Blogging Around

I chose to first comment on Taylor's blog which analyzed the song "Sleep Through the Static" by Jack Johnson. She discussed how music allows us to express ourselves and criticize society and how people are more receptive to music. She also talked about how society tends to ignore issues that occur around the world. I responded with the following:

"Taylor,
You have an interesting post here. I wholeheartedly agree that society is more receptive of music probably more than any other form of communicative expression. The power of music is often not taken for its full importance, but it is much more powerful than some believe. When you have a good artist writing a beautiful song with passionate emotions and meaningful lyrics, the strength of their message is much more powerful, and listeners can feel that. Fans of music and even those who are not are reeled in by the rhythm that makes your head nod and opens their ears to listen to the words with a clear mind. People tend to listen to views they normally wouldn’t when it’s in the form of music.

I also agree that people are often unaware of the issues going around them; I find myself a victim to this from time to time. Sometimes we hear or see tragic events, and all we do is make a small comment and then push it out of our minds. People don’t want to think anymore past that. People don’t know about the importance that events in other countries can have on their lives. Maybe it’s fear that’s holding them back? The fear of exploring into an unknown territory. Maybe it’s ignorance? Maybe it’s something more than that?
All in all, nice post! Also, nice song choice!"


Next, I chose to respond to Chelsea's blog which connected classroom collaboration to collaboration on the volleyball court. I commented with the following:

"Chelsea,
I can really connect to your post since I’ve experienced some of these feelings when playing volleyball. I’ve learned a lot of helpful qualities from volleyball, but the most important would probably be teamwork. One of the hardest things for me to overcome was to let other people pass/set the ball. I used to run into other peoples’ “areas” and return what should have been their volleyball to hit over. I used to have that mindset that I had to be the one to hit the volleyball over. Eventually, I came to realize that I couldn’t get every ball that came onto our court, and if I tried to it could actually hurt our team. If I went into someone else’s area to return the ball, I would be slow in getting back to my position and miss a spike that I should have returned.

Finally being able to trust others through volleyball truly helped my teamwork skills. It has translated over to academics, specifically when we work on group projects. You said that a “real team” is one that works together to overcome hardships and battles. I agree and I feel like the best groups for an assigned project are those that utilize the strengths and weaknesses best of everyone in that group. Your analysis on the leader-follower struggle is also great. I have to agree with you that both positions are equally important. A group can’t function without having both leaders and followers; finding the balance is difficult but it leads to the best outcome.

Overall, connecting athletics to academics on your part was interesting. Personally, I enjoy these two areas and feel there should be more connections like these that extend beyond the academic setting. Hope club volleyball goes great!"