When thinking about passions I have, to be frank, not much comes to mind. However, one thing that I really feel connected to and do quite frequently is listening to music. Curating different playlists and discovering all different genres of music brings a certain joy to my life that not many others do. 

For my passion blog, each week I will take a deep dive into a certain music artist/album that I have found a strong connection to. Whether it is just a specific artist or group of musicians, I will look to convey why their songs made the cut to end up on my playlists. I will say that my music taste does range, and trying to categorize all the music into one sort of descriptor is rather difficult. 

My first post will start rather generically, but will detail my love for all things Beatles. The Beatles have been one of my favorite artists for a while now, but I think that I have truly been listening to them my whole life- a common truth for most people. Growing up, watching music videos to my favorite songs was a big hobby of mine and my sister. One notable video was the Hey Jude video. This video comes up often when my sister and I reminisce about the niche hobbies we had growing up. 

I feel like with many artists it is easy to start with big hits when first looking into their discography. Though, with The Beatles that is quite the large list of songs, for their contribution to music will never be replicated. 

This brings me to my main points, the songs on my playlist that I love. While I do have an entire Beatles playlist, I will highlight the songs on there that really resonate with me. It would be a travesty if I did not start with one of my favorite songs ever, the ever so popular “Let It Be”. Obviously everyone knows this song, even if they think they don’t, they do. With that being said, I resonate with it so much. Just the simplicity of the phrase reminds one that everything works out, a token that is easily forgotten. 

The entirety of Let It Be is an album that has cemented itself as one of my favorites. The ballad “The Long and Winding Road” is a lovely song that highlights the path and draw between two people.My sister likes to think that I enjoy the more sappy songs by The Beatles, and I am happy to admit that that is a partially true statement. 

Favorites include: “I’ll Follow the Sun”, “The Fool On the Hill”, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.

The state of rhetoric surrounding political polarization in American culture has reached a very toxic level. In society this is an issue that is highly recognized and talked about, however it is a problem that virtually has no clear-cut solution. There is loads of rhetoric surrounding the harsh party split. Whether it be posters, to social media posts, to news outlets posting false news. All of these sources help to fuel each party. A very notable example was the mask mandates that were being executed during the pandemic. Around the time after the  quarantine, the idea of simply wearing a mask in public turned into a political statement. Even a task as menial as this caused political stirrup, among many other instances. 

One may wonder, why is this even an issue? The polarization between the political parties creates a very toxic environment when discussing politics. People refusing to hear out the other side’s arguments creates chaos and unwarranted arguments. Families are becoming more and more divided as members with opposing views hash out their differences. Once peaceful Thanksgiving dinners have turned into full fledged political debates, usually between the older and younger generations, but nevertheless, division. Though, the truly best representation of the division between the political parties is Facebook. Personally, I do not frequent Facebook much, but I obviously see some of the outlandish material that comes from that social media outlet. When talking about Facebook, or any social media source in general, the idea of fake news is always present. This is an aspect that I think particularly drives home the divide between the parties. News is being manipulated to make certain individuals or events worse/different than they actually are. Readers and viewers are left believing something that is simply not true or is something that is completely built on lies. 

Fake news will always be present on any source, but, in my opinion, it falls to the reader to verify the information. With that comes the ideas of being an echo-chamber. Being an echo-chamber refers to one who only consumes media that coincides with their beliefs. If we as a society can break the habit of, for instance, reading only FOX news, a network that is heavily Republican, and reading something more in the middle, such as The New York Times. While the suggestion does not mean to only read nonpartisan news, but incorporates both so as to avoid seeing only biased information. This will not solve the problem, but it will keep individuals from becoming too one sided. If Republicans and Democrats refuse to find a common ground then a civil society can never be fulfilled.