Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

“Listening to You…”
Andy Carbaugh

For long you live and high you fly, smiles you give and tears you'll cry. All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be. I believe that statement, and I believe in the fact that psychadelic-sounding instruments go along in the background to it. I believe in music. Shakespeare can have the east with Juliet as his sun, but I'd rather have John Lennon informing me that the sun is coming. Life comes at you fast, and it never stops. I believe you need something to help you through it's ups and downs, and I believe for me listening to music is what keeps life coming at me.

Music keeps me sane. The cute girl down the hall didn't want to go on a date with me, and I was pretty bummed. Open up my itunes and I've got about five hundred artists to either commiserate with my loneliness, cheer me up, or depress me even more. My music can help me justify every emotion I've ever felt, no matter how irrational it may really be, and help me move on. I'm liable to be down for a few days without a little pick me up from my itunes. A few songs about heartbreak, a couple about moving on, and maybe one about how the bitch doesn't deserve me, and I'm back on my feet in under a half hour. I'm writing this paper even though I would rather be out having drinks with my friends, but hey, at least Ben Folds is keeping me company.

Music is important because it functions as the best friend I could possibly have. It's always there no matter what, to help me with whatever I need. It can keep me company wherever I am, and help me live out any dreams I may have. If I want to go to space I can go with Ziggy Stardust, if I'm ever wondering what a typical day of a ghetto cowboy would be like, Bone Thugs can tell me. In seven minutes I can be the sensitive guy that can get any girl, and then I’m the badass motherfucker who will cap you if you step out of line. Music is always there for me. It lets me walk from class to class with rhythm. It lets me study for tests without getting too stressed about them. It lets me do anything I don't want to be doing while also doing something I truly love, and that's priceless. Music guides me through my life while letting me escape whenever I want to. It keeps me company, it keeps me focused, and it soothes my emotions. I believe in music, and I believe I would be lost without it. If you don't believe me, just remember that we can work it out, we can work it out, because life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.

Songs Referenced (Editor’s note: incomplete bibliographic referencing):

The Beatles. “Here Comes the Sun.”

The Beatles. “We Can Work It Out.”

Bone Thugz n Harmony. “Ghetto Cowboy.”

David Bowie. “Ziggy Stardust.”

Pink Floyd. “Breathe.