The Smartest Rapper?

          This semester in walking to my different classes at Texas A&M University, I have noticed several abnormal gatherings of people on campus advertising various people, events, and religions. All of these make up our culture, but they do so in different ways. The things on campus that catch my eye are the abnormal and curious things for example, Reginald Stuckey wrapping to his different wraps while standing on benches mostly around the academic plaza area.

          Little did I know that this courageous and exceptionally gifted man can do much more than just wrap extremely well – he has a doctorate in sociology! When Dr. May is not teaching or grading exams, he spends his time writing and recording rap music. Today there is a push in society to be able to create in lots of different ways. One way is creating music. That’s right, rap is music.

          If you ask my parents, or say even my grandparents, they may tell you that rap is not music. Funny enough, it really is because I can prove it. When my parents were my age my grandparents (their parents) thought that the only music was classical. Obviously today both my parents and I believe Bruce Springsteen as being a famous music artist. The same thing is happening with rappers like Reginald Stuckey.

          As culture evolves, it looks like other music genres like techno are on the rise. If you notice, the Black Eyed Peas use lots of techno in all of their new songs. Who knows what the next popular music genre will be, but I am sure that rappers, like Stuckey, will always be remembered just like Bruce Springsteen was in my parents’ generation.

Ole'Miss, Really?

          Last Wednesday was national signing day for all high school seniors wanting to compete in their sport at the next level. The University of Mississippi received one of the most coveted recruits in the entire recruiting class this year, Robert Nkemdiche. Not to mention several other highly sought after recruits. None the less, there are people, like myself, who wonder how in the world does a program who had no big record get such great recruits.  Tommy Tomlinson on sportsearth.com and Ryan Rudnansky on bleacherreport.com both use logos and ethos to show both sides of the story and how Ole’Miss was able to be so successful so far in the recruiting season.

          Tomlinson uses logos when he talks about how Nkemdiche decided to go to Ole’ Miss basically because his brother goes there and his mom really wants him to go there as well. He also uses logos in explaining how coach Freeze got the coaching job at Ole’Miss starting with the whole Michael Oher story. Because Tomlinson did some research into connections of players, like Nkemdiche, and into the leader behind the team, coach Freezer, he is using logos to persuade readers to understand the truth behind Ole’Miss’s top recruiting class.  Rudnansky uses logos by quoting ESPN interviews with Nkemdiche’s mother stating how most other schools looked at her son like a machine and not a human being, which was not what Ole’Miss did to her son. Because Rudnansky researched exactly how Nkemdiche’s mother felt at Ole’Miss he is using Lagos to persuade his readers that Ole’Miss has no scandal involved in their top notch recruiting class.

            Rudnansky uses ethos towards the end of his article not only by being a writer for one of the biggest sports recruiting websites in the nation, but with his personal anecdote of liking a restaurant because of its good service. Tomilson uses ethos in talking about his views on how college football recruiting works. He says that “recruiting is asking for a date. It's about acceptance and rejection. It's about mystery and pride. It leads to a 17-year-old sitting at a table with a row of hats in front of him, like some strange three-card-monte dealer, before he picks up a hat and makes some fans happy and others sad.”  With his diction in this quote he shows credibility because he understands the process. The college recruiting process is just one part of the overwhelming aspect of college football, which is definitely at the heart of our American culture.

Making Culture Have a Better Purpose

          In my post last week when I said “although not all of their cultures succeeded in their purpose,” I mean that one society may have come up with an invention that we have made better today. The invention could be made better because it is more readily accessible and usable to more people around the world.

           The Ancient Greeks came up with tons of inventions that we use better today. For one, they created the Olympic Games, but they were only played on the plains of Olympia. Today, the Olympics are played all over the world in a different country every four years. Don’t you think this is a great way to explore another society’s culture, or even an entire world’s culture? If you have ever been to an Olympic event please comment below to share your cultural experience.

          Another invention of the Greeks was the thermometer. Actually, Galileo really made the thermometer more of what we use it for today, a scientific measuring device. However, there are not many conventional thermometers around today because of the toxicity of mercury. Most thermometers are digital. Do you think they are as accurate as the mercury thermometers? I know I don’t think they are as accurate.

          Finally, the last Greek invention I am going to talk about is the concept of money. Did you know that money is considered to be one of the greatest discoveries of mankind? Back then the Greeks used metal pieces, or coins, for their money. Now, today there are still coins, but we have dollars, which are cheaper to produce, and plastic! I personally rarely carry any cash on me because I would rather just carry one plastic piece of card which contains all of my cash on it.  Plus it has built in security so that if someone else tries to use it I can deny them access. But, back in the times of Ancient Greece if someone took your money you were out of luck. Do you think our society moving to a more intangible concept of money is good thing? Do you ever wonder what will happen if your bank one day closes and takes all of your money with it? If you have any experiences with this issue please comment.

          Culture during the time of Ancient Greece may have achieved its purpose, but today we have made the purpose of Ancient Greek culture more efficient and some may argue more simplistic to use and understand on a more global scope.

Above information on Greek inventions was taken from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/greek-inventions.html.