Intrepid Classroom

Wow! Nice first lesson. It was interesting seeing the different types of music you credited for being political or important. Before I get to a quick re-cap of the points you all raised, let me cover some procedural points.

I liked the way Julia posted her thoughts on her own blog. That way you can store your writing for yourself and your other readers as well, but as I mentioned to her in her comments, please leave a link in the comments section here, lettings us know you did so. You can also post your thoughts on the Ning. (If you are not familiar with Nings please read the tab at the top of this page explaining what they are and how they work.)

Okay let’s get to the music:

Soojin mentioned Guns and Roses, which I had never thought about as political, but I do remember being in high school and listening to Civil War and thinking that it was cool that a band like G n’R would sing about peace.

He also talked about the song “The Chronicles of Life and Death” by Good Charlotte. See comments for more on that and an album review by a band called Sonata Arctica. Thank you Soo Jin for your contribution.

Hannah mentioned the Dylan Classic- Mr. Tambourine Man. She mentioned the younger generation’s obsession with music.

It speaks to the social state of the world. Perhaps there’s more to the song as well, but it’s late and my brain is beginning to shut down.

This “more” to the song is what I would like to start discussing, maybe not this song in particular, but any song that is conveying a message.

She talked about the social state of youth!

Youth tend to be idealistic. We soak up what we read and it influences our thoughts for a better world. Youth always knows best!

I agree. There is something that happens in most adults that kills their idealism, but not in all of us. There many adults doing some amazing work. I guess the question is how do we keep that fire alive for as long as we can?

Teach Your Children, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young was a nice mention as well. She goes on to say,

The music I listen to isn’t directly political. I grew up on world music, specifically, Putumayo. It’s a record label, I think, that releases world music. I listened to a lot of African and Latin songs, and I think that really affected my view of the world. I heard other cultures, so I grew up respecting them and wanting to learn about them. The music I listened to made me more of a global citizen from the start. Politically, it affects my foreign policy views, because I don’t think that the US should be going around imposing on the rest of the world. We’re not at all above the rest of the world, which some people think. Other cultures and ways of life are equal and have just as much value as our own. It may sound obvious, but some people don’t think like that.

Very well said! The Putumayo series is great. They have a series of CDs with lullabies and children’s songs, but 22-month-old daughter loves them too.

Then she left this great recording of her singing the song Time Are A Changin. Well done. In the spirit of camaraderie here is my version of the song. I sang this at my last school in front of a huge audience. It was my first time performing. Unfortunately, I don’t have video of that, but here is a simple Garagband recording. Not really in key, but you get the point…just sing:

Leila shared some Urdu or Hindi music with us. She left us this video to check out.

Aron brought up No More Sorrow, Linkin Park. He mentioned that he was nervous about sharing this song because,

There has been a lot of ridicule for America and it’s decision to enter the Iraq war.

I think it is important to talk about these types of things. All in all, a great start. I will continue to share more music with you, I think that will be a common thread here at Intrepid Classroom. Okay. Time to get set up in the Ning. I think we can share more resources there more easily.