The Best of Taylor Swift

1. The Best Day- Fearless Album. Although most of Taylor Swift’s songs are about relationships and break-ups, this song is actually dedicated to her family and mostly about how much her mom means to her. Although she mentions her father and brother, she really talks about what an inspiration her mom was to her when she was growing up and how much she looked up to her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1lTWXa0oyA

2. I’m Only Me When I’m with You. This is another song that is different than the others because it is not about relationships either. The song can actually go both ways. Some may think it’s about a boy when they just listen to it. After watching the music video and seeing her with her friends, you notice the song fits as in the way that she has the most fun when she’s is with her friends. It has a goofy music video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_VI2cIgqwc

3. Love Story- Fearless. This song was a very big hit for her. It turned an overly heard about Shakespeare story into something modern and gave it a new interest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRkoGKQ8qQ

4. Change. Change was actually a promotional song for the 2008 Olympics. It is an inspirational song about how one person can be strong and make a difference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEy-4q3-M0E

5. Tied Together With a Smile. This song came from her first album and she actually wrote it about of friend of hers. Her friend seemed like the happiest person on the outside but it later was found out that she was a very depressed person. Taylor Swift write her own songs and about experiences she has personally gone through. That is why so many girls like her music because they can relate to her. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/taylorswift/tiedtogetherwithasmile.html

6. Fifteen- Fearless Album. Fifteen is about going into your freshmen year and it inspires girls not to get too caught up in boys and fitting in and peer pressure. This is another song she wrote from experience and she hopes to get the message out not to get caught up in all that because someday you’ll realize you wasted it. You’ll realize you could have became so much more.

7. Tim McGraw-- This was Taylor’s first hit as a singer and it is what made her so popular. This song led to her millions of albums sold. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQIV-PCb28

Change in Influence

I have a brother nearly a decade younger than me. Because of the larger age gap, the commodities we have had growing up differ as well as the interests. He has a larger media influence on him and while I rarely ever watched television when I was younger, my brother watches it nearly all day and every day. Not only has the amount of television being watched changed but also the shows and their story lines.
When I was younger, I enjoyed watching shows such as Barney, Sesame Street, and the Wee Sing Videos. All of these shows and movies incorporated a special message or meaning in each plot. While watching Barney, I learned about the importance of friendship. My favorite Wee Sing videos also taught about sharing and kindness. Sesame Street taught me about colors, numbers, and the alphabet. As I became a little older, I enjoyed shows like Little Bear, Franklin, and Arthur. All of these had a lesson to be learned as well as being educational.
My favorites to watch were Wee Sing movies. I watched them so often I can still remember the dog that thought he had no friends because he only wanted to do what he wanted to do. He didn’t care about anyone else. This dog learned about sharing and making friends. I can even remember other lessons I learned from these particular movies.
When my brother was younger he watched Blue’s Clues but his time watching this show did not last nearly as long as I watched the shows mentioned before. Before long, he was watching shows such as The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as well as SpongeBob. SpongeBob has very few shows with meaning behind them. With shows such as The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, a young child is already learning about relationships, kissing, and crushes on the opposite sex. I never watched a show like this when I was younger.
Most children’s shows now are not extremely bad influences but they have changed a great deal in the past ten and more years when I watched those shows. The fact that first graders are watching shows like Hannah Montana is just different than what I watched. Hannah Montana is about a teenage girl and the shows I watched were specifically aimed for younger kids and they dealt with and talked about the things younger kids actually knew about. Young children do not need to watch something about a teenage girl.
Another difference I have noticed about my brother and I, is the rate at which we began to develop crushes on the opposite sex. I did not have my “first boyfriend” until I was in the fifth grade and even then I had a rule of staying at least ten feet away from him. We never talked to each and were too scared to. When I was younger, it was more just cool to say I had a boyfriend and to just not associate with him. My brother started having “girlfriends” when he was only in first grade. He is only in fourth grade now but he has already kissed a girl on the cheek and held hands with another. This is quite a difference than when I was the same age. This may not only be because of the influence of television but I do believe it has played a large role. When he watches shows as the ones I mentioned, he is being influenced to act like them and be like them. It does not matter if they are actually supposed to be older than him; it is what he is being influenced by.
My brother and I grew up in different decades and many ways changed during that time. While he watches shows with the influence of relationships and crushes, I learned about sharing, friendship, honesty, and other worthy messages and lessons. During my time, I did not watch as much television and when we did it had a positive influence on me. The shows I grew up watching were much more beneficial than the ones my brother watched or watches now.

About Me

My name is Abby Luebbehusen and I'm a freshmen at USI and in an LLC English class.