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Being a part of a digital era has some of its ups and downs. Although I feel probably more connected with the world and its world wide web of information, it means there's a constant spread of information leaks through as well. When I saw this TikTok, it almost made my blood boil because of how much misinformation can spread through the digital era (from the original creator he's replying to). I know many people that are advocates for the end of gun violence and just safer regulations put, but how is there ever expected to be changed if we constantly spread misinformation? I feel like especially during a digital era, we continue to educate ourselves further and research what we say before we say it. With now children still in their single digits on the internet, we need to continue to educate them properly. Especially during troubling times like COVID-19 and the pandemic, I've heard so much misinformation from my parent, my friends, older family members, and even the children I watch over as a camp counselor, and will continue to educate further on misinformation.

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105.8K Likes, 2.2K Comments. TikTok video from Yuval Ben-Hayun (@yuvaltheterrible): "@ljtruth lets learn how to use statistics please #guns #gun #violence #data #statistics". original sound - Yuval Ben-Hayun.

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For my ISB Lecture class, which is specifically focused on science, our extra credit assignment was very different than usual. Our professor gave us the option to do a bonus assignment for 10 extra points, where we write our thoughts on this article, and he will relay it to the board in a discussion. I usually don't feel too connected to this class, but extra credit is still extra credit. Reading through this article, I definitely had so many personal thoughts and feelings that I felt were portrayed here perfectly. Ever since the tragedy of February, I have never felt more isolated and disconnected from my teachers. It almost feels as if I went through it by myself with how some of my teachers took it, especially my math teacher. I won't go into it much, but I'm not the best at math in general, but now math seems impossible, and my teacher doesn't make me feel any better about math in general.

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A ‘STUNNING’ LEVEL OF STUDENT DISCONNECTION - Impact Lab

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Professors are reporting record numbers of students checked out, stressed out, and unsure of their future. By Beth McMurtrie In 20 years of teaching at Doane University, Kate Marley has never seen anything like it. Twenty to 30 percent of her students do not show up for class or complete any of the…

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I was scrolling through TikTok when I saw this Tiktok that really intrigued me with its take on white rappers and their way of appropriating the culture of rap. This reminded me specifically of an argument I got into with a teacher in my senior year of high school because every Wednesday, they would play music on the intercom during passing periods with specific themes. They would announce the themes and songs played on Tuesday, a day before they were played on the intercom. During Black History Month, one of the themes was Rap and Hip-hop, and looking through the playlist, I was in shock. 3/5 of the songs were made by white rappers, including Post Malone. Although I'm awfully shy, I decided to email the announcer back about my concerns with some recommendations, still school appropriate, but made by black rappers. We emailed for a bit, and he asked me why shouldn't we embrace those that use this culture, even if it's seen as appreciation. I'm not going to lie, I feel like I didn't really have an answer, but I feel like this hit the nail right on the head. I'm very tapped into rap discussions and a lot of times, you'll see a lot of mainly black artists labeled as "mumble rap" or "mush mouths", whereas when white artists do similar rapping, it's seen as cool or edgy. Along with that, Post Malone has the possibility to change from one genre to another because of the way he changes his voice depending on what he decides to exploit, whereas someone like Beyonce, who made a very pop dance house, album last year, Renaissance, is still labeled as R&B. Or Tyler, the Creator, who made IGOR, a pop album, given a Grammy for "Best Rap and Urban Album".

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Nothing Is Neutral: Post Malone #postmalone #teachersoftiktok #nothingisneutral #whiterapper #education #musictok   

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@vattica
Nothing Is Neutral: Post Malone #postmalone #teachersoftiktok #nothingisneutral #whiterapper #education #musictok
♬ original sound - VATTICA

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"The Promise of Elgin" | Elgin, Illinois

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"The Promise of Elgin" | Elgin, Illinois

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I took a train to Elgin, Illinois while on spring break, and saw this art piece called "The Promise of Elgin", and though it was really beautiful, so I took a picture, and didn't think much else until I did some research on it this week. I found out that this peace was made during June 2020, for the murder of George Floyd, and that Elgin held many peaceful protests throughout that time in honor of him. Thinking about it now, I wish my neighborhood was more involved in the protests and whatnot, because at that time, I remember signs on every yard saying "We support the police". It made me think about how I could continue to stay involved in social justice and with a community like Elgin that I can simply take by train, maybe understanding social justice a lot more. Throughout these protests, there was a group that made the Elgin Social Justice Collective, with a project consisting of four parts: a mural, a documentary, a Juneteenth partnership, and a scholarship.

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Danny Brown at Michigan State University

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Danny Brown at Michigan State University

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Right after spring break, Michigan State University hosted their annual spring concert with headliner, indie band Hippo Campus, and opener Danny Brown. I went to this concert for opener Danny Brown, as he has been one of my favorite rappers of all time, and I had never anticipated something like this in a while. It was already crazy enough it was walking distance to me, but even crazier that I got to go for only twelve dollars, I was too excited. The one thing that sort of caught me a bit off guard was how much the two artists contrasted each other, as Danny Brown makes a very different style of hip-hop than many are used to, and might be offput by it, especially if majority are there for an indie act, but I didn't think much of it. I got really lucky with seating because I was nearly in the front row after camping out for two hours, and I was super excited. Once Danny Brown got on stage, I felt great, it was one of the greatest experiences I had, but you can tell there were many mixed feelings, but I didn't care as I was enjoying myself. Until he rapped one of my favorite songs, I was dancing along and enjoying myself, until I hear the girl behind me just mock him for the entire song, and at first, it kind of annoyed me, but I didn't let it get to me too much, because I didn't want her to ruin this concert for me. But after the concert, it still took up a lot of my headspace, and kind of annoyed me, but I wasn't sure why. It sorta made sense to me because I feel like it made me realize how people tend to mock things we don't understand, and that girl mocking what I enjoyed hurt me a bit. I feel like that's something students do in classrooms, and I think it's important we teach children to not yuck other people's yum, because I shouldn't be worrying whether or not someone cares about what they like or do, and we teach them that there's no right or wrong way to enjoy yourself.

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The indie rock band Hippo Campus will perform at the Breslin Center on Tuesday, March 28 for the annual spring concert hosted by the University Activities Board (UAB), ImpactFM and the Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU).

Singer, songwriter and rapper Danny Brown will perform the opening act. Hippo Campus previously performed for Michigan State University students 2021 in a free virtual spring concert when it wasn't safe to gather in person during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Journalism sophomore and ImpactFM station manager Delaney Rogers said this year's concert is attracting more ticket sales compared to the virtual concert.

"It's going to be exciting for those students who attended that virtual concert to now be able to see it live and in person at their own university instead of just through Zoom screens," Rodgers said. "It brings back community excitement and makes you have a little bit more hope that things are returning to normal since COVID."

Journalism junior Andrew Miller-Thomas, who is a member of the UAB, said the organizations have been meeting weekly to work on the logistics of the concert since September.

Hip-hop opener Danny Brown and indie-rock band Hippo Campus brings a diverse genre mix to students, Rodgers said.

"Whether you know the music or not, it's still good opportunity that the university is putting on, it's accessible for students to be able to come," Rodgers said. "With the variety of the open arena was more R&B and hip-hop, and then the headliners more indie alternative, it's a really good mixture just to come and get exposure to those sorts of things."

Tickets, which cost $10 for students and $35 for the general public, are sold online and throughout showtime. Doors open at the Breslin Center at 7 p.m. Clear bags are allowed inside of the venue and parking will cost $10.

Discussion

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Hippo Campus, Danny Brown will perform at annual MSU spring concert - The State News

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The indie rock band Hippo Campus will perform at the Breslin Center on Tuesday, March 28 for the annual spring concert hosted by the University Activities Board (UAB), ImpactFM and the Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU). Singer, songwriter and rapper Danny Brown will perform the opening act.

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During one of my classes, UP100, a class that talks specifically about the functionality of cities, they played this video titled "Our public space is male". I'm not going to lie, I think of this class just as an "easy A" class, and I don't find much interest often, but this video really caught my eye. It really is the little things that build up in our world that do make our public spaces made for males. I feel like this reason is almost internally done, from the thought that women aren't in public, they're not "working like men", and although theirs been a progressive change to this way of thinking from many, it still isn't reflected in a woman's public space.

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While scrolling through my "For You" page on TikTok, I came across this almost three minute long video from user 'therecount' which goes through a proposal made by Wisconsin Republicans to ban multiple terms and subjects from classrooms, terms including critical race theory, abolitionist teaching, critical self awareness, intersectionality, and  systemic racism. I've linked the proposal to this post as well (Page 3 has the full list of words). I had my jaw dropped on the floor hearing all the terms wanting to be banned, and how some of them are used for basic social studies or just to think for yourself and having your own thoughts. This proposal bans the concept of thinking. Along with the obvious erasure of POC struggles, we see many new states attempting and even successfully banning critical race theory, which makes me ponder how different my teaching could be in a few years from now, and how I find teaching as my passion, will it change with ludicrous bans of important topics that I need to teach in my classrooms.  Lastly, I think this comment on this TikTok sums up a very real issue in the public school systems as of right now.

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To Pimp A Butterfly | "I remember you was conflicted"

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To Pimp A Butterfly | "I remember you was conflicted"

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I decided to re-listen to Lamar's album, ' To Pimp A Butterfly', since it's been a while, and this is really an album that you could listen to 100 times and find something new about it, diving through this, it was Lamar's poem. Throughout this album, Lamar portrays a story about after leaving Compton looking for wealth and attention through his talents, meets a metaphorical Uncle Sam, who uses materialism and fortune to exploit Lamar's talents, using his blackness to "pimp" him out to America's benefit, this is his metaphorical caterpillar state, where he's looking to turn into that butterfly. He finds himself in this depression state once he realizes this materialism is not enough, and once he comes back to Compton, he realizes that he was so blinded by this fame, and how he has much improvement to do on his own self image. He solidifies himself, and is in this metaphorical cocoon state, and he realizes the process he needs to go through. He needs to forgive those around him and face his past head on, and not until then he is free from his cocoon, and turns into a butterfly. This is all explained throughout the poem that goes on throughout this album, and completed in the middle of 'Mortal Man', and gives back to his community from what he has learned.

"Continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one
A war that was based on apartheid and discrimination
Made me wanna go back to the city and tell the homies what I learned
The word was respect
Just because you wore a different gang color than mine's
Doesn't mean I can't respect you as a black man
Forgetting all the pain and hurt we caused each other in these streets
If I respect you, we unify and stop the enemy from killing us"

It's a very heavy listen, but an easy recommendation.

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[clean version] "I remember you was conflicted" poem - Kendrick Lamar