Into the Wild

I believe Krakauer's storytelling his helping the reader understand Chris's purpose for going into the wild. For me, it gave me a better understanding of how all these people went on their own adventures and failed. Why did they fail? Because our society is not fit to live in the wild with minimal equipment and food. On page 75 Gene Rosellini wrote a letter to a friend stating, "I learned that it is not possible for human beings as we know them to live off the land." Rosellini wanted to become a Stone Age native, but near the end of his journey he experienced the physical, mental, and emotional reality of living in the wild. Sure, it may be possible for some people to live in the wild and survive, but we don't hear about those kind of people. We hear about the people who fail and are found dead in the wild. Rosellini accepted this failure and acknowledge it. I believe this helps Krakauer's story because he is continuously explaining how people go out there to see if they can go live in the wild and conquer an amazing dream of theirs. For me, these stories are prime examples of how McCandless continuously made mistakes along his journey to conquer his dream. All of these stories happened before McCandless left for his adventure, but McCandless was too cocky and thought he could do everything by himself and overcome nature.

Taylor Swift

I found the article about Taylor Swift fascinating because I agree that Taylor Swift is not Grammy worthy. In the article, I believed the visuals added to the article and added to the authors argument. In high school, I never thought she was an amazing song writer and I believed that everyone who was listened to her music was naive about reality. Her songs mostly focused on fairy tales which is what every high school girl wants, their own fairy tale. I strongly believe that Taylor Swifts is not an unique artist because her songs are soft and safe. There is nothing wrong with being safe, but I believe in order to win a Grammy there must be some risk taken. Anyone can write the type of songs that Taylor Swift writes. Lady Gaga and Beyoncé are Grammy worthy because they have the vocals, take risks, and are unique in their own individual way. They are everything that Taylor Swift is not. Lady Gaga and Beyoncé have been working extremely hard for many years to become what they are today. After reading, "Swift was able to succeed so early 'cause her family was both supportive & wealthy enough to enable her ambitions." This frustrates me because to me it seems like Taylor Swift did not earn the Grammy's because her parents were wealthy and were able to make her dreams come true. Whenever I see Taylor Swift perform I want to change the channel because all I see is her standing up there and playing her guitar. Maybe I'm just being biased because I have never actually been to one of her concerts, but I know when I see Lady Gaga and Beyoncé perform on stage I'm fascinated to see what they will come up with this time. These two artists are extremely unpredictable, but that's what makes them great artists and performers. I'm sorry, but Taylor Swift is just an average person and definitely does not deserve a Grammy. A Grammy nominee needs to be unique, take risks and have amazing vocals which Taylor Swift does not have.

Christopher McCandless

After initially writing the essay my opinion has not changed. I believe Chris McCandless was stupid for going into the wild because he did not have the proper equipment to survive in the wild. I can understand how he wanted to get away from the materialistic world; however, in today's society in order to survive in the world you need money. No matter what someone does in the world it involves money. I respect his enthusiasm for the wild because it is a beautiful place and it is totally different from the real world. I, however, do not respect his decision to run away from his family without a word. I just feel the execution of his idea to go into the wild was stupid and that there were better ideas of how to approach the wild. Maybe as the book continues on, I will be able to get a better understanding of McCandless and his exact notations of going into the wild.