Cleveland rocks, literally!

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

     Since 1995, when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, opened its doors to visitors, it has been educating and enlightening visitors, fans, and scholars from all around the world about the history and the significance of rock and roll music. At first the museum was going to be made in New York City but, Cleveland was ranked first in a public poll conducted by USA today asking where the Hall of Fame should be located. After much competition and many visits to potential sites by foundation members, whom consisted of many leaders in the music industry who joined together to establish the rock 'n roll Hall of Fame foundation in New York City, Cleveland was chosen as the permanent home for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in May 1986. (rock and roll hall) On the first day it opened, September 1, there was a celebration throughout the streets of Cleveland followed by ceremony In front of the museum to celebrate this new and amazing opportunity for Cleveland.

     The museum is definitely a must see for people all over the world. The museum has had over nine million visitors from around the world. The rock and roll Hall of Fame Museum is very important to the economy of Northeast Ohio. It has driven more than $1.7 billion in economic impact to the economy. It generates more than $107 million every year in economic impact. (Hall of fame statistics)  So many people come from all around the world just for the  Rock and roll Hall of Fame, and they benefit the businesses all around including restaurants and hotels. In fact 90% of the visitors to the rock and Roll Hall of Fame come from outside of Cleveland. The Museum even has the highest number of visitors among all halls of fame.  It is so unique it differentiates Cleveland from other cities.  In 2012 the Rock hall is recognized for a significant accomplishments regarding diversity and inclusion as part of the commission on economic solutions commission 50 (rock and roll hall). 

     Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is known all around the world for celebrating the art of rock and roll. They welcome everyone from all over, yet they maintain their Northeastern Ohio pride, and honor Cleveland community roots. The Rock Hall does so with festivals and programs especially to celebrate the communities diverse ethnicities. In fact the rock call has five community festivals which are all free and open to the public. Each festival offers free entertainment from national and local artists and activities for the entire family.(Rock and Roll Hall) These festivals are very successful and diverse, they have record setting attendance. 

    

Outside view of the Hall of Fame Inductees

Costume and artifact display

     The rock 'n roll Hall of Fame As 150,000 sq-ft building. In fact it's the world's first museum devoted to rock and roll music, Including present times. This building has a unique and different style than most buildings. It exhibits very interesting artifacts and costume displays from numerous famous music artists. The museum opened its library and archives to the public which gives scholars and fans access to over 200 hundred archival collections (Library Archives). The Rock Hall has a special room for inductees, they are music artists who have been big influences, or have have showed unquestionable musical talent. Inside the Hall of fame there is a long walkway with signatures of inductees all over the walls and a theatre to watch videos of them preforming. Some previous inductees include John Lennon, Guns N' Roses,Bob Marley, Michael Jackson, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The inductee hall of fame is a nice way to honor the talented who have obviously impacted rich and roll history.

 This museum gives back to the environment because the owners have taken many green initiatives including cutting down on water use and paper towel waste, and encouraging buses for transportation, it even turns off it's nighttime logo projector after 2 AM to conserve energy. The materials used inside and out even exceed standards set by the U..S Green building Council.  They even have a "green team" to try to help the museum take ever green step it can, because every green change helps the environment. Some Even refer to the museum as the green museum by a blue lake (referring to Lake Erie).

  

     Rock and roll has been a big part of Cleveland's culture since the beginning of the 1950s with artists such as Elvis Presley and all the way through the opening of the rock 'n roll Hall of Fame through recent times with music artists such as Kid Cuddi, who was actually born in Cleveland. The rock and roll Hall of Fame has assisted rock and roll to live and thrive and continue to be a part of our culture. It has maintained a big deal because Cleveland has always loved rock 'n roll.  It plays a critical role in our culture. 

   

  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gives back so much to the Cleveland community and to the regional economy. It makes me proud and happy to say that I am from Cleveland, home to the best Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If you haven't already you should definitely pay the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a visit. Hey, you never know it might bring out the rock star in you as it has for me. 

"The Native American Avatar"

      Even though the movie industry has provided us with plenty of movies about the struggle and the history of the Native Americans, I believe the motion picture Avatar exemplifies their struggle. Avatar helps us understand what happens when a Native group of people lose their homeland to invaders looking only for their own best interest.

    In the movie, the Na’vi, the indigenous people of moon Pandora, are under a fatal threat to their homeland. This threat is caused by humans who wanted to chase and force the Na’vi to leave and take over their land; which is exactly what the new settlers did to the Native Americans.

    The Na’vi were simple, spiritual, peaceful, and proud people, they accepted and taught the humans who first came to their land. In return the humans who were very greedy and self beneficial tried to take over their homeland and kick the Na’vi out. This part of the movie is very similar to what we have learned about the treatment of the Native Americans, who share the same characteristics as the Na’vi. They taught the new settlers how to plant crops and helped them survive the rough weather, but in return the new settlers responded by forcing the Native Americans out of their homeland and hunting them down.

Works Cited

Avatar. Prod. James Cameron. 2009. Film.

A True Story, or a Tale Telling?

In this blog I will be responding to the African Proverb below. I will explain the meaning of this quote to the best of my understanding. As well as evaluate the truth behind this quote.  
This Ewe-mina, an African tribe, proverb refers to the unknown part of the struggle between the victor and the loser. 


"Until the lion has his or her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story." -African Proverb

     

     If we hear only one side of a story how will we ever know the truth behind it? If we want to be objective, as humans, we should seek both side of a story. But what happens when one side is voiceless, weak, or absent?  The quote above reminds me of a similar quote by the influential Winston Churchill "History is written by the victors." Both quotes tend to build on the same ideology that only one part of the story is heard; that of which is usually the stronger and vocal side of the story versus the weaker and the voiceless.

     I believe the African wisdom that formed this proverb picked a strong and a physically superior creature, such as a lion, to contrast it with an intelligent creature, such as a human hunter. This contrast will untimely result in the hunter being the victor and surviving to tell a story that glorifies the hunter and makes he/she shine. 

Do we actually know what happened in the forest while the hunter was hunting the lion? Was it pure luck, or pure skill? Was the lion even awake? Will we ever know the lion's side of the story? I guess we'll never know the answer to any of these questions. We will continue to focus only on the hunter's side of the story because it is more glorifying to a fellow human being and more entertaining to us.