Journal Entry #1

I thoroughly enjoyed listening and discussing the music variety in class. Initially, I hadn’t thought about music being a way to express one’s connectivity to their surrounding environment, but it makes perfect sense. I found myself singing along to a couple of the songs in my head and realizing that the tunes I had been listening to all these years really did have a subliminal message behind them. The power of music to create social impact should not be taken lightly. I thought the irony of the Beach Boys singing a song about avoiding the water was quite ironic as well. The juxtaposition of their iconic name and the nature of the song was an interesting contrast. Additionally, I had heard the song “Big Yellow Taxi” many times but had never really reflected on the opening stanza. “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot,” offers such a depth to it that I had never considered before. Physically creating a paradise complete with concrete and an overcrowded parking lot is almost an oxymoron. When I think about paradise, I picture a place of relaxation so calm, serene and natural that I can barely think of a place on earth that encompasses it. However, as humans we are so focused on the tangible and buildable versions of these “paradise” that we often forget that paradise typically stems from a natural place. The irony of it all is that we are tearing down and destroying these natural places of tranquility for noise, traffic, and cement.