Garden Snakes

Garden Snakes

not just your ordinary shoelace

Rattle snakes, cobras, and vipers: It’s easy to be afraid of these deadly crawlers, but I would take any of those snakes any day over the common garden snake. This fear of mine is not the fear of death, but the result of a horrible, traumatic event in my past.

One fall evening when I was about 10 years old, I was taking a walk with my family. I remember that we were talking about shoes, and how I obviously needed a new pair. Walking by, something caught my eye. It was a light brownish color of an old worn shoelace-- one that seemed like it belonged exactly where it was, not in a shoe. “What a coincidence!” I thought. I picked it up to show my parents. On any other day I would have left it alone, but since we were talking about shoes, it was just too fitting to leave it be.

I held the “shoelace” for a solid five seconds before I felt it move. Startled, it took me but an instant to see the eyes. Every single person in the neighborhood probably thought I had been stabbed by the sound of my shriek after that. Dropping the spider, I did what any rational 10 year old would do: I cried. I straight up bawled my eyes out because I was so traumatized by what just happened.

Since that day, I have learned my lesson, and NEVER picked up anything off the sidewalk again, especially anything long and slimy.

Blurred Lines Controversy Creates Sucess

On July 28, 2013 Robin Thicke's controversial hit Blurred Lines hit 242.65 million listeners breaking the record for biggest radio audience. This is but one of the many awards that this song has won in the past year. The success of this song has not come without a great deal of criticism, but with the music industry in the state it is today, are the critics the reason for the success?

Their is no denying the nature of the lyrics and music video for this song are pushing the boundary. When you think about it, what popular pop or rap song isn't? The lyrics leave room for interpretation as to weather the song supports rape as Mrs. Lai pointed out; however I have to agree with Tricia Romano under the fact that the video clearly points to a male supremacy role. At the end of the day, I think it is personal values and beliefs that will decide weather females dancing naked around clothed men is appropriate. I will stick by my opinion however, that this song would not be half as popular without the raciness that promoted arguments.

Making it in the music industry is one of the hardest careers to start. It is clear that fame can take a harmful toll on a person. It can drive people crazy trying to get noticed and get their songs played. In todays world, songs that push the boundaries get talked about and in turn the buzz gets the songs popular. Before this song, everyone was chattering about Miley Cyrus's Wreaking Ball. Pop culture saw her career take off again after all of the controversy of that song.

Coming from Robin Thicke's perspective, can you blame him for trying to push the limit? This controversy makes me think of rhetoric and about arguments. While Thicke is getting a lot of criticism for this song, at the end of the day, he "won" because his song is super popular and listened to. Critics might think that they are beating Thicke by butchering his motives and lyrics  but in the end they are only helping to boost Thickes career.