Embracing the Rhythm of Country Music: A Personal Journey

Abstract

Sample Reflection Paper Country Music: The Second Time Around I used to despise country music. I hated everything about it: the slow background instrumentals, the corny lyrics, the big hair. I didn't know who the singers were and felt like I had nothing in common with them. I owned a dog, but I didn't know anyone with a pickup truck. I had had my heart broken, but I didn’t cry any tears into my beer. Adding to the misery was the fact that I had a part-time college job at a radio station that played nothing but country music. Fast forward 20 years, and country music didn't sound so bad any more. Did I change, or did the music change? The answer was both: the music improved, and I gained some life experience. As a college student, I had only lived in the Northeast, spending my entire life in Connecticut. As a bedroom community of New York City, my hometown was quiet yet somewhat sophisticated. There were small boutiques, family-owned seafood restaurants, and a couple of good community theaters that attracted some top-flight talent in the region. Everyone looked to Manhattan for their cultural inspiration, and ranchers, cowboy hats, and open spaces were absent from the music and general lifestyle. Western life was a continent away, and I didn't think I could stand being a part of it. Following college, I had the opportunity to move to San Francisco, still a sophisticated city that had no open spaces or ranches. Once I crossed the Bay Bridge and started exploring the East Bay, I discovered a bit of ranch life. Just a few miles away from my son's school were several ranches, their locations made even more obvious by the ranchers who strode into the town's smoothie store, wearing their 10-gallon hats, well-worn cowboy boots, and spurs. They were real spurs and a necessary part of their job. Surely, I thought, he was lacking in sophistication. I was wrong again. In talking with him, I learned he had a graduate degree in animal husbandry from a major university and ran his ranch at a profit, using as...