Final post...for now

So, my three best posts are as follows:


Hip in the city
This blog asks "What was the role of 'the city' within the history of hip? This is answered by me with the help of Bruce "The Doctor" Springsteen. Great stuff!


Portland Hip chic
This was a free blog, I believe, and it deals with my encounter with hipsters in Portland. Thinking back to this trip makes me nauseous but as a result, a lot of good things came out of it! 


The Blues
This was the beginning of it all! The beginning of class but also the beginning of 'Hip.' This post speaks for itself.




What makes them "my best?"


Honestly, I would considered these blogs to be some of my best writing because I actually cared about the topic. Hip in the city meant a lot to me because I was listening to Bruce Springsteen and trying to do my homework when out of nowhere I had this epiphany! He was singin' about everything I was thinking and I associated that with the city. Also, if you watch the live music video, it illustrates hip beautifully. 


Portland Hip chic was fun to write, partly because I got to take out my animosity for Portland in my blog assignment. I think my sense of humor is like my favorite wine: dark and dry. So this was fun to write but also therapeutic. 


The Blues is very dear to me because without blues music, living would be impossible. I wish we would have spent more time talking about the blues because I feel that most hip ideas really do stem from early blues artists. 


Ideas on American popular culture...


I've really enjoyed this course on two levels, it has been like a pop. culture history class, as well as a writing class. We have had some interesting discussions in class and I'm walking away with great notes that will hopefully help me in the future. Some of my ideas have changed from the beginning of this course, but if anything they have been reinforced. My views of hip have been expanded upon and my ideas about what a 'hipster' is, have been reiterated. Exploring hip figures such as Walt Whitman and Ernest Hemingway, helped me see hip in a different light, a more ambiguous one too.  Whitman challenged orthodoxy through his poetry and ideas and I can't think of a 'hipper' figure. I would like to expand my knowledge of Whitman's work in the future because I think his passion for writing is incredible. When we read Hemingway's The Killers, I couldn't initially see how the story could be considered hip. After our discussion about time and identity, it really opened my eyes to the form of literary analysis. I re-read the story and loved it because of the confusion it creates, but also the way it dares to be different. I could say that I learned what 'hip' is, but I'm not sure if that was the point. If you take hip out of the equation, then I learned the love and theft of America, the compact version. 


Strengths and Weaknesses?


Overall, I feel good about my participation in class and what I got out of the class itself. I'm still dissatisfied with my performance as a writer and was hoping to have improved. I feel that I lack clarity and struggle with making well developed ideas. The writing assignments were good practice and I appreciate the flexibility. As for strengths, I'm highly passionate and have the will to write, which is why I took the class. I don't think that I've established a style of writing yet, or if you ever do?  


Grade?


Good question....


I've trained myself to not think about grades anymore. I just make sure that I show up and do my best, which is relative. I have shown up for the entire semester, minus a couple sick days, and I've tried to do my best. Personally, this has been an extremely hard semester for me because my home/work life is attempting to kill me (I've already notified authorities). So with that in mind, I feel like I did the best I could do at this moment in time, the perplexing present. In a way, this class has been my only outlet and I'm really going to miss it. If there is a grade attached to it, it probably looks like an A or B? If I was grading the class, I would give it an A, because it has been the most inventive class I've taken.


Sincerely, Waterface.
 (Witney Ryan)

Annotated Bibliography

Erickson, Steve. “Neil Young On a Good Day.” New York Times-Sunday Magazine. July 2000. Web.

This source will help me provide examples of Neil’s character, and I will then relate that to how Neil is hip. The article talks about all the idiosyncrasies Neil has and also how he can be a trickster figure. For example, Neil fired his Buffalo Springfield manager only to ask him to secretly manage his solo career.

 Kent, Nick. “I Will Survive.” MOJO Vol. 1: Issue 4. 96+ Print.

This Mojo article tells of Neil’s journey into older age and how he has had to deal with ambiguity within the music business. The article asks the question, “ Does a 60-year-old still have any place in the wild frontier? Whatever the answer is, Neil will do the opposite.

Leland, John. Hip: The History. New York: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.

I will use Leland as a reference point for hip, mainly using ideas about the trickster figure and identity. Leland claims that there is a mythology built around personal identity and I will use Neil Young as the example. Neil has many pseudonyms that allow him to try on different personas.

McDonough, Jimmy. Shakey; Neil Young’s Biography. New York: Anchor Books, 2002. Print.

Neil Young’s biography will serve as a reference point of Neil’s career and I will highlight the hippest points as well as why he will remain hip in the future. There are countless stories about how Neil likes to provoke his audience, which is a trickster move.

Simmons, Sylvie. “Be there, be there now, be in it.” MOJO Feb. 2011: 74-90. Print.

This article has many examples of Neil’s influence on past and future generations. There is a small interview with Young that gives insight into how Neil works. I plan to reference quotes from people who have been influenced by Young.

 Sweetig, Adam. “Expecting To Fly.” Uncut July 2003: 36-66. Print.

This article has great examples of Neil’s attitude in general. He wasn’t in the business to make money; it was always about the music. The main point I will use is that Neil was environmentally conscious, even in the 70’s, and used his status to raise a bigger awareness.

Women Who Rock!

On the topic of women’s role in the history of ‘hip,’ I believe women are the driving force or momentum behind the scenes. Now I have no claim to feminism by any means, in fact I would consider myself more “one of the guys” type of girl, but it is strange that John Leland omits many important female icons in Hip: The History.

           

            The puzzle piece I’m having trouble with is the way Leland keeps referring to hip as more of a feminine movement, but then goes on to discuss the dominance of males in society.  I guess this is just another contradiction of hip. This idea is leaning more towards misogynistic because it places women in the home as domestic mothers, and men on the road, living their dreams.

            

“ For many women, especially those with children, the price of this adventure is too high. Instead of reinventing themselves on the road, they have reinvented the home and the parameters of hip within it” (Leland 243).

There is not a right or wrong side here; there are just many versions of the truth. Some women may be perfectly happy being a housewife/mother and others may want to live from one adventure to another, I don’t think that makes them less hip than their male counterpart.

Needless to say, (this is where I say it anyways), there are many female faces within the history of pop culture and I think Leland chose to leave them out. Why? Maybe he wasn’t comfortable with the subject, then again maybe his wife made him add the chapter on ladies?  Who Knows?

Hip remains a matter of opinion and it really is up to the researcher on defining what is hip, who is hip, and why it matters. 

Here is just a short list of women who were left out of this book (or didn’t get enough coverage): Emily Dickinson, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth  Hurley, Cyndi Lauper, The Staples Sisters, The Supremes, Tina Turner, Wanda Jackson, Alanis Morissette, Joan Baez, Carole King, Carly Simon, Joni Mitchell, Rosa Parks, and so so many more. 

                    

                                                                   

Vinyl gets its groove back!

      So for the final essay I am collecting information on old trends, one of them being the vinyl record. The invention of vinyl records revolutionized the way people listened to music, as well as made artists popular. Before records, people just listened to live music or the radio, but being able to purchase records gave freedom to the listener. You could walk into a record store and look through rows of vinyl, each album cover was like a work of art.
      Vinyl eventually fell victim to newer technology like cassette tapes and compact discs, but many people argue that the sound of the record was never topped. Recently vinyl societies have popped up all over the place, even here in Blaz`e, Idaho. We have Record Store day, April 15th, and a newly founded Vinyl Society. 
I have to wonder if this falls into the hipster category though?

It's a fine line between hip and just plain foolishness, and if your doing it for the right reasons, than what does it matter?
It takes dedication to listen to vinyl in a world of instant mp3 gratification. A true vinyl lover recognizes the beauty in each tiny groove of the pressed material.
    
Vinyl sales seem to be on the rise again and new records are being released in vinyl box sets! This is music to the ears for collectors and anyone who appreciates the art.

Here's a short article about the recent trend:
http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2010/august/137521/Vinyl-records-are-coming-back-into-style

Kartoons are for Kids, oK?

           The only thing appropriate for kids in these old cartoons was the distracting music. After watching the old Betty Boop cartoon, I can see why it was banned from television. I’m not sure what year it was made, but really that should be no excuse. Even if the creators thought they were being ‘cute’ or ‘witty’ and trying to poke fun at stereotypes, these are the reasons why racism has lasted for too long. The cartoon’s host Betty Boop is a caricature version of a young, hip, Jewish women who exploits babies for their natural talents.  Russian babies, Chinese babies, White babies, and Black babies, any baby goes. So when the Black babies come out on the stage, they are chained together and crying, and in order to stop their crying, they are given a watermelon. Then in the audience, a Black baby starts to cry and what does the mother give it, you guessed it, a watermelon. These stereotypes and caricatures were maybe meant to be funny, but really they are just reinforcing the fact that racism was popular. There is nothing funny about this, at all!

I sincerely hope that children were not allowed to watch these parades of indignity, but judging by how many people still have racist opinions, I’m sure they were.

            The only love in this cartoon is the love for hatred and spreading racist views. John Leland says, “Without the Africans, there is no hip”(18), so why are African Americans viewed so negatively? If that is hip, then I don’t want to ever be hip. There is just something so disturbing about this cartoon and I’m not sure if it’s the weird babies, the racism, or the fact that Betty Boop doesn’t have a neck? Either way, at least someone had enough sense to ban the horrific nightmare that should have remained a delusion in someone’s head.

Feeling Kind Of Low...

I will say, I am finally at my wit's end and officially pulling my hair out while crying and eating Ben and Jerry's and telling myself I'm fat! Yes folks, it is mid-term week, other wise known as the turning point in the semester. Not only is school overly stressful right now, my life has turned into a Greek creation myth - filled with chaos and drama - and frankly I just don't care anymore.

So while I was procrastinating, my newly found art, I came across this:

Anyways, I thought this girl was pretty damn funny, so then I did a google search for Ce Lo Green's version, and to be honest, I didn't know who the guy was - because I live under a rock apparently, and I guess he is considered one of the best male singers in America? Crazy!

After watching the original video, I couldn't help thinking about John Leland's definition of hip, and "The bridge between black/white, high/low cultures, rich/poor" (Leland)

This Music video is the essence of that definition.

Ce Lo mixes modern African American culture with the stereotypical white culture of the 50's - like Grease - where the jocks and cheerleaders hang out at the local diner, black framed glasses are popular, Letterman jacket's and so on....but this video is totally hip because Ce Lo meshes the two cultures together and hooks the audience with a catching melody and trust me, I CAN NOT GET THIS SONG OUT OF MY HEAD!

Bam who? zled...

After watching Spike Lee’s film Bamboozled, I find myself very reluctant to name a trickster. With feelings of ambiguity towards the film’s message against racism, I’m still confused which is worse, racism or terrorism?

The main character, Pierre Delacroix, comes off as a trickster in the beginning because he refuses to be labeled as a stereotype, or to even be classified. His power is language and knowledge, but the misuse of knowledge eventually gets him killed. Trying to get fired, he invents a modern day minstrel show with the assumption that it won’t ever make it to television. When the show becomes a hit, Delacroix becomes blurred by society and losses touch with the message.

In the beginning of the film, Delacroix makes it crystal clear that he has a serious problem with the use of the “N” word; especially when whites use it. His father, a popular black comedian, seems to have no problem using the word. So it seems like the verdict is that it is acceptable to use it if you are black? Once Delacroix gives in to using the word in his show, he seems to lose perspective of what he believes in. He losses his true identity, and forgets that he created this in order to get fired.

The TRUE Trickster then is……Spike Lee.

Lee has created a film in which the audience doesn’t know what is allowed to be funny. There is a blend of stereotypes that seem to undermine the rules of the culture, which is what John Leland attributes to trickster figures. Lee also uses his wit to poke fun at the stereotypes of each culture, making disturbingly funny and disgusting gestures simultaneously. 

Spike Lee, The Trickster, did his research in order to use it to his advantage. I think overall, the message is positive in a weird Spike Lee kind of way. There is no room for racism in our society, because it has taken us so long to overcome it. After watching this film, I was extremely depressed and couldn’t even put it into words now. All I can say is ‘Wow.’