What’s on Your Palette?

As once said by Socrates, one must “know thyself” to live life to the fullest. However, that’s much easier said than done. Self-discovery is a concept that is heavily emphasized in today’s society, but it’s also something many people struggle to achieve. For many of us, we don’t even fully know ourselves, always striving to find out what we’re truly made of. In her song “Palette (feat. G-Dragon)”, IU embarks on a journey of self-discovery and shares with us the beauty of being true to yourself.

(IU- Palette Album Cover)

“Palette” is one of my favorite songs due to its hopeful/peaceful vibe, along with the meaning behind the title and each lyric. From a musical perspective, the song is very simple, as it is soft and mellow with a moderate bpm. As the cherry on top, IU’s vocals bring the song to life by switching the tone of her voice between different verses and the chorus, ranging from relaxed/laid-back to assured/confident. The song feels as though it’s alive and breathing with the harmony between the instrumentals and IU’s emotion-packed singing. Though the musical aspects of the song are great, the underlying messages are a true work of art that bring the whole song together.

In each verse throughout the song, IU gets very personal and lists out her unique preferences that the mainstream may not agree with, such as preferring deep purple over hot pink, pajamas with buttons, a neat bob cut over long hair, old-fashioned/cheesy things, and a simple diary over an extravagant painting. Each of these verses ends and the chorus starts with the phrase “I like it”. With that one simple phrase, IU throws all judgment and criticism out the window and anchors herself to what she likes and wants, staying true to herself. It doesn’t matter what others may say about her. Each new, bold statement represents a new, firm step toward discovering and accepting herself.

Compared to the more relaxed, peaceful verses, the chorus that follows is much more assertive and full of confidence. IU bounces back and forth between “I know you like me” and “I know you hate me”, acknowledging that while she has thousands of fans that support her and what she wants, she also has that many haters opposing her very essence. However, she ends every chorus with “I got this; I’m truly fine. I think I know myself a little bit now.” In the end, what the world thinks and says of her doesn’t matter, and she’s starting to realize that. All that matters is that she’s slowly starting to discover who she truly is.

Everyone has a palette full of endless, unique colors. Those colors make up who we are and the endless possibilities of who we can be. By living life, we’re simply expressing our unique colors in our own unique ways. However, we’re yet to see the full palette and the potential that we hold. We may not realize it, but a part of it is always grayed out, some more than others. Self-discovery means unveiling the hidden colors on your palette and creating a new set of possibilities for the life you can paint.

“I shine the brightest not when I’m a kid or an adult, but when I’m simply me.”

(IU- Palette MV)

Description:

The final artifact that I wish to highlight is my first Passion Blog of the second semester: “What’s on Your Palette?”. The theme of my Passion Blogs was song reviews and lyric analyses. Personally, I enjoy music to the point where it’s an integral part of my daily life, so writing about my favorite songs drew out the deepest levels of passion.

However, out of all of my blogs, I’m most proud of the first one, and I believe it best represents my entire RCL experience due to its deeper level of analysis and passion compared to the other blogs. I’m not saying that my other Passion Blogs had shallow analysis or a lack of passion. Rather, the first blog had such deep analyses and high passion that would be difficult to replicate. As I explored the lyrics of one of my favorite songs of all time, “Palette” by IU, over and over, I found new messages and interpretations each and every time I went through. I never got tired of continuously going back to deepen my analysis since I love the song so much.

No matter the task I was presented with, I strived to complete it with a level of passion as high as that put into my Passion Blog #1 and produce analyses as deep as those of “Palette”. Having completed this blog as the first writing piece in the course, I set the standard for myself to go as deep as possible in all my analyses, digging to find endless, hidden meanings in every presented context with passion and heart.

This I Believe Podcast: “The Greatest Wealth Is Health”

Description:

Comparing the two RCL courses, RCL1 was more analysis-based and objective while RCL 2 was much more personal and subjective. Starting off RCL2, the This I Believe Podcast simply instructed to share a personal belief in a compelling, persuasive way. I found this shift from analysis to persuasion and deliberation to be a very welcome one. The personal aspect of the podcast made it much easier to invested and passionate in my writing and recording, which increased the overall quality of my product.

As the first assignment post focus-shift, the This I Believe Podcast helped me build the foundation of voicing my thoughts and ideas in a more compelling way, setting me up for the rest of the work in RCL2. Required to write about a belief of mine, the podcast gave me a chance to take a step back and thoroughly consider my beliefs and values. When practicing persuasion, the first step is to have a solid stance on a topic, which is impossible without having definite values or beliefs. Considering and choosing a belief for this assignment helped me realize the values that I live by and, therefore, I should set as the cornerstone for each of the following assignments and discussions.

I noticed from all the activities throughout RCL2 that the quality of my persuasion and deliberation is drastically increased when built on a set of my values and beliefs. I believe that the This I Believe Podcast set the foundation for that to be possible by affirming those values and beliefs for me.

Secularization of America

            Secularization is one of those words that sparks different thoughts in everyone. For some, the word may carry a negative context in terms of a specific religion, while for others, secularization may be a certain, favorable concept. There are so many different ways to interpret secularization depending on the individual and his/her experiences, making it a very subjective topic. However, in a more general aspect, secularization can be defined as the decline of religious influence/values in a society. Ultimately, there is no doubt that increasing secularization is indeed prevalent in the US and will soon have an effect on all of us. In the past century, secularization has certainly been on the rise in America due to events such as the end of the Cold War, the de-churching of America resulting from the Evangelical Church’s alliance with former President Trump, and the Covid-19 pandemic, which would take a toll on all our lives as secularization causes political polarization, indirectly shaping the nation.

Religion is clearly losing its influence on this country, however, for much of the twentieth century, prior to America’s secular shift, much of American culture and society was dominated by religious values, as the majority of Americans considered themselves religious during this time (Zuckerman). Cultural/societal norms, laws, policies, and values directly reflected those of primarily Protestantism, such as rights on abortion (through the Supreme Court case Roe v Wade), gender roles, sexuality, and many more. However, such factors that were previously considered the “norm” have long been rejected as those values are even considered to be “wrong” today. For a country that was previously built and founded on religious values as such, it sounds strange to say those values have gradually lost their meaning and no longer stand today in the US, but that is exactly the case. Over the course of 44 years of a particular religious survey conducted by Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University and a Baptist pastor, the collected data shows that the proportion of “no religion” has topped the proportions of major religious groups in the US in 2018 for the first time and continues to rise (Ahmed). Not only has “no religion” seen major increase over the past fifty years or so, growing from merely 5% of the US population in 1970 to a whopping 23% in 2018, but major/mainline religious groups have also experienced general declines in response. Today, about ⅕ of American adults consider themselves unaffiliated with religion, which is a ten-times increase from the previous 1/50 in 1960 (Zuckerman).

Interests in secularization and atheism existed in the US dating back to the early twentieth century, and attempts to advance the idea of “no religion” were even made with the formation of organizations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Atheism in 1925 and the American Humanist Association in 1941 (American Assn. for the Advancement of Atheism) (American Humanist Association). The very small, reserved body of “nones” were garnering interest and stood at the verge of seeing noticeable increase, h owever, with the start of the Cold War in 1947, all possible decline of religion was temporarily put on hold with even substitutional increase as relative religiosity in the US saw an increase of over 10% during the Cold War  (Grant). In this time of war, separation was the last thing American society needed. Unification of the nation was much needed, and it just so happened to be that the Church provided that environment. As America was swept up into this huge mess, its shift of secularization was delayed and put many Americans in a position where they had to wait until they could turn from the unfavorable, religion-based society. As the USSR took the global stage and initiated the Cold War, it made itself an enemy to most of the world, including the US. With that, it was only natural that its beliefs and values of atheism, the very essence of “no religion”, were also made unpopular across the globe (Thompson). The Cold War stabilized atheism/”no religion” as America’s enemy along with the USSR, and with that, it would have been suicide to claim as non-religious in such times. Consequently, the secularization of America had to wait until the conclusion of the Cold War.

Fast forward to the early twenty-first century, as we are all aware, America is far less religion-centered than previous years and generations, and that will also be the case for future generations as secularization trends keep rising. Continuously moving further away from spirituality, American society is finding other priorities and alternative aspects to worship, replacing religion. People no longer strive to serve and follow God; They are their own gods.

Back to the origin, as the country embarked on its secular journey, a fair share of factors behind the scenes caused the country’s secular journey, especially the conclusion of the Cold War. With the Cold War and the USSR coming to an end in 1991, “nones” could now be “forthright about their religious indifference, without worrying that it made them sound like Soviet apologists” (Thompson). The concept of “no religion” surely existed prior to the Cold War but saw no increase due to the awkward timing. The people have always been ready for a secular shift,  but the right environment to support that shift was never present until now. With the downfall of the Soviet Union, atheism could now be embraced and see rates officially increase, hence the origin of secularization.

There are many reasons why favorability on religion has seen major decline in the past, but in recent history, the Evangelical Church’s alliance with former President Donald Trump played a major role in secularization and de-churching in the US . With Trump’s very extreme views on political issues, many Americans experienced a decline in favorability and credibility with not only Trump, but also the Evangelical Church that supports him, as a survey of 1,000 American adults yielded the following results: 49% of Americans believe the Evangelical support for Trump hurt the church’s credibility, 29% claim that Evangelical support for Trump reduced their desire to participate in religion, and 33% of Evangelicals claim the church’s support for Trump made their personal witness of faith more difficult (Roach). As Trump took various, extreme methods of making radical claims, many Americans came to dislike him and oppose him. Likewise, that same body of anti-Trump citizens came to find the same level of disapproval with the church, as it was in alliance with Trump. This alliance also had members of the church reconsidering their faith and even leaving. Consequently, the church faces backlash and low favorability to this day because of that alliance. Just because Trump is no longer president doesn’t mean that negative image of the church disappears as well. It’s a part of history now. People will always remember the ties the church had with Trump, meaning the church’s negative image will remain and America will continue to see secularization and de-churching for years to come.

Secularization was a primary shift in American history, but it is just as much a current shift, thanks to the very recent Covid-19 pandemic. Though the Covid-19 virus itself was the primary component of the global pandemic, the quarantine aspect that locked everyone inside their homes was the driving factor behind the changes in many people’s lives during this period, especially for the religious. Quarantine protocols and restrictions were placed all over the nation, and places of worship were no exception. With such protocols, many religious individuals were completely disconnected from places of worship and, therefore, their faith as prior to the coronavirus pandemic, 75% of Americans reported attending religious services at least once a year which dropped to roughly 66% by spring of 2022 (The Survey Center on American Life ). Also, 25% of Americans never attended religious services, which rose to 33% by spring of 2022 (The Survey Center on American Life). The Covid-19 pandemic, as difficult of a time it was, heavily tested the faiths of the religious, and many gave in and fell away. Religiosity rates were already on the decline prior to Covid-19; however, the global pandemic drastically increased those rates. Though the rates have slowed since the pandemic, secularization is still very much present in this nation as shown by overall trends.

However, this idea is beyond just a matter of religion vs no-religion; it has deeper implications that are bound to affect all US citizens since, as most of us are already aware, the issue of political polarization has gotten worse over the years, and it comes as no surprise that national secularization plays a part in it (Baldassarri). This growing political polarization has caused and will continue to cause major changes and have major effects on all our lives as the country is run by a nonuniform body. As society has drawn away from religion in the past century, so has the government, especially the Democratic side. Currently, there are only about 24 moderate Democrats and Republicans left on Capitol Hill, which is a major decrease of over 160 in 1971-1972 (Desilver). The middle line is slowly disappearing. In a chart depicting Congress members’ average ideology, negative numbers correlate with the Democrats and positives with the Republicans, and in The House, Democrats saw a decrease of 0.06 and Republicans saw an increase of 0.28 while in The Senate, Democrats saw a decrease of 0.07 and Republicans saw an increase of 0.25 since the 92nd Congress in 1971 (Desilver). The timing doesn’t come as a surprise because as stated before, (though secularization officially took off after the Cold War) the concept of “no religion” noticeably existed in the 1970s, and that’s the same time when the government saw initial rises in polarization. The whole system is a feeding cycle where both sides grow more and more extreme as does the other. Initially, as secular culture began to spread in the 1970s, Christians joined the right and became increasingly involved in politics in an attempt to suppress the spread, bringing major religious influences into modern American politics. (Thompson). As mentioned before, the Cold War ended soon after, marking the left’s transition from a defensive to a direct offensive, and that defines the system of secularization and polarization in the US government. One side grows more extreme, and the other responds by doing the same. In this case, the right grows more and more religious while the left strays further, increasing the gap in our government. Whether one is heavily involved in politics or not, a polarized government would mean significant changes in everyone’s everyday lives as the government plays the biggest role in shaping the nation and its policies. A government must know how to agree and reach middle ground at times to ensure equal satisfaction from all people, but that is close to impossible in a polarized government. Until the day comes when political polarization is no more, the government is bound to have constant, internal conflicts and create unstable living conditions for all of us, partially thanks to national secularization.

Whether America’s secular trend will continue or not is definitely something to closely monitor in the near future, but as of now, the main idea to note is that secularization will only go up from here. Leading up to the present day, the rates and roles of religion in the US have declined drastically, starting with the end of the Cold War and religion-driven conflicts such as 9/11, and looking forward, religious relevance in this nation will only fall lower as the nation grows more automatized and modernized, increasing political polarization and, therefore, paving a path of endless conflicts and pain. If current trends of “no religion” remain, the idea of “anti-religion” is one we can’t ignore in the days to come, which would bring its own fair share of issues, such as a possible “completely polarized” government. No one knows if rates will grow or slow, but one thing is certain: secularization will generally prosper, and we will all face the consequences.

Works Cited

Ahmed, Neil Monahan, Saeed. “There Are Now as Many Americans Who Claim No Religion as There Are Evangelicals and Catholics, a Survey Finds.” CNN, 13 Apr. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/13/us/no-religion-largest-group-first-time-usa-trnd/index.html.

American Assn. for the Advancement of Atheism – Freethought Trail – New York. https://freethought-trail.org/profiles/profile:american-assn-for-the-advancement-of-atheism/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

DeSilver, Drew. “The Polarization in Today’s Congress Has Roots That Go Back Decades.” Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/10/the-polarization-in-todays-congress-has-roots-that-go-back-decades/. Accessed 23 Oct. 2023.

“Faith After the Pandemic: How COVID-19 Changed American Religion.” The Survey Center on American Life, https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/faith-after-the-pandemic-how-covid-19-changed-american-religion/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2023.

Grant, Tobin. “Why 1940s America Wasn’t as Religious as You Think — the Rise and Fall of American Religion.” Religion News Service, 11 Dec. 2014, https://religionnews.com/2014/12/11/1940s-america-wasnt-religious-think-rise-fall-american-religion/.

“Our History.” American Humanist Association, 27 Oct. 2023, https://americanhumanist.org/about/our-history/.

Roach, David. “A Year After the Election, Trump’s Effect on Evangelical Churches Lingers.” News & Reporting, 1 Nov. 2021, https://christianitytoday.com/news/2021/november/trump-effects-evangelical-churches-witness-survey-election.html.

Thompson, Derek. “Three Decades Ago, America Lost Its Religion. Why?” The Atlantic, 26 Sept. 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/09/atheism-fastest-growing-religion-us/598843/.

Zuckerman, Phil. “3 Big Numbers That Tell the Story of Secularization in America.” The Conversation, 27 Feb. 2023, http://theconversation.com/3-big-numbers-that-tell-the-story-of-secularization-in-america-199378.

Peterson , Matt, and Abdallah Fayyad. “The Irresistible Effectiveness of Wedge Politics.” The Atlantic, 8 Dec. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/membership/archive/2017/12/the-irresistible-effectiveness-of-wedge-politics/547946/.

Description:

The main point of the Evolving Ideas Research Paper was to identify an idea and explain how it has evolved over time in the context of civic life. I find it fascinating how the US originated from religious roots but is far from those customs today, so I decided to explore this increased secularization and the role it plays in society and civic life. There was a lot to consider as I wrote my paper, as it was a combination of research, the analysis of information, the development of ideas, and the presentation of my findings.

This paper was one of the biggest papers I have ever written, but it was also one of my favorites, simply due to the passion I had for my topic. The whole process would’ve been a drag if I had chosen a topic that was of no interest to me, which reestablished that I produce my best work when I put my heart into it. This is especially the case for RCL, as a passionate heart allows for more meaningful analyses and greater communication of ideas.

My research and analysis helped me learn the role of religion in current and past civic life, which is a very interesting comparison to make when put side by side. It was even more interesting to realize that a major part of the religious shift in civic life happened in recent history, right under our noses. I never would’ve realized this if I wasn’t interested.

For any task presented in RCL, I always put my heart and passion into it, which I believe allowed me to always produce the highest-quality work that I could.

Civic Artifact Speech

(I have provided the link to the video of my speech. The video cannot be directly embedded into this site due to the file size.)

Description:

My first artifact that I want to introduce is the Civic Artifact Speech from RCL1. For this assignment, students were asked to select an artifact that “frames the civic”, hence analyzing how members of a community use the artifact to practice civic engagement. For my choice, I had to explain how student driver stickers encourage belonging to a community and performing certain responsibilities to it in the form of a speech.

This speech is special because it marks the beginning of my development in RCL. This assignment was my first attempt at completing a rhetorical analysis, nevertheless presenting it. It allowed me to identify my strengths in rhetorical analysis and my shortcomings in comprehending civic life, which I improved by thoroughly exploring the meaning of civic life and engagement through this assignment. Since then, I’ve come to realize the significance of civic life and grown to be more civically engaged myself.

Additionally, in civic life, simply constructing and having ideas is not enough. As in the case with civic artifacts and the speech itself, ideas must be presented in ways that can be understood by others and, therefore, be used to build community. I never favored public speaking and presenting my ideas, but this assignment allowed me to realize the importance of effective presentation in civic life. Following this speech, I prioritized the organization and presentation of my ideas in all class assignments and discussions to properly utilize my preexisting strength of rhetorical analysis, which allowed me to produce my highest level of work.

Looking back, I believe I could have produced deeper, higher-quality analyses on my artifact if I redid the assignment now, but I’m still very proud of the speech that I put together and grateful for how it set the stage for my future success in RCL.

The entire RCL program was undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable learning experiences I’ve had as a student. The contents we explored and the skills we developed are applicable beyond just the classroom, preparing us to become proper citizens in our communities. The two courses not only helped me learn how to analyze different texts but also how to construct and communicate my ideas from those analyses in an effective and persuasive way. Overall, the program offered new and original opportunities for various forms of deliberation and critical thinking in a group setting, which is a skill I believe I needed improvement on prior to this academic year. Whether it be the level of my analysis or the use of rhetoric in my communication and presentation of ideas, I believe that I’ve grown in almost every aspect concerning rhetoric and civic life.

An aspect of the RCL program that I really appreciated was the amount of personality I was able to include in my work. In previous English classes, a prompt would be heavily enforced for writing, but RCL provided a level of freedom that allowed me to be more creative and personal with the works that I produced. RCL helped me realize that good writing is more than following a set of guidelines. Good writing requires passion, the application of that passion to a broader context, and the proper delivery of the resulting ideas to be easily understood by readers. Overall, I believe I have become a much more effective writer through the utilization of these skills that I learned in RCL.

Another concept that I learned in RCL is the importance of deliberation. On that note, it was great how the learning environment was much more collaborative than independent, such as in a lecture. Different people think in different ways, so the best ideas are formed when people come together and communicate their individual ideas. I noticed that, often times, my peers would share ideas that I may have never thought of and vice versa. It was very insightful to see and learn different perspectives from a community of fellow learners.

For my e-portfolio, I have chosen the following artifacts to represent my work and development over the past academic year: Civic Artifact Speech, Evolving Ideas Research Paper, “This I Believe” Podcast, and Passion Blog #1. A common theme between these four projects is that they all allowed me to draw out my passion for each of their respectful topics. I was never a passionate writer. I strictly wrote with my head without an ounce of my heart. However, I now know how to incorporate my heart into my writing to better convey my thoughts, which is evident through my deep, creative analyses and explanations in all four of the projects. These projects went beyond just the gathering of information and organizing it into writing, which are skills I believe I was proficient at even prior to taking the two RCL courses. Rather than research, these projects emphasized the delivery of information acquired from research, something of which I had little exposure to. Most of my assignments for general English classes in high school were research-based essays and papers with very rigid prompts and rubrics, which limited the ways in which I could deliver my findings. However, the work given in RCL allowed for greater creativity by taking on various forms that I wasn’t so used to, such as presentations, speeches, videos, and blogs. Thus, by working through each of my chosen artifacts, all of which took on non-essay forms, I was given the opportunity to practice and improve various forms of delivery of information and ideas throughout the past two semesters.

Overall, RCL1 and RCL2 are two of the few classes in which I genuinely got a lot out of. Beyond simply gaining new knowledge, I feel like I genuinely grew as a person by taking these two courses. I believe I’ve become a more contributive member of society through the writing and communication skills I developed from the different assignments and discussions in class. Both RCL classes were very enjoyable and left me with something that I can use for the rest of my life to come.