Update on Essay#3

I'm still working on the topic for domestic violence, the topic I'm current finishing is about the factors that comes in to what happens to women who were abused in the current or previous relationhships. It is a lot of stuff to write about, but I will get it done after that I will write about the play, "Cruel Punishment-We Are All Insane" and about my personal experience. I hope you like it.

Outside Sources for Essay#3

The outside sources for Essay#3 that I have chosen were National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV), Cruel Punishment-We Are All Insane; a LaGuardia Community College production that deals with life issues, Ashanti, "Rain on Me". A similar song dealing with Domestic Violence and personal experience.

Essay#3- Working on Draft

Domestic Violence is a serious problem that affects people of different ethnic backgrounds, economics status, etc. It is a willful intimidation committed by men and women as a way to control their significant other. Usually this type of behavior is taught at a very young age when children witness their mother or father abusing their spouse and decide whether or not they want to repeat the cycle of abuse.

The song, "What About", by Janet Jackson was about a young woman who was being physically and emotionally abused by her boyfriend on a regular basis. Not only was he abusing his girlfriend, he was also cheating on her with another woman which made the situation even worse. In the first stanza, "we walked along the beach what a moon lit night, he held my hands in his he kissed me he said I wanna spend my life with you, I want you for my wife, just then I thought I thought". In the beginning of their relationship everything seemed to be going very well for them because they were talking about spending the rest of their lives together, at least he was telling his girlfriend that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. As he was talking about moving on to the next level of their relationship, she was thinking about the times she has been physically and emotionally abused by her boyfriend. "What about the times you lied to me, what about the times you said no one would want me, what about all the shit you've done to me, what about that what about that. What about the times you yelled at me, what about the times I cried you wouldn't even hold me what about those things, what about that what about that" (2nd stanza).

Essay#3-Draft

The song, "What About", by Janet Jackson was about a young woman who was being physically and emotionally abused by her boyfriend on a regular basis. Not only was he abusing his girlfriend, he was also cheating on her with another woman, which makes the situation even worse. Janet Jackson wrote this song to raise awareness about Domestic Violence and how it affects people of different ethnic groups, financial status, etc. National Coalition Against Domestic Violence is an organization to help women as well as men deal with the issues of domestic violence and how it had an impact on their lives.

Essay#3 Topic-Domestic Violence

The topic I have chosen for essay#3 is Domestic Violence and the song I have picked was "What About" by Janet Jackson. It is a very powerful song because it raises the awareness of domestic violence and how it can effect people from different ethnic backgrounds, economic status, etc. She may have written this song because she probably experienced this type of abuse from her first husband or might have known someone who has been in that situation. Her album "Velvet Rope" was released on September 25, 1997.

I have also looked at a website that deals with the issue of Domestic Violence.

Essay# 3 Topics

The topics for Essay # 3 I have already chosen are Domestic Violence, Allegations of Child Molestation, Basic Human Rights, and Unrealistic Expectations. Here are the songs that I have already picked, "What About" by Janet Jackson, "Scream" by Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson, "They Don't Care About Us" by Michael Jackson, and "Stupid Girls" by Pink.

Topics for Essay #3/Ideas

My ideas for essay #3 are the environment, domestic violence, alligations of child molestation, basic human rights, and unrealistic expectations. The songs I have chosen are "Earth Song" by Michael Jackson, "What About" by Janet Jackson, "Good Enough" by Evanescence (I'm not too sure if it is related to domestic violence). "They Don't Really Care About Us" by Michael Jackson, "Dear Mr. President" by Pink, and "Stupid Girls" by Pink.

Post#3-Larry Neal's The Black Arts Movement

I would describe Larry Neal's kind of writing as a way to say that he wants black people to stop living up to the standards of what kind of work that white people want them to do in order to express themselves. He sees the arts in relation to the political struggle as a way to break out of the unrealistic standard being held by the people who does not understand what they're tyring to say in their poetry and artwork.

Essay #1-Draft

The song, "Strange Fruit" written by Allan, Lewis, Pearl, Maurice Wiggens, and Dwayne P. and sung by Billie Holliday was about the mistreatment of African-Americans before and during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1050' and 1960's. The purpose for the song, "Strange Fruit" was to describe the beauty of the South as well as its ugly side of living in the South during that time of lynching, dogs attacking people, etc. "Southern trees bear a strange fruit (first line of the first stanza), the first line describes the trees in the southern states having "exotic fruits" hanging from the branches. In other words, the "strange fruit" are the young African-American men and women also known as Negro or Colored were being hung from the trees. "Blood on the leaves and blood at the root" (second line of the first stanza), can be a metaphor by saying that the blood coming from their bodies can fall on the leaves and sink into the roots of the trees. In the second stanza, "Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh" (third line) and "Then the sudden smell of burning flesh" (fourth line). It describes the beautiful smell of magnolias saying that it can make you feel comfortable about living in the South, but at the same time you get the scent of burning flesh stinging your nose because these innocent young African-American men and women may have been burned by the white supremacists or by the sun. Overall, the song is about the damaging effects of racism and to bring America's attention to what was going on at that time. Even though the song painted an ugly picture into what was happening in the South in the 1950's and 1960's, it had to be done in order to come up with realistic solutions to solve this ongoing problem that has gone on for so many years.

I'm still working on the rest of the paragraphs, this is what I have so far.

My thoughts on "Strange Fruit".

When I read the lyrics and listened to "Strange Fruit" performed by Billie Holiday, I felt that she was telling a gruesome story of how African-Americans during the 1950's and 1960's were being treated in various negative ways simply because of the color of their skin. As it was said in the second stanza, "Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, Then the sudden smell of burning flesh". Basically, she was telling us about how good the magnolias smells and the beauty of the South, however; she was also talking about how young African-American men were being lynched by white people and left there to die. It was like they were being burned by the sun or by the angry white people. "Here is the fruit for the crows to pluck..." was lie a metaphor for the birds to pick at the decaying flesh hanging from the tree branches saying that they can easily spot a deceased body from miles away. Overall the song was about the worse cases of racism occuring in the South and getting the nation's attention into what was going on at that particular time.