"March Violets": a complete experience

The first thing to strike me about this is the cadence of the lyrics. I imagine them as being said very quickly, almost angrily, because of the fact that the lines are all short, containing only a few words each, and most of the words themselves are single syllabic. It's quick, terse.

Also very telling is the second to last line, "Every day is the Ides of March", which to me signifies betrayal (seeing as how the Ides of March is famous for the betrayal of Caesar, and among his assasinators was his friend Brutus). Since to the author, "Every day" is this day of betrayal, this reinforces the idea that he is harboring some kind of resenting or anger.

Something else which especially caught my eye was the pair of lines "Dust to dust / Ash to ash". It's a Biblical reference, Genesis 3:19. The text from the Bible reads, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return". It was adapted for old English burial services (http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/ashes-to-ashes.html).

Listen to the song here.

After listening to the song, however, I was struck by the fact that it was a very slow beat. Instead of anger, the lyrics takes on the feeling of sadness.



Also very telling is the album artwork, most especially the bomb. This reinforces the feeling that many people have as the song being about war, the anger and uselessness of it all.

With all three aspects taken together (lyrics, music, and image), I am left thinking that the song is about war, the uselessness of it, and the pain and sadness that comes with it.

Week 1: Introduction

My name is Jennifer Hof. I am an English major at CSUN and interested in continuing to become a teacher (most likely at the high school level). I believe strongly in individual rights, freedom, and privacy as long as they do not impede the rights, freedom, and privacy of someone else. I believe that information should be free and easily exchanged, and thus feel that media technology should play a strong role in teaching. The age level of the students affects what level of technology should be used, so as to both consider what children are capable of understanding/utilizing and so as to not interfere with the rights of parents to determine what is and is not appropriate for their child. By the time a student reaches the high school level, however, they are close to legal adulthood and should be able to explore the world a little bit more freely in order to prepare them for the adult world.

Of course, using technology simply for the sake of using technology is both ineffective and aggravating. I haven't had too many occasions where teachers used technology where it was not appropriate, and none so major that it's made an impact I can recall now.

The most interesting thing would be the concept of using not just technology, but "social media" (Twitter, Facebook, etc) in the classroom!. One high school is doing just that, check out this short (2 minute) video about it: