Posts Tagged ‘RMU’

It’s My Prerogative

Posted: April 3, 2013 in Uncategorized
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By Heather Alexander, RMU Student

Has all respect for personal space gone out the window or is it just me?  Unfortunately, I am forced to ride public transportation to and from work and school on a daily basis because paying for parking downtown is just about as expensive as paying back a student loan.  My CTA experiences vary from day to day.  Some days are loud, like when the girl who continuously pops her gum in mid-conversation on the telephone decides to sit next to me and I feel like she has her phone connected to an amplifier.  And some days are quiet, like when the tired old lady with all the grocery bags shifts half of her weight onto my seat.  Whether it is a noisy or quiet day, my space is still being intruded upon.

CT MET-GETTING-AROUND-NEW 0910 EM

Anyone who rides the CTA knows that some of these things are to be expected, but how much heavier or taller (I’m only 5’2”) do I have to be in order for someone to say excuse me when they bump me upon boarding or exiting the bus?  And is it really going to harm your conversation that much to continue in the privacy of your own home?  I’m pretty sure your boyfriend/girlfriend cheating on you is irrelevant to the well-being of the majority of riders on the bus.  I know during rush hour, buses can’t help but be crowded, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.  Even though the riders on CTA have to deal with being uncomfortable from time to time, a little courtesy goes a long way.  Now, would I be wrong if I told the amplifier girl that she needed to lower her voice or if I moved away from the straddling old woman?  No, I just need more personal space within a public space, and as a paying rider I should deserve at least that much, in addition to safely arriving to my destination.

To avoid invasion of personal space on the CTA, I choose to just wait out the rush hour period.  I’ll occupy myself doing meaningless things like window shopping or spending money I don’t have on food and drinks just so I won’t have to be bothered with all the hustle and bustle of annoying conversations and shopping bags.  So what if I get home an hour later and have to stay up the rest of the night working on homework for the next day? At least I’ll still have my dignity.

“Happy” Music Epiphany

Posted: February 21, 2013 in Uncategorized
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BY Paul Gaszak, English Faculty

On Tuesday night, I had the pleasure to kick-off the new quarter with my BPS in Organizational Writing SUPERSTARS: Kayla, Myranda, Blake, and Heather. The class is Advanced Creative Writing.

(Timeout: I get to teach my favorite subject and with a group of students as amazing as them? And I get paid to do this stuff? I must be doing something right….)

During class, we did an activity – myself included – in which we all went up to the whiteboard and started writing our favorite movies, TV shows, books, stories, and poems. The ultimate goal was to identify what types of creative writing we enjoy watching/reading so that we can identify what types of creative writing we may enjoy creating.

During our brainstorming, Kayla asked me if we should write down songs as well. I said no. My thinking was that adding music would make the lists too big and cumbersome. Plus, we won’t be writing music in this class, so I wanted to stick to examples that directly relate to the types of writing we’ll be doing.

But now, two days later, I realize I made the wrong call. (Which means you were right, Kayla. Score one point for you.)

I realized how right Kayla was while driving to work this morning listening to a song I’ve been addicted to for days: “Happy” by C2C.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvY7Nw1i6Kw)

This song (along with the entire album Tetra by C2c) has been my go-to “happy” music for the past week. After all, as the song says, “You’ll never feel happy until you try,” and this song makes trying easy.

(Side note: How gutsy is it to call a song “Happy”? What if “Happy” didn’t make me happy? How often does a song succeed in having a title that is the reality the music is about to create for you? For example, I’ve never listened to Jay-Z and then instantly had a quantifiable 99 Problems, and even if I did, one of them would always be about a girl.)

When making my list on the whiteboard with the rest of class on Tuesday, I realized that almost all of my items are either A) happy and humorous or B) intellectual and emotional. And my absolute favorite movies and books combine all of those traits.

As I listened to “Happy” today, the obvious point dawned on me that my favorite music follows that same pattern. Music either puts me squarely inside my own head and heart, or it is my escape to fun and happiness.

Again, the whole point of this whiteboard exercise was to discover what type of creative writing we may want to do. For myself, having done plenty of creative writing, I already know that my whiteboard list reflects my own writing.

Since my tastes in music provide that same reflection, I really should have had the class listing their favorite music as well. It’s as much of a piece of the puzzle as any other item they were listing. Sure, we may not be writing music in class, but we were trying to discover what’s inside of us that we may want to express.

So, I was wrong. My writers were correct. Once again, they’ve proven to be smarter than me, but that’s a good thing.

* * * * * * *

PS: If you liked “Happy” then check out some more by C2C. Here are two more of my favorites:

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1uUIJPD0Nk)

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2juNu52zNY0)