"Most often, youth use music for the purpose of constructing a group identity. Music, as one of the oldest forms of communication, gives young adults individualism from a concept most feared: being like their parents. The leading musical interest in each generation is chosen as an aspect of the necessary teenage rebellion against their parents. There is a journey from childhood to adulthood in which teenagers are stuck between. Teenagers, being in this always-awkward middle ground, find methods for self-expression and identity. This identity they seek is most often different from their parents. Youth culture is about individualism. The youth must search for newer and more inventive ways to distinguish themselves from the older generation. Unfortunately, in their quest for individualism through music, the youth are really just like their parents. The main concepts, ideas and goals are the same and really just expressed with slight variation. Also, ironically, the youth of yesterday are today's adults. These adults belonged to the many groups that succeeded in separating themselves from their parents. Now there is a role reversal. The youth of today are fighting suppression from the people who should understand the most. Those passion filled youths have grown up and matured. Simultaneously, new forms of popular music and paralleled youth cultures continually appear.As society changes, it creates the conditions for the creation of new social groups whose members will choose cultural elements, such as music, to define themselves. This need for self-definition is an inherent need amongst teenagers. The necessity to construct an individual identity has been proven through several decades, including but not exclusive to the jazz era, swing music, the 1950s and the infamous psychedelic 60s. Also, the larger the generation gap preceding the decade, the larger the next gap appears to be. However, despite the massive amounts of change, the basic ideas are not lost in the struggle. Music, a wonderfully pervasive medium, can effectively define each generation as needed. Thus, in the future, music will probably sustain its important value. Youth will use it as a tool to define themselves, express themselves and shock their parents and elders. When this cycle will stop cannot be predicted, although, if the future holds its roots in history, one can be sure that this tradition of behavior will continue for some time."

i n K A R E N t

c a t a l e n a 2

Summery for the semester:
I learned several hard lessons. I still have work to do over the the summer, so I'm not even quite done. But at least I'm still in school. I still have my job. And I'm not failing. :) Things will slowly get better.
Right on! Yay for summer!.

LINKS::
[the diary][email][middle-man

"One knows of the five simple senses we humans possess. When we learn of these senses, we think of them individually instead of how they work together to perform the most simple of tasks. To keep track of and monitor our position and movement, our body uses the vestibular sense and kinesthesis. To better understand our bodies, we apply what we know about the vestibular system and kinesthesis to sensory restriction. Our body uses the vestibular sense to detect movement. Instead of relying on touch for motion feedback, our body also relies on our inner ear fluid. Substances such as the semicircular canals, vestibular sacs, and the cochlea all rotate when the head moves. The messages from this movement are instantaneously sent to the brain where it is interpreted to be our current balance. Another motion sensory device is the kinesthesis system. By definition, kinesthesis is the system for sensing the position and movement of our body. Simplified, this means our body knows exactly how and where our body is moving all the time. Our brain then processes information from our nerve cells and reports it. Without kinesthesis, it would be extremely difficult to function. One would have to rely on other senses to move about, such as sight. However, missing yet another sense, sensory restriction, it would be nearly impossible to even stand in a dark room. Sensory restriction can be one of several scenarios. The loss of a sense is a possibility. This can happen at birth or during the course of a lifetime. Another sensory restriction is sensory monotony. This occurs when the nerve signals send the same message again an again. A good example of this is truck driving traveling a long distance without sleep. By looking at past experiments, proving the effects of sensory restriction is undoubtedly difficult. A researcher subjected volunteers to a monotonous environment in a "sensory deprivation" experiment. The subjects hallucinated, became disorientated, and became easily manipulated. However, these effects were merely a correlation. Correlation does not prove causation. You see social isolation, stress of confinement and other factors could have produced similar results. After several re-tests, it was proven that sensory restriction does not deeply affect the majority of the population negatively. In fact, it resulted in the contrary. It instead, produced calmness. In further studies, it was found that sensory restriction could be used to control one's self control. This new technique is used for drug abuse victims to overcome their weaknesses. Both smokers and college drinkers yielded productive results after being subjected to REST for a length of time. REST is the method of Restricted Environmental Stimulation Therapy. Commonly it is a dark, quiet room or partially filled tub. Essentially, the difference between the vestibular system and the kinesthesis system is as simple as touch is to the ear. Once one understands these concepts, they can look further into how one can benefit from the lack of these senses. We not only thrive from stimulation, but we require it to survive. However, the disappearance or restriction of senses also proves to be beneficial to our health."