Casey's Casual Conversation Corner

Music plays an enormous role in my life. I listen to it all the time, play guitar and piano all the time, and think about music all the time. It makes sense that Spotify wrapped is something I look forward to every year. This year, it was Wednesday, December 4th, and unsurprisingly, I turned into an actual child again. My mood was the most energetic and positive it had been in a while (to the extent that my friends actively pointed it out). So why does it make me so happy? It's really a reflection of myself through the year. What I'm listening to says a lot about where I am mentally at that time. Particularly, it's interesting to see the artists I listened to most each month as it makes it really easy for me to see what resonated with me at the time. My most listened-to artists this year were The Strokes, Big Thief, Beach House, Adrianne Lenker, and Grouper. None of these were surprising (except Grouper, an absolute wild card). The Strokes are my favorite band, and Big Thie...

     I really have only done one research project in my high school career, and I didn't hate it. It was my junior year and the topic was a word that we researched. We had to go in depth on the word and discuss some aspect of it. It was a broad prompt, so it was up to us to narrow it down. The word I picked was "inspiration" and I decided to try to figure out where it comes from and how different people get motivation. As a procrastinator myself, I thought that it was be an interesting topic to research. Luckily, it was. Part of the paper was that we had to get our sources from different mediums. For example, one of my sources was a book that I had already read, another was a video game, and another was the dictionary, so the sources were all over the place. One that particularly stands out to me is my use of a quote from the song King by Florence and the Machine: "You need to go to war to find material to sing." The quote brings up an interesting point: does in...

The Giving Tree has always made me sad, but it's an amazing children's story. The tree in the story is an overt metaphor for a parent. The boy, the only person in the story, gets everything he needs from the tree. When he was young, he played with the tree and spent much time with it. As he grows up, his needs change, and he only returns to material things, like the branches of a house. The book portrays the child as a bit of a spoiled brat. At least, that is how I interpreted it as a child. I was committed to being better than the boy, and the book made me cautious of being inappreciative. Looking back, that was definitely the purpose of the book. It genuinely made me a better person. As I get older, I'm starting to see that "brat" or "spoiled" may be the wrong words to describe the boy. Now, I feel like "taker" is more accurate. A central point of parenthood is raising your children to be independent and not need you anymore. He still returne...

One of my favorite songs ever made is “Helplessness Blues” by Fleet Foxes. It's difficult to describe this song in the grandeur that I believe it deserves and adequately convey what it means to me. Nonetheless, I will try. The emotions I feel while listening are a mix of hopefulness (ironically, given the name), melancholy, and, most palpably, longing; longing for more than the world seems to be able to give sometimes; longing for an impossible sense of purpose and belonging. The instrumental starts sparse, with a simple acoustic guitar chord. Quickly, the opening line sets the tone perfectly: "I was raised up believing / I was somehow unique." The first time I heard the song, I was instantly drawn in and planted firmly in singer Robin Pecknold's state of mind. This feeling of uniqueness or, perhaps more accurately, a yearning for individuality and self-expression is central; however, the theme isn’t fully laid out until Pecknold candidly states, "And now after...

The aspect of English 198 that stands out above the rest of my classes is the fun we're able to have in the class. Most of my classes have no room for discussions, and it's disappointing as I find that to be the most enjoyable part of classes. That's a problem that I don't have to worry about in English. The people in the class are great too. No one takes themselves too seriously, and it's just a good time. I realized how much I enjoyed the class when class got canceled on Wednesday. I'm not saying I was emotionally ruined, but I wasn't as thrilled to be missing a class as I would've been if any other teacher canceled. The class also makes a lot of sense format-wise. We discussed some topics, and the relatively informal discussions made the information stick in my brain better. With classes that aren't fun and feel like we're being forced to listen, my brain is actively unhappy learning the information; it just takes more to grasp concepts. Engli...

I think my writing process has been effective. I started writing on drafting say and continued making progress throughout the week. I went to the library Friday and really focused on getting a good rough draft made. I still would have liked to go to the library to make more meaningful progress before Thursday (the day before the peer review), but that deadline inspired me. Now, it is Sunday, and I'm at the library again. I plan to make any final changes to my draft and record it tomorrow. Again, waiting until now to work on revising my rough draft wasn't the best idea, but I am happy with my progress. My writing process has always been procrastinatory, and my best results have come from setting smaller deadlines for myself. Or, more accurately, when my teachers set smaller deadlines for the class. I just can't focus when the threat of turning the assignment in late is urgent. I tend to do my best writing late at night, but there are so many cases where I can immediately tel...