A bag of topics

So we were told to blog about an Asian American hip hop artist. Only Asian hip hop artist I can think of is Gin. Hes a douche. I might be wrong though, sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing between rap and hip hop. In all honesty, I don’t really listen to any independent artist in general. Additionally, most of the artists that are main stream lack a certain je ne sais quoi that makes them appealing to my tastes. The only hip hop artists that I can think of off the top of my head that have decent lyrics are Mos Def, Common, and Lupe Fiasco.

As far as the “fashion show” goes, I thought it was a fun and unique experience. As I have stated before, I have not had many classes that are group oriented. Ironically enough, this semester alone has me in three such classes, but none are as heavily group based as this. Although we struggled mightily with the concept, luckily we had plenty of talent to take care of it. Dolene (and Donna to some extent ;)) did an exceptional job making the dress in a mere two days. I could only imagine what she would be able to make if she had more time. Additionally, our resident Viet, Kim, had a great explanation for the history of the dress. Too bad we were short changed with our time.

On a side note, there has been an awful amount of violence in general. Today's Examiner talked about increased police force near the night club Whisper since the owner is throwing an all out party for its closure. I've been there once. Didn't stay long cause we got there quite late. Lately the club has been luring in all types of shady folks and the city has revoked their business licenses. Additionally, I was haplessly browsing through the statuses of friends on face book and noticed that a modest number of friends were commenting about some person’s passing as a result of gun violence. This incident made me contemplate about a previous article I read about Oakland’s festering crime problem. In a brief synopsis, the majority of major crimes (ie murder, rape, kidnapping) are correlated with the incidence of minor, petty crimes. For the most part, people are not born with malicious intent. When society general decides to turn a blind eye to these minor infractions, it sets a precedence on which larger problems could manifest. In Oakland’s case, the inhabitants of the city are no longer surprised about the violent crimes that occur there. Crime has become a facet of society. Residents are unable to attain much control due to the widespread effects it has on the city’s culture. It is already too late too weed out the problems that have catalyzed the countless atrocities endured in the city and surrounding counties. A major overhaul in all facets of infrastructure is needed to combat the uncontrollable problems that haunt the city. By taking action in one of the country’s most violent cities, we might be able to discover viable programs that can be implemented in other cities as well.

I know I’m jumping around to different topics. Going to lunch during hot days makes my brain sleepy. ( "'\(--__--)/'")