Hip Hop Planet

Olivia Nyhammer

Mrs.Young

Sep. 22, 2014

English 110

In the short story “Hip Hop Planet” written by James McBride, the reader observes how McBride goes from despising hip hop when we first hears it at a party in Harlem in 1980, to appreciating the roots and motivations leading to the genre some may look at as explicit. The music at first makes him cringe since he is a jazz lover, for over 26 years he felt rap represented everything he didn't believe in. As he grows he realizes why they are rapping about such vulgar topics, how those terrible things they are rapping about are actually what motivated them to be heard. This touches his heart and allows him to understand. 

McBride first notices how in the mid-1970’s New York City was nearly broke, therefor schools needed to cut the funding for the arts. An ambitious young man named Afrika Bambaataa stuck a speaker in his mother’s living room window then ran a wire to a turn table to his bed room and set his whole building to their feet with dance music. Dj’s and MC’s were starting to make a name for themselves, the aspects of hip hop were getting more diverse, touching more and more peoples lives. Little did Bambaataa know that he would be the center of so much history yet to be made. 

Ethnomusicologists have been known to trace hip hops roots the drum, dance, and songs of the West Africans. They rapped the stories of slaves who survived throughout the middle passage. Verbal dueling and rhyming were empowering strategies for people of that times because it was their way of getting their word out there for the world to hear and that is what McBride comes to love and understand. McBride explains, “Yet I love it, the good of it. To confess a love for a music that, at least in part, embraces  violence is no easy matter” (McBride) He finally sees that this is music made from the soul to express pain that all different kinds of people have experienced. Anyone can love rap, even a jazz fan. 

Favorite Place

Olivia Nyhammer

Mrs.Young

Sep.22, 2014

English 1100

Favorite place

Being a summer baby and living right down the street from Sea Side Boardwalk it was inevitable I would be a water bug. My favorite place in the whole entire world is beach thirteen in Island Beach State Park, New Jersey. It is six dollars per car and you drive down a long road until you reach your desired beach. After parking you unpack the car and begin the journey through the wilderness. Past beach 2 there are no life guards and you have to walk through, what I call the jungle, to get to the beach. The jungle is a long sand path with flowering plants and small trees along the sides. Walking through you can hear crickets chirping, birds flying from tree and tree, and occasionally a little chipmunk scurry by. Once you pass the small bridge that gets a huge puddle in front of it when it rains you know your almost there just one more hill to go. The sand begins to get warmer past this point so you take off your flip flops and enjoy the sand between your toes for a second as you catch your breath since you had to carry a huge beach bag and chair through the trail. You see the crystal blue waters peaking from around the sand hill so you take a deep breathe in smelling the oceans salty aroma. The beach is yours. 

There’s not a soul in sight besides a few fisherman to your far right with just two poles in the water because they never seem to catch anything, I think they just enjoy the view. You put your bag down and immediately go up to feel the temperature of the water; it’s a perfect 74 degrees. You run back up and set up shop, giggling with friends about last night’s festivities as you rub tanning oil all over your body preparing to soak up the roaring summer sun. Eventually you get too hot so you run up to the shoreline and the water kiss your toes sending shivers all the way up your spine. I love to ride the waves even when they are crazy because it’s funny when your friends fall or get tumbled over. Beach thirteen is the most serene, relaxing place in my world and it represents my home. 

Free Writing Response

Olivia Nyhammer

September 7, 2014

English Prof

English 110

Response to Peter Elbow “Freewriting”

1. The difference between editing and free writing is that editing is something you subconsciously do while writing a paper to ensure its quality. We edit in subtle ways like stopping to think about how to spell a word correctly to perfect our writing and make it flawless for the reader, although in some cases one may over-edit and lose their voice in their writing. Free writing is an exercise that gets you out of the habit of hesitating so much while your writing causing you to lose your voice, and the authenticity of your work. While free writing, one must not lose focus or stop for anything. You just write whatever comes to your mind without any hesitation, even if that means writing the same word over and over again. 
2. In response to the quote, “The habit of compulsive, premature editing doesn't just make writing hard. It also makes it dead” written by Peter Elbow, I feel he is referring to the tragedy of a writer losing their voice, which is the one thing that sets us apart from one another. Over-editing your work causes the writing to become robotic and uninteresting. Most audiences you will be writing for appreciate a little humor or corkiness and those are the things we often edit out because we do not feel confident in them. In his quote, Elbow was referring to a writers voice and the importance of never losing it through overthinking. 
3. Peter Elbow once said, “..trying to get the beginning just right is a formula for failure.” Your opening paragraph gives the reader a brief insight of your entire paper. It should be strong and captivating. After your audience reads your first paragraph they should be hooked, but sometimes that is a lot of pressure and getting it perfect is such a priority that we get frustrated, and lose our patience to continue. To save yourself from the dreaded first paragraph try just jotting down whatever comes to your mind, because after your paper is completed you can always go back and make proper adjustments in a more conclusive way considering you have throughly explained each of your points and therefor, can paraphrase them much easier. 

Identity

Olivia Nyhammer

Professor Young

September 18, 14

English 110

Essay #1

Identity Speaks

Your identity is like your own personal logo, every line and detail is unique and specifically crafted just to express your distinct characteristics that everyone can see, but is impossible to impersonate. Like a snowflake, no two identities can be the same because they run as deep into your soul as lovers look into one another’s eyes. I believe that one’s identity is a very important component of who they are as a person because it reflects their perseverance through trials and tribulations they've experienced which is what really makes a person who they are. What keeps you up at night and makes you smile for so long your cheeks hurt is probably a large part of your life and what has made you who you are today although, I prefer to identify with my clothing. I feel first impressions are critical and you should always look the part. In James McBride’s, The Color of Water, a search for identity is seen as a reoccurring theme throughout the memoir. We observe James, a young mixed boy with 11 mixed brothers and sisters, struggle to find his place in a segregated city where the Black Panthers ruled the streets and he was genuinely afraid for his fearless Caucasian mother’s life. 

Most people take an abundant amount of pride in their nationalities and choose to identify themselves with them through language, food, and traditional clothing. Your identity is both where you came from, and where you want to go. McBride’s whole memoir is dedicated to softening his mother’s shell to find out the true story of how she aspired to have such an optimistic mindset. James sees the way his mother blinds herself to the dangers of being the only white women in a predominately black society, but choses to turn her head and let god protect and lead her way causing him to wonder how she does it and why she feels that way. For example James reminisces, “even as a child I had a clear sense that black and white folks did not get along.” (McBride 25) People identified so strongly with their skin color that children could see it. As much as today’s society would like to deny it, all through history humans have commonly identified with people of the same nationality. 

Although I do not identify myself by wearing traditional clothing, I do like vintage. Growing up I always felt like everything about a person’s outfit can tell you a little bit about who they are, and where they come from. Having pride in the way you dress is having love for the freedom of expression. It has been stated that feeling good about the way you dress, can actually boost the chemicals in your brain that make you happy and confident by 55%. When you look good, you feel good. Tom Ford once said, “Dressing well is a good form of manners.” This is one of my favorite quotes because I strongly feel you should always be dressed appropriately for the occasion. The fashion industry makes billions of dollars every second by people choosing to identify in the way they dress.  

Religion is another important aspect of one’s life that most people choose to identify with. There are so many different types of religions and despite the fact that ultimately we should respect each other’s love for a higher being we are sometimes discriminated because of it. For instance, look at Adolf Hitler, he got everyone to turn on one religion. In Germany during that time period ones religion was what they were identified with. Some religions are very strict and require physical appearance alterations, which labels them making a clear characteristic to be identified with. As James grows up throughout the novel he begins to see how his mother’s faith in god allowed her to see equality among all and concludes, “As a grown man, I understand now, understand how her Christian principles and trust in God kept her going through all her life’s battles, but as a boy, my faith was not that strong” (McBride 33) Not only did Ruth, James’s mother, identify with her religion, but it solemnly got her through one of the roughest times in US history. When James questions Gods race because he is unsure if he favors whites or blacks, Ruth responds with explaining how god is the color of water and water as no color. She wanted to make sure that her children did not play into the ignorance of society; she wanted to ensure their freedom from segregation.

People do not like to be labeled as uncommon or embarrassing characteristics like poor, vein and rude even though sometimes it does apply to them. They do not want to be identified with such a belittling quality. In McBride’s memoir we see James explain how his mother is shamed by her tight budget, “She was against welfare and never applied for it despite our need, but championed those who availed themselves of it.” (McBride 30) Even though the welfare probably would have helped her family in a huge way, she did not want to be identified as someone who could not take care of themselves and their families so she refuses to accept the service. It is amazing how our ego and pride can get in the way of what we need. Ruth was such a strong, independent woman she could not be labeled as someone who needed further assistance to help their families. 

Identity is a very important part of everyone and can be seen as a reoccurring theme throughout James McBride’s memoir, The Color of Water. In the memoir the main character and writer, James, struggles to find his own identity as he doesn't even know for sure what skin color he is therefor where he belongs. A person’s identity is made of both a person’s past and future, and can be symbolized by internal and external qualities exhibited to the public. Two examples of characteristics that one can commonly be identified through are nationality/skin color and religion. They are both qualities most keep close to their heart and the things that are very close to you seem to be the things we are most frequently identified with. There are also qualities people don't like to be identified with like vein and inefficient. I feel that first impressions are everything so one of the qualities I choose to identify with is a person’s sense of fashion. No matter what ones identity is, it is their label, a reflection of them and their beliefs and everyone should take pride in that.