I Hear A Reason is a belief. The belief that music can heal and music can help you when you feel like nothing is left.
What defines the connection between person and music? Why does everyone have a favorite song? How can a mix of music and lyrics bring tears or immense joy?
It is within songs that we connect, like an intricate web of emotion and sound, people are connected to one another by the same feeling they get when they hear a song. They can understand each other by understanding the music they love. There is something to be spoken of when you look at a stranger and smile because they’re wearing a band tee shirt of your favorite band. They are a comrade to you in that moment.
When you go, run- don’t walk. When you sing, scream- don’t talk.
There will always be meaning behind music, regardless of the song. It can be humor with a comedic song about your mother-in-law. It can be a song that brings back the hospital visits or the funeral. It can be the song they played at your wedding.
Music speaks in seconds what can take years for talking to communicate. Music is the soul’s ability to shed all conformity and barriers, and helps us remember our flaws and our strengths. Music heals the deepest of wounds, if only we believe that it can.
I Hear A Reason is a testimony of how music can heal, how music can inspire, and how those who listen can speak for themselves.
I Hear A Reason.
And that reason is music.
The Reasons: IHAR Archive
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Contacting For Stories And Questions
I Hear A Reason now has an official email address.
ihearareason@yahoo.com
If you wish to submit a story or have any questions, please let me know by email.
I'll be online from 5 PM to 9 PM Central Time Monday thru Friday.
ihearareason@yahoo.com
If you wish to submit a story or have any questions, please let me know by email.
I'll be online from 5 PM to 9 PM Central Time Monday thru Friday.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Standing Firm, We Don't Conform
It didn't go unnoticed by those of us who work here on I Hear A Reason, the recent attacks in Mexico towards those who call themselves emo. The notion left us disgusted, disappointed, and certainly very disapproving. I Hear A Reason is an organization put together to support people who love music and want or need something to believe in. We are a support group, but one thing we do not support is the use of violence against people who are different.
The acts against emo kids are cold-hearted and wrong. We believe that if you don't agree with something or someone, then you should speak this opinion and not beat it into a person. Using violence against others only causes complications for everyone and honestly doesn't help any situation. It's more constructive to communicate your disagreements.
An eye for an eye, and we'll all be blind.
Change is something that is always necessary in society; the world can't grow and better itself without change, and the people who remain the same need to learn that beating those who move with the tide isn't going to make things stay the same- it's going to make change happen faster, and usually for the worst.
To those of you who agree with the attacks:
Violence is not going to make people change for you- indeed, no one will change unless they want to. Beating up people who are different is something that is barbaric and immoral; just because someone is not like you, does not make it okay to attack them. No one is truly the same as someone else, and given the times, people should be mature and intelligent enough to voice their opinions, rather than lash out with violence and cruel intentions.
To those of you who disagree or were attacked:
It's understandable that these actions hurt you, offend you, and/or anger you. But attacking back is something that only gives those who hate you a sense of satisfaction. You sink to their level, which is something that I Hear A Reason hopes will never happen, because this organization knows that people are capable of great things, and we all hope that you know you don't have to do something that underhanded or cruel in order to prove yourself. True friends and your family care about you and value you for who you are, not who you beat up. We're here to help and support you through all life's challenges, and if ever there is a time you feel you need someone to talk to, someone is always here at IHAR. Just drop aline.
The acts against emo kids are cold-hearted and wrong. We believe that if you don't agree with something or someone, then you should speak this opinion and not beat it into a person. Using violence against others only causes complications for everyone and honestly doesn't help any situation. It's more constructive to communicate your disagreements.
An eye for an eye, and we'll all be blind.
Change is something that is always necessary in society; the world can't grow and better itself without change, and the people who remain the same need to learn that beating those who move with the tide isn't going to make things stay the same- it's going to make change happen faster, and usually for the worst.
To those of you who agree with the attacks:
Violence is not going to make people change for you- indeed, no one will change unless they want to. Beating up people who are different is something that is barbaric and immoral; just because someone is not like you, does not make it okay to attack them. No one is truly the same as someone else, and given the times, people should be mature and intelligent enough to voice their opinions, rather than lash out with violence and cruel intentions.
To those of you who disagree or were attacked:
It's understandable that these actions hurt you, offend you, and/or anger you. But attacking back is something that only gives those who hate you a sense of satisfaction. You sink to their level, which is something that I Hear A Reason hopes will never happen, because this organization knows that people are capable of great things, and we all hope that you know you don't have to do something that underhanded or cruel in order to prove yourself. True friends and your family care about you and value you for who you are, not who you beat up. We're here to help and support you through all life's challenges, and if ever there is a time you feel you need someone to talk to, someone is always here at IHAR. Just drop aline.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Censorship
In the spring of 2007, two things occurred- a tragedy and a release. The Virginia Tech shootings took place in the middle of April, stunning and horrifying the whole country and causing a backlash through the common household and the journalism world. Around the same time, the New Jersey based band My Chemical Romance was planning to release the music video for their generation anthem “Teenagers”. What connects these two events?
MTV and My Chemical Romance agreed to postpone the premier of the music video out of respect for the tragedy at Virginia Tech, and MTV planned not to show the music video unless it met their specifications. When MTV was satisfied, not only had they muted out all swears from the music video, but had also muted out the words “gun”, “shirt”, and “pay”. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to censorship.
I’m referring to a group of people in charge editing media, literature, and art to make it suitable to their moral preferences and this includes that infamous and scandalous little beep that conceals foul language. You swear on TV and that curse word gets beeped out before it can pollute children into being evil. Yes; one curse word can turn a child into a hooligan. The world is a dangerous place, and it is certain people’s jobs to determine how to protect the populous from the diligently-dangerous monster of the world known as the media.
It wasn’t always such a horrible or drastic occurrence to live with censorship. There was a time where censorship was something practical, and wasn’t so violently thrust down everyone’s throats, because they were happy with being conservative. The times have changed, and censorship is having difficulties in letting go of certain traditions. Specifically, censorship has remained a master of hypocrisy and contradiction. The word “shirt” is muted out of a music video, and yet we have reality TV conveying cast members having sex, drinking heavily and abusing drugs.
The victims of censorship are most often the arts- a part of humanity that is always exploring new concepts. This is something that brings out the most barbaric of human fears, and that is the fear of what one doesn’t understand. Rather than learn more, we block out what we don’t know. We deny it and therefore censor it from our view, and because of that, it becomes more and more difficult for us to grow and learn as people. A group will take it upon themselves to determine what is acceptable (specifically in a moral sense) and enforce that view point on everyone else. As they see it, it’s their responsibility.
But is censorship really the job of an organization (or worse, the government) or is it the job of someone else? The biggest defense of censorship is that it has been put in place to protect the young, impressionable youth from the dangerous and corrupting world. But truly, is that not a parent’s responsibility?
In the end, censorship is no substitute for good parenting. A child can take in a few curses and some violence on TV, true. But what happens after? Do they discuss the good, bad and the ugly of what they’ve seen, or do they hide in their room because they snuck themselves into watching the TV program in the first place? Instead of discussing and sharing time with their children, parents are relying on security programs to do their job for them, and that ultimately teaches their children to sneak and lie. All children like to be in on a good secret, and they all want to know why Mommy or Daddy won’t let them watch that one movie.
And so I ask; does censorship work? No. The author Mark Twain once said, “censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak because a baby can’t chew it.” Well, the baby grows teeth, and once they’re old enough to learn how to truly chew their food, they either choke or their parents teach them how to cut their food into smaller pieces. What I’m trying to say is that it is the parents’ obligation to teach their children how to make responsible choices. A screen or sign telling a 7-year-old “this content is prohibited” isn’t going to help him or her learn that just because you saw it on TV, in a movie, or in a book, doesn’t mean it’s alright to do in reality.
And then, of course, there is the fear of offending people. Best-selling books have been burned millions of times because the people in charge didn’t like what they read. Television shows and movies alike have been banned. Even works of art have been destroyed- and why? Because they were different from what other people thought, and that offended these people.
To be offended does not justify taking away the rights of others, and the right to express oneself has been an installation of American ideology for many years, to the point where it was placed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is in Article 19 of this document that states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Now, for those of you who got lost at “expression”, this means that it is a basic human right to say what one believes and thinks, and to learn more about subjects that one finds an interest in. Censorship changes what a person says; it covers up the words and muddles up the message. Once practical, censorship is now an annoying fly, buzzing around everyone’s face when they say something frank or honest. Censorship’s prime has come and gone- it’s time to change and learn to find a easy medium between muting out the word “pay” and letting people walk around naked on prime-time television.
The only way this easy medium can be found is through (yes, you guessed it!) communication! People need to address, without barriers, their expectations and conservations, and work together to come to an agreement. Let us all let the peace talks begin, and maybe we can finally understand the true meaning of freedom of speech.
MTV and My Chemical Romance agreed to postpone the premier of the music video out of respect for the tragedy at Virginia Tech, and MTV planned not to show the music video unless it met their specifications. When MTV was satisfied, not only had they muted out all swears from the music video, but had also muted out the words “gun”, “shirt”, and “pay”. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to censorship.
I’m referring to a group of people in charge editing media, literature, and art to make it suitable to their moral preferences and this includes that infamous and scandalous little beep that conceals foul language. You swear on TV and that curse word gets beeped out before it can pollute children into being evil. Yes; one curse word can turn a child into a hooligan. The world is a dangerous place, and it is certain people’s jobs to determine how to protect the populous from the diligently-dangerous monster of the world known as the media.
It wasn’t always such a horrible or drastic occurrence to live with censorship. There was a time where censorship was something practical, and wasn’t so violently thrust down everyone’s throats, because they were happy with being conservative. The times have changed, and censorship is having difficulties in letting go of certain traditions. Specifically, censorship has remained a master of hypocrisy and contradiction. The word “shirt” is muted out of a music video, and yet we have reality TV conveying cast members having sex, drinking heavily and abusing drugs.
The victims of censorship are most often the arts- a part of humanity that is always exploring new concepts. This is something that brings out the most barbaric of human fears, and that is the fear of what one doesn’t understand. Rather than learn more, we block out what we don’t know. We deny it and therefore censor it from our view, and because of that, it becomes more and more difficult for us to grow and learn as people. A group will take it upon themselves to determine what is acceptable (specifically in a moral sense) and enforce that view point on everyone else. As they see it, it’s their responsibility.
But is censorship really the job of an organization (or worse, the government) or is it the job of someone else? The biggest defense of censorship is that it has been put in place to protect the young, impressionable youth from the dangerous and corrupting world. But truly, is that not a parent’s responsibility?
In the end, censorship is no substitute for good parenting. A child can take in a few curses and some violence on TV, true. But what happens after? Do they discuss the good, bad and the ugly of what they’ve seen, or do they hide in their room because they snuck themselves into watching the TV program in the first place? Instead of discussing and sharing time with their children, parents are relying on security programs to do their job for them, and that ultimately teaches their children to sneak and lie. All children like to be in on a good secret, and they all want to know why Mommy or Daddy won’t let them watch that one movie.
And so I ask; does censorship work? No. The author Mark Twain once said, “censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak because a baby can’t chew it.” Well, the baby grows teeth, and once they’re old enough to learn how to truly chew their food, they either choke or their parents teach them how to cut their food into smaller pieces. What I’m trying to say is that it is the parents’ obligation to teach their children how to make responsible choices. A screen or sign telling a 7-year-old “this content is prohibited” isn’t going to help him or her learn that just because you saw it on TV, in a movie, or in a book, doesn’t mean it’s alright to do in reality.
And then, of course, there is the fear of offending people. Best-selling books have been burned millions of times because the people in charge didn’t like what they read. Television shows and movies alike have been banned. Even works of art have been destroyed- and why? Because they were different from what other people thought, and that offended these people.
To be offended does not justify taking away the rights of others, and the right to express oneself has been an installation of American ideology for many years, to the point where it was placed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is in Article 19 of this document that states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
Now, for those of you who got lost at “expression”, this means that it is a basic human right to say what one believes and thinks, and to learn more about subjects that one finds an interest in. Censorship changes what a person says; it covers up the words and muddles up the message. Once practical, censorship is now an annoying fly, buzzing around everyone’s face when they say something frank or honest. Censorship’s prime has come and gone- it’s time to change and learn to find a easy medium between muting out the word “pay” and letting people walk around naked on prime-time television.
The only way this easy medium can be found is through (yes, you guessed it!) communication! People need to address, without barriers, their expectations and conservations, and work together to come to an agreement. Let us all let the peace talks begin, and maybe we can finally understand the true meaning of freedom of speech.
Monday, March 17, 2008
It's a Soundtrack
Life is always going to be whatever you make it.
But sometimes it's hard to make life what you want it to be. You feel like you're not strong enough to push and fight for it. Maybe you feel like it's not worth fighting for. Regardless, you curl into yourself and soak up that feeling of 'not enough'.
AND ALL IS SILENT.
It is so quiet, that your ears ring, itching to be put to use- hear something. It becomes a relief to listen, and so you put on the music.
You choose to listen and you choose the music to which you listen to.
And it flows through you, like some kind of cure. It ignites your limbs and burns all the way to your heart like some kind of healing acid reflux. You're on fire with the driving guitars and smashing drums or the quiet piano and mournful strings. And the connection is made.
A connection between you and the music happens first. The music knows your pain. The music knows your joy. It knows your love and your hatred. It knows your dreams and your fears, and it doesn't condemn you for any of it.
IT EMBRACES YOU FOR ALL YOUR TALENTS AND ALL YOUR FAULTS.
And then the connection grows- to the people who made the music and the people who listen to the same music as you. Because they all know what you're going through. They all understand your pain and your pleasure. Your joy and sorrow. They understand your life because they're living their lives just like you. You're all human and you're all feeling the same things. It teaches you something so very, very important.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE. AND THEY ARE WITH YOU.
Because you all have a reason. You have the same reason.
But sometimes it's hard to make life what you want it to be. You feel like you're not strong enough to push and fight for it. Maybe you feel like it's not worth fighting for. Regardless, you curl into yourself and soak up that feeling of 'not enough'.
AND ALL IS SILENT.
It is so quiet, that your ears ring, itching to be put to use- hear something. It becomes a relief to listen, and so you put on the music.
You choose to listen and you choose the music to which you listen to.
And it flows through you, like some kind of cure. It ignites your limbs and burns all the way to your heart like some kind of healing acid reflux. You're on fire with the driving guitars and smashing drums or the quiet piano and mournful strings. And the connection is made.
A connection between you and the music happens first. The music knows your pain. The music knows your joy. It knows your love and your hatred. It knows your dreams and your fears, and it doesn't condemn you for any of it.
IT EMBRACES YOU FOR ALL YOUR TALENTS AND ALL YOUR FAULTS.
And then the connection grows- to the people who made the music and the people who listen to the same music as you. Because they all know what you're going through. They all understand your pain and your pleasure. Your joy and sorrow. They understand your life because they're living their lives just like you. You're all human and you're all feeling the same things. It teaches you something so very, very important.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE. AND THEY ARE WITH YOU.
Because you all have a reason. You have the same reason.
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