My Life in Music

Where I have been – 2010’s song: Here’s to Never Growing Up, Avril Lavigne

For my “where I’ve been” song, I decided to go with Here’s to Never Growing Up, that 2013 jam that briefly brought Avril back into the limelight.  To be honest, I mainly went with an Avril song because we share the same last name (I was able to successfully convince half of my 5th grade art class that we were distant cousins), however, it does hold certain elements of truth about my past self.  In recent years, I’ve been generally nervous about taking new steps in my life (like going to college, getting an internship, etc.), so I thought the song was appropriate to describe where I’ve been in past years.  

Where I am now – 80’s song: Under Pressure, Queen/David Bowie 

As far as where I am now, I felt that the classic 80’s song Under Pressure pretty much summed up my current situation.  Because I am a junior that just declared my concentration last semester, I am under a ton of pressure this semester as I try to figure out how to fit all my classes in to graduate on time, work on campus and complete an internship all at the same time.  And to top it all off, as far as classwork this semester goes, Queen and David Bowie basically explain exactly what I’m feeling when they say: “these are the days – it never rains but it pours”.

Where I’m going – 90’s song: All Star, Smash Mouth

Because my “where I am now” song was a bit negative, I decided to be optimistic with my “where I’m going” song.  I think that all the effort and work that I am putting into my education now will pay off in the future, and I will triumph over all of the pressure I am currently under.  Even though most people I know only recognize this song because of Shrek, when you actually listen to the lyrics it has a super optimistic message, and I am optimistic about where I’m going in the future.  

What I want to say to my family – 70’s song: Your Smiling Face, James Taylor

I decided to go with a super sentimental song for that “what I want to say to my family” category.  James Taylor’s music has always had a special place in my heart because his music is what I grew up on (my parents love him and would play his CD’s whenever we would drive anywhere) and my favorite song of his is Your Smiling Face.  Even though the song is technically about romantic love, I think the central message (“Whenever I see your smiling face, I have to smile myself, because I love you”) is true for anyone that you love.  And basically, that one line summarized what I want to say to my family, which is that they make me happy, and I love them.  

What sums me up – 2000’s song: Rhody Girl, Dan Mills 

Last but not least, the song that I think best sums me up is Rhody Girl, by Dan Mills.  Because I’m from Rhode Island, this song is literally perfect for me.  From the line about freckles, to the one that says “she may not know the finest wines, but she knows a fast way home” (I’m absolutely clueless about wine even after a semester abroad in Florence, but I can tell you the best way to get to my house from a random restaurant on the opposite side of the state), it is completely accurate.  Okay… except for the line about stealing… I’m not into that.  But other than that, this song is about as perfect a summary of me as a song can get.  Plus, it’s a great song, so that doesn’t hurt either (even though I couldn’t find a great youtube link for it).

Why Drug Shortages are a Big Deal

When people go to the hospital, they expect that hospital to have adequate supplies and medicine to be able to make them feel better.  However, in the United States today, necessary life-saving drugs are in short supply.  To make matters even worse, this shortage is not a new problem.  According to a Fortune.com article from 2015, “the shortage goes back at least a decade and shows disturbing trends”.  For example, in 2007, the FDA announced that 154 drugs were in scarce/no longer available, and just five years later in 2012, that number had skyrocketed to 456 (source).  Some of the medicines that are in short supply are for life or death ailments such as “heart problems, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, Lyme disease, and tuberculosis as well as antibiotics and crucial saline solutions for patients too sick to eat or drink” and people are dying there isn’t enough to go around (source).

The shortages plaguing the country have recently come back into the forefront of the news in recent weeks through an article from the New York Times entitled Drug Shortages Forcing Hard Decisions on Rationing Treatments.  This new article focuses on many of the same issues raised by the 2015 article, however, it makes an important point when it states “while such shortages have periodically drawn attention, the rationing that results from them has been largely hidden from patients and the public” (source).  Because of shortages in hospitals and clinics, doctors are having to ration the drugs that they do have, resulting in “contradictory conclusions, murky ethical reasoning and medically questionable practices” (source).

So, you may be asking, why is this important to us?  Do we really need to be concerned if we don’t have any serious illnesses?  The answer is yes.  This is a far reaching issue that has the potential to affect everyone in the United States.  Just imagine, if you get into a car accident and end up in the hospital, you may not be able to get the necessary medicine to make sure you have a quick recovery.  Or, if someone you know is diagnosed with cancer, Lyme disease or diabetes, they may not be able to get the drugs they need to treat their illness.  Therefore, the ongoing drug shortages are a very real problem that has potential to hit very, very close to home for many of us, and may have already affected us, even if we weren’t aware of it.

 

SOURCES: N.Y. Times Article, Fortune.com Article

The Three Worst Things About Marist College

The Lack of School Spirit – One of the things that I was most excited about when I was anticipating coming to Marist was being a part of a group of students that was passionate about their school; the first memory I have of this school was arriving on accepted students’ day and seeing excited first-year program leaders welcoming prospective students with signs.  However, once my freshman year was fully underway, I saw that there was much less school spirit than I had hoped for from my college, next to nobody attended sporting events, concerts or lectures!  Although our women’s basketball team does have a faithful following, it is still pretty sad that usually the only students in attendance at games are the people who have to be there for the Marist College Band.

Sodexo’s Horrifying Food – Another thing that I was hoping for from my school was good food, and if not good, at least edible food.  When I arrived Freshman year and entered the new dining hall, I had big expectations that the food would be as good as the new facilities looked.  However, the fancy Hogwarts-style chandeliers were deceiving, as the quality of the food quickly decreased as the semester went on.  By October, I was desperate for something other than salty pizza and wilted salads.  Now that I have a kitchen, I eat as little Sodexo food as possible and have ditched the meal plan altogether.

Parking – As a Junior at Marist who lives more than three hours away, I have had my car on campus for two years now, and because I ditched the dining plan after last year, I need to make weekly trips to the grocery store.  Although leaving the parking lot for a half hour around once a week does not seem like it would be a problem, finding a parking spot after leaving for even that short amount of time is an insane struggle.  Honestly.  I don’t know why parking is such an issue, but for some reason, every time I leave campus no matter what time or day it is, there are never any spots once I get back.  It may be because my housing area (Upper West) shares a parking lot with two other residence areas, but still.  If Marist is going to give out parking passes, they need to make sure that they check how many spots they have so people don’t have to sit in the parking lot for an extra half hour waiting for someone else to leave.

Trump Autographs Look-Alike Baby

This past Thursday, Donald Trump graced the hand of a crowd surfing 19-month-old toddler with his signature at a campaign rally in Louisiana, showing that he truly does care for children. The child, Curtis Ray Jeffery III, was sporting a bejeweled Trump pacifier and a hairstyle reminiscent of Trump’s iconic do for the occasion, which just goes to show how much his parents love Trump (even though Jeffery may look back on this moment in the future and be horrified by the ordeal he had to endure).

 

Although Trump has proven that he has potential in politics by becoming a front-runner in the Republican Party, it seems that he is still first and foremost a crazy celebrity, and caters to his fans turned potential voters in every way he can, including giving out autographs at his rallies.  Trump loves his supporters, and truly believes that they will support him through everything, saying in previous weeks that he would not lose voters even if he shot someone in the street.

Even though this statement seems unrealistic, many people do support Trump no matter what ridiculous things he does or says, which leads me to believe that there is literally nothing he can do to lose support completely.  So far he has endorsed torture, insulted every single other presidential candidate, made ridiculous claims and changed his stance on important issues several times, but people still love him, and many will even go so far as poor Curtis Ray Jeffery’s parents did and send their baby crowd surfing with a ridiculous hair do in order to gain the attention and autograph of the entrepreneur turned politician.

Super Bowl 50 Ad Recap: best, stupidest and most thought provoking

Unfortunately, this year I was unable to watch the Super Bowl, so I missed out on actually seeing the commercials as they aired for the first time.  However, after going through the official website for the Super Bowl Commercials (yes, they are such a big deal that they have a website dedicated only to them) and watching them all, I think that this year was a bit disappointing as far as the ads for the big advertisers went (Coca Cola, Budwiser, etc.). That being said, I did find a few I liked!  So, here are my Super Bowl 50 ad picks for the best, the stupidest and the most thought provoking.

1. The Best: Turbo Tax Ad “Never a Sellout” – Although this ad was definitely not the funniest, it think that it was very clever and effective.  It ironically played off the fact that famous actors and actresses “sell out” and endorse any product that they can make lots of money off of, emphasizing the fact that Turbo Tax is free.

2. The Stupidest: Avocados From Mexico #Avosinspace – This ad was really just very confusing for me.  It was too long, incorporated too many elements and the crazy alien costumes were just distracting.  To be honest, after first seeing it I could not remember what the commercial was actually advertising because I was too focused on what was happening with the characters.

 

3. The Most Thought Provoking: Sun Trust “Hold Your Breath” – Typically, I find commercials for banks all to be pretty much the same, however, this ad for Sun Trust caught my attention.  It highlights the fact that a large percentage of people are being overwhelmed and crushed by their debt, and because of their financial troubles, they are missing out on life’s important moments.

 

Super Bowl Sunday: the One Day I Like Ads

The Super Bowl is undoubtedly the biggest sporting event of the year in America.  Football fans look forward to it all year, wondering if this is the year that their favorite team will finally make it to the big game, and even if they’re not football fans, people around the country come together to enjoy the game, the food, the halftime show and, if they’re like me, the commercials.

Commercials are usually the most hated part of watching television, we DVR shows, pause and come back to them and wait until they come on Netflix just to escape wasting our precious time on ads.  However, when Super Bowl Sunday finally rolls around, many of us actually look forward to the commercials!  So, why do we like the Super Bowl ads in particular?  What makes them more entertaining to than regular ads?  Personally, I’ve always thought they were more entertaining just because they provide a much needed break from all that football.  But… there is a good reason the Super Bowl ads are more compelling and enjoyable to watch than most ads on TV.

First of all, Super Bowl Ads are extremely competitive, and this year, the average cost for a 30 second commercial is $5 Million (up $500,000 from last year).  The reason that these ads cost so much is because of the ridiculous number of people that watch the Super Bowl every year, giving any commercials that play during the game incredible exposure, and causing the marketing teams for each brand and company to come up with their most entertaining ads.  Secondly, because of all the extra effort that goes into creating the commercials that will capture the audience of the most watched TV program of the year, the ads are generally hilarious and actually worth watching, as opposed to the many boring commercials that we are forced to watch day in and day out.

So, this Sunday, whether you are watching the Super Bowl for the party, the food or the game itself, be sure to pay extra attention to the commercials!