical may be the safest, it is good to step outside your comfort zone and take risks. My favorite line of the movie is when Giselle says "nobody has been very nice to me." Robert sarcastically replies with "yeah, well welcome to New York." Giselle answers with "thank you!" As an idealist, she tries to see the best in everyone, acts nicely towards people, and is shocked when anyone is angry or mean. She is such an optimist that she does not even realize that Robert's comment is sarcastic.

Throughout the movie, Robert and Giselle are constantly teaching each other about their love lives. Giselle is about to marry a prince that she has known for only a day, and Robert convinces her to go on a date with him so they can get to know each other before making a commitment. Robert has been dating a woman for five years and still has not married her. It is clear that the woman is not entirely convinced that Robert loves her, so Giselle convinces Robert to send her an exsquisite bouquet of flowers carried by two doves, something an idealist in a relationship would do. In watching Robert and Giselle teach each other things, I realized that in life, love, and history we need to find a balance between idealism and pragmatism. While it may be fun to be completely idealistic like Giselle, she needs some practicality in her life to prevent her from getting hurt. On the other end of the spectrum, Robert's life is very safe, but also boring, which is why he needs idealism to make him take chances and dream big. This lesson can extend beyond the movies into real life-- idealistic and pragmatic people should team up, because they balance each other out.

Fear of Pumpkin Attacks

This weekend, a giant inflatable pumpkin stack in my family's front yard was torn apart by vandals. It was clear that they had taken the Obama sign out of our yard and used it to tear the material sometime Sunday night. Monday morning we found the pumpkin with giant holes in it, and the Obama sign taken out of our yard, laying next to the pumpkin with a bent wire. We had a different Obama sign that was stolen, and now this one was used to destroy our fun Halloween decoration. My family called the police to report the vandalism, and they came over for an interview Monday night. They told my dad that yard signs belonging to both the McCain and Obama signs have been vandalized and stolen recently in Wilmette, and suggested that we put the sign away. I think it is terrible that people cannot do something to express their political views as simple as a yard sign without having to worry about vandalism. People need to be able to express their political opinions without fear that their personal property will not get punished. During the Salem witch trials, people were afraid to express their opinions because they could get hung for disagreeing with the government. While a hanging and a pumpkin attack are two entirely different stories, the question still remains the same; do we hide our opinions from fear of getting hurt, or speak out and risk the consequences? My family is deciding to speak out by putting the Obama sign out during the day to show our support, but taking it down at night to make sure our other Halloween decorations are not vandalized. In this case, we were able to find a solution to speak out but still be safe, but that is not always the case. During the times of McCarthyism, government officials who spoke out against McCarthy's policies were punished, because this was viewed as a suspect for communism.