Moxy Fruvous
From their earliest gigs as buskers (street performers) in downtown Toronto, the Canadian pop band Moxy Fruvous has attracted attention with an energetic blend of tight harmonies and witty social commentary (Bush). The band’s first album, 1994’s Bargainville, highlights both these qualities, casting a skewed glance at topics ranging from video stores to the Gulf War. One of the disc’s highlights, “Darlington Darling,” examines blue-collar love and tells a tale of frustration, both economic and romantic.
The first verse introduces the song’s speaker, who works on an assembly line in an auto plant, where he “slaps on” plugs and distributor caps for Mercuries (1-2). However, we quickly discover that the speaker is unable even to afford the cars he helps to build, noting that “I can drive. . . but this car’s made for you” (4). This point is underscored by the chorus. As the speaker says that he’d like to buy a car or cars for his love, his wishes are countered by the economic realities of his situation:
I’d like to buy her one –
(Where you gonna get the money, son?)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
An’ I’d like to buy her more
Than this blue collar can afford (5-6, 11-12).
In the second verse, the speaker’s situation is contrasted with the case of a co-worker who is doing a little better. “Chipper down the line” sycophantically plies his boss with egg nog at the company Christmas party (13-14). In return, Chipper gets a raise, which he uses to pay for a vacation cottage/“love nest” on Lake Scugog (a rather unprepossessing man-made lake near Toronto)(“Lake Scugog”). Although Chipper is willing to let his coworker use the cabin for a weekend, the speaker’s girlfriend is working for nearly the entire weekend (16). Once again, the economic realities of the working class (weekend shifts) interfere with dreams of leisure and love.
Also worth noting here is that, during the solo that follows the second chorus, the listener can here a voice berating Chipper, telling him to “Get back to work, you greaseball!” Apparently, even toadying for the boss only goes so far, and even the better-paid workers are subject to verbal abuse.
After the solo and another repeat of the chorus, a final half-verse focuses on the speaker’s love. We learn that she lives “half a mile from the cooling towers” of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, a nuclear power plant near Toronto (“Darlington”).
In the song he states, “I can plow a field all day long/ I can catch catfish from dusk ‘till dawn/ We make our on whiskey and our own smoke, too/ Ain’t too many things these old boys can’t do.” In addition, He stated, “But he was killed by a man with a switchblade knife/ For 43 dollars my friend lost his life/ I’d love to spit some beech nut in that dude’s eyes/ And shoot him with my old 45.” The author is really trying to persuade everyone that they can do pretty much anything to live on their own because that is how they are raised and that if you mess with one of them; you got it coming your way.
In Justin Pearson's memoir, From the Graveyard of the arousal Industry, he recounts the events that occured from his early years of adolesence to the latter years of his adulthood telling the story of his unforgiving and candid life. Set in the late 1970s "Punk" rock era, From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry offers a valuable perspective about the role culture takes in our lives, how we interact with it and how it differs from ideology.
It starts by describing a young woman in college, stating, “she has no idea what she’s doing in college, the major she majored in don’t make no money, she won’t drop out, her parents will look at her funny (West).” By doing this the song establishes that this woman wants success but she doesn’t know how to obtain it since she was basically pushed into pursuing a career in college that she was unsure of in order to obtain success. The song furthers the story of the woman when she states that she gives up and goes on to say that her tuition money is enough to buy a few pairs of new shoes. The desire for success and frustration of not being able to achieve it, is what essentially leads the woman to take this shortcut of dropping out of school to acquire material possessions in the “now” instead of the slower, more standard route of finishing her education and finding success through that. Kanye West then describes in the song his addiction to material possessions when he began to acquire wealth from his music career.
Fadiman, Anne. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American
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The story begins with a scene of midsummer, with the laziness of those who can afford to lounge near the pool, those with money who are able to joke about having "drank too much" (Norton, p. 1862). Typical of suburban lifestyle are the nightly parties and social events surrounded by cocktails and lush poolside conversations. "It was a fine day" and "The sun was hot" give us a sense of this careless abandon for those whom work is not necessarily an 8 to 5 regularity (Norton, p. 1862).
The title of this work comes from a line in Dividing Island by John Steffler. I believe this poem is as close a representation to modern day Newfoundland living as can be. It is a well-known fact among Newfoundlanders that if you want to be successful, it is necessary that you will need to leave the island. There is a sad reality that jobs and opportunities in Newfoundland itself are lacking, which causes for tight budgets or a goal to one day work away. People are required to leave home in order to make a living, and in doing so they are divided between home and work. It is difficult enough to spend time with your family when working full-time, but to be obligated to work weeks away from home at a time, it can become a painful reality for several families.
This poem has many metaphors and similes one of the many examples is “keep it like a warm coat when winter comes to cover you” ( jimmy Santiago Baca lines 3-4).Throughout the poem you can see that even though he is broke he is still willing to do anything for the person he loves this relates to the human condition because we all seek this kind of love but at same time we offer this back to the person we love. One example that show how much he is willing to for the person he loves is “It's all I have to give,and all anyone needs to live,”( Jimmy santiago Baca lines 24-25). All every human every wants and needs is love we spend our whole lives seeking
McLeese, Don. “The Spirit of a Rocker.” New York Times. 18 October 1987. Web. 11
Although surveys have been conducted defending that mental illness does cause homelessness. There are several arguments that personal disabilities such as mental illness, alcoholism, drug abuse and physical or mental handicaps are not the primary causes of homelessness. While these conditions make people more vulnerable to homelessness, they maintain, the main causes of homelessness are structural economic factors that result in extreme poverty and a shortage of affordable housing.
Problems such as economic and social issues have more of an effect on a person’s mental health when homeless.
desirable object to own, by using the female as a symbol of the car. By appealing to the sexual
The poem's speaker is attempting to persuade "His Coy Mistress" to have sex with him. The speaker seems frustrated, impatient, and to feel a sense of urgency in pursuing this goal.
Behavior Based Safety is a set of principles aimed at: (a) engaging, (b) motivating, (c) assisting, (d) reinforcing, and (e) sustaining safe behaviors (HSA, 2013). These five principles are used to enforce the concept of a positive safety culture and gets the a safety culture outside of the historical three main principles of engineering controls, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (PPE) (Schatz, 2003). Additionally, the problem with including only these three main principles and not behavior based safety is measures for the effectiveness of controls, according to Schatz (2013), “are not employed until an accident has occurred” (p.13). The problem with employing measures after an accident has occurred means the controls can meet resistance from the employees because they see the actions as a reaction to one mishap. Behavior based safety is aimed at changing the behavior before and accident occurs.