Month: July 2019

When I was younger and first learning to read, I often tried to avoid reading. Mostly because I wasn’t very good and I’d rather be playing softball or practicing cheers because that is what was most important to me at that time. When I started sixth grade we moved and I started at a new school. When I did this I didn’t do any extra curricular activities, so I had extra time on my hands that I wasn’t really sure what to do with. We had to do a book report for our English class and when I went to the library I decided to get the first harry potter book. I started reading it because I had to, but then I began to really love the way the books were written and how they painted a picture in my mind. After I read the Harry Potter series I read other books mostly fiction.

When I went into the summer of my 8th grade year, I quit reading as much books and switched to articles. Most of the articles I read were just on my phone and revolved around politics. This definitely helped me form opinions for my 8th grade history class. I’ve never really been one to read in my free time, except for a brief time in middle school. My reading currently consists of articles about congress, the justice system, current day politics and also books for school. As much as I know I should read more books, my interests for reading are occurring presently, which is why I turn to articles.

Many songs tell a story or share a meaningful message. When you hear these songs you can often be inspired to do better, or change. The song I believe gives a very powerful message is man in the mirror by Michael Jackson. The song is about a man who knows in order to make the world a better place he must better himself and change his ways. In the song Michael Jackson sings about things  that impact him such as seeing kids in the street. He also sings about wanting to change the way he views and even judges the world and people. This song talks of self reflection being key to truly changing.

The writer uses personification in the beginning of the song. He writes “This wind is blowing my mind” this tells us that he is not effected by the wind physically however he is mentally by seeing everything around him during this time. In the winter you often see children without coats due to lack of money, Jackson emphasizes how this impacts his reason to change his outlook on the world. Using imagery the song says “A summer’s disregard, A broken bottle top, And one man’s soul/ They follow each other on the wind ya’ know.” This talks about during the summer how people are often going on vacation and are absorbed in their own lives, they often disregard the needs of other people. This use of imagery is repeated throughout the song. All these forms of literature are used to give the main message in this song. Which is knowing that the only way to truly change the world is to change yourself, and the only way to do this is to self reflect.