Music and Culture: Soul Train by Stephany Bernard

Soul Music embellishes our lives daily. In our society Culture and any genre of Music are very parallel in any traditional lifestyle. Soul Music plays out in our everyday life it’s something you learn and grow to appreciate. In any culture especially in the American and African-American culture, we value this and want to pass it on to our families.  Music has become very much a cultural necessity in much of the United States. It was a generation where music was almost therapeutic.  Soul Train was a much must see show in the 70 and 80’s. It was bursting with dance and song and performances and interviews of bands and singers in that day.

 Don Cornelius creator, producer and host of Soul train a popular show in the 70's and 80's. Soul Train was mostly centered on Soul and R&B. The show conducted a soul train line dance where a couple, religiously and male and female, would boogy on down the dance floor in a lined format. This is very popular in our culture today to form a line dance at parties, our family parties, and during any type of environment where you dance to celebrate. The performers and guests who danced on the show looked like as if they were dancing their lives away. Now that’s dancing!

Are We Really Connected?

Posted by Q.Haynes

The cell phone is indeed one of the best devices known to mankind. Just about everyone owns a cell phone. In addition to that, with technology becoming more advanced, we can do more than just talk on the phone. We use our cell phones for just about anything. They're our alarm clocks, gps, cameras, they have games on them. Without a doubt, there are an array of advantages that comes with using having a cell phone, but disadvantages come along with it.

To begin with, We can barely focus when our cell phones are near. We use them in class when we're supposed to be attentive, they're close at hand when doing homework and when walking down street, people barely look at where they're going because they're texting or web surfing. Our cell phones are glued to us and as a result of that, we have a sense of over reliance on our cell phones. If we were to lose our phones, it's almost as if we lost a vital organ. We can't live without them.

Families can become disrupted and marriages may end because of the cell phone. A Husband would rather play beat of level of Angry Birds than cuddle with wife while watching a movie. A mother would have text her friend than read a story to her child. Members of a house hold can be so consumed by their phones that personal interaction with one another is non-existent.

Although cellphones are great wonderful devices. They also take away that human-to human contact that is needed in society.

Sometimes It Takes a Woman To Do a Man's Job

Submitted by: Sierra A. Capalongo
   Female roles have changed drastically in today's society from what was deemed socially normal in the past. A role that was usually accompanied by household chores, nurturing their children, and cooking for their families has come a long way. In past times, a woman was basically a man's shadow. She remained in the background while he provided for the family and fulfilled his patriarchal position on the social ladder. But now, women are capable of doing typically anything that a man is able to do. We see women doctors, lawyers, and even body builders everyday. They're able to achieve the same successes and powerful positions as men. But are they ever really viewed as equals?
   Last week, I watched a past episode of Sex in the City that related well to this topic. Cynthia Nixon's character, Miranda, decided it was time to do some speed dating in an attempt to find her a companion. Now Miranda is a very career-minded lawyer from the upper west side of New York but her abrasive, overpowering personality has always been intimidating to men. Her speed dating experiment consisted of eight men and seven minutes to get to know each one in a fine dining restaurant setting. Each date began with the standard introduction of names and quickly jumped into careers. By date number four, she quickly realized a pattern. Every time the word "lawyer" slid from her mouth, the men would instantly become uninterested and look away. One even switched his attention to the waitress who was serving their cocktails. When it came time for date five, Miranda asked the gentleman about his occupation to which he replied that he was a doctor. She, on the otherhand, decided to lie and quickly replied "stewardess," to which the man seemed immediately attracted to her. Thus realizing that her position of power was seen as intimitading and that men wanted to be the powerful ones in the relationship.
   This is something I see and am reminded of Monday through Friday. I have worked for a construction and industrial supply company for over three years now but recently relocated to the Bensalem area where I am not known. Starting in a new location felt about the same as it did when I started working for this company back in 2008. None of the customers know me, so they feel I do not know what I am doing. My position is inside sales so I work with pricing and selling. It's not that my job is hard in any manner, it just takes good memorization of small details.
   I am typically sitting at my desk doing paper work when my customers come in. They're stereotypical "manly men" covered in grease, dirt, and oil. They look like they haven't showered in weeks. I'm always in my royal blue polo and khakis, with my hair straightened and makeup done. Usually exposing some type of flashy manicure. One look at me and the most standard question I receive upon greeting is "Are there any men working today?" I oftentimes find myself saying subtly in my head "Yes, I am a female. Yes, I too have a brain and am capable of intelligence, Sir," while around these kinds of men. To their surprise, they quickly realize that I have extensive knowledge about hardware, electrical, and plumbing supplies.
   Overall, from personell experience, I haven't seen real eqaulity set in yet but day by day I am able to slowly change the males persepective on gender roles, which comes with a decent amount of satisfaction. There's a slight reward when it comes to changing peoples minds about you. This is why I've stayed with my company as opposed to doing some type of waitressing or retail clothing job. 

Can you and I accept me for me?

Submitted by Tazkeyah A: 

    As a Muslim I was brought up in polygamy. Polygamy is part of my culture and my religion. In Islam a guy is allowed to marry up to three wives as long as he treats them all fairly. To Muslim theses acceptable practices are normal to us. But to other people it is seen as weird,disgusting, and even taboo. As a child  I was sometimes embarrassed  to tell my friends how many siblings I had and how old we all were. I was embarrassed because my mom and my ex-step mom gave birth to my sisters five months apart. As I got older I learned more about polygamy and understood it. I don't know if it is because I'm a female brought up in polygamy, but I have strong ill-feelings towards it. At the same time I have to accept it because it's part of my religion. 
    Growing up in a society that does not allow polygamy sort of gives you different views about your belief. You become accustom to the western culture while still trying to hold on to your own subculture. This is related to what we learned about social location. Because of the environment I live in certain principles takes a back seat to environmental influences. Whereas, over-seas polygamy is accepted and known, so children are brought up with better understanding that polygamy is part of their culture values in their society. 

    To end, although America is made up of thousands of different cultures, people are still culture shock when something derails from their social norms and is introduce into their way of life. I believe it's hard for anybody growing up in the western society who religion views doesn't fit the "normal" criteria. American values monogamy and that is why polygamy is seen as taboo and will never be accepted. This environment will always have some kind of impact on people religious values, and subcultures. 

Is nothing true or is everything true?

Submitted by Yuko Nishizawa

There are countless books about great philosophies, religions, ways of improving oneself and relationships in the societies. All of them are designed to make us feel better and enlightened. Despite all the available guidance, it's still not easy to find values that suit us perfectly or that make a sense in all cultures. In fact, we learned recently in SOC-101 that we must be mindful because those sources are biased on some levels. At the same time, we must rely on information created and filtered by others. So how do we know what information is true and trustworthy?

The attached image from the magazine AZURE, July/Aug,2003 issue, caught my eye. It's a mini coliseum made with books on religion and philosophy as construction material, like piled up bricks. The spines of books have fancy titles like "Dialog with Socrates", "Joyous Freedom with God", "Buddha's Wisdom",etc. Each book presents perspectives of things that are supposed to be good for people and society. We see all different colors and thickness in the exterior, but the interior becomes a wall of white paper. To me, this illustrates that inside, we are all the same. We are all human, want to be at peace and pure, like those white pages. The book coliseum was installed and exhibited at the 2001 International Contemporary Art Bienniale in Florence by architect team from Finland.

The book coliseum represents the relation between outer and inner worlds.

The various concepts exit in cultures, the outer world, but the ultimate goal is to have a peace in ourselves, the inner world. The worlds are not separate, they co-exist. We seek peace and happiness in the all culture no matter who we are, where we come form or what we believe. 

             It isn't hard to do

             Nothing to kill or die for

             And no religion too

             Imagine all the people  

             Living life in peace

            ("Imagine" by John Lenon, 1971)

There is a sad coda to this coliseum installation. It was destroyed within a day when every book was stolen by local thieves. Photographs of the thefts showed that the majority of the pilferers were largely average local citizens.

Who's the man?!?

Breoni Prewitt

When we think of a traditional nuclear American family looks like we tend to think of a father, to bring home the bacon, a mother, to cook the bacon, and children, to eat..well you get my drift.

But lets sit back and really think about who is the true head of the household.

In this image (provided by http://farihasecret.blogspot.com/2011/05/enhancement-program.html) we see a woman multi-tasking. She is taking care of baby, cooking, cleaning and doing her own work separate from that of her family.

Now after looking at the image above, who do you truly believe wears the pants?

In class everyone was assigned to look at western culture and families from specific perspectives, one of which was the feminist perspective. When thinking from this perspective we look at how families run. Women do all these tasks to make sure the house is on the up and up.

But these are the roles women are "suppose" to play, correct? Wrong! It is sexist to think that women are supposed to or would automatically want to take such a stressful role in life. It is one that she chooses as a care taker, a lover and a business woman. She is the glue that keeps the family in tact. Mom cooks and cleans and gets the kids and lover ready for their day, once she's done then and only then can she bet ready to start her day. So, it could be true to say that she actually has two jobs instead of one. So wouldn't that make mom the true head of the home?

I honestly have to say that women run the show, we are the ring leaders of the circuses we call home. They have a different hat for every duty and because they do all the work they truly deserve all the glory.