May 27th

I watched The Doors a couple nights ago and it was a great movie. It followed Jim Morrison and The Doors through their career. It was highly relevant to my topic because it shows how Jim became addicted to drugs and seemingly couldn't live without them. There are numerous points in the movie in which someone offers him a new drug and he just accepts without even thinking. It also showed the real dark side of drug use - overdoses. The movie ended with Jim's body in a bath tub after he overdosed on heroin. I also am very close to finishing Room Full of Mirrors. It was a really detailed account of Jimi Hendrix's life and I learned a lot from it. I have three pages of my paper done and I plan on finishing this weekend. It actually turned out to be easier than I thought it would be and I have no problem thinking of what to write.

Final Project Progress #3

It is now the third week of working on our projects and I think I am on track to finish in time and I have started my paper. I finished Scar Tissue and I am still working on Room Full of Mirrors. The second book is great because it talks a lot about what Jimi Hendrix did out of the spotlight. It describes his life and upbringing and how he got into drug use and music. Both books are extremely helpful for my topic of drugs in music. I also rented The Doors, a movie about Jim Morrison, and I plan on watching it very soon. I decided what I wanted to do for my presentation handout, which was something that I couldn't decide on for a while. I am going to give out questions for the class to discuss with a partner and I will ask them how much they know about my topic. For my paper, I have my opening paragraph done and I will be finishing the second soon.

Room Full of Mirrors

I am just about finished with my first book, Scar Tissue, and am about to start Room Full of Mirrors by Charles R. Cross. It is a biography of Jimi Hendrix's life. Scar Tissue was a great book that gave a first hand account of what goes on behind the scenes in the life of a rock star. Kiedis told stories of drug and alcohol fueled parties, addiction, and intoxicated concerts. Thankfully Kiedis did not become a member of the infamous "27 Club." The 27 Club is a group of highly successful rock musicians that died at or around the age of 27, usually at the height of their careers. After doing some research, I've found that way more musicians died because of drugs than I thought. It's an unfortunate fact of life and we could all imagine what music would be like if people like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain were still alive. I'm also going to watch the movie The Doors soon because it follows the short life of rock star Jim Morrison.

Final Project Progress

My topic is how fame can bring about the destruction of a rock star, and I'm currently reading Scar Tissue, which is about Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. So far, it's a fantastic book that truly gives insight into his life and has countless examples of the self destruction that fame creates. For instance, Kiedis writes, "When you're doing a lot of alcohol or cocaine, your thinking becomes skewed and you're willing to do a lot of thing you normally wouldn't" (Kiedis 157). This just shows that because the Peppers became hugely famous, they were able to drink, do drugs, and party every night for free. This is very useful for my final paper and it is also a sad fact of life. I saw an extreme example of over the top drug use when I saw what was left of the band Sublime last weekend. They used to be on top of the world in the early 90s, and then their lead singer, Bradley Nowell, died of a heroin overdose. They were playing a tribute tour for him and everybody just wished he could still be there, playing his famous songs.

1984 and my life

Our world is very different from the world in 1984 so it is tough to compare the two, but I think one less extreme way they can relate is in school. In 1984 everyone is constantly being watched so the government can make sure everyone is doing the right thing. They were overly quixotic and unrealistic. Now that the school has cameras, it may feel like we are always being watched as well. Many students disparage this fact, but others may feel overly protected.

1984 and today's world

When I think about how 1984 relates to our world, the first thing that comes to mind is rights. In the novel, everyone and everything was watched and regulated and people have very little freedom or rights. In order to have any fun or do anything that wasn't totally approved of, people had to be very surreptitious. That is still an issue in our world. Although it maybe cryptic to most people in our country, other places around the world still struggle with this. For example, millions of women are castigated in middle eastern countries for showing their faces or bodies in public. They have to cede their individuality in order to fit in in their society. There are also still communist countries such as China and North Korea that deprecate people for saying anything bad about the government, just like in 1984. They also use perfidy to brainwash the citizens, making them think that the government is always right. Of course, this creates many malcontent people, but they have no choice but to obey for fear of being punished. It seems for now, there is an indefinite moratorium on worldwide freedom.

11,000 Feet

After a couple months of waiting, it was finally time to board that plane on my way to "the greatest snow on earth" as they call it. Both my dad and I were naturally ebullient as we always are before a trip, but this one was even more exciting. I had been anxiously waiting for a chance to ski out west ever since I first clicked into a pair of skis, and now it was actually happening. We arrived at the airport and as we walked to the ticket people, we both looked incredibly maladroit with our enormous ski bags. The flight was long and uneventful and after a long day of travel, we got settled in our hotel room, shared a couple laconic words, and got some rest for the big days ahead. The next morning at Park City Mountain, we looked up at the slopes and all the snow with amazement. At the top, the slopes were steeper and more advanced than they were at home, but I was so excited that I couldn't help but have sang-froid as I stared down at the snowy world below. My dad on the other hand, had some scruples, but those went away after our first powdery run. The rest of the trip was filled with fresh snow, crazy runs, and a whole lot of fun.