Popular Music: Three Things
- Study of pop music = study of pop culture
- Edward Liu:
- The Blues “ain’t just sad,” “ain’t just a form,” “ain’t got a third ain’t” = resists definition
- Hip Hop “ain’t just music,” “ain’t contentless,” “ain’t got a third ain’t”
3. “Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps”
- dialogics of rap, constant dialogue
- ex: Tupac over Isley Brothers sample
- Blue Scholars
- “Morning of America”
- constant decoding
- can’t talk about global politics w/out talking about local politics
- can’t talk about colonialism without talking about the diaspora
- don’t forget about Filipino communities, don’t forget about the music
- Black Eyed Peas
- “Where is the love?”
- message that’s lost within commodification
- “The APL Song” – forgotten Filipinos who fought in WW2
- going home
- “Bebot” (Gen. One vs. Gen. Two)
- songs that are forgotten b/c of more-marketed songs
- intersection of race & sex
- music is a nod to other aspects of culture: food, language, etc.
- use of language/mother tongue = resistence
- The Great Pinoy Boxing Era Documentary
- boxing techniques have “Filipino accent”
- winning boxing = achieving Am. Dream
- boxing ring was only place where they were seen as equal
- metaphor of resistance, fighting self and others, racial tension, “making it,” symbol of pride, incorporating own history into Am. sport = reclamation and leaving a mark
- making sense of the unknown through using what you know
Writing Workshop: Peer Review
- Honesty, Kindness, and Collaboration
- History of creative writing as an academic discipline
- problematic “lore” and “critique” beliefs
- critiquers must recognize limits of own experience
- help rather than grade someone
- peer review = discussion-based exchange that allows reception of feedback from peers, who are at same educational level & heavily immersed in writing process too
- opportunity to receive non-evaluative feedback, w/ author’s guidance and intent to clarify
- listen to writer’s struggles, read thoroughly, make critical connections
Friday Notes: Peter Bacho’s Dark Blue Suit
- short story cycle
- identify connective tissue
- Themes:
- maturity of narrators
- boundaries/borders: between race, neighborhoods, gender, social expectations, familial relationships, split empathy of parents, friendships, being multiracial
- being able to “speak w/out words”
- misogyny as running theme
- dialogue, accents
- generations and age = diff. experiences
- family: parents, siblings, generation gaps, community
- anti-blackness within narrator and as a theme
- titles = deliberate choice
- ex: “August 1968” = symbolizes change in history – Vietnam War, Civil Rights Mvm, MLK assassination, etc. – friendship mirrors what’s happening in world
- coming of age for Buddy but also for the U.S.
- Europe/colonialism = abusive parental role – following in footsteps
- Am. Dream and dreams
- religion
- politics and class
- morals, “blood money” – survival
- WTI = words that intoxicate = use when annotating