Why Norman F*cking Rockwell Should Have Won Album of the Year
By Anthony Bradley. 5 February, 2020
To start off, 2019 was a momentous and fantastic year for music. The Grammys were this past weekend, to much-expected controversy. With new artists such as Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish making their first strides to stardom, there was definitely no shortage of culture-defining music to converse and debate over. Each category (as holds true for every year) had much debate and controversy for the 2019 Grammys, however, no category was up for more debate than that of "Album of the Year." To no discredit of Billie Eilish, as she has achieved momentous accomplishments this year, the winner for album of the year should have undoubtedly been granted to the remarkable troubadour Lana Del Rey for her extraordinary album Norman F*cking Rockwell.
Norman F*cking Rockwell is as brutally candid of 21st century America as the title itself. Just as the man in the title, Elizabeth Woolridge Grant paints an image of America: an America in search for itself, an America wrought with worry, an America confused. Moreover, much like America, Lana is complicated, complex, and undefined, and this holds to be not just true, but is rather highlighted on the true Album of the Year.
"God damn, man child. You f*cked me so good that I almost said 'I love you'" declares as she commences the first song off one of the best albums our generation will ever produce. This line sets a benchmark of honesty that lines every lyric of the following 14 songs. The album IS Elizabeth Grant. The album IS what she has to say. As Pitchfork stated, "Norman Fucking Rockwell! is Lana at her deepest, and it arrives at a time when the history of America as we know it is being rewritten." In terms of rewriting a country, Lana could not have produced an album in such perfect due time, comparatively like Bob Dylan, an equally defining songwriter.
Like Dylan, Lana romanticizes America in a grossly idolizing manner. Doing so in an almost mocking way, Lana preaches of California nights and longing for love in a country that is, just like her, confused yet bold; a perfect way to describe this album is just that, boldly confused.
Release of the New WRCM Website
By Kate Uffer. 1 December, 2022
When I first became (shadow) webmaster of WRCM in Fall of 2020, I don't think I could have imagined how far I would have brought this website today. I have been able to learn so much about so many different areas of Web Design and Development over the past 2 years. From Web Programming with Dr. Tina Tian, to my Senior Portfolio class with Mr. Jacob Roesch and Software Engineering class with Dr. Abu Mallouh, it is with all of these people that I was able to push the website to where it is today.
My goal with the web site redesign was to bring revive the site back to how I imagined it being back in 2019. Fun, colorful, and interactive. I also decided to reorganize where certain elements of the site are located. The full master schedule for the semester was moved from the Homepage to its own page, and in its place there is a dynamically generated list of shows to air for the day. Every hour, the list will automatically update to show which show is live, and which shows are up next for the day. On the new Schedule page, users can type to search for shows by their name, or their hosts. This is a change to what we've had in previous years, where you would have to click a letter to filter the shows alphabetically. The Schedule page is also sorted by days of the week, so you instantly know what day of the week a show is.
The News and Reviews page that you are reading right now has also received a makeover, but a different implementation could be specified for in the future. Right now, there are only two articles, but in the future when we receive more articles, we will need to give each article its own page, and have this page act as a list of articles. This way, the News and Reviews page is not infinitely long. A welcome addition however, is the ability for students to submit articles through the website, rather than having to email the WRCM executive board. When the full WRCM website is public, The article submission page will be available to students only through their Manhattan College login. I also hope to do further research for the About Us page, so an accurate history of the club can be represented.