This peice is titled "This Shit Is Bananas", a probing annalysis of Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl'.

Gwen Stefani’s “Hollaback Girl” is one of the most baffling pieces of music of the modern age. It’s got something to do with cheerleaders—that much is clear, judging from the chanting and the marching band that’s honking and tooting in the background. Beyond that, good luck deciphering the song’s ambiguities. We were so vexed by the mystery that is “Hollaback Girl” that we have devoted countless hours to its study. Our conclusions are below. The first thing you should know, though, is that Gwen is not singing “I ain’t no Harlem fat girl”—at least, we don’t think she is.

Uh huh, this my shit
Gwen is introducing us to her shit.

All the girls stomp your feet like this
This talk of shit and stomping has nothing to do with actually stepping on feces. But what does it mean? From a reading of the later text, we can conclude that the song takes place in the world of high school athletics, and that Gwen is apparently leading the girls in a calisthenics exercise. The “shit,” we surmise, is what she calls the exercises she’s teaching the other girls.

A few times I’ve been around that track
So it’s not just gonna happen like that
Here, Gwen exhorts the girls to try harder as they jog around the track, reminding them that physical fitness is “not just gonna happen,” but must be worked at.

Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl
I ain’t no hollaback girl
These lines are the most confusing, but their meaning will become clearer later.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit
Gwen repeats this four more times. She wants to make sure that we are well acquainted with her shit.

I heard that you were talking shit
And you didn’t think that I would hear it
Gwen has been the victim of some slanderous high school gossip, and she doesn’t appreciate it. Gwen is 35 years old sliding into MILF status at this point, but we’ll grant her some poetic license.

People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up
So I’m ready to attack, gonna lead the pack
Gwen is going to round up a “posse” of her girlfriends and retaliate against the person who’s been talking “smack” about her.

Gonna get a touchdown, gonna take you out
Gwen is going to beat up the person who wronged her, after she completes the cheerleading routine that will inspire the football team to score a touchdown. Gwen has interesting priorities.

That’s right, put your pom-poms down, getting everybody fired up
It seems the entire cheerleading squad is going to beat up the person who spoke ill of Gwen; they have put down their pom-poms, and they are now “fired up” to exact swift and terrible vengeance on Gwen’s behalf.

A few times I’ve been around that track
So it’s not just gonna happen like that
Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl
I ain’t no hollaback girl
Gwen is apparently the captain of the cheerleader squad; she is the girl who “hollas” the chants, not one of the girls who simply “hollas” them back. Given that the squad is preparing to beat somebody up on Gwen’s behalf, she’s picked a strange time to remind them that she is their leader and they are her sheep-like followers. Gwen obviously rules her squad with an iron fist.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit [repeated four times]
Again with the shit.

So that’s right dude, meet me at the bleachers
No principals, no student-teachers
Both of us want to be the winner, but there can only be one
So I’m gonna fight, gonna give it my all
We learn that it was a “dude” who gossiped about Gwen. She challenges him to a fight at the bleachers. If he imagines it will be a fair, one-on-one fight, he is sadly mistaken. Gwen and her aforementioned “pack” will pounce on him like rabid wolves.

Gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you
That’s right, I’m the last one standing, another one bites the dust
Gwen’s pack of furious cheerleaders leaves the boy a quivering, bloody heap behind the bleachers for the groundskeeper to discover the next day.

A few times I’ve been around that track
So it’s not just gonna happen like that
Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl
I ain’t no hollaback girl
Having completed their ghastly work, Gwen’s squad members return to the field and resume their cheerleading activities, as Gwen reminds them once more that she is the boss and they are all her bitches.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit [repeated four times]
By calling her exercise routines “shit,” Gwen is showing us that for all her bravado, the character in this song secretly suffers from profound self-esteem issues. She is a complex antiheroine for an age of changing gender attitudes and expectations.

Let me hear you say, this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
Here, Gwen steps away from this bloody spectacle for a moment to comment on the madness and ugliness of what we’ve just witnessed, and, by extension, the petty rivalries of high school in general. This shit is bananas, Gwen tells us, and we can only agree. And lest we miss the point, she spells it out. And repeats it another three times.

A few times I’ve been around that track
So it’s not just gonna happen like that
Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl
I ain’t no hollaback girl
Back on the field, Gwen is still bullying the squad to carry out her routines. But now we see her in a new light, as the sad, lost creature she truly is.

Oooh, this my shit, this my shit [repeated four times]
As the song fades out, Gwen is left only with her “shit,” the mindless exercises that bring her no comfort from the raging emptiness within. As much as she “hollas,” no one hears her cries for help.

Today SUCKED. SUCKED. SUCKED. SUCKED. At 8:00 am this morning, we sent off one of my best friends, Matt Crawford, to the 82nd Airborne Unit, where he will promptly be shipped off to Iraq. If I thought that I couldn't get any more upset with the corrupt government and this whole stupid goddamn war when Isaiah died, I was wrong. I just pray that Matt comes home...and not in a body bag like Isaiah. It was absolutely heartbreaking to send him off. I could hardly get through work today, it just seemed to drag on forever. I think that I am going to paint my nails and go to bed. I am in such a pissy mood, and can't stand myelf when I am like this...

I had so much fun this weekend!! :) It was so good to get away from Green Bay for a weekend, and leave all of the drama and worries behind. I got a call from Congressman Mark Green, who took an hour out of his day to expedite my passport for me. GOD BLESS HIM, I really need to get that man a thank-you card. Who could have ever thought that re-newing such an active passport would be such a problem? I just pray that it gets here by the 14th, in time for my trip. You have 9 days, you bitch-ass passport agency in New Orleans. Stop sucking the creole and send my mail out!
The cabin was so much fun!! Shooting the 12-guage, turkey hunting, swiming in the lake, racing the 4-wheelers, getting drunk with Kellie's Grandpa around the fire, going fishing...ahhh I love going "Up North"! I am so tired though, it was non-stop activity all weekend, and all of that fresh air kicked my butt. I got tons of pictures that I just picked up from Walgreens and put into my photo album. I did get substantial color though, which I hope turns into a tan by tomorrow. Hahaha and I still haven't found the top to my bikini that I lost in the lake when I dove off the diving board, much to the delight of Kellie's older brother Paul who will NEVER let me live that one down...I think it floated downstream somehwere. Either that, or sunk to the bottom. Oh well, one will never actually know.
Paul brought Jimmy's brother Cole up to the cabin with us, and it was really nice to see him again. Everytime I looked out of the corner of my eye at him, I could swear to God that it was Jimmy jumping off the diving board, or mixing another drink in the kitchen. They look so much alike, and if I closed my eyes and listened to him talk, I couldn't tell the difference. We took a walk in the woods Saturday night, and just sat and talked by the water for a good 3 hours about everything that has happened over the past year. I think we're both doing much better, and I think that we both find comfort in having eachother... probably the two closest people to him in his life. I know that I have to be careful not to let my mind play tricks on me, and I know that Cole is NOT Jimmy, nor will he ever be...but I still just love hanging around him. The pain will never ever completly go away, and I think he is the only one that knows just how real the hurt still is. I think I'll give him a call tonight and ask him if he wants to get some ice cream or something...
I am so sore! Every muscle in my body jsut aches. I bet that I swam a total of about 3 miles this weekend, and all of the physical activity this weekend...I just want to take a nap! I think that I will so just that after I eat Pappa's salmon that he's cooking on the grill, and then I have a hair appointment. I am doing a light brown with buttery carmel highlights. I just wish it would grow faster! Alright, that's about it.

Happy June 1st!! So today, I am comitting myself to my journal again. It's been so very long, and I have lost most of my LiveJournal readers and friends....so this will just really be for me. A place to put my thoughts and document the day. I had such a fun time re-reading all of my past entries- I have changed so much over the past couple of years! There is an even older journal that I have on LiveJournal, previous to this one, and I think I was in 8th grade or something. Hillarious read!
1 more week until school lets out. I've got so much to do. Bake a Charolotte Rouse pie for my presentation tomorrow about "The Sound and the Fury", write a 15-page paper about the chemical engineering and it's properties, and annalyze a peice of work my some fucktard Bush-supporting bastard who can't get his head out of the bank's ass. It's all about money these days. Granted, I am pleased to have my share of the country's economy, but it shouldn't become your identity. Oh! I have a story to tell you!!

So I decided that I would have a hot dog. A rather rare occasion, mind you, but I decided to proceed none the less. Well what I THOUGHT was a hotdog ended up to be one of my mother's "Smart Dogs", a vegetarian substitute. And now I am running around trying to get the taste of burnt rubber out of my mouth. GREAT.
I got the new Jack Johnson CD today, "In Between Dreams". I absolutely love it. But then again, I love everything Jack does. And my Dave Matthews tickets came in the mail today! Yay!! Now if I could only lose this pesky 10 pounds...

I am back! I thought that it was about time to write again...I haven't for so long. I think I'm finally ready to be myself again and stop feeling sorry for myself and my losses. So...here's to another year!

Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breaths.

I slept in my eye makeup again. Godammit. Happy Thanksgiving!

I went to Isaiah's funeral today. God, it was madness. The fucking news was there, the goddamn vultures. They wouldn't have given a shit about him if he wasn't killed in Iraq. I was holding it all together, until I saw his casket draped with the American flag, and heard "Good Riddance" by Green Day playing in the background. It was too much for me to handel, I just broke down. His mom ended up comforting ME, I felt like such a shit. Jimmy, Isaiah....who's next, huh? A warning to al to just stay the hell away, because everyone I get close to doesn't last here for very long. I am getting so fat again, binge-eating. They tried to increase my "happy meds" because I was so hysterical these past cuouple of days, but I think all it did was increase my apetite and make me sick. I have to break out the Windsor Pilates again, altbhough I feel like I don't have anyone to look good for anymore. It's not as if anyone's going to see me naked for a good year at least. I hope I find the strength to get over this and better my life.

I miss school. I've been working alot lately. I worked 73 hours this week, just to keep my mind off of things; I don't need the money- but what else is there to do? Christmas is going to be so hard this year. I have to return about 7 presents I bought for Jimmy already. I went over to his house to help his mom sort through all of his things. His brother went through and picked everything he wanted, we donated the rest to charity organizations, gave some away to his friends, and I kept his CD collection, 3 hooded sweatshirts, and 3 dress-shirts to sleep in, pictures of us, his cologne, ring, some wife-beaters and his hemp necklace from Jamaica. Somehow, I find an odd sense of comfort sleeping in his things. It sounds bizarre...but it's not.

I really need to clean my room, but I have been working so much, that I just let it go. And I need to have my hair dyed and my nails done again, and I need to shave my goddamn legs. And I need to get ready for school and send a paper to my professor, and.....ugh, there is just so much to do. I think I'll go to bed now, and write more in the morning or late afternoon.

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Bay Port High School gave U.S. Army Pfc. Isaiah Hunt a moment of silence Tuesday morning, and it will likely dedicate more to his memory, Principal Mike Frieder said.

Tuesday was the first day for students since news broke that Hunt, a 2002 Bay Port grad and member of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, died early Monday from injuries after being thrown from a vehicle in a collision while serving in Iraq.

Hunt, 20, had been in Iraq for four months, based in Taji, serving as a driver and gunner on convoy escort duty. Family members were told by the military that he was acting as a gunner when the accident happened about 4 a.m. Baghdad time.

Funeral arrangements had yet to be set Tuesday.


WELCOME TO THE CRUEL WORLD.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I feel better now that it's over and I'm home. I miss him terribly, but it's a weird sense of reassurance and warmth to know that he will always be with me wherever I go. I long for the night, when dreams seem so real and faces close enough to touch...

The Bitch Is Back.

Hiatus has been awful. So much death, destruction, and chaos in the past two months, that one could think they’re reading a bad Daniel Steel novel when taking a look into the pathetic entirety that is my life. So many things to talk about, but so little motivation to tear open the wounds yet again and explain how the one thing that you have been living for, for the past two years has been ripped away from you forever by a more powerful force out of your control. Are the survivors of the dead left with any memoires of their trials? No, just a pat on teh back, and half-hearted sympathy from friends and family who swear that they know what you're going through.
And so I re-open this journal to somehow comprehend and deal with what I have lost.... my boyfriend, and with that, my life...my love, my happiness. As always, in the end, death with decide. But why him? Why now? I guess I'm just angry. Angry and hurt at someone's idea of a sick joke. Played out on the defenseless. I feel so alone.