Author Archives: e.alvarado

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My last year of high school looked a lot like this. By the end of the year I had basically achieved every level of procrastination possible…or so I thought. The truth is, even though I know It is probably more beneficial to get work done early, I’ve become even more of a procrastinator. I’ve never liked doing work at home so I just end up doing it either on the train to school or in between breaks. It might sound like a negative thing to most people but truthfully, I feel like I can get so much more done when I’m working with a time limit and under the pressure of completing an assignment. Over the past few months I’ve learned to organize my time better so that I can get all my work done without having to take all of it home. In fact the thing I absolutely LOVE about college is the simple fact that I have so much more time in between my classes. I can get much more work done and I can focus on the content much better at school rather than at home.

I’m sure there are many of us procrastinators out there who like to party on Friday, go on Facebook on Saturday and just laze around on Sunday (and do whatever non-homework-related thing on Mondays) but I’m realizing now that maybe procrastinating isn’t such a horrible thing if you learn how to use your time wisely.

The Definition of “Myself”

Individual:

It means to be unique

It means to be oneself.

Whichever way I choose to express who I am; as girl, as a sister, as a friend,

my choice will always show individuality

I am individual in how I choose to define myself.

Indivisible:

It means to be complete; complete as a person,

maybe one who is young,

or one who is naive,

but still one who is whole.

I am an indivisible sum of all my parts.

Indistinguishable:

It means to be a member, a part of larger being or body,

I am just one in my family and just one in my friends.

I am piece of my society.

I am indistinguishable from every other piece.

Intangible:

It means to be something more than just a living, breathing being.

My thoughts, my opinions, my emotions, my spirit, my morals and my beliefs

These are the things that give me consciousness,

I am intangible because I am mindful.

Insatiable:

It means to be hungry.

I constantly look for more from myself, from my surroundings.

What opportunities can I find to satisfy this hunger

for change,

and for growth,

and for more than what I already am.

I am insatiable because I am still growing.

Individual, Indivisible, Indistinguishable, Intangible, Insatiable

These are so few of the words that I choose to define “myself,”

but they are words that I chose

and words that I know can at least explain something of who I am.

They are a part of a dictionary of words, in different languages and dialects and some

shown through images and memories and places and people,

a dictionary of words, in fact many dictionaries of words, that define the one word

“myself.”

Defining myself has always been a difficult task. You would think it would be easy but I’m sure my people know that it isn’t. I defining myself for this assignment I chose songs thinking not about how tell people who I am but about the most differing songs on my playlist. The songs I chose for this list each represent exactly  one aspect of myself. They represent my childhood and my culture, my personality and my respect for creativity, and the distinguishing factors between these songs represent my diversity. Hopefully, they will explain what I can’t about who I am.

The first song on my list is “Fly away” by Lenny Kravitz. I chose this song because like everyone in my class, I am a 90’s kid. I was born in the  90’s and I grew up listening to Lenny Kravitz, Smash Mouth, Green Day, the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and all those lovely 90’s artists. I Chose Lenny Kravitz’s song specifically because I feel that it represents not only myself but my generation. It’s a song that I’m almost certain everyone from my generation has heard at least once in their lives.

The next song I chose Is Britney Spears’ “Oops I Did it Again.”This song also represents my childhood and in some ways even more so than “Fly Away.” This song (besides Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” ) was my anthem from elementary school to middle school. I had a crazy obsession with Britney Spears that prevented me from liking just about every other artist (including the Backstreet Boys) while is was in elementary school. I still like her music but I really appreciated her in when I was younger and so this song represents myself as a kid.

My next song is “Lose Control” by Missy Elliott. I chose this song not just as a representation of myself but of my best friends. I had three absolute best friends growing up and something that we loved to do was to dance. We made dance routines to songs that we loved all together. I remember this song specifically because we worked on a dance routine throughout the entirety of a two day sleepover at my best friend’s house. It was a lot of work, a lot of fun and the best way we could think of to tire ourselves out.

The fourth song on my list is “End Love” by Ok Go. Unlike the previous three, I found out about this song maybe only two years ago. Though I do like the music, what I like most about this song is the music video. Ok Go is well-known for making fun and creative music videos. Their most popular song, “Here it Goes Again” is performed entirely on running treadmills. I chose this song because I’ve always been an artistic person and I’ve grown up knowing many artistic people. I love the creativity in their music videos and so this song represents my creativity.

Stromae’s “Papaoutai” is a french pop song that I found just a few weeks ago. This song above all my other songs represents my diversity. I like new art, I like foreign art and I like just about every other type of art. I’ve been been asked numerous times, as I’m sure everyone has, “what type of music do you like?” My only response is to say that I like every type of music as long as I think it’s good. I have everything ranging from classical to rap music on my playlist  and I’m always up for listening to something new.

Similarly to “Papaoutai,” Flume’s “Sleepless” is a song I heard about just recently. I get a lot of my music from my brother being that he is involved with film production and is constantly searching for new songs. This song like many others comes from him and so represents the part of me that is influenced by my brother.

“Patria” by Ruben Blades is a south american song that I’ve known since as long as I can remember. “Patria” in English means “homeland” and the song speaks to the meaning of that word. In the song, Blades sings about how a young boy asks him for the meaning of “patria” and he tells the boy that it means “many beautiful things.” Though I’ve never researched Blades’ life or when and why he wrote the song, I feel that this song has always represented the many beautiful things in my life.

The next song is one by my beloved Marc Anthony. The song is called “Preciosa,” which you might already know, means precious. Marc Anthony, like myself, is Puerto Rican and very proud to be. He sings this song about the island of Puerto Rico and about how beautiful and enchanting its history, its people and its culture are. This song represents the part of me that is Puerto Rican. It.It represents my family and my home and my island of Puerto Rico. Marc Anthony sings very passionately about how he “carries the blood of his fathers” and of his pride of being a Puerto Rican and although I can’t sing like he does I understand all too-well what he means.

The ninth song on my list is Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park.” This song from the late 70’s is on this list because I love it because of my dad. My dad who grew up in the 70’s in the south Bronx of New York City, was there for bell bottom pants, disco, punk, hip hop, and he was definitely there for Donna Summer. My dad shared his love for the music of his upbringing with me and so this song represents the part of me that I got from my dad.

The last song on my list is a rap song to which i know almost all the lyrics. “Lose Yourself” by Eminem is my favorite song. I don’t absolutely love Eminem for all of his songs but I have loved this song since its inception in 2003. It’s about not giving up and it is about the struggle to fight against the odds. It’s about what it means to be successful. The message of this song is so real and so relative that I absolutely love it. This song represents me as an individual. It represents my opinion and my person as it is the song that I chose to be my favorite.

Soundtrack: FRO blog 1