$ummer

                       Summer is such a simple thing; you have three months off from school to do what you want, no getting up early and no homework. Sounds like a perfect life! So why would anyone want to get rid of that? Kids of all ages love it because summer equals no school but some adults are too keen of the idea of kids running around free for three months straight. Believe or not it is found that kids educational levels decrease over the summer months. David Von Drehle states in his article "The Case Against Summer Vacation" that "'those months out of school do the most damage to the kids who can least afford it."' Middle and upper class families can afford to send their children to summer camps during the day like the Y.M.C.A or the Boys and Girls club. What do the more lower class families do with their kids? They have no choice but to leave them to find their own entertainment. "'By ninth grade"' Drehle states, "Summer learning loss could be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap separating income groups."' In the more rural areas of the country, some cities or towns do not have the funds to support activities for kids to do for the whole summer.  It is not like three months is a short amount of time; parents have to find things to keep their kids busy every single day and to keep them out trouble. If summer, for instance, was a month at most it would be much easier to keep track of kids and find them things to do. A three month long break from school is almost like a shock. Everyone gets into the schedule for ten months of waking up early, going to school, sports and then home. Repeat for the next 180 days. Then suddenly a huge three month vacation interrupts your system and then you have to create a completely new system that is the opposite of your school one. When school comes around in the fall, you are running on your summer schedule and then you have to switch it again. Repeat for the next 365 days. So personally, I feel as though summer vacation should be shorter because it effects the way you think mentally throughout the year.

*Side Note** I don't know why half of my article is in a different font

Arctic Monkeys "AM"

Since their breakthrough in 2005, Arctic Monkeys have been crashing their way through the music industry. The four Sheffield boys Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley, and Matt Helders formed together in early 2002 and debuted their EP album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not in 2005. The indie rock band has released four more albums since then with AM being their most recent released on September 6th, 2013. Twelve songs make up this collection with hits like “R U Mine?”, “Do I Wanna Know?”, and “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?” This album has a sense of coolness in it. The songs from beginning to start flow nicely -almost like they all twine together to make a story. It should not be classified under one style or genre of music; realistically the whole album is a mix of hip-hop, rock, and funk soul-pop, somehow making it all work.

Tunes like “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? make your foot tap to the beat and makes for a smooth melody. “Knee Socks” is one of the better songs on the album- sexy and the smooth vocals from Turner mixed with the guitar makes this one of the more daring songs the band has sung. Arctic Monkeys give off this feel of 50s rock n roll with their leather jackets and slicked back hair; it most certainly works for them. This is not an innocent album- it gives off messages of getting high, alcohol, sex, lust, dissatisfaction and loneliness. The track “One For The Road” is all about having that one last drink before you leave. The title of the tune is repeated as the chorus throughout the whole song, you can hear it softly playing in the background along with the strumming bass guitar. “Mad Sounds” is one of my favorite songs on the album. It makes you think: does music have healing powers? You feel like you get lost inside the song and drift away from the world. For anyone new to the Arctic Monkeys- I would recommend that they listen to this song first.

Overall, I enjoyed the whole album. There were only two songs that I disliked- “Fireside” and “I Want It All.” Fireside was very dull and boring compared to the rest of the songs that surrounded it. It felt like a typical love song- how hard it is to move on from the one you love and reminisces his past relationship. Very predictable. “I Want It All” shows more of the rock side to the Arctic Monkeys; Turner wants to keep all the women that he encounters. The first chorus is all of the things that make up a relationship or a fling with someone. It just did not catch my attention throughout any part of the song. I would give the album overall a 8/10 and would recommend it to someone who was looking to listen to new music. I found that the best way to listen to Arctic Monkey’s music was with headphone, volume on high, and with no distractions. I just listened to the whole thing without doing anything else and really got a feel for it. The Arctic Monkeys really nailed this album and it is something worth listening to.

Where Has The True Spirit of Christmas Gone?

The meaning of Christmas has evolved from family to a more commercial time of year. Instead of gifting each other with just being together, people go out and buy expensive gifts that usually do not get a second glance. Holiday shoppers this year plan to spend an average of $801 on gifts for family and friends. $801 dollars. You know what that could buy? $801 could be used to buy gallons and gallons of water for people out in Cambodia. It could given to a homeless shelter that really needs the money to improve their conditions, a school could use it to buy new textbooks, it could be saved up for a future college fund or even put away in savings. Spending that huge amount of money on small, meaningless gifts is a waste. Christmas is not even about the privilege of spending time with your family, it is all about “What gift am I going to get next?” Holidays should be a time where you set your busy life aside and really take in and enjoy what you have. Never mind about getting the latest gadget or that cute sweater you saw in the mall; you should sit back and appreciate what has been given to you. That $801 dollars that was spent on t-shirts and jeans, even though you have more than enough already, could have been used to buy clothes for children who have little to none. I'm not saying that you should not get anything for Christmas but the amount of money and what people receive should be cut down.

Posted via Blogaway

Posted via Blogaway

Album Reviews

Favorable Reviews:

 The Civil Wars “Barton Hollow” Contact Music- Folk
After being released last year in their native United States, duo Civil Wars' debut album, Barton Hollow, has now been released in the UK for their fans to get their hands on. The album has already won two Grammy awards and a support slot with Adele who has lavished praise on them, calling them the best live act she has ever seen. Not bad for a band whose popularity has snowballed since one of their songs featured on medical dram, Grey's Anatomy.
Barton Hollow kicks off with '20 years' which has some luscious acoustic guitar playing which is followed by the lovely singing voice of Joy Williams. One particular element of this album is how simplistic the instrumentation is. The album is never over layered with guitars, drums and what not. This allows Williams and John Paul White's singing to flourish without sounding impeded. The singing of the duo becomes the centrepiece for this album.
And this is reflected perfectly in 'To Whom It May Concern' as the duo's voices sing in harmony showing a particular warmth and delicacy complimented by the accompanying string arrangements and acoustic guitar.
One of the highlights on this album comes in the shape of the album's title track, Barton Hollow which is a total foot stomper of a song and reminiscent of Elbow's 'Grounds For Divorce.' Civil Wars' combined vocals constantly go from soaring right back down to a gravel like darkness. After hearing such stripped back acoustic arrangement in the prior tracks it is the most vigorous song on the album.
'Poison and Wine,' one of the album's single's, sees Williams and White's at their best, lyrically it tells the story of emotionally drained lovers. A standout song on the album for the singing's felling of fragility. White's almost quivering like vocal on this helps draw the emotion out in the song as if bringing a character to life.
Upon listening to Civil Wars, you are reminded of the work by Robert Plant and Allison Straus. But Williams and John Paul White manage to create a sound that is easily recognised due to the style of their own voices and the way they intertwine with one another. They help tell the stories in the songs and the sparse music is the perfect background to bring them to life. One of the best albums in the past few years that can delve into human emotion and create a reaction in the listener.

Darren Criss “Human” (EP) Sputnik Music- Alternative
Human touches on the basic emotions that we all experience throughout our lives, like love, heartbreak, and jealousy. Criss’ voice exhibits sincerity and passion in each of the songs on his EP.

One of the songs, “Not Alone,” which Criss performed live at the Trevor Project benefit earlier this year, showcases his vocal range from his larger drawn out notes to his falsetto. The chorus also happens to be quite catchy. I promise that you will be singing-a-long by the end of the song. Also, there’s a feeling of truthfulness in the lyrics, which serves almost as a reminder that we’re all capable of these emotions that make us inevitably human.

Production-wise, one can only imagine what Criss could accomplish if he had the time to record a full-length studio album with a full band. For recording the EP at home, the overall sound is pretty good. It’s nice to hear Criss’ raw vocals that are not glossed over by studio magic.
Two Bad Reviews:

Lana Del Ray “Born To Die” Meta Critic- Alternative
Fundamentally wary of any artist who whiffs of pop contrivance, indie-rock circles greeted singer Lana Del Rey with equal parts fascination and skepticism. After all, her aesthetic—a boutique blend of ’60s pin-up glam and indie listlessness, with a light dusting of trip-hop—was so refined that it had to have been manufactured. When details about Del Rey’s past as the much plainer singer-songwriter Lizzy Grant confirmed those suspicions, the Internet’s cynicism gave way to blunt hostility. The ensuing debates about Del Rey’s authenticity were overheated and dispiriting, riddled with gender prejudices and unfair jabs about the artist’s cosmetic overhaul. Unfortunately, Born To Die almost seems to go out of its way to vindicate even Del Rey’s smuggest detractors. Shallow and overwrought, with periodic echoes of Ke$ha’s Valley Girl aloofness, the album lives down to the harshest preconceptions against pop music.
Although Del Rey’s early marketing teased her as a “gangster Nancy Sinatra,” the creation on Born To Die is never so strong-willed. Instead, she’s a severely outmoded imagining of the ultimate male fantasy: a flighty Talking Malibu Stacy doll who pledges her complete devotion in a pouty baby voice. Her lyrics linger lustfully on her body: her pursed lips, painted nails, short dresses, and black bikini tops. She exists only to titillate.
Some of this was possible to excuse on Del Rey’s torchy breakout single, “Video Games,” wherein she fruitlessly throws herself at a distracted boyfriend. She carried that song with winking assurance. A curdle in her voice seemed meant to drolly mock her boyfriend’s obliviousness, if not the sheer melodrama of her own song. But the stifling desperation of Born To Die suggests that any cheekiness in “Video Games” must have been an illusion. If there is a joke in the song, it isn’t on the boyfriend, but on Del Rey, a one-note vixen who’s so solely self-defined by her feminine allure that sexual rejection undermines her reason for being.

Sly Stone "I'm Back! Family & Friends" Mikael Wood- R&B
As frustrated fans of the erratic funk legend know, this isn’t the first time Sly Stone has promised he’s back: In 1976 he and the Family Stone released “Heard Ya Missed Me, Well I’m Back”; three years later they followed it up with “Back on the Right Track.” Unlike those coolly received efforts, “I’m Back! Family & Friends” doesn’t contain much original material, which of course undercuts to some extent the very idea of Stone’s return. If he’s not writing and recording new music, what is it that he’s back to, exactly? Failing to show up on time for his live engagements?
Here he teams with a handful of fellow Woodstock-era vets — Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter, Carmine Appice of Vanilla Fudge — for covers of old hits like “Everyday People” and “I Want to Take You Higher.” There is no great damage done to the still-powerful material, though you might cringe slightly when Ray Manzarek drops a bit of the Doors’ “Light My Fire” into “Dance to the Music.” But these affectionate redos don’t tell you anything you didn’t already know about Stone’s music; they’re far less informative than work by his many acolytes.
Three new tracks (including a dreamy take on the gospel standard “His Eye Is on the Sparrow”) provide a glimmer of what Stone might accomplish if he ever rouses himself more fully. But only a glimmer — and only after a good deal of static.

Mixed Reviews:
Lady Gaga "Artpop" Gemma Champ - Pop

What happens when pop’s most original star releases an album that’s depressingly derivative? We’re about to find out, as Lady Gaga’s ARTPOP just about scrapes in at No 1 on the album charts.

This is an artist who has built her reputation on weirdness, shock, surprise and mystique, but the biggest shock on this record is how pedestrian the whole thing sounds. Track by track, the influences and references are not just hinted at: they are inflated in Jeff Koons-style bright ­plastic.

A charitable listener or an avid fan would point out that, with a visual collaborator like Koons, and a title that plays with Pop Art – a genre that turned the most obvious pop-culture references on their heads – Lady Gaga is making a point here. Possibly. But she’s also trying to sell records and keep ahead of her chart rivals, and this album adds little to the pop canon.

ARTPOP does have its moments: the opening bars of the first song, Aura, bode well, with a sort of psychedelic, surf-rock menace and a feline tone to Gaga’s voice, but it takes only a couple of phrases before a Bad Romance-style call of “Aura-ah-ah” signals a decline into repetition. The Infected Mushroom-produced song maintains an edge until the forgettable chorus: little surprise that the electronica duo had asked for their names to be taken off the credits.

Venus, purportedly inspired by the psychedelic jazz genius Sun-Ra, with a bit of Starman thrown in, is more like a tame version of Katy Perry’s ET, interspersed with a declamation that combines Blondie, Madonna and Electric Six, though without the authenticity of any of them.

The title track is a real high point, however, its propulsive, ostinato bass given a sense of menace in vowelly synths. Who’s singing? Well, it sounds like Sophie Ellis-Bextor, which makes a change from Madonna, Ke$ha, Cher, Britney and the many other artists that the chameleonic Gaga channels during the album.

Also excellent is Fashion: Bowie’s Let’s Dance appears to be a direct influence on the vocals (“Let’s Dance” and “Fa-shion” are sung on the same intervals and metre, the spare production and strong drum echoing the Bowie song). Add a Daft Punk robotic hook and electric guitar trill, and a fun, optimistic lyric – “Looking good and feeling fine” – and you have a song that, if utterly unoriginal, is deeply catchy and ­enjoyable.

So, back to the art: what is Gagaism? At this stage, little but a blank canvas. Album number four needs to paint a new picture.

 Stellastarr "Harmonies For The Haunted" Rob Theaksen- Indie Rock

Almost two years to the day have passed since stellastarr*'s eponymous debut won over the hearts of hipsters and nostalgia addicts with their audio smoothie of everything '80s and '90s. During this time Interpol released Antics, and there was no doubt that stellastarr* was quietly lurking in the background, scribbling notes about song arrangements and dynamics. The homework and study paid off, and the bandmembers took what they learned and applied it to their own sound for Harmonies for the Haunted. And while they've done a good job, the same problem that plagued their first album has swollen immensely. Harmonies for the Haunted is an interesting paradox: they have presented something new without it really being new. A game of "name that influence" runs rampant from the album's start to its closing seconds. The album shows promise thematically with its opener, "Lost in Time," which sounds a bit like Coldplay covering the Cure's "Pictures of You," but only after Chris Martin sucked on lemons for an hour. From the first song onward, the group wanes and retreats into one predictable musical exercise after another. Shawn Christensen flexes his vocal muscles to reveal a hybrid between the booming vocal delivery of Interpol's Paul Banks, the Cure's Robert Smith, and the Chameleons UK's Mark Burgess, with a little bit of a whiny Danzig thrown in the stew for good measure, and the band sounds good from a technical standpoint. The production is heavy and dense, but very well polished -- crafted with the finest post-punk dynamics in mind for maximum hipster enjoyment. But strip away the gloss and the group is really, in the words of James Brown, "talkin' loud and sayin' nothin'."

Bears Fan Tasers Wife over Lost Packers Bet

According to NBC News, “The rivalry between Chicago and Green Bay rose to a new level after a south suburban Bears fan used a Taser on his Packers fan wife when she “lost a bet" following the Bears win Monday, according to police.” But later his wife said she did not take consent to getting tased by her husband. NBC Chicago stated that, “but cell phone footage of the incident shows her "laughing and it seemed apparent that Ms. Grant had consented," the arresting officer wrote in the complaint.” According to ESPN, “Grant was charged with felony possession of an electronic weapon.”

According to the Digital Journal, Weird Asia News, and the faster times news articles, a Chinese farmer named Wu Yulu has created an army of robots. Wu Yulu has created 26 robots over the past 30 years and is continuing to make even more to this day. Wu Yulu is 46 years old and first got interested in robotics when he was 11 years old. He calls his robots his sons, and names them after him as Wu no.1, Wu no.2, and Wu no.3, all the way to Wu no.26. The robots he made can light cigarettes, play instruments, and write calligraphy. Wu’s favorite robot he has built is called a rickshawbot, it’s his prized possession.

According to the British News Journal, British Talk and other foreign newspapers, a man named David Capaldi is going to swim down the River Thames. In the dead of winter. With no clothes on. He will attempt to swim from the London Bridge to the Waterloo Bridge and back in under two hours. One hour there and one hour back. Capaldi is known for doing these extremities; in 2007 he swam across River Pekoe in Italy, he only wore goggles. No clothes at all. He will be expected to attempt this adventure in January of 2015.

According to the Mirror News online, a construction worker named Chris Kelly, found a false widow spider hidden, while he was renovating a house in Burnley. Once he spotted the little creature, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of it. Chris came face-to-face with one of the most venomous spiders in the UK and he wasn’t going to let it just scuttle away. In doing so, he managed to capture it in his lunch box before taking it home for the weekend. While most of us would’ve quickly gotten rid of it, Chris called him Boris. As if that wasn’t enough, to keep him living and healthy, he fed him sugar puffs. Chris put holes in his lunch box to make sure that Boris could breathe and he tapped the lid down so he was sure he wouldn’t escape.

Is Bullying The Same In the Locker Room & The Work Place?

I feel as though bullying in the locker room is completely different from bullying in the work place. Up to a certain limit, it is okay in the locker room but if it is in the work place it is a completely different environment. Locker rooms are more playful and work places are more formal.

Dictionary Words- New and Created

Words that should be added to the dictionary:

"Persiev" (Noun)- Basin to store one’s thoughts in
"Niffler"-(Noun) creature to sniff out treasure
"Omniocular"-(Noun) Binoculars that can replay action and slow it down to re-see the action
"Portkey"-(Noun) Object to transport wizards from one place to another destination. They are transported by the touch of an object. 
"Time Turner"-(Noun) Turns back the time from the future. 

Words that I created that should be added to the dictionary anyways:

(Verb)- "Awkwarsation" The habit of accusing ones teacher for doing weird things 
(Verb)- "Halkepass" The habit of filling out hall passes with false information 
"Muker"-(Noun)    A person who deliberately presses down harder than necessary on the Expo-Marker tips so they retreat back into the marker. 
"Couplock"-(Noun) Couples who stand together in the hallway and act like they will never see each other again 

(Noun)-"Sniffmas" One who enjoys to sniff Christmas trees 

High Interest Question

Do you feel as though teenagers who read more do well in school oppose to teenagers who never read?

Why Should You Read More Often?

Ethos- reading can prevent Alzheimer's disease. When you read a book it reduces stress and puts you in a better mood. 

Pathos- people who read are more likely to vote, exercise, and be more cultural. Reading is also very therapeutic. Reading makes you a better writer and expands your vocabulary. It makes you feel good when you read a book and in return, other people around you feel good. 

Logos- if you read more, you are more likely to get ahead in your career and you are most likely to learn something new. 

The Question: Ban Technology?

If parents were to ban technology from their children it would have both positive and negative effects. In our 21st century, we use technology for just about everything. Our phones can house credit cards or gift cards, upload checks to bank accounts, you can even scan an item in the store and get its price. Technology can be a good thing; laptops have webcams on them which is ideal for websites such as Skype where people can video chat across the country. If parents banned their teenager from having a phone, what would they use in case if an emergency? You know most phones have a tracker inside them which the police department can locate a person down if they are next to their phone? If a teenager did not have a phone to call or text their parents that they needed help then it would make it that much harder for them to receive help. Although technology has its advantages, it also has its disadvantages. More and more teens are becoming addicted to social media sites such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. 75% of the population has an online profile. Students spend most of their school days not paying attention to the teacher but to their phones. And when they get home they are not doing homework but scrolling through Tumblr. Staring at a screen for too long causes health problems and poor eye sight. So I think too much technology is a bad thing but to have it there is a good resource to have! 

Magazine Analysis

The magazine that I choose to analyze during class is J-14. When I did the Fry Graph, it estimated that my magazine is written for people between the ages of 16-17; ironically "J-14" is short for "Just 14". It goes to show that even if a magazine has a lot of pictures and colors, it can still publish articles that attract older audiences. The Fry Graph for estimating Reading Ages estimated the average reading average of my magazine between 16-17 years of age. It is kind of ironic that the magazine title is "J-14" and is targeted for young teens. The magazine had a ratio of 30 advertising pages to 80 magazine-related information. It goes to show that even if a magazine is full of pictures it is still relating to the subject that it is trying to get across. The student next to me had a magazine about volleyball which had a ratio 24 advertisements to 26 volleyball related items.

Citation for Charts

Sacco, Al. "Mobile WorkHorse." CIO. CIO, 2 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/aap-6-months-2013-2-500x369.png
(This was just a picture with no link to the website, no author or anything like that.)

Owen, Lauren H. "Ebooks Made up 20% of the U.S. Consumer Book Industry in 2012, up from 15% in 2011 — PaidContent." PaidContent. PaidContent, 15 May 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

(Did not actually pay for the content...It was just the blog title) 

How Does Music Effect You?

Music is something that is of high interest to me. I incorporate music into my daily life, it is playing when I am in the shower, doing homework and even when I am in the hallways. In our society, today’s music is always changing. The topic of music impacts each individual person on a different level and since music is such a big part of my life, I was wondering how it affected other people. I asked some students of Norton High School a question: How do students feel like listening to music while doing their homework helps them in comparison to the students who feel like it does not?

​The experiment that I conducted was pretty plain and simple. It was just three questions: Do you listen to music while you do your homework? Do you listen to certain types of music for different subjects? How does the music help you complete your work? For the students who do not listen to music while doing their homework I had them list two reasons why they do not listen to music while they complete their work. I interviewed seven students and they all felt the same about the topic. Six out of seven people that I interviewed said that they did listen to music while they did their homework. “’It helps me focus,”’ One student Lauren wrote “’ When I’m not in the mood to do it.”’ Another student said “’It keeps me awake.”’ The one student who said that they do not listen to music stated: “’It distracts me and keeps me from completing my work.”’ When I re-looked at my data I saw that there was no difference between the males and females on their opinions in the subject. So from all this data I gathered, I came to the conclusion that the majority of students like to listen to music while doing their homework.

​When I asked the students if they listen to different types of music for different subjects I got a wide variety of answers. One student said “Country for every subject.” And two other students did not specify what genre they listen to but it is the same for all subjects. So every person is different when they come to music. Some people like to listen to music while they complete their work and some do not.

How do students feel like listening to music while doing their homework helps them, in comparison to the students who feel like it does not?

Meet Alexa Dosreis!

Meet Alexa Dosreis, a 17 year old Senior at Norton High. She currently runs track but she also use to play soccer. Alexa enjoys going to the movies and spending time with friends in her free time. If you ever see her listening to music it will most likely be Emblem 3. When she does take time out of her life to read, she will pick up a book from the Twilight series. Her favorite movie to watch is Titanic but only watches it up until the part that Jack and Rose die. When Alexa was younger, she played the Piano but throughout the years she has not played as much. That is something she would like to pick up again and really get to enjoy. One time Alexa stepped on a ball in the middle of her soccer game, tripped, and gave herself a scar on her elbow, it is still there! "I don't get why people wear socks and sandals," Alexa says thoughtfully on the subject of her pet peeves. She also listed: "I don't like when people laugh really loudly and it sounds fake and when people chew with their mouths full." The first ever concert she went to was the Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus concert. She comments on her ordeal, "It was an exciting experience but looking back now I don't know why I went." She is looking forward to going to college to major in either business or biology. "I don't know exactly what college I want to go to," Alexa says " but I'll most likely stay in Massachusetts and have a major in bio or business."  Thanks for the interview Alexa! 

Dust Off Your Robes And Shine Those Wands!

Calling all Wizards and Muggles! It is time to break out your wands and throw on your cloaks because Harry Potter is back! J.K Rowling, the wizard herself, announced that she is releasing two new books and screen writing a new movie. The movie will not be a prequel or a spin-off of the Harry Potter series that everyone is familiar with but an expansion to the wizarding world that Harry Potter takes place in. Rowling released a statement regarding the movie: '"Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world, the laws and customs of the hidden magical society will be familiar to anyone who has read the Harry Potter books or seen the films, but Newt’s story will start in New York, 70 years before Harry’s gets underway.'”  That is no problem to the Harry Potter fandom! People on the social media networks like Tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook expressed their enthusiasm by posting pictures and quotes with sayings like "Long Live Harry Potter." Rowling has not commented if any of the actors/actresses from the previous Harry Potter movies will be in the movies. Daniel Radcliffe, known to the world as Harry Potter, comments on the newly released information on the continuation of the wizarding world: '"I don't know if any of us [the original Potter cast] will be."'  This movie will be the first in a series of films that J.K Rowling has planned out and is screen writing herself. The new movie could be about Flobberworms and the Potter fandom would still go nuts over it. So fingers crossed that this will be the start of a new Harry Potter millennium! See you in line for the premieres Potterheads! 

   

Rolling Stone Controversy

            The prominent Rolling Stone magazine controversy is taking over the web and newspapers all around. “’Jahar’s World”’ is a completely new angle on who Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev is as a person. If someone wanted to avoid reading the article and not have anything to do with it, they couldn’t! Rolling Stone plastered Jahar’s face onto the front cover of their magazine and it makes the terrorist seem like a guiltless young male. The Rolling Stone article and cover of the bomber Jahar Tsarnaev humanizes the man who was anything but.

            The article and cover had hundreds of reactions; most of them were in the form of anger. Rolling Stone did not think thoroughly about how the city of Boston would protest such an act as this. News stands, local shops, and big name pharmacies have taken their form of protest in boycotting the magazine. Rolling Stone editors retaliate to the negative reviews saying that 40 years earlier they had cult leader Charles Manson on the front cover and an interview with him from inside the prison which won a National Magazine award. Times have changed; technology was not as big as it is now, that magazine cover was not heard about all around the world through social net working sites like Twitter or Facebook. It may have won an award but Rolling Stone doesn’t have that excuse now.

 When a writer or journalist describes a man, who deliberately harmed citizens of Boston, as “charming” you get the impression that having the image of the bomber on the front of the magazine doesn’t seem like a big deal for them. It is completely inappropriate to make it seem like this terrorist is treated as equally to countless other celebrities that have been on the cover. When a celebrity is placed on the front of the magazine it is quite an honor to have. Putting the face of a bomber on the front of the magazine makes it seem like anyone with an interesting story can be a first page star. Even if you are terrorist who hates America and what it stands for and bombed a well known race, you can still be on the front of Rolling Stone. “’The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many as our readers”’ The editors of Rolling Stone state, “’Makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens.”’ Rolling Stone has an audience of wide variety- whether it is teenagers with an interest in new music artists or adults reading up on what’s new in the world. Understanding the complexity of Tsarnaev is one thing but having him on the front cover of a widely known magazine is another. If Rolling Stone wanted to have an article of the tragedy in their magazine why did they not have a victim of the bombings on the front cover? There are countless people they could have put on the front cover like Jeff Bauman, a man who lost both of his legs due to the tragedy or how about Heather Abott who lost her foot due to the explosion. Anyone who had witnessed this tragedy would have been better than the killer himself.

             The bombings in Boston were truly horrific. Bostonians are still feeling the effects from it every single day. Rolling Stone magazine did not think too clearly about how their cover would affect the people and victims of the tragedy. Writing “’Jahar’s World”’ was not the smartest move. The article had interviews from people that knew Jahar personally so the readers did not really get to look at him from an outside point of view. Idolizing the terrorist and putting him on the front page was the worst action Rolling Stone magazine could have done.