Eating Tradition

In my family there are a few traditions we have based around food. Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays. Easter and Christmas originally were religiously based traditions. My family has a very very religious history so for the parents and grandparents of my cousins and I these holidays traditions are religiously based, but for me and most of my cousins these traditions are just based around getting together and eating a lot of awesome food. On those holidays the origins of my families traditions doesn't apply to me because I don't believe any of it; to me the tradition is all about visiting with family and cheerishing that time together. On Thanksgiving, even though the origins of Americas Thanksgiving holiday is based off of our past with Native Americans my family has turned it into thanking their god for giving us everything. Once again the tradition in my view is just eating a lot of food again and having fun playing football with everyone. Halloween contains one of my favorite of family traditions, every year my mother makes epic chili for my brothers, sisters, neighbors, and myself. Birthdays are the best though because we make a lot of pie because pie is awesome.

A Deadly Community

Death Metal is a community. This group is a much larger community than what people think. What makes Death Metal a community is the fact that there are hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who all have a passion for this genre of music that is slowly on the rise. It's a community because in every mosh pit even though all of us are punching each other in the face and slamming into each other with all the force we have; we all still look out for each other. Anytime a man or woman goes down in the pit or passes out from dehydration everyone stops what they are doing to help the fallen comrade, even the performing band will occasionally stop their song to make sure that people make it out of their concert alive. This group is held together by a shared love for brutality and appreciation for the extreme technicality that all the musicians perform with. As wonderful as this community is, there are its tensions and differences just like any other community. Tensions rise all over the place because of peoples opinions on what should or should not be included within the Death Metal genre and in some cases there are tensions between people who are a fan of old school Death Metal such as "Cannibal Corpse" and new school Death Metal bands such as "Suicide Silence". There are even arguments about what sub-genre various bands belong in.

I feel that I fit in the Death Metal community in multiple ways. One way is that for the last 4 years I have created multiple Death Metal bands, doing either guitar, vocals, or both. I feel that I fit in the Death Metal community because when I'm singing on stage my words affect what the crowd does. If I scream for a mosh pit a mosh pit will happen instantly, if I scream for the crowd to just go completely crazy, I'll drop my microphone and jump in the crowd just to join them. Every single day I listen to this genre religiously, to enjoy it and to study it. The main reasons why I want to be a part of and am a part of is because for one it is a major stress relief for me to listen to this extremely violent music and to jump in the mosh pits and just fight for hours on end, and then after the fights over some how its like me and the other person are best friends (I cannot explain how that works). The main reason for me being a part of this community is because of my appreciation of music, and in my opinion Death Metal has some of the most talented musicians in the world.

"The Life of Brett" a story by, Brett's Wallet

What would someone first think that they would find inside my wallet just from its outer appearance? On the outside my wallet is gray, black, covered in skulls, and the leather is very worn and cracked. Personally I would think that there would be heavy metal concert tickets or some sort of horror movie imagery within its contents. Even though this is my wallet, it is still to my surprise that none of the above listed is inside this flimsy cracked leather. 

           When my wallet is first opened all that can be seen is my driver’s license as well as the top ends of some cards. Before I get into detail of what my assortment of cards is; I will begin with the basics, my driver’s license. My driver’s license is the king of the wallet. It has its very own pouch with a clear cover that allows all of its front contents to be seen without needing to pull it out. A lot of information about me can be gathered from this piece of plastic with my picture on it. After my name is my address, this has been my address ever since I could walk. I definitely don’t plan on living at this address forever, but I could stay here in Marysville. Next you will find that I am a male who is 6ft 3in, 175lbs, I have blue eyes, and I am an organ donor. My photograph is the last thing about me other than my signature. I believe that a little can be determined about me just from my picture, if I am to “judge this book by its cover”. In my picture you will see my natural hair color, which up until recently not many people ever knew it is blonde. Also you will see that my hair is a Mohawk that hangs down to my shoulder. Only one of my ears is exposed in this photo, my hair is covering the other half of my head. On this ear you will see that it is pierced, but the earring is much thicker than your average earring (yes it did hurt making it that way).  If I were to see my I.D. from an outside point of view I would simply assume that this teenager is just another person who dresses like a rocker. 

Next to my driver’s license is my EVCC student I.D. card. Other than the fact that it shows what school I go to, the only information about me that can be gathered from this is from the photo of me. This photo was taken about 2 years after my driver’s license photo. In this image you will see that my hair down to the middle of my chest and that it is black. Since in this photo my hair is not a Mohawk and it is all lying behind my ears, you are able to see that in one ear I have one piercing and in the other ear I have two. Also in this photo I am wearing a baphomet necklace. From the information on my student I.D. I would once again just assume that this teenager is just another person who dresses like a rocker.

All of what is left in my wallet does not contain very much about me as individual items, but you can see a fair amount about me from looking at all of them as a whole. In my wallet is my BECU debit card, State Farm insurance card, Allstate Platinum Plan Membership I.D., Auntie Anne’s Pretzel Perfect Pass, Fred Meyers gift card, CPR/ AED card, and a Compliant First Aid Training L.L.C. certificate of Completion card. What you can learn about me just from all of this is; it is likely that someone in my family works for Boeing, I am well insured with my car, I like pretzels, I shop at Fred Meyers, and that I went through some sort of formal training based around saving lives and helping injured people.

People would miss out on a lot of information about me if all they had was my wallet to go off of. First they would miss that I am not just some teenager that dresses like a rocker, I am a singer and believe it or not looking how I look is actually my uniform and helps me get paid better. Next they would miss that I am working towards a teaching certificate and degree in physical education at EVCC. Other information that is missing is, the reason I use BECUAED card and first aid certificate while I was in the Sno-Isle Fire Service program.

From this assignment and its readings; I have found that just by looking at someone’s wallet you can sometimes see a rough outline of that person’s life, but all the details are left out.

Intro Blog

My name is Brett Larsen, I am 19 years old. Currently I am going to EVCC to get the process of becoming a teacher started. I plan on becoming a teacher in Physical Education. As of now my job is both my bands. I am the lead singer of a Death Metal band as well as a Hard Rock band. My Death Metal band has played all over Washington, we are currently in the process of negotiating some contracts, so by this summer I should be touring the country then depending on our success of that hopefully I'll get to move onto touring Europe and Asia. I look forward to seeing what knowledge I can obtain from this class.