The Blue Mask by Lou Reed

In James Baldwin 's short story "Sonny 's Blues" a young man questions his brotherly obligations after finding that his younger brother has been arrested for using drugs. In the attempt to rectify his younger brother 's behavior and life, the young man faces his own feelings for his brother and comes to terms with the life his brother Sonny lives. The developments of certain elements-plot, character, point of view, setting, symbolism-in the story help accentuate the narrator 's struggles and theme(s) of the story.

Billie Jo Kelby is not a boy. She’s a girl; a wiry, thin, redheaded girl that looks more like her father than her mother. She lives on the Great Plains in 1935, during the great drought known as the Dust Bowl. She lives with her pregnant mother and her father, and life seems good, or as good as it will get in her dusty world.

1. One of the main characters in the book Black and Blue is a woman named Frannie Benedetto. Some of the roles that Frannie had were being a wife, a mother, a Catholic, and a nurse. Her role as a wife was very challenging, due to the fact that she was in an abusive relationship and was married to a New York City Police Officer. Frannie had been married to her husband Bobby Benedetto for almost twenty years. Her entire relationship with her husband has been traumatizing. Numerous times Frannie had been physically assault, raped, and belittled. Bobby physically assaulted Frannie when she was nineteen years old for the first time in their relationship. Frannie recalls many times that Bobby came home drunk and would rape her. Bobby belittled his wife by accusing her of sleeping with the doctors she worked with and by making her feel like she had deserved to get beaten up by him. One of the major reasons that Frannie stayed in the relationship with Bobby was because of their son.

Rock ‘n’ roll has played a major role in some known historical developments post World War 2. Music plays a significant part in America 's Cold War culture. Music gave us a sense of new technologies and helped the world to prosper. It also is linked with African Americans living in the South. Music was known for shaping the lives of the people during the 1950s and 1960s. Music was geared towards the youth, race, ethnicity, gender and class. “All Shook Up: How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America” by Altschuler, Glenn C, tells us the story of the birth of rock and roll during the concrete years of 1955 to 1965. Altschuler gives us a overview of how rock ‘n’ roll has an historical context. “ For two years the Times printed dozens of

The movie Jaws was written by Peter Benchley and directed by Steven Spielberg. It created mass chaos in an unknowing world. In Francis’s article "The State of Sharks, 40 Years After Jaws," he drives into the negative and positive effects of Jaws on shark populations. He mostly focuses on Australia and the United States. Before the movie was released, little was known about sharks. People were oblivious to the danger, but swimming was not a huge recreational activity. Early sailors wrote journals about deep sea monsters looming in the darkness, but the public dismissed these tales as pure folklore (Francis).

The two poems “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey and “Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes were written to express racial dilemmas that the authors went through. Thematically, they represent the American Dream. In “White Lies” we see that Trethewey went through some racial identity issues. She felt as if she had to lie to blend in with the rest of the whites, which was easy for her because she was mixed. To understand the full meaning of this poem, one assumes that Trethewey was the product of an interracial marriage. This type of thing was frowned upon during the time she grew up. In the poem “Theme for English B” Hughes seems to accept the fact that he is different. Hughes does not seem to have a problem with expressing his difference. He looks at as his individuality and strives to let everyone know that he is proud of who he is. The two poems have many similarities and differences.

Even after slavery, African American women are still imprisoned by their inferior role to men. The women could be from different statuses based on job, wealth, or marital status, but they are would find themselves suffering under the rules of their men. The blues “Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues” by Ida Cox and “Mamie’s Blues” by Jelly Roll Morton talk about the challenges of women living during the Harlem Renaissance. The blues surrounded the African American women during this time, and these songs talk about women facing hardships in life because they are second class citizens compared to men.

Shortly after the civil war the fourteenth amendment was passed which granted citizenship to all individuals born or naturalized in America; this group included slaves both former and current. However, individuals of African American appearance would be treated like aliens in their own country for years to come. In the eighteen eighties Jim Crow Laws were passed that segregated Black individuals and often subjected them to humiliating conditions. These conditions exasperate and trouble all of the characters in the novel Black No More. In this novel by George Schuyler Blacks are degraded and oppressed because of the color of their skin. This oppression is caused by ignorant prejudices that individuals in the novel hold. Schuyler uses satire, elevated language, and imagery to further support the idea that ignorance can be as great a power or greater than the greed caused for money.

Today like yesterday, the day before that, and a hundred years ago the United States continues to face many social issues.

The impact of community is the focus of chapter four. Palmer describes the three communities of truth in education as therapeutic, civic, and marketing models. The therapeutic model makes intimacy “the best therapy for the pain beyond disconnection.” (pg. 92). Palmer states the therapeutic model has a place in education “simply because any loveless enterprise is likely to be pathological” (pg.93). The therapeutic community has great benefits to teaching and learning, but it can also be a great threat. It can be a threat if we believe it is that only way of community.

The blues have deep roots embedded within American history—particularly that of African American history. The history of the blues originated on Southern plantations in the 19th century and was created by slaves, ex-slaves, and descendants of slaves. They were created by individuals who endured great hardship while performing endless hours of arduous labor and blues served as a form of escapism. To these individuals, songs provided them with the strength to persevere through their struggles. Blues songs depicted individuals who persevered in the face of adversity. They were symbols of hope to those squandering in the depths of oppression. In relations to the blues, every song has a story behind it and within every story, there is something to be said. Blues artists, through their struggles, detail how they overcame hardship and laughed at the face of oppression. They defied the rules and in doing so, showed African Americans that they too are beacons of hope for the hopeless. The best blues is instinctive, cathartic, and intensely emotional. From irrepressible bliss to deep sadness, no form of music communicates more genuine emotion than that of the blues. Like many bluesmen of his day, Robert Johnson applied his craft as a lonely traveling musician on street corners and in juke joints. He was a lonely man whose songs romanticized that existence. With Johnson’s unique vocal style, haunting lyrics, and creative guitar techniques, Johnson’s innovation embodied the essence of

Crowned as "The Queen of Soul", Aretha Franklin is one of the most honored female vocal artists of the last 50 years. She is an American soul singer, songwriter as well as a pianist. Her soulful, soaring voice has earned her mythic status over the years. It has been said that Aretha was a child prodigy of the golden age of gospel and was the anointed successor to gospel singers Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson. Many idolize her and her musical intelligence to this day. She is said to be one of the most quintessential sounds of America alongside The Beetles, The Stones, and Louis Armstrong.

One of the most influential figures in modern music to this day, Jimi Hendrix, was a complex and unusual man for his time. Being most well-known for his eccentric performances and style, both in fashion and in music, Jimi stood out in the western world 's very uniform Rock’n’Roll scene. Playing with his teeth, burning his guitar, rising to fame in a matter of weeks all contributed to his remarkable life. Jimi Hendrix’s life and rise to fame were exceptionally unordinary and extraordinarily influential. Filled with curiosities from the day he was born to his tragic drug-related death, Jimi was unusual. Accordingly, these curiosities are what makes Jimi Hendrix such a notable figure in history.

The vocalist and guitarist of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, impacting both the musical and cultural realms. Jerry Garcia was fated to become one of America’s most influential people ever since he was born into Jose Garcia’s household. During his childhood, Jerry Garcia lived in an environment that fueled his musical development and experienced many events that pushed him closer changing the path of American music and culture. Jerry Garcia was a member of the American 1960’s counterculture and really embodied the ideals and goals of the group as a whole. Thanks to the influence of his adolescent development and his

Folk rock in the sixties inherited the tradition of country and western. In the 1960s, the main representatives of folk rock were Joan Baez, The Byrds, Bob Dylan, and so on. However, the most important folk rock singer is Bob Dylan, who was the first and the most important folk rock music creator. Known as the “protest song singer”, for the entire 1960s, Bob Dylan 's music strongly affected young people that were in the wandering and confusion. It was like a banner, a totem, and a pioneer, helped the the youth from the 1960s generation of found the sustenance of their ideals.