Sources smourches

The globalization of hip-hop culture is incredible. Through music alone, a whole identity is sprouting. Originating in New York, the culture can now be seen world wide. Through its provocative lyrics and hard-hitting beats, hip-hop culture is becoming an epidemic.

Volume 7 issue 4 of the Journal of Sociolinguistics is an excellent, highly credible source. This source gives really good information about the effect of hip-hop culture globally. The author analyzes different factors, giving a wide range of results. 

My second source is from the EBSCO host, an article called "The Globalization of Hip-Hop Starts and Ends With 'Where You're At.'" Coming from EBSCO, this is a moderately credible source. It does have some great information. The article is all about the astounding effect that hip-hop has on other cultures around the world.

My least credible source is the most fun to read. It comes from a blog titled "Globalized Identity." While it may not be the most trustworthy, the author sure gets her point out. It does a lot to hear the opinions of others, biased as they may be. 

Yes We Can...or can we?

In the 2008 Mccain vs. Obama ad titled "Yes We Can," Barack Obama gives a speech that is put to music and echoed by a chorus of celebrities. As I watched this video the repeated "yes we can!" began to burrow into my mind. I began to think that we could, whatever we were trying to do. As I listened to the speech I realized that Obama was talking about change. Yes we can have change. He presented this idea very effectively.

This video is aimed at a more youthful audience, with lively, vibrant music and an overwhelming number of teenage idols. The video contains individuals such as: Will.I.Am, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, Common, John Legend, Tatiana Ali, Scarlett Johannsen, and a host of others. Obama is establishing credibility by synchronizing his views with the views of icons in our media-centered world. As Obama speaks, his words are echoed in a catchy song sung by teenage heroes.

Obama appeals to the audience's emotions by talking about struggles of slaves, immigrants, pioneers, and women. These kinds of controversial issues are the one's that people feel most strongly about. Therefore, Obama, by saying he wants to leave these behind and change, appeals to people upset by the past. As the video fades, "Vote Hope" flashes across the scene, giving the audience one more reminder that Mccain promises nothing but despair.

Truly Inspired...

In the Saturday morning session of the April 2008 general conference, President Henry B Eyring spoke on the one true church. President Eyring totally appeals to his audience as he takes a humble approach to the subject and reminds us of the covenants we made. This talk really struck me because I've always believed in the church without a doubt, but I've never had the strongest reasoning behind me beliefs.

President Eyring immediately establishes credibility with his audience by talking about the sustaining of the prophet and other apostles and by quoting the scriptures. In doing this, he creates an atmosphere where he is the authority figure and we are learning from him. From there he goes into the logical aspect of his argument, saying that the church is true because in it are the keys of the priesthood. There are always those people who need the facts. President Eyring understands his audience well.

President Eyring also plays a lot on emotions. He talks about the death of Joseph Smith and emphasizes Joseph's martyrdom. Another way he creates an emotional appeal is by touching on families. He talks about how families can become stronger and closer through the gospel. As we all know, minivan-driving mormons place a huge amount of importance on the family. 

I did not expect to find rhetorical tools in general conference, but President Eyring's talk was loaded with them. He knew his audience and appealed to them. And all this time I thought they were just convincing because they were on the TV...

Forget energy drinks, try this!

Do you ever feel like you just have too many things to do and people to see, and not enough time for any of it? If you've felt like this then you are one of many who just can't seem it fit it all in. With this revolutionary once-a-day pill, you can fit it all in! More-in-a-day (now obviously this is not a real product, but if it were I'd be taking it and I surely wouldn't be keeping the glorious benefits to myself) is the hottest thing out on the market.

One night, a man named Armond Aserinsky discovered that humans go through different stages of sleep throughout the night. There are four stages of sleep, followed by a REM stage, which is the most necessary and beneficial of the stages. Every night we go through all the other stages to get to the only truly necessary stage of sleep, the REM stage. What if there were a way to bypass the unnecessary stages and get right to the good stuff? Well now there is. More-in-a-day makes the most efficient days possible with the greatest of ease.

By taking one more-in-a-day pill every night before bed, your sleep time will be reduced drastically. This cutting-edge product helps you to skip through the other, pointless stages of sleep and spend your night in REM sleep. By your night, I mean a couple of hours. REM sleeps gives us what we need in a short amount of time, the problem is, we have to fiddle with the other stages of sleep to get to it.

A couple of hours of sleep every night will do the job just great. Just think about the things that get put aside every day. Have you been a victim to the "I'll get around to it eventually's?" Not anymore! Those scrapbooks you've been meaning to catch up on before your kids get wrinkles, that stamp collection gathering dust in the attic, and the spanish for dummies book on your coffee table with the price tag still on it are in for a big surprise. While everyone else is sleeping, you're filling your day with all the things you never had time to do before! More-in-a-day not only leaves you with more time, it leaves you feeling refreshed and energized. You're getting all the benefits of the average sleep session in less than half the time! Everyone could use a little More-in-a-day. 

Rockin The Dub V. C.

West Valley City, UT, home to drug dealers, murderers, and criminals alike. Or at least that's how someone from the east side of salt lake might describe it. It's a far cry from Provo, but it's been home for the past fifteen years of my life. So whites are the minority, big deal. What many people don't realize is the beauty that diversity can bring. At my high school there were white kids, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Polynesians, kids straight from Africa, Europeans, Middle Easterners, and any mix of the many cultures we see in our society. While some people are intimidated by cultural diversity, I greatly appreciated it. I don't have a racist bone in my body and I owe it to the fact that I'm culturally aware due to the diversity of my hometown. I have friends from every cultural background and I think that in today's every changing society it's completely necessary to know how to interact with people different from yourself. I love to see the look on people's faces when I tell them I'm from West Valley, especially if they're from somewhere like east Salt Lake or Provo. For some reason, the surrounding upper-class areas look down upon West Valley. Sure there may be some run-down houses and a mall that's more like a bazaar, but the residents are working towards change. Beautiful new buildings are being put up, schools being rebuilt, because the people that live there love where they live and care about it enough to do something about the condition of living. More than just the diversity, I love the happy, humble attitude of the people in my neighborhood. I have known most of my neighbors for my whole life and I feel I have the best ward in the whole world! The beautiful people of West Valley are what make it superior to any other hometown.

hooligans

The public pathways of the BYU campus should be safe to walk on without some hooligan on a longboard or a skateboard coming around a corner and smacking into you. This is a totally legitimate fear considering the speeds at which these inconsiderate riders operate. Not only that, but when on a board with wheels, the world becomes a playground. From stairs and handrails to curbs and public walkways, anything that can be skated on will be.

Students are not even allowed to ride a bike during the ten-minute class change. Some may ask why a bike and not a long board. The answer is that a bike has brakes. A bike rider can stop on a dime if necessary. It takes time to slow and eventually stop a longboard. Meanwhile, some poor lady is lying on the ground after being sent for the ride of her life by a kid who didn't know how to stop on his longboard.

Although a longboard may be a great tool for transportation, it can be very dangerous. An easy solution would be to wake up ten minutes earlier rather than put someone at risk because it's inconvenient to walk. Next time you see a poor lady lying on the ground…help her up! Heaven knows the hooligan in the oversized beanie and the skinny jeans isn't going to.

7:00 or 7:10?

So when I first decided college was the choice for me, I thought, "Oh I'll just scoot around on my longboard from class to class, no big deal." Next thing i know, I'm here at BYU with my longboard locked up tight so that I'll have no desire to risk the $50 fine associated with the criminal activity of rolling on a board hooked to four wheels. Go figure.

So basically, I have English 150 at 8:00 in the blazing morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I grudgingly wake up at 7:00 on these mornings, after 5-6 hours of sleep, so that I can leave by 7:45 to get to my class on time. Usually it's the kind of leaving where you leave your cell phone on your bed, your assignment in the printer, and your breakfast in the fridge, just to make it out the door by 7:45. Most of the time I can at least get both shoes tied. Sometimes I can't. For that reason I have wisely invested $10 in some velcro shoes from Wal-Mart.

I think at times we all find ourselves wishing for just a couple more minutes. I could use about ten more minutes every morning. I could easily solve this problem with a three foot piece of wood...my longboard. The thing I dislike the most about BYU is the restriction they put on skateboards or longboards on campus. I could wake up at 7:10! Obviously I can ride faster than I can walk, and with my expert weaving skills I could easily make it to class in five minutes. All my problems would be solved if I could only get to class the fast way. Well...not all my problems, but this small transportation problem.