[Title]

I really admire Sirc's ambition, that he encourages his students to consider things they love (in this case, hip hop) and see in them an object worthy of intellectual activity. Anything to instill a little passion in the students, eh? I'm interested in his concept of dissatisfaction, namely how he sees it as a positive attribute for the artist/writer/eighteen-year old freshman who can't stop talking about how great all the Fast and the Furious movies were. In this sense, the artist never ceases to create, always yearning for that impossible perfect object.

I'm experimenting a bit this semester, focusing all of our discussions and assignments on music, responding to music, voting on whether or not Nicki Minaj is possessed by the Devil (apparently she is!). The exploratory essay has been fun because the majority of the students are exploring a question/topic which really interests them, none more than the four students who, independent of each other, decided to research the influence and prevalence of the Illuminati in hip-hop, which is interesting and requires me to keep a straight face. Apparently Jay-Z is part of this, and all my students believe it. These four students are having a blast sorting through this conspiracy stuff, though they complain of seeing peripheral shadowy figures. I tell them to stop being so paranoid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ar2FDwtBTY0