Darius Rucker, his music, and binary opposition

As part of my last posting of this semester, I decided to write about a very talented and versatile music artist, Darius Rucker. Darius, born on May 13, 1966 in Charleston, South Carolina, is an all American musician known for many years for his lead singing position in the Rock band, Hootie and the Blowfish since 1986.

Early in the semester, professor Alperstein mentioned the phrase “binary opposition,” by which the term was used to describe a pair of theoretical opposites. Although rock music and country may not be completely different from one another, a great deal of differences separates these two genres of music. In addition, Darius also produced two solo albums including, "Back to Then," a jazz album in 2002 and "Learn to Live," a country album in 2008 on Capital Records, which many people among popular culture are quite familiar with today.

Darius Rucker has been one of my favorite artists since I was a little girl. When he married my aunt’s sister, Beth in 2000, I began to follow his music even more closely. Below is the link to my favorite music video, “It won’t be like this for Long,” written about his two children, Jack and Daniela. (mainly Daniela) When watching the video, it reminds me of my dad and me in my hometown in Seaside Park, NJ and my childhood growing up there.

To the senior class- as we mature as young adults and enter the real world, we realize how fast life goes by, so live life to the fullest and make the best of your lives. Don’t take it for granted. I wish you all the best of luck in all of your future endeavors!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6JHXHWZLpU

A Little Taste Of Home...

Living in a world of popular culture, individuals join a mainstream environment as Fiske stated in his article, The Jeaning of America. However, within a popular culture, that is, what is deemed as popular by society, there are smaller niches or communities whereby a popular culture of its own exists. Such places are identified by an unconscious gravitational pull of similar people of similar interests.

Douglas Kellner, author of journal article, Cultural Studies, Multiculturalism & Media Culture, states that media provides individuals with materials out of which “we forge our very own identities.” Therefore, in a mainstream society where the same music or television show in California can be enjoyed in New York, there exist communities by which we as individuals create smaller identities of common interests within a particular niche.

For the past four years, I have resided in the Baltimore, Maryland vicinity where I received an exceptional education at Loyola College majoring in the field of speech language pathology. However, in a diverse city created by various cultures, genders, and ethnicities, Loyola provides a common ground by which individuals, in some fashion, are part of a smaller community or niche.

As my four years of undergraduate school come to a close, I thought I would share my neck of the woods, or lack thereof, in a small beach town, Seaside Park, New Jersey.

http://www.surfline.com/video/trailers/dark-fall_25299