John Lennon "Imagine"

This photo shows us that John Lennon lives on even after he died.

www.johnlennon.com
www.lyricsmode.com

The most interesting thing about John Lennon, was that he was able to make the listener , laugh, cry, angry, or all of the above. I think that what we could learn that life is hard, but if we just, listen to one of the simplest songs Lennon ever wrote, '"Imagine all the people- living life in peace." We would be able to think of the world as a better place, and possibly have a more peaceful outlook on life. Here is a picture that shows how big of a dreamer, and how the world looked in Johns's eyes.

As you can see in this picture the world, is behind Lennon, and the stars are shinning and he has a rose in his mouth. He is showing the world at peace and the rose to me represents Love.

Imagine is one of the most touching songs that Lennon introduced to us. Here are the lyrics.

What do you think of the song???

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

By now we have all learned at least a small amount about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I mean come on we have a holiday in his honor. He was born on January 15, 1929 and was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. He was thirty nine. Though his death was upsetting for the civil rights activists, who were of all ethnic background, even whites, it was also what filled them with even more passion to keep fighting for equality. While he was alive he also gave many speeches that would continue to ignite the fire in people to listen to his rules about non-violent protests. I believe that Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech was his most influential and most remembered speech of all time. My favorite clause of his speech, which can be found at http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/martin-luther-kings-speech-dream-full-text/story?id=14358231&page=2#.Tx18S-yO6So was:

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

This clause really says something about Dr. King as a person and why people believed in his vision and Dream of gaining equality for the masses.

Howard Hughes

The most interesting thing that I found about Howard Hughes is that he had survived multiple airplane crashes during his life but continued to pilot his airplanes. In doing so he proved that nothing can stop you form reaching your dream. This is "an inspiration for people, ... that you can chase your dreams and be successful at them." (Me)



surprisingly Wikipedia had the most information on Howard Hughes in one place here is the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes

George Harrison

George Harrison was the lead guitarist and a vocalist for the Beatles. One of the most interesting and inspirational things about him was that known for his use of the sitar, a stringed Eastern instrument, during his time with the Beatles as well as lyrics based on Eastern philosophy and religion. "As a sitar player, he helped introduce the instrument to the mainstream pop music scene where many had not heard the Indian instrument, making him a notable musician for this skill." His lyrics also brought Eastern philosophy and religion to a Western audience as some of his songs were written about Chinese philosophy and teachings of Hinduism. His use of a different instrument than mainstream culture is what I think can help us learn to discover new methods of creating music and gives an introduction to a different type of music most have not heard before.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Biography of George Harrison.

Malcolm X by way of Wendell Berry

 Wendell Berry, as you have discovered, is a pacifist.  Strangely, his ethics make me think of the struggle that Malcolm X had with this question:  How MUCH violence is justified in the fight for justice or in the battle against dark forces in the world, however we define those dark forces.

As you may know, he became extremely militant at one point, and felt the only way society would accept blacks was through violent protest and an upheaval of the system.  Later in his life, he changed his mind, and Dr. King and Malcolm X both worked to use nonviolent means.  But this was not an easy change to make, for many reasons.  Check out some of his speeches in this link if you wish to know more about this.

http://www.malcolm-x.org/speeches.htm


Let me give you two images and notice the difference in tone and force in each.  Images are powerful parts of our rhetoric.  Be wise and considerate in your use of them, please.

Sally Ride

One of the greatest things that Sally Ride is known for is being the first American woman in space. "The event also led to people seeing women as more equal to men than they ever had before". NASA had previously put a woman through the training to go into space, but her mission was canceled and she never got the opportunity to go on another. With determination and hard work she helped lead the way for other great females to enter the science and technological fields. She never let being a female get in her way of doing what her passion was, which was showing that women are just as knowledgeable in the science and technologically fields as men.

http://www.biography.com/people/sally-ride-9458284

Maya Angelou: An Inspiration

http://mayaangelou.com/

Maya Angelou is an inspiring poet, actress, writer, activist, educator, and so much more. Today she is idolized for her fights against racial discrimination and abuse. She fought hard for the rights of African Americans and she stood beside Malcolm X and Martin Lurther King Jr. Maya Angelou is inspiring because despite all the racial discrimination and abuse that she dealt with as a child, she still continued to fight hard to change the way of the world. Maya Angelou wanted to change the world "we all have our own dreams and our own ways to achieve them. Some of us want to change the life of others, some of us want to make an impact on society, and others, well, they just want to make a difference in the world." Maya Angelou wanted to do all three. She wanted to change the lives of African Americans, she she wanted to change the way her society dealt with racial discrimination and she wanted to leave an imprint on the world to see. If we can learn one thing from Maya Angelou, it is that fight your heart out and rise about the impacts of society.