Prompt: What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
December 25th, 2004, it was Christmas morning and I finished opening my last present. Inside was the coolest gadget of all time, a big blue Sony Walkman CD player. One problem though: at that point I wasn't much of a music fan, so I had no clue what to listen to. Somehow reaching the conclusion that listening to rock music would make me cool at school, I bought the CD "American Idiot' by the band Green Day based on the recommendation of the sales rep at Target. I quickly rushed home, ripped apart the wrapping, and popped the CD into my Walkman. The first song to play was American Idiot. For a few seconds I liked it, but half a minute into the song the worst thing that could happen to a nine year old happened... Billie Joe Armstrong said the F-word! After months of saying phrases like "H-E- double hockey stick (two L's)" on the playground to parody curse words, I heard my first curse word, and the panic set in. What if my mom found out what I was listening to? Instead of finding out what would happen, I was challenged to make the first big decision of my young life: I snapped the CD and threw it away. In the end, the 'cool' phase of listening to music lasted a whole 28 seconds. Looking back at that moment, I laugh at how one word in a song disturbed me so much that instead of simply skipping the song I destroyed the entire CD.
Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.
but half a minute into the song the worst thing that could happen to a nine year old happened...
...but in the next half minute, the worst thing that could happen to a nine year old did actually happen. .... :D
In the end, the 'cool' phase of listening to music lasted a whole 28 seconds. Looking back at that moment, I laugh at how one word in a song disturbed me so much that instead of simply skipping the song I destroyed the entire CD.
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Good writing.... I see you are very witty. I like what you've written and hope the admission guys too would like it :)
Good luck with your application!
Thank, I appreciate it!
Prompt: What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised , unsettled , or challenged you, and in what way?
How was this episode important in your emotional or intellectual development?
They're asking you to tell how this album changed the way you think.
This is an entertaining story, but they aren't asking for a story.
Sorry for replying so late, I was busy writing other essays. I took your advice into account and edited the essay
It was Christmas morning, 2004, and I finished opening my last present. Inside was the coolest gadget of all time, a big blue Sony Walkman CD player. One problem though: at that point I wasn't much of a music fan at the time, so I had no clue what to listen to. Somehow reaching the conclusion that listening to rock music would make me cool at school, I bought the CD "American Idiot' by the band Green Day based on the recommendation of the sales rep at Target. I quickly rushed home, ripped apart the wrapping, and popped the CD into my Walkman.
The first song to play was American Idiot. For a few seconds I liked it, but in the next half minute, the worst thing that could happen to a nine year old actually did happen... Billie Joe Armstrong said the F-word! After months of saying phrases like "H-E- double hockey stick (two L's)" on the playground to parody curse words, I heard my first curse word, and the panic set in. What if my mom found out what I was listening to? Instead of finding out what would happen, I was challenged to make the first big decision of my young life: I snapped the CD and threw it away. In the end, the 'cool' phase of listening to music lasted a whole 28 seconds. Recalling that moment, I laugh at how one word in a song disturbed me so much I destroyed the entire CD.
Being wary about an idea or an action no longer affects my overall judgment of the work in question. The song, just like people or ideas, has to be judged on its overall intrinsic value rather than the one thing that made me uncomfortable.
