American Flag Analysis

     The American flag is one of the biggest cultural artifacts ever created in the United States. Thirteen red and white stripes along with fifty white stars on a blue field, to represent independence and history. However, there are numerous other symbols represented by the American flag that may not be instantaneously noticed. Many historic moments with the American flag have been photographed. Within these photos the American flag represents cultural and social values that can be depicted in several ways.

     America’s flag has developed both visibly and symbolically over the past hundreds of years. The flag literally represents the history of America itself. Many songs, holidays, artworks, and literature pieces have been created based off of the American flag. The flag is intended to represent the American people and their values.  

     Physical context is one of the components that the American flag contains. There are thirteen stripes to represent the original thirteen colonies and each star represents a state. There are three colors on the American flag; red, white, and blue. The white stars and stripes represent cleanliness and innocence. The red stripes symbolize courage and bravery. The third color, blue, represents justice and dedication (PBS news). Furthermore, the colors of the flag symbolize American values.

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     A couple symbols that the American flag represents is pride and dignity. Most Americans value bravery and honor our soldiers for going into battle. For every war victory, as seen in the image of the men raising the flag at Iwo Jima, the soldiers raise the American flag to show a sign of honor. Even in a time of crisis, as seen in the image of the men raising the flag at Ground Zero, New York after 9/11, our people still raise the flag with honor, showing Americans will always move forward with determination. Furthermore, in both images the soldiers are physically raising the flag and its not already put up. This shows that whether it be a victory or a time of crisis, American soldiers are willing to put in the work of raising their national flag with dignity and to represent a sense of hope for the future. Again, this shows how Americans socially use their flag to represent pride and justice. This is one phenomenal conception because it shows how strongly the American flag impacts our culture. Although everyone shares different beliefs and opinions, one thing that makes everyone alike is that they’re American. Therefore, one certainly good element of the American flag is that it brings our nation together as a whole, which makes the nation stronger and more powerful.

     However, when one really digs below the surface for the meaning of the American flag and how it impacts our culture they find a much more complex answer. The social context represented by the American flag is much more complicated than the physical context. This is because as the American flag evolved physically, America evolved socially as well. At the beginning of it’s time the American flag did a much better job at representing American people as a whole because there were fewer people, therefore everyone had much more in common. It once was socially defined specifically with independence and the pursuit of happiness, as seen in the Iwo Jima and Ground Zero image. However, as the years have gone by, the American flag is now socially associated with different meanings.

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     As represented by the third image with the commentary written on the front of it, some people believe that what the American flag originally represented is no longer the case. As seen in the image, the flag is being held by hands and not held up upon a flag pole. This goes to show that some people don’t take the traditions of the U.S. flag seriously anymore. Rather, they now view it as a symbol of corporate greed with a government that no longer represents the majority, but instead a select few. In their article “Culture”, Nealon and Giroux wrote, “it seems that there is no coherent cultural context that will include “everyone”” (pg. 57). Furthermore, many  citizens now say that our society has become the have and the have nots. Some people feel that the modern government represents the haves and not the have nots. Therefore, this is why this image so boldly presents the fact that the American flag no longer represents the values and freedoms that it was founded on. Many people would argue that this photo is extremely disrespectful. This is because people strongly value the American flag and think it’s tremendously deviant to use the American flag when critiquing social norms.

     Overall, the cultural meaning of the American flag has changed remarkably over the past hundreds of years. While the physical context changed so did the social context with it. The flag was originally intended to symbolize life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, numerous Americans argue that this is no longer the case and that instead the American flag represents big corporations rather than the culture as a whole.

 

Bibliography:

Nealson, Jeffery and Giroux, Susan. “Culture.” The Theory Toolbox: Critical Concepts for   the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Rowman & Littlefield publishers. Second edition (2012): pg. 56. Print.

“The History of the American Flag.” PBS, http://www.pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/history/old-glory/.

Response 6

     Within America there is a great amount of diversity. Most people, including myself, would argue that American culture is definitely multiculturalism, which is when there is multiple different cultural and ethnic groups within a society. Therefore, there truly isn’t such thing as a single objective American Culture. Furthermore, America is known as the melting pot meaning it’s home to numerous different cultural and ethnic groups. This makes it nearly impossible to have one single cultural pattern that everyone follows throughout the entire country, since there are so many people with opposing beliefs or customs.

     Many years ago, when there were far fewer people in America, there was likely a single American culture that everyone followed. Way back in time most families were extremely traditional and followed the same customs. This was things like the man would go to work while the woman would stay home and cook, clean, and take care of the children. However, as more and more people moved to America or were born here, culture got much more complex. As stated in “Culture” by Nealon and Giroux, “[Culture is now] made up of a lot of people who would otherwise have little of nothing in common.” They add that without having the characteristic of multiculturalism, there’s nothing in common among the majority of people in American culture.   

     Nealon and Giroux bring up an interesting point in their article “Culture”, this is that “the contemporary movement of globalization among multinational corporations” has made an objective American culture much less possible. This is because now that we trade so much with a bunch of other countries, we’re now using their products and not our own. Therefore, many people use different materials and have different techniques, instead of going by traditional values and beliefs. Nealon and Giroux also stated that “[Americans] may share a broad cultural context (something vaguely called “citizenship” in the united States), but they live very differently within it.” Again, the more people we add to the country the more people tend to become different from one another, instead of sharing the exact same culture.

     I believe that the “average American” used to be much more easier to define. However, as time has gone by and there has been so many more people living in America, there are multiple different people who may fit the average american who didn’t long ago. For example back then usually your average american was white. However today multiple people of different ethnic backgrounds who are middle class seem to fit the “average American” description. Overall, I think that your average American is somebody who earns about average wages. Although, as far as the average look and belief system, I think it’s too complex to have an average, instead there is just multiple different categories.

     In my opinion, why so many people want to hold on to a single identity of Americaness is because they are extremely traditional. Also because this belief system was passed on to them by their ancestors and it’s their sense of identity. The majority of people are stubborn and feel a sense of dissonance when their beliefs are challenged. But when it comes to things like clothing and entertainment, most people don’t like being exposed to the same exact things, they like being introduced to new clothing styles or a new plot within the horror genre. Nobody likes it when every scary movie they watch has the exact same story, instead what keeps them interested is the unknown.

Public Syllabus

The History of Music 101 Syllabus

Instructors: Savannah Cooley, Allison Salo, Wajiha Fawaz, and John Gonek

Course Meeting Times: Monday and Wednesday from 11:00 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Course Description and Importance

     Our lives are surrounded by music daily. Whether we have it playing in the background or we are singing along to it in the car. Music is always there, and it has been for decades. The interesting part about music is how far along it’s come from the 1920s to the 21st century. The genres of music have drastically changed from swing music with the blues all the way to rap and pop rock. Music has changed throughout history but it has also changed history. Music has opened countless gateways between topics like race and gender. Some people don’t understand the amount of importance that music has brought to the world, more specifically the United States of America. Over the past decades music has evolved substantially and has largely affected and shaped the culture in the US.

     Throughout the entire human history, music has been a natural recreation that occupies our lives in a thousand ways. Being surrounded by music has become part of our daily lives, whether by listening to it on the radio, in the car, or at clothing stores in the mall. Music holds a cultural taste and acts as a snapshot that enables people to visualize what it was like during that time period. Reading about the history of music can inform us the events that occured during that century, but it can never carry the feelings or emotions like the music itself does. For example, when one reads about the Great Depression, they can envision the hardships that people went through, but listening to Blues music, which encompasses the sorrow and the pain the nation encountered during the 1930’s, allows them to dive deep into the feeling of the decade. Music is a living being that continues to grow alongside technology, and continues to expand and reform, as we experiment with it. Music represents the voice of every generation; all the fears, the worries, and the victories are expressed through it.

     Over time music has changed drastically. When music became widely available to many Americans in the 1920s due to radio it was often simplistically written. As the decades progressed, music has gotten more complicated in both the lyrics and the music itself.  The themes that music deals with are often reflective of the time that the music is made. This is best exemplified during the late 1960s where a large amount of American music contained anti-Vietnam war themes. There has been other times when music contained certain anti-establishment themes, but none as often as those written during the 1960s. What’s popular in music can definitely change in a short period of time. Even music written of the same genre will sound widely different depending on what year it is written. A Rock ‘n’ Roll song written in the 1950s will certainly be very different than a Rock ‘n’ Roll song written in the 1970s, same thing with a rap song written in the 1990s compared to the 2000s. American music has changed widley over time and every era of music has given us a different sound even in the same genre.

     All together music has immensely impacted countless people’s lives in America. Numerous people are surrounded by music everyday. They listen to it for various reasons, such as to relieve stress or to feel a sense of happiness. Society is partially shaped by music, but music is also shaped by society. This is because music is very popular and when people listen to songs it creates new trends, but also artists want to appeal to the population so they create music that society will enjoy. Music has changed vastly, it was once only available as records, then cd’s, eventually it aired on the radio, and currently there is music videos being produced. Each decade there is a new genre of music that is popular which reflects the time period its produced in. Music of the same genre can sound completely different but each genre has distinctive characteristics that make them their own unique category of music.

Course Schedule

Week 1: 1920’s Jazz music with influence of dance

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Secondary sources:

 

Week 2: 1930’s Swing music

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Secondary sources:

 

Week 3: 1940’s Jazz music along with big band sound

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Primary source:

  • Hot Big Band. “COUNT BASIE Swingin’ the Blues, 1941 HOT big band swing jazz.” YouTube commentary by That1940sguy, 15 Oct, 2008,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYLbrZAko7E&list=PLe8xE4-BoL1RBo_CaCZrSS6QWErlMlfT0.

Secondary sources:

 

Week 4: 1950’s Rock n’ Roll music

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Week 5: 1960’s Folk and roots rock music

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Week 6: 1970’s Disco, funk, and rock music

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Secondary sources:

 

Week 7: 1980’s Dance and new wave

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Primary sources:

Secondary sources:

           http://www.history.com/topics/1980s/print.

 

Week 8: 1990’s Rap and pop punk music

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Primary source:

Secondary sources:

           https://www.theodysseyonline.com/10-reasons-90s-best-decade-music.

 

Week 9:  2000’s Hip Hop and post music

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Primary source:

  • Eminem. “Eminem 2000 Interview.” YouTube commentary by EminemFanpage2010, 19 Nov, 2010,

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fau8DbEZkQ.

Secondary sources:

          http://www.complex.com/style/2013/07/2000s-hip-hop-style-today/.

  • “Hip-Hop’s golden age isn’t the 1990s, it’s the 2000s.” FACT Magazine: Music News, New Music., 4 Feb. 2016,

           http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/03/hip-hop-golden-age/

  • Kleinfield, N. R. “Guarding the Borders Of the Hip-Hop Nation.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 July 2000,

           www.nytimes.com/2000/07/06/us/guarding-the-borders-of-the-hip-hop-nation.html.

 

Week 10: 21st Century All genres

Primary source:

Secondary sources:

 

Assignments

After all 10 weeks of the course have been completed students are to complete the following two assignments:

1. For assignment one, write a paper with 500-1,000 words. The prompt for the paper is to compare and contrast music in the 1920s to music in the 21st century. Make sure to include how it has impacted culture as a whole and explain how music has changed throughout history, from era to era. Also students must use, and cite, at least two secondary and one primary source.

2. Assignment two is to make a collage. The prompt for this assignment is to collaborate each era into one collection. Students can use quotes, drawings, pictures, or anything else that can represent and symbolize a specific era. There must be at least two items to represent each era (a total of at least 20 items, 2 per era).

Visual Analysis Essay

       On average people view about 5,000 advertisements per day (CBS news). Almost every minute people are exposed to multiple advertisements. Whether it be for food, clothing, cars, houses, etc. people are constantly surrounded by them. An advertisement is a statement to the public that promotes a product, event, or service. It’s an attempt to make something popular by persuading in order to make money or get something to be known. Compared to the 1900’s, people are exposed to a much higher amount of advertisements today. This is greatly due to how popular technology has become, which makes it much easier to communicate and thus making it so that advertisements are spread much quicker and more often. Also since technology has come into play, there are numerous advertisements on the digital web, which attracts even more consumers. A company that is extremely successful, especially due to it’s advertisements, is American Eagle. They are well known for their comfortable stylish jeans but also have a lot of other clothes and accessories. American Eagles #WeAllCan campaign was successful through its use of context, rhetorical appeals, and the visual elements of the images themselves.

       The audience for the American Eagle #WeAllCan campaign, is adolescents and young adults. The reason being is because their creative style fits that age group and all of the models featured in this campaign are around those ages. Usually a company will choose models to represent the target audience of their product, that way the consumers can relate to the product more. Also it gives society an understanding as to what products are for what group of people.

       The #WeAllCan campaign was released in the fall of 2016 by American Eagle. It first aired on their website and advertisements. It features multiple individuals of various ages, ranging from teenagers to younger adults. A majority of the models in these advertisements are famous or well known. Featuring famous people appeals to people because they usually view those people as credible sources and trust them more. In the Inc. of American Eagle Outfitters article, “American Eagle Outfitters Empowers Young America With #WeAllCan Fall Campaign” its stated that the “#WeAllCan Campaign [features] a cast of diverse young talent with strong, affirmative voices and distinct, personal style.” The goal of American Eagle was to feature several different types of cultural backgrounds in order to attract a large amount of people. Also they want to attempt to appeal to each and every person, therefore everyone feels individually included.

AEO - Fall CampaignAmerican Eagle Outfitters - Fall Campaign

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       The purpose of the visuals is to feature an individual with a short but powerful statement that shows that they have a voice and freedom to stand for what they believe in. Another important reason for the visual is to have a person to symbolize some group within society so that way consumers can more easily relate and better put themselves in the shoes of the model. This then will increase American Eagles sales because when people see that the models advertising their clothing are like them, they can then imagine themselves wearing those clothes and will then be more likely to purchase it. In the article, “American Eagle Outfitters Empowers Young America With #WeAllCan Fall Campaign”, the investors of American Eagle Outfitters, wrote that “The brand will also engage with its customers and fans by encouraging consumer generated content and the sharing of positive messages of individuality and freedom of expression across all social platforms through the #WeAllCan hashtag.” So using a short and simple hashtag with a substantial message causes customers to spread this hashtag which also spreads the message along with it: which is that we can all do anything we put our minds to because we’re all free individuals. This then will also increase sales since people are, in a sense, advertising for them by passing on the positive message.

       This collection of advertisements significantly appeals to pathos. This is because it gives people a chance to connect to each models statement emotionally. Statements like: “I can love anyone”, “I can fear nothing”, and “I can be heard”, show us some details as to what their feeling and trying to express. By each model making a statement starting with I can and then ending with anything they feel they can do, it makes the audience viewing these advertisements feel motivated an as if they have the power and ability to do whatever it is they wish to.

       American Eagles #WeAllCan campaign did an exceptional job at the rhetorical visual elements in these particular advertisements. One visual element that this campaign did quite well on is the background. It’s an all white plain background. The color white is usually used to represent positiveness. It is also commonly associated with “purity, innocence, and integrity.” (The Psychology Of Colors and Their True Meanings). The white background makes it so that the picture is surrounded by something that is pure and moral.

       The focal point is mainly the clothing. Specifically because it’s right in the middle and that’s usually where people’s eyes tend the glare at first. Another focal point of these images is the words. The messages are all short and charismatic. This is a major rhetorical feature used by American Eagle because this makes it to where people are viewing two main things: the clothing and the powerful messages. This makes them successful because they are doing exactly what they intended to. Which is to have people view a influential message with a product which will essentially increase the likelihood of purchasing the products since its creating feelings of positiveness.  

       All of the images feature almost a full body shot of each individual. The models are all fashioned in a sort of free spirited way. They also have a serious and intimidating look on their face. They all look focused and determined. Also each model is of a different race. Again, this is to represent the symbol of individuality. Also to get the audience engaged in the #WeAllCan hashtag.

       Every photograph is in black and white for the most part besides the words in red. This is a huge rhetorical element because it gives consumers the opportunity to fill the picture in themselves. Color adds multiple things to a picture and by taking it away people are able to imagine the image an entirely different way. When we don’t see what the colors of each of the individuals features are, we begin to label them less as features of the individual, and instead can apply them to numerous cases, such as wearing the clothing on oneself. Another important color element is the the red words. Red is associated with energy, strength, power, and determination (The Psychology of Colors and Their Meaning). Therefore, having red words will cause subliminal associations to power and determination, which is exactly what the advertisements goal is. American Eagle wants its consumers to believe that they are there for them and are willing to encourage them to follow their dreams and goals.

       Overall American Eagle was remarkably successful with its #WeAllCan campaign for numerous reasons. One reason is because all of the images in the campaign featured multiple rhetorical appeals that were relatable and persuasive. Another reason is because they had undoubtedly influential context. American Eagle also strongly used rhetorical visual elements such as color, a focal point, and the background that completed it all off and made it so that the campaign became so popular and increased sales.

 

WORKS CITED:

“American Eagle Outfitters Empowers Young American With #WeAllCan Fall Campaign.” American Eagle Outfitters, http://investors.ae.com/news-releases/news-releases-details/2016/American-Eagle-Outfitters-Empowers-Young-America-With-WeAllCan-Fall-Campaign/default.aspx

 

Johnson, Caitlin. “Cutting Through Advertising Clutter.” CBS news, CBS interactive, 17 September 2006, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cutting-through-advertising-clutter/.  

 

Outfitters, Inc. American Eagle. “American Eagle Outfitters Empowers Young America With #WeAllCan Fall Campaign.” PR Newswire: News Distribution, Targeting and Monitoring, 7 September 2016, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/american-eagle-outfitters-empowers-young-america-with-weallcan-fall-campaign-300323423.html.
“White Meaning – White Color Psychology.” Color Psychology, https://www.colorpsychology.org/white/

Student Life @ U of M – Dearborn

Some images describing what student life is like at the University of Michigan – Dearborn

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     Most students at the University of Michigan – Dearborn commute to school. Although there are dorms for the students to stay at, the University is traditionally a commuter college. Some students travel long distances to come to school here. Even some professors have a long commute. But even with the distance students still come to school at U of M Dearborn for the educational opportunities and the life experiences they will gain.

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      Pictured above is two students engaging in a conversation at the University of Michigan – Dearborn. Although education is the most important part of attending a college, friendships are also key to student life. The reason being is that having friends builds social connections that may bring upon numerous academic opportunities for the future. Another reason friendships are essential is because they can help relieve stress over school work and also help you in your personal life to better focus your mind on the relevant things in life.

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      Studying with a partner has always been a typical tradition among college students. This photograph demonstrates two students incorporating humor while studying to breakout from college distress. Many believe that one needs a quiet environment and set typical studying conditions to concentrate better. However, it is important that we experience various conductive studying conditions because it boosts the neural activity and aids the brain to concentrate better.

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      Self-relaxation plays an important role in our daily lives. Every human being seeks personal time where they look forward to escape reality for a minute to clear their mind of worldly worries and hardships. This picture clearly portrays a college students trying to breakout for couple minutes before he heads back to class. One can infer how weary he is from the way he is leaning forward. In addition, the pepsi bottle that’s placed right next to his books, as if he is taking a break from college hardships before heading back into class.

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       One of the bonuses that this campus has to offer is The Fieldhouse. It is a functional gym with a track included on the inside. Students don’t have to pay for a membership, they just need their student ID. A lot of students will end their day here to work out some stress or better themselves. Also on this campus, a lot of people are engaged in a sport, there are over 14 sports offered for students to join and compete with other colleges. There are a lot of programs and extra-circulars that students can be apart of and that is what makes U of M Dearborn such a great school.

Response 3

The image I choose is of a baby who is marked up with the names and logos of various main brand companies and also media forms. I believe that this image shows a powerful message. When I first looked at it I instantly knew the message that it was trying to provide and thought it did a fine job at doing so.

The message is that America is filled with consumers who are constantly buying products from big companies. So, a baby is used to symbolize that we become targets of these companies as soon as we are born. I mean think about it, its true. As soon as you enter the world through the whole time growing up you’re constantly surrounded by advertisements, the logos, and just in general the buildings of businesses. & since your parents buy these things then usually you’ll just do the same when you start to buy your own things. Many people buy main brand clothing, foods, and a lot of other things. This is because they are popular which is why they are main brand. Therefore seeing these brands more commonly causes people to want to buy them.

Another important argument that this image makes is that we are surrounded by not just companies but also media. Technology has become apart of todays world so people are constantly viewing media. This is good and bad. It’s good because it informs people of current events or threats. But it’s bad because it influences people in numerous negative ways.

 

Response 2

Response 2

      With technology becoming more popular and advanced each year, the question as to if tablets should replace textbooks may pop up in many people’s minds. There are interesting arguments for both sides. However, in my opinion, a convincing article that I came across is “Tablets should not replace textbooks“which was published in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. No author was clearly stated on the website so I’m not exactly positive who was arguing. But, the audience is definitely anyone who would be affected by this change in the work and school place. Also electronic companies that may want to step their game up and get past all of the errors that this author is saying switching to tablets will cause.

      The purpose of the argument “Tablets should not replace textbooks” is to inform people as to why we should remain using textbooks and avoid switching to tablets. Although many may disagree with this, the author makes some good points. The author stated, “print textbooks cannot freeze, crash, or get hacked.” This is a huge deal because I personally can think of many times my work went unsaved, or I lost my spot while reading an online source, because my computer shut down and lost everything. Another good point the author brings up is that tablets will create an extreme level of distraction. The author wrote that “Although this could really benefit tablet manufacturers, students will not get the same effective learning experience and will easily get distracted by all of the power a single tablet holds.” So basically many students can honestly just pretend like they are using the tablet for school purposes, while in reality their hiding the screen from the teacher and surfing the web, texting, etc. Another excellent point that he brings up is that not everyone can afford tablets, so this switch would truly be unfair to a lot of people.

      Stasis is the certain kinds of issues that an argument addresses. There are a few different kinds of arguments. But, in this case, this article is an argument of evaluation. An argument of evaluation is defined by everything’s an argument as presenting criteria and then measuring individual people, ideas, or things against those standards. This article falls under this type of argument because the author begins by introducing the idea of replacing textbooks with tablets. They then go on to give ideas and provide examples of how this will affect individuals and the majority as well. A good rhetorical feature that this argument used was logos to build its logic. The author did this through backing up various claims with evidence. 

All About Me

 

I grew up in a small town named Oxford & moved to Downriver when I was 10. 

 

 

I graduated from Southgate Anderson High School in May 2017

 

 

I currently attend U of M Dearborn and my major is psychology because I posses a great interest in the subject and want to become a clinical psychologist in the future since I also enjoy helping others with their problems. psychology

 

Some of my favorite foods are bbq chicken, tacos, and pizza.

 

 

I’m passionate about music, traveling, and shopping. 

 

 

My favorite show is The Fosters and Switched At Birth.

 

 

My favorite movie is Up!

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Some of the most important people to me are my family, my boyfriend, and my best friend.