College Plan-EXTRA CREDIT

I am currently in the Honors Humanities program here, so there is not much I need to do GE wise. The Honors program is great because it covers most of all my GE. The math and science is also covered by my major. I need to take a D1 area as part of my GE but that's about it. I plan to take the WST either the end of next semester or the beginning of fall semester. I would like to take it the end of next semester though, because otherwise I won't have anymore lower division classes to take for fall semester. Fall semester I would like to get into some of my upper division classes, although I know I won't be able to. I will probably end up taking my Honors class, Chem 1A and a math class. Which will be overwhelming, but I'll tough through it. I've always been good at that. I know I will probably get hung up if I don't pass the WST the first time through, because I know it will be a pain not being able to get into my upper division classes. Also, I may get hung up in some of my math classes, because math is not my strong suit, but that is why the school has tutoring programs. Overall, I am planning on getting out of school in four years. It is an ambitious plan, and is hampered by the pesky unit caps, but I plan on completing my goal by going through summer school and attempting not to fail any of my classes.

Final Essay

Kristina Tuminaro

MCOM 96FY

Cynthia McCune

November 30, 2009

Final Essay

“Mirrors on the ceiling,/The pink champagne on ice/And she said 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device'”. Who does not recognize these iconic lines from the Eagles classic ‘Hotel California’? The mysterious lyrics, the vague references, the killer guitar rifts; these were all distinctly Eagles trademarks. Or “There were lines on the mirror, lines on her face/she pretended not to notice, she was caught up in the race” from another major Eagles hit, ‘Life in the Fast Lane’. Their country rock turned hard rock influenced many people and has made their influence last through this day.

Let me be up front—country is not my favorite genre of music. I find it to be boring and trying. I don’t want to listen to some singer whine about his baby leaving him in his trailer, but The Eagles took country and rocked it out. According to the Rolling Stones magazine, they tried to take the country rock established by the Byrds and turn it more into hard rock. And I would say they succeeded for the most part. The Eagles first complilation of their greatest hits, titled, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, is the best selling album at 26 million copies, even as of 2007. Undeniably, the Eagles have some influence on American culture, just through that fact alone. I believe one of the reasons why the Eagles are so popular and far-reaching is because their music is so universal.

Their slight country twang is undoubtedly influenced by such early country rock bands as the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. The four original members of the Eagles did play with country rock bands. In fact, singer/guitarist/banjoist/mandolinist Bernie Leadon played with the Flying Burrito Brothers, and borrowed some of their techniques. But the band’s early country flavor began to fade, and they began to help develop an entirely new branch of rock, called ‘classic rock’, which is what most people associate to older rock nowadays.

Their music reflects the turbulence of the 1970s, their peak time of popularity. It retains some of the country influence in the soulful and yearning lyrics, but is pure rock in its sounds. Their first number one hit ‘Take It Easy’ painted a picture of a man running from the responsibility of having a woman, who’s just looking for a good time. This was important for the 1970s because there were a lot of people running from responsibility, just looking to take things easy. It was the start of the hippie movement, after all. Some of their later music starts getting into the darker moods of the American culture. Songs talking about being unable to escape (‘Hotel California’), about simpler times without conflict (‘Tequila Sunrise’), ballads about love and wanting what you cannot have (‘The Best of My Love’ and ‘After the Thrill is Gone’) and even songs about pop icons at the time (‘James Dean’).

The Eagles fit perfectly into the development of popular rock. They helped define a new genre, and they helped to record the turbulence and excess of the 1970s. Their music still reaches into the 20^th century, and their albums are still being sold. Their music is so far-reaching that it will undoubtedly still be present into later years.

Bibliography

Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Gibson, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

McCormick, Neil. Telegraph N.p., 1 Nov. 2007. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

Rolling Stone Ed. Jann S. Werner. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

Starpulse Ed. William Ruhlmann. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. .

MUSE Workshop #3

The third MUSE workshop I attended was Finding A Job In A Tough Economy. It was held in the Career Center and gave us a bunch of tips on how to find a job. They spent a great deal of time emphasizing how to dress and talk and to stay clean. They suggested wearing slightly more formal clothes than the job requires so it looks like you're "dressing for success". They told us to talk to the prospective employers respectfully. Finding a job in this economy is tough, and with the tips they gave us it should become easier.

Talking About Drugs

Freshman in college face many pressures. One such pressure is the ability to perform. Can they be social and run around and party and still succeed in academics? Some freshman cave and turn to drugs, be it a stimulant like caffeine or a downer like marijuana. The drug of choice for many freshman comes in the form of heavily caffeinated energy drinks. Though these drinks are more widely accepted in society, they are as addictive and dangerous as illegal drugs. There are studies on the numerous ill effects of such high caffeine levels, yet everyone seems to ignore them.

Most people ignore these warnings because they are focused on the short term. Just one to get me through class, maybe another a few hours later when I start to crash so I can get to this party. Heck, why not another so I can finish this assignment after the party? But besides this upper, the next most popular drug is probably marijuana. This one is a downer, a relaxant for the overstressed college student. And let's face it, college students are under a lot of stress. But turning to a drug, while reported as being 'organic' and not putting toxins into your system, is still a bad way of dealing with that stress.

And I really don't think there is any taboo drug in college. There are drugs that are considered more dangerous, or more unattainable for cash-strapped college students, but college is a time for 'experimentation', and most students take full advantage of that.

Non-MUSE event #2

For my non-MUSE event I went to a play at the San Jose Rep theatre. I saw Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' and thought it was an excellent take on the play. It is one of Shakespeare's least known plays, but one speech from it has gone down in infamy. It has been misinterpreted and reinterpreted and every kind of interpreted inbetween. Shakespeare's famous "All the world is a stage" speech. I was in drama for almost six years in middle school and high school, and every year when we did the Shakespeare section, someone would chose to do that speech. It grew so tiresome to me, and I was looking forward to not hearing it again this year. But as soon as the actor uttered those first famous lines, I found myself being drawn into the speech. The actor did it so well, so convincingly, and interpreted in such a way that I forgot where I was or what I was doing. I don't know exactly what he did, but it was excellent. I will never forget this play and its effect on me.

Music Review-Coldplay

Coldplay has become an icon for modern alternative rock. Their album X&Y became one of their best-selling American albums. It reached #1 on the Billboard 200 and was the best selling album in it's release year of 2005. But what made their album so popular?

Their songs combined a lot of different genres, but in particular it had an electronic flair. This gave their songs a small kick, making them catchy and fun-sounding. It was a dynamic album, although some songs like 'Speed of Sound' do sound quite similar to their hit 'Clocks'. But other songs, like 'Kingdom Come' sounds dissimilar from any of their earlier songs. The X&Y album itself is a series of ballads. The lyrics are all deep and far-reaching.

'A Message' is one of my favorite songs on this album. It has a distinctly melodic sound, but also has some great acoustic guitar. The lyrics really reach out to me and make me feel loved and important. But overall, their were strongly influenced by some psychadelic rock on this album, combining guitars with synthesizers and keyboards with rock ballad style lyrics.

MUSE Workshop #2

The second MUSE workshop I attended was the 4 Secrets for College Life Success, put on by Clint Pardor. Most college students do not take care of themselves, not eating the right foods, not taking the time to exercise, not getting enough sleep, so the first step Pardor recommends is self-care. Self-care can be anything from going to lectures to simply believing in a higher power and getting involved in something spiritually. His second secret is relationships, from friendship to romantic. He suggests that if we keep up our relationships and keep them positive, that may in turn lift our moods and behaviors. His third secret is that getting our assignments done and doing positive things to help us in our college lives could also be an upper for our moods. And lastly, he told us that everything we do affects how our college lives will go, and will even affect us after college. This was a beneficial workshop for me because it was quite informative and eye-opening. These things seem so simple in theory but they are very difficult in practice.