The Party Life

When I first started listening to the podcast, I was shocked because of how the students were portrayed.  Then further listening to it however, I realized that the information was accurate.  It was shocking to hear how the 21 year old was given a strong alcoholic drink by the older woman.  Although it was not said, you can sense that the reporters had sympathy for the young girl. Another scene that stood out to me was how the delivery guy was treated by the students.  I felt bad for him because he did not deserve to be treated the way that he was and it was unfortunate that he had to experience this. 

The audience knows that they are getting an accurate description and not just the reporter’s opinion because they hear the information about party life from the students themselves.    The students were interviewed and the listener hears the student answer the questions themselves.  The reporter did not turn the student’s words around or said that they said something that they did not.  Hearing the actual voice of the person speaking on the issue makes the podcast seem more trustworthy. The podcast also included audio from the president of Penn State concerning the matter and how he tried to fix the problem. Although I credit him for being the first president to address the issue, I do not think that there is anything that he can do fix the problem.  I thought that it was ridiculous that he got the response that he did because he was just trying to fix the school’s image regarding drinking.   But at the same time, students will always drink regardless of what restrictions are put on them.  They will find a way to drink.

This American Life did a good job in explaining how the party life is at Penn State.  However, I do think that they could have shown that not every student live a life like this.  It portrayed the students in only a negative way.  They should have shown that being named the #1 party school in the country does not have an impact on the students academically.  Penn State is still a very good academic university in spite of this.   Being a student at Penn State, I can say that even though the majority of students go to parties on the weekend, everyone still gets their class work done during the week.  Students are not only concerned about partying, but everyone works hard at studying also.  If the reporters had went to the library one night they would see how hard students were studying and how focused they were. This would show a balance on how important partying is at Penn State.  The reporters showed one aspect of the school and did not explore other things that are important to a student in Penn State.   This being said, Penn State should not just be seen as party school.   Students drink and party at every school so that should not define any school.

POWER

     Art is any creation that sparks up any form of emotion.  It does not have to be beautiful but it can be something that makes you angry or even confused.  If it is capable to make you stop for a moment and absorb its message, I consider it to be art.  Whether it is tangible like a sculpture or not tangible such as a dance, it has to show the artist’s emotions through the creation.  I should feel the same way the artist felt when creating it; feel the anger he or she felt or the joy they experienced. 

     Something that I found to be artistic is Kanye West’s video for his song “Power”.  It begins with showing Kanye West staring in a sinister way wearing a big gold chain around his neck.  The camera is slowly moving back and other characters emerge.  The characters move as the full image is revealed. Surrounding him are two women on either side of him with huge horns on their heads, while two men and a woman on the upper left are trying to attack him with a knife and swords.  There is also a woman with big wings sitting in front of him with a sensual look on her face. The characters above him are upside down.   Behind him there is a sky with clouds and a light shining above him. There is a halo above Kanye’s head and there is some kind of sword going through the halo.  He is somewhat behind all of the characters and some of them are trying to reach him; for example the woman with a sheet over her is stretching in his direction and the two girls below him are crawling in his direction.

     The very first time I saw this image I was unsettled.  It seemed demonic to me and it left me with an uncomfortable feeling.  The look on the character’s faces creeped me out; especially the women with horns on their head.  When I eventually evaluated it I realized that it portrayed a lot of interesting things.  The use of colors sent a mysterious message and it was quite intriguing to me.  I got a seductive message from it also because the women were barely wearing any clothes and on the bottom right there are two naked women holding each other romantically. 

     I consider this to be art because it sends a message and it grabs the audience’s attention instantly.  It shows things that he is experiencing for example seduction, hatred and glory.  You see that some of the characters are either seductive or are trying to harm him and he is shown to be in a high position because he is in a chain and halo is above his head.  The colors and the way the characters are portrayed is captivating. The song is called power and you can feel that he has exactly that in the video even though he is just standing there not doing anything in particular. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L53gjP-TtGE&ob=av2e