I forgot to mention that I was very glad I took this FYS. Sorry for being a downer sometimes. This was definitely the best.

Blog Summary

I don't know how to tell who is in our section so I am just going through everyone's.
Also, I had a grade on this already even though I haven't done it. But I'm doing it. If my grade was better than this is worth, then I think I should get the higher for my academic honesty. But I don't care so whatev.

The Little Rabbit is sad because s/he wanted to go to the Jazz Dance. (I-T-apostrophe-S)
Nieve Bloggin' talked about how we shouldn't be suprised that this wasn't the 'easy a' class we thought it would be. He also posted about Jamboree, specifically the Insects booth. He dug the radio show, more or less. He also supports the current events theme I talked about in my previous blog. "I personally feel that this theme would be generous in adding to our campus’s global awareness. Along with this I feel that it is essential, as students institutionalized in academia, to be aware (and humbled) by serious events and situations across the world." Well said!
nic_mcphee_is_a_dancing_elf. & used to wear suspenders. Smoking is bad. "The problem is that the claim that smoking (or not wearing a seatbelt or a bicycle helmet or whatever) only hurts the fool is based on a sad and ultimately unacceptable assumption that there is and will be no love in that person’s world when the odds come for their due. To watch my mother hold Dad while he’s vomiting again in the middle of the night, to hear her voice break on the phone after spending another all-nighter with him at the hospital, all this shatters any arguments that the impact of these choices is limited. We are people, and that has implications.
When my father started smoking in the early 40’s, there was no broad understanding of the horrible risks involved, and as that data became clearer the tobacco industry spent millions to confuse and obfuscate the issues. At some point when I was a kid (late 60’s, early 70’s) Dad became convinced and stopped cold, an action I have always admired.
Today’s students can’t claim ignorance, and I sure as hell hope they don’t plan on lonely, loveless lives. I know that I have higher aspirations for them…"
MyFYS posted a discussion summary.
MCFYS posted a blog summary.
LZFYS (Lindsey) posted a discussion summary, talked about commercial (adverstisments) music, and School of Rock.
LSFYS did a blog summary.
KF FYS Roots thinks you should listen to more NPR.
K Rivers did a really late discussion summary like me.
Jacknife's Jottings notes that s/he wishes that s/he had known his/her grade earlier, like the rest of us. Also, a blog summary.
J Web FYS-now understands that hot country and roots country are very different. "Country music isn't all that bad, I like how all country songs share sincerity and a sense of hardships. Also, listening to it is not all that bad either, some of it sounds a lot like blues, and some sounds closer to rock."
Hockey FYS thought Jamboree went very well.
Greenstar did the extra credit paper on a Kitty Wells song.
Fancy Feet liked our FYS and Jamboree, and would do them again.
Culture Jammer expected FYS to be an easy A, but now is glad that it wasn't because s/he "never liked commie classes like that when it doesn't matter what you do."

Word.

Woah. Discussion Summary.

Well. We didn't discuss for a while, but really, I probably wouldn't have done it until now anyway.

So. Last Tuesday I believe we made fun of Jamboree for a while and talked about what was good and bad about our and other people's booths. The question was raised, "How could it be better?" We saw some of the major faults to be the lack of people who came, and the lack of interaction between people. So we thought maybe more advertising of what was there, and making the booths more interactive, or find some way to make it easier for people to learn about each other's classes/booths.
We then moved on to, after many insults, what positive things Jamboree presented. The process of building something together seemed to be the highlight. "gel." That's true I guess. Having a more measurable goal, and then accomplishing it is an interesting and more productive? way to interact and get to know other people, adding to the common experience deal.
Human Diversity. (scoff). How did it relate to this theme? It did not, seemingly.
Possibly a current events-themed FYS, with different professors focusing on different issues, like freedom of speech, povery, etc.
Then we thought maybe it was just that it was a stupid boring requirement and no one would ever be happy with it, so why bother?
But we talked about what the other section of the class had came up with for a plan for a better FYS, which was Current Events with and emphasis on...
A possible problem with this would be the likely spiral of silence of the outnumbered conservatives. Though a solution to this could be assigning positions for discussions.
A current events theme would possibly make it easier to have a convocation or a faculty forum that made sense/related to everyone's FYS.
We also talked about Bernstein Bears for a while.

Tuesday we talked about grades for quite a while. Then vending machines, which I will admit was my fault. I don't usually like when we talk about clearly off topic things. Sorry. We then discussed evals and what they do. We also talked about what some people are doing over break. Steph got a harmonica for her birthday. Apples to Apples!

Jamboree

• What was the general participation like? Did people interact much? What kinds of interactions did they have? Were those interactions mostly superficial, or have some thoughtful content?

Well, you were there. General participation was lame. People didn't interact much, unless it was someone they already knew. I have reason to believe that most of the conversation was about something other than their booths, FYS, or jamboree. I asked a couple of people what they had learned in their FYS, but I could have figured as much as I was told by the name of their class. When I was manning our booth, only a few people were still around. I didn't really want to start talking about our FYS because people mostly just wanted food and looked at our video. But a few people asked questions about it. I humored them, but I didn't really have much to say; For weeks we've just been working on our Jamboree booth, which didn't really display anything educational or related to human diversity. Before that we had "discussions" about books we read and the, like, two playlists we listened to. And what to say about the books we read a few chapters out of?

Them: "So, what did you do in your FYS?"

And so my response was more or less, "We listened to some playlists...? And read out of these books (pointed to the books on the table)."

• What did the whole set of booths say about human diversity (ostensibly the theme of FYS)?

Well. It's really quite beautiful. We all have different topics and put varying amounts of effort into it (how we are different), and were put into one building (what we have in common), much like people are different from each other, try hard or not hard at all at different things in their lives, yet we are all stuck on the same planet. The result: a meaningless waste of our time?

• What were some booths that you thought were particularly successful in raising important issues or conveying important ideas?

The one with the M&Ms. Yes, I am part of the problem.

• To what degree does Jamboree (in conjunction with the opening convocation and the common theme) succeed (or not) in generating some sort of "common experience" for first year students?

It was nice to have a small class in which discussion is possible. Too bad we didn't. Convocation was thought-provoking, I thought, and we talked about some interesting things, but we stopped too soon, and I couldn't get a word in, it seemed. Jamboree was not a very successful common experience. I suppose we can all talk about how it was pretty lame, though, I suppose. But how dismal! I swear I am not such a cynic. It's just blatant BS that gets to me.

• What were the strengths and weaknesses of Jamboree as social event? As a piece of academic programming?

Socially, I talked to people I already knew. So. It was okay? But I wouldn't call that a stregnth. Academically, I didn't learn anything. It was a distraction from class in which we could possibly have had more interesting discussions than our first few weeks. I felt more comfortable talking by the end, and can only assume that everyone else felt similarly, so discussions would have involved more people and we would have possibly been more willing to bring up more discussion-worthy topics.

religious music playlists

yeah, it's late.

The playlists were pretty cool, I guess.

From the first one, I especially liked "John the Revelator," "Blind Barnabus," "Mother Bowed," "Move On Up A Little Higher," "and "I'll Be Rested." My significantish connection to other things we've talked about: "John the Revelator" uses call and response, a common musical technique in roots music. From the second one my favourites were "You'd Better Mind," "I'm in the Battlefield for My Lord," "Are You Washed in the Blood of the Lamb," and "I'll Never Turn Back No More." The last being my very favourite. Sweet chords. Have you heard Bjork's album Medulla? Some of the same chords. Anyway, arguably significant connection: In "Your Enemy Cannot Harm You," the guitar finishes the sentences, similar to "Spoonful."
Pretty much I liked songs with really sweet basses and harmonies.

Reviewing the Syllabus

By the end of this course we should:
Have a better understanding of the history of roots music in America, with a special emphasis on the blues and country music, but with some exposure to other styles.
Be able to discuss the historical and stylistic differences and the connections between these types of music.
Be able to informally perform (in small settings) examples of roots music (defined broadly).
Be able to share our experiences and understanding with others.

My personal assessment of how I feel I've grown or not in these areas:
-Better understanding of roots music? I suppose. Well. I was exposed to more, which leads to understanding. The text helped some, but maybe not as much as I would have expected. But as far as understanding what music was to the people who created it, why they made it, and so on, I don't think I know more than I did.
-Able to discuss historical and stylistic differences/connections? Hm. I know some, I guess.
-Informally perform an example of roots music? Heh. No. This didn't happen for more than two people, even when it was defined broadly.
-Share experiences/understanding with others? Not very much more than before, though if we had discussed more recently I think I may have done better.

We'll also explore the importance of music as a cultural artifact and statement and a way for people to express what's important to them.
-We didn't explore this much. The first Folkways Collection we listened to talked about it, and I was super pumped to talk about it in class but aaaaaagggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh jamboree.

Our goal, then is to learn more about this music, both its history and its connection to what's happening today.
-Connection to today? We listened to a few recent artists. More than half of the class' presentations were about how an artist or style influenced people later on. So kind of, but I think the goal was shooting for higher.

Two key questions that I'd like to focus on during the semester are:
What can music be?
What can music tell us about ourselves and other people?
In what ways is music both a source of people's difference and similarity?
-No.