Category: Influential Person

Concentrating on the life of the Prophet Muhammad resembles concentrating on the history of Islam. It is the life story of our most adored life and the historical backdrop of our religion. Muslims, even non-Muslims, ought to submit to the brilliant standards of the Holy Prophet to carry on with a fruitful life. Who so at any point complies with the Holy Prophet to be sure he submits to Allah too because the dutifulness of the Holy Prophet is equivalent to the submission of Allah Almighty. “He who obeys the Messenger has indeed obeyed Allah”. All people of each period of time can look for direction. Everlastingly from lessons of the Holy Prophet they can be profited from. Muhammad is the Best of Allah’s creatures and the solution to every problem. Muhammad’s authority and importance are not restricted to an understanding of the Qur’an and legitimate orders, certainly, they extend far beyond these areas.

“And we have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the world”, Allah Almighty said in the Holy Qur’an. In one more refrain of Surah Al-Ahzab, the Messenger of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, has been pronounced the genuine guide to follow the individuals who trusted in the meeting with Allah and the Last Day and recalled Allah. The Holy Prophet Muhammad for the duration of his life for all intents and purposes carried out the lessons of Islam. His life was a finished bundle of social government assistance exercises that incorporated the prosperity of people, creatures, plants, and surprisingly non-living things.

It additionally is a wellspring of reinforcing the Faith. Through considering the Seerah, we can comprehend the narratives of the countries that passed before us. The Seerah of the Prophet relates these accounts with full clarification. Furthermore, it helps us to acknowledge and comprehend the importance of the Holy Book of Allah. Thus, this assists us with making the Qur’an a piece of our day-to-day existence.

The Prophet Muhammad showed His supporters that the best individuals among them were the people who benefited the rest of humanity the most. “Every good deed is a charity”. In this advanced period, Muslims need to figure out how He carried on with His life confronted difficulties earnestly, and committed to the reason for Islam and the betterment of humanity in general. The existence of the Holy Prophet is a good example for every person in this world who has confidence in Allah and the Day of Judgment. The world has seen a lot of researchers, savants, and ministers, but none of them was as extraordinary as the Prophet Muhammad.

Oprah Winfrey is very well known as a TV host, celebrity and entrepreneur. On top of that, she is also a teacher, preacher and an advocate for women’s rights. In last year’s speech at the Golden Globes, Oprah declared that “a new day is on the horizon”. She started talking to all the young girls around the world, suggesting that the old days are in the past and women will be viewed equally, appreciated as equal and treated with respect. It could be argued in her acceptance speech for a Lifetime Achievement Award that Oprah gave the women’s movement a historic rally cry. As we quote Winfrey saying, “For too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men, but their time is up”. With Winfrey’s words and mindset, it could help change the national conversation, give women a voice and be the dawn of a new day for women.

Winfrey, a dedicated advocate for female education, funds several programs and organizations to improve the quality of life for women. She supports Women for Women International, which gives financial, educational and interpersonal help to women survivors of war, poverty and injustice. She also supports Girl Effect, which is an organization that is dedicated to eradicating poverty among young women. After discussions with Nelson Mandela, she opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa in 2002. She wanted a place where girls that were not lacking in spirit or mind while being economically disadvantaged can perform and develop their leadership skills. In 2016, she took advantage of the platform and offered to give her successful talk show to become an advocate for women. She uses her personal childhood experience to inspire other girls to fight for a better place for today’s girls. In addition, she fights for freedom from sexual harassment, protection against abuse, oppression for women in all industries and better wages. Her goal is to be heard and appreciated and for women to break through global gender barrier.

Oprah, being the first woman in history to own and produce her own talk show, has dramatically influenced women’s lives. She is the most influential woman ever by spending millions on educating and empowering women all across women. With the background, knowledge, wealth and her frame Oprah has, it inspired women to be strong and advocate for themselves. Throughout her life, he has been awarded many likes like the Presidential Medal of Freedom and President Barack Obama’s highest civil honor. She also addressed the discrimination in the workplace where women producers are earning less than men producer on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ and demand a raise and equality for women. Even confronted her boss and said, “Either my producer will raise or I will sit. I just won’t work. I will not work unless they get paid more money”. With her speaking up, her staff finally was given the earning they deserved. She knew if she started to speak about all the little issues like this, the gender equality in the workplace will be coming soon.

The inspiring and empowering messages that Oprah gives out can help make the world change for the better. She keeps fighting for equal rights, helping other women, bringing out her message and the truth. She encourages women to stand firm on what they believe and never let anyone else decide what their future is going to look like, and them realizing their value and seeing the possibility for themselves. During her infamous speech at the Golden Globe, she says: “I want all of the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon. And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, ‘me too’ again”. This is her talking about what she knows without a doubt. It’s a series of consistent things that she said during her speech that is drawing attention and making the progress to the change that needs to happen. These are all the reasons why Oprah Winfrey is a warrior woman.

“The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” (Nietzsche) The intriguing novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde entertains the idea of negative influence in a person’s life. Dorian Gray, the main character, is an innocent young man at the beginning of the novel who gradually changes for the worst after his multiple encounters with Lord Henry, and the rest of society in his era. Wilde chooses to portray a morally incorrect, unkind, and selfish character, such as Dorian, to further emphasize the lesson in his novel. Dorian Gray obsessively becomes consumed by the thought of beauty and youth under the influence of Lord Henry, resulting in a path of greed and murderous behavior.

Influenced by Lord Henry, Dorian is no longer a person who is naive and innocent but rather someone who develops an immoral way of thinking. To begin, Lord Henry influences Dorian into believing that following his conscience will not bring him happiness. Instead, he tells Dorian that the only way of truly reaching happiness is to give into temptation, “the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden itself.” (Wilde, pg. 13) As a result, Dorian begins giving in to his dark desires. Furthermore, Dorian’s corruption first begins as soon as he is introduced to Lord Henry capturing the attention of Basil almost instantly, “ … deep into his work and conscious only that a look had come into the lad’s face that he had never seen there before.” (Wilde, pg. 21) Basil is able to recognize the start of corruption as a result of his newly found friend. Due to Dorian’s and Lord Henry’s companionship, Dorian begins to live his life with one goal in mind, which is to live life as though he has no consequences for his actions.

Dorian proceeds to view his beauty and youth as his only defining and worthwhile quality. To begin, Basil’s painting of Dorian reflects Dorian’s true self, mirroring his soul to appear unbearably ugly. Upon showing Basil what the painting has become after many years, Dorian subsequently murders him in an act of anger and shame. Dorian is unable to fathom the mere thought of anyone discovering how truly ugly his soul is, thus prompting his murderous tendencies. Secondly, Dorian is finally able to recognize that it is impossible for him to undo all the damage that he has done to his soul, and rid of the evidence of aging on the painting. “Yes, he would be good, and the hideous thing that he had hidden away would no longer terror him.” (Wilde, pg. 219) His realization that he cannot turn back and change history leads him to destroy the painting because he cannot bear to be reminded of his true ugliness any longer. Dorian relies so heavily on his appearances to be content with himself, that he begins to allow himself to dismiss his morals without consideration.

Oscar Wilde chooses to portray Dorian Gray as an unrighteous, immature and immoral character to allow the readers to understand that Dorian’s life was ultimately empty. It emphasizes the point that because Dorian was an awful person, dying a rather pitiful death. To start, Dorian followed a path of extreme murderous behavior. He drove Sybil to kill herself through his insensitivity, murdered Basil after showing him the atrocious painting of himself, drove Alan Campbell to suicide, and lastly, killed himself. Dorian does not recognize his actions to be as impacting as he should. He recognizes he should correct himself for all the wrongs he has done however, decides to do so in an act of greed. He chooses not to seduce a girl in hopes it would correct his ugly soul. His ignorance further proves how immature and naive Dorian is as he thought that was all he would have to do to make things right. Wilde chooses to make Dorian a character with all the misfortunate qualities to send a message to his readers.

Dorian becomes a victim of aestheticism, taking him down a path that changes him for the worst and creating an insensitive, greedy monster who murders. Through Dorian, Wilde portrays how a powerful influence and guilt impact a person’s life. Ultimately, Dorian was an immature character who could not think for himself but instead went along with what those around him thought. A person must be aware of their surroundings and not be easily influenced so they do not make a change for the worst.

When a person hears the word Jazz the first people they usually think about are Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, or Miles Davis. One person who fails to get the recognition that he deserves is Ian Ernest Gilmore Green better known as Gil Evans. After doing research on topics and people of Jazz history the most interesting and unspoken person encountered was Gil Evans. His accomplishments and contributions to Jazz usually fall under the radar in Jazz History. Evans’s unique music style makes him stand out and even attracted other popular Jazz artists such as Miles Davis and John Lewis. Ranging from collaborations with famous Jazz artists, making famous Jazz pieces, having his unique music style, earning many high-class awards, and being acknowledged at the White House add up to create a successful career. Gil Evans’s resume without a doubt makes him eligible to receive the title of being one of the most important artists in the history of Jazz. He deserves more recognition as a Jazz arranger/conductor and as a contributor when it comes to influencing Jazz culture.

Before getting into Evans’s accomplishments and contributions it’s important to discuss his early days before all the fame and success. Evans got introduced to music by his friend’s father who was a big jazz fan. From there he developed a love for music and enjoyed music from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Armstrong had a great impact on Evans as an adolescent gaining a passion for music. Evans claims that Armstrong is the reason he started to love music. Evans had created a band with some school friends which started off small by playing at local schools to filling in for Duke Ellington’s orchestra. Evans was a perfectionist when it came to how his band sounded he denied offers to perform in certain venues since he thought his band didn’t sound good enough. Despite some complications, Evans and his band were able to find steady work until 1942. Evans’s first major job was as an arranger for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra between 1941 and 1948. Taken from a book called A History of Jazz ”The most eccentric sound during the war was produced by the orchestra and was formed in 1937 by white pianist Claude Thornhill that in 1942 boasted four vocalists, seven clarinets, two french horns, and a tuba. Its arranger, Gil Evans, concocted dreamy and hypnotic textures, such as the portrait of a Guinea Farm (April 1941) and Snowfall (may 1941), that toyed with timbric and rhythmic mannerism. Their sophisticated chamber jazz even scored a couple of hits, A Sunday Kind Of Love (May 1947) and Love For Love (September 1947), but the band became even more cryptic after the addition of white alto saxophonist Lee Konitz (1947) and of arranger Gerry Mulligan, who penned Elevation (October 1948). Evans, Mulligan, and Konitz were defining a white man’s version of bebop, much more abstract than swinging” (Scaruffi page). These couple of lines talk about some of the work Evans did under the wing of Thornhill. In 1942 he was drafted by the military during World War II and finished his service in 1946. After he finished his service he met Miles Davis who together created some great pieces of music. In 1948 they formed a nonet that included a unique combination of instruments such as the french horn, trombone, tuba, trumpet, alto, and baritone sax. This led to the recording of “Birth of Cool” by Miles Davis which will be discussed later in depth.

Evans and Davis are credited as the main people that helped in the creation of cool Jazz. What is cool Jazz exactly? Cool Jazz is a style of jazz that is differentiated by its relaxed tempo and lighter tones, unlike the bebop style which is faster and more dynamic. It is a mixture of classical and jazz music. Cool jazz is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 40s. The term cool comes from what people saw as a downplayed or repressed inclination in the music of Miles Davis, The Modern Jazz Quartet, and others. Drummers played milder and less intuitively than in bop, hard bop, and other current styles that existed together with cool. There was also a renewed interest in collective improvisation among melody instruments. People used this time to make a name for themselves, people such as Gerry Mulligan and Art Pepper. They were Saxophonists in Los Angeles who helped towards cool jazz also getting the name West Coast jazz. Miles Davis and Gil Evans sparking the start of Cool Jazz did more than just create a new sub-genre of jazz they created opportunities for musicians to make a name for themselves. Cool jazz was seen as a “white man’s Jazz” mostly because it was usually played by white musicians because more classical influence was more popular with white audiences. Now onto what caused the creation of cool jazz.

The “Birth of the Cool” album is a compilation of 12 songs that helped propel Miles Davis to possibly the most influential jazz artist of all time, he was a trumpeter, keyboardist, composer, and band leader, who is responsible for the popularization of many styles of jazz. There are twelve tracks that make up the famous “Birth of the Cool” album. These tracks can be separated into four different kinds of groups. The first one consists of two fast-tempo songs the next group contains five upbeat pieces and the third group contains three bluesy feel tracks, and finally, the fourth group has two slow-tempo ballad pieces. This album played an important part in jazz history and also helped out Evans’ career as an arranger and composer. Gil Evans had some great arrangements that stood out in that album in songs such as “Moon Dreams” and “Boplicity”. Moon Dreams has a slow tempo with a unique combination of instruments playing giving off a sad feeling throughout the song a very relaxing piece. Boplicity was one of the more popular songs in the album which also has a slower tempo and a unique flow. Both songs with great arrangements by Gil Evans and are not the only successful songs that he had. He had success with albums such as Miles Ahead Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain, Quiet Nights, and The Individualism Of Gil Evans.

Miles ahead another collab album between the talented combination of Gil Evans and Miles Davis was also successful. Miles Davis was the only soloist on this album accompanied by sixteen brass and woodwind players and while there were no exciting moments in the album Miles Davis’s voice with the background of the orchestra adds up to something beautiful. Evans can be thanked for that because his arrangements made sure everything sounded smooth and worth using. Evans designed the album to flow from one song to the next with smooth transitions to make it sound like there are no pauses. “Porgy and Bess” was the second collab album by Miles Davis and Gil Evans and is said to be the best collab album they created. Davis was given more freedom to add more of himself into this album and Evans adapted some of the arrangements and songs from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bees in the making of this album by Davis and Evans. Evans was a talented enough arranger/conductor that he could use someone else’s work add his own twist to it and create something wonderful. “Sketches of Spain” is a jazz album with classical composition modifications and a Spanish feeling to it. This album was also different in the sense that Evans got to work with Flamenco who had knowledge of Spanish composers that Evans exploited fully which helped give the album a Spanish feeling. “Sketches of Spain” demonstrates the skills and talent of Evans as he stepped out of his usual comfort zone to create an album like this and it also won a grammy. But Evans’s interest in South America did not go away after that, in the final collab album “Quiet Nights” of the dynamic duo some songs had inspiration by bossa nova which is a style of Brazilian music that has jazz and samba origin. This album was significant to his resume because just like Sketches of Spain Evans was able to use different inspirations to make his arrangements unique. One of his personal albums that was nominated for a grammy, “The Individualism Of Gil Evans” which is one of his best solo albums containing top hits such as “Las Vegas Tango”, “Time of the Barracudas” along with original compositions and compositions by Kurt Weill, Bob Dorough, John Lewis and Willie Dixon who were very talented jazz musicians. This album shows risks being taken by Evans but still incorporates his signature sounds and productions to still give Gil Evans’s feeling to the album. Evans plays the piano on every track of the album even on the ones where he uses the composition of someone else. Evans’s throughout most of the 70s had performances that were rare and usually infrequent, but he never lost his work ethic when it came to his music and continued to receive awards and recognition in different ways that surprised him.

Gil Evans is a unique part of jazz culture whose accomplishments and music should receive more credit along with more recognition. Evans as mentioned is best known for the music he created between the years 1957 to 1963, and how his 19-piece orchestra backed Miles Davis. He won a Grammy for ” Sketches of Spain” and his solo album was nominated for a grammy in 1962 for two albums “Quiet Nights” and “The Individualism Of Gil Evans”. Evans received the Guggenheim Fellowship for composition in 1968, which is a prestigious award that is given to one who has demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.”. He is among the first two jazz musicians to earn this award. Evans was named a founding artist of the Kennedy center located in Washington D.C. where he gave the audience an impressive performance with his expanded group of sixteen musicians. Evans was even honored at the White House by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, who was holding a national tribute to jazz musicians. The same year that he was acknowledged at the White House his orchestra went on three trips to Europe that turned out to be a success. In 1985 he was given an Honorary Doctorate from the New England Conservatory that is located in Boston, Massachusetts, Evans received another award this time an even more important one he was awarded a Jazz Masters Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, one of the highest honor given to receive as a jazz musician. He even developed some relationships with rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix before he passed and David Bowie. Towards the end of his career in 1987 Evans and his Orchestra were unsurprisingly still in high demand. Evans and his band proceeded to go on a three-week special tour of Europe, in honor of Evans’ 75th birthday, as they performed at many different international festivals. Evans and his orchestra did a 10-day short tour in July at Umbria Jazz in Italy and to top it off they had a concert with a string. Evans as mentioned always had a thing for South America it made sense for him and his band to make an appearance at a festival in Brazil that fall of the year of his 75th birthday. A little while after his appearance in Brazil Evans joined forces with Laurent Cugnhy’s Big Band Lumiere as they toured throughout France. That year was the product as he ended it by recording a duet with Steve Lacy completing the final recording of his career.

After stating some background about Gil Evans along with some of his music and accomplishments it should be clear why he should get acknowledged more for all his accomplishments. He brings a unique style to jazz by using unusual instrumentations. Evans took the opposite route of simply just using standard jazz instruments such as trumpets, saxophones, and trombones. He also incorporates instruments such as uses flutes, oboes, French horns, and a few conventional jazz instruments to expand the variety of his orchestra even more. Gil Evans was one of the first to use French horns in jazz, while he was still under the wing of Claude Thornhill’s orchestra. While he does use instruments you usually did not see in jazz he also arranged them in a unique way, but would still make the music he produced sound great. Evans has a variety of things to throw at you, such as cutting the music to an abrupt stop, leaving it quiet for a second or two then shocking you with all his instruments at once. He can mix hot and cool, spicy and sweet, heavy and light, and still manage to make it flow. As a composer being able to make unordinary or unusual things mix is what elevates your talent level is what Gil Evans displays. Also being one of the main pieces of starting the genre “cool jazz”, being awarded at the white house, winning a grammy and other awards, and taking different aspects of jazz to better his production add up to make an outstanding resume worth learning about.

In conclusion, Gil Evans left his mark in many areas of jazz as a composer and arranger. He led swing dance bands, started “the cool school of jazz” in his basement, and did a great amount of outstanding work with Miles Davis that was previously mentioned. Collaborations such as Porgy and Bess, Birth of the Cool, and Sketches of Spain along with others. Evans also dove into another genre of music electric rock by doing arrangements of Jimi Hendrix songs. Putting into consideration all that he has done throughout his career Ian Ernest Gilmore Green should be spoken about more and taught in classes talking about the history of Jazz, especially to those who have no jazz or music background. As the only way Gil Evans gets mentioned is if Miles Davis or cool jazz is being taught about.

Sylvia Plath was a confessional poet through her influence, Robert Lowell. “Sylvia Plath explored the themes of death, self, and nature in works that expressed her uncertain attitude toward the universe” (New World Encyclopedia). As Plath’s poetry developed, it became more private and personal towards her own life. Her poetry expressed inner demons and showcased themes to justify her reality. Sylvia Plath focused her poetry on her life and the obstacles she faced being a woman in the twentieth century. In her poems, she gave vivid and descriptive details of the hardships she went through by bringing in the themes of death and suicide. For instance, in her book of poems, “Ariel”, she discusses personal issues of her life such as conflicts with her father, dysfunctional marriage, and mental health issues. The death of Plath’s father influenced most of her writings. “She was left with feelings of grief, guilt, and anger that would haunt her for life and led her to create most of her poetry” (New World Encyclopedia). These feelings gave her work a personal haunting theme such as tragedy. Although Sylvia Plath is no longer present, due to suicide in the early 1960s, her poetry lived on and was published by other poets who knew her work would be influential.

Sylvia Plath’s works were shown through her perspective, but the wording allowed the reader to make further interpretations. Plath gives many different writing styles to add more of a dramatic effect to her works. For example, “Parliament Hill Fields” was written after she had experienced a miscarriage in February 1961 and “shows her ability to invest external landscape with the urgency of psychic disturbance. In her introduction to this poem, Plath’s comments suggest that the poem’s narrator is a third party, not herself. This is revealing: whilst considered a leading ‘confessional’ poet, Plath often uses dramatic monologue, as in her famous poem “The Applicant”. In this devastating satire on conventional marriage, she uses the sales-speak of modern commerce to expose society’s dehumanizing expectations. Both poems show Plath’s skill in manipulating the sound of language” (The Poetry Archive). Her writing gives the readers a different perspective so the reader could feel the vivid emotions through the words. Sylvia Plath was best known for the genre of confessional poetry, using the first person “I”. Using the first person and her own personal traumas, gave the reader insight into Plath’s struggles. In most of her poems, she hides the personal trauma under literary devices and symbolic figures, giving the reader more time to conduct the overall meaning.

In Sylvia Plath’s book of poems, “Winter Trees”, she puts together many heartfelt works and poems that are in the form of a short story. These collections of poems were published by her husband, after the taking of her own life. Sylvia Plath’s poems are usually free verse and or have similar rhyming styles. Her poems are in the form of stanzas, with a variation of sentences. In “Winter Trees” she includes a play she wrote before her death. This play consisted of three London Women and their experiences of pregnancy and childbirth. The play was written through Sylvia Plath’s own experiences and hardships, using different characters to make it more of a story. The women express their thoughts and feelings in the play, giving the readers a bigger understanding of what they are going through and how Sylvia Plath contributed.

Plath writes, “And what if two lives leaked between my thighs?/ I have seen the white clean chamber with its instruments./ It’s a place of shrieks. It is not happy./…. I should have murdered this, that murdered me” (Plath 52). Plath displays that one of the women has hatred towards childbirth. Being hospitalized and having another human life to take care of was a very detrimental thought. Sylvia Plath shows her own views on her experience through the other women, as having children was a dread. Through the voice of the third woman, Sylvia Plath showcases how the process of childbirth was draining and took her focus away from her mental health. For instance, in “Winter Trees” continuing the play Plath writes, “There are the clothes of a fat woman I do not know./ There is my comb and brush. There is an emptiness./ I am so vulnerable suddenly./ I am wounded walking out of the hospital./ I am a wound that they are letting go./ I leave my health behind…”(Plath 59). The third woman speaks on her experience of childbirth and how she is now empty, metaphorically speaking. She feels emptiness and is an open wound. Her open wound symbolizes her vulnerability and mental health. This quote represents the theme of evil, as Sylvia Plath expresses the inner demons present within the play and the woman. Towards the end of the play, the women begin to realize their role in life, being a wife and mothers. Sylvia Plath brings in her personal experiences and how she felt being a woman and how her role contributed to her downfall. Lastly, the voices contribute and say “The streets may turn to paper suddenly, but I recover/ From the long fall, and find myself in bed,/ Safe on the mattress, hands braced, as for a fall./ I find myself again. I am no shadow/ Though there is a shadow starting from my feet. I am a wife./ The city waits and aches. The little grasses/ Crack through stone, and they are green with life” (Plath 64). The women are done with the process of childbirth and now home, out of the maternity ward. Now they are back to their role of a wife. The last sentence, “…and they are green with life” gives the last part a more positive outlook on life. During the childbirth process the themes of evil and death were present, and as the play came to an end the theme of life overshadowed the idea of death.

Sylvia Plath’s contribution to confessional poetry gave women a voice and awareness of the mental illness. Through her works, Plath concluded the ideas of mental illness around her private experiences involving feelings of emptiness, hardships, and her inner demons. This is present through all of her works, specifically through “Winter Trees”, “Ariel”, and “Parliament Hill Fields”. Her poems being published after her death by her husband provides more emphasis on the ideas she was producing in her works. Her poems also surround the idea of dysfunctional marriage and relationships. The style of her writings and the use of literary elements influenced the genre of confessional poetry. Whereas modern poets and authors such as Ellen Hopkins, follow the genre of confessionalism and the style of writing but writes using characters and plot.

Many people hold their mothers very close to their hearts. Mothers are superheroes and are everything to us. My mother means the world to me. After everything she has been through, she is still the strongest person that I have ever met. My mother has her moments where she finds herself in a weak spot, but she still manages to bring herself up every time. She tries her hardest for our family, taking care of us and doing what’s best for me and my siblings. My mother has influenced me the most to work hard at school, even at a job I had before, and at home. She deserves everything in life. After what happened with my brother, she makes an effort to be strong. A mother’s love for her kids is the strongest bond that will never be broken. She is my best friend, a person that I go to for help, even to gossip or have small talk with. There are arguments from time to time, but we manage to get through it and go back to how we were before.

My mother has supported me and my siblings in numerous ways with love and care and from knowing what’s good and bad. She has always been my number one fan even for the simplest things. My mom has always been a religious person throughout her whole life. She knew that God would help us through the tough times that we have had. My mother always knew that He would help us in life to grow, get stronger and help us in the situation that we are in. I’m thankful that my mother has always been a hopeful and positive person and knows that things will eventually get better. She has always continued to fight. I’ve always looked up to my mom for everything that she has done. I always remembered telling my mom that when I was older and had enough money, I would buy her a big house one day with my siblings. I used to always say, “When I get older we’ll buy a big house for you and our family members. Ruth, Daniela, Matthew, and I will make it possible one day”. No individual should take a mother’s love for granted.

Mothers always do so much for their families and on every occasion they make you feel important and loved. As many say, “There is no love greater in this world than a mother’s love”. My mom is a very beautiful, amazing, and kind-hearted person and I am grateful that she is my mother. The whole world knows that being a mom is very difficult, I know that there are very few days when mothers wanted to give up because of the stress that they go through. My mom always tries to teach me many things, whether it be in life in general or things such as cooking and many more. I agree when a person says that their mother isn’t the same as other mothers, everyone is different and that is what makes a mother special.

My mom has been with me through the saddest and roughest parts of my life. She has always been there, whenever I would get my heart broken or whenever I just needed someone to be my shoulder to cry on. I would never be able to bear the fact that one day I will lose her, and I will always cherish and appreciate her whenever I can. A mother would sacrifice anything and would do anything for her child because a mother loves her children deeply.

I never understood how cherished a dear life could really be until the day I counted down a child’s last breath as he slowly slipped away from my hands. Throughout my adolescent stages, I’ve always had these feelings that I don’t matter, no one cares, that I’m nothing but a failure, and that it’s my fault. Some days I can feel the blood vanquishing through my veins for what seems like an entire existence. Then I also have those days where I remember a soul is washed out of my hands, and then I get that question, “Why couldn’t it just be me? Why am I alive but he’s dead?”.

My brother was born with a defect called cerebral pachygyria, a rare brain disease that prevents a person’s cerebral cortex to develop properly. As a result, his nervous system was extremely vulnerable to where he couldn’t even hold his own head up. Being a child who’s been bed-rested his entire life, a child who’s never been able to sit up and look at someone eye to eye, a child who never had the strength to say an actual word to you, no matter how hard he tried, still considered himself to be happy. Understanding how pleased the kid was, his muscles were weaker than a newborn’s, and yet he was able to enjoy what little his body was capable of doing and always ending his days with smiles. My brother was a fighter, living through surgery after surgery, seizure after seizure, needle after needle, nothing was ever able to break his smile. He’s my little role model, he’s a person who let his heart control him over his own body.

August 11th was the last day where I was able to see his charming eyes gaze towards me as if was the happiest day of his life. The last day we set eyes on each other’s hearts and me finally being a real big brother, by holding his hand and telling him “I love you”, something that I thought of as not the last. August 11th was the day when everyone said he’ll be all better, but there was something that didn’t add up, he was happy. I remember that day I gave him the best body massage I ever gave to him and every time I touched the little man he laughed with a tear falling from his eye. It’s unimaginable to understand why he’d done such a thing at such a time; why would someone laugh when they are in such pain? I look back and I remember giving him a serious face as gave one to me, and I remember telling him “I’ll make you proud, I promise”. It was the last thing I was able to tell him before he went to sleep for the very last time.

I have always been honored to not only be a brother but to have the privilege to see a child grow in my arms and also leave this world holding my hand. As my mother always says, “He’s an angel”. An eight-year-old child who was born with a lifelong disability with a million health problems still seemed to be ending his days with authentic grins, as a happy child. I have never been honored to have such an eye opener as an adolescent and have an angel show what happiness can really look like. He left this world with a smile, knowing that he left for a purpose: for me to value my life and be someone who’s grateful. The only way I can see that is by going to college and making something out of myself; to be incomparable, to be the neurologist. One in twenty-six have some type of epileptic disadvantage; after me truly understanding the torture life brings them, I want to be the one who finds a solution, to give them a chance to smile.

It is impossible to deny that our lives are shaped by a multitude of influences, whether positive or negative, from advertising, through the media or by all kinds of leaders. When asked which people had the most significant impact on their own life, the most common answer for everyone is ‘my parents’. But outside of my parents, would be my middle school physical education teacher, Mr. Alain Donnat. But why and how this person has been so instrumental to me?

There are a lot of people who have had tremendous influence in my life. My parents have been two of the biggest influences, but my teacher has been a unique influence in my life. I am a better person for knowing him, and he taught me his personal lessons, in addition to the values my parents wanted me to learn.

In 2016, Alain Donnat was widely reported in the national and international press, on radio and television. The images of the former Paul Fort Middle School teacher’s retirement with a bang have been shown around the world. He is probably the most famous Burgundian professor in the world. All it took was a video posted on Internet to make him a world star. On his retirement day, he walked between two lines of hundreds of children. However, Mr. Donnat is a very humble, modest and sometimes discreet person. Later, in the newspapers and on TV sets, Mr. Donnat said that his greatest award was to have his values carried over his career, praised by all, young and old. These values are perfectly reflected in his statement: “You never realize how important it is to be available and attentive to others”. Mr. Donnat has always been available to me. He was the one who detected my athletic potential, who inspired me to work at school and who incited me to give some time to others.

Showing a strong humanity and sharing his huge experience, Mr. Donnat became an inspiring person, for me and many other middle school students. The following are a few words about the lessons he has taught me and which I strive to apply every day.

• Walk the talk! If you really want to inspire others to do something, then this ‘something’ should be a big part of your life: you have to be passionately involved. That is the reason why I aim for one hundred percent in everything I undertake.
• Express your enthusiasm! Passion is for you to be ready to express if you want to inspire people. By sharing my passion for track and field, by proudly wearing the club jersey during competitions or by getting involved in the life of the class, I try to share my excitement.
• Be someone who is worth following! People look more to what you do than they listen to what you are saying. Each day during my training, I try to push myself beyond the limits of my skills, no matter how difficult it may be. I never give up in spite of the pain of effort. I always try to set a good example.
• Seek excellence in the things you do and most importantly, be yourself! The intense training sessions and the hours spent on homework have allowed me to achieve good grades. If there are times when my performance or score are not good enough, I know that I am fully to be blamed.
• Keep a cool mind in tense situations! Mental conditioning is a great help in understanding moments of stress, particularly in important competitions.
• Stay positive, enjoy the pleasant outcomes and learn from others: your positivity will help to encourage people around you! Mr. Donnat taught me how to learn from my mistakes and how to translate them into positive energies.
• Be attentive towards people and challenge them in doing their very best! I know Mr. Donnat was expecting great things from his pupils. Our team often made a great effort to meet his expectations. It is through this state of mind that I have been able to reach the highest level.

Now retired, but still present on the athletics tracks, this exemplary citizen continues to spend his time by intervening in schools to promote the values he has carried throughout his life. Recently, I had the pleasure of assisting him and it was an honor to be involved. Whether in the classroom, in sports contests or when I work with small children, I have a special thought for Mr. Donnat. I guess I probably wouldn’t be writing these words if I didn’t have the teachings of this good person. Nowadays, it is a real privilege to have them shared.

My phone buzzes. An unfamiliar number with a mysterious number— I later find out it’s from Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh). Profile pic showing a selfie of a 30-something woman, smiling with her son, a strange picture to receive as it’s almost black and white, a kind of warrior lady she seems to be.

For the past three years, I have been getting dreams for this woman, Rani Lakshmi Bai. Over the years, I’ve pieced together parts of who she is; middle-aged, female warrior, and very popular, according to Wikipedia and all information I read and learnt after doing deep research. When I received the first dream, I had started taking history class for grade 9, always finding queries regarding about how brave Rani Lakshmi Bai was. Ways to be stronger and courageous like her were the hot topics in the school and with students, especially girls, wherein I can see the spark of Rani’s personality. With this new amazing topic, I discover a kind of oozing strength within myself too, so, naturally, I engaged myself in discovering and manifesting a small meet with Rani by envisioning moments with her. And being at strong manifestation, I finally get a chance to meet Rani Lakshmi Bai; a dream come true sensation is beyond anything.

After staring at her for a while, I responded: “WOW”. As time went on, the story of her struggle deepened. She started talking about the struggles in her life, her child’s and husband’s death, adopting a son later, even about how she wanted to live in Jhansi forever, but how things turned differently.

I was halfway through her life history, for example, when I learned she was the one who gained mythic status in the colonial and nationalist Indian imagination because of her resistance to British rule during the uprising of 1857, a rather ominous-sounding truth. Listening it up, I learned that it was not as easy, as I’d initially thought, but rather more than that image of a leaping horse, sword raised high, with a son clinging to the back. This was around the time when the British military were about to conquer her fort, and instead of surrendering, she is making a dramatic midnight escape from the ramparts. I’d started to spend more time to know more about her. Indeed, it seems to be a thrilling experience to hear Rani telling herself about what happened back then, but also somewhere inside I feel taking all that her powers inside me.

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but after a while I started to feel sleepy, but after a while when I’m awake I found myself alone in the room and acknowledge myself into a woman who got all of sudden supernatural powers. I wondered if I’d somehow got a sudden rush of some downloads in my body. I was also dealing with changes within aura with blooming positivity; the biggest change being letting go of my old self. I realized that I needed this since so long, but was just waiting for the right moment, but after this meeting with Rani Lakshmi Bai, I finally discovered my hidden self.

Shortly after, I got a phone call from the school to play a historical character in a cultural evening day after tomorrow, and I was so sure which one I’m going to be best at now. Sipping my cup of coffee, I realized that in comparison things back then in those times, our own problems, stress, argument all seemed superficial.

Few minutes later, I got a text from mysterious number: “Congratulations on getting to play ‘me’, hope you’ll rock!”. It had never occurred to me how much Rani’s life had influenced me since I had started getting to know more about her. But of course, it did; over time, I’d outgrown old self after this meeting with her, gained the confidence to build a solid foundation to strengthen my students also, and devoted myself to my primary loves of teaching. Why wouldn’t Rani Lakshmi Bai also be settling into her own life too wherever she might be!

Introduction to The Beatles’ Global Impact

The Beatles have influenced the world in unimaginable ways. “Beatlemania: extreme enthusiasm for the Beatles, as manifested in the frenzied behavior of their fans in the 1960s” (Oxford Languages). The Beatles have sold over 600 million albums worldwide (CBS). 600 million is an unfathomable number but in the case of the Beatles, it makes complete sense. The Beatles were a group of British men composed of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. These men met through the involvement of different bands. In 1957, at age sixteen, John Lennon had formed a group called ‘The Quarrymen’ and met future Beatle, Paul McCartney, at the Quarrymen’s second performance. Paul, aged fifteen, ended up joining John’s group shortly after meeting. About a year after Paul joined the Quarrymen, his friend, George Harrison auditioned to join the band. At first, John thought George was too young to be in the band, because George is three years younger than John. With some pushing from Paul, and being that he was such an impressive guitarist, John allowed George to join the band as the lead guitarist. So, then there were three. The three men went all around the Liverpool area playing rock and roll to whoever would listen. After going through a few different band’s names, they were inspired by John’s friend to be called ‘The Beatles’. Obviously, the name stuck. By 1962, the Beatles brought Ringo Starr in as their drummer and had gotten a record deal with a label called ‘Parlophone’. Even though the famous Beatles were only together for eight years, they took the world by storm. Less than two years later, the Beatles had their big break: The Ed Sullivan Show in New York. After their debut performance, there was no going back. For a multitude of reasons, the Beatles have left the most lasting impact on society than any other band.

The Beatles as Cultural and Social Revolutionaries

When the 1960s are brought up, the Beatles are thought of right away. The Beatles undoubtedly defined the 1960s decade as a whole. They were huge activists and helped lead a social and cultural revolution. First off, they were huge influencers on liberal values. In an article from Spinditty, author Danielle Frendo acknowledges their impact: “While ‘My Guitar Gently Weeps’ is one of the songs which reflects the band’s stance in the political world. Lennon was known to be very aware of what was going on in society and how people were dividing themselves into extreme groups according to their different values. His concern about social conflicts is best illustrated in his solo ‘Imagine’”.

Those are only a few examples of songs that took a left-leaning stance. Other songs like ‘Taxman’ and ‘Revolution’ were also extremely anti-war, with ‘Revolution’ being directly about the Vietnam War. ‘Imagine’ (not directly by the Beatles, but directly affiliated), is one of the most popular songs ever created. It is a peace anthem, with the lyrics: “Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you”. Along with pushing liberal values, the Beatles spoke out about civil rights as well. Paul McCartney wrote the song ‘Blackbird’ about the hardships happening in the southern of the USA. In his biography, written by Barry Miles, McCartney describes his thought process behind this song: “I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird…so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith; there is hope”. Paul saying this was an unprecedented move for this time period. This greatly impacted the generation of people who listened to the Beatles, proving another reason why the band was so influential.

Advocacy for Civil Rights and Equality

Other than outright helping move along with the civil rights movement, the Beatles admired black musicians and music style and exposed black culture to large audiences. In fact, in the ‘We’re History’ article by Hugh Willett, he explains how often the Beatles were inspired by black musicians: “McCartney covered ‘That’s Alright (Mama)’ (on a BBC radio show on July 2nd, 1963), but the Beatles covered far more songs from black groups to showcase on their LPs. …all of the covers from ‘Please Please Me’ (‘Chains’, ‘Boys’, ‘Baby It’s You’, ‘A Taste of Honey’, ‘Twist and Shout’, and ‘Anna (Go to Him)’) were done originally by black artists…”.

With it being the 1960s when all of those songs came out, there were still huge issues with civil rights, and since the Beatles were so huge, this was a great step forward in the equality movement. Another way the Beatle’s embraced equality is that they could have been feminists, but in the 60s it was not necessarily called feminism, as that was not an established term quite yet. Women were not portrayed well in rock and roll in the 60s (and 70s too). They were sung about as if they were objects unintelligent. The Beatles began to change the way women were being portrayed. In an interview with Kenneth Womack, he talks about how they did this: “They [the Beatles] created a very specific type of female character who would think for herself and did not need a man. And that is revelatory, really. We have many songs that begin to appear at that point that are highly progressive about women living their own interests and aims and pleasure, as opposed to serving some undefinable other” (Pazzanese).

Now, it is not to be said that the Beatles were the best examples of women empowerment, but they were way ahead of all the other musicians at the time than all of the surrounding musicians at their time. Nowadays, people can appreciate how they indirectly influenced a feminist movement, but that was not exactly on their radar. They were more focused on peace and anti-war movements, as mentioned before. The last point about the Beatles social and cultural impact is their influence on idealism and transcendentalism. Many of their songs speak to philosophical ideas. The way that the Beatles got to thinking about some of these big ideas were done through ingesting drugs; which was very controversial. Lauren Simpson-Green explains the song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ in an article in Fractal Enlightenment: “This song might signify the Beatles as front-line leaders of the progressive movement in the sixties and the reference to strawberry fields seems obvious, especially with Lennon as the lead songwriter… The song also references the popular belief that the universe is a hologram, or entirely illusory. Life is an experiment, an exploration and reality malleable”.

This is one example of many others that the Beatles wrote in their career. Transcendental ideas were extremely popular in the 60s, because of the hippie movement and the ramping up of protests relating to the Vietnam War. Their songs resonated with so many people because of their incredible lyricism and deeper meanings. The lyrics were a comfort to people who did not want to go along with the status quo of their generation, making the Beatles into a phenomenon.

Innovations in Music and Songwriting

Another huge reason why the Beatles have influenced music so much is because they experimented with their music a whole lot. They used many different unconventional ideas such as reorganizing the pattern of songs and using interesting and new techniques. In their song ‘I Feel Fine’, the first intentional use of feedback sound is used. This was an extremely new idea, and they were not the first to release a song with this sound, but the first to feature it. Another time the band used a different technique is in their songwriting of the hit ‘Eleanor Rigby’. Almost all of their previous songs, before this one, were very upbeat and fairly positive, but this one is a depressing tale that does not have a pleasant ending. Lines like “wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door, who is it for?”, “Father McKenzie, writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear”, and “died in the church and was buried along with her name, nobody came”, these are not typical lyrics for a rock song. Along with the melancholy storyline, this was one of the first top charting rock songs that did not have traditional ‘rock’ instruments like drums and guitars. This song has an eight-piece string section, which was very unconventional for a rock song; and it still is one of the most popular Beatles songs to this day.

The Beatles and The British Invasion

It has been established that the Beatles rocked the world (figuratively and literally). But the impact they had on society is unmatched. A huge shock to American culture was the infamous 1964 ‘British Invasion’. The beginning of this was the performance that the Beatles gave on The Ed Sullivan show (mentioned earlier). A quote from directly after that performance describes the beginnings of the phenomenon well: “Early in 1964, Life magazine put it like this: ‘In [1776] England lost her American colonies. Last week the Beatles took them back’” (Puterbaugh). The series of events in this time was called the ‘British Invasion’ because other British bands such as The Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits, The Searchers, The Hollies, The Animals, The Kinks and more were becoming huge in the USA. The Beatles presence was truly unbeatable, though. Then comes the phenomenon of Beatlemania, an Oxford Dictionary term, mentioned much earlier. Young Americans adored the Beatles, they loved everything about them. It was said by older adults that there was hysteria in the USA during the time of Beatlemania. But Beatlemania was one of the best events to happen in the 1960s. It truly unified an entire generation, they found solidarity in the band. There are many reasons why people loved the four men so much, but the biggest one was the fresh idealism that the Beatles brought to society.

Fashion and Image: The Beatles’ Style Influence

With the phenomenon of Beatlemania happening in the USA, naturally, a Beatle ‘look’ was born. At first, the ‘mop top’ hairstyle was made extremely popular because of the group. Then it moved to collarless suits and pointed boots, then colorful clothing, then white suits. Whatever the Beatles wore everyone else wore it to. It can be confidently said that they helped define 1960s fashion. Another way the Beatles were influencing American culture was by their ‘unclean’ image. With Beatlemania infiltrating everything in the USA, the image of the band mattered a lot. But the men did not have the most ‘PG’ image. They did drugs, danced unconventionally, and did not censor themselves.

This is something that the young generations looked up to, and oftentimes the 60s are known as a time where teens were trying lots of psychedelics; this had a lot to do with the Beatles influence.

Another immense point of the Beatles influence is their impact on other musicians. In an article by Rob Hughs, in a classic rock magazine, many musicians are brought up that have been inspired by the Beatles. Brian Wilson, (of the popular band, The Beach Boys) has said to have been very inspired by them: “‘No one had heard that in rock‘n’roll back then’, Wilson said, referring to the Beatles’ use of sitar and other exotica. ‘It really did inspire the instrumentation I ended up using for Pet Sounds’” (Hughs).

Wilson is one of many musicians who have credited the Beatles. Many of these musicians were so inspired by them because of their talent in performing so many different types of music: country, pop, soul, psychedelic, etc. Thousands of artists have covered songs by the Beatles, with their hit song, ‘Yesterday’, being covered over 2,200 times (BBC). Music would not be the same if the Beatles had not come around.

Enduring Legacy and Influence on Future Generations

Lastly, the long-lasting influence of the Beatles has kept their popularity nearly as high as it was in the 60s. They have been featured in hundreds of television shows, movies, books, video games, merchandise, and more. As of lately, there was the 2019 hit movie ‘Yesterday’, and even ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ video game was released. With music apps such as Spotify and Apple becoming so popular, younger generations are listening to the original music released in the 60s. The statistics of the Beatles music is so incredible, they were streamed 1.7 billion times in just 2019 alone (CNBC). The music of the Beatles is still topping the charts to this day, with their 50th anniversary edition of ‘Abbey Road’ hitting number one on the U.K. charts and number three in the USA’s Billboard 200 (CNBC). Another promising percentage is written in a CNBC article: “The group doing 30% of that streaming is between the ages of 18 and 24, followed by 25- to 29-year-olds, at 17%. That means almost half of the streaming is coming from people under the age of 30” (Bukszpan). Because younger people are continuing to listen to their music, the Beatles will not be leaving the charts anytime in the near future.

To draw to a close, countless arguments support the fact that the Beatles have left the most lasting impact on society of any band. Whether it be the social and cultural revolutions they spearheaded, their unconventional writing style, their Beatlemania phenomenon, their influence on fashion and other musicians, or their current day popularity, every reason is admirable. The Beatles did change the history of the world, and defined an entire generation. Without them, the 1960s and beyond would not be the way it is today. As the original Beatlemania generation goes away, the Beatles will continue to thrive with younger generations for many years to come. The four teens from the United Kingdom never knew the impact they would have on the world, but it is now known that what they did that day on The Ed Sullivan Show only positively changed history forever.