"The Beatles"- A Monday Muse About Music

At the end of fourth grade I watched an animated movie at school about the Beatles called "Yellow Submarine". It was a quirky movie featuring the voices of John, Paul, George, Ringo, and a lot of their songs. I discovered that some songs that I knew well and liked were actually by The Beatles, like "Hard Day's Night" and "Here Comes the Sun". My eyes were glued to the screen throughout the entire movie, and when I got home from school I immediately looked up more songs by my new favorite band. Here began my two-year obsession with the Fab Four.

Being introduced to The Beatles was actually a big step in my life because before that, I was never really into music. There was kids in my class in fourth and fifth grade who had band t-shirts and listened to bands like Pink Floyd, but before The Beatles I had always just listened to whatever came on the radio and my one Kelly Clarkson album. I continued to listen to The Beatles throughout the rest of elementary school. They were my favorite band, and the only band I knew the name of. I became familiar with nearly all of their songs, and eventually discovered some new songs by different bands from the same time period. I found the song "Lola" by The Kinks and "I Get Around" by The Beach Boys because they had been hidden in 60's music playlists filled with mostly Beatles songs.

After the summer of 2011, I kind of laid off listening to The Beatles. They, and the Beach Boys had become the only bands I'd listened to for two years. Going into 6th grad
e my head was filled with old-timey pop ballads, and though I still liked them, by then I'd kind of had enough. In the middle of 7th grade I got into indie rock, and listened to more current bands, like Vampire Weekend, The Killers and Pheonix. By then, music was a way bigger aspect of my life, and made me who I am.

Recently I watched an episode of Glee with a Beatles theme. I found myself singing along to the songs in my head, and I knew all of the words to every one. Though I don't listen to The Beatles as much anymore, it's nice to know that the band that got me into music in the first place hasn't been erased from my mind completely. I never even took down the posters of them on my walls.

"Looking For Alaska" - Reading Response

SPOILER ALERT!

In John Green's "Looking For Alaska", Alaska Young was a reckless teenager with enough charisma and attitude to make a "good boy" like Miles Halter to not only fall in love with her, but mimic her rash behavior. But when Alaska suddenly dies, Miles, or "Pudge", and the rest of Alaska's friends realize how much they took her for granted. I think the theme or lesson of this book is to not take advantage of things and appreciate the people in your life, because you never know what might happen.

One way Pudge took Alaska for granted was the way he and his friends depended on her for cigarettes and booze. She and her friend the Colonel (who soon became Pudge's friend) had gotten Pudge hooked on cigarettes on his first day at their boarding school, and later on they got him to start drinking too. After Alaska died, Pudge and the Colonel had no supply of cigarettes and they had to get their own booze. In the story, Pudge says "...you can't just make me different and then die". He's talking about Alaska and how she changed him as a person and then just left him. This shows that Pudge always expected Alaska to be there to supply him with the things that made him a different person from who he was before he came to the school. 

The previous point also applies to how when Pudge fell in love with her he never thought that one day she wouldn't be there. For example, he always thought they had something special because she flirted with him all the time, even though she always said "too bad I love my boyfriend". Also, the day Alaska died, she dared Pudge to hook up with her, even though they both were in relationships. Pudge complied immediately, but he never thought that a few hours later she would be dead. He never took the time to tell her how much he loved her because he took advantage of her flirting with him and never sorted out their relationship.

The theme of "Looking for Alaska" is to not take people for granted. Pudge and his friends were very reliant on Alaska for cigarettes and alcohol, and Pudge never bothered to sort out his relationship with her because he thought she would always be there. The book taught me to not take advantage of people and always make sure not to leave things open-ended.