Morgan Davis

Mrs. Thomas
UWRT 1101-101
25 September 2014
After the small group conference I feel a little better about my paper. I got really good
feedback and I tried to incorporate it into my writing. I had some difficulty with the
wording of some of my additions, but I do not think that will be too hard to change. There
are still some things I want to add, I just need to figure out where to put the and how I
want to phrase them.
I Will Be The Change
Growing up I read a lot; I went through my elementary schools entire set of Junie
B. Jones, Magic Tree House, and The Boxcar Children series that the library had. I also
had my parents order about twelve or so books from the Andrew Lost series. I got into
mystery books at a very young age and I guess that is part of my influence for wanting to
be a detective or police officer, as well as the fact that my mom used to work for the
C.I.A. I was always encouraged to read by my parents, but they never forced it on me so I
read because I enjoyed it. Up until high school I loved to read because I got to pick what I
wanted and I had more free time, but once I got to high school and got involved with
sports and honors/AP classes it was hard to find the time to read something that actually
interested me.
I would have to say the two books that had the most impact/influence on me
overall would be Shiloh and The Outsiders. Shiloh, a book about a young boy who took
care of a mistreated dog, was a big influence on me because at the time I was younger

and I could not grasp the fact that someone could be so cruel to his or her pet. In fact I
still cannot grasp it, but after reading that book I remember asking my mom several times
if we could go get a beagle so I could name him Shiloh. To this day I still want a beagle
named Shiloh. I think the reason this book has stuck with me for so long is because of the
fact that I am an animal lover and I hate to see mistreated animals, like Shiloh was in the
novel, so now every time I see a starving or beaten animal I immediately relate it to
Shiloh and I just want to take care of him/her. That is also another reason why my mom
does not like to take me to the pet store because I always end up wanting to adopt one of
the animals.
I read The Outsiders sometime in middle school and it stood out to me because I
could relate. In middle school cliques started to form and I was always on the outside
because I was always quiet so I never fit in anywhere other than the soccer and basketball
teams. Even though I was part of the teams I rarely hung out with them outside of
practice unless it was a team event because of how quiet I was. I know the situations are
different, but the concept is the same, so now whenever I see an outsider I try to
befriend them or at least introduce myself to them. The main message I got out of the
book was that no matter where you come from, what your social status is, or how many
friends you have, it is always important to accept them for who they are.
Music is also another thing that has impacted my life. Ever since I was a little girl
my parents played music, mostly jazz or Brian McKnight, for me to go to sleep to. That
was the beginning of my love for music. When people ask me what my favorite genre is
or who my favorite artist is I cannot give them a single answer because I listen to all
types of music. On my phone, which Ive only had for a few months, I have fourteen

genres and one hundred and seventy-five artists. If I was forced to narrow it down, a few
of my top artists would be Michael Jackson, John Mayer, and P!nk. Their work stands out
to me because they write music that people can relate to and from personal experiences.
I began listening to P!nk in middle school and ever since then I have been hooked.
I guess what speaks to me about her music is that it is raw, each song has a personal
meaning to her and I like that about her. Even though I cannot relate to every song I can
appreciate where she is coming from. For example her song So What is about her and
her husband, then boyfriend, when they were going through a rough time. They were off
and on and at that time they had just broken up and she turned the emotions she was
feeling into the song. She says it is awkward now when he listens to it because she wrote
it when she was mad at him and obviously things are much better now. Another example
is her song Family Portrait, which was inspired by her rough childhood. At the age of
ten her parents had divorced and at times it got to the point where she would just wish
they could all be happy and smiling like families in a family portrait.
I did not get into John Mayers music until around my junior year of high school,
but now he is one of my top played artists. Like P!nk his music is raw and his music is
relatable. His song Waiting On the World to Change is one of my favorites by him
because it has an important message behind it: at the end of the song there is a line that
says, One day our generation is gonna rule the population so we keep on waiting,
waiting on the world to change. To me that is the most powerful an important line of the
song because for me there is a lot of meaning behind it. I look at the world today and at
times it just disgusts me to be a part of it. We fight, kill, and hate each other for no
reason. I cannot stand watching the news because there is always a story about violence.

Like police brutality victim Rodney King, I wish we could all just get along and this song
speaks to me for that reason because I feel like more people in my generation feel similar
to how I do. Of course not everyone, but a lot of people I have associated with, in high
school and some people I have already met here, have some of the same thoughts that I
do about wishing there was less hatred and killing going on. This is why when I become a
police officer I am going to encourage less lethal methods of apprehending a suspect.
There are way too many cases in which an officer kills a suspect, when in reality a shot to
injure or Taser is all that was needed.
Michael Jackson is probably the most influential artist that I listen to. I know
there is a lot of controversy with him, but he is much more than that. Even when he was
not doing well financially he still found the time and put in the effort to raise money for
sick children and set up scholarship funds. He also co-wrote the song We Are the
World with Lionel Richie to help raise money to fight famine in Africa. I wish more
people still did this, and it is something I will do when I get a stable income. His songs
Black or White and Man in the Mirror also had an effect on me because they were
personal, he was not just writing them because the lyrics sounded cool, but because they
had meaning to them and as clich as it sounds listening to his music makes me want to
become a better person and actually make a difference in the world.
Overall the impact music and books have had on my life have been tremendous. I
feel like music has had more of an impact because I can listen to it whenever I want so it
is more accessible. However, I wish I had more time to read on the side because there are
so many books that I want to read that I have not gotten the chance to read yet, such as
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Fahrenheit 451, and The Catcher in the Rye. Both

reading and music have helped me to form who I am and figure out what is important to
me. Sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong generation because I am more about
peace and love than most people are nowadays.