The IVC Borderline Literary Journal

Tortilla Soundtrack Selection: David Crosby's "Look into Their Eyes" - by Valerie Rusch, Juila Coranado, Xasiel Melendrez (The Survivors) - English 110

 When you read, do you ever tap your foot? Does music ever spark an idea in your head? Can you come up with a song or an artist that blends music and literature? Joyce Carol Oates wrote one of her most enduring works of short fiction after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio. Below, English110 students Valerie, Julia, and Xasiel were asked to choose a song to represent our reading of T.C. Boyle’s The Tortilla Curtain. We’ve developed an anthology of student writing we call our “Tortilla Soundtrack.”

David Crosby might not be your first artist you consider to represent the struggle of two desperate Mexican immigrants. He was raised in an upper-class white community near Santa Barbara.  At a very early age, he reached his dreams of becoming a famous rock star with The Byrds, and then Crosby, Stills, and Nash.  But in later stages of his life, he learned hard lessons about failure and disappointment.  His life-long drug abuse led him to severe health problems that nearly killed him. Recently, David has undergone both a liver transplant and heart surgery.  This is why his song “Look in Their Eyes” is a smart pick for our Tortilla Soundtrack.  Like Candido and America, David knows about falling down and getting back up again.  His strength seems to come from his belief in family. 

To read The Survivors complete soundtrack writing, pleas CLICK on the following link:

https://www.ivcborderline.org/2018/07/tortilla-soundtrack-selection-david-crosbys-look-into-their-eyes-by-valerie-rusch-juila-coranado-xas.html

To see another "Survivor" - David Crosby - sing "Look into Their Eyes," please CLICK on the video below:

 

 

Life on Mars - by Axel Chavez - English 009

After reading Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted I asked the class to match up their best music with their best part of the memoir.  Students compared the lyrics to their song with the prose from the book.  Axel chose the song “Sail” by Bruno Mars. Axel was already familiar with the theme of the song: ADHD.  He wrote about the condition in his research paper.  He understood how Bruno must have felt when he wrote it.  He recognized the same type of despair in Susanna.  They both felt trapped.  It’s a good match.

Below, we share Axel's song in the form of a Bruno Mars video.To read Axel's complete essay - he wrote it with classmates Greg Ramirez, Bernardo Villareal, and Edgar Felix - please click on "Sail On Past Your Problems"

 

 

Sí Se Puede: A Dancer's Dream - by Arelis Jennings - English 009

More than a few of Arelis’s classmates plug in their music when they write classroom workshops. I’ve never seen Arelis do it, but she knows about rhythm, spacing, and beat.  In another life, she trained as a flamenco dancer.   If you ask me, writing requires a sense of musicality.  You give structure and harmony to your thoughts and ideas.   Below, Arelis was asked to analyze a life-changing event in a cause and effect essay.  She wrote about the passion required to become a dancer.  You can hear it in her writing voice.

To read Arelis's complete essay, please click on "If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It"

"Fight Song": Lyrics to Live By - Esmeralda Lopez - English 009

Early into Spring Semester, Esmeralda submitted a cause and effect essay detailing her coming-of-age transformation upon her entrance to  law academy.  Before the academy, she felt like her life had no direction.   With the academy, she felt a new focus.  Now, she’s committed to her family and career.   Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” just might be Esmeralda’s fight song.  Below she discusses the inspiration she draws from the lyrics.

 

Esmeralda worked with classmate Austin Perea to develop an essay for our Girl, Interrupted Soundtrack.  To see the complete version, please click on "Fight Song" in Girl, Interrupted.

 

The Sound of Silence: Music for Mental Health - by Arelis Jennings - English 009

From what we read in Susanna Kaysen’s memoir Girl, Interrupted the most difficult part of overcoming mental illness may be  the stigma that surrounds it. People who suffer from depression say the discrimination they experience makes recovery difficult.  Their lives are reduced to a stereotype.  People think they are crazy.  No one understands.  Who wants to deal with that?   Susanna felt isolated, alienated, and very alone.  For this reason,  Arelis has chosen Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” for our Girl, Interrupted Soundtrack.  The song asks why can’t have an honest discussion about mental illness without the repercussions?

 

To see complete essay, click on The Sound of Silence in Girl, Interrupted.

Arelis teamed up with classmate Alyssa Sentore to make insightful muscial connections

 

Metallica's "Fade to Black" in Girl, Interrupted - by Joshua Espinoza - English 009

Three or four chapters into Girl, Interrupted we as readers in English 009 were witness to two or three suicides.  In fact, the author, Susanna Kaysen described in specific, painful detail how tried to kill herself with 50 aspirin pills and a bottle of vodka.  Metallica's James Hetfield wrote a song that questions whether life is worth living.  Immediately, Joshua Espinoza began playing and re-playing the song on his phone.  He recognized the connection between the guitarist and the author.  He had plenty to write about. 

 

To see complete essay, please click on Josh

 

Sam Shepard, The Coyote, and Joni Mitchell - by J. Lewenstein

This week we are completing our class  blogs.  I’ve asked my students to organize their best reading, writing, and music for publication.   I’ll teach them how to create reading lists so they can keep tabs on their classmates over the X-mas break.   I encourage them do something artful with their blogs, but I’ve seen their writing.  Many of their posts will be deeply personal accounts of the lives they lead.   The music is the rhythm of our writing.  The flow of our words convey who we are.  

Below, I share my most recent blog post for my reading of a Sam Shepard biography.  Sam became famous in the early sixties for mixing his prose with jazz rhythms.  His writing was experimental and prolific.  You never knew what was going to come out.  “It’s like drumming,” he once said. “If you miss a beat, you create another.”  We’ll miss you, Sam…

To see Joni's appearance in the Last Waltz, please CLICK on the following video:

 

 

Writing Down to the Bottom of It - by J. Lewenstein

In a few of my classes, we we are reading a sixties novel. Along the way we discuss Cesar Chavez, Vietnam, The Moonlanding, The Women’s Movement. Our research papers explore civil rights, political upheaval, and drug abuse, among other important social and historical trends and events. Recently, I read to them something about the tragic death of Marilyn Monroe. Also, Janis Joplin. We discussed the scrutiny of women in the media – then, and now. We learn how history often repeats itself. Amy Winehouse’s name enters the discussion. The hypercriticism/scorn for Taylor Swift is mentioned.

My hope is for the reading to open my students to the world. To let the world in. I encourage my students to publish their best writing in their class blogs. Their reflections will lead to better understanding of whatever they are reading about.

Today, I share my most recent blog post. I went to my bookshelves and found my copy of Patti Smith’s Just Kids. What an awesome read! She created a stirring memorial for her first love Robert Mapplethorpe. She writes with emotion, ambition, and independence. Her prose evokes both power and insecurity. Near the end of the memoir, she meets Janis. For her, Patti ties the world together with one heartbreaking song.

"Over the Rainbow" in Girl, Interrupted - by J. Lewenstein

When you read, do you ever tap your foot? Does music ever spark an idea in your head? Can you come up with a song or an artist that blends music and literature? Joyce Carol Oates wrote one of her most enduring works of short fiction after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio.

At the end of each semester, I invite students to contribute a song to the soundtrack of our reading. They choose a song that best represents the ideas, characters, and/or events we have read and written about.  They bring Musica Nortena, Hardcore Gangstah Rap, current hits, golden oldies, beatles classics, show tunes, etc. – it all works.  They analyze the lyrics.  They research the artists.  In the end they make important connections between what they listen to and what they read.   Below, I put Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow side-by-side with Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted.  Through the sharing of their journeys, Judy and Susanna offer us a sense of hope.  It’s never too late to open our hearts and follow our dreams.

 

 

No Direction Home (If You are Black) - by Octavio Navarro - English 110

At the end of the semester, we read a Joyce Carol Oates short story that the author says was inspired by a Bob Dylan song.  When Octavio read the novel The Tortilla Curtain, he heard Dylan's "The Hurricane."  He was asked to contribute a song to our Tortilla Soundtrack.  Students were asked to analyze the lyrics and compare them to passages in the text of the novel they just read.