Media Review

As September comes to a close, I’ve created a list of the top songs that I’ve listened to this month. I got into Detroit trap in August, and I expanded to other artists within that genre during September. For some reason none of my top ten songs are Detroit trap, but my favorite artists within that are Baby Smoove and Desto. In September I also liked trap created by female artists, like Meg Thee Stallion and Lakeyah.  My top 10 songs were: Roll in Peace - Kodak Black NOSTYLIST - Destroy Lonely   Wat3va I’m Wit - Moneybagg Yo Southside Forever Freestyle - Meg Thee Stallion Consideration - Rihanna  Bloodhail - Have A Nice Life Female Goat - Lakeyah Codeine Crazy - Future Nice for What - Drake Tina Montana - Meg Thee Stallion I had one alternative song, with the rest being rap. I’m excited for the month of October because after October 31st, Spotify Wrapped is complete. So October will be the last month that it goes towards my Wrapped!

As I’ve begun my senior year, I want to reflect on how my music taste has changed throughout my time at Bradley. Freshman year I listened to indie and alternative music, leaning toward popular artists like The Strokes, Cage the Elephant, Tame Impala, and others within these genres. I essentially carried over my music taste from high school. The Strokes: Going into my sophomore year, I discovered podcasts, and nearly stopped listening to music. My favorite was Crime Junkie, and in April I discovered Morbid and haven’t stopped listening to them since. Sophomore year I also listened to indie and alternative music like Of Montreal, Dr. Dog, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.  Unknown Mortal Orchestra: I went into Junior year in a phase of not listening to much music again. At the time, I liked Azealia Banks and gravitated towards more pop sounding indie music, as well as rap-ish alternative music. In September I went to a music festival in Chicago called Pitchfork, and that’s what fully brough

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) is one of many types of dysautonomia. Dysautonomia is “ a disorder of autonomic nervous system (ANS) function that generally involves failure of the sympathetic or parasympathetic components of the ANS” . POTS specifically is “ a blood circulation disorder characterized by a heart rate increase from horizontal to standing of at least 30 bpm and a specific group of symptoms that frequently occur when standing upright” . It’s also typically called fainting disease, but there’s so much more to it than that.  I hadn’t heard of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome until I met my cardiologist in August 2021. I had known something was “different” with me since 7th grade tennis camp, but it took me 10 years to receive a diagnosis, which isn’t uncommon for people suffering with POTS. It’s tricky to conclude without having a test specifically meant to diagnose POTS, which means most general practitioners unfortunately don’t catch it.  My diag

I love psychological thrillers - absolutely love them. They either force you to confront something within yourself or give you a new viewpoint on what people go through. A movie that I believe does both (for most people) is the critically acclaimed, Black Swan , with Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis.  The film follows Nina (Portman), a ballerina at New York City Ballet company. It’s a competitive, highly impressive, and cut-throat organization.  Swan Lake is their next production, and they need someone to play both Swans. Nina is perfect for the White Swan role, she’s fragile, innocent, and graceful, but she can’t seem to tackle the rough, harsh Black Swan role. A large part of the movie is Nina's struggle to accept failure. Because of this, she begins obsessively training - determined to master both Swans and be selected for the lead role.  The movie progresses as Nina becomes consumed by trying to portray both Swans (the Black Swan trailer showcases this). Fueled by a fear of re