Passion Blog: My Vinyl Collection
No matter how its framed, I am a “music kid.” My whole life has been framed by musical family members as well as taking part in music throughout elementary, middle, and high school as well as continuing it here at college. From the four saxophones to clarinet and flute, my adventures in various genres and performances have only invigorated my passion for music. Since I am so frequently playing music, or just thinking about it, listening to music is a significant part of my life. Last semester, I blogged about my passion for jazz music – both playing and listening. From my years of playing and listening, it is a passion that continues to grow within me and encourage me to keep playing my instruments. While jazz is a genre that I love deeply, I want to broaden the horizons for my still music-centered blog this semester. Over recent years, I began collecting vinyl records beginning with jazz and branching out into motown and older styles of music. For my blog posts, I plan to dive into the history of different artists and albums by selecting a vinyl from my collection to serve as the topic of each week’s post. Hopefully I can inspire some of you to explore new artists and genres!
Civic Issue Blog: Education Affordability
For my civic issues blog, as I pondered what I could write about besides music, I read through the various categories and education stuck out. Stemming from my current love of the college atmosphere and living in State College during each school year’s two semesters, I wanted to explore an issue that affects colleges and universities. College affordability has long been a topic of hot debate as some advocate for completely free options for college, as some countries around the world offer, and others offer the argument for student loans. Starting in public school, the gaps begin to appear in education for a variety of economic reasons. First, funding by state and by school district can greatly affect the quality of education a school can provide. But, for those who can afford it, private schools are available as a costly alternative to government-funded public schools. At the collegiate level, affordability is further brought into the spotlight as students begin to undertake what can become a mountain of student loan debt while others attend schools without that worry, courtesy of a wealthier family. While cost of education can vary from community college to Ivy League universities, the quality of education varies alongside it and, even as many would like to think, the environment quickly becomes a very uneven playing field for students and graduates.