October 2022 – Richard Ronzio

Spiderland

Another landmark album from the 90’s comes in the form of an experimental narrative piece from a couple of young adults in Louisville Kentucky. This piece features 6 songs all spanning over 5 minutes in length making for a 40 minute experience. What separates Spiderland from its contemporaries is its musical structure and themes that would revolutionize the 90’s and the future of rock.

Spiderland’s opening track, “Breadcrumb Trail” is spoken by Brian McMahan in a narrative style. It’s about a date in an amusement park with a fortune teller. Brian sings & screams the high points in the small tale, but the majority of the song is spoken as if heard from an audiobook. The second track, “Nosferatu Man” is about a vampire. A simple premise mixed with the jarring guitar and slow musical structure (prevalent throughout the album) leads into the next track, “Don, Aman.” This track tells, this time in a more musically attuned narrative style, the small events in a man’s (Presumably “Don”) depressive and anxiety-filled consciousness. The accompanying instrumentals slowly build up to a scratchy radio-buzz from the guitars, never fully satisfying the listener with an ending to the buildup. “Washer,” with its catchy guitar riff, would have been a pop rock blowout had it been sped up and the lyrics not a literal suicide note to a lover. “For Dinner..,” is the penultimate track, and a complete instrumental. Continuing the slow , existential mood, the track features long buildups to loud but short & purposefully unsatisfying drops, reinforcing the hopeless feel to the entire piece. “Good Morning, Captain,” since this album hasn’t had enough disheartening themes, is about a captain’s child and the two relationship struggle amidst some sea friction. The ending features the loudest guitar and drum sections drowning Brian who is screaming “I miss you!” loudly away from the microphone.

If the moody themes haven’t caught your attention, the real life recording sessions should. Brian, after recording the last track of the album noted being drenched in a cold sweat and was vomiting continually leading to his hospitalization. The album was the band’s finale, and each member had been spiritually changed. The passion within the album is unheard of, given the physical reactions and emotion pouring out of each member during each tracks’ recordings.

To me, the album offers a fresh feel to instrumentals unheard of beforehand. The album was welcome to poor sales and unchecked by critics, but its future cult following was well deserved. Even if topics like suicide are not your cup of tea, the album is essential to rock history and will be remembered as a masterpiece and landmark to the future of music.

An edit of a Beatles photo mimicking Spiderland's album cover

RCL – TED Talk

Speaking, especially in a larger setting, isn’t easy. This TED talk interested me because speaking was something I took for granted. I had a great teacher in high school who showed this TED talk to our class because we had plenty of assignments in which we would present a small speech to the class. With the tips in this TED talk, you can really grow as a speaker. Even if you don’t particularly enjoy speaking, it’s still a great TED talk to to watch.

For my developing ideas TED talk, some Ideas I thought of were

The change in the US Economy (Cash Crops -> Reaganomics for example)
The development of Existentialism

RCL: Post-Speech Reflection

Now that my speech has been given (a little late at that), I’ve realized I have a lot of improvement ahead of me. I think my tone feels invested, interesting, and knowledgeable on the subject, but I think I have too many awkward pauses. My slides have only one image each reinforcing my individual points, but even so they could use work in being more specific. My pacing is my biggest qualm. I think I should have talked slower and more in depth with each topic. During the elevator pitch I asked the class if they knew what populism was, and only a couple raised their hands. I should have taken precautions in accurately defining potentially new concepts. I did well in explaining the concept of “Career politicians,” but populism itself is a difficult subject and I should have spent more time on it.

I watched Rohan’s speech, and he does a great job in eye contact, investment, and knowledge on his subject matter. His pacing is something I have personally taken note of and I plan on incorporating his timing into my future speeches.

Lonesome, Crowded, and Mid-Western.

The Lonesome Crowded West is Modest Mouse’s sophomore album from 1997 and considered by many to be their best. It features the micro & macro stories of an angsty coming-of-age teenager/young adult and the industrialization of the natural world. Each track plays into one or both of the themes, and with Isaac Brock’s (singer and songwriter) unique voice, the entire album ties together beautifully.

The first track, Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine, is a seven minute interlude featuring both loud teenage vocals and crescendos of instruments coupled slow and calm storytelling features. Heart Cooks Brain is a continuation of the slow features of the first track; it speaks of the confusing nature and the battle of logic and feelings. The third track, Convenient Parking is a repetitive analysis about the repetitive nature of driving, industrialization, and the new world. Lounge (Closing Time) is a 7 minute escapade over the abuse of naivety by the upper-class. The fifth track, Jesus Christ Was an Only Child features a beautiful ending phrase “I know now what I knew then, but I didn’t know then what I know now,” signifying (quite obviously) the individual change Isaac has processed. Doin’ the Cockroach is a loud, aggressive accusation against those looking purely for economic growth. Cowboy Dan speaks about an intrinsic feeling against the utter chaos of the world, and Dan accuses God about it. Trailer Trash is the sad reality of a lower-class teenager struggling with life itself. Out of Gas begins the latter half of the album with a specific closeness to the Mid-West trucker life. Long Distance Drunk, and Truckers Atlas continues this theme with Shit Luck relaying back the chaos theme played in previous tracks. Polar Opposites and Bankrupt on Selling are a slower prelude to the finale of the album: Styrofoam Boots/It’s All Nice on Ice, Alright. Styrofoam Boots is an amazing ending. It covers the whole thematic situations brought up previously. The chaos of reality, the question of religion, continuation of individual feelings, and the result of industrialization. Halfway through the track, loud drums and repeated, almost nonsensical, lyrics drag on to the last few seconds.

Taking in the subtle thematic lyrics, the timing of the crescendos & diminuendos (opposite of crescendo), the passion and teenage-garage band instrument playing, makes listening to the album quite the experience. Modest Mouse garage-band sound, Brock’s unique and scratchy vocals surmount to a surreal experience. The Lonesome Crowded West is definitely my favorite album of the 90’s for both the musical quality and storytelling Isaac Brock and the rest of Modest Mouse is able to get across with not only the lyrics, but the instrumentals themselves.

RCL Rough Draft + Speech Outline

DRAFT:
Populism has begun to take America and the world by storm, with political leaders from Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders utilizing populist rhetoric to gain a loyal following. This makes understanding populism vital to being an informed voter in the modern era. Populism is an ideology in which the proponent, the populist, utilizes an “us versus them” mentality to garner loyal support among the populous. With any ideology, threats arise from the abuse of ideological rhetoric; this is especially the case with populism due to its implied distrust in what the populist defines as “them.” Through the lens of an ideological critique, viewing Trump’s slogan “Drain the Swamp” and Bernie’s “Not me. Us,” can provide voters with an understanding on the effectiveness of populism.

Unless one have been living under a rock, voters have heard of Trump’s “Drain the Swamp,” in which he creates the sentiment of the populist “us versus them” by attacking career politicians. Donald Trump reformed the Republican party, created a super loyal voter base, and still has monstrous support despite his 2020 loss. Taking a look at Trump’s voters, they overwhelmingly represent the blue-collar class and non-urban individuals. Why is this the case? Well, Trump focused his rhetoric in appealing to that class. With the case of the Electoral College, appealing to solely city denizens is simply not enough in obtaining the required electoral votes. Despite the fact that they are a majority of America’s population, they are not a majority of America’s states. Trump and his campaign workers saw this fact and knew immediately that the most influenceable voters were these blue-collar workers across the union. He was able to establish himself as the forefront fighter for their desires. He boasted a strong business past, was an outsider to the political landscape, and desired to focus on the economy, which is the number one factor in determining elections. “Drain the Swamp” established himself as an enemy of politicians and a warrior for the people. In Michigan, for example, there had been financial crises due to the failure of the automobile industries during Obama’s administration. Obama was able to proclaim a successful economy, but Michigan’s situation turned away Michiganites who individually had a difficult financial situation. This is why Trump spent so much time campaigning there: to garner trust amongst them and preach for an upheaval of the previous administration. The blue-collar class of Americans have such a support for Trump, he was able to garner the most minority votes (who make up a significant portion of the blue-collar class) that a Republican had seen in ages. Trump’s support grew far and wide, a necessity given the electoral college system.

Trump’s loyal voter base was a direct result of his “Drain the Swamp” slogan. Trump created a significant distinction between him and other candidates: Trump was not a politician. The distinguishment was key in making voters feel that Trump was “One of us” rather than the unreachable and “elite” politicians. Under the eyes of the “Always-Trumper,” (Trump’s goal of removing these career politicians from their position in which they make loads from taxpayers’ dollar while not doing any significant was nothing less than noble. Trump, to his loyal voters, was a hero tackling the, in the worst case, evil elites. The rhetoric was immensely effective in establishing an oppressor in the minds of Trump’s voters, garnering unwavering support and effectively changing the Republican party altogether. Blue-collar workers were already a large voter base for Republicans, but Trump made them turn to him rather than the party. This is what made the Republican party the “Trump” party. His immense loyalty saw Republican incumbents lose primaries across the country in favor of Trump-backed candidates. Liz Cheney’s loss in Wyoming is great example of this change in party philosophy, especially since the incumbent effect runs so strongly in state elections.

The danger that rhetoric such as “Drain the Swamp” brings is the breakdown of trust in American institutions. By claiming that the government is simple feeding upon taxpayer dollars creates deep distrust in the government among voters, which in of itself hurts democracies. The American democracy cannot function unless the voters believe that their representatives actually represent them, and that their vote matters. The January 6th riot at the white house is particularly important example. When unchecked, the populist rhetoric could instill to great of a trust in the candidate themselves, when the institution holds more importance than each individual administration. January 6th, if there were more significant forces of violence, could have been a radical “draining of the swamp” amongst the rioters’ eyes. MORE HERE

On the other side of the political compass lands Bernie and his equally populist “Not me. Us.” It is important to note that Bernie’s ideal system of governance is a social democracy, which in terms of the American system, would require a radical revolution to instill. Bernie uses the term “revolution” consistently in his rhetoric, which should somewhat frighten audiences. the “Not me. Us,” is essentially a more direct appeal to populist ideas in creating trust among the masses and establish Bernie as a fighter for the populace against the elite. Unlike Trump, Bernie distinguishes mega-corporations as the elites of America as opposed to career politicians. This does have a lessening effect in terms of danger to democracy, as the opponent isn’t a direct participator in the government, but with anti-lobbying rhetoric, it does instill distrust in America’s current institutions. Bernie was successful in garnering loyal and significant support amongst a slightly more radical branch of the Democrat voter base. Bernie boasts some of the highest amount of individual donors that any candidate has ever seen. Rather than being a face of his own populism, like Trump, Bernie tends to instead focus on specific policy changes that his voter base desires, like a 15 dollar minimum wage. “Not me. Us,” has been massively successful in creating a significant addendum to Democratic voter base, sometimes referred to as the “Bernie Bros.”

Conclusion Starts here 😀

SPEECH OUTLINE:

Populism question: Do you know what populism is?

Key details of Populist Rhetoric – How to Spot

Donald Trump’s “Drain the Swamp”

Garnering the Blue-Collar voters

Republican Party? No, the Trump Party

Populist Rise: Brazil’s Bolsonaro, English Tories, Mexico’s AMLO

The Dangers of Populist Rhetoric

How to Fit Populism in Democracy

The Greatest Character in all of Media

Fyodor Dostoyevsky is undoubtedly one of the most prolific and genius authors to grace the Earth. His classics span an wide array of themes, focusing primarily on the human psyche. With his many classics, the best introduction to his work is, in my opinion, Crime and Punishment. Crime and Punishment follows an intelligent and poor college student Raskolnikov during the rule of the Russian Tzars of the 19th century.

I want to give a spoiler warning for what follows. Despite this being 200 year old book, it is THAT good and I can understand that talking about works can diminish the experience for future readers.

What distinguishes Dostoy’s work from other authors is his characters. Many cite that his characters delve into the human psyche so perfectly, that it would seem as if Dostoy had access to the plethora of modern psychological papers and research done on that very topic. That’s why when mentioning that he comes from the 19th century it’s clear that Dostoy was vastly ahead of his time. An important thing to note about Dostoy’s life was his execution. Seconds before a firing squad shot Dostoy, a note of his pardon came through and released him instead to a Siberian work camp. Dostoy, in this moment, converted wholeheartedly to the Christian branch of Eastern Orthodoxy. With his later (and more critically acclaimed) works, the influence of his religion is quite prevalent, but not so black and white as “Christians are always the good guys and atheists are always the bad ones,” but instead upon the Christian message. For example, Raskolnikov never converts despite his redemption.

If you have been reading my blog, you have probably noticed I am particularly fond of characterization. Raskolnikov is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of character crafting found in any piece of media. Raskolnikov experiences vast character changes through his incoherent, unexamined, and radical consciousness. He is the fictional foretelling based upon beginning sprout of nihilistic and atheistic thinking that began to disperse throughout Russia. Despite being a sort of caricature of the forthcoming philosophy, his thought process and situation is scarily similar to what many people have faced in their lifetime. Raskolnikov desires to be “the next Napoleon:” to be a great among the masses. His view, written before his mental erosion, is that those born as great (such as himself & Napoleon) are right in stepping upon others to reach their peak to bring about their greatness to positively influence their world. In his mind, Raskolnikov IS Napoleon. This thinking causes him to kill an old pawnbroker and her sister to obtain the first foothold to his peak.

Despite Raskolnikov’s insanity, crime, and somewhat abhorrent philosophy, he is an extremely relatable character. I would be surprised if you read his inner monologues without finding thoughts and ideas you have not faced yourself. The ending is also quite beautiful, and the final interactions before Raskolnikov faces his punishment put me to tears, which I have no shame in saying.

I wish I could summarize the story but despite its old age I implore you to read it yourself. Crime and Punishment is a great introduction to longer works of literature given its moderately extensive ~600 page count. Again, I want to finish this post with a deep suggestion that you find time to tackle this masterpiece.