Improved writing skills?

I really do not feel that my writing has improved significantly because of the assignments that we did in this class. I think that I understand MLA formatting a little more, but my writing skills have stayed pretty much the same. I did not get anything out of the “They Say, I Say” book, it confused me more than it helped me. I think that I learned more about music than writing in our, “Music and Culture” book. The questions that we answered just made me look at the individual essay (the content of the article) more closely than really focus on how they were written, I guess. The blogs were awful to write every week, and just made me more stressed out rather than more focused on improving my writing. It was really interesting reading everyone else's  blogs to see what their opinions were, but responding to them was not anything that I looked forward too. I feel that I was an okay writer before I took this class, I am confident in my grammar and spelling skills, and I don't think that has changed. I really was not a fan of writing essays or blogs or anything else, and I dreaded taking an English class for the first time after high school. With the right topic, writing can sometimes be fun and interesting, but having to forcefully write about topics that did not interest me did not help me improve.
I actually really enjoyed (as far as this class goes) the PDR's. I like helping others out so this was my opportunity to help out my fellow classmates (or at least try to). I actually learned from those the most because the constructive criticism from my peers helped me understand what was wrong with my paper and helped me see both the good and the bad in my essays. I've always liked playing “teacher” in my younger days, so the PDR's gave me that chance to “grade” papers and compare and contrast my essays to the ones that I peer edited.
I think that I am still an okay writer and I do not think that I have improved or gotten worse. All-in-all, if MLA was not taken into account, I think that I can write quality work   and am proud of some of the things that I have written in the course of this class. But overall I think that my writing skills have stayed the same, which is not a bad thing I guess.

Censorship

I really don't think that musicians should have to censor their music because they should have the freedom to create whatever they want. I also do not think that the artists should be so concerned with the whole loosing money over censorship situation because their music should be created for art and entertainment purposes. I know that everyone needs to make a living somehow but having one of their songs censored is not going to make or break their career.

I really think that parents need to be the ones who are censoring their children from music that they do not approve of. It is the parents job to be aware of what music is out there and what their kids are listening too. It is important for them to control the what their children are being exposed to and need to do the censoring themselves.

I do not think that artists are economically hurt by censorship because artists that are that well known will have enough money already to not even flinch when their music gets censored. Obviously music needs to be censored when it is played on the radio and the music needs to be awarer of its worldwide audience.  

Research Paper

This research paper is coming along well for me and I really like my topic. I am having some difficulties, though. I am writing on ‘Deadheads’- which are the ultimate fans of the band Grateful Dead. I am researching the Deadheads and finding out whether they resembled a cult or not. Prior to this research paper I was very uninformed about The Grateful Dead and I have very much enjoyed getting to know their music better and come to a better understanding of the Deadheads themselves. My thesis is: The many fans of the band, The Grateful Dead, were dedicated, loyal, and also very much resembled cult.
I am having a hard time wording my thesis properly. Right now it does not sound professional and I think it could be organized and said more clearly. It is hard to find the right words to say without confusing my audience while properly forecasting the body of my paper. Also, looking online and through the books I am using as my research material offer more information on the band themselves, rather than the Deadheads. I have three books which include personal stories from fans of the Grateful Dead but it is hard to categorize them in a cult or not without any outside research. I can find plenty of research on Deadheads themselves, but I cannot find a lot of research on the critics of the Deadheads and of the Grateful Dead. Originally I was going to write (and have started) writing on how the Deadheads resemble a cult, but now I am thinking of changing it because it is all how you look at the situation and how you actually define a cult. I need to research more into what a cult really is and then go on from there.
I am very much a procrastinator so that is going to hurt me in the long run. I have started on my paper, but it being due in a little more than a week scares me. I know that I should be working on it every day but the procrastinator in me stops me from doing that : ). I plan on continuing to write every day next week, therefore I will not have to wait until the last minute and scramble up a 6 page paper that will not turn out well. I am really not a fan of writing essays in the first place, so I am hoping that since I actually like my topic that finishing my paper will be easier than I expect.

Internet Piracy

     Internet piracy is illegally copying or distributing unauthorized software. Using the internet to download music is a form of internet piracy and can be unlawful and hurt musicians or the music industry. But there are two sides to the story: 1) if you download music, and “sample” a song or two, it could encourage you to go out and buy the whole CD or album-therefore helping the music industry. And 2) the music industry is directly affected financially by the illegally downloading of music.
     The first side of the argument I tend to agree more with. People can hear or sample music that they heard of from their peers or families, and it will make them want to go and purchase that type of music. Downloading music can be compared to the radio-you hear things you like it encourages you to learn more about that artist or song-and in the future you purchase CD’s of theirs. Music sales have actually increased as internet downloading has increased. Also, illegal downloading can increase exposure for lesser-known artists.
It is not a victim-less crime.
     People download music all the time without paying for it and use it for their own benefits without thinking of who is losing in the situation. The downloading of music hurts the music industry because it does not give them the money that they should be given. Downloading music leads to the diminishing sales of CD’s. When you download music, you lose its originality. When you use the copied versions of music, you indirectly are encouraging internet piracy. As you download music, you do not go for the purchase of the original copies of music, which may result in an indirect violation of copyright.
      So there are pros and cons to each side of the argument. Internet piracy is illegal and worthy of punishment, but should there be lesser rules and guidelines since it can cause many benefits? If you just wanted to sample a few songs online, I think that should be allowed and will encourage listeners to purchase the more music and help the music industry. The music industry does lose money from people not purchasing their songs when they should be, but they gain so much more from people who want to hear more because they sampled songs online.