What is a global CITIZEN!

                As a global citizen, it is your job to be involved in the music, and events that are going on around you. There are a lot of ways that musical practices influence society. It can bring a society together in many ways, it can also teach people about different cultures within their area. There are many ways to define a global citizen. The responsibility of a global citizen can vary in ways but, are still very important in each society.

                The many ways that musical practices affect a society is by the genre, words, and the people involved. Different genres affect different people; country can have a huge influence on a small town or even a town that is made up of farms. Hip-hop or rap can have an influence more down or “ghetto” town. The people living there may see the songs as speaking to them in a way that people cannot understand. The words in a song or a story that a song can tell have many influences on the people in a society. A song that talks about someone being raised in a country town, with trucks and hunting can have an effect on the people that listen to them about where they were raised. Songs that have words about a hard life growing up can have an emotional effect on people that grew up. The way the music makes them feel can have an effect of the people and society around them.

                There are many definitions to a global citizen; my definition is that it is someone who is involved with their community, and the people that are involved. A global citizen is someone who knows where they belong in the world. A great saying or example that represents how a global citizen will look at the world is “if you buy from a local farmer, you support local farmers, if you buy from an international farmer, you support international farmers”. A global citizen is going to make sure that they support their local farmers. They will go to the local farmers market, and the local grown grocery stores to make sure that our farmers are getting the money they deserve. A global citizen will go to their local events and support the people who are involved.

                The responsibilities of a global citizen is attending, supporting and encouraging their local citizens. Attending, as a global citizen they will attend the local events or anything that shows support of the people. Supporting, means no matter what goes good, or goes wrong they support whoever is in charge of the event. Encouraging, says that when something fails a global citizen needs to encourage the people that are in charge to continue and try again. Those are three main responsibilities to being a global citizen. Those are things that help with bringing a community together and being a global citizen.

                Being a global citizen is important to society, and the world around us. Being a global citizen involves learning about culture and how people live. It means attending, supporting, and encouraging local citizens. A global citizen means being a supporter of people and the society around them. The government supports and values corporations more than the individuals. It is a global citizen’s job to help support and value the individual. In a society the less we humanize the more we connect with the people around us.

Dance!

                Contra dancing is a very unique experience whether you know how to dance or not. It gives you a chance to meet new people that you normally wouldn’t come around. Going contra dancing gives a look at how people in the world connect. I think it was a fun event, and I can see myself going again. The dancing was very different as if you were to go to a club. There are a lot of ways that contra dancing is participatory, because we are all dancing. There are a lot of benefits to participatory music making, main one is it brings people close together.

                The whole experience made me feel more connected with the people from the community. It also made me feel more connected with the class. To me it made me feel confident, because I wasn’t the only one that couldn’t dance so to me it wasn’t embarrassing to mess up the steps. If you were to go to a get together with a group of college students our age, the dancing would have the contact that contra dancing has but in a more sexual way. At a college party you probably wouldn’t have a chance to get to know everyone you dance with. At contra dancing there are a lot of older folks and they take the time to ask your name and how you are doing, it makes you feel more welcomed in a dancing sense. Where if you went around at a party and asked everyone their name they would think it’s weird. The music is very different; at the contra dancing there is a live band that plays an easy tempo to dance to. At a party it might be a DJ and most they time it is not popular to play a more country type of tune it is mainly hip-hop or rap.

                This event was a very exciting event, compared to what I normally go to with my family. I normally go and listen to my cousin Jimmie Bussell play and we always square dance. Going contra dancing reminded me of home and getting together with strangers to have fun. I would defiantly go again to the contra dance, because it gave me a sense of home. When I get to know more people on campus I would like to take them to the dancing because it gives us a chance to be more of a part of the Bloomington community!

                One interesting thing that I noticed was that when you danced with older people they would dance close and hold you to their body. As a teenage girl we find that creepy but when you look at it more in depth you can look at it as it is part of the dance. I see it as when their doing the dance they have been doing it for a while and so holding someone closer is showing them that they want to feel a sense of connection with the other dancers. Being new it was very weird at first to be close to someone older dancing but, after the first dance it was kind of a comforting feeling like I was having fun. I had a feeling of belonging to the community and, me coming from a rival campus to feel accepted in the community is a bigger deal than thought out to be.

                There are a lot of benefits to participatory music making. One of the benefits would have to be it brings people together in a sense of community. When we were contra dancing you did not see people sitting out. If you tried to sit it wouldn’t be for very long, the elderly or experienced dancers would come grab you and bring you on to the dance floor. They look at it as if you are coming to contra dancing then you will dance, it is almost as if it is normal. Having participatory music makes you want to join in and become more social, the environment is always a simple, accepting place.

                In conclusion, the whole over all experience of contra dancing was great, fun and new way of meeting people. At first it is complicated to learn the dance but, everyone is so welcoming to help you out learning the dance. The people that show up at the contra dancing are very use to being close to the dancers and after a while it makes you comfortable. The environment is very opposite to a college get together. I would defiantly see myself going again to get that sense of home in my life. The whole experience is a great example of participatory music in a big community.

Irish!

                Tonight we went to the Runcible Spoon and we listened to Irish music by a group of men who just get together to play. There were six men all playing a variety of different songs and instruments. The environment in the restaurant was calm and relaxing. Also there is a very nonsense environment just by looking at the stuff around you and listening to the music that is in the area.

                There were a variety of people and different instruments. The people ranged in different ages but, also different looks. There was an instrument called the Irish flute which is made of wood and, is played just like a regular flute only with holes instead of keys. A guy named Greg was one of the people playing the Irish flute along with Professor McDonald. There was a regular guitar, a mandolin, and a fiddle. Another interesting instrument is the Bodhrun, it is an Irish percussion instrument, from what I saw you hold it on your knee and you have a stick that you play the instrument with. It has a very unique sound to it. There is an Irish bouzouki and it looks like a guitar and is kind of played just like a guitar. There was also conceptino and a tin whistle. There were two younger looking guys playing instruments and the rest were older. People came in and were in the other room studying and also listening to the music being played. There is a device on the end of the bouzouki that each time you played it would tell you each note that you have played during the song.

                The artists were very social within each other. They would play a few tunes and then they would stop and just talk to each other. They love learning about everyone’s life and what goes on day to day. It is a very social environment with the men playing music and the customers eating. In a friendly way the music is participatory, they told us that if someone wants to join they bring their instruments and play. They also said if people want to come in and sing to the songs they let them. They are very friendly to people that join and maybe don’t know all of the tunes but, have skills.

                They play as many tunes as they can get in that night. Each time they play there are usually three songs each time they play. They stop in between playing the instruments and have conversations. Greg is the session leader but, doesn’t necessarily lead each tune. Someone will start playing and if you know how to play the tune you start playing along. Whoever started playing will decide which tunes within that time they will play. The players average about twelve sets of 3 tunes each night. They are very helpful to their fellow players, after each time playing if a person needs help with a tune they will stop and all help each other with the notes.

                While I was there I concluded that it is a pretty nonsense place, it correlates with the name of the restaurant. Runcible means nonsense and in the restaurant there are pictures on the wall that combines figures and unrelated items and puts them into one picture. In the bathroom there is a tub that actually has a fish tank inside of it. The way the music was played was in a nonsense way, it wasn’t real organized but it was still interesting. They took time to talk and get to know people.  I believe that performers make it a habit to go and perform every Tuesday. It may be a break from work and a kind of relief from daily life. They get to go show off their talents and what they know best. The cultural environment is Irish and you can ask questions about their background.

                The Runcible Spoon is a great place to eat but, also it is a place to go relax and enjoy great music that you don’t get to hear all the time. It is a place to study and also a place to go get to know a culture that you may not know about. The music is very entertaining with the unique instruments that they use. It is something new to come enjoy while you’re in Bloomington. As a college student it is great to get to know the different cultural environment and going out and listening to great music.

Hip-Hop!

Hip-Hop is a way to express yourself with a way of words and not really trying to hit perfect pitch. Some religion won’t let you speak your mind with the words of a rap or hip-hop song and some people are very connected with the music they love doing. In I Love Hip Hop in Morocco, there were a few artists who went against their religion just to do something they love. One of the artists is DJ Key he was the one who started the hip-hop movement of Morocco. Another performer was Brownfingaz was one of the Moroccan rappers who would rap in English.

DJ Key was the one who started the movement in Morocco. He also brought a lot of hip-hop music into the night clubs. He was very into rapping and performing but, he also had a strong view on religion. He wants to try to stay faithful to being a Muslim but, in the end he wants to do something he loves for a living. He gets involved in performing at local shows but, he talks about how hard it is to make money trying to do something you love in a Muslim community. He described some of the ways he makes money by being DJ and to me it really is hard work. He talks about how he performs at events that are “underground” where you put all your money into setting it up and, make very little. Being a DJ means a lot to DJ Key. He actually use to make really good money but, later quit to perform music. The way that he talks about how he wants to please his God but, do something he loves shows us that we have it good in America having a freedom of speech. We really don’t have a King to serve and be his perfect people.

Brownfingaz is very expressive through his rapping. He doesn’t rap in his countries language and expresses himself through English. He uses very vulgar words to express his feelings and, he uses the word “nigga” a lot! But he looks at it as if he doesn’t see it as a racist term h uses it naturally. He learned English by watching and listening to American rapper’s and after a while ended up writing his own songs, it eventually became a natural language. In the movie he showed where he grew up at and he called it “the streets”. It was a very beat up town area, he talked about how he grew out of the town but, he will always talk back on his experiences there. His love for hip-hop music is very strong; he gave up a lot to do what he loves. He took time to learn English just to be able to rap.     

Hip-hop was adapted from America and American artists. It goes against the Islamic views in religion and it actually causes a big uproar. A lot of people think that hip-hop is just a fad and will eventually grow away just like other music fads did. The older folks are the ones that generally disagree with the music in the words and beats of it. The parents of the young performer surprisingly are supportive of what their children are doing. The families as you can tell are very family orientated they were always showing the families as they were at home.

The performers were trying to get either Coke or Pepsi to sponsor their show; it was more difficult than thought. The program was looking for a lot more money than what the companies would offer. They also had a hard time getting the American Embassy on board with supporting and giving money. I see a lot of consequences coming out of what they did for the program. One may be the fact that America is giving their money to support a concert in Morocco rather than putting it towards something in America. Other things that might be an influence are the sponsorship of Coke being there.

In a lot of ways the entire artists were almost the same, one interesting story was a Fati. She is a girl rapper who doesn’t wear a rap like most women are supposed to because of their religion. Men actually booed her when she came on the stage to perform because; their views are it isn’t normal for a woman to be a part of musical culture.

In the end their shows ended up being a huge success. They raised money and ended up showing the people in Morocco what it is to perform something they all love doing. They care about their religion but at the same time they want to do something they love. They are all committed to doing something to make money and that is what they are going to stick to no matter the consequences. Brownfingaz is now known as Big Moor and he is currently in New York City recording and helping with the translation of Arabic music.

Dixie Chicks

People say things to get themselves in trouble all the time, when you’re a singer or celebrity you have to be more careful. The Dixie Chicks were on tour and ended up saying something that got them in huge trouble, which almost ended their career. In music there are surprisingly a lot of ways that it can affect you politically. After 9/11 music changed a lot for a while, and it had a huge effect on how people looked at the war. There are a lot of things we can learn from the music and the way political figures use it in debates. The way music changed for me was my view on war and how the USA takes action on wars and natural disasters.

The Dixie Chicks showed how saying one thing about our president can change people’s view on their music. Natalie Maines is the lead singer of The Dixie Chicks and is the one who talks in between the songs. When she was rambling on she happened to talk about how she doesn’t support the war after she goes on to say “I am ashamed that the president of The United States is from Texas”. The band was actually in another country. The US didn’t even hear about it till three or four days after it happened. When people started hearing about what they had said it was all hell breaking loose. Radio stations actually stopped playing their songs and set trash cans out of their stations for people to start throwing out CD’s.

September 11, 2001 was a day that it seemed like the world stood still. People watched in terror as the Twin Towers fell to the ground after planes crashed into them. Most of us in the class were too young to remember really what we felt on the day it happened but, looking back on it that was something that changed the USA. It was two years later that Natalie Maines said what she said on stage, it was just as President Bush was sending troops overseas to war. Music in itself had been changing as well as artist. What happened with Natalie Maines was she spoke her mind basically stating her political views. America is a very split up country in ways speaking of political views and  not everyone liked Bush and what the band endured after it happened was incredibly awful. They started out as the largest selling album and lost their recognition with music. As they were going through they always had a positive attitude toward other people’s words. They actually went on to say this is the most publicity they have got in their whole singing career. What happened to The Dixie Chicks shows what happens when something doesn’t go the way of our country. It shows some of war and terror that goes on within our country over something as small as saying you are ashamed of where our president comes from.

Country music has always been an example of patriotism, after 9/11 it was a huge deal with country music because the music started talking more and more of supporting war. When you look at country music politically you see that a lot of candidates use country music because it speaks to a wide variety of people. With our last presidential election Obama used country music because being and African American he had to catch the attention of a different group of people. Another thing about country music in presidential elections is that most candidates don’t pay attention to what the actual song says and the story line behind the music. They want a song that supports the USA and if they can get a chorus that talks about that they will most likely use the song.

A huge thing when people look at music and what artist say politically they all have different opinions after Hurricane Katrina there was a telethon starring Mike Myers and Kayne West, after being told to read the teleprompter Kayne goes on to talk about how people aren’t looking after the black people being affected he says that white people are being taken care of whereas black people aren’t. After Mike says what he is supposed to Kayne says “President Bush does not care about black people” as you would think people would have a huge uproar it wasn’t a big deal. It never made national news even though the program was showed on every channel. People like to think that the reason it didn’t get much of an appearance on TV was because he was speaking about an issue that has been going on in America since it was founded. There has always been a racial disapproval of African Americans. Another reason is after going to war and people of America found out that we were at war for the wrong reasons Bush’s approval rating continued to crash he had the lowest approval rating of any president.

The whole 9/11 tragedy as I got older I found that I had a different view on what America does with our troops. Music also had a huge impact on my view about the war. A lot of the songs I grew up listening to after war had a lot of sayings in it that made me look at people like there is always a reason to fight. In Toby Keith’s Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue basically sayings if you mess with America we’re going to take it you to war. Music and war made me think that as a country we don’t agree with what other countries want their government like so we always have to interfere with what they are doing.

Dixie Chicks had a huge impact on how people took words to seriously and their story is crazy. After 9/11, America became a lot more judgmental towards the words that a song can express. Even though Kayne West made a huge statement, that didn’t have nearly as much impact as what the Natalie said because, the world looks so much differently based on the situation. Country music had a huge impact on how people looked at war as well as people involved in war.

Arabs!

                Ever since America became a country it has always been racist whether it was shown or not. Nobody can accept people, they always have to judge a person based on their skin color or even where they come from. Reel Bad Arabs shows exactly how much people look at the Arabs as terrorist or bad people. Only really because of where they came from and because of something that maybe one person has done. The movie showed a lot about how movies perceive Arabs as terrorist; it also had a ton of great points on other stereotypes that Arabs get. There could be a great amount of consequences that the movie industry could receive after a while because they portray these stereotypes. There were a lot of movies that were common to people and I had a lot of connections with the movies and the points that they showed. I had a lot of different reactions to the different movies that I recognized even the movies I didn’t I had a lot of reactions to the attention they give to Arabs.

                There were a few points that really interested me while watching the documentary. The movie made a few interesting points on what Americans portray Arabs as. American movies portray Arabs as sexist, mean, too rich to actually see the value of money, men have an infatuation with women with blonde hair and blue eyes, and they are also portrayed as torture. The movies that they showed had a lot to do with Arabians taking over business or going in killing people. They also show that most Arabian women where silky dance outfits that you can see through and they say Arabian men make women dress like that, therefore being sexist. Another interesting point in the movie was when they showed Aladdin as being one of the examples. I never thought of Aladdin being a movie that is supposed to be racist towards Saudi Arabians. People look at Arabians more as threat now than before because of 9/11 they now see all of the Arabians as terrorist because of one thing but, an interesting point made was about the Oklahoma Bomb. The bomber was Irish and he was declared a terrorist but in the end people didn’t go over to Ireland and attack them. Around America if you looked or were Arabian sometime you would get thrown into jail because, of where you came from. If you had a Middle Eastern trait you were automatically a terrorist.

                There could be consequences because of the movies that could be more suffrage. My view is that when Arabs see the movies that are stereotyping them as dangerous they might want to become more dangerous and actually become deadly. If American producers made movies that had African Americans killing and portrayed as the Arabs are it would be called racist if it was continuously about blacks. The movies are constantly making Middle Eastern people look bad and people don’t consider I against anything. Eventually I see it becoming more of a problem in the end for producers. More and more immigration of Middle Eastern people is more popular as the countries are being taken over and war is going on, once there are enough of the movies being seen it will someday cause uproar. I believe the American film industry is so cavalier with Arabs is because we learn about what happen in their country and we all saw what happened on September 11^th, and the American people are so quick to judge and will believe anyone on TV politically. After 9/11 the president made a lot of assumptions that all Arabian people are terrorist, as a result people look at it the same way because it is how we learn and adapt to the information we are handed.

                I recognized a good amount of the movies that were shown one that stood out was Rules of Engagement (2000) it shows an army shooting innocent people and making them look like the bad guy, well after the shooting it is realized that a little Arabian girl was actually the one opening fire. The movie tried to show that it was okay for them to shoot the children and women that were innocent, then goes to show that everyone owned a gun and still somehow made it look like the Arabians were the bad “terrorist” again. With Aladdin the first time I had ever seen it was when I was little so I thought it was another Disney princess movie, it was actually one of my favorite movies just because of the songs to sing. Now that I look at these movies and the rest that I knew I’m shocked that there are so many that show the racism towards Arabian people.

                The lesson I got from the movie was that a lot of the country is still prejudice towards not only blacks but, to Arabians. The movies have a huge effect on culture just by watching movies you get a view that Arabians are usually rich, mean and believe that torture is the way. I learned that you can’t always judge people because of where they are from. You have to get to know the person you can’t just say that their terrorist because the look like they come from the Middle East. That is what movies want us to see and that is what they try to portray.

                In conclusion, a lot of the movies nowadays and even from the past portray how Arabians are terrorist. How they are mean, rich and love women. If people really think about it you could say Americans are terrorist because, they torture maybe not physically but, by hate. Eventually we will learn to get over the differences that people see in a person just like a lot of people got over blacks. Movies portray Arabs as bad people and as someone you cannot trust but, in all honesty there basing that off a few people that have set that stereotype in perspective.

               

Farmer's Market

Farmer's Market in Bloomington, Indiana

The farmer's market is nothing new to me, where I am from it is a tradition for me and my mom to go every weekend. A lot of things stood out for me such as, a lot of the vendors were mostly middle aged people. You could tell that people were selling things from their own farm and showing people the hard work that they have put into there crops even though it has been a rough summer. There were kids in certain areas, by the fountain, by the puppies and by the music dancing. The politicians weren't very out spoken about their campaigns unless you came up to them and asked questions. I concluded that in Bloomington compared to West Lafayette, the farmer's market means a lot more to the town. It was nice to see the amount of people that were supporting their local farmer's. I also took from the experience that a farmer's market is not only for food but, for entertainment. The bands that were there, I did notice were collecting donations or trying to sell their own Cd's. With the music you could say it was participatory in a way of people were dancing, the kids were dancing.

Four FIelds

Participatory

This song is more of a personal experience with participatory! This winter I went to WinterJam2012 and skillet was a huge band. Well when they sang they told everyone to clap and to continue to say hey! I honestly could say everyone in the building was clapping including the security. That describes participatory because it was expected to join in, if you didn't you were the odd one out. The social setting was around a huge group of christian people and so the song spoke out and towards the end everyone had their hands up because, the song spoke to everyone.
Potentials-Is to give everyone a potential chance to join and give the mood to the song.
Limitations-the limitations as to who can join in the building.
Cultural Values-A lot of people in the building were christian, and a lot of the people there were trying reinvent themselves with God.
Expectations-As an artist having people participate they are looking in the crowd expecting to see everyone participating!

Presentational

The Phantom of the Opera is the most amazing opera! This song shows presentational because they have rehearsed the song to perform live. There isn't any participation from the audience because it is a live opera and people usually don't talk or disrespect. The song and performance has considerable amount of limitations such as you're expected to be quiet except for clapping. It also has great potentials that include seeing a live opera and being a part of something incredible. The cultural views are very diverse, it is geared more towards classic music and opera lovers. The expectations of the song is to show that the movie and opera its self has a great message and mystery.

High-Fidelity

Michael Jackson shows an example of high-fidelity. It shows the recording studio while Michael is recording and there is no band or anything, if you skip to 8:29 you can hear there is another voice and Michael Jackson is the only one in he room. This shows that the engineer of the song added voices to back him up. They also added the band and the piano to the music. The potentials to any performer in a recording studio is that their voice sounds better as we as the music that is played behind and the back up singers. The limitations to high-fidelity is that the singer or other performers in the music can't add their own twist to it. The cultural values are any one who appreciates the technology that we have to make Cd's and recorded music to listen to. the expectations are to sell the music and sell as much copies of the songs or albums as possible.

Studio Audio Art

This is an example of studio audio art to me because it has a mixture of songs that were created on a computer and they would be very hard to repeat live unless you recorded it. It is a very unique sounds of the different songs together. The potentials of it is that people learn more about the different types of music and ways to mix the music. The limitations are you can't perform it live to people and it would be cool to see how you could portray the music and possibly lights with it. The cultural values are to people who enjoy the music and unique beats. The expectations are to possibly spread the idea of techno music and to make its own beat.

music feelings!

Joy
Oklahoma-Billy Gilman

Oklahoma is great song to listen to for hope or if you just want tears of joy. In the song Billy Gilman talks about a boy who was in foster care his whole life and after he finally found a home he is being taken out of it. Finally he found out that his real dad is where their taking him to Oklahoma. This song expresses joy in a different way. It starts out as you thinking this song is going to talk about a boy going through different homes but, to find out he is going to meet his dad. At the end when the father and son meet up it is a very joyful feeling. The song makes people want to tear up with joy. The song talks about feeling like you have something again!

Anger
Blown Away-Carrie Underwood

In Blown Away the lyrics express a feeling of hatred and anger. The song starts out talking about a storm and how the lightening makes cracks in the skies. Then it goes to talk about a young girls experience growing up without a mother and an abusive father. It then goes to talk about the anger. The songs says "there's not enough rain in Oklahoma to wash the sins away out of that house" the lyrics are basically saying there is no way to get rid of the memories in the house but, she wishes a storm would take it away. The last part of the song that really intrigued me was the part where it is saying that when the storm sirens start going off she locks her self in the basement and leaves her dad on the couch passed out. People say that she is getting shelter then the most angry part of the song is when she says she is getting revenge. This song expresses anger through a storm and the sounds of thunder!

Sadness

Daddy's Little Girl-Frankie J

Daddy's Little Girl is a song about fathers leaving and not having them around. To me this is a sad song because I didn't grow up with my real dad, but with my step dad. So I know what it is like to have a father leave. The song shows when a father is dying and all the daughter can do is ask the The Lord for help. It also shows a part with a father leaving for war and I feel sympathetic for the daughters who have to lose ones father to war, even their mothers. This song is very mournful in the fact that it talks about leaving and asking the Lord to help.

Family

Like my Mother Does-Lauren Alaina



The most important person in my life is my mother. She raised me half my life on her own. I am who I am today because of my mother. The song talks about the connection between a mother and daughter. Me and my mom look like each other as I grow older. We share so much she is one of my best friends. I don't depend on my mother to spoil me with money and items. I love that she spoils me with love. The song describes the support my mom has always gave me with wanting to sing. Like My Mother Does explains that a mother raises a daughter with values to smile through everything and don't judge a person!

Sexuality

Keep Ya Head Up -Tupac Shakur



Tupac is great artist who had great ideas about the world and women. Keep Ya Head Up basically goes into detail about why you need to have respect for your women. He starts listing reasons why a man should respect her. The main reason is a women gave birth to you and brought you into this world so respect her. He also explains to a women even when a man is taunting a girl on the side of the road to hitting your wife, the ladies need to keep their head up no matter what life and men bring you!

These are some of the songs that express feelings to me. A lot of them have symbolic meanings to me that will stay with me forever. Each person has a different way of feelings in every song.

Thanks,

Courtney!



Songprint!!

My name is Courtney Bell. I am from a small town called Clarks Hill, it's right outside of Lafayette, Indiana. Clarks Hill is about a one mile town, everyone knows everyone. My town has a total of three businesses in the whole town. I grew up being an only child for twelve years and now I have a six year old little brother who means the world to me! I come from a very diverse high school. I grew up in the country my whole life and Bloomington is the closest to an actual city that I have ever lived. I play softball and I was a varsity diver all four years of high school. I love hunting and fishing. I absolutely love Ford trucks! I hope these songs get the point across a little of who I am!

Famous in a Small Town-Miranda Lambert

Clarks Hill is about twelve miles from the town of Lafayette.In Clarks Hill it is very easy to get your name out whether it is for a good reason and even bad! Miranda Lambert talks in her song about how in life you have to work hard to be famous in the world but, in a small town it is easy and important to become "famous". In the song it talks about how even just the first shooting of a buck can cause a big uproar. In Clarks Hill every hunting season is huge for everyone in the town. I defiantly feel like I have become famous in my town because there were only two of us that graduated this year that are going to college and to a lot of people in the town it's big deal. Also in Clarks Hill a way to make it in the grapevine is to do what most teenagers do, that's getting pregnant, doing drugs and partying. Clarks Hill is famous for that and we get asked about that a lot. Believe it or not there are good people that come from my little town. So I guess in a way you could say I'm "famous"!

Star Spangled Banner

I know it's weird to have The Star Spangled Banner on my list but, this song says a lot about my past. When I was seven years old I went to my first race ever! It was in fact the best thing ever. The race track was owned by my aunt and so we got in free so, I basically lived there! They started it off by playing The National Anthem with just a boring CD. They then help auditions they wanted a live singer well, I decided I would try out. Out of 57 people trying out...they choose me! That was then my life training to get better and singing every weekend, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! About two years ago they shut the race track down and, my little singing career has ended. That was such big years in my life and I haven't had the chance to experience a singing moment like that. The song to me expresses how my life was raised on music.

Losing-Tenth Avenue North

Tenth Avenue North is Christian band who talks about the reality and actions of people. I would say I was raised around a judgemental family. My ideas of a person are immediate. You could say I judge a book by its cover. I lived in a town and area where you went to your freshman year in high school and because you were from a druggie or "ghetto" town you were considered a druggie. Losing talks about how a person is watching people make wrong choices and wishes they would do right. There asking God to help us see what people are doing wrong and we're losing because to me it's as if there is something a person can do to help. From where I come from a lot of people do things that aren't the best, I always look at them like their doing something wrong. To me I just want them to realize that they are doing things to realize that they are ruining their body or future.

Good Time- Owl City ft. Carly Rae Jepsen

This is one of my favorite songs! It expresses how when your with your friends you want to have a good time. From a small town for the teenagers we always have a good time whether it's fishing at six in the morning or just riding the roads in the bed of a Ford F350 we are always doing something. I was raised with the idea that no matter what life brings you, you always have to have smile on your face. Good Time talks about waking up in great mood and just hanging with your friends and having wonderful time! The song quotes that "doesn't matter where, doesn't matter when it's always a good time" me and my friends are like that to us it doesn't matter if were upset or if we are just bored we find something to do.

The Last Night-Skillet

Skillet is my absolute favorite band. Through a hard time in my life I discovered Skillet and never realized that they were christian after listening to them I decided I needed to change a lot in life. I first discovered Skillets song The Last Night the song talks about how someone is going through so much in life that it is just so hard to continue. Well a friend is telling this person that they really are cared about and there is God and he will always be there with a person and you'll never have to be alone in the time of hurt. This song relates to me in many ways when I was going through a hard time my grandma was always there telling that I'm never alone.

Gunpowder and Lead- Miranda Lambert

I am a country girl, I was raised in the country. My daddy taught me that no man can mess with a woman. I was raised shooting guns and learning how to defend my self. I go hunting all the time with my friends. The song that Miranda Lambert has written talk and expresses how you can't hit a women cause some of us do know how to operate a gun! In the song it has a part that I find interesting "His fist is big but, my guns bigger" I think obviously with a battle between fist and guns a gun would win. I would defiantly say I am a country girl and I like a song that can describe me and the fact that girls know how to shoot guns!

These songs describe me in a way that words can't. Music is a very important priority in my life and I hope that I have made it easier to understand me.

Courtney Bell