Soundtrack to Jessica's Life

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” – Cyndi Lauper

“When the working day is done/ Girls-they want to have fun/Oh girls just want to have fun”

This is by far my favorite song of all time, and even through its extremely old, no other song can top it.  The point of the song is to say that all girls want to do is have fun, and that’s true, so what could be better than that?  Also, when my best friend and I were younger, we would get dressed up and lip-sync to the song with hairbrushes in front of the mirror.  And in first grade, we made up a dance to the song and performed it at our elementary school talent show; we ended up winning.  With so many good memories of the song and my childhood I always am in a good mood when I hear the song.

“Tubthumping" by Chumbawamba

“I get knocked down, but I get up again/You’re never going to keep me down”

When I first heard this song I was in the car with my dad and my older sister going to a hockey game in Milwaukee.  Hearing it at age seven, I thought the song was about hockey, and when the players “get knocked down” they "get up again" and continue playing.  Later, I found out that wasn’t what the song was about, but my dad made it a point to play it while we were driving to every hockey game, it became a tradition.  For my high school graduation, my dad got me a card that sang “I get knocked down, but I get up again/You’re never going to keep me down” and wrote a message about how it relates to life; every time I get knocked down, I have to get back up and keep trying to pursue my dreams.  I now listen to the song when I am feeling down and it always motivates me to “get up again.”

“Shots” – LMFAO

This song is my favorite “party” song.  It has catchy lyrics and a good beat that always makes me want to party.  Here at Madison, my friends and I all have our favorite “pump up” or “going out” songs that we listen to while we get ready to go out and this song is by far my favorite.  

“Summertime” by Kenny Chesney

I look forward to summer every year so I can listen to this song.  “School’s out and the nights roll in/Man, just like a long lost friend/You ain’t seen in awhile/And you can’t help but to smile.”  Not only is summer my favorite season because it’s warm and there’s no school, but also I have so much free time to spend with my friends and family.  Every summer my family mainly stays at our lake house and we go swimming, wakeboarding, and tubing on a daily basis.  Its so much fun to have all the people I love around in my favorite place in the world (our lake) during the best season of the year.  I already have a count down of the days until summer (about 172 days until summer break).

Any song by Taylor Swift

Going though my iTunes to find what songs to include, I realized over half of my “top 25 most played” songs were by Taylor Swift.  This is probably because we are both teenaged girls and we’re going though the same things.  From the break up songs like “Picture to Burn,” “Should Have Said No,” and “White Horse” to the songs abut wanting boys who don’t like you (“I’d Lie,” “Teardrops on My Guitar,” and “You Belong With Me”) or the songs about being happy with boys like “Sparks Fly,” “I’m Only Me When I’m With You,” and “Our Song.”  It seems like every time she releases a new album I find myself listening to it on repeat for hours because it reminds me so much of my life.

Citation practice

One if the leading causes of childhood obesity in America is the lack of exercise amongst youth. Previous generations often played sports, walked to school, and enjoyed outside activities as forms of entertainment. New generations do the opposite; their form of entertainment includes watching television or playing video games ("Three Leading Causes of Childhood Obesity).


"The Three Leading Causes of Childhood Obesity." The Health Care Center. 2008. Web. 20 Nov. 2010.


In my paper I want to include some of the leading causes of why there is a dramatic change in the amount of children who are overweight.  This will be one of my arguments with some statistics and facts to back it up.  From this I want to show what affect childhood obesity has on the United States as a whole, so I think showing where most of this comes from will be useful to the reader.

Cottonelle's Commercial "Puppy Gets Pampered"

In Cottonelle's Commercial "Puppy Gets Pampered," a yellow lab puppy spends the day at a salon being pampered.  First he shows up in a nice car to a huge mansion, where he is greeted at the door and brought inside.  He gets "perfect paws, a little rub, a bit of a trim," and ultimately looks "sexy."  A woman announcer then states that when we demand the best toilet paper, we have to try Cottonelle's Ultra toilet paper because "it is the ultimate way to be kind to [our] behind[s]."  The commercial ends with the puppy in a bath tub relaxing and enjoying his "me time."  This commercial has appeared on TV the past few months, but I don't know if it is on TV anymore.

This commercial is supposed to convince its audience that if they buy and use Cottonelle Ultra toilet paper they will also live a luxurious, pampered life.  Also, it uses a cute puppy to catch the audience's attention because most people love puppies and this commercial shows one doing cute things.  The Cottonelle's Commercial "Puppy Gets Pampered" fits in the category "need to nurture" from Fowles' list of advertising techniques.  The main audience for this ad is females because it shows a puppy going to a salon, a place where mostly females hang out.  I categorized it as a "need to nurture" commercial because most of the time women shop for things like toilet paper and they are more aware of small things like types of toilet paper than men, and usually women fall for this type of advertising more than men do.  I find the ad somewhat effective, it certainly fits in a category from Fowlers' list, but I'm not sure if I would buy the product because it doesn't really talk about the toilet paper itself-it mainly shows a puppy at a salon.

link to commercial on youtube

Research Question Blog

Why is childhood obesity a rapidly growing issue in the United States?   Or

What is causing the increase in childhood obesity in the United State?

I know its not recommended to use a “why” questions, however I find it more interesting to find out why obesity is becoming such a big issue rather than what is causing it.  I haven’t fully decided which would be better and I am considering doing somewhat of both.  I think I am going to explain what the causes (using statistics to back up my point) of how children are becoming more and more overweight.  While I haven’t started my research yet, I think it would be interesting to show how the rate of childhood obesity has grown so much from years ago and compare that to the different ways of life from years ago.  I would include information on how technology has changed and how there are more food options, a lot of them not as healthy, compared to years ago.  With that I would explain how the issue is growing and causing numerous health problems and also lowered self esteem in the overweight children.  Another thing I would possibly include is how our childhood obesity rate is growing a lot more than other countries to show that the United State’s has a higher rate.

I find this topic really important because when I was younger I was overweight.  Towards the end of elementary school and early in middle school I was forced to completely change my way of life; everything from my eating habits to how I exercise has changed.