"Inspiration Information" by Shuggie Otis

The song is laid back and funky with short and soft vocals. The keys, guitar, and especially bass are what really push that feel across to the listener. The constant underlying bass rhythm lays the foundation for the entire piece and soothes the listener with the deep consistency. The lyrics are kept short and nearly indecipherable, as if the goal was to lose yourself in the music, not the words. If that had been change, the whole feeling of the song would be lost while the message the lyrics contain would become the centerpiece of the entire song.

Semeadores by Diego Rivera

S - Hispanic farmers and workers
O - Early 20th century (1930's) during the Communist movement
A - The Mexican people
P - To emphasize the benefits of communism and the cruelty of capitalism
S - Diego Rivera
Tone - Sympathetic, supportive

It shows the oppression of everyday workers, with a dark sky and the swaying lines, the people's backs bent over in hard labor, almost to the breaking point. Rivera's commenting on the plight of workers in a capitalist society, claiming they are abused and under appreciated by those who essentially have total control over them.

Creative Process

Wilco's approach is to break down the elements of their message and craft a specific piece of music to fit the theme. The then work on individual pieces until the feel satisfied with their work, then put it back together and polish it up into one piece. When I go to write, I think about my topic until I find an idea or a phrase I particularly like and can work with. Next, I write the piece as I go, and what I think is exactly what I right. I then re-read my piece and edit it so it fits the appropriate tone and theme. I then do my best to clarify and blend my writing to where it flows easily and is not so difficult to read and understand. I feel that if I try to push my thoughts and opinions into a preset mold I lose any freedom or flexibility I may have had to manipulate the piece into something completely different than the idea I may have started with. I feel it takes away from my ability to push across my opinions to the audience.

Nostalgia Response

Nostalgia is the feeling of remembering things of the past, specifically positive memories. This song reminds me of the period of time I lived with my grandparents. I remember that my grandmother would play songs from a similar time period all the time, and each year she'd pick a "theme song" for my birthdays. We'd often go on long car rides from our home in Arizona across the Hoover Dam to Las Vegas and visit my cousins while listening to her music. Strangely, the song reminds me of the taste of mint. My grandparents kept a little garden with mint leaves in it, and so I always associate my memories of them to the taste of mint...

The Pinch of Poverty

Poverty is caused by a number of environmental and internal factors including education, single parent families, a lack of opportunities, laziness, or a large family or group to support. This artist chose to display poverty in a negative light, showing a desperate family sitting on a street corner. One glimmer of light does shine through, however, in the form of the girl selling her flowers in an attempt to support her family that seems to have given up. It seems the artist is trying to convey that poverty does not effect just adults or individuals, it effects whole families. The artist's choice of deep colors and a rainy atmosphere show a somber feel over the piece. However, around the girl there seems to be more color, namely yellows. The brightness represents the girls hope. She steps forward towards the viewer and seems to make eye contact - she has not given up, in fact she is still working, even at her young age. Behind her, the sky casts a yellow glow, brightening a relatively dark landscape as if it were a sunrise, yet another hopeful symbol.

Poverty Response Post

Divakaruni and Singer both have some fairly unique ideas and beliefs when it comes to the issue of poverty and all the other problems it creates (hunger, forced labor, homelessness, etc.)

Divakaruni's essay focuses largely on an issue that has arisen from the much wider problem of poverty: child labor. The majority of America would agree that such practices are disgusting and unethical, yet most of the industries in America import goods from countries with these practices still in use, and thus they inadvertently support it. For years people have been calling to end the importing of goods manufactured by children (or for that matter, slave labor, which accounts for nearly all the cocoa production in the world.) Divakaruni shows us a different side of the issue, though. She demonstrates how for these children working in the harsh environments, the choice is between factory work or starvation. She tells the story of a young boy who was hired by the author's mother, and says of him,

"Every year, when we went to visit our grandfather in the village, we were struck by the many children we saw, ... their ribs sticking our through the rags they wore. Whenever Nimai (the boy)passed these children, he always walked a little taller. And when he handed the bulk of his earnings over to his father, there was a certain pride in his eye. Exploitation, you might be thinking. But he thought hi was a responsible member of the family."

Nimai's choice was to be one of the children on the street starving and begging, or as a ten year old be put to work doing physical labor in an attempt to help support his family. It's a choice every child in that world must face. Divakaruni goes on to say that banning practices like child labor by refusing to import the goods does nothing if it just puts them our of work and costs them their food. Other actions must be taken, such as the establishment of public education. Divakaruni's unpopular opinion shows what is true, not what we feel is "right." Or immediate judgement is to try and "free the slaves." But as she aptly puts it, the choice is between forced labor and food, or to "Live Free and Starve."

 The more mainstream of the two is Singer's opinion, or rather his critique of the way most of the western world lives their lives. He laments the fact that in our culture, people would much rather spend their money on extravagances like dining out or entertainment when across the world, children without the chance to have such a life are starving. He focuses on the fact that one if one family gave up dining out for one month, the money saved could support a child through the most crucial four years of development and keep them fed. He likens the situation to the following theoretical scenario: 

"Bob ... has invested most of his savings into a ... valuable old car, a Bugatti. ... One day when Bob is out for a drive, he parks his Bugatti near the end of a railway siding and goes for a walk up the track. As he does so, he sees a runaway train ... running down the track. Looking farther ahead, he sees the small figure of a child very likely to be killed by the runaway train. He can't [save] the child, ... but he can throw a switch [to] divert the train down the siding to his Bugatti. Then nobody will be killed-- but the train will destroy his Bugatti."

 In what seems to be a rather extreme act, Bob lets the train kill the boy to save his expensive car. However, Singer shows us his actions are not so extreme. Every time we splurge, we make a decision that the fulfillment of our desires outweighs the life of another child somewhere in the world. Honestly, he's correct. It's not something anyone enjoys thinking about, and it's certainly something everyone avoids discussing. The computer I am using right now to right this costs what could have been a decade of freedom from starvation for a needy child. The clothes I wear, the books I read, the food I eat, yes, all of it could have possibly saved a life, and at this point I will never know.

Round and Round - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

My facts throughout the analysis tend to highlight strong moments and positive elements about the song. My observation of the fact that the song is soft, mellow, etc. are especially notable in that my favorite songs are smoother, softer songs. Obviously I'd notice something like that first out of all the traits in the song. It's safe to say I am quite biased, mostly because my personal musical preferences that were created through being brought up in a very music-oriented environment, so I tend to notice and appreciate more instrumental songs with multiple styles interlaced into one piece, however, I feel that I have less bias than many other people. The fact is that I don't identify with one genre. I like a certain song based on it's individual qualities, and I don't identify with one genre more than another because within each type of music. There is enough variance between one song to the other that I don't like music just because it is this genre, or so on.