My Impression of Others' Literary Findings

      As I explored the web through my classmates literary findings I noticed what I believe makes a well rounded literary magazine. The writing pieces that I could not stand to read were the pieces in which the page it self was unappealing and caused me to quickly look away and want to navigate toward something more desirable, regardless of the quality of the writing. A specific site I did not like, was the everyday fiction site. The page holding the literature is plain out white, boring, and the titles are orange, wtf. Versus a site I did like, undergroundvoices. The page is all black and the words and image to the literature are in white. Your attention is instantly attracted to words and naturally can hold attention on them throughout the entire story.
     On this site I read "Ghost", which took the reader through the mind of a young mother who's baby daddy she did not want to be with and left before their child was born. She was remarried and happy with her new life, and then the baby daddy tries to get back in it. The story captures her emotion  and the function of the past relationship in great depth. When I was reading I felt as though I was watching a movie, even now the story imaging is clear in my head. The writer used stars(*****)to represent a break in the writing when the time in which the main character was thinking, like when she was having a flashback. The writer would change the scene, but then use stars again to come back to the characters present moment. I like this technique because It seemed real to my mind and never allowed boredom.
    

Literary Magazine Review and Link to Writing

     To my surprise I found many literary magazines online. I say "surprise", because I had never known of magazines online. What usually comes to mind when I hear the word "magazine" is fashion, articles about famous people, and other mainstream elements.These specific literary magazines however, where more about fine pieces of literature, poetry, and art. Now that is what I am talking about. A particular literary magazine that tickled my fancy was Flashquake. Flashquake is independent and focuses on fine art and flash literature. "Flash" in this case is defined as short formatted, brief pieces of literature, usually 500 to 1500 words. The magazine itself is layed out in such a way that the pages can be turned at will, and each page holds something unique and creative. There are many poems, about anything, no specific topic which is nice to try out different flavors that haven't been tried before. The artwork in the magazine also has a wide variety ranging from black and white photography to color paintings, and the artwork is mostly submitted online, and submission is open to the public.

As I read the "about" section, which explains the magazine creation and purpose, I came across the Flashquake theory, "words are meant to make an impact, to leave a trace, to enlighten and to inspire...."

Below is a link to a piece of flash literature that I  personally liked.
http://www.flashquake.org/?page_id=172
then click expand, and the piece I like is on page 17
Its called Writers Block by Kellie Doherty
Read It

New Vista Wikipedia Natural Highs Addition Start

Natural Highs is a program that teaches teens about ways to get "high" naturally, without drugs. On Wednesdays a Natural Highs workshop is offered for credit. In the workshop teens drink Yerba Mate in a circle and learn about how drugs affect the brain and overall mentality.

Link to Linus Canvas

http://linoit.com/users/bemmaq/canvases/The%20Best%20of%20New%20Vista

Make It Yours, Share, Listen, And Create!

Make it Yours, Share, Listen, and Create

Accessing music websites is easy. I found many websites that make it fun and simple for one to access music, make music, and share their music all for free. Some websites even organized the music people made into categories that are labeled based on the mood that they set. This proved to be cool, because when in a certain mood, a person could click the category that defines the mood they are in, or want to be in, and they have a list of songs just for them.

A website that I particularly enjoyed was Adiotool.com, which on the website Cool Tools for School, is called Hobnox. It has a blank square, representing a table, and to the right all the music making equipment, such as sound boards, loop pedals, etc. can be dragged onto the table for the users work. The creator of this site knew that not everybody knows how to use music making equipment, so he/she made and obvious link to more Youtube links, in which are tutorials on how to use the equipment. Also, if the user is a beginner, then there are basic beats available to start on top of.This website proved to be beginner friendly and that caught my approval, but I wanted to see if there was anything out there that was better.

UJAM was the next website I discovered. UJAM is unique because you can record your voice, upload a melody, rejam on a previous song you made, and share with all the other people who have made music on UJAM. On the main page is contains a tab titled Explore, and when clicked it opens a page to the other peoples creations on UJAM. The layout of the pages are simple and easy to understand. As far as editing and making music, UJAM is basic compared to Adiotool ,and may be a better starting place for ones Internet music making hobby.

Fleximusic, the next site I came across, is legitimate, but not free. They advertise the site as turning your computer into a music-making studio. It takes money and effort to get it all set up. In my mind this would be where to go once the previous free music making sites have been mastered. The most legitiment software is 40 dollars, and the kids software is cheaper. There are three kinds of Fleximusic that you can purchase. There is the adult complete Fleximusic editor, a junior editor and a kids editor.

If you are looking for a basic and quickly satisfying website, then Jamstudio.com is the place to go. The account is free, and in 30 seconds of being on the website a step by step intro shows exactly how to start making a song. There is a basic four measure music sheet and you click the chord that you want to play in each section of the measure, then below you chose what instruments you want to play and there is every instrument from piano to bass guitar, then you can chose the type of percussion you want to carry the beat . The last step is to press play and listen to your creation. I liked this site because I got instant results and it seemed like I knew what I was doing, because they let me know how right away.

In conclusion, these websites have already sparked my curiosity and I look forward to digging in deeper and learning from what I find. Audiotool definitely will take tutorials to get started, but would be a great place to get practice with music making equipment for free and in the comfort of my own home. With enough time and effort put into Audiotool, then the next step in a music making career would without a doubt be getting Fleximusic and taking things to the next level.