Audio

"One good thing about music,

 when it hits you, you feel no pain" 

- Bob Marley 

Favorite sound recording of 2013-14:

Name of Song: All About That Bass

Artist: Meghan Trainor 

This is my favorite song of 2013-14 not only because it has a great beat (or should I say "bass" to it), but because it promotes the idea that the ideal image to a woman's figure is not some, as quoted, "Stick figure silicone barbie doll". It's a fun and relevant way to speak the truth about how women shouldn't fret so much about how much they weigh or what number corresponds to their size of clothing. I first heard this song on the radio and ever since then, I hear it on the radio at least three times a day now because of how much the radio overplays new hits. Women should never feel the need to throw up or starve themselves to feel beautiful: Healthy is beauty. 

Favorite "Oldie":

Name of Song: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Artist: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

This is my all time favorite song and it always will be for the rest of my life because of how much this song means to me. I first heard this song on a boat in Lake Tahoe with my Grandpa, celebrating his big 60th. The boat was filled with my closest family members and friends, while also being located at my favorite spot in the entire world (Lake Tahoe). My grandpa means so much to me that every time this song plays I always think of him as well as how much family means to me. This song in general, even without sentimental value toward it, is already a wonderful song to begin with. Somewhere Over the Rainbow can always put me in a good mood, no matter how awful the circumstances may be.

Magazine Proposal

Magazine Proposal: Cancer Community 

Name: Cancer Community 

Concept: This magazine is not to depress the readers, but rather to inform them and uplift them with inspirational stories from cancer survivors as well as providing reliable facts that they can count on and be up to date about. This magazine also touches on all different types of cancer, rather than one particular one in general, thus giving more opportunities for readers to be intrigued about. One important feature about this magazine is that every dollar spent from buyers on this magazine goes straight into the cancer community itself, whether that be for research, financial aid for cancer patients, or to local hospitals for those going through radiation or chemo-therapy. 

Readers: 

1.Those who had cancer

2. Currently are diagnosed with cancer

3. Has a family member/ friend who was or is diagnosed with cancer 

4. Those who are curious about cancer in general

I wouldn't say there is an age group, but for those who are able to read and are interested. 

There isn't a specific social class or ethnicity that would read this in particular. 

Competitor Magazines: Heal, Mike O Mag, Coping, Pink Ribbon, and Brest cancer. All of these magazines listed are very specific in one cancer. Cancer Community would touch on all types of cancer just as stated above. 

Advertisers: Stanford, VogueWigs, ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology), American Cancer Society, Oprah Winfrey 

Five articles: 

• Survivor rates for cancer patients are getting higher every year! This article would be a formative response from Stanford about their discovery for different alternatives on treating their patients. 
• Prostate cancer changed me. This article would be from a cancer patient who survived prostate cancer and how they changed their life around after chemo-therapy. This survivor would talk further in depth about their challenges and new perspectives on life. 
• Chemo vs. Radiation. This article would discuss the pros and cons about each method when fighting cancer. 
• How much does cancer really cost? This article would elaborate about the overall cost when one is diagnosed with a specific cancer.
• What went through my head when I got the news..This article would be written about a cancer patient who is currently diagnosed who elaborates about the fears and thoughts of when the doctor sat he/she down. This patient would write and give hope to those who are in the same boat because the author of this article would write optimistically about how nothing can get he/she down in life. 

Books

Books are my way of getting a better understanding at things. If I read a book, it's more than likely that the reason why I am reading it in the first place is to obtain more information or get an idea of what it would really be like being in another persons shoes; my reading genre is mainly non-fiction. Yet, even when I read fiction, they still hold truth to what really happened to the author but with minor changes to keep the book more of a story layout. I love history and I especially love reading about history.

"Night"- Elie Wiesel 
This book in particular is by far one of my all time favorites. This magnificent piece of work is about the author's experience with his father at Auschwitz, a Nazi German concentration camp, in the height of the Second World War. Wiesel's style of writing was so specific in detail that I was able to imagine the events he had to go through, which consisted of horror and heart-breaking tragedies. This was the first book I cried to when reading, as well as the first book for me to finish in less than twenty-four hours. I couldn't resist not knowing what would happen next. I just simply couldn't put this book down.

Night (Amazon Link) 


"Girl in Translation"- Jean Kwok
This book completely changed my perspective on immigrants who come to America and wish to obtain citizenship. Kimberly Chang, the book's main protagonist, emigrates to America with her mother from Hong King to Brooklyn and faces many challenging situations that she can't get out of. She is a Chinatown sweatshop worker who speaks barely any English and is forced by her mother to exceed in school and obtain a scholarship from a prestigious college to save her and her mother out of the misery they are living in. Because sweatshops are illegal in America, she is forced to tell no one about her "other life". The books story line is absolutely amazing. This book was so inspirational to me and it will forever be one of my favorites because of how the author portrayed her life through a very compelling story. This book too was one where I couldn't put down. The story was just too "juicy".

Girl in Translation (Amazon Link)


'A Child Called "It"'- Dave Pelzer
This book was another one of my favorites that has left a very bittersweet effect on me. It was hard for me to read only because the heart-breaking situations the author had to go through: being abused by his mother as a child.  He was tormented and treated as a worthless human being, as if he were a slave to his mother. This book was such an eye-opener to me that I feared what many other children, like Dave Pelzer, have to endure at home with psychotic parents. I furthered my research on child abuse and was astounded by how so many are faced with mental problems after they grow up and live on their own. I loved and hated this book at the same time.

A Child Called "It" (Amazon Link)