In Defense of the English Major

Dear Sir or Madam Future Employer,

In this period after undergraduate career, I have been removed from academia (and I plan on fixing that soon.) and spent time in working in retail to have some money in my wallet or my time on grand jury duty for legal reasons or time amongst family/friends, I have had one conversation multiple times, and it usually as follows:

“What did you major in?”
“English, with a minor in writing.”
“What do you plan on doing with that, teach?”
“Not right away, I want to get into editorial, publishing and maybe do journalism on the side.”

Then they look at me wondering why this bright young boy didn’t go into a (hard) science field, like most of his other friends. ‘Because I love words, telling stories, discussing language, reading’ is often not a good enough answer for them.

The problem is that American society is attached to the idea of a product, if not producing something, you at least work to produce some amount of money. In minds of many, non-liberal arts majors make product and enhance society. Liberal arts majors apprently do not. It all seems to boil down to the question: What do you [and my fellow English majors] do?

We do a lot. (Which is two words, thank you.)

Caleb Lionheart

Kris Wild, Tony Bucci, Richard 'Jay' Hayman, Mike Cox and Craig Jaufmann of Caleb Lionheart in the "Lion's Den"

If you lived in Albany or the Capital Region, you’ve known at least on of the bands lead singer Tony Bucci has been in. Fabulous Funky Freedom (still have the shirt), The Titans and the longest lasting Pom Pom Death. It not because the lead singer and guitarist is scattered-brained or anything, it’s just that he has a lot to say and so many different ways he want to say it. Now, he’s focused on Caleb Lionheart.

While Bucci could be viewed as the driving force as main lyricist, the band would be nowhere without Wild, Jay, Craig and Mike and nowhere near as fun. Caleb Lionheart is many things at once: socially conscious (Bucci is going for his M.A. in History) and always up for a good time (It was always a good night when there was a show at the Lion’s Den). They think hardcore and play pop punk.

The Glass Closet

So Adam Lambert announced he was gay in Rolling Stone magazine.

I am shocked. Honestly, first George Michael, and now this.

Sorry.

Okay, it wouldn’t be fair to judge his sexual orientation on the fact that he wears eyeliner and slightly androgynous clothing. I mean one can look through the whole glam rock scene of the 1970’s and hair metal bands of 1980’s and find some very straight guys. Even the pictures of him kissing another guy could just have been him experimenting. But the addition of the rumors of a boyfriend probably set gaydars far into Kinsey 6 territory.

And it’s very much a non-story, something even Mr. Lambert admits. What story is, and probably should be about is the closet itself. We seem closer to an age where celebrities coming out receive the responses of a) “Well, duh.” b) “Well, that makes sense.” or c) “Well, I did not know that.” All these responses followed by little else, except the celebrity probably becoming (slightly) more active in the gay rights movements.

Obviously the closet still exists for those who are not big names, but for public figures, does the closet really exist?

Viva GaGa

You know Lady GaGa.

She cites Queen’s “Radio GaGa” with her name. She cites David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust character with the thunderbolt. (She’s an admitted fan of Madonna, and regularly talks to Kanye West, as well.) 

But her message isn’t exactly “Under Pressure.”

No, she wants to be famous. As she lampoons the excess of celebrity in her videos. But she also wants you to come and enjoy her fame along side her. At least that’s what she’s saying.

And in the middle of a recession, a good number of people love her for it.

(There’s also the matter of the discostick.)

“Aaja jind shamiyane ke tale…”

Video contains SPOILERS!

So I too have been entranced by the song “Jai Ho!” by A. H. Rahman off of the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. Still haven’t actually seen the movie yet, so I don’t want to comment on the movie itself, and issues surrounding it. (Such as: the portrayal of India or the very Western fairy-tale like plot. This post and this post at Racialicious is better than anything I can come up with.)

So far, I’ve only listened to two of the songs off of the soundtrack, “Jai Ho” and “Paper Planes” because I’m a fan of her and her music.

And then there’s the Pussycat Dolls version. It’s basically just using the catchy background music to a completely different song and A.H. Rahman singing the hook, ‘Jai Ho.’ The original lyrics aren’t quite as sexual as their American counterpart, and more about celebrating life. The PCD version is your basic PCD song.

Usually when a song is translated to English, while still usually a bit opportunistic (see the controversy surrounding the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight“), the problems aren’t that obvious. The Pussycat Dolls ‘cover’ is clearly an cash-in on the popularity of Slumdog Millionaireand the craftsmanship of Rahman.

In this case, I’m sticking with the original. The song is mostly sung in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi but there is a section sung in Spanish and the song also includes elements of Japanese and Arabic music.

But is the original song in the native tongue always better? I think for the most part, yes.

Degrees of Separation

So I graduated with Jimmy Fallon.

Got your attention? (Everyone’s, except for the people who are reading this who go alma matter, at least.) Well, let me clarify. I actually graduated the semester, a semester early for me, before him–  B.A. in English with a writing minor and Magna Cum Laude, might I add. I attended the ceremony with everyone in my year. He started sometime in the 90’s, but dropped out his last semester to pursue his acting/comedy career. It wasn’t until now that the registrar counted his career as 15 internship credits.

He was an okay speaker. He was as funny as he usually was. He apologized for the movie Taxi. (I think people actually liked Fever Pitch.) He generally was encouraging in these hard economic times. I actually liked John Zogby’s speech better. To summarize, it was: You guys should be really proud of things you have done already and your attitudes. I know, because my job is to do the polling to find all this out. I can’t wait to see what you guys do next! But mostly, everyone was there for Dr. Fallon.

As much as I am happy I graduated and got to walk with my classmates and talk to my professors– something doesn’t feel right. It’s not that both speakers got honorary doctorates,  they hand those out like candy for speakers at every school. It’s not that the school canceled December graduations just so they could say they had the biggest graduation ever! The President practically shoved sweatshirts in each speakers hands in hopes they would wear it for publicity.

Why does our school need publicity? Probably because we have an arts center, that while a good idea, still needs to be paid off. Might as well have drank a Coke/Pepsi on stage and comment on how refreshing it was. Unfortunately, that’s par for the course in higher education.

So, no, that’s not it.

Keeping Up Apperances

So, I have just finished The Mayor Of Castro Street by Randy Shilts, a biography of Harvey Milk. Harvey Milk– you know that movie Milk? Gay rights, San Fransisco, gets played by actor Sean Penn. Perhaps with the movie out (first of many puns) Milk can provide many LBGTQ people, especially younger ones, with a person to be inspired by, someone who fought for gay rights.

For better or for worse, it helps for a movement to have an image, a name, a person that people  can identify with and associate with the cause being fought for. After awhile it stops being about the person who is a forefront fighting for things, and about the person being a catch-all for the basic ideas of the movement.

As Harvey Milk himself said, “Politics is theater.” That line has stuck with me, as someone who is diving deeper into politics from the not really paying attention in 2006, to the marathon campaigning for the Presidential Election of 2007-08, and staying awake and paying attention after for Prop 8 and Gay Marriage (NH seems close now).

Also, I have a heavy interest in graphic design. I was planning on being an art major before switching to English and creative writing. But I always was interested in what my graphic design friends have to do as a living.

Where the two meet is with the logos and images used in the gay rights movement. (So if you were expecting another post about how people should act in for the sake of some politics, don’t worry.)

Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned

Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned may actually be one of the biggest bands to come out of Albany so far. I say this because the played SXSW’09 this March. Acts who play at the annual concert (+ other things) are often discovered by major labels, or at least more people. A quick Google search finds that there have been positive reviews for the band.

Part of an Elephant 6/Broken Social Scene like musical collective, the B3nson recording company of Albany, the band sounds much like a–hobo band, Grapes of Wrath: The Musical. Violins, Trumpets and typewriters along side guitar and drums, all crowded on the stage.

(Or to put it in relative music terms, they sound like really loud version of Nuetral Milk Hotel, with musical saw an all, if Jeff Magnum wanted to rock out more. )

Aficionado

Remember how I talked about the band Eric Margan used to be in. Well, here is Aficionado. All 9 or 10 of them. When Eric was in the band, they only had five members. The band has grown, and in more ways than one.

The band always has been full of  performers since it’s inception. The core 5 members who have been part of the band are big personalities unto their own, at least in Albany, always partying like rock stars no matter what. The new members seem to provide a slightly calmer ying to the chaotic yang of the original members.

While the band does care a lot about the music, it’s no question they are entertainers, so they plan on putting on a good show.  For example, band member Face’s sole role is to do lighting (or for the day-time performance at last year’s LarkFest: balloon thrower and confetti shooter). So it’s no surprise that lead singer Nick cites the Polyphonic Spree and similar bands for the type of atmosphere he wants to create.

Patchwork Marriage

(Sorry for the Wizard of Oz reference.)
ETA: New Video at bottom of the post
ETA 2: You know what state is also cool? Vermont.

The BarbouRoske family after the Iowa Supreme Court decision.

Recently, the Supreme Court of Iowa declared that their previous ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional on the grounds of equal protection under the law, and basic simple fairness. Marriages are supposed to start on the 24th.

A lot of people are scratching their heads. Iowa? Connecticut, they can understand and the and the same goes for Massachusetts. To states from the North-East coastalregion. A lot of states on both sides of the coast have civil unions which provide varying degrees of rights that are usually associated.

The Iowa decision is a huge boon to the cause as gay marriage is not just a thing for us liberals on the coast, but part of something that is also a part of the heartland. It may start to bring about a simple idea that fair is simply fair. Now a realistic scenario might see states here and there across the U.S. will reach similar decisions. The next state might be Vermont.

Which leads to the next question most people who are paying attention to ask: why the hell can’t California get gay marriage to go through?