Ms.Melville-Artist Paragraph
26.11.08
When asking five students which rapper they thought were better, Tupac or Biggie, eighty percent of the students thought that Tupac was better, while the other twenty percent peferred Biggie. Tupac was a well known rapper that rapped about life on the "westside", as well as life in the black community.The students that I interviewed who perferred Tupac over Biggie were, Shantell, Nick, Daisey and Eric. Shantell stated that "Tupac, because he real and speaks the truth." Other students such as Eric just simply stated "because he sold more records"! Biggie was also a well-known rapper, that talked about his the "eastside", life growing up and the obstacles he had to face to be in the position that he was in. Only one student, Ruby, perferred Biggie over Tupac. Ruby told me "I just like B.I.G's music better...better beats and stuff, ya digg"! Although, a large percent of people in Ms.Melville's class perfer Tupac, there is still a small percentage that like Biggie more!
Frankie Lymon-Final Paper
6.11.08
Mierra Isaac
Many people would faithfully call Elvis "The King" but Frankie Lymon was the original king of Rock N' Roll, even though he was about four years younger than Elvis. His story starts off in Harlem, New York, where he started his singing in the midst of his father's gospel group. His passion for entertaining began when he watched the "Coupe De Villes" rehearse for their high school talent show. The Coupe De Villes consisted of Herman Santiago,Jimmy Merchant, Sherman Garnes and Joe Negroni. Frankie later joined the Coupe De Villes, who later changed their name to the "Ermines" following "The Premiers". Frankie Lymon's inspiration to write his own music came from one of his neighbors who gave Frankie numerous love letters, written to him from his girlfriend. Frankie and the other members modified one of the letters into a song titled, "Why Do Birds Sing So Gay", which Frankie later named "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". Then, one evening "The Premiers" sang the song outside of Richard Barret's (member of the group "Valentines") window. After hearing the group, Barret took them to audition for record producer, George Goldner. While listening to the Premiers, Goldner noticed that although Herman Santiago was the lead singer, Frankie's voice seemed to be more appealing, he then asked Frankie to sing lead. This was an early start to a new type of music called Doo-Wop! After Goldner signed The Premiers to Gee Records, he later named them The Teenagers and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" became their first single in January of 1956. The song also became an immediate hit, being #6 on the Billboard Pop singles chart and reaching #1 on the R&B charts. That same year, the Teenagers released "I Want You To Be My Girl", which was #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. When "I Want You To Be My Girl" released, the Teenagers, fans began calling them "Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers". The group later released an album, "The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon", in December of 1956. The success of the Teenagers, landed them many gigs such as tours with Alan Freed, who was a Disc Jockey from Windberg, Pennsylvania. He was known for promoting African-American R&B music on radio and in Europe, where it was call Rock N' Roll. This later, led to Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers performing with other popular Doo-Wop and Rock N' Roll acts such as Little Richard, The Platters, Bo Diddly and Bill Haley. Frankie even appeared on Freed’s radio show numerous times. While on Freed’s tour, Frankie began to become sexually attracted to Zola Taylor, who was the only female in the early Doo-Wop group, “The Platters.” The Teenagers' fame landed them performances in two popular movies of the 50's, beginning with " Rock, Rock, Rock " and later " Mister Rock and Roll ". All of Frankie's publicity earned him to later being known as "the first teenage idol". In 1957, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers split up while on a tour in Europe. Goldner and his partner Levy, began promoting Frankie as a solo act. In his performances Frankie used previously recorded taped songs,with the voices of The Teenagers as his backround singers. Due to his continued performance, Frankie received most of the credit for songs that he and Teenagers wrote. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ album, “At the London Palladium,” was suppose to be released as a group project but was released as Frankie's solo album, which is why he got full credit for the song “Goody Goody.” While becoming solo, Frankie's career wasn't as successful as it had been when he was with the Teenagers. When his first solo, "My Girl" released, he was sign to Roulette Records, with Goldner’s ex partner Morris Levy. On July 19, 1957 , in an appearance on Alan Freed's show, The Big Beat, he danced with a white girl. This act caused much controversy and the episode was canceled due to the color difference, in which Frankie and the white girl faced. Later, in the 1960's, Frankie's sales began to drastically change when he lost his soprano voice. After adopting a falsetto voice, Frankie began loosing a large percentage of his white audience and a small percentage of his black audience. His highest selling song after his "voice change" was, "Litty Bitty Pretty One." It reached number 58 on the Hot 100 pop chart in 1960, although it had previously been recorded in 1957. Having been addicted to heroin since he was 15, Frankie fell further into his habit and his performing career went into decline. According to Frankie in an interview with Ebony 1967, he said that he was first introduced to heroin by a woman twice his age. In 1961, Roulette Records, who was now owned by Morris Levy, ended their contract with Frankie and he later entered a drug rehabilitation program. After losing Frankie, the Teenagers went through many replacement singers, the first was Billy Lobrano. In 1960, Howard Kenny Bobo sang lead on "Tonight's The Night" with the Teenagers; later that year, Johnny Houston led two other songs. The Teenagers, who had been moved by Morris Levy onto End Records, were released from their contract in 1961. The Teenagers briefly reunited with Frankie in 1965 without success. Over the next four years, Lymon struggled through short- lived deals with 20th Century Fox Records and Columbia Records. In January 1964, Elizabeth Waters became Frankie’s first wife. It was later discovered that Frankie and Elizabeth’s marriage wasn’t technically legal, considering the fact that she was still married to her first husband. After Frankie's marriage failed, he moved to Los Angeles in the mid 1960's, where he moved in with Zola Taylor and later began a romantic relationship. While living with Zola, Frankie made very few musical appearances at legendary places like the Apollo. His final television performance was on Hollywood a Go-Go in 1965, where the then, twenty-two year old singer, lip-synched to the original recorded version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." According to Zola, she and Frankie got married, 1965 in Mexicali,Mexico, but there was no marrige license to prove that she was married to him. One day Zola left to tour with The Platters. She left Frankie in charge of her house, left him her money and left him the car. About five months later, Zola recieved a call from her sister explaining that Frankie had some woman at her house and that they were arguing so loud, the neighbor had to call the police. When Zola returned home, she found an eviction notice on her door and her once beautiful home, boarded up! She later learned that the morgage hadn't been paid since she left. When she went to the bank there was no money either. After trying to reach Frankie in New York, she'd learned that later that year, he had been drafted in the army. While in the army, Frankie was stationed at Fort Gordon, which was near Agusta Georgia. When Frankie was in the Augusta area, Frankie met and fell in love with Elmira Eagle, a schoolteacher at Hornsby Elementary. The two were married in June of 1967. Frankie repeatedly went AWOL to prform at small Southern clubs. This led to Frankie being dishonorably discharged from the Army. He the moved into his wife's home, where he continued to carry out duties of a traditional husband. In 1968, Frankie traveled back to New York to get signed with Sam Bray, in hopes of making a comeback. His career was unsuccessful, considering the fact that music had moved on with a new sound and a new look. It was said that he became so depressed, that on the night of Febuary 27th 1968, in his grandmother's bathroom, he was found dead of a heroin overdose. Years after Frankie's death, Elizabeth, Zola and Emira went to court claiming to be the widow of Frankie, in order to gain future royalties and copyright entitlements. The first decision was made in Elizabeth's favor. Eagle appealed, and in 1990, the New York State Supreme Court reversed the original decision and awarded Emira the estate of Frankie Lymon. Although, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' had a short amount of time in the music industry, his hits were very influential on the rock and R&B performers who followed them. Lymon's soprano sound was said to be a direct ancestor of the girl group sound, like The Chantels and The Supremes. Frankie also influenced several groups such as, The Temptations, The Beach Boys and The Jackson 5. Frankie influenced individuals like Ronnie Spector, Diana Ross and his biggest influence, Michael Jackson. The list goes on and on!
Many people would faithfully call Elvis "The King" but Frankie Lymon was the original king of Rock N' Roll, even though he was about four years younger than Elvis. His story starts off in Harlem, New York, where he started his singing in the midst of his father's gospel group. His passion for entertaining began when he watched the "Coupe De Villes" rehearse for their high school talent show. The Coupe De Villes consisted of Herman Santiago,Jimmy Merchant, Sherman Garnes and Joe Negroni. Frankie later joined the Coupe De Villes, who later changed their name to the "Ermines" following "The Premiers". Frankie Lymon's inspiration to write his own music came from one of his neighbors who gave Frankie numerous love letters, written to him from his girlfriend. Frankie and the other members modified one of the letters into a song titled, "Why Do Birds Sing So Gay", which Frankie later named "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". Then, one evening "The Premiers" sang the song outside of Richard Barret's (member of the group "Valentines") window. After hearing the group, Barret took them to audition for record producer, George Goldner. While listening to the Premiers, Goldner noticed that although Herman Santiago was the lead singer, Frankie's voice seemed to be more appealing, he then asked Frankie to sing lead. This was an early start to a new type of music called Doo-Wop! After Goldner signed The Premiers to Gee Records, he later named them The Teenagers and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" became their first single in January of 1956. The song also became an immediate hit, being #6 on the Billboard Pop singles chart and reaching #1 on the R&B charts. That same year, the Teenagers released "I Want You To Be My Girl", which was #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. When "I Want You To Be My Girl" released, the Teenagers, fans began calling them "Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers". The group later released an album, "The Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon", in December of 1956. The success of the Teenagers, landed them many gigs such as tours with Alan Freed, who was a Disc Jockey from Windberg, Pennsylvania. He was known for promoting African-American R&B music on radio and in Europe, where it was call Rock N' Roll. This later, led to Frankie Lymon and The Teenagers performing with other popular Doo-Wop and Rock N' Roll acts such as Little Richard, The Platters, Bo Diddly and Bill Haley. Frankie even appeared on Freed’s radio show numerous times. While on Freed’s tour, Frankie began to become sexually attracted to Zola Taylor, who was the only female in the early Doo-Wop group, “The Platters.” The Teenagers' fame landed them performances in two popular movies of the 50's, beginning with " Rock, Rock, Rock " and later " Mister Rock and Roll ". All of Frankie's publicity earned him to later being known as "the first teenage idol". In 1957, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers split up while on a tour in Europe. Goldner and his partner Levy, began promoting Frankie as a solo act. In his performances Frankie used previously recorded taped songs,with the voices of The Teenagers as his backround singers. Due to his continued performance, Frankie received most of the credit for songs that he and Teenagers wrote. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ album, “At the London Palladium,” was suppose to be released as a group project but was released as Frankie's solo album, which is why he got full credit for the song “Goody Goody.” While becoming solo, Frankie's career wasn't as successful as it had been when he was with the Teenagers. When his first solo, "My Girl" released, he was sign to Roulette Records, with Goldner’s ex partner Morris Levy. On July 19, 1957 , in an appearance on Alan Freed's show, The Big Beat, he danced with a white girl. This act caused much controversy and the episode was canceled due to the color difference, in which Frankie and the white girl faced. Later, in the 1960's, Frankie's sales began to drastically change when he lost his soprano voice. After adopting a falsetto voice, Frankie began loosing a large percentage of his white audience and a small percentage of his black audience. His highest selling song after his "voice change" was, "Litty Bitty Pretty One." It reached number 58 on the Hot 100 pop chart in 1960, although it had previously been recorded in 1957. Having been addicted to heroin since he was 15, Frankie fell further into his habit and his performing career went into decline. According to Frankie in an interview with Ebony 1967, he said that he was first introduced to heroin by a woman twice his age. In 1961, Roulette Records, who was now owned by Morris Levy, ended their contract with Frankie and he later entered a drug rehabilitation program. After losing Frankie, the Teenagers went through many replacement singers, the first was Billy Lobrano. In 1960, Howard Kenny Bobo sang lead on "Tonight's The Night" with the Teenagers; later that year, Johnny Houston led two other songs. The Teenagers, who had been moved by Morris Levy onto End Records, were released from their contract in 1961. The Teenagers briefly reunited with Frankie in 1965 without success. Over the next four years, Lymon struggled through short- lived deals with 20th Century Fox Records and Columbia Records. In January 1964, Elizabeth Waters became Frankie’s first wife. It was later discovered that Frankie and Elizabeth’s marriage wasn’t technically legal, considering the fact that she was still married to her first husband. After Frankie's marriage failed, he moved to Los Angeles in the mid 1960's, where he moved in with Zola Taylor and later began a romantic relationship. While living with Zola, Frankie made very few musical appearances at legendary places like the Apollo. His final television performance was on Hollywood a Go-Go in 1965, where the then, twenty-two year old singer, lip-synched to the original recorded version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." According to Zola, she and Frankie got married, 1965 in Mexicali,Mexico, but there was no marrige license to prove that she was married to him. One day Zola left to tour with The Platters. She left Frankie in charge of her house, left him her money and left him the car. About five months later, Zola recieved a call from her sister explaining that Frankie had some woman at her house and that they were arguing so loud, the neighbor had to call the police. When Zola returned home, she found an eviction notice on her door and her once beautiful home, boarded up! She later learned that the morgage hadn't been paid since she left. When she went to the bank there was no money either. After trying to reach Frankie in New York, she'd learned that later that year, he had been drafted in the army. While in the army, Frankie was stationed at Fort Gordon, which was near Agusta Georgia. When Frankie was in the Augusta area, Frankie met and fell in love with Elmira Eagle, a schoolteacher at Hornsby Elementary. The two were married in June of 1967. Frankie repeatedly went AWOL to prform at small Southern clubs. This led to Frankie being dishonorably discharged from the Army. He the moved into his wife's home, where he continued to carry out duties of a traditional husband. In 1968, Frankie traveled back to New York to get signed with Sam Bray, in hopes of making a comeback. His career was unsuccessful, considering the fact that music had moved on with a new sound and a new look. It was said that he became so depressed, that on the night of Febuary 27th 1968, in his grandmother's bathroom, he was found dead of a heroin overdose. Years after Frankie's death, Elizabeth, Zola and Emira went to court claiming to be the widow of Frankie, in order to gain future royalties and copyright entitlements. The first decision was made in Elizabeth's favor. Eagle appealed, and in 1990, the New York State Supreme Court reversed the original decision and awarded Emira the estate of Frankie Lymon. Although, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers' had a short amount of time in the music industry, his hits were very influential on the rock and R&B performers who followed them. Lymon's soprano sound was said to be a direct ancestor of the girl group sound, like The Chantels and The Supremes. Frankie also influenced several groups such as, The Temptations, The Beach Boys and The Jackson 5. Frankie influenced individuals like Ronnie Spector, Diana Ross and his biggest influence, Michael Jackson. The list goes on and on!
Ms.Melville-Final Draft on Animal Farm
5.11.08
Although, Animal Farm was written over 50 years ago, it still has an important message that relates to our current society. In the early 1940's, in the midst of England, George Orwell wrote Animal Farm as an alleghory for what was acually happening in Russia. The animals in the story represent people who were part of the Russian population when the country was under supervision of Joseph Stallin. Some animals (people) were more powerful and the story and some were less powerful.
In Animal Farm, the way the characters respond to stories has a strong connection to their ability to survive. Firstly, Squealer uses his persuasive talking to brainwash the animals by twisting his stories and making it seem like he's the good guy. For example, Squealer begans to tell the animals lies about Snowball. When the windmill fell down, Squealer told the animals that Snowball knocked it down, when in all reality, the windmill fell because the storm knocked it down. Another example of Squealer lieing to the animals about Snowball was when he told the animals that Snowball had sold himself to Pilkington and were plotting to attack the animal farm. Secondly, Squealer also twist his stories up when things start to get worse for the other animal but he tells them that the things he and Napoleon are doing is for the best of the farm. When the pigs began to recieve apples and milk, unlike the other animals, Squealer stated "Comrades! You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in a spirit of selfishness and privilege." Squealer also told the animals that the pigs needed the milk and apples because they contained a special substance that was nessasary to the well-being of the pig. Also, when the pigs began trading with the humans, the animals became furious, but Squealer "counseled them to avoid rash actions and trust Comrade Napoleon's strategy. Lastly, Squealer twists the story of Boxer's death. Squealer told the animals that Boxer died in a hospital, well taken care of. Every animal believed him except Benjamin. He also quoted "he whispered, Forward in the name of the Rebellion. Long live Animal Farm! Long live comrade Napoleon! Napoleon is always right." Squealer said that they were Boxer's last words. This evidence clearly shows that Squealer's success was built on nothing but lies and that by twisting his stories, he came out more successful than the other animals.
Another character, whose belief of stories affected his life, was Boxer.When the windmill got knocked down, he started believing that Snowball actually knocked it down because the second time around, he worked even harder than he did the first time. In the passage, after the second windmill was knocked down, Boxer started over-working himself even more. He worked himself to the point that he passed out because he want to complete a certain amount of work before he retired. The story also suggest "After his hoof healed up, Boxer worked harder than ever." Secondly, Boxer started worshiping Napoleon, since Napoleon had him convinced that that was the best thing to do. For example, Boxer's two slogans, "I will work harder" and Napoleon is always right," showed that he did respect Napoleon very much. Also, when Napoleon told all of the animals that the windmill had to be rebuilt, Boxer kept the mentality in his head that he would work harder. He even made a goal for himself to accumulate enough so that when he retire, the animals won't have to do so much work. This was all to impress Napoleon. As loyal as Boxer was, he still let the power of stories dictate his life by believing everything he heard. As a result of being loyal and believing Napoleon's stories, Boxer ended up dying at a Horse Slaughterer, instead of retiring like he'd planned.
Finally,the last character, whose fate at the end of the story was affected by stories was Benjamin, who didn't believe anything the pigs said. One of the stories that Benjamin didn't believe was the one about Boxer's death. When Boxer was being taken away to the, hospital but was really being taken to the slaughterer, Benjamin was the only animal that was able to read th letters on the truck, that read "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer..." When Squealer told the animals thay he was by Boxer's side when he died, Boxer didn't believe him. The second story Benajmin didn't believe was the debate between Snowball and Napoleon, he refused to believe that food would be more plentiful or the windmill would save work. For example, in the story, Benjamin was the only animal that didn't decide on either Napoleon nor Snowball. Benjamin quotes "life would go on as it had always gone on- that is badly." Also, the story suggest that Boxer was the only animal that wasn't enthusiastic about building the windmill. The third story that Benjamin refused to believe was when one of the commanments was changed. When Squealer was caught changing the commanments, none of the other animals understood what it said,except Benjamin. As he read the sign, he just "nodded his muzzle with a knowing air and seemed to understand, but wouldn't say nothing." Although, Benjamin wasn't as loyal as Boxer had been, he'd still survived without letting the power of stories barinwash him.
In conclusion, the way the characters react to the stories helps determine their fate at the end of the story. Squealer is able to munipulate stories so that he can survive, Benjamin understands the stories and refuses to believe them, so he still lives. Boxer, however, never learns the power of stories so he meets his death! Since stories can, if in fact, be powerful, people should be aware of the way they interpret them.
Ms.D-Election Prediction
2.11.08
Based on votes and polls, I predict the next president of theUnited States will be Barack
Obama..I think he would make a good president because he has personal experience with
poverty and the growing income gap, having grown up abroad in Indonesia and working as a
community organizer in the south side of Chicago. If I were over eighteen, I would deffinatly
vote for Obama also, considering the fact that he is the only black man to come this close to
winning presidency.According to the votes and polls, Barack Obama is winning the popular vote
by 7.84 percent, with McCain having 45.08 percent and Obama leading with 52.92 percent.
When voting, electoers have a large part in deciding who the next potential president will be. In
this 2008 election, Obama has three hundred-seventy five electoral votes, while McCain only
has one hundred- sixty three (Obama leading by two hundred-twelve). When finding my
numerical evidence, I had to divide the population of a state into 646946.9103 to get the
number of representatives from each state, then add two to get how many electors were in each
state.Obama also has fifty-seven percent of the Senate’s vote, while McCain only has forty-one
percent, leaving two percent undecided. Obama has also won twenty-eight states and Hawai,
while McCain only won twenty-two states and Alaska. By only comparing the data of the
popularity vote, you can predict that Barack Obama will win the 2008 presidential election. In
conclusion, I would say Obama has a pretty better chance of winning the election more than
any other candidate. I think the reason why people are choosing Obama over McCain is
because, has the most experience as an elected official and legislator, with over 10 years in state
and federal public service. He is the only top Democratic candidate who understands both state
and federal government as an elected legislator. Also, because has sponsored, co-sponsored and
advocatedfor significant and realistic legislation to end global warming by capturing and safely
disposing carbon dioxide, raising vehicle fuel economy standards and replacing petroleum with
home-grown biofuels like cellulosic ethanol. Problems like these are what people expect to be
fixed. Obama also considers all people as being equal, while McCain discriminates against
“middle class” people naming them as “poor people”. The United States doesn’t need anymore
discrimination than what it already has and by McCain calling middle class people “poor
people,” this draws me to the conclusion that wealthy people will get better treatment more
thanthose that need it the most.
Obama..I think he would make a good president because he has personal experience with
poverty and the growing income gap, having grown up abroad in Indonesia and working as a
community organizer in the south side of Chicago. If I were over eighteen, I would deffinatly
vote for Obama also, considering the fact that he is the only black man to come this close to
winning presidency.According to the votes and polls, Barack Obama is winning the popular vote
by 7.84 percent, with McCain having 45.08 percent and Obama leading with 52.92 percent.
When voting, electoers have a large part in deciding who the next potential president will be. In
this 2008 election, Obama has three hundred-seventy five electoral votes, while McCain only
has one hundred- sixty three (Obama leading by two hundred-twelve). When finding my
numerical evidence, I had to divide the population of a state into 646946.9103 to get the
number of representatives from each state, then add two to get how many electors were in each
state.Obama also has fifty-seven percent of the Senate’s vote, while McCain only has forty-one
percent, leaving two percent undecided. Obama has also won twenty-eight states and Hawai,
while McCain only won twenty-two states and Alaska. By only comparing the data of the
popularity vote, you can predict that Barack Obama will win the 2008 presidential election. In
conclusion, I would say Obama has a pretty better chance of winning the election more than
any other candidate. I think the reason why people are choosing Obama over McCain is
because, has the most experience as an elected official and legislator, with over 10 years in state
and federal public service. He is the only top Democratic candidate who understands both state
and federal government as an elected legislator. Also, because has sponsored, co-sponsored and
advocatedfor significant and realistic legislation to end global warming by capturing and safely
disposing carbon dioxide, raising vehicle fuel economy standards and replacing petroleum with
home-grown biofuels like cellulosic ethanol. Problems like these are what people expect to be
fixed. Obama also considers all people as being equal, while McCain discriminates against
“middle class” people naming them as “poor people”. The United States doesn’t need anymore
discrimination than what it already has and by McCain calling middle class people “poor
people,” this draws me to the conclusion that wealthy people will get better treatment more
thanthose that need it the most.
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