Reading, Writing, and Me

Switched on Pop  by Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding Overall: 4.5  You might be familiar with Nate and Charlie if you listen to the podcast Switched on Pop (I shout out this and other great podcasts in my latest article). If you don't, Nate is an Assistant Professor of Musicology at USC and Charlie is a musician and songwriter who are both super knowledgable about music theory and music history. This book approaches understanding pop music through that lens. Using a song per chapter, Charlie and Nate work through all the characteristic that make pop music pop. They've constructed a book that can be both informative and helpful to those who want to expand their technical music knowledge while also writing a compelling enough narrative of pop to entertain the casual listener who's curious about what's behind their favorite songs. I really enjoyed this book, and I found it to be an excellent resource. It's honestly probably too basic for anyone who knows a ton abou...

So, since we all need some good distractions and it can be hard to focus on reading right now, I want to make a couple list posts of my favorite podcasts, social media accounts, and YouTube channels throughout the week to give you some inspiration. I'm going to start with podcasts because they're my favorite medium to get information and entertainment, and even though they've taken off in a major way in the last few years, I feel like some people still haven't gotten into the medium yet. I'll start there. Skip to the list if you're already a podcast pro. If you're unfamiliar with podcasts, they're not difficult to access. On an iPhone, the app is already installed on your phone! All you have to do is open the app and click search to type in the name of whatever show you're interested in. Once it pops up, make sure to click the subscribe button to have them show up in your library. If you don't use an iPhone, a lot of podcasts are available on Sp...

I'm not sure what exactly I want to say with this post. It feels like there's nothing left to say in a way. Over the last few days, the United States has come to realize just how serious COVID-19 is. It's a reality that people in Europe and Asia grasped long before most Americans. I think that we're all starting to realize just how much our lives are fundamentally changing. How long this will actually impact us. I've seen a lot of different reactions on Twitter. Understandably, there's a lot of heartbreak over lost vacations, concerts, and book tours. A lot of us were using things like this to keep motivated. It's entirely understandable why these choices have been made, but it doesn't make it any less hard. So, I guess what I wanted to say first is don't feel bad for feeling bad. Yes, there are people losing much more from this, and we should be doing everything we can to help them through this time, but beating yourself up for being disappointe...

Who Put This Song On?  by Morgan Parker Overview: Morgan doesn't fit into her world perfectly. She feels isolated because of her depression, she feels isolated because she doesn't completely buy the whole God and heaven thing like her Christian school peers, and she feels isolated because she's one of the only Black students at the school. Morgan doesn't know what she wants or what she's working towards. She lacks a sense of purpose. But with therapy and new friends and some soul searching, over the course of senior year her vision of herself gets clearer. Overall: 5 Characters: 5 I love Morgan. Her voice shines through incredibly clear, and she gives a relatable voice to the realities of depression. Her family and friends and their admirable bits and flaws are all well fleshed out. Morgan is one of those narrators who can see lots of different points of view while still being firmly placed in her own reality. There's a lot of nuance in this book that can...