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Reyna Lusson Group Question: How did Americans cope with emotions caused by 9/11? Topic Questions: How has music helped Americans cope emotions from 9/11?

Question 1: How was your topic affected by 9/11?

With any tragedy come a wide realm of emotions, and when 9-11 touched the lives of every American, music came to the rescue by helping Americans cope with the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks. 9-11 opened people’s lives to a world of fear, loss, sadness and stress, and music was a tool that many people used to deal with these stinging emotions. Songs of all kinds came out soon after the September 11th attacks, like “Empty Sky” by Bruce Springsteen, and John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”; “Artists from virtually every musical genre came forward in the days following the tragedy to make it a little easier for others by expressing their own thoughts and feelings through music” ("Songs Inspired by 9/11:"). With such a wide variety of songs, there was something for everybody, and music was the strength that helped Americans pull themselves out of the dust and rubble that 9-11 left behind.

"Songs Inspired by 9/11: How Music Helped Us Cope with the Tragedy." //Associated Content//. Yahoo, 2011. Web. 1 Sept. 2011. .

Question 2: Explain the scope (extent), intensity (depth), and nature of the affect of 9/11 on you topic.

Music written by artists in all genres after 9/11 greatly affected people all over America by giving them a healthy way to cope with the rush of emotions that were brought on the by the September 11 attacks. 9/11-inspired songs were heard by Americans all over the nation, and with songs coming out from every genre, there was truly something for everyone. Brian Mansfield, from USA TODAY, says that songs that came out after 9/11 “have come from a variety of perspectives, reflecting the scope of Americana’ reactions to that day as well as the internal turmoil that many of them feel” ("Songs Inspired by 9/11:"). People all over American were able to cope with their emotions by listening to the heartfelt music that followed the 9/11 attacks.

"Country Music, in 9/11 Tme." //USATODAY.com//. N.p., 2008. Web. 1 Sept. 2011. .

Question 3: How has debate on this issue made our country stronger?

After 9/11, Americans began debating which songs were and weren’t appropriate to release or play on the radio, and although a small amount of truly offensive songs were stopped in their tracks, I would consider the steps taken by the government a full-blown over-reaction. It was a sticky situation, however, because while one song could help a person deal with their emotions, the same song could be highly offensive to a person who lost a loved one. After much disputing, the government decided play it safe, and “a list of 160 "lyrically inappropriate" songs was… distributed to 1,200 radio stations in the US, and consequently (many) bands… were allegedly banned from a large number of American radio stations” ("Musical Responses to September"). While this action did prevent some highly offensive music from being released, in my opinion, it was an over-reaction; harmless world peace songs such as Cat Stevens’ //Peace Train// were no longer out in the open, thus giving people less of the comfort, reassurance, and peacefulness that music had always brought them.

"Musical Responses to September 11th: The List of Allegedly 'Banned' Songs." //Freemuse//. N.p., 9 Dec. 2004. Web. 6 Sept. 2011. .

RUBRIC for Responses
 * A strong topic sentence that clearly addresses and answers the question
 * Evidence that clearly supports the topic sentence
 * Correct use of internal citations and a properly formatted MLA citation for your articles (put this citation at the end of paragraph one)
 * Strict adherence to the Power Paragraph format
 * Mechanics are clean and do not detract from meaning