"Doot do do do do doot doot! Livin' in the USA"

The song that I chose to represent American life today was the song "Livin' In The USA" by The Steve Miller Band. Even though this song was released in 1990, I feel that it still fits America's lifestyle today. The song is generally upbeat with a pretty simple instrumental progression throughout the whole thing. My favorite lines from this song are:
"I see a yellow man, a brown man
A white man, a red man
Lookin' for Uncle Sam
To give you a helpin' hand
But everybody's kickin' sand
Even politicians
We're living in a plastic land
Somebody give me a hand, yeah" (http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/steve+miller+band/livin+in+the+usa_20249173.html)

Everyone needs help from their neighbors but everyone is causing problems at the same time, it says. "We're living in a plastic land" is true because we're using more plastic than ever, but at the same time trying to reduce our environmental footprint. 

A few other lines that I really like are:
"Come on try it, you can buy it, you can leave it next week, yeah
Somebody give me a cheeseburger"

This shows America’s tendency to buy things and deal with them later. And of course the cheeseburger needs to earn a line. An example of our obesity and health issues, the cheeseburger is probably one of the more symbolic items for our country.

YouTube Clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxj14ynrSKw&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1

How Does One Write?

How do I write?

            To me writing can be done anywhere, at any time. If you’re suddenly inspired with a story or an experience, write it down! For schoolwork though, it seems easier to write if it’s in the same spot with the same setting each time.

            When I get home after sports or whatever I have that night, I will generally leave any writing portion of my homework for last. After finishing Spanish translations and math problems, I will eventually sit down and write. In my room, I have a white, wooden desk with a chair that has a seat made of bungee cords. I always move whatever is on my desk to my bed so that I can spread out across my desk. I am also one of those people who cannot work when it is quiet, no matter how hard I try. If it has to be pure silence (like in class sometimes), I always have a song running through my head, making it hard to concentrate. At home I usually open my window so I can hear the noises from the street. Even if it’s cold, I’ll put on a sweater and shut the blinds so that the wind doesn’t come through as much. Otherwise I’ll pick a playlist on my iPod and just let it run while I work.

Finally I’ll sit down, push some lead through a mechanical pencil and write. More often then not, the first sheet of writing goes in the trash. It’s like anything else; I think you need to warm up before you can really do a fine job. If I’m unable to have these ideal conditions to write in, I can still write anywhere. Whether it’s on the bus home from a soccer game, or happily in my cozy room, I feel that good writing can occur anywhere, it just might not be as easy to get out right away.

Inaugural Words Over Time

After going through a good amount of the lists of the most common inaugural words, there was one aspect that stood out to me. The earliest inaugural addresses contain words such as "government", "people", "country", "citizen", and "right". These addresses generally do not contain words such as "war" and "economy". These presidents seemed to focus more on the people and their role in the country rather than on the more political and economic aspects of the nation.

The more recent presidents used words such as "nation", "work", "world", "America", "American", and "responsibility". Based on these words alone, these presidents chose to focus on America's responsibility to the world, rather than to its own people.

The other thing that I noticed was how the inaugural speeches of presidents who were elected two or more times differed. Generally, the president had one word that was well used in each of his speeches, but the rest changed. These presidents also seemed to use the same word a smaller amount of times in his second or later speech, which makes me think that they assumed people already knew them, so that didn't have to give as much of an inaugural address.

This website was a very unique tool to use because it allowed us to analyze speeches without having to read the actual speech itself. Going by the most used words was interesting because it basically gave you a one or two word description of the president and his goals for his term.