CivilizedNation.com Blog

One of the great things about music is that it has not only has the power to uplift, but it also has the ability to make you stop what you're doing and reflect on the world. Your foot may still be tapping, but the lyrics end up take you down a trail you might not otherwise have followed.

At CivilizedNation.com we're constantly trying to find songs of social significance.

These may include, but are generally different from protest songs, labor union songs, anti-war songs, etc.

Because songs of social significance are found in every genre of music. Rap, hip-hop, rock n roll, country, folk, you name it. Different artists from every genre have at one time or another sung at least one song dealing with social issues.

Paul Simon's song, "Boy in the Bubble" is a perfect example of this. He's not trying to "stick it to the man" with his words, but the things he's singing about give us plenty of material to contemplate.

It's a turn-around jump shot
It's everybody jump start
It's every generation throws a hero up the pop charts
Medicine is magical and magical is art, think of
The Boy in the Bubble
And the baby with the baboon heart

And I believe
These are the days of lasers in the jungle
Lasers in the jungle somewhere
Staccato signals of constant information
A loose affiliation of millionaires
And billionaires and baby
These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That's dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don't cry baby, don't cry
Don't cry

So if you know of any songs out there that really cause you to think and wonder and dream, please let us know, because we're actively looking for them, and we want to help give them a collaborative home here at CivilizedNation.com, where we believe that songs of social significance from every genre and ever corner of the globe have the ability to inspire and the potential to change the world.

Whether we like it or not, just about every holiday or "special" day in America has been commercialized.

For Valentine's Day, it's chocolates and roses and lingerie.
For Easter, it's chocolate rabbits and easter eggs and color dye.
For Memorial Day, it's flags and images of eagles, and anything else associated with national pride.

So maybe it's time for the sustainability movement to figure out which holiday it can turn into one of its own. After all, beer companies have, for a long time, attached themselves to a number of holidays with clever ad campaigns to sell more beer.

If greenies are smart, they'll learn to take advantage of such famous days as St. Patrick's Day, linking their cause with a celebration that's already in place.

St. Patrick's Day, with a concerted effort, can become synonymous with solar power, recycling, and conservation. Instead of drinking green beer, people can have a hearty glass of wheat grass juice to promote healthy living. Leprechauns can educate people about a wide variety of green activities in a family friendly way. The possibilities are endless.

The point is, every holiday can be viewed through a green lens, encouraging people to celebrate with sustainability in mind, so that we may all keep on celebrating for many generations to come.

Schools are always looking for ways to fund their music programs, and for many years now, students and teachers have turned to the familiar car wash and bake sale events as a way of making that money to help pay for new instruments or special uniforms or field trips to one location or another.

And while these ideas aren't bad, we at CivilizedNation.com would like to propose an entirely new set of imaginative ideas for raising funds for school's music programs, while at the same time bolstering the town's entertainment offerings and sense of community pride.

The first idea would be to partner with organizations that are actually involved in the business of music, such as Napster, Yahoo Music, etc. With the proliferation of mp3 devices now available, and musical piracy at an all time high, an agreement could almost certainly be reached whereby organizations would agree to donate 10% of all earnings during a specified period of time towards schools across the country or to a specific school where students sold musical download cards (10 songs for $10) to members of the community. Besides raising funds for schools, such a program might also help lower the amount of musical piracy on the internet as people might be more encouraged to perform legitimate downloads since they would now know that a portion of their purchase amount would be going back to benefit their own community.

Another idea for raising funds for music programs would be to form smaller bands (from within the school band) and have them perform at local restaurants on weekends, announcing that all tips/donations would be for this field trip or these uniforms, etc. This would benefit both the restaurant in terms of entertainment and it wold benefit the students themselves, teaching them a greater sense of responsibility while putting their musical talents to work.

Still yet another idea would be to reach an agreement with local music stores, creating a special events month where a percentage of all purchases could be donated to the local high school's music program. Students could play music in varying locations around town promoting the store while at the same time promoting their cause.

The point to these ideas is that students and schools that are in need of funds for their programs have numerous opportunities all around them. Rather than selling candy or brownies (and aiding in what is quickly becoming a national pandemic of diabetes), students can form partnerships with local businesses, making the situation music to everyone's ears.

Anyone who has spent even a little time on Google Earth or Google Maps must note that the technology now exists to help people navigate their way to just about anywhere around the globe.

One might even say that getting from point A to point B has never been easier, especially if you have a car.

But what if you want to go somewhere by bike? What if you want to want to take a trip to the corner grocery store to get something, but you don't feel like driving?

One of the most common concerns people have when it comes to commuting somewhere by bicycle is that they're afraid of getting hit by cars. A very reasonable concern when you think about it.

So perhaps bicycle organizations around the country could team up with yahoo maps, for example, to create something called "Yahoo Bike Maps," where one could plan their trip for how to get from point A to point B based on such variables as:

1) hill incline--because some people might prefer a flatter route, even if it takes a little longer
2) availability of bike lanes--people are more likely to get on their bikes if they know there's a route that has continuous bike lanes
3) traffic conditions--whether there are bike lanes or not, people on bikes typically prefer to go where cars are less prevalent. It's safer and it reduces the amount of exhaust you have to breathe in while riding.

If this kind of information doesn't already exist, it could be quite easily found and documented by members of the varying bike organizations who, through their weekly or monthly rides, would undoubtedly know the best routes in the first place.

The point is that the technology exists for creating such a site. It's just a question of whether or not people are going to partner up and put it to use for the benefit of the community at large.

As a Teaching Assistant at UT Austin, I work with students who almost seem to be activated by the clock rather than the pursuit of knowledge.

This automaton-like response led me, the other day, to write something that I would love to say if it were my class and were I not just a T.A.

"This is supposed to be a school, a place of learning and enlightenment, but as you have no doubt already noticed, there are bells in this building, because this building was made in the age and spirit of factories, the bells acting as the prehistoric pterodactyl calls of management, coralling workers from station to station, herding them like cattle towards their final destination.

But you are not cattle or sheep or Pavlov's dogs. And in my class you will not be conditioned to close your notebooks and jump up at the sound of a bell. In fact, it is my hope that you will be so involved in what you are learning that you won't even hear the bell when it does ring. Because the act of learning cannot and should not be forced between artificial borders of time. The process of discovery is timeless and it is what keep our spirits forever young."