This week Haneen and myself are both the discussion leaders! We decided to split it and both make a question, so also make sure to check out her blog. I'm pretty sure her question is related to section four and mine is a question for everything we've read in Sketches so far. Man was section four good! Sketches is covering a lot of interesting topics and it's probably one of my favourite books. My question is...
If you could pick a theme song for the book what song would it be? If possible, link to the song. Tell us which part of the song or which particular lyrics made you think of and relate to Sketches.
Enjoy!
If I could pick a theme song for Sketches I would pick the song "Runaway Love" by Ludacris featuring Mary J. Blige. Here is a youtube link that you can watch at home: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISvMS6s41vY
ReplyDeleteThe first verse reminds me of Ashley, the second reminds me of Dana and the third reminds me of Brent.
In the first verse some of the lines are "Why she's all alone and ain't ever met her family, Mama's always gone and she never met her daddy"
and "Mama's on drugs getting high up in the kitchen bringing home men at different hours of the night startin' with some laughs, usually ending in a fight" and "tries to tell her Mama but her Mama don't believe her." These lyrics relate to Ashley's story because her Mom was with a lot of different guys, some of whom hit Ashley and her Mom chose not to notice or listen.
In verse 2 some lines are "Alcoholic stepdad always wanna strike her yells and abuses, leaves her with some bruises teachers ask questions she makin' up excuses, bleeding on the inside, cryin' on the out" The first part talks about an abusive step-dad and I'm assuming Dana's step-dad is abusive. It also says "Bleeding on the inside crying on the out" which reminds me of Dana's cutting situation.
The third verse is actually about a girl who gets pregnant but some of the lines remind me of Brent. The song says"so she pops pills to get rid of all the pain" and Brent was addicted to drugs for a while because he couldn't handle his emotions. It also says that the girl in the song was eleven and "she's having sex with a boy who's sixteen." Ashley told Dana that when Brent was first on the streets he had sex with men (who I imagine were much older than he was) for money.
The ending of all three verses is "(insert name) is stuck up in the world on her own, forced to think that hell is a place called home, nothing else to do but get her clothes and pack, she says she's about to runaway and never come back." These words relate to all three of them because they all ran away from a bad situation at home.
I think the theme song you picked relates to the book a lot Hannah! This is a very interesting question. I need a little more time to think about this one, I'll answer it as soon as I figure out a song.
ReplyDeleteThat's fine Sara, take your time. It took me a while to find a song but I was thinking on the question before I even posted it. I'm sorry if it's a difficult question to answer but I thought it would be fun and different from the question we've discussed before. It doesn't have to be super, right on to the book it can just have a couple lines that are related or a similar theme. I hope you can think of something!
ReplyDeleteI have thought of a song! It's called Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. There are a lot of lines in this song that remind me of Sketches. For example these lines:
ReplyDelete“Mama, ooh
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters”.
It's from a boy's perspective, but it's kind of like Dana's situation. She randomly ran away and thought about her mom and if her mom loves her she would be crying, so it's similar to the song. Another line is this: “Body's aching all the time”, Dana's body is always aching because when you live on the streets you never have a comfortable place to sleep. A line that reminds me of why Brent ran away is this, “Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth”. One of the reasons, or the only reason why he ran away, is because he thought that his dad would rather have a kid run away instead of a gay one. This line says that the boy is leaving everybody behind (which I think means that he's running away) and facing the truth. I imagine the boy as Brent, and he's running away because he realizes that he's gay and he doesn't want his father to know. The rest of the song is really random, but it's awesome! You guys should listen to it sometime. Hannah remember when we were rocking out to that song? This was a very interesting question, it's different from the other questions. Section four was a really interesting one. We saw the soft side of Ashley, found out that Brent is gay or questioning, found out why the both of them ran away, and found out that Dana cuts herself. What we still didn't find out after that amazing section is why Dana cuts herself and what her stepfather did to her. What if he didn't really do anything to her? Maybe she felt like she wasn't wanted because of him and just ran away? I hope we find out soon!
Awesome response Sara! I never even thought of Bohemian Rhapsody being like sketches but it's one of my all time favourite songs! I like how you made excellent connections that were very believable even though you weren't sure what the song was really about. The line "no escape from reality" also reminds me of Sketches because Dana can't make the reality of her life go away. "Mama, just killed a man" could be a metaphor for when Dana's parents split up because her mom might have cut Dana's dad out of her life as if she were killing him. Also the line "So you think you can love me and leave me to die" reminds me of Brent because his dad obviously loves him or at least though he did at one point but then he said he would rather have a runaway son than a gay son which implies that he wants him out of his life and doesn't care what happens to him. Good predictions at the end, I also wonder if she is blowing things out of proportion and if her stepfather really didn't do anything. However, she told Ashley that he hit her so he obviously did something.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I re-read the section and realized that she told Ashley about her stepfather hitting her. The lines you picked from Bohemian Rhapsody also relate a lot to the book.
ReplyDeleteOur Oshawa Sketches discussion buddies are missing out on all the thoughtful and juicy discussions this week, and these discussions are thoughtful and juicy times two, since we have two questions this week! At the end of the week, it's going to have been an awesome discussion times two! I'll respond to this question as soon as I can. For me, it's hard to pick a theme song. I've never even thought about "Bohemian Rhapsody" either, but when I think about it, the lyrics relate so much to Sketches. Excellent choice Sara, and Hannah, I've never heard of the song "Runaway Love", but when I have time, I'll listen to the song, looking at your response Hannah, it seems like another excllent choice for the theme song. This song will probably be an excellent choice for the theme song as well. I'll respond when I can!
ReplyDeleteHello girls,
ReplyDeleteI've got to apologize for my class. I don't think that my students realized that there would be two separate Sketches discussions this week. I had assumed that you would collaborate on a single question and post it on a single blog. I will make sure that I clarify the situation with your fellow group members this afternoon.
That's fine, there's still time left in the week! Thank you Ms. Crosbie for letting us know.
ReplyDeleteSorry I couldn't come into the conversation sooner, but when I read your guestion, I had to think of a song, but I came to my decision, and it is With A Little Help From My Friends. Here's the link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=with+a+little+help+from+my+friends&aq=1
I think this is an appropriate song because it talks about someone to love and when Dana's stepdad abused her, she probably felt that she just wanted to have a regular family and to have a happy one. Also I chose this song just becasue it said With A Little Help From My Friends because Dana has Ashley and Brent.
Sorry for commenting so late. Great question Hannah, and great responses everyone.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBDF04fQKtQ
The song I chose for the 'theme' song for Skectches.
A part of the song is:
What would you think if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me.
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song,
And I'll try not to sing out of key.
Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mmm,I get high with a little help from my friends.
I think this part of the song describes the
way Dana feels towards Brent, and Ashley.
I have another song as well. It's called Come Home by One republic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvA7Ej9N_5Y
Come home
Come home
Cause I’ve been waiting for you
For so long
For so long
And right now there's a war between the vanities
But all i see is you and me
The fight for you is all I’ve ever known
So come home
That part of the song reminds me of Dana and her younger sister.
It's interesting that Arianna and Karran came up with the same song (With a Little Help From My Friends) by the Beatles for the theme song. Excellent choice! Arianna, I've never heard of the song "Come Home" by OneRepublic. When I have time, I'll listen to the song. Looking at the lyrics though, it seems like another excellent choice for the theme song. It will probably be an excellent choice for the theme song. The responses are due tomorrow, and I still haven't thought of a song! I need to get thinking of one by tonight, and tonight I need to prepare for the History Fair tomorrow! It has got to be the perfect song though! I'll respond tonight when I can!
ReplyDeleteGreat answers everyone! Those are all excellent songs with lyrics that are perfect! This discussion has turned out to be pretty good after all. Melissa, I hope you end up finding a song! Even if only one line seems to fit you can certainly use it. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteYeah it is interesting that Arianna and I chose the same song.
ReplyDeleteThose songs do relate with Sketches. Don't worry Melissa there are a lot of songs that relate with Sketches because the topic is really popular. Hannah gave us an awesome question. I had to think really hard.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you Sara!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool question! Sorry for the delay, I was preparing for the History Fair, and it took me a while to think of a song for my choice of the theme song for Sketches, so here it is! If I could pick a theme song for Sketches, I would pick the song "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2. Here's the link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjC_bHggTuo,
ReplyDeleteand it's also song #79 on my blog playlist. The intro is a little bit long, so on Youtube, you might want to skip to 1:18, and on my bog playlist, you might want to skip to 1:17. I picked this song to be the theme song for Sketches, because I think this song relates to the book the most. I'm going to point out some of the lyrics and how they relate. In the beginning of the first verse, it says, "I want to run, I want to hide." That reminds me of all of the reasons why Brent, Ashley and Dana would run away and hide out on the streets. To choose a life on the streets where you have to stay in shelters and panhandle means that they're running and hiding from something so terrible. In the second verse, it says, "I want to feel sunlight on my face." That reminds me of Brent, Ashley and Dana living on the streets, because they feel like it would be the better thing than how they felt when they were at home facing horrible things in their life. In the song, it says this in the chorus, "And when I go there, I go there with you, it's all I can do." That reminds me of Brent, Ashley and Dana having no choice, but having to stick together during their new life on the streets. Also, the song says, "Oh, I see love, see our love turn to rust, we're beaten and blown by the wind." That reminds me of all the families falling apart, because Brent, Ashley and Dana had horrible familial issues which caused them to run away in the first place, because they thought it would be the better than being at home. Also, they are beaten and blown by the wind when they are on the streets and don't have a place to spend the night. In conclusion to this response, "Where the Strets Have No Name" by U2 would be my choice for the theme song of Sketches, and I recommend that you listen to it if you have never heard of the song.
Awesome song selection Melissa! I'm glad you finally came up with a song. I'm sure the delay is fine because we were all really busy with the History Fair. I like U2 but I actually haven't listened to that song before. It sounds like it would be a great theme for Sketches. I'll go listen to it now.
ReplyDeleteGreat theme song Melissa. With the lines that you pointed out it sounds like it relates a lot to Sketches.
ReplyDeleteWOW! Nice discution! Damn I wish my group was like your guys. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThanks Tyler, just work on trying to motivate your group and write interesting things that people will want to reply to. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHi Tyler!
ReplyDeleteI know I am very late on answering this but here's my response! Sorry about that guys!
ReplyDeleteGreat way of asking a question Hannah, very interesting! I can't think of one song but here's one song and only the first verse relate to the Brent and it's called Karma - The last emperor. Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohNd7t_sR1Y The first verse says " He was a fly young cat, 23 to be exact
Ready to conquer the world fresh out of the pack
Comes from a small town, wrong side of the tracks
But somehow, he managed to slip through the cracks
He writes rhymes to escape what was awful and evil
Walks a fine line between lawful and legal
Seen a lot of bad times, there's a lot of good in him
Been around the world and still got the hood in him
If he carried a tech, would you call him a schemer?
If he sounds far fetched, would you call him a dreamer?
Stays true to himself, so he's not a deceiver
He found a lifetime job of making you a believer
Every now and then he would stare into space
And maybe think about if he had what it takes
He thinks about the hood and why he had to escape
And the family he left in that desolate place
It could be you or me or any man
Driving a sports car or a mini van
These are the aspirations of certain men
Who leave the neighborhood only to return again
Come on"
This reminds me of Brent except the age part and the rhymes part. But it also kind of relates to me because of my poetry writing and this is what I meant by the way we escape our thoughts through arts.